by Jamie Raven
‘It was to me. I did what I thought was best.’
‘Did Tony know?’
She shook her head. ‘I didn’t tell him. There was never any need to.’
‘But you must have known that it would eventually come out.’
‘I hoped it wouldn’t. I prayed it wouldn’t. And the fact that you now know won’t make your life any better or easier. In fact it’s bound to have the opposite effect.’
I drew a breath and squeezed my eyes shut. It felt like they were burning at the edges.
‘Why did Callum tell you, Beth?’ she asked, her voice a hollow rasp. ‘And why now after all these years?’
I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself. I felt bad suddenly for shouting and was determined not to lose control.
I told her what Callum had said about Danny and I declaring a truce. And that he felt the only way to stop us destroying each other was to tell us we were half-brother and -sister.
As she listened, tears sparkled in her eyes, and I felt the anger that had built up inside me start to recede.
‘He told me that he wasn’t responsible for what happened to Tony,’ I said. ‘He insists the Russians killed him.’
‘He’s lying, Beth. I know he did it.’
‘But you can’t be sure,’ I said. ‘Maybe you just wanted to believe the rumours because of what he did to you.’
She flinched at that and her gaze hardened.
‘You don’t know what he’s like, Beth. He lies. He manipulates. And it’s not something he’d admit to you anyway, is it?’
‘I think he was telling the truth,’ I said.
She was angry now. Defensive.
‘Rubbish,’ she cried out. ‘He just wants to get inside your head. It’s what the bastard does.’
I felt my hackles rise. I was the one who was supposed to be angry. The one who had something to be angry about.
‘You’d be a fool to be taken in by him,’ she said. ‘I’m convinced he had Tony killed. It wouldn’t have mattered to him that you and I would suffer. With Callum it was all about taking care of his other family.’
She stared at me, judgement in her eyes, and her reaction ignited a sudden rush of fury in me.
‘So come on then,’ she said, her tone more strident. ‘What else did he say? What other bullshit came out of his gob?’
I’d had enough. I stood up abruptly and said, ‘He told me to let you know that he’s sorry he didn’t stay with you back then.’
‘Is that right? Well, I’m pretty sure that’s another lie.’
‘Then I doubt you’ll believe the last thing he told me before I left him,’ I said. ‘He told me he has bowel cancer and that he’ll probably be dead within six months.’
Her expression changed then and her eyes went wide with shock. I instinctively wanted to reach out to her, to cry into her shoulder and let her cry into mine. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. There were too many conflicting emotions churning inside me.
‘I’m going to the pub,’ I said. ‘I need a drink.’
I left her sitting there, and as I stepped out of the front door I wondered if she was happy or sad to know that the man she had loved all those years ago had only a few months to live.
I went to the nearest pub, an insalubrious establishment that I had never set foot in before. There were only a few other customers, old men hunched over their drinks or staring goggle-eyed at the big TV above the bar.
I bought myself a large gin and tonic with a whisky chaser, then settled down at a corner table away from everyone else.
I knocked back the whisky and sat there deep in melancholy thought. Everything felt out of sync and I had a splitting headache. There was just too much to take in. I was feeling completely overwhelmed.
I downed the first G and T, got another. But I knew that on an empty stomach it’d hit me hard, so I ordered a cheese sandwich and a bag of crisps.
I could still hear Callum Shapiro’s voice in my head and I reckoned I would for days to come. I also knew that at some point I would have to respond to what I’d been told. Should I tell someone or should I refuse to accept it and get on with my life as though nothing had changed? I also wondered if I should pass on what I’d learned to the police. Or should I do what he’d asked and pull back from doing anything that might harm his son?
My mind was in chaos and I desperately wanted to wake up and find that it was all a horrible dream.
Someone turned up the volume on the television and it grabbed my attention. It was the five o’clock news on Sky and they had a new line on the Megan Fuller story. It was another interview with the former boyfriend, Sam Jones.
He was again being forced to defend himself against claims that he’d been physically violent towards Megan during their time together. Some of her friends had taken to social media to say they’d witnessed him bullying her and one was alleging she was told by Megan that he’d hit her on a couple of occasions.
The claims had gone viral and had prompted Jones to issue a statement rebutting them. As I watched him squirming on the screen I wondered if he had indeed killed her. There was definitely something dodgy and unpleasant about the man. But then the same could be said for Danny Shapiro. And despite what Callum had told me I still found it hard to believe that his son – my half-brother – had absolutely nothing to do with Megan’s death.
48
Ethan Cain
Cain’s thoughts were racing when he left Drew Bellamy’s office in Kensington.
The conversation with Megan Fuller’s shrink had focused his mind and got him excited. He was shocked and dismayed by what had been revealed to him, and he could see why Bellamy had been keen to pass the information on and why he’d felt it was a potential lead for the police.
So Cain wasn’t going to hold back on acting on it. Checks needed to be carried out and urgent inquiries made.
Outside on the street he struck up a fag and called the incident room. He asked to speak to DC Fisher.
‘I need you to chase up a vehicle registration and some CCTV footage for me, Rachel,’ he said.
He gave her an address and said he wanted her to check all the road cameras within a quarter-mile radius of the property.
‘Go back to Friday evening between about nine and midnight,’ he said. ‘See if the car shows up at any point.’
DC Fisher said she’d get right onto it.
‘Keep it to yourself for now, Rachel,’ he said. ‘I don’t want the others to get worked up if it turns out to be nothing.’
‘Are you coming back to the office, guv?’
‘Of course. I’ll be about an hour.’
He wanted to have a walk to clear his head first. Maybe grab a bite to eat and something to drink. He was feeling even more wired and jumpy now, and he needed to give himself some time to think and settle his nerves.
He snuck into a pub just off Kensington High Street and ordered pie and chips. He didn’t really have an appetite, but he felt the need to fuel his body. He also treated himself to a pint of lager.
He was still waiting for the food to arrive when he took a call on his mobile from Danny.
‘I’m ringing to tell you to keep your eyes peeled for Frankie Bishop, Ethan,’ he said. ‘I sent a guy over to his place in Camberwell. He was supposed to wait for him to show up and put a bullet in his head. But Bishop spotted the guy in his car. He overpowered him and sliced his face up with a knife and told him to deliver a message to me.’
‘Holy fuck. What was the message?’
‘He said he’s planning a nasty surprise for you and me and that we’ll know about it before the end of the day.’
Cain didn’t get to finish his pint or his pie and chips. He left the pub and flagged down a taxi. He decided the safest place for him to be during the coming hours was inside the incident room in Wandsworth.
49
Beth Chambers
I was about to order up another G and T when I got a text from Mum. She wanted me to go home becau
se Rosie wasn’t feeling well and she wasn’t sure whether to phone the doctor.
By this time the food and drink had taken the edge off my headache and eased the tension inside me. I felt slightly better and more able to keep the negative thoughts at bay.
As I hurried out of the pub my only concern was for Rosie. I didn’t bother to call Mum to find out what was wrong because the pub was only a five-minute walk from the house, and I was sure it wouldn’t be anything serious otherwise my mother wouldn’t have just sent a text.
Still, it enabled me to put things into perspective and to remember that the most important thing in my life was my daughter. Not Callum Shapiro. Or my job. Or my hitherto secret past.
Rosie’s well-being was all that mattered at the end of the day and I told myself I should never forget that.
Two things struck me as odd when I got home. There was a white Transit van that I hadn’t seen before parked outside the house and our front door was open a few inches. But because I was in a hurry I didn’t give either too much thought. I just stepped into the house, closed the door behind me, called out as I rushed through to the kitchen.
I saw my mother first. Sitting on a chair that had been placed in the middle of the room, with Rosie curled up on her lap.
Behind her, with his back to the sink, stood a man I recognised instantly as Frankie Bishop.
He had a malicious grin on his face and was pointing a revolver at my mother’s head.
The scene filled me with abject terror. My mouth gaped open and every muscle in my body shut down.
‘Don’t scream or make me do anything to pull the trigger,’ Bishop said.
My mother’s face was rigid with fear, her eyes as wide as saucers. I couldn’t see Rosie’s face, because it was buried in the folds of my mother’s cardigan. But I could hear her sobbing, and it made me want to dash across the room and grab her.
‘If you do as I say then no harm will come to them,’ Bishop said to me. ‘Your daughter is fine by the way. Just upset. I got your mum to send you that text to get you here.’
I swallowed and felt the saliva slide down my throat. My legs were threatening to collapse under me, and I started to shake all over.
Bishop stepped out from behind my mother. I noticed then that his face had taken a beating recently. His top lip was red and swollen and there was a dark bruise under his left eye.
He shifted the gun so it pointed at me. His stance was tense, full of aggression.
‘You and me are going for a ride, Chambers,’ he said. ‘The van outside is mine. In a minute you’ll go and get in the back. If you don’t then I’ll take it out on your kid first and then your mother.’
‘Please don’t hurt them,’ I begged him.
‘Then make sure you cooperate and don’t make a fuss.’
My chest tightened and I started to feel faint. ‘What’s this about? Why are you here?’
He expelled a puff of air. ‘Your half-brother and me had a fall-out. Now he’s out to get me and the prick thinks I’ll just let him. But I don’t intend to. And I’m not going to disappear without a proper payoff. That’s where you come in.’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t believe it. You’re taking me as a hostage? Is that it? Because if it is it won’t work. Danny Shapiro won’t try to get me back.’
‘We’ll see about that. Don’t forget you’re part of the Shapiro family now. And they look after their own.’
I looked at my mother. Her nostrils flared as tears trickled down her cheeks.
‘I’ll do whatever you want,’ I said. ‘Just don’t hurt them.’
Rosie twisted herself out of my mother’s grip. She tried to break free and come to me. But my mother held on to her and Rosie started to cry.
‘Then go straight outside,’ Bishop said. ‘The back of the van is unlocked. Get in and wait for me. If you run I’ll crush your daughter’s skull with the gun. Now drop your bag on the floor.’
He nudged the side of my mother’s head with the gun. ‘And listen to me, old lady. When we’ve gone you’ll do absolutely nothing. If you call the police I’ll kill your daughter. Understood?’
My mother nodded and Bishop turned back to me. I thought fleetingly about charging him but realised it wasn’t worth the risk. We were all completely at his mercy.
He came up to me then and turned me so I was facing away from him. Then he searched my pockets to satisfy himself that they were empty.
‘I’ll be watching from the window,’ he said. ‘Disappoint me and everyone suffers. Now go.’
My heart was in my mouth as I rushed out of the room and out of the house. The rear door of the van was unlocked just as Bishop had said it would be. I pulled it open and before climbing in I looked back and saw him standing at the window.
I knew I had no choice but to follow his instructions. As I hauled myself up and inside, a spasm of absolute terror sped through my body.
The back of the van was spacious, but half of it was filled with cardboard boxes and plastic bags packed with everything from books to clothes.
When I pulled the door shut behind me the darkness was as thick as oil.
A few seconds later I heard a key being turned in the lock. And then the engine was switched on and the van started to move.
I sat on the cold, hard floor and prayed that I’d see my family again.
50
Danny Shapiro
Danny had spread the word among the crew that Frankie Bishop had gone rogue. And he marked the cards of those he suspected of having split loyalties. He told them that anyone caught offering support to Bishop would suffer the same fate that would eventually be meted out to him.
Danny made no mention of what it was all about and hopefully the lads would never have to know about Bishop’s affair with Megan, although he couldn’t be sure they didn’t know already.
Some would probably think he had overreacted by kicking Bishop out of the firm. To Danny, however, it was the ultimate betrayal and something he couldn’t countenance. He would never be able to trust the man again and he’d forever wonder what other strokes the bastard had pulled over the years.
But he had definitely created a problem for himself by acting so decisively in telling Bishop to fuck off. The guy was now a serious threat. He was a psycho who was more dangerous than any man Danny had ever known.
That was why he’d come back to his West End retreat the first chance he got. It was safer than surrounding himself with a posse of minders. From here he could make calls and coordinate efforts to track Bishop down. He could also try to relax and work out how he was going to seize back control of his life. Because right now it felt like he’d lost it.
He still couldn’t be sure if the truth would get out, or if his father had managed to persuade Beth Chambers to back off. Now he had this business with Bishop to contend with, the man he had trusted for years but who had taken the piss on a grand scale.
And if that wasn’t enough hassle there was the startling revelation from his old man about Beth Chambers and about the cancer that was slowly killing him.
Danny couldn’t remember a time when he’d had to deal with so much crap at once. Or when his mind had been battered by so many shocks, one after the other. It was sapping his strength, clouding his judgement. Doing his fucking head in.
A drink. That was what he needed. What he always needed when he felt the pressure grinding him down. He poured a large, neat whisky into a tumbler and closed his eyes with the first swallow.
Just then his mobile rang. He was expecting a call from his father and he was anxious to know how Chambers had reacted to the news that she was his daughter.
But it wasn’t Callum, and a shiver danced over Danny’s shoulders when he saw Bishop’s name in the display window.
As soon as he accepted the call, Bishop spoke.
‘You’re making too many bad mistakes, Danny. You shouldn’t have kicked off like you did over that slut Megan. And you shouldn’t have sent that twat to get rid of me.’
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‘The biggest mistake I made was to trust you,’ Danny said. ‘You’re a two-timing piece of shit.’
‘I admit I shouldn’t have got involved with Megan. But believe me, she did all the running. She was gagging for it back then because you were ignoring her.’
Danny felt the veins in his temples start to pulse. ‘I’m going to make you pay for that, Frankie.’
‘No, you’re not. What you’re going to do is pay me what you owe me for everything I’ve done for you. No way am I walking away with sod all.’
‘Dream on, you cunt.’
Bishop grunted out a bitter laugh. ‘Let’s stop the name-calling and get right to the point, eh? In a few minutes I’m going to text you the number of an offshore bank account. And then you’re going to transfer one million pounds into it by midnight tonight. Don’t try to fob me off by saying you can’t lay your hands on that amount of wonga. I know for a fact that you have at least two bank accounts, each with five mil in.’
‘You’re even crazier than I thought you were,’ Danny said. ‘Why would I even think of giving you a single penny?’
‘Because if you don’t I’m going to kill your half-sister,’ he said. ‘She’s with me now and I reckon you can call it a classic hostage situation. If the money’s not wired to the account by the deadline then she dies. That won’t be the end of it either. After that you’ll have to pay me two million to stop me coming after you. So I suggest you save yourself a heap of money and act fast.’
‘How do I know you have her?’
‘Because when I hang up I’m going to send you a photo.’
‘And what makes you think I give a shit about what happens to her? In fact you’ll be doing me a favour by killing her.’
He laughed again. ‘Don’t take me for a fool, Danny. Things have changed on that front. Your old man would never forgive you if you let his daughter die. And I’d make sure he found out.’
Bishop hung up then and Danny remained rooted to the spot in the middle of his living room, despair gnawing at his mind and body.
A few moments passed and then a text message came through on Danny’s phone. It contained bank account details.