by Roger Hurn
‘Is this seat taken?’ she breathed in a husky voice. I smiled at her thinking my luck had changed, and in a way it had. She slipped off her glasses and I saw it was Aisha.
‘I hear you’ve been looking for me and so here I am.’
I hated myself for finding her physically stunning. My head knew she was a murderous bitch, but my heart was pumping at the sight of her. Go figure, as they say.
‘Hey, what does a girl have to do to get a coffee round here?’ She flashed her perfect Hollywood teeth at me, but I didn’t give my NHS gnashers an airing, I just put my sandwich down on my plate. Suddenly, I wasn’t hungry anymore.
‘Buy yourself one with the diamonds you killed Meena for.’
She pouted. ‘Who says I killed her?’
I groaned. ‘Oh for Christ’s sake. We both know you did it, the only question is why?’
She ran her tongue along her top lip. It made her glossy lips even glossier. ‘Oh come on, you’re a detective. Isn’t it obvious? The ransom money was no good and I wasn’t prepared to settle for just a half share in the diamonds so …’
‘You could’ve just taken them.’
Her dark eyes flashed. ‘Could I?’ Then she smiled and wrinkled her nose in a way that would have been impossibly cute in any other circumstances. ‘I suppose I could have done, but I didn’t. And anyway, Meena was being ridiculously unreasonable so, when I saw my opportunity, I took it. I guess you could say I acted on impulse.’
I shook my head. ‘No, I guess you could say you acted like a cold-blooded killer.’
She gave me a look of total disdain. ‘Do you honestly think I care what a low-life gumshoe like you thinks of me?’ Then she giggled. ‘Hey, “gumshoe” is the right word isn’t it? Only I saw an ancient black-and-white movie once and that’s what they called the private eye in it.’
I was beginning to think Aisha was as mad as a box of frogs with a side order of scorpions, but I kept my expression neutral. ‘Yeah, gumshoe is right, but why have you come to me? I thought you had big plans to flee the country and start over in the golden west.’
‘I did, but I had no way of smuggling the jewels out, so I was stuck.’
I raised my eyebrows. ‘Well, you could’ve done what Meena did.’
Aisha shuddered. ‘Yuk! Do I look like the kind of girl who swallows condoms full of diamonds?’ I figured it was a rhetorical question so I said nothing. ‘And you should have seen the state Meena was in when she finally shat the bloody things out. My god, what a mess she made! It was just like so gross.’ She quivered with disgust at the memory.
‘Yeah, I’m sure it must have been awful for you.’
‘Don’t get smart-mouthed with me,’ she snarled. ‘You’re a nobody.’
I nodded in agreement. ‘True, but you must have come to me for a reason. So what is it?’
She sat back and gave me an appraising look. ‘I’ve decided to throw myself on my cousin Deepak’s tender mercies and I want you there with me when I do.’ I asked her why. ‘Because I think he’s less likely to give me a hard time if you’re there. He gets a kick out of having a guy who used to guard the Queen and the Prime Minister on his payroll and he’s a sucker for all that elite copper garbage. You see, it does his ego good having you around, so I don’t think he wants to lose you. And he would if you thought he was actually gonna cause me serious damage.’
I gave a hollow laugh. ‘I admire your confidence in my concern for your safety. Actually, I hope you get what’s coming to you after what you did to Meena.’
She tilted her head slightly and a ghost of a smile flitted across her face. ‘I’m sure you do, but you’re still a plod at heart. Your conscience couldn’t cope with being a party to me being eliminated with extreme prejudice.’
She was right and she knew it. But I wasn’t going to make things that easy for her. ‘I dunno about that. I’ve seen him do some pretty despicable things and I’m still taking his money.’
She drummed her immaculately manicured fingers on the Formica table impatiently. I could tell spending time with me was getting on her nerves. ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’ve seen him clearing up after me, but not actually stepping over the line himself. There’s a difference.’
‘Yeah, maybe, but what makes you think I’m not going to bypass DK and simply march you straight to the nearest nick and hand you in for murder?’
She yawned ostentatiously. ‘What murder?’ She learned forward across the table and I copped a whiff of a fragrance that was light and flowery and eye-wateringly expensive. I realised I’d last smelled it about half an hour ago when I was in her friends’ flat, so at least I now knew where she was hiding out. ‘Look,’ she said. ‘You’re beginning to bore me. Cousin DK, will have magicked away the body and no way will that creep Danvir have said anything so, ergo, there is no murder.’
I noticed her use of the word “ergo”. Her posh education had taught her how to speak correctly, but it didn’t seem to have done much for her sense of morality. Not that I was kidding myself that I was any kind of shining knight. I was doing stuff on this case that made me feel as grubby as a down-and-out’s underpants, but at least I hadn’t killed anyone. Then it hit me that if I’d have tipped the police off as soon as I knew Meena had been snatched, maybe she’d still be alive. I shoved that thought into a dark place at the back of my mind and slammed the door shut on it. But I had a horrible feeling that it would creep back out again and haunt my nights for a long while to come.
Aisha however seemed totally untroubled by any kind of scruples. In fact, she was already thinking ahead to how the face-to-face with DK was going to go down. ‘Let me tell you something about my family. My mother is a vicious old cow who dotes on my pathetic loser brothers. She’s always hated me because I’m prettier and smarter than she is and because, compared to me, Vikram, Rakesh and Garjan are complete no-hopers. Mummy-ji tells everyone how her precious Vikram is a computer genius when in fact you could write everything he knows about computers in capital letters on the back of a postage stamp and still have room for the entire works of Shakespeare.’ She waved her hand dismissively. ‘And don’t even get me started on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. I mean, Garjan thinks with his cock and Rakesh thinks with his stomach. They are useless pieces of shit. Yet mummy-ji keeps telling them that she’ll make sure cousin Deepak finds a high ranking place for them in his “organisation”. While all she wants for me is to marry me off to some chinless wonder so I can make babies.’ She grimaced. ‘And that is so not going to happen.’
She was another person who made apostrophe marks with her fingers. When I first saw her I thought she was sex on legs, but now everything about her grated on me.
‘And, instead of becoming a baby maker, you think you’re the one DK should be taking on as his second in command, is that it?’
She nodded. ‘Well, it’s obvious my slacker brothers can’t hack it and I’m perfect for the job.’
On the “give a person enough rope” principle, I decided to humour her. ‘So what’s the problem? You’re DK’s favourite cousin by a mile.’
Her face flushed with anger and frustration. ‘Yeah, but even sociopaths like DK get hung up by convention sometimes. If I’d been born a boy there would have been no problem. But I’m a girl and my big bad cousin has trouble thinking outside the box when it comes to cultural attitudes. That’s why he keeps on hoping that those idiots Rakesh and Garjan are going to somehow change their spots and become the kind of guys he’s looking for – but that is so not going to happen.’ Then she stopped her rant and smiled. ‘But maybe now he’s seen what I can do, the scales will have fallen from his eyes and I’ll have leap-frogged my dear brothers to number one in the queue to be his apprentice. And won’t that royally piss off mummy dearest!’ She giggled musically, but it sounded discordant to my ears. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that she was bang on the money.
Chapter Seventeen
I phoned DK and arranged to bring Aisha over to his house later t
hat evening. He wanted to send Tomasz to fetch her, but she vetoed that suggestion. She was coming with me and nobody else.
I picked her up in New Cross and if any of my mates had seen her slide into my car they’d have figured I was punching well above my weight. It’s true though that you really can’t judge a book by its cover. In reality, Aisha was pure poison wrapped up in a body that could inspire a wet dream in a dead man.
Anyway, we didn’t make conversation. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts and I had absolutely nothing to say to her. So I just drove to Chislehurst and was relieved when we finally arrived at DK’s gaff. Tomasz let us in and Aisha swept down the corridor to DK’s study like she hadn’t got a worry in the world. I wasn’t surprised that DK’s missus was conspicuous by her absence. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if she even existed but, thankfully, it wasn’t something I had to worry about. I had more than enough on my plate as it was.
DK was sitting in one of those big brown leather armchairs that toffs in old movies always have. Danvir was perched on the two-seater chesterfield under the window. He looked as wound up as a bow string. DK, in total contrast looked relaxed and in control. He had a glass of whisky in his hand and he raised it in greeting to Aisha. She batted her long lashes at him and smiled prettily. ‘Hi cuz. How’s it going?’
DK took a sip from his glass and then put it down on an elegantly carved occasional table. He steepled his hands together and said, ‘Ah Aisha, what am I to do with you?’
‘That’s easy. You let me come and live with you for now and take me on as a junior partner in your organisation. My brothers don’t have the balls for the job, but I do.’ She giggled. ‘Metaphorically speaking that is.’
DK chuckled. ‘You do indeed.’ But then he frowned. ‘However, before we discuss the matter further. I fear poor Danvir here is expecting some recompense for the unfortunate loss of his niece. And, much as I would like to help him, I’m afraid that burden falls on you, my dear.’ He paused, and when he resumed speaking his well-modulated voice was edged with menace. ‘So I do hope you’ve brought the diamonds with you.’
Aisha nodded. ‘Of course I have. They’re proof of my good intentions.’ She opened her bag and took out a large leather pouch. She handed it to DK. He opened it and glanced inside. His face lit up like a bonfire on firework night. ‘Good girl. You haven’t let me down.’
DK stood up and walked over to Danvir. ‘Here is your blood price, Danvir,’ he said as he dropped the bag into Danvir’s lap. Danvir examined the bag’s contents and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. DK raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you satisfied?’ Danvir grunted and gave him a curt nod. ‘Good. Now the debt has been paid and we are quits, so please remove yourself from my house and never darken my door again.’ It was DK’s way of saying, “fuck off before I have you killed and then feed your corpse to the pigs”. Danvir took the hint and left without a word.
DK returned to his big leather armchair. He stared at Aisha. ‘That pained me, cousin. I had hoped to make a profit on those gems, but your actions have cheated me of it. That does not bode well for you, especially if you were hoping I’d take you under my wing and into my organisation.’
Aisha shrugged. ‘Then it’s just as well I didn’t put all the jewels in the one pouch, isn’t it?’ She reached into her bag and produced a second leather pouch. She tossed it over to DK who opened it and emptied a cascade of diamonds onto the occasional table. ‘Poor old Meena nearly split herself open she was stuffed with so many jewels, so I figured her Uncle Danvir would hardly miss a few of the more choice sparklers.’ She paused for a second then said with some slight trepidation, ‘Did I do well, cousin?’
DK beamed his approval at her. ‘You have done very well, Aisha. Very well indeed.’ Aisha let out a big sigh of relief but, unfortunately for her, she was being just a trifle premature. ‘But, sadly, I can’t let you off completely scot free. You must learn some respect and realise that anyone who tries to trick me will pay a high price for their presumption – even if they are as charming and clever as you, Aisha.’
I tensed and saw fear twist Aisha’s lovely features. She began to wring her hands. ‘No, listen to me, Deepak. I can do so much for you, you’ll never have cause to doubt me again. I’ll be the son you never had. I promise you …’
DK silenced her by raising his hand. His face was grim. ‘Don’t worry, Aisha. You shall have your wish to be my right-hand man, so to speak. But first you must pay.’
Aisha stopped pleading and she looked puzzled, but she didn’t have to wait long to find out what her punishment was going to be. DK clicked his fingers. ‘Tomasz, take Aisha to your room and have your pleasure with her.’ Tomasz stepped forward and grabbed her wrist with his meaty fist. His face was expressionless. Aisha tried to break his grip, but she was powerless. She slapped his cheek with her free hand, but Tomasz didn’t even flinch. Instead he dragged her to the door.
‘Oh Tomasz, don’t be too harsh with her, I need her to still be able to walk tomorrow.’ DK spoke so matter-of-factly it was chilling. Tomasz nodded. I caught a glimpse of the look in Aisha’s eyes as she stared at Tomasz and I knew that, no matter how gentle he was with her, at some point in the future, Aisha would take her revenge on him in blood.
OK, you’re probably thinking why didn’t I do something to try and save Aisha? Well, it’s not like in the movies when the hero can drop the bad guy just because he’s the hero. Not that I’m saying I’m a hero you understand, because obviously I’m not. And yeah, I’ve had training in unarmed combat, but Tomasz was twice my size and mean with it and no amount of unarmed combat training is ever going to let you beat those odds. Frankly, it would have been a tall order to stop him with a Glock 17 even if I still had one, which I didn’t, and in a fist fight the only outcome would be that he’d beat me to a pulp. Also, if I’m being absolutely honest, I didn’t fancy getting a serious kicking and maybe a one-way trip to the pig farm in a doomed attempt to save a murderer from a fate worse than death. And I still had a crazy notion that I was going to get some kind of justice for Meena and I couldn’t do that if I was dead. So I have absolutely no idea in hell why I opened my stupid gob and shouted, ‘No!’
Everybody stopped and stared at me. I felt like a rabbit in a car’s headlights. My mouth was hanging open, but I hadn’t got a clue what I was going to say. Then I heard a voice that definitely wasn’t mine ask, ‘What is going on here, my sweet?’
Chapter Eighteen
A tall elegant Indian woman had stepped into the room. She was dressed simply but expensively and she had a presence about her that made me think she was someone to be reckoned with. Tomasz immediately let go of Aisha’s wrist and, for the briefest of moments, DK looked like a naughty boy caught with his hand in his mum’s purse. He recovered in a heartbeat.
‘Ah, hello Priya, I had no idea you were home. I thought you were out visiting tonight.’
The woman smiled icily. ‘I was, but I had a slight headache so I decided to return home early.’ Her gaze swept round the room and when she spoke again her voice was tinged with a delicate hint of acid. ‘And it seems it’s as well I did as you forgot to mention that cousin Aisha was coming to see us.’ She and Aisha acknowledged each other with little bows, steepled palms and muttered “namastes,” but Tomasz and I might just as well have been invisible for all the notice she took of us.
There was a subtle power play going on here and I had no idea who would gain the upper hand. I dearly hoped it would be DK’s wife. I loathed Aisha, but I certainly didn’t want her to be raped by Tomasz and it seemed to me that DK’s missus was the only one who could prevent that happening. If she failed, I’d have to put Plan B into action, but the trouble with that scenario was that I didn’t have a Plan B.
DK’s reply to his wife was as smooth as an oiled sheet of ice. ‘It came as a complete surprise to me, too, my dear. But Aisha brings us such good news. You see, my dearly beloved cousin wishes to give up her “playgirl” lifestyle and come and work fo
r me.’ He chuckled heartily. ‘It is her earnest and heartfelt desire to help me carry my heavy load of business and I am gladdened by this because I am not growing any younger and I have longed for the day when my dear cousin would come of age and join me in my tireless quest to enlarge the fortunes of our family.’
DK’s wife looked sceptical. ‘But, my dear husband, I thought you were hoping for the boys to become your partners.’
DK frowned. ‘Ah, my heart’s desire, I have seen the error of my old-fashioned ways. Now I move with the times and embrace the brave new world where a clever and resourceful woman can help a man build his businesses.’ He sighed theatrically. ‘Sadly, Vikram, Garjan and Rakesh have proved themselves a grave disappointment to me, but Aisha is my shining star and she is going to be the one I will be passing the baton to when the time comes for me to pop my clogs!’ He laughed at this and Aisha smiled dutifully. DK’s wife’s face remained expressionless and I couldn’t help wondering if his long-winded way of talking drove her nuts. It did me, particularly as it was all an act. But he hadn’t finished. ‘Therefore, I have offered Aisha the hospitality of this house and she will be staying with us until I have shown her the ropes.’
DK’s wife inclined her head slightly. ‘If that is your wish, husband, then it is also mine. And I’m sure Auntie-ji will be pleased to learn that while Aisha is our guest I will treat her as if she were my own daughter.’ She reached out her hand to Aisha. ‘Come, Aisha, let me show you to the room where I think you will be most comfortable and then we can have tea and you can tell me all the latest gossip about your brothers.’
The two women walked out together and I felt almost dizzy with relief.
Chapter Nineteen