The Edge

by Jessie Keane

  Ruby’s attention sharpened at that. ‘What about her?’

  ‘He said she was a spoiled cunt and she’d been raised in the lap of luxury in a mansion out in the country, and what did he have by comparison? Nothing. A postman for a dad, scraping a living, a council estate to grow up on. Burned-out cars and gang warfare and dog shit on the streets. He was envious. Full of bile. Life had short-changed him, while others had been lucky. He reckoned Rob had been the luckiest of all. That he’d hit the jackpot, marrying Daisy, because she’s going to inherit Brayfield House, isn’t she, which is worth a damned fortune.’

  Ruby stared at Eunice uneasily. She was remembering Daisy saying, Get Kit to sack Leon. I don’t like the way he talks to me.

  She thought of Leon, one minute charming, the next in a foul mood, sneering around the house. She’d believed it was just youthful attitude, too much testosterone and not much sense to temper it. That he’d grow out of it, become a more mature and rounded individual like his older brothers Rob and Daniel.

  But would he?

  Then she thought of him doing that odd little dance to a Michael Jackson track in her kitchen – with his brother barely cold in his grave – and she felt a chill hand touch her spine, sending a shiver of dread right through her.

  ‘Leon always seems so edgy,’ she said. ‘Uptight.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Eunice, and her face was sad; over the course of their conversation, she looked like she’d aged ten years. ‘It’s my fault. If I hadn’t told him, he’d have been none the wiser, nothing would have changed. But I did, and God – how I regret it. I’ll regret it until the day I die. And there’s more. That’s not all of it.’ Eunice started to cry again. ‘There’s more, and it’s worse. Far worse.’

  102

  ‘Go on,’ said Ruby. Neither of them had touched the tea. Her mouth was dry and she felt consumed by dread. Whatever Eunice was about to say, she felt sure she did not want to hear it.

  ‘I’ve been stupid. I’ve been such a bloody fool,’ said Eunice helplessly, her shoulders shaking, the words almost lost as she sobbed her heart out. ‘Patrick. You know Patrick?’

  Ruby nodded. She’d last seen Patrick Dowling at Rob’s funeral. She’d always disliked him; he was a pompous, puffing windbag of a man, bloated with self-importance.

  ‘We went out together, years ago when we were young. After Harry died, I was so lonely. It seemed like a miracle when I found Patrick again. My daughter Trudy works for him at his car showroom, and so we met. I thought it was luck.’ Eunice dabbed at her reddened eyes. ‘Just coincidence. But it wasn’t, I can see that now. Not really. Anyway, we started going out again. He was so attentive, you know? I almost believed he loved me. But of course it wasn’t me he was interested in, was it? It was my family. It was Rob, Daniel and Leon. It was the way they were all connected to your boy, to Kit, working for him. That was where his real interests lay.’ Eunice raised her eyes to Ruby’s and her mouth lifted in a pitiful smile. ‘No fool like an old fool, eh? Once he was in, he started getting nasty. Insulting me. Showing his true colours.’

  ‘And . . .?’ said Ruby when Eunice paused.

  ‘It was Leon that Patrick fastened on to most of all. In no time, they were in tight together, those two. Leon envied Kit. And I reckon Patrick saw a chance to force his way into Kit’s manor, shove him aside. He’d use my boy. Leon knew all about how Kit’s business worked, didn’t he? Course, Rob and Daniel did too, but they were loyal. Rob especially was so close to Kit, they were real mates, those two, weren’t they?’

  ‘Yeah. They were,’ Ruby agreed, staring down at Eunice, feeling fury starting to take hold.

  ‘You know what I think?’

  ‘Go on,’ said Ruby.

  ‘I think Rob found out that Leon and Patrick were planning something. And Rob was going to tell Kit, tell everyone. So they decided he had to go.’

  Ruby felt a chill sweep over her. ‘You think Leon was involved in his own brother’s death?’

  ‘Christ, that sounds cold, don’t it? But Leon resented Rob ever since his sixteenth birthday. Rob was dating Daisy at that time. They split up and it all died down. But they got back together, and when Leon heard Rob was going to marry Daisy, he was green with envy. Sick with it. Because when Daisy inherits that pile of loot, as her husband, Rob would be in on it too. I don’t think Leon could stand the thought of it, not when he knew he was Cornelius’s son.’

  Jesus. Ruby thought of Leon standing up there at the front of the church, reading the eulogy at Rob’s funeral. Tears had been streaming down his face. Fake tears. The tears of an accomplished actor, a devious liar. Even from his grave, Cornelius Bray was still managing to ruin lives. He had wrecked hers, and her children’s. Now his bastard child had caused Rob’s life to be snatched from him.

  Eunice reached up and caught Ruby’s arm in a surprisingly hard grip. ‘Patrick was behind that warehouse robbery. I can’t prove it, but I know it. He hates Kit and he wants to take over his manor. He probably agreed a share-out of his part of the job with Leon in return for inside info about Kit’s dealings. And that job was only the start.’

  ‘Do you think Patrick was behind the shootings at the church?’ asked Ruby.

  Eunice bit her lip and nodded, her eyes brimming with more tears.

  ‘My poor boy, my poor Rob,’ she sobbed. ‘He didn’t deserve that. Dying that way. When he should have been so happy.’ Eunice gulped down a breath and continued: ‘I think it was Patrick’s nephew that did it. He’s mental, that boy. Obsessed with guns. I only met him once, and he’s all handsome and smiley, but there’s something wrong behind his eyes, you can see it. He makes your skin crawl.’

  ‘Why did the people who did the heist say that Thomas Knox was involved?’ Ruby wondered out loud.

  ‘Blaming the Knox gang was meant to rattle Kit even more, make him doubt those around him, people he’d trusted. I tell you, Ruby, and I’m not joking – Patrick and Leon together? They’re dangerous.’

  ‘But why Thomas? Why him? Why not name someone – anyone – else?’

  ‘Knox once turned Patrick down on a deal he wanted in on. It was years ago, but he never forgot it, he was always droning on about it. And I suppose he saw his chance to make trouble for him. He always held a grudge. Oh God, Ruby! I’ve caused all this. Caused Rob to die, and that poor little photographer. It’s all my fault.’

  Ruby looked down at Eunice coldly. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘It is.’

  Then she leaned over and Eunice recoiled at the sudden icy rage she could see flaring in Ruby’s eyes. Ruby raised a quivering finger and pointed it straight in Eunice’s face.

  ‘Do you know what you’ve done, you stupid cow?’ she ground out, teeth clenched, fury barely contained. ‘You’ve killed one son to save another. And by doing that, you’ve destroyed my daughter, ruined her happiness. You stupid bitch!’

  Ruby raised her hand, her whole body shaking with the force of her anger.

  Eunice gave a cry and recoiled into her seat, cowering, waiting for the blows to start.

  But then Ruby froze and reason came back into her eyes. Her hand dropped to her side.

  ‘Nah,’ she said quietly. ‘A smack upside the head’s too good for you. And Leon’s already done that, hasn’t he? No mother should ever have to take that from one of her own. Your punishment will be to go on living with what you’ve done for the rest of your miserable life.’

  ‘Ruby—’ croaked out Eunice.

  ‘No!’ Ruby held up a silencing hand. ‘I don’t want to hear another word out of your mouth, and you ever come near me or mine again, you’ll regret it, you hear me? I’ve had enough. I’m going.’

  103

  Patrick Dowling had lost a lot of his bluster during the long hours he’d spent down the nick. At first he’d claimed special relationships with everyone from county judges to chief supers. The team were surprised he hadn’t pleaded a special relationship with God Almighty, because he seemed to be working up that way. He said they’d pa
y for this, he’d have their jobs, he’d sue, they were in big trouble.

  ‘And I don’t need a fucking lawyer,’ he said. ‘I’m a well-respected local businessman.’

  ‘So you have been advised of your right to counsel, and you have refused,’ said Harman, who was conducting the interview with a female DC sitting at his side.

  ‘You’re happy to answer questions, without a brief present?’ Patrick nodded.

  ‘Get the fuck on with it, can’t you?’

  So they’d got the fuck on with it. And as matters proceeded, Patrick Dowling shrank before their very eyes. He stopped trying to play the hard man, issuing threats, and reverted to saying ‘no comment’. The twenty-four-hour detention period was extended. They told him about the incriminating evidence they’d found in his office, connecting him to a scrap yard where they had found parts from a dark-green van that forensics had tied into the supermarket warehouse robbery back in January.

  ‘So where’s the money from that gone? Where’s your share, Patrick?’ Harman asked.

  ‘No comment,’ said Patrick. He was sweating.

  ‘You could be in a lot of trouble here, Patrick,’ Harman warned him. ‘Worse than robbery. We have evidence that you are linked to a man who has committed three murders. Three. Witness statements confirm that this man is your nephew. Where is he, Patrick?’

  ‘No comment,’ said Patrick.

  Romilly came into the interview room, her arm still in a sling. As she did so, young DC Phillips rose from her seat. Romilly slipped into it. The DC left the room.

  Patrick looked at Harman. Then at Romilly. A trickle of sweat wormed its way down the side of his brick-red face, although it wasn’t hot in the room. Finally he said: ‘Chap you ought to be persecuting in all this is that fucker Miller.’

  ‘Why’s that?’ she asked, when Harman said nothing.

  ‘Well, he runs the rackets, don’t he? That warehouse pays him protection, I heard. It was probably an inside job, I reckon. He took it,’ said Dowling. ‘Him and that mother of his, they’re bent, the pair of them.’

  Romilly stared at him. She stood up, went to the door, called the DC over and had a word. Then she closed the door and came back and sat down.

  ‘Patrick,’ she informed him, ‘the evidence is in your office files. The scrap yard where we found what’s left of the vans does regular business with you. And apparently you are a shareholder in that business, too. What do you have to say about that?’

  ‘I’ve changed my mind. I want a lawyer.’

  104

  Kit caught up with Fats at Ruby’s place.

  ‘Fats! What the fuck. You missed a club off that list and it was the one we needed.’

  Fats stared, frowning. ‘You what?’

  ‘You heard. The one at Barnes. Patrick Dowling and his nephew shot there. You miss it? Or was it missed for a reason?’

  Fats grew very still. ‘What you saying, boss?’

  Kit looked at him cold-eyed. ‘You know what I’m saying.’

  Fats was silent for a long moment, shaking his head.

  ‘Well, come on. What the hell’s happening here?’ said Kit, wondering where the fuck his life was going these days. Rob deceiving him, and now Fats? Was Fats involved?

  ‘I didn’t make out that bloody list,’ said Fats stiffly. ‘Leon made it out and passed it back to me.’

  Leon again.

  ‘I need to speak to that little shit. Where is he?’

  ‘Right now? No idea.’

  Ruby walked into her study, snatched up the phone.

  ‘Thomas?’ she said when he picked up.

  ‘Yeah. Ruby?’

  ‘Do you know Patrick Dowling?’

  ‘Dowling? Yeah. Sure I do. What’s this about?’

  ‘Did he want in on a deal with you? Did you turn him down?’

  ‘He did. And I did. Bloke’s full of shit. What is this?’

  ‘His boys mentioned your name at the warehouse job to cause trouble for you. Watch yourself – I mean it. Dowling’s been nicked but his nephew did the shootings at the wedding.’

  ‘Christ.’

  ‘And he’s still on the loose.’

  She put the phone down. Hearing voices in the hall, she went out; Fats, Ashok, Kit and Daniel all turned and looked at her.

  ‘Kit? Daniel? Come in here, will you? I want a word.’

  As soon as the three of them were seated in the sitting room, Ruby launched straight into it.

  ‘Where’s Leon?’ she asked.

  ‘Thought he was here,’ said Kit grimly. ‘I’m looking for him too. I want a fucking word with that little cunt.’

  ‘Vanessa called on me earlier. Then I went over to see Eunice,’ she said.

  ‘Oh?’ said Kit.

  ‘Her partner Patrick, and Leon – they’ve been working against you, together.’

  Kit and Daniel were both staring at her.

  Ruby pressed on. ‘I went to see Eunice because of something Vanessa told me. It was very important. Shocking, really.’

  ‘Go on,’ said Kit.

  He was thinking of the Barnes gun club missing off the list that Leon had written up – the one that could have led them straight to Patrick, and his weirdo nephew. And now he was also thinking about Leon blowing the blond bloke’s head off with that grenade out on the marshes – when it looked like he’d been about to tell them who was the ringleader behind the warehouse heist. And the lock-up. Leon had the key to that. Not Rob.

  Ruby was staring at Daniel. ‘I’m sorry, Daniel. This isn’t easy to tell you. But it seems your mother at some point in her life had an affair with Cornelius Bray – Daisy and Kit’s father. Vanessa’s late husband.’

  ‘You what?’

  Kit was staring at his mother’s face. ‘Vanessa told you this?’

  ‘She did. And . . .’ again Ruby’s eyes went to Daniel. ‘Eunice confirmed it.’

  ‘She—?’ Daniel started, then stopped.

  ‘It’s the truth, Daniel.’

  Now he was staring at her, open-mouthed. ‘Good Christ, you’re serious,’ he said.

  ‘I am.’

  ‘She admitted it?’

  ‘She did.’

  ‘Fuck!’ Daniel got to his feet and paced around, running his hands through his hair in agitation. He stopped in front of Ruby. ‘When did this happen?’

  ‘The exact dates I don’t know. Years ago. How old are you?’

  ‘Twenty-six.’

  ‘And Leon is . . .?’

  ‘Twenty-three. Rob’s a fair bit older than us. It’s a family joke, Mum had her kids in two batches. First Trude, Sarah and Rob, then five years later came me, then Leon.’

  ‘So the affair happened about twenty-four years ago.’

  ‘Wait. Wait! You’re saying she actually had a kid with Bray? What about my dad, did he know any of this?’

  ‘Your mother don’t think so.’

  ‘You’re telling me it’s Leon? Leon is Bray’s kid?’

  She nodded. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Daisy and me, we’re related to Leon?’ asked Kit.

  ‘Yes, but . . . look. There’s more. Eunice was concerned because she told Leon on his sixteenth birthday and he reacted badly. According to her, from that moment on, Leon hated Kit and Daisy – and even Rob, because he was marrying her and she was going to be worth a lot of money.’ Ruby paused, her eyes filled with sympathy for Daniel. ‘Leon thought he was entitled to a lot more than life had given him. And he resented Kit, Rob and Daisy for doing well, when he hadn’t.’

  ‘Holy shit,’ said Daniel. He knew Leon was a pain in the arse, but this . . .

  Had Leon always been the way he was now? He tried to remember. No. Looking back, Daniel didn’t think so. Leon had been different after he hit sixteen. After that, he’d become moody. Cruel.

  And now he saw why; their mother had finally told him the truth.

  ‘Jesus, I can’t believe it,’ he said.

  ‘It’s all true. Eunice says when she threatene
d Leon that she was going to tell what she knew about him and Patrick, he hit her. He left her there in the kitchen, bleeding – that was how I found her.’

  ‘Is she all right?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘She’s OK. Shaken, but OK.’

  ‘Christ, I’d better get over there . . .’

  Kit stood up. ‘Wait. Just a minute,’ he said to Daniel. Then he turned to Ruby. ‘What exactly did she know about Leon and Patrick?’

  Ruby told him, and suddenly Kit felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders. Rob hadn’t betrayed his trust. He hadn’t been about to tell him that he was involved in the drugs trade on the morning of his wedding day; he’d been planning to tell him what he’d discovered about Leon and Patrick. But he’d left it too late. They’d already decided to strike. They’d been building their own empire behind the scenes, and somehow Rob had found out about it, so they silenced him. They’d rid themselves of Clive Lewis, too. Most likely he’d been wobbling, threatening to bail and reveal their secrets. And Kit should have died too, on that same day. All neat and tidy. But he’d survived.

  ‘Shit! Where’s Daisy?’ he asked.

  ‘Brayfield. She left a note,’ said Ruby.

  They all went back out into the hall. Ashok was still there, sitting by the door.

  ‘Did you see Daisy go out in her car?’ Kit asked him.

  ‘Yeah, I did. She passed me as I came in. But don’t worry, she wasn’t alone. If she had been I’d have stopped her. Leon was driving her.’

  There was a moment of total, dead silence.

  ‘Oh God,’ said Ruby faintly.

  Then the doorbell rang. Fats went and opened it. Two uniformed policemen were standing there.

  ‘Can we speak to Mr Kit Miller?’ one asked.

  Kit stepped forward, his mind still fixed on Daisy and Leon. ‘What?’ he asked.