Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Dawn is breaking, and my imagination is whirring, working overtime.

Jade…

“Talk to me,” says Klempner. “What are you thinking?”

“The blood on Charlotte's bag. I'm wondering how badly she’s hurt. She wouldn't go down without a fight. Ben’s a powerful man, physically speaking. He and Michael do a lot of work together on the house and in the grounds. If he got Charlotte by herself and out of sight, down in the parking lot… If he took her by surprise, he’d have been able to overpower her… But she’d have fought back. Unless he knocked her unconscious with a single blow, he’d have had a fight on his hands. There’s a good chance Charlotte would have done some damage herself before she went down.”

Hope she’s fucking castrated him…

“After that, Mitch and Kirstie would have been easy for him. Mitch is a lot older, and Kirstie, well, she has plenty of nerve but she’s not a physical fighter and judging by the way Michael was panicking about the blood, Ben didn’t care much about being careful.”

Klempner hmmms… “Jenny's pretty resilient.”

Do I tell him?

“She's also pregnant.”

He double-takes and the car weaves before he takes a hold on the steering again. But his voice remains flat. “Does Ben know?”

“Yes.”

“I'm guessing he wouldn't like it? Not being sure who fathered his sister-in-law's child?”

“He liked even less when Michael told him it was definitely me…” Klempner shoots me another look.

“Christ… If it is Ben, this will crucify Michael.”

“They're close, the two of them?”

“They would be if Ben didn't keep fucking up.”

“What does he fuck up over?”

“Charlotte. Me.”

“Tell me about him. What’s he like?”

“Think of a narrow-minded, toned-down, very ordinary version of Michael. And he knows he's right.

Nothing else penetrates.”

Klempner sucks his cheeks. “Right enough that the end justifies the means? He’d feel it was right to attack a pregnant woman and her friends?”

“You think you have the moral high ground?” I snap. “With some of the things…”

“I never tried to convince the world I was right,” he snarls. “Or myself. I just got on with what I was doing.”

The brief camaraderie shattered, I lapse into silence. So does he.

After a while, Klempner, in more moderate tones, says, “You say Ben’s ordinary? So the big brother has all the charm, the charisma and the women?”

“Younger brother. Michael is the younger one.”

Klempner inhales. “Even better… Who’s this third woman in the party? Kirstie was it? A friend of Jenny’s? Would Ben have any problem with her?”

“Oh, Christ…” I press fingers to my temple. My headache is returning. “She isn’t just a friend of Charlotte’s. She dated Ben, briefly.”

“Briefly? How briefly?”

“Brief enough that I suspect the problem was his… um… style…”

Klempner glances sidelong at me, humour flirting around his eyes. “Friday night? In the dark? On your back? Don’t move?”

“I suspect so, yes.”

“And Kirstie herself. What’s she like?”

“At root, the same at the others. She’s sexually free, liberated, shares the view that if it’s between consenting adults then get on with it. And…”

“So, overall, what you're telling me is that Eye-Candy's boring brother has a grudge against anything female with a pulse?”

“That’s about the size of it, yes.”

“Where did he pick up his attitudes?”

“No idea. Not his family. Those women, the aunties, certainly haven't led sheltered lives. They scare the shit out of me like nothing else ever did.”

Klempner gives me an odd look…

Never had a family…

… which passes.

“And how strongly does he feel about you?”

“He hates my guts. I suspect your arrival on the scene seemed like manna from heaven to him.”

Klempner stares ahead, absorbing that. “You think he’d have expected… wanted… me to finish you?”

“Yes… The more I think about it, I’m sure so.”

His face sets. “Don't think I care for being played for a patsy.”

*****

Ryan flashes up again on my mobile. “James…” His tone is anguished, weeping. “I’m with Kirstie. She jumped from a moving car. She’s… badly injured, but she wants to speak to you. I’m holding the phone by her.”

The sound rustles… “James?” Kirstie’s voice is a broken whisper, pain shuddering through.

“Kirstie? Yes, it’s James. Who is it? Who are we looking for? Is it Ben?”

“Ben… James, yes, it’s Ben. He has them.”

Ryan’s voice again. “James, I’m going to the hospital with her. I’ll talk later.”

“Of course.”

Klempner looks sidelong. “You going to call Eye-Candy?”

“No. If I tell him something like that while he’s driving, he might crash the car. I’ll tell him when we’re face to face.”

*****

As we draw close, the scene is a confusion of sirens, flashing blue lights and uniforms. An ambulance shrieks past us, going back the way we came, Mee-Mawing all the way.

Klempner pulls into the side. “Go have a look. You’ll forgive me if I don’t join you.”

“You’re trusting me to walk into the middle of a squad of police and ambulances?”

“We agreed to trust each other did we not?” He sucks in his cheeks. “James, who would you rather have with you when we find Mitch and Jenny? Some hidebound, rule-regulated official? Or a trained ex-mercenary with plenty of motivation and no scruples?”

I heave a breath. “You have a point.”

But as I open the door to get out, a car screeches to a halt beside us and Michael gets out.

*****