When Night Closes in (25 page)

He looked triumphantly from Lowri to Mr Watson. ‘And don't bother about any rough stuff, my personal security boys are watching out for me.'

Lowri faced her stepfather, her gaze unwavering. She was trying to understand how this man, whom her mother must have loved once, could be so cold-blooded. ‘So what are you mixed up in, I would like to know?' A thought struck her. ‘It wasn't you who sent some thug to break into my house, was it?'

He laughed without humour. ‘You are so stupid, Lowri, and your mother thinks you will benefit most from her money, money that I have a right to and my son too. My advice to you is marry money because you won't have any of mine.'

‘It's you who are the stupid one,' Lowri said calmly. ‘You underestimate Mother and you underestimate me. How do you know what I can achieve? You don't even know me properly.'

She put her head on one side. ‘You're the one behind Jon Brandon, aren't you? You set me up.'

He moved closer, his face pushed towards hers. ‘Your mother has kept her eyes shut all these years and it would pay you to follow her lead.'

Lowri was suddenly very angry. ‘You've knocked the spirit out of my mother with your temper tantrums and your constant string of women friends. Well, I'm not Mother and I'm not afraid of you.'

‘Perhaps I'd better explain my methods.' Charles sat on the edge of the desk. ‘I'm not above having those who cross me rubbed out. Killed. Is that clear enough for you?'

‘Oh, yes, very clear.'

‘As for your mother, I put up with her and her little peccadillo with this loser.' He looked meaningfully at Mr Watson. ‘She provided a good front for me, you see, beautiful, apparently respectable. She would never protest whatever I did.'

He jabbed his finger towards Mr Watson. ‘She always was spineless, she must have been, to sleep with him. So, what you do is shut your mouth and your precious father there does a little bit of work for me.'

‘What sort of work?'

‘That's between me and him.'

‘What if I go to the police in spite of what you say?'

‘Just remember, my arms are long, they reach everywhere. Your acquaintance with your new-found father won't last long if you go to the police.'

Lowri stared at him long and hard. ‘Now I know why I've always disliked you. You are a cold-hearted, crooked, no-good bastard!' There was a wealth of scorn in her voice. Charles appeared unaffected.

‘It's you who are the bastard,' he said calmly. He addressed Terence Watson. ‘I'll be in touch and you'll be ready to do what I want, do you get that?' He smiled. ‘It's time I paid you back for the wrong you did me all those years ago. My best friend had an affair with the woman I loved. You're such a loser. I never did understand it.'

With a last scathing look in Lowri's direction, he walked out leaving the door open. Lowri watched through the window as he left the building and then turned to look at Mr Watson. If she had been expecting him to be distressed, she was wrong.

‘Your mother is all right, I'm taking care of her. I'm sorry about this, Lowri.' He took her hands. ‘Not because you are my daughter but because I didn't want you to learn the truth in such a brutal way.'

‘It's difficult to take it all in,' Lowri said, ‘but be careful, Charles will do all he can to spite us, the three of us.'

‘No, no. Don't let Charles worry you, Lowri. I'm not the idiot he thinks I am and he isn't as clever as he would like us to believe.'

Lowri's fingers closed around his. ‘Look, he's made you tell me the truth. He's a spiteful man, aren't you at all concerned he might . . .?'

Mr Watson shook his head and his wispy hair stood up on end. ‘You don't know him like I do, he's all bluster. I repeat, you are not to worry, I have everything under control.'

Lowri doubted it. Mr Watson seemed like an innocent abroad compared to Charles Richards. ‘What does he want you to do?'

‘He wants me to be a front man for him. To travel abroad to Europe, the Caribbean. He has ordered me to extort money from some very rich men. If they call my bluff and bring the police in, I'll be the one to carry the can.' He smiled without humour. ‘Charles always was such a fool.'

He took off his glasses and rubbed them against his waistcoat. ‘I thought I had got away from his bumbling methods long ago but I was wrong. He keeps meddling in my life, trying to pay me back for what happened in the past. I don't blame him, I suppose, but he could be a little more intelligent in his dealings.'

‘He kept silent about you and Mother all these years,' Lowri said. ‘He was biding his time until he was ready to punish you. And me. I hate him!' She leaned against the desk.

‘How has he got away with it for so long?' she asked. ‘All his dirty little schemes, why has no-one caught him out?'

‘So far he's only dealt in petty crime, now he hopes to enter the big league. As I said, he's a fool.'

‘But he must have aroused suspicion over the years? Hasn't anyone ever checked him out? He doesn't exactly live like a poor man and his wealth can't have gone unnoticed, can it? Surely the pose of respectable businessman hasn't fooled everyone?'

‘It fooled your mother, once.' Mr Watson held up his hand. ‘Since then he's made use of whatever of her money he can lay his hands on. Now, don't ask any more, Lowri, it's much better that you don't know too much.'

‘You are going to do what he wants, then?'

Mr Watson smiled at her. ‘Forget all that. What's more important now is what you think of me. I hope I'm not too much of a disappointment to you, my dear, as a father I mean.'

Lowri saw a mist of tears behind his spectacles and, after a moment's hesitation, she put her hand on his arm. ‘I'm glad he's not my real father!' She resisted the urge to smooth Mr Watson's hair into place. ‘I knew he was my stepfather and that I'd been conceived before the marriage but I didn't know Charles was a crook.'

Unable to speak, Mr Watson squeezed her hand. He took out a spotless handkerchief and mopped his eyes.

‘Look,' Lowri said, ‘why not talk to me, tell me everything, perhaps between us we can sort it all out.'

Mr Watson shook his head. ‘No.' He looked up at her. ‘I said I don't want you to worry, Lowri. I might appear weak but I have everything under control, I promise you.' He seemed to have grown in stature; there was a new light in his eyes. He returned to his desk and smiled at her.

‘You go back to work, my dear, and we'll keep all this to ourselves for now, shall we?'

Lowri nodded but as she left the room, she knew she could not let the matter rest there. She would see Charles Richards, have it all out with him, tell him to back off or she would expose him, threaten to go to the press as well as the police. Then she thought of her mother, tearful, begging her not to expose the family to ridicule, and she knew that Charles had them all, herself included, in his power.

The warehouse smelled of damp and decay and Lainey thrust his hands into the pockets of his coat as he followed the customs men to the back of the building. There, a door opened into a small room, well ventilated. Here the case addressed to Justin Richards had been stored out of sight.

‘So, George, what do you think is here, then?' He stood beside the excise man and watched as the case was prised open.

‘Says computer parts here,' George said. ‘Can't be perishables or it would be stinking to high heaven by now and it's not drugs, the dogs would have sniffed them out.'

Lainey heard the crunch of the crowbar against wood and then the tearing sound of the timber splitting. The lid was forced open and George stepped forward, pushing aside the packing material. He fished out a shrink-wrapped black box and looked at it doubtfully.

‘What is this?'

‘It's a fax modem, sir,' one of his men said quietly.

‘Right. Empty the lot, let the dog see the rabbit.'

The contents of the case were tipped onto the concrete floor; packages spilled everywhere. It all appeared innocent enough.

‘The business this is addressed to, Justin Richards, is a firm that deals in wines and spirits.' George opened a Jiffy bag containing slim plastic envelopes. ‘This is just a pack of CDs,' he said. ‘I suppose the company needs to run a network of computers so there's nothing of any significance here.'

Lainey picked up a CD and studied it. He took out another one, turning it over.

‘Kids' games, by the look,' George said. ‘All harmless rubbish if you ask me. I suppose this stuff just got overlooked when your man disappeared.' He grinned. ‘No-one to make a fuss, see?'

‘Do you mind if I look through these?' Lainey asked. There was something wrong here, he could smell it.

‘Aye, I'll leave one of my boys with you to pack it all back up.' George rested his hand on Lainey's shoulder.

‘Don't go doing anything I wouldn't do, now.' He winked and Lainey winked back; he and George understood each other.

He took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves. At his side Ken Major was waiting for instructions.

‘Could you do with a bit of overtime, Ken?' he asked. ‘You know something about computers, don't you?'

Ken nodded. ‘Aye, guv, I know how to play games on one anyway.'

‘We're going to find something here, if it takes all night to do it,' Lainey said. He caught the look the remaining customs man threw at him and grinned. ‘It's overtime, lad. You win some, you lose some.'

He began to search through the plastic envelopes. What exactly he was expecting to find he had no idea. But if there was something, anything, hidden among the computer parts, he was going to find it.

Lowri sat at the table in the coffee-shop, fiddling with her spoon. Opposite her, Timmy was white-faced, his hands trembling as he picked up his cup.

‘Are you all right?' Lowri said. He nodded. His eyes were shadowed and he needed a shave; he did not look at her. He was so unlike the Timmy Lowri knew that she scarcely recognized him. Sally's disappearance had hit him hard, but was it more than that?

‘You wanted to talk, Timmy?' she prompted gently. She picked up her cup and sipped the rapidly cooling drink, spilling a little on the table. She was not in the best of spirits herself. She was worried about Mr Watson . . . her father, he was planning to go to Germany as arranged by Charles. He refused to discuss what he would do when he got there. All things considered, Lowri could have done without the complication of the phone call from Timmy.

She studied him. He was worried, no, frightened might be a more apt description of the way he was acting. He rubbed his hands through his hair, glancing every now and again over his shoulder. He seemed edgy, scared of shadows, and Lowri wondered if he was on the verge of a breakdown.

‘I think I know what happened to Sally.' He spoke almost in a whisper. ‘I know she was mixed up in something shady.'

‘How do you mean?'

‘That night we had a row I went round to see her later, and she told me to get out of her life.' He rubbed his eyes. ‘She told me she now had enough money to keep her in comfort and she didn't need me any more.'

‘That's odd,' Lowri said. ‘Where would Sally get money from?'

‘That's the problem – I just don't know. After all a clerk in an office doesn't get paid a fortune.'

‘Was it her way of fobbing you off, do you think?' Lowri asked. ‘Or was she just hitting out at you because you'd quarrelled?'

Timmy shook his head. ‘I walked around for a bit trying to cool down. I was wondering if I should go back and try to make it up. I was near the house when I heard footsteps coming behind me. I wondered if Sally was cheating on me and so I thought I'd ask her outright, then maybe we could get back together.'

‘What happened?'

‘I saw her getting into a flash car.' He hesitated. ‘I don't think she was keen on going, she was trying to pull away from a man who was holding her arm.'

‘What did this man look like?'

‘It all happened so suddenly.' Timmy shook his head. ‘I didn't get a good look at him but he was tall, I saw that much.'

‘If you were suspicious why didn't you call the police, Timmy?' She spoke challengingly.

He frowned. ‘I stepped out into the road, waved my hand at the driver and he almost mowed me down! I was so scared I didn't know what to do so I went home.'

‘Timmy!'

‘I know, I know I should have done something. The police took me in for questioning of course, but by then I was so mixed up I acted like I didn't care. Lord knows what that detective made of me.'

‘Did you tell Jim Lainey about the man you saw?'

Timmy shook his head. ‘As I said, I was mixed up. I think I'd decided she was doing a moonlight by then. And I was frightened. I thought if I opened my mouth too wide someone would come looking for me. That's the honest truth, Lowri.'

‘Can't you remember anything about the man's appearance?'

Timmy swallowed hard. ‘Perhaps a bit like Matthew Brown, but could have been older.'

‘I wonder if it was Jon Brandon,' Lowri said softly. ‘Or maybe it
was
Matthew, but why would he want to abduct Sally?'

‘When we had the row she taunted me about Matthew, how good he was in bed and how he could pull any woman.' He paused. ‘Even you seemed to like him, I thought you had more sense.'

Lowri felt her colour rise but she remained silent. It was not worth trying to explain that she was only nice to Matthew to find out about Jon and Sally. Nothing she could say would make any difference to the way Timmy was feeling now.

‘I'm telling you the truth, Lowri,' he said. ‘I know it looks bad for me, I should have tried to help Sally.' He looked down at his hands. ‘I'm the wimp Sally said I was, I know.'