by Emma Tallon
‘Jim,’ Freddie said, as he stopped beside them on the pavement. ‘What are you doing searching out jobs on a Sunday? Trying to win employee of the month?’
Jim grinned. ‘Ahh, I’m old school, Freddie. Just because it’s Sunday, don’t mean there’s nothing to be done, does it?’ Freddie conceded this with a nod of the head. ‘Plus,’ he added, ‘it ain’t like I’ve got much else going on. You get out the clink after twenty-five years, no one even remembers ya. There weren’t no family waiting for me to come home. It’s just me on me tod. I’d rather be out here than sat staring at the four walls.’
Nodding again, Freddie looked away. His own time in prison had been enough to make him feel misplaced in this world when he came out and that had only been two and a half years. He’d had family and loyal friends all waiting for him and it had still been difficult. He couldn’t imagine how odd life must feel for Jim right now.
‘Well, there’s certainly a lot to be done today, so the more the merrier,’ he said. He turned his attention to Seamus. ‘We need to start thinking outside the box about where Aleksei could be hiding. We’ve been thinking too logically.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Go get settled in the office, I just need to run and grab some fags. I’ll be five minutes.’
‘Sure thing. This way then, Jim.’ Seamus led the way down the road to the side alley that led to the back entrance of the closed club premises.
Turning back the other way, Freddie strode down the road to the corner shop a few buildings down. Greeting the familiar shopkeeper, he made his purchase and left the shop, checking his phone to see if Sammy had responded. He had. Sammy was en route. Satisfied with this, Freddie slipped the phone back in his pocket and as he looked up, stopped dead in his tracks.
The car they had all been searching for was pulling up right outside the front entrance of Ruby Ten. He raised his eyebrows in disbelief. That was ballsy, even for Aleksei. Glancing at the small window on the first floor, Freddie wondered what the chances were of Seamus looking out. Slim to none, he quickly decided, as the window was nowhere near the desk where they would likely be sitting waiting for him.
‘Shit,’ he cursed under his breath. He had no weapons on him or back-up. The only thing currently in his favour – if Aleksei was in there with several of his armed goons – was the fact that the street was relatively busy. It wouldn’t do Aleksei any favours to be seen attacking him.
He could retreat, wait until he had back-up. But for all he knew, Aleksei could be gone by the time he managed to gather his men. Plus, it just wasn’t in him to run from a fight, even if the odds weren’t in his favour. It just wasn’t who he was. Pushing forward, Freddie puffed out his chest and made his way to the vehicle showing much more confidence than he really felt. As he came within a few feet he paused. The back door opened and out of the tinted back cabin stepped a long, slender pair of legs, followed by the rest of an attractively dressed woman. Freddie blinked, confused, until finally her head came into view.
He had never met her before, had only seen one picture that Sarah had sent him as part of her reconnaissance pack on Aleksei. But he hadn’t needed to see any more to remember someone so striking. This dark-haired, tanned beauty was Sophia Ivanov. Aleksei’s wife.
Sophia positioned herself to stand square on to Freddie, a few feet down the path, her hands resting loosely on her hips as she appraised him. For a few moments there was nothing but silence as he waited for her to make the first move.
‘There is no need for you to continue your search,’ she finally said, a thick Russian accent colouring her deep, sultry voice. ‘I know your little police dog has been trying to find me. So, here I am.’ She held her arms out, before dropping them down to her sides. She moved towards him and Freddie noted the driver stepped out to stand behind her. ‘I have been thinking about how best to meet you.’
‘And why would you want to meet me?’ Freddie asked, keeping his tone neutral until he could figure out where this was going.
‘Because I have a potential business arrangement that you may be interested in.’
Freddie barked out a short laugh. ‘A business arrangement? Unless it involves you handing me your husband’s head on a plate, I can’t really think of anything you’d be able to offer that could catch my interest.’
Sophia’s dark eyes flashed with something that Freddie couldn’t quite place and a cold smile played across her deep red lips. ‘But how on earth could I offer you that, when Aleksei is already dead?’
Twenty
Freddie stepped behind the empty bar in Ruby Ten and reached up for the vodka on the top shelf. This was where he knew his bar manager kept the good stuff – the Russian stuff. Walking back over to the table with the bottle, some ice and three glasses, he sat down and poured them each a generous measure. Sophia’s bodyguard, as Freddie had already come to think of him, staunchly ignored the glass meant for him and continued to stand silently behind Sophia’s chair.
Freddie lifted his glass politely. ‘Cheers.’
‘Za zdorov’ye,’ Sophia replied, before shooting the large measure back in one.
‘So, Mrs Ivanov,’ Freddie started, his mind still whirling, trying to connect the dots. ‘You say Aleksei is dead and that you have some sort of proposition. Please elaborate.’
Sophia reached forward and refilled her own glass from the bottle. ‘My husband is dead. His body lies underneath the weight of an entire building.’ She looked up at Freddie, her eyes strangely icy for such a dark, warm shade of brown. ‘So I cannot give you his head, I am afraid.’ Reaching over, she refilled Freddie’s glass and put the bottle down. ‘That being said,’ she continued more pleasantly, ‘there are some other things of his that you may be interested in.’
‘And why would you want to come to me with these things?’ Freddie asked. He was curious to find out what she was talking about, but at the same time he was wary. Freddie and Aleksei were known enemies. Indeed, each had tried very hard to kill the other. Why would Sophia want anything to do with him?
Sophia sat back and studied Freddie for a few moments. ‘Did you know much about my husband, Mr Tyler?’ she asked. ‘Did you ever hear anything about our marriage, let’s say?’
‘I can’t say I did,’ Freddie answered truthfully. As he said this though, another conversation he’d had about Aleksei with Bill popped up in his mind and he suddenly had an inkling as to where Sophia was going.
‘My husband had… certain tendencies, that came out a few years into our marriage. These led to us becoming a less than typical husband and wife duo.’ She held her head up high and stuck her chin out, the confident action clearly forced to cover her embarrassment. ‘We remained friends for our children’s sake and kept up appearances. But we were not in love, as you expect people to be in a marriage.’ Looking down for a moment, Sophia flicked an imaginary fleck of dust off her immaculate skirt. ‘What I care most about now, is what I cared most about a month, six months, a year ago. My two sons. I need to continue to drive them onwards towards a bright future the way we always have, and it is like I have been left with the vehicle to do so, but no keys to start the engine.’ She stared into Freddie’s eyes intensely. ‘This is where you come in. I have the car, as I say, but you are the only person I can think of who may hold the key to get it going.’
Freddie sat back and studied Sophia. Calm and collected, her logical and detached manner seemed to be genuine. There were none of the tears or the grief or even hysterics that one would expect from a widow speaking to her deceased husband’s enemy. But then again, if all they had between them was a false front of a marriage held together only for the sake of their children, why would there be?
‘And what kind of key do you think I have, exactly?’ Freddie answered. ‘So far you’ve talked to me in nothing but riddles. If you don’t lay out what it is you’re after, I have no way to answer you.’
‘My husband’s club is now back under your firm’s control. I realise that it was your patch to begin with and I have no r
ight to it. But that has left us in a financial corner,’ Sophia replied. ‘The only other things I have been left with are Aleksei’s gun routes.’ She sat upright and leaned forward onto the table. ‘I know you don’t run guns. But there is a market for it, one that Aleksei found very lucrative. And I may not have a husband or a steady income any more, but what I do have is knowledge. I know Aleksei’s routes, his stock, his supplier arrangements, everything. What I do not have, now that he is dead and his firm has fallen apart, are men to carry out the work. Men who are not afraid of getting their hands dirty, of it being illegal.’
Freddie nodded. ‘I see.’
‘If you will run the operation alongside me and provide the men, I am willing to offer you a straight fifty-fifty partnership.’
Freddie shifted in his seat and frowned. ‘Why?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, why are you asking me? Surely you have other contacts in this world you can go to?’
Sophia lifted her chin. ‘I do not,’ she replied. ‘Aleksei burned our bridges when we left Russia. And although I was an advisor to my husband, I had no direct day-to-day contact with the business. Until now, of course. He made sure that should anything happen, I knew enough to be able to step up.’
‘Yet still, you know that your husband and I were enemies. Even if what you’re saying is true, if he really is dead, that still makes no difference on this particular point.’
‘You were an enemy to my husband because he trod on your turf,’ Sophia replied. ‘And, of course, because he tried to kill you.’ She held his stare, her expression brazen. ‘I understand your feelings, but neither of these actions were taken by me. You have no quarrel with me directly.’
‘And you expect me to believe that you have none with me?’ Freddie questioned, raising one eyebrow disbelievingly.
‘None whatsoever,’ she replied, levelly. ‘My husband took risks, eventually one did not pay off. That was the choice he made. I make choices too, and my choice right now is to not be left without money to raise my sons. You have a son, do you not? Surely you can understand that, parent to parent.’
Freddie exhaled heavily. He did not take kindly to his son being brought into any discussion linked to his work, but he could grudgingly understand why Sophia was bringing the point to light on this occasion.
‘I’ll have to think about it,’ he answered. ‘One thing I would like to know though… Why have you been following me around?’
‘I thought that much would be obvious, Mr Tyler,’ Sophia replied, standing up and picking up her purse. She opened it and pulled out a card with her number on, placing it on the table between them. ‘It is always wise to know who you are getting into business with. Or if it does not work out,’ she added over her shoulder as she walked away, ‘one’s enemy. Do let me know your decision. By tomorrow night, if you do not mind. Children are expensive and my time to get this set up is limited.’
Freddie watched Sophia walk out of the door, followed by her bodyguard, with a thoughtful frown and played with the glass still full of vodka in front of him. He looked down at the card she had left on the table then picked it up and slid it into his inner jacket pocket. Of all the ways he had predicted this situation to go, that hadn’t been one of them. And the fact that Aleksei was dead was very surprising news indeed – if of course it was true. It could just be an elaborate set-up to get their guard down. Freddie wasn’t ruling this possibility out.
Pulling out his phone, Freddie made a call. ‘Paul, I need you to come in to Ruby Ten, ASAP. There’s been a development we need to discuss. Seamus is here, Sammy’s on his way. I’ll ring Anna now – can you get hold of Bill? Jim’s here too. I’ll find something for him to do, this is for our ears only right now.’
Ending the call, Freddie bit his lip as he thought over everything Sophia had said. Placing his next call to Anna, he didn’t notice the door to the stairs move slightly as Jim closed the small gap he’d been listening through and slipped away back to the office as silent as a mouse.
Twenty-One
Anna stood at the top of the stairs, ushering the girls out of The Sinners’ Lounge as politely as she could. They closed a few hours early every Monday, as it was the quietest day of the week, but tonight she was closing it even earlier than usual.
‘You sure you want us to head off?’ Erica asked, as she passed. ‘We do sometimes get a few last-minute stragglers.’ She’d been hoping to pick up at least one or two punters tonight, for some extra cash.
‘Don’t worry,’ Anna replied cheerily. ‘We won’t lose business closing an hour early once in a while.’
‘Well, OK then,’ Erica answered, her tone glum as she walked towards the exit.
‘Rose, can you stop and help with the stock take tonight please? Josephine has a lot on, she could do with a hand,’ Tanya called out.
‘Oh, no problem,’ Rose answered, putting her bag and jacket back in the cloak cupboard.
The last of the girls trailed out, shouting their goodbyes, and the downstairs door closed with a bang. Tanya and Anna exchanged glances. ‘Right,’ Tanya said to Rose. ‘Hop to it. You know what to do.’
‘Sure thing.’ Rose smiled and headed off to do as she’d been instructed.
‘Drink?’ Tanya asked with a raised eyebrow.
Anna looked at her watch for the time. ‘Yes, let’s. I still need to talk to you about this whole Sophia thing.’ After her meeting with Freddie yesterday she had gone straight to tell Tanya about the unexpected turn of events. Just as she had finished downloading everything Freddie had told her, though, he had arrived and joined the discussion, meaning they had not been able to talk about it freely. Anna hadn’t been able to get Tanya alone again until now, to find out what she thought of everything.
Tanya nodded and walked behind the bar to pour them each a glass of wine. ‘Yeah, I didn’t see that coming.’
Anna sat on one of the bar stools and took the drink Tanya offered her. ‘Me neither. Maybe she’s a bigger player than Josephine thought,’ she replied.
‘What’s that?’ Josephine piped up as she came in from the hallway.
‘Sophia,’ Tanya said, after checking first for the go-ahead nod from Anna. ‘She’s the one who’s been tailing Freddie.’
‘What?’ Josephine turned white, her hand flying to her neck as her eyes widened in shock.
‘She wants to partner up on the gun-running,’ Anna continued. ‘And somehow she knows where Aleksei’s body is.’
‘But how could she?’ Josephine whispered. ‘There is no way she could have known.’
‘There are ways,’ Anna replied with a heavy sigh. ‘She could have been in the back of that car—’
‘No.’ Josephine cut her off with a shake of her head. ‘She was definitely not there. Aleksei kept her away from the business and even if this was an exception he would have said when I got there. She was definitely not there that night.’
‘I don’t think she was as in the dark as he led you to believe, Jojo,’ Tanya said softly.
‘She was not there,’ Josephine insisted.
‘She may not have been,’ Anna cut in. ‘But she knows everything there is to know about the gun routes, their suppliers, everything. And she knew everything about the club too, from what we hear. She says Aleksei left her with enough knowledge to take over, should she ever need to.’
‘Oh.’ Josephine seemed taken aback, but swiftly recovered. ‘Well, I guess living with him she will have picked up a lot.’
‘That may be so, but what I’m concerned about right now is exactly how much she knows about Aleksei’s death.’ Anna picked up her glass and took a deep drink of the crisp white wine Tanya had poured. ‘She knows he is under that building. So what else is she aware of? Does she know we were there, that it was us?’ Anna and Tanya exchanged a worried look.
Josephine walked over to the bar wearily and took a seat on one of the stools. Her heavy features looked even heavier than usual under the weight of the questions t
hey all now had to consider. She fiddled with a dangly bright purple earring. ‘There is a chance,’ she said slowly, ‘that Sophia might know about me.’
‘What?’ the others cried in unison.
‘Josephine…’ Tanya breathed in horror.
‘You never said anything about this,’ Anna snapped angrily. ‘What the hell, Josephine?’ Her dark blue eyes flashed with anger. As if they didn’t have enough on their plate, this was the last thing they needed.
‘I only said might know,’ Josephine said, feeling flustered. ‘She didn’t know before all this. But the day it all happened, Aleksei told her he was sending her and the boys to Estonia to live with her mother. It was to clear the way for me to move in. He did it to try and manipulate me into doing what he wanted, clearing her out and leaving the position of leading lady open for me to fill.’ She looked down, her face turning red in shame. ‘Obviously I never considered it, but he did it thinking that would be enough to sway me. He told her he was sending her away the next day and to pack their bags. I don’t know if he told her specifically why, or even if he did, who I was. But there is that possibility.’
‘Jesus Christ,’ Anna spat, seething. Why were they only just learning about this now? Standing up, she began an agitated pacing.
Tanya leaned forward on the bar and rubbed her forehead. ‘If she knew about that or of our involvement, surely she would have already brought it up? It’s been weeks, there’s been nothing. Surely if she knew, she would have confronted us by now. Or at least not offered to partner up with Freddie,’ she added.
‘But what if that’s exactly why she has?’ Anna countered. ‘What if it’s some weird mind game she’s playing, to get to us?’
There was a long silence. Eventually Tanya answered. ‘It’s possible, but I don’t see how it would be in her favour to go down this route. If she wanted to mess with us, she could have done it much more effectively by coming to us directly.’
