sThe Quiet Wart Page A

quiet car park at night in Brussels, carrying an envelope, then leaving later without it. That should be enough to stop Blom,’ Anna said.
    â€˜Yes, but as far as a story goes, and without more detail, it’s a bit circumspect,’ Sean said. ‘It’s more like a paparazzi job.’
    â€˜Really? It’d be big news in Sweden and the mainstay EU countries. People in Britain may not be so interested, but they’re not the target market,’ Anna said.
    Momentarily, Sean crossed eyes with her. She was staring straight at him and he immediately wished he hadn’t, as she took the opportunity to raise her eyebrows provocatively. Acting instinctively, he looked away and stroked Liz’s hand, but he knew that the brief interchange hadn’t gone unnoticed. ‘It’ll probably pay well, but I don’t feel good about destroying somebody’s life. Not without doing more checking,’ Sean said.
    â€˜He’s definitely involved. He has to be, and he did meet with Wagner. That couldn’t be innocent,’ Anna said.
    â€˜In truth, we only saw the car, not Wagner himself,’ Sean replied.
    â€˜We know he was there, just as I know Blom is behind all of this,’ Anna said, raising her voice slightly.
    â€˜She’s right. The priority needs to be to stop this insidious mess that Blom is behind. People are getting killed. I know you’d rather find out more and make it the perfect story, but this time, I think you’ll just have to publish a scandal piece and be done. If this Wagner character has some influence over a key EU official, lord knows what damage could be done,’ Clive added.
    It was nothing more than Sean expected from Clive: intelligent as he was, he was still a policeman at heart, and stopping crime was always his first priority.
    â€˜Liz?’ Sean asked, looking for a more balanced view.
    â€˜I’m not sure. I’ll defer to your judgement,’ she said.
    â€˜Sean, you really need to publish this, not just to stop Blom, but also to allow me to return to a normal life and go back to work. Otherwise, I’m a prisoner,’ Anna pleaded.
    â€˜It’s only half a story though. What about the others? What about Phil and Allsop? We haven’t solved their killings,’ Sean said, shaking his head, still unconvinced.
    â€˜Please, Sean, if nothing else, do it for me.’ Anna reached out and put her hand on his.
    As soon as he felt Anna’s touch, Sean immediately withdrew his hand and looked at Liz, making sure that she knew he hadn’t made the gesture.
    â€˜Are you happy that we don’t follow up on Phil’s death, Clive?’ Sean asked, beginning to think that he was losing the argument.
    â€˜I’ll keep the pressure on the Belgian police, but this is separate to that,’ Clive responded.
    â€˜Please, Sean,’ Anna said.
    â€˜Just do it, Sean. Then we can all get our lives back to normal,’ Liz said, glaring at Anna.
    It went against all Sean’s instincts, but now he was the only one defending further work, and Liz had obviously realised that it was an opportunity to get rid of Anna for good. ‘Okay, sod it!’ he reluctantly agreed. ‘I’ll pad the story out a bit and take it to some editors. They’ll probably ask for more, which I don’t have, but it’ll get published in a tabloid.’
    Still unable to make any connection between Phil’s or Allsop’s death and Blom, or the attempt on Anna’s life and Blom, Sean decided that it was just something he’d have to put down to experience and move on. There was too much at stake to do anything else. He wasn’t about to lose Liz over any story, no matter how important.
    Early in the afternoon, he crafted a short piece entitled EU COMMISSIONER LINKED TO NAZI LEADER and attached a few of the more telling photos: one of Blom getting into Wagner’s car with the envelope; one of him getting