The Binford Mysteries: A Collection of Gritty Urban Mystery Novels (3 - BOOK BOX SET)

by Rashad Salim

  We were in his car outside his shop.

  Chantelle wasn’t home when I reached her flat. I rang her doorbell but nobody answered. I had waited by her front gate for about an hour before I left her a voicemail telling her I had heard about Thom and that I was at her front door. I hung up after telling her to call me back. Then I came over to see Sajid while I was in town.

  “Still you gotta hand it to that boy,” he said. “Who knew he’d be the one to get justice for your mate Mark, eh?” His laugh was laced with melancholy. “I suppose that makes him some kind of hero, no?”

  I mulled it over. I had to admit there was some twisted logic there even if I knew it was wrong. I had wanted to them to go to prison for what they did but if I was being honest with myself, I was partly glad Carl and Marcus were dead instead of being free.

  What bothered me now was the domino effect: their killer took his own life and he was the brother of the love of my life. Even if Carl and Marcus’ fellow gang members decided not to take out their revenge on her, she would be emotionally damaged forever.

  “Joe wants to go to war with the Binford Boyz,” Sajid said. “He doesn’t just want revenge. He wants to wipe them out and take their share of Binford.”

  It was a hot day but Sajid’s comment sent a chill down my back. “How do you know that?”

  “I spoke to a few people,” he said. “When it happens you ain’t gonna want to be anywhere near this town.”

  We sat in silence for a while. Sajid smoked his cigarette and I drank my can of Coke.

  I imagined the kind of violence Joe and the Lion Crew would hand out and it sent another chill down my back. If Joe wanted revenge and was going to go after all the key figures in the Binford Boyz gang, I knew that included their families. I had seen and heard way too much about the kind of gang violence that happened all over the city, not just in Binford, to know that nobody was safe if they were associated with gang members.

  “If anything happens to Chantelle...man...” I couldn’t even finish what I was saying. The thought was too scary to even say out loud.

  “Don’t worry, bre,” Sajid said. “I’m sure she’s safe. Especially now that the cops are on her case.”

  “You think they’re gonna take down the Binford Boyz and the Lion Crew?” I asked.

  “They’re probably raiding all their houses and rounding them up right now,” he said. “If that’s how it is then Joe can forget any ideas of revenge.”

  I wished the police had already arrested all the key figures in both gangs and that anyone who escaped arrest was too scared to carry out any revenge attacks. But I knew I was in the dark. I had no clue what the police were doing until they either came knocking on my door at night or when their arrests made it on the news.

  “One thing I don’t get,” Sajid said. “Why did Thom kill Carl and Marcus? I mean if Tyrone wanted them dead, why didn’t he get some of the big boys to do it? Why get the newbie to do the dirty work? He could’ve easily fucked up or not gone through with it.”

  I told Sajid what the press presumed: it was an initiation test. Thom had to prove his worth by killing targets Tyrone picked.

  “If he didn’t, they’d probably have turned on him,” I said. Or even worse, now that I thought about it, they might have punished him by targeting his sister.

  I knew I was speculating based on previous incidents and scenarios I had known about in the past. I knew I could’ve been wrong but the thought of Chantelle getting sucked into gang warfare made my blood boil. It didn’t matter if it was the Binford Boyz or the Lion Crew. They were as bad as each other as far as I was concerned.

  Sajid began talking about something else but I couldn’t let go of the notion of Chantelle being harmed. And then another niggling feeling got hold of me: why wasn’t she answering her phone?

  “I need to speak to Tyrone,” I said, cutting off Sajid midsentence.

  “What?”

  “I need to know why Thom did what he did and I wanna know where the fuck Chantelle is.”

  “Calm down, bre,” he said. “You’re panicking over nothing.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down, man,” I said. “I haven’t heard from her in ages, what if something happened?”

  He frowned. “What? Overnight? Get a grip. You’re letting your imagination get the better of you again.”

  “Again?”

  “You gonna tell me you haven’t cocked up enough times this last week jumping to conclusions?”

  He was right and he knew I knew it too. There was no use in arguing about it. But I couldn’t ignore my instincts. No matter how wrong they proved to be recently. I couldn’t put anything past Binford anymore. Not now that the craziness seemed to be at a peak.

  “Alright,” he said. “You wanna go back to the ghetto to talk to Tyrone?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s a dumb idea but I’m sure you know it. I know I can’t talk you out of it so I’m gonna go with you.”

  I looked at him in surprise. “Nah, man. I’ll go alone.”

  “Bullshit,” he said. “Either don’t go at all or I go with you. And since I know you’ll just lie to me about changing your mind, it means I have to go too.”

  I wanted to thank him for his help and for sticking his neck out for me but I didn’t want to look too desperate and scared in front of him, like I couldn’t do it without him, so I just nodded instead.

  “I hope you know what this means,” he said, as he started the engine and drove out. He looked at me and said, “This ain’t about your boy Mark anymore.”

  I didn’t say anything. Sajid was wrong about that though. What started out with Mark’s death had become something much bigger and no matter how much I rationalised it, I couldn’t stay away from it. Not until it was over. But by now I knew it never would be.

  37

  We reached Tyrone’s housing estate around six o’ clock in the evening. I was glad the sun was still up. This wasn’t a place where I ever wanted to be after dark.

  Sajid parked the car away from the estate. He didn’t want the car anywhere near the estate and I couldn’t blame him.

  “Alright,” he said as unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door. “Let’s get this over with. I just need to get something first.”

  We got out of the car and he made his way to the car boot. He opened it and while I didn’t see what he pulled out I already knew what it was.

  “You’re not taking that with you,” I said.

  He shut the boot and tucked his gun behind his jeans as casual as he would his mobile phone.

  “What?”

  “I said you have to leave that here. The last thing we need is to get into more trouble.”

  He stared at me for a second and laughed. I knew what was coming so conceded instantly.

  “Let’s just have a chit chat with these niggers and be on our way, okay?” He put his arm around my shoulder and we walked onto the estate.

  We crossed the estate to where I had met Tyrone the previous time I was here. There was no one around – at least no one in sight.

  Once again I could sense we were being watched but it didn’t bother me as much this time around. I don’t know how much that had to do with the fact that Sajid was with me or that he had come armed.

  I began to realise Sajid had most certainly been right about this being a bad idea. But it was too late to turn back now. I had made the choice between the cushy life back in West London and the utter hell hole that was Binford. It was too late for regrets.

  I didn’t know what we’d find out now that we were actually here or if it was going to be worth it. Right now I was suddenly desperate for answers and I was going to do whatever I could to get some.

  We passed the dumpsters and the abandoned cars and I scanned our surroundings for anyone I might recognise. When we reached the same spot I had been when I met Tyrone for the first time, there was still no one around. I began to wonder what to do next. I didn’t think the residents would appreciate it if w
e went exploring where they lived.

  “What now?” Sajid asked.

  Then I heard the sound of footsteps from behind. I spun around to see a group of black boys approaching us from around a wall. There were at least eight of them and led by Flat Cap.

  “What do you want this time?” he asked me.

  Sajid stood at my side a little behind me, letting me lead the conversation just as he promised he would during the ride here.

  “I need to speak to Tyrone,” I said. “It’s important. You know I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.”

  He looked at me and then at Sajid. “What’s it about?”

  “I need to talk to him about Thom.”

  “He’s not here,” Flat Cap said with a shrug. He had a blank expression and there was a good chance he was lying to us but for some reason, probably judging by the look in his eye or the tone of his voice, I believed him. “...Now you better go back to where you came from... Unless you want trouble.”

  I could sense he said that last part mainly for the benefit of his friends. It felt too forced. I knew he had to talk tough to keep face in the presence of outsiders but I wasn’t going to underestimate the threat.

  “Look, I dunno how tight you were with Thom but he’s dead and I wanna know why he killed those Lion Crew.”

  He looked away and spat on the side, ignoring what I had said.

  “Doesn’t it bother you that Thom’s dead?” I asked him. “That what he did is gonna put all of you on the police’s radar as well as the Lion Crew?”

  I waited for him to answer but he continued to ignore me. I could see his friends getting restless.

  “I just wanna talk to Tyrone for a minute, okay?”

  Flat Cap looked at me suddenly like I had finally got his attention. Or had tested his patience.

  He took a step or two closer to us and spread his arms out. “You deaf? He ain’t here and even if he was, he wouldn’t be talking to you pussies!”

  Judging by his reaction I decided I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him and that Sajid and I should just leave.

  Before I could say anything, Sajid lunged forward and smashed the back of his gun in Flat Cap’s face.

  38

  Flat Cap collapsed on the ground. Sajid grabbed him with one hand and moved to stand over him.

  My mouth fell open in shock. I stood there too dazed to do anything but watch. Even the other gang members failed to react immediately.

  Flat Cap held his face with both hands and moaned in pain.

  Sajid held onto him and waved the gun around, aiming it at the other boys.

  “Tell us where he is, you fucking niggers!” He whacked Flat Cap in the face again as I watched in horror. He then aimed the gun back at the other gang members in case they tried anything. They either raised their hands in surrender or took a few steps back. None of them spoke.

  “Don’t fucking move!” Sajid waved the gun around, aiming it at each of the boys.

  I finally got a hold of myself and rushed forward to stop Sajid but didn’t dare touch him. Not while he still held that gun. I got down on one knee to check on Flat Cap who lay on the ground with his hands over his face. Blood was spilling through his fingers. I didn’t know whether it was from his mouth or his nose.

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out some used tissues and placed them in Flat Cap’s hands. When he took the tissues and I saw the look in eyes. He might have been furious at us but he was scared too.

  “It’s alright,” I said softly. “It’s alright.”

  My heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to collapse from the pressure of the situation. I looked up at Sajid and was about to vent my anger at his loss of self control but he grabbed Flat Cap’s throat and started shouting at him again.

  “Where the fuck is he?”

  Sajid put the gun to Flat Cap’s head.

  In that moment I was convinced he was going to squeeze the trigger and kill Flat Cap on the spot.

  “Sajid!”

  He ignored me.

  “You wanna die? You fucking nigger, tell me where he is!”

  Flat Cap was breathing heavy and stared back at Sajid in silence.

  “SAJID!”

  “What?” he asked me, his eyes fixed on Flat Cap.

  “Let him go!”

  Sajid reluctantly let go of Flat Cap and took a step back before aiming the barrel of the gun at his friends. This time they shifted around uneasily to avoid the gun’s line of fire as if the first time Sajid was just teasing them.

  “Get down on the ground! All of you!” Sajid said to the boys.

  When none of them did as he said, he rushed forward and clipped one of them around the head with the gun. The boy staggered before collapsing on the ground, finally lying on his side.

  “You think I’m fucking playing with you? GET DOWN!”

  The others followed him and within seconds they were all lying face down on the ground.

  “Any of you niggers who knows where he is better start talking right now,” Sajid said.

  “Where is he?” I asked Flat Cap while helping him sit up.

  He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. “I don’t know where he is but I know where he’s gonna be later.”

  “Go on.”

  “There’s a party at someone’s house near the corner of Kingston Road. He said he was gonna be there tonight.”

  “Call him,” I said.

  He grimaced and shook his head.

  “Call him now,” I said. “Don’t worry, you got no choice.”

  He studied me for a moment and pulled out his phone. He was about to call Tyrone but I stopped him. I handed him my phone and said, “Use this one.”

  He entered Tyrone’s number and dialled it.

  Sajid was still aiming his gun at the others. I wondered how I was going to explain this to anyone who asked me about it.

  “Boss?” Flat Cap said on the phone. “Yeah, it’s Andre. I got someone here who wants to talk to you.”

  I took the phone from him.

  “See?” Sajid said to Andre and beamed a smile at him. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  Andre glared at him.

  “Tyrone?” I said over the phone.

  “I’m here, what’s this about?”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “About what?”

  “Thom.”

  There was a long pause on Tyrone’s end. “I can’t be talking about that shit right now,” he said. “And definitely not with random people. Don’t call this number again or you’re gonna regret it.”

  I could tell he was about to hang up so I had to be quick.

  “Hang up and you’re gonna have 5o dragging your arse out of bed at four in the morning.”

  He was quiet.

  “Maybe not tonight. But I’m sure they’ll find you soon enough.” I hadn’t planned on threatening him but felt it was necessary.

  Andre studied me carefully too, probably trying to determine if I was for real.

  “You hear me?”

  “Is that a threat?” Tyrone asked.

  I picked my words carefully. “...You wanna find out?”

  He was quiet again.

  “I can’t be talking about this over the phone.”

  “Then we’ll talk in person,” I said.

  “I’m busy. Sorry.”

  “I hear you’re going to a party later,” I said. “Is that right?”

  He laughed. “Maybe, why? You wanna crash the party?”

  “If I have to,” I said, surprising myself with the audacity.

  “Okay then, come down.” He told me the address of the house party and agreed to meet around eleven o’ clock outside.

  “One more thing,” I said.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You wouldn’t have heard from Thom’s sister today, would you?”

  “Why?”

  “I dunno,” I said. “Maybe to apologise for sending her brother to his fucking grave?”

/>   “...I’ll see you at eleven,” he said. “Don’t be late.”

  “By the way, Tyrone,” I said while watching Andre clutching the tissues to his face. “Sorry I had to put a beatdown on your boy.”

  “What the fuck?”

  I hung up.

  39

  “Let’s go,” I said to Sajid. He still had his gun aimed at Andre’s friends who were still face down on the ground.

  Sajid passed each one of the gang members and placed the tip of the gun against the back of their heads for a few seconds. “The first nigger to stand up gets a round in the fucking belly, you hear me?”

  None of them responded but there was no doubt they had understood him.

  The reality of what we had just done had dawned on me and only now did I start to feel my legs shaking. There would be consequences for this attack and the death toll since the arson crossed my mind again.

  “Sorry about all this,” I told Andre as Sajid and I backed away from them.

  Andre stared back at me.

  I had no idea what he was thinking and shuddered.

  Sajid and I hurried back to the car. I kept looking over my shoulder every few seconds to see if anyone was following but there was no one. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. My heart was still racing when we got inside the car.

  Sajid started up the engine and looked at me. “What?”

  The shock and disbelief on my face must have said it all. All I wanted was to get as far away from the housing estate as possible. And maybe Sajid too.

  “What? Come on,” he said, “Don’t tell me you’re not glad I came.”

  I stared straight ahead in silence.

  “We got what we came for, right?” he asked. “You wanted to talk to Tyrone and we did, right?”

  We had also become his enemies, I thought.

  “What the fuck was all that back there?” I asked him. “I thought you were gonna shoot that boy Andre.”

  Sajid sniggered and glanced at the rear view mirror. “I bet he did too.”

  “You know what you just did?”

  “Got the job done?” he asked, mocking me.

  “We came to talk not threaten to kill them!”