The Passengers(52)

‘Is it possible the Hacker’s accusations aren’t true?’ she directed towards Jack. ‘Or at least only part of the story?’ He didn’t reciprocate her eye contact and stared at the screens instead. Libby continued regardless. ‘He’s using each of us to set the Passengers up. Once they’ve presented to us the best version of themselves, he goes in for the kill with an accusation. But how do we know what the whole truth is if he won’t allow them a rebuttal?’

‘A rebuttal?’ Jack let out a short, sharp snort. ‘You have failed to grasp the situation, Miss Dixon. We are long past playing by Queensberry Rules or anything that one might consider honourable. The Hacker doesn’t recognise anything but his own agenda.’

‘I’m not stupid, I can see that,’ she replied. ‘What he’s doing is mirroring what goes on in your inquests. You never give us the full picture either, do you? We’re only told as much as you want us to know before we’re forced to decide who’s at fault: the victim or the car. And because so much of the evidence is “classified”, it’s almost always the victim who’s damned. So what he’s doing isn’t really any different to what you do.’

‘You’re misinformed and ignorant, Miss Dixon. All we can do is let the Passengers tell us why they should live and hope for their sakes that they’re being honest. If they’re not, then God help them.’

Libby looked Jack directly in the eyes. The piercing glare she had once been afraid of no longer existed. He had lost his fight. ‘Why have you given up so easily?’ she asked.

‘Because there is nothing I can do that will make any difference for Miss Arden.’

‘No, I don’t just mean Claire, I mean what’s happening in here. You don’t get to where you are in your career without fighting tooth and nail to get your own way. Why isn’t your phone glued to your ear any more like it was when this began? Why aren’t you losing your temper with your office or demanding to speak to GCHQ again?’

‘One of the many problems with you millennials is that you spend too much time thinking and reading too much into situations that don’t require your input. If I were you, I’d concentrate on what your friend Jude is hiding behind that vacant look of his.’

Libby didn’t rise to the bait. ‘The Hacker has something on you, doesn’t he?’

‘Don’t be so ridiculous.’ Jack eyes briefly darted towards his own image on screen. But his denial was not nearly as venomous as Libby would have expected. She turned her whole body towards him. Jack remained firm, as if he was concerned that, by moving, he might give something away. ‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ she continued. ‘He’s alluded to knowing something about you or the inquest process numerous times. And you don’t know what he knows so you’re playing it safe by keeping a low profile. If he knows so much about the Passengers then he knows a lot about you too.’

‘You have a very furtive imagination, Miss Dixon.’

‘You’re just biding your time and hoping to leave this room with as few battle scars as possible.’

Finally, Jack looked her, his silence speaking volumes. She turned her attention back towards the wall of screens. Sofia’s face was expressionless, as if the picture had frozen. Her arms were folded and her eyes stared beyond the camera and out through the car’s windscreen.

‘Do I need to ask how social media is reacting to the exposé of our “national treasure”?’ asked the Hacker.

‘Opinions are along the lines of what you might expect,’ Cadman replied. ‘I think it’s safe to say that right now, she is the most hated woman on the planet.’

‘With forty-five minutes left until the collision, shall we move along?’ the Hacker suggested. ‘Let’s continue with one half of the only married couple in our process.’





Chapter 38





SAM COLE


The sour taste of bile rose up into Sam’s throat and entered his mouth. It burned as he swallowed it back down. But he gave the camera no indication that he was literally scared sick.

Moments earlier, Sam suppressed his joy when Claire and then Sofia’s credibility fell apart before the world. But at the same time, he was all too aware that when his moment came as the focus of attention, it would likely happen to him too. He had just as many secrets of his own that could ruin his chance of survival.

Sam’s mind raced as he narrowed his options down to just two – tell the truth or lie. If he beat the Hacker to the punch and made his admission, perhaps the public and jurors might forgive him? You might as well cut out the middleman and hand yourself a death sentence, he told himself. He shook his head, swiftly ruling it out. None of them would understand the choices he’d made unless they had walked in his shoes.

If he lied by omission, he could use the ten minutes allocated to him to persuade viewers he was worthier of their support than his wife. Then when his time was up and the Hacker revealed Sam’s secret, he could still retain some support. There was still a chance the Hacker didn’t know what Sam was hiding. But he was sure social media would expose him if the Hacker didn’t. There were too many people who knew him from different walks of life for it not to reach the public domain.

Every so often, he glanced at Heidi’s screen to try and judge from her expression and body language how she was holding up. It was difficult to tell. They’d been a couple for twelve years and married for ten, but the longer she spent in the police force, the increasingly difficult it became to penetrate her steely veneer. She had seen too much bad in the world and it had hardened her.