Page 2 of The Killer’s Mark

‘Before I give you this,’ he said to Wendy, ‘I need you to think carefully.’

‘About what?’

‘About the box’s contents. In my experience, unless you already know what’s inside, they’re best left unopened. My advice is to take a hammer to it and let the acid do its job. Don’t use this code.’

‘That’s a bit dramatic, isn’t it?’ the solicitor said. ‘Vice Admiral Boyer was an honourable man.’

‘He really bloody wasn’t,’ Wendy said. She was very much thinking of the ‘little tramp’ when she said this. ‘You’ve opened these before, haven’t you, Matt?’

‘I have.’

‘And?’

‘And, realistically, it’ll contain one of three things. The first and best is fresh air. It’s empty. Your life doesn’t get better, but more importantly, it doesn’t get worse. The second is commercially sensitive information. Unless corporate espionage is your thing, the only downside of option two is that a defence contractor might ask you to sign an NDA. Pain in the arse as you’ll need to get legal advice, but ultimately, your life remains unchanged.’

‘What’s the third option?’

‘The AegisBox contains something so secret your father would rather it was destroyed than see the light of day. I’ve got to tell you, Miss Boyer, it’s unlikely to be anything nice.’

‘Like proof he stole military secrets?’

‘Why keep hold of something like that? No, I think it’s more likely to be something he couldn’t bear to be parted from.’ He paused. ‘Something he liked to look at …’

The late Vice Admiral Boyer, RN (retd)’s private office descended into silence.

No one mentioned images of child abuse.

No one had to.

They were thinking it, though.

‘I’ve known the vice admiral for decades,’ the solicitor said. ‘I cannot believe he would have been involved in anything untoward.’

‘I agree,’ Wendy said. ‘What he did to my mother was reprehensible, but he didn’t lay a finger on me. None of my childhood friends were uncomfortable around him. And let’s not forget, he was a semi-permanent member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. He will have been heavily vetted for that.’

‘There’s something else,’ the solicitor said. ‘If there’s a legal instruction regarding his estate inside, I’m obliged to see it carried out. It cannot be destroyed.’

Matt handed over the override code and Wendy tapped it into the keypad. The AegisBox clicked as it unlocked. She didn’t immediately open it.

‘It’s not too late,’ Matt said softly. ‘You don’t have to do this. Walk away. Go back to your life.’

But Wendy thought she did have to. More importantly, she was the only one left who could. She took a deep breath and prepared for the worst.

The AegisBox opened like a book. Inside there was a flash drive and a soft leather pouch. The pouch contained something hard and rectangular. She unfastened the drawstring and removed it. She blinked in surprise.

It was an elegant wooden box. A display case really. It had a glass top.

And inside … oh God, inside …

Matt and the solicitor looked over her shoulder.

‘Is that a …?’ Matt started but couldn’t finish.

Wendy nodded, dumbfounded.

It was.

After a minute of stunned silence, the solicitor said, ‘You must destroy this, Wendy.’ His voice was dry and croaky. ‘We can’t let it go public. It’ll ruin him. It’ll ruin you.’