Screams in the Dark (23 page)

‘You’ll be fine, Emir. Sergeant Elliot and Detective Inspector Johnson will look after you.’ She turned to the cops. ‘Won’t you, guys?’

‘Of course we will.’ The big DI patted Emir on the shoulder. ‘Come on, son. Let’s get you a coffee and we can get settled down for a chat.’ He shook Rosie’s hand. ‘Thanks for your help, Rosie. We’ll be in touch.’

Don walked Rosie to the door of the police station. ‘The boy looks terrified,’ he said, lighting a cigarette.

‘He is,’ Rosie said. ‘Where will you put him tonight?’

Don gave her a slightly perplexed look and blew smoke out.

‘Rosie, he’s not your wee brother. Leave it to the professionals.
Don’t worry. We’re not going to keep him in the cells. We have a safe house for him, but we need a longer talk with him first. Then we’ll get him some grub and settle him in.’

‘What do you think of what he’s told you so far?’ Rosie asked.

‘Dynamite stuff, if what he’s saying is actually true. And, of course, if we can get enough on these bastards to lift them.’ He took a long draw of his cigarette and flicked it away. ‘But we’ve a bit to go before we’ll be ready to do that.’

‘Yeah.’ Rosie looked away from him. She didn’t like holding out on Don by not passing all of the information she had to him.

‘So what’s your next piece going to be?’

‘Don’t quite know yet, Don. I’m working on a few lines,’ she lied. ‘But now that Emir’s with you, we’ll be doing something very soon. Things are going to start opening up a bit, with the cleaner’s man being murdered so soon after her boss is found hanged. It’s all too much of a coincidence. Lot of intrigue. The rest of the press will be all over it now.’

‘We need a chance to look at this ourselves, Rosie. If you go blasting it all over the place, these bastards will disappear.’

‘Well, it’s kind of out there now, Don.’ She gave him a cheeky smile. ‘You’ll just have to get your arses in gear.’

‘Everyone’s been briefed. There’s a team getting prepared to look at that slaughterhouse place. I think things will start to move pretty fast.’ He turned to go.

‘I hope you’ll give me a heads-up so we can be on the ball, Don.’

‘Course.’ He winked. ‘Stand by your mobile.’

Rosie smiled and walked towards her car. As she got in, her phone rang.

‘Where are you, Rosie?’ It was TJ. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘Just about finished, TJ. Took Emir to the cops. I’ve just got something to do very quickly, then I’ll be over. I’m starving.’

‘Good. I’ve cooked the best curry outside of the Punjab. I’ve got some decent wine as well. See you.’ He hung up.

Before she drove off, she tried Tanya’s mobile again, but it was still ringing out. She hadn’t been able to get her on the phone since Josef had been murdered. She was beginning to get worried.

Rosie parked her car close to Tanya’s flat and walked up to the door. She rang the buzzer, but there was no answer. She waited on the doorstep, looking at her watch. She buzzed another flat in the building and the security door clicked open. When she got to the top of the stairs, she was surprised to see the door of Tanya’s apartment was slightly ajar.

‘Tanya?’ Rosie knocked on the door.

No answer.

‘Tanya? You there? It’s Rosie.’ She pushed the door open a little more.

Rosie swithered as to whether to go in. Her stomach tightened at what she might find, given what had happened to Josef. She took a step forward, then stopped. Bad idea, she thought. She took out her mobile and was
about to press Don’s number when the door suddenly swung open and banged against the wall. Before she could even take in what was happening, she was grabbed by the hair and dragged into Tanya’s hallway. A hand went across her mouth.

‘Shut the fuck up. Scream and you’re dead.’ The voice rasped in her ear.

She was slammed against the wall, her head jerking back. For a second Rosie felt dizzy with the pain and shock, but then she was back. Her legs felt weak.

‘Where is the fuckin’ bitch?’ He was wearing a balaclava, but she could see his eyes blazing. He kicked the door shut.

‘I don’t know,’ Rosie managed to mumble behind his hand.

He punched her hard in the stomach and she doubled over, gasping for breath. He took his hand away from her mouth and grabbed her hair with his other hand. For a split second, Rosie thought one hand looked smaller than the other. Maybe the knock on her head had made her confused.

‘I don’t know,’ she said, ‘I’ve been trying to find her. She doesn’t answer the phone.’ Rosie looked at him. ‘Please. Don’t hurt me.’

He put his hand around her throat and squeezed.

‘You’re Rosie Gilmour. That bitch from the paper.’ He sniffed. ‘You’re on the fucking list by the way. In fact I’d probably get a bonus if I did you over right now.’ He slapped her again and she felt a searing pain in her cheekbone. It brought tears to her eyes.

‘Please! Stop! Why are you doing this? I’m just looking for Tanya.’

‘Aye. Fuck you.’ He squeezed her neck. ‘You’re scum. You and the rest of them reporters, poking their noses into everybody’s business.’

Rosie said nothing, just tried to breathe.

‘See when my brother got jailed for murder? You cunts splashed it all over your paper. Said he was scum from a scum family in Easterhouse.’ He paused, took a breath. ‘My ma died of shame a fucking year later. Never set foot out of the house because the papers said her and her weans were scum.’ He swallowed. ‘Everybody pointed the finger at her. Can you imagine what that was like? Died of shame.’

His eyes were shiny now, and Rosie thought for a moment he was going to burst into tears. But she knew better. Angry men like this didn’t cry. They lashed out at everyone in sight. They punched and slashed and raged their way through life, and they blamed everyone – from the system to the cops – for making them the dysfunctional toerags they were. Blamed everyone but themselves. It was just her unfortunate timing to bump into a psycho with a grudge against the press. He touched his face and from the corner of Rosie’s eye she could see the crooked, withered hand. He noticed her glancing at it and squeezed her throat again.

‘You see this?’ He shoved the hand in front of her eyes. ‘I was born like this. My ma said I was special. She made me special when I was wee and everyone laughed at me.’

Rosie didn’t know what she should be saying to this damaged nutter, but it wouldn’t be a good moment to offer him a hug. She stood perfectly still and silent, trying to swallow with his hand across her windpipe. But she sensed weakness. Whatever he was supposed to be doing to her, he wasn’t focused on it.

Suddenly she found the strength to jerk her knee up and slam him hard between the legs. She watched astonished as he crumpled to the floor. Then she amazed herself even more by giving him another swift kick in the balls.

‘Fuck!’ he groaned, doubling up on the floor, clutching himself.

‘Fuck you.’ Rosie stumbled over him and grabbed the door handle.

In a flash she was downstairs, running towards the exit and out into the street. She didn’t stop running until she got to her car and locked the doors. Her hands trembled so much she couldn’t get the key into the ignition. She dropped it, then fumbled around the floor and picked it up, glancing fearfully over her shoulder.

‘Come on Rosie … Come
on
, for Christ sake.’ She finally got the key in and screeched away.

It was only when she was at George Square that she pulled the car in and looked in the rear-view mirror. Her face was red and her eye puffy. Her lip was beginning to swell. Her hands shook as she pulled her mobile out of her pocket and phoned TJ.

‘Rosie. Where are you?’

She swallowed back tears, but couldn’t speak.

‘What’s up? Rosie? What’s wrong?’

‘Oh TJ,’ she managed to say. ‘I’ve been attacked. Can you come?’

‘Christ! Where are you?’

‘George Square. Outside the city chambers.’

‘I’ll be there in ten minutes. Don’t move.’

*

Back in TJ’s flat, Rosie sat at his kitchen table with her hands wrapped around a mug of sweet tea and a packet of frozen peas against her swollen cheek. She’d declined his offer of a brandy. He sat opposite her, his elbows on the table with his hand supporting his chin. TJ watched her, with that look that had disarmed her from the moment she realised she had fallen in love with him. So much had happened since then, but the look was still enough to unnerve her.

‘Don’t stare at me like that, TJ,’ Rosie said, only half joking. ‘It weakens me.’

‘Jesus, Rosie.’ He sighed, shaking his head. ‘What are we going to do with you?’

Rosie flinched a little as he reached across and gently touched her swollen lip with the back of his fingers. She took his hand and held it.

‘Sorry I scared you, TJ.’

‘Come on. Don’t be stupid. You know I would go to the ends of the earth for you, sweetheart.’ He smiled. ‘But knowing you, Gilmour, by the time I got there, you’d probably be busy doing something else.’

Rosie smiled, touching her cheek and wincing.

‘Sometimes I don’t know where I’d be without you.
That’s the truth, TJ.’ Her throat felt tight with emotion. ‘I missed you so much when you were away.’ She shook her head. ‘I wish I hadn’t. But I did.’

TJ pulled his chair closer. ‘You know what I wish, Rosie?’ His voice was soft. ‘I wish … I wish you didn’t do this shit any more.’ He ran his hand through his hair. ‘I know you hate me saying these things, but that’s what I really feel.’

‘TJ …’ Rosie didn’t want to hear it.

He held his hand up. ‘I know, Rosie. But honestly, this shit tonight. That guy. He could have killed you. That’s obviously what he does. It’s nothing to scumbags like him to squeeze the life out of someone. And then what? That’s it. It’s over for you.’ He shrugged. ‘Sure, the papers might say wonderful stuff about you, but people will be eating chips out of the paper the next day, and you’ll be dead, Rosie. And for what?’

Rosie touched her neck, still tender from the grip of her attacker. She knew that nothing she would say could make him understand what she was, what drove her every day. She’d been knee-deep in other people’s misery for so long, she didn’t really know how to be anything else. She did everything on instinct, gut reaction. She didn’t ever stop to think of the consequences, whether it was chasing the human traffickers who stole the kid in Spain last year, taking Emir to her flat to stay, or going out to Tanya’s house when it was obvious that someone had bumped off her man. Sure, she was reckless. But through all the investigations where she’d taken risks, the only question she ever asked herself
afterwards was: What if she hadn’t? What if she hadn’t stuck her neck out, taken the risk? It was irrational, and she couldn’t even begin to explain it to TJ or anyone else. She just didn’t know who else to be other than the person she was right now, even if her face hurt and her lip was raw. She pushed her chair back and stood up.

‘I’d better phone McGuire,’ she said. ‘He’ll go nuts.’ She walked away from the table, lifting her mobile, then turned, smiling. ‘And where’s this curry you promised? I’m starving. Oh yes. and I’m ready for that glass of wine now,
garçon
.’

As she walked into the living room she was dialling McGuire’s number.

‘Gilmour. What’s wrong? I’m at the back bench up to my arse in the splash here.’

Rosie looked at her watch. She’d lost track of time. It was 8.30, and McGuire would be putting the finishing touches to the first edition.

‘Oh. Sorry, Mick. I’ll call later …’

‘No, Rosie. Something’s obviously wrong. What’s up?’

‘I got attacked.’

‘Christ. Where? Who? Are you hurt?’

‘I got a bit of a slap. Black eye and a fat lip.’

‘Fucking hell! What happened?’

‘I nipped out to Tanya’s house because I couldn’t get her on the phone. When I got there the door was open and suddenly I got dragged by the hair into the hallway. Don’t know who it was. Some guy had me by the throat, slapping me, demanding to know where she was.’

‘Fuck sake. How did you get away?’

‘I kneed him in the balls. He just collapsed. Christ knows where I got the strength or courage to do that, Mick. I’ve never done it before, but I hit him hard enough to make a run for it.’

‘Shit! Remind me not to mess with you, Gilmour.’ His tone lightened a little. ‘But listen. Are you okay? Where are you now? Should we get the cops?’

‘No, no, Mick. I’m okay. Honest. I’m with my friend TJ. He came and got me and brought me to his flat. I was a bit shocked though, but I’m fine.’

There was a pause, and Rosie knew what was coming next.

‘Right, Rosie. Listen. Don’t go back to your flat tonight. Just stay there. This is getting rough now. We need to take these fuckers seriously. I’m moving you somewhere with a bit of protection. A minder.’

‘I don’t need protection, Mick. What am I going to do with a minder? I don’t want a minder. Honest. I’ll go somewhere else to stay till it dies down. But no minder.’

‘We’ll talk about this in the morning. Just get yourself a rest and make sure that JT bloke takes good care of you.’

‘It’s TJ,’ Rosie said.

‘Yeah. Right. Just make sure he’s looking after you.’ He hung up.

TJ came in with two glasses of red wine and handed her one. He put on a CD, and blues music filled the room as he slipped onto the sofa beside her. Rosie took a mouthful of wine, kicked off her shoes and sat back.

‘I’ll have this drink, then a long hot shower. Then maybe we can eat?’

‘Sure.’ He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. ‘I’m crazy about you, Gilmour. You know that don’t you?’

She smiled but said nothing as he brushed his lips against her bruised neck. Rosie was instantly aroused by his touch as he caressed her thigh, and closed her eyes as TJ’s kisses moved down to her chest and he unbuttoned her shirt.

*

In the morning, Rosie awoke to the aroma of fresh coffee as the sun streamed in the window. The sound of the radio drifted through from the living room. She groaned in pain as she tried to lift her head off the pillow. Her neck hurt from the whiplash as her attacker had thrown her against the wall. She touched her face and could feel it still swollen, but at least she could see out of both eyes. The cut inside her lip still felt raw. She sat up and leaned across to look in TJ’s wardrobe mirror.