[Jill] Fuck! I don’t think he’s going to give up.
[Ted] Jill, He wasn’t there. He didn’t see us push Greg off the boat and leave him there to die. There’s no evidence! You need to stop worrying. I spoke to John.
[Jill] What did he say?
[Ted] He said he didn’t send the texts.
[Jill] Do you believe him?
[Ted] I don’t know.
[Jill] What are we going to do?
[Ted] Do you really think Lara could do something like that?
[Jill] I don’t know.
[Ted] Don’t. Why did you do that? We shouldn’t engage! That’s what they want! We’ll change your number too. We just have to hold our nerve. If you want, we can go away for a while. Maybe we should.
[Jill] What’s that?
[Ted] What?
[Jill] That! What the fuck is that?
Ramirez gets a close-up of Ted and Jill’s faces, distorted and ugly with fear as they discover the camera.
[Jill] Is that a camera? Oh fuck. You said there was no evidence! That we could never be caught! But someone has seen and heard everything we’ve said in this room! Someone KNOWS, Ted!
The footage goes all topsy-turvy and ends suddenly. Ramirez sits back in his chair, stunned. He takes a couple of deep breaths. He feels vindicated and frustrated at the same time. He’s always trusted his instincts, and it’s good to know they didn’t mislead him here. But it’s painful to know that this evidence counts for nothing in a court of law. It’s not the first time he’s had to abandon a case because the evidence just wasn’t there, even though he was convinced of someone’s guilt. Why does it bother him so much this time?
He doesn’t have to dig very deep for the answer. It’s because of who they are. Because they’re rich and greedy and entitled. It’s because they already had more than 99.9 per cent of the population, but they wanted evenmore.They felt they were entitled to it and thought nothing of killing someone else to get it. That’s what sticks in his throat.
They were obviously being blackmailed. Someone was recording them, sending them texts. They even suspectedhim.They also suspected someone called John. And Lara. Ramirez knows what happened to Lara Donleavy and her husband. Her husband is dead. He looks up at Ed Silva, his mind going a mile a minute.
Silva says, ‘We have no jurisdiction over what happened to Greg Westcott, but you do. We’re happy to bring them in and play the footage for them.’
Ramirez nods. ‘One of them might slip up and say something under questioning, and thatwouldbe admissible.’
‘They obviously already know about this footage, though,’ Charlie says doubtfully. ‘They found the camera. They’ll be prepared. They’ll bring their attorneys.’
Silva nods agreement. ‘Looks like this was a blackmail attempt and they didn’t play. They must know this is inadmissible.’
Ramirez nods too. ‘They’ve probably already lawyered up.’ He looks at the two of them. ‘But let’s do it.’
Silva nods. ‘There’s more to see here too,’ he says, indicating the monitor. ‘Have a look.’
Chapter Fifty-Six
JILL FEELS LIKEshe’s on top of the dizzyingly tall tower again, swaying, about to fall. This time it’s accompanied by a wave of nausea. She looks up from her phone and glances over at Ted, whose eyes are riveted to his own screen. The news they have been expecting has just broken online.
She sinks into a kitchen chair. They knew this would happen. They’ve been obsessively watching online, waiting. They assumed Min would send it to the media and take her revenge. Now she’s done it. It’s all too real, and there’s no going back. No putting the genie back in the bottle. Jill suddenly fears they’ve made a terrible mistake. They should have paid; wouldn’t that have been better than this?
She continues scrolling.COUPLE CAUGHT ON CAMERA CONFESSING TO MURDER. GREG WESTCOTT WAS MURDERED. She continues to scan and reads with horror about Lara Donleavy visiting their home and accusing them of having her husband killed. Suddenly Jill feels all the blood drainfrom her head. That conversation happenedafterthey were sure there weren’t any more cameras.
‘Ted!’ But before she can say anything more, there is someone at their door ringing the bell.
‘Don’t answer it,’ Ted says quickly. ‘It’ll be the media. They’re going to make life a living hell for us for a while, but then it will die down. Trust me.’
