Jail Bird (24 page)

Nick thought that if Freddy was mad enough to get Tiger Wu under contract to do Lily this soon, then a drive-by wasn’t beyond the bounds of possibility either. One of his and Si’s gofers was favourite. He suspected Jase Conway, because there had been talk on the street that Jase had fallen from grace, lost the door on the club, and was keen to ingratiate himself with the brothers. And how better than to do what they had long promised – to off Lily?

He had no proof, but his gut was telling him that Lily outside was in far greater danger than Lily inside. He drove over to see her, stopping at the electronic gates to use the intercom. He was aware of the camera above, tracking him. That was good. He was pleased about The Fort’s good security, because by Christ she certainly needed it.

She was waiting for him at the open kitchen door as he drove up, looking fine. She was wearing figure-hugging jeans and a turquoise t-shirt, her blonde hair falling around her shoulders. She looked ridiculously young, and her eyes smouldered at him as he got out of the car and walked over.

‘Hi,’ he said huskily, and leaned in and took her in his arms and kissed her.

‘Hi,’ breathed Lily against his mouth, relishing the hard male feel of him, the heat, the strength. She’d missed that. She’d missed
him.
This was the man she should have married. The man she should have been with all these long, cold years. Not Leo.

She caught herself thinking these things and then thought,
Oh Jesus I can’t go here again…can If

But maybe it was too late for second thoughts. Because she’d slept with him, and it had been wonderful. And she wanted to sleep with him again. She was sad to think that they’d lost all those years…but what good were regrets? You could only start from
now.
The past was dead. The future was uncertain. Only now mattered.

She clung to him, and just for a moment she forgot about Julia, forgot all her suspicions, that
he
could be the one who had let her rot inside…but only for a moment.

‘Something wrong?’ he asked.

Everything.
She was glad she’d called him. But now he was here…now she wasn’t sure. She looked at his face, such a strong face: the dark hair, the deep and dark eyes staring into hers.

Lily shook her head and looked away. She led him into the kitchen. Oli was there, chatting on her mobile. She gave him a wave and a mouthed
hi
, but she looked wan, pale, not her usual bubbly self.

Lily knew why.

Oli had finally taken the pregnancy test this morning. Together they had stood, clutching each other, and watched the single blue line appear. Oli was going to have Jase’s baby. It was definite now.

Oli left the room, still talking on the phone.

‘I wanted to have a word with you,’ said Nick.

‘Okay,’ said Lily, trying to compose herself, trying not to behave like an overexcited teenager around this man. ‘I’m listening.’

‘About Jase Conway,’ he said.

Lily sat down and gestured for Nick to sit, too. He seemed to take up a lot of room in the kitchen. His sheer presence was overwhelming. ‘What about him?’

‘I heard a rumour that Oli’s been seeing him. Is that still the case?’

Lily shook her head. ‘No. It ain’t. She’s dumped him.’

‘Tell her to make sure he stays dumped.’

‘Why?’

Nick looked around him. ‘He’s been right here? Inside the house?’

‘Yeah. Sure he has. Seeing Oli.’

‘Don’t let him in again. Under any circumstances.’

He was frightening her. Lily stared at him anxiously. ‘Why?’ She wanted to tell him about Oli’s pregnancy, she wanted to confide in him, but she knew she couldn’t. She was still unsure about him. And she couldn’t subject Oli’s private life to public scrutiny.

‘Freddy set Tiger Wu on you. If he’d do that, he wouldn’t draw the line at a drive-by.’

Lily’s mouth dropped open. ‘What, you think
Jase
could have been in that car?’

Nick shrugged. ‘Can’t prove it. Yet.’

‘But you think it was him.’

‘Yeah. I do. He’s looking to regain favour with Si and Freddy. How better than to get to you? I’m telling you, Lily, you don’t ever let him in here again. Not
ever
, you got me?’

This was all getting messy.
Too
messy. She thought again of what Jack had said. Fuck off to a distant shore and sip pina coladas. It was looking more and more appealing. Saz still hated her. Leo had boffed a whole tribe of women, any one of which could have taken it into her screwy head to kill him. The Kings were trying their damnedest to see her in hell. And now this.

All right, she’d never liked Jase. She thought he was muscle-bound, thick-headed and handsome, nothing more. When he’d hit Oli, he’d screwed any chance of making Lily alter that opinion. But now…now she was supposed to believe that he was in that car, shooting at her, trying to kill her?

But I’m Oli’s mother.

Would Jase for a single moment baulk at causing Oli pain? The bastard had
hit
her. Impregnated her too. What
else
had he done to her, Lily wondered? And the thought of how Oli’s life could have panned out made Lily’s blood turn to ice. Married to an aggressive oik like that. Tied to him. Used and abused as a punchbag when his temper boiled over – as inevitably it would.

‘He’s never coming in here again,’ she said to Nick.

Nick let out a breath. ‘Good.’

Oli came back into the kitchen. She was off the phone at last.

‘Hi, Nick,’ she said with a smile.

‘Hiya, Oli,’ returned Nick.

‘I’m gonna have to love you and leave you,’ said Oli, giving Lily a peck on the cheek. She glanced at her watch. ‘I’m late already. Bye.’

She was gone, out the back door, revving up her little car and shooting off down the drive.

‘She don’t seem broken-hearted,’ said Nick.

‘She ain’t, and I’m pleased about that. I think…’ Lily caught herself.

‘You think what?’ Nick was looking at her curiously.

Lily stared at his face. Finally she decided to say it. ‘I think she got over him the moment he hit her.’

‘He
what?
’

Lily nodded. ‘When he did that, she switched off. It was finished.’

‘The jumped-up little tick,’ said Nick.

‘I never liked him.’

‘Well, thank God she saw the light.’

Silence fell between them. They were inches apart. Around them, the house was silent, waiting. The phone started ringing. Lily stiffened, let it ring.

‘You want to get that?’ he asked.

‘No,’ she said, because it could be the breather again, saying nothing, trying to frighten her. Fucking well
succeeding
, too. He’d called several times now. It could be Freddy. Could be anyone. No, she didn’t want to get it.

‘Nick…did you know about Julia? About what happened to her face?’ asked Lily.

He stared at her for long moments. Then he let out a breath. Nodded.

‘Is that why you didn’t want me seeing her?’

‘I thought…’ He paused, his nearly black eyes holding hers. ‘…I thought it would distress you. And maybe make you doubt me. Make you think I had something to do with it.’

‘I didn’t think that,’ said Lily. ‘I don’t think you’d do something so fucking cowardly.’

‘Don’t they say poison and acid are a woman’s tools?’

‘God, do they?’ Lily shuddered.

‘Tell me you’ve stopped looking into all this troublesome shit,’ he said, and took her hand.

‘All right. I’ve stopped looking into all this troublesome shit.’

Nick sighed. ‘Now tell me the truth.’

‘I can’t stop. Not until I know the answer.’

‘The answer to who killed Leo.’

‘Right.’

‘Look, if you’re going on with this, at least take me with you on your next escapade.’

‘Tell me again that it wasn’t you who did it.’

‘What?’

‘Killed Leo.’

‘It wasn’t me who killed Leo, Lily. Are you mad? And let you stew inside all those years? Are you crazy? No, Lily – it wasn’t me.’ He was smiling slightly. He leaned forward and kissed her again, parting her lips with his tongue, invading her, taking her over. Lily actually felt her head start to spin. He pulled back a little, looked deep into her eyes. ‘Kill Leo and inflict all that on you? Never. Let’s go to bed.’

‘It’s ten o’clock in the morning.’

‘Perfect,’ he said, and kissed her again.

Lily was asleep when the phone started ringing. She sprang up in the bed, alarmed, bewildered, wondering what was going on, where she was…then it came back to her. Nick had been here, and after a couple of blissful hours he’d left, and she had fallen asleep and now it was one o’clock, her stomach was growling with hunger and the damned phone was ringing again.

The breather
, she thought, looking at it as if it might be
about to bite her. It rang and rang, and then she thought,
Fuck this.

Lily picked up. ‘Hello?’ she asked, feeling her chest constrict, dreading the sound she just knew she was going to hear.

‘Lily?’ asked a masculine voice on the other end of the line.

‘Jack?’ She thought it was him, but he sounded odd. Not his usual chirpy self.

‘Lily, turn on the BBC news. Turn it on
right now.’

Lily scrabbled under the pillow for the remote. She aimed it at the little TV over on the dresser, and the set hummed into life. She pressed one. The reporter telling the nation about what had happened. Saw the picture, the little arcade of shops cordoned off with police tapes, the blackened front door, the upstairs windows all blown out from the heat of the blaze…

Jesus!

‘Where are you?’ she managed to say to Jack at last.

‘At the office. Lily, I’m getting a bad feeling about all this. Julia. Alice. Now
this.’

Lily felt sick to her stomach. She thought of Saz, saying over and over,
I’m sorry, Daddy.
Thought of her and Leo out in the grounds, shooting clays. Thought of Adrienne and her list of rivals for Leo’s affection.

‘Look, I’ll come over,’ she said, although she didn’t want to, she didn’t want to set foot outside the house now. She was safe in here. Out there…who knew? She thought of Leo’s Magnum, tucked safely away.
This is what it’s like for Julia,
she thought, and her whole being rebelled at that. She
would not
become like Julia, caged by her fears.
No way.

‘Jack…?’ she said.

But there was a brief noise in the background and then Jack was gone.

Jack dropped the phone. A very large black man with dreadlocks and a machete had just kicked open his office door. He thought,
Winston, the plantain man at Suki and Bev’s place,
and then Winston launched himself at Jack, screaming, yelling about how they’d brought death to his home, him and the King woman, and death was all they deserved in return, and he thought,
Oh shit, this is it, gonna die,
and Winston waded in and there was only pain, pain, pain.

Lily quickly switched off the TV. She tried Jack’s number, but only got the engaged signal. She swore and dialled a different number.

‘Come on, come on, pick up,’ she muttered.

‘Hello?’

‘Adrienne?’

‘Yeah.’ Caution in her voice now. ‘Who’s that?’

‘It’s Lily. Adrienne, did you ever discuss that list of yours with Saz or Oli?’

‘What, the list of tarts Leo was bedding?’

You were one of them,
thought Lily, but bit it back. No good riling Adrienne up. ‘Is there any other fucking list?’ she snapped.

‘No. Of course I didn’t. Why would I want to upset them? It had nothing to do with them, they never hurt a soul.’

Oh God, please let her be right about that,
prayed Lily.

‘Adrienne,’ said Lily, and then paused, unsure of what she wanted to say.

‘Yeah?’

‘Take care.’ She didn’t know what was kicking off here, and she didn’t want to run around
spooking
anyone, but Jack was right, this was all starting to look very odd indeed.

That blackened front door was burned into her brain. Oh God. Suki and her death card…

‘What?’

‘Look, just take care. People on that list are coming to grief. So…just be careful, will you?’

Before Adrienne could reply, Lily put the phone down. She was going to have to go out again. But she was frightened. She thought of Julia, locked inside by fear, and her own fear ate at her. She went upstairs and fetched the Magnum, loaded it and slipped it into her bag. She wouldn’t use it. She
daren’t.
But just carrying it would make her feel safer. She came back downstairs and dialled out again. Nick picked up straight away.

‘I need you to come with me somewhere,’ she said.

‘Okay. I’ll come back over.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Pleasure,’ he said, and hung up.

Nick was there in his Mercedes within the hour, and boy was Lily glad to see him. He asked where she wanted to go and without fuss he drove her there. She’d had time to get washed and dressed, but she’d been too shaken to eat. Anything she swallowed would just come straight back up, she was sure of that.

In her mind’s eye she saw again the blackened door beside the little shopping arcade, the drone of the newsman’s voice. A woman dead in a house fire. But the police suspected arson. And the dead person was Suki Carmody, who had seen something bad in Lily’s cards, who had been afraid and had tried to warn Lily to take care.

Well, here I am, taking care,
thought Lily as Nick drove with casual grace through the streets.

And now she was here, at Jack’s office.

‘You want me to come in with you?’ asked Nick, setting her down in the side road just off the High Street.

‘No, I’ll be fine.’ She didn’t want Nick loitering around

Jack’s office, listening in and disapproving about what they were discussing.

Lily got out and walked over to the office. The door was half open.

‘Hey, Jack?’ she called out to silence. She felt a shiver of apprehension creeping up her spine.

She was just rattled over Suki, that was all. Suki was dead. Bev was in intensive care. Winston was fuck-knew-where.

She pushed forward, went into the office where she and Jack had sat and chewed the fat over Adrienne’s list.

‘Hey…’ she started, and then she sagged against the door as a dizzying spiral of shock travelled all the way up from her toes to the roots of her hair.

There was a bloodied bag of bones sitting in Jack’s chair.

It was just blood, and sinew, and…well, it had a head, but even that was covered in gore. There were splashes of blood up the walls, and there was blood coming out of a big cut on the thing’s left arm, it was pumping, it was pumping, oh fuck it was
arterial
blood, of course it was. She saw the dirty-blonde tufts of hair sticking up, stiffened with gouts of blood, on the thing’s head. The phone dangled loose on its cord, brushing the bloodied floor.

She felt vomit rise hot and sour into her mouth and turned to one side, half choking on it.

Oh my God, Jack.

She stood there, swaying on her feet, aware that someone some distance away was moaning, and then she realized that it was
her.

‘God – Jack…’ she groaned out.

And then the door swung slowly shut behind her. Lily half turned, all the hair on the back of her neck standing up, a
hot spasm of fear clutching at her. Winston was standing there, big as a barn door and clutching a bloody machete against his soiled grey t-shirt. He was staring at her, and he was weeping.

‘Winston…?’ Lily gasped out. ‘Oh Jesus, Winston, why…?’

The death woman was there. That was all Winston knew. She was standing right there in front of him, the one who had brought death to their happy home. Suki was dead, and Bev…who knew? She might not pull through either. Their home was wrecked. Their
life
was wrecked. And all because they had opened the door to the death woman and her helper.

‘You didn’t have to go an’ do that,’ he sobbed. ‘Not jus’ ‘cos she slept with your man. Why’d you have to go and do a thing like that?’

‘Winston,’ said Lily, aware that her voice was shaking, aware that she was in extreme danger here. He thought
she
was responsible for the fire…? ‘Winston, listen. No. I didn’t…’

Shockingly suddenly, he lifted the machete and charged at her.

Lily pulled out Leo’s Magnum from her bag without the slightest intention of doing so. It was slick, automatic – self-preservation. She didn’t want to die, oh shit, she couldn’t end up like poor bloody Jack, cut to ribbons…so she held the Magnum steady and pointed it two-handed, straight at Winston’s huge barrel of a chest, and shouted: ‘Hold it!’ in a voice she didn’t even recognize as her own.

He stopped in his tracks, snorting like a bull, tears and sweat and snot pouring down his face, the machete raised ready to strike her down.

Jesus, Winston, don’t make me have to shoot you,
thought Lily, nearly paralysed with shock, fear clawing at her and making her light-headed.

She was holding the Magnum steady, although it was heavy and she was scared of it going off. Leo’s gift to her –
thanks Leo
– but oh God she didn’t want to have to use the bloody thing, she didn’t want to have to shoot anyone, she didn’t, she didn’t.

She’d have to go back inside if she did. She
couldn’t
go back inside…

But Winston stood still, crying, staring at her. The machete dropped from his hands, adding another scarlet splatter to the ruined carpet. Then he turned on his heel and half ran, half fell out of the door and was gone.

Lily stood there like she’d been turned to stone.

Then, behind her, she heard a groan.

She turned.

Blood was still pumping out of the thing in the chair, and she thought,
Wait. Dead bodies don’t pump blood because the heart ain’t beating.

Jack was
alive.

And now he was stirring, trying to move.

She put the Magnum away and leaned out of the open door, looking for Nick’s Mercedes. She spotted it parked up a hundred yards away and shrieked at the top of her lungs. ‘Nick! Nick!’

Nick was out of the car like a shot.

He came at a run, surging in through the door, nearly knocking her flat on her arse. He looked at the thing in the chair, which was now trying to speak, bloody froth bubbling on its lips.

‘ Fucking
hell,’
said Nick, as Lily took out the old mobile

she’d borrowed off Oli and started with shaking fingers to call for an ambulance.

He snatched it out of her hand, shoved it into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of leather driving gloves and pulled one of them on. He gave Lily the other one. ‘Don’t leave your prints anywhere, okay? And
not
your mobile phone, dummy. Use his landline, but we’re going to do this first. Now what we’re going to need,’ said Nick, ‘is your tights. Get them off. We got to tie off that arm before he bleeds out. Then we fuck off. Quick.’

‘Is he going to die?’ Lily asked shakily, pulling on the glove.

‘Maybe,’ said Nick with crushing brutality. ‘We’ll do what we can.’