by Diane Ezzard
“Me and Mannie hustled older women out of money. Then we moved into extortion. I got caught up in my first shootout when I was your age. It was with a rival gang from Longsight. We came off best but the whole affair put the willies up Mannie. He smoked dope and took crack. He turned into a maniac when he was high. He had a worse temper than me.
We’d set up a brothel together inside a massage parlour. That did well, so we ended up with a chain of them. Mannie didn’t have the brains though, and he was becoming a liability. He was going downhill fast. Before long, he was on the brown, a smackhead pensioner. He wanted out, so I paid him off and let him go.”
I punched the air with my arms in a boxing action. He understood what I was saying. I couldn’t afford to have shirkers working for me. I was training Harry well though, and he was more of a trustworthy understudy than Woz.
“Go and get the beers in, H.” I peeled off a twenty-pound note from a large wad of cash I had in my pocket. Even though he was underage, the bar staff knew to serve Harry. Anyone connected with me had total respect in this area. They paid enough for the privilege of having my company in one of their establishments. He stood there waiting.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“I tell you what H; I’ll have a vodka and Red Bull. I’m in the mood for a bit of action tonight.” I winked at Harry and he smiled. I watched him as he walked to the bar. He had a thirst for violence and seemed to enjoy the drama when it kicked off. He was like me really.
I always wanted a son and if I had one, I’d want him to be like Harry. Family were important to me. I knew he idolised me. He knew the streets of Salford well and how to work them. From an early age, I’d seen him hanging around Langworthy Road watching and learning. He moved towards the bar with a swagger. He was wearing his baggy Armani jeans and open check shirt displaying a t-shirt underneath. He looked the business.
He brought back a bottle of Stella Artois and my vodka and Red Bull. I took a swig. “Harry, you spoil me. Now, where’s my change?”
“I thought you were giving me that for going, Uncle.” He was laughing. I clipped his ear.
“Nice try you cheeky git.” He always called me uncle when he wanted something.
“So what’s on the agenda tonight, Randy?”
“Busy night, tonight, we’ve got to do the rounds with the girls. There are rents to pick up. Have you got that shooter?”
“Yep.” Harry put his hand deep in his pocket to touch the weapon.
“We might need to wave it around where old Mr Lao’s concerned. He’s being stubborn coming up with the readies.”
“Oh, you mean the guy down the Chinese chippy. Me and the lads call it Effing Elsie’s”
“Go on.” I raised my eyebrows.
“When you give your order in, the girl behind the counter says, ‘effing else?”
“Very funny, ha, ha. You’ve told me that joke at least a dozen times. Ah great, here comes Woz.”
Woz kicked the door as he entered. He was striding over to our table, accompanied by Seb and Razor. Woz was decked from head to toe in Converse gear, from his black trainers to his jogging pants. His colour scheme wasn’t very imaginative. His hoodie was black. Only his t-shirt displayed a hint of grey but it still showed the Converse star. The three of them looked like they could be in a black boy band; they paid so much attention to their appearance.
“You look like the Milk Tray man, Woz,” Harry laughed raucously, Woz scowled at him.
“What’s going down, mate?” I rose, and we hugged.
“Just chilling, Bruv.”
“Ready for some action tonight?”
“You know me, Randy. I’m always ready for some action. Which reminds me, that latest Eastern European chick you’ve got, she’s hot.”
“Yeah, she’s a babe alright. I hope you’ve not been taking up too much of her working time.”
“Nah, just looking, honest, boss.”
I tapped my nose with my finger. I’d have to keep an eye on him.
We left the pub not long after and went to get in the black BMW that was waiting outside. We did the rounds. Seb drove. He didn’t have a licence or any insurance but none of us did. The punters paid up that night without too many problems. A little threat here and there soon put people in their place. We’d had to put the frighteners out on a few of them lately.
I’d had enough of the boys in blue sniffing around after that slag, Cassie died. Thankfully, everyone who lived in this area understood the wall of silence. It was as though it was a condition if you lived in Salford, you didn’t talk to the boys in blue. That is, you didn’t say a word if you knew what was good for you. Anyone who made the mistake of opening their mouth soon got it shut up for them. We made sure they’d no teeth left to talk to anyone again.
If it wasn’t enough to do keeping an eye on the public, we also had to keep our eye on Malachi’s crew. I didn’t want them getting too close and muscling in on my patch. If we weren’t careful, we’d have a turf war on our hands. I’d informed the lads to be extra vigilant. I had an excellent team, ex-security and military trained. I knew we were in the best hands but one or two of them went crazy after a few bevvies.
Trouble had been brewing lately. I didn’t let on to the lads but I was getting paranoid about someone taking over my area. It didn’t help, all the spliffs I was smoking but I couldn’t let anyone see how nervous everything was making me. I had to keep calm and play it cool.
Woz rolled another joint and passed it to me. I took a drag and gazed up at the stars.
“Have we still got those tracking devices working for us?”
“Yeah, they’re on Malachi’s car, his missus’s, and three of his sidekicks.”
“Good, good. We don’t want them getting too close. We know what happened last time.”
“Cheeky bleeders blew up my car but they got their comeuppance. No one messes with Randy Sharples.”
“Yeah, how many of ‘em did we shoot that night?” asked Woz
“I lost count, but we showed ‘em they can’t mess with us.”
“I think it was seven,” said Harry. I turned to Harry who was sat in the back of the car.
“Did I give you permission to speak?” I glared at Harry. He frowned, then I burst out laughing.
“Course it was seven.” I smacked the back of his head and jostled with him in a playful wrestle. Harry began to laugh too. We cruised into Manchester city centre and up by Chorlton Street.
“Slow down, Seb. I need to keep an eye on my bitches.” We watched as Tulip got into a car.
“Drop me off at the door of the club. I need to have a word with Georgia.”
I got out of the car and walked up to the entrance, nodding to the bouncers stood outside the bar. Georgia was sat in the cocktail lounge. It was obvious from her attire what her occupation was. With her over the knee-high shiny plastic boots, micro mini and a see-through blouse, she was hardly discreet. But many of the girls in Manchester could be seen in similar get up on a weekend clubbing. The thing was this was Tuesday. I sat down next to her and signalled for a waiter to come over and take our order.
“I’ll have a Bacardi and coke. What are you having?”
“I’ll have a double vodka and orange.”
I eyed her carefully. I knew she was taking liberties, but she was doing well keeping a check on the girls. She had weeded out some of the scumbags who tried to rip me off. She kept her nose to the ground and could sniff out any greedy tarts. I didn’t like hitting women but some of them got what was coming to them.
“We’ve had a profitable night, Randy.”
“Good girl. Georgia.” I gave her a peck on the cheek.
“I hope you appreciate what I do for you.”
“Course I do. I pay you well don’t I?”
I winked at her and she pushed me, playfully.
“So when are you going to make a decent woman of me?”
“You’ll never be a decent woman. Look at the state of you?”
/> I laughed, and she laughed with me.
“You know what I mean Randy. I’d like to be Mrs Sharples one day.”
“So would a lot of women,” I teased.
“They’d have me to deal with first.”
Georgia was a force to be reckoned with. She was hard as nails. She’d been working the streets since she was sixteen. I did her a favour pulling her out of that environment, making her a madam and putting her in charge of one of my establishments. She did well and within a short time, I trusted her enough and she had enough gumption to oversee them.
“You keep doing a great job and I’ll see you right.”
“You better, Randy.” She smiled. I finished my drink.
“We need to have a chat later. There’s another lorry load of girls coming in next week. We need to check them out and train them up.” I tapped my nose with my finger and smiled. Georgia knew what was going on and I trusted her.
“No problem, Randy.” She smiled back at me.
“I don’t want to hold you up. I’ll catch you later.” Georgia turned to me and winked. She knew she was my woman.
Chapter 5
SOPHIE
I didn’t have a lot of confidence that Georgia would speak to me but it was worth a shot so I phoned her. The ringtone went on for a few minutes then the answer phone kicked in. I didn’t believe she would contact me if I left a message so I didn’t leave one and instead thought I would call her again later. I didn’t need to phone her back because within ten minutes my phone rang. Georgia’s number showed on the screen.
“You phoned me,” she said
“Yes that’s right, I did.”
“Who is this?”
“My name’s Sophie. Mia gave me your number. I saw you talking to her at Cassie’s funeral.”
“She’d no right to do that. I don’t let just anyone have my number.” Georgia’s tone sounded short, sharp and angry. I thought about all the men who probably had Georgia’s number but didn’t comment on it.
“Look, don’t be angry with her. I insisted.”
“What do you want? Only I’m busy right now.”
I wanted to ask you a few questions about Randy. Would it be possible to meet up?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I’ve found out things about Cassie that I need to check out.”
“Don’t you go getting yourself mixed up in anything.”
“I’m not, but I need to know.”
“You don’t need to do anything other than keep your nose out of other people’s business.” Her tone was clipped.
“Was Cassie working as a prostitute?”
“It’s no concern of yours.”
I could feel my face redden. “Oh yes, it is. Cassie was a friend of mine.”
Anyway, Cassie got what was coming to her”
“Are you saying that Randy murdered Cassie?”
“I’m not saying anything of the sort but you don’t double cross Randy and get away with it.”
“Can I meet with you to talk about Cassie?”
“I already told you no.” By now Georgia’s voice had gone up a few decibels and was loud.
“But it wouldn’t be…”
I heard the phone click.
Damn, I didn’t think I’d have much joy phoning her back, so I tried to think if there was any other way of speaking to her. I decided to try Mia again but for now, I would have to leave it and get back to work. I could see this detective business wasn’t going to be easy.
I was on my lunch break and I took the cheese sandwich I’d purchased from Greggs’ out of its plastic wrapping. I greedily bit through the multigrain bread and swigged my water straight from the bottle. I contemplated what I could do next. I decided to take a less direct approach with Mia. I knew I was meddling in things I shouldn’t be but I wanted answers for myself as well as finding out about Cassie’s killer. Without a plan, my mind soon focussed back on my work.
My job at the women’s centre was so rewarding and I’d recently started counselling a new client. Tricia suffered from intense anxiety. Up until recently she had been unable to leave the house due to her agoraphobia but had made real inroads over the last few weeks. She had finally ventured outside but lots of things still scared her. Afraid of crossing the road, we had worked on strategies to help her.
I had recommended she attend our meditation class and was pleased to see her turn up this week for the first time. The tips I gave her were all strategies that had helped me with my previous anxieties. She still insisted on the door being left open during our sessions which wasn’t the norm but if it helped her I was prepared to do it. We just had to make sure no one else was about for confidentiality reasons. In a short space of time, I had seen her confidence grow. She had begun to take more pride in her appearance.
“Sit down Tricia, how are you?”
“Thanks, Sophie. I feel fine today. I still have my bad days and I know I still have a long way to go.”
Tricia spent most of the session talking about Tommy. I could see this was an avoidance tactic, so she didn’t have to look at herself. I gently had to nudge her back to bring the focus to her.
“How did you find the meditation session?”
“I was rubbish at it.”
“Most people aren’t able to relax and meditate at first but it’s worth persevering with. I’m sure you’ll see the benefits of it soon.”
We were coming to the end of our time so I summed up what we had discussed and we made arrangements for Tricia’s next appointment.
I was keen to get out early that night as I had to pick my car up from the garage. My vehicle had gone in for a service. I always worried that they were going to spot something wrong with my car and I wouldn’t be able to afford to get it out of the garage. I enjoyed the independence having my own vehicle gave me. I recently drove over to see Liam in Liverpool in the car with Aaron in the passenger seat. He said I drove more like a bloke. I was always very careful though when it came to speeding as I didn’t want to find myself on the wrong side of the law. I couldn’t afford to have the police snooping too much into my past. I was fearful of what they may unearth.
I got in from work and Max came to greet me. His feline face cocked to one side. He seemed hungry. He didn’t usually form my welcome party. I’d been staring at Max so I nearly missed the note lying on the carpet near the letterbox. There was a small sheet of paper there that had been doubled over. It was from Charlie. He wanted me to meet him the following evening up on the moors. I shivered thinking about the cold up there. My stomach fluttered at the thought of meeting him. Adrenalin rushed through my body. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or excitement.
An hour before I was due to meet him, the nerves kicked in. My body tingled all over and I couldn’t relax. I bit my lip and kept walking over to the mirror to check my appearance. My palms felt moist as I opened the door to leave.
We met up at the allotted time and I noticed Charlie’s beard.
“How have you been?” I asked him.
“I’ve had better periods in my life, that’s for sure. I found a disused barn to stay in for a couple of nights but a farmer came and shooed me away. I was worried he may have gone to the police but I haven’t seen any sign of anyone since. Last night I found a garage to sleep in.”
“Oh dear, Charlie, that’s no way to live.” I kept looking around me, watching the shadows.
“I know, I need to find the killer soon with your help, hopefully.” I gave him one of my looks.
“I’ve been warned off contacting Randy by both Mia and Georgia so I think I’ll leave that one for you.”
“So you got to speak to Mia?”
“Yes, and she did confirm your story about Cassie working as an escort. She certainly likes a drink that one.”
“Yes, she’s got a drink problem.”
“Oh dear, I know what that’s like.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I had a stint in rehab and haven’t d
runk any booze now for nearly five years.”
“Oh, I don’t think I could give up alcohol.”
“It’s not exactly a choice, more a necessity. My life was a real mess when I was drinking.”
“Do you ever fancy a drink?”
“Yeah, often, but I think through the consequences and it wouldn’t be a pretty sight.”
“Rather you than me. I wouldn’t like to quit anything. I still smoke too much.”
“I suppose I’m lucky on that score. I’ve never liked cigs. I’ve smoked the odd joint, but it was alcohol that did it for me.” It surprised me how easy I found it to talk to him.
Charlie gave me the pay-as-you-go phone he had bought and we swapped numbers. He wanted me to keep close to Mia as he thought she may know more and if possible to keep in touch with Georgia. He said he would check out Randy’s alibi for the time Cassie was killed.
“You watch yourself, Charlie. I wouldn’t want you to come to any harm.”
“I will and if we meet up again as soon as one of us has any information.”
I peered at the makeshift shelter on the top of the moor. The evening was wild with harsh winds blowing in from the north.
“You’re not sleeping here again are you Charlie?”
“I’d like to stay at yours but I don’t want to push my luck.”
“No, I don’t think that would be a good idea. We need to be careful.”
We hugged and said our goodbyes and I walked off the moor to where my car was parked. Arriving home, I turned the engine off and noticed two men stood outside my property, leaning against the wall. I slowly took my key out of the ignition, not taking my eyes off them. I opened the car door and climbed out.
My tactics were to ignore them but that didn’t work.
“Evening, Sophie.” The tall black guy with glasses spoke. I didn’t reply but gave them a half-hearted smile. My stomach churned.
“Not speaking?” the same guy said. My breathing became rapid as I weighed the situation up.
