His Prize (The Cleaners Book 1)

by Doris O'Connor

  Susie froze mid stacking the drinks delivery behind the bar, when the doors to the still shut club flew open and armed police burst inside, followed by a grim looking Ren and the rest of his team. Their gazes connected across the crowded room, and her heart broke when he openly turned his back on her, even as a plain clothed police officer made a beeline straight for her.

  “Susie Elliot? I have a few questions for you.”

  Chapter Eight

  Ren had known this day would come, but he hadn’t counted on the insane urge to rip that police officer’s head off, to grab his girl, and to simply run. Somewhere far away, where the ugliness of his life couldn’t touch his pumpkin, and where he wouldn’t have to see the adoration in her eyes change to disgust. He hadn’t quite realized how much that meant to him, until their gazes connected, and her face fell when he forced himself to turn away.

  Naturally the police would know her name. He’d known they were under surveillance—those fuckers were never that good at hiding themselves—and this particular officer was newly promoted and hungry for blood. Most importantly he wasn’t on Huntly’s payroll, and that could cause trouble for them all.

  Sure enough Owen appeared, his face set in a rigid mask, as he approached the bar, where Susie was still polishing the glass in her hand. His girl was fucking terrified, not that she showed it outwardly, but Ren knew her responses inside and out. Her discomfort was there in every rigid line of her body and the fake smile she offered Detective Wonsan.

  Not for the first time, Ren wished Huntly would have let him take that asshole out. He’d had plenty of opportunity, but that wasn’t Huntly’s style, especially when that over eager police officer had a wife and family at home. Sometimes principles fucking sucked. Mind you, being a family guy or not, if Wonsan gave his girl grief, then, Huntly’s orders be fucked, Ren would make that asshole pay. Ty’s hand on his shoulder made him swing round. The other man looked as on edge as Ren was. A lot was riding on this. If Susie squealed… That didn’t bear thinking about.

  “Detective Wonsan, to what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?” Owen held out his hand, while smoothly getting in between the officers and Susie. He flicked a glance to the semicircle of armed police guarding the exits, and smiled when Wonsan just glared at his hand, and didn’t take it. “Why the animosity, Detective? Have I not been most reasonable in my help with your enquiries up ‘til now? And how do you repay that kindness? By busting in my doors, and waving guns around. Shame on you, Wonsan. I hope you have a warrant for this nonsense.”

  Owen’s voice, while perfectly polite, held an edge of steel, and his steel grey eyes drew together in a frown when Wonsan gave a short laugh.

  “I can do without your so called hospitality, Huntly, or your help. It’s a criminal offence to try to bribe a police officer.”

  Huntly’s dark eyebrows drew to his hairline, and he flicked an imaginary speck of dust off his immaculate, tailor made suit.

  “You wound me, Detective. Pride comes before a fall. You have a lot to lose after all. Your son’s cancer treatment doesn’t come cheap…”

  Huntly’s words seemed to enrage the Detective, because hands fisted he stepped right up to Owen.

  “Stupid fucker.”

  Ty’s murmured assessment behind him made Ren smirk. The Detective’s partner, in the meantime, a pretty enough young blonde, pulled her boss back by his shoulders.

  “Jim, this is what he wants.”

  Wonsan frowned and took a step back, while the pretty young thing shoved a sheet of paper at Huntly.

  “Here’s your warrant. It gives us leave to search the premises, and to interview any member of staff.”

  Ren’s smirk deepened when Huntly didn’t even glance at the paper. Instead he focused his attention on the woman in front of him. Ren knew that look. Huntly liked what he saw, and if the restless shifting the woman did under Owen’s appraisal was any indication, she wasn’t immune to the boss.

  “And what’s your name, my sweet?” Huntly asked, causing the woman to draw her shoulders back and glare up at him.

  “Detective Marian Roots, not that it’s any of your business.”

  Huntly smiled, and the voluptuous blonde took another step back.

  “Well, Ms. Roots, if you ever get fed up with playing second fiddle to Wonsan here, I’m sure I’ll be able to find you a much better paying gig right here in my club.”

  The woman’s sharp intake of breath seemed far too loud in the tension filled room.

  “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that to me, Mr. Huntly. We’re here on police business only, mainly the murder of one Myrtle Jones and Brian Monk. The former was one of your employees, and the latter Ms. Elliot’s boyfriend.”

  “Ex-boyfriend.” The words were out of Ren’s mouth before he could temper them, and he knew instantly he’d made a mistake.

  Huntly gave an infinitesimal shake of his head, Susie dropped the glass she’d been polishing, and Wonsan grinned. The man’s eyes narrowed and a calculating smile spread over his pale face, as he looked from Susie to Ren.

  Detective Roots sauntered up to Ren.

  “You must be Ellis Reynolds. What would your interest be in Ms. Elliot’s relationship status then?” she asked.

  Ren clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.

  Ty answered for him.

  “How about you cut the bull and get on with it? If you’ve got something to say, then say it, or clear the fuck off out of the club.”

  Ren sensed rather than saw the rest of his team pull up behind him, and Marian Roots swallowed hard and lost some of her antagonistic stance.

  Wonsan took up the conversation.

  “Like Detective Roots stated, we’re here on a murder investigation. Now we can do this the hard way or the easy way, but we have some questions for Ms. Elliot. I have no compunction to haul her up to the police station for questioning—”

  “You’ll have to get past us first, you cunt.” Josh’s deep rumble interrupted the other man, and as one the cleaners stepped forward. A small smile played around Huntly’s lips, but he made no move to stop them, and some of his bravado left Wonsan. The police at the doors lifted their weapons, and Susie shot forward from behind the bar.

  “I’ll answer anything you want me to. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

  Ren tensed when she wouldn’t look at him as she said those words, and Huntly frowned and inclined his head.

  “If you’re sure, Susie. You might want to wait until my solicitor gets here. They cannot force you to answer anything.”

  Susie wrapped her arms around herself and at long last looked toward Ren and his men. She smiled at each one in turn and shook her head.

  “I won’t need a solicitor, and you boys can stand down. I can look after myself.”

  It took every ounce of self-control Ren possessed to not grab his girl, fling her over his shoulder, and pummel her ass when she smiled up at Wonsan.

  “Where do you want me, Detective?”

  Wonsan regarded her through narrowed eyes, and Huntly intervened again.

  “You may use my office for privacy, if you like. If you need any of us, all you have to do is press the intercom, Susie. We’ve got your back.”

  Ren didn’t miss the undertone, and neither did Wonsan, because he puffed up his chest and glared at Huntly, who simply turned his back on the detective.

  “Thank you, sir.” Susie’s quiet voice soothed the savage beast inside Ren somewhat, and emotions churning his gut, he watched her lead the two detectives away. Owen wrenched his head toward the back room, and taking the hint Ren followed him out, leaving the rest of his team to square up to the armed officers.

  The minute the door shut behind them, Ren rounded on his friend. “What the fuck, Owen? What if she talks?”

  Huntly adjusted his cufflinks and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Have you given her reason to do so?” he asked, and Ren punched the wall in frustration.

  “No, yes—fuck, I don’t
know. You should have stopped her from talking to them. God knows what she’ll say even without meaning to. She’s not used to this shit, you know that.”

  Ren fought the urge to swipe that smug grin of Owen’s face and stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets instead. The knuckles he’d scraped on the wall protested that move, but Ren welcomed that pain. It was a distraction from the ache around his heart, after all.

  “You should give your girl more credit. She’ll do just fine, I’m sure.”

  Ren snorted and swore under his breath, and Owen gave a short laugh.

  “The rumors around this place are right then. You’ve got your balls all in a twist over this girl, haven’t you?”

  “So what if I have?” Ren countered. “That’s my problem. If she squeals, however, that becomes your problem, and—”

  “And I’ll deal with it in the most expedient manner.” Owen interrupted him, and cold sweat ran down Ren’s shoulder blades at the menacing undertone. “You’ll take care of her, if you have to, right?”

  The crippling pain that shot through Ren’s chest at that thought took his breath away, and Owen pulled him in for a one armed hug and pat on the shoulder.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I’ve grown quite fond of seeing her bright smile around the place, too.”

  ****

  Susie’s heart beat so fast she was afraid she might pass out. Bile churned her insides with every step she took away from the club and up the stairs to Huntly’s office. Being able to look down and see the cleaners square up to the armed police in a silent battle of wills, didn’t help calm her down one iota. Armed police, for fuck’s sake. People could be killed, and it would be all her fault. While her heart had missed several beats and she felt the men’s determination to protect her surround her like a security blanket, she couldn’t let them do that. Besides, how bad could it be to answer some questions? She didn’t know enough, anyway. Ren reappeared from the back room, a grim looking Huntly in tow, and when Ren looked straight up as though he could sense her gaze on him, she took a deep breath in to calm her nerves. She could do this, for Ren, for Huntly, who’d given her a job and his protection, when she’d had nowhere to run to, and for the rest of the men. She’d grown incredibly fond of them all, after all.

  Wonsan stepped up right behind her, until the somewhat overwhelming scent of his aftershave enveloped her. Clearly the detective was one of those men who didn’t get that less was more when it came to applying scent.

  “Thank you for agreeing to answer our questions, Ms. Elliot. I must admit, I expected you to put up more of a struggle, considering you’re living with Ellis Reynolds.” Marian Roots clearly was going to adopt the good cop routine during this interview, while a scowling Wonsan was no doubt the bad one in this set up.

  It would have been comical in any other circumstances, were it not Susie at the receiving end of their interrogation.

  Squaring her shoulders and taking strength from Ren’s unblinking focus aimed at Huntly’s office, she forced a smile on her lips.

  “I fail to see what my living arrangements have to do with anything,” she said.

  The other woman smiled.

  “It all helps to create a picture of whom I’m dealing with here. After all, your file doesn’t suggest you would be the kind of girl to end up working here, and being in a relationship with a killer like Reynolds.”

  Susie couldn’t help her flinch at hearing Ren addressed like that.

  “Don’t you mean alleged killer, Detective? Otherwise, surely, he’d be under arrest already, and this whole interview would be a moot point.” It gave her a small amount of satisfaction to see the other woman blink slowly.

  Yes, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

  “So, you like the bad boys then, Susie?” Wonsan took over, and Susie swung her attention over to him.

  “That’s Ms. Elliot to you, Detective. I don’t know you well enough to let you call me by my first name, and my likes and dislikes are none of your concern. I suggest you get to the point as to why you singled me out to interview, or I’ll simply return to my duties.”

  Wonsan laughed, and the disgusted look he gave her made her want to slap him. She did neither, of course, and glanced down on the main floor instead. Ren was now leaning against the bar, thick arms crossed over his chest, his focus still entirely on the office. He would know that she could see him, and she took immense strength from that. Not for anything would she betray him.

  “Ah yes, your duties. Tell me, which one of them are you spreading your legs for tonight, or maybe it’s all of them? Your grandmother must be so proud.”

  It was a low dig that hurt, which had no doubt been his intention. Susie blinked rapidly to push away her tears. She would not give him the satisfaction of letting him know how much that had hurt. Though deep down, she knew that come what may, her Gran would have had her back and would have respected her decision. Besides life wasn’t a simple case of black and white. Good and evil, right and wrong. If she’d learned anything at all since she’d got dragged into this mess, it was that.

  “Actually she would be, not that it’s any of your business, either. If all you’re going to do is hurl insults at me, I’m leaving.” Her exit was barred by Marian Roots, and Wonsan’s heavy hand on her shoulder forced her to take a seat.

  “Sit down, Ms. Elliot, we are not done. Besides, I very much suspect you’ll lose your high and toity attitude, once I’ve shown you the evidence.”

  The female Detective passed him a file, and horror crawled up her spine when Wonsan flipped it open. Gruesome pictures spilled out, each one more horrific than the one before, and Susie swallowed hard to stop herself from being sick.

  “Both bodies were fished out of the canal last week. It took us some time to identify them due to the damage inflicted by the water, but this,” he tapped a particularly gruesome image of bloated body, barely recognizable as a black female and Susie knew instinctively that it had to be Myrtle. “This is Myrtle Jones, or what remains of her, once your boyfriends were done with her.”

  Susie shook her head and screwed her eyes shut, but the images were already ingrained in her mind.

  I mustn’t be sick. I mustn’t be sick. She was a bitch. She had it coming.

  Her internal mantra failed to work when Wonsan listed her injuries.

  “They cut off her hands and tongue. A common thing to do for what they class an informer. She was also beaten into a pulp and raped repeatedly. We can’t be sure if that was while she was still alive or afterwards.” He paused, and Marian Roots passed her a glass of water from the carafe Huntly always kept on the long sideboard in his office

  “Here, drink this. I know these are hard to take. You knew her, of course. I suspect you were quite close, after all—”

  “We weren’t close at all. Myrtle was a royal bitch, who didn’t care about anyone but herself.” Susie slammed her mouth shut, lest she said something she might regret and Marian pulled back in surprise.

  “So, you’re saying she had this coming? That she deserved this somehow? Wow, where is a little sisterly solidarity here?”

  Susie bristled inside, and having taken a hasty gulp of the water in front of her, slammed the glass back on the table.

  “Don’t put words in my mouth. I’m not saying anything of the sort. I’m just not surprised she found a gruesome end. Besides, how do you know she was raped? That woman had more paying customers than you could throw a dick at. Who’s to say that wasn’t consensual?”

  Wonsan gave a short laugh, and Marian shook her head.

  “Be that as it may, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have consented to having her hands cut off, though you don’t seem too surprised at that. What did she do? Steal from Huntly and he had your boyfriends take him out?”

  “They’re not my boyfriends, damn you. Don’t twist this into something ugly. I’m only involved with…” Susie bit her lip and scowled at the triumphant smile that spread over Wonsan’s face at her almost admissi
on.

  “Oh don’t stop there, you’re involved with…”

  “None of your fucking business.” Susie ground the words out through clenched teeth, and flinched when Marian put a hand on her arm.

  “I understand. You don’t want to end up like Myrtle, but we can protect you. If you’ll only testify against him…”

  Susie reared away from the other woman’s touch and shot to her feet with so much force her chair cluttered to the floor. Sidestepping Wonsan, she stepped up to the one way glass, and rested her forehead against it. Ren was smiling at something Ty said to him, and her heart gave a flip.

  Even if she wanted to, the police wouldn’t be able to keep her safe. Ren or one of his men would find her, and besides, that man owned her body and soul, and had done almost from the minute she’d laid eyes on him. She could no more betray him than she could stop breathing.

  “If you’re worried that we can’t, then—”

  “Spare me.” Susie interrupted the other woman. “I wasn’t born yesterday. Even if I had something to tell, which, by the way I haven’t, you could never protect me. I have no wish to end up as the next lot of fish food, so whatever you’re going to throw at me, it won’t work. You clearly have no evidence at all, and are fishing for answers with me. Well, babe, you’re not going to get those answers from me, so save your breaths and go after the real bad guys. Like the Priestly brothers, maybe.”

  “Funny, you should say that, especially as you seem to have switched alliances so recently.”

  Wonsan pinned her in place with his gaze, and Susie frowned at him.

  “I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” she said and promptly flinched when Wonsan slapped another gruesome picture right up next to her on the window.