He stood up again and this time went to check the lock and chain on the front door. She found that his restlessness, and what he said, had begun to make her as edgy as he was himself. Suddenly, she felt very exposed in these rooms, despite the iron-work on the door. Ian moved to the window once more and spoke while he stood there. ‘She wasn’t a bit happy that I located her. Well, you can understand. I turn up there out of the blue and she doesn’t know who I am, nor why I want to find her. All she knows is that the people who did Justin might want to ask her a few things, and not in a friendly way. It was a job to convince her I wasn’t part of their outfit; quite a bit of sweet-talking.’
‘One of your fortes. One of many.’
He laughed and came away from the window, to stand near her chair. ‘She said she’s been to see that cop who works with your husband, the heavy, Mr Clean.’
‘Harpur?’
‘She told him what she told me, but I doubt if he can make anything out of it.’
‘He’s bright.’
‘I believe you, but the thing is, all she could say was that Justin had been very worried about what might happen to some woman in a project due any time now. Yes, possible injuries, or worse, to a woman. This had upset him, and he had wanted to tell some contact and get advice or help, but probably never made it.’
‘A woman?’ For a few seconds then her fears soared, and she found she was cursing herself for ever straying into the harsh regions where he and Ralph and this girl, Amanda, lived. Couldn’t she have settled down to being comfortable and fairly safe and well looked after with Desmond, whatever the deficiencies there might be? ‘You mean worried about me?’ she asked. ‘I’m the woman?’
He laughed aloud. ‘Egomaniac,’ he said. ‘How could it be you? This was before you and I had any involvement.’
‘Of course.’ She felt reassured, and ashamed that panic had hit her so hard. God, she patronized him and grew bored by his fears, and yet she could collapse like that. ‘Who then?’
‘Sarah, when he was on the ground in the Monty, Paynter muttered something to you as if he was delirious. You remember?’
‘About a silver day. He was going to explain, but passed out.’
‘That’s right. We didn’t understand. Listen, then; the businessman I’m going to see has a silver wedding celebration coming up – a big affair, no secret, with everyone there, all the top people in the outfit.’ He stared at her, grinning again, like a prizewinner. ‘Sarah, it’s a silver day.’
‘And his wife will be there,’ she whispered.
‘Naturally.’
‘The woman.’ Yes, Daphne Tacette, that rough but delightful character at Chaff.
‘They’re going to be sitting ducks. The supremacy war could be settled for keeps in a couple of seconds of gun fire.’
‘You’re talking about assassinations?’
‘How it looks.’
‘Oh, Christ, Ian, a gang massacre? This is crazy. That sort of thing doesn’t happen here.’
But she could not shift him. ‘It didn’t, because there wasn’t enough money around to make it worth while. But it has happened in London, and God knows how often in the States. There’ve been some changes here. This patch is big league now. We have people about who are mad enough and hard enough and greedy enough and frightened enough of the opposition. They could get away with it, or they can convince themselves they would, which is what matters.’ He glowed with certainty. ‘But you’re right, in one way – it hasn’t happened and it’s not going to happen. Why? Because Ian Aston can let the targets know what’s planned. That’s what I mean about having something of real class to sell.’ His delight in himself made his voice sing, and he still beamed with pride. ‘I’m going to be saving this businessman’s wife, himself and his sons. He can’t be mean with the gratitude, can he? What I’ve managed to do is transform a very nasty situation into a brilliant one for me, for us.’
He bent down and kissed her on her forehead, then on her mouth, and this time she felt that he was truly close to her, not hag-ridden by worries any more but alight with confidence.
He had forced her to believe him. ‘Should you tell the police?’ she asked. ‘This could be lives, several lives.’
‘Perhaps they know. She’s told Harpur. He might have worked it out. You say he’s bright and they get all sorts of information. But who can tell how they’d play it? You see, Sarah, possibly they’d like it if one of these teams was blasted into nowhere. It might be easier for them to deal with a monopoly.’
She was dazed, unable to keep up with him. ‘You believe that? You honestly believe that?’
‘I don’t know, Sarah. It’s hard for you to see things the way the rest of us do, your husband being a cop. But there are all sorts of arrangements, you know. Deals. Understandings. Business is very complicated, very inter-meshed. Nobody can be sure what’s going on, these days. Where there’s big money there are big, secret contracts. But, what I do know is I’ve got some high-calibre information and I want to sell it. I’d like as few people as possible in on that. I need to be the one bringing the news to him. You see my point? This is my big opportunity, love. I have to play very cagey.’ He kissed her again. ‘Now, may I show you the boudoir?’
She stood up. ‘We’re all right, here?’
He went back to the window. ‘Yes. I’m pretty sure. If we’d been going to get trouble it would have come by now. It’s clear. You surprise me; I didn’t get the idea you were worried.’
‘Yes, I’m worried.’
He left the window and went to open the bedroom door and put the light on in there. It looked worse than she had expected, drabber, meaner, dirtier, but at least the bed was a double. He waited in the doorway and, when she joined him, put his arms around her and pushed a hand inside the waistband of her trousers and pants at the back, then down over her bottom to between her legs. It seemed a roundabout route, but never mind. She put her head on one side, so he could kiss her on the neck and ears, and was conscious of her anxieties and resentments starting to turn tail for now.
‘You feel good,’ he said.
‘What’s that mean?’
‘Well, ready.’
‘What’s that mean?’
‘Excited.’
‘You mean wet?’
‘Well –’
‘I’ve been sitting there for half an hour, listening to your sodding business prospectus, trying to cope with my love juices.’
‘Now try to cope with mine.’
He was improving. A couple of months ago he would never have said anything so basic. ‘I will,’ she told him, ‘but for more than half an hour I hope.’
There was a small noise from one of the flats below, or on the stairs – a bump, as if somebody or something had fallen or shifted suddenly – and he turned his head, and seemed about to go and investigate, but she held him to her, and in a moment they moved together over the tattered linoleum to the bed.
Chapter Fourteen
Three days before it was all due, Loxton took Phil Macey with him to look at the Roundhouse, site for the silver wedding party and the office tower block next door, where the boys would be. They stayed in the car and did not get too close because, after it had happened, people around here, living and working, would be grilled about strangers showing too much interest in the buildings.
‘What I want to be sure, how Norman and Bobby get out,’ Loxton said. ‘I don’t need to see the place they’re going to be. If they say it’s all right, it’s all right. They’re the experts. That’s something I learned in the Navy, known as delegation. Was the First Sea Lord out there chasing the Bismarck? You trusts your people. What you paying them for if you don’t trust them? But I got to know they can make it away. That I need to see for myself.’
‘It’s so like you, Benny, thinking above all of your men. Great. That’s the Navy, too, but it’s you, Benny Loxton personal, as well.’
‘Well, of course. Any leader got to consider his boys’ safety, that’s basic
. Another thing, if them two don’t make it out, where do it lead? They wouldn’t talk, I know that, not Norm and Bobby, boys like that don’t know how to squeal. But they’re my staff and it’s known. Think of Iles and Harpur the other day, Bobby in the room. They’ll be doing some checks on him, believe me. This operation, first thing the police going to think is it’s us. We’ll have the alibis, yes, they can’t prove a dicky bird, but we don’t want no cock-up here pointing the finger.’
‘They go in the front when the building’s still open and they get into a storeroom, third floor, and wait for the night,’ Macey told him. ‘That’s taken care of, the storeroom. Bobby come by a key, don’t ask me how. Then when they done the business, they come out from the side doors. They’re fixed with bolts inside, not a lock, so no problem. Can you pull up for a couple of minutes? I can show you.’
‘One minute,’ Loxton said. ‘After that we could be in somebody’s memory box.’
‘Right. Here then, Benny.’
Loxton drew in. It was a side street just outside the city centre, not too busy even now in the middle of the day, and only a short drive to the motorway link.
Macey pointed across the street. ‘That’s a service lane down there. You can see the side entrance to the office block. It’s where they collect rubbish from, deliver all their stuff, that sort of thing.’
There was a truck in the lane, but behind it Loxton could make out a large pair of doors standing partly open at this time.
‘Big, wide stairs leading to them inside, easy to get down fast. They’re going to have their first vehicle parked here, not no closer than that. It’s night, so there’s no deliveries, but you never know what could get into this lane, and they might be blocked. So, unbolt the doors and a nice, steady walk from the building to the car here, no running, nothing to make a scene.’
‘Carrying the weapons?’
‘No. Leave the weapons. They’re not traceable.’
‘We know that?’
‘These boys have had them weapons for God knows how long, but never used in anything where the police collected shells, so no tracing that way. And they was taken from a gun shop, and there’ve never been anyone ever arrested or charged for it. Them guns just went desperate missing, Benny, those years ago. All right, the police will work back to the shop. But so what? It’s miles away, Nottingham, could be. Somewhere like that. Nothing to tie Bobby or Norm. They got to leave them, Benny. They come out here, there could be people, lovers, who knows? You can’t walk casual carrying a couple of automatic rifles, even in a cue case.’
‘How do we know no arrests?’
‘For the gun shop? Norm been over that. He looked at it very, very thorough. Research, it’s a strong point with him. Nearly Nobel Prize, but beat at the post by that Einstein: bugger knew the judges. Well, Norm sees it got to be right. It’s his balls in the crusher, he get it wrong.’
Loxton drove on.
‘They do a few blocks, not more, in the first car, then the switch. That’s before the motorway. They drive north, about forty miles, where Bobby’s got a place lined up. They leave the car in a hotel park where there’s all-night taxis near. They go from there to the overnight place Bobby got, putting down not too close. Next day one of them, it don’t matter which, gets back here, train probably, so it don’t look as if half your staff have done a gallop because of the shooting, we got to seem normal. The other one comes back next day.’
Loxton drove towards his house. ‘What place?’
‘What, Benny?’
‘What place – the overnight?’
‘Something Bobby lined up.’
‘Yes, but how? Some bird’s place, something like that? Some squawking bird going to shout all round if he stops giving it to her one day?’
Macey was silent for a while.
‘Didn’t ask?’ Loxton said.
‘Well, Bobby’s pretty good.’
‘Good behind a set of sights. I got no evidence he thinks logical, or got a flair for strategy.’
‘I’ll ask him.’
‘Yes, ask him. We don’t want no more pussy tied up in this. Hairy enough without that. But, all right, otherwise it sounds good, Phil. Of course there’s risks. That’s the sort of game.’
‘All we got to worry now is this Aston knows too much and gets to Leo. This is big information. This is a big pay packet for him, Benny. You know what he’s like, Aston – on the watch for a bit of profit non-stop. I don’t know if you heard this, Benny, but it looks like he found Paynter’s girl. That’s Amanda something. She melted when he went and we been looking for her as well. Then there’s a good lead, but when we arrive she’ve moved on. Far as I can gather, she pulled out because she had a visit, got scared she was on the map. This is a man, this visit, and I had a description and it could be Aston. I got to tell you that, Benny.’
‘Shit. That’s bad. All sorts of talking, and we don’t know what. Sometimes I wonder about this operation, you know? Oh, it’s a sweet chance, nobody can say no to that. The dangers pile up, though. Iles, Harpur, this Aston, Mrs Iles, the bloody girlfriend. It all begins to look shaky. And we got Leo making friendly gestures, looking for partnership. Maybe some stage we got to ask, what we sticking our neck out for? Maybe we could live with him, Phil.’
‘You believe Leo? Since when you believe one thing that bastard says? Next time you turn up for a friendly meeting you could get blown all ways, and anybody with you. It’s a fact, like you said, he’s re-running The Godfather, acting sweet and pulling what’s called coups, planning, lulling, waiting.’
‘Well, probably,’ Loxton said. ‘Even in school they called Leo Two-face. I mean, the teachers as well as the kids.’
‘Two’s putting it low.’
‘He’s always thinking. A brain there, the sod.’
‘Exactly. He’ll have us, we don’t have him. We got to go through with it now, Benny. Everything’s laid on. Only three days. What we going to tell Bobby, Norman? They’re psyched up for it a beauty.’
Loxton nodded. ‘How wars start – the preparations, then you got to do it. But you’re right. So, what’s happened to Tommy Vit? He come up with anything?’
‘Nobody seen him. We know he was going up to Iles’s place last night, try to get behind Mrs Iles for the first time, but we didn’t get no call, and no report back today.’
‘Well, he could be sticking close, not able to break off to reach us.’
‘All night, all day?’
‘He knows his game. You got to leave him play it his way. What I said, delegation.’
‘Right. All I worry, he can go fucking bananas something turn a bit tight or provocative. He could do people damage and then just disappear.’
‘Damage? We’d have heard something if Mrs Iles was hurt or whatever. Jesus, this is an Assistant Chief’s wife.’
‘Yes, we’d of heard if people know, Benny. Suppose some love nest, or if he found Aston’s place?’
Loxton thought about it. ‘What we worrying about? If he done the two of them, we’re clear, yes?’
‘One way of looking at it.’
‘What else do we want?’
‘As long as Tommy gets away and don’t talk.’
‘Tommy would get away.’
When they reached Loxton’s house, Tommy Vit was there, waiting for them with Norman and Bobby.
‘Well, I’d prefer you didn’t come here, not just at this time,’ Loxton told him. ‘You want contact, there’s phones.’
Vit said: ‘Yes, phones, but who’s listening? I’m fond of phones, one of the great aids to civilized life, Benny, in moderation.’
Loxton said: ‘Yes, but coming here – it’s not wise, Tommy. You could be –’
‘Tailed? Do I get tailed?’
‘Observed,’ Loxton replied.
‘If they’re watching your house, you mean? Are they? Why would they be doing that, Benny? I don’t think you’ve levelled with me, you know, about the full menu of perils. It’s why I’m here, really.’
The great thing about Tommy, he did not look like a tail, did not look bright enough or hard enough to be anything much. Loxton was always amazed at how dozy and awkward Tommy seemed, like somebody’s nephew that they kept quiet about and tried to treat gentle because he wasn’t all there. Near forty, he had a round, big-chinned, fair-skinned face with blue, bright eyes that seemed full of happy daftness, and wavy, blond hair, always neat, as if he had really learned to work on that and could give it plenty of time because he wasn’t up to anything else. His voice was high and cheerful, unless things turned tight, like a harmless kid’s. Half the time Loxton expected him to ask for an ice lolly.
‘This fee, it’s good, I’m not denying it,’ Vit said, ‘but I’m not sure it really gets to the heart of things.’
‘What’s that mean?’ Loxton replied.
‘He’s had some experiences,’ Bobby said.
‘What happened last night?’ Loxton asked. ‘This job, it got an element of urgency in it. Did we stress that enough? Why we asked you, Tommy. You’re quality. We’re looking for developments.’
‘Understood,’ Vit replied. ‘There’s angles not catered for, though, difficulties not on the original schedule.’
‘Christ, you’re getting two and a half grand for this,’ Macey said. ‘It could be a couple of days’ work, not more. It can’t be more than three. Who gets paid like that? Jagger?’
‘I like to be around to spend it,’ Vit replied.
‘What difficulties?’ Loxton asked.
‘This job’s awash with big police.’
‘You knew about that possibility,’ Norman told him. ‘If we’re interested in the wife of an ACC, there are going to be super pigs involved.’
Loxton made some tea and brought a big cream cake from the pantry. They sat down in a circle in the long lounge. Alma was out somewhere, busy with her campaigning. He cut delicate slices and handed them around with small plates.