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

by Emma Tallon

  A strange, cloying smell filled her nostrils and she panicked. She tried to breathe, to scream, anything, but suddenly everything seemed to slow down.

  She felt the knife slip from her fingers and heard it clatter to the ground. Her arms went limp and everything in her vision seemed to be moving away. She tried to speak, to ask Izobel to help her, but nothing came out.

  Tanya’s legs gave way and she felt herself falling down towards the concrete. She waited for it to hit her, to feel the pain, but the collision never came. She lost consciousness before she hit the ground.

  Freddie secured the ropes around Frank’s wrists and tugged at them to make sure they were uncomfortably tight. Satisfied that he wouldn’t be moving from the wooden kitchen chair he was tied to any time soon, Freddie stood up straight and walked a few paces away.

  They had taken him to an old unused barn Freddie and Paul owned, a few miles out of London. They had bought the field it was situated on from a retiring farmer a few years back for cash, and had registered it under a company that would be hard to trace to them should it ever be looked into.

  Sammy had laid out the plastic sheeting underneath and Paul had helped Freddie tie Gambino to the chair, whilst he tried to reason with them to no avail. None of them engaged in conversation with him. They knew not to, until Freddie was ready to start.

  The old barn was eerie in the darkness, the only light coming from a weak bulb hanging down from the ceiling above Frank’s head.

  ‘Freddie, you’ll all die for this, you know that, right?’ Frank said, his voice still hard despite the fear he must have been feeling at the predicament he was in.

  ‘Nothing’s going to happen to me, Frank, not to any of us. No one knows you’re here. No one ever will. Your men are dead and you obviously hadn’t been expecting us when we arrived, so I doubt you discussed us with anybody either.’ Freddie took off the zipped black jumper he had been wearing and laid it on the old, worn trestle table he’d dragged over from the side of the barn. He was now in nothing but a white vest and his black jeans. He didn’t mind getting blood on the vest. He would just burn it afterwards.

  ‘What are you doing, Freddie? All this for a little warning? Don’t you think that’s a bit much? The boy isn’t dead, for Christ’s sake, I checked,’ Frank said.

  ‘You poisoned one of my men. That isn’t something I take lightly. But on top of that, you fucked with my life and kidnapped Anna. She’s pregnant, Frank. Did you know that?’ Freddie’s face hardened and his eyes shot icy daggers at the man in the chair. ‘So, you’re going to tell me where she is and how I can get to her and if you do that I’ll do the decent thing and put a bullet in your mouth the second I have her back safe. Or’ – his tone darkened – ‘if you don’t tell me where she is right this second, I’m going to torture you until you’re nothing but a pile of bloody flesh on the floor, in more pain than you can possibly imagine.’ He picked up a crowbar from the table, where Sammy had been laying out the tools.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Frank asked, his brows furrowing into a look of confusion.

  ‘Don’t play that game with me,’ Freddie replied in disgust. He lifted the crowbar up and smashed it down onto Frank’s left knee.

  Frank roared in agony as it shattered the bone. The veins in his neck popped out as he strained against his shackles.

  ‘I’m not playing anything,’ he yelled. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’

  ‘I’m talking about Anna Davis,’ Freddie yelled back. ‘You remember her, Frank, the one you tried to blackmail into selling the club to you.’

  ‘Aw, now come on, that doesn’t mean I kidnapped her, for crying out loud,’ Frank exclaimed.

  ‘Bit of a fucking coincidence though, don’t you think? You come riding into town like a fucking cowboy, blackmail Anna, poison Seamus, but when Anna goes missing you had nothing to do with it? I ain’t buying it. I’ll ask you again. Where is she?’

  ‘And I’ll tell you again, this is the first I’ve heard of it,’ Frank seethed.

  Freddie lifted the crowbar and smashed it down on the other knee. Frank cried out like a wild animal as the pain exploded through his leg.

  ‘Where is she?’ Freddie screamed, his face red with rage and spittle flying out of his mouth.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Frank cried.

  Freddie punched him in the face. ‘Where is she?’ His face contorted with rage and anguish. Frank snapped his head back round, licking the blood from his bottom lip. ‘I don’t know, you fucking psycho!’

  Freddie punched him again, harder this time. Frank’s head lolled and for a moment Freddie wondered if he had knocked him out, but eventually he straightened up again. Blood streamed out of his mouth, down his chin and onto his shirt.

  ‘Where is she?’ Freddie’s shout was hoarse, as he kept repeating himself again and again.

  Paul could see he was cracking up and looked away for fear that Freddie would see the pity he felt for his brother. Freddie was usually cool and calm, even in situations like this, but now he was venting every raw emotion that was tearing him up inside.

  ‘You’re going to fucking die for this.’ Frank shook his bloody head from side to side as he panted through the pain he was in.

  Freddie went to the table and picked up a can of gasoline. He walked back to Gambino and took off the cap. Frank’s eyes widened as he realised what Freddie was going to do.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ He looked over to Bill and Sammy, who stood together to the side helplessly. ‘What is he doing? This is madness,’ he shouted. ‘Help me, for fuck’s sake! Stop him doing this!’

  ‘Where is she, Frank?’ Freddie asked once more, his voice flat. He doused Frank in the gasoline, walking around him in a slow circle, making sure he covered him completely before pouring the last of the can over his head.

  ‘I don’t have your girlfriend, Freddie. I don’t know who does,’ Frank spluttered, his tone panicked.

  Freddie stared hard at Frank, searching his face for the truth. Deep fear radiated from the other man and his usual hard mask was finally stripped back. Freddie had seen men in this position many times before. This was the point that they knew they were out of options. Without doubt they were about to die. Nothing else mattered but survival now. If he did know anything about Anna’s disappearance, he would be singing like a canary.

  Freddie felt the disappointment rush through him like a tidal wave. This had been his only lead. He had been so sure it was Frank, but now they were back to square one and no closer to finding Anna. The pain in his heart intensified; it felt as though it was being ripped in two.

  ‘OK. I believe you. No one would be stupid enough to keep lying at this point,’ Freddie replied in a dead voice. ‘But you’ll still die for what you did to Seamus. You fucked with the wrong firm.’

  Frank let out a feral roar. ‘Do you not understand who I am?’

  Freddie laughed, the smirk not reaching his eyes. ‘Oh yeah, I know exactly who you are, Frank. The problem here was that you never understood who I am. That was your big mistake. You never fuck with anyone you don’t know, Frank. Perhaps they should have taught you that back home.’

  Ignoring Frank’s enraged cries Freddie lit a match. With one last look into Frank’s eyes he flicked it to the ground at the other man’s feet.

  Paul walked over and stood by Freddie’s side. They watched in silence as Frank was engulfed by the flames. They watched while he screamed and rutted against his fate. They watched as he finally fell silent and until there was nothing left.

  ‘Wake up, please, Tanya, wake up…’ Tanya could hear Anna’s voice somewhere in the distance. Am I dreaming? I must be…

  ‘Come on, please…’ Anna sounded upset and stressed. Why is Anna upset with me? Have I done something wrong?

  She tried to drift back into the comforting nothingness, but someone kept shaking her, jarring her away from it.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Tanya mumbled, as she started to come ro
und. ‘What’s going on? Christ, my head…’ She moved her hands up to hold her head. She had the worst headache she’d ever encountered. What did I drink? But wait, I hadn’t been drinking, had I?

  With sharp clarity the memory of what happened suddenly came back to her and she sat up fast – too fast. She quickly closed her eyes until the additional pain from the swift movement faded.

  ‘Oh, thank God, you’re OK,’ Anna started to sob in relief and hugged her friend.

  Carefully opening her eyes, Tanya looked around. She felt disorientated and fuzzy. What did they knock me out with? It was dark, night-time still. The only light was coming from a big lamp in the corner of the room. She was sitting on a bed in a room she didn’t recognise and Anna was next to her, clinging on to her arm as if she’d never let go. Anna!

  ‘Oh my God, Anna,’ she exclaimed, grabbing hold of her friend. She touched her friend’s hair and face, as if she couldn’t quite believe she was real. ‘Are you OK? Where are we? What happened?’ The questions came tumbling out, one on top of the other.

  Anna sat back and regained her composure. She had been terrified when she had been woken up to Tanya being dumped on the bed next to her, out cold. For a second she had thought her to be dead, until she realised her best friend was still breathing. She took a deep breath and updated Tanya on everything she knew so far.

  ‘Fuck me,’ Tanya said in shock, when Anna got to the end of her tale. ‘I don’t believe it. This is seriously fucked up.’ She ran her hands through her thick, red hair as all the information sunk in.

  ‘Why has he taken me? That doesn’t make any sense,’ Tanya said with a frown.

  Anna’s face dropped. ‘Oh, Tanya, I’m so sorry,’ she said, her voice full of emotion. ‘It’s my fault he took you.’ She took a heavy breath. ‘Like I said, I’ve been trying to work out an escape but so far haven’t found a decent opportunity.’ She glanced at the camera and lowered her voice. She didn’t think it had sound, but she couldn’t be sure. ‘I told him I needed to see a midwife, that I’d need someone to help me through the pregnancy and labour. I figured he’d say no but thought it was worth a try. I just needed to try to get in front of someone, anyone, to get a message out. But then he went and took you and brought you here to me,’ Anna said in distress, ‘saying that he’d delivered me someone to help me through it all and that I should be grateful to him. It’s punishment for trying to outwit him. God, Tanya, I’m so sorry…’ Anna placed her head in her hands.

  Tanya pulled her hands back down and grasped them in her own. ‘No, mate, it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known he’d do that. What a sadistic fuck, Jesus…’ She shook her head angrily. ‘Right. It’s going to be OK. We’re going to get out of this – together.’ Tanya’s tone was determined, despite the deep worry that had settled in her stomach. ‘There’s two of us now. Whatever happens, we’re going to get ourselves out of here. No matter what.’

  43

  Mollie opened the front door in her dressing gown and blinked in surprise. ‘Carl! Hello, love. What you doing here?’

  ‘Is Freddie here?’ Carl asked, his voice awkward. ‘Sorry, Mollie, it’s just… well it’s urgent.’

  ‘Of course, come in. He’s upstairs still asleep. Go on through to the kitchen; I’ve just made a pot of coffee. I’ll get Freddie now.’

  Carl walked through to the kitchen and rubbed his tired eyes. He hadn’t slept a wink. When the phone had rung the night before he had thought it was an accidental dial at first. There hadn’t been anyone at the other end. He’d been about to put it down when he heard Tanya’s voice. She’d said Izobel’s name and Carl’s attention had instantly focused. He’d listened and heard the struggle before there was a crunching sound and the line had gone dead. He’d tried calling back and had even driven over to The Last Laugh, but it was all closed up and he couldn’t see any sign of her inside. He’d stayed up worrying all night and eventually decided he needed to tell Freddie.

  Thea walked through the kitchen door and greeted Carl with a warm smile. ‘Carl, how you doing? I haven’t seen you in ages. How’s things?’

  ‘They’ve been better, actually. I got a weird call from Tanya late last night. I could hear some sort of scuffle then the line went dead. I haven’t been able to get through to her since.’

  ‘Oh God.’ Thea’s smile was replaced by a concerned frown. Her fears immediately caught up with Carl’s. ‘Do you think…’ She trailed off, not wanting to finish her question.

  Freddie came through the door, pulling a dressing gown around his boxers and bare chest. His expression was dark. ‘What do you mean you can’t get through to her?’ he asked, having caught the conversation on his way through.

  ‘Freddie!’ The relief in Carl’s voice was palpable. He was so glad to have found him. Freddie would know what to do. ‘I’ve been trying to call you.’

  ‘Yeah, I’ve just seen. I was sleeping,’ Freddie replied. He hadn’t been asleep long, having spent most of the night cleaning up Frank’s body and destroying all the last remnants of evidence. He was physically and mentally spent. The memory of the flames licking up Frank’s skin was still at the forefront of his mind. He tried to push it back and focus on what Carl had to say.

  ‘Yeah, I figured. Listen, I called back and texted her after the call but there was nothing. I even went over to the flat.’

  Freddie acknowledged this with a nod.

  ‘I waited for two hours, but there was still nothing. So I grabbed the spare keys she keeps at work and let myself in, thought maybe she’d got back and just passed out. I wouldn’t usually ever do that, but with everything that’s happened with Anna…’ He trailed off and Freddie acknowledged it with a nod. ‘But the flat was empty. Oh yeah, that reminds me – I thought you were staying still? She hasn’t thrown you out as well as Tom, has she?’

  Thea’s eyebrows shot up at Carl’s words. No one else had heard of this falling-out yet, so this was news to her. She pursed her lips and set about pouring the coffee. It was none of her business, no matter how curious she was as to what had happened.

  ‘Nah, I just… with everything going on, I thought I’d give her some space for a couple of days. Still can’t face going home without Anna there, so I came here,’ Freddie explained.

  ‘Where you should be,’ Mollie said, bustling in, having got dressed quickly now that they had a guest. ‘You should have come home to your family in the first place, when you needed people around you,’ she scolded. ‘Not bunked up at Tanya’s. But you’re here now, so that’s all that matters.’

  Freddie rolled his eyes before he turned his attention back to Carl.

  ‘Right. You say you’ve tried The Last Laugh?’ he asked.

  ‘Locked up, no sign of life,’ Carl replied. ‘I’m really worried, Fred; there’s something really wrong here. And I’m pretty sure I heard her say the name Izobel.’

  Freddie drew in a sharp breath.

  ‘Do you still have the spare keys?’ Freddie asked.

  ‘Yeah, brought them with me. I thought you might ask.’

  ‘OK, let’s go and check the CCTV footage. That’s going to be the best place to start. Drink your coffee; I’ll get dressed.’

  He disappeared and Carl sat down heavily at the table.

  ‘Here you go, love.’ Mollie passed him the mug of steaming black coffee that Thea had poured. ‘It’ll be OK. There’s probably a perfectly simple explanation. She’ll have locked herself in the club and dropped her phone out the window, or something silly like that. Don’t worry.’

  Carl accepted the coffee gratefully, exhausted from being up all night. He turned away and sipped at it.

  Mollie and Thea exchanged worried looks. This was how it had started with Anna. It looked as though they had a serial kidnapper on their hands.

  * * *

  An hour later Freddie and Carl sat in silence in the back office at The Last Laugh with the CCTV footage. Freddie fast-forwarded through the minutes around the time of Tanya’s call to Ca
rl, focusing on the side door. They knew this was where she would have come out after locking up. There was a flicker of light and he quickly rewound to a few seconds before. Pressing play, he sat back and they both waited.

  The door opened, triggering the outside light and they watched as Tanya stepped outside, did something on her phone and started to walk towards the main street before she paused and turned around.

  They both leaned forward, trying to get as much information out of the grainy image as possible. There was some movement in the darkness just beyond the light, but the quality of the footage didn’t allow them to see any detail.

  Tanya’s head bobbed around as though she was speaking, before she suddenly darted forward out of the light into the car park at the back of the club.

  ‘There,’ Carl said. ‘What just happened?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Freddie frowned at the screen. ‘Just keep watching.’

  They both squinted, trying to make out what was happening but it was all going on just outside the lit area. There were some blurry flashes of pale clothing and they could just make out a pair of trainers darting around as though the owner was in a scuffle. A minute or so later, the trainers moved out of sight and there was nothing more on the screen.

  They sat in silence for a moment, hoping that something more might show up, but nothing did.

  ‘Do they have a camera on the entrance to the car park?’ Freddie asked. The road into the small car park ran between two shops.

  He flicked through the different screens and couldn’t see anything.

  ‘No.’ Carl shook his head. ’Just around and inside the actual building.’

  Freddie bit his lip. ‘Let’s go look around outside, see if we can find anything. It’s only been a few hours; no one would have been through there yet.’

  They made their way outside and into the car park. Carl clocked one of Tanya’s shoes lying on its side on the ground. He picked it up and showed it to Freddie with a grim look.