by Sam Fintz
Next, he prepared a little envelope with 1500 Euros which he would give to Anne with her ticket and then he called his friend at the Marisa Hotel. He booked a room for her for a week and arranged a car to pick her up at the airport. The cash he had for her would more than cover that and leave her a few Euros to spend while she waited for him to arrive. With that sorted he didn’t feel so bad. At worst she would have her first holiday abroad, even though it wouldn’t end as she had hoped.
That was all he needed to do for now. It was only 9 a.m. and he was ahead of schedule. He went upstairs and found his wife in her gown at the dining table, smoking a cigarette.
“Good morning sleepy head,” he said to her.
“Where were you last night?” she asked in a croaky voice. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I was late. I had to help out a friend with something and I didn’t want to wake you. I slept in the basement,” he told her.
“Oh ok. You want something to eat?” she asked.
“No thanks. I went out earlier to get cigarettes and I got a bacon buttie from the corner shop. What you up to today?” he asked.
“Nothing, just some shopping. Can I have some money?” she asked him.
“Ya, of course,” he said. He took out his wallet and gave her six 50’s. Just enough to keep her happy. “You can also use the card if you run out, but that should be enough.”
“Thanks, you are too sweet,” she said and got up to go and get ready. That alone would take a good two hours. He was relieved that she was so easy to please today. He had stuff to do. He sat a while and then went back downstairs to retrieve the money and ticket.
It was nearly time to go and see Anne, so he left. His house was about a mile and a half from Anne’s flat, so he would get there at 11 on the dot. He called out to his wife that he was going as he left his house.
The walk to Anne’s was brisk so when he got to her flat he was slightly out of breath. He waited until he got his breath back and that made it 11 exactly. He buzzed her number, and she let him in. He went up to her flat and when he got there, he found her packed and ready to go and somewhat excited.
“I have a surprise for you,” he told her. “I feel so bad not going with you and I know I will see you there very soon, but I ordered a posh car for you to go to the airport. I have also arranged a car to take you from the airport to the hotel. Also, here is your ticket and this is to pay for the hotel and to buy you a nice dinner.”
“Wow. This is too much. I couldn’t take that,” she said, clearly not used to being spoilt.
“Nonsense, I want to pay for our hotel. It’s booked for a week and we can always extend. Also, I wouldn’t feel right if you had to have a horrible meal on top of all that. It will be quite late when you get there, but the guy at the hotel told me he will point you in the right direction. Anyway, I am sure you haven’t had a chance to go and change money so this means you don’t need to! We are all set. Are you excited?” he asked her.
“I haven’t actually had a chance, you are right. I was going to get some cash at the airport. Am I excited? Yes, yes, I am. I have never felt like this,” she replied and threw her arms around him. There was that lavender again, but luckily not the other smell.
“I have to go now. I need to prepare for my meeting in Berlin. The car will be here at 2, plenty of time to get you there. Have a great flight Anne, I can’t wait to see you in Spain,” he said and kissed her hard.
“Phew, that was hot. I can’t wait either. See you soon,” she said as he left her flat, relieved that he would never have to see this woman again. A man can only take so much of the smell of lavender!
Now to take care of that other one, Andries thought as he got downstairs. He walked around to the bus stop and got the next bus into the city.
Chapter 65
When Andries arrived at Via in the Gay Village, Keith Barras was ready and waiting for him. Andries had told him to dress like a man and Keith had at least tried. Andries could still see some makeup left on his face though.
“Glad to see you are ready. Have you told anyone about this?” Andries asked.
“No Martin, darling. I just said I was off to Skegness for a short break. Don’t want to jinx it, as you said.”
“Good. The car will be here for you at 2. You have the money I gave you and your ticket will be at check-in,” he said.
“Thanks darling,” Keith said. Being called darling by this deviant sent cold shivers down Andries’s spine. He really wasn’t comfortable with it.
“I have to go. It’s all arranged. You will be met at the airport and taken to the club. They have got your accommodation sorted as well,” he told him.
“I wouldn’t have expected any less. You are very efficient, my dear,” he told Andries.
“Ya, you don’t know how efficient,” Andries said, smiling.
“I am all ready for them. Got all my best frocks in here and my wigs in here,” he said pointing at the two large bags next to him.
“And I wouldn’t have expected any less either,” Andries said. “Bye Keith, good luck,” he said and left without another word. The less he had to see this deviant the better for him.
With some of the money Andries had given him the other day, Keith decided to have a goodbye drink and ordered a bottle of cheap wine and some chips. He would really spoil himself as a last hurrah at the airport he decided. The plan was to get pissed. He had been waiting years to be discovered again. It was time for the world to get reacquainted with Candy O’Toole.
When a relieved Andries got out of the Gay Village he decided that he needed to disappear for a few hours. The only way to do that was to go and see his old mate Shabs in Cheetham Hill. Shabs owned a shop on Cheetham Hill Road that from the outside looked like an innocent phone shop, but at the back and upstairs it was anything but. He called Shabs and told him he was on his way.
When Andries got there, he was shown through where he was met by a petite young Asian girl. She took him upstairs where there were around a dozen men smoking, drinking and playing poker. This was the perfect place to disappear and wait for the call to say the two had left the country.
He sat down and ordered £1000 of chips which Shabs himself brought to him.
“How are you my man?” Shabs asked.
“No, cool man. Cool,” he replied. “Let’s do this!”
At around 6, he got the call. The bird had flown the coop was what he was told. He smiled. Job done. £50k earned. He was already £8k up thanks to his unreadable poker face, so he cashed in and left the place the same way he came in. Cheetham Hill Road was busy, so he ordered an Uber. He had had a good few brandies and wasn’t in the mood for a smelly, sweaty bus ride with the great unwashed. The destination he put into the Uber app was Sharon’s pub. Hopefully they could sneak away for a bit of fun. With everything he had achieved today, he had more than earned it.
Chapter 66
At around 9 p.m. flight HAR209 landed at Alicante Airport. Excited beyond belief and somewhat relieved to be back on terra firma, Anne got up from her seat to disembark. She was so happy. She really hoped that her Martin would get there soon. A few rows behind her a drunk Keith Barras was retrieving his large shoulder bag from the overhead locker. He didn’t realise how drunk he was until he stood up. He only just managed to get the bag down without knocking himself out.
The passengers started to disembark. Anne was in the terminal building already when Keith finally showed up. Ironically, they stood right next to each other but had no idea of their connection. When they had retrieved their luggage, Anne and Keith went out to the meeting hall where they were looking for their names on the boards held by the taxi drivers. Anne saw hers and rushed over to the man standing there.
“Hola, Miss Anne? Come I will take you to your hotel,” he said in a heavy Spanish accent. He took her modest bag and they went to find his car.
In the meantime, Keith Barras took a little longer to see the sign with his name on it. In his drunken stupor he ha
d half expected to see the name Candy O’Toole. Finally, he saw it. ‘Keith Barras’ in large letters. He went over to the small man holding the sign and introduced himself. The man took the trolley from him and they walked out to the car.
Again, Anne and Keith had been within feet of one another, but were none the wiser.
When she was in the back of the large SUV, she took out her mobile and called Andries.
He answered quickly, and she told him that she had arrived. He told her that he was pleased and apologised for the noise. He told her he was at a bar at the airport waiting for his flight. He was at a bar, but it was nowhere near the airport.
“That’s ok. I am so happy to be here Martin and I can’t wait for you to get here,” she said.
“Ya, me too. I think for now don’t answer your phone unless I call. You don’t want work to find out where you are! Ooh I have to go. My flight is boarding soon,” he said.
“Ok, good idea. This is our time, Martin. You go and get your flight,” she told him.
“Good girl. Speak soon!” he said and hung up. He was actually getting used to hanging up like that and he quite liked it now.
Anne put her phone away and sat back as the car sped towards Benidorm and her new life. She couldn’t be happier and thoughts of school and being a witness in a few days quickly faded from her mind.
In the other car, Keith Barras lasted until the car had left the airport before he was fast asleep. He didn’t have anyone to call. He had his money and his gig to look forward to. “What else could a person need?” he muttered as he drifted off. The driver watched him in the mirror and laughed to himself. He had done some jobs for the man with the strange accent from England, but this one was the weirdest looking by far. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe the makeup residue. Maybe the saggy eyes. Shrugging, he decided to concentrate on the road as he too sped towards Benidorm.
Back in Manchester, Andries was sitting at the bar nursing his umpteenth brandy. He wasn’t drunk as he had a huge capacity for brandy. He had messaged Mike to say that all was good. Now it was his time, his work was done. Sharon had been busy tonight, but the bar was quietening down. He hoped they would be upstairs by 11 at the latest. Life was good.
Chapter 67
It was the day before the trial and Mike Chalmers was a little on edge. He had all his ducks in a row and had spoken to Tim Harding, the barrister. He had assured him that he was ready to have the case thrown out. The judge was confirmed as the one who he knew wouldn’t tolerate delays or an unprepared case. He told Mike not to worry. It would all be fine as usual.
Mike then called Andries. He was especially relieved to hear that the two witnesses were still safely out the country and the other one was also out of the picture. Andries had checked up on him and he was gone. He assured Mike that he knew David Holmes wouldn’t be back anytime soon after their last encounter. That would really fuck the prosecution over. That new piece of skirt at the CPS would regret the day she took on the case. He laughed to himself about this new trend of women with ambition. He wondered if they would ever remember their place.
Mike then called Aiden to make sure he was ready and to reassure him that it would all be fine.
He then called Max on his secure mobile. He didn’t answer straight away, and this annoyed Mike. He called him back after five minutes.
“Mike, hi, sorry I wasn’t alone. Everything is on target. The evidence will vanish tonight after they have all left. What’s the latest with the witnesses?” he asked.
“Hi. Ok good. They are gone. The less you know about that the better. But the witnesses won’t be a problem. Do they know yet?” he asked.
“Don’t be daft. They haven’t thought to call them to make sure the day before. They spoke to them a few days ago and they said everything was fine and they would be there. Glad to hear you have fixed that,” Max said.
“You know me, Max. The Lone Ranger. Listen, I will see you in court tomorrow,” Mike said and hung up leaving Max shaking his head. That Chalmers was a cheeky git, he thought. But he liked him.
Mike sat at his desk and took a deep breath. He didn’t think he would be able to do anymore work today so he decided he should go and play some golf. The weather was pretty good, so he locked away his laptop and made sure he had the secure mobile in case Max called. He quickly called Malcolm Harrington to see if he wanted to play a few rounds and Malcolm told him to pick him up on his way out. He said he was bored with all this aeroplane talk for today. With the trial tomorrow he needed a distraction.
When the two men got to the golf course, they had a couple of whiskies at the bar and taking a bottle of Johnnie Walker Gold and two glasses, they headed out onto the course.
Now that they were alone Mike said to Malcolm: “I have taken care of everything. Tomorrow is just going to be a quick visit to the courts and then we will be done. They now have no evidence, no witnesses and nothing but speculation to go on.”
“Mike, without you my friend, I would have gone down long ago, especially with my son and his antics,” Malcolm said to him.
“I know. Tell me, that other kid Jason, is he any good? I worry he is an influence that could lead to trouble,” Mike said.
“Nah, he is just Aiden’s best mate. His mother, God rest her soul, suspected they had a bit of a thing going, but I didn’t think so. They had that gap year away. They didn’t do anything remotely gay. He is a good kid. If anything, Aiden is a bad influence on him,” Malcolm told him.
“Ok, if you say so,” he said and poured them two drinks from the little bar at the back of the golf cart. “Let’s play golf,” he said handing Malcolm a glass.
After 9 holes the men returned to the clubhouse where they met with a few friends and business associates. Tomorrow was a big day even though it was a slam dunk. The two of them needed a distraction and what better way than a willy waving contest with business buddies?
Chapter 68
It was the morning of the trial. At GMP Headquarters, D.I. Wilkes and his team were waiting for the prosecution counsel to arrive to collect the evidence. It was decided they should hold it there for security reasons. Wilkes took all the evidence out of the bag and his stomach dropped. Where was the USB stick? He looked in the bag again and then went back to the locker where it was stored, hoping it would be there. It wasn’t. Shit, what now?
He went back to the meeting room and asked if anyone had seen it. Nobody had. The last anyone had seen it was the evening before when it went into the evidence bag along with the rest of the papers. This was not good and Chief Constable Smythe was due any minute.
“Find it! Now!” Wilkes barked at his team and they all scattered to search. He realised he had been over-confident and had overlooked the fact that besides making a copy for the defence he should have made a backup for himself. For security reasons since the last IT breach, these things weren’t automatically stored on the system and could only be saved by making a hard copy.
When Max arrived dressed in his full uniform for once, since he was going to be in court, he could see that Wilkes was in a state.
“What the fuck’s wrong with you?” he asked Wilkes.
“Bad news sir, the USB stick is gone.”
“What? Tell me you are joking. You made copies, right?” Max asked. Whilst knowing the answer, he prayed Wilkes hadn’t gotten clever and actually made a copy.
“No sir, we overlooked that. I have an idea though. That private detective that got it for Mrs Winters will have a copy or the taxi association guy,” he told Max.
“Have you looked everywhere for it? You know how clumsy you are,” Max said, trying to sound as convincing as he could. He’d had to stay at the office until past 9 the previous night before everyone had left so he could retrieve the stick from evidence. He had taken it home and thrown it on the fire burning in his fireplace. The heat had incinerated the stick to nothing in seconds.
“I have the team searching but I will go and see if I can get a copy. At least we have the witnesse
s still,” he said. Max had to struggle to suppress a laugh when Wilkes said that. No, you don’t, he thought.
“Ok, go and do that now, will you? Be calm, you will look like an idiot as it is,” Max told him.
“Will do sir,” he said and went to an empty office to call.
John Wilkes got out his notebook and found Ben Cohen’s number. He punched it into his phone and waited. Ben answered quickly.
“Mr Cohen, D.I. Wilkes here, GMP. I have a favour to ask but it needs to be hush hush,” he said.
“Yes sure, what is it?” Ben asked.
“We need a copy of that dashcam footage as soon as. Can you send me a copy please if I give you my email?” he asked.
“Yes of course. I thought you had a copy already though,” he said.
“We did but it’s a long story for another time. Thank you for this,” Wilkes said and gave Ben his email address.
“Thanks. I will send it now,” Ben said. Wilkes hung up quickly.
Wilkes rushed over to his office and waited for the email which popped up a few seconds later. He opened the email and tried to open the file attached. It was blank. He was staring at the file name and 0kb next to it.
“He’s having a laugh,” he said.
Wilkes grabbed his phone and called Ben back.
“What are you playing at Cohen?” he barked.
“I’m sorry, what do you mean?” Ben asked, shocked at this policeman’s attitude.
“The fucking file is empty. Empty for fucks sake!” Wilkes growled. He was feeling embarrassed that he was losing his normally cool and calm demeanour.