Page 80 of Her Last Breath

‘Sexual exploitation, misappropriation of supplies, bribery.’ Luke Pratt seemed embarrassed as he spoke. ‘He was choosing who to give food to, sleeping with desperate women. He claimed it was consensual. How can it be, though, when those women would do anything to feed their starving families? And he was meant to give them that help for free – that’s what our supporters expect.’

The parallels to Alice Rogers struck Jane immediately. Was she desperate enough to provide for her children to have embarked on a sexual relationship with Colin Wilson? One that went tragically wrong? Was he paying her, is that where the cash had come from? Or was he grooming her through the foodbank, only she didn’t play ball?

‘He was also playing God, deciding who was suitable for critical medical and food supplies and who wasn’t. We also found he was supplying one of the local warlords and his militia. I can’t even begin to describe to you the horrors they inflict on the local population. More than that, we suspect he was doing this to grease the wheels for an international firm looking to mine out there.’

Jane could smell the corruption, and Colin Wilson’s hands all over it. She also wondered about the power that he had out there. To decide who would live, and more importantly, who would die. Did he take pleasure in that aspect of his role?

‘How did he get away with it for so long?’

‘He was a lone player. Until another agency out there made a complaint, after gathering evidence against one of their own staff.’

‘The locals didn’t cause a stir because of what he was doing?’

‘He was very clever, had the reputation of someone caring. They say he would hold the hands of dying children, ill patients as they took their last breaths. He positioned himself as having empathy, while carrying out what he did in the background.’

Playing saviour, being the person that vulnerable people clung to at the very end. Had Colin become addicted to the death and depravity around him? Had he tried to rediscover that same charge again in Burnley, finding fresh victims? Finding new opportunities to experience the awful power he had out there?

‘He wasn’t prosecuted?’

‘Virtually impossible. He tried to take us to a tribunal when we fired him. Without credible witnesses, the burden of proof was on us. Building a case against him out there that might hold up in court was proving difficult.’

‘You still fired him, though?’

‘Yes, that we could do. We had witnesses to the misappropriation of aid. Not enough to charge him with anything illegal, but definitely unethical. And that was enough for us to get rid of him. But the aid world is a small one. Everybody knows what he was doing out there and he will never work again in our field.’

It didn’t seem like justice for his victims, the men and women who he had manipulated, abused and let die.

‘He doesn’t seem to be working now he’s back. We couldn’t find claims for benefits either. Do you know what his source of income could be?’

Luke laughed. ‘Ironically, he’s probably quite well off because of his work. He got a local allowance, no doubt topped up by his activities. His UK salary went into a bank account which must have built up.’

‘You sure he can’t be sent to prison?’

Luke blushed again. ‘DRC don’t want him in their prisons and he didn’t break any laws in this country. We fired him, that was the best we could do.’

‘And that means no bad publicity for your organisation as well?’ Jane challenged.

‘We couldn’t afford it. These guys walk off with their cash in hand, it’s the charities that suffer reputational damage. We wanted him gone as quickly as we could.’

‘What did he say when you fired him? Did he pursue the tribunal?’

‘He tried to claim unfair dismissal, was threatening to take legal action against us. Luckily, he saw sense and let it go.’

Jane turned her attention then to Hargreaves, asking Luke if he was aware of him.

‘He’s there in the file in your hands. William Hargreaves was a witness against Colin’s aid distribution practices. He claimed he saw Colin siphoning away supplies from the aid he delivered. He was one of the only witnesses that didn’t want to be anonymous and one of the statements we could use in our case to fire Colin.’

Jane felt her pulse quicken as she read through the statement from Bill. There it was, in black and white, the tie between the two men, the reason why they met again in Burnley and why Colin might want to kill him.

Driving back to Burnley, Jane thought about the control Liam Harrison had held over Alice and his previous girlfriends, of Kangna taking back control of her life by her mistreatment of her patients. In her mind Colin Wilson fitted the profile of the killer she had been building in her head since she first uncovered how Alice had died. A killer finding meaning through the death of those he had power over.

Her phone rang suddenly: it was DS Johnson.

‘The warrant for Wilson’s flat has come through, ma’am. He’s at the foodbank, under surveillance. Kowalcyzk and his team are heading over there now.’

‘Tell them I’m on my way,’ Jane said.

‘One other thing, ma’am. His flat is less than ten minutes’ walk from where we found the burnt-out van.’