Blood Ties: Obsession, secrets, desire and murder (A Jack Le Claire Mystery)

by Kelly Clayton

  Le Claire ignored his comments. “We’d like you to come into the station for a chat.”

  “This is bullshit. You have nothing on me, and,” his smile was sly, “you certainly don’t have any jurisdiction outside your little island. So I think we’ll leave it at that, don’t you?”

  Penny smiled. “I’m DI Powers of the Met, and this is DI Graves, and we have more than enough authority, so yes, you’re coming in with us.”

  “Look, if this is about Laura, I didn’t touch her. I haven’t even seen her in ages.”

  Le Claire said, “We’ve been talking to another friend of yours.”

  “Who is that, then?”

  “Lena Davies. Quite a talker when she gets going.”

  The easy smile slid off Danny’s face.

  #

  Ana collected her coat as she left the club. She was ignored by the bouncers, who seemed more concerned with who wanted to come in than who was leaving. She quickly scanned her surroundings. She didn’t know London, didn’t have a clue what kind of neighbourhood this was but thought maybe it wasn’t the worst. Across the road were a couple of small restaurants, and there were some bars with tables spilling onto the pavement. The night was cool, but patio heaters lit and warmed the small seating areas. There was a late-night coffee shop directly across the road. She would sit by one of the windows and keep an eye on the door of the club; that way she could see Ben as soon as he left. It would all be fine.

  She reached into her bag and was rummaging for her phone when what she saw completely surprised her.

  David Adamson was just leaving the club. He looked as taken aback to see her as she was to see him. “What on earth are you doing here, Ana?”

  Her smile was brief. “I’m waiting for my boyfriend. He had some business here.”

  “Are you okay? You look a bit on edge.”

  “I’m fine. I had a little incident, and someone upset me.”

  “You should wait inside. Not in that main area, but I’m sure Danny Gillespie – he runs the place – would find somewhere quiet for you to wait. Come on, I’ll take you to him, show you the way.”

  “NO! I mean, no, thank you – not Danny Gillespie. Look, I have something to tell you. I’ve seen Irena. She’s been working here.”

  “This place? Have you spoken to her?”

  “No. Then tonight I hear that she has left and isn’t coming back. It just strikes me as odd. I don’t care if I look like a fool. My boss’s son is a policeman, and he used to work in London. I’m going to ask him if he can help. I’ve already mentioned Irena to him, and now I can tell him where I last saw her.”

  “Look, we’re on the same mission. I thought I saw Irena with Aiden Gillespie yesterday. I came back here to see if I could find anything out, but he isn’t in.”

  Ana was tense. “Surely, she’ll be okay if she is with Aidan.”

  “Aidan Gillespie isn’t the man a lot of people think he is. There are stories, rumours, about him. I think he’s capable of anything. I brokered a real-estate deal for him a few months back. He’s moving into development, and the property is lying empty. I thought maybe he’d taken her there. I thought I’d go and have a look and just satisfy myself she is okay.”

  “I’m coming with you.” She had to; there was no way she would leave Irena in trouble.

  He looked taken aback and was shaking his head before she had finished speaking. “No, stay here. There isn’t any need.”

  “I’ll just follow you, David. We are wasting time arguing. If Irena is hurt, I can help her whilst you deal with Aidan Gillespie. Come on.”

  He looked resigned. “Fine, this way. I borrowed a car from one of the guys, said I needed to check out something for Aiden.”

  She fumbled around in her bag. “Let me leave a quick message for Ben.” Her hand came out empty. “Damn. I must’ve left my phone at the apartment. Can I borrow yours?”

  David Adamson looked impatient. “You can call him when we find Irena. Come on, we should hurry. She might be in danger.”

  #

  Danny was standing behind his desk with a defiant look. He was refusing to speak until he’d spoken to his lawyer. Le Claire was about to ask Penny if they could take him into the station when a young man ran into the room, stopping as he saw the restrained Danny. Le Claire recognised him straightaway. It was the Gillespies’ cousin, Ben.

  “Ben. We’ve met before. I’m DCI Le Claire.”

  He looked confused. “Le Claire? From Jersey? What’s going on?”

  “We’re just having a word with your cousin. You came in here fast enough. Anything wrong?”

  “I’m looking for my girlfriend.” He addressed his next comment to Le Claire. “I’ve been seeing Ana Zielinska. She’s joined me for the weekend.”

  Le Claire kept his face impassive. Getting hooked up with the Gillespies wasn’t for the faint-hearted. Ana seemed to attract trouble, or maybe it was her that found it?

  Ben continued speaking, “I wondered if she was in here.”

  Danny Gillespie was immediately on the defensive. “Oh, for Christ’s sake. I only kissed her.”

  “You did? What the hell is going on, Danny?”

  “I’m being questioned by PC Plod here, so I’m not too bothered about your missing girl at the moment.”

  “Where did she say she was going? I went to see Aidan, but he wasn’t there. I’ve spent the last half hour hanging about on the off-chance he’d come in. Ana wasn’t where I left her.”

  Dewar asked the obvious, “Did she call you, maybe leave a message – or did you call her?”

  “I don’t have any missed calls, and I thought she’d be by the bar. You can’t hear a phone ring in there; it’s so damned loud. I’ll call her now.”

  He pulled out his phone, dialled, pressed it to his ear and listened. The silence of the room was broken by a musical ringtone. Ben looked horrified. “That’s Ana’s phone. Where is it?”

  “Here.” Penny bent down and retrieved the phone from under the sofa.

  Ben growled at Danny, “How the hell did Ana’s phone get left here?”

  Danny held his hands up in mock-defence. “I don’t know. I think she dropped her bag when she ran out. She must’ve left the phone behind.”

  “Ran out? You’re a piece of work.” Ben lunged at Danny and, drawing back his arm, threw a punch that knocked his cousin back on his heels. He landed in his chair with a thud and an astonished look.

  Le Claire laid a restraining hand on Ben’s arm. “He’s not worth it. I’ll let you away with that one because he deserved it. Keep calm.”

  #

  They had parked the car on the road outside the building. David Adamson had beckoned her to follow him up to the front door of the partially boarded-up building. “This is it. I’m going to feel an utter prat if the place is empty.”

  Ana whispered. “I just want to know she is okay.”

  He nodded and carefully unlocked the front door and went in first. A narrow hall ran through the building with a set of bare, wooden stairs leading to the next level. Their footsteps echoed on the bare floorboards. Silence. Nothing but the muted sound of outside life, cars driving by and the odd beep of a horn.

  She whispered, “Are you sure this is the place? There doesn’t seem to be anyone here.”

  Just at that, she heard the faintest scuffle, a scraping against wood, then the voice, faint, yes, but a voice all the same. It was coming from upstairs. She looked at David. He pressed a finger to his lips and beckoned her to stay behind him as he climbed the stairs. There was a door at the end of the corridor. David reached into his pocket, fumbled with a bunch of keys and, selecting one, unlocked the door. He slowly opened the door wide and crept in. Ana’s heart was hammering, and she had a passing thought that they should maybe have called the police.

  They were in a surprisingly neat and tidy apartment. The doors along the hallway lay open; the one farthest from them was firmly closed. Th
ere was a key in the lock. Her eyes sought David’s. He nodded, turned the key and eased the door open.

  It was a pretty bedroom, and Ana’s eyes were immediately drawn to the shape on the bed. Irena lay in a foetal position, her face to the wall. David placed a guiding hand in the small of Ana’s back and gently propelled her into the room. Irena jerked round, and after a moment of confusion, her eyes lit with joy. “Oh, Ana, thank God, thank God. How did you get here? The bastard locked me in. You need to help me.”

  She looked past Ana at David Adamson. Her eyes widened in shock, and she shrank back against the wall. “Oh, Ana, you fool, what have you done?”

  #

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  Le Claire looked to the open door. Aidan Gillespie strode in. “What’s the problem, Le Claire?”

  “Gillespie, this is DI Powers and DI Graves. We need to talk to your brother about his suspected involvement in various crimes, including prostitution, blackmail and murder.”

  Gillespie’s face reddened. Le Claire tensed, ready for a fight. Gillespie surprised him by turning to his brother. “You little shit. I gave you everything, everything, and this is how you repay me?

  “Aidan, it’s crap. You know me.”

  “Yes, I do, and I’ve ignored the truth for years. I knew you were skimming from the business, stealing from me, but prostitution? Christ.”

  Le Claire went in for the hammer blow. “And the drugs. We think Danny has been bringing drugs into the island, and he is a person of interest regarding the vicious attack on Laura Brown.”

  “You bloody fool. Laura came to see me the night of the party. Said you’d been phoning her. I can just hear you, all sly remarks and crude innuendo. Christ, Danny, why?”

  “Because I’m sick of it being about you. I can be a businessman too, you know.”

  Danny Gillespie had a whining edge to his voice, and Le Claire wanted to tie this up. “Why did you kill Scott Hamlyn? What was he to you, Danny? A disgruntled customer?”

  He saw genuine surprise on Danny’s face that took him aback. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would I kill Hamlyn?”

  “He came to see you at the party. Brought you cash. Was it blackmail money? Weren’t the monthly payments enough?”

  Danny shook his head. “No idea what you’re talking about. His death stopped the payments. Why would I do that? I never dealt with that side of things. That was David.”

  A sick awareness was taking hold of Le Claire. “David who?”

  Danny sighed. “I’m no snitch, but I’m not getting hammered with all this shit.” He had the resigned look of a man who was going down, but not alone. “David Adamson. It was his idea. We used the empty properties he looked after to throw some pretty good parties. Anything-goes affairs. People have hearty appetites in the island and plenty of spare cash. We were raking it in. He even set up a foundation to make it look like they were paying into a charity. Sometimes we’d make a bit extra when they really had something to hide. He was seeing this Irena. He brought girls over every now and again from Jersey. They never seemed to stay with him long.”

  The shrill ring of the desk phone captured their attention. It rang several times, stopped, and started to ring again.

  Le Claire said, “Graves, put that on speaker. Danny, get rid of them.”

  The ringing stopped and was replaced with a gruff baritone. “Danny, it’s Sam. Is Ben with you?”

  Danny glanced at his cousin. “Yes, what’s up?”

  “He was looking for his girl. George just came back on the door, said he saw her heading off earlier. She was with a bloke.”

  Ben was at the desk in a second. Leaning over the phone, he demanded, “Sam, who was Ana with?”

  “That estate agent guy. David something.”

  Ben’s voice cut across the room. “He’s got Ana! Where would he take her?”

  Danny shook his head. “He stays at my place when he’s here. I can’t imagine he’d go there.”

  Le Claire asked, “Is there anywhere he would keep whoever he was seeing?”

  Aidan Gillespie spoke into the silence. “He bought a building for me a few months ago. We’re awaiting planning consent to convert it back to one dwelling. It’s split into flats at the moment.”

  Le Claire turned to Penny. “Dewar and I will search there. We’ll need some of your men.”

  “Graves can tidy up here. I’m with you, and we’ll gather some of the guys from outside.”

  #

  Ana huddled on the bed with Irena, trying to make sense of what was happening. Irena was incredulous. “I don’t know what has come over him. I know I’ve been a bit lippy lately, but he’s gone nuts. He wanted me to get involved with his dirty little orgies. Well, I told him what I thought of that.”

  “Like the party you got me the waitressing job at?”

  “Oh, did you still go to that? Yeah, I mean I knew he helped organise them, but he never took part. Well, I didn’t think so.”

  Ana looked at her friend. They had so much to talk about, but most of that would have to wait until they got out of here.

  “Why didn’t you let me know where you’d gone? I was so worried.”

  Irena’s eyes beseeched. “I’m sorry, but we had to keep quiet in case his bitch of a wife found out.”

  Ana drew back. Did she know Irena at all? “What possessed you to get involved with a married man?”

  Irena shrugged. “She’s never there. Leaves him all alone to handle the kids. All she cares about is jet-setting around the place, meeting her bigwig clients and living the high life. I lived there; saw how she speaks to him. Like she’s his boss, just ordering him around. When she’s there, he’s tense, the kids are nightmares. Then she goes to her other life, and everything settles down. A few weeks later, she is back and the tension ramps up again.”

  Ana looked down at the colourful, flower-patterned duvet cover. She traced the outline of a lush poppy with her finger, thought of what words to use and decided just to let it out. “How did you end up at that club?”

  She sensed Irena stiffen beside her, saw her go to speak and then close her mouth as if she was considering her words.

  There was a creak from the hallway. He was walking about. Ana drew closer to Irena.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  The two unmarked cars parked in a street adjacent to the target property. Aidan Gillespie had insisted on accompanying them. As he had said, it was his property, his employee and he had been working with his brother. Le Claire had agreed on the strict understanding that he was there to show them the correct building. Gillespie had also had the idea of calling Adamson. “He is a money-grabbing swine. If I call him, he will answer. He always does.”

  Le Claire and Dewar were at the front of the building. Penny and two of her men had gone round the back. Gillespie was to stay with the driver of one of the cars and make the call. Le Claire and Dewar crouched by the solid front door. They glanced at each other as they heard the tell-tale ring of a mobile from inside the building. The plan was for Gillespie to tell Adamson he had an opportunity to make a killing on some apartments, but he needed to act quickly. If Adamson would come to him in the morning, there would be a big bonus in it for him.

  Le Claire spoke into his radio in a whisper. “He’s downstairs at the moment. Let’s take it on three.”

  On the count of three, Le Claire opened the front door with the key given to him by Gillespie; at the same time, he heard a crash from the back of the house. Penny and her colleagues had broken in that way.

  David Adamson came running out of a downstairs room. “What the…” He stopped when he saw Le Claire. One of the officers had pulled his Taser and aimed it at Adamson, who threw the phone he was holding at the officer’s hand, causing just enough of a distraction for the Taser shot to go wide. Adamson was blocked in the hallway, but he ran up the stairs, two at a time, Le Claire and Dewar hard on his heels. By the time they r
eached the room at the end, he had Ana in an arm lock, a flick knife pressed against her throat. “Don’t come closer. All you need to do is back off, and she lives.”

  Le Claire tried to communicate with his eyes that all would be well, silently telling Ana not to struggle.

  “Careful, Adamson. Don’t harm her. I won’t hurt you.”

  “You’re dead right about that. I’m in control, and no one takes what is mine. Right now, that’s these two. So get yourself, and the others, out of here before I slash this one.” He tightened his hold on Ana and kicked a leg toward Irena, catching her low in the stomach. She howled as she doubled over. He looked at her with contempt. “Her usefulness was coming to an end, but I think she just got a reprieve. I’ll tell you what we’ll do. You sod off out of here, and I’ll let these two go. I’ve no real use for either.”

  Le Claire was amazed at Adamson’s stupidity. Did he think he was going to get out of this? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a brief movement. Irena lifted her head from the floor and looked at Adamson with loathing.

  “You discard women easily.”

  “Only the worthless ones. There are some I’d have gone to the ends of the earth for.” His voice shook. “But then they don’t want you. They want their boring little, respectable lives.”

  Le Claire took the opening. “Was that what Laura did?”

  “I would have done anything for her. I got rid of that fool, Scott. I had the perfect plan. All he had to do was dump Laura and I’d keep quiet about his precious mother.”

  He looked down at Ana and laughed. Ran the knife across her throat, not breaking skin, but he was threatening, menacing. Ana’s eyes were wide, but she stayed still. Good. He didn’t need any sudden movements to incite Adamson into something stupid. “He thought he could have her for good. She was too much of a woman for him. I had to put up with a ball-busting wife and poor imitations like this…” He threw his arm to the side and indicated Irena.

  Le Claire edged closer. “And what about Katrina? She’s dead, you know. Her body was found in a squat.”

  Adamson’s voice was defensive and chillingly dismissive. “That’s nothing to do with me. Stupid girl liked the pretty pills a bit too much. Some of the girls at the club got her onto harder stuff. She was useless to me when she was continually zoned out. So I told her she was on her own.”