‘The walls were closing in,’ Henley said sadly.
‘Exactly, but I don’t know. The gassing himself in the garage never felt right to me.’
‘I keep thinking about the last thing that we said to each other and there’s nothing there.’
‘No signs that he would take his life?’
‘And no signs that he was in fear for his life either, but look at what you found, Ez. If the post-mortem isn’t a mistake and asphyxiation was the real cause of death … it’s a cover-up.’
‘And that means that Mrs R was right. Someone killed Rhimes.’
17
‘Who gets justice?’ she asked, rising from her seat and anchoring herself in front of her audience.
‘They do,’ Josh and Don replied in unison.
‘Who deserves justice?’
‘They do.’
‘Who delivers justice?’
‘We do.’
‘That’s right. We do. We deliver justice and the deliverance of justice is sweet and gives final victory to those who’ve had justice denied.’ She held the Ziplock bag aloft and walked towards the man on her right. She twisted her wrist slowly so that the light caught the contents of the bag: a clump of dark blonde hair that was streaked with dried blood.
‘This was a job well done. You should have been there.’ She prised the bag apart and turned it upside down.
Josh yelped and jumped back in his seat, pushing the piece of Sian Fox-Carnell’s scalp off his lap as though it was a lump of hot coal.
‘Whatisthat?’ Josh asked.
‘That belongs to her,’ the woman said. She bent down, picked up the scalp and placed it back in the bag. ‘Where were you, Josh?’ she asked.
‘I’m sorry, but … but last night,’ Josh stuttered as he looked down at the bloodied stain on his jeans. ‘My kid. I had … it wasa family issue. I would have been there if I could, but my kid. You understand, don’t you?’
‘I understand that I’m questioning your commitment to us. You can’t just pick and choose how you want to contribute to our mission to deliver justice,’ she told him. ‘You need to be with us every step of the way and you have to accept that you’re going to get blood on your hands. Despite our name, you cannot exist in the shadows.’
Josh licked his dry lips, trying to focus on something else in the room and avoid her gaze that bore into him. ‘I am with you. Of course I am,’ he grovelled. ‘I thought I’d proven that.’
The woman turned around, leaving the statement hanging in the air. She walked over to the table in the middle of the room, on which sat her tote bag. She put the Ziplock bag into the zipped compartment and then removed two green document wallets, each containing identical documents. She lifted the flap and pulled out the top sheet and read through the ten names. She nodded to herself, satisfied that she had chosen the right people.
‘I’m hoping that the system does the right thing, and the right decision is made. But, in the event that it’s not, I want us to be ready,’ she said, handing the wallet to Josh.
Josh cleared his throat and placed the wallet on the floor. ‘I think,’ he coughed and tried to dislodge the frog in his throat. ‘I think that maybe we’re going too far.’
She looked directly into Josh’s eyes and waited as the seconds ticked by. It was the simplest way to intimidate someone. To make them wait. To sweat.
‘Say that again Josh,’ her voice was calm and steady. There was no need for performative displays of authority – not with this group. She was the one in charge. She’d made that crystal clear from day one.
‘Say that again,’ she repeated.
Josh ran his hand across his hairline, wiping away the beadsof sweat. He looked across at the man on his right. Searching for support. Looking for a saviour.
‘It … it wasn’t just me,’ Josh swallowed hard. ‘We were both—’
‘No, no,’ Don cut in forcefully. ‘I didn’t say a word. I promise you, that is not what I said.’
