by Rashad Salim
The Binford Mysteries
A Collection of Gritty Urban Mystery Novels
Rashad Salim
Contents
Free Books
About the Author
The Binford Arson
Book Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
The Binford Ambush
Book Description
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Part 2
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Part 3
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
The Binford Snatcher
Book Description
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Epilogue
Q & A with Rashad Salim
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About the Author
Rashad Salim is the author of the Binford mystery crime series. His books include The Binford Arson, The Binford Ambush, The Binford Snatcher and several more instalments in the series set for release in summer 2017. He also writes literary fiction under the pen name Rash Salim. He works in the security industry and lives in East London.
Copyright © 2017 by Rashad Salim All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
* * *
Book Description
A gritty urban mystery set in London.
Supermarket Bestco’s new high street branch in Binford is set on fire the night before it opens, killing one of the two Trainee Managers. Now the dead man’s best friend and colleague Ali Khan is on a personal mission to find those responsible for the arson.
Binford is Ali’s hometown – a place he fled years ago after tragic events in his past. Now that he’s back in the notorious East London town he must reckon with long lost friendships, boyhood enemies and a chance to rekindle lost love.
Ali will have to fend off vicious gangsters, religious extremists, hostile businessmen and suspicious cops to get to the bottom of this mystery. With the bodies piling up every step of the way, danger and corruption in every direction, the quest for the truth could cost him everything.
For fans of Dennis Lehane, Joe R. Lansdale, Jason Starr and Walter Mosley.
1
An hour earlier I was at a gig in Hammersmith. Now I was staring at what was left of my new store, burnt down the night before it opened to the public.
The store was located on Binford Lane, the main high street of Binford. Police had cordoned off the area and there was a fire truck outside and an ambulance across the street.
I ran towards the store, scanning the crowds for anyone I might know but didn’t recognise anyone.
From where I stood at the cordon I could tell the store had suffered extensive damage from the inside and out. Water was still spilling out of the store in huge puddles. The fire crew had flooded the store.
“Excuse me, sir,” I heard a woman’s voice from behind and turned around to see a police officer walking towards me. “Please keep away from the site.”
I looked at her and point
ed to the store behind me but couldn’t find the words.
“Yes?”
“...I work here.”
“I see.” She looked me up and down.
Two men nearby dressed in suits noticed me and began to approach me.
One of them looked like he was in his early fifties and the other at least twenty years younger.
“My name’s DC Barker,” the younger man said and displayed his ID to me. “And this is DI Martin.” The older man smiled at me but said nothing. “Did you say you work here?”
“Yes.” I had nothing to hide but felt like I did.
“Are you Ali Khan?” DC Barker asked.
“Yes,” I said, wondering how they knew my name.
DC Barker pulled out a notebook and got a pen ready. “Where were you around 3am tonight?”
“I was in bed.” I stared at his notebook as he took down what I was saying. “Where’s Mark?”
DC Barker held up his finger at me while looking at his notebook. “Just one moment, Mr Khan. We’ll get to that in a moment. You’re the trainee Duty Manager of the store, is that correct?”
“Yes. Me and Mark. We’re the trainee Duty Managers. The store manager’s name is Bob Roberts.
“Mr Khan, we spoke to Mr Roberts earlier,” DC Barker said. “He told us initially you were meant to be on duty tonight. Is that correct?”
“Yes, but I had arranged it with Mark that he’d do tonight instead.”
DC Barker turned to face DI Martin and gave him a look before scribbling down more notes in his notebook. I wondered what the look meant.
“And why was that?” DI Martin asked.
“So that I could have the night off.”
“Yes, we know that,” DC Barker said. “But why?”
I didn’t like the tone of his questions or where the conversation was going.
“So that I could go to a concert at the Hammersmith Apollo.” The moment the words left me I felt embarrassed under the circumstances.
“I see,” DC Barker said. “Which concert?”
I sighed. “A spoken word event by Henry Rollins.”
“Who did you go with?” DC Barker asked.
“A friend.”
“Does this friend have a name?” he asked.
“Yes, sorry. Peter Howard.” I wondered if Peter was about to be dragged into this and hoped not. We barely met up more than a few times a year.
DC Barker wrote it all down in his notebook.
“Ali!”
I turned and saw Bob rushing towards me. “When did you get here? Didn’t I tell you to call me when you arrived?”
“I was gonna call you but they wanted to talk to me.”
“Are we finished here, officers?” Bob asked them.
DC Barker checked with DI Martin.
“That’ll be all for now, Mr Roberts,” DC Barker said and turned to face me. “We’ll be in touch, Mr Khan.” The officers walked away.
Bob took me by the arm and led me away behind the fire truck, away from the police officers view. My mind ran through a million different things all at once and I had a feeling I was in big trouble.
“What’s going on, Bob? They wouldn’t tell me anything. And where’s Mark?”
“Ali, listen to me. I spoke with the night shift crew and with DC Barker and DI Martin.” He took a deep breath. “...It was arson.”
I stared at Bob in confusion. “What the fuck, Bob? How?”
“I’m not sure yet but the police spoke to the fire crew and they questioned the night crew. Apparently, someone chucked a petrol bomb at the front entrance and the back exit too. Luckily for the night team, they managed to hold off the fire at the front of the store from the inside with fire extinguishers.”
“But you said Mark was on his way to the hospital!”
Bob held up his hand. “Yeah, I know.” He rubbed his mouth. “Look, he was in the stock room with Pratab.” Pratab was the Team Leader of the night crew and the stock room was at the back of the store. “They couldn’t get out ‘cause of the fire at the rear exit spread inside the building. They were stuck in the stock room, Ali.”
“And the smoke..?”
“...Yeah.”
“Where’s Pratab?”
“They took them both to hospital. I spoke to Mark’s mum. She’s probably at the hospital by now.”
I had never met Mark’s mum but I had seen photos of her on Mark’s Facebook account. I thought of her at the hospital and could only wonder what she was going through.
“I need to see him, Bob.”
“Hang on. There’s a lot to be done first.”
There were still a few police cars parked up and uniformed officers guarding the scene. The ambulance across the street opposite the fire truck was still stationed there and the fire crew looked like they would be around for a while longer.
“I’ve updated Dennis.” That was the Area Manager, “And Head Office have been talking my ear off so far.” Bob looked at the store. “Obviously, the store isn’t gonna have its grand opening for a long time now but everyone’s gonna be reassigned elsewhere for the time being.”
It was coming up to 5am and in a few hours it was meant to be our big day: our first day as Trainee Duty Managers. But now the store had been pretty much destroyed and Mark was struggling for his life.
“Mark’s gonna be taken care of. Don’t worry,” Bob said and put his hand on my shoulder. “C’mon, we can go to the hospital in my car. I told Mark’s mum I’d come down to see her too.”
We crossed the street to the corner where Bob’s Mercedes was parked. As I got into the car I heard cats fighting and a woman somewhere shouting at someone or something. It reminded me of when I used to live around here and how much I hated it.
2
Mark wasn’t allowed any visitors aside from his family. Bob spoke to the hospital staff while I waited in the A&E waiting room.
Bob returned half an hour later and told me he had spoken to Mark’s mum.
“What did they say? Is he gonna be okay?”
Bob didn’t answer. He began walking out of the building to where the car was parked. I followed after him.
“What’s happened, Bob?”
He looked really stressed and gestured for me to get into the car. His lack of response made my dread worse.
When we got in I looked at him. He didn’t face me. His eyes were focused on the steering wheel. I was expecting to hear the worst now.
Bob leaned back against the headrest. “Pratab’s gonna be okay but Mark’s in the ICU ward.”
I hadn’t realised how serious Mark’s condition was until then. I had never known anyone admitted into intensive care before and I definitely never knew of anyone leaving that ward alive.
“The doctors said he suffered severe carbon monoxide poisoning and his survival chances aren’t looking good.”
“...So what now?”
“We go home and wait for tomorrow.” Bob turned the ignition and drove out of the car park.
We drove in silence for a while but I didn’t want it to become awkward.
“Who would wanna set fire to the store?”
“Who knows? Yobs with nothing better to do,” he said.
“What did the police say?”
“Not much. It’s too early to tell, I suppose.”
“Why now? You think it had anything to do with the store opening day?”
Bob was about to speak but changed his mind. We drove in silence for a while.
“Were you gonna move back here now?” he asked, as we left Binford.
“Nah. Wouldn’t have been worth it.”
I was only meant to be at the store for three months before continuing my graduate scheme at a different branch.
“No place like home, hey?”
“Yeah, well... it’s not the friendliest place to be.”
“You can say that again.”
We drove in silence for a few minutes while I tried to make sense of what had happened.
�
��If this shit was gonna happen somewhere it was likelier to happen in a place like Binford,” I said.
“Hmm...” I thought he was going to say something more but he left it at that and it made me wonder what he was thinking. Surely, he wasn’t oblivious to the nature of Binford?
He had to have known before he took up the position of Store Manager at the only branch of Bestco in the town that the area had a high crime rate. But then again he could’ve been too optimistic about Bestco’s prospects in Binford. For some foolish reason even I had assumed the town might have improved with time, not get worse.
We barely talked the rest of the journey and when we reached my flat, Bob parked the car.
“I’ll tell you one thing,” he said. “I’m assuming the repairs won’t be finished for a while at least. So I’m probably gonna transfer back to Holloway Road ...you might wanna come back too.”
I thought it over. It was quite a relief to hear it too. I could forget this had ever happened. Or at least try to if Mark was going to be okay eventually.
I nodded and told him I’d be in touch. I got out the car and entered my flat.
It was almost dawn and I had been up since the day before but no matter how hard I tried to sleep I couldn’t.
I lay in bed staring at the walls and thought about what had happened. Eventually I fell asleep and when I woke up it was in the afternoon.
I checked my phone and saw the battery had died while I was asleep. When I finally got it switched on a new text message appeared from Bob. He told me to call him right away so I did.
“Listen, Ali. It’s about Mark.”
I sat up and listened carefully.
“I’m so sorry...”
He trailed off but I already knew what he had to say. I squeezed the phone hard.
“He passed away about an hour ago.”
3
I had heard Bob clearly and I knew what he meant but I didn’t believe him.
How could Mark be dead? I had only talked to him the day before.
I was still holding the phone to my ear long after Bob had ended the conversation and didn’t move at all for a long time. I wondered what I was meant to do next.
Bob told me he’d get in touch with Head Office and get me some time off work – a week before they assigned me to a new store. He also said I had to go to Binford Police station to talk with the police officers in charge of the investigation just to clear up a few things. I had done my best to focus on what Bob had said but was in shock about Mark’s death.
