The New Friend

by Alex Kane

  Roxanne let her hands drop and tutted. They hadn’t touched each other since the night she’d got out of prison. Any normal man would be all over his girlfriend when she’d been away for ten years. But not Jake.

  ‘You know what? I don’t even know why we’re together, Jake. Sometimes I just wish…’ Roxanne stopped, realising what she was about to say.

  Jake didn’t respond as he poured himself a coffee and stared out of the kitchen window. She thought about Jez. Was it a coincidence that he had turned up when things were going wrong between her and Jake? Now that she thought about her relationship, had things ever been right? She’d been in prison for half the time they’d been together and now all she could think about was Jez. He’d come to see her for a reason. She’d told him to fuck off because of what had happened between them. She’d lost her best friend. But that didn’t change the way she felt about him, even after all these years.

  ‘Are you depressed or something?’ Roxanne pushed Jake for a reaction.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘Can’t a man just have his coffee in peace?’

  Roxanne shook her head. There was more to this than he was letting on.

  ‘You’ve been acting weird ever since I got out. Is there another woman or something?’ The suggestion made her laugh but maybe that was the case.

  ‘Ha,’ he said. ‘If only it was that simple, Roxanne.’ He turned. ‘Look, there’s no one else. It’s just this job with Cole. It’s hard going and he’s a pain in the pisser to work with. A bit of a loose cannon and I need to stay focused. It’s nothing to do with you.’

  Roxanne watched him, taking in his expression. He could be lying, but she wasn’t able to tell. But he was right about Cole. He seemed a bit riotous at times; there was a glint in his eye. The way he’d looked at Roxanne when she’d first met him told her that he could be an evil bastard if he really wanted to be. So maybe that was what was up with Jake, maybe he didn’t like the fact that Roxanne was involved?

  ‘It’s so hard to read you at times, Jake.’

  ‘Then don’t try to. Alright?’

  With that he turned and walked out of the kitchen. He’d left his mobile phone on the worktop the night before. She eyed it, wondering if there would be anything in there that would tell her what was really going on inside his head.

  The sound of Jake switching on the shower made Roxanne reach for the phone and she slid her thumb across the screen. It was locked and she didn’t know the passcode. Just as she was about to place the phone back down, she saw two messages ping onto the screen at the same time. One from Cole. One from Eddie.

  The one from Eddie piqued her interest. Yes, he was involved in the job with Cole and Jake, but he hardly knew Jake enough to send a friendly text – if that’s what it was. She couldn’t open the full thing to check.

  It started off:

  Mate, we need to talk. It’s about…

  The message trailed off then and no matter how many code combinations she tried, Roxanne couldn’t open Jake’s phone. What was it that Eddie wanted to tell Jake?

  The one from Cole was two words.

  Packages ready.

  That meant that Roxanne would have to go back to the salon and arrange for Stephanie and Selina to pick them up. Hopefully, Arabella had learned her lesson this time and would either stay away or not make trouble.

  Roxanne had already killed one bitch this week, she didn’t want to have to do another.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  The mug of hot tea warmed Arabella’s hands as she sat in bed, her head resting against the pillow. She glanced out of the window and as the sun came up, she wondered what was going to happen with her and Eddie. In the time they’d been together, he’d stood by her in her darkest moments. Last night when she’d spilled her guts about the salon, about what Roxanne was doing there and what had happened on the river path, his reaction had surprised her. He’d been calm, focused.

  ‘Hey,’ he said now, his voice croaky from sleep. ‘You okay?’

  Arabella smiled. ‘Everything is such a mess, Eddie. I was so caught up in what was going on with me, I never even told you about Scarlett.’

  Eddie glanced up at her and frowned. ‘What about her?’

  ‘She’s dead.’

  He sat up so quickly that Arabella almost spilled her tea. ‘What do you mean she’s dead?’

  She felt her eyes burn as the tears came. ‘I don’t know. I still don’t have any details. But she didn’t show up for work yesterday and I heard on the news that police had cordoned off her street due to a disturbance. I decided to go and check on her and when I got there, there was police everywhere and they were guarding the entrance to her flat. I saw a woman, hysterical crying. She was shouting for Scarlett. It was her mum. Jesus, it’s awful. What about her boys, Eddie?’

  Arabella was sobbing as she described the scene and Eddie put an arm around her.

  ‘Do they know what happened?’ he whispered.

  ‘I don’t know. But I expect the police will want to speak to us since we’re her employers?’

  Eddie paused for a moment and Arabella sank into him. ‘Yes, they probably will.’

  She felt his heart beat against the side of her face and it comforted her. Things were such a mess but she knew that Eddie would be there for her.

  Arabella had to go into work today; she couldn’t abandon the girls when their manager had just been found dead in suspicious circumstances. She had to pull herself together.

  ‘Eddie, are we okay? I mean, after everything I told you last night I’m surprised you didn’t up and leave in the middle of the night.’

  Eddie pulled away and smiled down at her. ‘Arabella, there’s nothing you could say or do that would make me do that. Trust me, I have your back on this. You’re not going back to prison. I promise.’

  The words flooded her with relief, but the look of confusion and dismay on his face made her stomach flip quickly.

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Jake sat at the corner of his favourite breakfast café just off Maryhill Road and waited for Eddie. His message had sounded urgent and if Jake was honest with himself, he needed to get out of the flat. Being around Roxanne was making him feel like shit. He’d been living a lie as far back as he could remember, and now with Cole on his back he felt like he was drowning in it all.

  The waitress placed his second mug of coffee of the morning on the table in front of him just as the bell above the door rang. He looked up and saw Eddie striding in. His expression was sullen and Jake frowned.

  ‘Morning,’ Eddie said, sitting down opposite Jake and lifting the menu, before quickly letting it drop to the surface of the table.

  ‘You okay? You look raging.’

  Eddie shook his head and Jake regarded him through narrow eyes. ‘What’s the problem?’

  ‘Your missus is my problem. You and Cole never told me that the salon was part of the deal.’

  Jake glanced around the café and leaned forward. ‘Keep your voice down, Ed. And you never asked.’

  Sitting back on the hard plastic chair, Eddie sniggered. ‘Oh, is that how it goes, is it? You make deals about one of my businesses behind my fucking back and because I don’t ask, you just don’t tell me? My missus is being taken for a fucking mug, Jake and I’m not having it. The salon is off limits and if you don’t pull it out of the deal then I’m off. You and Cole can find your own fucking transport.’

  Eddie’s voiced hissed across the table and Jake raised a brow. This was the first time Jake had ever seen Eddie lose his cool. So far, all Jake had witnessed was Eddie, cool and respectable businessman. Now, his brow was speckled with tiny beads of sweat and the vein in his neck looked like it was about to pop.

  ‘I can’t do that, Eddie. A deal’s a deal.’

  ‘Fine,’ Eddie said. ‘Then I suppose you won’t mind when Roxanne finds out about your little London escapade. What was his name again? Mark?’

  Jake’s stomach began to roll. How did Eddie know about Mark? ‘Eddie,
if I were you, I’d keep that mouth of yours shut.’

  ‘Touched a nerve, have I?’

  Jake said nothing and watched as an unblinking Eddie smiled over at the waitress and ordered himself a coffee as though everything was normal.

  ‘I mean, if both Cole and I were to tell her about it then she’d have no choice but to believe it, would she? Two against one? Doesn’t feel nice, does it, Jakey boy?’

  The mere sound of that name, the one that Cole used to wind Jake up chilled his skin. He ran through the options in his head. He couldn’t allow Roxanne to find out about Mark. She wouldn’t care that Jake had killed the guy, but she would care very much about why.

  ‘Right,’ Jake said as he lifted his coffee mug and took a sip. ‘Let’s talk. I’m sure we can come to some kind of arrangement.’

  Eddie glared at him across the table. Maybe Jake could make this situation work in his favour?

  ‘Yes, I’m sure we can. But we have to be able to trust each other, Jake. So, I think we should lay all our cards on the table and see where we end up.’

  Jake nodded. This was going to be a long conversation.

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  The text message Billy had received from Eddie had been a short one. It told him an email would be coming through to him from the email address that Billy and his undercover team had supplied. Not that Eddie had ever met the others in the team. The less he got to meet, the better for him.

  Billy refreshed his emails several times before Eddie’s message came through. There was one attachment, a photograph. He read the email first and as he took in the words, his stomach leaped. It all sounded so familiar. It unsettled him. His thumb hovered over the attachment when the doorbell went, alerting him that someone was at his door. Not now, he thought.

  Choosing to ignore his unwanted visitor, Billy opened the attachment and it began to download. It was grainy at first and he couldn’t make out the face. But as it came into focus, Billy’s leaping stomach almost shot up and out of his throat.

  ‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ he said as he stared down at it.

  Never in a million years had he wanted to see that face again. It was the one that had almost changed his life forever back before he’d gone into the force. Back when he was just a young lad.

  He shut the picture off and called Eddie.

  ‘Tell me again where you got the image from that you just sent me.’

  Billy listened carefully as Eddie told him that he’d taken a screenshot of the image from Cole Woods’s phone.

  ‘He said that the guy’s his brother and he went missing twenty years ago. I know it’s not relevant but you told me to leave no detail out so that’s why I sent it. Why, do you know who the guy is?’

  Billy’s heart pounded in his chest as he processed the question. But what could he say?

  ‘Cheers for this, Eddie. I’ll be in touch.’

  He hung up the phone and began pacing the floor, back and forth and around the kitchen table. He tapped the phone against his chin, wondering what the hell was going to happen when all this came out. Because there was no way he was going to be able to get away with this. Murder always caught up with the killer one way or another.

  He sank down onto a seat at the kitchen table before calling the only person he could think of who would be able to sort this out.

  ‘Jez, it’s Billy. Look, something’s come up and I need to see you right now.’

  ‘It’s a good thing I’m at your door then. Did you not hear me ring the bell?’

  ‘Sorry. I was distracted,’ Billy said. Understatement of the fucking century.

  Billy headed to the front door and let Jez in. Jez regarded him for a moment and smirked.

  ‘You look like you’ve seen a fucking ghost.’

  ‘I have,’ Billy said, holding the phone up to Jez. He watched as his former best friend glared at the screen before turning his eyes to Billy.

  ‘Why are you showing me this?’

  Billy exhaled loudly. ‘Because the guy I’m investigating, the guy you’re looking for, is looking for him. This is Cole Wood’s brother.’

  Jez raised a brow. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Aye. My informant is getting closer to him and he showed him this picture. Said he went missing twenty years ago. It’s the same guy, isn’t it? This is the guy I killed in Majorca and the same guy you got rid of.’

  Jez shook his head. ‘Jesus fucking Christ, Billy. Just when you think the universe isn’t listening, then bam!’ He slapped his hand off the kitchen table and Billy glared at him. ‘I got my fucking revenge on him before I even needed to.’

  Billy shook his head. ‘What the fuck are you on about, Jez? This isn’t a game. This is our past catching up with us. Cole Woods has told my informant that he’s going to hire a private investigator to find out what happened to his brother.’

  Jez let out a cackle and grinned widely. ‘No, Billy. This is exactly what we needed to happen. The guy who steals a hundred grand from me is the brother of the lad you killed all those years ago. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. I get my money and we get rid of the guy who could blow our cover. It’s a no-brainer.’

  Billy’s eyes were wide at the sheer stupidity of the idea. ‘You’re damn fucking right it’s a no-brainer. You’d have to be brain dead to think that would work.’

  ‘It will work, Billy. Have I ever let you down before? And be honest now. Remember the money we owed to that drug dealer back in the day? Diggo? Did I sort that? Yes I did. Did I get rid of the body in Majorca with no comeback? Yes I did. So what makes you think I’d fuck this up or that you’d get caught?’

  Billy felt sick but on some level he knew Jez was right. Jez had been like a brother growing up and never once had he ever let him down. They’d been there for each other from day one. It had only been in the last couple of decades that their friendship had fallen away because of the distance between them and their very different life paths. But they’d never had any bad blood and if this situation had taught Billy anything, it was never to burn bridges.

  ‘You contacted me about this, Billy. Not the other way around. I could walk away from this now. Find Cole myself, get my money and leave you to pick up the pieces. Do you want to go to prison? I mean, you work with a team of highly skilled investigators. Not to mention the private investigator that Cole is seemingly going to hire – with my fucking money, no doubt.’

  Billy shook his head.

  ‘You know, I knew this police officer once,’ Jez smiled. ‘He was sent to the jail for gross misconduct or some shit like that. Anyway, he ended up with a spinal injury while he was inside, for grassing up the guy involved. In a wheelchair now, paralysed from the neck down. Shame, that. He’s still all there in the head, but he can’t move.’

  The former friends locked eyes, and Billy didn’t care if the story was false or not. It was a warning.

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Roxanne McPhail crossed the road and kept her eye on the salon. Peering through the window, she saw Arabella standing at the reception desk, looking glamourous as if she didn’t have a care in the world. It annoyed Roxanne a little that Arabella had it all. Coming out of prison was a doddle for the likes of her when she had her dear old boyfriend to throw money at her. Money that came from guilt, of course.

  Arabella looked up from the booking diary at the reception desk and locked eyes with her, before giving her a sarcastic smile and waving her in. She’d sent Roxanne a text first thing that morning, asking her to come to the salon to speak to her.

  Roxanne reached the door and pushed it open before stepping inside. She glared at Arabella but put on a smile for the sake of everyone else.

  ‘Hi,’ Arabella said. ‘I’ve got a little unexpected surprise for you.’

  Roxanne regarded the tone and in an instant, it got her back up. There was a hint of sarcasm in there and from the look on Arabella’s face, she could tell Roxanne was suspicious.

  ‘Look, I don’t want us to fall out
,’ Arabella said, stepping out from behind the desk and standing next to her. She placed a hand on Roxanne’s arm and gestured for her to follow as she headed towards the back of the salon. ‘But there’s someone here that really wants to see you and they insisted they wait until you got here.’

  Roxanne watched as Arabella walked away and had no choice but to follow her so as not to make a scene in front of the customers and the other stylists. The anger building inside was overwhelming. She didn’t like that Arabella had some of the power now.

  She reached the kitchen door and Arabella was already holding it open. Roxanne stepped inside and her heart almost jumped into her throat. Turning, she frowned at Arabella.

  ‘What the fuck is this?’

  ‘Look, there’s obviously some air to be cleared. So, I’m happy for you to use my salon to do that. Have fun catching up with your old friend. I’ve heard all about what you got up to back in the day.’

  Roxanne watched as Arabella closed the door with the most sinister smile she’d ever seen on her face. She turned to face her visitor.

  ‘Charlene, long time no see,’ Roxanne said.

  ‘Not long enough, if you ask me.’

  ‘Then why come here?’

  Charlene was leaning against the counter next to the kettle, but pushed herself off and stood with her back straight and shoulders pushed back.

  ‘Is he here to see you?’ Charlene asked and Roxanne thought she detected a hint of emotion in her voice.

  ‘Who?’ Roxanne said, playing dumb. Of course, she knew Charlene was talking about Jez.

  ‘Don’t give me that shit. It just so happens that he comes to Scotland “on business”,’ she said, using her fingers to do air quotes. ‘And suddenly you show up.’

  ‘I can’t show up if I’m the one who lives here, can I? Charlene, I really couldn’t give a shit if you think Jez came here to see me. And I don’t care if he wants to see me. I’ve got things going on here that don’t concern my past at all. So, if you don’t mind, I’ve got to get on.’ Roxanne pulled out her phone and handed it to Charlene. ‘Here, check it if you don’t believe me.’