Nightshade

63

Nightingale climbed out of the taxi, paid the driver, and turned up the collar of his raincoat. It was just starting to rain and he jogged towards Robbie Hoyle’s neat semi-detached house, keeping a tight grip on the bottle of burgundy that he’d brought with him. Anna Hoyle opened the front door and air-kissed him. Anna was gorgeous, slim with shoulder-length blonde hair and amused green eyes. She looked a good decade younger than her true age and it was hard to believe that she was the mother of three daughters.

‘He’s in the front room playing with his Wii,’ said Anna.

‘I thought he’d grown out of that,’ said Nightingale.

‘I’m cooking, I’ll be with you in a minute.’ She took the bottle of wine from him and nodded appreciatively at the label. ‘Fancy a glass of this?’

‘I wouldn’t mind a beer first.’

‘I got a pack of Corona in just for you,’ she said. ‘Though I’ve never understood why you drink Mexican beer.’

‘A girlfriend got me into it years ago,’ he said. ‘There was something sexy about the way she used her tongue to shove the lime down the neck of the bottle.’

‘More information than I needed,’ she laughed and headed off to the kitchen.

Robbie was playing virtual tennis against his eight-year-old daughter Sarah and she was trouncing him. ‘Fancy a game?’ asked Robbie, as he tried and failed to return one of his daughter’s serves.

‘Tennis was never my game,’ said Nightingale, dropping down onto the sofa.

‘Hello, Uncle Jack,’ said Sarah as she pounded another serve past her dad.

‘Who’s winning?’

Sarah laughed. ‘Who do you think?’

Anna brought Nightingale his lager, complete with slice of lemon in the neck. She grinned as he used his finger to push it down. ‘Dinner’ll be ready in five minutes,’ she said.

Anna had cooked her signature beef and beer casserole with garlic mashed potatoes, and as always it was delicious. Robbie opened the bottle of wine that Nightingale had brought, and then a second bottle of red. Afterwards Anna took Sarah up to bed while Nightingale went out into the garden for a cigarette. Robbie kept him company and the two men stood looking up at the stars. High overhead an airliner headed towards Gatwick airport.

‘You remember that Berwick thing?’

‘The killings. Sure.’

‘It’s all going to blow up soon. Big time.’ He reached into his pocket and took out the thumb drive that contained the pictures and videos Morris had taken from Stevenson’s laptop. He handed it to Robbie. ‘Have a look at that. You’ll see some faces that you’ll recognise.’

Robbie frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘McBride was part of a paedophile ring up in Berwick. They were abusing kids at his farmhouse. Serious abuse, Robbie. I don’t know if they were drugging the kids or what, but they looked out of it.’

‘McBride was a paedophile?’

‘I haven’t seen him on any of the videos or pictures yet, but there are thousands of them. It’s definitely his farmhouse, though. I recognise the rooms.’

‘And what am I supposed to do with this?’ asked Robbie, holding up the thumb drive.

‘It’s a fallback position. I’ve sent the stuff to the Met’s paedophile unit already, but I wanted another copy out there, just in case.’

‘Where did you get it from?’

‘The computer of a cop up in Berwick.’

‘A cop? There’s a cop involved in this?’

‘Robbie, the cop’s the least of it. There are some very, very important people involved. Showbiz, TV, politics. It’s huge, mate. It’s big and it’s organised and I think Berwick is a very small part of it. It makes the Savile thing look like a tea party. In fact the Savile thing might even be part of it.’

‘Bloody hell, Jack. Are you sure about this?’

‘Take a look at what’s on that thumb drive. You’ll see why I’m sure. Some of the names on the list are cops. I think that’s why there was no real investigation of the school killings. No one up there seemed interested in why McBride killed the kids that he did, and now I know why.’

‘What about going to the papers?’

‘The London cops need to move before the papers get involved. I don’t want trial by media, I want the bastards behind bars. Once it’s in the papers people are going to run.’

Robbie put the thumb drive into his pocket. ‘So why did McBride shoot the kids?’

‘Somehow the paedophiles found out that there was an investigation on the way, out of London. The London cops were going to talk to the teacher that was killed, the deputy headmaster. That was why McBride killed him. Then he shot the kids that were being abused. That’s why he was moving from classroom to classroom. He was killing witnesses, Robbie. All those kids he killed were the ones that were being abused. He was covering his tracks. And then he killed himself.’

‘Are you sure about this?’

‘I’m fairly sure. But the cops handling the investigation will find the proof, I’m sure of that.’

‘Why would he do that? Kill himself?’

‘Maybe he knew that whatever happened he was finished. Maybe the others persuaded him to do it. Maybe they threatened him. Hypnotised him. I don’t know, Robbie.’

‘And the Satanic stuff?’

‘To throw the cops off the trail. If they thought it was the work of a lone madman then they wouldn’t be looking for anyone else. It was sexual abuse, pure and simple. But organised and on a scale you can only imagine.’

‘And tell me again why you’re giving this to me?’

‘Insurance, I guess. Just in case the paedophile unit drops the ball.’

‘Why do you think that might happen?’

‘Because this is big, Robbie. It’s bloody huge. There are some bloody big names on that thumb drive. And some of them are in the photographs and video. I don’t know who else is involved. There’s already at least one cop in on it, but for all I know there could be senior officers in the Met involved. I need you to keep your ear to the ground and if nothing happens over the next few days then at least you’ve got the information there. You’ve got all the pictures, videos and the list of email addresses that were getting the doctored pictures.’

‘Doctored? What do you mean?’

‘The guy who had them on his hard drive was taking the pictures and blurring the faces of the men involved and then emailing them. I’ve got the before and after pictures. Those pictures alone will send dozens of men to prison for a long, long time.’

‘And how did you get them?’

‘Best you don’t know, mate. But they’re one hundred per cent kosher.’

‘Well, I hope you covered your tracks.’

‘I’m pretty sure I did.’ Nightingale tried to blow a smoke ring but the wind ripped it apart. ‘Can you sniff around, see if you can confirm that the Met was about to investigate the Berwick paedophile ring?’

‘I’ll give it a go.’

‘And I need you to do me a favour, Robbie.’

‘That’s a first,’ said his friend sarcastically. He sipped his red wine.

‘Have you heard of a lawyer by the name of Marcus Fairchild?’

‘The QC?’

‘Yeah. He’s Jenny’s godfather.’

‘Is he now? He’s a big swinging dick, that much I know.’

‘I need you to check him out.’

‘In what way?’

‘I need to know if there’s anything known. That’s all.’

‘Of course he’s known. He’s a multi-millionaire lawyer. He works for the CPS from time to time. What specifically are you looking for?’

Nightingale sighed. ‘You’ll think I’m crazy.’

‘That horse bolted a long time ago,’ said Robbie. ‘Spit it out.’

‘He’s a child molester. A paedophile.’

Robbie was drinking his wine when Nightingale spoke and he almost choked. ‘What?’

‘I want to know if he’s ever been implicated in anything like that.’

‘Bloody hell, Jack. If he had, he’d hardly be working with the CPS, would he?’

‘If it was hushed up, maybe.’

‘If it was hushed up, it won’t be in the system.’

‘It might.’

‘What’s going on, Jack? Is Fairchild on the thumb drive? Is he one of the guys in the photographs?’

‘Not that I can see. And I don’t see his name on the email list either. Could be a disguised email address of course, but no, I’ve no evidence that he’s involved in the Berwick abuse. But he did tell me that he worked on a paedophile case a while back.’

‘So this is separate? Something else?’

‘I think so, yes.’

‘And what exactly do you think he’s been doing?

‘Okay, what I’m going to tell you is going to sound crazy. Hell, it is crazy. But it’s the absolute truth and you have to believe me.’

‘You’re starting to worry me now, mate.’

‘Marcus Fairchild has been abusing Jenny since she was a kid. And he still is.’

Robbie stared at him in amazement. ‘By abusing you mean what, exactly?’

‘Sexual abuse.’

‘Jenny told you this?’

Nightingale shook his head. ‘She doesn’t know.’

‘But you do?’

‘Yes. I know it for an absolute fact.’

‘So report him.’

‘I can’t prove it.’

‘You know it’s a fact but you don’t have any proof?’

‘That’s pretty much it, yes.’

‘You’re right.’

‘I’m right?’

‘You’re right. It sounds crazy.’

Nightingale drew smoke into his lungs and held it there.

‘What’s going on, Jack?’ asked Robbie.

‘I’m trying to protect Jenny.’

‘From abuse that she doesn’t know about?’

‘He’s been doing it for years,’ said Nightingale.

‘And she doesn’t know? That’s ridiculous.’

‘He uses hypnotism or suggestion or some drug or other. And he’s part of a group called the Order of Nine Angles that carries out human sacrifice. They kill children.’

‘Now you’re really starting to worry me, Jack. You’re talking about one of the most respected lawyers in the country.’

‘It’s true, Robbie. When Jenny told him that I was working the Berwick case he came rushing to my office to find out what I knew. There was stuff about the Order of Nine Angles in McBride’s barn and Fairchild was desperate to pour scorn on it. Said it was an urban myth.’

‘He didn’t want you looking at it?’

‘That’s what I figured. Look, I know he’s got powerful connections. But there’s a good chance that some of those connections are in it with him.’

‘And you think that a quick look at the Police National Computer is going to blow the whole thing wide open?’

‘Of course not.’

‘So what do you expect me to do?’

‘When you put it like that, I’m not sure.’ He took a final drag on his cigarette and flicked the butt away.

Robbie glared at him. ‘What are you doing?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘What’s Anna going to say if she finds your old cigarette butts on the lawn? You pick it up, you soft bastard.’

Nightingale laughed and went to retrieve the butt. He slipped it into his pocket.

‘And even if by some miracle I do find something out, what then?’ said Robbie. ‘Who do you go to with something like that? He’s Establishment, through and through. It’ll have to be at Commissioner level to stand any chance of moving forward.’

‘I can’t just leave it, Robbie. I have to do something.’

‘And you can’t tell me why you’re so sure he’s a paedophile and child-killer?’

Nightingale shook his head.

‘It’s something to do with all that spooky stuff you’re always getting involved in?’

‘Pretty much, yes. The only way I can think of to prove it to Jenny is to have her undergo hypnosis, hypnotic regression or something. But if I do that, it’ll destroy her. She loves the guy. Trusts him totally. I don’t think I can do that to her. But I can’t let him continue to do what he’s doing.’ He shrugged. ‘I guess I had this crazy idea that you could come up with something that would open the whole thing up.’

‘That’s not going to happen,’ said Robbie. ‘I’m sorry. But if you want me to look at the PNC, I can do that. But I’ll have to do it under someone else’s log-in because there’s a good chance it’ll be red-flagged.’

‘No, you’re right. There’s no point. If I’m going to do something, it’ll have to be more decisive.’

Robbie turned to look at him. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Best you don’t know. Or at least best I don’t say.’

‘Don’t do anything stupid, Jack.’

‘Since when have I ever done anything stupid?’ said Nightingale, straight-faced. He managed to hold it for a few seconds before both men burst into laughter.

Anna appeared at the back door. ‘What are you two laughing at?’ she asked.

‘Nothing,’ said Robbie.

‘Well, come and get your coffee.’

Robbie patted Nightingale on the back as they headed into the kitchen. ‘Whatever you decide to do, be careful,’ he said.

‘Careful is my middle name.’

‘I thought danger was your middle name.’

Nightingale grinned. ‘Changed it by deed poll.’

Anna appeared at the kitchen door. ‘Do you two guys want to stay out there all night or are you going to come in for coffee?’

‘Coffee sounds good,’ said Robbie. He patted Nightingale on the back. ‘Seriously, mate, you be careful.’ They walked back to the house together. Nightingale knew that his friend was right. He had to be careful. But he had to do something about Marcus Fairchild. Something drastic.