The Dark Horizon, page 29
‘What?!’
‘Just kidding.’
Once more the camera swept the hospital entrance. The time had moved on to seven minutes to one.
‘He’s leaving it bloody late,’ El complained. ‘There’s not a dicky bird hint of anything happening.’
‘You know what I’d like you to do?’
‘What?’
‘Be just like you were in the ambulance. I thought you made a great corpse.’
Once more they waited. El kept his camera focused unerringly on the entrance, Dan continually eyed his watch. It was remarkable how slowly the time was passing. Upon every glance he was convinced another minute had turned, but it was only a few seconds.
His mobile bleeped with a text. It was Claire again.
Did you get that last message? Important!
‘Bugger,’ Dan whispered.
‘What?’
‘Resurgam’s opening early. When we’re done here I need to get back - fast.’
‘Me too. It’ll be worth a few shots, ‘specially if it goes boom.’
‘Beautifully put. But the point is – how the hell do we get there?’
‘What?’
‘You saw the crowds around the thing. Plus the hundreds of other cars that were trying to get down to the waterfront. The cops are cordoning the area off. No one else is getting in.’
‘You’d better do something.’
‘How did I know you were going to say that?’
It was six minutes to one. Dan fumbled for his mobile, called Claire and explained his predicament.
‘I’ll put you onto the boss,’ she said.
‘I really hope this is urgent,’ a very irascible Adam snapped. ‘As I’m currently only trying to avert a terrorist outrage.’
‘It is – to me.’
‘Well?’
‘I’m up at the hospital.’
The detective’s tone softened. ‘You ok?’
‘Yep, fine.’
‘Then what the hell are you doing there?’
‘Never mind. But I need to get back. And there’s no way. Unless…’
‘What?’
‘Could you send a taxi?’
‘What?!’
‘A special taxi. With a flashing blue light.’
Adam swore in a way usually reserved for the most distasteful of the criminal tendency. ‘Since when did we become Copcabs?’
‘I take it that’s a no?’
‘Well spotted. Now stop wasting my time.’
The phone was passed back to Claire, its short passage accompanied by background grumbling.
‘How did the negotiations go?’ she asked, sweetly.
‘Not great.’
‘It is a little tense here.’
‘I guessed.’
‘How important is it you get back?’
‘Not particularly. I’ll only be sacked if I’m not there for one of the biggest stories Wessex Tonight has ever covered.’
‘That bad?’
‘That’s being optimistic and assuming Resurgam doesn’t go up in flames. If I miss that Lizzie will probably take out a contract on my life.’
‘Would it help what’s going to happen this evening if there was some way of getting you back here?’
And now, bizarrely, despite a world that was growing ever more stressful and surreal, Dan smiled. ‘Quite honestly, I don’t think it’d make any difference. But I could certainly do with getting back to Resurgam.’
‘That’s the right answer,’ came a reply filled with a matching smile.
Four minutes to one.
‘Are you sure about this?’ El bleated, for the umpteenth time.
‘Still not entirely.’
‘How much you sure?’
‘You want a percentage?’
‘Yeah. And make it a good one.’
‘Say – maybe 60.’ Dan saw his friend’s expression, and quickly amended the guesswork mathematics. ‘70, then.’
El gibbered a little, but didn’t reply.
A car drew up outside the entrance. The camera was at the paparazzo’s eye in an instant. So eager was El that he was dangling forwards, hanging onto a tree for balance.
‘Come on my beauty, come on!’
If desire alone was enough to create the Cashman from the invisibility of air, then he would surely have appeared. But instead an elderly lady picked herself slowly from the car and toddled into the hospital.
‘Pants,’ sighed El. ‘I’m getting a bad feeling about this.’
‘I know what you mean. But it all makes sense. Eight Cashman appearances and R, E, S, U, R, G, A, M. That can’t be a coincidence.’
‘And the times?’
‘The first appearance at 6 o’clock in the evening, or 18 hundred hours. The second at five in the morning. They correspond with each of the letters. So the last has to be at one pm.’
‘Right,’ El said slowly, hampered by the burden of the mental arithmetic. ‘And the locations?’
‘All random, just so long as there are quite a few people about. With the critical exception of this last one, to point out the contrast of spending money on Resurgam instead of a hospital.’ Dan wondered if he was trying to convince El, or himself. ‘The pieces of paper in the bags are marked by letters, remember? From A to H. And where’s the only place the H could lead you, from road signs or on a map?’
‘Ok, but…’
‘Combine that with who it is we think we’re about to find and you’ve got it.’
‘In which case, where is he?’
‘He?’
‘The Cashman.’
Dan raised an eyebrow. ‘Or Cashwoman.’
The positive news was that there were no other media in sight, and not a sign of the foreign paparazzi. Dan tried to soothe El with the thought, only to be deflated by the rejoinder, ‘There ain’t no sign of the Cashman, neither.’
Another car drew up. El launched into his straining forwards mode again, and this time even began a low panting. It was like standing next to a starving dog.
The sun wasn’t helping. It was shining on the car’s windscreen, which made picking out the occupants difficult.
‘There’s at least a couple of people,’ El muttered. ‘No, three. This is it!’
Dan found himself leaning forwards too. ‘You reckon?’
‘Yeah. The Cashman, his helper, and that plonker Franklin who pulled out in front of us. It has to be.’
One of the doors was opening, the passenger side, but very slowly. The driver’s door was opening too.
El’s voice was breathless with excitement. ‘Oh, great God of the paparazzi, deliver unto your loyal son El his pile of gold. He’s a good snapper. He deserves it.’
‘Shh,’ Dan urged. ‘Just concentrate.’
‘I’m focused as a laser beam, baby.’
One of the car’s back doors was opening. The attendant was hovering and watching, but making no attempt to intervene.
‘Remember the plan,’ Dan said. ‘You know what to do.’
A woman climbed slowly from the front of the car. She was heavily pregnant. Another woman and a man joined her, shared a hug, and the man escorted her into the hospital. El slumped and deflated.
‘He’s not coming. We got it wrong. You got it wrong!’
Dan was finding self-defence difficult, and any remaining resources of hope even more elusive. ‘He’s – she’s bound to wait until the last minute. That’s the way it’s worked before.’
El checked his watch. It was two minutes to one. ‘We’re missing the party,’ he lamented. ‘Back at Resurgam the Cashman’s about to spring out and all those other bloody snappers are gonna fill their boots with El’s gold.’
A couple of women emerged from the double doors. El raised the camera, but this time with much less enthusiasm. The pair paused for a second, exchanged a few words, then made their separate ways towards the car parks.
One minute to one.
‘I’m gonna hang up me camera,’ El moaned. ‘The biggest gig going, on me home turf, and I’m diddled by a bunch of foreign fancy boys. I’m gonna take up basket weaving.’
A car was approaching the little crescent. It was moving slowly. And it looked familiar.
‘Hang on,’ Dan said.
The car passed through a patch of shade. There were two people in the front. And one was wearing a distinctive scarf.
‘Holy flying saucers!’ El gasped.
The car pulled up outside the main entrance.
‘Come on!’ Dan ordered and began striding forwards, closing the ground fast.
The driver was mouthing words, the passenger reaching into the back of the car.
‘Come on, come on,’ Dan urged.
It felt like being like an Olympic runner at the end of a marathon. He’d reached the stadium and was only metres from the finish line. There were no other competitors in sight, and all the work had finally paid off. Triumph, jubilation, and a symphony of relief were playing in Dan’s ears.
They were almost at the crescent. The sun was blazing from the windscreen. But inside the car they could just about make out the person in the passenger seat putting something over their face.
Dan reached the door and knocked on the window. Looking back at him was the Robin Hood mask.
It should have been a moment of drama and delight. It was somewhat marred by the contemporary curse of the predatory parking attendant.
The window began to roll down and Dan was preparing his words. Something with a nod to history he thought, with suitable resonance for such a meeting. Something like, ‘The Cashman, I presume?’
He was about to speak when a reedy and nasal voice, emitted unnecessarily close to his ear pronounced, ‘You can’t wait here.’
‘What?’
‘It’s dropping off only. No waiting.’
‘But…’
‘No exceptions.’
‘But…’
‘Not even for you TV people and your friends.’
‘But…’
‘There are no exceptions at all. I’ve got a bunch of tickets and I’m not afraid to use them. And please, do not attempt to argue.’ The irritating voice took on a note of pride. ‘In my time I believe I’ve heard every excuse possible.’
‘Not this one you haven’t,’ Dan replied, and stood aside to let the attendant see who was sitting in the car.
‘Oh,’ the chinless one faltered. ‘Isn’t that…’
‘Yes, it is. On top of which, if you give me two minutes – just two – then what was about to happen here will still happen. And you’ll be at the front of the queue, won’t you?’
The calculations churned in the miniature despot’s eyes. As time was limited and Dan very much didn’t want any further complications, he added a little extra incentive.
‘I don’t suppose you get paid hugely well for such an important job. A little bonus would be the least you deserve.’
In fairness to the man, he might have been an automaton but he wasn’t daft.
‘In this case I can make an exception,’ the model of officialdom announced. ‘Please proceed.’
As the poignancy of the moment was now as lost as a pop star’s humility, Dan merely said, ‘Hello June.’
The mask was lowered. ‘Hello Dan. So, you worked it out?’
‘Eventually.’
‘Well done.’
‘Thanks. I think I know what this is all about, but I’ve got a few questions I’d like to ask – for the record.’
‘Of course. I’d like it to all be on the record.’
It was curious how little people noticed of the world around them. The ceaseless procession from the hospital carried on with its comings and goings. Cars passed by, and no one spotted what was playing out in this small crescent of road.
El was standing back and taking snaps, leaning forwards and taking snaps, and jigging from foot to foot and taking snaps.
‘And a little photo shoot for my excitable friend here too, if you wouldn’t mind,’ Dan added.
‘No problem. I’ve got plenty I want to say.’
‘I thought you might have.’
She was remarkably calm for this moment, the culmination of a wondrous story. But there was a little mistiness in the eyes, and a softness to the voice, which betrayed the power of feeling that had pushed her to act.
‘There is one thing I need to do first,’ June said.
‘I’ll get out of your way. It won’t take long, will it?’
‘It never does.’
Dan pulled away the fireball of excitement that was El. He was burbling delighted nonsense to himself, his face filled with a soppy grin. ‘Let’s hear it for Dan who found the Cashman,’ he kept repeating.
And now came the final moment. The car door opened and out climbed the Cashman, bag in hand. Within seconds there was a crowd, grabbing eagerly at the last of the offerings.
El snapped and snapped and snapped some more. But as for Dan he just watched, filled with the colours of fields of spring flowers, an expanse of warmth and admiration that he had rarely known before.
CHAPTER 29
Daniel Groves had never thought of himself as a dreamer. Yes, he was sometimes prone to melancholy moods, although thankfully the Swamp of the depression that had always stalked him tended to strike far less often these days. For that, as he was gratefully aware, he had Claire to thank.
Dan might occasionally wander a little stroll of fancy, but that was one of the ways which helped him to solve crimes when Adam came calling. And he could sometimes just detach and admire the world, as when he was walking on Dartmoor with Rutherford, or marvel upon the people within it, as of now, watching June.
The problem was such traits didn’t make for the greatest assets in his official job, which was more a getting stuck in and sorting out vocation. But the mechanism Dan had developed to warn him of such danger moments was in efficient working order, and now it activated again.
A miniature Lizzie materialised on his shoulder and began carping, ‘Film it, film it, film it!’ And, as though stung by an invisible bee, Dan took out his mobile and did just that.
When June had finished, she nodded nebulously to Dan and got back into the car. No one attempted to intervene. All were too busy celebrating their windfalls, gossiping excitedly, or scouring the area for overlooked booty.
The little car trundled slowly up to the expanse of car park and found a space. Dan and El followed and got into the back.
‘So, that’s that,’ June said, with magnificent understatement.
Maggie reached out a hand and held her shoulder. ‘You did it. Exactly the way you wanted. And now it’s time to tell the world why.’
Both women looked to the back of the car, only to find Dan staring into space.
‘It’s time,’ Maggie prompted, but to no avail, until the unsubtle intervention of a whack in the ribs from El.
‘Err, what?’ Dan said.
‘What do we do now?’ June asked.
‘Sorry, I was elsewhere.’
Maggie nodded. ‘We noticed. We just thought you might like to do some interviewing,’ she teased, but warmly. ‘Perhaps run a story. Given that you’re the only journalist with the news everyone’s been chasing.’
Kindly to the end, June asked, ‘Are you ok?’
‘Sort of,’ Dan replied. ‘It’s a couple of things.’
‘Which are?’
‘Well, firstly finding you. The quest for the Cashman was such a huge thing. Now it’s over I feel… a little lost.’
‘I’m the same,’ June agreed. ‘It was an incredible time, hiding this great secret.’
‘What was the other thing, Dan?’ Maggie asked.
‘Just the small business of Resurgam.’
The car was filled with yellow sunlight and felt warm, despite the pervasive cold outside. June wound down a window to let the crispness of the breeze circulate. El was happily spinning through the snaps he’d taken, examining each in turn.
‘El’s, all El’s,’ he giggled. ‘Where are you now, Mr Italian? Chase El’s farts!’
‘What were you saying about Resurgam?’ June asked, and Dan explained how it was opening early. In response, in that wonderful way which older people have, June swore with an erudite style. ‘Oh bugger. I really wanted to be there to protest.’
‘I rather wanted to be there too,’ Dan replied, sadly. ‘Being as my job depends on it.’
‘And there’s no way of getting back?’
However unspoken, the clock on the dashboard suggested not. The time was quarter past one.
‘Your editor will understand, surely? Now you’ve got the story of the Cashman.’
‘You don’t know my editor.’
Dan must have looked impressively downcast, because both Maggie and June reached over and took a hand each.
‘We’ll look after you,’ Maggie said, confirming the pair’s status as modern saints.
A siren wailed in the distance. An ambulance no doubt, bringing yet another victim to this palace of suffering.
‘I’ll be ok,’ Dan ventured. ‘It’s just – I’d have liked to be there to see Resurgam open, after all that’s happened. And I wouldn’t have minded a few more years of being a hack, either.’
The siren was growing louder. Dan’s mouth felt dry. He gulped and said huskily, ‘Ah well, I suppose it was good while it lasted.’
‘What now, then?’ June asked.
‘We’d better take you back to Wessex Tonight. I can interview you, then plead prostrate before Lizzie for a stay of execution.’
The sound of the siren was overwhelming the car. It was coming very close. The ambulance must have overshot Accident and Emergency.
A flashing blue light appeared in the car park. It wasn’t an ambulance, but a police car. And Claire was driving.
‘I’m hoping you’re here for the reason… I hope you are,’ was the professional wordsmith’s eloquent greeting.
‘In which case you’d better get in. We don’t have much time.’
Dan clambered into the passenger seat, and with a magnanimous afterthought looked over to El, June and Maggie.
‘Yes, ok,’ Claire conceded patiently, and the trio climbed into the back. It wasn’t going to be the most comfortable of rides. El was in the middle, which meant both women were squashed against the doors like tomatoes in a tray. But at least they now had a chance of making it to Resurgam.
