Costa Crew 2: They Walk Among Us

Chapter 11 - The End Of An Era

Becky sat back and shook her head in disbelief as the announcement played.

"I regret to inform you that Amelia Murphy was indeed found dead in her cell this morning," Connelly said, his usual smug demeanour gone. "However this will not be ignored and I will be doing everything in my power to aid the police in bringing her killer to justice. I also acknowledge that this could have been prevented, and we will be taking measures to ensure this never happens again. At Her Majesty's prison we strive to not only prevent inmates from posing a danger to society but to also ensure that they are safe in our custody. Any gaps in our security will be found and rectified. And now, Chief Constable Thomas Hunt."

Becky switched the TV off and ran a hand through her hair. Truth be told, she didn't know what to feel. A miniscule part of her, which was to say the remains of Amelia's friend, felt pity, not for Amelia, but for her family and any friends she had left that weren't in prison. There was also a great sense of relief, as Amelia's death meant there was nothing more she could do to harm Becky or the Costa Crew.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that Becky's troubles were over, something didn't sit right. While the teenager inside her told her that everything would be fine now that Amelia was gone for good, the investigator inside her was going crazy, screaming that if Amelia had been murdered in her prison cell, someone had clearly gone to a lot of effort to kill her or have her killed.

Most of the in prison deaths you heard about were the result of someone 'being a rat'. But Amelia hadn't seen anyone except for Becky and Paul since going to prison, and she hadn't told them anything except that she had a plan for revenge on Becky. An outside observer would have considered the possibility of Becky killing Amelia in order to prevent this plan from being carried out, but since Becky was Becky and she hadn't killed Amelia, she could rule out that possibility. She hadn't told anyone except her friends, who obviously weren't killers, and Ted had told DCI Drake and DI Daniels, who she didn't know that well, but Paul seemed to trust them, even trusting Drake with Becky's life once. Admittedly Becky had been kidnapped, but as Hannah had explained, it wasn't Drake's fault.

It was also unlikely to be one of Amelia's inner circle of friends. Her former fiancée Anthony Andrews was in another high security cell block, awaiting the day he could get back into the world, although there was no telling what he would have done to Amelia after finding out about how she manipulated him. Lisa Kleinman was continuing her work as a defence attorney in Australia, with no desire to ever see or hear from Becky or Amelia again. The only member of this group with any sort of freedom and influence in the UK was Lisa Beck, who Becky couldn't see throwing away her career just to kill her friend who was already in jail.

As Paul entered he quickly shut the door behind him before locking it and then turning to Becky. "I think every reporter that isn't at the prison or HQ is outside," he panted. "They all want to hear from you."

"Why me?" asked Becky quizzically. "I didn't have anything to do with Amelia's death."

"They're expecting you to have something to say. Becky, Amelia's the villain of your story and now she's dead. Not just dead, murdered. And the last thing she said before prison was that she would make you suffer. I think you need to lie low for a while until this all dies down."

Becky shook her head. "I get what you're saying, but it won't die down until the reporters get what they want, and I just got back to work. I can't go off again, today was the best day I've had in a long time."

"I'm not saying stop going to work," Paul said. "Just make sure you're very careful about what you tell the reporters otherwise they'll be treating you like a suspect, because while you may be innocent you have a clear motive to want her dead. And another thing, Drake's running the investigation but I'm looking at it from an Anti Corruption angle. The thing is, I'm thinking Amelia must have had corrupt officers working for her as well, which may mean there's a whole network of corruption in the police, and Hunt hates that idea. If he tells me to back off I won't, but AC-9 will. Samantha's been doing good work and Ben's just new, I can't ask either of them to risk their careers. I understand if you don't want to either, but I would appreciate it if you could be my contact in cyber security."

"Of course, nothing wrong with a little rebellion," Becky replied immediately. "Imagine it: Costa Crew 2, Electric Boogaloo."

"With all these corrupt officers in our ranks it's almost like Among Us," Paul added.

Becky laughed. "Ah yes, gotta watch out for the DI venting in electrical."

Paul burst out laughing as they walked to the kitchen - that is to say, an extension of the living room. Similar to the safehouse they had lived in during Operation Godfather, the living room, dining room and kitchen in their apartment had been merged into one. A narrow hallway led to the bathroom and three bedrooms. The extended living room was what made this apartment cheaper than most three bedroom flats, and that was why Becky, Paul and Hannah had chosen it.

"We'd better call Hannah to warn her about the reporters," Becky said as she ladelled Spaghetti Bolognese into two bowls. "I imagine they'll be gone by the time she gets back from that pizza party but better safe than sorry."

"Good thinking," replied Paul, taking out a bag of dog food and pouring some into Captain Jack's bowl. "Do you mind calling her? I need to keep checking my emails with everything that's going on."

Becky nodded as she handed Paul a plate of spaghetti and took out her phone, which went to voicemail when she called Hannah. "Hey Hannah, just thought I should let you know that there's a bunch of reporters outside after what was on the news, so...just be careful when you're coming home. Anyway that's all, have fun."

She hung up then texted Hannah telling her to check her voicemail, then opened up her laptop and logged into her email. "I hate internet," she muttered under her breath as her inbox loaded.

Becky had two new emails. The first was confirmation from the DCI she had sent the phone records to earlier that day. The second had no subject but Becky nearly choked on spaghetti when she saw the sender's address.

FROM: Amelia Murphy (amurphy04@gmail.com)

NO SUBJECT

Let the games begin!

This should be fun. I just wish I could be there to see it.