by Emma Tallon
‘What?’ Sarah sat upright. ‘Jesus, Anna…’
‘I’m just shooting round ideas,’ she replied, holding her hands up in defence.
Sarah exhaled loudly and shook her head. ‘I don’t know about that, but…’ She twisted her mouth to the side. ‘If they haven’t run the DNA through the system yet, I could maybe get Melrose to put a dummy sample through. The results would then state that whoever it is isn’t on the general database. So long as nothing concrete is found at the scene that could lead us to Aleksei’s identity, this would be the fastest route to a dead end.’
‘Hmm.’ Anna sat back and mulled it over.
‘Though I have to say, I’m surprised that this wasn’t already being looked into as a major incident or even terror attack,’ Sarah continued. ‘It’s not every day that someone blows up a building.’
‘It should have been,’ Anna replied. ‘But from what I gather from our contacts in the trade, the building company covered it up and reported it as a deliberate demolition. Apparently, their site insurance would be invalidated and they’d be shut down if it ever got out that there was an accident of this magnitude with explosives. The owner could even have faced jail time for negligence. They managed to get on site before the police did and sent them away, claiming they had it all under control.’
It hadn’t been easy, casually dropping the site into a conversation with their business partner, Ralph. He owned one of the larger building companies in the area and she knew that if there was any gossip, he’d be in the know. But she’d had to steer the conversation very carefully indeed to get this out of him without her questions appearing odd.
‘Well, you seem to know quite a lot actually, considering the news about this only broke this morning,’ Sarah remarked, her tone tinged with suspicion.
Anna straightened up and her jaw hardened. ‘I’ve found out all I can and quickly. Because that’s what you have to do to stay ahead in this game. The normal rules don’t apply to us and you know that. We have to stay one step ahead of the law at all times. If something can be linked to us, it can be the catalyst that brings us down. So I just need this dealt with. Can you help me with that?’ She stared across the table at the other woman.
‘What does Freddie have to say about all of this?’ Sarah asked.
‘I haven’t discussed it with him,’ Anna admitted. ‘And I don’t intend to. He has enough on his plate, he doesn’t need to be bothered by every little thing. That’s why I’m here. And the rest of the firm. To put fires out before they truly catch light.’
Sarah rubbed her chin thoughtfully for a few moments before she answered. ‘Of course.’ She stood up and gave Anna a tight smile. ‘I’ll find Melrose now and I’ll put in a word with Ben that I want to run this case. It shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘Thank you.’ Anna returned the smile and rose to see Sarah out. ‘Let me know how things are going.’
‘Will do.’
Sarah walked out of the small office and back through the club to the front door. As she exited into the early afternoon sun she turned the conversation over in her mind. Anna wasn’t telling her the whole story. There was definitely something she wasn’t sharing, something big. But what it could be, she had no idea. If the firm had taken Aleksei out they would have no reason to keep it from her. Plus, if that were the case, they wouldn’t have wasted so much time searching for him. So what could Anna possibly be hiding?
As she walked down the street she decided to file it away for now. Covering up Aleksei’s identity would be enough to deal with. The mystery of whatever Anna was hiding could wait until another day.
Forty
Jim paced the small office at Sophia’s house, his shoulders hunched tensely as he gnawed at the skin around his thumb. He had made good on his promise to Sophia. He had handed her the information she needed and had given her the perfect time and place to take Freddie out. It had all just happened so fast that now the nerves were eating away at him. What if something goes wrong? But it was such a simple plan that surely it couldn’t…
Sophia walked back in, having left him there whilst she went upstairs to change into suitable clothes for the occasion. Instead of one of her usual elegantly glamorous ensembles she was dressed in black jeans and a plain black polo neck. Her hair, usually so softly styled, was scraped back into a severe bun, not one strand out of place. No make-up adorned her face. Not – Jim noted – that she needed it.
‘So,’ she said, eying him up critically. ‘You are sure that these codes have not been changed?’
‘Nah,’ Jim said, shaking his head. ‘They won’t have changed.’
‘And Freddie should be alone?’ she questioned.
‘Most likely,’ Jim replied. ‘But I can’t be completely certain.’
When Freddie had texted him the day before, Jim had initially fallen into a state of total panic. Why would the younger man want to speak to him after closing, when everyone had disappeared for the night? Perhaps he had underestimated Mollie, perhaps she had told him after all. Maybe he had gone in too high with his demands and she had considered the fall-out of telling Freddie the truth a lesser price to pay.
But after he thought about it some more, he decided this couldn’t be the case. If Freddie knew what he was really up to right now, there was no way he’d just send a casual summons for a chat. He’d have rounded Jim up immediately and would be doling out some serious consequences. The seriousness of the situation had finally sunk in then, as he mulled this over. The game he had been playing was dangerous, and if he wasn’t very careful indeed he would be the one pushing up the daisies.
Luckily for him Sophia had other plans and these now suited him just fine. Jim was no killer. For all his ducking and diving and dodgy dealings over the years, he drew the line at murder. In truth he didn’t have the stomach for it. He was, as his mother would say, all mouth and no trousers. He hadn’t ever even considered killing anyone, let alone someone as dangerous as Freddie Tyler. His plan all along had been to bully Mollie into giving him the money, then to disappear into the night. He hadn’t wanted the hassle of getting embroiled in anything else. But as much as he hadn’t wanted to be pulled into Sophia’s game, the fact that she was planning to put an end to the Tylers was definitely a bonus for him. No repercussions to follow him as he made off with the money.
Now, more than ever, Jim needed Sophia to succeed. With this in mind, Jim had swiftly come up with a plan for Sophia to corner Freddie and take him out without being caught, using Freddie’s own summons. It was simple, but hopefully effective. Freddie wanted to meet after hours which meant that there wouldn’t be anyone around to see or hear what was going on. And Jim, ever watchful for an opportunity, had kept note of the codes he’d seen the men use on the security system for the club.
Sophia looked at the clock on the wall and nodded. ‘It is time,’ she said. ‘Here, put these on.’ She chucked a pair of leather gloves in Jim’s direction and he caught them clumsily, looking confused. ‘Ali and I will take care of things inside, you can drive the car.’ She looked him up and down, her gaze resting on his pasty face. He wasn’t up to this, she could tell. Usually she would have dropped a weak link like him way before this point, but Jim had been the one to give her the time, place and the details she needed to carry out her task, so she would keep him around. For now.
Forty-One
An hour later, Jim pulled the car into a small side street just down the road from the club. It was the only club on this stretch of road, surrounded by pubs and smaller bars that closed a lot earlier, so once the club had shut for the night there were never many people hanging around. The last reveller had gone, the staff had all shuffled home to their beds and the place was deserted.
Sophia felt a glimmer of excitement as she thought through what she was about to do. Ever since Aleksei had died she had felt a burning need for retribution and tonight she was finally going to get it. Nobody had really understood the strange relationship she and her husband had shared. T
hose who didn’t know his true nature were puzzled by his romantic indifference to his wife and the fact that she seemed at ease with this. Those who knew or suspected Aleksei’s preferences were confused by the fact that Sophia was not enraged and hurt by it. The reality of the situation was that she and Aleksei had been best friends and two of a kind. The companionship they shared was special.
She had thought herself to be in love with him once. Indeed, Aleksei had tried his hardest to be a good husband at first. But once she realised that his love for her was not really the right kind and once she had got over the shock and analysed how this made her feel, she discovered that she wasn’t devastated. They still had a close bond. They had a happy family and a good life together and neither of them had any intention of changing that. And that was what she really cared about. Not the romance or the sex – if truth was told, Sophia had never been much of a fan of that side of things anyway. She knew she wasn’t normal, in that sense. But it was just the way she was built. She was as cold on the inside as the deep Russian snow. And unlike how most men would have felt, Aleksei loved her for it. He admired her cold, analytical mind and her strategic view on life.
The pair of them were as close as two people could be, and when he went off into the night to find his lovers Sophia didn’t mind. She knew that when he was finished fulfilling his physical needs he would always come home to her. And they were happy. Or at least they had been until their lives were turned upside down.
Back in Russia Aleksei had been careful to hide who he really was. He’d had to. The other firms he worked alongside were not the tolerant kind. Anybody who was different to them was despised. Skin colour, religion, sexuality – if it didn’t fit with their image of what was right, then it was classed as unacceptable. These were dangerous people to be around if you did not fit the bill and so when a competitor had come forward with photos and details and blackmailed Aleksei, they’d had no choice but to leave the country. It had been a choice between that and being burned alive for his secret choices.
They had fled to England with a skeleton of men to start afresh. But that had been when Aleksei had met her. Sophia’s lip curled as her mind led her back to Josephine. Josephine had been different from the others. Sophia could tell from early on that it was not the same, Josephine wasn’t just a booty call to scratch an itch. She wasn’t just some toy he wanted to play with for a while before he got bored. Josephine had swiftly become someone he genuinely cared about. He’d begun spending more time with her, more energy on keeping her happy and less time and energy focusing on his family. Sophia had become jealous – not of their romantic connection, but because Josephine was suddenly a competitor for the deeper level of relationship that until this point had belonged only to her.
When Aleksei had come home one night, his face ashen and drawn, and asked to speak to her in his study, she hadn’t expected the blow that was about to come. He had told her quietly that he was going to make some changes and that to do this he needed her to move with the boys out of their family home and into a new one he was setting up for them near her family in Estonia. As the words had registered, it had been like a hard slap across the face. She’d fought and they had argued, but in the end Aleksei had stood firm. This was happening and there was nothing more to say about it. Sophia would leave quietly and start a new life – a better one, he assured her – with the boys, and they would each begin living for themselves again. When he had told her Josephine would be moving in, her heart had almost stopped. White-hot ice pierced it and bloodlust like she had never felt before began to flow through her veins. And it had never dissipated.
Despite the fact the move had never happened, Josephine had very nearly ruined her life and taken everything from her. And for that, now that Aleksei was dead, Josephine would pay. But first, she reminded herself as her mind wandered, Freddie Tyler.
Forty-Two
Freddie rolled the empty glass that was on the desk in front of him around and around before checking his watch with a sigh of irritation. Jim was late. The club had been closed for over half an hour and his business was conducted for the evening. All he wanted to do now was go home to his warm bed and Anna. But he needed to talk to Jim first.
As he thought about going home to his girlfriend, Freddie’s mind wandered to his son. He hadn’t spent much quality time with Ethan over the last week. He made a mental note to organise a day out, just the three of them. If he could get into Anna’s diary, of course. She was busier than ever at the moment.
A fresh wave of annoyance washed over him as he checked his watch again and he huffed. The other man was royally taking the piss now. Unlocking his phone, Freddie pinged across a message.
Where are you?
Pushing his phone away, Freddie’s gaze swept over his desk as he searched for something to keep himself occupied until Jim decided to finally show up. His eyes rested on a set of blueprints for a new building Ralph Hines wanted to build. He had offered Freddie the chance to partner up on the project, but Freddie hadn’t yet found the time to look over the documents properly. He sifted it out of the pile of paperwork that he’d shoved to one side, laid the documents out across the table and settled into the new task.
Sophia crept silently through the alleyway leading to the back of the club, hugging the wall where the shadows were at their darkest. She knew from Jim that there was a camera facing down this alley, but that the picture was low-contrast and grainy at night. It meant that when watching the video back later, the most anyone would be able to make out would be a few flickers in the darkness, not anything that would give their identity away. She imagined the Tylers had kept it this way to protect themselves, should they need to hide anything coming in. It was a clever move, but one that could be used against them – as they were about to find out.
She reached the back and allowed Ali to silently pass her to try the door. It was unlocked and Sophia gave him the nod to continue inside. As they slipped indoors out of the night, Sophia felt along the wall until she reached the box she knew to hold the keypad to the security system. Flipping the front open, a series of small blinking lights illuminated the keypad just enough for Sophia to see what she was doing. She punched in the code she had previously memorised and all the lights dimmed to black. The system was now completely offline. The alarm and all the cameras throughout the building were off.
Carefully walking down the hallway, the pair made their way into the main bar where some of the softer lights had been left on, and to the stairs that led up to the office. As they ascended, Sophia counted silently. The seventh step was creaky, Jim had warned her. They skipped this step and continued up without a sound.
As the door to the office came into her line of sight, Sophia’s heart rate increased with excitement and her breath caught in her throat. She was so close now. Freddie was just inside that door, waiting for Jim, totally unaware of what was about to happen. With steady fingers she reached into the inside pocket of her black jacket and pulled out her gun. With her free hand she signalled for Ali to hang back. She wanted to be the one to do this. The need to pull the trigger herself was almost a physical pain now, as the rush of adrenalin began to fill her body.
Sophia pulled her black cap further forward over her forehead and took the last few steps to the door. It was slightly ajar, which was perfect. There would be no need to alert Freddie to her presence early by rattling the handle. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly, savouring the moment, revelling in the feeling of power. Then without further ado, she gently pushed it until it silently began to swing open.
Without looking down Sophia pulled the silencer out of another of her pockets. With deft, experienced hands, she screwed it onto the end of the gun and lifted it ready to shoot. She licked her bottom lip, her eyes wide and alert like that of a predator. The bookcase came into view, then the filing cabinets and finally the end of the desk, bathed in the weak, warm glow of light from a desk lamp. Finally, as the door swung wider, he came into view.
Sophia studied him from across the room. She had been so quiet and he was clearly so engrossed in whatever he was doing that he hadn’t yet turned around. He sat hunched over the desk, peering over a load of papers with his back to her and the door. There was no one else in the room, she noted. He was alone as she had hoped.
For a moment she considered getting his attention. It would be the icing on the cake to see his face as she ended his life. The great Freddie Tyler was about to be taken down so easily, so simply. Seeing the helplessness play out as he realised he was cornered would warm her for years to come. But the last warning Jim had given her held her back.
Freddie had a closed-circuit camera in this room which was not controlled by the main system. And she would not be able to disable it. In order to stay off it, she would need to shoot from the doorway. And if she let him know what was coming there was the chance that he would shout out her name before the bullet hit its mark. If she was going to continue in this world successfully and without being identified as his killer after he was gone, then this would do her no favours.
She swallowed her disappointment as sense won out and lifted her arm, aiming the gun at the back of his head. She calmed her breathing and let years of training take over. Sophia had always prided herself on the fact that she was a perfect marksman, able to tune the rest of the world out and focus on nothing more than her prey. And today her prey was Freddie Tyler. As she caught her breath Freddie froze, and as he began to turn, alerted too late to the presence behind him, she pulled the trigger.
The muted clap of the gun going off bounced through the room and faded away as the bullet found its mark. His body slumped forward and his shoulder knocked the small lamp off the desk and onto the floor, throwing eerie shadows around the room. The dim lighting made it hard to see at first, but a few moments later Sophia’s face broke out into a wide, ecstatic smile and her eyes sparkled with glee as she saw the dark patch of blood begin to seep out of the wound in the back of his skull and down his neck. She didn’t need to walk over to check. He was definitely dead. There was no way anyone would survive a direct hit to the head like that. It was over. Freddie Tyler was gone.