Informant

by Susan Wilkins

  She glanced at Nicci and Mayhew, several other members of the squad were hovering near the open door.

  ‘And for what? To mess up a major investigation and prove we’re all rubbish? Hoping that’ll create a big enough scandal so your friend Duncan Linton can move a private security firm in to take over major investigations?’

  At the mention of Linton’s name, Turnbull did indeed blanch. How the hell did she know?

  The Assistant Commissioner allowed herself a triumphant smile. ‘Oh, the Commissioner knows all about your deal with Linton. How? Marcus Foxley told him. Never trust a politician Alan. He may behave like a naive fool, but that doesn’t mean he is one.’

  Turnbull was stunned, but he was determined to stand his ground. ‘Well, privatization is coming whether you and the Commissioner like it or not.’

  ‘So you thought you’d buy yourself a ticket on the gravy train? How many millions did you hope to make?’

  Turnbull shot her a defiant look. ‘It’s not just about money. It’s about who takes over. Putting the right people in the job. You want some ex-American police chief running homicide investigations in London?’

  Calder turned and with a sweep of her arm encompassed Nicci, Mayhew and the officers in the outer office.

  ‘And that’s your excuse for betraying me, your colleagues and the Metropolitan Police Service? Shame on you Turnbull. Shame on you.’

  Turnbull jutted his chin.

  ‘The core values of the MPS have got a far better chance of survival with Duncan Linton than with some of the other outfits that’ll be vying for the contract.’

  Nicci glanced at Mayhew. They’d both been watching open-mouthed as their bosses slugged it out, but Nicci couldn’t keep quiet any longer. The image of Alex Marlow’s bloated corpse kept flashing through her mind.

  ‘Sorry ma’am, but DC Bradley . . . well it looks like Joey Phelps has got him.’

  Calder turned, her fury with Turnbull was consuming her. She stared at Nicci blankly. ‘What?’

  ‘We’ve only just found out. We think Phelps kidnapped him yesterday evening.’

  Fiona Calder swivelled round, pointed at a stocky, carrot-haired officer standing near the doorway. ‘You – what’s your name?’

  The officer’s eyes widened, he flushed red from neck to forehead. ‘DC Payne ma’am.’

  ‘Payne, I want you to escort Detective Chief Superintendent Turnbull out of the building. You will relieve him of his warrant card and bring it to me.’

  Payne’s jaw slackened, he glanced at Mayhew for support. Mayhew gave him a curt nod.

  Calder turned back to Nicci. ‘You’re Armstrong aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes ma’am.’

  ‘You’re sure about all this?’

  Nicci nodded. ‘Yeah. We’ve got a witness saw him being taken.’

  Calder zeroed in on Mayhew. ‘I want Joey Phelps brought in. Get SO19 to provide armed backup. Find him. Nick him. Now. I’ll be taking over direct control of this operation myself.’

  Mayhew nodded and scurried out. Nicci followed. Calder glanced at Turnbull. He was still standing behind the desk, hands in his pockets. He looked pale, but he’d regained most of his composure.

  He gave her a contemptuous smile. ‘You can’t walk in here and throw me out.’

  ‘I’m acting on the Commissioner’s instructions. Your lawyer can make representations directly to him and the IPCC. Now, does DC Payne require assistance to escort you out?’

  Payne was hovering in the doorway with a look of total embarrassment on his face. Turnbull let a small hiss of annoyance escape between his teeth. He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out his warrant card and tossed it on the desk. He glared at Calder.

  ‘This isn’t over, y’know.’

  72

  The roadworks on the M1 slowed traffic from a twenty-mile-an-hour crawl to sporadic gridlock. Kaz sat in the back of the X5 wondering what the hell she was going to do. Joey had taken the precaution of trashing her phone, grinding it into the gravel with his heel before they left Woodcote Hall. She’d caught a glimpse of Natalie being shepherded away into the house by June as Yevgeny held the car door open for her. Doctor Iqbal seemed in his way to be a pretty canny bloke. Kaz hoped he’d find a way to protect her sister. And then there was Nic, who Natalie was convinced was such a good mate, but Kaz didn’t place any reliance on that.

  It was the middle of the afternoon by the time they arrived at the garage lock-up under some railway arches in Ilford. Tolya was sitting outside on an upturned crate smoking a Turkish cigarette. Joey got out of the front passenger seat and stretched, he’d spent a large part of the journey dozing.

  He nodded at Tolya. ‘Where’s Ash?’

  ‘I call him like you say. He not pick up. Think he went back to the flat.’

  Joey yawned. ‘Skiving off, dozy sod. Well let’s get this show on the road.’

  Yevgeny opened the car door for Kaz. She made a point of meeting his gaze, but his look remained disinterested and professional. She followed Tolya and her brother into the lock-up. Yevgeny was close behind, making sure she was penned in.

  Coming out of daylight into the gloomy interior required a moment for the eyes to adjust. But Kaz didn’t have any problem seeing the hooded figure trussed up on a chair in front of her. His arms were pinioned behind him, his torso and legs were bound to the chair with heavy-duty duct tape, the chair was chained to an oil drum full of concrete. Tolya hadn’t taken any chances. The hood was loose-weave hessian sacking blackened with engine oil. He pulled it off to reveal Bradley’s flushed and bloodied face.

  Tolya glanced at Joey apologetically. ‘Nose all busted up, so if I tape the mouth he don’t breathe.’ He pointed upwards at the vaulted ceiling. ‘Trains every five minute. No one hear him.’

  As Kaz gazed at Bradley she felt rising nausea sting the back of her throat, her hand went reflexively to her mouth. He looked up at her, a hint of a smile in his eyes, but a beaten and bleeding creature. Dried blood encrusted his face, his nose was swollen to twice the normal size. She realized Joey was watching her reaction, a satisfied smile playing round his mouth.

  ‘Right then, now we’ll get the truth.’

  Kaz took a calming breath and turned to face her brother. She understood enough about his psychology to know she had to front it out with him.

  ‘Yeah you will Joey. ’Cause this is fucking ridiculous.’

  Joey inclined his head, he was enjoying himself. ‘Show her the clip Tol.’

  Tolya got out his phone, tapped the screen a couple of times. He set it to play and handed her the device. She watched the sequence of her and Bradley in front of the tube station. She shook her head in disbelief, tossed the phone back to Tolya and glared at her brother.

  ‘Is that it? Is that your excuse for this total fucking mess?’

  Joey tipped back his head and laughed. ‘I know you got balls babe. And I’ve always admired that. Never give up in a fight. But you’re shagging him, anyone can tell that. And it was you told him about Marko and Leysa.’

  Bradley coughed and spat a globule of congealed blood from his mouth. His voice was rough, a hoarse whisper. ‘No. She didn’t. Mainwaring Grant gave us your files. We found the place in Danbury from that.’

  Joey turned and glared at Bradley. ‘Did I fucking tell you to speak?’

  It was clearly an effort to hold his head up, but Bradley returned his look. ‘Said you wanted the truth. Well ring up your old school pal Anthony Hobbart. He’ll tell you what happened, we went round there and leant on them. They gave us Dimitrenko to get rid of us. And I suspect to get rid of you.’

  Joey ruminated on this. His brow darkened, he looked ready to explode. Then he simply laughed. ‘Well whad’you know? Fucking accountants, eh.’

  This lightning change of mood gave Kaz the opening she was looking for. She reached out, put her hand on his arm.

  ‘Joe, listen to me. I don’t blame you for jumping to conclusions.’ She shot a look in Bradley’s di
rection. ‘But let me tell you the truth about me and him. Since I got out I’ve only slept with one person. And it ain’t him.’

  Joey gazed at her, a troubled look came into his eyes. His glance darted from Tolya to Yevgeny.

  ‘Not one of them? They’re fucking animals.’

  Kaz smiled. She didn’t want to get into this with him. It was no one’s business but her own. But she figured that the truth was the only thing likely to convince him. She dipped her head.

  ‘Not them. Helen. Helen Warner, my lawyer. You can phone her and ask her.’

  Joey’s jaw slackened. She was acutely aware of the four men around her, enough testosterone to start World War Three. But she didn’t care about their judgement. Yevgeny and Tolya remained inscrutable. She wasn’t sure, but she thought perhaps Bradley smiled. Joey turned to the others, palms outstretched in incredulity.

  ‘You believe this? My sister a fucking carpet muncher? I mean look at her. Look at her. She’s too beautiful to be a dyke.’

  Kaz sighed. ‘Doesn’t really work like that.’

  Joey gave her a shrewd look. ‘Then what is going on with him?’

  Kaz met his gaze. ‘We went to meet my art class teacher to persuade him to help me get a college place.’

  Her brother frowned. ‘Thought you had a college place.’

  Kaz smiled ruefully, somehow the truth had got him to listen, so the truth it had to be. ‘This one’s in New York.’

  Joey nodded as he absorbed this. Then he pointed at Bradley. ‘Why would he help you? You can’t tell me he done it for nothing.’

  ‘I was playing him.’ Kaz hunched her shoulders, gave her brother an appealing look. ‘I mean obviously.’

  Joey turned away, he looked petulant. ‘You wanna go to New York, why didn’t you ask me? We could’ve gone together.’

  ‘Joey, I needed him to persuade the art teacher to wangle me the college place and convince probation. These things ain’t easy to arrange.’

  Joey nodded, took a deep breath then exhaled. Kaz could feel her stomach knotted with tension, but she was starting to hope. He did seem to believe her. The problem now was how to get Bradley out of there.

  Joey paced a couple of times, checked his watch. ‘Where the fuck’s Ashley? Tol, give him another call.’

  Tolya produced his phone and went out of the lock-up.

  Joey seemed to be musing to himself. ‘Never been to New York. I’ve always fancied it.’

  Kaz squeezed his arm. ‘Let’s go together. We’ll have a great time.’

  Joey glanced at Bradley and huffed. ‘What we gonna do about him?’

  Kaz didn’t miss a beat.

  ‘Bribe him. He wants to get out the police, go to Australia. Don’t you Bradley?’

  Bradley had been watching the two of them with an eagle eye. He nodded. ‘Yeah, get a job with my cousins.’

  Joey gave Bradley a cursory glance. His tone was oddly innocent. ‘You really think you can trust him?’

  ‘What you can trust babes is the money. You’ve got it, he wants it. Bent cop’s not gonna grass you up. It’s in his interests to just disappear.’

  Joey fixed her with a penetrating look, then his lip started to tremble with amusement. The amusement erupted into hilarity and he slapped his thigh. He laughed until his eyes watered, then he wagged his finger at Yevgeny.

  ‘You gotta admit Yev, she’s good. My sister is good. Don’t think I ever heard such a convincing load of old bullshit, have you?’

  Kaz stared at him in surprise. ‘It’s not bullshit. Joey, I swear to you . . .’

  Joey continued to chortle. ‘Now the dyke bit, that was a stroke of genius.’ He adopted a mocking tone. ‘“I’ve only ever slept with one person and it ain’t him.”’

  Kaz shot a nervous look at Bradley. Joey giggled.

  ‘Have you seen her fucking lawyer? Miss Prissy. Got a bug up her arse this far. And the idea of the two of them at it . . . no one’d buy that. No one.’ He giggled some more.

  Kaz held out her hand beseechingly. ‘Call her, call her Joey. That’ll prove it.’

  Joey wiped away tears of mirth with the back of his hand. He took a deep breath and his expression changed.

  ‘Nah, I got a better way to prove it. Quicker too.’ He glanced at the Russian. ‘Yev, you got that SIG?’

  Yevgeny unzipped his jacket pocket and brought out the SIG Sauer 220 pistol. He screwed on the suppressor, handed it to Joey. Joey checked the magazine was properly loaded, pulled back the slide and decocked it. His face was completely serious now. He turned to his sister.

  ‘Okay, let’s say I decide to believe you. You and him, nothing going on. That’s what you’re telling me, innit?’

  Kaz swallowed hard. ‘Yeah.’

  Joey offered her the SIG. ‘Right. All you gotta do is shoot him in the head. Then I’ll know you’re telling me the truth.’

  Kaz stared in disbelief at the gun.

  Joey held it out. ‘Go on, take it.’

  She glanced at Bradley, his shoulder blades and arms were pulled back tight by the duct tape, his head bowed, but he was staring right at her, a look of shock and fear on his face.

  Joey fixed her with his laser-eyed stare. ‘Ain’t as if you haven’t done it before. What’s the problem?’ He waited a moment then turned, held out the gun at arm’s length and pointed it at Bradley. ‘Want me to do it for you?’

  Bradley stared down the barrel and fixed Joey with his own unflinching look. ‘Yeah go on Joey, you do it! You’re the psycho. Murder’s your job not hers.’

  A slow smile spread over Joey’s face, he closed one eye as he lined up his arm and took aim at Bradley’s head.

  Kaz stepped in front of him, held out her hand. ‘No! Give it to me, I’ll do it.’

  For a frozen instant Joey looked disappointed.

  She hooked his gaze. ‘I’ll do it.’

  He lowered his arm and handed the gun to her.

  As Kaz’s palm closed around the pistol grip she didn’t know what she was going to do, only that she had to do something. All eyes were on her. Joey had an amused and expectant grin, Yevgeny stood, arms folded, watching and waiting. Bradley was craning his neck to look at her, the bruising round his nose and eyes had turned a livid purple, leaving the eyes sharp and bright with fear. Kaz took a deep breath and pointed the gun at her brother.

  ‘This stops now Joey. I ain’t gonna let you kill him.’

  Joey grinned and put his hands on his hips.

  ‘Well that answers that question, dunnit? I knew I was right. But how you gonna get out of here babes, you and lover boy? By the time you shot me Yev’ll be across there ripping your head off. You could take a pop at him, but then I’d do the same. So you got one shot, who’s it gonna be?’

  Kaz didn’t move, the gun remained trained on Joey. He smiled.

  ‘Tick tock. Made up your mind yet?’

  He held out his hand and started to edge forward. ‘Give me the gun babes.’

  Kaz raised her arm slightly, aimed a couple of inches above Joey’s head and pulled the trigger. The report ricocheted round the lock-up. The bullet tore into the wall sending shards of brick flying. Joey ducked reflexively. He seemed more surprised than unnerved.

  ‘Fucking hell Kaz!’

  Tolya appeared in the doorway, a sneaky fag in his hand. He shot a look at Yevgeny, who simply sighed. Kaz adjusted her aim, pointing the gun straight at Joey.

  ‘Don’t make the mistake of thinking I won’t shoot you little brother. ’Cause like you said, I done it before. Now untie him.’

  Joey shook his head wearily. ‘Listen to me Kaz—’

  ‘Untie him. Now!’

  Joey cocked his head at the Russian. ‘Yev—’

  ‘Not him Joey. You. You do it.’

  Joey stepped forward, gave Bradley a disdainful smile and started to pick ineffectually at the duct tape.

  ‘It ain’t designed to come off, this stuff, that’s why we use it. Needs a knife.’

  ‘You go
t strong hands, tear it.’

  Bradley’s eyes were darting between Kaz and Joey. His mouth was bone dry. He licked his lips. ‘Get him to click emergency services on his mobile, put the phone to my ear, I’ll call for backup.’

  Joey clouted him hard across the side of the head. ‘The fuck you will!’

  ‘Joey! I’m warning you!’

  He raised his palms. ‘All right all right . . . but honestly?’

  Joey freed the end of the duct tape round Bradley’s torso and started to unwind it. He was taking his time. ‘So babes, where you gonna run?’

  Kaz didn’t get a chance to answer, the door behind Tolya opened and Ashley appeared.

  Joey turned to face him. ‘About bloody time. As you can see me and my sister are having a slight disagreement.’

  Ashley glanced at Kaz and then back to Joey. His face was tense and drawn. ‘Joe, something I need to tell you.’

  Joey huffed. ‘Why are you such a fucking twat? Let me deal with this first, okay.’

  ‘It’s your dad. He’s dead.’

  Joey’s head tipped back as if he’d been hit, he let his hands fall to his sides, he looked confused. ‘Dead? How can he be dead?’

  ‘Brian found him in his wheelchair, called me. That’s where I been. Over their place. I didn’t want them to tell you on the phone. Then the old bill turned up looking for you. I had to climb over the fence sharpish. They been to the flat too.’

  Joey turned to his sister, tears welling up in his eyes. ‘How can he be dead?’

  Kaz looked at Ashley. ‘What was it? Another stroke?’

  Ashley nodded. ‘Think so.’

  Kaz lowered her arm. It seemed faintly absurd to be standing there holding a gun on her weeping brother. Joey cupped his palms over his face and sobbed.

  ‘He’s dead Kaz. What am I gonna do?’

  Kaz glanced at Yevgeny, trying to gauge what his next move would be. She sighed.

  ‘Probably for the best. He didn’t have much of a life sitting in that chair like a zombie.’

  Joey wiped away tears and snot with his fingers. He frowned, he seemed to be trying to put a picture together in his mind. ‘So what you telling me Ash? Dad’s dead and the fucking filth are all over the fucking house?’