by Penny Grubb
‘So what happened next?’
‘We cancelled everything. We burnt stuff. We thought about going on the run, but where would we go? And anyway, Sleeman was there before we had a chance, wanting every detail. It was the lad who came, the one who goes by Lance. It was odd …’
‘What? What was odd?’
‘We thought he’d come to have a go, not that we were going to take it from a lad like that, but he just said it was all OK. Then he wanted every last detail. Things he shouldn’t need to know if everything was OK. That’s when we talked about packing up and taking our chances, but in the end we sat tight.’
‘What’s happened since?’
‘Nothing. Nothing from Sleemans. No visit from the boys in blue. It’s like that calm you get when you can feel the pressure rising.’
‘Tell me about the woman, what did she look like?’
The man blew out his cheeks and let out a sigh. ‘Youngish. Dark hair. It was night; hard to see anything and the coppers took her straight off with them. Slim, I’d say, but you could see she was wearing a stack of clothes.’
‘OK, tell me about the hired heavies?’
‘Two guys built like brick shit-houses, hands like meat plates, snap you in two soon as look at you. They were there to tell us we were going to do the job whether we wanted to or not. We weren’t asking questions. All we were doing was making clear to them that we had boundaries. There’s stuff we’ll ship and stuff we won’t. And we don’t land people.’
Annie looked at him and saw he was hoping for answers she couldn’t give. If nothing else, she thought, Sleemans had cut off a minor supplier. He’d confirmed Scott’s story but left her with more questions than answers. ‘Tell me again,’ she said. ‘The woman, what she looked like. Every detail you can remember.’
She was on the way back to where she’d left the car, when Annie suddenly realized who had called her. With an annoyed exclamation, she snatched her phone from her pocket. Brand-new SIM. Everyone who rang would show up as a number not a name. It had been Christa, and it was always a bad idea to leave Christa to make her own decisions once she’d made up her mind to call in. Christa’s phone was off. Annie left a message telling her to ring and then turned to her voicemail. Christa’s voice was there, bright and chirpy.
‘Guess what? I’ve found a link between Hassan and the guy who hired me. I wanted to clear it with you first, but I’ll take the chance while I’ve got it. Don’t worry if you can’t get me. I’ll be somewhere where my phone has to be off.’
Annie could only shrug and hope for the best as she climbed back into the car. She and Pat had agreed a rendezvous with Christa later, but before that she and Pat had arranged to meet. As she set off, Annie wondered what, if anything Pat would have prised out of Scott’s wife.
‘More than I expected,’ Pat said, as they sat over coffee and sandwiches in a pub at the eastern edge of the city. ‘She’s worried and she wants to know what’s going on. I had the impression she knew full well you were on the scene but she didn’t mention you, so I didn’t.’
‘What did you get?’
‘Story of the woman on the beach. Same as Scott told you. Only she claimed she didn’t know where. Of course, she must have, but she wasn’t telling me.’
‘Uh … that doesn’t matter for now. How did you get her to talk?’
‘I was all ready with a line about her and the kids being in danger, but I didn’t need it. The minute I started on my opening pitch, she said, “Cut the crap. We both know what you’re here for,” and she made coffee. Said Scott was out with the boys but I’d to be gone before he came back. It was like she was glad to see me.’
‘She hates private detectives. And not just me, because of Scott. Really hates the whole profession. She’s not changed that much in a few years. Are they just spinning us a line? Is it all an act? ‘
Pat took a large bite out of her sandwich and chewed on it. Then her eyes lost focus for a moment and the movement of her jaw lost tempo, as though she chewed in rhythm with her thoughts. When she spoke, it was with a shake of her head. ‘Was he spinning you a line when he came looking for you … when he took that key and came back to the office … when he risked his whole career? I don’t think so. The way I see it, they’ve met up with something they’ve never had to deal with before. Something dodgy that they can’t take through official channels. That Kate’ll be giving her head a mental slap and saying, so that’s what private eyes are for. I’m sure she still thinks we’re scum, but now she knows we’re here for a reason. I’ll tell you what, though, I’ll lay odds you’re right about Greaves.’
‘Greaves? What, that he’s bent, mixed up in it?’
Pat nodded. ‘My guess is he’s got himself into bother. Drugs, gambling, who knows? And someone’s got their claws into him. I tried to hint at it, but she wasn’t having it. Far as she’s concerned, he’s as straight as the day’s long. Probably was till the going got tough. It’s surprising how easily some of them crack.’
‘Yes, I could buy that, but what I don’t get is why he involved Scott. I know you’ve never thought much of him, but—’
‘No, no, I know what you mean. He’s a good copper. Straight. He might look like a wet weekend, but money would never buy him.’
Annie thought back to Scott carrying out a clandestine search of Pat and Barbara’s office; of stealing a key so he could come back at night. ‘It doesn’t have to be money to corrupt a copper, does it? Maybe it’s just a case of dragging Scott into something till he thinks he’s in too deep and then threatening his family. He’s already worrying about that.’
‘What are you saying?’
Annie looked at the half-eaten sandwich on her plate and pushed it aside. ‘This whole thing can’t be an elaborate hoax to get Scott Kerridge drawn on to someone’s payroll, can it?’
Pat’s gaze snapped up to meet Annie’s. ‘That’s a thought. And it fits with Greaves being in on it.’
Annie thought about how the events of that night had put the frighteners on a couple of small-time drug runners. Two birds with one stone, almost. But no, that made no sense. Why would Vince suddenly care about their operation? ‘Let’s just think this through,’ she said. ‘Scott was in Withernsea taking a witness statement and some kids had a go at his car so he couldn’t get back. I guess that’s easy enough to arrange.’
‘Then Rob Greaves is on the spot to give him a lift. He gets involved in grabbing the woman off the shore and Greaves spins him a line about it all going pear-shaped and they have to keep quiet.’
Annie’s gaze locked with Pat’s for a moment. ‘It was a hell of a risk,’ said Pat.
‘Or maybe it wasn’t a set up; maybe his car got trashed and he spotted Greaves. Why would Greaves be down that way at all? Suppose he got lumbered with Scott at the last minute and had to busk it. Scott was off on leave the next day.’
‘Yeah, she told me all about it. Holiday to Whitby with the kids. So he’d be happy to keep his head down, not risk anything that was going to stop him going.’
‘Then Greaves has time to think up a line to keep him quiet after he gets back.’
For a moment, they sat in silence, then Annie glanced up at the clock. ‘We should get going soon to meet up with Christa, see what she’s found on this Hassan guy.’
‘You said she reckons to have found a link with Vince?’
‘She didn’t say Vince, she said the guy who hired her. But I’m guessing she was told Vince Sleeman, just like I was.’
Pat shrugged. ‘He could have been one of the ones who saw Vince in the early days. Vince kept sacking them. It was all Leah could do to keep him from dumping every doctor in the country. He’s been thrown off several GPs lists over the years.’
‘Why? What does he do?’
‘He hates them. Reckons they know nothing. He only went to hospital in the first place because he collapsed in a pub. Discharged himself as soon as he could get on his feet. Leah really kicked off, but he got his own way.’
‘Oh, not with Leah. She keeps him on the leash when he’s under her roof, and of course he’s had to be under her roof a fair bit since he got ill.’
‘This is all very recent, isn’t it?’ Annie asked, thinking back to the call Pat had received three days ago telling her Vince had discharged himself from hospital. She glanced at the clock again, but couldn’t summon the energy to rise. The battering she’d taken over the last few days had sucked the energy out of her.
‘No,’ said Pat. ‘It’s been a few months. He’s been in and out of hospital. He’s getting used to it now.’
‘I’m surprised they put up with it.’
‘Yeah, he’s a crabby old sod. I know for a fact Leah got him back in once by knocking him out with something she shouldn’t. Claimed he’d taken it himself. She had to tell them because if they’d treated him not knowing what was in his system they’d have killed him.’
‘What did she do?’ Annie asked idly, thinking that if she’d been in Leah’s position, she’d have let Vince take his chances.
‘Injected him with that same stuff that killed Michael Jackson, I think.’
‘Christ! Where would she get that from?’
Pat shrugged. ‘In that family, everything’s on tap. She said he’d have to get used to hospitals because he was going in for an op and you can’t discharge yourself in the middle of that. They had a real row right there in the clinic when they told him he’d just about cashed in his chips. She had us all down there getting tested. There was me, Babs and Carl with a gaggle of kids, Barbara’s and a stack of Carl’s cousins.’ Pat laughed. ‘I said to Babs, “Drop a bomb on this waiting room and you’ve wiped out everyone in our family under sixty”.’
‘What were you being tested for?’
‘To see if we matched to give Vince a kidney.’
‘I thought it was his liver that was packing up.’
‘I dunno. Not my thing, medicine, doctors, all that. I’ve some sympathy with Vince on that one. Liver, kidney … same difference. I suppose we should make a move.’ She gripped the chair arms preparatory to rising.
‘No, it’s not.’ Annie put out her hand to stop Pat from standing up. ‘Just hang about. If we’re late for Christa, she’ll have to wait.’ She paused to tap the table top for luck on Christa waiting, but noted it was plastic, not wood. ‘You can donate a kidney because you have two of them. You can’t donate a liver. Liver transplants come from people who’ve died.’
‘Maybe they can take a bit. You’ve seen liver in the butchers, all in lobes. It’s all the same stuff. These days, can’t they just take a section?’
‘No … I don’t know … I don’t think human liver’s the same.’
‘And anyway, they said kidney. They were testing us to see if we could give Vince a kidney.’
‘And were any of you a match?’
Pat shook her head and laughed. ‘Nope, not one of us. Family like ours, you shouldn’t go into who’s a blood relation and who isn’t. I’ll never forget the look on Leah’s face. If the doctor who did the tests had been there at the time, she’d have had a knife in him for sure.’
‘Was it Hassan?’
‘I’m pretty sure not.’
Reluctantly, Annie stood up, glancing out at the darkening sky. ‘We ought to get going, but just before we do, there’s something I need to ask you. I don’t want an answer right now, but the answer has to be yes. I know where the woman is, the woman who came out of the sea. I had an inkling earlier, but now I’m sure. We’re going to go and find her, you and me.’
‘So what’s the big deal? Where is she?’
‘She’s at the house Carl Sleeman took me to. Vince’s house. And we’re going back there.’
‘Whoa! Not a—’
Putting her hand up again, Annie cut across Pat, annoyed at her diving right in with a negative. ‘I said I don’t want an answer right now. I just want it crystal clear that the answer’s going to be yes, so get used to it.’
Hearing the words out of her own mouth, Annie tensed. That hadn’t come out right at all. Who was she to keep shelling out the orders? It wasn’t so long ago that Pat had been her boss; still was on paper for the duration of this assignment. She gritted her teeth for Pat’s retaliation, but Pat just curled her lip with a contemptuous, ‘Huh!’ and grumbled her way out of the door, turning back towards Annie as she pulled out her car keys, muttering, ‘All right, do your bloody act. I haven’t forgotten.’
Annie patted her pockets and with an irritable gesture, turned back to the pub as Pat climbed into her car. The act was that Pat would sit behind the wheel as though waiting for Annie to come out with whatever it was she’d forgotten, giving Annie time to go out the back way and get to her own car. If they were being tailed, Annie wouldn’t keep the car a secret for ever, but she hoped to retain its anonymity for a while longer. She skipped across the waste ground behind the pub, seeing no one as she made her way down one of Hull’s many tenfoots to the back street where she’d parked.
Whilst keeping an eye out for clandestine watchers, her thoughts were with Barbara still lying comatose after the hit and run. Had Barbara been a match, a possible donor for Vince? Annie’s medical knowledge was sketchy. For all she knew, liver disease and kidney disease might go hand in hand, but she was as sure she could be that a kidney transplant couldn’t cure liver failure. And for all the speed of medical advances, she didn’t think liver transplants came from live donors.
Again, she knew the pieces didn’t mesh, but Barbara was in hospital after a hit-and-run, and there was a mobile morgue hidden at Vince’s house.
CHAPTER 17
Christa looked more relaxed, happy to have been brought properly on board, and either oblivious to Pat’s simmering hostility or uncaring about it. ‘You know, I swore you were playing me along s’morning,’ she said, sinking her teeth into a fat cheese-and-ham panini. ‘Giving me a makeweight job. I was gonna give the guy the once over and get myself off out to that place you were recce-ing.’ Her words were muffled, breadcrumbs and specks of tomato sauce clustering around her mouth.
Annie gave Pat a hard stare to stop her saying the wrong thing, and murmured, ‘Oh, Hassan’s at the heart of it.’ Behind her words played the image of Barbara in a hospital bed, of Carl Sleeman shrieking at an oversized trailer in his drive, of a car almost mowing her down in a secluded street. Annie felt the thud of her heart and swallowed against a hollow sensation in her gut. She was beginning to think that Hassan could genuinely be at the heart of it. Or if not him, one of his colleagues. But Christa’s gaze was too twitchy as it darted about the room, resting on each of the few dozen customers, the hurrying waiters, the late shoppers meandering past the windows. Christa was high on something; speed probably. Annie wouldn’t let her out of her sight until she’d fallen off the peak of invincibility and into the paranoid fantasy about hidden watchers that was already building in her addled brain.
Pat lifted her own sandwich to her mouth as she returned Annie’s look. Annie sat in silence while her two companions tucked in. She’d suggested this coffee bar just across from the station because she remembered it for its large portions of freshly cooked food that would meet both Pat’s and Christa’s approval. Christa’s appetite was a symptom of the chemicals swirling through her system; Pat’s simply a love of food. Christa let out bits of information in between mouthfuls. She thought Hassan had been blackmailed but wasn’t sure. She was going back this evening to check it out. Annie told her, ‘That’s good. That’s interesting. We need to get more on that.’
Annie watched as a crowd of people, all smiles and bonhomie, swarmed in through the door and threaded their way between the tables to the counter. Once they were firmly in place as a substantial queue, she pulled a note from her pocket and leant across to Christa, saying, ‘D’you want some cake? They do a really good toffee muffin here.’ Seeing Pat’s eyes light up, Annie blew out a sigh and added, ‘Get one for Pat,
too, and three more coffees.’
With Christa at the back of the queue avidly listening to the conversations around her, Annie turned back to Pat. ‘We have to get out to Vince’s place. They’ve got that woman there. I want a proper look round and I need you to help me.’
‘No way. You’ve no idea what you’re asking.’
‘But why? What’s the problem? Vince is in no state to make a fuss.’
‘Yeah, but Leah … It’s different out there. Leah doesn’t fuss about what goes on in town, but no one treads on her toes.’
‘I don’t see what the big deal is with …’ Annie stopped as she remembered the fragment of the call she’d overheard that day when Scott had been in the office. ‘Pat, you remember when someone called you to tell you that Vince had discharged himself? Was it Leah?’
‘Yes, why?’
‘Nothing.’ Annie shrugged. So Pat was genuinely frightened of Vince’s wife, but why? ‘Uh … does she … did she have much to do with the firm years ago? I don’t remember anything about her from when I was here before. I didn’t even know Vince was married.’
Pat shook her head. ‘No, she never had anything to do with Dad’s business or Vince’s. Dad couldn’t abide her, but he respected her. And he taught us to do the same.’
So it was a childhood thing, without rationale or reason behind it. Annie glanced up to check on Christa’s progress and said, ‘Ignore any reference she makes to Vince’s place. Don’t try and tell her it isn’t important or anything like that. It’ll only focus her on it.’
‘She’s wasted on something, isn’t she?’
Annie nodded. ‘And I don’t want to let her out of my sight until she’s off the high and desperate to hide herself away in a dark corner; shouldn’t be long. But I don’t see why you shouldn’t call in to see how Vince is getting on. Hell, you might not get on with the guy, but he was your dad’s best mate. Would that be such a difficult thing to do?’
Pat pulled a face and let out a sigh. ‘Well, all right. But if we’re going to go through with this, it’s on my terms, not yours. I’d never go out there asking after Vince, but I’d go if something was going on that I didn’t understand, and if I was worried about it. Something like you turning up on the doorstep out of the blue, apparently called in by Vince, then disappearing again, and I want to know what’s going on. How does that sound?’