by P. R. Black
‘See?’ Cramond said, hurling the rolling pin into the sink. ‘That’s all it took. You don’t hurt her – you hurt him, and let her do the talking. Leave the weak point to spill the secret. The hard nut wants a beating, so give him one. It all works out. Appliance of science.’ He winked at Vinnicombe, who nodded. ‘And now for the second part of the burning question – and please don’t waste our time by telling any lies. What happened to our two mates?’
43
‘That part was true,’ Seth said. He was still obviously shocked by Vonny’s outburst. ‘They did get some of the stuff, and then they left.’
Cramond sighed. ‘More details, big guy. Don’t hold back. Quick recap: the stuff is still here, but the two men who came to house before… Left with some of it? A wee taster session? You’re not making sense.’
‘It makes perfect sense.’ Seth licked his lips. ‘I split the deal into two separate parts. Seemed safer, if it was found, or someone came looking for it. Then I’d only lose one half. The other half would be plenty. I gave them one, and let them think that was the full amount. They didn’t ask any questions. It was a lot, but obviously not as much as they were expecting. They seemed as if they came to a decision. Then they left. I don’t know anything about bikes, where they went, what they had planned, anything like that, and they didn’t say. That’s all I know.’
‘So they just left the bikes lying here? Just like that?’
‘I don’t know why they did what they did,’ Seth said, angrily. ‘I didn’t know there were any bikes left behind. If I did, I’d have called the cops, or gotten rid of them. I wouldn’t have just left them lying for anyone to find, would I?’
A silence followed this, and Vonny allowed it to continue. She could almost divine the three men’s thought processes from the glances they shared. It had the ring of truth, particularly the part about the bikes.
The last thing they will suspect is that we killed them.
Then Vonny thought about what they had mentioned about the two men who came to the house that night – the casual bombshell that the two men had indeed intended to kill them both. And what that meant about tonight – particularly as the three intruders were unmasked. They will never leave us alive to identify them. They know there’s no security system any more. This is just a transaction, now. A chore to be gotten out of the way.
‘OK,’ Cramond said at last, turning to Seth. ‘Here’s what’s going to happen now. I’m going to stay here with the lady of the house. You and my two associates here are going out to find the stuff. Where did you say you’d hidden it?’
‘I didn’t.’
Jay lunged, stopping with his nose a couple of millimetres from Seth’s. ‘Don’t get smart,’ the heavy-set man snapped.
To be fair to Seth, he didn’t move, though his Adam’s apple bobbed once or twice. ‘It’s out in the woods,’ he said. ‘Hidden out among the trees.’
‘You got a map?’ Cramond asked.
‘No. But it’s well stashed. You’ll need a guide.’
‘Good job you’re here,’ Vinnicombe said brightly. He stepped in front of Cramond, somewhat peremptorily. ‘Now, let’s head off. My big friend here’s going to be standing very close to you, and I think it’s fair to say he is a very stressed, high-tension individual. So, nice and calm, nice and organised. All right?’ He nodded to Jay. ‘You two in front. As we walk, Seth, you’ll talk us through it. I’ll be listening and watching very carefully.’
Jay produced the kukri again, and Vonny gasped as he pressed it into Seth’s side. Seth winced, though not from the proximity of the blade – more to do with an injury he’d suffered earlier. He tried to ignore this. ‘Don’t hurt her,’ Seth said, gazing levelly at Cramond.
The three intruders laughed at him, heartily and openly. Vonny shrank from the sound, hearing in its callous mirth a herald of their doom. Still laughing, Cramond said: ‘Just take us to the stuff. Don’t try anything comical… And that’s all I can say, really. It’s not even an offer, or a promise, or anything. Just do it and come back here and then we’ll have a conversation.’ He showed his big teeth in a gruesome smile. ‘Off you go, then.’
The two men led Seth outside. Vonny shared a moment’s eye contact with him, but there was no communication, no shared moment, no tenderness. Vonny stared down at the table after the door closed behind them, wondering if that was the last she’d seen of her husband.
She heard Cramond’s boots squeak across the floor as he walked slowly to the other end of the table, where Seth had been sat. Cramond sat down, his hands flat on the table, staring at her. Vonny threw her shoulders back and met his gaze.
He smiled. ‘Well, this is nice. What shall we chat about?’
Vonny said nothing.
‘Ah, don’t be so shy,’ Cramond said. ‘Why don’t you make yourself at home?’
She cleared her throat. ‘Listen… I know that you’re probably here to kill us.’
Cramond exhaled, slowly, the mocking expression smoothing out on his face.
‘So, I’m going to beg you for our lives.’ Vonny’s voice cracked. She gripped the table till the muscles on her forearms ached. ‘Please, don’t kill us. We aren’t bad people. Seth made a mistake, that’s all. I told him he should have told the police first thing, or dumped the stuff in the lake…’
Cramond snorted at that. ‘That’d have been a fine way to finish it! Dump it in the lake! There’d have been some mellowed-out old fishies in there, that’s for sure. Any angler catches something for his tea in there, he’s in for a shock!’
Vonny seized on his levity. ‘Just as well he didn’t listen!’
Cramond sighed. ‘All we want is the stuff. Turn it over to us; there’s nothing to worry about.’
‘Just don’t kill us, please. We wouldn’t call the police… We’d be crazy to, wouldn’t we?’
‘Yes, you would,’ Cramond said, sincerely. ‘That’s the truth.’
‘Take anything you want from the house. Anything.’
‘At this point I have to remind you – it’s not up to you to hand control of anything to us. You don’t have control. We could burn the place down. We could strip it down to the bare wiring. Anything.’
Vonny’s voice had been stolen; her throat was parched. There was nothing more to say.
Cramond decided to break the silence. ‘You say you’re innocent, and you don’t know anything. But your boyfriend isn’t totally innocent. Is he?’
‘He’s not involved in your world. I know that for a fact.’
‘Yeah, he’s not involved, but he’s not totally separated from it, either. A wee birdie told me something a few days ago – that he’s trying to get rid of a big shipment that somehow fell off the back of a lorry. It’s one we’ve been looking for ever since Dan Grainger ripped me off, after we did all the hard work by working it past Border Force. Those guys can be really hard to bribe, but we did manage to get a couple who were sympathetic. So you can guess, we’re really keen to get our hands back on it. And yes, it is an amount worth killing for. Care to have a stab at guessing how much it’s worth? Have a go.’
‘I wouldn’t know where to start. I wouldn’t even know a ballpark figure.’
‘You could buy this house… the woods… the place where Dan had his paddock… the pond… the stream… all of it, about eleven times over. And still have change. That’s how much we’re talking about. Retirement money, you might call it. Fuck You Very Much money.’
‘Then have it. Have all of it.’
‘Oh, I will, that’s not in doubt.’ Cramond leaned forward in his seat. ‘What I want you to understand is that your man out there wanted all of it, too. I get that. You could say I’m a businessman. That’s the nature of it. Go from a penthouse down to the gutter, we’re all the same. But he had enough connections to try and make things happen. He took a chance. I get that.’
‘It’s for his brother,’ Vonny said. ‘His brother owes money. He’s already been slashed for it… It’s to help pay pe
ople off.’
Cramond laughed. ‘What did the brother do, bring down a bank? How much does he need, exactly? “For his brother”. Makes no material difference to me. That’s the nature of greed. I get it. But what I don’t get is the missing link.’
‘I don’t follow you.’
‘The missing link between my two missing men and this house. Because I’ve got a funny feeling that the two boys I sent over here came to some harm. Clever boys, I’ll give you that. If anyone could come up with a plan to rip me off and fake their own disappearances, it’s them. But I’ve got a massive doubt. And if my doubt is on the right lines, then that leaves one last possibility.’
Vonny made no sign of acknowledgement.
‘The possibility that you somehow killed them,’ Cramond continued. ‘Far-fetched, but it’s not impossible, if you know the terrain. Get the drop on them somehow. It happens. Maybe you even pulled the trigger. Not the first time I’d have heard about a woman going haywire to protect her man. I’ve seen some stuff, let me tell you. Massive, big beefy blokes on the ground, having their eyes scratched out. You’ve got to watch out for anyone. You never can tell. I wouldn’t have expected you to do that… And neither would those two boys. Maybe that’s the answer.’
His expression had gone smooth, like a store mannequin’s. All he did was look closely, right into her eyes. Vonny looked away. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said. ‘They took the stuff, and they left. We don’t know anything else.’
‘That’s good,’ Cramond said gently. ‘Because if there’s ever any sign that you harmed my two boys, you’re going to die in agony. Every personal hell you can imagine, that’s what you’ll experience before you die. Then I’ll feed you to some pigs. And I’ll watch it.’
The intercom buzzed, startling them both.
44
Cramond recovered his composure fastest. ‘Expecting someone?’
Vonny shook her head. The house itself seemed on edge, waiting for the buzzer to sound again. When it did, Vonny’s shoulders leapt. Then she laughed, a high sound that she recognised as hysteria. The last time she had made that noise, she’d been about to have root canal surgery.
‘Something funny?’
She shook her head, stifling the laughter with her hand. ‘Maybe it’s your missing boys. Maybe they’ve come back?’
‘Or maybe the two I brought with me tonight have already got the stuff and killed Seth?’ That stopped her laughing, at least. But Cramond said: ‘No, don’t think so. Hardly think they’d bother with the intercom, do you?’
As if in response, it burred again.
‘So now what?’ Vonny whispered – as if the person on the other end of the line could hear.
Cramond kept his voice low, a terse growl, from a dog you already guessed wasn’t friendly. ‘What’s going to happen is, we’re going to sit here, very quietly, and not make a sound.’ He glanced at the back window. ‘Can we be seen from the main driveway from this window?’
Vonny shook her head. Then, remembering something her neighbours had said, she added: ‘The lights can be seen, but I’m not sure if you can make out any details.’
‘If you’re not expecting someone, who could it possibly be?’
‘No idea. We don’t know anyone out here.’ She did have an idea, though. Hopefully it’s the policeman who came round earlier.
The intercom buzzed again. And again.
‘Could be a parcel?’ Vonny said, in earnest.
‘At this time? Don’t be fucking smart.’
It buzzed again.
‘Can you check who it is without answering?’ Cramond asked.
‘I could have done – except the two guys who broke in the other night cut the camera links and the sensors to this intercom. Expertly, that’s the word I think you used. There’s an audio connection and nothing else.’
She had allowed a little acid drip into her tone; Cramond ignored it. ‘Go over to the intercom and find out who it is. Then send them away. I’m hoping you’re going to be sensible, because I make it a rule not to hurt women. So, no slip-ups, eh? No sudden moves, no running your mouth, and don’t think about dropping any smarty-pants hints that I’m here.’
Vonny did as she was told, walking slowly over to the second unit. It would have had a picture – available in night vision – now sadly offline. The intercom buzzed yet again, just as Vonny reached out for the button.
‘Christ, they’re persistent, whoever they are,’ Cramond said. ‘Answer it, but don’t say anything.’
Vonny pressed the button.
A woman’s voice. ‘Oh, hello – is someone there?’
Cramond indicated she should let go of the button. When she did so, he asked: ‘Who is that?’
‘Prill. It’s my very nosy neighbour.’
The implication was not lost on Cramond. ‘Right. She won’t be daft, if she’s like half the nosy old middens I grew up with. Here’s what you’re going to say…’
After the intercom buzzed again, Vonny answered. ‘Hello?’
‘Thank goodness!’ Prill said. ‘I hope you don’t mind, I just came round to see if you’re all right. I saw all sorts of lights over here, and I know the police were over the other day… Is everything all right?’
‘We’re OK, Prill. You’ve managed to wake me up out of a sleep, in fact. Isn’t it a bit late for you to be coming round?’
‘Well, I was just worried. You know. With what happened here before. I do worry, Vonny.’ Prill sounded somewhat hurt, at this final statement.
‘You’re not to worry yourself, Prill. Get yourself home, pour a brandy. There’s nothing to worry about, here.’ Then, remembering Cramond’s injunction, she added: ‘We had a bit more building work done earlier on – if you saw some lights, that’s probably it. Just some last-minute snagging.’
‘Well, quite. If you’re sure you’re all right?’
‘Never been better, Prill. Goodnight. Thanks for asking after us.’
‘You’re very welcome.’
Vonny let go of the button and sighed. ‘That should be that.’
‘On a scale of one to ten, how nosy would you say this Prill was?’
‘Ten being the highest? Ten. She probably knows me better than I know myself.’
‘So would you say she’s probably had a look round the house and garden tonight, already?’
‘It’s possible, but she’d have to have gotten over the fence at the back to see us here. It’s not overlooked, unless she wants to climb some trees.’
Unless… Unless she got in through the side gate. Like she did before, to keep an eye on the builders.
‘OK,’ Cramond said, his shoulders relaxing. He glanced at his watch. ‘You did well. I wish half the people I kidnap were as nice as you. You’re a model pupil. Let’s sit tight. The others will be checking in soon. As before, slowly turn around and walk back to the kitchen table.’
Vonny heard something behind her that put her nerves on edge. She paused; Cramond had heard it too. He reached into his jacket; she saw a pistol appear in his hand.
The voice at the front door carried through the house, loud and clear; loud enough to play a chord on the glassware in her cupboard; a voice fit for a choir or an afternoon recital.
‘Vonny? It’s me, Prill. Your door was unlocked. Are you up there? Or in the kitchen? I hope you don’t mind me intruding, but there’s all kinds of commotion going on in your woods tonight.’
‘Prill, what are you doing in here?’ Vonny yelled, in utter consternation. ‘It’s late, you need to go home! You can’t come barging in here when you feel like it!’
Cramond darted behind her and mouthed: Get rid of her. Now. He brandished a handgun, right in front of her face. For a second all Vonny could focus on was the dark circle at the end of the barrel. Cramond snarled, and she flinched, expecting him to drive the barrel into her face.
She turned to the door out in the hallway. As she did so, Prill flicked on the light.
The ol
der woman was dressed in a Wimbledon-green pullover with plaid shirt collars protruding from the neckline. She looked as if she’d been horse riding, perhaps. She had on boots over dark leggings, and she brought in a faint smell of fresh earth.
‘Ah! There you are. I do hope you don’t mind. I just don’t want you to be taken advantage of. The property being, you know, what it is.’
‘Never mind my property,’ Vonny hissed. ‘What in God’s name are you doing here, prowling around my house?’
‘It’s only me,’ she said, waving her hands in a frustrated gesture. ‘I heard there were those, you know, traveller people about in this weather, and you know what they can do. God knows, you know me, I don’t judge, but a fact is a fact, Vonny. My goodness… is that blood on the counter?’
Vonny took her by the shoulder and turned her towards the open doorway. ‘You were right to get in touch, Prill. You’re a star for checking things out. But it’s time to go now, OK? Thanks for coming. In future, please don’t just wander into my house. I could be up to anything.’
‘I just… Look, I’ll level with you.’ Prill folded her arms and stayed put in the doorway. ‘I saw your Seth, out on the path. He was with two other men. They didn’t look friendly, to me. And Seth didn’t look happy to be with them. It looked like they were… steering him, you know? Like he didn’t want to be there.’
Cramond stepped from the kitchen. Prill looked up, startled, as the newcomer closed the distance between them.
‘I believe I can offer an explanation,’ Cramond said. He held out a hand and grinned. ‘I’m Detective Inspector Bell. The two men you saw with Seth were two of my detectives. We have reason to believe criminal gangs are operating in the area. And you are…?’
‘You should know who I am, if you’ve been doing your job properly. Can I see your warrant card, please?’ Prill didn’t waver, her voice and gaze steady, her arms still folded across her body warmer.
Vonny bulged her eyes and she tilted her head slightly towards that big open doorway that beckoned, so agonisingly close, hoping that Prill would pick up on this not-so-subtle cue. But the older woman didn’t; she was too focused on trying to stare out Cramond. He reached past her and smartly shut the front door. ‘Of course, I’ll show you my warrant card.’
