Streetwise

by Roberta Kray

  ‘Yeah,’ Butler said. ‘But that’s all it was – a rumour.’

  Valerie looked across the desk. ‘Lydia might have thought otherwise. We don’t know what she was told as she was growing up. What if she came back to try and find out what really happened? Ava Gold said that Lydia was searching for people who knew about the past, about her mother.’

  Higgs gave a snort. ‘That’s if you can believe anything Ava Gold says.’

  Jeff Butler flicked through the documents again, even though he’d already absorbed all the information. It was a way of occupying his hands while his mind went to work. Eventually he put the papers back on the desk and said, ‘So basically we could still be looking at Lydia as our gunman – or gunwoman – and we’re back to the intended victim being Danny Street rather than Squires.’

  Valerie gave a nod. ‘If Lydia was looking for some kind of revenge, maybe she thought that killing Terry’s son was better than killing Terry himself. An eye for an eye, that kind of thing. Terry murdered her mother’s grandfather, Joe Quinn, and had his two sons locked up for something they hadn’t done. One of those sons was her mother’s father, Tommy. Maybe she saw it as a kind of justice.’

  ‘Except there’s no evidence that Terry did kill Joe,’ Butler said.

  ‘Yes, but we’re talking about what Lydia thinks, what she believes. What did her mother tell her? We just don’t know. What we do know is that Karen Quinn had a troubled existence and maybe she blamed Terry Street for that. It could have been enough to bring Lydia back to Kellston, to try and right the wrong that ruined her mother’s life.’ Valerie stopped, took a breath and gave Butler a wry smile. ‘Yes, it’s just another theory. But if she shot Squires by mistake, it might have been enough to push her over the edge.’

  ‘What about the gun?’ he said. ‘We were wondering if Ava Gold might have got it for her, but she’s hardly likely to have handed over a weapon that was going to be used to kill her boyfriend’s brother.’

  ‘Unless she didn’t know who Lydia really was.’

  Higgs flapped a hand impatiently. ‘I don’t see how she couldn’t have known. They were friends, weren’t they? That Ava Gold’s in this up to her neck.’

  Butler gazed at the ceiling for a moment, tracing a crack that was running in a zigzag from one side to the other. ‘Someone must have known who she really was.’

  ‘Guy Wilder,’ Valerie suggested. ‘If she went to talk to him about her mother, then she must have told him what her mother’s maiden name was.’

  ‘So why didn’t he say anything?’ Higgs asked. ‘We were at the bar yesterday and he didn’t even mention it.’

  Butler laughed. ‘Say anything? His mother was one of the biggest villains in the East End. He might run a legitimate business, but he’s still his mother’s son.’

  Valerie reached for her coat. ‘I think it’s time we had another word with Mr Wilder.’

  45

  Mondays were never that busy at the bar and now, with the last of the lunchtime trade starting to drift away, Noah found himself at a loose end. Standing behind the bar, he gazed with irritation at the debris on the counter. Jenna had gone off to talk to some girls in the corner, leaving her jacket, bag, scarf, gloves, phone and newspaper all in a heap on the counter. He didn’t see it as his job to protect her belongings. Why should he? It would serve her right if some light-fingered customer helped himself on the way out.

  Guy was sitting on one of the leather sofas with the grey-haired bloke, Borovski. Noah wasn’t happy about that either. Guy had gone out of his way to try and make sure that the Russian didn’t open his casino on the borders of Kellston. Although he wasn’t privy to all the ins and outs, he did know that Guy had spent the last month schmoozing Jeremy Squires and his councillor pals. Had money changed hands? He suspected so.

  There had only been one reason why Guy had got himself involved in the business of the casino, and that was to spite the Streets. No casino meant no protection money and that wouldn’t please Terry and his sons. Still, that was the whole point of it. Guy would do just about anything to piss off the Streets. One day, and it was a day that was rapidly approaching, he’d go too far.

  Noah gave a weary shake of his head, picked up Jenna’s copy of the Evening Standard and leafed through the pages. It wasn’t long before he came across a report of the shooting at Belles. There was a photograph of Squires and beside it one of Danny Street. He scanned through the article, but it didn’t tell him any more than he already knew.

  Guy stood up and walked Borovski to the door. The two men shook hands and then the Russian crossed the road to where his chauffeur was waiting in the smart black Bentley. Guy came over and leaned on the bar.

  Noah tapped the newspaper. ‘Belles,’ he said.

  ‘They found out who did it yet?’

  ‘Not when this went to print.’

  ‘Does it mention Lydia?’

  ‘No, nothing.’

  ‘Lydia?’ Jenna said coming up behind Guy. She glanced down at the newspaper to see what Noah was reading. ‘Was that the Lydia that was here on Saturday?’

  Noah gave Guy a sharp look. ‘Lydia was here?’

  ‘After the bar closed,’ Jenna said. ‘After you left. It was about half twelve. She turned up out of the blue wanting to talk to you. She was upset about something. Guy got her a coffee while I went upstairs.’

  ‘Me? Why would she —’

  Guy cut in quickly. ‘I figured the last thing you needed was a drunken Lydia turning up on your doorstep after a long night in the bar, so I made her a coffee in the hope she’d sober up and I’d be able to persuade her to go home.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me,’ said Noah tightly, frowning at Guy. It was a big fat lie – at least the part about Lydia wanting to see him – but he wasn’t going to say anything in front of Jenna.

  Guy gave a shrug. ‘Didn’t I? It must have slipped my mind.’

  ‘So what’s this Lydia got to do with that?’ Jenna asked, staring at the paper again. ‘What’s she got to do with what happened at Belles?’

  ‘Nothing,’ Guy said.

  ‘So why did you just ask if she was mentioned?’

  ‘Oh, only because she knew Squires vaguely. That’s what she was upset about when she came here. She’d met him a few times in the shop she works in. To be honest, she’s a bit of a drama queen. She barely knew him, but that’s Lydia for you, always getting emotional over one thing or another.’

  Noah could feel his heart beginning to race. He closed the paper, folded it over and put it back on top of Jenna’s jacket. He gave her a quick glance, wondering if she’d swallowed the story. She wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she wasn’t entirely stupid either. However, he suspected that any concerns she might have revolved more around sexual jealousy than anything else. She wasn’t really interested in the shooting, only in whether Guy could be trusted or not.

  Noah checked the clock on the wall. ‘I’m going to close up.’ He looked pointedly at Guy and said as casually as he could manage, ‘And I need a word about those, er… promotions we were discussing. Do you think you’ll have time before this evening?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Guy blithely. ‘We’re just going upstairs to grab a coffee. Half an hour and then I’m all yours.’

  Jenna leaned across the bar, laid a hand on her jacket, fluttered her eyelashes and said, ‘Noah, sweetheart, you don’t mind if I leave my things down here, do you? It’ll save me carting it all up to the flat.’

  ‘Sure,’ Noah said. ‘No problem.’

  ‘Thanks, babe. You’re an angel.’

  Noah got rid of the last of the customers and locked the door. He leaned against it for a moment waiting for his heart rate to slow. It had taken every last inch of willpower to stop himself from dragging Guy into the back and demanding some answers straight away. But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t do anything that might make Jenna suspicious.

  He spent most of the next half hour pacing distractedly round the bar. Lydia H
all had been here on Saturday night. Lydia had been here and then she had gone home and killed herself. Jesus! And Guy hadn’t said a word. Not a single goddamn word. He wondered, not for the first time, whether she might actually have done the shooting. The cops hadn’t come straight out and said it, but why else would they be so interested in her death and how well she knew Squires?

  When he heard the footsteps on the stairs, he made himself scarce, waiting in the back until Guy had seen Jenna out. Did that woman ever do any work? She owned a lingerie shop in Chigwell – courtesy of her divorce settlement – but didn’t spend much time there. He waited, full of impatience, while she chattered on and on. Jesus, was she never going to leave? It was only after long lingering kisses had been exchanged and goodbyes been murmured that the front door finally opened and closed.

  Noah, unable to contain himself any longer, stormed back into the bar. ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me?’

  Guy gazed calmly back at him. ‘Because I knew you’d react like this.’

  ‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’

  ‘That you’d get in a panic, that you’d go off on one.’

  Noah shook his head in frustration. ‘For God’s sake, you were the last person to see Lydia alive. She came here before she went home and… What did she say? Why did she come here?’

  ‘You know what she was like. She’d heard about the shooting, got in a state and —’

  ‘Heard about it or did it?’

  Guy gave a shrug. ‘Well, you could never tell with Lydia. What was real and what was fantasy? She always lived in a world of her own. Anyway, she was in a state. I made her coffee, calmed her down and offered to walk her home. And that was it – the last time I saw her.’

  ‘But what did she say?’

  ‘It was kind of garbled. To be honest, she wasn’t making much sense. She’d had a few drinks. She wasn’t… wasn’t thinking straight. She was rambling.’

  Noah began pacing again, up and down, up and down. ‘I mean, how would someone like Lydia even get hold of a gun?’ He stopped suddenly and stared at Guy. His heart missed a beat. ‘Oh, please God, tell me you didn’t.’

  Guy pulled a face. ‘How was I to know what she was planning? That’s if she even did it. A couple of weeks ago, she told me that she didn’t feel safe living alone, that someone had tried to break in to her flat. She said she was going to buy a gun to protect herself. What was I supposed to do?’

  ‘Supposed to do? Christ almighty! Not hand her a bloody gun for starters. Are you completely bloody mad?’

  ‘Yeah?’ Guy said. ‘And if I hadn’t, what would she have done then? Gone out and tried to buy one on the street. And probably got herself arrested or mixed up with God knows what sort of lowlifes and ended up in a ditch somewhere. And yeah, maybe it was a mistake, but I thought she just wanted the gun to make her feel better, to feel safe.’

  Noah’s hands clenched with anxiety. ‘What if the police find out?’

  ‘And how are they going to do that?’

  ‘Well, even if they don’t, they still might think that you put her up to it. As soon as they find out who she is – and they will find out – they’ll be knocking on the door again wanting to know why you lied to them.’

  ‘That’s my problem. You think I can’t deal with the cops?’

  Noah was infuriated by his nonchalance, by his apparent indifference to the trouble that was brewing. Couldn’t he see how bad it was going to look? ‘You should never have filled her head with all that stuff, all those rumours about the past. She was impressionable. You know she was.’

  ‘They weren’t rumours. You think my mother didn’t know the truth? She knew it inside out. She knew everything about Terry Street. I wasn’t going to lie to the girl. She wanted answers and I gave them to her.’

  ‘You wanted to cause trouble for the Streets.’

  Guy gave a shrug. ‘So what? Terry Street had my mother murdered. What’s a little trouble compared to that?’

  ‘You don’t know that for sure.’

  ‘I know how Terry’s mind works. Sitting in that prison cell for all those years, hearing stories about her, watching as she grew more and more powerful. He couldn’t stand it. He was the boss and he needed everyone to know it.’

  Noah was quiet for a moment. ‘Maybe Lydia did shoot Danny Street. Maybe she meant to kill him and accidentally killed Squires instead.’

  ‘She might have,’ Guy said. ‘She might not. But either way, so far as the cops are concerned, it’s nothing to do with me or you. There’s no reason why they should ever find out that Lydia was here on Saturday.’

  ‘How you can say that? What about Jenna? She saw her. She knows she was here.’

  ‘So what?’

  Noah sat down, briefly covered his face with his hands and then looked up at Guy again. ‘What happens when she finds out that Lydia’s dead?’

  ‘If she finds out.’

  ‘It’s going to be splashed all over the papers when… if the police find a link with the shooting. And anyway, she’s over here often enough. What if she hears someone talking about her suicide?’

  ‘Then I’ll sit down and have a chat with her. I’ll tell her that Lydia was drunk, that she wasn’t making any sense, that I had no idea she was going to go home and top herself. I’ll explain how I don’t want the cops crawling all over my life and making it a misery. God, the woman was married to Chris Street. I’m sure she knows how to keep her mouth shut.’

  But Noah wasn’t so sure. Jenna and Guy hadn’t been together long. Just how loyal would she be when push came to shove? Then again, Guy Wilder could be very persuasive when he put his mind to it. He was still pondering on this when another more urgent thought leapt into his head. ‘What about the gun? Did they find it at her flat? What if it’s still got your prints on? Did you wipe it – did you wipe it before you gave it to her?’

  ‘You don’t need to worry about the gun.’

  ‘What do you mean, I don’t need to…’ Noah’s eyes widened in alarm. He jumped to his feet. ‘Shit, tell me she didn’t bring it with her. She did, didn’t she? But you’ve got rid of it, right? Jesus, Guy, tell me you’ve dumped the fucking thing!’

  ‘I will – once everything calms down.’

  ‘No, not later. Now. You’ve got to get rid of it now! What if the cops search upstairs?’

  ‘Why should they?’

  As his heart thumped ever harder in his chest, Noah could feel himself starting to sweat. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. ‘What’s the matter with you? It could be the bloody murder weapon for all you know. Let me take it. I’ll… I’ll…’

  ‘You’ll what? Chuck it in the river, put it in a bin, bury it in Epping Forest? And what if someone finds it? No, it’s safer here. I feel better knowing exactly where it is.’

  ‘You’re mad. You can’t take that risk.’

  Guy smiled, his eyes bright with amusement. ‘Chill out, you’ll give yourself a coronary. Stop worrying. Everything’s under control.’ He patted Noah on the shoulder and walked behind the bar. ‘Do you fancy a drink? I know I could do with one.’

  ‘You know what I want, Guy? I want the bloody truth for once. Do you think there’s any way you could manage that?’

  Guy inclined his head and stared at him. ‘The truth,’ he repeated. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes, of course I’m damn well sure.’

  ‘Well then, you’d better sit down and I’ll bring that drink over. I think you’re going to need it.’

  46

  Ava got into the Mercedes, shut the door, leaned back and gave a long sigh of relief. ‘Thanks for that,’ she said. ‘You could have warned me.’

  Chris slid his seat belt across his chest. ‘I told you what my brother’s like. He never says more than he wants to – and most of what he does say is complete and utter bollocks.’

  ‘It’s not him I’m talking about.’ She glanced out of the window towards the Fox. ‘Has that girl got a screw loose or is it
just me?’

  ‘Oh, Silver. Yeah, she’s crazy, mad as a box of frogs.’

  ‘You know what she said while you two were at the bar? After informing me that the two of us were going to be great friends, she asked what you were like in bed. Well, she didn’t quite put it quite like that, but I’ll spare your blushes.’

  Chris laughed. ‘I hope you gave me a glowing report.’

  ‘I told her it was none of her damn business.’ She leaned forward again and started the engine, keen to get away from the pub. ‘I mean, what kind of person asks a question like that five minutes after you’ve been introduced?’