Retribution

by Heather Atkinson

  “Thanks boys,” she beamed, accepting it from him.

  Eagerly she tore into the box and took out two beautiful knives, just like the ones she wore strapped to her wrists. The blades were lethally sharp while the handles were carved into the shape of snake’s heads, garnet crystals for eyes.

  “Bloody hell, they’re gorgeous. Thanks boys.”

  “We thought you’d want a set not tainted by the bastard Slatterys,” said Grant.

  She strapped the sheaths to her wrists and slid the blades inside, practicing pulling them out with such speed they almost missed it. “That means a lot to me,” she said, genuinely touched.

  “It’s not been the same without you,” said Shane. When they’d first met he’d been terrified of her but now he respected and admired her, he even liked her. She made him laugh and he knew she always had his back.

  “Glad I’ve been missed,” she said, staring at the blades, imagining plunging them into Jared Slattery.

  “What are we on with today Boss?” Shane asked Jez when Jules continued to stare at the blades, mayhem shining in her eyes.

  “I want you to track down Joe Adams and give him a good kicking. He’s late with his payments again.”

  “How far do you want us to go?” said Declan.

  “Hospitalise him but nothing permanent. He’s a good earner.”

  “Will do,” he replied before swaggering out, Shane following. Grant and Mark left with them to sort out the next drug shipment.

  “Err, Jules,” said Jez when they’d gone.

  “Sorry,” she said, sliding the knives into the sheaths at her wrists.

  “What do you think of Declan then?”

  “He’s got a new confidence about him that definitely wasn’t there before.”

  “I’m glad you said that, I thought I was imagining things.”

  “No, definitely not.”

  “You think he’s capable of killing Katia’s heavy and lying to us about it?”

  “A few weeks ago I would have said no but now, probably.”

  “Shit,” he sighed.

  “Want me to torture him?”

  “I’m leaving any decisions about him to Mikey. He’s his cousin.”

  “Mikey tends to get sentimental where family’s concerned. Sometimes he needs a push in the right direction.”

  “You mean like when you killed his brother for him? That didn’t go down too well.”

  “He knew he needed eliminating and he was being too slow about it. It was making him look weak.”

  “You do realise that if you’d been anyone else he would have killed you for that?”

  “You think so?”

  “Course I do. He was still his brother.”

  “Well I’m still here and now his cousin is being an arsehole.”

  “We think. We’ve no proof.”

  “Then we’ll get some,” she said, a gleam in her eye.

  Jez thought how alive she looked now she was back at work. He had worried it was too soon but on the contrary, it was just what she needed. “Okay, I’ll leave that in your capable hands but please, be subtle and no rash moves. We do nothing without Mikey’s express permission.”

  “As if I would,” she said, all innocence.

  “Hmmm,” he replied doubtfully.

  “Anyway, Mikey said he’s going to give me boxing lessons.”

  “What the hell do you need boxing lessons for? You’re as hard as fuck.”

  “Why thank you but since the coma I’ve lost some of my edge.”

  “But you haven’t forgotten how to fight?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “Then why bother?”

  “Because I’m a bit rusty, that’s all. Don’t worry, I can still beat people up for you, or are you more worried about me and Mikey getting all hot and sweaty together?”

  “The second one. He’s preparing to divorce Amber and you’ve just left Jackson. You’re both vulnerable so shagging each other is the last thing you need.”

  “In your opinion,” she mumbled.

  “If you are serious about a future together acting on it too soon will damage that.”

  “Jesus, you should be an agony aunt,” she sighed.

  “I’m right though.”

  “Yes I know,” she snapped.

  “You’re loaded, you can hire someone to train you. It doesn’t need to be Mikey.” His eyes narrowed. “Or do you want it to be? Is that why you were so quick to walk out on Jackson?”

  “No. I did that for them, because we were all miserable.”

  “Right, well, that’s alright then.”

  “Do you think with all the shit I’ve got going on I’m even considering another relationship? Right now all I’m thinking about is where the hell do I go from here?”

  “Maybe you should speak to your psychiatrist?”

  “No.”

  “She got you through Leighton’s death.”

  “She did but seeing her again will make me feel like I’m taking three steps back.”

  “You have a habit of becoming volatile when you’re upset.”

  “Yes but I’m keeping it in check. I did consider getting pissed and having a fight but I didn’t. Instead I went to the gym. That’s a much healthier choice and I did that off my own back, no one with credentials told me to.”

  “That’s good Jules, I’m impressed. The old Jules would have been causing mayhem by now.”

  “Well, it’s a new me. New start.”

  Jez’s heart went out to his sister. She looked so miserable.

  CHAPTER 30

  Jules wanted to get Jez the answers he desired. He’d been really good to her and it would be her way of saying thank you, so she got onto the Declan thing straightaway. In fact, she’d planted a tracking device on his car before she’d walked into the bungalow, purposefully arriving last so she could do so. Mikey and Jez had already removed the one they’d planted there as they knew he did a sweep of his car once a month. However Declan was on a job with Shane, so she didn’t think he’d be up to any skulduggery at that moment and she didn’t want to watch him potter around the city looking for an arsehole. Instead she decided to break into his flat. Much more fun.

  To her surprise Declan’s security was tougher than she’d anticipated but she still managed to pick his lock pretty quickly.

  The interior was dull and insipid, like Declan himself, but remarkably tidy for a man living alone. Either he was a neat freak or he had a cleaning lady.

  After pulling on her gloves she wandered about the living room, pulling open drawers and peering under the couches, running her hands over the back of the television but finding nothing. She checked the kitchen next, which looked as though it was barely used. The bathroom was more interesting, which was full of hair styling products, aftershaves and other lotions and potions. Had he always been such a girl or was all this to impress the ladies? Or perhaps that should be singular, lady?

  His bedroom was last, which revealed nothing of interest, not even a single wank mag. It was clean, too clean for her liking.

  A laptop sat on the desk by the window in the spacious lounge and she sat before it and switched it on. It needed a password so she shut it down again.

  “Bugger,” she muttered, looking around the room. Maybe Declan was smarter than she’d given him credit for? After all, Mikey and Jez had visited this flat. He was hardly likely to leave something incriminating in an obvious place.

  There appeared to be no secret hatches under the carpet, which was pristine and exactly flush with the wall. She checked for a wall safe, but still nothing. Maybe he was clean and she was imagining things?

  As she was able to track his car through an app on her phone, she decided to see how much time she had left, wanting to really go to town on the place and rip out its secrets, which she was sure it was hiding. So she was annoyed to see that Declan’s car was in the car park right outside.

  “Shit,” she said when she heard the lift doors ping.

 
; Jules rushed into the spare bedroom and slid beneath the bed seconds before the front door opened. Thankfully when she was searching somewhere she put everything back as she went along, so she didn’t need to worry about anything being out of place.

  She listened to the front door opening then the sound of footsteps moving about the room. It was tempting to sneak out of her hiding place to peek but thought that might be stupid.

  “Hi babe, it’s me,” she heard him say. “I know I said I’d pop round this afternoon but I won’t be able to make it, I’m stuck working.”

  Jules wondered if this babe was the same woman all the potions in the bathroom were for.

  “Christ, I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “You let me know if he gets rough with you again and I’ll be straight round there to sort the bastard out. You deserve so much better than him.”

  So, Declan was seeing a woman who was already in a relationship. Interesting. The woman must be desperate to put up with that boring sod.

  “No, I can’t I’m afraid babe. Hopefully I’ll get to see you tomorrow.”

  He was interrupted by a knock at the door.

  “Got to go. Bye,” he said before hanging up.

  There was the sound of the front door opening again. “You ready?” said Shane’s voice.

  “Yeah, I’ve got my phone. Let’s go and track Joe down.”

  Jules heard the front door close and then silence. She wriggled out from under her hiding place and got to her feet, carefully peering around the door into the front room to find it empty. Checking her phone she saw Declan’s car pulling out of the car park. She pondered over what she’d heard. Had Declan really left his phone behind and he thought he’d make the call to his fancy piece while he was out of earshot of Shane, or did he not want Shane to know he had a fancy piece? And if so, why not? Was it possible he was seeing someone Shane wouldn’t approve of? And why would Shane care, unless Declan’s piece was someone he knew? Shane himself didn’t have a steady girlfriend, although he did shag around a lot, so she didn’t think it could be anyone linked to him. The same could be said for Grant and Mark, who both liked the ladies but weren’t in a relationship. She didn’t think he was seeing Jackson, which only left Cathy and Amber. Cathy wouldn’t touch Declan with a ten foot barge pole, she thought he was boring and she was too in love with Jez. Which left Amber. Now that made a bit more sense. But why would Amber have an affair with Declan when she was married to Mikey? There was no comparison between the two. Plus whoever the woman was with was clearly abusing her, which Mikey would never do. No, that didn’t make sense either. Maybe she was reading too much into what she’d heard? Perhaps Declan just didn’t want Shane listening in, asking questions about his private life and making innuendoes, as he had a tendency to do. She’d been out of the game for a while and as yet she couldn’t trust her instincts. But she would file away what she’d heard for consideration later. Right now she didn’t think it would do anyone any good confiding this episode to Jez. He was on edge enough as it was.

  She checked Declan’s home phone, hoping the call had been made from that but there was nothing in his call log. He must have made it from his mobile instead. What she wouldn’t give to have a flick through his mobile phone and she started to wonder how she could achieve that.

  God it felt good to be back at work, it took her mind off Jackson and Cara and the mess her life was in.

  Leah took a deep breath as she stared up at the front of the police station. Her dad getting arrested was her fault and Ashley had visited the house again last night. The only way to stop her dad from being re-arrested was by coming clean. The prospect terrified her but it was the only way. She’d made this mess and she was determined to clean it up. More than once she’d been on the verge of calling her Aunty Jules to confide in her but had always managed to stop herself. Jules hated the police as much as her dad and she’d convince her not to do this. Plus Jules had enough of her own stuff going on, what with Jackson knocking up another woman while she was in the coma. Leah was furious at him for that, she’d thought he was better than that. The whole family was disappointed in him and frankly she thought he was fortunate he was still breathing. No doubt that was down to Jules’s big heart.

  Leah took a deep breath and forced herself to walk through the front door and into the police station. She was greeted by shouting and yelling. Three police officers were wrestling with a large, drunk man who was refusing to go into the cells. As he was dragged deeper into the bowels of the station, his angry voice continued to echo.

  “Can I help you?” said a gentle voice.

  Leah looked round to see a tall, slender woman with a mop of short dark hair smiling back at her from behind the reception desk.

  “Sorry you had to see that,” said the officer.

  “It’s okay,” she replied, coyly approaching the desk. “I wondered if I could speak to DI Boyle? I have important information about a case he’s working on.”

  “Course. I’ll let him know you’re here,” she said, picking up the phone.

  Leah was slightly reassured. She’d been afraid he wouldn’t be in and that they would force her to speak to someone else, someone less sympathetic to her family.

  “Leah,” said Ashley, clearly surprised as he emerged through a door beside the reception desk. “What are you doing here?”

  “I need to talk to you,” she said, voice pinched with nerves.

  He held the door open wider, gaze friendly. “Come on through.”

  “Thanks.” She gave the officer on reception a grateful nod, who smiled and nodded back. Leah got the impression the officer didn’t encounter many polite people during the course of her work.

  Her hands shook as she followed Ashley upstairs to the first floor and into a tiny room with a desk and a couple of chairs.

  “Take a seat,” he said, gesturing to the orange plastic chair while he sank into the comfy leather chair behind the desk.

  “Thanks,” she said, heart thudding, balling her hands into fists to stop them from shaking.

  “Would you like something to drink?” he said, detecting her nerves.

  “Yes…actually no thanks. I just want to get this over with.”

  “So you want to discuss something with me?”

  She nodded and took a deep breath. “My dad’s innocent.”

  His smile was gentle. “It’s nice that you’ve come here to defend him but…”

  “No, please listen Ashley. I have to get this out.”

  She launched into a description of everything that had happened, from meeting Reid, the vigilantism, Reid telling her he’d murdered those men, his obsession with her family, right up to seeing him in the shopping centre. At some points he struggled to keep up with what she was saying, she was going so fast.

  When she was done she gasped with relief and sank back into the uncomfortable chair. She’d thought it had been cathartic confessing to her parents but baring all to a police officer was doubly so and she actually felt relaxed, sleepy even.

  “Wow,” said Ashley, still processing what she’d said. “That’s quite a tale.”

  “And it’s true, every word of it.”

  “I don’t doubt your word but…you’re sure about this?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “You do know that because you’re a minor and you’ve come here without an adult, I can’t use anything you’ve just told me?”

  Leah did but she wasn’t letting on. “Then why did you see me?”

  “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting all this. I just thought you’d plead your case for your dad.”

  “What are you doing?” she said when he picked up the phone.

  “Something I should have done before you started talking. Calling your parents.”

  Jez didn’t get the chance to ask Jules if she’d found anything out until they were both back at his house.

  “Well?” he said.

  Jules had decided to stick to her plan not to tell him about the phone conversat
ion she’d overheard at Declan’s. “Nothing. He and Shane went to look for Joe. They found him, kicked his head in then Declan went home and didn’t go out again.”

  “Doesn’t mean he’s innocent. Keep an eye on him, eh?”

  “Will do. Want me to get that?” she said when the doorbell rang.

  “No, I’ll do it.”

  He headed down the corridor and opened the front door to Jackson.

  “What do you want?” he said flatly.

  “To talk to Jules.”

  “She’s not here. Bugger off.”

  “It’s okay Jez,” she said, appearing in the hallway. “Let him in.”

  “Fine but I’m watching you,” he glowered at Jackson as he stepped inside.

  “We can talk upstairs, where Big Ears won’t be listening,” she said, nodding at Jez.

  Jackson followed her upstairs to the spare room. He thought the sight of her suitcase hanging open, clothes spilling out of it quite sad.

  “Why are you here when you have a perfectly good home?” he said.

  “I told you, that place is not my home.”

  “You’ve not given it a chance.”

  “I have and it didn’t work out. Where’s Cara?”

  “With my Mum.” He sat on the bed beside her. “We need to talk.”

  “What’s to talk about? It’s over.”

  “I know you think you’re doing the right thing for me and Cara but you’re not. We need you.”

  “Must we go through this again?”

  “So you think you can dictate how it’s going to be, as usual?”

  “I’m not dictating,” she sighed. “But I can’t help how I feel.”

  “You think we’re better off apart?”

  “Yes.”

  “But we’re not.”

  “Since I came here I feel like I can actually breathe, for the first time since I left the care home. I wasn’t happy in that house with you and Cara, walking on eggshells, afraid of upsetting her, constantly wondering where you shagged Cindy.”

  “I didn’t in that house.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. I couldn’t do that, I wouldn’t.”

  “Then where did you do it?”