Page 65 of Girl, Remembered

None of it added up to anything.

He’d made enemies in his career, certainly, but if someone wanted him dead, surely they’d just shoot him and get it over with. They didn’t send a team.

The math didn’t lie.

Three of them, one of him. One gun already at his skull. Whatever chance he’d had of taking out his aggressors had vanished when the third man arrived.

Edis thought of his kids, his grandkids, Lisa, his friends, all the men and women he’d worked with who were still around to talk about it.

If this was how he went out, then it had been a life.

Before Edis could make the decision himself, a hand reached for his gun. He removed it from his grip.

‘Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.’

‘Raise your hands and turn around.’ The pistol tapped against the back of his skull.

Edis complied. He slowly spun and saw the other two aggressors. Both middle-aged, white, as nondescript as men could be. The Bible quote-spewing man put Edis’s own gun into his trousers and then him and the hostage-taker parted. When they did, Edis found himself staring back at the broken window.

Three turned to four.

A woman was standing in front of it.

‘Hello, Director Edis.’

The pressure of the gun against his head was momentarily relieved, but a sudden thump took its place. Edis went dizzy, fell to his knees and then finally to the floor.

This was it. This was the end.

Some vision still remained, fuzzy as it was.

What might have been his final observation was a small booth in the corner of the bar, now wrapped in plastic.

And for reasons he couldn’t have explained in that moment, not even to himself, not even if these four strangers beat it out of him, William Edis thought of Ella Dark.

CHAPTER THIRTY

‘Is everything alright, dear?’

Blake Avenue, Constitution Gardens. Ella was outside Edis’s house – or one of his houses – and this one was a small-but-magnificent bastard made of yellow stone. Splendid exterior aside, Ella was more concerned with what was or wasn’t inside it.

She looked to the next house in line and saw a woman – the source of the question – eyeballing her with suspicion.

‘Yes. Well, no. This house belongs to Will Edis, correct?’

‘Yup, but he’s just the landlord. He rents it out, but it’s empty.’

Ella moved closer to the woman and showed her badge. The woman looked at it like it might be a prop.

‘I’m FBI, and I need to find Will immediately. Has he come by at all tonight? Or has anyone come by?’

‘Nope. No one’s been in that house for months. Some of the stonework is crumbling round the back and it’s not safe. Invasive plants, you see. Barbara brought some exotic crap back from Japan. Knotweed, I think. Oh, it’s infested the whole street. You know-’

‘Miss, I really need to find Will. Are you positive no one’s been here? Does the back of the garden look out onto a pond?’

‘Sure it does, but no one’s been in there. I can let you take a look, if you like.’

‘Could you?’