The SPECTRE Of The VATICAN ©

Chapter 59 - Do As The Romans Do . . . L

Time: Present Day
Location: Paris France

Mal turned to Layla,"Are you all thinking what I'm thinking? I always suspected that there was more to Carter's death than meets the eye. Now I'm certain, Carter's death was by no means an accident. Thanks fot letting us see that copy of the CCTV footage on your computer and the photo of the paramedics' testimony. I agree with him, that was no priest, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, I think he may have even been in on the whole thing. The evidence suggests he knew the bikie, or at least was paying him for something, did the police ever find out who he was texting, did they even bother to check?"

"Sorry again Aunty Michy, but I think Uncle Tony shut down the investigation for some reason," Amanda ventured.

"No, no You're wrong! Tony might be a lot of things but he's a good cop, that's too much. It was Carter, his nephew, he would have left no stone unturned, he, he . . . " Michelle wailed.

Layla cut her off, "Exactly the point. Tony is an excellent cop. Therefore the only logical explanation is that he ignored vital evidence and prematurely closed the case. I have to ask you this Michy, has Tony come into a large sum of money recently, would you know if he had?"

"Are you all suggesting my husband might be a crooked cop?" Michy looked dismayed.

"You mean as well as a paedophile? Or didn't you know about that either, Aunty Michy?" Amanda said with disgust. She no longer could contain her contempt for her Uncle Tony. It was time to end the charade.

Mal was uncomfortable, you could cut the air with a knife.

"Look, what's done is done. We need to decide what to do next. What about Carter's Mum and Monique? Funny we don't have any CCTV footage, of either of the other two events, am I the only one who thinks that that's strange. Same as Princess Di, there were lots of rumours at the time that she and Dodi were murdered, that all seventeen CCTV cameras in the area had been switched off. We have exactly the same situation with your Mum Amanda, don't we? Only this time, MI5 or MI6 hopefully isn't involved."

Chris looked up from his computer and blew them all away when he announced, "I've been waiting to get a word in, I've got Mum's phone opened on my computer, she had a draft message in her Message file. It's addressed to you Sis and Margot, I'll read it out loud . . . should I?" They all said yes in unison.

"As I said it was addressed to Amanda and Margot,n
and it reads, 'Hi girls, just wanted to let you know I arrived safe and sound and am back in Paris. Even though it's cold I'm glad to be back. Peter didn't take my news well, in fact he threw me out, or his guards did. He must be a big shot now at the Vatican, to have not one but two Swiss Guards guarding him. It seems really strange since I saw a sheet at security that listed him as Guardian. Why does a Guardian need guarding, anyway, he was very angry, quite frightening really, nothing like the Peter I was expecting to see. Maybe he'll listen to you Amanda, Here's his number. 0758 666 851 797 I got it off one of the security guards at the front desk who took pity on me. He blames me for everything, including what happened to Ameliaaaaaaaaathepriest122122#.....

After that she accessed the camera and took this picture, , , ." He spun the laptop around and showed the picture of a man in black getting into the black car. The time stamp is the time of the accident, she was writing this in the back of the cab but never finished it."

"What's all that at the end?" Mal asked.

"Can't be certain but it looks like she pressed and held down the "a" when the cab crashed, and the numbers at the end . . , "

"She was trying to dial emergency, it's 122 in France," Margot explained.

"And, look, Layla, Mum typed, the priest, look who is getting in the car, does he not look like a priest from the back? Shit, not a priest, the priest, that's what Mum's trying to tell us!"Amanda gasped.