“No. Probably best you don’t.” Shame you didn’t think about that years ago. Matt offered a smile. “Would you mind shutting the door?” he asked Aaron then gave Robby his attention again.
Robby looked a damn sight better today. He had a bit of color to his cheeks, and despite the neutral expression he leveled at Matt, the man was clearly in a grumpy mood. Wasn’t surprising, really, given that his hands were undoubtedly hurting. Or was there another reason Robby wasn’t as amenable as he’d been in the hospital?
“Got to you already, did they?” Matt asked, wondering if Robby would admit to seeing Starky last night. Matt took a seat without being offered. The comfy chair had been screaming his name ever since he’d walked into the room and now hugged his arse better than the last time Aaron had done it.
“Dunno what you’re on about,” Robby said.
“I think you do.” Matt gave him an indulgent smile this time, wanting him to know he didn’t buy a damn thing Robby was currently selling but giving him the option to backtrack and switch up his attitude. “So who was it? Starky or Damien?”
Robby flinched at the last name.
“Damien,” Matt said. He knew damn well it hadn’t been Damien, but he’d play Robby’s game for a little while longer. “Right, what’s Mr. Fox had to say for himself, then?”
“I haven’t seen or spoken to Damien,” Robby said, his tone full of the sulks, the kind that belonged to teenagers.
“Oh, I think you’ve spoken to someone, Robby.” Matt clasped his hands and rested them over his belly. “Why don’t we cut the crap, eh? It was only yesterday we were talking like mates. Now we’re talking like villain and copper. Big contrast.”
“I’m telling you, I haven’t seen Damien.”
“Starky, then.” Matt wasn’t going to give up until he got either a confession or another telltale expression.
There it was, a second flinch.
“Not seen Starky, either,” Robby muttered.
“A little bird says you have. Another little bird tells me you’ve got a new job.”
Flinch number three.
“Working for Starky now, are you? I thought you were in with The Jugulars, not The Hardarms.”
“I’m not with The Hardarms. Will you just leave me alone?” Robby closed his eyes. “I’ve got a legit job. Working for Starky, yeah, but it’s painting and decorating. Or it will be once these poncy fingers heal.”
I should have known all that chat in the hospital was bullshit. Aaron’s right. Robby doesn’t really want out.
“A legit job. Right. Let’s say I believe that. How is working for him going to do you any good when you’re not going to be living round here for much longer?” Matt asked.
“Who says I’m not?”
“You did. You told me you wanted to get out.” Matt waited for the excuses.
“I changed my mind,” Robby mumbled.
“Or someone changed it for you. What’s happened since I last saw you? Heard about Katrina Starky’s murder, did you? Didn’t want to move away in case people thought it was you who’d done it and they came after you?”
“They don’t think it’s me.”
“How would you know that if you haven’t seen anyone?”
Robby snapped his eyes open, obviously realizing his mistake. “Look.” He sighed, long and windy. “I do still want to leave, all right? But I don’t think I can.”
“Why not?”
Robby shook his head.
“Come on, help me out here,” Matt said.
“Ma’s not having any of it. Someone else needs to talk to her—she won’t listen to me. And I can’t go without her. And Damien’s been the one leaving my fingers all over the fucking place, so he’s got it in for me. What if he comes for Ma once I’m gone?”
Matt hadn’t expected that kind of information. Robby telling him who’d been leaving the fingers meant they now knew whose fingerprints they needed to match up out of all those found at the various scenes. Damien’s weren’t on file—the man had been meticulous, possibly wearing gloves for all the years he’d been doing the shit he’d been doing.
“All right,” Matt said, “so according to you, Damien’s the one we need to go after.”
Unless Starky’s told you to tell me this.
“Do you think he killed Katrina?” Matt asked, waiting for some kind of reaction to that news.
It seemed he’d been told about her death. He didn’t look surprised by Matt’s revelation. If he was going to continue lying, wouldn’t he have faked shock or surprise?
“Listen, you have to promise this didn’t come from me, okay?” Robby said.
“Of course.” Matt nodded. “Why don’t you put it about that we’re bothering you over your fingers, if it makes things easier for you. Say we’re hounding you to tell us who took you. Act pissed off about it. But for Pete’s sake, tell me what you know.”
Robby let rip a torrent of words, then. Damien had been shagging Katrina Starky. Robby had been following them and taking pictures. Damien had been the one to chop off Robby’s fingers because Robby had found out Damien had been ‘doing’ her. Starky was after Damien’s blood, but he was waiting for the right time to spill it. Starky was going to keep what he knew to himself for a year, then Damien was going to ‘get it’. Robby had been offered the job of being Starky’s right-hand man, and Robby had been ecstatic about it. Now he wasn’t happy. His life was spiraling out of control, and he didn’t have a clue how to go about fixing it.
“That’s easy,” Matt said. “You let us help you walk away.”
“But Ma—”
“I’ll talk to your ma. She’ll understand.”
The door flung open.
Mrs. Zeus stood there, cheeks bright red. “Will she now? And just what will I understand?”
Chapter Eight
Christ alive. Robby shot up from his reclining position to sit staring at his ma, his jaw going slack. She had quite the arsey face on her, something he hadn’t seen in a long time, and his stomach rolled over at the sight of her fists clenched so tightly against her slim hips. He might be a bloke, and she might only be one hundred pounds soaking wet, but she still had the ability to make him feel like a kid again.
He had to turn away from her blazing glare.
The inspector looked at him, and Robby didn’t know if he was being offered a lifeline here. Did the copper want to tell Ma what was going on, saving Robby the hassle, or was he waiting for Robby to do it? The painkillers had fudged his brain, and it was taking a while for him to process things he’d normally have no trouble with.
A jerk of the inspector’s head gave Robby his answer—a clear signal to remove himself from the room if ever there was one. Robby got up, mumbled something or other as he passed his ma with his head bent, then he walked out. He didn’t want to see her face when she discovered what had really been going on. Letting her down had always been one of the things he most dreaded, yet he’d still joined a fucking gang. He’d never wanted to turn out like his dad, but he had—someone who couldn’t be relied upon to do the right thing. He’d turned out to be a…
Useless prick.
In the kitchen, he leaned his backside against the counter next to the door, folding his arms in an X over his chest to relieve the throbbing in his hands. He imagined they were as swollen as balloons, pressure building, the skin pushing into the tight bandages. He could do with taking them off to ease the ache, but he’d been warned by Louise, that nice nurse, to keep them on until he visited the doctor tomorrow.
He wouldn’t be going to the local surgery now, sitting in one of those chairs in the waiting area, bored out of his mind until his name was called. He wouldn’t see old Doctor Umbridge now, either, him with his thinning gray hair and a face that reminded Robby of his grandad when he’d been alive. Kindly, the kind of face that was so good at forming expressions Robby would spit out the truth just so he got the sympathy he so badly needed. No, he’d never see him again if those coppers stayed true t
o their words and helped him to escape this insanity. And it was insanity—all of it.
He’d known what gang life would be like, and although he’d stayed on the fringes up until now, he only had himself to blame for the current situation. Shit, why hadn’t he minded his own business? Why had he followed Damien and Katrina? What had possessed him to think that by doing that he’d earn some respect? Why had he been so desperate to be in The Hardarms, under Starky’s protection? The Jugulars had never given him any indication his position with them wasn’t safe. He should have stuck with what he knew and been happy with it.
But I got greedy. Wanted to be noticed. To earn more money.
He switched his focus, unable to stand thinking about himself and his actions any longer. He pissed himself off. So he listened instead. Picked up a few words here and there from the living room—Starky, Damien, Katrina, in danger, unsafe—and waited for Ma to shriek. She only ever did that when she was really hacked off. Then again, that wasn’t strictly true. There had been times in the past where she’d acted as calm as you like in choppy circumstances. Like when he’d walked into her kitchen minus his fingers.
He’d never work her out for as long as he lived.
And I might not be living for much longer.
Detective Sergeant Thax-whatever appeared in the hallway then, startling Robby out of his thoughts. What did he want? Was he coming to bend Robby’s ear about the mistakes he’d made? The detective needn’t bother. Robby had beaten himself up over it enough already. Someone else reaffirming his errors wouldn’t help matters.
The copper walked toward Robby. The bloke wore a poker face, so Robby’s anxiety level went up another few notches. He’d done it now, giving the police all that information, and there was no way out other than to make a run for it. Unless they kept it quiet that it had been him who had spilled the beans. Could he trust them to keep it a secret if they didn’t stick to their promise? Would they really be able to relocate him and his ma before the gangs found out what Robby had turned into?
A grass.
He smiled wryly. Yeah, he was a grass now. The lowest of the low. Right down there with the worms, and if he wasn’t careful, he’d be even closer to those worms if Starky caught on to Robby’s deception and had him buried deep in the ground.
Christ Almighty… I’m scared. So fucking scared.
“Not sure what you’re smirking at, Robby,” Thax Man said, “because your mum’s breaking her heart in there.”
“I wasn’t… I didn’t mean it like… Ah, fuck it. Whatever I say, you won’t believe me. Is she angry with me?”
“Angry, yes, but not at you. She’s angry at gang culture, at how society has taken her boy and changed him into something she never thought he’d be. But most of all she’s angry with herself for not moving away after your dad left. And she’s arsey because she wants to knock seven bells of shit out of Damien Fox just for existing. Oh, and Starky.”
“That’s my ma.” Robby was desperate to ask something, to get an answer, yet at the same time he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He steeled himself to ask anyway. Held his breath for a few seconds. Let it out. “Is she… Is she going to stay here?”
“No.”
Relief poured out of Robby in wave upon wave of shudders that racked his body. He thought he was going to faint. The room spun for a second or two, and he went to clutch at the counter then remembered he only had a pointer finger and a thumb on each hand to grip with. Thax Man moved closer and held his elbows, and Robby closed his eyes to stop the sensation of sailing on an ocean.
“It’s a big step you’re taking, I get that,” Thax Man said, his voice soothing and gentle. “What you did just now, telling us what you did—that’s a big step, too. It just shows how serious you are about getting away. And it’ll be all right. Listen, there’s another family having to relocate because of this shit, and they’re going through the same feelings, so maybe that helps knowing you’re not alone in this. But it’s better to be able to feel those feelings than not. And you know what I’m getting at. Eventually you’d have got yourself into such a mess with Starky there’d be no turning back. He’d expect you to do things as his right-hand man that you wouldn’t be comfortable with, no matter how much you’ve convinced yourself in the past it was what you wanted. If you can’t even bear to rob an old lady to get out of The Jugulars…”
Robby opened his eyes. The copper looked concerned.
“Inspector Blacksmith has done a lot of talking to me about helping you and your mum start a better life. He cares—and that isn’t something many policemen can afford to do. They can’t get emotionally involved because it’s too emotional, so for him to stick his neck out here, when he’s always thought of you as just some scrawny tosser…”
Thax Man laughed, maybe to take the sting out of his words, but Robby got a jolt at what he’d said. Did everyone see him as a scrawny tosser? Had he been fooling himself all this time, thinking he could become some hard bloke who commanded respect and fear?
Fucking hell, what a dickhead.
“Do you see?” Thax Man went on. “This is your chance now. Get the hell out and be free of all this crap. New name, the lot. Not everyone gets this chance. Yes, some people move away under our advisement, but they don’t get a completely new identity courtesy of the powers that be. They have to still look over their shoulder and go by the name they left their old life with, risking discovery. In this case, because Starky is such a threat, you need to disappear, and because you could end up disappearing in a different way, it’s our duty to help you.”
Starky was a big threat—the biggest there was in this city. He basically ran it. Starky had a reach well beyond the city walls, too. If Robby didn’t take the new identity that was on offer, Starky would track him down in the end. Robby had heard all the horror stories about things Starky had supposedly set up.
No supposedly about it. Dead bodies turning up is proof enough. Or people just vanishing.
“When do we go?” Robby asked, eager to be out of here as quickly as possible. Now wouldn’t be too soon.
“Tonight, when it’s dark. Less chance of neighbors looking out of their windows. But for now, you’ll stay here. Lock yourselves in. Don’t answer the door to anyone except for the police—and you must ask to see identification first then ring the station to confirm the officer is who he says he is. While you’re waiting for us to pick you up later, pack the minimum of things—mainly items you can’t see yourself being without, mementoes and whatever, but nothing with your name on it. A policeman is outside in a car at the moment, watching the place. I don’t think you have to worry about Starky paying a visit. It’s Damien we’re bothered about. From what you’ve said, I think he’s likely to want to finish you off. You know what he’s been up to, and he’ll want you out of the picture in case you take what you’ve learned to Starky.”
“I told you, Starky already knows.” Robby shook off the copper’s hold and went to the sink to fill a glass with water. His throat was dry as arseholes and he was having trouble swallowing.
“But I doubt Damien is aware of that,” Thax Man said.
Robby guzzled the water down then regretted it. The damn stuff felt like it wanted to come back up. And shit, now wasn’t the time to start listening to the walls spilling their memories. So many things from childhood bundled themselves into a big ball inside his head, clogging all other avenues of thought. His skull seemed full of cotton wool, and he teetered, his vision blurring.
“Take a seat for a minute.” Thax Man guided him to the table. “You can’t go about as normal at the moment. You’ve had an operation, remember.”
Robby sat, resting his forearms on the surface, his brow, too, and took some deep breaths. This was really happening. In a few short hours they’d be leaving the only real home he’d ever known, and guilt plonked itself on his shoulders, making itself more comfortable than he could stomach. Robby sat back up and shrugged—as though that’s going to do anything—and wondered
whether Thax Man would take the movement the wrong way like he had with the smile.
Robby opened his mouth to explain, but the inspector came in, his facial expression grim. He rubbed his fingers back and forth over his forehead, as if he wasn’t sure how he’d come to be in this house, in the middle of the mess Robby had created. If he hadn’t followed Damien, none of this would have happened. He could have stayed low on the radar with The Jugulars until he had the balls to say he wanted to do a freedom job. Then he could have minded his own business until his being in the gang at all became a long-ago memory.
Yeah right. They wouldn’t have let me forget I’d been one of them.
So he’d have had to leave the city anyway if he’d wanted peace and quiet, a normal life. That made him feel a bit better. He was doing what was inevitable, just sooner than he’d thought.
“Have you explained?” the inspector asked Thax Man.
“Yes.”
“Then it’s time we were off.” He turned to look at Robby. “We’re going to do our best to find Damien before you go. We want to pick him up so you have the peace of mind that he’s not going to hang around outside and see you and your mum leaving.”
“But what if Starky’s got someone keeping tabs on me? I mean, it’s weird how he’s suddenly trusting me, offering me that job. He doesn’t know me from Adam, so it’s well iffy.” Odd how he’d only just given that proper consideration. He’d obviously been so taken with the excitement of getting what he’d always wanted that he hadn’t truly questioned whether Starky was up to something else.
“Is there anything you can recall from your conversations with Starky that would explain why he’s suddenly wanting you as his best friend?” the inspector asked.
There was some information Robby had kept to himself. Should he tell them? Get it all off his chest? His cheeks burned at how naïve he’d been, how desperate to belong to The Hardarms. Could he admit to these coppers that he’d been apprehensive, shocked, yet pleased to be told he had an important job in his future, a year down the line?
“Starky wants me to kill Damien,” he blurted.
Like Father, Like Son Page 9
