Red After Dark (Blackwood Security #13) - Elise Noble Page 0,57
said.”
“The investigation was a sham. They only found what they wanted to find.”
Granted, Alaric hadn’t spent much time with Hevrin, Nada, whatever her name was, but she’d always seemed meek. Quiet. And today? Today, she sounded angry.
“How do you know that?” Alaric asked.
A shrug.
“Nada wants to help with the Ridley sitch,” Judd cut in, “but she has trust issues.”
Could anyone blame her? Alaric had seen the way she lived. At one time in her life, she’d lost everything, everything except her daughter anyway.
Alaric tried again. “We just want to make the world a better place for your little girl to grow up in, but we can’t do that alone.”
“What did Eric Ridley do now?”
“Why do you think he’s done anything else?”
“Because he’s evil. As long as he is breathing, he is dangerous, and still he is walking around free.”
“We’re trying to do something about that, but so far, we can’t find enough evidence.”
“Your people erased the evidence.”
“My people?”
“The Americans.” She tugged her fingers through her hair. “I don’t know why I am even talking to you. I shouldn’t be here.”
“What evidence? What Americans?”
Silence.
“Hevrin, we want to help. We have the same goals. I may be American by birth, but all I want to do is find the truth.”
“Your government does not want to know the truth.”
“What makes you say that?”
“They were told Eric Ridley was lying, but they were more concerned with good publicity. Photo ops, hearts and minds, American troops riding in their trucks through towns where there is nothing left—nothing—and then patting themselves on the back when they return to their base because they didn’t die that day.”
“Who told them he was lying?”
And how did they know? Who exactly was Hevrin Moradi?
Judd turned to her. “Alaric’s right. We only want to help, I swear. And none of us work for the government, not anymore. Alaric, Naz, and I used to, but we all quit for exactly the reason you said. Governments don’t always do what’s right.”
Hevrin stayed quiet for a full minute.
Finally, she spoke. “The SDF. The Syrian Democratic Forces. Their representatives told US contacts what happened, and the Americans said they were mistaken. Then the witness’s village was bombed, and I do not believe that was a coincidence.”
Now Emmy stepped forward. “What witness?”
“Who are you?” She leaned closer to the screen. “I saw you on the Bellsfield Estate. With Alaric, the night Ryland Willis fell off the South Tower, and I do not believe that was a coincidence either.”
Ah, shit.
A hundred thoughts flew through Alaric’s head. His first instinct was to deny, deny, deny. Deny everything. Although there wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction—of that he was confident—none of them wanted an investigation into the Bellsfield debacle. But to deny the truth was to insult Hevrin’s intelligence. She was smart, that much was clear. They needed to gain her trust, not prove her fears were right—that everybody lied.
“Ryland Willis came out of the same mould as Eric Ridley.”
“Yes.” Hevrin looked surprised, probably because Alaric hadn’t tried to bullshit her. “I don’t know exactly what he did to Gemma, but I saw her that night, and I see her today. It was bad. And then there are the body parts they found in the pipes… He deserved his fate.”
“He did.”
“If I’d smelled the decomposition sooner, perhaps I could have stopped him. But I had a cold for several weeks, so I couldn’t smell anything, and then when I did report the problem, the council told me it was probably a dead rat.”
Another snippet of information to add to the list—Hevrin was familiar with death. Plus her neighbour on the estate had told Alaric that Hevrin didn’t like to rock the boat in case it affected her asylum application.
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“My head tells me that is true, but my heart… When I left Syria, I only wanted to live in peace, but the Bellsfield Estate is a war zone all of its own.” She turned to Judd. “Thank you for letting me stay here. I’d forgotten what it was like to sleep for an entire night.”
“Any time.” Judd shifted uncomfortably. This month had to be the first time ever that he’d had adult females stay in his house but not in his bed. It amused Alaric to see him off balance.
“Feel like telling us how you found Gemma?” Alaric asked. “We’ve been curious.”
If he could get Hevrin talking about something unrelated to Ridley, maybe she’d feel more at ease?