Page 127 of Witness 8

A car behind them blared its horn. Mr. Christmas tutted. Then took hold of her upper arm with one hand, her lower arm with the other.

‘Your elbow is dislocated. This will hurt.’

He pulled and shoved her arm and Ruby heard a loud click and screamed into her fist.

Then he gently leaned over her, took her seatbelt, drew it across her chest and locked it in place. He turned his attention to the road, indicated and changed lanes, leaving the sound of horns behind them as they moved off.

‘There is a medical bag on the back seat. There are some painkillers in there. But be careful – they are quite strong.’

Ruby turned around, managed to grab the bag with her injured arm. It was heavy, and she let out a moan as she brought it up front.

‘Thank you,’ she said.

Mr. Christmas smiled and nodded. As if he was expecting it, but at the same time quite grateful to receive the courtesy.

‘What happened to Ellis?’

‘He was the one who employed me to retrieve his money. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say his manners let him down.’

‘Could you take me back to West 74thStreet? I need to finish this.’

‘Mr. Flynn is there. Or at least he was when I left.’

Ruby closed her eyes, shook her head. The red priest screamed at her, and she opened the medical bag and put a hand inside, searching for a bottle of pills.

‘Be careful. There are some sharp implements in there. They should all be wrapped up in a leather carry case, but, nonetheless, watch your fingers.’

Ruby found the pills. Swallowed one of them.

‘I didn’t really get started. Bale came to the door. Flynn won’t know what I was doing there. Take me back. I’ll slip inside when they leave.’

‘If there is anything that I have learned this evening, it is not to underestimate Mr. Flynn. You have a little money. Why don’t you leave this all behind? There’s nothing else you can do now.’

‘I can’t. Then they’ll come after me. Maybe come after Mom. I can’t risk it. Weren’t you supposed to kill Eddie Flynn?’

He nodded, smiled. ‘And, if anything, I have more reason to do so now than when I first started out. However, I have come to the reluctant conclusion that it would not be in my long-term best interests.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I had my sights on Mr. Flynn. Ready to pull the trigger. I stopped when I saw a man with him. He was a former FBI agent. And, for a while, I’d been his target. Any damn fool can pull a trigger, but there are very few people in this world like us – true hunters of men. He is certainly one of them. I knew, when he was hunting me back then, that this man would find me. Then something unusual happened. He was set up. Someone in the FBI walked him into a house full of armed drug traffickers. He should not have survived, but he did. I followed him in, curious at first. I found him on the top floor of that house – out of ammunition, severely wounded. I killed the last man standing in front of him.’

‘You saved him? Even though he was hunting you?’

‘I did. And he saw me save him. That began something of an unspoken, but uneasy truce.’

‘Why did you save him? Surely you should have let him die?’

‘Do you play chess?’

‘I never learned.’

‘What is the point of being a grandmaster if everyone else is an amateur? Life would soon lose its pleasure. I know you don’t play, but I trust you appreciate the analogy.’

Ruby nodded.

‘When I saw Mr. Flynn and this man together I had to learn more. Now, I understand that if I kill Mr. Flynn his compatriot will come after me. The thing about being a grandmaster chess player is that there will come a time when another grandmaster will defeat you. It is inevitable. If I kill Mr. Flynn, I know, in my bones, this man will hunt me down and I will die. In any event, Eddie Flynn’s fate is likely out of my hands. He’ll be killed tomorrow night at a meeting.’

‘It would be better if he died tonight,’ said Ruby.