Gods and Monsters

XV

Mary Quinn's office – Brentwood, Essex

Hanging up her phone, Mary wandered around her office, packing up her final belongings in her bag as she went to leave. She had just spent the last hour with Mr Kingston, the well-spoken Caribbean gentleman Peggy had almost knocked over after one of her sessions. Mary found him a thoroughly interesting client, never willing to say too much, almost as if he wanted Mary to do all the work in their meetings.

Mr Kingston had been a client of hers roughly a year ago now before disappearing only to return in the last few weeks. Even back then he remained reserved and quiet, but that was nothing compared to his silent twin brother. Almost indistinguishable, the other Kingston brother turned up without fail to every single session his brother came to but refused to even say hello, merely nodding respectfully when Mary greeted him. Mary didn't even believe he was called Mr Kingston, having always refused to share his first name or that of his brother. Strange, but it wasn't her place to judge. Despite their conversations being largely one sided, Mary felt she must have been doing something right for Mr Kingston to insist on seeing her after all this time.

Mary left her office, turning the key in the lock, but as she turned around into the dark corridor she almost leapt out her skin. Leaning against the wall was Mr Kingston himself.

"Mr Kingston. I would've thought you'd have gone home by now? Our session finished ten minutes ago," she said sheepishly.

"Me and me brother wanted to make sure you made it to your car okay. Strange people are around after dark."

"Oh, I'm not sure that's necessary," she said, taking note of Mr Kingston's expression. While his smile was friendly and comforting, his eyes remained hard and cold as if they were staring at Mary's bare essence. "Well, if you insist."

The pair walked out of the offices together in near silence before being greeted with a nod from Mr Kingston's brother. The walk to her car was even more awkward with none of the three uttering a word across the car park. As they arrived at her hatchback, Mary turned to face the two men. "Well, thank you for your company here, gentlemen. I should be off now. Drive safely," As Mary put her hand on her car handle, she felt cold fingers glide over shoulder, hovering there for slightly a second too long.

"I look forward to seeing you for our next session, Mary. You drive safely, yeah?" Mr Kingston gleamed as he and his brother moved off into the distance. As soon as they turned away Mary practically leapt into her car, locking the doors immediately. Something was certainly off with those two but as the air conditioning filled her car, cooling her off, Mary began to relax. She turned on the radio and began heading towards London.

Back in the car park, the Kingston twins watched as Mary drove off. Pulling out his phone, Mr Kingston began dialling. A short pause followed before he was put through, "Target has been fitted with the killswitch device. Make approach on Charlie Quinn now." 

Continued in Part 16...

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