When she’d finished her dad didn’t speak, he just sat in silence, staring into space, mulling over everything she’d just said.
When Leah opened her mouth to speak Battler patted her hand and gave her a gentle smile, indicating it would be best for her to remain silent. She decided to take his advice. Besides, she was sick of the sound of her own voice.
“You should have come to us with this sooner,” was the first thing Ryan said.
“I know that now Dad but I thought I could handle it. I thought I could convince Reid to stop it. Stupid, I know.”
“He’s killed two people and he’s made you an accessory.”
“But I wasn’t there.”
“That’s beside the point. You knew and you didn’t tell anyone.”
“You think I should have gone to the police?” she said incredulously, well aware of her dad’s loathing of the force.
“Of course not but you should have come to us. You had dangerous knowledge about him and he might have decided to silence you.”
Leah’s blood ran cold. The thought had never occurred to her. Was that why Reid had come here today, when he’d known she’d be alone and vulnerable?
“But that didn’t happen,” said Battler. “Leah’s safe, thank God and we have the little worm trapped in a car boot.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked her Dad.
“The only thing I can do,” he said, getting to his feet.
She leapt up after him. “Please don’t kill him Dad. I don’t care about him but I don’t want you getting into trouble.”
Her words broke Ryan’s heart. How many children seriously thought their fathers could take a life so easily? “I’m not going to do that Cupcake. I’m going to take him to A&E as planned.”
“But he might want to get you into trouble.”
“He won’t. Trust me Leah.”
She stared into his eyes, his gaze so steady and sure. She nodded. “Course I do.”
“Good girl.”
To her relief he hugged her and she sank into him, burying her face in his big chest.
Ryan looked to Battler. “Could you stay with her until I get back?”
“Course I can.”
“Thanks.”
Leah watched her dad go, anxiously wringing her hands.
“Don’t fret pet,” said Battler. “He’ll be fine. Your dad knows what he’s doing.”
“They’ve already been through so much and I’ve just added to it.”
Battler just hugged her while she cried.
Fortunately for Declan, Grant had declared they’d get the search for the grass done faster by splitting up, so he hadn’t even had to try and separate himself off from them. As he drove around the city streets, frantically trying to think a way out of this mess, his first instinct was to go to Amber. But he thought she’d only panic and that wouldn’t help him calm down. Instead decisive action was required. Then it hit him. He had access to the perfect scapegoat.
He called Katia’s man, asking him to meet up with him at a piece of waste ground on the edge of the city owned by Mikey and Jez. They’d bought it with a view to developing it for one of their legitimate businesses but so far hadn’t got round to doing anything about it.
It made Declan angry to see how blasé Katia’s man - who he’d discovered was called Graham - was about walking into enemy territory. It was clear Graham considered him to be a joke. Well he’d see who had the last fucking laugh.
“I take it Mikey Maguire being nicked is down to you?” said Graham almost jovially.
Declan just nodded.
Graham chuckled. “I must admit I didn’t see you going down the old plod route but it’s smart. Toni will see Mikey getting arrested as a weakness, which can only be a good thing for us.”
“He won’t be in there for long.”
“Who knows what the old bill will turn up? I hear Dwyer is a fucking sniffer dog and he’s got a raging hard on for your family.” When Declan produced the gun, Graham merely looked amused. “What you doing with that you dick? You think you can make all this go away with a bullet?”
“No but I can make it work in my favour. You’re my patsy.”
By the time Graham realised he was serious and that he’d underestimated Declan, he had already been pitched backwards by the bullet slamming through his forehead.
Declan smiled down at his body. “Not so fucking weak now, eh?”
“About bloody time,” said Mikey when DCI Taylor opened his cell door holding his neatly folded clothes. “I’d better be free to go?”
“You are. Dwyer found sod all.”
“As I knew he would. What took so fucking long?” he said, getting to his feet.
Taylor shut the door behind him, so no one would overhear. “It’s my day off today and it took some time to contact me. Jez had to put in a call to the Chief Constable, who told Dwyer to drop it. He’s made a proper tit of himself, even in the eyes of those who don’t like you. No one will dare touch you or Jez with a bargepole for a while after this. Your solicitor’s already threatening legal action, especially over the body cavity search.”
“Yeah, that’s something I could have done without,” he glowered. “For fuck’s sake, I was only doing a bit of shopping and I should have been to visit Jules hours ago.”
Taylor handed over his clothes and Mikey started tearing off the paper suit.
“You’d better keep that rabid dog on a chain,” said Mikey. “He’s insane. Like his brother.”
“I think you might just be right.”
“Can’t something be done about him?”
“I’m trying, believe me but he’s got an exemplary record and he’s the Chief Super’s pet. He won’t be easily got rid of.” He sighed heavily. “I was supposed to have retired by now but I stayed on because what’s the alternative? Sitting at home staring at the walls? Wish I had bloody retired now, then I wouldn’t be involved in this mess looking at a naked man.”
“It’s no fun for me either,” said Mikey, pulling on his boxers, hastily followed by his trousers. “Do you know who set me up?”
Taylor shook his head. “Dwyer says it was an anonymous tip off.”
“You believe him?”
“Yeah actually, I do. If he did have a grass in your outfit he wouldn’t have been able to resist dropping hints about it. He guessed about our little arrangement ages ago, as well as your relationship with the Chief Constable.”
“This isn’t the smartest place to be discussing this.”
“No one can hear through these walls.”
“Let me know if you find anything out.”
“Will do,” he said, looking very weary of life.
Mikey strode out of the cell, Taylor following and collected his personal items from the duty sergeant’s desk where his solicitor was waiting for him, a sturdy, rotund woman in middle age with a severe blond bun and bright red lipstick.
“I can assure you Mr Maguire that you won’t be bothered again by ridiculous nonsense like this,” said the solicitor with a snooty look at the duty sergeant.
“Good. Where’s my car and how many bits is it in?”
“It’s being put back together as we speak but it’s going to take some time.”
“Idiots,” he muttered.
Mikey didn’t speak to Taylor or even look his way as he left, it wouldn’t be fair to make out they were on friendly terms in front of his colleagues.
Outside the doors the solicitor headed to her own car while Mikey jogged down the steps to the BMW waiting for him at the bottom.
“Good to have you back mate,” said Jez when Mikey hopped into the passenger seat.
“It’s good to be back. Christ that was dicey. I was violated. Some fat pig stuck his finger up my arse. It’s not funny,” he added when Jez burst out laughing.
“Sorry,” he said, steering the car away from the kerb. “Aw come on, you’d have laughed if it had happened to me.”
“Probably. Apparently Dwyer tho
ught I might be concealing a gun up there.”
“He is one dangerous prick. He’s gunning for us and he’s not going to stop until he gets us.”
“It’s hardly new, is it? Let’s face it, we’ve always got someone trying to bring us down and I’m bloody sick of it.”
Jez’s grin dropped. “You’re not getting tired of the life, are you?”
“No, not tired. Sometimes I think I’d like to live the quiet life, not have to worry about anyone trying to steal everything we have or kill us but then I think, I’d probably die of boredom within the year.”
“So you’re not thinking of jacking it in then?”
“Nah. It’s in my blood. I could never give it up.”
“Thank God for that.”
“Why, would you miss me?” he grinned.
“Jesus, course I bloody would. Do you think I want to tackle all this chaos alone? Nah, I like having a partner.”
“Me too.”
They grinned at each other.
“Listen to us,” said Jez. “We’ll be leaving our wives for each other next.”
“I’m not going from one prima donna to another,” he said, smile falling.
“Things not going any better with Amber?”
“Put it this way. Before Dwyer nicked me, tore my car apart and got one of his colleagues to stick his finger into the heart of darkness I was shopping. I bought Jules a CD and a t-shirt because I knew she’d like them and they’d make her happy. I was going to buy Amber a necklace because she loves shiny things and it might shut her up for a few days.”
“Let’s hope it works.”
“There’s not enough diamonds in the world.”
Jez’s phone started to ring and he answered the call through the car’s Bluetooth.
“Jez, it’s me,” Declan’s voice echoed through the car. “Any word on Mikey?”
“Yeah, he’s been sprung. Don’t worry.”
“Great news.”
“Found anything?” said Jez as he drove.
“Actually I have.” He rhymed off an address and they said they’d meet him there.
“What is it?” said Jez when Mikey had been silent for a few minutes. “I can tell you’re mulling something over.”
“I’m just thinking…Declan’s been off with me lately then this happens.”
“You think he’s the anonymous caller?”
“Why not? I can see him doing something cowardly like that.”
“But why would he do it?”
“No idea but after what happened with Alex, anything is possible.”
“I’m not so sure. Declan’s just a yes-man, a worker bee. I don’t think he’s got it in him. Plus I don’t think he’d fucking dare. And we ruled him out as being involved in the coke theft.”
“Correction, he only didn’t steal it that one time. It didn’t prove he isn’t the thief.”
“Good point. Still, apparently he’s found something. We could be barking up the wrong tree.”
“I hope so because I’ve had a gutful of fighting family.”
CHAPTER 23
Mikey felt a little nervous as they pulled up outside the warehouse. Someone was after bringing him down and right now he didn’t trust anyone except Jez. In fact the last person he trusted right now was Declan and meeting him in the middle of nowhere without back-up wasn’t reassuring him any.
They walked inside, both coming to a halt when they found a dead body on the floor neatly wrapped in plastic, their outfit’s cleaning crew erasing all trace of blood and DNA.
“What the hell’s this?” said Mikey.
“This is the person who dobbed you in to Dwyer,” said Declan. He pulled back the plastic to reveal the face.
“He’s one of Katia’s men,” said Jez.
“Exactly,” said Declan. “She was behind this. She’s after your deal with Toni McVay and she’s trying to discredit you.”
“The conniving bitch,” yelled Mikey. “Why couldn’t she just have fucking died when she was supposed to? And what’s this piece of shit doing up here? He could have made the call from down south.”
“Getting you arrested was just the start of their plan,” he said. “I made sure to get the whole story from him before I killed him. Jez was next on the list. With you two banged up and Jules in the care home, they were going to take everything over and have you two topped on the inside. They were going to kill me too and Mark, Grant and Shane. With all the higher level wiped out the others lower down the chain would have fallen into line.”
“That means more of them are up here,” said Mikey.
“I don’t doubt it,” said Jez. “But I bet the bitch queen herself is safely down in Essex, out of the line of fire and with a nice cosy alibi. She always gets others to do her dirty work.”
Declan relaxed as he listened to them talk. It had been a calculated risk but it seemed he’d pulled it off. Now they were going to be so distracted running around the city looking for Katia’s men, who they would never find, that they wouldn’t look too closely at him.
“How did you find out about all this?” Jez asked Declan.
He’d known this question was inevitable and like all good lies sticking as close to the truth as possible was going to be vital to his survival. “This piece of shit contacted me and said he had information about who was responsible for getting Mikey locked up,” he said, kicking Graham’s inert leg. “He made out he was a local boy, he put on an accent, a pretty good one too and asked to meet up with me. When I got here he said his outfit had identified me as the weak link in the chain and they wanted to exploit me. He thought I was an easy target and that I’d cave immediately.” His eyes turned ice cold. “He was wrong.”
“So we see,” said Jez.
Mikey noted his cousin’s cold gaze stayed on him a second or two longer than he felt comfortable with before sliding sideways to Jez when he spoke.
“Nice work Declan. I’m impressed.”
“Yeah,” said Mikey. “Me too.”
“I think this proves you’re no weak link,” said Jez. “Now we need to hunt down the rest of the bastards. If this was a takeover plot they’ll be nearby. I’ll get on to the others,” he said, taking out his phone.
While he wandered off to make his call, Mikey and Declan continued to stare at each other.
“I hope they didn’t treat you too roughly in there,” said Declan, breaking the awkward moment.
Mikey tried not to wince at the memory of the large sausage-like finger up his arsehole. He wondered if Declan knew and was taking the piss but he appeared genuine. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.” He gestured to the body. “You were lucky he called you.”
“I wouldn’t call it lucky, more insulting.”
“A mistake he won’t be making again.”
Declan’s lips curled up at the corners, making him look almost diabolical and Mikey wondered if this was an entirely new side to his cousin or if it had been there all along and he’d only just noticed.
Ryan returned home wondering how the hell he was going to handle this situation with Leah. He blamed himself, it had been his idea to become a vigilante. Well, his and Rachel’s. If they hadn’t done that she might not have gone down this road. He’d had no idea she’d even known. No one could pull one over himself and Rachel except, it seemed, their own children.
He smiled when Leah greeted him at the door, looking anxious and tragic.
“What happened?” she demanded as he stepped inside.
“I dumped him outside A&E.”
“Did anyone see you? They might have got your registration plate. What have I said?” she asked when Battler chuckled.
“I used a car Battler uses when he wants to be anonymous,” replied Ryan. “No one’s tracing it back to us.”
“So you won’t get caught?”
“Course not. Now please stop worrying.”
“What if Reid comes back?”
“He won’t. He’ll be spending a good few weeks in hospital thinking a
bout what he’s done.”
“But his friends…”
“Are no threat judging by Duncan and Reid. And are they really going to expose themselves just for a bit of revenge?”
“Actually, probably not.”
“There you go. Stop worrying.”
“Are you going to tell Mum?”
“You know I have to.”
“But Dad…”
“No Leah. Your mother and I have no secrets. It’s one reason our marriage works and that would be jeopardised if I keep this from her and she would find out anyway, believe me.”
“Alright, suppose,” she said, not wanting to be the source of any more trouble.
Ryan looked to Battler. “Thanks so much for your help, we appreciate it. You probably want to get out of the way while I tell Rachel. To say she’ll be furious is an understatement.”
“Good point,” he said, pulling on his coat.
“Thanks for everything,” said Ryan, following him to the door.
“Anytime. If you need any more help just yell.”
“I will, thank you. I hope I didn’t take you away from anything important. Battler?” he added when he blushed.
“Well, I was going to meet Belle for a drink at the pub.”
“What? That’s wonderful.”
“I’m a bit bloody late though, I hope she’s still there.”
“Did you let her know you’re going to be late?”
“Course I did, I’m not a complete dinosaur when it comes to dating. But she’s not the type to sit about waiting for a bloke.”
“I think she’d make an exception for you,” he said as he hurried out to his car.
Rachel arrived home ten minutes after Battler had left, the boys for once quiet and subdued because they were tired after their swimming lesson.
“What’s wrong?” she said the moment she stepped through the door, sensing the tension in the air. She looked to Leah. “What happened to your face?”
“You two need to talk,” he said, sweeping her into the lounge with Leah and shutting the door. He hugged his sons and smiled down at their eager, innocent faces. He wondered if he’d ever looked so innocent. He doubted it having Estelle as a mother. “Come on boys, let’s get you something to eat.”
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