In The Name Of The Father

Chapter 3

3

James Aston looked again at the image on his mobile phone. He’d transferred them from his computer before leaving the house, just in case he needed them. He blinked twice, squinting to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. The images were never of particularly good quality, but that was the way they had to be. Getting any closer would raise suspicions. But as fuzzy and indistinct as the wording itself was, the message was clear.

He’d been waiting to see something like this for a long time: something hard, concrete. Something that could finally blow the lid on everything. Something that could bring his family back to him.

Again, he looked at the photograph. He needed to make sure. He needed to be certain. Sure, some of the letters were difficult to tell apart — was that an A or an E? — but that was all more or less irrelevant. It was obvious what it said. Would anyone else see the same message he was seeing? He didn’t know, but he had to take the risk. It was now or never.

Before he could even think about what he was doing, he was striding towards the phone box. A thousand thoughts flooded through his mind. Was this an emergency? Probably not, he thought. After all, there wouldn’t be a whole lot they could do right now. The damage had been done. 101, the non-emergency number, would be the most sensible option. He lifted the handset, then paused for a moment. If what the message had said was real, lives could be at stake. It was down to him to act. He dialled 999, the emergency number.

A man answered his call. James froze for a moment, unsure of what to say. There was so much he wanted to say, but he had to keep it brief and to the point. Anything else, and they’d think he was a crackpot. No-one in their right mind would believe the whole story, not at first. Not even the police.

‘Hello, police emergency.’ the voice at the other end of the phone said.

‘Uh, yes,’ James replied, eventually. ‘Hi. Uh, there’s a dead body. Someone’s been murdered.’