It Was You

by It Was You (retail) (epub)

  ‘Oh, I’m Charlie. I thought we’d keep this intimate. I wanted to see what kind of man you are.’

  Charlie Baby himself was the kind of man who liked to work out. I could tell that because an extensive array of gym kit gleamed in the distant far corner and also because nobody gets to look the way he did without effort. Why he wanted to was another matter. Charlie wasn’t that tall but he was wide. His shoulders and biceps were in the grip of a tight, beige-coloured long-sleeve in a thin, synthetic fabric. The beige went well with his deep black skin, a lumpy, rock-hard slice of which was visible beneath the shirt and above the waistband of some loose, expensive denims. I took this in before looking hard at Charlie’s face. Or faces. There seemed to be more than one. The skin was Charlie’s but the nose didn’t come from his mother. Unless she worked on Harley Street. It was a button turned up between two over-sharp cheekbones, which stretched his face up and backwards. He looked like he’d been caught in a wind tunnel and I guessed that quite a lot of blow jobs had gone to paying for that effect too.

  I walked into the room and my host walked behind me, drawing two bolts over the door as well as turning one of the locks with a key chained to his waist. I was in, and I wasn’t leaving until he either said I could or I took the key off him. It made me really hope we’d get along.

  ‘She’s not here?’ I scanned the room.

  ‘She’s here. I’ll call her through in a second. Why don’t you sit down? Don’t worry, it won’t bite you.’

  Charlie was talking about the sofa he was pointing me to. It was bright red in the shape of a pair of huge lips and was the centre of a boxed space in the very middle of the room. In front of it was a glass coffee table and on either side were deep armchairs, one in leopard print, the other zebra. Charlie used the leopard, though I don’t know if he was trying to demonstrate anything by it. He intrigued me. The poise and Home Counties tones were celluloid gangster cliché but the surgery wasn’t. I couldn’t decide whether he was the real thing or just playing. He crossed his legs and looked at me. He nodded in front of him.

  ‘Put the money on the table. Then we can talk. If it’s not all there we’d only be wasting time.’

  ‘It’s there. It was a bastard to get hold of and there isn’t any more.’

  ‘Yes there is. We know who you are. We know what you did to that Maltese fucker last year. But don’t worry, we won’t come after you for the rest. We’re losing a lot of wedge at the moment and you’ll be doing us quite a favour if you sort this nasty business.’

  Doing the 22 Crew a favour was an unfortunate side effect I was just going to have to live with. I was impatient, wanting to get on with it. I was pleased that my host didn’t seem to be messing around either, in spite of his obvious desire to impress me with his poise and control, with his measured, educated tones. I opened the postman’s bag by my side and pulled out a jiffy bag. It was stapled shut and I had to yank it open. I tossed ten bound bundles of notes onto the table, bundles I’d taken from the floorboards of my apartment that morning. It felt strange to do that, with a van of coppers outside, but I didn’t have any choice. The money had been there for ten months now, ever since I’d done my best to help Nicky, whose life was being threatened over it. Not just the ten actually, quite a bit more. Fortunately, events had played themselves out well. Nicky had got out of the mess and I’d been left holding the stash. He’d lost nothing and I’d gained the ability to get past the steel door behind me.

  ‘Right,’ Charlie said, leaving the notes where they were. ‘You’ll be wanting to get to the girl.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well, you’re the first guy who has wanted to for quite some time, I can tell you.’

  Charlie must have pressed a button somewhere or else he had a telepathic connection with his employee because one of only two doors in the room opened and the girl I’d seen down at Loughborough Junction appeared. She shut the door behind her and tried to keep steady as she walked towards us, like a trainee waitress with a tray of champagne glasses. She hadn’t changed her clothes since I’d seen her. She looked appalling, worse even than last time, and I felt the same revulsion as I had before. It wasn’t aimed at her, though. She was ill. It was aimed at the fact that she sold sex, it was aimed at the people who bought it from her.

  The girl didn’t seem to notice me. She looked at Charlie instead. Her eyes reached out like a beggar’s hands to his.

  ‘Soon,’ Charlie said. ‘First you have to speak to the gentleman.’

  ‘It would be easier if I could just do a little now, Charlie, just a little bit. Then I’ll be able to concentrate…’

  ‘I said soon. Then you’ll get as much as you want. Sit down. On the sofa. Do it or you won’t get anything. You hear me?’

  ‘Yeah, Charlie, I’m sorry. I’ll do like you say. But after, yeah?’

  ‘Sit down,’ Charlie told her again.

  The girl perched on the other end of the sofa from me, her hands splaying out to steady herself. She looked nervous, eager to please, wanting to do the right thing. I didn’t know whether this meant that she’d tell me the truth, or just tell me anything.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ the girl said to me. ‘’bout last time. I just get a bit freaked, when it’s been a while, you know?’

  ‘I doubt he does. He’s not a junky bitch is he? Get to the point. Tell him what happened.’

  ‘Right. Right. Where shall I start?’

  I smiled at the girl. ‘Why don’t I ask you some questions? Then you can answer them.’

  ‘OK. Yeah. If you like.’

  ‘Right then. So. You knew the girl, didn’t you? Denise, whose picture I showed you?’

  ‘Yeah.’ The girl nodded. ‘We was mates. She was new and I took her under my wing. Some of the other girls were jealous of her ‘cos she was pretty and she got their trade, but I liked her. We looked out for each other, she lent me money if I needed it.’

  ‘Which is why you didn’t tell me that you knew her when I asked you?’

  ‘Yeah. You was offering money but she was my friend. I was gonna ask her, tell her we could split it maybe. I was gonna phone you. But I needed money right then and you didn’t want to do it with me. That’s when we had the fight. I’m sorry, I really am, it’s just…’

  ‘It’s OK, really. No harm done. But what happened after I left?’

  ‘Denise showed up. Only five minutes after. She’d been arguing with her ex. He’d come from Birmingham and found her. She wanted him to get lost, had to get her boyfriend to come and tell him. She looked terrible. I told her to go and lie down again, you know, because she was expecting and everything. But she said she needed money.’

  ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘She came.’

  ‘Who did?’

  ‘The woman. The social worker.’

  ‘Social worker?’

  ‘That’s what she said. But I wasn’t sure. I thought she was the Bill.’

  ‘What did she look like? Wait a second.’ I reached in my jacket pocket and pulled out a copy of the Mac-Fit. ‘Is that her?’

  ‘Yeah. Yeah. She said she wanted to protect Denise, that you were a danger to her. She said you was killing all them pregnant women and was coming for her next. Denise saw the pictures you’d been handing out and she was shitting herself. She went in the woman’s car.’

  ‘What make was it?’

  ‘I dunno. It was blue, yeah, blue.’

  ‘A Ford Mondeo?’

  ‘Maybe. I dunno.’

  ‘OK, so. I was told you have an address.’

  ‘I do. You want to know what happened or not?’

  ‘Please. Go on.’

  ‘Well, before Denise got in the car she changed her mind, said she wouldn’t go with her. She needed money for her boyfriend. He’d told her not to come back with less than five hundred that night. So the woman gives her money, says she’s authorized, and then she even gives me some. Just gives me fifty quid.’

  ‘And Denise left with her?’
r />   ‘Yeah, but I was suspicious. Social workers with cash?’

  ‘What did you do?’

  The girl nodded. ‘We had this safety thing. I taught her it. Denise had her phone in her handbag. If she went with a punter she’d phone me, on the sly, and leave the line open, you know? Then she’d say where she was going. Like, “Is this where you live, Herne Hill Road?” or “This is my place, park next to the skips.” Stuff like that.’

  ‘And she did that?’

  ‘Yeah. I used our code to remind her when she got in the car. I said: your mum phoned. That was to get her to do it. She did and I listened. The woman kept asking her stuff, whether she knew you at all, and then they got to where the woman lived.’

  ‘Which was where?’

  The girl stopped speaking. To my left, Charlie sat back in his chair. The girl, who seemed to be linked to him by invisible wires, turned. I had the feeling then. I was so close. But it wasn’t going to be simple, like I’d hoped. I saw Charlie smile and my stomach tensed.

  ‘That’s enough,’ he said to her.

  ‘Wait a minute. What was the address Denise gave you?’

  ‘I said that’s enough. Don’t worry, Mr Rucker, I’ll tell you the address. In a second. You did well, Helen.’

  ‘Can I have some now?’

  ‘Of course you can. I’ll deduct it from your ten grand.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The ten grand Mr Rucker here is paying for the information you gave him.’

  She just stared. ‘It’s mine?’

  I have to say we were both surprised. The girl, Helen, hadn’t even dared to look at the cash.

  ‘All but the seven hundred you owe me. And what you want to pay me now. How much do you want? I tell you what, give me a round thousand and I’ll sort you out nicely, keep you going for a while. That’ll mean you get nine grand now.’

  The girl nodded, trying to make out that it was nothing. ‘All right Charlie, yeah. OK. I’ll do that.’

  ‘Right. I’ll get some for you but you can’t shoot up here. I’ll get Johno to drive you home.’

  ‘Thanks, Charlie, thanks.’

  ‘Wait. The address. She’s not leaving with the cash until I get it.’

  ‘I told you. You’ll get it when I say. And if you don’t like that, take the money now and leave. Well?’

  Charlie Baby was glaring at me. The girl at my side looked like she might be sick.

  ‘I just better get it.’

  ‘You will. I told you, we’re on the same side. Relax.’

  ‘OK then,’ I said. Next to me Helen nearly collapsed with relief. ‘But one other thing. You had this safety thing and it worked. You knew where Denise was. So why didn’t you tell anyone when she disappeared?’

  ‘I meant to,’ the girl insisted. ‘I really did. But I had fifty quid. I spent it, you know? And then I couldn’t tell anyone anything for two days. I’m sorry. I…really am. I liked Denise, we were mates, we were.’

  Helen looked down at her hands, gripping one with the other against the vibrations running through them. I turned away from her and watched as Charlie Baby walked quickly over to the door she’d emerged from and pulled it open. Before he closed it behind him I heard him speak and I nodded to myself. It made sense that he had back up. I kept my eyes on the door and let out a breath. I wasn’t happy about the girl leaving before I’d got the address but there wasn’t really anything I could do about it. I was impatient, though. The address wasn’t the Camden Road. In that case I couldn’t see any reason for Cherie not to still be using it. She’d still be there. Unless, of course, she’d spotted Denise’s little mobile phone ruse as they drove. I prayed to God she hadn’t.

  Charlie came out of the room with a baggie in his hand, which he tossed to Helen. Helen still hadn’t dared touch the cash and her boss had to scoop it into the bag I’d brought it in. He handed her the bag and told her that Johno would be waiting in the cafe for her. I still couldn’t believe he was letting her take the money, though I imagined that most if not all of it would make its way back to him. Charlie walked her over to the door and let her out. He came back over but remained standing.

  ‘You must really want to stop all this,’ he said with a smile.

  ‘I do.’

  ‘Why?’

  I shrugged.

  ‘Someone you know got sliced? That it? Sad, I agree, but is she worth ten grand?’

  ‘She is.’

  ‘Even though she’s dead? It won’t mean anything to her.’

  ‘It will to me.’

  ‘A man after my own heart. Punishment. It’s necessary otherwise everything crumbles. Not revenge but punishment, which equals efficiency. You want the address now?’

  ‘I wanted it before now.’

  ‘Well, it’s in the bedroom. I wrote it down. Just go right in and you’ll find it.’ I didn’t move. ‘Well? Go ahead. Either go in there and get it or leave. It’s up to you.’

  Charlie’s eyes were boring down into mine now. I moved mine away, to the door, and Sally’s warning shot back into me. He’ll hurt you, or if he can’t he won’t help you. There was also the fact that I’d caused the police invasion of his territory. My eyes stayed on the door. I thought about it. There had to be at least one person in the other room. Probably more than one. Were they going to give me a spanking, just to show me what kind of men they were? For snooping around their girls, flooding their manor? A spanking or worse? Who knew I was there? No one. My eyes went back to Charlie and I wondered if I could get his key from him and get out of the front door before whoever was waiting in the room got to me. I didn’t think I could and, anyway, I didn’t want to. I wanted the address. I had to have it. I could take the kicking if that’s what it was to be. Ally had got worse. I told myself: he wants this ending too. I wasn’t going to get the address unless I did what he wanted. I stood up. Without saying anything I walked across the huge space towards the door.

  When I got there I stopped, just outside. The door was ajar. I strained but I couldn’t hear anything. I waited a second then pushed the door and a sound did come to me. A movement. A rattling. I stopped again and my stomach clenched one more time. I realized that my jaw was clamped tight. Whatever surprise Charlie had for me, he was already getting the effect he wanted. The rattling continued, then slowly petered out at my lack of movement. I waited. I left it a bit longer. Then,

  ‘I’m coming in,’ I said. There was no response. I took another breath. ‘I’m coming in, OK?’

  I took a short step forward and put my hand on the door. Again I wondered: maybe Charlie was going to kill me. But if so, why the charade with the girl? I didn’t know but if that was what he was planning there was nothing I could do about it. I pushed the door open and walked through. My eyes instantly found the man, the man in front of me. I stopped dead.

  The room was about a quarter of the size of the one I’d just left. Which meant it was still bigger than my whole apartment. A huge round bed sat slap in the middle of the space.

  The man was next to it. Not sitting. Not standing. He was hanging. Hanging by his wrists from a chain, attached to an iron hook on the ceiling. The man was in his late twenties by the look of him, with limp, blond hair streaked with highlights reaching down almost to his shoulders. He was naked, his hands cuffed above his head, pulling his arms upwards. The chain ran up from his wrists to a pulley on the ceiling. He’d been cut. He was marked by maybe ten incisions, the blood on a couple of them still running down his body, yet to congeal. I swallowed. Charlie must have done them just now, seconds ago, while Helen and I were waiting for him.

  I still didn’t move. My eyes opened into those of the man in front of me and I realized that he was trying to speak. Or was it scream? He couldn’t do either. He was gagged, masking tape wound tight around his mouth and head, turning everything he said into shapeless grunts. More tape bound his feet together. I watched his eyes suddenly leave mine and make a bid to leap out of their sockets, over my shoulder.

 
‘Meet Steven,’ the voice behind me said. ‘He’s my house guest.’

  ‘Just give me the address.’

  ‘Soon. Relax. Can’t you appreciate a little beauty first?’

  ‘The address.’

  ‘In a second. First, I’d like you to do something for me.’

  Charlie moved over to the man hanging in front of us, small beads of light seeming to dance in his eyes as they ran over his captive’s pale, blood-streaked body. Charlie ran a rough hand over the incisions on the man’s chest, making the man turn and wince and then cough with pain. He moved the hand down over his stomach until he was gripping the man’s shrivelled testicles. Then he turned to me.

  ‘Pretty, isn’t he?’

  ‘I gave you the money,’ I said. ‘It’s what we agreed. Give me the address.’

  ‘After.’

  Charlie’s face split again into the grin I’d seen earlier.

  ‘After you’ve fucked him.’

  ‘What.’

  After you’ve fucked him. Then you can have it. Only after. Or don’t you care about your dead friend as much as you thought you did, after all?’

  ‘I care.’

  ‘Well then. Come on. Now. I want to see you do it.’

  I didn’t move. Suddenly the man in front of me began to buck, his body lashing to and fro like pegged washing in a gale. It was pointless, useless, but he didn’t stop until Charlie spun round and rammed an elbow into his chest, sending all the air out of his body. Charlie dug the nails of his left hand into the tape that bound the guy’s face.

  ‘I told you! Don’t sell anyone’s coke but mine, Steven. It is my shit only that stimulates the nostrils of your D-list friends. No one else’s. This is what I do to people who fuck with me, Mr Rucker.

  ‘I tell them off in my own special way. It’s to keep them in line, of course, but why not make your business work for you? If Steven behaves, I get rich; if he doesn’t, well, you can see what I get. I didn’t mind at all when I heard that Steven had been straying. I was overjoyed, in fact. That’s why I wanted to meet you. To show you. I won’t be angry if I hear that you’ve spoken to the police about me. It’ll be a pleasure to discipline you, and you’d better believe that I will. But in the meantime you’re going to help me with Steven. If you don’t I’ll tell you nothing, and don’t bother looking for the girl, to get the address off her. You won’t find her. Come on. Can’t you see he’s dying for it? That’s why you go out with that skinny baby model isn’t it, Steven? She looks just like a little boy.’