The Madam

by Jaime Raven

  Alarm shivered behind his eyes when he saw me. His mouth fell open and a thin line of saliva stretched between his upper and lower lips.

  ‘We’re here to find out all you know about the murders of Rufus Benedict and Ruby Gillespie,’ I said. ‘But please don’t spill your guts too soon because I’ve got a lot of anger that I need to work out of my system first.’

  I felt like I was possessed by a demon – but not against my will. The rage and hatred that stirred inside me was a welcome sensation.

  Sitting before me was the man I believed to be one of the architects of my downfall. The same man who had beaten me and my brother and in all probability had murdered Ruby Gillespie.

  He was a cold, sadistic creature and he deserved all the pain I intended to inflict.

  ‘I don’t know about any murders,’ he said. ‘So don’t waste your time or mine.’

  Heat rose in my face. I put the knife in my left hand and lashed out with my right fist, striking a solid blow against his nose, which started spurting blood.

  Through gritted teeth he called me a bitch and sprang to his feet. But Tiny shoved him back on the chair and then stood behind him with a firm grip on his shoulders to stop him moving again.

  ‘I recognise you,’ Delaney said, flicking his head backwards and his eyes sideways. ‘You used to work for Joe.’

  ‘Is that right?’ Tiny said.

  ‘Yeah, it is. I never forget a face and I’ll make sure you bloody well pay for this.’

  That was my cue to strike him again, and it gave me great pleasure to give him a fierce kick in the shin. His face twisted up in pain and blood vessels bulged out of his temples.

  He glared at me defiantly and was about to say something when Scar stepped forward and gave him three sharp slaps around the face.

  ‘That was for beating up my girlfriend and threatening to rape her, you bastard,’ she said, her voice remarkably calm in the circumstances.

  I was reminded of the time in prison when Scar and I had launched a joint attack against a notorious bully named Thelma Lamb who had threatened to kill us both for refusing to do her bidding.

  It was the last threat she ever made against us because she was transferred to a hospital, and we learned later that she suffered two fractured ribs, a broken nose and a dislocated jaw.

  So the pair of us were far from squeamish when it came to resorting to violence when we felt it was necessary. It was something Sean Delaney was about to discover.

  ‘So let’s start with the easy questions,’ I said. ‘Why did you attack my brother and me?’

  His expression remained defiant, and he spat at me, the dollop of phlegm landing on my jacket.

  ‘Go fuck yourself, bitch,’ he yelled. ‘I’m not telling you anything.’

  I couldn’t help smiling because I wanted so much to hurt this man and I just needed the excuse to do so.

  ‘I’ll ask you again,’ I said evenly. ‘Why did you attack us?’

  His mouth twitched at the corners and he shook his head.

  ‘You don’t scare me, bitch. And you don’t fool me either. I know you haven’t got what it takes for this stuff.’

  Without warning I slashed the blade of the carving knife across his chest so it left a line of blood between the eyes of the pit bull. He let out a fearsome scream and stared down at himself in disbelief.

  ‘Way to go girl,’ Scar said and gave him another savage slap around the face for good measure.

  Tiny let out a low whistle and said, ‘Jesus. Remind me not to get on the wrong side of you two psychos.’

  I was on a roll now, in the grip of a primal urge to inflict pain on this sorry excuse for a man.

  I slashed him again with the knife, this time across the forehead, leaving a gash about five inches long.

  He moaned and threw his head back, the veins in his neck bulging outwards.

  ‘Now start talking,’ I said, spacing my words out and speaking slowly. ‘I promise you that this won’t end until you’ve told us everything.’

  There was uncertainty in his expression now as blood spilled from his forehead into his eyes.

  I found it hard to control the disgust I felt for him. I knew that whatever I did to him it wouldn’t impact on my conscience. My rage was a result of four years of torment, anger and frustration.

  ‘If I was you, Delaney, I’d start telling her what she wants to know,’ Tiny advised him. ‘If you don’t then I hate to think what state your body and mind will be in at the end of this little party.’

  Delaney lowered his head, shifting his gaze to the floor. Blood dripped from his face onto his thighs.

  ‘Go to hell,’ he murmured.

  His words sliced through me like a rotor blade, releasing a surge of raw anger. I reacted by stamping down hard on his left foot. I heard the crack of bone as the heel of my shoe crushed his toes.

  I then did the same to his right foot and to stop him from screaming Tiny put a hand over his mouth.

  ‘Not so tough now, are you?’ I said. ‘Do you really think Joe Strickland will appreciate what you’re doing? Don’t you realise that by the time we’ve finished with you, you’ll be a fucking cripple and Strickland won’t have any use for you?’

  Tiny removed his hand and Delaney breathed in deeply through his flared nostrils.

  I could see that we were getting to him. He must have understood by now that we were serious, that we weren’t going to leave until we got what we wanted. I couldn’t afford to anyway. This was in all probability my last desperate throw of the dice. I needed him to open up and tell us what had been going on. I wouldn’t get another opportunity like this with the net closing in around me.

  ‘Why did you attack me?’ I said again. ‘Did Joe Strickland tell you to? And did he also get you to kill Ruby Gillespie and Rufus Benedict?’

  He shook his head, spraying blood over himself. And then he looked at me with dead eyes, but said nothing.

  ‘This is ridiculous,’ Scar said and suddenly snatched the knife from my grip.

  She bent over and with her free hand lifted his limp penis and pressed the tip of the knife against the base of the shaft. It drew a spot of blood and on seeing it sheer terror transformed Delaney’s expression.

  ‘I went to prison for cutting off a bloke’s balls,’ Scar said. ‘So believe me when I say that I won’t hesitate to slice off your pathetic little cock if you don’t start coughing up.’

  The threat of losing his manhood was enough to weaken his resolve.

  ‘Okay, okay,’ he spluttered. ‘I’ll tell you. Just take that fucking knife away.’

  Sean Delaney actually began to cry, big drops of tears streaming from his eyes. When he started to speak, his face twitched and contorted, but none of us felt inclined to make it any easier for him. We just stood there hanging on to his every word.

  ‘Joe told us to rough you and your brother up,’ he said. ‘He wanted to stop you making trouble for him. He thought it’d be enough.’

  ‘What’s he so worried about?’ I asked.

  He tried to blink away the blood that was gathering in his eyes and mixing with the tears. It didn’t work and his discomfort gave me a perverse thrill.

  ‘He learned a couple of weeks ago that your friend here was asking questions around town on your behalf,’ he said, flicking his head towards Scar. ‘So he assumed you were gonna dig up the Benedict business, and he didn’t want that.’

  ‘Was it you who left the note on our car at the hotel?’

  He frowned. ‘What note? I don’t know anything about a note.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Positive.’

  I didn’t know whether to believe him or not, but I didn’t want to hold him back now that he had started to talk. So I let that one go for now.

  ‘Okay, so let’s go back four years,’ I said. ‘Why did you kill Rufus Benedict? And please don’t bother to deny it.’

  He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath. His face got darker, and every m
uscle in his body tensed up.

  ‘Answer the question,’ I said.

  He opened his eyes, moistened his lips and managed to shake his head.

  ‘I … I … can’t.’

  Which prompted Tiny to pummel a fist into the back of his head, causing a wheezing gulp of air to explode out of his mouth.

  ‘You fucking can and you fucking will,’ Tiny seethed. ‘So stop pissing about and get on with it or my friend here will cut off your cock.’

  Delaney started to foam at the mouth and for a moment I thought he might pass out. But instead he lifted his head and looked at me, his eyes thin and unfocused.

  ‘You already know why Benedict had to die,’ he said. ‘He was working on a story that would have brought Joe down. So Joe had to sort him out.’

  I felt a dark and seductive urge to stab Delaney through the heart. It took a huge effort to resist.

  ‘So it was you and an accomplice who came to our hotel room that night,’ I said. ‘You drugged us with the champagne, killed Benedict and made it look like I did it.’

  He squinted at me, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.

  ‘So was the other man Ron Parks, your cousin?’

  He let out an involuntary groan and nodded.

  I felt Scar’s hand grip my arm. I turned to look at her, saw that her face was ashen, drained of blood. She forced out a smile and squeezed my arm reassuringly.

  I turned back to Delaney and made a sneering shape with my mouth.

  ‘Tell me why you killed Ruby Gillespie,’ I said.

  His chest muscles contracted beneath the blood that covered much of his torso, and his breathing became harsh.

  ‘She couldn’t keep her gob shut,’ he said. ‘She told you that we made her lie to the police about you and the knife. Big mistake. We knew then we couldn’t trust her not to tell anyone else. So Joe decided to kill two birds with one stone and get you both out of the way.’

  Even though it was what I’d suspected it came as a massive shock. I felt a violent surge of hostility towards Sean Delaney. I wanted to kill him for what he had done to me and to his other victims. But I knew I had to keep him alive so that he could tell his story to the police and clear my name.

  It was Scar who spoke next, her voice low and quivering.

  ‘What did Karina Gorski have to do with all of this?’ she said.

  Delaney struggled to get the words out. ‘I don’t know. I wasn’t told.’

  ‘Was she in a relationship with Strickland?’

  ‘He had a thing with her. It was just paid-for sex. She often stayed overnight in his flat.’

  ‘Where is this flat?’

  ‘Down at the marina. He uses it to entertain and for some business meetings. It’s close to his office and his wife knows nothing about it.’

  ‘And Karina went there regularly?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘So what happened?’ Scar said. ‘Did she find out something about him? Is that why he got you to kill her too?’

  ‘We didn’t kill her,’ he said. ‘She disappeared. No one knows where she is. One day she was on the scene and the next day she wasn’t. I have no idea why.’

  Was he telling the truth about that? I wasn’t sure. But having confessed to killing Benedict and Ruby I couldn’t see why he would lie about it.

  ‘What about the police?’ I said. ‘How involved have they been in the cover-up?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’

  ‘Come off it, Delaney. DCI Ash is as bent as they come. And so was Neil Ferris. Joe Strickland must have called in favours to influence the investigation and to keep his name out of it.’

  Delaney was struggling to respond now. He could barely keep his eyes open, and the loss of blood from the two knife wounds was making him weak.

  I was worried he might lose consciousness and we’d have to get him to hospital.

  ‘I need … some water,’ he uttered. ‘And please … wipe my eyes.’

  He actually looked like he’d just stepped off the set of a horror movie. The blood covered most of his face and body and was even pooling on the chair between his legs.

  ‘I’ll sort it,’ Tiny said.

  What happened next I didn’t see coming. None of us did.

  As Tiny moved towards the sink, Delaney lowered his head and started to sob. I chose that moment to turn to Scar to see how she was holding up.

  And that’s when Delaney leapt from the chair with the speed of a striking panther.

  He lifted his right knee and thrust it into my stomach. I stumbled back, winded, and dropped the knife on the floor.

  Delaney then started shaking himself and struggled to free his hands from the string that tied them together behind his back.

  He managed to do it before any of us could react, and he quickly bent over to pick up the knife.

  Scar threw herself forward to try to prevent him reaching it, but she was too late. He was grasping the knife in his right hand as she fell against him and to my horror I saw him plunge the knife into her body.

  I screamed and instinctively reached out to stop her falling, but her weight sent us both crashing to the floor.

  I heard Tiny cry out, and in the same instant I saw Delaney staring down at me, still brandishing the knife with Scar’s blood on it.

  It looked as though he was going to stab me next. But he had difficulty staying upright on shattered feet and this gave Tiny the precious seconds he needed to launch himself across the room and get to Delaney before he could do any more damage.

  Tiny rammed into him with brute force, narrowly avoiding the knife that was aimed at his chest.

  They both stumbled against the dining table and then collapsed onto the floor in a grappling heap.

  Delaney, despite the beating he’d taken, was still a force to be reckoned with, and managed to hold onto the knife which he thrust towards Tiny’s throat.

  Tiny seized his wrist and they rolled across the floor, leaving a trail of Delaney’s blood on the polished decking.

  I took my eyes off the pair for a second to look at Scar. She was on her back now and clutching the wound in her side, her face creased up in pain.

  Oh God, please don’t let her die.

  ‘You bastard!’

  It was Delaney’s voice, and it drew my eyes back to the struggle that was happening just a few feet away.

  Tiny had succeeded in pushing the knife away from his own throat, and the tip of the blade was now only inches from Delaney’s face.

  They were locked in a battle of strength and my heart froze as I watched Delaney open his mouth and growl like an attack dog.

  But it was the last sound he made because at the same time his arm went limp, and the blade shot straight between his teeth and deep into the back of his throat.

  22

  My immediate concern was for Scar. I hunkered down next to her and panic threatened to overwhelm me when I saw the state she was in.

  Blood was oozing from the wound in her left side, and her T-shirt was already soaked. But she was still conscious, thank God, and her eyes were open.

  I bent over and touched her cheek.

  ‘Stay with me, babe,’ I said. ‘We’ll call an ambulance. You’ll be okay.’

  She moved her head. ‘No ambulance. Too risky. Take me to the hospital.’

  Tiny came and knelt beside me. He lifted her T-shirt to look at the wound. I was shocked to see there were actually two wounds – one where the blade had entered her body and the other where it had exited. They were only a couple of inches apart.

  ‘That’s a relief,’ Tiny said. ‘The blade went straight through the fatty tissue below the ribcage. It hasn’t damaged any vital organs. But we need to stem the blood.’

  He fished a white handkerchief from his pocket and placed it over the wounds, applying pressure to slow the rate of bleeding.

  Then he told me to look for a first-aid kit. I found one in the cupboard below the sink.

  He took out some gauze and ba
ndages to dress the wounds.

  ‘As a doorman I took a first-aid course,’ he said. ‘I’ve treated stab wounds before.’

  I dropped to the floor again, held Scar’s hand and told her that I was sorry.

  ‘Not your fault,’ she said, grimacing from the pain. ‘We underestimated him.’

  I stroked her forehead. It was cold and wet, and her skin was white as bone.

  ‘She’s going to be all right,’ Tiny said. ‘But you need to get her to the hospital fast.’

  ‘What about you?’

  He tossed his head towards where Delaney lay on the floor.

  ‘I need to clear up this mess. It’ll take a while.’

  ‘Is he dead?’

  He nodded. ‘For sure. And we can’t let anyone find him like this.’

  ‘Jesus Christ,’ I said. ‘What a fucking disaster.’

  ‘I didn’t mean to kill him, Lizzie. But it was him or me. I’m sorry.’

  ‘What about? You had no choice.’

  ‘I know. But you needed him alive. Now he can’t tell the police what he told us.’

  It was true, but worrying about Scar had made me overlook the fact. Now I felt a whole lot worse. I looked over at Delaney’s blood-soaked corpse. The knife was still embedded in his mouth and the sight of it caused a tightening in my throat.

  ‘So this was all for nothing,’ Scar said and her words hit me like steel arrows.

  I had to breathe in through my nose in order to fill my body with oxygen.

  It was a total mess. A tragedy. Scar was seriously wounded, and Sean Delaney was dead. The police would add him to my list of victims, and Scar and Tiny would be in trouble too. I couldn’t believe it had gone so wrong so quickly.

  ‘That’s all I can do for now,’ Tiny said. ‘I’ll help you get her to the car. Go straight to A and E. Make up a story that she was attacked in the street or something.’

  ‘What will you do?’ I said.

  He shook his head. ‘I’m not sure yet. I can’t just leave this like it is. Our prints are all over the place, along with some of Donna’s blood. And I need to get rid of the knife.’

  We lifted Scar to her feet, but she couldn’t stand up so it was a real effort getting her off the houseboat.

  Then Tiny carried her in his arms along the jetty and I followed. It had stopped raining but the clouds obscured the moon so it was pitch dark. It meant that even if we were being watched by someone they surely wouldn’t be able to identify us.