Play With Fire

by Solomon Carter

  “If we’re going to catch this guy I’d better concentrate,” said Eva, her eyes hanging onto the Kia’s tail lights already far ahead. “And Lauren, wherever he’s going, when we get there, no drama and no arguments. I’ll need you to do exactly as I say. Understand?”

  Lauren frowned, and looked ready to argue. Eva stopped her in her tracks.

  “We’re on our own here against a professional. I’ll protect you, but only if you let me. Understand?”

  Lauren raised an eyebrow.

  “Why isn’t Dan here, eh?” she said. “You could have brought him along for this one. Three versus one might have been a wise move.”

  “Since when did you want anyone but me working this case? Besides… Dan’s busy,” said Eva in a half truth. “I know you didn’t want him along, Lauren. And neither did I.”

  “No? Why not?” said Lauren, with a hint of a smile. Eva sensed mischief at work behind her eyes.

  “Just a feeling it’ll be safer that way,” said Eva. She looked away.

  Lauren smiled and looked out of the window.

  “Yes, I suppose it’s for the best.” They drove on in silence while Eva couldn’t help wondering what was going through Lauren’s mind. At the same time, she really didn’t want to know.

  ***

  The Sportage slowed to a crawl as it reached a wide road of big detached houses with driveways and mock Tudor facades. Most of the houses were dark and silent, the city workers having already turned in for a night’s sleep before the next day’s work. Eva slowed the Alfa as she turned a corner after the Sportage, trying her best to stay back and not get noticed. Which was proving difficult. It was getting late and the roads were beginning to clear of traffic. But thankfully, there were still a couple of cars crawling between them. They were in Romford, part of the London Borough of Havering, a forty-five minute race from the suburbs of Hadleigh. Romford was notionally in the same part of the world as Southend, once part of Essex before it joined London, but for Eva, Romford felt almost as alien as any of the other London boroughs with signs of London everywhere. Multi-lane roads, red buses, London transport signs, black Addison Lee taxis speeding along and the odd traditional black cab.

  They continued to crawl along as they passed the large houses which had to be valued at well over the five hundred mark. No matter what they cost, they weren’t for Eva. The city girl she had been once was long gone now. These days she needed the wide estuary views almost as much as her coffee and wine. And beyond the town itself, the patchwork of fields and woodland outside of Southend helped keep her sane. Just about. Eva noticed Lauren’s hands, fidgeting in her lap. The woman was doing anything she could to discharge the angst she felt inside. Eva wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure.

  “This doesn’t feel right,” Lauren explained. “They’ve really got me on the run. I’m not used to that. I’ve always been in charge. I hired you because I wanted to turn the tables on him.”

  “That’s what we’re doing, Lauren.”

  “Are we? Following this killer here – we’re in his territory now, not ours.”

  “Don’t panic now. We must do this. Besides, who says there’ll be a confrontation? He might lock himself away, but at least we’ll know where he lives. That’d be something. We’ll have to see if we can learn more.”

  “No. Collecting evidence won’t cut it. I’m scared, but I can’t back down from this man. Not now we’re here. We do that, Jamie wins sooner or later. Eva, don’t think you can talk your way out of this one. You want evidence, but what I want is to stay alive.”

  “Evidence will keep you alive long term.. When we end up facing Blane again, he’ll know we’ve got him.”

  “I know what you’re capable of, Eva, but you’ve not used those skills for me so far. Why do you keep holding back? The price of my past sins, I suppose.”

  Eva frowned. “Our past has no bearing on this, especially here and now.”

  Eva’s words rang hollow, and she knew it. She added something more to hide the fact.

  “Keep the faith, Lauren.”

  They followed a trickle of local traffic around another corner. One of the cars between them peeled away into a side street, and suddenly there was only one car between them.

  “He’s going to see us, Eva. What will we do then?”

  “I’m pretty sure he hasn’t seen us yet. But he is getting slower. He must be almost home.”

  “He’ll be armed. Are you?” said Lauren.

  Eva saw the familiar glint in Lauren’s eyes and hoped it was fear. Fear was better than chicanery.

  “No,” she lied. Dan’s small blade still occupied a corner at the bottom of her handbag. It wasn’t much, but guns were hard to come by, and Eva didn’t want the risk. With Lauren, a gun was dangerous to all concerned. Best she didn’t know about the knife, either, not unless it was absolutely necessary.

  Lauren shook her head.

  “This isn’t about killing our enemies, Lauren. It’s about getting the right result.”

  If that’s your attitude we shouldn’t have come here. We should have gone straight to Jamie, to confront him. That way we could have stopped this at the root before the man takes us down.”

  “When we face Blane, we’ll have so much information on him, he’ll have no choice but to back down. Stay calm, Lauren, that’s what I need from you right now.”

  They turned a corner onto a shabby looking street. No big houses here. Instead there was a terrace of small houses and flats on one side, and a dark patch of park with playground on the other. On their left a telephone box stood next to a bus stop, occupied by a group of smoking teenagers. Eva watched the teens passing a joint between them without a care in the world. Not far ahead the Sportage’s brake lights flashed red. The white car halted and made an abrupt left turn, bumping up over the kerb, before it disappeared into a small gap between two white fronted buildings. Eva looked at the buildings either side. One was residential. A small block of two flats. The other was a rundown shop. There was a buckled metal shutter pulled down over the shop window, a few graffiti tags and obscenities sprayed across it. Eva slowed and passed the gap where the Sportage had pulled in. In the shadows at the end of the gap, she saw the big white car bathed in shadow. She heard the car door clunk shut.

  “He’s on the move.” She pulled up sharply at the edge of the street, dumping the car at the kerb. There was no time to look for a space. The man needed following before they lost him. There would be no traffic wardens this time of night, though cameras meant she might still get a ticket, but she left the car where it was. Lauren got out and looked around, wide eyed. She hugged herself, either the evening chill or nervousness. “Now you look the part,” said Eva, attempting to lighten the mood. Lauren didn’t smile, and Eva’s own nerves were kicking in. She had to face this without Dan’s help. No matter what happened, Dan was too far away to call for help. Eva steeled herself. She’d coped with danger many times before, but in all those times she’d never had the problem of Lauren Jaeger at her side.

  “What now?” said Lauren. Eva walked to the kerb and locked the car behind her. Lauren joined her as Eva’s eyes trailed up the corner of the shop front. The place said it was a computer shop, according to the sign. But the signage looked dirty and dated. No telling if the shop was still trading or not. The Sportage was parked directly behind it, with half the car visible from the street, and the driver had seemed to walk behind the shop. Eva’s eyes flitted to the windows of the first floor, but they remained dark. Instead a yellow light flicked on somewhere at the back of the property, casting a wash of pale light across the wooden garden fences and the white car behind.

  “He’s in there,” said Eva.

  “I thought he never left my mother’s street.”

  “Only when you were sleeping.. Stay behind me, keep out of his sight at all costs.”

  “You’ve got no worries on that score. I’m not in the mood to catch a bullet,” said Lauren, her eyes still darting around the street
.

  Eva started to walk towards the gap. Her feet were quiet, and she was glad to hear Lauren’s were too, her high heels traded in for a pair of sporty trainers with thick soles. In the gap between the buildings, the pavement gave way to gravel. Eva stayed close to the dirty wall, her breathing light and quiet, while Lauren gasped behind her. She felt the woman looking over her shoulder close behind. Eva sensed her panic.

  Eva reached the corner of the back wall. She blinked and checked around in the darkness, but saw no obvious signs of security cameras. She was fairly sure she would spot them if they were there. The white car’s engine was ticking as it cooled from the aggressive forty-five minute drive. At times, they’d barely been able to keep up, but the traffic lights as they got closer to London had saved them time and again. Eva paused to listen, to take a breath and calm her nerves.

  “What’s up?” said Lauren, her voice rasping into Eva’s ear.

  Eva turned and put her finger to her mouth before edging forwards. Just around the corner the light was much brighter. She saw it spilling onto a concrete yard, a hint of a shadowy shape moving within the glow cast on the ground.

  “He’s in there, just the other side of this wall…” said Eva.

  The thought made her heart pump harder still. She hoped Lauren wouldn’t mess up or try to force her hand. The backyard was tiny and ended with a jagged concrete edge, where a fence had once been, but had been probably been torn out to maximise the parking area. Eva watched the shadow move on the concrete. She heard a definite cough. A moment later she heard a faint beeping sound. It sounded familiar. The sound of dialling on a mobile or a cordless home phone. He was calling someone. But Eva wanted more. She wanted a visual. She wanted to see the man she had been looking for ever since The Perryman.

  But one misstep and they would be exposed to an armed gunman.

  Take your time, Eva. One step at a time. Listen. The man coughed again and Eva heard another familiar noise. Fingers raking quickly over a computer keyboard. The man was typing something, perhaps filing a report for Blane, maybe making a note of things he’d learned during the day. But without getting a visual Eva would never know… and she had to know. She watched the shadow moving on the concrete, watched it disappear from view, and heard the man’s voice fade as his call was answered. He’d left the room. Which meant she had an opportunity. Eva poked her head into the small yard, peering across at another section of wall which protruded from the building beside the lit window. The protrusion seemed to house another part of the building. She imagined there was another back window hidden on the other side, and if he was in that room there was a chance he would see her shadow. But, gaining new information seemed more important than the risks. Eva swallowed, checked the pale light cast on the concrete and decided to gamble.

  “Eva?” said Lauren.

  “Just stay back. I need to do this.” Eva rounded the corner and found herself looking directly into the glow of a small, dingy back room. Lauren leaned around the corner after her, big eyed and frightened as hell. Eva raised a hand to say, ‘stay back, calm down,’ and Lauren gave a nod. before Eva looked in through the dirty glass of an old sash window. The upper pane was cracked. No wonder the sound from within had been so crystal clear. Eva looked at the computer screen, which directly faced the back window. It belonged to a large laptop, white and stylishly shaped. Probably an Apple or a copy. Eva struggled to read the small text on screen, but it couldn’t be done. The text was visible but obscured by grime and distance. Inside, the man’s gruff voice grew louder by degrees until a shadow filled the hall corridor doorway. Eva pulled back around the neighbouring wall, keeping her eyes on the window as she moved. She saw a folder on the man’s desk, full of papers, and a cork pinboard on the wall beside the laptop. The pinboard was graced by a few scribbled Post-it notes in different colours. On the top corner of the corkboard was a small photograph. The edges suggested it had been cut from another larger photograph. It was definitely an image of Lauren. Lauren looking happy and bright and serene… probably from during the happier, early days with Blane, whenever they were. Eva’s heart beat faster. Their man was in the corridor, little more than a shadow, and he still hadn’t walked into the room. The open folder displayed a few unreadable documents –some looking like computer printouts. And alongside those, clipped at the front was another image of the same familiar face. But something was different. Eva angled her head to gain a better vantage point. The folder image was very different to the happier photo of a fuller-faced Lauren taken in her recent prime. And something about the image jarred her. The face was pale, Lauren’s hair seemed lank and her face was hard and unsmiling. It reminded Eva of a modern passport photograph. Emotionless, dead. It was too far away to see more.

  But there could be no further doubt about it. This man was their hunter – he was hunting Lauren Jaeger, and this was his home base – the place where he plotted, researched, and planned. Eva leaned past the corner, just by a notch, and her eyes took in the man’s face. He was leaning against the corridor wall, still swathed in shadow, phone pressed to his ear. Eva looked at his dark eyebrows, his hair combed back but parted at one side. The over-thick wedges of dark hair above his ears. He looked like an American TV show host, but there was no matching smile. His voice was gruff. Eva studied his face and tuned into his words.

  “What do you mean by that?” said the man. In his other hand he held a bottle of malt whisky and a chunky glass tumbler. He walked into the office and dumped both items beside the open file. He uncorked the bottle one-handed and poured himself a very large measure of amber liquid then snatched up the glass, sipping and making a satisfied grimace as he listened to the reply.

  “That’s no good to me. That means I’ve just wasted three whole days. Three days I could have been doing something else. Another job, going fishing, taking a holiday. Whatever. What is it with you? You’ve never been able to see this one through. She’s your weak spot. Everyone has one. She’s yours.”

  The man was quiet while the other person spoke. The man at the other hand had to be Blane. And when Lauren peered at Eva from the corner of the opposite wall, Eva saw she had guessed the same.

  “Look, you’re the client. I couldn’t care less who you’re shacked up with these days. But you’ve been stringing this one out for a year already. To be honest, I don’t care how you waste your own time, but this is me. This is my time. And wasting my time has a price. Hey! What? Hang on. What do you mean by that?”

  The man’s tone of voice had changed completely. His anger now had an added edge of panic. His thick eyebrows dipped low over his eyes.

  “Your emails? What? Who did? Well, what the hell does any of that have to do with me?! Oh, no. Don’t tell me that. Don’t you dare tell me that. For a smart guy, Blane, you do some very, very dumb things.”

  The man looked furious and Eva knew he was talking about the emails. The emails she had accessed.

  Now the man was almost shouting. He downed the whisky and poured himself another. “I told you then, didn’t I? I warned you to never use my name. You’ve put me at risk! You deleted them? So? What does that mean…? It’s gone. But someone might have already put two and two together. It doesn’t alter the fact – someone could know!”

  The man cursed under his breath. He picked up his drink and drained another half glass before thumping the tumbler back down on his desk.

  “What now? Is it all off? Is it?! I’m warning you. Once you cancel on me, this job doesn’t come back. And neither do I.. You’ll be done wasting my time, and that puts a black mark against your name. Understand?”

  Silence. The man frowned and picked at a paperclip in the folder beside his computer. As he picked up the papers, he tilted the folder in his hand, and Eva saw the sullen, sunken-cheeked version of Lauren clearly through the glass. Her face was almost grey, her eyes bleary. There was no make-up in sight. It was a younger version of the woman, during a phase of her life when Eva hadn’t known her. In her twenties perhaps? Or
her late teens? Hard to be sure. The man dumped the folder back on the desk and sank down into his chair. He folded his arms and stared at his computer screen as he continued his conversation. It suddenly occurred to Eva that the man might have been able to see something of her movements reflected in his screen, or on his phone, or in the glass. The effect of the shadows and street lamps could work both ways… He’d gone quiet too, either listening to Blane at the other end, or perhaps planning to turn and surprise her. Eva edged out of sight and heard the squeal of the man’s office chair. She was sure the man had turned to take a look out of the window. She was grateful to see a bushy tailed tabby cat making its way along the top of the back fence. It was surely visible from the window and she hoped the man would blame the cat for whatever had attracted his attention.

  “Tell you what. I’ll do you a favour. I’ll allow you a cooling-off period, like all good businesses do these days. Which means I’ll still be on the job for the next forty-eight hours, okay? You’re going to have to pay up anyway, so it won’t matter if I stay a little longer. But if I haven’t heard from you by then, I’ll walk away, end of story. This is me doing you a favour, understand. Because somehow, I get the feeling you’ll be calling me again one day.”

  “Bastard,” Eva muttered under her breath.

  She leaned round the corner again and watched the guy thumb his phone to end the call. He put the phone in his shirt pocket, picked up the remnants of his whisky and drank it down in one. Eva watched him, gauging the man. She supposed he was still churning the phone call over in his head. She watched the man’s strained face as he poured himself another drink. This time, he poured a smaller measure, then pushed his computer chair against the desk with an air of finality. He walked out of the room with the bottle in hand, leaving the light on behind him. A moment later, a light clicked on in another room, the faintest pale glow emanating from somewhere within, but the room seemed in a distant part of the building. Eva’s eyes flicked to the screen as it blinked out to power saver mode. It was a while since the man had touched the keyboard, but Eva knew the touch of a single key would revive the machine and show her what he had been working on. Then there was all that other information lying around. Information which would damn the hitman and probably Blane too… Perhaps she would learn more about Lauren too. Not the one of Joanne’s imagination and not the girl, she remembered either. The real one. Eva felt herself biting her bottom lip, and realised she had to get at that paperwork. She had to know. It was another risk – a risk beyond the one they had taken already. But what else had she come here for, other than the truth?