“Why did no one tell me?” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe you kept me out of the loop.”
“Don’t start making this about yourself Abi,” sighed Faith, sinking into the chair behind her desk.
“I’m not but I’m part of this firm now and you never tell me when something big is happening.”
“This is the first time anything big has happened since Harry Paisley,” replied Caleb in a bored tone, already sick of his twin sister’s dramatics.
“And I have a right to know about it. I can help.”
“How can you possibly help?”
“I don’t know yet but I’m sure there’s something I can do.”
“Where’s Michael?” Faith asked her.
“At the restaurant. We start serving in an hour.”
The Maguires, in their quest to buy up a substantial amount of property in the town, had purchased a small but popular bistro on the promenade when the owners had wanted to retire and handed it over to the Chambers family to manage. Faith had christened it Audra’s Kitchen after their paternal grandmother, who was in a care home with dementia. As it was an entirely legitimate business, it had been agreed that Abi and Michael would run it between them. Michael also had previous experience in restaurant management. They worked well together and the business was running beautifully in their hands.
“All right Abi,” said Faith. “If you want to help there’s something you can do.”
“Great,” she grinned. “What?”
“Shut up and let us talk.”
Abi scowled but remained silent. Faith was the one she always obeyed without question. Not even Vance could always get her to behave.
“That’s better,” said Faith. “Now Caleb, what did you find out from Lil?”
“Nothing, unfortunately. She’s not seen any new faces and she hasn’t heard of any new crews. What did Flo say?”
“The same. She seemed a bit down because people don’t seem to want to buy guns anymore. Vance, did you learn anything from Kingsley?”
“No joy I’m afraid,” he replied. “He doesn’t know of anyone new in the area.”
“What if this group aren’t strangers?” said Abi.
“They must be,” said Faith.
“Why? New people coming into the area nicking hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of drugs tend to get noticed.”
“If you hadn’t realised Abi, this town is packed with tourists twenty four seven. Even during the winter we get stag and hen parties pouring in. It would be very easy for anyone out of town to blend in.”
“And bring weaponry with them,” said Vance. “It was worth a try speaking to Flo but they wouldn’t risk buying from a local with close ties to the town’s underworld.”
“True,” said Faith. “But how would they know about us? Outside of Blackpool we’re unknown. We’re not the Maguires.”
“Maybe it’s someone connected to the Maguires?”
“They don’t go broadcasting who they work with. Only those in their immediate circle would know, they’re notoriously strict about security, especially after what they’ve gone through.”
“Even though our contacts came up with nothing, I reckon the perpetrators are local.”
“Perpetrators?” said Kevin. “You sound like a copper again.”
Vance ignored him. “Whoever did this could have followed Faith without her spotting them, which isn’t easy to do. That must mean they have local knowledge which allowed them to find the best places to watch her. Perhaps we’ve all been watched and Faith was the only one who sensed it?”
“Looks like your police training is coming in useful,” Caleb told him. “You’re building a good case.”
“I hate the thought of someone watching us,” shivered Abi.
Jason’s phone pinged and he looked at the screen. “Tariq’s at the back door.”
“Bring him through,” said Faith. “Kev, go with him.”
The two men nodded and left the room.
“I was thinking,” said Faith. “Anyone who knew Raven would probably know about her connection to the Maguires, so why buy those flash devices from her and risk leading us back to them?”
“Maybe they didn’t know about that connection?” said Vance. “Raven’s a Yorkshire lass with a lot of contacts around the country. It’s possible someone knows Raven but not about her connection to the Maguires.”
“This conversation is giving me a headache,” sighed Faith. “It feels like we’re going round in circles. Anyway, Jules is looking into the Raven connection, so all we can do is wait for her to get back to us. Oh great,” she sighed when Kevin shoved open the office door while furiously arguing with Tariq, a handsome, strapping Asian man. He and his gang had been their enemies for years but since the Chambers family had taken over Blackpool they’d started working alongside them. Tariq and his men – like the Chambers themselves – were all family and had proved themselves to be very capable and resourceful and the two previously warring factions now worked together harmoniously. Until now.
“What is all the shouting about?” demanded Faith, having to raise her voice to be heard over the din.
Tariq’s dark brown eyes flashed with indignation. “This dick here asked me if I’d nicked all those drugs,” he said, jabbing a finger at Kevin.
“Who the fuck are you calling a dick you twat?” he retorted.
When the two men squared up to each other, Caleb and Vance rushed to intervene, as did Tariq’s two cousins who had accompanied him, all yelling at each other while Abi rolled her eyes and studied her nails.
Faith shot to her feet, planted her hands on the desk and yelled, “Shut the fuck up.”
All the men stopped squabbling and turned to regard her.
“Tariq, you stand there,” she said, gesturing to one side of the room. “Kev, you stand over there,” she added, gesturing to the opposite side. “And if I hear any more arguing I’m going to get really pissed off.”
“Sorry Faith,” said Tariq. “But I didn’t touch those drugs.”
“I know you didn’t and Kevin was wrong to suggest you did.”
She raised her eyebrow at Kevin when he opened his mouth to retort before deciding she wasn’t in the mood to hear it and closing it again.
“Well, that’s all right then,” muttered Tariq with an indignant tilt of the head.
“Although we do think whoever is responsible could possibly be local,” said Faith. “So far our contacts haven’t come up with anything. We wondered if you’d heard something about any newcomers?”
“No, nothing. Everything’s been pretty quiet lately.”
“That does seem to be the general consensus.”
“But I will tell you one thing – when I get hold of who did it I’ll cut off their bollocks and feed them to the fish. I was due to get a big payday from that shipment. My mum wants a new conservatory and I was going to get her one.”
“You’ll still get your payday Tariq, don’t worry because we’re going to get the product back.”
“How?”
“We’ve already got a few leads we’re looking into and we need to keep watch at every nightclub and pub in the town in case someone new starts dealing.”
“Surely they wouldn’t be stupid enough to deal our own product right under our noses?” said Caleb.
“They might be, especially if they’re local.”
“Or they could have a contact they’re going to move it onto.”
“And we have to stop that from happening.”
“If they had a buyer lined up they might have moved it on already,” said Vance.
“Bastards,” hissed Tariq, hands curling into fists. Finally he noticed Abi, who was obeying orders and standing quietly at the back of the room. “All right gorgeous? Are you still with that lanky streak of piss?”
“If you mean Michael, yes I am and we’re engaged now,” she said, flashing her engagement ring.
“I don’t know what you see in him.”
�
�He’s sweet, kind, gentle and clever. The complete opposite to you.”
“If we could stick to the topic please,” sighed Faith, her patience slipping. Sometimes it felt like she was running a nursery.
“I’ve sent my lads to see what they can find out,” said Tariq.
“You did tell them to be discreet, didn’t you? We don’t want the whole town knowing we’ve been done over.”
“Course I did. I sent Azad and Bashir. They’re both clever and they can be subtle. Unlike you, eh Kabir?” he grinned, nudging one of his cousins. “Kabir likes to hit people in the face with bricks. Not very subtle,” he chuckled.
Kabir’s response was a disdainfully arched eyebrow.
“Who are they starting with?” Faith asked Tariq.
“My uncle’s restaurant on the front. He hears a lot of things.”
“How does he hear things?” said Jason.
Tariq’s look was withering. “With his ears.”
“I mean why would he hear anything about nicked drugs? He’s legit. And his food is amazing.”
“I know. He’s always been a great chef,” said Tariq proudly. “But he runs a takeaway service and his people see things when delivering the orders.”
“How?” said Jason. “And don’t say with their eyes. How can they see things while delivering curries?”
“Because they’re out at night, watching and looking.”
“You mean gathering intelligence for your uncle,” Faith told Tariq. “We know he sells information, for the right price.”
“Oh,” said Tariq, for the first time looking a little nervous.
“Don’t worry,” she said, the corner of her mouth lifting into a smile. “We only know because he’s sold us information in the past. Nice of you to keep it to yourself though.”
“Only because he asked me to,” he retorted. “I wasn’t trying to pull a fast one.”
Faith decided not to respond to that comment. “And who else are your people asking?”
“The owners of the chippy on King Street. They’ve got their fingers in a load of dodgy pies. If someone wanted to offload a lot of drugs quickly, they’d snap their hands off and they’ve got the cash to pay.”
“They’d be able to pay out four hundred grand?”
“Not that much but I doubt whoever took it would offload it all in one go, it would attract too much attention. It would be smarter to sell it in smaller bundles and sell them off cheap to get rid of them quickly.”
“That’s a good point Tariq,” she said thoughtfully. “But I think they’ll want to get rid of them quicker than that, before we can catch up with them and take the product back. They might have a buyer lined up, so who else would have the cash?”
“Maybe Mickey Gunning? He lives like a pig but that’s because he’s so tight and stashes away his money.”
“He’s been arrested and he won’t be getting out any time soon.”
“What if he was the buyer?” said Vance. “And now he’s been nicked, whoever stole the product from us has nowhere to sell it.”
Faith sat up straighter in her seat. “Dillon worked for Mickey and he worked for us and Dillon stole from us. I think he lied to Vance when he said he sold the drugs at Nightmare. He stole them as a sample to give to the prospective buyer, who could well have been Mickey.”
“Dillon must have been part of this conspiracy. He had inside information about our organisation.”
“But he didn’t know where the vault was,” replied Caleb.
“Oh great,” said Tariq. “We’ll have the police sniffing around now because of Dillon’s murder.”
“Let me worry about the police,” said Faith. Although Tariq had guessed the Chambers must be paying off a few police officers in order to operate, he had no idea about their working relationship with DI Young. “I’ll see what I can find out from my police contacts. Caleb, you do the same with yours. We need to speak to those closest to Dillon as well. They might know if he got wrapped up with a crew vicious enough to kill him.”
“Why would they kill him though?” said Tariq. “Working for you he would have been more useful alive. He could have got them more information.”
“Maybe he got greedy and wanted a bigger cut,” said Abi. “Or he might have threatened to tell us for some reason.”
“Could be,” said Faith. “Tariq, if you and your friends could get on with following the trail of the drugs, we’ll look into Dillon and I’m talking to you all when I say this – be discreet. Tell no one why we’re asking. If anyone gets wind of what’s happened it will be very dangerous for all of us.”
They nodded in understanding.
“What are you doing now the vault’s been compromised?” said Tariq. “Have you found anywhere else yet?”
“We’re on with that,” said Faith. “We have a bit of time before the next shipment.”
“And in the meantime nothing to sell,” he sighed.
“In future we could use two separate storage areas and split the product between two locations, so if one place gets robbed we won’t lose our entire stock. We’ll use two completely separate groups to guard them who will know nothing about each other. What does everyone think?”
Vance nodded. “Sounds a good idea but it is more places to guard.”
“It’s something to consider but right now our priority is finding the product, so let’s get to it. Tariq, keep us updated.”
“And you’ll do the same?” he said, his gaze holding a challenge.
“Of course.”
He nodded before looking to his friends. “Let’s go,” he said.
Faith had to hide a smile as they strutted out self-importantly.
“So,” said Kevin. “Me and Jason are looking for two new places to stash the product, are we?”
“Yes you are,” replied Faith. “But not for the reason I told Tariq. One place we’ll use as a decoy. Only the six of us will know the location of the real vault. Abi, you want to help then you can go with them, scout about a bit.”
“Great,” she smiled. “Thanks Faith.”
“You’re welcome. Well don’t just stand there, on you go.”
Only once the three of them had left did Faith continue, looking to Caleb and Vance, who were the only two that remained. “That should keep her out of our hair for a while.”
“So, what do we do?” said Vance.
“I’m going to arrange a meeting with Matthew.”
“Again?” he said with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes. He’ll be speaking to everyone who was close to Dillon. Rather than run around the town drawing attention to ourselves and making everyone wonder why we’re asking, we can get all the information we need from him.”
“Makes sense,” said Caleb.
Vance didn’t argue the point, he’d only make himself look ridiculous and he hated feeling jealous but when it came to DI Young he couldn’t help it. If Faith hadn’t slept with the man then he wouldn’t mind her meeting up with him but just the thought of the two of them together was enough to drive him mad. It didn’t help that Young was a good-looking man. If he’d had a face like a gargoyle he could have stomached it better. “What shall me and Caleb do?” he said instead.
“We’ll know that after I’ve spoken to Matthew,” she replied, taking out her phone.
CHAPTER 7
Matthew wrenched the skinny man’s arms up his back, who was a lot stronger than he looked, cuffed him and shoved him towards two waiting uniformed constables.
“Get that back to the station,” he told them.
“Yes Sir,” said one of the constables as he took a firm grip of the skinny’s man’s arms, who continued to struggle. It took both him and his colleague to get him into the back of the police car.
“Are you okay Sir?” said DS Warner as Matthew examined his left forearm.
“Fine. He didn’t break the skin. It’s a good job I’m wearing a thick jacket,” he replied, grimacing at the slimy spit that had been left behind on his sleeve
. “Have you got a wet wipe? What’s so funny?” he added when Warner’s lips pursed in an effort to stop himself from laughing. “Oh what now?” he sighed when his phone started to ring. When he saw who the caller was, he moved out of earshot of his colleagues. “Faith,” he said. “It’s not a good time to talk. A meeting? Right, yeah, err, in an hour at Layton cemetery. I’m sorry if you don’t approve of the location but it’s quiet and we won’t be spotted, take it or leave it.” He smiled at her sassy reply. “See you then.”
He hung up, feeling a little more cheerful after being bitten by a rabid shoplifter. Despite his relationship with Alice, he always looked forward to a meeting with Faith Chambers. She was a very unique woman and he liked the danger that surrounded her. His Alice was sweet, loving and supportive with an unblemished record. She was a good partner for a copper. Faith Chambers had a dubious reputation to say the least, she dealt drugs, had beaten the living daylights out of multiple people and committed murder but he couldn’t help but be very attracted to her. They’d spent one great night together but she’d made it very clear that it wouldn’t happen again, which he thought was a shame because they had great chemistry. He could see her point though. Their relationship was complicated enough without adding to it.
After telling his colleagues that he was going to meet one of his confidential informants, he drove to Layton Cemetery. He parked on the main road running by the cemetery outside a row of red brick houses and entered the cemetery on foot. Walking through the wrought iron gate, he was greeted by graves on his left and right. Up ahead was the disused chapel. He wandered through the catholic graves – the cemetery was split into Church of England, Catholic and Muslim plots. He found Faith already waiting on the bench.
“I do wish we didn’t have to meet here,” she told him as he sat beside her. “It’s depressing.”
“You think so?” he replied. “I find cemeteries rather soothing.”
“You think being surrounded by the dead is soothing?”
“Compared to the living, yes. Just before you called, I was bitten on the arm by Snappy McMichaels.”
“You sound surprised you were bitten by someone called Snappy. Are you okay?”
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