by Rob Sinclair
‘You’re going to fry for this,’ Munroe said.
‘No, I’m not. Green, take Munroe out. Explain it to him. Do what you need to do. I have to speak to Walker.’
The policeman was stirring. He opened his eyes and lifted his head, his gaze fixed on Ryker.
‘There’re six armed policemen in this house,’ Munroe said. ‘You can’t get away with this.’
‘You want to end up like Cardo?’ Ryker said. ‘Because that’s what’s going to happen. I’m trying to save you. Save these policemen too. But I need to speak to Walker. Now.’
‘Okay.’ Green held out his hands, trying to show he was calm in the charged room. ‘Come on, Graham. Trust me on this.’
Green looked over at Munroe. For a few seconds, Munroe did nothing, just stared at Ryker. Then he looked back at Green.
‘I won’t hurt him,’ Ryker said. ‘I won’t hurt any of you. Not if I don’t have to.’
Silence. Ryker moved the gun down, away from Walker’s head.
‘You’re finished, Ryker,’ Munroe said after a few seconds. ‘You hear me?’
But Munroe’s final protest was half-hearted. Green took hold of the lawyer’s arm and shepherded him out. The policeman groggily got to his feet. Munroe spouted some words to him in Spanish – Ryker didn’t catch them. The policeman nursed his neck then stepped through the doorway, followed by Munroe and then Green.
‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ Green said as he reached out to close the door behind him.
‘I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,’ Ryker said, a second before the door was pulled shut.
CHAPTER 41
‘Get up,’ Ryker said.
He moved around Walker, who got to his feet and then stepped away, cowering – none of the arrogance he’d displayed when Ryker had first met him remained.
‘What do you want?’ Walker asked.
‘The truth.’ Ryker put the handgun down on a coffee table. He didn’t need the policeman’s gun. He still had his Colt in his waistband if Walker were stupid enough to make any kind of move.
‘You don’t have to do this, Patrick!’ Munroe shouted from the other side of the door.
‘Yes, he does,’ Ryker said, his voice raised. ‘Go and relax. Make yourself a pot of coffee. If Walker is a helpful as I think he’s going to be then I won’t be long.’
Silence from the other side of the door. That was good enough for Ryker. Walker slumped down onto a sofa. Ryker stood over him.
‘I don’t want to hurt you, Patrick,’ Ryker said, sounding more genuine than he really felt. ‘But I need answers. And if you don’t leave me a choice...’
Walker hung his head. Ryker took that as a sign of compliance.
‘The note you received,’ Ryker said. ‘Tell me what it means.’
‘I haven’t a clue!’ Walker looked back up.
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘It was you who said you knew who sent it! Not me.’
‘I didn’t ask you who sent it. Do you want to die, Patrick?’
‘What? Of course not.’
‘Then talk to me. Because you've pissed off the wrong person.’
‘Who?’ Walker said, his confusion sounding real.
‘Tell me about Kim.’
‘What about her?’
‘Your wife’s identity was a sham. You knew that, right?’ The startled look in Walker’s eyes suggested that he didn’t. ‘Andrews was her maiden name?’
‘Y... yes. It was.’
‘But there was no Kim Andrews. The identity was fake. I want to know why, and who she really was.’
‘I’ve no idea!’ Walker protested. ‘I mean, what the hell are you even talking about?’
Ryker glared at Walker for a few seconds. His surprise and confusion certainly appeared genuine enough.
‘How did you meet her?’
‘How did we meet? It was here. In a bar. We dated. We married. We’ve been together for years.’
‘What about her family. Her parents.’
‘Her dad died when she was a teenager. She never knew her mum.’
‘You never suspected she wasn't who she said she was?’
‘No. Why would I?’
‘Never even the smallest inkling? Lack of friends? Awkwardness talking about her past?’
‘She talked about her past all the time. About school. Her jobs.’
‘What jobs?’
‘I don’t know. She worked in a shop, then a bar I think. She ended up as a nursery school teacher. She’s loved kids her whole life. It was the perfect job for her.’
Ryker could tell that Walker was having a hard time holding his emotions together. Talking about Kim was pushing him to the edge.
‘She worked here in Spain?’
‘No, before we met. I talked to her about going back to work but she didn't need to. It’s not like we needed the money.’
‘Why’d she come here?’
‘A boyfriend. Her ex. They moved out here together. He was an English teacher.’
‘Name?’
‘Jack.’
‘Jack what?
‘I’ve no idea what his second name was. We never met.’
‘You ever travel to England with her?’
‘No,’ Walker said. ‘Why would we? Neither of us have family there now. Are you saying... none of it’s true?’ Walker asked, sounding genuinely saddened at the thought. ‘That none of what she told me was true?’
Ryker paused. He got the sense Walker really didn’t know about Kim’s past. Walker hadn’t just made up what he’d said on the spot. There’d been no hesitation, no tell-tale signs of deceit, and Ryker was pretty good at spotting the signs. A big part of his previous life had been interrogation. He’d also been interrogated countless times himself. In training, and in real life. He knew the difference between a lie and the truth, and the difference between the truth and a well-orchestrated story. Walker’s surprise about his dead wife’s secret life was real.
‘I can’t tell you how much is true,’ Ryker said. ‘Because I simply don’t know.’
Walker’s eyes welled up, but he held the tears in and fought to keep his composure. ‘Why would she do that?’
Ryker looked away from Walker over to the stone fireplace. A row of pictures sat on top in a variety of crystal, wood, and metal frames. Each was of Walker and Kim, the happy couple, all smiles and love. They looked so... normal.
Ryker didn’t like Walker and didn’t trust him. But at the same time, the man’s wife had been murdered. Even though Ryker believed Walker was in some way responsible, he could also see the man was grieving. Still, Ryker was determined to get to the truth. He had to find out what Walker knew.
‘I loved her.’ Walker got up from his seat and went over to the fireplace. He picked up a large glass frame and stared down at it. ‘I really loved her.’
‘I’m sure you did.’
‘This picture... We were on our first holiday together. Thailand. She loved it there – the ambience, the culture. We went back twice.’
‘Never been,’ Ryker said, trying to sound interested.
‘We were so happy. We were always happy together. Kim was such an easy person to get along with, and when we found out she was pregnant... I’ve never felt so fulfilled in my whole life. Mainly because I knew how much it meant to Kim. A baby was the one big thing missing in her life.’
‘But you were sleeping with Eva Kozlov,’ Ryker said, bringing Walker back down to earth.
‘Fuck you.’ Walker returned the picture, averting his eyes from the stare of his dead wife. ‘You don’t know what Eva’s like. She’s evil. She lures people in. She plays with them then spits them out. She never wanted to be with me – not really. She just wanted to wreak havoc with my marriage.’
Ryker said nothing. Walker’s description of Eva sounded spot on. But it was all well and good thinking that about her with hindsight. Walker had still fallen into bed with Eva, more than once. He wasn’t exactly an innocent party.
‘And what about Andrei Kozlov?’ Ryker asked.
‘We’re good friends,’ Walker said, sounding unsure.
‘I went to visit him yesterday. Not long after I did, two heavies came after me.’
‘I heard.’
‘Who sent them?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You?’
‘Of course not!’
‘Kozlov then?’
‘I said I don’t know.’ Walker’s tone was now hard and defiant – a stark contrast to the emotion he’d shown moments before. Walker sat back down in his chair.
‘You’re lying.’
Both men went silent. Ryker’s mind was whirring. ‘How did you and Kozlov meet?’
‘Playing golf. Years ago.’
‘Before you met Kim?’
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘And he was a developer, like me. We saw an opportunity to work together, and pool our resources to take on jobs we’d never have been able to do alone. We’ve worked together numerous times over the years.’
‘And when did you first find out that he was bent?’
‘Bent?’
‘Don’t be an idiot, Patrick. Kozlov is a crook. I can smell it a mile off.’
Walker shook his head. ‘You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into here, do you?’
‘You think?’
‘I didn't want this.’
‘Didn’t want what? The nice house? The nice cars? The designer wife?’
‘I loved her.’
‘So you keep saying. To be honest, I don’t care whether you did or didn’t. I just want to know what you’ve got yourself mixed up in. Somebody wants you dead. Somebody who I know won’t stop. What I can’t figure out is why.’
‘You may think you know who sent that note, but I really don’t,’ Walker said. ‘So you’re going to have to help me out here.’
Ryker sighed. ‘You know the saying; the elephant in the room. This elephant is so fucking big it’s about to burst through the roof.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘That note. I know who it’s from.’
‘You said that already.’
‘I did. But you haven’t once suggested that the note is from the same person who killed Kim. I mean, an outsider looking in might think that’s at least a possibility, if not an obvious conclusion. Wife murdered. Husband threatened.’
Walker didn’t say anything.
Ryker knew his instinct was right. ‘The thing is, you know the note isn’t from the person who killed Kim. Which leads me to only one conclusion.’
‘Which is what?’
‘That you do know who killed your wife. And you also know why.’
CHAPTER 42
Walker held Ryker’s eye contact but didn’t say a word. His response, or rather lack of it, only further cemented Ryker’s belief.
‘I’ll ask you again,’ Ryker said. ‘What is Kozlov up to?’
‘You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.’
‘You said that already. Kozlov’s got a henchman. Name’s Sergei. You met him?’
‘Sergei? A henchman? What are you on? He’s a dogsbody. A chaperone. He hasn’t got more than two brain cells in his ugly head.’
Ryker had to laugh at that. ‘I’m sure he’s no genius. But he is dangerous. He’s a Vor. You heard of them?’
‘No, I haven’t.’ It was an obvious lie. Even Walker didn’t seem to believe it.
‘Try again. I’m not new to this, Walker. I’m not like the policemen out there. I’ve lived and breathed organised crime for years. I spotted the set-up here almost immediately. Two rich property developers. One is a weed who’d crap his pants at the first sign of trouble, the other is a smug Russian who thinks he’s way more powerful than he really is. So you need to start talking now.’
Walker took an age to reply. Ryker gave him the chance to build up to whatever he was going to say. No point in pushing. He had a good reading of Walker and knew he was trying to think of further ways to bullshit, debating whether it was really worth it. The long, dejected sigh he let out before he spoke suggested the false answer he’d been contemplating was too obvious and too difficult to hold for long.
‘It’s not Kozlov.’
‘What’s not Kozlov?’
‘I thought he was legit. To start with he was. I went into business with him with my eyes wide open. I never expected it to go this way.’
‘And which way is that?’
Walker put his head in his hands. ‘I... I can’t say.’
‘Call it what it is, Walker. The Russian Mafia. The Bratva. That’s who Kozlov is mixed up with, who you’ve got mixed up with.’
Walker looked up and closed his eyes for a couple of seconds. When he opened them again, they were glazed over as though no life lay behind them. ‘Not Russian. Georgian.’
‘Not much difference in my eyes.’
‘You don’t sound surprised.’
‘I’m not.’
‘I was. I still am. Just saying words like that – mafia, Vory – they sound so surreal, like this can’t be happening to me. I’m a good person. I really am.’
‘You think the Georgians had Kim killed?’
Walker sobbed. The answer to the question was clear enough.
‘Why?’ Ryker asked.
‘Money,’ was Walker’s simple response.
‘How much?’
‘Ten million euros.’
‘How?
‘It was bullshit,’ Walker said, for the first time sounding angry. Perhaps he did have some balls, Ryker mused. ‘They saw me as an easy target. Tried to milk me.’
‘When did it start?’
‘About three years ago. I’d been working with Kozlov for years before that. Everything was fine. We were making money. We were friends. Then all of a sudden a silent partner comes on the scene.’
‘Name?’
‘It’s not a person. Just a sham company.’
‘Empire Holdings.’ Ryker recalled the documents he’d seen at Kozlov’s home. There’d been invoices. Correspondence.
‘You know about it?’ Walker asked, confused.
‘Just putting the pieces together.’
‘It’s a bogus company. It’s only there to drain money from the developments.’
‘You didn’t question it?’
‘Of course I did! But Kozlov warned me off, said we had no choice, that we’d still make money.’
‘That’s okay then, as long as you’re still raking in millions.’
‘That’s not it at all,’ Walker spat. ‘I was scared. I didn't know what else to do. To start with, it was small. I thought it might stay like that, I hoped it would, but pretty soon they were skimming so much off there was nothing left.’
‘Hardly a profitable way to run a business.’
‘And therein lies the problem. The projects struggled. There was no profit left for me and Andrei. Soon we were having to put more and more of our own money in to keep projects ticking over.’
‘Let me guess; then they helped you out more and more.’
It was a classic scheme, Ryker knew, making Walker indebted to the mob so he had nowhere to go. Walker looked down at his feet, clearly ashamed – of exactly which part of the mess Ryker wasn’t sure.
‘They became... less silent,’ Walker said. ‘All of a sudden it was Empire Holdings that spotted the opportunities. They would identify and acquire the land, obtain the permissions, set up the contractors. Everything was done in their name. Essentially I became a manager, a glorified employee.’
‘And you never asked what was happening? Who was pulling the strings?’
‘No. I know I should have, but I didn’t. Kozlov told me the people behind Empire were dangerous. That we had to keep going and we’d make money as long as we kept quiet.’
‘Empire was buying the land cheap,’ Ryker said, thinking out loud, ‘so the developments could start making profits again. Probably extorting land owner
s and local government officials to make it work.’
‘I can only assume.’
‘And no doubt giving kickbacks to whoever they needed to.’
‘Their hands reach everywhere.’
‘The police too,’ Ryker said, thinking back to recent events.
The conclusion he’d rightly come to after the fight on the construction site was that the arresting officer, possibly others, were bent. How far did the corruption spread, though? Ryker wondered again about Cardo. The Red Cobra had killed him. Now the reason was becoming more clear. She wanted Walker, but he wasn’t the only target. Maybe Walker wasn't even the big target, just a pawn. It was the Georgians, the mafia, that the Red Cobra was after. And anyone who’d become mixed up with them, bent policemen included.
What about Green? Ryker suddenly thought. His standoffish manner with Ryker when he’d first arrived. Not just his caginess about Ryker digging, but the fear that Ryker had sensed. Had the mafia already silenced him too? ‘Does Green know?’
‘About what we just talked about?’
‘Yes.’
Walker shook his head, confused. ‘Certainly not from me. And if so, he’s never let on.’
‘Munroe?’
‘Not everything. But he’s my lawyer. Of course he knows about Empire, and what was happening with the developments.’
Ryker believed Walker, which only made him dislike Munroe all the more. Ryker was sure Munroe was only looking to save his client’s backside but the delaying tactics he’d been playing had only served to put Walker in a perilous position.
As for Green, Ryker would have to keep his eye on the detective. But then, if Green had fallen foul of the Georgians, perhaps even received a note from the Red Cobra like Cardo and Walker had, wouldn't he have said something? ‘You said you owed them ten million. Why didn’t you pay them?’
‘I couldn’t!’ Walker protested. ‘I don’t have that kind of cash. I mean, I would’ve had to sell everything to get it.’
‘Did you offer to do that? Seems a better course than what’s happened.’
‘You’re saying it’s my fault they killed Kim?’
Ryker didn’t answer, but what did Walker expect him to say? Of course it was his fault.
‘I didn’t know they were capable of... that,’ Walker said.