The Whole Truth (A. Shaw 1)

CHAPTER 51

ON THE DRIVE over to Anna’s former office, Shaw pulled out the business card he’d been given and called MI5 agent Edward Royce. The man answered on the second ring and Shaw explained that he was in London and had reconsidered helping Royce on the Red Menace investigation.

When Royce asked about his change of heart, Shaw said, “Long story not worth going into, but I’ve got a favor to ask. I’ve already cleared it with Frank.”

“He called me.”

“Really, and said what?”

“To help you any way I could. He told me of your… personal connection to the murders in London.”

“Can you get me access to the building?”

“Well, we might be able to kill two birds with one stone, actually. How does that plan work for you?”

“What are you talking about?” Shaw said curiously.

“You’ll see when you get here.”

“Here? Where?”

“At The Phoenix Group building.”

Shaw’s mouth sagged. “What are you doing there?”

“I’ll see you when you get here,” Royce said tersely.

Shaw put his phone away and leaned back, rubbing his injured arm.

What the hell is going on?

After he’d gotten to Katie’s cell phone and found out about Anna’s death, the next two days in the hospital had been worse than any mission he’d ever done, worse than any nightmare his subconscious had ever conjured. He did remember being sedated again and again after busting up his hospital room and actually throwing someone against a wall. This outlet for his grief, his fury, hadn’t helped. It just kept building until his mind and body had been unable to endure any more. And he had just collapsed. He actually thought he’d died. And a real big chunk of him wished he had.

For twenty-four hours he didn’t move or speak. He just stared at the white wall of the hospital, much as he had done as a little boy at the orphanage, trying to fashion a different reality from the abject collapse of his life. Yet when he’d finally risen from his bed, Anna was still dead. She would always be dead.

The only thing keeping him going now was the thought of finding and killing whoever had done it. It was the one goal that could possibly keep him from simply disintegrating. He hadn’t lapsed into melodrama when he’d told Katie that his life was over. It was over.

All he had to do now was finish it right, by avenging Anna.

He grabbed a cab and headed to the place where her life had ended. What he really wanted to do was run the other way.

CHAPTER 52

ROYCE MET SHAW AT THE FRONT DOOR where police lines were still strung across. Inside the building the activity was intense, with police and forensic teams examining every square inch of the place. As Shaw stepped carefully around their work he saw the pools of dried blood and white tape outlines that distinctly marked where a body had dropped.

Royce eyed his injured arm. “What the bloody hell happened to you?”

“My dog bit me. What did you mean about killing two birds with one stone? And why are you here in the middle of a homicide investigation?”

“I’d like you to see this first.”

He led Shaw into a room on the first floor that had been set up as a crime scene investigation office. On one table was a computer terminal. Royce sat down in front of it and started hitting keys.

“We got a video feed from a surveillance camera on the street that was put there to record license plates for the congestion charge. Here’s what it captured on the day the killings happened.”

Shaw looked over Royce’s shoulder as the screen sprang to life. The positioning of the camera up on a pole afforded a complete exterior view of the building. A van with a satellite dish sprouting from the top pulled up in front of the building and two men got out.

Royce explained, “The uniform of the London road crews.”