by Mark Timlin
‘You’re not in any position to make threats, Mr Sharman, so I suggest you save your breath. However, I can assure you that at the moment they’re both in Al condition. Now I think that we should meet, don’t you?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’d like that fine.’
‘Alone and unarmed, Mr Sharman. No tricks. No games. No police. Or no daughter and no girlfriend. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Perfectly.’
‘Park your car outside Brixton tube station in half an hour,’ he said. ‘Don’t be late. Remember, punctuality is the politeness of princes.’ And he hung up.
32
I parked illegally outside Brixton tube station at ten to one. The entrance reminded me of an ant’s nest that someone had stamped on. Crowds of people were streaming in and out and flying off in all directions. No one looked like they were enjoying it. The white faces were ghostly pale, and even the black ones appeared grey in the afternoon light.
On the pavement outside the station were Socialist Workers selling newspapers, Militants selling newspapers, Marxists selling their rag, Rastas selling posters of Haile Selassie and Bob Marley, New-age hippies selling joss sticks and love-beads, several scruffy-looking trucks flogging overpriced hamburgers and ice-cream, flower sellers, a newspaper man, people giving out leaflets for gigs or free haircuts, beggars, winos, all sorts. It was like bloody Delhi. At least no one was showing their sores or amputations. Not yet. Stick around, it has to happen.
I watched one guy marching up and down, up and down, like he was fixated. He was dressed in filthy denims. His hair was stiff with dirt, and his skin crusted with grime so thick it was like warpaint. He was clutching a beer can and shouting and hollering at nothing in particular. His coordination was all out of whack. He kept stepping over imaginary obstacles between the paving stones. Mental health care within the community, I thought. I should bloody cocoa! He was flying on instruments only, and looking for a place to crash land. People coming out of the tube were looking at him nervously and hoping it wasn’t them he was going to pick on when he came out of orbit.
I was so busy clocking the poor bastard that I almost forgot why I was there, and didn’t see a figure come up behind the car until he hunkered down and tapped on the window beside me. Christ, it made me jump. I turned and his head was less than a foot away from mine. Disconcerting that. He had a ratty face with fine blond hair that didn’t look as if it would be around much longer. All I could see of his clothes, him squatting down to see through the window, was a clean white shirt, narrow black tie and a navy overcoat with the collar half up.
Keogan, without a doubt. I rolled down my window. ‘Sharman?’ he checked.
I nodded.
‘Stay calm,’ he said. He let the overcoat open and put his hand inside on to the butt of a gun in a shoulder holster. ‘They’re both all right.’ He went round and got into the passenger seat next to me. He took out the gun as he got into the car. It was a Ruger Standard Auto. Only .22 calibre, but it would do the job. He could hardly miss from where he was sitting. He held it down out of sight of the street, but pointing in my direction. ‘I assume you weren’t foolish enough to come armed,’ he said.
‘No,’ I said. The guns I’d taken from the cottage were still underneath the back seat. Hardly ideal for a quick draw.
‘Or told the police.’
‘No,’ I said again.
‘I hope you’re telling me the truth.’
‘I am. I realise that you hold most of the cards.’
‘But not all,’ he said.
‘No,’ I agreed. ‘Not all.’
‘And what do you propose to do about that?’
‘You tell me.’
‘I will,’ he said. ‘You give me what I want. I’ll give you what you want. We’ll all be happy.’
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been happy. ‘What then?’ I asked.
‘Drive,’ he said.
‘Where?’
‘Just drive. And slowly.’
I touched the ignition and the engine caught. I put the gear stick into drive, indicated, checked the mirror, and when there was a gap in the traffic, turned the wheel and gave the car some gas. I headed down towards the Town Hall.
‘What have you done to them?’ I said. I was trying to stay calm, but I was still shaking and my knuckles were white on the steering wheel. This was turning out to be one of the worst days of my life.
‘Nothing,’ Keogan said.
I crossed the light by the Ritzy. ‘Where now?’
‘Tulse Hill.’
I kept to the left-hand lane, and accelerated past the old synagogue where the car breakers’ yard is now. ‘I said, keep it slow,’ he said.
‘If you don’t tell me what you want, I’ll wreck this fucker and you with it,’ I said through clenched teeth.
I felt the metal of the gun barrel on my neck above my shirt collar. ‘Try, and you die right now,’ he said. ‘Then you’ll never see them again. I’ll take my chance. If anything happens to me, the pair of them are dead. Now, slow down.’
Reluctantly, I did as I was told.
I drove through the next set of lights by The George Canning and up Tulse Hill. He turned and looked behind us. I glanced in the mirror. The road was empty. ‘Pull into the flats on the left,’ he said.
I slowed down and obeyed him. ‘Park over there.’ He pointed to where he meant. I stopped in a gap between two blocks that backed on to Brockwell Park. The estate was deserted at that hour. ‘Switch off and give me the keys.’
I did as I was told. ‘Now get out of the car and stand where I can see you.’ I opened the door, got out and walked to the front of the car. Through the windscreen I saw him open the glove compartment, feel under the dash and seat, and even pull down the sun visors. He didn’t look in the back. Just as well. He got out and came over and patted me down. ‘Fine,’ he said. We got back in the car. ‘Just drive round,’ he said. ‘Like before. Nice and slow, so we can talk.’ He gave me back the keys. I started the car and steered it out of the flats and up Tulse Hill.
‘What exactly do you want?’ I said.
‘Our money.’
‘Why are you so sure there is any?’
‘We know. And we’re right, aren’t we?’
What was the point? ‘Yes,’ I said.
I saw him grin. Like a shark. ‘A lot?’
‘Yes,’ I said again.
‘I knew it.’
‘And if you get it back, what then?’
‘Then you get your girlfriend and daughter back.’
‘Simple as that?’ I said.
‘Of course.’
‘And if I give you what you want, you kill all of us. Like you killed the Kellermans. It was you, wasn’t it?’
‘He was a bloody fool,’ said Keogan dismissively. ‘You’re not. We had a good deal going, but he wanted more.’
‘But why kill them? Why go that far? You might have lost the money forever.’
‘These things happen. They’re not always planned. One of our little côterie went over the top. Lenny. Big fellow. Rather overpowering. I think you’ve met.’
‘He was driving the Volvo?’
‘That’s right. He’s something of a loose cannon. We couldn’t stop him. It was unfortunate. A bluff can only be called so far. David Kellerman called his bluff. He didn’t think that Lenny would shoot. He thought wrong.’
‘And now he’s got my daughter.’
‘Yes. But she’s quite all right, I told you that. Just don’t call our bluff and she’ll stay all right. Calm down and keep driving.’ He seemed to be enjoying himself. ‘Now, where were we?’
‘How did you find out he was doing you over?’ I asked. I was interested to see if my suppositions had been correct. Maybe it wasn’t the time or place, but we didn’t seem to be going anywhere special, and as long as we were talking, he wasn’t going to be killing anyone.
‘We’d had our suspicions for a long time.’
‘How long had it been going on?’<
br />
‘What? Him turning us over?’
‘No. The blagging. The robberies.’
‘How did you know about that?’
‘I guessed,’ I said. And I’d been right. ‘So how long?’ I asked again.
‘Years,’ he replied. ‘He was a slippery little swine. But, by God, he was good at what he did.’
‘Which was?’
‘Money Man. Organiser. Fixer. Planner. Architect. Call it what you like. He set them up and we knocked them over. Christ, we had some fun. Audacious, that was David. Audacious. You wouldn’t believe some of the jobs we did.’
‘And he laundered the dough through his firm?’ I asked.
‘That’s right. And anything else we got he fenced off. He was quite brilliant. A great loss.’
‘But he started robbing the robbers?’
‘He had to spoil it. It’s criminal the things people do.’
I had to agree.
‘And we told him we knew. We spelled it out for him. But he wouldn’t have it. Kept on about additional expenses incurred, and cash flow problems, and the recession in the retail trade. As if we gave a damn about that. If we cared about the retail trade, we’d’ve all got jobs at Safeway’s long ago, wouldn’t we?’
I had to agree again.
‘But he was never short. That wife of his never had any “cash flow problems”. She always got what she wanted. A new car every six months. It’s all right for some, isn’t it? All we wanted was what was ours.’
‘And?’
‘And he wouldn’t cough. Excuses, that’s all we heard, excuses. So we did something about it. We warned him. We told him straight what would happen if he didn’t come across. But would he listen? No, he wouldn’t. And I’m telling you the same. So don’t ever say that I didn’t.’
Perish the thought. ‘It was a bit drastic, wasn’t it?’ I asked.
‘What?’
‘What you did.’
Keogan considered that one for a moment. ‘Could be,’ he said. ‘But sometimes that’s the way it goes.’
‘You see,’ I said, ‘it makes me think that if I do have something you want, and I give it to you, you might be a bit drastic with me and my daughter and my girlfriend afterwards.’
‘No. Not if you give it up. Just tell us where it is and we can all part friends.’
‘That’s what you say now.’
‘Look, I give you my word. Give us the money and we’re out of your life. If anything we’d be grateful. We’re not heartless people. We don’t want to hurt your little girl or your girlfriend. But just in case you’re the type to bear a grudge about it, and just in case you get any ideas, we’ve told a few of our friends about you. If anything should happen to us, or ours, they’ll be round to see you. Just give us what you’ve got and we can all forget about the whole matter. Put it down to experience.’
With his word and a nicker, I could get a cup of coffee.
‘Sounds cosy,’ I said.
‘Listen, Sharman,’ he said, leaning forward until his mouth was close to my ear, and the gun was just tickling my kidneys. ‘Most of us are family men, and none of us is getting any younger. We don’t want this aggravation. We worked hard for that money and we want it. We know it’s somewhere, and you know where that somewhere is. Just tell us and we can all get on with our lives.’
‘So was Kellerman,’ I said.
‘What?’
‘A family man.’
‘He took the piss,’ said Keogan. ‘He asked for it. The rest of them got in the way. Don’t you ask for it. All right?’
‘What about Natalie Hooper?’ I asked. ‘Did she take the piss too?’
‘That was unfortunate,’ said Keogan sadly. ‘She had this mistaken notion of loyalty. We weren’t going to hurt her. We even let her use the toilet when she said she needed to. Then she locked herself in and by the time we got in after her, she’d killed herself. It was horrible. She had no need to do that.’ He sounded quite offended.
‘What matters is that she told us she’d put you on to something. Something we didn’t know about. A place they used to go. That’s right, isn’t it?’
There was no point in denying it. ‘That’s right.’
‘But she wouldn’t tell us where. Why did she tell you, do you think?’
‘I asked the right questions,’ I said.
‘You must have done.’
‘Did she know about Kellerman?’ I asked.
‘What about him?’
‘What he was up to?’
‘No.’
‘But you told her, didn’t you? You had to tell her.’
‘Yes.’
‘Then she killed herself.’
‘That’s right. I mean, who would have thought it? Her and David. It’s strange the things that people do.’
‘And how about Webb?’ I asked.
‘How about him?’
‘Was he with you? On the robberies?’
‘Jimmy?’ said Keogan. ‘Hardly. Definite lack of bottle there. I think he got it knocked out of him in the ring.’
‘Why did you put him on to me?’
‘Sorry?’
‘In the first place. Why get him to hire me?’
‘Because he was rushing round like a crazy man. As time went by and the police got nowhere, he was determined to put someone on the case.’
‘But he offered you the job. Why didn’t you take it? You’re an enquiry agent, aren’t you? You could have lost in a fast shuffle, and looked for the money at the same time.’
‘Not really. I run that place to keep the tax man happy. My main income comes from other things. Unrelated things.’
I could imagine.
‘Of course I was looking, all the time. But it was too close to home. I didn’t want to get too involved with the police. I thought that if I started sticking my nose into their business they might stick theirs into mine. And that would never do. And he would never have given up. Never.’
‘But why me?’
‘Why not? You’re local. You’ve solved things in the past for people. And you did well. You found exactly what we wanted.’
Some reference, I thought. Another one for the old CV. ‘So why kill Stan McKilkenney?’
‘Old scores being settled, I’m afraid. We wanted you to find our money, not nail us for the killings. Lenny knew Stan of old. It’s a very close-knit community around that part of the world, as you well know. And no one loves a grass.’ He looked over at me with half a smile on his face. I was going to knock that smile right off. Very soon. ‘We followed you that day,’ he said.
‘I know.’
‘And we thought we were so discreet.’
‘You said it wasn’t your line,’ I said. ‘Enquiry work. You were right. I spotted you a mile off.’
‘Why didn’t you do anything about it?’
‘I thought you were someone else.’
‘Too bad.’
‘Too bad for Stan.’
‘True. We couldn’t believe it when you met him. Then he started to ask around. I’m afraid we couldn’t have that. Lenny suspected that Stan had had a hand in putting one of his cousins away. He decided to kill two birds with one stone. I told you he was a loose cannon.’
‘You’re telling me an awful lot,’ I said.
‘And you’re not going to do a thing about it. You have a hostage to fortune. If anything happens to us that appears to emanate from you, your little girl is going to regret it. Maybe not immediately, but sooner or later. I hate to make threats like this but I’m afraid I must. I can’t emphasise enough how dangerous it would be for you to talk. Just give us what we want and walk away. Believe me, it’s no big deal. You’ll give it up in the end. Do it without the pain.’
I sucked my teeth, then spoke. ‘OK,’ I said. ‘Let’s do it.’
‘I knew that you were a reasonable man,’ said Keogan.
‘The exchange could be difficult,’ I said.
‘No. Not if we all have each other’s best interest
s at heart. And trust each other.’
Trust. Now there’s a word.
‘Where and when?’ I said.
‘Later today. Of course, we’ll have to be sure that what you say’s there, is there.’
‘It’s there,’ I said.
‘Where exactly?’
‘At a cottage near East Grinstead. I’ll give you the details when I see Fiona and Judith and know they’re OK. I’ll give you the address and directions.’
‘We could all go there.’
‘I don’t think so. It’s a little too secluded for my taste. When we swap, I want to be in plain sight.’
‘Where then?’
I thought for a minute. ‘You’ll have to get someone down there.’
‘No problem,’ he said.
‘And when they’ve seen it’s kosher, they’ll have to get in touch. But I warn you, the phone is off.’
‘No problem again,’ he said, and took a portable phone from his coat pocket. ‘We’ve got several of these.’
I bet he had a fax machine too.
‘Good,’ I said. ‘That makes life easier.’ I slowed the car and took one hand off the wheel and felt in my jacket pocket for the key to the cottage and gave it to Keogan. ‘Get someone down to East Grinstead for six. When they’re on the A22 on the other side of the town, get them to phone you. Bring Fiona and Judith. When I see they’re safe, I give you the address and directions. He’ll be there in a few minutes. As soon as he’s satisfied, he phones back and that’s that. OK?’
‘Sounds reasonable. Where do we meet?’
‘The concourse at Waterloo Station. Under the clock.’
‘Are you crazy?’
‘No. Like I said, somewhere in plain sight.’
‘I’ll think about it.’
‘Don’t take too long. Like you said, we’ve got to trust each other.’
‘I’ll call you after four,’ he said.
‘Do that.’
‘Now drive me back to Brixton.’
I did as he said. When I stopped at the lights opposite the tube, he jumped out and vanished into the crowd. I looked at my watch. It was almost two.
33
I drove straight to James Webb’s house in Crystal Palace. I didn’t have a lot of time but I wanted to see him. Besides, it would keep my mind off Fiona and Judith. He was home. He was always home it seemed. He let me in and showed me into the same room as Judith and I had been the previous day.
