Dead Wrong (24 page)

‘Come in.’

We crowded into the room. The man behind the desk rose. ‘Miss Kilkenny, Jay Khan. Your nose is bleeding.’

‘Yes.’ I was surprised my voice still worked, ‘comes of having it slammed against a car.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Jay said. He spoke to Siddiq in what I guessed was Punjabi, then English. ‘Rashid, please, untie the lady.’ He turned back to me. ‘I’m afraid Rashid overreacts. There is no need for this, surely?’

My hands free, I rubbed my wrists where the cord had left deep grooves and then foraged in my pocket for a hanky. There was one in my jeans, back pocket. I pulled it out. Peter Pan, one of Maddie’s. No, oh no. I felt a swoon of dizziness. Caught myself.

‘I didn’t bring you here to hurt you,’ he said. His Mancunian accent was tinged with southern vowels as though he’d been spending time in London and acquiring new habits.

‘No?’ I wiped my nose, it throbbed horribly. ‘Why, then? Why did you bring me here?’

Zeb and Rashid had moved back and were leaning against the wall beside the door. Jay gestured at the table opposite his desk. It bore an architect’s model of a building.

‘Do you like it?’ he asked. ‘Expansion. We’re opening our new warehouse next year. Ski-wear, après-ski, surf and dive. Business is good.’

‘Which business is that then?’ I said it before I realised how dangerous it could be. ‘Looks good!’ I tried to cover my tracks.

He paused a moment, just to let me know. ‘We’ll keep on with the fashion side, the street wear, but this’ll open up a whole new market. And we can use both sides to get the ideas going. Kids in the club coming up with wacky new outfits, incorporate it into the leisure wear, turn it round and sell it back to them – aprèsski for the club.’

But I wasn’t interested in his little lecture on his empire.

‘Why am I here?’

He got himself a cigarette from his desk, lit it and inhaled. He blew smoke rings. Very accomplished. My nose hurt; it felt as though it had doubled in size. I’d been hit in the nose before and it hadn’t been broken. Would I end up like an ex-boxer this time? You silly sod, I thought, that’s the least of your worries. But I didn’t let the others come crowding in.

‘These rumours you’ve heard…that’s all they are – malicious gossip. I thought we should get that straight. Now, Rashid here, he thinks there’s only one way to get a result, but I don’t. You’re an intelligent lady…’

Woman, actually.

‘…no reason why we can’t come to an understanding.’

‘I don’t follow,’ I said.

‘Joey D is dead.’ I wondered how he had heard so quickly. ‘It was only a matter of time. He sold you some Mickey Mouse version of what went on the night my cousin was killed. You should forget it.’

Or else? ‘I have a client–’ I began.

‘Who’s clutching at straws. He’ll get his trial, but I’d be seriously unhappy if the garbage that junkie dreamt up is smeared around. Shit sticks,’ he said sharply, ‘and that’s all it is – a crock of shit.’

No one said anything for a minute then he smiled. ‘Besides, it puts Rashid here in a bad light. Most unfair. With Joey gone it’s just hearsay. There’d be compensation of course. I don’t expect something for nothing.’

‘You’ll pay me to keep quiet?’ I kept my voice neutral. They didn’t know I’d given the tape to Pitt or that I’d reported Siddiq to the police. What choice did I have? If I refused his offer he’d hand me over to Siddiq. ‘How much?’

A knowing smile. ‘Enough to make it worth your while. A bonus. Treat yourself to a holiday – take the kids. A couple of grand should cover it.’ I felt like knocking him over.

‘When would I get the money?’ Trying to play it plausibly, cautious but greedy. I wanted them to let me walk out of there.

‘There shouldn’t be any problem. Early next week, say?’

I nodded.

‘You see?’ he turned to Siddiq. ‘Negotiation.’ He spread his hands wide to demonstrate. ‘Sorted.’

‘How do you know she won’t take the money and then grass you up anyway?’

‘Aw, no,’ Jay laughed. ‘That would be stupid, very stupid – suicidal, in fact.’ His eyes were bright with the threat. ‘That’s clear, isn’t it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. Rashid will take you to your car now. I’ll give you a bell. Take care.’

Rashid no longer manhandled me though I sensed his mistrust. I felt my head pulse with pressure at the temples. The knot in my stomach felt as though it was made of hot rock, burning holes in the soft tissue.

‘I don’t like this,’ Siddiq said to Zeb.

Zeb climbed into the driver’s seat. ‘What about Sonia, the video tape from the club?’

Trust them to remember that – my spur-of-the-moment threat.

‘Destroyed,’ I said, ‘they tape over them after a fortnight’ The bluff worked.

‘You told anyone about this notion that Sonia wasn’t there?’

I thought my way around it. ‘It would help,’ I said diplomatically, ‘if you could find someone else who remembers seeing her, like you did. It might come up.’ I talked as though there would be a trial, that Luke would stand accused. Whatever Jay had promised, I needed to convince the two men who had me captive that the deal was sound.

The silence on our return journey was interrupted by the bleeping of my mobile phone. Ray calling to check why I wasn’t back. The phone was still in Siddiq’s pocket. He fished it out and handed it to me, indicating I should answer it. I did.

Dermott Pitt’s voice ricocheted round the car. ‘Sorry to ring so late again but you did ask to be informed as soon as we’d made any progress. Thought I’d give you a try, see if you were still switched on. CPS have been back to me.’

My neck prickled and I moved to cut the connection. Siddiq clocked what was going down immediately. He gripped my wrist and took the phone from me.

‘We gave them the tape and the Deason boy’s evidence put the fox among the chickens all right,’ Pitt’s voice went on suavely, ‘should be no problem with the bail application and they’ve as good as said they’ll refer the whole thing back to the police. So your Mr Siddiq should be off the streets pretty sharpish. Good news. Thought you’d like to know. I hope to—’

Siddiq cut him off and slammed the phone against the headrest in front of him. ‘Shit.’

‘Fuckin’ ‘ell,’ swore Zeb. ‘I knew she–’

‘Park-up, off the road,’ barked Siddiq.

‘Where?’

‘Anywhere,’ he shouted, ‘somewhere quiet.’

My mind went wild with confusion, I fought to concentrate, to make a plan but I couldn’t settle my panic. And I knew that now they would never let me go

‘Showcase,’ said Zeb. He swung into Hyde Road, drove fast past the bus depot, used-car showrooms and derelict buildings. The multi-screen cinema had a large car park. It would be deserted, this time of night.

‘She taped him,’ said Zeb, ‘she taped Joey D. The law have got it now. Shit, man. This is doing my head in.’ He swerved into the car park which was large, black and floodlit. The rain had stopped but everything was glistening in its wake. There were cars near to the building, presumably for late screenings, but the far end was empty.

Zeb parked as far from the buildings as possible, at the very perimeter. We could not easily be seen from the busier end of the car park. There was just one car nearby. I assumed it was a breakdown or stolen. Or a courting couple? Hope leapt for a moment until I looked and saw no sign of people, no steamy windows.

Zeb turned round to face us. ‘She pretends to do a deal and she’s already stitched us up. Bitch.’

‘Get out of the car,’ Siddiq spat the words at me and got out.

‘What you going to do?’ asked Zeb, following him. ‘Rashid, what you gonna do?’

‘Get out of the car!’ Siddiq screamed at me. I climbed out trying to plot an escape route, uncertain where to run. Siddiq gripped my arm again. It hurt badly. ‘No one does this to me,’ he hissed, ‘you’re going to have an accident. Fatal.’

Zeb began to speak rapidly. ‘Hang on. Think it through, man. You can’t…they’ll know it’s you. They’re looking for you, soon will be, and they know she dropped us in it. They’ll do you for her as well. We’ve got to think it through. We need to be clever, this time.’

‘I’m the one goes down, not you, not your fucking brother. We should have just left it, left Ahktar. If we’d just left it…’

‘Don’t blame me, man. It wasn’t my idea to do the whole witness stuff. Don’t lay that on me, that was Jay.’

‘He blew it. Worried about the Force rooting round, worried it’ll get too close, for comfort. Wanting it sorted. And this tart pulls it out the bag like a fucking magician.’

‘Killing her won’t help, will it, eh?’ I couldn’t believe Zeb was pleading for my life. ‘It’ll make it worse.’

‘I’m not doing it. You are.’

‘No way. You’re mad, guy.’

‘You run her over.’

‘Shit!’ He shook his head, backing away, ‘They’ll trace the car, anyway.’

‘Torch it, report it missing. Joyriders.’ Siddiq took the keys from Zeb and dragged me round to the boot. ‘They knocked her down, reversed over her. Freaked out and torched the car.’ He opened the boot, got out the spare petrol can.

‘And how did she get here? Her car’s in friggin’ Old Trafford. Use your brain. This is mental. I’m not doing it, I don’t want any part of it. You’ve lost the fucking plot, man.’

‘You are part of it, you wanker. You’re pushing so much up your nose your brain’s melting. If it wasn’t for you, none of this would have happened. None of it!’ he bawled. His grip on my arm was so hard my fingers were going numb.

‘I know that. You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t think about that? It was my cousin,’ Zeb was losing his temper, too, waving his arms as he ranted. ‘But you should have known. Hell, Rashid, you work with me and don’t give me that crap about the jacket. You need your bloody eyes examining. You cocked it up, Rashid – not me, not Jay, not Mohammed – you! Jay should have dumped you then; I should have dumped you. I couldn’t believe it, you killed my cousin and then you tell me it should have been me! Like it’s my fault! Bloody ‘ell, man.’

He shook his head, still incredulous at it after all this time. ‘You’re telling me my darling brother’s ordered my doing over, ‘cos I’ve overstretched the bank, and you’re telling me you’ve killed my cousin by mistake and you’re asking, begging me for help. Threatening to grass us up if I say anything. I still can’t believe I did it, but I helped you out, Rashid. Don’t you forget that, man. I got Luke.’

‘Oh, yeah? You didn’t give a fuck for your cousin; you don’t have no honour, Rangzeb, none. All you care about is snorting it up your nose and saving your arse.’

‘I lied for you. I set Wallace up for you and you, you just pull us all deeper in the shit…’

‘Shut it,’ his rage distorted the words.

‘They’ll know you done Joey D now. They’re soon gonna suss that.’

‘It was an overdose,’ I blurted out in surprise.

‘Oh, yeah? And how come he gets pure smack? Little gift Rashid arranges to come his way once he’s tracked him down in Chester.’

Oh no. I felt sudden tears and sniffed them back.

‘He wouldn’t have taken stuff from any of you. He was petrified,’ I protested.

‘He didn’t know who sent it, someone else made the delivery,’ Zeb said scornfully. ‘And now you want to do her. It’s not my head that’s in a mess, Rashid. You’re a fucking psycho. I’m out of here.’ He wheeled and stalked off.

Rashid lifted me up and threw me into the boot, as if I was a child. He slammed the lid down. It didn’t catch. In the gloom I could see the line of light begin to stretch. I reached out and grabbed it, held it down, my fingertips clinging to a ridge of metal along the edge. It was instinct: a chance to escape. The boot must have looked all right to Rashid. My heart was pounding. I wriggled round trying to get in a good position for climbing out.

I could hear footsteps grating on the tarmac. Grunts and a shout. It sounded as though they were some way from the car.

Cautiously I inched the boot open. It creaked and I flinched, expecting a response but nothing happened. I clambered out, keeping as low as I could. Knelt on the tarmac and pulled the boot shut. I rolled on the ground at the side of the car and looked underneath the chassis and across the car park.

I could see Rashid beating Zeb. Zeb was still on his feet though his arms cradled his head. Bile rose in my throat; I spat some out. My mouth was sour, my throat parched. I wanted to go and stop the fight. It tore me up to see this, one man staggering as the blows rained on him, the other dazzled by violence and his power to inflict pain. No matter how many times I watched this scene played out, I would never be immune to the anguish it called up in me, the distress and despair. There’d been so much blood, too much blood already.

But I knew I had to think only of survival now. If I headed for the cinema I’d have to cover most of the car park and be visible to Rashid. The alternative was to clamber up the grassy hump, over the low wooden railing at the top and down to the side road. It would probably be deserted. I couldn’t rely on flagging a car down to help me, but there might be somewhere to hide.

On hands and knees I scaled the hill. Even at this distance I could hear Rashid’s heavy breathing and Zeb coughing. As I reached the railing, Siddiq roared; oh, Christ, he’d spotted me! He began to run my way. Heart thudding, I reached the pavement Opposite was the Belle Vue Speedway, where they have the greyhound racing. To my left was the Belle Vue Road junction. I began to run that way. I could hear myself gasping, little pleas on my breath.
No, no, please. Please, don’t hurt me.
Just like that time before. Did Siddiq have a knife? No, no, he didn’t. He’d used Joey’s on Ahktar, hadn’t he?

Someone would help me, surely. I remembered the case of the schoolgirl assaulted on the train full of passengers. Pleading for help, she was, and they all just sat there.

There was a roaring sound. He was using the car. He couldn’t – he’d never get through that barrier. I heard him revving it up. I ran, my nose burning with pain as my feet pounded on the pavement. There was a roar again, a screech and then a splintering sound. I looked back. He’d got the car up the hillock and had torn partway through the railing. A piece of it was caught fast in the front bumper, the other end of it still attached to an upright stake in the ground. One of the headlights was smashed. He gunned the car again and the tearing continued. The wood ripped and split and he was through. He ran it down the slope at my side and spun round to follow me. He accelerated fast. He was going to run me over.