The Murder Exchange (37 page)

Tes, I have. The company exists all right. They
sent me pages of stuff but nothing that really tells
me very much.'

Till see what I can come up with. Can you give
me your mobile number again?'

I reeled it out and Malik said his goodbyes, saying
he had to go.

I flicked off the phone and stared at the pile
accounts for Dagmar Holdings Ltd in my in-tray,
really needed to give them a closer look. I looked
my watch. Ten to twelve. It could wait until later.

'Do you fancy a drink and a bite to eat?' I ask<
Benin.

He nodded and grinned. 'I could do with both.' |

Then let's get out of here,' I said, and we got
our feet, once again leaving the Matthews incid
room empty and silent.

344

Iversson

lugger Lewis cooked supper that night. Thai fish
curry with noodles and stir-fried veg. Very nice.
Apparently he'd been working as a trainee chef for
the previous six months, and whatever they'd been
teaching him seemed to have done the trick because
it was one of the best meals I've had in years. It
gr.vo me renewed faith in the British education
system, to tell you the truth. The only thing spoiling
it was Johnny, who'd been moaning pretty much
non-stop ever since he'd discovered who the owner
of the 'Elvis barnet' was. As I finished my last mouthful,
he was just starting up again, like a stuck CD.

'T've got to earn some more out of all this/ he told
ti»- iCbt of us as we sat round the kitchen table. 'That's Krys bark-at-the-fucking-moon Holtz we've
got down there, known affectionately as the
Barnsbury Torturer, and that's by his mum. The one
geezer in the whole of north London you don't
want to get on the wrong side of, and I'm part of the
team that's kidnapped him. It's all right for you lot.
You're all making a decent wedge out of this. I've
got to make do with fuck all.'

That's because you haven't had to do fuck all,
Johnny/ I told him. 'All you did was drive the car.
We had the hard work.'

'I've had to put my Niagaras on the line, Max,
just like everyone else, even though no-one asked
me if I wanted to. And I've got to live round this
fucking city for the rest of my life, permanently
wondering if I'm going to end up making a oneway
visit to Krys's workshop.'

345

'No-one's going to find you out,' said Joe, taking
another mouthful.

'I nicked the cars, remember? The coppers could
get some sort of lead that puts them on to me and
then I'm fucked. I might get nicked for something I
didn't even want a part in, and then it'll get back to
the Holtzes, which is far worse.'

Tou worry too much,' I told him. Take the
money you're going to get, be pleased with it, and
leave it at that. You never know, tomorrow might
be your last day on earth. Don't spend it crapping
your pants about something that'll probably never
happen.'

'It's easy for you to say. You'll have enough so
you can fuck off wherever you want.'

'Ah, stop being so fucking gutless.'

It was Kalinski who spoke, his tone contemptuous.
He was wearing a black polo-neck
sweater with three thick gold chains over it, and his
greying hair was slicked back. It made him look
like a gangsta version of the Milk Tray man. He'd
pushed his plate to one side, having eaten less than
half the food he'd been given, and was puffing on a
Rothmans.

*You think you know fear?' he said, pointing his
cigarette at Johnny. 'Eh?' Johnny didn't say anything.
He looked like he was an expert in it. 'You
don't know shit. I'll tell you that now. Fear's when
you're standing on the street with no fucking cover
and the Filth, them bastards from SO19, are taking!
potshots at you with sighted rifles, and your best!
mate, the one you did the job with, is lying dead on 1
the pavement in a pool of blood, inches from yourl

346

feet, and you know that in two, maybe three fucking
seconds you're going to go exactly the same way.'
Kalinski stared Johnny down. That, boy, is fear.'

'What happened?' asked Johnny, eyes wide.

Tou mean, why am I still here? I took a bullet in
the gut and one in the leg. I was in hospital for six
weeks and the cunts still charged me afterwards.
I got fourteen years for armed robbery and
,-,!' ompted murder, because I managed to hit one of
their fucking blokes as well. My only regret about
the whole thing was that I didn't kill the bastard.'

To be honest with you, I wouldn't get too carried
away about Kalinski's role in the gunfight at the
OK Corral. From what I'd heard, he'd only ever
fi'-pr) one shot in anger during his long criminal
i.i^eer, and that had been into a sub post office
ceiling. And he wasn't exactly Papillon either.
According to what Joe had told me, he'd only ever
done a couple of short stretches inside, which was
another of the reasons we'd hired him. It showed he
was careful. Something smelled a little fishy, and it
wasn't just Tugger's curry.

Johnny sighed and put his head in his hands.
What am I fucking doing here?' he said to no-one
in particular.

'Being gutless,' snarled Kalinski.

'Give him a break, Mike/ I said. The poor sod's
had a bad week. His missus is bisexual.'

'What the fuck's wrong with that?' said Tugger.
'Nothing better than a bit of three-in-a-bed experimentation.'

'Not if the third one doesn't want fuck all to do
with you.'

347

1

Tugger patted him on the back sympathetically.
'Shit, Johnny, is that right? Does her lover not swing
to the beat of the phallic drum?'

'Look, fuck off, will you?' said Johnny, brushing
off lugger's hand. He turned and gave me the evil
eye. That was private what I was telling you, Max.'

'I had a session with a couple of lesbians once,'
said Kalinski. Torn stars they were, American.
Candy and Brandie they was called. Brandie's been
in loads of stuff.' He shook his head in awe. They
knew what they was fucking doing, I can tell you.
Could have sucked ballast through a straw, both of
them. Did it in a penthouse in the Savoy.'

If Kalinski had been Pinocchio, he'd have had my
fucking eye. out. This bloke could bullshit for
England.

I got up from the table. 'I'd better give Krysy boy
something to eat.'

Kalinski glared at me. 'Fuck that, let him starve.'

'I tried him this morning/ said Joe, 'and he told
me to fuck off. So I did. We're releasing him Sunday
morning. If he wants to lose weight in the meantime,
let him. He's had some water so he won't die.'

'He's been here nearly two days and he hasn't
touched a thing. I'll just check on him.'

'You just want a chance to give him another kicking/
said Joe, with something close to a smile.

Which was partly true, I did. Krys, like Johnny,
had been a pain in the arse from the start. When
we'd dragged him out of the van and into the farmhouse
on the first night, he'd gone absolutely
apeshit, kicking like a donkey and screaming all
sorts of uncalled-for insults. Me and Kalinski had

348

been forced to give him the beating of his life, just
rewards for past wrongs, Kalinski taking particular
pleasure in stamping repeatedly on his bollocks
until Joe pulled us both off, fearful we'd kill him.
When I'd tried to feed him the following morning,
he'd spat in my face and told me I was a dead man,
which had been a pretty fucking stupid move on
his part and had cost him a broken nose, but he still
routed any effort at co-operation and in those
increasingly rare moments when his gag was
removed he was full of bluster and threats. In the
end, I had no choice but to award him a grudging
respect. He was a champion arsehole and about as
pleasant as a skidmark, but he was no coward. It
m^Hp me think, too, that this was a much better
wu/ or" dealing with him than shooting him outright.
This way we broke him down, humiliated
him, but we didn't kill him in cold blood. I'm not a
bad lad, to be honest with you, and I don't think
I'm capable of just executing someone outright
without them having a chance to fight back. Plus,
this way we made money out of it, so it seemed to
me to be a pretty decent sort of revenge all round,
really.

'At the moment, Joe, he's the most valuable thing
we've got and it's in all our interests to keep him
that way. At least if we give him back alive, one day
the Holtzes'll forget about what happened. If he
turns up dead, we'll have them on our backs for
ever.' I picked up a couple of pieces of bread from
the kitchen top. 'Look, I'm not exactly giving
him the lavish stuff.'

I went out of the room, through the hallway, and

349

over to the door under the stairs that led down to
the cellar. I unlocked it, switched on the light, and
walked slowly down the wooden steps.

Krys was strapped to a chair which was in turn
secured to the bare brick wall. He was wearing a
shirt and piss-stained trousers with nothing on his
feet. He had a black blindfold round his eyes and
masking tape securing his mouth, and his face was
covered in bruises. Dried blood had formed a
crusty trail running from his nostrils, where I'd
delivered the nose-breaking blow, down to his
neck. Another badly healed cut wound its way
across his forehead. Basically, he looked a mess.

His head turned as he heard my approach. I
stopped and picked up a jug of water, filled a dirty
cup, then leant over and pulled the masking tape
away from his mouth. Usually this was the cue for
a burst of swearing, but instead he just coughed
and cleared his throat. 'I think some of my ribs are
broken,' he said quietly, 'and I need to change these
trousers.'

'If you're looking for sympathy, you've come to
the wrong place,' I told him. 'Now, open your
mouth, I'm going to feed you some bread.'

Krys did as he was told and I ripped off bite
sized pieces and placed them in his mouth. He
chewed hungrily and finished off both slices
quickly. 'Have you got any more?'

'That's your lot. Now, I'm going to give you some
water.' I put the cup to his mouth and held it there.
He gulped it down, drinking about half of it before
turning his head away.

I put the cup back down by the jug and thought

350

that I could almost feel sorry for Krys Holtz, tied up
and stewing in his own urine. But then I thought of
what he'd done to Elaine, and to Kalinski's brother,
and that soon put a stop to it. What he was going
through now was certainly no less than he
deserved, and far more temporary.

'I've got money,' said Krys. 'Plenty of it. If you
help me get out of here, I'll make it more than
n'Tth your while. How much do you want?'

'Sorry, Krys, no can do.'

'A hundred grand, hundred and fifty. I could get
that for you. Honest.' His voice had suddenly taken
on a whining quality which didn't improve my
opinion of him.

We're going to be picking up a lot more off your
v,U man tomorrow.'

'He'll kill you, you know.' This time his voice
was quiet, but there was an edge to it. He believed
what he was saying. 'It doesn't matter where you
hide. He'll find you and he'll kill you.' I started to
replace the masking tape and Krys's tone immediately
changed. 'Please change these trousers.
Please.'

I ignored his request and finished what I was
doing. Krys struggled violently in the seat for a few
moments until his strength deserted him. 'In
the morning,' I told him. 'We'll change them in the
morning.'

Then, wondering if I really was being too
sadistic, I turned and walked back up the steps,
switching off the light when I reached the top.

351

Yesterday

Iversson

I got the call at 6.26 p.m. 'He's here/ growled
Kalinski into the phone. 'Just pulled in now.
Driving a matt-black Merc.'

'Does it look like he's alone?'

'I can't see anyone else.'

'No-one's pulled in behind him or anything?'

'No-one. He's definitely on his own.'

'All right. I'll talk to you shortly.'

I rang off and pulled the cap down over my head.
It was raining hard again, and you had to think the
gods were smiling on us as far as the weather was
concerned. Usually there were plenty of walkers in
Epping Forest, the only serious stretch of woodland
this close to London, but tonight I had the feeling
that most would be staying away. Tugger and I had
taken up position at the edge of the treeline looking
down across a slightly inclined grass clearing about
a hundred yards long and fifty wide. It led down to
more woodland from which Stefan Holtz would
emerge, once we guided him to the spot. There was

352

no-one else in the vicinity that we'd seen, and I was
confident the transaction could be made without
fuss.

Tugger sat on a thick branch, his feet resting on a
log, an M-16 in his hands. Purely precautionary, but
always worth keeping, just in case. Trie's there, then?'

I nodded. 'Yeah, he's there.' I pressed the button
to dial Holtz's mobile and waited while it rang.

He answered with an angry grunt.

'Mr Holtz, I'm glad you made it.'

Where's my son?'

'He's safe and he's well.'

'How do I know that?'

'Listen to this.'
The flicked on the short tape we'd got Krys to make iit.u morning in exchange for changing his trousers
and allowing him to use the toilet in privacy. It was
short and to the point: he gave the date and the
time, and said that he was OK and was being
treated well. He hadn't wanted to add this last bit
but I'd suggested that he ought to unless he wanted
Kalinski to stamp on his bollocks again. Krys might
have been no coward but he was no fool either, and
had done what he'd been told.

I switched off the tape. 'Satisfied?'

'He'd fucking better be all right.'

'Don't threaten me, Mr Holtz/ I told him coldly.
'You really haven't got much of a bargaining
position. Now, have you got the money?' Holtz
grunted that he had. 'Good. Now, when we finish
this conversation, drive out of the car park and turn
right, crossing the M25.' I then gave him a short set
of further instructions, about where he should turn