by Liz Mistry
‘Fuck’s sake, don’t be a div.’
Taking a last drag, Leo shrugs and flicks the cig in an arc until it lands on the road. ‘You’re such a square sometimes, you know that?’
‘Whatever. So?’ I pause and study my friend. ‘You’re okay?’
Leo kicks the kerb, then laughs. ‘Course I am. No worries. I’m sorted.’ Then as if it only now occurs that it’s the first time we’ve met here, Leo looks at me. ‘What you up to tonight?’
‘Nothing. Just needed fresh air.’
‘You’re not doing something without me, are you?’
‘No, course not.’ I punch Leo’s arm and then say, ‘But you’ll never guess what happened in Lister Park today…’
THURSDAY
CHAPTER 66
Pisces
D on’t think I can do this anymore. I’m shitting it. I never meant for all this to happen. Zodiac’s arranged a meeting, but it’s only me and Leo so far. I’m sitting on the ground and my whole body’s shaking. I’ve not stopped shaking since the other night. People are beginning to notice. It’s crap. They all think it’s because of my exams, but fuck. If they knew.
It’s like I’m shell shocked or summat. Thought Leo would look as bad as me, but no. Steady as a die, that one. Digging into the wooden floorboards with the tip of the knife. Every time I look at it, I see the blood on the tip. Dun’t matter how clean it looks now, that’s all I can see… inside my head, like. To be honest, I’m surprised Leo’s here. Thought maybe it’d just be me and Zodiac. Not that I want Zodiac here either. Wish I hadn’t come.
I look round the room. All the bits of paper. All our plans. Photos with darts in them, lists and lists of the things they’d done to us. It all seemed so trivial then… a game. Shit, wish my leg would stop jittering! Didn’t expect everything to get so serious. Not now though. It all started as a prank. A way to get our own back on some of the idiots at school. Never meant it to get to this. Never thought we’d really kill somebody. Thought Zodiac was chatting shit. Thought Leo was just acting up too, full of swag, acting big in front of Zodiac.
I shake my head. I’ve been asking myself the same question again and again. How did it all get so out of hand? Even right up to the moment I pushed the knife in, I kept thinking we’d stop… that I’d stop, but I didn’t. Why the fuck didn’t I stop? Not even sure I regret that Betsy’s dead. I hated her. Getting me in trouble, telling tales, spying on me, and reporting back to the teachers. I just wish one of the others had done it. Zodiac has all the photos… all of them and that worries me. It’s like I’m out of control.
‘What are we going to do?’ My voice sounds shaky… weak and Leo smirks, mouth curling up… pure evil. I flinch. That one look holds so much venom and an image of Leo pushing the knife into Pratab’s neck hits me. Bile fills my throat, acid stinging and then there it is. An image of Leo taking that knife and sticking it right into my neck. I swallow it down and instead of the bile, it’s blood I taste… my own blood. Shit, I’m losing it big time now. Then it hits me. This is why I’m here. This is what it’s all about. They’ve decided I’m next.
Leo’s standing up now, tapping the blade on one hand. It’s then I notice the glove. My gaze flicks to the list on the wall. My name’s on it… in pencil at the bottom… and then, like an afterthought, Leo’s scrawled next to it ‘For Being A Bell End.’
I jump up, stumble a little. Fucking leg! Now that it’s going to happen, I realise I don’t want to die. I’m dizzy, sweat’s dripping down my face, the salt stinging where I’ve scratched my spots and I realise the weird rasping sound is coming from me.
Leo’s between me and the door now. I’m bigger, but I still don’t reckon much to my chances. I try to edge closer to the door, but Leo matches every move I make, like we’re dancing or summat and all the time that evil grin leers at me. I’m bricking it big time now. This is the end. I’m going to end up dead in a dingy squat. Tears pour down my face, but I barely notice them.
Then, what the fuck? Leo’s laughing… and handing me the knife handle first.
I just look at it. What’s going on? I can smell my own fear through the mildew.
‘Take it, go on take it!’ Leo’s thrusting it at me. Grinning.
I want to slap the grin off that stupid face, but I’m too scared.
‘Your face were a right picture then, tosser. What? Did you really think I were going to do you? It’s not in the rules, is it? You know that. We can bring a name to add to the list, but we each need to agree that the person deserves it, yeah?’
Leo plops down onto one of the cushions and chucks the knife on to one of the boxes we use as a table. ‘Tosser!’
Then, with no warning the laughing sneer is gone and Leo’s eyes all sparky and dark bore into me. I’ve edged closer to the door, but now I stop and listen as the words drop like ice through the heat.
‘This was just a message from Zodiac. You need to keep on side. Got it?’ Leo’s hand darts towards the box and I freeze. Leo grabs something and throws it at me. I catch. Leo waves a hand towards the list with my name at the bottom. ‘Rub it off, then, you bell end. You’re back on track now, yeah?’
My knees wobble, but I make it to the list and as I rub my name off the bottom, Leo strikes a match and the smell of smoke fills my nostrils. By the time I turn around, Leo’s talking to Zodiac on the phone. ‘Lesson delivered. Pisces back on track. I’m heading home before they miss me.’
Alone in the headquarters, I wish I was back in the park, on my own and none of this had happened.
CHAPTER 67
G us hadn’t slept well and even an overload of caffeine and the walk through the park to Zarqa’s house wasn’t improving his mood. Unsociably, he kept his head down as he walked and pondered the events of the previous evening. If Patti had been surprised by Gus’ rather public declaration of love, he’d been doubly so. Yes, he’d been thinking about their relationship for the last few months and was well aware his feelings for Patti ran deep. Deeper than those he’d had for either Gaby or Sadia. Still, there was that momentary flutter of panic as the words left his lips, that second of wanting to suck them back in. Now, it was too late.
What was worse was that, what he’d meant as a declaration of love, Patti had taken to be a proposal of marriage and knowing how close he’d come to losing her, made it hard for him to backtrack. Yes, he loved her. Course he did. But settling down? Making a family scared the shit out of him and he didn’t know why. Maybe the whole Katie–Gaby debacle had upset him. His track record so far had been pretty dire, yet if he was to have kids, Patti would be his only choice. That was why he’d said it. He could see how she’d misunderstood, but he’d been talking in relation to Gaby’s bombshell.
Patti and Alice had spent the previous evening drinking wine and gushing about wedding venues, engagement rings, and bridesmaids. He’d spent the evening with a rigor grin on his face, that thankfully neither of the two women noticed. Things were moving too fast, that was all. He just needed time to process it. Trouble was, with a double murder to solve, time was one commodity he had little of.
This morning’s visit to Zarqa was, he hoped, more to reassure him that his goddaughter had done nothing wrong, than anything else. Yet, he wasn’t looking forward to the meeting. Zarqa was not pleasant to be around at the moment
He knocked on the front door and stood with his back to it as he waited. Mo’s story about Zarqa crying her eyes out on the grass stuck in his mind and he looked at the corner of the garden, imagining his goddaughter crying there. Hearing footsteps approach from inside the house, he turned. When Zarqa saw him, her eyes flitted away, her annoyance barely concealed as she licked her lips.
Not giving her the chance to close the door in his face, Gus pushed past her. ‘Glad I caught you. You on your own?’
Slamming it shut, Zarqa slipped past him and stood blocking his way into the house. ‘You know now’s not a great time for me. Exams.’ She shrugged. ‘Gotta study.’
Gus smiled and
took a step closer, forcing her to move to the side as he walked past her and into the kitchen. ‘Pop the kettle on, squirt, we need to talk.’
Standing in the doorway, Zarqa glowered at him as he took a seat at the table. Mo and Naila’s kitchen was as familiar to him as his own. He could smell the lingering spicy chai aroma from breakfast time and as if to confirm this, he saw the upended chai pot on the draining board. There were some new paintings and drawings pinned to the walls and he tilted his head to one side trying to decipher the content of one in a particularly virulent shade of purple. It took him a moment to realise it was a painting of Alice’s Mini. He spotted the family organiser that Naila had stuck by the fridge in the hope that she could bring some order to their somewhat chaotic lifestyles. And a smile tugged his lips as he remembered Mo moaning about his wife getting uppity when he forgot to fill in his section. The windowsill behind the sink had an army of potted plants and all the normal domesticity of his friend’s kitchen brought a pang of guilt at what he was about to do. He swallowed it down and smiled. ‘Go on then. I’m gasping. Kettle on. Any biscuits?’
With an exaggerated sigh, Zarqa moved over to the kettle, checked it for water, and then flicked the switch. ‘Look, I can do without the pep talk, Gus. Dad, I mean Mo’s put you up to this, I know. But there’s nowt you can do. I’ve had it with him.’
Keeping the smile on his lips, Gus let her wind down before saying, ‘I’m not here to talk about your dad.’ He met her eyes. ‘It’s more serious than that and I think you know what it is.’
He didn’t imagine her shaking hands or the slight quiver of her lips before she turned away and began getting mugs out of the cupboard and his heart plummeted. The disquiet he’d felt the other day when he spoke to her at school had returned. She was hiding something, and he wasn’t leaving this house until he’d found out what. If she was implicated in any of these deaths, then she’d be punished, but he needed to find out from her unofficially first. He suspected Bashir would have his badge for this, but sometimes what was right had to supersede what was legal. Remembering Alice’s defence of Zarqa, Gus’ heart flipped. Maybe Zarqa had nothing to do with any of this… but what was she hiding, then?
She plonked a mug of coffee in front of him, deliberately making it slop onto the table and followed that with a packet of digestives that landed with similar force. Gus kept his smile intact. This was going to be bad enough without him losing his temper and by forcing himself to smile, he was able to keep his anger at her stubbornness simmering just beneath the surface. Why did she have to be such a little cow bag?
She tossed her phone on the table and slouched into a chair opposite him. Despite her bravado, fear lurked in her eyes. Gus wanted to pick her up and cuddle her. Tell her everything would be all right, like he used to when she was a kid. She was in pain. Every tense muscle in her body, every tight-lipped smile, every shadow in her eyes, told him that.
Pulling one foot onto the chair, the bent leg tucked into her chest, she put her arms round her shin and rested her chin on her knee. Gus had interviewed enough people to know that she was erecting a barrier between them. Her phone vibrated and bounced across the table. Its screen lit and the name Jo Jo danced across it. She snatched it up, her face flushed as she dismissed the call. Gus wondered why that phone call had warranted such a flustered reaction… boyfriend? Partner in crime?
Not sure where to start, he decided to jump right in. ‘You know shit’s been happening in the city, Zarqa, and I’m not going to mess you about. You’ve been seen in the vicinity of a crime scene and, as a favour to you and your parents, I’m here asking you about it in private instead of dragging you up to The Fort. I need to know who you were with and what you were doing on Sunday night.’
Blinking rapidly, Zarqa’s eyes flitted round the kitchen as if she was looking for an escape route. There was none. Gus lifted his cup and sipped the coffee. It was only lukewarm. Little bitch had only half boiled the kettle. Pretending not to notice, he took a sip, his eyes focussed on her face the entire time and then, still staring at her, he opened the biscuit packet, took one out, dunked it, and put it in his mouth. These were the sort of intimidatory techniques he used on hardened criminals and, here he was, using them on his goddaughter. Sometimes life was shit. ‘I’m waiting, Zarq. I’m not leaving until I’ve had a reply.’
She shrugged. ‘Was out walking. Couldn’t stand being in this shit here any longer.’
Her eyes were still all over the place. Her knuckles, clasped round her leg, were almost white, she was clasping them so tightly.
‘On your own?’
‘Yeah.’
Now her knee was shaking. Gus took a punt. ‘Not with Jo Jo, were you?’
Immediately her entire body stilled. Her eyes widened, and she swallowed noisily. ‘No. Course not. Why would I be with that loser? I were on my own. Walking like I told you.’
Fuck! Zarqa was a crap liar. But the fact that she was lying told him that a chance phone call had given him a name and that name had caused a reaction. Whoever this Jo Jo was, he, or she, he supposed, was a person of interest.
He narrowed his eyes, pushed his mug to the side and leaned on the table before spitting his next words right into her face. ‘You were seen, Zarqa. You and this Jo Jo.’
The words made her recoil, and she unclasped her hands, her leg fell back to the floor, and she scraped her chair away from the table. Her chest heaved and her darting eyes filled with tears. ‘He’d nowt to do with it. It were all my idea. He wasn’t even there.’
Gus wanted to exhale, but he knew he had to keep the pressure up. He had to find out everything. His shoulders ached with the strain of keeping them relaxed. What the hell was he going to tell Mo? And Naila? This would break her heart. As he looked at Zarqa, the angry teenager was stripped away, replaced by a frightened vulnerable girl… but still he had to know it all. It was the only way he could help her… Then his phone rang. Shit!
He snatched it up and growled down the line. ‘I’m busy, be quick.’
Compo hesitated before responding. ‘Got a couple of hits on those drone part orders, Gus. One’s a man in his seventies so he’s probably discounted on account of the fact he’s on oxygen for emphysema and housebound. Another one is a technology teacher at a school in Leeds, and the third is a lad from Belle Hill Estate… a lad called…’
Eyes still on Zarqa, Gus, sensing the inevitability of it all, said, ‘Jo Jo?’
‘How’d you know that? Psychic or summat?’
‘Yeah, something like that. Get Alice ready, we’ll go together to bring him in. I’ve got another suspect here. We’ll need responsible adults in place. Two child interview rooms and get Carlton there. I want his input.’
Zarqa was visibly shaking and Gus strode over to her and put his arms round her. This was the shittiest situation he’d ever been in. He and Mo had been through a lot, but never had he experienced something like this before. How the hell would Mo and Naila ever get over this? And what would the rest of Zarqa’s life be like?
‘We tracked the drones, Zarqa. You need to come down to the station. I’ll phone your parents. When we get there, you need to tell the whole truth. You understand me? Everything! It’s the only way forward for you.’
CHAPTER 68
R azor: Expecting my dosh today, brown boy. No excuses.
Me: FFS Razor. My brother’s been killed. Give me a break. I don’t have the money. You can have the goods back.
Razor: Deal’s a deal, tosser. Money, Money, Money… you know the score. 2 p.m. No excuses.
Fuck! What am I going to do? What the hell am I going to do? There’s one thing I could do, but that’d take a bit of planning and I’m not sure I can. Not with the house as busy as it is. I lean against the wall, glad to be on my own for once. It’s so claustrophobic indoors. Maybe I should just ignore Razor. What’s he gonna do? I mean, would he really carry out his threats? Who am I kidding? Course he would, guy’s a bloody psycho, in’t he? Why the hell did I let
Pratab get me involved in all this crap. Another notification and, heart hammering I look at the screen. Razor’s sent an image. I open it and nearly vomit. The sick fuck’s sent a screenshot of one of those images of Pratab with the knife in his neck.
I jump a mile when Mita speaks. Why does she always creep about like that?
‘Who’s that, Kiran? One of your homies?’
‘Piss off, Mita. None of your business. Where have you been? Mum’s been looking for you. The Brahmin’s coming soon, and she wants you here.’
‘Aw, poor little Kiran, all upset… got yourself in too deep, have you?’
I really want to slap her, but now’s not the time. If she goes in and distracts Mum for a bit, I might be able to access Pratab’s stash of money. It’s the only chance I have. Just hope dad’s downstairs too. I wait a few minutes until Mita’s indoors, then I follow her, slipping past the living room, where I can hear her talking to Mum and I head straight upstairs. When I first found Pratab hiding his drug money in the gap at the bottom of Mum’s wardrobe, I thought it was a great hiding place. Mum would never think to look there. We all knew she did checks in our rooms for drugs and stuff and we’d all got wise. I kept mine in the field opposite, don’t know where Mita keeps hers, and Pratab used his en suite cistern for drugs and Mum’s room for the cash.
I hesitate outside their room. The aunties have been going in and out as if they own the joint, putting their saris on in front of the big mirrors. I’ll need to be quick. Pushing the door open, I listen. The coast’s clear and there’s no one in the hallway either. I nip in, shutting the door behind me, straight over to the wardrobe. The one on the right, under all her boxes of shoes. How many shoes does she need? And I prise it up with my nails and look in the gap. Nothing! The entire stash has gone. Three hundred quid… disappeared, just like that! It can’t be. I stretch my hand back, but no… nothing! Then behind me I hear the door open and I fling the boxes back in and am closing the door when I hear Mita’s smarmy voice.