‘You cynically risked my neck because you cut corners and your boyfriend got offed.’
‘He was not my boyfriend and that’s not true.’
‘You didn’t risk my neck, or he’s not your boyfriend?’ I glowered. ‘I met Mathilde Brommer, McCallen. I know exactly how close you got to Lars. He was going to marry you.’ I had not intended to say this. Her eyes widened. She seemed genuinely shaken. ‘Well?’ I said.
Recovering herself with speed, she threw me a look as fierce as a Russian babushka from Siberia. ‘I never promised to marry Lars. He was not my boyfriend.’
‘So you keep saying, but you did seduce him, right?’
‘Not in the way you mean.’
I bit back a dark smile. ‘Is there another way?’
‘It’s not –’
‘You stole him from a girl he’d loved for more than a decade.’
‘Not like you to be romantic. Come to think of it, why are you so bothered?’
‘Because what you did stinks.’
McCallen gave a dry laugh. ‘Pretty rich coming from a contract killer.’
‘A former contract killer,’ I reminded her.
She pursed her lips as though it made no difference. So much for her vote of confidence about my powers of redemption.
‘He was a grown-up,’ she said. ‘Lars could make up his own mind.’
‘So you don’t deny it?’
‘I’m not answerable to you.’ Her eyes locked with mine.
‘Do you use every man you meet?’
She wriggled free and punched me hard in the chest. The blow would have rocked most men. It didn’t work but it did succeed in making me even angrier than I already was. My life had been trundling along quite nicely, if a little uneventfully, until McCallen showed up.
‘All in the line of duty, was it?’ In the absence of a reply, I launched another accusation. ‘You’re a damn liar.’
‘It’s what I’m paid for.’ She stared at me with a get over it expression.
‘So what’s the real story?’
A pulse ticked in her neck. ‘Someone is out to get me.’
‘You already said.’
‘And out to get you.’
‘Old news.’
‘After Lars was killed I received a phone call at my home address.’
This got my attention. ‘From whom?’
‘The voice was distorted.’
‘And?’
‘He said that Lars had been killed as payback.’
‘Payback for what?’
‘Billy Squeeze.’ My mind flashed to Chester Phipps.
‘You said “He”.’
‘Yes.’ She shook her head, as though I simply wasn’t getting it. ‘Billy Squeeze made the call.’
I let out a dry, cynical laugh. ‘Ridiculous. Billy’s dead. I killed him.’
‘Are you certain?’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘If you have to lie, at least make it a good one,’ I said.
‘I’m not lying.’
‘So all the stuff about Lars and his right-wing connections was an elaborate smokescreen?’
‘Not at all.’ She looked most put out.
When I spoke next my voice was clipped. ‘Lars had no interest in Benz. In fact he loathed the man. Lars stood about as much chance of penetrating his outfit as me running for Parliament.’
‘I know,’ she said. ‘Which was why I finally decided he’d be no good for the job.’
‘Was that after you’d slept with him or before?’
She issued another cold, sullen look. No way was she getting away with silence. I’d drag it out of her if I had to. ‘No matter,’ I said. ‘And next you dispensed with his services?’
‘Correct.’
‘But by then he was in love with you.’
‘It happens.’
‘Really?’
She ignored my question.
‘Whatever you asked the poor guy to do, he did because of you.’ The irony that I’d also risked exposure for McCallen did not escape me. ‘If anyone got him killed, you did.’
She glanced down, chewed her lip. The fabric of her jacket shivered. ‘His death,’ she said, clearing her throat, ‘the fact that Lars had begged to meet me on the day he died made me less certain about him. I wondered if I’d missed something. I thought he might have been compromised, or that I’d read him wrong.’
‘Which was why you dragged me into it – to find out.’
‘Yes.’
Except I had discovered nothing new. In truth, I hadn’t been in Berlin long enough to check Lars out, let alone Benz. ‘You rinsed me.’
‘I did not.’
‘And now you’re switching your story.’
‘I am not switching my story.’
‘Of course not, you’ve just dragged Billy back from the dead for a little local colour.’
‘For God’s sake, I –’
‘Why didn’t you mention Billy before?’
‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘Not to me.’
‘Because first I needed to be sure about Lars.’
‘It didn’t occur to you that you were putting me in danger?’
‘You’re a big boy who can take care of himself.’ She flashed a smile in a vain attempt to lighten the mood. I wasn’t buying into it.
‘This is what I think.’ I poked her hard in the chest. ‘You’re feeding me titbits to see how much I swallow.’
The spots of colour on her cheek flamed crimson. I straightened up. ‘You know what? I don’t trust you. I don’t believe you and you can go to hell.’
She shouted something after me, but I was already up the steps, crossing the graveyard, back towards Henrietta Street. There was no use denying it. Like a fond greeting wrapped in barbed wire, McCallen was lethal to my physical and mental health and well-being. What angered me most was that I’d fallen for it.
Fact: by the time Billy Squeeze was exposed as a genocidal maniac, he had not a single friend left to defend him, nobody from whom to call in favours, no one who would give him sanctuary. Many rejoiced when he fell from grace, his reign of terror over, his ‘manor’ already carved up by others on the make. Nobody would seek revenge on his behalf now. Not the wife who knew nothing of his extraneous activities, not his three daughters, all of whom were in their mid-teens.
As for surviving the ‘accident’, I’d witnessed the fear in his eyes, the trapped scream in his voice, watched him tumble onto the tracks, his bones crushed beneath a train.
Billy Squeeze was dead. No doubt about it. Only one question remained: who had tried to kill me?
CHAPTER TWELVE
In a strange mood, I headed out that evening. I wanted booze. I wanted excitement.
I didn’t enjoy being shot at, but my brief flirtation with danger had definitely whetted my appetite for adventure. It put me in a fix.
Seeing the evil of my ways, I’d done as much as I could to reinstate my old identity, the one I’d had before my life went bad. I was still struggling, feeling my way. I wasn’t really certain who I was, but I’d been making progress. I now felt like a drunk who’s fallen off the wagon.
After trawling a couple of bars in Montpellier, I made my way down the Promenade and into Cheltenham central. My destination was Coco’s Beach Bar in Cambray Place where they made the meanest cocktail in town.
The interior is like a ghost train ride meets Malibu. Sand and thatched huts made from straw at the entrance and, inside, double leather seats in near darkness. Behind the illuminated bar, a full-size screen of beautiful girls on white-sand beaches playing volleyball and surfing waves. There are guys too, but they didn’t interest me.
I took a high stool at the corner of the bar and ordered a Manhattan from a young guy who had a degree in marine biology and passion for bourbon. I watched in fascination as, with expert skill, he poured and crushed, sliced and shook, and presented me with my chosen poison with all the flair of an illusionist. Ten pounds’ worth of luxury and it
tasted terrific. We exchanged a couple of remarks, nothing personal, and he moved off to weave his magic on the next customer. I took up my favourite occupation – people watching.
The clientele was varied: young professionals, older groups having a sharpener before dinner, guys who’d got paid and wanted to spend, businessmen hoping to pick up a slice of glamour. A group of girls wandered in and ordered a couple of rounds of Cosmopolitans, stoking up before hitting the nightlife. Me, I sat and sipped and kept my eye on the entrance. If someone had taken a pop at me they could attempt the same thing again.
As I was about to order another drink, a woman with lustrous long black hair and dark exotic features, hinting at either Spanish or maybe Jewish blood, sashayed in. She looked like a model or an actress. Like a collective call of the wild, every red-blooded male was instantly transfixed and I was one of them. Luckily for me, she took the only available bar stool – next to mine.
She spoke softly to the barman. ‘I’d like a classic champagne cocktail.’
I listened hard, caught the strong French accent. The guy next to her, sleazy-looking with pouched skin, spiked gelled hair and a seasoned boozer’s complexion, instantly rolled out a wad of notes and offered to pay for her drink.
‘That’s so kind, thank you, but no,’ she said with a cool smile.
‘Maybe you’d like to share mine,’ Mr Lonely and Loaded insisted. ‘Two straws, please,’ he told the bartender.
‘I don’t wish to be rude,’ she said, ‘but I don’t accept drinks from strangers.’
With a big sweep of her slender shoulders, she turned towards me. I smiled. She smiled back. Mesmerising. It was hard not to be captivated by the curve of her eyebrows, sculpted cheekbones, espresso-coloured eyes and skin the colour of warm treacle. As she crossed her long legs, her coat fell open, revealing a short crimson dress with ruched sleeves, nipped in at the waist with a leather belt. Breasts high and firm. Her shoes were velvet, strapped around the ankles, with peep-toes and deep crimson-painted nails to match. Her perfume, which I guessed was Hermès, was floral with underlying notes of musk, amber and cypress. Everything about her shrieked class and wealth. Had she been a brand of cigarette she’d have been Sobranie. I wondered who she was and what she did. Could have been a lawyer. Could have been a high-end escort. Could have been a whore. Somehow, I didn’t think so. Wasn’t sure I even cared.
I took a drink. She did the same. When her knee brushed mine I did not move away. As I smoothed an imaginary crease from my trousers, she ran her long ring-less fingers over the satin of her dress. I ordered another Manhattan. She ordered another champagne cocktail. When I drained my drink, she finished hers. Not a word passed between us. As I stood up to leave she slipped off the bar stool, looked me dead in the eye, arched an eyebrow, and flashed the most seductive and inviting smile. There was enough electricity generated between us to power the grid.
I followed her out, slipped into step beside her, walking close, matching her long strides with my own as she headed right then left. It flashed through my mind that she was an elaborate form of honey trap. She could be a killer or an accomplice. It was time for a reality check. She was not luring me to a dark alley, away from human heat. We were at the epicentre of town with cops, clubbers, kids out to have a good time and revellers, and we were one of them. It didn’t negate the possibility of danger. I remembered the crowd in Berlin. At that moment I was willing to take the risk. I wanted it and needed it.
We hit Regent Street and a club that I’d never been to before. I paid the entrance fee, handed over our coats, and let her take me by the hand and lead me to the second floor. Within seconds, we were enveloped by the noise of pulsating music and by dozens of people dancing. It felt as if my ears might bleed.
Arms raised, snake hips twisting, her fabulous hair shimmering under the lights, my girl danced like a professional, the pace frantic and feverish. I’m not bad, but next to her, I made a clumsy dancing partner. Not that I cared. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. And I wasn’t the only one. It had been a long time since I’d been in a public place where half the men lusted after the woman I was with.
Wordlessly, after an hour or so, we made for the bar, ordered water and more alcohol, and danced some more. Later, we broke out onto the street. At around two-thirty in the morning, there were not so many people about, but enough cops and paddy wagons to ensure my personal security. We crossed a square flanked by shops and silent cafés. I didn’t know whether we were heading to her place, whether I should take her to the empty apartment intended for the fictitious Miss Armstrong, aka McCallen, or what exactly my girl for the night had in mind. I could only hope. Silence was like static. At any moment it could charge and burst into flame.
Impulsively, she grabbed my arm, pulled me into the entrance of a big department store and pushed me up against the closed double doors. Most would surrender there and then. I caught both her wrists in one hand, forced them down, negating any possibility that she might try something nasty. A pure gasp of pleasure broke from her open mouth. She moved in close, breasts swollen against my chest. It would be fair to say that she fell upon me. What happened next was a blur of bruised limbs, torn clothing, my fingers in her hair, in her cunt, her lips on my mouth and then my cock.
I knew we should stop. At any moment someone could see us. I wasn’t even sure whether what she was doing classed as an act of public indecency. It felt raw and dirty at the same time as highly sensuous. I couldn’t take my eyes off her bobbing mane of long black hair, the smell of her perfume, the way in which this wonderfully sophisticated and glamorous woman got my rocks off. Scary as hell, it was like keeping a foot hard down on the accelerator of a Lamborghini as it reached two hundred miles an hour. Jesus.
We broke away, panting, a fine film of perspiration coating our skin. I loved every feral moment. The next I knew, she was walking away with long strides. I called after her.
‘I don’t even know your name.’
‘In your pocket.’
Baffled, I slipped my hand into my coat and felt something the size of a credit card inside. Pulling it out, it said: ‘Simone Fabron at Bagatelle’. Underneath was an image of the board game of the same name and a telephone number.
Fuck, I’d had a free blowjob from a high-class hooker. Foolish, for sure, but I needed her and knew I had to see her again.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I slept the sleep of the satiated and woke around ten. Checking my phone, I had a missed call from McCallen. Tough. McCallen and her problems were like a bad, distant memory.
I went to my local leisure centre, spent an hour working up a sweat in the gym followed by a shower and fifty lengths’ front crawl in the two-thirds Olympic-size pool. In spite of my best efforts, my savage night on the town had left me needing more. I couldn’t stop thinking about Simone. She was in my hair and on my skin. I had taken what was on offer and I wanted her.
After a meeting with Greg, a builder I regularly used, to discuss a house I was renovating, I took out the card and called her. I didn’t tell her my name. I cut straight to the chase.
‘Where are you?’
‘At my office.’
Busy woman. Working by day, pleasuring by night. Something in the back of my brain dinged a warning. ‘That’s a pity. I’d love to see you.’
‘No problem. Drop in.’
‘Where?’
She gave the name of a café I knew well in the Suffolks. A popular hangout for poets and arty types, it served great coffee but without the high price tag.
It took me eight minutes to walk there. Simone sat facing the window, laptop open and latte at the ready. She glanced up as I walked in, her lips curling, kittenish with pleasure. I kissed her once on the cheek and sat down. Wearing a black roll-neck sweater, soft tan leather trousers and boots, and little make-up, she looked more demure than the night before, yet still retained a sexy aura of mystery. Automatically, my brain flashed to her going down on me in a public place.
‘Do y
ou want a top-up?’ I said, obliterating the thought.
‘That would be good, thank you.’
‘Same again?’
‘Whatever you are having.’
I ordered a two-shot Americano with hot milk for me and another for Simone and paid.
‘What are you doing?’ I glanced over her shoulder as I squeezed past and sat down.
‘Checking on the details of a party I’m organising.’
‘Right,’ I said, unenlightened.
‘I’m a party planner,’ she explained with another cute smile. ‘Among other things.’
I met her eye and returned the smile, a moment of conspiracy between us. She stretched across and pressed an index finger to my lips. ‘Not as you think.’
‘No?’ I held her gaze.
‘I also get paid for life coaching, fashion and make-up advice.’
‘Online?’
‘It’s where I exist.’ She looked around her. ‘This is my office.’
I scratched my head. It was a different world to me. ‘You come here every day?’
‘Non, I have many offices, many homes. Everything I have I can pack into a suitcase.’
Something we once shared in common, I realised to my surprise. ‘You have to be the first woman I’ve ever met with such a minimalist approach to life.’
At this she smiled, displaying a perfect row of even teeth. ‘I rent a room where I store a limited amount of possessions,’ she confessed. ‘But, yes, I like travelling light. I like being able to move around at a moment’s notice. Cheltenham today – London, Rome or New York tomorrow.’
‘Not Paris?’
‘And Paris.’
I imagined gatherings of wealthy playboy types, live bands, exotic food and expensive alcohol. So that’s how she’d learnt to dance so expertly. Bagatelle, I thought. It was all falling into place.
‘And what do you do when you’re not travelling and working?’
‘Have fun.’ She issued another knock-’em-dead smile. ‘I ski when I can. I enjoy tennis and polo.’
‘Watching or taking part?’
She leant towards me, ran a fingernail lightly over my hand. ‘Playing tennis, watching polo.’ She looked at me so seductively I was in danger of dragging her across the table and doing her there.
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