Before they could knock on the door of the white house, the powder blue front door opened, and a man of youthful looks and calm demeanour opened it. He was wearing a full grey tonic suit with a waistcoat and he looked comfortable in it, as if he wore a three piece every day of his life. Alexander Galvan. He was a kind of looker, but not really Eva’s type. Though Eva was his type. The young man’s eyes widened as he looked at both the women, but his eyes fastened onto Eva and wouldn’t let go. Eva managed a purse-lipped smile and held out her hand.
“Alex Galvan?”
“Miss Roberts. The pleasure’s all mine. Mrs Gillespie. Come in.”
“Don’t call me that, please,” said Maggie as they entered the house. “That’s the name of the man who is trying to kill me.”
Galvan closed the door and Eva found herself in a modern home full of clean lines and neat artful touches. But there was danger here too. She felt she could hear the whine of the motorcycle again, but within these walls it would have certainly been impossible. She felt a new craving for a glass of wine, and silently rebuked herself.
“Come through here. I’ve got a pot of coffee on in the kitchen. I think it’s the best room in the house.”
They snaked through a corridor to a big flag stone kitchen with a range and windows looking out over the Estuary on one side and looking out into a neatly green garden with apple trees in the other. Galvan wasn’t wrong. He poured coffees and invited them to sit at a big oak dining table.
“Okay. Miss Roberts here has briefed me on your troubles. You and your ex-husband Brian Gillespie have parted and he has put a contract on your head. Not the cleanest of separations, eh? You need protection, and as Miss Roberts sees it, there are only a few families who can provide the kind of protection you require. We happen to be one of them. Is that a fair summary, Miss Roberts?”
“Pretty much,” said Eva.
“To be honest, I think it’s less than a few families who could help you. I think it’s us or no one.”
Galvan leaned across the table, warming to his topic.
“Do you know why, Mrs Gillespie?”
“Enlighten me.”
“Because who else would mess with Brian Gillespie? The small fries? No way. The Somali gang? You would never get into bed with them, would you?” The man seemed to be aware of his own joke. Eva saw the sparkle in his eye.
“And who else from here to London could you trust, who wouldn’t simply take your money and hand you over to the big man all the same?”
“So why should I trust you?”
“Because times are changing. I see the writing on the wall. Your old man is getting very old, and sooner or later one of these gangs is going to chop him down and take over. He’s not invincible. The only one who thinks that is him.”
“Get real, junior. Your people never had an ounce of bottle. The Galvans never once posed a threat to our interests. What makes you think you’re any worry to Brian Gillespie whatsoever?”
“I’m glad about that, Mrs Gillespie - sorry, Maggie. I’m glad Bad Boy Brian doesn’t think about us. I know why he doesn’t. . I’m not as stupid as you think, Maggie. My dad, God Bless him, got carried away living the good life, mucking about with his boats, dicking around with his fast cars, and sunning it up in Marbella. No one took him seriously anymore. Not even the old bill. I know all that. But he earned it, didn’t he? He came up the hard way, just like Brian. But times have changed, Maggie. I’m the new blood this business had called for. My father has seen the light, and handed over the reins. And because I’m the main man these days, you’ll be safe. I have the troops, and I have the resources. Even better - with you supplying us with the inside information we need we can prepare to re-build our local business. Maybe we can teach your old man a lesson along the way. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“So that’s your terms. Inside information to bring down my husband?”
“Ex-husband, Maggie. Remember?”
“Oh, I remember all right. And what do I get for that?”
“Hold on, I’m not finished.”
The woman’s face dropped like a stone. Her eyes flared.
“What else can you want?”
“I know you raided his accounts. You took a fair old sum, is what I heard. So, as payment towards your upkeep – for the rest of your time under our protection– I want you to give us half of what you took from your old man.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard. You keep the rest of course. I think that’s generous, Maggie. We are going to have to house and board you and put up with all your little diva demands for what, ten maybe twenty years? Could be more. I think five hundred would be a fair swap for that.”
“Take your time and think about it. But don’t take all day. It’s the best offer you’ll ever get from here on in, don’t you think, Miss Roberts?”
Galvan was good looking, but vile. He had a dark charisma. “Bastards…” Maggie muttered under her breath but for all to hear.
“Where?”
“One of three addresses depending on the heat on you at the time.”
“What about security?”
“I’ll assign two of four of my own men, twenty-four-seven. We’ll review security daily for the first month.”
“Will I have a life anymore?”
“We’ll get you anything you need. Food. Booze. Powder. Clothes… women.”
“I want a life… That’s what I want.”
“You’ll be alive. That’s what you want most of all, isn’t it Mrs. Gillespie?”
Maggie looked at Eva. She sensed Maggie collapsing, a faint sadness appearing in her glossy dark eyes. Eva gave her no sympathy. As she sensed Maggie wilting, a sense of triumph was coming upon Eva. It wasn’t long now - she would be free.
Maggie pushed her coffee cup away. “I have no choice.”
“Good. Then all we need to do is take a down payment. As a goodwill gesture.”
Eva froze in her chair. She suddenly felt like she was made of concrete and dared not look at either of them. “Is that necessary?” she said. “Can we not wire some money across? You didn’t tell us about any down payment?”
“Ah. But I’m telling you now. This is a seller’s market, Miss Roberts. The terms are ours to dictate.”
“How much do you want?” said Maggie.
“At least fifty grand for set up costs.”
“Fine.”
Then Maggie Gillespie pointed at Eva. “Fine. Miss Roberts has at least that much in her pockets. My money is your money, Alexander. Will you help me recover the money Miss Roberts stole from me?” Alexander Galvan looked at her with big wide eyes. He was confused. Then initially reluctant.
“Come on, Alex. She’s stolen from us. She’s got your money. So get it back.”
“I’m not interfering in any arrangement you have with Miss Roberts here. That’s not my business.”
Eva thought about the gun in her pocket. Alex Galvan read her eyes and his face changed from neutral to panic. He leaned over the table and grabbed Eva’s lapels, and Eva didn’t fight. Only when Maggie’s arm came to seize her other shoulder did she give a violent shrug that sent the bitch nearly falling from her chair. When Maggie sat up again, Alex Galvan had stripped Eva of her jacket. He laid the gun and the batches of currency out before him on the table.
“Miss Roberts. I really wish you hadn’t done that. You’ve gone and made it all so complicated.”
Maggie’s face was calm. She grinned and stood over Eva.
“You are so obvious, Eva. Do you know why? You’re too straight. But like I told you. I always get what I want in the end.”
Alex Galvan picked up the gun and the cash and moved away from the table. Alex Galvan left Eva and Maggie alone. Eva had been so very close to winning. Now she was all but lost.
Twenty-four
How many more mistakes could she afford? Jess’s head was a bundle of stress. Her handbag was a Tardis full of junk, including hairbands she never used, a watch sh
e never wore, the radio set she owed to the security guard, screwed up tissue paper with lipstick on it and many more unspeakable items. Jess stole a glance at her phone screen, thumbing the phone while it was still in her bag. She read the first line of Eva’s text. “I’m still alive.’” That was all she needed to know, that was the good news. She could catch up with the rest of Eva’s latest essay later. Right now she was under pressure to explain everything to Dan, from how Eva ended up taking a job from Maggie Gillespie, through to a detailed visual account of the assassin on the motorbike who was peering into the agency office.
They had parked around the corner of the Conservation area. Dan was still counting his pennies since his fall from grace so they parked in his battered old Jaguar in a side street, where there was still some free parking. Just yards away the meters demanded a full pound for a half hour. There was another advantage being placed in the lane just around the corner. Here they were shrouded by the church and the offices beside them, and yet they had a clear view of the back of the target property, number 17 Cambridge Road. The house had a small balcony maybe overlooking a small garden. They were both looking at the back window hoping to see a flicker of movement, a twitch of the curtains. And in spite of all logic, they hoped Eva would step out onto that little balcony and show that she was all right. But nothing had happened. The curtain hadn’t moved in all the hours they’d been there.
Since The Refuge closed at 2pm, Dan took Jess directly to the Conservation area. Immediately, Dan was back in the old routine, eyes flicking from the street to the back of the house, and then to the street again, watching the passers-by, the homeless and the office workers.
“That one there is Nick Regent. Homeless. He’s dodgy as anything. He hoodwinks the charity folks to think he’s on a downer, so they give him extra food, extra drink, extra everything. But that’s him all over. You see his limp. Bad isn’t it? Really bad?”
The man was walking with a lame leg, stiff at the knee. He was a hunched figure in a long tatty leather coat and scuffed up trainers. He had hollow dark eyes and a greasy black curtained-haircut.
“Yeah. It looks bad.”
“Yeah, it looks bad all right. But that’s a con. The man can walk further and longer than you or me. He’s never owned a car and walked everywhere his whole life. He’s homeless, but only because it suits him. He’s a shark. He sleeps over in those doorways over there, planning his next scam.”
“I thought you liked these homeless guys? I thought that’s why you were hanging out with them again.”
“I help the ones who deserve help, Jess. The ones who care about each other. Nick would trample over his best friend to catch a falling fiver.”
Jess nodded. She was kind of un-interested in the homeless of the town. Everyone knew most of them used their begging money to buy drink or drugs. Dan was just talking because he needed some way to pass the time. When he wasn’t talking, Dan was busy gnawing his nails down to the quick. This was a new habit.
“Are you okay, Dan? I mean really okay?”
“Ahhhh. It’s nice to know you care, Jess. Look at me.”
She took the invitation and turned around in the passenger seat and looked into the man’s dark eyes, past the scars on his cheeks. His eyes were dark brown, gleaming and absorbing. She felt pulled into them, but she knew that wasn’t Dan’s aim. There was still an edginess, an angst which had been caused by his time in London.
“Do you think I’m okay?” she was about to lie, to offer a pleasantry but she knew that Dan would hear it straight away. Jess shook her head, and looked out of the windscreen. “No, Dan. You look well… but you don’t look okay.”
“Yeah. That’s because I’m not, Jess. I’m not at my best, but there’s no way in the world I am going to leave Eva high and dry. Eva is the only thing that matters now. I know you don’t like me, and to be honest, I’m neutral on you. I couldn’t give a shit about any of that. The only thing that matters now is Eva, am I right? Yeah? So let’s forget about pretending to be nice to each other and get this done and get Eva out of there.”
“Dan…”
“What?”
“I don’t hate you. I was just jealous in case you took my job.”
“Yeah. I knew that straight off. But now you’ve just looked into my eyes I guess you don’t have to worry about that anymore, do you?”
“Dan. I’m sorry. I don’t blame you if you don’t like me, but I want you to know I don’t dislike you. I do think you’re a dick sometimes, but hey, what guy isn’t?”
“Was that a compliment?”
“Not really.”
“I didn’t think so.”
They stopped talking and stared out to the street.
“Dan. You weren’t involved with the accounts side of things, were you?”
“Accounts, no. It was never my bag. Eva liked that kind of stuff years back, so I took care of the street work and Eva kept busy with the business side. That was how we worked it.”
“I’ve been doing the books for well over a year now, because Eva became the breadwinner for the business. The thing is, some of the work started to dry up just after Hammersmith. You must have noticed.”
“Not really. Eva said there was a lot of that paper chasing stuff still going on. Fraud jobs, etc. I thought she was just taking time off to molly coddle me.”
“She did that too. But no, she was kidding herself about the fraud cases and the paper chasing. It dried up and Eva didn’t do anything to fix it. I thought she’d come to her senses sooner or later so I left her to it. I guess I should have said something. The Will Burton job looked like it would fix everything, but that was a rotten case too. The only real money we got out of that was from donations by sympathetic liberals and horny goats watching Eva on the news. That was great for a little while, but the business can’t just run on thin air. Not for long.”
“What are you saying, Jess?”
“I’m saying Eva hasn’t been in a good way herself, not for a while but she hides it better than you.”
“She always did.”
“And the job I was worried about losing to you may not exist soon, even if Eva comes out of this unscathed. I think the business needs you Dan. It needs something.”
Dan sat quiet and looked away and sighed.
“She’s been drinking, Dan.”
He didn’t look round.
“She likes her white wine, so what?”
“She likes it too much, Dan. Since you’ve been gone, the local off licences have seen record profits.”
Dan looked at her again. “You’re doing Eva an injustice, Jess. Until we get her out of this mess, I’d rather you leave her reputation alone. Understand?”
Jess nodded. She understood. Dan was in denial too.
“Now, if you’re worth your salt in this business, Jess, then how the hell did you let her get into this mess in the first place? Are you here to help Eva, or are you in this business to just draw a wage?”
“Don’t talk to me like that! I’m here for God’s sake, aren’t I?”
Dan nodded. “Yeah. You’re here. That’s a start. So I guess we’ll see about the rest.”
After watching the sky darken and the street lamps came on, the workers walked home and the street drinkers began their festivities, Dan wasn’t happy. Jess watched his hands tighten on the steering wheel. Time was passing and there was no sign of Eva. Dan turned the radio on, and then turned it off again. At seven pm, everything began to change. Dan was looking out towards number 17 when his face became open, and wide eyed. Jess followed his big-eyed gaze. She looked at the house, and saw that the upstairs windows were now lit.
“Ker-ching,” said Jess.
“Ker-ching is pretty far from what I’m thinking Jess. You see that light by the balcony?”
“Yep. Well the light coming from the room next door came on at exactly the same time. Exactly.”
“So, they wanted the lights on.”
“No. I bet you the lights downstairs came
on at exactly the same time.”
“What’s your point?”
“Come on! You get this, don’t you?”
Jess allowed herself to look vacant a moment before she shook her head. She didn’t get his point and didn’t see why she should.
“They are automated. The lights are set to come on at this time. It’s getting dark now, right? Surely a person would have put the lights on just as they needed them, not all at the same time. This whole thing is a red-herring, Jess. That house is empty.”
“What are you on? That’s exactly where she went, all of them. It’s one of Galvan’s properties.”
“You’re sure that’s the one?”
“I’m sure.”
“Because those lights say something altogether different. If those lights are on a timer, then nobody is there.”
“They might have just waited for the timer to come on.”
“That’s not normal human behaviour. There’s no one there.”
Jess’s heart made a rapid commotion. A terrible feeling was creeping over her, part dread, part guilt in equal measure. “You’re not at the races here, Jess. Come on. Still thinking about your bearded hero?” Jess winced. She had thought about him, but not for a long time.
“We need to check this out,” said Dan. “Wait here.”
“No. I can handle it myself.”
Dan grunted and got out of the car. Jess followed a little way behind. Dan was in a bad mood, he was best avoided. They walked alongside the big old brick wall at the end of the terrace, and came onto the square opposite the café and the bowling green. The scene was picturesque, all clean bricks, sculpted gardens and beautiful blooms. They walked towards the first house, when Dan stopped Jess abruptly, and tugged her back towards him. He dragged her back round the corner, stuck a finger to his mouth to quieten any complaints. He whispered. “There’s a motorbike parked out front… someone is by the front door.”
Jess wanted to scream. They didn’t know where Eva was, and the danger was getting closer. Jess moved around the corner before Dan could seize her and pull her back. She took a look at the bike. It could have been a pizza delivery. But no. It was the same bike she’d seen at the offices in Southchurch, with the rider peering into the office. She froze on the spot and looked up and to her right towards number 17. The motorcyclist was returning out of the porch way, walking down the pathway towards the front gate, just a few houses down. But now the motorcyclist stopped dead in his tracks, and his head turned. His helmet was on, visor down. Jess and the biker looked at one another. Jess gasped and then turned and ran. She could hear the motorcyclist moving too.
Better the Devil Page 18
