Tug Of Law (Bernadette Mackenna Cases Book 4)

by D. R. Bailey

  “Hmm, yes, well…” Rhys coloured up.

  “Look, my mum’s dead, he’s not that old and I can’t blame him,” Callum explained.

  “Thanks for the build-up, son, now they think I’m a fucking pervert.”

  “We don’t, I assure you and what you do in your private life isn’t our concern, really,” said Bernadette with a smile.

  “She loves him to bits. She’d do anything for him,” said Callum.

  “Look I drive the trucks, or I used to, I met Petra in Poland and well, things moved on from there,” Rhys added.

  “Honestly, we’re not judging you, Rhys,” said Bernadette with a shrug.

  “Aye, well.”

  Rhys seemed a little mollified at this and started to sort out the coffees. There was a plate of crescent shaped biscuits dusted with icing sugar and one with slices of cake which looked like a light sponge with almonds on top also dusted with icing sugar.

  “She doesn’t wear that all the time you know, she has got, normal clothes…” he trailed off.

  “Christ, Rhys, if you are fortunate enough she indulges your fantasies a bit then good on her, and lucky you,” Imogen said accepting his coffee.

  Rhys grunted, and handed a coffee to Bernadette, “Help yourself, to you know… cake or whatever, it’s erm Polish, Polish specialities. Petra made them.”

  Bernadette sipped her coffee and decided to move things along. “Our plan is to try and get Kevin to admit he’s lying. I’m going to rattle him if I can. So, Callum, can you tell me anything which can help us get to him?”

  “Like what?”

  “Just tell us about him, if I can get him wound up a bit then he’s more likely to let something slip. Tell us how you got together, that sort of thing.”

  “How intimate do you want me to go?”

  “As far as you like. There just might be something I can use.”

  “OK. I met Kevin at a gay bar in London,” Callum began.

  “Did you go often to gay bars?” his father put in.

  “Rhys, if you don’t mind,” Bernadette said shooting him a look, this was not helping.

  “Oh, yes, sorry, you ask the questions, sorry.”

  “Thank you. You can answer that one, Callum, if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, I don’t mind.” Callum shrugged. “I used to go cruising bars, yeah, for sex. If I was in London for the night, I’d do that.”

  “What’s your type, Callum? In men?” Imogen asked him.

  “I tend to go for the macho type, a bit of leather, stuff like that, good looking muscles. I mean, I’ve got them too, but I like tattoos that sort of thing.”

  “Anything else?” Imogen raised her eyebrow.

  “You mean do I like kinky bastards, is that it?”

  “Do you?”

  Rhys shifted uncomfortably in his seat but held his peace. He sipped his coffee. It had been his choice to stay and listen.

  “No, but I like it a bit rough, if you see what I mean, dirty talk, stuff like that.”

  “Can you describe Kevin to us?” Bernadette asked him.

  “He’s about my height, got muscles too but not as well built as me. Good figure though, nice arse. He’s got one of those moustaches which droops down, thick black, and a nice head of hair. Nice eyes. I loved his eyes. Square jaw, I always told him he could have been a model.”

  “So, he was good looking?”

  “Yes, to me. I found him attractive straight away.”

  “You told us it was purely sexual. You weren’t in love.”

  “No, not in love no, I loved some parts of him though,” Callum sniggered.

  “Oh?”

  “Let’s just say he was well-endowed.”

  “Christ!” said Rhys under his breath.

  Bernadette shot him a sharp look.

  “Sorry,” he said at once.

  “OK, you had the hots for him, I think we’ve established.”

  “Yes, I did. We met in the bar and then went back to the hotel, fucked all night. Then I found out he was a driver too working for another firm. So, it turned out we’d meet quite often, or he’d be in Dublin.”

  “What did you two talk about?” said Imogen.

  “Sex mainly. Blokes we fancied. We were both into action films, we’d talk about which of the stars we fancied most.”

  “You said you did not know he was connected to a criminal gang.”

  “No, I didn’t he never mentioned anything like that.”

  “Did you two communicate by text at all?” Bernadette said.

  “Yeah, of course, we did.”

  “Were they explicit in content?”

  “Not all of them, no.”

  “Would you be willing to let one of our team look through them?”

  “What would you want to do that for?”

  “There might be something we can use, and also it would establish you and he were in a sexual relationship. The only downside is we would have to submit these in evidence and lose the element of surprise. But we’d still like to look, if you don’t mind. It will be very discreet I promise.”

  “Callum, put your scruples or perhaps embarrassment up against fourteen years in a British jail for a crime you didn’t commit and then answer,” said Imogen frankly.

  “OK, you’re right, you can if you want,” Callum sighed.

  “Thank you,” said Bernadette, “We’ll only use those we really need. I promise you.”

  “Go on, son, you’ve got to do what they say, they know what they’re doing,” Rhys added.

  “Yes, Da.” Callum smiled.

  “Can you tell us anything, anything at all which might get him upset?”

  This still was their best bet and they needed a line of attack.

  “Yes, he’s got a thing about women.”

  “What sort of thing?”

  “He thinks they are inferior, he’s a bit of a misogynist. I could easily put up with it, we used to joke about it, but he really believes women are the weaker sex.”

  “Is that a fact?”

  “Yes, he said it’s why he’s glad he’s gay. He can’t stand women, to be honest.”

  “Fantastic,” said Bernadette smiling.

  “Fantastic?” Rhys said looking puzzled, “The guy fucking hates women and that’s good?”

  “Oh, it’s more than good, because right off the bat he’s going to hate being cross examined by a woman.”

  “Yes, yes I see, hmm, you’re right, I see.”

  “Then,” Imogen added, her mind racing ahead, “He probably thinks it’s perfectly fine to traffic women for sex because it’s all they are good for.”

  “Excellent thinking!” Bernadette smiled at her. “Now, the opposition won’t know this, will they?”

  “No, I doubt it, you’ll only find out if you were in a relationship with him,” said Callum.

  “Which means we could let slip about your relationship with Kevin, but then our line of attack would be completely different.”

  “Or we could say he had a relationship with Callum and if he denies it then bring the texts into evidence,” Imogen suggested.

  “The prosecution could get us on it though, ask for a new hearing as they didn’t have time to prepare.”

  “Sure, you’re right, we’ll have to think this through carefully.”

  “Anyway, Callum, did you ever have any kind of argument with him at all? Anything which we might be able to use?” said Bernadette.

  “What do you mean?”

  “If you’d argued, you would have given him a reason to name you to the police. It gives us an entry point, a line of attack.”

  “Oh, oh I see.”

  “So, is there?”

  Callum thought for a few moments while they consumed some of the biscuits and cake. They sipped their coffee and waited.

  “You know I said we weren’t in love,” Callum said at length.

  “Yes?”
/>   “It wasn’t strictly true.”

  “OK, so what did you mean? Were you in love with him after all?” Bernadette asked him.

  “No, I wasn’t but he did have feelings for me, I think.”

  “You think? What made you think it?”

  “He was talking like he was jealous. He started asking me what I’d been doing when I wasn’t with him. Where I went, who I saw. Trying to figure out my movements.”

  “I see, and what did you do?”

  “I got a bit annoyed, to be honest. I asked him outright if he was jealous and I told him I wasn’t seeing anybody else. He denied it, of course. He said he was asking me because he was just interested in my life.”

  “Was this just once, or more than once?” Imogen said.

  “It was several times, to be honest, but at first I said nothing, then I decided to tackle it head on.”

  “What happened after that?”

  “He became distant, a bit more standoffish. For a while, we didn’t see each other so much.”

  “And then?”

  “He started seeing me more again. I mean, I didn’t mind either way. He was a good lay, but I wasn’t going to get emotionally involved with him, so I suppose I just let him walk away when he wanted to.”

  “Why didn’t you want to get involved with him, Callum?” Bernadette asked him.

  “I just didn’t feel an emotional connection really, not with him. It was purely sexual. Also, I just felt something about him, something dodgy I suppose, I dunno, it was just a feeling.”

  “Then why did you keep sleeping with him?”

  “The lure of good sex, and a fucking big dick,” Callum laughed.

  “Right.”

  “The prosecution may ask you questions like we have, just so you know,” said Imogen.

  “Right.”

  “So, it’s best we’ve asked you first. We will try to discredit their witness and his testimony. They will, by the same token, try to discredit you and show you to be a liar. The same tactics we use, they will use. To try to needle you and wind you up. You have to try to maintain a cool head. Also try not to make smart comments like that, because they’ll use them against you.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “He’s got a cooler head than me,” Rhys laughed, “I’d be terrible as you’ve seen.”

  “Then it’s a good job we won’t need you on the stand.” Bernadette smiled at him.

  “You’re a tough pair of nuts, I can tell,” said Rhys.

  “We try to be,” Imogen laughed.

  “I’ll be honest with you, Rhys, I’m a bitch in the courtroom when I want to be, but if I need it to get results then I will,” Bernadette said candidly.

  “I don’t doubt it,” Rhys giggled, “I wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of either of you.”

  “Oh, you don’t want to get on the wrong side of Imogen, see that red hair, she lives up to it.”

  “Hey!” Imogen said in mock indignation, “She’s right, I’ve got a bad temper.”

  “I’m leading the defence in court, Imogen is my right-hand woman,” said Bernadette with a smile.

  “Do you need to ask me anything else?” Callum put in.

  “So, you think if we go at Kevin on the basis he was in love with you, we might strike a nerve?”

  “Yes, definitely. He was jealous I’m sure. He hadn’t anything to be jealous about though, I wasn’t seeing anyone else while I was with him.”

  “Did he ever express his jealousy at all? In words, say anything?”

  “No, just the obsessive wanting to know where I’d been and what I was doing all the time.”

  “Before this trafficking thing blew up, were you still seeing him?” Imogen asked.

  “Oh yes, in fact, I was supposed to meet up with him after the drop off. I left the truck and then went to wait at a hotel, but he never showed. So, I just went home instead. Then I found out the place had been raided.”

  “How did you get home?”

  “I took a flight. I didn’t have a return drop off like normal, so I just went to the airport and hopped on the next one I could get.”

  “I reckon you had a lucky escape,” Bernadette observed, “They would have been out to arrest you soon enough if you were hanging around.”

  “Yes, I’m sure, I’ve thought of that, and then I’d have been truly fucked.”

  “So, in summary, you had a strong sexual relationship with Kevin, but you think he was in love with you. That’s a pressure point we can use on the stand. We’ve got a two-pronged attack on him now. The pressure from the police and his own jealousy which we will assert led him to vengeful behaviour.”

  “Yes, I see,” said Callum nodding.

  “What’s he like, does he have a short fuse or is he quite calm?” Imogen said.

  “He’s quite quick tempered. I noticed when we went out he would get quite impatient with the servers and stuff. If something wasn’t to his liking, he would have a go.”

  A thought occurred to Bernadette.

  “You said he was well built, did he do weight training, or work out?”

  “Yes, he did, we sometimes went together. He had pretty good muscles on him for sure.”

  “Do you think he took steroids at all?”

  It was a fair question. They were known to cause short tempered behaviour.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Did either of you do drugs?”

  “No, I never did shit like that. I couldn’t afford to, being a driver, no. If Kevin did it, wasn’t when I was around.”

  “Ah well,” said Bernadette philosophically, “It was worth a shot.”

  “Can I ask why you are a driver? I mean, your Dad owns this firm. How come you aren’t in line to take it over?” Imogen said suddenly.

  “He is,” Rhys put in at once, “But I wanted him to learn it from the ground up.”

  “I like the driving,” said Callum, “But I know I’ll have to start taking the reins, if I ever get the chance now.”

  “We’re going to do everything we can to see that you get your chance,” Bernadette said quietly.

  “Assuming you do get off,” Rhys said to Callum, “You won’t be driving anymore, I can’t risk anything like that again. You’re going to start helping me out and getting ready to take over.”

  “Thanks, Da.”

  “You’ve erm… got a nice place here,” said Bernadette.

  “Yes, though it’s far too big. I always hoped it was going to be for the big family I was going to have.” Rhys shook his head. “But then his mother died, when he was young. She died suddenly, she was hit by a car, it was an accident.”

  “Sorry to hear it.”

  “It’s OK, it was me and the lad ever since.”

  “You never…”

  “Wanted to get married again? No, it’s taken me a long time to even be with someone again.”

  “You could still have kids, Da. I’m sure Petra would,” Callum interrupted this reminiscing session.

  “Now then, Callum, we’ve talked about this.”

  “No, Da, you’ve talked but I haven’t, you’ve got this big house, Petra, just do the right thing, marry her and have kids, you know you want to. Stop worrying about me, I’m hardly going to provide you with a family, now am I?”

  “You might,” said Bernadette, “I mean, it’s not unheard of.”

  “I don’t know, I’d have to find the right bloke first and then adopt or something, it’s a long process,” Callum sighed.

  “Anyway, we don’t want to bother you with our family stuff,” said Rhys conscious they were letting on more than perhaps he wanted to share with their lawyers.

  “OK, well, otherwise is everything OK here, I noticed you have security?” said Bernadette not wanting to overstep the line with their client.

  “Yes, I’ve got a firm on twenty-four seven now. I’m not taking any chances. We’ve got at least two who live h
ere full time at the moment. I’ve got some in the yard too. We’ve got our main office here as well, at the back of the house, where we do all the admin and back office stuff.”

  “Are you expecting trouble?” Imogen wondered.

  “You can’t be too careful. These gangs are trouble. Big trouble. I know there are such gangs in the business, more’s the pity. I’m having my boy protected at all costs.”

  “Seems sensible.”

  “I can afford it, why not.”

  “Right, I think we’ve got what need for the moment,” said Bernadette.

  “OK.”

  “We will be putting you on the stand Callum, but I’ll brief you beforehand as to what to expect.”

  “OK, thanks.”

  “In the meantime, you will need to turn up to the prehearing.”

  “Right.”

  Bernadette stood up. “We’ll be going then, and thank your girlfriend for the cakes.”

  “I’ll see you out,” said Callum.

  They said goodbye to Rhys, and Callum accompanied them to the front door.

  “Keep your chin up,” said Bernadette.

  “Thanks again,” said Callum.

  ✽✽✽

  After they returned to the office, Bernadette and Imogen sat together on the sofa sipping coffee.

  “Right, so we’re going after Kevin on the basis of his relationship with Callum?” said Imogen.

  “Yes.”

  “So, should we or shouldn’t we reveal it beforehand, put in evidence?”

  “Let’s see what Micky turns up, shall we have a chat with him?”

  “Yes, but what about the police pressure, the deal he’s made?”

  Bernadette took another sip and thought about this.

  “We’ll attack him on that second. So, I’m going to soften him up first with him being in a relationship which will establish when we attack him with being jealous that he’s perhaps being vindictive. Then, when I’ve got him rattled, we will hit him with the deal he’s made. Callum would be his logical target.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Imogen agreed.

  “Of course, we don’t know how he’s going to respond, but hopefully if he gets angry or at least shaken up a bit he’ll reveal something he doesn’t want to.”

  “Right, I’ll get Micky in here,” said Imogen getting up.

  “Sure.”

  Imogen went out of the room and reappeared a couple of minutes later with Micky in tow. Micky was a boyish young twenty-something, wearing a sharp looking grey suit, white shirt and tie. He was sporting a moustache which he’d recently started growing.