Dead in the Water

Mullen’s hand moved like a cobra striking its prey. It grabbed the man by his t-shirt and wrenched him forward until they were eyeball to eyeball. He wasn’t giggling now.

“I’ve already been lied to once today,” Mullen snarled. Close up, the man smelt of baked beans and dirt. And fear.

“He’s got it.” He pointed at the other guy. He licked his lips. His face was greasy with sweat. Mullen held onto his informant, but concentrated his gaze on the other man. He wondered if he was going to try and do a runner.

“Mine had had it,” the man said. “Worn out.” He spoke quickly and jerkily. “I asked the guy if I could have the tent. He said I could. That was kind of him wasn’t it?”

“Show me,” Mullen said, releasing his grip.

The tent was a small one, big enough to sleep in and hide from the rain, but not much else. Easy to carry. There wasn’t much room to store stuff either, which was probably just as well. There was a sleeping bag piled in a heap in the corner, a full bottle of water and two empty ones, a few clothes under the sleeping bag, a saucepan, a multipack bag of crisps, cans of soup and a couple of toilet rolls. Mullen lay down on the groundsheet and looked up. For a moment he was back in the army on a training course. Three days in some wild bit of Scotland. It had been hot then and it never got properly dark at night. Mullen had liked the outdoors side of the army. As a kid he had loved camping in the small back garden. But living in a tent like this was different. OK in the good weather, but tough when the rain came and the temperatures plunged.

What had Chris thought about as he lay in the tent at night waiting for sleep to come? Had he said his prayers like all the goody-two-shoes folk at St Mark’s? Not, of course, that they were all so perfect. Not Paul Atkinson and probably not Janice either.

The problem, Mullen was realising, was that he didn’t know much at all about Chris. Did he go to St Mark’s to get food and friendship or because he believed in all that Christian stuff? What was it the woman in the shop had said? He spoke proper ‘Queen’s English.’ So he came from a middle or upper class family maybe — a family that would miss him? Surely there was someone who would read the paper and recognise his face? Except that a man dead in the river with a high level of alcohol in him was hardly a story to hit the national papers or go viral on the internet. If his family lived locally, yes. But if they were from some other part of the country, probably not. Or maybe he had no family.

Mullen extricated himself from the tent. The two men were standing together, watching him. A pair of dummies; nervous, fearful even. Mullen began to fiddle in his jacket for the two packets of cigarettes. They had just about earned their reward. Or at least they would do if they gave him a detailed description of the man who had taken away Chris’s possessions. It would be a fair exchange. He stretched his right hand out, displaying his peace offerings. “Here,” he said.

But they didn’t move. They seemed to be holding their breath. It was only then that Mullen realised something was wrong. There was someone behind him. He began to turn, but too late. Something hard smashed into the back of his head. And for Mullen the lights went out.

* * *

“There’s something I need to show you.”

Paul Atkinson looked up to see Doreen Rankin standing in the doorway, arms folded; a sure sign that there was trouble afoot. He had only just got into the office and was half-way through a sandwich. “In my office,” she continued as if she was the boss. “At your convenience.” Which of course, as Atkinson knew, she didn’t mean.

He nodded and held up his lunch-box to try and buy himself some time, but the pout that formed on her lips and the shrug of her shoulder as she turned away spoke otherwise. Atkinson swore under his breath and stuffed what was left of his ham and pickle sandwich into his mouth. He still had a brie and cranberry one to consume, but he knew better than to delay. It was best to go and see what the bee in her bonnet was and get it sorted out. Then he could eat the rest of his lunch in peace. Life was always more straightforward when Doreen was happy.

“Shut the door,” she snapped when he walked into her office.

“This arrived in the post,” she said as he sat down. She pushed an envelope across her desk. “I assumed it was the standard marketing bumf, so I opened it as usual.”

Atkinson knew there was a problem. Doreen Rankin was getting her excuses in first. She was rarely in the wrong, but when she was the last thing she did was apologise. Instead she came out guns blazing, just as she was doing now. He looked at the envelope: no company stamp; no sender’s address; hand-written. He lifted it at an angle and allowed the contents to slide onto the table. They lay there, face up. Atkinson licked his lips, which were suddenly very dry. He picked up and studied the top photograph for several seconds, the others more briefly. He could feel Doreen’s eyes boring into his head, but he didn’t look up. He needed to think.

“I could shred them of course,” Doreen said. She was a problem-solver. That was one of her strengths. Give her a problem and her first reaction was to come up with a solution. But this wasn’t her first reaction. She had had plenty of time to think things through. “But whoever sent it will no doubt have the original digital photographs sitting on their computer somewhere ready to be reprinted or emailed round to all and sundry. So the only thing shredding will achieve is to ensure no-one in the office will see these copies by mistake. And possibly pass them on to your wife.”

Atkinson looked up at her. She always referred to Janice as his wife and never by her name. Even in the current circumstances, it irritated him. “I can work that out for myself, Doreen.”

“Unless, of course . . .” She paused. Atkinson suspected she was rather enjoying this whole embarrassing situation. Even so, another great thing about her was that she was totally loyal. “Unless, of course, your anonymous correspondent has already posted copies of the photographs to her.”

Atkinson could feel the blood drain from his face. That was something that hadn’t occurred to him. He looked into Doreen’s impassive face for some flicker of encouragement.

“Actually, I think that is highly unlikely,” she said. “After all, the obvious reason for sending these incriminating photographs to you is in order to blackmail you. And in such circumstances, sending photographs to your wife would be counterproductive.”

Atkinson nodded. She was right. She had to be.

“There is another alternative of course,” she said.

Paul Atkinson’s irritation level went up another notch. Why did Doreen insist on peppering her conversation with words like ‘of course’? But he tried not to let his feelings show, because that would only encourage her. Instead he folded his hands together and waited for her to say whatever it was that was so self-evident. He needed her on his side. And if she had a solution to the problem, he would like to hear it.

“Have you given your wife any reason to doubt your fidelity?” She paused momentarily as if she expected him to answer her question. But then she pushed on. “Because it occurs to me that if you have, then she might herself have hired some man to photograph you in the act as it were. In which case her posting them to you at the office where they might get seen by me is her way of applying pressure on you — of yanking on your lead and forcing you to come to heel.”

Atkinson considered this. He didn’t like the metaphor of himself as a dog and Janice his owner, but he had to admit Doreen had covered all the possibilities. So where on earth did that leave him?

“My advice,” Doreen said firmly, in a tone of voice that indicated he had better jolly well take it, “is to allow me to shred the photographs now, and then for you to go home at the usual time and see what happens.”

Atkinson opened his mouth. “But—” He got no further.

“It will be obvious from your wife’s behaviour whether she knows about the photographs. If she has been sent copies in the post, she will be furious with you as soon as you walk through the door. If it is she who sent them to you, she will no doubt be studying you very carefully. On the other hand, if she knows nothing about it, then her behaviour will be quite normal. In which case you will need to prepare yourself for a phone call or some other communication from your blackmailer.”