‘Yeah I’m okay. Listen I’m sorry about yesterday. It was a testing day and I was a bit tense when we spoke at lunchtime. I’m sure Ray’s all right really. I’ll try to speak to him later and smooth things over. You’re right of course; I don’t want to fall out with him really. I just found him a bit creepy.’
Ben laughed. ‘I’ve heard that said before about Ray. God this coffee is awful. I really ought to stick to the hot chocolate; it’s the only thing that’s drinkable from this bloomin’ machine.’
Chloe decided there and then that she liked Ben. He seemed to be a genuinely nice guy, and rather handsome too she thought.
‘Chocolate it is then.’ She smiled again, and realised that he had brightened her day, even this early in the morning, and that was no mean achievement. ‘I’ll see you later.’
She spent the next hour or so reading back through the files she had been given by Drake and Ray. There wasn’t a great deal to do on any of them, but she dictated the odd letter and made some notes of her initial thoughts. There were also some calls to make but they’d have to wait until later. It was too early to ring clients and certainly too early for the local court.
‘I need you to see a client this morning.’ It was Ray. No hello or good morning, just straight in there. Chloe knew she had to make an effort.
‘Good morning Ray. No problem, what’s it about?’
‘It’s Mr Crawford. He’s a regular client so take good care of him. I think he wants some help on a new deal. Something about property if I recall correctly.’
That threw Chloe off a little and she couldn’t help but sound surprised.
‘Property? We don’t do that here do we?’
‘We do for this client. And I’ve heard that you did some property stuff at your old firm?’
She wondered where he’d heard it from exactly. ‘A bit yes, but only as a trainee. And I had close supervision…’
‘That’ll do. He only wants initial advice about some project he’s thinking of doing. He’ll be here at half nine.’ Ray started to walk away.
‘But what if I can’t handle it?’ insisted Chloe. ‘It’s a while since I took instructions on a…’
‘You’ll be fine. If it gets too complex we have a locum we can call on to help you out. We need to keep this client happy, so just go and see what he wants. And be nice to him.’
Chloe wondered why Ray couldn’t see the client himself if he was so important, but she tried to see the positive side. Having been effectively made redundant from her last firm, the busier she was the better in her opinion. And if she became the firm’s main contact for any property work that did come their way, then that was no bad thing in her view.
She checked her watch. It was quarter past nine. She finished the note she was dictating and drank what remained of her hot chocolate, which wasn’t much better than the coffee, and then headed off down to reception. She approached the reception desk and caught the eye of the woman behind it.
‘Hi, is Mr Crawford waiting down here somewhere?’
‘Meeting room three,’ came the usual stern reply.
‘Thank you so much,’ Chloe said in an overly-friendly voice accompanied by a sickly sweet smile. She was determined not to sink to the level of the receptionist.
Meeting room three was a small room for no more than four people. Like all the firm’s public areas, it was adorned with a safe blue carpet, grey painted walls and light oak effect furniture. Indistinct pictures of modern art completed the bland corporate image.
‘Good morning Mr Crawford. Chloe Webster. I understand that you want some advice on a property transaction?’
‘Ah, hello, yes. I’m very pleased to see that you’re here on time. That gives me a great deal of confidence.’ The Timer smiled broadly. ‘We should get along just fine.’
20
The Timer was indeed impressed. Youngsters these days were so often ignorant of the importance of timing. This girl couldn’t be twenty five yet but she knew the importance all right. In fact her all round immaculate presentation and professional manner told him all he needed to know. She was good. And that might actually make this more difficult than he’d hoped it would be.
Chloe returned his smile. ‘I’m sure we will, Mr Crawford. Now, what can I do for you exactly?’
‘Straight down to business, eh? Well, time is money I suppose, and the clock will be ticking, no doubt.’
Chloe smiled again. She wasn’t sure what she made of this guy yet. He looked like a property developer, or at least, what she always assumed a property developer would look like. Smart jeans, black polo-neck shirt under a grey sports jacket, designer stubble and an air of confidence, tinged with a hint of cockiness. He was yet to remove his dark glasses.
Indoors, in February, thought Chloe. How ridiculous does he look?
‘Well, I assumed you’d want to get things done as quickly as possible. Why don’t you just tell me what the project is and we’ll take it from there?’ Chloe opened her notepad as if to emphasise that she was ready.
‘The project, yes, good idea,’ said the Timer slowly. ‘It’s an investment opportunity down by the canal, just outside the city centre. An old warehouse has come onto the market for a bargain price and I think I can convert it into apartments and sell on for a healthy profit. I need a good lawyer to make sure I get the best deal, and that’s where you come in.’
‘Okay, I see. Well obviously I can’t advise you on whether it’s a good deal or not, but you seem confident enough about that anyway. I assume you’ve had specialist advice on the financials?’
The Timer grinned again. Chloe thought he grinned too much, and it was starting to make her feel a little uneasy. It wasn’t a smile exactly; nothing in the eyes, just a movement of the mouth.
‘I’m confident about the financial side of things,’ he said, not really answering her question.
‘So you want me to act for you in purchasing the warehouse? Legal advice, I mean?’
‘I guess that’s the long and short of it.’ Another grin. He pulled out a carrier bag and placed it on the table next to him. ‘Ray said you were good.’
‘That’s very kind of him.’ How the hell does he know? We only met yesterday. ‘I’ll need full details of the property.’
‘No problem.’
Chloe ran through what she could remember of the procedure for taking instructions for a property purchase, although she was a little rusty. It was a few months since she’d done anything like this, and even then not on a project of this size. Never once did her client check anything against any written information, and she didn’t know whether to be impressed or concerned. He was conversant with all the details of the project, and for some reason she formed the impression that he was making it up as he went along.
‘There is just one final thing Mr Crawford. I will need some identification from you before you leave if that’s okay?’ said Chloe as the interview came to an end. ‘It’s standard procedure.’
‘That might be a problem. You see I don’t have anything on me at the moment. I’ve instructed this firm many times before. Why don’t you check with Ray, I’m sure he’ll vouch for me?’
‘I’ll see what he says. Right, Mr Crawford, I think that’s everything…’
‘Well there is just one last thing to deal with isn’t there?’
‘What’s that?’ asked Chloe, a little puzzled.
‘The money side of things. The financials as you call it.’
‘Oh don’t worry, I’ll let you know when we need anything from you. The deposit won’t be payable until we exchange contracts and that could be some weeks away yet. Our charges will be set out in the letter I send after this…’ She stopped abruptly as the Timer opened the carrier bag that had been sitting on the desk and tipped out a pile of paper bundles which bounced and settled on the table in front of her. It took a moment for her to realise they were tightly bound blocks of banknotes.
21
Chloe sat there in silence staring
at the cash. Her heart began to race. Was that because she was unsure about what was happening here or because she was looking at more cash than she had ever seen in her life before? She didn’t know, it was probably both, but she could instantly hear her tutor’s voice, back in law school, lecturing her about the danger signs of money laundering. And there was no denying that this pile of cash in front of her was a danger sign. People didn’t deal in cash these days, at least, not in this amount of cash. She began to pray there was an innocent explanation for it. As she became aware of the silence in the room, she lifted her eyes from the cash to the face of the client sitting opposite her. Of course, he was grinning back at her.
‘One hundred thousand pounds,’ he confirmed calmly and relaxed back into his chair, ‘towards the purchase price of the warehouse. I expect you’ll want to count it. I’m happy to wait.’
Chloe really didn’t know what to say. If this were some confused elderly client sat before her, she would know exactly how to handle the situation. But this wasn’t like that at all. This guy knew exactly what he was doing, and his confidence worried her.
‘I… erm… we don’t accept cash payments on that scale,’ she managed to say at last. ‘I mean, we aren’t allowed to.’
‘Oh I think you’ll be okay with this one. Check with Ray, I’m sure it’ll be fine.’ His grin was unrelenting.
Anger suddenly stirred within Chloe. She had trained hard to become a solicitor and she was starting to see exactly where this was going. And she’d heard enough about Ray bloody Fuller already. If he would be so obliging with all of this, why the hell wasn’t he here now dealing with it? She felt like she was being used, although she wasn’t entirely sure how, or by whom.
‘I’m sorry Mr Crawford, we don’t accept cash payments like this. You’ll have to take the cash back and arrange a bank transfer in due course. Besides, we don’t need the cash yet, we’re a long way from that stage. As I say, exchange of contracts could be weeks or even months away yet.’
‘Why don’t you just give Ray a call, Miss Webster?’
‘I’m not going to call Ray. We don’t accept cash payments.’ Chloe surprised herself with her own assertiveness. For the first time the grin disappeared from the face of the man opposite her. And for the first time she felt a little afraid.
‘If I take this cash away now things might become a little, how shall I put it, a little unsettling.’
Chloe wanted to leave. She stood up and opened the meeting room door.
‘We’ll be in touch in due course Mr Crawford,’ she said in a loud voice. It had the desired effect as the receptionist looked up and scowled at her from across the lobby.
The Timer knew he was getting nowhere here. She was anything but the soft touch he had been promised, but he liked her even more for it. She was brave, and had standards; he respected her for that. He collected together the cash and returned it to the carrier bag. Heading out to the reception area, he stopped a little too close to Chloe and grinned.
‘No, we’ll be in touch. Good day Miss Webster.’ He walked out of the building having received a warm smile from the receptionist. Chloe saw the interaction and marched over to the reception desk, adrenaline still pumping through her. As she approached, the woman looked down and scowled again. She must have been in her late fifties, neat but greying hair, and rather more petite than Chloe had thought. The chair in which she sat seemed much too large for her.
‘Hello, you probably don’t remember me but I’m Chloe Webster, a new member of staff, a solicitor, I started yesterday?’
‘No not really. What do you want?’ came the reply.
‘I’ve just finished with a client and thought I’d pop over and formally introduce myself…’
‘I’m Gloria. But I’m also rather busy at the moment, so if this could wait until another time…’
‘I wanted to ask about the client who just left Gloria. Mr Crawford. What do you know about him?’
‘He’s a regular client, that’s all I know. Now if you’ll excuse me I really must get on.’ She never once looked up from the pieces of paper she was shuffling around behind the counter.
Chloe walked away and headed towards the stairs. She wanted some time to clear her head. She couldn’t quite believe what had just happened, and she needed to plan her next move carefully. Should she speak to Ray as Crawford had insisted, or would Drake be a better option? Perhaps she’d run it past Ben and see what he thought.
Shit. Why did that have to happen to me? And on my second bloody day.
22
The Timer pulled up outside the club in a south-eastern suburb of Sheffield. The façade was clean, fresh and painted green. One of the most popular snooker clubs in Sheffield, it had been the front for Drabble’s operation for years. Most of the customers were oblivious. Others knew the background of the place. An unlucky few had caused trouble and found out the hard way. The Timer wasn’t exactly one of the gang, but he had done plenty of work for Drabble over the last few years, mostly consisting of fetching and carrying. The offer of something more serious was always there but the Timer was reluctant to get too involved. His own family meant a lot to him, and he could never let another family become more important, even if they did pay well. It was a difficult balancing act sometimes, but the quality of his work had meant Drabble was okay with how things were.
The club was quiet inside, triangles of light streaming down through the darkness on just a couple of snooker tables at the far end. Along with the clicking of snooker balls, the low, inaudible murmur of voices made their way down the otherwise silent hall. The Timer headed over to the bar.
‘All right Mickey? Is the boss in?’
‘Hey, Mr T, I haven’t seen you around for a while. How’s it going?’ The gang only knew him as the Timer; he would never disclose any personal details to them, for his own safety and that of his family.
‘Yeah, yeah, good thanks Mickey. Is he in?’
‘No, he’s out I’m afraid. Won’t be back ‘til tomorrow. Jez is here, shall I give him a shout?’
‘Is it all right if I just go through? It’s a bit delicate. You know how things are.’
‘Yeah, sure. Be my guest mate.’
‘Thanks Mickey. See you later, yeah? Maybe we’ll have a game?’
‘Yeah, great.’
The strengthened wooden door behind the bar led to an office which was where Drabble would usually be found. The Timer knocked once and went straight in.
‘Mr T, you looking for Drabble?’ The man sat behind the desk was slim and smart and had an air of confidence about him; much more professional looking than Mickey, who tended to look scruffy regardless of what he wore. The Timer knew them both pretty well. He certainly knew that Jez was reliable and had some authority in the family. Mickey, on the other hand, was treated like the village idiot.
‘Yeah. Mickey says he’s out. I wanted to talk about the new contact at that law firm he sent me to this morning. I was under the impression she was a sure thing.’
‘She’d better be. That’s what I was told,’ said Jez with a sigh and a look of annoyance on his face. He pushed the papers he had been working on to one side and sat back in his chair.
‘I took the money in this morning…’ began the Timer.
‘Oh yeah, I heard you’d got it. Why the fuck did you kill the delivery boy?’
‘He had it coming. The little shit pulled a gun on me. Can you believe that? I had no choice but to teach him a lesson or two.’
‘A lesson or two? I heard you cracked his skull wide open. Drabble’s not happy about it; he’s trying to get in with the Kirklands and you go and kill one of their lackeys. Luckily they weren’t too bothered – seems they thought he was a pain in the arse too.’
‘Well I’ve saved them a job then haven’t I? I guess they found the drugs I left behind?’
‘They did.’
‘Good. Anyway, about the money, the girl at the lawyers wouldn’t take it. She said they had rules about that kind
of thing and she seemed very keen to stay within those rules.’
‘Oh sweet Jesus, not another one.’ Jez puffed his cheeks with irritation again. ‘What the fuck are they doing down there? I’ll give my contact a call. It sounds like this bitch hasn’t got the full picture yet.’
‘Okay Jez. The cash is safe; let me know what to do with it. I’ll expect full payment for the work I’ve done so far of course.’
Jez looked at him for a moment and the Timer started to think there was going to be a row.
‘Yeah, yeah, I’m sure Drabble’ll be fine with that. You got the drugs and all that, didn’t you? I’ll have a word with him.’
‘And the girl?’
‘Leave her to me. She’ll come round to our way of thinking, one way or another.’
23
Chloe had been back at her desk for a while as lunchtime approached. She tried to work on a couple of other files but found it hard to concentrate and knew that it was essential that she should speak to someone. She looked over at Drake’s office and through the glass she could see him at his desk, working but alone and not on the phone either. She took a deep breath and hurried over, knocking just a little too hard on the door, which she put down to nerves.
‘Yes?’ came the rather weary reply.
Chloe walked in somewhat more confidently than she felt and didn’t sit down.
‘Mr Drake, have you got a minute?’
‘What is it Chloe?’
‘There’s something I need to talk to you about. It follows on from a meeting I had this morning with Mr Crawford. He’s a client of ours…’
‘Yes I’m aware of Mr Crawford thank you Chloe. He’s been a client here for some time now. What is it?’
‘Well, he tried to give me a large sum of cash and I refused to take it…’
‘Oh he’s done that before. I’m not keen on it but we’ve known him a long time. I suggest you have a word with Ray about it. He tends to deal with Mr Crawford.’
For the Sake of the Children: The first Chloe Webster thriller (Chloe Webster Thrillers Book 1) Page 5