20/20

by Carl Goodman

  Ward would be in full swing by now, Eva thought, doling out LSD and party drugs to anyone with a wad of cash. If he were being careful he would only keep small amounts on him. He would have a stash nearby though, because he needed to make the evening worth his while.

  Eva pushed her way through the knot of people standing close to the main entrance. A couple of the guys glanced at her, and then looked again. She had waxed her closely cropped hair and wore a short, black dress with a square neckline, wide open at the back, low cut and held together with long black leather laces. When she had checked herself in the mirror she felt the need to add something else though, so she had applied smudged black eyeliner swept sideways in punk smears. Maybe she had overdone them. The guys near the door did not seem to think so.

  She found Jamie Newton lounging against the downstairs bar, dressed in a plain white T-shirt with slicked-back hair and skin-tight black jeans. He seemed to be getting some attention of his own, from several women and a couple of men as well. Newton seemed completely relaxed and smiled at everyone, including the men. Eva wondered about him. There seemed something so intrinsically decent about Newton that she felt he must have some foible hidden somewhere. Did he prefer women, men, or both? Unconsciously, she shook her head. Concentrate, she told herself as she walked up to the bar. This has to work tonight.

  Newton pushed a drink towards her when she stopped beside him. ‘Tonic water,’ he told her, quietly so that only she could hear. She took the drink, sipped it and looked around the hall. ‘He’s over by the fire escape,’ Newton said when she turned to face him once again. ‘Pale-blue shirt.’

  Martin Ward looked the way she had expected. A slick man, suave and almost lizard-like. A thirty-something trying to look younger, probably for the benefit of the crowds of women who hovered around that end of the club. ‘He’s taking shopping lists,’ Newton said. ‘Ecstasy, ketamine, Izzy, LSD, Nexus, Toonies, you name it. He’s like a chemical factory. He keeps disappearing. It looks like he takes an order then comes back after about five minutes or so and does the deal. Wherever it is, it can’t be far.’

  ‘Anything from outside?’ Eva asked.

  ‘Becks and Raj reckon he crosses the road but they can’t get any closer without him seeing them.’

  Eva frowned. ‘How’s he getting out?’

  ‘The fire escape’s open,’ Newton said. ‘He pushes it closed but it’s not locked on the crash bar. That probably means somebody on staff is keeping an eye out for him.’

  It made sense. ‘I want to get closer to him,’ Eva said. ‘Will you watch my back?’

  Newton glanced at her dress and burst out laughing. ‘With pleasure, what with you in stealth mode and all.’

  She felt herself blushing. ‘Much appreciated DS Newton,’ she said, voice low and tone awkward. Jamie Newton kept grinning.

  Eva made her way to the dance floor and pushed through the crowd. Newton was right. Ward hung around the fire escape. Every few minutes somebody sidled up to him and started a conversation. Ward responded quickly and either the punter liked the price or they did not. Most did, Eva noticed. Ward made his lists and then gave them something. When she moved a little closer she realised what it was. Ward was writing down orders on a book of raffle tickets, of the sort you might find at a village fete. She couldn’t decide if that seemed quaint or just added insult to injury.

  Ward dealt out parcels according to the raffle tickets, took the punter’s money and stuffed it into a pouch concealed under his shirt, which hung loose over his jeans. She needed to get closer to him, close enough that she could follow him out of the fire escape when he left to get his next delivery. If she could find out where he was hiding the drugs, then Moresby and his men could do the rest, but if Ward thought he was being followed he would simply walk away. He must feel secure about wherever he had hidden the drugs. If he became suspicious he might leave them for a day or more until he felt safe again. This was her one chance.

  Eva was on the verge of approaching Ward herself when a small cheer went up from a table nearby. Half a dozen women, all of them drunk, sat comparing cocktail sticks. Only one of them seemed unhappy. She looked like she had just lost a bet. ‘The rest of the evening is on you, Sonia,’ one of the other women yelled over the music. ‘Not going to let us down now, are you?’

  The woman who had drawn the short cocktail stick pulled herself to her feet. Blonde shoulder-length hair in tight ringlets and a white dress that just about covered her backside, she tottered when she stood. She was in her early twenties, Eva guessed, and slightly more pissed than the others. The rest of them watched her, waiting for her reaction. After a moment she snapped her fingers at them. ‘Back in ten,’ she told the expectant faces seated around the table. A ragged cheer went up. Sonia staggered away from the table.

  She headed straight for Ward, who watched her with arms folded as she approached, and tossed her hair when she stood in front of him. She had her back to Eva. Eva couldn’t see what the woman said to Ward, but whatever it was it didn’t go down well. Maybe she was asking for a discount. Ward wasn’t having any of it.

  After a moment Sonia tried again. This time she moved closer to Ward as though pleading with him, but Ward didn’t respond. When she leaned forward and whispered in his ear, though, he cocked an eyebrow at her. A ragged cheer went up from the crowd around the table, who sat watching. You can’t be serious, Eva thought. Are you really prepared to do that for a couple of packets of drugs?

  Maybe she was. After another short exchange Ward stepped back into the shadows. The woman followed. Eva caught a momentary glimpse of streetlight as the fire escape door opened and closed. She waited for a moment and took her phone from her bag. Then she walked off the dance floor and pushed on the door too.

  Outside the air felt almost as close and humid as it had indoors. Eva waited just beyond the fire escape and watched for Ward and Sonia to reach the end of the alley that ran alongside the club. When they turned right out of the alley Eva trotted behind them. The one concession she had made to practicality that evening was to wear a pair of black trainers instead of high-heeled shoes. She made no sound as she moved. She stopped behind plastic refuse bins more than once, in case Ward decided to double back. Following them now, Eva typed on her phone. She sent the text to Newton, Flynn, Chakrabati and Moresby.

  Above her something flickered. For a moment she thought it was an aircraft, but then she realised sheet lightning had just lit the sky. The storms were closer than predicted. Perhaps the cloying humidity would break soon.

  Ward and Sonia crossed the main road. On the other side he led her to a narrow gap between buildings where brick walls overlapped, then they disappeared down another alleyway. Eva waited for a handful of cars to sweep past and followed them.

  The alleyway cut through two blocks. To the left the ground floor was given over to a run-down second-hand technology shop. On the right she saw low-cost office accommodation. The buildings touched above the narrow space. They might even be joined, but in the sharp shadows cast by sodium streetlights she was unable to tell. She didn’t know where the alley led. To the back of the buildings she presumed, but beyond that she could only guess.

  Eva stood in the alley while her eyes adjusted. Somewhere ahead of her she heard the clack of heels against concrete. Ward and Sonia had not gone into either of the buildings. For an instant she could see. Lightning lit the world and made sharp, blue-tinged shadows in the gloom of the alleyway. Then back to darkness, so she moved on.

  She counted three doors set into brick walls. Boxes of rubbish stood stacked along the right-hand wall. The alley went through a dogleg turn. Ahead of her still the clack-clack of high heels.

  When she reached the end she understood. The alley led to a small car park with spaces for no more than a dozen cars, surrounded on all sides by four-storey buildings. Eva looked up. Most of the windows that stared down on the cramped courtyard were offices, although towards the back there were a few that might have belonged to ap
artments. Vehicle access to the car park was through a narrow entrance under another building guarded by a black, barred metal gate that must slide open when a button in the wall was pressed.

  Eva eased her way silently into the courtyard. From somewhere she could hear the murmurings of muted voices. She edged along the wall, moved in and out of recessed doorways that offered some concealment until she could see them. She took a step back and hid in shadows. Not twenty feet in front of her were Ward, Sonia in her white dress and a solitary car, all lit by a single white cloverleaf light mounted on a galvanised metal pole. Eva lifted her phone, double-checked to make sure the screen was set as dim as it would go, then started the video camera.

  ‘So your mates want to have a party,’ she heard Ward say. ‘That can get expensive on a Saturday night.’

  Sonia stood in front of him. ‘I don’t think we’ve got enough money. I lost the bet. Like I said, do you think there’s any way we could negotiate a discount?’ She moved closer to Ward as she spoke. Ward put his hand around her waist.

  ‘I should think we could work something out. It’ll have to be quick though, I’ve got to get back to business.’

  The girl frowned. ‘So where are we going to go?’

  Ward laughed. ‘We’re here love,’ he told her as he ran his hands up and down her back. ‘Don’t you fancy some fresh air? Don’t worry, there’s no one in the buildings. And this,’ he took a small metal container from his trouser pocket, held it up so she could see it and then flipped the lid open, ‘will get you in the mood.’

  Eva kept the phone steady. She needed to video Ward passing drugs to the woman. Not just a snort from a snuff box but something more conclusive, something that showed he was dealing. Maybe she would get lucky. After another minute the woman’s interest seemed to become more intense.

  She put her arms around Ward’s neck and kissed him, long and hard. Ward’s hands slipped down her back and settled on her buttocks. Eva saw his hands clench as he started to knead her flesh. Sonia pushed Ward against the boot of the car and slowly wrapped herself around him. He stroked her thigh and then pulled the hem of her dress up to reveal a white lace thong. He ran his finger over and under it, then slipped it down the base of her spine and in-between her legs. She barely reacted. Whatever she had snorted must have kicked in. Cocaine, Eva assumed. A dose of that combined with the booze and she would be in a world of her own.

  Ward pulled her thong down and hiked the hem of her dress above her waist, and then he pushed her back a little and pulled the top of her dress down as well. She wore nothing else underneath. She barely seemed to notice. She kept her mouth pressed against his, her tongue licking and probing at him while he groped her breasts, her backside and then her crotch. She did moan then. She pushed herself against him even harder. Another flash of lightning, Eva noticed. This time accompanied by a distant rumble of thunder.

  After a moment he pulled his face away from her, put his hand at the back of her head and forced her down. She grinned. She knew what he wanted her to do. Grabbing at his jeans, she undid his belt and pulled at the zip. When she had his jeans down around his knees she knelt before him and started licking. Ward kept his hand on the back of her head, clenched a fistful of her hair and pushed himself into her mouth. She stayed there for a minute or so. Then Ward drew her back up and made her lean against the boot of the car.

  Another rumble of thunder, and now a few spots of rain. Sonia pulled her thong all the way down, slipped one leg out and left it dangling over the shoe of her other foot. Her dress was wrapped around her waist. Ward kneaded her buttocks and her breasts once more before he spread her legs wide and pushed himself inside her from behind. As he stood thrusting at her the weather finally broke.

  The first raindrops became a downpour. She squealed, but Ward was not about to stop. His hands gripped her thighs as he pumped, knuckles white. She lifted one leg to brace herself against the back of the car. Rain pounded on her back and dripped off her breasts. Her hair was plastered to her face but Ward kept going. Eva felt as though she were shooting a porn movie. She sent a text. Stand by.

  It took another minute but Ward finally collapsed, pushing Sonia down against the boot. He lay on her for a while but then slowly lifted up, seemingly oblivious to the downpour. She rolled over onto her back and stood, pulled her dress back to where it should have been and stepped back into her thong. Ward pulled up his jeans. Sonia grinned at him. ‘Worth a discount?’

  He nodded. ‘I’ll knock something off.’

  This is it, Eva thought. On my next text, she told Moresby.

  Ward opened the boot of the car. Eva saw Sonia’s eyes widen. ‘It’s like fucking Aladdin’s cave,’ she giggled. ‘What can I have?’

  ‘I still want money,’ Ward told her. ‘I can’t afford to do freebies.’ When she started to complain he raised a hand. ‘Don’t worry,’ he told her, ‘I like you. I’ll give you it at cost.’

  Eva eased her way out of the doorway, phone still held high. She angled around behind them so she could get a view of the boot, ready to flick back to the text app as soon as she had a clear shot. Rain ran down her face too. She was soaked. It was worth it, she told herself as she watched Sonia give Ward a bundle of notes in return for six small plastic bags. Eva held the phone up to them for five more seconds and then she texted: Now.

  Four figures pelted into the courtyard. Three of them headed for Ward and Sonia; one ran over to the gate and hit the open button. A few moments later a police van burst through the gate, blue lights flashing in the rain. Ward started to turn but Eva bellowed his name. ‘I am arresting you on suspicion of dealing class-A drugs,’ she yelled as she marched towards him, warrant card held in front of her like a talisman. She told him the rest as two of Moresby’s men cuffed him.

  Eva shone the flashlight on her phone into the back of the car as Newton, Flynn and Chakrabati appeared. Sonia had been right. It was like a chemical Aladdin’s cave. A quick count told her there had to be close to fifteen thousand pounds worth of goods in the boot, never mind what he had already sold. Ward couldn’t be big enough on his own to routinely handle that scale of trading. He had to be working for someone.

  Ward stood watching her as she rummaged around in the boot, though. He spat. ‘Don’t let it get wet. I’ll want it back soon. If you try any just leave an IOU. I take cash or cheque.’ Then he grinned. ‘Or maybe I could offer you a discount too?’

  Eva glanced at Sonia, who stood dripping under the cloverleaf light. ‘I’ll pass,’ she said. ‘You do know there’s enough here to send you down for a decade?’

  ‘Not going to happen, gorgeous,’ Ward told her. ‘Love the hair and the make-up by the way, get them done special?’ She did not rise to his bait so he decided to goad her again. ‘Trust me, by the time my lawyers run rings round your lot it’ll be a slap on the wrist and the gear back. Your people are clueless. I don’t know why you don’t just let me go and have done with it.’

  She walked up to him and put her face in front of his. ‘Your lawyer? Don’t you mean Semion Razin’s lawyer?’

  The expression on Ward’s face froze to it. He watched her for a moment. ‘Take my advice,’ he told her quietly. ‘You’re out of your depth. Back off. That’s really not any kind of threat,’ he added quickly. ‘That’s just me being friendly.’ He meant it. She could see it in his eyes. She had been right, though. Ward was one of Razin’s men.

  ‘I’ll just have to take my chances,’ Eva said. ‘Say hello to Semion’s lawyer for me.’

  ‘I’m not winding you up,’ Ward told her as she nodded to the two constables to take him away. ‘It’s going to get very personal for you. Don’t do anything stupid.’

  ‘Looks like I already have,’ Eva told him as she walked away.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘He didn’t deny it?’ Alastair Hadley’s face spoke of something between incredulity and suspicion. He stood under the entrance to the station just out of the rain. The Sunday service had given him an extra t
en minutes on the platform this time. Eva hoped to high heaven she wasn’t going to have to make small talk until his train arrived.

  ‘He practically confirmed it. Not in so many words, but he wanted to let me know. It wasn’t so much a threat as a warning.’

  ‘Forget it,’ Hadley told her. ‘I have.’ It’s not your fucking neck on the line, she thought, but she didn’t respond. ‘What does Cowan think about this?’ He demanded.

  ‘I haven’t seen him yet, sir. I wasn’t sure whether it was safe to approach him outside of work hours.’

  ‘He can look after himself,’ Hadley said. ‘So there’s no connection between Ward and this other investigation you’re involved with?’

  This other investigation, Eva almost muttered, is a triple murder, at least. ‘Again not conclusive, but it seems unlikely. Ward almost certainly sells drugs that Razin’s people provide. He’s probably both a dealer and a wholesaler. It’s most likely just a coincidence he was considered for the earlier murders. Somebody on the old investigation suspected him of selling drugs to students, which was a good enough reason to put his name on the list. It provided a pretext for us to pick him up.’

  Hadley stared across the street through the rain. ‘Watch him,’ he said after a while. ‘Keep an eye on who sees Ward, who talks to his lawyer, where the evidence goes and who signs the paperwork. Something is going to disappear. Something will go missing.’ Eva stood in silence. After a while Hadley sighed. ‘This is actually important, Harris. This is about one of the most dangerous criminals around and how he has a stranglehold on local communities. If we beat Razin here then we’ll become a focal point of activity from Dublin to Constanza. We can get to that bastard,’ he turned to glower at her, ‘so long as you don’t fuck it up.’