“We cloned his phone, and we had everything fucking covered. Nobody uses fucking snail mail anymore. I can’t believe the little shit sent this.”
Seb grabbed a glass to pour his own drink, and waved the bottle at me. Reluctantly I shook my head.
“Driving.”
He nodded, raising his eyebrows at me. “So… why didn’t he show you this before now?”
I dragged out a stool and sat down, my weary body just about ready to pack it in for the night.
“It was lost in a neighbour’s mail until today, when they returned from a cruise. It’s particularly bad timing for this to show up, on the very day that his son’s body washes up. Not that he knows that for sure yet. I’ve advised him that an unidentified body was found. I think I’ve stopped him showing this to the cops just yet, but I can’t guarantee he won’t go rogue. In his position, I would.”
Seb drained his glass, staring at his brother for a moment.
“Time to send Marco in?”
Samuel stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Well, I’d hoped we wouldn’t have to kill this guy, but… you might be right.”
Fuck. And what about Julie? They could never know about her. The thought of them casually discussing murdering the woman I couldn’t stop thinking about… it would end me.
“Wait! Seriously? You’re just going to have Marco kill the poor man? Just as his son’s body turns up? This is unbelievably reckless and stupid.”
They showed me matching frowns.
“You got a better fucking idea, Butch?”
Jesus. “I just think that Jeff Clarke disappearing or dying, right around the time that his son’s body is found, will be a huge fucking red flag to every non-bent cop in town. In two towns. And not only that, but this neighbour… they have this postcard. Even if you make Jeff disappear, when the police question his neighbours, they’re going to say, ‘oh, funny you ask if there was anything suspicious, here’s a fucking map to the bad guys’.”
Seb pointed at me, a deadly look on his face.
“A nose can be broken twice in one day, you know.”
I threw my hands up, over my limit for the day with these guys.
“You’re a bunch of crazy bastards. How are you going to fix the neighbour thing?”
Samuel stuck an arm across Seb’s bare chest, as he stepped in my direction.
“Hang about, bruv. Do you have the neighbour’s name? Address?”
I ran a hand over my hair, pretty much trying to pull it out at the roots.
“Are you shitting me? Now you want to kill his fucking neighbour too? Unbelievable!”
He stood up, jabbing a finger in my direction. “Calm the fuck down. If you wake Cass, I swear I’ll break some more bones for you.”
I felt the room tilt a little, and grabbed for that stool, moving it further away from them before I sat on it again.
“Sorry to freak out. Not used to being in this deep with murderers, and stuff. What will you do to the neighbour? Assuming you find the right one.”
Samuel grabbed his own phone, and dialled a number on speaker.
It rang a few times, before a cranky voice answered.
“This better be good, I only just got to fucking bed.” Nige. I looked at the clock on the wall. It was after ten at night. What a fucking long day. It felt so much later.
“Nige, bruv… listen up. We have an urgent sitch for you. Look up Jeff Clarke’s neighbours. One of them has been on a cruise for weeks. We need that address. Asap.”
He huffed a sigh. “On it. I’ll hit you back.” He rang off, and Samuel shot me a smug look.