Borrowed Time

by David Mark

  ‘It’s definite,’ he says, and the words come out in a whispered rush. ‘Found by a wild swimmer – I’ll have the name soon enough. Recent. Too recent to worry you, though somebody’s worked him over in a way you might recognize. They don’t know who he is yet, but they will.’

  Goodwin waits for a reaction. When none comes he starts gabbling.

  ‘They’ve got SOCA on this. Bosworth. Do we know her? Is she staunch? She was asking questions. I might have said too much already. I need more for this to be worth my while …’

  He stops talking as the man at the end of the line clears his throat.

  ‘Is your life valuable?’ he asks.

  ‘What … yes, but …’

  ‘Then you’re already well paid.’

  The line goes dead. It gives PC Jon Goodwin a glimpse of things to come.

  PART ONE

  ONE

  Stanhill, Charlwood, Surrey

  October 14th, 2007, 9.01 p.m.

  The rain has started coming down hard, here: on this unremarkable B-road not far from Gatwick Airport. It blackens the tarmac, which twinkles like iron ore, in the light of the big peroxide moon. The raindrops slap fatly into the leathery leaves of evergreens, then trickle and tumble into the muddy, glass-jewelled surface of the car park.

  For years this bar was called The Rose. It did a decent Sunday lunch. It won a few awards from the Real Ale people and its roast potatoes in goose fat were mentioned by a reviewer in a broadsheet food column. It made just about enough money to give its licensees, Robin and Emily, a pleasant life. It never made anywhere near the kind of cash required to support Robin’s appetite for gambling. Nor did it put enough in Emily’s purse to stop her from falling in love with an air traffic controller who wooed her with tales of exotic places like Dusseldorf and Bruges. Their divorce was a messy affair and Robin began tipping most of the pub’s wine cellar down his throat. Standards slipped. Staff quit. The police were called by concerned customers who could not convince themselves that Robin was joking when he said he planned to blow the whole place up. It closed a year ago. Robin is living in a bedsit somewhere in Bermondsey. Emily has yet to see Bruges. And The Rose is now in the hands of a private property developer and venture capitalist called Nicholas Kukuc. He recently began work on turning the old coaching inn into the sort of upmarket bistro that serves raw veal cheeks and deep-fried badger snout on planks of wood. He plans to put a lot of money through the business. If it does well, he will be able to launder at least ten per cent of his actual yearly income. It’s a front, but Kukuc still hopes it will be a success. He isn’t accustomed to accepting second best.

  Tonight there are two cars in the car park. An off-road vehicle is neatly tucked away next to the lock-up at the far end. The other is the comfier kind of hatchback, a sporty number; shielded from the road by the curving line of trees and from the pub windows by a brick outbuilding.

  A door opens. A middle-aged woman climbs out, a little awkwardly, as if she is used to travelling in bigger, better vehicles. She wears a short black dress, exclusive boots and a fur-lined leather jacket. She is a little overweight; her tummy a swollen lip that presses against the wide red leather of her elasticated belt. She has expensive breasts, a feathery haircut eight shades of blonde, and well-tended nails. Arty rings bookend the clustered diamonds on her fingers. She is Alison Jardine. She carries the name like a gun.

  The driver’s door slams closed and Alison is joined moments later by a tall, well-built man in his thirties. He smells of cigarettes and petrol.

  ‘He’ll be mob-handed,’ mutters the man, as they head towards the door. ‘Kukuc. Probably got an army in there waiting for us.’

  ‘I told him two, maximum.’

  ‘And you think he’ll listen? He does what he wants, and he likes putting on a show.’

  ‘We’re partners. It’s a matter of courtesy. Any more than two would be rude.’

  ‘But you’ve only brought me.’

  ‘You’re enough, Jimbo. You’re a walking orgy.’

  ‘We should have brought him.’

  ‘Him?’ asks the woman, cocking her head.

  ‘Tim. He needs to cut his teeth …’

  The woman stops. Turns to the younger man. Looks through him with eyes that burn like cigarettes.

  ‘That sounded a lot like advice, Jimbo. And I don’t need advice. Not from anybody. Not from you. You’re here because you look the fucking part and because sometimes, when I’m lonely and I get that itch, I let you rub me where I’m tender. But that’s the limit of your responsi-fucking-bilities. The day I choose to talk to you about my son is the day you know I’ve lost my mind.’

  Jim knows better than to reply. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and trudges on ahead, sulkily. Alison stands still, letting him put some distance between them. If a gun barrel were to poke out of the darkened front windows, she’d like Jimbo to be standing between it and her heart.

  When he’s far enough away not to hear, she lets out the breath she’s been holding. It comes out in a tremble. The hairs on her arms rise. She keeps a strip of sandpaper inside her left boot and uses it now to grind against her naked sole. It hurts, but stops the fear. Instead she focuses on the pain. Feels the adrenaline and the endorphins. Rides it like a wave. Feels herself slow down. Becomes her father’s daughter.

  At the door, Jimbo looks back. Drinks her in. She has her mouth open, a perfect black circle, as she traces the outline of her lips with her finger. Only when her lipstick is immaculate does she follow him to the door. She allows her rump to brush his groin as she slides past and into the warm, half-darkness of the bar.

  ‘Good boy,’ she whispers, all cigarette smoke and Chanel.

  There is only one light on in the shadowy expanse of The Rose. A lamp with a pink shade has been plugged into the wall and sits on a round wooden table in the centre of the empty bar. Most of the fixtures and fittings have been ripped out and the floor is covered with equipment left by the builders and decorators assigned to give the building a facelift. Two men are seated at the table. One is Nicholas Kukuc. He looks as though there is some Indian in his background. He’s olive-skinned with brown eyes and a neat beard. He’s younger than she is but not by much. He’s wearing a blue suit with a striped shirt. The man to his right is broad-shouldered and wears his black hair in an unfashionable cut: short on top and long at the back. He wears a black jacket, zipped up to the neck. There are tattoos on the back of his hands. Alison would like such a man to work for her but she has heard he is loyal to his paymaster. She admires such loyalty; even while rueing the fact that it will necessitate his inclusion in what is to follow.

  ‘Alison,’ says Nicholas, staying seated but making the effort to give her a smile of welcome. ‘Good of you to come so far out of your way.’

  Alison returns the grin; a gleam of expensive dentistry. ‘It’s not so far. We’re a lot closer than you think. And we needed a chat.’

  Nicholas nods his assent. Unbidden, the man beside him stands and crosses to Alison. Rolling her eyes she puts her arms out to the side and allows herself to be professionally frisked. She half expects him to linger on her buttocks or breasts but he is interested in nothing save for doing his job. He repeats the process with her companion, then takes a position behind Nicholas, nodding his confirmation that Alison is not carrying a gun.

  ‘How can I help?’ asks Nicholas, sitting back in his chair and inspecting the backs of his hands. ‘You know I live to serve.’

  Alison takes a moment to settle herself. She takes care to keep her expression inscrutable. She doesn’t want him to see what’s going on beneath her surface. Doesn’t want him to know that she knows.

  ‘Things are going well between us, Nicholas,’ says Alison, briskly. ‘I had my doubts about whether we could put the bad blood behind us but I’m happy to concede that you’ve proven me wrong. You’ve paid on time, we’ve shared resources, we haven’t strayed onto one another’s territory and more importantly, we’re making
good money.’

  ‘I’m pleased you’re pleased,’ replies Nicholas with a smile. ‘I’m told you are a hard woman to satisfy.’

  She sneaks a glance at the hole in the ceiling. Her thoughts are running like water. She focuses her gaze on the bridge of the man’s nose; a guaranteed way to give the illusion of eye contact without having to actually maintain it. Her father taught her the trick when she was still a girl; taught her how to intimidate people even as she felt her knees shake with fear.

  ‘Dedham Vale,’ she says, flatly. ‘There’s a body in the water. A body that shouldn’t be there.’

  A look of bewilderment rushes across Nicholas’s features. ‘Dedham Vale? This a trip down Memory Lane, love? We going for a stroll around Bethnal Green and having a pint in the Blind Beggar? History lesson, is it? Why are we talking about that?’

  Alison leans forward. She places her palms flat on the table. ‘Nicholas, I know how many bodies were in that stretch of water. I know who put them there. And I also know that they were removed in 2001 when we got wind that somebody was interested in buying that patch of woodland. There wasn’t much left of them, but they were dealt with. Dealt with professionally. Still, rumours do leak out. People like to tell tales. And everybody knows the stories about my dad, Nicholas. Anybody looking to make things difficult for me and mine would only have to drop a corpse into that fucking pond and every snout in London would know what it meant. It would mean you’d upset the Jardines.’

  Nicholas shoots his associate a look. Gives his attention back to Alison. ‘You’re rambling, love. I don’t know what you’re banging on about but if I’m honest I’m a bit fucking offended you’d waste my time.’

  ‘The body,’ says Alison, ignoring him. ‘We’ve made our enquiries. Coppers are too. He was a private investigator out of Portsmouth. Name of Larry Paris. Somebody trussed him up. Skewers and barbed wire. We both know my father’s an honest, decent businessman, but those who’ve had unkind things to say about him in the past, well … they’ve often found themselves in a similar pickle. Are you starting to see why I’m feeling a bit miffed, Nicholas?’

  Nicholas shrugs. ‘You’re a mystery to me, love. Due on, are you?’

  Alison turns as Jimbo moves towards the bar. She raises a hand; tells him to hold his position.

  ‘Tell me it’s nothing to do with you and we’ll have a drink and say no more about it. How’s that for a proposal?’

  ‘I’m getting bored, love,’ says Nicholas, shaking his head. His face has taken on a nasty, toothy aspect, like a rat emerging from a too-tight drain.

  ‘I know you’ve got something to tell me,’ she continues, inspecting the backs of her hands.

  ‘Have I? Jesus, you’ve got some front. Your dad at least used to put on hors d’oeuvres and lap dancers when we had get-togethers. And unless you’re going to tell your pretty boy over there to drop his trousers and give us all a wiggle, I’m going to say goodnight and we can pick this up again when you start making fucking sense.’

  Alison stares a hole through him. ‘The lock-up on Lawrence Road. Your lock-up. The warehouse where you unload and where your boys are paid very well to keep things low-key. The warehouse Dad used to use. The one you were gifted as part of our agreement.’

  Nicholas pulls a face. ‘This is what I’m here for, is it? This is what I’ve given up my night for? I’ve told you enough times, love, we can buy what you’ve got left and there’ll be no penalties. You’ll have done Daddy proud. What other way is the future going to go for you, love? Your boy’s hardly going to take over, is he? Can’t tie his shoelaces – even if he gets his trainers on the right feet. And don’t give me your bullshit about your boogeyman. If he’s still alive he’s a fucking geriatric.’

  ‘I’m not hearing much in the way of an apology,’ says Alison with a tight smile.

  Kukuc pushes back from the table, shaking his head. ‘You fucking Jardines. You think you’ve got some God-given right to power just because your dad used to frazzle people’s bollocks for the Richardsons. I’ve given him respect. Every outfit on the Christian side of the river gives him their respect. But you? You think you can come here with one muscled-up prat and intimidate me? I don’t know anybody called Paris. I’ve got my own disposal sites. I wouldn’t waste the petrol to get to Dedham fucking Vale. I’m not as tied to the past as you are. I don’t need to prove I could have mixed it with the Krays. I already know who I am and I’m fucking good at what I do. You think I haven’t worked out what you’re up to? Buying up all those properties, cosying up to councillors, using your old friends. Your dad tried to do the same thirty years ago, when you were still playing lacrosse and asking him for a pet fucking unicorn. Canning Town’s mine, love. Newham’s mine. I’m not going to play nice any more …’

  ‘Did you kill him, Nicholas?’ asks Alison, quietly. ‘Kill him and dump his body in the place where Dad used to deposit our inconveniences?’

  ‘Are you listening to yourself?’ asks Kukuc, balling his fists.

  ‘You look very het up,’ says Alison, sweetly. ‘You look as though you’re eager to kick the stuffing out of Francis Jardine’s daughter, if I’m honest. I hope I’m wrong. Because that would be absolute fucking suicide, mate.’

  He pushes his hands through his hair and closes his eyes. Alison thinks he might be counting backwards from ten. When he opens them again he seems calmer. He even flashes a tight smile. ‘I get carried away,’ he says, sitting back down. ‘The wife’s got me listening to whale song and drinking bottled water. Thinks I should go vegetarian. She wants me to get a yoga trainer.’

  Alison softens her body language. Places her hands, palm-up, on the table-top, as if asking for her fortune to be read. ‘Start again, shall we?’

  Nicholas looks past her at the man by the door. They share a smile. He reaches across the table and Alison takes his palm as if she were a fortune teller.

  ‘Like calfskin,’ she says, and her eyes seem to glaze over as she stares into him; lustful and dreamy. It unnerves him and she feels him start to withdraw his hand. She grabs his wrist, her fingers wrapping around the black ink upon his pulse. His eyes widen in surprise as she pulls the flick-knife free from its bindings inside her belt and rams it down through the back of his hand; pinning skin and bone to the table like the body of a mangled spider.

  ‘Bitch!’ hisses Nicholas, through locked teeth. ‘You fucking bitch!’

  He swivels away, blood leaking into the table, as his bodyguard lunges forward and tries to pull the knife from the back of his employer’s hand.

  Alison pushes herself backwards from the table and covers her head.

  Bang.

  Bang.

  Bang.

  Both men look up as the ancient timber ceiling joist shrieks free from the low roof and swings down like a falling tree. Nicholas throws up an arm to protect himself but the wood is centuries old and hard as ice. It falls across the back of his neck and he is crushed beneath its weight as it crashes to the floor in a shower of dust and splinters. His hand remains pinned to the table and there is a terrible popping, crunching noise, audible even over the sound of falling plaster and stone, as the limb is yanked out of the socket. Great gouts of blood and gore squirt out of his ears, his eyes, his nose, his mouth, as the timber crushes him into an inhuman shape; a rat crumpled beneath a paving slab.

  Spitting, groaning, the bodyguard pulls himself up from the floor, bleeding from the head, his employer’s crimson insides splattered across his face. He shouts something unintelligible and tries to pull his gun from inside his jacket. The hatch in the floor swings open and a shape appears in the dark rectangular void. There is a flash of flame and smoke and then he is collapsing in on himself, the remains of his head hanging from his neck like a twist of orange peel.

  The man by the door is reaching for a gun in an ankle holster. Jim grabs a bottle from the bar, smashes it across the brass rail, and sticks it into the other man’s neck, carving a jagged trench down towards his windpipe.r />
  The sounds of destruction fade away. The timbers settle. Brick dust falls. Nicholas’s corpse slumps sideways, his hand still pinned to the table.

  Alison takes a second to compose herself. Slows her breathing.

  ‘Well done,’ she says, to the room in general. Then she stands. She tugs her knife from the back of the dead man’s tattooed hand. She wipes it on the hem of her skirt and slips it back into her belt. It means a lot to her, this knife. It was a present from her father when she turned sixteen.

  She turns back to the bar. In the darkness of the open cellar hatch, a patch of shadow delineates into a human shape. The man called Irons emerges. He’s a monstrous thing; all scars and twisted skin, as if half his face is made from cold spaghetti and cheap leather. He is tall and broad across the shoulders and despite his years his movements are effortless.

  He nods at Alison. ‘Boy done well,’ he says, his voice a pained whisper, as if his throat has been sawed open and stitched back together. He jerks his head in the direction of the broken ceiling. ‘Done as he was told, once he shut up.’

  ‘Praise indeed,’ smiles Alison, enjoying herself.

  Irons looks down at her. His eyes have leaked pinkish tears for the last thirty years. He has no eyelids. Beneath his eyes, the skin is so translucent that she sometimes thinks she can glimpse bone. He slips on his big brown sunglasses. Zips up his coat. He looks like the Invisible Man. ‘Those things he said. About your boy. It don’t serve to dwell.’

  Alison reaches up and puts her warm palm on the ruched flesh of his face. She has known him all her life. She owes him almost everything. He has kept her family in business and alive for the best part of half a century. And yet she still has to fight a shudder as she touches his ruined flesh.