Risky Business

by W. Soliman

  He just hadn’t taken into account that I had a few tricks of my own up my sleeve. Kara had located the phone and handed it to me.

  “Hmm, nice and warm,” I said.

  “Charlie, stop mucking about and get us out of here.”

  There was a full signal. Something was going right for us at last. I dialled a number that I’d looked up and memorised earlier, praying that he’d be at home. Bennett answered the phone himself.

  “It’s Charlie Hunter,” I said to the assistant chief constable. “If you take a squad to Garnet’s club immediately, you’ll find drugs—a lot of drugs.” I told him the precise location of the room in question. He didn’t ask me any questions or once interrupt. “No lights or sirens,” I said. “Oh, and be quick. We’re in trouble.” I told him where to find us.

  “On our way.”

  Bennett broke the connection and I pocketed Mallet’s phone.

  “Will he come?” Kara asked.

  “Oh yeah, he’ll come.”

  “Is that why you called him and not Slater?”

  “I wouldn’t give Slater the time of day. Besides, she doesn’t have the authority to get something like this off the ground. Garnet will have more than one informer inside the station, and Slater wouldn’t mount the raid without doing all the necessary paperwork. By the time she got here, Garnet would know all about it and it would be too late.” To say nothing of the fact that we’d have been caught by then but I decided not to dwell on that depressing likelihood.

  “Will they still be looking for us?” she asked, snuggling against my side.

  “Probably only Glover and the guard at the moment. It seems like ages but it’s only been a few minutes since we ran from that building. Garnet will still be with his visitor, and Glover will hope to catch us before he has to admit we overcame him.”

  “You did, Charlie. I didn’t do anything.”

  “Shush.”

  We heard two sets of footsteps coming toward us. Torchlight narrowly missed our hiding place as the men blundered through the trees. They’d missed us only because they weren’t searching methodically, but they’d soon be back. What the hell were we supposed to do now? I glanced upwards. The tree we were sheltering behind was an old oak, with lots of low branches. It had to be hundreds of years old and was probably one of the reasons why Garnet hadn’t been able to build on this part of his land.

  “Any good at climbing trees?” I asked her.

  She was on her feet in a flash and disappeared into the leafy canopy. My ribs were giving me merry hell, and my ascent wasn’t nearly so nimble. Even so, I made it seconds before Glover came stumbling directly below us. He cast his torch round the area but didn’t once think to shine it upwards. I sent up a message of thanks for the cerebrally challenged as he moved on, shouting at the guard to do another sweep, cursing and swearing fit to bust a gut.

  We didn’t speak. In my case it took all my concentration to quell the pain in every part of my body and not lose my balance. Kara’s rapid breathing told me that she was scared, worried about the children perhaps, if we didn’t get out of this.

  After what seemed like an eternity, several cars came down the adjacent road. I only hoped Bennett had the foresight to send several more round the back to block the exit from the staff car park. I had to assume that he had. Another long delay and then noise and lots of shouting.

  “We can get down now,” I said to Kara.

  We were both stiff. I went first and helped her down, in spite of the fact that I could have done with some help myself. Hand in hand we emerged from the trees and waited at the periphery of the brightly lit car park. Police wearing Kevlar vests were everywhere. Even I was impressed by the A.C.C.’s ability to pull together so many men at such short notice.

  The doors to the reception area burst open. There was lots of shouting and more people than I’d realised on the premises. They ran in all directions, obviously not prepared to go down quietly. The police took off after them. Several men were led out in handcuffs. Mallet was one of them. I obviously hadn’t hit him hard enough. Andrea Garnet was struggling but easily restrained by two policemen.

  Bennett was standing to one side, watching Garnet being handcuffed and read his rights, a smile of satisfaction on his face. We instinctively moved closer to watch the show. A big mistake, as it transpired. The blow came from behind, straight into my kidneys, sending me sprawling to the floor. Glover was screaming like a banshee, a torrent of abuse all aimed at me.

  He was out of control, just as he’d probably been when he bludgeoned Spelling to death. Not a reassuring notion. Damn, I thought he’d be too concerned about saving his own skin to come after us, otherwise I’d have stayed up that damned tree. I rolled out of range of his boot and picked up a heavy branch, ready to use it as a weapon. But my grip was weak and Glover took it away from me with ease.

  Now he had the weapon. It hardly seemed fair because he didn’t need any help. I was in too much pain to move and there was absolutely nothing I could do to defend myself. I looked up into Glover’s deranged eyes, prepared to accept the inevitable. He moved in for the kill, grinning like a maniac. There could be no question that he enjoyed his work. Then images of Harry flooded my mind, lending me superhuman strength. I grabbed his ankle and pulled as hard as I could, holding on with all my might. I guess I got lucky. I caught him off balance, one leg off the ground as he made to kick me. He tumbled over, cursing and swearing loud enough to wake the dead.

  What I hadn’t reckoned on was his taking Kara with him. She was standing too close and he reacted with astonishing speed for a big man, grabbing her waist as he fell so she landed on top of him with a startled cry. Great, now he had a hostage! I could give him a taste of his own medicine and use my boot on his head, but anything I did to him, he’d retaliate by hurting Kara.

  Where the fuck was Bennett? Surely he’d heard us yelling for his help. But he obviously hadn’t. There was so much else going down right now. What to do? Kara was making frantic eyes at me, trying to tell me something. She kept indicating his head. I’d be more than happy to kick it, but…then I caught on. She’d taken something out of her pocket and needed me to distract Glover. I nodded, moved my foot backwards and prayed.

  Kara moved with the speed of lightning. As my foot made crunching connection with Glover’s skull, she squirted the contents of the can she was holding straight into his eyes. He screamed, temporarily blinded, and instinctively moved his hands to his face. Kara took my hand and scrambled free. By the time Glover recovered, three policemen were holding him down and handcuffing him.

  “Are you all right?” I asked her.

  “Fine, what about you?”

  I’d fallen to the ground again, totally spent now the action was over. Every square inch of me was in pain.

  “I’ve had better days.” I tried to sit up. It wasn’t easy because the earth kept moving. “Thanks, by the way.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “What did you get him with?”

  She grinned. “Hair spray. I found a handbag-sized can in that desk drawer and put it in my pocket, just in case.”

  I sent up another message of thanks, this time in honour of vain masseuses. “Good thinking,” I said, shaking my head in an attempt to clear my vision.

  The A.C.C. joined us.

  “Glad you could make it,” I said caustically.

  “Sorry, we had a bit of bother back there but we’ve got them all now.”

  “Good.”

  “How are you feeling, Charlie?” he asked.

  “He needs medical attention,” Kara answered for me.

  “The paramedics are on their way.”

  “You got Garnet, that’s all that counts.”

  “And the drugs,” Bennett said with a grim smile of satisfaction. “He claims to know nothing about them but
he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”

  I grunted, aware that he could afford the best brief. Equally aware how easily such people could cast doubt on even the most cast-iron evidence.

  “Who was with him?” I asked. “He had some important visitor.”

  Bennett sighed. “There wasn’t anyone else. He must have left minutes before we got here.”

  Damn. “Never mind, it was Garnet we wanted.”

  “You have no idea.” He paused, casting a pensive look my way. “Although perhaps you do.”

  “Don’t try to stand up, Charlie,” Kara commanded. “Wait there for the paramedics.”

  “Thank you,” Bennett said to me, bending to shake my hand. “Obviously, as soon as you feel up to it we need to talk.”

  “Of course.”

  “Here comes the ambulance now.”

  I was fussed over and generally assessed, right there on the edge of the car park.

  “You’ll need to spend the night in hospital,” one of the paramedics said.

  “Where’s Gil?” Kara asked.

  “With Mike. What about the kids?”

  “Lily’s watching them.” She chewed her lip.

  “Get the A.C.C. to arrange a lift home for you. I’ll be fine.”

  “No way. Give me that phone.”

  She made a call, closed the phone and grinned. “Right, come on then, let’s get you to the hospital. Lily’s happy to stay with the kids all night so I’m staying with you.” She held up a hand when I made to protest. “No arguments,” she said, clutching my hand as I insisted upon walking to the ambulance. “I’ve always wanted to ride in one of these,” she said to the paramedic. “Can we put the flashing lights on?”

  * * *

  I had cracked ribs, lots of bruising and several stitches in my hand. The X-rays showed no internal damage but I did have concussion. Considering the beating I’d taken, I reckoned I got away lightly. I didn’t want to stay the night in hospital but by the time they’d finished mucking me about, half the night had gone anyway. Plus the pain medication made me sleepy. Even if it hadn’t, I couldn’t have fought Kara when she was in such an intransigent mood. She sat beside my bed the whole time like a lively guardian angel, refusing to let me move a muscle.

  She helped me to eat my breakfast the next morning by consuming half of it herself and reliving the activities of the night before.

  “So even if they do charge Garnet with drug possession and distribution, his brief could still get him off.” She glowered. “It’s infuriating.”

  I agreed with her. With Kara in that frame of mind it was the only sensible move.

  “And you’re no better off than you were when you went in there,” she grumbled. “Worse really, because you now know Garnet was responsible for Spelling’s murder but can’t prove it.”

  The doctor interrupted her tirade. He took a look at me, chuckled at my blackening eye, told me I was no longer concussed and could go home.

  “Just don’t get into any more brawls for a while,” he advised. “At least not until those ribs have healed. Keep them strapped as tight as you can stand.”

  We got out of there sharpish and took a cab back to the boat.

  “What about the children?”

  “Lily will take them to school along with her two,” she said. “That’s what neighbours are for. I’ve done the same for her once or twice.”

  “Okay. And Gil will have to stay with Mike for a while. We’ll stop by and tell him on our way.”

  “On our way where?”

  “After a shower and change of clothes, we need to stop off at the bungalow and collect the book and then we’re off to the see the A.C.C. He said he’d send a car to your place.”

  “So I should think.” She sniffed. “It’s the least he can do.”

  * * *

  We were shown straight into Bennett’s office. He offered up coffee, which we accepted, and asked me how I was.

  “I’ll live,” I said.

  “There’s no permanent damage,” Kara told him. “Apparently he has a hard head.”

  Bennett chuckled. So did Kara. I didn’t get the joke myself.

  “Garnet’s lawyered up and isn’t saying a word,” he told us, sobering.

  “Well, there’s a surprise.”

  “But he won’t slip out of this one.”

  “And you’re not frightened—”

  Bennett looked me squarely in the eye. “I take it you know what he was doing.”

  “I pretty much guessed.”

  “I was an idiot for going anywhere near the man. I knew he was nothing more than a thug in a Savile Row suit.” He pummelled his forehead with a closed fist. “There’s no fool like an old fool.”

  “Well, if it’s any consolation, he fooled a lot of people.”

  “Not much, no. I hated what I’d become because of him.”

  “Had you actually given him anything you shouldn’t have?”

  “No, but I knew the day would come when I had to make that decision,” he said with refreshing candour. “And I decided a couple of days ago that I just couldn’t do it. I came clean to my wife about what happened.” He let out a mirthless chuckle. “After all that agonising about her reaction she didn’t turn a hair. She just said she thought that sort of thing happened all the time at those places and knew I wasn’t to blame. She was more worried about how it might affect my career.”

  She was right to be so but he didn’t need me to tell him that. “So, now’s the time he’ll try and call in that favour. Make you have evidence magically disappear, stuff like that.”

  “He can try but it won’t happen.”

  And I could tell from the light of determination in his eye that it wouldn’t.

  “How did you get involved with him, Charlie?”

  I told him about Cleo. He listened without once interrupting, appearing to remember the case.

  “And Garnet admitted to Charlie that his goon killed Spelling,” Kara said. “But we’ve got no way of proving it.”

  “If we could, that would certainly seal Garnet’s fate.”

  “Oh, I think I can help you there.”

  Two heads swivelled to look at me. “What do you mean?” Bennett asked.

  I extracted a thick pen from the inside pocket of my jacket and waved it under Bennett’s nose. “Fortunately Garnet’s minions don’t know how to do a proper search.”

  “What is it?” Kara asked.

  “Unless I’m much mistaken,” Bennett answered, “it’s a digital pen recorder.”

  “Right.”

  Kara’s face lit up. “And it recorded everything Garnet said to you about Spelling’s murder.”

  “Sound and pictures. I let my jacket fall open, made sure the camera was pointing toward him and let him hang himself.” I flashed a brief smile. “He ain’t the only one to make good use of spyware.”

  “Where did you get it?” Bennett asked.

  “Off the record?” I asked. He nodded. “Someone we put away for hacking into his MP’s email.”

  “Why would he want to do that?” Kara mused.

  “The guy had pissed him off and he wanted to make a point. Deliberately left a trail that led straight back to him so he could have his day in court. Someone here wanted to pin other unsolved crimes of that nature on the guy and I made sure that didn’t happen.”

  Bennett slowly nodded. We both knew I was talking about Slater.

  “Anyway, the guy’s owed me a favour ever since.”

  Kara grinned. “How do we view what’s on there?”

  I unscrewed the pen and showed her the memory stick inside. “It even works as a proper pen,” I told her, demonstrating. “Once we’ve attached the stick to a computer we use this little disc to read
everything on it.”

  I held my breath, worried now that it might not work and that I’d suffered in vain. Fortunately that didn’t prove to be the case. The picture was a bit grainy and jumped whenever Glover walloped me, but the sound was spot-on. The three of us watched it in stunned silence. When it came to an end Bennett was the first to speak.

  “What made him think you had that book?” he asked.

  “I don’t think he knew for sure but I’d been to see Miller and could have lifted it then.”

  “So could anyone else who’d been in his office.”

  “True, but when he caught me breaking into his club he knew I’d never work for him and wouldn’t have let me walk out of there alive. So when he suggested I had the book I denied it in a way that implied just the opposite. That’s what kept me alive.”

  “You really are tired of living, aren’t you,” Kara said, looking really angry. “What an idiotic thing to do.”

  “Hey, we survived, didn’t we?”

  “More by luck than your good judgment.”

  She had me there. I produced the book that had caused so much trouble from my inside pocket and slapped it down in front of Bennett. “It’s all yours now,” I told him.

  “Okay,” he said flipping through the pages. “I know you won’t tell me where you got it from and it’s probably better if I don’t know. But perhaps you can tell me what’s in it to cause Garnet so much stress.”

  “It’s written in a sort of shorthand. Just initials and cryptic notes about his meetings with his various clients. Kara and I could make educated guesses about some of it but didn’t find anything especially incriminating. My guess is that Garnet laundered his drug money through his nightclubs and there’s something in there about the offshore accounts where he’s got it tucked away.”

  “Could well be,” Bennett agreed. “I’ll get our experts to give it the treatment. I’m sure we’ll find whatever he’s trying to hide.”

  “Garnet’s brief will try and get any information you glean thrown out on the grounds that the book was illegally obtained,” I warned Bennett.

  “He’s welcome to try,” Bennett said, clearly spoiling for a fight. It was revenge time and he planned to enjoy every minute of it. “But before he even gets to hear about it, I think we’ll show it to Glover and see if he wants to do a deal.”