Dead or Alive (27 page)

‘Jez might have had more than one accomplice,' said Cope. ‘He and whoever it was took out two of your men. Vince, we need to know who was with him. If you take my advice you'll just kill the kids and dispose of their bodies. This is getting out of hand.'

‘If I take your advice I lose two million pounds. I need these kids alive long enough to talk to their father. I'm already missing a two hundred grand car. I'm in no mood for more losses.'

‘In that case you could forestall any future attempts to free them by assuming Strathmore was behind this attempt, and you should mention it when you talk to him. Tell him Jez is dead, as will the kids be if he doesn't go along with you. It'll make him realize the futility of not complying with you.'

‘Futility of not complying with me. I like that, Lenny. I will say that to him.'

‘How will you pick up the money?'

‘I will give him the number of a bank account in Lichtenstein into which he will transfer the money. Within minutes of it being deposited it will set off on an exotic journey around the world's banks ending up in an impregnable bank account eight thousand miles away from here. I have a highly paid banking expert who is something of a wizard at this sort of thing. He is the most indispensable man on my team. However, he knows that if I do dispense with him I will find a suitable replacement for him, as should you.'

His eyes fixed Cope with a humorous stare. Cope didn't respond. Formosa went on to say, ‘I will also tell Strathmore that I have the means to know if the money is being tracked, and if it is he will never see his children again.'

‘And do you have the means to see if it's being tracked?'

‘No, but I'm told that my man's method of moving money means it can't be tracked. But I'll make the call anyway, to stop them trying. Even if they did track it, all they'd end up with is a numbered bank account that they can't touch without starting a war.'

‘I'm impressed,' said Cope. ‘You could keep your word and let the kids go. If they disappear completely the police will never let it go. It'll only take one loose tongue in ten years' time and they'll be knocking on your door.'

‘And whose tongue will that be … yours?'

‘Hardly. They knock on your door, they knock on my door.'

Formosa shook his head. ‘No, once they've outlived their usefulness the kids are toast. I've got no way of knowing how those drunken idiots at the compound handled the move. Maybe they shot their mouths off, mentioned my name or some such stupidity. It's safer for us all if the brats are never seen again.'

‘I agree,' said Cope.

‘I do not like this child kidnapping business,' said Formosa. ‘It's too difficult to read the unbalanced parents. They don't always obey the rules.'

‘Maybe you should try kidnapping rich businessmen.'

‘Now that's a good idea, Lenny. I must check me out some Arab oil sheiks. The pickup might be more complicated, but the high value guys are worth the extra trouble.'

‘They tend to go round with bodyguards.'

‘Bodyguards aren't bulletproof. We can handle bodyguards much better than unbalanced parents. Yeah, it's about time I got me a share of the oil business.'

T
he following day, Winnie drove her van into the hand car wash on Roundhay Road. It had picked up a lot of mud during its one day on loan to Sep. The car wash was run by Eastern Europeans, as were all such car washes it would seem, but they were cheap and did a good job. She stepped out of the van and walked over to the office, as was her usual routine in this place. She'd become quite friendly with the manager, a young Romanian she was on first name terms with.

‘Morning, Marku.'

He smiled, broadly. ‘Good morning, Winnie. Hey, I have a question for you.'

‘Oh?'

He lowered his voice, despite them being the only people in the office. ‘Yes, my question is about a police raid on a brothel in Spencer Place.'

Winnie was immediately on her guard. ‘Really? I read about that in the papers.'

‘I think you know all about it, Winnie.'

‘What are you talking about, Marku?'

‘Well, one of the girls who was rescued from that place was my girlfriend. Five months ago she was supposed to come here from Romania to join me but she did not arrive. I thought she had left me. I just try to get over it. But she'd been a foolish girl and she fell for some trick those people were playing over there to get girls from Romania to Leeds very cheaply. She was there four months when the police bring her out.'

‘So, what's that got to do with me?'

‘Your name and that van,' said Marku. ‘When she was being driven away from the place in a police van, the police were talking to each other and they talk of a woman called Winnie who shot Dragos in his private parts – only they didn't say private parts. They say she drive a blue Transit van and it has me wondering how many Leeds women called Winnie drive blue Transit vans.'

‘Marku, have you told anyone else about this?'

‘I haven't, no. I thought I should mention it to you first.'

‘What about your girlfriend?'

‘Corina is still in shock about the whole thing. Since she tell me about the conversation in the police van she has not been able to talk about it at all and I do not press her. In fact I do not think I want to hear what she might have to tell me as there is nothing I can do about it, so I am trying to help her forget about the whole thing. I think she might have forgotten about the police conversation but not about her time in the house.'

Winnie considered denying she was the woman in question, then she thought about this logically. Marku was right when he asked how many women called Winnie drive around Leeds in blue Transit vans. She didn't even know anyone else called Winnie, never mind a Winnie with a blue Transit van. There was a silence between them as she considered her two options – admit or deny. Marku interrupted her thoughts.

‘They said Winnie must have been very brave and that she must have been working for the police undercover … Is this true?'

Winnie looked at him. He'd all but denied her one of the options.

‘No,' she said.

‘Are you working for police?'

‘Marku, I came in here to get my van washed and you're giving me this third degree.'

‘What is a third degree?'

‘It's … Oh never mind.'

‘I was only saying this because I believe my girlfriend owes her life to you, and you give her back to me, which means I owe you my life as well. It was you, wasn't it?'

Winnie looked at him and knew it was hopeless to deny it. ‘OK, it was me. I was helping a friend and, due to my stupidity, it got out of hand – and I would rather you didn't talk about my involvement in it to anyone. The police captured most of the gang but probably not all of them, and they're the ones I need to be afraid of.'

‘I understand. I will never do anything to cause you harm.'

‘Not a word to anyone?'

‘Not a word.'

‘Thank you, Marku.'

He smiled at her and a question arose in her mind. ‘Tell me, Marku, how has this affected your relationship with Corina?'

‘You mean the knowledge that she was forced into prostitution?'

‘Exactly that, yes. That can't be easy for you.'

‘No it isn't easy for me, but she is still the girl I fell in love with and my love is still as strong, in spite of all the things that filthy men have done to her. None of this was her fault.'

‘I'm proud of you, Marku, but how has it affected your relationship?'

‘It is not good at the moment. I am a man, and she doesn't want me anywhere near her. She is talking about going home to Romania, but I remind her that she has a father and three brothers who all treated her like a servant.'

‘How do you treat her?'

‘I treat her like the woman I love who is an honoured guest in my home. What else can I do?'

‘I think that ought to do it eventually.'

‘Do you know that Dragos is dead?' he asked her.

‘I do, yes.'

‘Should I tell Corina he's dead?' Marku asked her.

‘Oh yes, I think you should. He will have humiliated her and what I did to him was the ultimate retribution for the humiliation he heaped upon all the girls, as well as myself. I know I have beaten him and she should know something similar. It will help her, I can assure you. But please do not mention my name or that you know me.'

‘I will tell her he die in the agony of having his manhood removed by an angry woman.'

Winnie smiled. ‘Oh, yes, you tell her that. I think it should do the trick.'

‘Winnie, if there is anything I can ever do for you I will be most honoured to help. I will never charge you for washing your van.'

‘You'd better not let your boss hear you say that.'

‘Do you often help police?'

‘Sometimes.'

‘I ask this because in my world I hear many things that may be of interest to the police, but I say nothing to them as they think we Romanians are all people who commit crimes, which is not true.'

‘No, I don't believe it is either, Marku. What sort of things have you heard recently?'

‘What is it you wish to know about?'

‘Well, have you ever heard of a man called Vince Formosa?'

Marku's face lost its animation. He stared at her with frightened eyes. ‘Yes, I have heard of him. I know he is a most dangerous man.'

‘I know that, but have you heard anything specific about him?'

‘What is specific? I no understand.'

‘It means … do you know of some actual crime he has been involved in?'

‘What sort of crime?'

‘Such as the abduction of children.'

The frightened eyes returned. His eagerness to help was fading. Winnie pressed home the only advantage she had. ‘Would your girlfriend like you to help me?'

‘I think she would, but she would not like me to put my life in danger.'

Winnie got to her feet and went over to the window. Her van was covered in foam which was being cleaned off by three very industrious young men. Marku came to stand beside her.

‘You talking about Formosa reminded me that Lucian, one of my people, went back to Romania last week,' he told her.

‘And what did Formosa have to do with that?'

‘Well, I promised Lucian I would never to tell anyone. He is terrified of Formosa.'

‘I think you can tell me without jeopardising his life. Is it to do with the children?'

‘No, it is to do with the murder of two people. A man called Lee Dench and his girlfriend.'

‘I knew his girlfriend but not Dench,' said Winnie.

‘No, I did not know him either. Not a very nice person I am told.'

‘So, what about their murder?'

‘I know who did it.'

‘How?'

‘Because Lucian was in the house at the time. Two men came to kill Dench because he grassed up Formosa. They kill both him and his girlfriend but left the rest of them alive, this included Lucian. He tell me all about it the day before he goes back to Romania. I have never seen a man so terrified.'

‘I'm guessing he didn't give a forwarding address.'

‘You guess correctly. I give him all the money he was due and wish him good luck.'

‘Did he give you the names of the killers?'

‘No, but he give me a description. A black man and a white man who Lucian thinks was Irish which makes me think it was Spud and Sharky.'

‘I'm guessing the Irishman's Spud,' said Winnie.

‘That is right,' said Marku. ‘How did you know?'

‘Just a wild guess.'

‘Well if the white man is Spud then the black man will be Sharky. I also know they haven't been seen around in Hull since the murders, which is unusual because they're always out and about in some pub or other.'

‘Why Hull?' asked Winnie.

‘It's where they both live. They're regular hitmen. Live in Hull and work over this way, where no one knows who they are.'

‘Except you.'

‘Well I worked in Hull before I was asked to run this place. We have a branch in Hull and I asked the manager about them. He's like me, gets to hear all sorts of stuff.'

‘Why do you think no one's seen them? Will they have gone to ground?'

‘Gone to ground? What's that mean?'

‘It means are they in hiding somewhere.'

‘Doubt it. I think they've either left the country or Formosa have them killed and I don't think they will have left the country.'

‘Why not?'

‘It means they have to go through security checks. Men like that do not like being checked by anybody.'

‘Well, I don't blame Lucian for doing a runner,' said Winnie.

With her van cleaned, Winnie drove away. She wasn't thinking about Marku and his information, she was thinking about the man she had killed and would she be in trouble for it? The fact that she had killed Dragos didn't trouble her as much as it would have had she killed an actual human being. Retribution for her rape and humiliation was now complete, but she was worried about the consequences. Best get hold of Sep and see how the land lies.

S
ep was at home, fitting a more comfortable saddle on to his bike. Something he'd promised himself to do should it ever be returned to him. It was leaning against the dining table in his living room, when his mobile rang. The caller's name came up on the screen.

‘Fiona.'

‘Hi Sep, how are you?'

Her unaccustomed familiarity took him aback. ‘If you must know,' he said, ‘I've got a sore arse from riding this damned bike.'

‘You've got it back?'

‘Yeah, I've been riding round on it this morning. The tracker did its job. It was a local kid. It was found three streets away. I promised myself a new saddle if ever I got it back.'