‘I think DI Flynn will be back at work one day,’ she said as if she’d come to a decision.
His phone rang.
It was Special Agent Melody Lee. Bradshaw had sent her everything they’d found relating to the White Elephant Challenge and she’d promised to ring with an update.
‘Stuart Wilson’s legal team have filed an emergency briefing,’ she said. ‘I’m told the DA won’t contest it. He’ll be out soon. Our DC field office has already arrested the man who hired the Curator to set up Stuart. He’s lawyered up but we have him. It was exactly as I said – he had his business partner murdered so he didn’t have to buy him out at full value. The family will be in touch personally at some point but I’ve been told to thank you, Poe.’
‘Glad it worked out,’ he said.
They chatted for a while longer but Poe wasn’t really interested. He was glad for the family, of course he was, but he had bigger concerns right now.
Melody Lee picked up on it.
‘Are you OK, Poe?’
Poe dodged the question. He was far from all right. He’d taken on a burden, and although he was the only person that could, he knew it would weigh heavy over the coming weeks, months, even years …
‘What about you?’ he asked. ‘Must feel nice to be vindicated.’
‘I have some things to finish up here but I’ll be back in DC by the end of March.’
‘I’m glad for you.’
‘Any time you need a favour, just pick up the phone.’
Washington Poe, named after the city his mother was raped in … The city Special Agent Lee would soon be heading to.
‘I do need a favour,’ he said.
‘Already? That was quick.’
He told her what he wanted.
‘That’s it?’ she said. ‘That’s it,’ he said. ‘I
just want the names of everyone who attended that diplomatic party in Washington.’
Melody Lee paused a beat.
‘Is this official or personal?’
Poe said nothing for several moments.
‘Personal,’ he said eventually. ‘Very personal.’
‘Well, then may God help them.’
Chapter 89
‘I want specifics now,’ Poe said.
He wasn’t sure he could cope with much more but he owed it to Flynn. If there was something in the details, one little clue to the identity of the person who’d hired Hartley-Graham, it had to be him who heard it.
So Hartley-Graham told him.
Told him that he had modelled both the White Elephant Challenge and the Black Swan Challenge on the suicide game Blue Whale. Hid some single-board computers locally then kicked it all off.
‘I suspect that Robert and Rhona Cowell were in so deep that if I’d actually told them to kill Rebecca Pridmore, they’d have done it. I didn’t leave clues at the two other murders but once you’d learned about the Black Swan Challenge I assumed you’d think you were looking for two other murderers. I wanted you to think there were others out there and Atkinson was their final challenge. I know you found out about me but the end result was the same: you and DI Flynn still had to protect Edward Atkinson.’