by Mark Timlin
‘Well, whatever,’ I replied. ‘I’ll leave you alone now.’ I stood up. ‘Mr Lees, thank you for your time. Rajah, let’s go.’
Caroline stood up and stalked out before us and upstairs to her room without a word of farewell.
John Lees shook his head. ‘Sorry,’ he said.
‘Don’t mention it,’ I replied. ‘Thanks again for your time.’ And with that Rajah and I went back to the car.
‘What do you think?’ he asked.
‘Dunno,’ I replied. ‘You know what it’s like when you’re their age.’
‘I can’t remember,’ he said, started the car and headed it back into the direction of central Manchester.
39
My meeting with Khan and his sons didn’t go much better. In fact it didn’t go at all. It was at Deepak, the eldest’s restaurant. I decided it was better if Melanie stayed back at the hotel. She moaned and groaned, but I reminded her of our narrow escape the previous evening. ‘You stay here,’ I said. ‘Get room service. Watch TV. I won’t be long and we’ll be back in London tomorrow.’
‘Thank God for that,’ she said. ‘I’m fed up with this place.’
‘Me too. I’ve never felt so unwelcome for years.’
‘You amaze me.’
‘Funny.’
‘And what about Paul and Meena?’
‘I think I’m going to bow out. There’s something smells bad here, and it isn’t the chicken vindaloo.’
‘Maybe it’s best, Nick. I think I was wrong keeping on at you to take the case.’
‘Now she tells me,’ I said.
Rajah picked me up in the Merc at seven. The restaurant was located on what the locals call the Curry Mile. It was neither as large or as salubrious as the one where Melanie and I had met Khan. And there were no stars of the silver screen sampling the onion bhajis, or for that matter outgoing Asians in pastel outfits to greet us. This time Rajah parked the car and accompanied me inside. ‘Hungry?’ I asked.
He just shrugged.
The place was in semi-darkness and there was a closed sign on the door. Rajah let us in with a set of keys and locked the door behind us. The place was empty, some tables set for meals and some not, but the usual sitar music was playing softly and I could smell food cooking. There was a table for six laid at the back of the restaurant where the single light came from and Rajah led me straight there. Khan and two young Asians were already in situ.
Khan introduced us. Deepak was heavily built with a beard and his brother Sanjay was slim and lithesome with a thin moustache like Clark Gable, but there the similarity ended.
Rajah and I joined the trio and a solitary waiter appeared from further back in the darkness. The whole deal was beginning to get to me. I felt I was being set up in some way, not for the first time since the whole affair started, and I didn’t like it. After asking my preference Deepak called for beer for me and water for the rest.
‘So have you had any success on your visit here, Mr Sharman?’ he asked when the drinks had been served.
‘Not much. I managed to escape being run down by a car last night and I asked a few people questions they weren’t prepared to answer, that’s all.’
‘Is that where you got the black eye?’ asked Sanjay.
‘No. That was Paul Jeffries’ brother. He thought I was trying to strong-arm his mother. Like you and your brother did.’
Sanjay gave me a dirty look with his dark brown eyes.
‘What car?’ interrupted Khan the elder.
‘Didn’t you tell your boss about my lucky escape?’ I asked Rajah. ‘That was a bit remiss of you. Someone tried to kill me and Melanie last night with the sharp end of a motor. They damn nearly succeeded too.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me about this?’ demanded Khan of Rajah.
‘A scally probably,’ he replied offhandedly.
I wasn’t going to argue. It was pointless. Instead I directed my attention back to Khan’s sons.
‘It’s been suggested to me that you don’t want Meena back at all,’ I said.
‘What do you mean?’ demanded Deepak.
‘I mean that I’ve heard that you only want her found so that you can kill her and Paul.’
Deepak exploded in a burst of laughter. ‘Kill my own sister? What nonsense. Who told you that?’
‘Paul’s mother, for one. And Meena’s friend Caroline Lees this morning. I’m sure Rajah’s passed that nugget of information on.’
‘Rubbish,’ said Sanjay. ‘Of course we want her back. Besides, who was going to kill them, may I enquire?’
I cocked my hand like a gun in Rajah’s direction. ‘How about this big fella here? Isn’t that why he’s been with me all the time? Normally I carry out my investigations alone.’
‘Apart from your charming assistant, of course,’ said Khan. ‘By the way, where is she tonight?’
‘Back at the hotel,’ I said. ‘I felt it was safest after what happened last night. Accidents can come in pairs.’
‘So what do you intend to do?’ he asked.
‘I intend to go back to London tomorrow, work out how much these last few days have cost you, deduct it from the money you gave me and return the rest. I want no part of this.’
‘Chickening out?’ asked Sanjay.
I was getting to dislike that boy intensely. If he didn’t get out of my sight soon, or me out of his, I was going to have to attempt cosmetic surgery with my right hand. ‘No,’ I replied as gently as possible. ‘But I’ll have nothing to do with murder.’
‘I’ve heard you’ve had a great deal to do with murder in the past,’ said Khan.
‘Been making enquiries?’ I asked. ‘Who imparted that bit of information, pray?’
‘Some policemen friends of mine.’
‘Nice friends you’ve got.’
‘Useful.’
‘But not at getting your daughter back.’
‘They’ve been close.’
‘But not close enough, obviously. Maybe you aren’t paying them enough.’
‘Sufficient.’
‘Then I’ll leave them and you to it.’
‘Very well, Mr Sharman,’ said Khan. ‘Please yourself.’
‘I will,’ I said and got up from my seat.
‘You’re not leaving,’ said Khan.
‘You wanna bet?’
Then it got nasty. Both Deepak and Sanjay reached under their jackets and produced shiny 9mm pistols and in tandem pulled back the hammers with the nasty little oily clicks they make. ‘Not without our father’s permission,’ said Deepak.
‘You want to be careful,’ I said with more bravado than I felt. ‘Those things can go off.’
‘So they can, Mr Sharman,’ said Sanjay. ‘And I think it’s you that needs to be careful.’
Shit, I thought. So this is what it comes down to. Shot dead in a sleazy little northern curry house and probably ending up in the meat korma. To live and die in Manchester. I looked down and said to him, ‘Do you really think I need anyone’s permission to go when I want to?’
‘In this case, yes,’ he replied.
‘Then think again, buddy,’ I said and turned on my heel and walked away from the table with muscular spasms running up and down my back.
‘The door’s locked,’ Deepak said as I went.
‘Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage,’ I said as I went, quoting To Lucasta, Going Beyond the Seas by Richard Lovelace 1618–1657. Strange what you pick up in a long and interesting life. On the way I picked up a chair. It had a wooden frame painted gold with a purple plush seat but it felt solid enough and it was. Solid enough to smash the glass out of the door and let me walk through, much to the amazement of a passing couple on the way to a night out. ‘They didn’t want me to go until I’d finished all my supper,’ I said to them as I dropped the rema
ins of the chair on to the pavement, but they said nothing in reply. No one from inside the restaurant said or did anything either.
Luckily I saw a Manchester taxi outside with its roof light on and hailed it. I was back at the hotel within twenty minutes and went straight to the room still shaking. The door was locked. I knocked and after a second Mel’s voice said, ‘Who is it?’
‘It’s me. Let me in.’
The door cracked and she said, ‘Are you alone?’
‘Absolutely. What’s the matter?’
She pulled the door all the way and I went in. ‘What is it?’ I said.
She pointed and for the first time I noticed a figure sitting in the armchair by the little dining table.
It was Caroline Lees.
40
‘What’s she doing here?’ I said, rather brusquely, I’ve got to own up. But I was pissed off. It had been a lousy day, a rotten week, an unspeakable year and I was pretty fed up with the whole kit and caboodle of my life. Caroline Lees hadn’t been exactly pleasant to me when I saw her on her ground that morning. Now she was on mine why should I be any different to her? Besides it’s easier to beat up on a teenage girl and get away with it than it would’ve been to win a punch-up with the Khan clan and Rajah at the restaurant. I was still smarting from my little run-in with them and I needed a target. I felt I’d let myself down walking out like I did. And I’d let down Meena and Paul.
At least I should’ve hit someone.
‘She came looking for you and found me,’ said Melanie. ‘And don’t be so horrible.’
‘If this is about Meena you’re too late,’ I said to Caroline who looked much smaller here than in her house. She was wearing a little minidress with sheer dark tights and Doc Martens, and a dark blue coat was draped over the back of her chair. In front of her was a can of Diet Coke and a glass with a couple of cubes of ice melting in the bottom.
‘Why?’ she asked in a tiny voice. I swear she was frightened of me and that didn’t make me feel any better.
‘Because I just quit,’ I explained in a softer voice. ‘I finally met Meena’s brothers and was not impressed.’
‘Thank God,’ said Caroline.
‘How’s that?’ I asked.
‘I lied today when I saw you.’
‘Big surprise,’ I replied. ‘You and just about everybody else I’ve met lately.’
‘Nick,’ said Melanie harshly. ‘Don’t be so vile. Why don’t you listen to what Caroline has to say?’
‘Sorry,’ I said wearily and I was. Sorry and weary and ready to go home and forget everything about the Khan case. I sat on the bed and washed my face with dry hands. My eyes felt like they were full of grit and all I wanted to do was to fall back on to the mattress and sleep for a week.
But I didn’t. I blinked a couple of times and smiled at Caroline. ‘OK,’ I said. ‘Tell me everything.’
41
Caroline poured some more Coke into her glass and took a sip. ‘I don’t know where to start,’ she said.
I sat forward on the bed, put my elbows on my knees and looked at her in what I hoped was a sympathetic and understanding way. ‘At the beginning is best,’ I said. ‘Go on to the end, then stop. If I’ve got any questions I’ll ask them then. Is that OK?’
She nodded meekly.
‘Go on then,’ I said.
‘I knew about Meena and Paul from the beginning,’ she explained. ‘Meena couldn’t talk to any of her Asian friends or relatives. They’d’ve told Mr Khan. But I was telling the truth about one thing this morning. They do want to kill Meena and Paul.’
I heard a sharp intake of breath from Melanie.
‘I couldn’t tell you anything in front of my dad and Rajah. Dad’s terrified of Mr Khan. Frightened he’ll lose his job. He’ll never get another. Not as good anyway. That’s why I came here. You knew, didn’t you?’
I nodded. ‘I knew you were hiding something.’
‘That’s why you told me you were staying here, isn’t it?’
I smiled and nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Did you think I’d get in touch?’
‘I hoped you would.’
‘I’m supposed to be at a party. That’s how I got out tonight. I’ll get into terrible trouble if Dad finds out.’
‘Then we won’t let him. Find out I mean,’ I said. ‘Carry on about Meena.’
‘She didn’t want it to happen with Paul,’ she continued. ‘She just wanted to be friends. But something happened and she fell in love with him. He’s older and a bit rough, but he really cares for Meena. She was a virgin until…’ She hesitated.
‘Until what?’ I said, fearing some further catastrophe.
‘… Until they got married,’ said Caroline quietly.
The words hung in the air like smoke. ‘Jesus,’ I said. ‘Legally married?’
She nodded.
‘That’ll put the cat amongst the pigeons. Khan won’t be pleased.’
‘Meena’s terrified,’ said Caroline. ‘Especially now she’s pregnant.’
‘Pregnant too,’ I said, getting up, going to the minibar and freeing a beer from its chilly sentence inside. ‘That’s terrific.’
‘I spoke to Meena tonight,’ said Caroline. ‘She knows all about you.’
‘How?’
‘From Paul’s mother. They’ve spoken on the phone. You went to see her. She liked you. She said you told off the man in the corner shop. He was spying on her for Mr Khan. Now he won’t look at her.’
‘Well, that’s something,’ I said. ‘Mrs Jeffries told me lies too. She said she hadn’t heard from them.’
‘Did you really expect her to tell you?’ said Caroline with an understanding that surprised me.
‘No,’ I replied. ‘In fact I was surprised she let me through the door.’
‘She said you had a kind face.’
‘It’s my fortune,’ I replied. ‘Maybe that’s why I’m broke.’
Caroline laughed.
‘So where are they?’ I asked.
‘I can’t tell you. Not yet.’
‘When?’
‘When you promise to help Meena.’
‘I don’t know if I can make that promise. I was hired by her father.’
‘And now you’ve left. You said that.’
‘That’s right.’
‘And Melanie told me you hated this job. That you were more on Meena’s side than Mr Khan’s.’
‘Thanks, Mel,’ I said.
‘So help Meena,’ Caroline pressed.
‘What can I do?’
‘Get them somewhere safe so she can have her baby in peace.’
‘I’m just one person,’ I said. ‘What about the police? The social services?’
‘They’ve been to them… They’re no good… Every time they think they’re safe Mr Khan finds out and they have to run away again… You don’t know him… He’s got people everywhere who owe him…’ She suddenly seemed much older than her years. ‘You don’t understand how powerful he is… And her brothers…’ She hesitated again. ‘… They’re evil… Tied up with all sorts of bad men up here…Asian gangs… They’re the worst of the lot… They’ll do anything and the police don’t touch them… I know from Dad…That’s why he’s so scared… More of the brothers than Mr Khan… They want her and Paul dead… If you can’t help them no one can… Meena says that Paul’s mum found out about you… You’ve helped people before… Please do it for Meena… Or if not for her for the baby…The baby never hurt anyone…’ She was almost in tears, and I knew what bravery it had been for this girl, not much more than a baby herself, to come to me. And I hoped that if my own daughter went to a stranger and begged for his help that he would help her.
I found my cigarettes in my pocket and lit one, and against my better judgement I cast the die. ‘OK,’ I said. ‘I’ll
do what I can, but I can’t promise.’
42
‘So where is she?’ I asked.
‘Moving around, from bed and breakfast to bed and breakfast.’
‘Where right now? When she phoned you?’
‘In a place called Cubitt Town. It sounds funny to me. Do you know it?’
‘It’s on the Isle of Dogs. East London.’ Jesus, I thought. That’s where I’d been looking when I went to visit the graves of Dawn, Daisy and Tracey that afternoon after seeing Paul Jeffries’ mother. Over to the Isle of Dogs. Maybe Meena had been looking back at me.
‘That sounds funny too,’ said Caroline. ‘Do dogs live there?’
‘Long story. I’ll tell you one day. Not many dogs, but there’s a lot of Asians there.’
‘She’s running out of places to go. And she says that she stays indoors a lot. Paul does the shopping. When she does go out she wears a veil.’
‘Good idea.’
‘She wants to meet you,’ said Caroline.
‘I don’t know what I can do. Surely now she’s married and pregnant her family will leave her alone, if she tells them.’
‘She said it’ll be worse.’
‘Shit,’ I said under my breath. ‘When?’ I asked out loud.
‘As soon as possible.’
‘We’ll be going back to London tomorrow,’ I said. ‘I can meet her Monday. You’ve got my home and office numbers on that card. Give them to her and get one of them to call me.’
‘You won’t tell her father?’
‘Hardly. We didn’t part on the best of terms. I ended up nearly giving him a smack. Or one of the brothers, or Rajah, or all of them. But I thought it better to just leave, I’ve been knocked about enough for now.’ I touched my eye. ‘No, I won’t be telling anyone.’
‘Not even if he were to give you a lot of money? He would if he knew.’
‘He’s already given me a lot of money. I’m going to send most of it back. I promise you Caroline that I won’t tell. I don’t give my word and then go back on it. Well, not often anyway, and not in this case. I’ll see Meena and Paul and try to do what I can to help. But tell her when you speak to her, I don’t think it’ll be much. Why doesn’t she get out of the country?’