Deadly Treatment by David McLeod Page B

followed him, closing the door behind them
    Scott clicked on his flashlight and swung the beam around the room.
    ‘Show me the body,’ he said sharply.
    Joshua took a second to get his bearings, then pointed to the desk at the back left of the room. ‘Under there.’
    Scott moved swiftly over to the desk and directed the torch light underneath — all it lit up was an empty space.
    ‘Come here and look,’ he barked at the boy.
    When he saw the vacant space, Joshua’s mouth dropped open; he was about to speak, but Scott cut him short. ‘Now I don’t know what you were trying to do, but believe me, Vince is not the type of guy to fuck with — nor am I, for that matter.’
    He flicked the beam around the other desks for good measure in case the body had miraculously got up and moved, but each space proved to be free of dead bodies.
    ‘Now, get over there and set the paper alight — and be quick about it.’
    Scott pointed the flashlight over towards the back exit and Joshua followed the light. He pulled a Zippo and a crushed cigarette box from his fanny pack and snapped open the lid of the lighter; as he flicked the flint, the flame burst into life. He crouched down and set light to the cigarette box; it immediately took hold. He dropped the flaming box into the rubbish bin alongside the wall of paper and the fire immediately began to spread. He rejoined Scott and both of them returned to the street to creep back through the shadows to Vince waiting in the car.
    During the drive home, the tension between Vince and Joshua built to an almost explosive level. Joshua continued to protest that there really had been a dead guy in the office, despite the fact that he had somehow got up and left. Vince was spouting words like reputation and professionalism at them, and indulging in his anger at having to go back to do the same job twice.
    ‘Get him out of my sight,’ Vince said irately to Scott when they stepped into the house.
    Scott marched a tearful Joshua to his room and sat him down on the bed.
    ‘He’ll lighten up; but for the moment, it’s best that we keep you two apart. It’s okay to be scared, but it’s not okay to make up stories. You did the right thing in the end though, and don’t worry, your mother is safe for now.’
    ‘I did speak to a man there, and he did give me this. Why won’t you believe me?’ Joshua had pulled the USB flash drive from his pocket. ‘He told me to show everyone what is on this.’
    Scott turned the shiny device over in his hand again. Deciding that the only way to put this matter to rest was to take a look at what was on the drive, he said, ‘Alright, let’s see what you’ve got then, shall we.’
    Vince had already gone to his own room, evidently still angry, so Scott took Joshua to the computer and switched it on. The machine took a short while to spring into life, omitting its usual whistles and tunes as it configured itself. Once all the icons had come to rest on the screen, the computer waited for its user to give it its first command. Scott rooted around the back until he found the USB port, inserted the flash drive, and the screen popped up with a new device found message. He clicked on it and opened the file.
    They both looked at the screen, and Scott shook his head as a series of thumbnails appeared, pictures of what could best be described as vacation snapshots. ‘I know you were scared, but lying to us is not going to get you back to your mother. Now, I don’t want to hear any more stories about dead guys, you hear me!’
    Joshua was going to argue, but Scott withdrew the memory device and handed it back to Joshua saying, ‘you really put your mother at risk tonight,’ as he silently marched him back to his room.
     

     
    Already half-way across to the other side of town — and with Anthony Cain’s dead body in the trunk of the car — Elwood smiled at his good fortune.
    Before going to visit the home of Cain’s LA contact, Elwood had decided to check on