Redemption (12 page)

“You threw a game?”  

Gary shook his head. “Nothing so drastic. All I had to do was make sure the ball went into touch within the first few minutes.” He laughed quickly and then went serious again. “Can you believe the things people bet on? It seemed so minor.”

“Then they started asking for more?”  

Gary nodded. “They made it clear that my family is at risk if I don’t do what they want. Some of the things I’ve done...” He started crying again and I thought back to some of the games we’d played recently where Gary had slipped up. He hadn’t played badly; apart from the mistakes he’d been strong. No one blamed him, but there had been mistakes and those mistakes had cost us points.

“We’re going to figure this out.” I said. “You don’t have to handle this by yourself any more.”  

Gary turned to look at me with a puzzled expression on his face. “You’re not mad?”  

“Oh, I’m mad. But not at you. Those people who threatened your family are going to pay for this.”

“Please don’t tell the guys,” Gary said. “I’ll fake an injury and find a way not to play for a few weeks.”

I nodded and Gary disappeared to go and wash his face. He’d left his phone on the bench and it vibrated with an incoming text message. I glanced at the screen and had a fairly good idea that the sender was someone Gary didn’t like. The water was still running, so I grabbed the phone and opened the message from “The Fucker.”  

Enough of your bollocks. Come to the store on London Road. Back entrance. Be there in fifteen minutes, or the boss will get mad.

I deleted the message and put the phone back down on the bench.  

“Gary,” I yelled out. “Sorry mate, but I have to go. Just remembered I have a sponsorship meeting.”

“Oh, okay.” I could hear the disappointment in his voice. He needed me to be there for him right now, but it was better I tackle the problem at the source.

“Let’s talk tomorrow. You’re going to get through this.”

I was the worst friend ever.

A bit of educated guesswork was more than enough to lead me to the right place. London Road was a popular street name, but there was only one close enough to get to in fifteen minutes. The street had a convenience store and a few other small shops. They were all closed, except for a hardware store that had a light on in the back.

I parked up on the street and snuck round the back. At this point, I realized I had no bloody clue what I was going to do. I had no weapon, nor anything I could use as a weapon. Usually, my body frame was enough to scare people off, but that might not do the trick here.

The back door was open, and I walked inside to find a guy even bigger than me standing by the entrance and two men sat down at a table. I’d been expecting to see stacks of cash everywhere, but the place was rather underwhelming.

The big guy blocked my way, but was quickly called off by the man sat at the table who recognized me.

“Oliver Cornish. What leads you into our neck of the woods?”  

The man was about forty and balding, with a slight paunch around the gut. He’d once been in shape though. The man boobs looked like they used to have been pecs, but he’d stopped taking care of himself.  

“I’m here to talk to you about Gary,” I said.  

“Hmm, well, you’d better take a seat then.”

“I’ll stand,” I replied. I was always more intimidating when I stood because I towered over everyone. “I won’t be long.”

“Suit yourself.”

“He’s done what you asked, and now you need to leave him and his family alone.”

“Do I now? And what, pray tell, do you plan to do about it?”

The man looked rough around the edges, but he didn’t speak that way. This man had been well-educated and probably once played rugby himself judging by his build. He wouldn’t be easy to intimidate or threaten.

“This isn’t a big operation you’re running here, is it?” I asked, looking around the store that they no doubt used as a front.

“We do all right for ourselves.”  

“Yes, but you’re operating outside of the law.”

“Are we?” he said sarcastically. “Well, damn, I guess we had better shut the whole thing down.”

His associates laughed along with their boss’ joke as good associates always did.

“What I meant is that you have to take a risk and you’re not raking in the big bucks. No doubt, you have to keep bets modest so as not to arouse suspicion, and rugby is nowhere near as popular as football so the profit is smaller. You’re working hard for little gain.”

“What do you propose, Mr. Cornish?”

“Gary and I will give you ten percent of our income for a year.” That would keep me coming back here more often than I would like, but it would also buy us enough time to get the police involved. Perhaps we could set up a sting?

“Interesting,” the boss said. “But that’s not enough. Let’s make it 30% and that goes on in perpetuity, not just for a year.”

“20% for five years,” I replied. That was the rest of Gary’s career. Hopefully we would be able to put a stop to all this long before that.

The boss sat there in silence, likely doing the maths in his head. I suspected this would be a slight loss for him overall, but it would also be a lot less risky for him. The temptation of easy money was strong.

“I like the idea, in principal,” the boss said. “Get Gary involved and we have a deal.”

“You agree to stay the hell away from his family?”  

“If he keeps up his end of the bargain then we won’t need to harm anyone.” I nodded my head and walked towards the exit. “The same goes for you, Mr. Cornish. Keep to your end of the deal, and we don’t harm anyone. If not, well, I do hope your mother’s new husband is capable of protecting her.”

I walked out without rising to the bait. I didn’t have a kid like Gary, but Mum was finally happy with her new husband and I had to protect her. We weren’t close, but she was still my mum.  

Thankfully, I only had one person in my life to protect. I had no wife, girlfriend, or child. My selfish lifestyle at least had some advantages. If there was anyone else in my life, I might not be able to protect them. Thank God I was alone.

We’d both had too much to drink, so we hailed a cab to take us to the police station. The traffic meant the journey took twenty minutes, which was just about enough time for me to calm down. If we’d have gotten there any earlier then I would have burst into whatever jail cell was holding Maisie and yelled at her until I was sore in the throat.

How in the hell had she gotten herself arrested? We’d only been in the country a week. If the cops pressed charges then we might get kicked out and I’d have to explain to Mom why I let her daughter end up in jail.

I’d also have to face up to the truth about my ability to look after her. Oliver had told me I was responsible for Maisie being the woman she was today. That was supposed to be a compliment, but now it sounded like I was responsible for raising a criminal.

Oliver led the way to the front desk, but instead of asking to see Maisie, he asked if Chief Superintendent Hodgson was available. A few minutes later, a slightly overweight, but bubbly and confident woman approached and shook hands with Oliver. She didn’t wear a uniform, which presumably meant she spent most of her time behind a desk.

“Michelle, this is Chief Superintendent Hodgson,” Oliver said, introducing us.    

“Nice to meet you,” I replied. “We’re looking for Maisie Portman.”    

“Yes, don’t worry. I saw her earlier and managed to intercept her before she was thrown in a cell. Thankfully, I got to her just before Superintendent Winston.”    

“Oh thank God,” Oliver said.    

“Am I missing something here?” I asked. Oliver and Hodgson looked like good friends, but that didn’t explain how she knew who Maisie was. I’d been with Oliver the entire time and he hadn’t made any calls.

“Sorry, Ma’am,” Hodgson said, as she motioned for us to follow her into the hall. “I’ve rather jumped ahead. I saw Maisie come in with two officers and Shaun, whom I know well. Because of his late father,” she added quickly, in case I got the wrong idea about why a police officer would know Shaun so well. “Turns out young Maisie was on the receiving end of some abuse about her appearance and she clocked the guy one. Got a good right hook on her, by the sounds of it. Anyway, the guy probably won’t press charges. Not once I’ve had a word in his ear. Shaun and Maisie are waiting for you in my office.”

Just as we were stepping into her office, another plain clothes officer stopped to talk to Oliver. This one was a bit younger than Hodgson, but even though he was in better shape, it looked like the last few years hadn’t been kind to him.    

The unshaven look didn’t have that sexy stubble thing going on, but rather someone who simply hadn’t taken the time to shave. The bags under his eyes suggested that might be connected to a lack of sleep.

“I see crime runs in the family,” the man said to Oliver.    

“These two kids have as little to do with crime as I do,” Oliver replied. I could see anger in his eyes, but he did manage to keep his voice calm. “Are you going to launch a full-scale investigation into them as well?”

“No, I’d rather keep our resources focused on you. Have a nice day, Mr. Cornish.”    

The man skulked off down the corridor and I caught Oliver exchange a smile with Hodgson.

“His investigation isn’t going anywhere,” Hodgson said, pulling up chairs for us. Maisie and Shaun had their backs to us and didn’t look around as we entered the room. “Obviously there isn’t anything to find.”

I sat down next to Maisie who made a pointed effort of looking directly forward at Hodgson’s desk and not at me.    

“So what happened here?” Oliver asked. “Which one of you wants to do the talking?”

The smile on Hodgson’s face helped me relax a touch. She obviously didn’t think this was that serious, so Maisie wouldn’t be in any trouble. At least not from the police. She’d still have me to contend with later.

“Maisie?” I asked, when neither her nor Shaun spoke up. “I heard you hit a boy. What’s your excuse?”

“He was making fun of me,” she replied.

“So? That’s no excuse for hitting someone.”

“He said I looked like a monster.”

“Oh.” I rubbed my face with my hands, suddenly overcome with tiredness. Maisie usually handled abuse calmly and never reacted to it. At least, not that I knew of. Perhaps she had more of a temper on her than I realized.    

“That’s not what happened,” Shaun said softly. Maisie looked towards him. I couldn’t see the look on her face, but Oliver bit his lip and tried to suppress a smile. Maisie had one hell of a deadly pout when she was displeased and right now Shaun was probably on the receiving end of it.

“Yes, it was,” Maisie insisted.

“Jack kept talking about Olly,” Shaun said. “Kept saying that he was a waste of space and shouldn’t still be playing rugby.”

“So you hit him?” I asked.

“He deserved it.”    

Now it was Oliver’s turn to look devastated. “Maisie, I don’t need you to fight my battles for me.”

Maisie crossed her arms in a sulk. She didn’t look in the least bit sorry or apologetic. It was a good thing we had Hodgson on our side.

“Chief Superintendent Hodgson,” I asked. “Would you mind letting Maisie and I speak alone?”