Free Black Mail (2012) by Bill Daly

ever sees that photograph – he’ll have no compunction about killing both of us.’
    Simon took a deep breath. ‘If I’m going to pay the blackmailer off I’ll need your help. I can’t lay my hands on that kind of money. Jude controls everything. You know that.’
    ‘We’re not exactly what you would call flush right now. You heard Mike wittering on about his cash-flow problems last night?’ Simon nodded. ‘That’s not the half of it. The Inland Revenue are conducting an investigation into his affairs and he’s about to get landed with a huge bill for back taxes, to say nothing of a hefty fine. A prison sentence isn’t out of the question.’
    ‘What in the name of God are we going to do?’ Simon downed a stiff swig of whisky.
    Tears started forming at the corners of Laura’s eyes as she gazed at her drink, her focus locked on the melting ice cubes clinking gently against the sides of the glass. ‘Do you not have any idea who’s behind this?’
    ‘Not a fucking clue! He said his name was Liam Black.’
    Laura forced a mirthless smile. ‘Not the most subtle anagram of all time. You didn’t recognise his voice?’
    ‘He was using some sort of gadget to distort his speech – made him sound like a Dalek.’
    ‘Which increases the probability that it’s someone you know.’
    ‘He certainly knows enough about me. He knows my email address and my mobile number – God only knows how he got hold of that. He knows where I live, what kind of car I drive and even where I go on holiday.’
    Laura’s fingers strayed back to her swollen cheek. ‘How long do we have?’
    ‘Forty-eight hours.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Forty-six. He wants the money on Saturday morning.’ Simon paused. ‘Laura, this isn’t the answer. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that we did manage to scrape the money together. What guarantee would we have that that would be the end of it? Even if he gave us the video, how could we be sure he hadn’t made a copy? We know for a fact that he’s downloaded one image onto a computer. For all we know he might’ve downloaded the whole video. Paying him off isn’t the solution.’ Simon swilled down the rest of his whisky. ‘This bastard has to be stopped – once and for all.’
    ‘
Stopped? Once and for all?
’ Laura stared at him uncomprehendingly. ‘Does that mean what I think it means?’ she gasped. Simon nodded quickly. ‘The very idea is preposterous, Simon. It’s totally insane!’
    ‘We have to stop him publishing that photo, Laura.’
    ‘My God!’ Laura gulped at her drink. ‘This is B-movies gone mad. We can’t get involved in anything like that.’
    ‘You said yourself Mike would kill us both if he saw that photo – and I believe you. There’s only one way we can make sure that doesn’t happen.’
    ‘Stop talking like that! It’s utter madness!’
    ‘Do you have any other solution?’
    ‘Can’t you stall him? Tell him you’ll give him what he’s asking for but it’ll take you some time to raise the money?’
    ‘He wasn’t negotiating. It was pay up on Saturday or the Sunday papers will have the story. Even if I did manage to buy a few more days – and even if we did manage to scrape the money together – what good would that do us? He’ll never be satisfied.
    As long as he has that video in his possession he has us over a barrel. We have to find a way to deal with him, otherwise Mike is going to see that photo in the Sunday papers.’
    Laura clasped both hands to her mouth. There was a long pause before she spoke. ‘How on earth do you propose we go about doing it?’ she whispered through her fingers, her whole body visibly trembling.
    ‘Jesus Christ! I don’t know!’ Simon caught the waitress’s eye and waved his empty glass in her direction. ‘Mike has people like that working for him, doesn’t he? Couldn’t you get one of them to help us out?’ Laura stared at him in disbelief. ‘What’s the alternative?’ he insisted.
    ‘You