Chapter Twenty Four

Hex

The phone dropped onto the bench beside me with a dull thunk. I looked up and saw Amber standing there, her face drawn and eyes worried.

'Alex isn't answering his phone. Li went round to his flat; it's empty, bed hasn't been slept in.'

'Maybe he's popped out.'

'Did you listen to a word I just said?' Amber snapped. 'He hasn't been there all night, Hex. Where the hell is he?' She snatched for the phone, went to punch in Alex's number, then stopped and threw the phone back onto the bench. 'You don't think- He wouldn't have- Alex wouldn't do anything stupid, would he?'

I raised my eyebrows slightly. 'Not counting failing to report his whereabouts and general state of mind to you every hour?'

'I'm serious, Hex,' she said tersely. 'You know how he's been lately.'

'Yeah. I do. And I also know how he wants to be treated: like normal. You- and Li, I suppose- obsessing over his every move isn't going to help him.'

'We're not obsessing.' She reached for the phone again, but I pulled it towards me before she could latch onto it.

'Amber...' I waited for her to look at me before continuing: 'Let him be. He might just need a bit of space.'

'All night?'

I shrugged and slid the phone across the bench, as far away from Amber as possible. For a moment she looked as though she was going to punch me and grab for the phone again, then she sighed and slumped onto the stool beside me.

'I can't help worrying about him.'

'I know. You care. That's fine. It's when you care to the point of smothering him that it becomes a problem. Just give him some breathing room.' I gave her a one armed hug, then got to my feet. 'I need to head into work for a bit, okay? I'll be back later. Don't touch the phone.'

'What if it rings?' she called after me as I made a beeline for the front door.

'Not even then. Let the answering machine get it. I mean it, Amber,' I said, half stern and serious, half joking. 'Worrying won't do anything. He'll come round when he's ready.'

Sensing the beginning of an argument, I shut the door before she could get another word in.

Maggie Walker greeted me almost as soon as I walked through the doors at work.

'Hex!' she said with a smile. 'How're you? Haven't seen you around lately- or the others for that matter. Everything okay?'

'I'm fine, thanks, Maggie. We're all fine. Just our wonderful new boss is getting... well, she's getting on our nerves a bit.'

Maggie made a face and gestured that I should walk with her. We headed towards the lifts as she said, 'Tell me about it. She loves bossing me around. Anyone would think I had no qualifications whatsoever, the way she treats me. At least Harry recognised I was an actual officer, not just some stupid secretary.' She thumbed the button for the elevator and stood beside me as we waited for it to arrive. 'And poor Alex. After everything that's happened she goes and attacks him like that. It's not right.'

'I know,' I said with a sigh. 'He's been in a bad way lately as well.' I didn't elaborate- I would have trusted Maggie with anything without a second's thought, but given that she had to work so closely with Abigail, I didn't want to say too much.

She shook her head sadly as the lift doors opened with a gentle ping. We waited for a handful of people to exit before stepping inside. At the last second, just before the doors shut, Ava Phillips and Carlos Lacey slipped in beside us.

'Hey, Hex!' Ava said brightly. 'Maggie.'

We murmured our greetings and rode up to the third floor. Maggie left, giving us all reassuring smiles as she did, and Carlos, Ava and I continued to the seventh floor. Carlos started to walk down the long hallway, realised Ava wasn't following, and asked her, 'Are you coming?'

She looked from him to me. 'Give me a minute. I'll catch you up.' Ava waited until Carlos had disappeared around the corner before saying in a low voice, 'Anything I can do to help?'

'Help with what?'

'Anything.' With a knowing look, Ava added, 'I know you lot are up to something. Something Abigail would be less than pleased about...'

'Are you blackmailing me?' I asked, genuinely worried.

Ava laughed. 'No! Far from it. I'm just saying if you need any help with anything at all- background checks, surveillance... Abigail's keeping tabs on you, so be careful.' I must have still looked confused because she sighed. 'What I mean is if there's any information you guys need from here-' she indicated the surrounding hallway '-I can help get it. If you want. No pressure.'

'Thanks, Ava. I'll keep that in mind.'

I waited until she hurried up the hallway to find Carlos before hopping back in the lift and heading up to the top story- Abigail's domain. Very cautiously I edged out of the lift, making sure no one was in the hallway. The coast was clear so I continued on my way, tensed and ready to make a quick excuse should anyone stop me; to be honest I wasn't exactly sure why I'd even bothered to come into work, but I think some insane, illogical part of me was under the impression Abigail's office would be abandoned, unlocked and full of incriminating documents. Another part of me wanted to confront her and demand she tell us everything she knew. No such luck.

As I neared Abigail's office, I heard murmured voices. Intrigued, I stopped to listen, hugging the wall and staying as quiet as possible.

'I'm sorry,' Abigail was saying, though she hardly sounded apologetic. 'I don't see what else I can do.'

'You could have tried to intervene. I thought you had some sort of authority here.'

'I do, but I don't keep tabs on every single officer,' Abigail said, annoyed.

Her companion, who sounded like a woman or a very feminine man, appeared to be just as pissed off. 'Well maybe you should, Abi. Or perhaps you're forgetting what's at stake here- who's at stake here.' There was a pause and then the woman spoke again. 'Is there anything else you want to tell me?'

'No.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes, Ella. I'm sure. That's all he needs to know.'

'Needs? What about should know?'

There was a pause and then: 'I can't say anything else.'

'I knew it,' Ella said with a bark of laughter. 'Oh just fantastic. He'll love that.'

'El, please.' Abigail sounded desperate, pleading, and I blinked in surprise. 'You of all people should know what I'm talking about.'

'I thought you wanted nothing more to do with him.'

'I don't, but...'

Once again, there was a long pause before Ella said, her voice soft, 'I know. Look, if my brother finds out-'

'-he'll kill him.'

'Not necessarily, but if he finds out you knew and didn't tell him, then both of you are in danger. No matter how close you are, he won't show any mercy. I speak from experience, Abi. Trust me on that.'

'So what do you propose I do?'

'Tell him. Before he finds out from someone else. He'll appreciate that and might be a bit more... lenient. But for God's sake, Abigail, if you don't say anything and he finds out you've known all this time...'

Soft footsteps replaced words and I looked around, horrified, knowing the two women were making their way to the door of Abigail's office and I was fully visible in the hallway. Across the hall was a broom closet; I bounded towards it and turned the handle.

It was locked.

'Who in their right mind locks a frickin' broom closet?' I hissed, giving the handle one final shake. It didn't budge and I abandoned that option, deciding instead to race down the hallway and dive into an office. I shut the door, hoping no one was occupying the room, and listened as the voices grew louder, then fainter as Abigail and Ella passed by.

Waiting for an extra few minutes, just to be sure that they had gone, I leant against the door, wondering what Abigail and her companion- Ella- had been talking about and why a broom closest was locked.

I found out the answer to the second question not five minutes later.

After picking the lock of the broom closet, I flicked the light on and shut myself inside. The room was small, but not a single cleaning product cluttered the space. What was inside, however, confused me: filing cabinets, four of them, lined up beside each other along the back wall. The first three cabinets were locked, but the fourth slid open easily when I pulled on the drawer. Inside was a single file- a few dozen pages slipped into a beige folder. Slowly, I pulled the file out, noticing the name scrawled in the top right hand corner of the folder.

Gerard Helton.