Page 60 of The Final Vow (Washington Poe #7)

‘Do you have a recent photograph of Raymond, Mrs Addy?’ Mathers asked.

Addy shook her head. ‘He wouldn’t let anyone take his photograph.

It had something to do with his job before we got married.

He said it was a security issue. I thought he was talking a load of pish, bigging up his life before we met, but now I think he might have been in the SAS. Something like that anyway.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because he never talked about what he’d done, not even when he’d been drinking. I asked him countless times, but he was a vault when it came to his past.’ She looked at Mathers, her eyes pinched. ‘And now I think I’d like you to tell me why you’re here.’

Mathers glanced at Flynn and at Poe. Flynn nodded. So did Poe.

‘We think Raymond is calling himself Ezekiel Puck now, Mrs Addy,’ Mathers said. ‘Does that name mean anything to you?’

Addy nodded. ‘I don’t know where it came from, but he occasionally used it.

I think he may have even used it when he was roped into being a witness at a wedding renewal.

Renewals aren’t official ceremonies, so it didn’t really make much difference.

I think he used it as his character name on that stupid game he was obsessed with. ’

‘What game was that?’ Poe said carefully.

‘ Disincentivise . No, that’s not it. It was something like that, though.’

‘It’s called Dezinformatsiya ,’ Bradshaw said.

‘It’s an espionage role-playing game. It’s based on the books of John le Carré.

Players can play either side of the Cold War.

Ezekiel Puck is the world’s top-rated player and he’s on a bunch of the Dezinformatsiya mailing lists. It’s how we identified him.’

‘That’ll be right,’ Addy said. ‘Le Carré was Raymond’s favourite author. Why are you asking about his joke name?’

Mathers composed herself. Aware she was about to throw rocks at Joanne Addy’s life. ‘We think Ezekiel Puck might be the sniper, Mrs Addy.’

There was no reaction. None at all. Mathers could have told her the Martians had landed. Or the Scottish government had banned fried food.

Eventually she said, ‘I don’t get it.’

‘It’s not a joke, Mrs Addy. There’s evidence linking Raymond to the recent shootings.’

Addy lit a fresh cigarette, her third in ten minutes. She frowned. ‘But why would Raymond be killing people?’

‘We don’t know,’ Mathers said.

Poe thought he might, but he didn’t want to voice his suspicion just yet. Instead, he said, ‘Mrs Addy, this might seem a strange question, but please bear with me – did anyone who knew Raymond ever commit suicide?’

Mathers threw him a look. Poe ignored it and concentrated on Joanne Addy. He could tell she was about to say something along the lines of, Of course not , but something was staying her hand. After a few moments, she nodded.

‘Davy Newport took his own life,’ she said. ‘He was the guy who taught Raymond how to stalk deer.’

And how to shoot from distance , Poe thought, but didn’t say. How to stay hidden .

‘What happened?’

‘It turned out Davy was a thief,’ Joanne said. ‘Got caught with his hand in the till of the charity he founded. Never got over it. Blew his own brains out.’ She held a finger to her head. Pulled an imaginary trigger.

‘Did he and Raymond ever have a falling out?’

‘Well, yes, but it wasn’t anything serious. Raymond said Davy had promised him first shot at this ten-point stag they’d been stalking for almost a month. Raymond was raging when he saw it in the back of Davy’s pickup.’

Poe nodded. That fit with his theory. ‘Anyone else?’

‘Anyone else what?’

‘Did he know anyone else who took their own life?’

Joanne frowned in concentration. ‘There was . . . but no, that can’t be right – Raymond didn’t even know her.’

‘Tell me anyway, Mrs Addy.’

‘There was this lassie, a wee slip of a girl,’ Addy said.

‘Raymond and her mother had got into it in Asda car park. She said Raymond had pranged her car, Raymond said it was the other way around. The insurance company came out on her side and Raymond lost his no claims bonus. Two months later, her daughter took an overdose. She’d been shagging her wee boyfriend, and someone leaked the videos they’d filmed.

The polis said the cloud thingamajig had been hacked.

’ She paused a beat. Took another long drag of her cigarette.

Looked like she needed it. ‘But it was odd, you know?’

‘How so?’

‘Because this lassie’s videos were the only ones leaked.’

‘That is odd,’ Poe agreed.

‘Her ma killed herself a month after her daughter’s funeral. Hanged herself. Used the belt from her daughter’s communion dress.’

Poe took a moment before he asked what he needed to ask next. ‘We’ll come back to your ex-husband if we may, but can we now talk about the Smithy’s Forge? You say you’ve worked there since you left school?’

Joanne nodded. ‘Aye, since I was sixteen.’

‘And it had always been your dream to own it?’

‘Aye,’ she said carefully, unsure where Poe was going.

Poe saw Mathers and Flynn share a glance. It was clear they didn’t know either.

‘Gretna Green weddings are a hugely profitable business,’ he said. ‘And because of that, the venues themselves are rarely put up for sale. When they are, competition is fierce, I imagine. May I ask how you funded it, Mrs Addy?’

‘Legitimately,’ she said.

‘I don’t doubt it.’

She took another drag on her cigarette. Sucked it down to the butt then stubbed it out. ‘Banks in Dumfries are happy to loan to wedding venues,’ she said.

‘And is that what you did?’

‘Aye. I had to accept a higher interest rate, as I’d never run a business before, but that isn’t unusual.’

‘What collateral did the bank require?’

‘The venue.’

‘So, if you default on your loans, the bank can seize the Smithy’s Forge?’

‘Aye,’ she said. ‘And my house.’

‘Your house?’

‘I had to put that up as well. The venue needed refurbishing. It was looking a bit tired.’

‘The loan was secured using the wedding venue and your own home?’

She shrugged. ‘It didn’t seem such a big deal at the time,’ she said. ‘Wedding businesses in Gretna Green don’t fail.’

‘How much is there left to pay?’

‘A lot. More than half.’

‘Does the business have reserves?’

She shook her head. ‘I used up my reserves during COVID. The government helped, but they couldn’t do everything.’

‘Have you missed any payments yet?’

‘Three.’

‘And?’

‘And the bank has already called. All nicey-nice, but they mentioned options the last time they called.’ She wrapped ‘options’ in air quotes. ‘And we all know what that means.’

Poe nodded. He did. They all did. He took his time with the next question; aware he was about to suggest something probably better left unsuggested.

‘ If we don’t catch whoever is shooting people, Mrs Addy, and if the bank seizes the Smithy’s Forge and your house to recover their loan, what will you do? ’

She reached for her cigarettes. Lit one and said, ‘Pray I get the cancer.’

Poe nodded. That’s what he’d thought. ‘Will you excuse us a moment, Mrs Addy?’

He looked at Mathers and Flynn and tilted his head towards the door.

He got up and walked outside. As soon as they’d joined him, he said, ‘We’ve been looking at this all wrong.

This isn’t an unhinged lunatic on a killing spree.

Nor is it someone hiding one murder in among a bunch of other murders.

And that’s because the murders aren’t his primary objective. ’

‘What are they?’ Mathers said.

‘They’re a means to an end.’

‘Spit it out, Poe,’ Flynn said.

‘This has been about one thing – destroying Joanne Addy’s wedding business. It’s about shattering her dreams. Turning her out on the street.’ He glanced through the window. Addy was lighting yet another cigarette. ‘Ezekiel Puck is pushing his ex-wife towards suicide.’