When all ropes had been untied Scott’s attention returned to what was happening behind them. Neil hovered uncertainly behind Detective Fallon who was crouched over his brother’s body. His fingers probed Jack’s neck searching for a pulse. He looked up at Scott and shook his head.
Fallon had withdrawn a police radio and was now reporting events into it. He ordered an air ambulance and gave coordinates to their location.
‘Detective Fallon,’ Scott said, ‘I’m a little more pleased to see you now than I was last time. But I am wondering how the hell you found us.’
‘Back to the house first and I’ll explain.’
Neil, Fallon, Scott and Angela walked back towards the house. Despite her ordeal Angela had refused to wait and be taken by ambulance, insisting she was fine to walk with the rest of them.
When they reached the stile at the bottom of the land revolving blue lights could already be seen up by the house. A group of officers rushed past them acknowledging Detective Fallon, no doubt to the location he’d given over the radio. A helicopter also hovered overhead, searching for a suitable spot to land.
‘Is there any sign of McBlane?’ an older man in plain clothes that Scott took to be a superior officer asked Fallon, when they got back to the cottage.
‘No sign sir, officers are searching the area but so far no indication he’s been here.’
They went inside and sat in the living room. Angela refused any attention from the paramedic but did accept the offer of a phone call which she quickly made to her dad, thankfully in time, before he’d taken any rash measures of his own.
The next couple of hours consisted of questions and statements and again further questions. It became apparent that Fallon had been on to a lot of what had gone on regarding the violence and other criminal activity around the clubs for quite a while, but had so far been unable to produce enough evidence with which to bring charges. Jack had kept himself isolated so that no connection had previously been made with his involvement, which of course had now changed.
‘So how did you turn up when you did?’ Angela asked, as Fallon was rereading notes he’d taken from them.
‘You can thank Neil for that I suppose. We’d been unable to turn up any further lines of enquiry and Scott had dropped off the radar again, so I went back and shook Neil down for anything else he might know. His girlfriend was less than happy at the intrusion into her swanky apartment and insisted he gave us whatever he knew.’
Neil looked distraught at his betrayal, despite it having probably saved their lives.
‘He told us about the box of drugs you’d buried and after nothing had been turned up here during your previous search I thought there may have been more than just drugs buried down there. Information on Twinkle’s current location perhaps.
Scott kept straight faced. Everything was over now and so far he looked to have been able to avoid any charges being levelled at either him or Neil, and if Jeff could be kept out of the picture completely, then that was even better.
‘When we pulled up out front and saw both of the cars I suspected something was up, but it wasn’t until we heard the gunshot on our way through the woods that I realised exactly what. I immediately called for backup and proceeded to the location intending to wait for their arrival. When I saw Jack with the gun drawn I knew I couldn’t wait and under the circumstances did the only thing I could. Unfortunately the shot I fired to incapacitate your brother proved to be fatal. It was very dark down there and I couldn’t risk simply putting one in an arm or leg and hoping that he’d drop the gun.’
‘So what happens now?’ Scott asked warily.
‘You mean regarding the drug possession and alleged dealing that you and Neil were involved with? Well I’m told the amount recovered down by the tree isn’t exactly huge, and considering your co-operation to bring the matter to a close, especially the information regarding your brother’s involvement, it’s highly unlikely either of you will face prosecution.’
Angela reached across and squeezed Scott’s hand.
‘It looks as if McBlane may have seen this coming though and decided to flee with a couple of his closest associates. Warrants were issued and searches have been carried out at all of their known residences in the last hour. So far none of them have turned up. But someone like that won’t stay hidden forever. He’ll turn up again one day.’
Once all of the questions had been answered they were at last allowed to go. The paramedics checked Angela over and cleaned and redressed the wound on Scott’s hand, telling him he would still need to have it assessed at hospital. The police hadn’t finished at the cottage so Scott and Angela decided to go and spend the night at her place, dropping Neil off outside the Walker Building on the way.
‘What do we do about Jeff and everything that happened up in the mountains?’ she asked, once they were alone in the car.
‘I don’t know about you but I’d be happy to see the back of the city again for a while. I say we head back up there for a while and live the simpler life.’
Angela grinned and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. ‘Do you think you and Jeff will start growing again in the caves?’
‘I have no idea, maybe one day I guess. But with the amount of tinned food that was stored in the living quarter cupboards, McBlane may be able to stay alive down there for months.’
‘Oh my God, really?’
‘Yeah there’s water and ventilation. It may be cold and it’ll definitely be dark since Jeff cut the power, but I’d leave it a good while before I decided to venture back down again.’
R. D. Ronald, The Elephant Tree
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