Nothing But Lies

by Lyndon Stacey

  ‘Jafari?’

  ‘Samir Jafari. The loser she’s been living with for the last four years.’

  ‘Presumably the child’s his?’

  ‘She says so. Apparently Jafari is Iranian and the boy definitely looks to have mixed blood.’

  ‘So why did Hana choose to leave him now?’ Daniel asked, bringing his cup of unappetising tea to the table and sitting opposite Jo-Ji.

  ‘She says he beat her up. It wasn’t the first time, I gather – she says he drinks – but apparently this time he hit the kid, too. I think if it weren’t for that, she’d have still gone back to him. It never fails to amaze me how much some women will forgive.’

  ‘Mm. The devil you know. Did she report him, do you know?’

  ‘Once, she said, but I gather the bastard sweet-talked her into not taking it further.’

  Daniel sighed. ‘So what now?’

  ‘In the long term, I’m really not sure. In the short term I suppose she’ll have to stay here. Sorry mate, that sofa’s a killer, I know. We’ll try and sort out something better for you. Maybe chuck a bed in the new extension. I know it’s not finished yet but I could run a cable out there for light, and it’s not too cold at nights at the moment.’

  ‘A bit detached though, isn’t it,’ Daniel said. ‘OK at the moment, but maybe not so good when you’re on nights …’

  Jo-Ji’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘Has something happened? Have you seen someone?’

  ‘No. Just being careful. After all, that’s what I’m here for, right?’

  ‘Yeah. Thanks mate. Well, hopefully she won’t be here too long. We’ll have to get social services involved. Single woman with a young child – abusive partner. Maybe we can find her a place in a refuge.’

  ‘Look, about Tami …’ Daniel said. ‘She told me about her feeling of being watched – I didn’t ask her, she just seemed to want to confide – but you mentioned an ex-con you were worried about; someone who might have a grudge?’

  ‘Yeah. Roy Bartlett, a crack dealer I helped put away. Not so much of the ex-con, though. He’s done his time – or at least, all the time the judge saw fit to give him, minus a couple of years for being a good boy – but if he’s a reformed character, then I’m Pope Francis. He’s a serial perp, and he went down swearing to get even. They let him out a couple of months ago – a week or two before Tami first mentioned this man in the hoodie.’

  ‘You still think it’s him?’

  ‘Not in person, no. I called in a favour and asked a mate in Bartlett’s neighbourhood to keep an eye, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been far from home since his release, but that’s not to say he doesn’t have friends who’d do his dirty work. He had quite a little network before he went down.’ Jo-Ji drained his mug. ‘Look, can I ask another favour? Hana needs to get some clothes and stuff for her and the boy, too. She says she walked out with just a shoulder bag. Said she was taking the boy to the park. The thing is, by the time Tami’s free to go with her, I shall have to be off to work. I don’t suppose you could take them and keep an eye …?’

  ‘Sure. No problem.’

  In the event, it was mid-afternoon before they set out on their shopping expedition, as with her eye on an unpromising weather forecast, Tamiko decided to exercise her horses when she had finished treating her clients. Hana had made friends with Karen during a chance meeting earlier in the day, and when Tamiko and Daniel left the house, the two women were chatting companionably over coffee in the kitchen.

  The ride went without incident, the big, bay mare, Babette, being as Tamiko had promised, a steady animal, whose only vice was a tendency to take a strong ‘hold’ in the faster paces.

  ‘You said you were no horseman but I think you are perfectly good,’ Tamiko observed as they clattered back down the lane towards the stables. ‘It is nice to have company. Jo-Ji, he doesn’t like riding. Says he prefers something with an on and off button!’

  ‘What? Like dogs?’ Daniel had quizzed. ‘That excuse won’t work!’

  The shopping centre that Tamiko presently directed him to drive to was a modern arcade built chiefly of concrete and glass which spread over three levels, and they had only been there twenty minutes or so before Daniel began to suspect they were being watched.

  Whoever it was kept a very low profile and Tamiko, who was engrossed in helping Hana choose clothes and necessary toiletries for herself and Jahan, did not appear to have noticed. Unable to enter many of the shops by virtue of having Taz at his heels, Daniel was at liberty to scan the surrounding walkways and a couple of times saw a tallish figure in a grey hooded sweatshirt either looking in a shop window or moving quickly out of sight as he turned.

  It was difficult to be sure that the man was actually watching them, or even to say for certain whether it was the same person each time, and as he thought it unlikely that the man would approach while he was so obviously chaperoning the girls, Daniel decided to say nothing for the time being.

  It took the best part of two hours to complete the shopping, by which time they were all ready for coffee and cake in the central foyer café, with ice cream for Jahan.

  Daniel chose a seat with a good view of the surrounding area and while listening with half an ear to the girls’ conversation, kept an eye on the likely vantage points for a watcher. They had been sat there for little more than five minutes when his vigilance was rewarded. The retail outlets were arranged around the central atrium on avenues that ran outwards like the spokes of a wheel, and at the entrance to one of those avenues on the top floor he saw the man in the grey hoody leaning against the glass shopfront, apparently talking on his mobile phone. As Daniel’s gaze swept across him, he took a smooth step backwards out of sight, but Daniel had a feeling he wouldn’t have gone far.

  ‘Stay here!’ he said sharply to Tamiko and Hana, cutting through the flow of their talk. ‘I’ll be back in a moment. Taz, on guard!’

  ‘But what …?’ Tamiko looked bewildered.

  Daniel was already out of his seat. ‘Tell you in a minute. Just don’t move.’

  In a flash he had gained the cover of the lowest covered walkway and, shunning the central escalator, ran through the thinning crowds to the lifts, praying for there not to be a queue.

  His luck was in. Not only was there no queue but one of the lifts had just opened to let out its two teenage passengers and he was able to step straight in. A woman and a man made to follow him but he shook his head.

  ‘Sorry. This one doesn’t work,’ he said, closing the doors on their bewildered faces. He pressed the button for the top floor, keeping his finger on it to avoid anyone stopping it at the first floor, a trick he had learned from a busy maintenance man at a hospital.

  Leaving the lift, he made his way swiftly towards the circular, central walkway and was rewarded by the sight of the man in the hoody, who had moved forward once more and appeared to be looking intently downwards, quite possibly wondering what had become of Daniel.

  Daniel’s plan was to come up behind the man and catch him by surprise, but this was thwarted by a couple of teenage lads just ahead of him, who caught sight of someone they knew on the other side of the atrium and shouted out something that sounded remarkably like ‘Oi! Scabby!’

  Instantly, the man in the hoodie turned his head, saw Daniel behind the boys and took to his heels without hesitation, sprinting round the walkway to the head of the escalator and charging down it, knocking several people aside in the process.

  Cursing his luck, Daniel ran in pursuit, trying to avoid further collisions but still catching the verbal flak from those who’d been manhandled by the man in front.

  Racing round the walkway and on down the second escalator to the ground floor, the man ahead of him ignored the two girls sitting open-mouthed in the foyer café and ran instead down the avenue marked Exit & Car Park.

  Out of the corner of his eye as he followed, Daniel saw Taz get to his feet, his eyes alight with excitement.

  ‘Stay there!’ he shouted
at the dog, and all those who hadn’t so far stopped to gape at the real-life pursuit, did so at the sound of his imperative command.

  The man in the hoodie pushed through the heavy swing doors to the car park and, meeting them on the rebound a second or two later, Daniel turned to hit them with his shoulder. The impact broke his stride for a moment and when he pushed through, he had to pause to determine which way his quarry had run. Then he saw him, weaving between the thinning ranks of parked cars to his left.

  He darted forward but was hindered by two cars coming down the bay on their way out. Narrowly avoiding a collision, he was forced to wait while they passed, and when the way was clear, he heard the slamming of a car door and an engine starting. As he began to run, further down the bay a white van reversed out of its space into the path of the two vehicles, causing them to brake hard, and in the next moment, the van accelerated away up the ramp to the exit, paused briefly to open the barrier and then disappeared out into the brightness of the street.

  Daniel jogged to a halt.

  ‘Hell and damnation!’ he swore, turning to thump the nearest concrete pillar in his frustration. With the two cars in the way, he had only been able to get a partial plate, but nevertheless, he took his phone from his pocket and keyed in Jo-Ji’s mobile number as he began to retrace his steps.

  In the foyer café, Taz was still on guard and Daniel released him with a word of praise that set his tail wagging. The aftermath of the disturbance was still rippling through the shopping centre and he was just attempting to explain to the girls what had happened, when a shrill voice called out, ‘That’s him! He’s one of them! Nearly knocked me flying!’

  Daniel looked up and into the face of an oncoming uniformed security officer, who was being almost propelled forwards by a lady of ample proportions in black leggings and an over-tight cerise pink T-shirt. She had a rose tattoo growing from the top of her impressive cleavage and black-rooted blonde hair scraped back into a ponytail. She was dragging a mini version of herself along by one hand and an assorted bunch of varyingly disgruntled shoppers were trailing along in their wake. Sighing, Daniel waited for the storm to break over him.

  The security man, a none too athletic individual whose profession was proclaimed by the fluorescent tabard he wore, halted a few feet away, a decision probably precipitated by Taz, who had taken the shrill-voiced woman in strong dislike and was rumbling under his breath, his whiskers bristling.

  ‘These – ah, people say that you barged into them on the escalator,’ the man began, after clearing his throat. He looked out of his depth, as though shoplifters were his thing and anything else beyond his comfort zone.

  ‘He did,’ the woman averred. ‘Pushed me into the side. I’ll be bruised all over and it could easily have been much worse!’

  She pointed an accusing finger as she spoke and Taz upped the decibels until Daniel had to silence him.

  ‘Did you push this woman, as she says?’

  ‘Callin’ me a liar?’ the woman exclaimed, before Daniel had a chance to answer.

  ‘No, no. Not at all,’ the security man said hastily. ‘But we should hear what he has to say. It’s only fair.’

  ‘I don’t think I pushed anyone,’ Daniel stated. ‘But if I did, I apologise.’

  ‘It wasn’t him. It was the other bloke,’ a man piped up from behind Daniel’s accuser.

  Silently, Daniel blessed him.

  ‘It’s true. It’s the other guy you want,’ he agreed. ‘Tried to nick my wallet. That’s why I was chasing him.’

  ‘You got it back?’ The security man looked happier now that the situation appeared to be resolving itself without any need for decision-making on his part.

  ‘Yeah. He dropped it.’

  ‘Did he get away?’

  Daniel checked an instinctive sarcastic response, saying simply that he’d lost him in the car park.

  ‘Well, it looks like that’s it, then,’ the uniformed one stated.

  ‘You can’t say that!’ the woman screeched. ‘What about my injuries? And who’s going to pay for another packet of fags? Mine got all chewed up by the escalator.’

  ‘Best place for ’em,’ a voice suggested.

  Daniel’s mouth twitched but he took his wallet out and proffered a ten-pound note, which the security man stretched out his hand to take, with a wary eye on the dog, and passed back to the woman. She glared at Daniel but took the money quickly enough and, still grumbling, turned and led the tubby child away.

  ‘OK. There’s nothing more to see here,’ the portly one said then, with more authority than he had thus far shown. He turned away from Daniel, waving his arms at the gathering of interested people rather as one might shoo a herd of inquisitive cows, and obediently, they began to disperse.

  Looking pleased with himself, he came back to Daniel.

  ‘Do you want to make a complaint? Call the police?’

  Daniel shook his head. ‘No point. He’s long gone. I’ve got my wallet. Case closed.’

  The security guard nodded, looking patently relieved, and moved away. Turning, Daniel found Tamiko standing close behind him. Hana was still at the table with Jahan, wiping ice cream off the boy’s face.

  ‘Did he really try to steal your wallet?’ Tamiko asked, frowning. ‘I saw him. He was wearing a hoodie, wasn’t he?’

  ‘I’ll tell you in the car. Are we ready to roll?’ he enquired, aware that there could still be interested ears listening and keen to get away from the arcade in case some over-zealous shop worker had indeed called the police during the initial disturbance.

  Jo-Ji rang back as they made their way towards the exit, giving Daniel a name to go with the partial registration plate he’d reported and when they were settled in the car, Daniel repeated it to Tamiko and Hana.

  ‘Does the name Assim Kahn mean anything to either of you?’

  Tamiko instantly pursed her lips and shook her head, and a moment later Hana did the same.

  ‘The van the man got away in was registered to an Assim Kahn. It’s a Manchester plate,’ he added.

  ‘Oh my God! You think someone has come after my sister?’ Tamiko said.

  ‘It’s possible.’ Daniel looked at Hana, who had turned pale, clearly alarmed at the idea.

  ‘Samir has a lot of friends but he never introduces them to me,’ she said. ‘It’s so far, I thought I would be safe here. How has he found me? Why won’t he leave me alone?’

  ‘You have his son and it would be easy enough to find out where Tamiko lives. He might guess you’d run to her.’

  A distressed sound from Jahan interrupted them.

  ‘Daddy not coming?’

  ‘No, my little one. Daniel won’t let him,’ Hana responded, and Daniel realised with resignation that his brief had just expanded to include bodyguarding the entire UK branch of Tamiko’s family.

  ‘Do you have any other relatives in England?’ he asked Tamiko whimsically, as he steered the Mercedes for home.

  She frowned.

  ‘No. Why do you ask?’

  Daniel shook his head.

  ‘Ignore me, I’m being silly.’

  Although he remained vigilant on the return journey, the Mercedes’ mirrors showed nothing to cause him alarm. He wasn’t sure that was significant, however, because he was beginning to think that if Tamiko’s ‘stalker’ and the man at the shopping arcade were one and the same, he well knew where she lived and would have had no need to follow them home.

  THREE

  A second night on the sofa hadn’t attracted Daniel overmuch but a moment of inspiration whilst waiting outside Argos had resulted in him purchasing an inflatable mattress, which could be stored upright against the wall in Jo-Ji’s den when not in use. It was a huge improvement, and when Tamiko awakened him at five thirty the next morning, he felt a lot more rested.

  As Jo-Ji would be leaving the house around midday for his shift, it had been decided that Hana and Jahan would accompany Tamiko and Daniel to the show and accordingly, by the time the ho
rses had been hastily mucked out and groomed, the two of them were in the kitchen having breakfast. Grabbing a slice of toast, Daniel left the house and drove the five miles or so to Ashleigh Grange to pick up the horsebox and one of Natalie Redfern’s horses that Tamiko was going to ride that day.

  Although Tamiko had furnished him with the code for the gates, he found them standing open and was met in the yard by a slight, thirty-something, blonde female who introduced herself as Inga.

  The lorry had been driven into the centre of the yard and stood waiting with its ramp down.

  ‘Samson is all ready,’ Inga informed him. She had a slight Scandinavian accent but her English was impeccable. ‘He’s a perfect gentleman and shouldn’t give you any trouble. Normally I would come but I promised to go shopping for wedding stuff with a friend. Will you manage?’

  ‘I’m sure we’ll be fine.’

  Samson was a big, dark chestnut gelding with a white blaze. He was led from his stable clad in a rug and leg protectors of navy and gold to match the horsebox. Evidently Ms Redfern would spare no expense to create an impression. With Inga’s help, he was quickly loaded and the ramp lifted and secured behind him. His tack and two haynets were stowed in the forward compartment and Daniel was ready for the off.

  ‘Look after my boy,’ Inga said as he climbed into the cab.

  ‘I will.’ Daniel switched on the video link and could instantly see a black and white image of the horse pulling contentedly at his hay. Bearing in mind Tamiko’s advice, he eased the lorry out of the yard and down the drive to the road, waving goodbye to the groom. Samson calmly adjusted his balance as the vehicle began to move and went on with his hay.

  By the time Daniel stopped the lorry in the lane beside Tamiko’s stables, he was feeling quite at home with his precious cargo, and once they had loaded Rolo and Babs and all their gear, they were ready to go.

  The cab was fairly crowded, with Daniel, Tamiko, Hana and Jahan all sharing the bench seat and Taz on a blanket behind it. Jo-Ji waved them off and they made good time in the light, early-morning traffic, heading for Taunton and the southwest.