Boss Girl: A gripping crime thriller of danger, determination and one unstoppable woman

by Emma Tallon

‘I am. It’s just work driving my mind a bit mad. I need to chill out a bit. Maybe catch you for a drink later?’ Tom asked.

  ‘Can’t, mate, sorry. Got a lot on today. But we’ll do it soon, yeah?’ Freddie looked at his watch and missed the look of disappointment that flitted across Tom’s face.

  ‘Sure, just text me when you’re free,’ Tom replied.

  ‘Yeah, will do. Alright, I’ll see ya later; I’ve got to go.’ With that, Freddie walked out into the sunshine.

  Pulling away in his car with the tyres crunching on the gravel, his phone began to ring. He glanced at the screen and answered the car phone.

  ‘Marco, how’s things?’ he said.

  Marco was his main cocaine supplier, an eccentric Spanish importer who had a business model Freddie had come to admire. If he had any interest in importing drugs from South America himself, he would have tried to partner up with this man. But he had enough on his plate at the moment, without getting involved in cartel business.

  ‘Things are good, Freddie, very good. The sun is shining, the coffee is fresh and business is booming. I cannot complain.’ His thick accent curled down the line. ‘I thought I should let you know though, your guy did not turn up last night. I left it until now, in case he was merely late, but there is still no sign. He is usually very punctual. I hope there is no cause for concern.’

  Freddie frowned. Dale Matthews was one of his top-end dealers. He would pick up the order for his area, repackage it and send it down the chain to the next level. There they would cut it and send it trickling down the drugs tree again and again, until it hit the street and was sold to Joe Public. He had never missed a pick-up, in all the years he had worked for Freddie.

  ‘That is strange,’ Freddie mused. ‘Thanks for the heads-up – I’ll look into it. Can you hold the order until I can get it collected?’

  ‘Of course, there is no question. No rush, it will be here waiting for you,’ Marco replied.

  ‘Thanks. I’ll be in touch.’ Freddie ended the call and stopped the car at the traffic lights. Scrolling through his phone, he found Dale’s number. It rang out without being answered. Freddie thought about calling Paul to investigate it but then decided against it. He wasn’t far away; he would drive over and look into things himself.

  * * *

  Driving into a large, rundown estate full of high-rise flats, Freddie slowed to a crawl. He nodded to a couple of groups of young lads hanging around on the corners. They looked to be minding their own business, but Freddie knew they were lookouts for various gang heads on the estate. He passed with no issue. They all knew who he was, despite the fact he rarely came down here in person.

  Somers Town, a sink estate oddly butted up against some of the wealthier homes of Regents Park, was a notorious estate, rife with crime. The police rarely entered, and when they had to it was with caution. Freddie knew the ins and outs of the rabbit warren of buildings like the back of his hand. Although he hadn’t lived there as a child, Sammy had, and they often used to knock about there after school and in the holidays. When he had first begun working for Vince as a teenager, a lot of his tasks had involved delivering goods and information to people within the estate. These days, it was some of the men who worked for him who resided here.

  Pulling around the side of a building, Freddie parked up and got out of the car.

  ‘Watch that for me,’ he said to one of the kids nearby. He only looked to be about ten or so, but Freddie knew that didn’t mean much around here. He would already be streetwise and more than capable of telling any interested parties that this was Freddie Tyler’s car, should they get any ideas. The boy nodded and laid his bike down on the ground, before sitting beside it. He pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one.

  Freddie skirted around the building, then crossed the road to the next block. He wasn’t sure what was going on with Dale, so parking his car away from the front was a bit of extra caution. Keeping his head down, he swiftly entered the building and started to mount the stairs. There were no lifts in this building, nor in many of the others.

  Freddie grimaced. Nothing had changed over the years. The cheap plastic covering on the stairs was half ripped up, marked and even burnt in some places. Debris littered every corner – empty cigarette packets, cans and the odd needle. The smell of piss in the stairwell was overpowering and Freddie tried to breathe through his mouth to avoid the worst of it. He jogged up the steps as quickly as he could.

  Slowing down as he reached the seventh floor, Freddie was struck by how quiet it was. Dale was a prominent drug dealer on the estate, and by this time of day he usually had at least a couple of his gang on the stairs, keeping an eye on the comings and goings. Stopping outside Dale’s front door, Freddie tilted his head to listen. There was nothing, not even the buzz of a TV from next door. Freddie reached into his pocket and pulled on his leather gloves.

  He tried the door handle and found it to be unlocked. This much he had expected. No one would try to rob Dale Matthews. His reputation was enough to deter anyone with bad intentions. Walking in with caution, Freddie looked around.

  The front room was dark, the curtains still drawn and the light off. Freddie flicked it on, revealing nothing of much interest. A couple of La-Z-Boys sat on one side of the room, facing the large flat-screen TV. A few controllers and a PlayStation sat on the floor in front of a big leather beanbag. Next to this was an overflowing ashtray, no doubt the source of the heavy stench of weed, and a couple of empty cans of beer. There were no frills in the room, and no other signs of life. It was a simple bachelor pad.

  A quick glance into the kitchen and bathroom showed them to be unoccupied, so Freddie turned his attention towards the bedroom door. He pushed it open and let the light flood in from the lounge.

  ‘Ah shit…’ Freddie groaned and looked up to the heavens as he finally located Dale.

  He was sprawled out on the bed, face down, still fully clothed. He would have looked like he was sleeping, were it not for the pool of blood that now soaked the beige duvet cover underneath him. Freddie didn’t need to double check; Dale was definitely dead. There was too much blood for him to still be clinging on to life.

  Stepping forward, careful not to touch anything, Freddie knelt down for a closer look. Dale’s throat had been cut, a deep gash almost from ear to ear. Dale’s eyes were still open, a look of shock etched onto his face. He had not been expecting it.

  Freddie sighed heavily, the lines on his forehead deepening. He had liked Dale. He had always been efficient and reliable and, as far as he knew, his gang had always been happy with their leader. Now, there would be a mass of young boys and men with no one to look to, and on the Somers Town estate that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

  Turning his thoughts back to his own business, Freddie moved back through to the bathroom. Crouching down, he lifted the top off the toilet cistern, reached in and pulled out a plastic sandwich bag that was sitting half submerged in the water. Inside there were a few rolled-up fifties, a passport and a small notebook. Freddie took only the notebook and slipped it into his pocket. He replaced everything to its former position and walked back out into the flat.

  Freddie walked out the back door onto the small balcony that was typical of all these flats. Like most of the other residents, Dale had his washing strung up to dry in whatever sun could make its way down through the buildings. Leaning over, Freddie looked around for someone he could talk to. He needed to find Dale’s men, see if anyone knew what had gone down. In the building directly opposite, curtains twitched. Down below, a few groups of men stood around in the shadows and at the mouth of the alleyways. One in particular was looking up towards him, not attempting to hide his interest.

  Just as Freddie was about to descend and find out who it was, the wail of sirens sounded through the air. The atmosphere changed instantly and all the people who had been milling around scarpered. Three police cars screeched to a halt, directly by the main entrance to the building.

  ‘
Shit!’ Freddie cursed. He needed to get out. There would have to be a good reason indeed for the pigs to show up like that here and he figured right now it was most likely due to a murder tip-off. He might have some sway with the police, but nothing was going to help him if he was caught alone with a dead man and no solid reason for being there. As he watched, six armed men ran into the building, shouting to one another. They would be running up the stairwell and onto this floor at any moment.

  ‘Oh f—’ Freddie mashed his lips together in a hard line and took off running, back though the flat into the main hallway. He started towards the stairs but could hear they were close. It was too risky to get onto the stairs now. His heart hammered against his chest as he weighed up his options. If Dale was wise, he would have had a backup escape route in place with one of the end flats, but which he couldn’t tell. Glancing to each side, he made a decision. He knew these buildings and the people in them knew him. He just hoped that was enough right now. He pushed off and ran as fast as he could down the long hallway, not pausing for breath. He urged his body on, ignoring the complaints from his muscles.

  Going faster and faster, the sound of the police getting louder behind him, Freddie was nearly at the end of the corridor. Grimacing, as all he could see were grubby walls and closed doors, Freddie prayed to God he had made the right decision.

  As he reached the full length of the hallway and a dead end, Freddie slowed and was about to panic when the very end door opened and a weathered arm shot out. It beckoned him in and he ran straight past the occupant without stopping. The old woman shut the door again quickly and pulled the bolt across.

  Freddie bent over double to catch his breath and they both listened as the police reached Dale’s flat. He closed his eyes momentarily in relief. He hadn’t been seen. But he wasn’t out of the woods yet. He needed to get out of here. He didn’t want to be framed for Dale’s murder. The question was, though, who had done it, and why? And who had tipped off the police?

  ‘Thanks,’ he whispered to the old woman whose house he was in.

  ‘That’s OK, them bastards’ll screw anyone over they find. Don’t matter that it weren’t you.’ She threw a dirty look at the closed door and pulled her crocheted shawl tighter around her shoulders.

  ‘Do you know what happened?’ Freddie asked.

  She shook her head. ‘All I know is a couple of the other lads found him about an hour ago. Don’t think they knew what to do; they were only young ’uns. They went to find Jay.’

  Freddie nodded. Jay was another of his men who lived in this estate; he and Dale were both high-ranking members of the same gang and worked together on a lot of things.

  The old woman beckoned him to follow her. They walked out onto the balcony and she pointed towards a thick wooden plank. Freddie immediately knew what it was for. This balcony was on the corner of the building and was only a few feet away from the corner balcony on the next. The wood was to form a bridge to get across. He hoisted it up and laid it flat, connecting the two. He judged the distance to be only about three feet. It was a short distance but even so, his stomach flipped at the thought of the drop. Swallowing his fear, Freddie jumped up onto the concrete ledge and tried to focus on the plank. It would be two steps, three at most. The door on the other balcony was opening and a middle-aged woman peered out, her eyes wide and tense.

  ‘That’s Bridie. She’ll let you out the other side. Go on, quickly now, or they’ll be here.’

  Freddie swallowed and carefully stepped forward, not taking his eyes off the other ledge. One step, two. He was more than halfway now. The wind stepped up a notch and Freddie almost lost his balance, but he surged forward and his foot finally connected with the next ledge.

  ‘Take the plank,’ the woman called after him. He pulled it over and placed it down out of sight on Bridie’s balcony. He turned to say thanks, but the door was already closing, the old woman gone.

  Freddie walked in and followed Bridie through to her front door. She opened it without comment and nodded at him as he went through.

  ‘Thanks,’ he said.

  ‘No one saw ya,’ she replied with a quick smile, before closing the door behind her. Freddie took off and contemplated how he was going to get back to his car without being seen. It was out of sight, which was a good thing, but the police were still swarming around. He felt for the notebook in his pocket and found it was still there, to his relief. All his dealers had a contact tree. They had all the numbers, names and drop points for the next level of the tree recorded in a notebook. Freddie advised them to hide these in the cistern so that they could be easily located by one of their own, in situations such as this.

  As he wound his way down the stairwell, Freddie was stopped by a small kid who looked about seven or eight, if he were to hazard a guess. He was chewing gum and dressed in scruffy clothes, his Afro hair framing his face almost like a halo.

  ‘You Mr Tyler?’ the boy asked.

  ‘Yeah, that’s me,’ Freddie answered.

  ‘Jay said you might be down here and to come through here if you were.’

  ‘OK, lead the way.’ Freddie was relieved. He had been wondering how he was going to find Jay if he had been intent on laying low. But he must have seen him enter and figured out the rest. The boy walked down another set of stairs and then into one of the flats on a lower floor. Freddie knew this wasn’t where Jay lived, but it was obviously where he planned to hide out whilst there was so much going on.

  He walked into chaos, all the room in the small hallway taken up by a large pram, toys littering the floors and the sound of a baby wailing. Two toddlers squabbled over a teddy in front of the blaring TV and their mother, a slight, mixed-race girl who looked exhausted, was screaming at them, trying and failing to gain some control. The boy didn’t seem fazed by any of it. He walked over to the toddlers and passed one of them the teddy, then picked the other up in his thin little arms and pulled him onto his lap on the faded old sofa, distracting him with a new game. Freddie watched the encounter with a half-smile. He had grown up quickly, helping his mother Mollie with his younger siblings from an early age. It had been the making of him, taking responsibility for his family. Hopefully it would be the same for this boy too.

  ‘Freddie.’ The relief in Jay’s voice was tangible. ‘Glad you’re here.’

  ‘Yeah, not so sure I’m glad I’m here though,’ Freddie replied with a humourless laugh. ‘What the hell happened? Who did that to Dale?’

  ‘No idea. No one’s seen nothing,’ he spat. He threw the TV remote into one of the armchairs across the room and ran his hands over his head.

  His anger was understandable, Freddie thought. He had just found out one of his best mates had been murdered.

  ‘What do you know so far? Walk me through.’

  ‘I left his flat about midnight – we’d been chilling out with some weed, played some GTA, nothing major. He was fine. He was supposed to go for a pick-up this morning.’ Freddie acknowledged this with a nod and Jay continued. ‘Then we was supposed to meet at mine to start splitting the bags.’ Jay threw a look at the girl still rocking the screaming baby. ‘Cassie, get us a coffee.’ He turned straight back to Freddie, missing the resentful look she returned him.

  Freddie figured the baby was probably Jay’s, which was why he was down here. From what he had heard, Jay had a few children littered around the estate.

  ‘He didn’t turn up, so I sent a couple of the boys to find him. Figured maybe he forgot the time. They found him. They told me the news and I was about to come see you. I’d just got out the building when I was told you were already here, so I waited down below. Then the pigs turned up and here we are. Don’t know who tipped them off. None of mine, that’s for sure. They know better. That’s all I got so far, it’s all happened so fast.’ He held his hands up helplessly. He still hadn’t got his head around it. ‘Whoever did it is gonna fucking pay. I’m gonna make damn sure of it.’ He cracked his knuckles and breathed heavily.

  Freddie sighe
d. This was the last thing he needed on his back. Dale had been one of his men, so it was his responsibility to find out what had happened and make the culprit pay. If you worked for the Tylers you were protected. He couldn’t let this go unchecked, or people would start questioning his authority.

  ‘Just find out as much as you can and get the information over to me. Don’t do anything else. We’ll sort it out. OK?’

  ‘Yeah, yeah…’ Jay nodded distractedly.

  Freddie stood up. ‘I’ve got to go. Good luck when they pull you in for questioning. Contact me once the heat’s off. You remember where to call if you need a brief, yeah?’ They both knew Jay would be one of the first pulled in by the police.

  ‘Yeah, course. Thanks, Freddie.’

  ‘No problem. And I’m sorry about Dale.’

  ‘Yeah, me too.’ The deep sadness on Jay’s face stayed with Freddie as he left the building. His lips formed a hard line. He would find whoever had murdered his dealer and make sure he could never do that to anyone else again.

  17

  Anna’s soft voice wafted down the hallway as Freddie entered their home. The sound was like a balm to his soul. So many things kept going wrong, but Anna was the one thing he could count on to be right and good in his life. He felt tired. All he wanted to do was curl up with her in his arms and forget about everything else. But he couldn’t.

  He walked through to the big open lounge and threw his jacket onto one of the empty armchairs. Anna looked up at him from where she was curled up in the corner of the sofa. She was on the phone, so he kept quiet.

  ‘OK, yeah. I’ll think about it. I’ve got to go, Freddie’s just got in. OK, sure. Bye.’ Anna ended the call with a sigh and Freddie sat down next to her. ‘What’s up?’ she asked. ‘You looked like a cat with two tails this morning, now you look more like a dog with no bone.’

  Freddie laughed, despite his worries. ‘Ahh, just more shit landing on my plate.’