Dark Fragments: a fast paced psychological thriller

by Rob Sinclair

  There was simply no way I was going to get that money before the deadline. I’d known that all along. But there would have been no point in letting O’Brady know that fact any earlier. Why sign my own death warrant?

  Now, with the deadline looming, I needed two things. More time and to keep him at bay. That was what I hoped to get from our next meeting. But more importantly, I needed a plan to get O’Brady off my back for good. Dani had offered me a potential way out. Actually the last time I’d spoken to her it had been more of a threat. Would helping the police really achieve my aim, though? I wanted to get revenge on O’Brady, but incriminating myself in the process wasn’t the most appealing option.

  It was an option, though.

  But first things first: I needed to meet with O’Brady.

  I’d managed to get him to agree to meet me outside the Bullring Shopping Centre in the heart of Birmingham. Probably one of the busiest spots in the entire city. I was amazed he agreed, but he did. I arrived at five minutes to twelve. We were due to meet on the hour and I was pleased to see he wasn’t there yet, giving me the chance to settle in. I walked down the restaurant-lined thoroughfare separating the two halves of the shopping centre and parked myself by the glass wall looking out over St Martin’s Church below.

  Off to my right was the space-age Selfridges store, its contours and thousands of packed aluminium discs making the outside of the building look like the scales of a snake. I stared at the striking façade for a few seconds, reminiscing. It was impressive, certainly, but what I hated about the Bullring was the crowds. In fact I detested the endless droves of shoppers slowly meandering and cramming onto the escalators so much that I hadn’t been there shopping for a number of years.

  Its bustling nature was exactly why I had chosen it for the meet with O’Brady, though.

  It wasn’t just the crowds that I had to keep me company, either. CCTV cameras lined both the interior and exterior of the Bullring. There was no way O’Brady was going to try anything stupid when he was so exposed.

  Was there?

  It was two minutes past twelve when I spotted O’Brady. As usual, he had a small troop with him: Elvis and Mickey Egan – the man I’d punched in the face a few days ago. The man my sister believed killed my wife and Hayley Lewis.

  Egan’s pointed features and beady eyes reminded me of a great white shark. He was a true predator. Even before they spotted me there was an angry snarl on his face – a permanent fixture that exposed his jagged and misshapen teeth.

  Elvis and Egan were unsightly together. Unnerving. Even out in the open, with crowds of people walking around me in every direction and the CCTV cameras overhead, I was shaking as the three approached me. The conversation I’d had with Dani about Egan reverberated in my mind.

  O’Brady was red-cheeked and breathing heavily by the time he made it up the few steps from the church to where I was standing.

  ‘Stephens,’ he said as he came to a stop a couple of yards from me. No offer of handshake. ‘This is a funny place for a business meeting if you ask me.’

  ‘You walked here?’

  ‘Yeah. We were at the club. Thought we’d get a bit of fresh air for a change. Supposed to do you good or something like that.’

  ‘That’s the theory.’

  ‘If you ask me, exercise is overrated. My boys here have all the muscle I’ll ever need, and if you’re talking about cardio, you can’t beat a good ol’ humpathon.’

  I resisted rolling my eyes at O’Brady’s pathetic banter and forced myself to instead laugh in acknowledgement.

  ‘So why have you brought me out here?’ O’Brady asked. ‘I don’t see you carrying anything for me, so I’m presuming it’s not good news.’

  I assumed O’Brady was referring to the fact that I clearly didn’t have two hundred thousand pounds in cash on me.

  ‘I have a proposition for you,’ I said.

  ‘Really? Seem to remember you saying that to me at least once before. Someone you want me to take care of again?’

  O’Brady laughed at his own quip and his goons followed suit. This time I didn’t pander to him.

  ‘I think you’ll find my propositions have generally worked out pretty well for you.’

  ‘Generally? What use is generally? That means whatever you’ve got to say is nothing more than a gamble. I don’t like gambling, because no matter how good the odds are there’s always that chance of it going balls up. I only back dead certs and you don’t get those without a fix.’

  ‘You could say anything in life is a gamble. Every business deal you’ve ever entered into had a chance of failure. But you’ve shown you’ve got a knack for picking the right ones. You are a gambler, I’d say. A very good one.’

  O’Brady raised an eyebrow at my flattery but didn’t respond. I sensed, though, that he was quietly impressed with my off-the-cuff response.

  ‘Why don’t we take a walk?’ I suggested to O’Brady. ‘Without your friends.’

  ‘And why’s that?’ O’Brady asked, a suspicious look on his face.

  ‘We’re out in the open here. There’re police crawling around, cameras everywhere. These two are hardly inconspicuous, following you around like they do.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Egan spat. I guessed he probably didn’t understand the meaning of inconspicuous and his only response was offence.

  O’Brady shot him a glare and Egan immediately backed down.

  ‘Come on, then,’ O’Brady said. ‘You lead the way.’

  ‘And what are we supposed to do?’ Elvis said, sounding lost.

  ‘I don’t care,’ O’Brady said. ‘Go and buy your wife some knickers or something. Nothing too fancy, though. She’s not that good looking.’

  Elvis grunted and O’Brady gestured for me to get moving. We moved off toward the doors to the West Mall.

  ‘So tell me about this proposition,’ O’Brady said. ‘It had better be good.’

  ‘It’s going to be,’ I said. ‘But first, I need to make something clear.’

  ‘And what’s that?’

  ‘The two hundred thousand. I can’t do it. I just can’t. Not in the timeframe you gave me.’

  I heard O’Brady sigh and I looked over and saw the angry look on his face. This was exactly why I’d wanted to give him the message in a public place. If we’d been back at the strip club, that one statement from me would probably have been the end of the conversation. And that would have meant only one thing. As it was, out in the open, I felt I had a chance to actually discuss the situation properly. Or so I hoped.

  ‘This isn’t exactly music to my ears,’ O’Brady growled.

  ‘I know, and I’m sorry. But I just don’t have that kind of money.’

  ‘Two weeks ago you brought me a cheque for a hundred grand. So what’s happened?’

  ‘A lot. There’s no chance of me getting that now. It was from my father-in-law. But because of this whole mess I’ll never get help from him again. My wife’s kicked me out, you know.’

  O’Brady laughed and I had to clench my fists tightly, my nails digging into the palms of my hands, to keep a calm exterior.

  ‘Your wife’s kicked you out? Seriously, you have no balls at all, have you?’

  ‘I love her,’ I said. ‘And this mess is already ruining my life.’

  ‘Your marriage issues really aren’t my problem.’

  ‘Well, in a way they are. She wouldn’t have thrown me out if it wasn’t for you.’

  O’Brady stopped walking and I followed suit and turned to look at him. His face was creased with indignation.

  ‘Don’t forget who you’re speaking to,’ he snarled. ‘We might be out in public now, but you keep that tongue of yours in check. You can’t stay out here forever.’

  I held my hand up in apology. ‘I’m not trying to offend you,’ I said. ‘I’m really not. I’m just telling you how it is. I can’t get that money. Not in the timeframe you’ve given me. The only possible way to get my hands on that sort of cash is th
rough our house, but that could take weeks to arrange. I’m not trying to duck out of this, I just need you to understand.’

  ‘That’s what all this is?’ O’Brady spat. ‘A sob story to get you more time? This is your bloody proposition?’

  ‘No, no, not at all. That’s my point. If you want that money, I can get it, but you’d have to wait. I’d get it to you, you have my word, but I’d need more time. But … my proposition is something else entirely. You know I’ve always come up trumps in the past. All the leads and information you’ve had from me over the years – this is bigger than any of that. If you give me the chance, I can make you way more than two hundred thousand.’

  O’Brady gave me a long, hard stare. I held my ground and stared right back. I knew my words were appealing to his greed, but not his vindictive side. I just had to hope that greed would win out. At least for now.

  ‘Okay,’ he said eventually. ‘I’m open to the suggestion. I’ll hear you out, so go for it. Convince me.’

  I’m not sure whether O’Brady noticed the relief that washed over me. I tried not to let it show. But inwardly I was delighted. Because he’d just opened the door for me, and I was stepping right through with everything I’d got.

  The fact was, there wasn’t a proposition. It was entirely bogus. I had no connections anymore. Whitely would never let me set foot in Ellis Associates again and that was my one real source of potential business for O’Brady. But just as I’d hoped, O’Brady was lured by my talk of money, and whatever he thought of me, it was true that I’d come up trumps for him plenty of times in the past.

  The trap was set. There was still a way to go, but one way or another, I was going to make O’Brady pay for the trouble he’d caused me.

  CHAPTER 38

  After leaving the Bullring I headed back across the city centre toward where my car was parked at Snowhill station. I was halfway across the grounds of St Philip’s Cathedral when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I lifted it out and looked at the caller ID. Dani. The last thing I needed.

  ‘What do you want?’ I said.

  ‘Did you have a good meeting?’ Dani asked, entirely calm and collected.

  ‘Meeting?’

  ‘With Callum O’Brady. How did it go?’

  I stopped walking. Thoughts flashed through my brain. How did Dani know?

  ‘Look over to your right.’

  I looked over and spotted two policemen walking in through the gates at the edge of the square. They were regular beat bobbies with bright jackets and tall hats. It wasn’t unusual to see police milling around in the city centre. But these two weren’t just there on the off chance. They were heading toward me.

  ‘Look over to your left,’ my sister said.

  I did as I was told. A policewoman and policeman were walking in my direction. By that point adrenaline was surging through my body. I started to think of escape routes. There were six gated entrances to the square. Two were already blocked, but as I quickly scanned around I noticed at least two in my line of sight that I could head to.

  ‘Don’t run,’ Dani said, as though reading my mind.

  She was probably right. If I ran, where would I go? And what exactly would I be running from?

  ‘What’s going on?’ I said.

  ‘Move forward,’ Dani responded.

  I took a step forward. Then another. Then another. From my new position I could now see one of the other entrances up ahead. There was no sign of any police by that one.

  ‘On the bench, to the left of the gate.’

  My eyes shot from the open entrance to the bench a few yards from it. There sat Dani.

  ‘Come over,’ she said. ‘We need to talk.’

  I deliberated for only a few seconds. Running away simply wasn’t an option. Filled with nerves, I walked over to my sister and sat down on the bench. I looked around and noticed the four police officers were still nearby, trying to make it look as though they were just out on their normal business.

  ‘Why did you feel the need to bring your chums?’ I asked.

  ‘They’re for your protection as much as anything else.’

  ‘My protection? What are you protecting me from?’

  ‘Do you really need to ask that? When are you going to realise that this isn’t a game? You’re getting yourself in some serious shit here.’

  ‘If you’d taken any notice of me for the past four years, you’d realise I’ve been in the shit for a long time.’

  ‘How very heartfelt.’

  ‘No, not really. It’s rather convenient that you’re finally interested in my predicament at the point where it can help your damn career.’

  ‘Think what you will. This issue is bigger than you and me.’

  ‘So what do you want?’

  ‘Tell me about what just happened between you and Callum O’Brady.’

  ‘How did you know?’

  ‘Because we do our jobs. O’Brady is under constant surveillance now. I told you that already.’

  ‘Yeah. Maybe you did.’

  ‘So what was it about?’

  ‘Money.’

  Dani waited to see if I would add to my frank statement. I didn’t.

  ‘Let me set the scene for you here,’ Dani said. ‘If you were anyone but my brother, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. You’d already be arrested and banged up.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘Andrew Dove for starters.’

  I hung my head, embarrassed. But I was also angry with Dani, who was cornering me, and with myself for having been so stupid as to give her the space to do so.

  ‘So what now?’ I said.

  ‘You tell me. You could start by explaining what’s happening with you and O’Brady.’

  ‘I told you, I owe him money.’

  ‘But I want to know how and why.’

  ‘It’s hard to explain.’

  ‘No, it’s not. What’s difficult is you getting over yourself and doing the decent thing by coming clean.’

  I sighed. ‘My life is shit, Dani. It’s always been shit. Ever since … you know.’

  ‘Alice.’

  I saw the emotion in Dani’s face as she said the name.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I don’t know. Probably before that too. It’s just me. I attract misery.’

  ‘You’ve got a wife and two great kids. You’ve got a nice house and an expensive car. You had a good job. A lot of people would say you’ve had more than your fair share of positives in life.’

  ‘That’s not how it works, though, is it? Material accumulation doesn’t make for a happy life. Come on, Dani, you know how much I’ve suffered over the years.’

  ‘Fine. Yeah, I do.’

  ‘I didn’t want any of this.’

  ‘Maybe not. But you’ve found yourself in this position. Whatever the reason for that and whoever you think is to blame, it’s you in this mess in the here and now.’

  ‘Do you really think Egan killed Alice?’ I said, gritting my teeth at the hatred I felt toward that vile piece of scum.

  ‘We’re still working on that. Egan’s link to Hayley Lewis is strong. If we crack one case, we’re hoping it can help us crack the other.’

  ‘Are you going to tell me what that link is?’

  ‘No, not yet. But we think we’ll get there. But O’Brady? He’s something else. We need help.’

  ‘Help. You mean you need me to snitch on O’Brady. Put my life on the line for you.’

  ‘You’ve got a choice,’ Dani said. ‘You either help us or you don’t. I’m sure you can figure out the consequences of choosing one over the other.’

  ‘Help you do what exactly?’

  ‘Help us get O’Brady. Help us put that bastard behind bars.’

  ‘And if I don’t?’

  ‘Then there’s nothing more I can do to help you. And in all likelihood, you’ll end up going down with him.’

  CHAPTER 39

  I was sitting in an interview room at West Midlands police headquarters. I wa
s exhausted. I looked at my watch. It was five fifteen in the afternoon. I’d been in the room since eight that morning and had only been out three times for brief toilet breaks.

  Technically, I was there of my own accord – a courtesy because of Dani’s efforts, or so she said. But that apparently didn’t make the process any less burdensome, and I was still being treated with what felt like contempt.

  Perhaps that was just how detectives dealt with everybody all of the time. They were so used to dealing with criminals, to interviewing and interrogating, that they forgot how to interact like normal human beings.

  Dani had warned me it would be like that, so I had at least been somewhat prepared. I’d tried to play the whole situation coolly, but the gruelling process was tiresome nonetheless.

  I’d been taken directly from the bench by St Philip’s Cathedral over to the police headquarters, just a few hundred yards away. I hadn’t been arrested at any point, but I’d had quite the escort and I felt almost like a condemned man walking down the corridors of death row as I was shepherded by my sister and her colleagues through the busy city centre.

  I’d spent the rest of that day being interviewed before spending the night back at the hotel in Sutton Coldfield. First thing in the morning I’d returned for another full day of endless questions about my life and everything in it – seemingly the only things I didn’t need to disclose were the number of shits I took a day and my favourite sexual position. Of course, what they really wanted to know about, and what they relentlessly grilled me on, was my relationship with Callum O’Brady.

  Dani had quite quickly been removed from the process of interviewing me, though I knew she was doing everything she could to remain involved in the wider operation. Following an initial briefing from Dani and one of her underlings, I’d been thrown straight in front of a superintendent and chief inspector from the Criminal Investigation Department.

  Completely out of my depth, I’d immediately demanded that I be given immunity before I opened up with what I knew about O’Brady. There was little point in going ahead with the plan to ensnare O’Brady if I was simply exposing myself to prosecution. I’d not reckoned on the force with which the CID officers would object to that request, however.