Authors: Jessie Keane
‘I
told
you.’
‘Tone?’ Annie looked up at him. ‘Come over here and break a couple of her fingers. Just the little ones, we don’t want to cut up
too
rough yet.’
Tony lumbered over. Caroline shot out of her seat like she’d been launched from a cannon.
‘What the
hell
?’ she wailed, scooting up against the desk, eyes wide. ‘What did you say?’
‘Oh, come on,’ said Annie. ‘Way I see it, you deserve a few breakages. The way you moved in on Dolly’s patch? You got to admit, that was nasty.’
‘It was Gary’s idea, not mine.’ As Tony approached, Caroline edged around the desk until she was on the same side as Annie. Max was over by the bookcases, watching with arms
folded. Now Tony was on the other side of the desk. ‘Wait,’ said Caroline, scuttling behind Annie’s chair. ‘Just
wait
.’
‘Why? Are you going to stop bullshitting and tell the truth?’ asked Annie. ‘What scared you enough to make you run for the airport? What did you see?’
‘I told the police—’
‘Yeah. Nothing, right? And as I told you, we’re not the police. We don’t have to go by the rules. Go ahead, Tone.’
‘I didn’t—’ Caroline let out a yelp as Tony came round the desk. She darted for the other side, but Max had moved and now he was blocking her path. ‘Oh, come on . .
.’ she said, half-laughing, a scared, disbelieving little sound, as Tony came up behind her.
‘Do it, Tone,’ said Annie, and Tony grabbed Caroline’s arm, gripping her hand, which she instantly pulled into a fist. Tony prised out her smallest finger and held it on the
desk’s edge.
‘No!’ Caroline screeched.
Annie looked at her. ‘You really think he won’t?’
‘Shit, don’t, please . . .’ Sweat was popping out on Caroline’s face. ‘I don’t, I can’t . . .’
Tony brought his fist down hard. It hit the desk, just an inch from Caroline’s finger. She let out a strangled scream.
‘Next one hits the target,’ he warned, taking aim.
‘I can’t . . .’
‘You can,’ said Annie, her eyes hard as they rested on Caroline’s face. ‘What did you see?’
Caroline threw back her head and let out a sob. ‘I saw him do it!’ she said, and fell to the floor. Tony released her hand and she sat there, crying hard, cringing, both arms over
her head.
Tony looked at Annie. She nodded, and he moved away.
‘Tell us,’ said Max, and Caroline finally started to speak.
‘I was so fucking scared,’ said Caroline in a small voice. ‘I was
terrified
.’
‘What happened?’ said Annie, looking at the girl with a mixture of pity and irritation. She
did
look shattered; none of her former aggression was in evidence now. ‘Get
up off the bloody floor, for God’s sake.’ Annie flicked a look at Tony and he hauled Caroline back to her feet, half-carried her around the desk, and deposited her into a chair.
‘I was in bed, it was late, and Gary was in the sitting room watching the TV when there was a knock at the door and he let someone in. A man. I heard his voice. The bedroom door was
half-open, I couldn’t see who it was, not then. I didn’t take any notice really. Not at first.’
‘Go on,’ said Annie when Caroline paused, rubbing her hands over her face.
Caroline gave her a look, a remnant of her usual attitude. ‘If you tell the Bill all this, if they ask me about any of this, I swear, I’ll say you’re lying, that I never said
it, that it’s not true. I don’t want to get involved.’
‘OK. That’s fair. Go on.’
‘They were arguing. Just raised voices at first, and then they started shouting. I mean, it sounded
vicious
. And then . . . oh fuck . . .’ Caroline stopped, clutching at her
face, her eyes tormented; remembering.
‘What?’ prompted Annie.
‘Then there were sounds like fighting. Something hit the wall. Christ, it was frightening. All the yelling and swearing, and then they were actually
hitting
each other, and then
they were out in the hall . . . it reminded me of when I was growing up, and Mum and Dad would be knocking seven kinds of shit out of each other. It was scary. So I . . .’
Caroline stopped talking.
‘Yeah? You did what?’
Tears slipped down Caroline’s face. ‘I did what I did when I was little,’ she gasped out, grimacing. ‘I thought that whoever was there with Gary, I thought they were so
angry they were going to
kill
him, and if they did, then who was in the flat too? Me. And then they would do me too. And so . . .’ Caroline heaved in a sob. ‘So I hid. I hid in
the wardrobe. It had these louvre doors though. So I saw it. I saw it
all
,’ she said, and broke into a fresh wave of tears.
‘What did you see?’ asked Max.
Caroline swiped a hand across her runny nose and threw him a glance with tear-reddened eyes. ‘If I hadn’t moved when I did, you know what? I’d be dead. I’m sure of
it.’
‘What did you see?’ he asked again.
‘They were in the hall, grappling with each other,
snarling
at each other like dogs, and then they fell in through the bedroom door, and then I saw this bloke, he had Gary on the
bed, and . . . oh shit . . .’ Caroline’s voice trailed away. She wiped tears from her face with a shaking hand and looked at Annie. ‘Gary was pretty good to me. All right, he
could be an arsehole, but can’t they all? He didn’t deserve
that
.’
‘What?’ asked Annie.
‘That man cut his throat. And I saw it, I can’t get it out of my head, I
saw it
! There was blood and Gary was screaming and choking, making these sounds like a butchered
animal, it was . . . it was . . . just horrible.
Horrible
.’
For a long while the only sounds in the room were Caroline’s sobs. Then Annie said: ‘The man who did it. You saw him through the louvre doors, right? Can you describe him?’
Caroline’s hands clawed into her scalp as she nodded. ‘Yeah, I did. I saw him.’
‘What did he look like?’ asked Max.
‘Tall.’ Caroline sniffed and wiped at her nose again with the back of her hand. ‘Not as tall as Gary. And pale. White like a ghost. And
grinning
, sort of, while he did
it.’ Caroline shuddered hard and hugged herself.
‘Anything else?’ asked Annie.
‘Yeah. There is.’ Caroline’s head was nodding like a metronome now. ‘I’ve been having nightmares about it ever since. The look on his face. Like a demon or
something. Like he was
enjoying
it.’
‘What colour was his hair?’ asked Annie.
Caroline looked at her with haunted eyes.
‘Red,’ she said.
They let Caroline go, and then the three of them stood in the study in silence. Finally Max spoke.
‘I’m thinking about Gina and the phone calls to the Blue Parrot.’
‘What about them?’
‘Gina knew where her brother was living, didn’t she? She must have. What if she did tell Gary? She was mental. I spoke to her, the poor old cow didn’t have both oars in the
water. Raving about how you were still Constantine’s wife, not mine. Saying he was still alive. She could have said all that and more to Gary on the phone. So maybe Gary knew where
Constantine was.’
It was Annie’s turn to pace the room, skirting around Tony, who stood silent, watching.
‘Sounds like Redmond did Gary,’ she said.
‘Penny to a pinch of shit,’ said Max, nodding. ‘Fucker’s a psycho.’
‘Over Constantine’s whereabouts?’ Annie stopped in front of Max and locked eyes with him. ‘Jesus, do you think Gary was playing with fire, trying to get money or
something off Redmond, doing a trade? He knew that Constantine was behind the plane crash that should have killed Redmond and Orla back in the seventies. Did he give that piece of information to
Redmond, maybe
sell
it to him, as a little taster, and then Gina comes on the phone raving about Constantine being alive and where Constantine’s living these days, and Gary thinks,
I can make some bigger wedge here, better than I did before
. Maybe Gary tried to milk Redmond? And maybe Redmond snapped and killed him over it.’
Max folded his arms and stared at the floor, thinking. ‘Redmond’s no fool. I don’t think he would top Gary until he had that information – if he was so desperate to get
it.’
‘Caroline said he was beating the crap out of him beforehand.’
‘Yeah.’ Max’s head raised and he looked grimly at Annie. ‘So it’s possible he beat it out of him and then killed him. In which case, right now – Redmond knows
where Constantine is.’
Annie considered this with a sense of dread. She considered also that Redmond could have cornered her, forced the location out of her just like he had with Gary. That he could have done with her
exactly as he had done with Gary and with poor bloody Jackie. The thought brought her out in a cold sweat.
‘Why didn’t he do you?’ wondered Max, echoing her thoughts. ‘He could have.’
Tony spoke for the first time. ‘I think Redmond Delaney has a thing for Mrs Carter. Weird as that may sound.’
Annie looked at Tony in surprise. ‘Oh,
really?
He left me to die once. You forgotten that?’
Tony shrugged. ‘He’s a twisted, cold-blooded bastard. Who knows how his brain works? But for sure, he
could
have done you over and got it out of you. And he didn’t. Just
saying.’
‘He likes playing cat and mouse with people,’ said Annie with a heartfelt shudder.
‘So what now?’ asked Max.
‘We get someone over to Redmond’s place. See if he’s there. He won’t be, I’m sure of it, but we should check. And then . . . ’
‘Then what?’
‘I have to get up there,’ said Annie. ‘If Redmond knows, then he’s going for Constantine.’
‘And I’m supposed to care about that?’
Annie looked at him in exasperation. ‘He’s Alberto’s father, and if Alberto suffers then so does Layla, have you thought about
that
?’
‘So you ride to the rescue? Redmond’s had a day’s start. He’s probably whacked Constantine already. And frankly, do I care? OK, once he and I, we worked together. We had
a mutual respect. But that sort of went for me, when he fucked my wife.’
‘I thought you were dead. And so did he.’
‘Yeah, yeah. And not content with
that
, you’ve been flitting back and forth to Scotland whenever you’ve come back here, visiting that shit and not telling me. No, I hope
Redmond
has
done the business on him. I’d like to pat that fucker on the back over this.’
‘I explained that,’ said Annie. ‘You
know
I did. Fuck’s sake! I’ve got to get up there and I need some back-up with me. Steve and Tone.’
‘And me,’ said Max.
Annie looked at him, startled. ‘No,’ she said firmly.
But Max was determined. ‘Look. If we’re right, Delaney’s already there and he could finish the job off properly. He could do you too, if you pitch up – even if you think
you have got a free pass where he’s concerned. Don’t kid yourself. The man’s a
psycho
. You don’t know
what
he’s going to do.’
‘Max . . .’
‘Don’t “Max” me. You’re not going up there without me.’
Annie stuck her hands on her hips. ‘I’m not going up there
with
you.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘Because you want Constantine dead. Because even if Redmond doesn’t finish the job, you will. I know you. You’ll
kill
him.’
‘I’d be doing the cunt a favour, holed away up there, losing his fucking faculties in a five-star prison. But Delaney’s probably already sorted that problem out for
me.’
‘Christ, Max . . .’
‘Forget it. I’m coming too.’
Annie made the call and they took off five hours later from the heliport in the usual six-seater Agusta 109 Grand helicopter. The pilot, a big ice-cool Yorkshireman, knew her
of old; he’d worked for ‘David Sangster’ for years. The chopper’s two lines of three passenger seats were camel-coloured, butter-soft leather armchairs, each with its own
drinks holder and headphones that piped soothing music. The cabin was lined to prevent too much noise, in a toning shade of cream.
As the rotors began to spin, Annie looked across at Tony and Steve, who were both plugged in to Chopin. Max had drafted them in, in case there was trouble. She was sure there would be, if
Redmond was involved. One of Steve’s security boys had been out to Redmond’s place, and she’d been right: the house was deserted, not even that weirdo heavy Mitchell was there.
The place was shut up tight, everything dark.
But even now, they could be wrong; Redmond could be anywhere, not at Constantine’s. Annie hoped that was true, she really did. But at the back of her mind, she doubted it.
As the craft lifted into the air, Max, sitting beside her with one spare seat to his left, said:
‘There’s no way to get a message to him? To Constantine – or Alberto, if he’s in no fit state?’
Annie shook her head. ‘They contact
me
. It’s never the other way round. I have no telephone numbers, no email addresses, nothing.’
‘How many times have you done this trip now?’
‘Too many,’ she told him.
‘And who owns this damned thing?’ Max waved a hand, taking in the luxurious cabin interior. ‘Or is it rented? Must cost a fucking mint.’
‘It’s owned by Constantine – or rather, “David Sangster” – through a network of corporations that winds up in Liechtenstein or the Caymans, somewhere like
that.’
Annie took a breath, glanced over at Steve and Tony sitting there like a pair of overlarge bookends, headphones on, arms folded and eyes closed. ‘Redmond’s going there to kill him,
isn’t he?’
Max looked grim. ‘Well, let’s put it this way. If Redmond hasn’t done for the bastard, then I will,’ he said. ‘That’s a promise.’
‘Max, I told you. He’s old now. He’s old and he’s confused and he’s scared. He doesn’t deserve it.’
‘Bollocks.’
‘And what about
me
, then?’
‘What?’
‘Where does that leave me? Where does it leave
us
?’
Max looked away. ‘Christ knows,’ he said, and fell silent.