Cold Killers (37 page)

‘Man up, Harold. This is your last job. We’re going to build you a palace when this job comes off.’

‘If.’

‘When, Harold. When. Now, what’s this you’re telling me that it’s coming to Spain first and then on to the UK? Why? Why are these things altered without my
consent?’

‘Because we are here dealing with it and you are not. This is not about your consent. This is the cartel’s call. The Zapata call the shots. They wanted it unloaded at Valencia and
reloaded on a smaller container ship to the UK,’ answered Harold.

‘What reason did they give?’

‘They think it will be safer,’ replied Harold. ‘They are already using Manson’s company to bring it across, which they weren’t keen on. We need to give them what
they want.’

‘Okay, well as long as there is a reason. Will it delay it?’

‘We have six days now, till the 19th, for Della to make sure the diamonds are ready.’

‘Have you seen any of the diamonds?’

‘I’ve seen one, it’s a beautiful thing. The biggest stone I’ve ever seen. Eddie had it in the safe, she said.’

‘I’d love to see it, Harold. Go get it now, I want to see it.’

‘Marco took it to show the Zapata.’

‘You make sure he brings it back.’

‘It’s one diamond.’

‘I don’t care. I want to see it. I’m taking all the risk here.’

‘What, in your bombproof villa? It doesn’t feel like that sitting where I am, Tony.’

Sandra walked into view. She was having an off day: no make-up, her hair in a scarf. She had on a tracksuit.

‘Mum, you feeling okay?’

She stepped close to the camera. Her face loomed large on Harold’s screen. ‘Tony is wearing me out. He paces around the place. He’s worried sick about you all. Don’t fuck
up now, Harold. Eddie died for this.’

‘Eddie died
because
of this. It’s not the same thing.’

Sandra gave a dismissive wave of the hand and walked away. Then changed her mind and came back and looked into the webcam.

‘Where’s Della right now?’

‘She’s out.’

‘Yes, but where? Where? That is exactly my point, Harold. You make sure you know where Della is night and day or else I’m coming over to deal with things myself.’

‘You’re safer where you are, Mum.’

‘I don’t care about safe. I care about getting the right results. We never lived our lives worrying about safe and it’s worked out fine so far.’

‘Mum, okay, I get it. I need to talk to Tony again, I don’t have long.’

Sandra went away muttering under her breath. She went to find Debbie, who was resting by the pool, a cold cloth over her eyes.

‘You shouldn’t lie in the sun so much. You’re wrinkled enough.’

Debbie sat up wearily and took the cloth from her eyes. She put her sunglasses back on and picked up her iced water.

‘I’m just trying to stay out of Tony’s way for ten minutes. The sound of him pacing around is driving me nuts. It’s like being in the zoo and watching the tiger going
back and forth.’

‘He has a lot on his mind. You should be more supportive.’

Debbie shook her head and smiled to herself.

‘What can I help you with, Sandra, or have you just come over to brighten my day?’

‘No need to get sarky. I just talked to Harold. It doesn’t look to me as if anything’s getting done properly over there. I’m thinking of going over there, to the UK. I
need to, to see what’s going on.’

‘With the new deal, you mean? With the cocaine?’

‘Shush, for Christ’s sake. Don’t you care who can hear? The police will be listening to every word we say in the grounds.’

‘Whatever.’ Debbie sat back and tilted her face up to the sun. ‘You enjoy yourself, Sandra. I wish I could leave here, just for one day. It would be nice. The Christmas lights
will be up on Oxford Street when you do your shopping. You’ll be able to pick up chocolates from Harrods in person. You’ll have a lovely time.’

Sandra sat down next to Debbie and leaned in to whisper.

‘You’re going the right way to a hiding.’

Debbie turned her head slowly to look at Sandra and she raised her sunglasses.

‘Sorry? Repeat that, please.’

‘You heard.’

Debbie smiled, unimpressed, and turned away as she sighed.

‘Don’t you forget who you are, Debbie.’

Sandra jabbed Debbie hard in the arm with her silicone nail. It cut into Debbie’s skin. It began to fill with blood beneath the surface. Debbie flinched for a second only before she pushed
Sandra hard. Sandra fell back onto the flagstones and took her time getting up, brushing herself off.

‘You’ll pay for that, Debbie. One way or another.’

‘That’s right, Sandra. You go to London and you try to justify the deals, the deaths. Your own son Eddie, the only decent one among you, he was killed because of Tony.’

‘Tony’s under house arrest, for fuck’s sake. How do you think he could have done it, eh? Spit it out.’

Debbie stared hard at Sandra. ‘We both know how Tony makes his money; we also know what he’s capable of. I’ve seen him snap someone’s neck for nothing. I’ve seen
his stuff on the Internet. He’s worse than a child molester: he’s a
sick
child murderer. You’ve bred a monster.’

‘Shut your mouth, you piece of shit. Get out of here if you don’t like it.’

Debbie laughed drily. ‘I’ve had enough of listening to you. I’m past caring now. Tony is going over the edge. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the beginning of the end
for us here. I can see what would happen to me if Tony died. You’d all turn on me, too, just like you are on Della. But I’ve decided that’s not the way it’s going to go,
Sandra. Do you understand? I really hope you do. I am mistress of this house. I will call the shots if anything happens to Tony. I am his wife. You better start being nice.’

Sandra walked away muttering to herself, ‘No way am I going to fucking London, when I’ve got enemies right here in my own house.’

‘The officers said they went in to find him hanging.’ Carter stood before Bowie’s desk shaking his head sadly. ‘Bloody hell, did you apply too much
pressure on him? Did you have any inkling he was suicidal?’

‘No. We hadn’t even begun to put pressure on. We were relying on us finding out where he transported the shipment. This is bad news. We hadn’t even told him we knew that he
must be involved.’

‘How is his wife?’

‘She’s got family liaison with her. She had just arrived in Plymouth when he was found.’

‘Why Plymouth?’

‘Apparently, Manson wanted her and the kids to go away for a few days.’

‘Can she tell us any more than that? Does she know about Manson’s business?’

‘I’ve briefed the family liaison. It means we have access to the property here. We can have a good look. I’ve got an officer in there discreetly going through all
Manson’s paperwork. I’ve had news from Della that we only have three days left to try and pull this deal together.’

‘You got it in hand?’

‘Yes, I think so.’

‘Do we have word about which docks the shipment’s coming in at?’

‘This is a different cartel and it’s up to them to get loaded their end in Mexico, probably, so I don’t know. But we hope to when it arrives on UK soil. They must tell Della
that.’

There was a knock on Bowie’s door.

‘Sir?’

‘Willis? How are you feeling?’ Bowie frowned. ‘You look like you need to sit down or fall down. Take a chair.’

Carter pulled one up beside him for her to sit down.

‘I thought you were staying in bed for the rest of the day,’ he said.

‘I feel much better; I wanted to come in and see what I can do about Inspector Ross. I can’t forgive myself for just leaving him out there.’

‘You didn’t just leave him, Eb. You appraised the situation and you made a decision based on that.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Bowie turned to Carter.

‘What’s the latest from the National Crime Agency?’

‘They’re not telling us anything.’

‘Then we have to accept that Ross is safe, he is working.’

‘What about Francisco?’ Bowie asked Willis as she sat down. ‘Did you discover anything?’

‘We found plenty that needed to be taken further. I’ve already submitted my report on it and have made sure that my findings have been sent to the attention of the top man out there.
He’s got back to me to say they’re upping their search and they will keep me informed. I heard about Manson,’ said Willis, looking at Carter.

‘Yes, we are going to have to rely heavily on Della. She may have to actually deliver the diamonds in person.’

‘What about your informant?’ Bowie asked Carter.

‘Melvin’s death was brutal. It was meant to be laid at my feet. They wanted me to see it first. I think this was Marco. He knows I’m a copper. He knew about Melvin. He knows
what I look like. This is meant as a warning to me and to all those who might think about talking to me. It’s working down there, people have clammed up.’

‘This was the very situation we said we’d try to avoid,’ said Bowie. ‘You better stay away from Bethnal Green. Let someone else handle Melvin’s murder. Willis, you
can take it on.’

‘Thank you, sir.’ Willis stood and left.

After she left, Carter asked: ‘You sure? This is her first case as an SIO.’

‘I’m sure. She’s methodical, she’s dispassionate. She’s perfect for this. Plus, it will make her feel better for the disappearance of Ross. Will you pick up
Marco?’

‘I’ve asked Della to get us some DNA of his for us to match to the murder scene. We need him on the outside for the deal to go through. He is the nearest thing we have to Tony
himself. If we close Marco down too soon, we’ll never flush Tony out.’

‘I can’t see how we will get him to leave his villa. It will have to be something massive to force him out of there,’ said Bowie. ‘Plus, the Spanish police will have to
look the other way.’

‘I think that’s the only part of the plan that’s a given for me,’ answered Carter. ‘I’ve been hearing a lot about corruption among the officers.’

‘If there is going to be a war between the Mendez and the Zapata cartels, should we try to round them up first?’ asked Bowie.

‘We daren’t risk this deal not happening. If we want Tony we have to wait.’

‘How is Maxi Seymour?’

‘I think Maxi is okay. He’s gone back into detective mode. Marco has only been to see him the once. He’s going to be told when he’s needed. He’s gone back to the
day job for now.’

‘And what about Roland de Soir?’

‘He’s complaining like hell about staying in a three-star hotel with no gym and no room service.’

‘I got you some sunglasses,’ Willis said as she handed them over. She had the look of someone racked with guilt.

‘Hey, these are great. I asked Cabrina to get me some, but she’s bound to forget.’

‘How is she doing?’ Willis asked Carter as he caught up with her, and they walked down to Robbo’s office together.

‘Finally having a nice time. She’s found a group of other London girls and she’s fitted in fine. I knew she’d be okay.’

‘When does she come home?’

‘She has another week yet.’

Carter put his new sunglasses on. ‘How do I look?’

‘Like you’re wearing knock-off Ray-Bans. Better not wear them in the sunshine: they’ll probably burn your eyes.’

‘Thanks for the gift. Got anything else, like poisonous confectionery?’

‘All out of that, I’m sorry.’

‘Willis, stop a minute. Look at me, tell me how you’re feeling.’

‘I feel like shit.’

‘Physically or spiritually?’

‘Both.’

‘You actually still look rough. I think you should—’

‘Don’t tell me to go home. I don’t want to be there. I feel like I let Ross down in a way that I would never have let you down. Would I have just got back on a plane and left
you? No way.’

‘Stop going over it, Eb.’

‘I worry that he’s been kidnapped. We met a lot of hostility from the locals out there. A timeshare conman, Peter Tully, who had one of Eddie’s villas, he had a go at Ross. He
has influential friends, they all do. Money buys anything, it seems. There are a lot of powerful villains with police in their pockets. How do we know that he just didn’t get taken and
murdered for daring to cross Tony Butcher?’

‘Give yourself a day or two to work this out, Willis. You’ll get there; you always do. But, right now, you’re still in panic mode. There were inconclusive results back from
your blood test, so we don’t know whether you were drugged or not. Now, it probably doesn’t matter a whole lot.’

‘There were opportunities to slip something in my drink, but I don’t know why anyone would. It’s not as if I was on a date.’

‘Which makes it even more likely it was Ross himself.’

‘Why?’

‘To stop you asking questions. To make sure you wouldn’t know anything. Perhaps he was thinking, I’ll be kind, I’ll give her a way out of this situation and get her on
the plane home. She won’t be able to endlessly go over it with her colleague and endlessly blame herself.’

‘Perhaps that’s it. He left me with his daughters’ presents from Spain. If I took them around to his ex-wife’s and gave them to her, she might tell me if he’s been
in touch.’

‘You want to do it, you go ahead, but don’t expect too much. Concentrate on the here and now. You now have to head up the investigation into Melvin’s death as well as the
workload you have already. I need you to let this go. You want my opinion? Ross is a clever guy. This is some plan he has going.

Willis knocked at the terraced house in Clapham.

A pretty woman answered, tall with curly hair pinned up on top of her head. She had on a hippy, tie-dyed top and leggings. She was barefoot and very pregnant.

‘Sorry to bother you. Is it Belinda?’ Willis said. The woman nodded. ‘I’m a colleague of David’s, your ex-husband.’

‘I know who David is.’ She smiled. ‘Please come in. I’m having tea and cake, come and join me. Has he sent you?’ ‘No, no, he hasn’t. I hope I’m
not disturbing you. I’d love some tea.’

‘You’re not disturbing me at all.’ She led Willis into the kitchen. Its walls were plastered in kids’ drawings. It was cluttered and messy. It had the smell of freshly
baked cake.