BLOOD MONEY a gripping crime thriller full of twists

by Charlie Gallagher

  Steve Goddes brought the Ford Focus to a sharp halt. The Leas had a one-way road that ran parallel to the walkway. Both men had understood that this would be shut off for the ceremony, but it was still open to traffic when they arrived. A crowd of officers were in a huddle to the left, all wearing dress uniform. Someone in black boots was lying on the ground, Cavan Kendall couldn’t see who it was. A suitcase-sized medical bag obscured his view, spewing tubes, oxygen masks, and other items. Whoever this was, they were obviously seriously injured.

  A second huddle of officers in formal dress was kneeling around another figure who lay prone on the ground. His shirt had been torn open, and a man in civilian clothing was applying pressure to an open wound in his abdomen. Cavan could see the fallen man’s head rock slightly as they thumped at his chest. Another officer stood by, wide-eyed and helpless. When he saw the marked car, he ran across and leaned into the driver’s window.

  ‘It’s fucking carnage.’ Cavan thought he recognised the man from force headquarters. He wore sergeant’s stripes on his dress uniform.

  ‘A motorbike came past. We all had our backs to it, then suddenly the rider just started firing across here.’ He pointed to where the group was frantically working. ‘The chief’s taken a hit, he’s bleeding heavy. They’re getting it under control I think, but it looks bad. The bike stopped just over there.’ He pointed behind the Ford Focus. ‘Marjers saw him shooting and ran at the bloke, he got hit but the bike started to move and Marjers was still able to knock him off. The rider fell into the car, pretty fucking hard but not hard enough.’ Cavan looked back at the parked car next to where the second officer lay. It was a saloon and he could now see that it had scrapes on the boot lid and the glass of the rear windscreen was cracked. ‘He came off his bike and went almost right through the window. I thought we’d got him, but he climbs off the car, shoots a couple more times and gets back on his bike. It was on its side and stalled but he got it going.’

  ‘How long ago did he drive off?’

  ‘A few minutes.’

  ‘What sort of motorbike?’

  ‘Sporty. Mainly black, fuck-off scrape down the left side.’

  ‘We’re no use here, are we?’ Steve Goddes had already selected first gear.

  ‘No. The ambulance should fucking be here by now and we’re just plugging until they turn up.’

  Steve nodded and the Focus lurched forward. As he sped away, the blue lights of an ambulance appeared in his rear-view mirror. He had to brake hard again as a girl hurrying away from the scene ran into the middle of the road.

  Steve started the siren. ‘There’s two ways from here. He’s going to want to get out of Langthorne, so he either goes the way he’s facing, towards Hythe, or he goes round Langthorne’s one-way system and out the top of the town to the motorway.’

  ‘I would do Hythe on a motorbike. You would have to know that a lot of police resources will come down the motorway and he’d have to go back on himself to get there. He’s going to want to put as much distance as possible between himself and us, and fast.’

  ‘Hythe it is,’ Steve said. ‘Now get on that radio, Cavan, best we tell them what we’re doing.’

  * * *

  Two members of staff stood close to Sally as she looked at herself in the mirror, down at the matt black Nike trainers, which had a flash of pink down both sides. She liked them. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been able to choose new trainers and she had taken the opportunity to try on a few pairs, with the bonus of upsetting the shop staff. She had milked this, walking the length of the shop more times than she needed to, despite the twinges of pain that came from the new trainers rubbing against her scratched feet.

  ‘I’ll take these ones,’ she said.

  ‘In the box, or—?’

  ‘No. I’m done with barefoot for now.’ She pulled out the wad of notes and looked at the salesman. He stared at the cash. ‘Payday,’ she said.

  ‘Okay. Ninety pounds then, please.’

  Two loud gunshots rang out.

  Everyone in the shop stopped what they were doing. The noise had come from outside the store. People ran past. More bangs added to the panic. A couple ran down the stairs from the top floor clutching a toddler, and there was a sudden rush for the door. Sally didn’t move. She looked through to the very back of the shop where a fire exit door was just visible among the rails of clothes. She made her way towards it, moving against the tide of people leaving the shop. She pushed the metal bar and stepped out into the sun.

  The scene was no calmer here. The shop backed on to the Leas and in the distance she could see people on the ground, and people running away from them. She turned right and joined the throng, jumping out of the path of a police car that came up behind her, its siren blaring.

  CHAPTER 27

  Lizzy felt the temperature drop as she stepped out of the September sunshine and into the damp interior of Peto Court. She couldn’t remember even getting to the door but somehow her feet had carried her inside. As soon as the police car drove away, Lizzy knew that any chance of leaving Peto Court had gone. The police had driven right past the man whose job it was to make sure she didn’t get away. She had no doubt there would be others and, sure enough, as she stopped at the heavy metal door and fumbled for her fob, the door swung open for her. She recognised this man too — John somebody. He was a big man, was John, round the middle mostly but across the shoulders too. He would be too strong for her.

  ‘You walking with me, John?’ Lizzy asked, her throat dry. He shrugged and gave a grunt as he stepped in behind her. She found the bottom tread of the solid steps. Her hand moved to the cold metal of the banister and she slowly mounted the steps to the first floor.

  ‘We gotta keep moving,’ said John.

  ‘Sorry.’ Lizzy tore herself away from the window, and the sunlit pavements and leaves that had drifted from the trees on the way up to the Leas. She liked it up there, it was peaceful and calm.

  She went up the next flight of concrete steps to the second-floor landing, where she used her fob to open the communal door to the corridor. More windows ran along its length. Lizzy looked back briefly to where a forlorn-looking John had stopped as the door closed behind her.

  The door to flat 49 was partly open. She stopped and hesitated, thought about knocking, and then about her story. She had done nothing wrong, she had just been approached by Sal and given some money. The story went that she had no idea about the poor sap beaten to death by the man waiting for her inside the flat. Lizzy took out the wad of notes she had been given by Sal. It was her trump card. Her only card. She knew she was going to have to play it straight away if she was to stand any chance at all.

  She took a breath, then stepped through the door, already calling out. ‘Lee, what the fuck? I just got walked up here by fucking—’

  Lizzy stopped just inside the door. It took her a few seconds to process what she saw in front of her. She put her hand up to her mouth. Lee Chivers shut the door.

  ‘I’ve been waiting for you, Lizzy.’

  ‘What’s going on, Lee?’ Her voice lacked all conviction. She knew exactly what was going on. She forgot her story and closed her eyes.

  ‘Open your fucking eyes.’ Lee’s tone dripped with barely controlled rage as he pushed her head with his. Lizzy had to take a breath to steady herself before she could comply. Her eyes opened, and she peered round the interior of the flat again. Her worst nightmare was laid out in front of her, with a tarpaulin sheet to catch the mess.

  ‘Oh, Jesus,’ she whimpered.

  ‘What do you see, Lizzy? Tell me what you fucking see.’

  ‘You don’t need to do none of this, Lee. I came here to talk to you, to sort this out. I don’t know nothing about what’s going on. Sally was acting weird, now you’re acting fucking psycho.’

  Lee tightened his grip on her arm, bearing down on a pressure point in the centre of her bicep. The pain was so severe that she screamed and bent double. Lee pushed her to her knees.r />
  ‘What do you see, Lizzy? You know I don’t like asking questions twice. What do you see?’ He stooped over her, his grip still tight on her arm, his mouth so close to the top of her head that she felt his breath in her hair.

  Lizzy looked round the room, her eyes wet, her tone resigned. ‘It’s the flat, Lee. It’s the flat. You’ve moved the stuff round a bit.’

  ‘What stuff, Lizzy? Come on, you can do better than that!’

  She could sense just how much the bastard was enjoying this. He fed on fear, and right now he was having a feast. She took a deep breath. ‘You’ve turned the bed up on its side, it’s against the wall now, which has made a space, and you’ve put a sheet of plastic down on the floor.’

  ‘You know what that’s for, Lizzy, right?’

  Lizzy’s head suddenly felt heavy. She squinted down at the end of the sheet. Lee pushed her forward, and Lizzy fell, face down, hitting her nose on the coarse plastic. The tears kept coming.

  ‘Tell you what, Lizzy, let me tell you what I see.’ Lee grabbed her by the hair and jerked her head up. ‘It’s fucking rude to ignore someone when they’re speaking to you, Lizzy. You don’t want to be rude to me, trust me on that. You look at me when I’m talking to you.’

  He let her head go. She moved her legs under her and raised herself slightly. Lee paced to the other side of the room, where he turned to face Lizzy. He leant back against the windowsill. A breeze pushed the net curtains so that they moulded round him.

  ‘I see a plastic sheet. I see a hammer. There’s a scalpel, a cleaver and a disc cutter too, but that’s for later. Do you see them? Loads of tools.’

  Lizzy slowly turned her head from side to side.

  ‘But what I really see in my flat now is a lying fucking rat, Lizzy, that’s what I see.’

  Lizzy attempted to look puzzled. ‘What are you talking about, Lee?’

  ‘Don’t!’ Lee pushed off the windowsill and took a few steps towards Lizzy, stopping just short of her. His right hand shot out and grabbed her chin with thumb and finger, twisting her mouth. ‘Don’t lie to me here. Not in my place. It’s one thing to lie to me on the phone, but don’t you dare come to my flat and lie to my fucking face. Do you hear me? That sort of thing makes me very upset.’

  ‘What do you want from me?’ Lizzy pulled her head back and Lee let go.

  ‘I want you to tell me what you think you were doing hiding in my flat,’ he said. He stood up and walked away from her as he spoke. ‘Snooping on me when I was talking about my business. I want to know what you did today when you left here. Most of all, I need to know where that bitch Sal is.’

  ‘I told you what happened, for fuck’s sake. Sal found me. She told me to stay away from you, she gives me my phone back all smashed to fuck and then gives me this.’ Lizzy held out the five twenty-pound notes.

  Lee leaned back on the windowsill, arms crossed. He glanced briefly at the money but made no attempt to take it. Lizzy threw it towards him and the notes fluttered to the floor.

  ‘You know I ain’t interested in taking your money. I get what I get. I knew Sal got it from you — where else would she get it?’ she said.

  Lee paced over to Lizzy and squatted in front of her. He looked into her eyes for a long moment. She trembled, unable to tear her eyes away.

  ‘Tell me you and Sal weren’t in my flat earlier today. Tell me you weren’t hiding under the bed, under the bath. Tell me now, Lizzy. This is your chance to fucking tell me.’ His look seemed to increase in intensity. Lizzy had backed herself into a corner. She couldn’t change her story now, after what she had heard. And she knew what it meant if he knew she had heard it.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lee. You’re scaring me now. You know I wouldn’t lie to you.’

  Lee straightened up and stepped past her. He pulled the door open so hard it slammed against the wall and he was out of the flat before she had even turned round. There was silence. Lizzy wondered if he’d gone, if she might have a chance to get away. She heard a loud crash, further along the corridor, hard enough to shake the floor. Lizzy hesitated. She slowly got to her feet as she heard another crash, this one further away. She heard a muffled shout, another bang, and some scraping. Lee came back in, pushing the man before him, the man from flat 59. Lizzy recognised him immediately. Her hand went to her mouth and she gasped. She had been found out.

  Frank had lived in Peto Court for two months. He’d been kicked out of his nice home by his wife, who had finally tired of the drinking, which had got worse since he’d been laid off from his job as a long-distance haulier. He looked utterly bewildered.

  ‘Lee! What the fuck? I’m down there minding me own business. What d’you want with me, son?’

  Lee ignored his protests. He looked at Lizzy, and she looked right back, unable to break the stare.

  ‘You gonna tell me that this man is a liar? That has consequences, you know, Lizzy. Is this man a liar?’ Lee prodded Frank in the back and he stumbled forward.

  ‘Don’t do this, Lee,’ Lizzy said.

  ‘What the fuck, man?’ Frank looked at Lee.

  ‘Face her!’ Lee shouted.

  Frank gave Lizzy a questioning look.

  Lee bent down and picked up one of his tools. It was a Stanley knife. The blade stuck out an inch or more and he held it in his right hand, close to his hip, where Frank couldn’t see it.

  ‘Is this man a liar?’ Lee said again.

  ‘Please, Lee,’ Lizzy begged.

  ‘Were you here today? Earlier? Without me knowing? Were. You. Here?’

  Lizzy knew what her answer meant. It was her or Frank.

  ‘No,’ she said so quietly that Frank had to lean forward to hear.

  ‘What did you say?’ Lee hissed.

  ‘I said no, Lee. I told you, I wasn’t here. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  Frank had opened his mouth, but his words became a guttural cry as the blade slashed him across the back from his shoulder blade. Lee took hold of Frank’s wrist and pulled it down. Frank bent forward. Lee kept up the pressure and Frank dropped to one knee, his eyes tightly shut.

  ‘What happens now, Lizzy? You tell me.’

  Lee still held the blade in his free hand. Lizzy looked down at Frank. He was breathing heavily and his T-shirt, slick with blood and sweat, stuck to his back. Lee brought the knife back up and pushed the point into the base of his neck. Frank yelled.

  ‘Shut the fuck up!’ Lee warned, tightening his grip.

  Frank was shaking. Sweat dripped from his top lip and nose and gathered on the plastic sheet.

  ‘This is it, Lizzy. This is the man’s spinal cord. We got something special you and me, ain’t we? We’ve been round the block together. If you lied to me ’cause you thought I would get angry, take it out on you like I’m taking it out on Frank here, then I get that, but this is it. This is where you tell me you lied, and not this shit excuse for a fucking bloke, ’cause he don’t mean shit to me and I will slice his spine here and now. On your say-so.’

  ‘Fuck, Lee!’

  ‘Tell him,’ Frank pleaded. ‘Jesus, love. Tell him I saw you with the other girl. Tell him what I saw.’

  Lee stared at her. ‘On your say, Lizzy.’

  Lizzy rubbed at her face. ‘Fuck, Lee. I was so scared you would be mad. It was Sal’s idea ’cause she knew she wasn’t supposed to be here. I just wanted her to get her stuff together so she didn’t need to come back, that was all, but we panicked.’

  Lee released his hold on Frank, who slumped to the floor, hitting his face on the plastic. He didn’t move.

  Lee stepped over him towards Lizzy, who had closed her eyes, her whole body braced. She felt a light touch on her shoulder as he passed. She waited another second then dared to open her eyes. Lee was back leaning on the windowsill.

  ‘Get the fuck out of here, Frank.’

  Frank groggily rose to his feet.

  ‘I said fuck off.’

  Frank staggered a little, his right h
and on the wound on his back.

  ‘And, Frank!’ Lee called out.

  Frank stopped and turned back, his eyes on the floor like a scolded child.

  ‘This was a misunderstanding in here today, yeah? I’ll get you a good beer for my part. Let’s not make it any more than that, alright?’

  Frank nodded, and stumbled back into the corridor.

  ‘Did you get your phone working?’ His tone was conversational. He suddenly sounded like the Lee she was used to hearing.

  ‘It’s working,’ she said warily.

  ‘I need to talk to you both, Lizzy. About what you heard. I was pissed that you lied, but we’re past that now. I tell you everything anyway. Fuck, I probably would have spoken to you about it all when you got back. But Sal, she’s your mate, Lizzy, you brought her here and she’d already outstayed her welcome. She’s the reason for all this fucking about today, Lizzy.’

  Lizzy felt able to turn around. Her guard dropped a little. He trusted her, he’d told her that before, and his concern was about Sal.

  ‘What do you want me to do?’

  Lee smiled. ‘I need to speak to you both. But I know she won’t speak to me, not today anyway. We need to talk about what I said. You both heard me talking on the phone, and I reckon you’ve got it all fucked up. See if you can get her to meet you, Lizzy, and I can be there too. We’ll square this and then me, you and, fuck it, maybe even Sal can have a fucking joint or two and laugh it away, yeah?’

  Lizzy sniffed. ‘I ain’t got no way of talking to her, Lee. She’s got no phone and I don’t know where she was going. She’s got some place she goes when she wants to disappear and I don’t know where it is.’

  ‘Her best friend in the world don’t know where she goes? That don’t sound right now.’ Lee was still smiling but his tone had hardened.

  ‘I don’t. I mean, she’s pretty fucking tight about her shit, you know?’ Lizzy paused, thinking. ‘There was a number, a landline number. It should still be on my phone. It was local. She might be there.’

  Lee nodded. ‘Good. Give her a call and get her to meet up with you. Don’t mention me, Lizzy. I’ll be a surprise, alright?’