by Emma Tallon
4
Freddie walked through the busy bookies to the back room, where he knew Sammy would be working in the office. He knocked briskly, then entered as he heard the deep voice granting him admission. Closing the door behind him, he kept his jacket on. As usual, Sammy had the temperature set to an arctic level. He seemed completely at ease in the cold, wearing nothing but a thin white shirt over his muscular torso.
Sammy’s expression was animated, his big blue eyes glinting with excitement.
‘I have some very interesting news.’ Sammy dived straight in. ‘Frank Gambino is making a trip to London. He arrives next week. He’s staying here for a while on business.’
Freddie breathed out slowly, as he began to catch Sammy’s contagious excitement. Frank Gambino, or Gambino the Gambler as he was commonly known, was the current head of one of the Five Families in New York. The Five Families were the Italian-American Mafia, and the firm who ran pretty much every major gambling enterprise in the western world, amongst other things.
Freddie picked up the stress ball which sat neatly in its own little holder on the desk and began playing with it absentmindedly, as a hundred thoughts whirled around in his head.
‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘That is very interesting news indeed. Where is he staying?’
‘The Dorchester.’
‘Who else will be with him?’ Freddie asked.
‘Just his own men – whatever he’s here for isn’t anything to do with the other families,’ Sammy replied.
‘Right. What are you thinking?’ Freddie was pretty sure he already knew, but he wanted to see if they were on the same page.
‘I think we need to get a meeting. We’ve been making money through the bookies and the back-room dens for a long time. We know the game inside out. Let’s be honest, he’s the only reason we haven’t stepped up a level.’
Freddie nodded. Although the Gambinos resided in New York, they had also staked their claim years before on the high-level casino game in most major cities throughout the US and Europe. To open up a proper casino in London, the Tylers would need Frank Gambino’s permission. They would also have to pay him a percentage of the profits. If they could get his approval to go ahead, it would mean moving up to a whole new level, professionally and financially. It wouldn’t do them any harm to be seen to be making friends with their American superiors either. And superiors they were, for although Freddie was the biggest fish in London, the Five Families were one of the biggest fish in the world.
‘Have you got an in?’ Freddie asked.
‘Sort of. I used to know a guy who does some work for one of the Gambino brothers. I can get him to ask for a meeting.’
‘No.’ Freddie shook his head. ‘Ask him to extend an invite to dinner. A little welcome into the city, from us to them. He will have heard of us; he’ll know this is our ground. He’ll have to accept out of respect.’
Sammy nodded in agreement. ‘I’ll call him today.’
‘Great.’ Freddie sat down on one of the armchairs around Sammy’s glass coffee table.
Sammy poured them each a neat whisky, passed one to Freddie and then eased his large frame into the chair opposite. He held his glass forward and chinked it against Freddie’s.
‘Here’s to us and new ventures,’ Sammy toasted.
‘To us,’ Freddie repeated. ‘And hopefully a very lucrative friendship with the Mafia.’ He knocked back the whisky, feeling the fiery burn slide down his throat. If they could get Gambino onside, the possibilities were endless. This could be the start of a much bigger future for them all.
Anna frowned in concentration as she walked through the hallway towards her front door, searching her handbag for keys. Pulling it up so that she could see inside, she pushed notepads and her purse out of the way. They’re in there somewhere, she thought. She could hear them jangling. She tutted with impatience. Why were they always the last thing you come across?
Anna reached her door and stopped, still peering into the dark depths of the Louis Vuitton that Tanya had bought her for Christmas. She made a mental note to change to a smaller bag. As her fingers finally made contact with the bunch of keys, she exclaimed in triumph. She looked up to find the lock and stopped dead, her momentary elation fading away. The front door was ajar and the doorframe was damaged. Someone had broken in. She stepped backward. They might still be in there.
Silently she moved through the door that led to the stairwell and positioned herself so that she could see if anyone left. Whether this was a random break-in or an enemy of Freddie’s trying to make a statement, she didn’t yet know.
Anna pulled her phone from her back pocket and pressed Freddie’s number. The line connected and began to ring. ‘Come on, Freddie,’ she muttered under her breath. It went through to voicemail and she groaned. Trying Paul’s number next she swore as it went straight to voicemail too. Searching once more through her contacts she dialled another number and waited for it to be picked up.
‘DI John Fraser.’ The clipped voice sounded over a background of office chatter.
She breathed out in relief. Anna knew Freddie trusted this man explicitly and that she could count on him to deal with this. He had been on Freddie’s payroll for years and Freddie had always told her to go to him should she ever need help.
‘Fraser, it’s Anna Davis. Can you talk?’ Anna asked quietly.
‘Sure, hang on.’ There was a pause as he moved somewhere quieter. ‘Everything OK? Is Freddie OK?’ he asked.
‘Freddie’s fine. But someone has broken into the flat. I can’t call the police officially – they’ll crawl all over things. Can you come?’
‘Christ. Yeah, I’m coming now. Where are you now?’ Fraser asked. She could hear him moving as he talked.
‘In the stairwell. I haven’t been in. I just saw the door and called you.’
‘Good. Stay there. I’m only five minutes away.’
As good as his word, DI John Fraser came through the door just over five minutes later. Anna breathed out in relief. Every second had felt like an hour as she waited tensely, keeping her eyes trained on the broken front door.
‘Anyone come out?’ Fraser asked, deep lines furrowing his forehead.
‘No, not yet. I think they’re probably gone.’
‘Wait here.’ Fraser pulled a small handgun out of his pocket and quietly made his way into the flat. Well, Anna thought, they certainly didn’t issue that at the police station. She was glad he had answered. She couldn’t have reported this properly and had a straight policeman going through their home. There was no telling what they might find.
Fraser came out and beckoned Anna over.
‘They’ve gone. It looks like a random break-in; I don’t think it’s directed at Freddie. Come in and see if you can tell me what’s missing.’
Anna walked into the hallway and looked around. There was broken glass on the floor where a vase had been knocked off the side table. Her heels crunched over it as she made her way through, trying to remember how everything was when she left earlier that day. Glancing into the lounge she could see the drawers on the dresser were open, but she ignored that. There was nothing in there. She walked into the kitchen first and opened the freezer. Pulling the top drawer out, she pursed her lips. The money they kept there had been taken.
‘Five grand gone from here,’ she said to DI Fraser. He raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
Anna made her way to Freddie’s office. A quick check showed that their hidden safe was still intact but his drawers were all open and paperwork littered the floor.
‘Freddie’s iPad is gone,’ she said, looking around to see if anything else was missing.
‘Is there anything on it?’
‘No, it’s just for casual use, nothing incriminating.’ Anna was glad that Freddie insisted on taking his laptop out with him every day. That had all his business dealings on it and would be very dangerous indeed in the wrong hands.
In the bedroom Anna gasped. Their belongings were ev
erywhere. Her clothes were scattered all around, Freddie’s too. The photo frames that used to sit on the bookcase had all been thrown off and most had smashed. Her dressing-table drawers were open and her make-up thrown out. She pushed her fingers to the back of the main drawer and felt around.
‘Another five grand gone from here, too.’ Her eyes rested on the mirrored jewellery box on top and she opened it. ‘Oh no,’ she groaned.
‘What is it?’ Fraser came over to look.
Anna pulled a sad face. ‘I had some pearl earrings that Freddie bought me last year. They’re gone. And a diamond necklace I bought from Hatton Gardens. And’ – she rummaged through what was still there and then sighed – ‘my grandmother’s ring too. It wasn’t worth much, but it meant a lot to me. It’s all I had left of her.’
Anna stepped backward and sat down heavily on the bed. She suddenly began to cry. The break-in she could cope with. Money didn’t matter; they could make more. Even the earrings from Freddie; sad though she was to lose them, she would get over their loss. But the ring that her beloved grandmother had left her was something she could never replace. It was the last thing she had given her before she died. Anna still felt close to her whenever she wore it, but now she would never feel close to her again.
Fraser sat down next to Anna, his expression sombre. He had been impressed by how calmly she had dealt with it all, as they had gone through the house. But clearly this ring meant a lot to her. Clearly family meant a lot to her, just like Freddie. Her devastated expression pulled at his heart and anger surged through him.
This was why Fraser had got into the force in the first place, to punish people who did things like this. Oh, he knew he was bent. He had been helping Freddie cover things up for years. But he had a moral code. Criminals like Freddie didn’t bother him. He was just a businessman on the wrong side of politics, and when Freddie crossed the line it was justified. But Fraser waged war against the criminals who hurt people for no reason, with no care or concern for anyone other than themselves.
He looked around at the mess. This was someone’s home. How could anyone come into someone’s personal domain, their safe place, and treat it like this?
Anna sat upright and wiped her eyes. ‘Sorry.’ She was embarrassed. ‘I’m fine. Just can’t believe they would take that ring. They won’t even get anything for it.’ She shook her head sadly.
‘Do you want me to call Freddie?’ Fraser asked.
‘No, it’s OK. He’s not answering at the moment. I’ll track him down in a minute and tell him what happened. Thanks again for coming, John,’ she said tiredly.
Fraser grinned.
‘What are you smiling at?’ she asked.
‘That’s the first time you’ve ever called me by my first name,’ he replied.
‘Yes, so it is.’ Anna managed a small laugh. She stood up and brushed herself down, before walking back through to the other rooms to check she hadn’t missed anything.
Fraser looked around. What a mess. He knelt down and started picking up the broken glass from the picture frames. Might as well make myself useful, he thought. If he knew Freddie, which he did, Freddie would want him to wait until he got here, to talk to him in person. They would decide how to proceed together, to find whoever was responsible for this.
Fraser pulled a face and his lips formed a hard line. He would not want to be in the thief’s shoes when Freddie Tyler found him. Not for all the money in the world.
5
A few days later, Freddie’s tyres crunched to a stop on the stony ground of his new building site. He stepped out and waved to Tom, who was making his way over towards him.
‘Freddie, good to see you!’ Tom greeted him warmly. He had been on site in his new position for a week now and had settled in well. The men who now worked under him were happy with their new foreman and the owner of the building firm was pleased with how efficiently Tom was running things. The new arrangement was working out for everybody. Even Freddie was impressed.
Freddie had gone into this new development in partnership with Ralph, the owner of the building company. Ralph had the men and the building expertise; Freddie had the capital and the business contacts. The development was in an up-and-coming area of East London and was going to end up being sold as a mixture of offices and retail units. It had taken Freddie a lot of time and some hefty bribes to get the permissions pushed through. Certain legal technicalities had needed to be overlooked and buried, but he had managed to pull it off.
‘How are you getting on? Enjoying it?’ Freddie asked, as they made their way to the Portakabin that was Tom’s site office.
‘Yeah, I really am. This is a major project; it’s nice to have something challenging to sink my teeth into.’
‘Thought you already had that at home, mate,’ Freddie joked. They both laughed.
‘Oh, Tanya’s challenging alright,’ Tom replied fondly. ‘Definitely keeps me on my toes.’
‘It would be boring any other way, wouldn’t it?’ Freddie said with a wink.
‘Indeed,’ Tom replied, grinning. ‘Anyway, how are things with you? Anna OK? Tanya told me about the break-in. That’s rough, mate. You found out who done it yet?’
‘No.’ Freddie’s reply was tinged with annoyance. ‘I’ve got everyone out looking but not heard a dicky bird. It seems like a random break-in, from what Fraser found, but still, you never know.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m upping security on the place. Anna’s really shaken up and I can’t take any chances of a repeat performance. Hopefully we find the fucker soon.’
‘Hopefully, mate.’ Tom nodded supportively. ‘So, you got the paperwork for me? My men are ready to break ground, soon as everything’s in place.’
‘I do. Some of it, anyway. But you don’t need to worry about the rest, if you catch my drift.’ Freddie stared at Tom levelly.
Tom took the paperwork from Freddie’s outstretched hand. Freddie unbuttoned his jacket and made himself comfortable in the chair in front of the desk, as Tom sat on the other side to look through the documents.
Tom pulled the papers forward one by one and quickly identified those that were missing. There were a number of levels within the local council at which a development like this had to be signed off before work could begin. Two of the stages were not there – which he found pretty impressive seeing as the higher sign-offs shouldn’t even have begun without the previous permissions being completed first. Freddie must have had to buy several people off to get this all pushed through as it was.
Tom knew that if it was ever uncovered that he had allowed the workforce to begin without the paperwork in order, he could be in big trouble. But, of course, Freddie Tyler hadn’t got to where he was without being smart. If he was about to sink that sort of money into this development with such shaky paperwork, he must be pretty certain that it wasn’t going to bite him in the arse. Tom figured this was his first test. Freddie needed him onside, to start the build.
Tom shuffled the papers back together and smiled at Freddie. ‘All looks in order to me.’
Freddie grinned back. ‘Good. So’ – he clapped his hands onto his knees – ‘get the men to break ground today and then tonight, we celebrate.’
Tom nodded and, still grinning, Freddie shook his hand. Tom smiled back and got ready to tell the men to begin. His test had been easy to pass. Hopefully it was only a matter of time before Freddie gave him the position he so badly wanted.
6
Tanya swept into Club Anya and threw herself into the bar seat next to Anna with a dramatic sigh. Anna couldn’t help but laugh.
‘OK, what’s up?’ she asked, amused.
‘I’m so done with trying to appease comedians!’ Tanya exclaimed, wringing her hands in the air in frustration. ‘Flamboyant bastards. The showgirls here are so much easier. Can we swap shifts when I’m supposed to be there for, like, forever?’
Anna shook her head, laughing. ‘No, we most certainly can’t. We’ve barely been open a few weeks, and it will get easier. It�
��s just new ground, that’s all.’
‘He wants a fruit sculpture, Anna,’ Tanya stressed flatly. ‘A fruit sculpture. Made to a specific design. In his dressing room.’
‘His dressing room?’ Anna raised an eyebrow and sipped at her drink.
‘Yeah, exactly,’ Tanya replied, rolling her eyes. ‘Hey, Carl?’ She waited until their bar manager and friend came over. ‘Can you make me something really strong and super sweet?’
He grinned. ‘Coming right up.’
‘You’re a babe. So anyway’ – Tanya turned back to Anna – ‘he’s threatening not to perform if he don’t get both a fruit sculpture and a dressing room.’
‘Who is it?’ Anna asked.
‘Matt Harper.’
‘OK. Well, tell him he can have a fruit bowl, and access to the same green room that the rest of the acts will be in that evening and that he can take it or leave it. He’s probably just trying his luck,’ Anna said.
‘And if he isn’t?’ Tanya asked.
‘Then we’ll find someone else.’
Tanya nodded her agreement. ‘How are you, anyway? You look tired.’
‘Oh thanks!’ Anna laughed. ‘You’re right though. I’m not sleeping well at all right now. Freddie isn’t either to be honest.’ She sighed.
‘Why?’ Tanya asked.
‘Every time I fall asleep I end up having nightmares that there’s someone in the flat. I end up jolting awake panicking that it’s really happening. I still can’t believe someone was in our home, Tan. You know?’ She shook her head sadly. ‘I used to feel so safe there. I didn’t ever think it could feel like it does now. And Freddie, it’s like he feels like he failed. I find him sitting up sometimes with his gun.’
‘Shit, Anna, I didn’t realise it had affected you so much.’ Tanya felt awful – she should have checked up on her friend sooner.