DI Sean Corrigan Crime Series: 6-Book Collection: Cold Killing, Redemption of the Dead, The Keeper, The Network, The Toy Taker and The Jackdaw. Luke Delaney

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СКАЧАТЬ course.’ Suddenly it was starting to make sense. Eager to explore the unexplained revelation before it could slip back in to the dark recesses of his mind, Sean continued: ‘I understand now. You gave Hellier his job at Butler and Mason in the first place, didn’t you? As soon as you met him, when and wherever that was, you knew, didn’t you? You knew he was the one you’d been waiting for; the one you could hide behind. And you made sure you had sole responsibility for checking his background, because you couldn’t risk anyone else discovering Hellier was a fraud. Did you even bother to check his references, his employment history, or was it so irrelevant that you didn’t even bother? It wasn’t his financial skills you wanted – you wanted him. You needed to have him where you could watch him, learn everything about him, manipulate him, didn’t you?’

      ‘Hellier was a subordinate, in every way a subordinate, put on this planet by powers you could never understand to be manipulated by people like me,’ Gibran answered. ‘It’s the law of Nature.’

      ‘Really?’ Sean replied. ‘So Hellier is inferior to you? Not as smart as you?’

      Gibran answered with a shrug of his shoulders and a smile.

      ‘But if that’s so, how come he out-smarted you in the end? He’s probably already setting himself up with a new life of privilege and luxury, while you’re sitting here with us, preparing to spend the rest of your life rotting in some prison hell-hole. So tell me, Sebastian, who’s the smart one now?’

      Sean studied Gibran’s reaction, watching as his smile fell away, his lips narrowing and growing pale, his once relaxed fingers beginning to curl into claws. At last Sean had found a way to peel Gibran’s façade away.

      ‘I mean, Hellier practically handed me your head on a plate. He read you like a cheap novel, predicted your every move, and when the time was right he served you to me on a platter.’

      Sean watched Gibran’s breathing grow shallow and then accelerate. Keep pushing him. Push him until he explodes and fills the room with shrapnel fragments of undeniable truth.

      ‘He made a fool out of you,’ Sean stabbed at him. ‘He’s made you look like a damn fool. A predictable idiot, and there’s nothing you can do about it. He’s won.’

      Sean waited for the eruption, certain he had done enough to provoke the truth out of him. But no arrogant rant of self-importance came; no declaration of the genius of his crimes spilled forth. Instead, to Sean’s horror, the smile returned to Gibran’s face.

      ‘That’s very presumptuous of you, Inspector, to declare the winner before the game’s even over,’ Gibran replied, calm now.

      ‘This is no game,’ Sean answered, ‘but it is over. For you, everything is over.’

      Sean knew he was wasting his time. All he was doing was providing Gibran with a stage to perform on. Tired of listening to him talking in riddles, he decided to end the interview.

      ‘Mr Gibran, is there anything you want to tell me? Anything at all?’

      ‘I know what you are,’ Gibran said without warning.

      ‘Excuse me?’ Sean asked.

      ‘I smell it on you the way I smelled it on James. You can hide it from others, but not me. You were made what you are by circumstance, just like James. Only you’re not like him. He controlled his nature, his unacceptable instincts, but you suppress yours. You live in fear of it, never embracing it. Such a waste.’

      ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

      ‘They trained you like a wild animal in captivity,’ Gibran continued, his voice aggressive now, assertive but still controlled. ‘Taught you to conform, beat you into submission with endless counselling and behaviour-suppressing drugs. You could have been so much more than you are.’

      ‘You know nothing about me,’ Sean snarled.

      ‘I know that every time you look at your children you think of your own childhood. It was your father, wasn’t it? Your abuser. It was your father who touched you in those special places, who told you it was a special secret only you and he shared. And as you grew older and didn’t want to be touched, it was your father who forced himself on you, who beat you when you said no.’

      Sean could feel the blood draining from his face. How did Gibran know? How did he know?

      ‘You’re finished.’ He spat the words at Gibran.

      ‘I was born the way I am,’ Gibran snapped back. ‘You were made by circumstances, but made you were. How long can you deny your nature? How long before your own hands reach out towards your children? How long before you and they share a special secret they must never tell Mummy? That’s why you were able to see James for what he was, because every time you look in the mirror you see James Hellier and all the other so-called killers you’ve locked away staring back at you. But you never saw me, did you? You and he are mere reflections of each other, whereas I am something you could never begin to comprehend.’

      Sean tried to jump to his feet, his hand already clenched into a fist. He felt a heavy arm across his chest. Donnelly eased him back into his chair.

      ‘Play your games, if you like,’ Sean said, back in control of himself. ‘But it’ll take more than games to stop you from going away for a very long time.’

      ‘I don’t think so.’

      ‘Your arrogance is your undoing,’ Sean told him. ‘You didn’t think you could make mistakes, but you have. DS Jones is alive and she will recover. And when she does, she’ll confirm it was you who attacked her. Why? Because she saw your face. You wanted her to see it was you. You wanted her to see her killer. You wanted them all to see your face. Wanted it to be the last thing they ever saw. You were too proud of yourself to hide behind a mask. The moment you allowed DS Jones to escape, it was over for you.’

      ‘I doubt DS Jones had more than a fleeting glimpse of her attacker,’ Gibran argued. ‘And I understand the attack was at night, probably in poor light. How could she be sure of anything? Her identification would be useless.’

      ‘And there’ll be security tapes from the underground,’ Sean continued. ‘Tapes that will show you following Linda Kotler. Now we know who to look for, it’ll be only a matter of time before we find you on those tapes.’

      ‘So maybe you can prove I was in the area. Hardly enough to convict a man of murder.’

      ‘There’ll be tapes from the club Daniel Graydon was in the night he died. And what about the bouncers there? What if they can pick you out of an identification parade?’

      ‘What if they can, Inspector?’ Gibran smirked. ‘You have nothing.’

      ‘You’re forgetting about the visit you paid DS Jones in Intensive Care. The police constable you killed there. You were still wearing his uniform when you were arrested. Mistakes, Sebastian. Too many mistakes. Too much evidence to explain away. Not to mention the syringe taped to your chest.’

      ‘A harmless, empty syringe,’ Gibran explained.

      ‘We’ve already spoken to the medical staff. If you’d injected air into Sally’s bloodstream it would have almost certainly caused a heart attack or stroke. She would have died and nobody would have known it was murder. With DS Jones dead, you could СКАЧАТЬ