by Linda Regan
It felt good.
Dawes spoke into his radio. ‘All units eyeball on young black girl, braided hair, sequined jeans and trainers, running toward the Aviary estate. Do not approach, repeat do not approach. Maintain eyeball.’
A reply came from Georgia. ‘Approaching Aviary estate in an unmarked car. We have eyeball on Alysha. She is heading around the back of the dustbins by the derelicts. I am pursuing on foot. Sergeant Green will follow in the car.’
Dawes updated her on his position.
‘Back-up moving in to estate perimeter.’ This was Jim Blake, the CO19 unit coordinator.
‘Take it slow,’ Dawes told him. ‘We don’t want to frighten Alysha off. We believe she is leading us to Jason Young.’
‘Alysha is on her stomach scraping at the ground,’ Georgia said. ‘There must be some kind of hideout hidden behind those dustbins.’
‘I’m parked by the kerb, ma’am.’ Stephanie Green. ‘Right by the derelicts. If anyone tries to run I have this edge of the estate blocked off.’
Georgia kept her eyes pinned on Alysha. The girl’s legs suddenly disappeared.
‘OK, all units, go, go go,’ Georgia shouted.
The CO19 team jumped from the vans, guns at the ready, and moved in behind Georgia to surround the area.
‘It looks like a door, under the ground,’ Georgia said, kicking it hard with her boot. ‘Alysha, can you hear me?’
There was no answer. She tried again. ‘Alysha, are you in there?’
Dawes sighed. It felt like Groundhog Day; less than thirty minutes ago he had stood with a CO19 team, expecting Jason Young to be on the other side of a shed door.
One thing was certain: Alysha was around here somewhere, and if Jason was with her, there was no way CO19 could shoot.
Dawes nodded to Jim Blake, who fired a warning shot into the air. A few nosy residents appeared, including Stuart Reilly, who stood watching with a wide grin.
‘Alysha!’ Dawes called into the loudhailer, moving closer together with Hank Peacock and a team of uniforms.
He pushed at the corner of the door, which was balanced against a pile of dirt. The door gave way and slid to one side. Behind it Jason Young lay on his belly, a gun in one hand and Alysha beside him.
‘Throw that gun out!’ Dawes shouted, stepping in front of Georgia. ‘And let Alysha go. Now! Do it.’
‘This isn’t what it looks like,’ Young said loudly. ‘I wouldn’t hurt Alysha.’
‘Prove it,’ Georgia shouted. ‘Let her go.’
No one moved.
‘Let her go,’ Georgia repeated. ‘Then throw the gun out, and we’ll listen to what you have to say.’ She stretched out an arm. ‘It’s OK, Alysha,’ she said calmly. ‘Climb out, and walk towards me.’
Alysha let out a loud wail.
‘It’s OK,’ Georgia assured her. ‘Just climb out. Your sister’s waiting.’
Young threw his gun on to the ground and slid it toward David Dawes. ‘She doesn’t like the Feds,’ he said. ‘She won’t go near you. She knows the Brotherhood will punish her if she does.’
Alysha looked terrified. Her eyes flickered from Jason to Georgia, and then to David Dawes. Suddenly she leapt past Georgia and was over the grass and heading for the stairs to Sparrow tower block in a matter of seconds.
Dawes picked up Jason’s gun, and two burly uniformed officers moved in quickly to pull Young out of the old tunnel. They turned him, frisked him, grasped his hands behind his back and clicked handcuffs on him as Dawes read him his rights.
Hank Peacock set off across the grass after Alysha.
‘Leave her,’ Georgia called. ‘She’s only going home. She’s scared stiff. I’ll send Steph up there in a while, to take her statement.’
‘No wonder so many estate kids turn to crime,’ Hank said. ‘I wish we could . . .’
‘Better concentrate on getting through your training before you try to change things . . .’ The sentence trailed away. One of the uniformed officers who had been searching Jason Young’s clothing stood up.
‘This was in his sock, ma’am,’ he said, holding up a short knife.
Hank Peacock moved in with an evidence bag. Georgia had rarely seen anyone look as bleakly despondent as Young did at that moment.
‘That’s it, then,’ he said. ‘My scholarship’s fucked. I should’ve known it was too good to be true.’
‘Shoot your own grandmother too, did you?’ Peacock said.
Jason visibly paled. ‘Gran Sals has been shot?’
‘Don’t pretend you didn’t know,’ Hank Peacock scoffed. ‘Where did you get the knife?’
‘It’s for protection.’
Dawes silenced Peacock with a little shake of the head. ‘A knife and a gun,’ he said to Jason. ‘That will put you straight back inside. And that’s just for starters.’
Two constables led him to the waiting police van, as Stephanie Green approached with her phone in her hand and a grim expression on her face.
‘Ma’am, a word. The hospital’s just phoned. Sally Young died on the operating theatre, and Chantelle Gulati has been rushed back into surgery with complications.’
Jason let out a deafening howl. One of the officers put one hand on his head and pushed him into the back of the police van. He closed the door, but Jason’s shouts could still be heard.
‘No-o-o-o! Tell me it’s not happening!’
Alysha had grown up a lot, Yo-Yo Reilly noticed as she approached the stairs of the Sparrow. She was tall for her age, no bad thing, and like her mother she had long, slender limbs. Blokes liked long legs. She looked cute too, which was another plus when someone wanted a young thing. He’d have her out on the streets earning before long.
It hadn’t taken him long to work out she was sweet on Mince Delahaye. Reilly made it his business to know other people’s weaknesses.
He blocked her path as she hurried toward the stairs. She fixed frightened eyes on him.
‘You’ve done well today,’ he said.
The hideous dog he was holding snarled and pulled at the end of its chain.
‘Sally Young’s dead,’ she said flatly.
‘Where did you hear that?’
‘Feds are talking over there. They’re all over her walkway, looking for a bullet.’
‘Did they find one?’
She shook her head and raised her head defiantly. ‘Mince said I should ask if you’d let me have some of your good grass.’ She stopped to watch his reaction, and he gave her a tight smile. She carried on. ‘Cos Luanne got a beating today.’
Reilly’s face broke into a wide grin. She was so like her sister – a greedy little cow. ‘You want some, you can have it, darling, but it’s for you, not Luanne. I’ll even throw in a bit of crack for your added enjoyment. And as you’ve had a tough day, I’m gonna tell Mince to give you a go-o-o-od time.’
Mince and Boot were sitting on a low wall a little way off, listening.
‘I ain’t giving this one a good time,’ Mince said, taking a step forward. ‘No way, little princess. You are way too young, innit?’
Reilly wondered why he’d never noticed how alike these two were. They both had long, gangly limbs they couldn’t quite control, and both had oval faces. Only their eyes were different: Alysha’s large and round, Mince’s almond-shaped.
‘This little princess wants some gear and a good time,’ he told Mince. ‘If that’s what she wants, that’s what she gets, after the day she’s had.’
Mince’s tongue moved nervously over his full lips. ‘No,’ he said. ‘There are some things I won’t do, Yo. The kid’s too young.’ He looked at Boot and Scrap for support.
Boot Ripley pushed himself off the wall, all ears. Scrap Mitchell, who had been standing a few yards away, moved closer. Nobody said no to YoYo, not even his Elders.
‘I don’t give a monkey’s fuck what you think,’ Reilly said to Mince with an edge of threat. ‘That tattoo on your arm says you are my Brotherhood. That means you do as I say. Got that, Minc
e?’
Mince stared at him for a second, then said quietly, ‘She’s still a child.’
‘I ain’t no child, Mince,’ Alysha said. ‘Please. Let’s do some skunk and have sex.’
‘You heard the lady.’ A triumphant grin spread across Reilly’s face.
Mince looked at Alysha. ‘We will, Princess. When you’re a bit older, d’you hear me now.’
‘She wants some charlie and a good fuck, now,’ Reilly said.
‘I won’t do that.’
Reilly looked across at Boot and Scrap. ‘What d’you think, boys?’ he asked, not expecting an answer. His mouth twisted and his voice became a growl. ‘You’ll do as you’re told, Mince, like all Brotherhood do. You know the rules.’ He turned back to Boot and Scrap. ‘Ain’t that right, bros?’
Georgia was tidying around Stephanie, who was at her desk writing up reports. She brushed crumbs into a pile with a piece of paper, then fetched the bin and swept them in.
‘I’m all in,’ she said.
Stephanie nodded. ‘Nothing more to do here tonight. Jason Young is locked up, and hasn’t called anyone. The gun’s at ballistics, and the knife’s gone to forensics with his clothes. And my report is finished.’ Stephanie threw her pen down.
Georgia picked up her coat.
‘I haven’t had time to shop for days. I was going to pick something up on the way home,’ Stephanie said. ‘Fancy coming back to mine for pizza? I don’t even know if the kids are stopping in. Lucy’s in charge, but she’s been staying out till two in the morning some nights. I’d like to be there when she gets in tonight, to ask her what’s keeping her out all hours.’
‘She’s probably fallen in love,’ Georgia said. ‘Sixteen is an impressionable age for a girl.’ Georgia didn’t have a clue if it was, but it sounded good. ‘Pizza would be great. And I’d like to see Lucy and Ben again. If they’re in.’
‘Fat chance. It’s Saturday.’
‘My new Black Eyed Peas CD’s in the car. Lucy can borrow it if she likes.’
‘Give me Robbie Williams any day.’
Stephanie’s maisonette was in darkness when they arrived. She opened the door, and before she had a chance to reach for the light switch Georgia tripped over a pair of wellingtons in the middle of the hallway.
‘Sorry,’ said Stephanie as the hall filled with light.
‘Not a problem. At least it’s not that motorbike you were rebuilding. It took four washes to get the grease off my jeans.’
There was no sign of either Ben or Lucy. Stephanie left a message on Lucy’s mobile. ‘Peaceful night for us,’ she said reaching into the cupboard for plates as Georgia unloaded the beers from the off licence bag and looked around for glasses.
Stephanie tossed her a bottle opener. ‘We don’t need glasses. Saves on the washing up.’
They settled on Stephanie’s lumpy sofa, pizza boxes on their laps, beer on the table in front of them, vying for space with old newspapers.
‘Two murders on that estate in twenty-four hours, and another balancing on the edge,’ Georgia sighed. ‘DCI Banham is asking for a lot of paperwork. I just hope we can wrap it up quickly.’
‘You reckon on Jason Young for both?’ Stephanie asked her. ‘I do.’
Georgia pulled at her bottom lip. ‘He has a strong motive for stabbing Haley. She grassed him up.’ She bit into a pizza slice and pushed a strand of sticky cheese into the side of her mouth with her finger. ‘But why shoot his own gran?’ She shrugged. ‘Dawes believes Reilly is involved.’ She wiped her mouth on a sheet of kitchen roll. ‘They won’t be in it together, so which one is it? I’d go for Young. But there’s something that doesn’t add up.’ She swigged some beer down. ‘We need to get the ballistic tests back to know more.’
‘Young’s prison reports say he was attacked on a daily basis towards the end of his stretch, but he never retaliated.’ Stephanie lifted the beer bottle to her mouth and took a long slug. ‘Maybe he’s just clever, and planned to get Haley all along, and then his gran found out.’
‘Possibly. But Haley was a police informant. Anyone who knew that would want her dead.’ She shrugged. ‘It’s not cut and dried, that’s for sure.’
‘The faint bloodstain on the sweatshirt we picked up at Sally Young’s was too weak to give us anything, which is a shame.’ Stephanie licked tomato sauce from her fingers, reminding Georgia of a cat she had seen in a television advert.
‘Young will go down again anyway, for carrying a firearm and a knife, and with his record he’ll be off the streets again, for a good few years this time.’
Georgia carefully laid down the remains of the pizza slice. ‘That’s not enough,’ she said fiercely. ‘If he killed Haley Gulati, I want him for murder. I want justice for that woman.’
Stephanie cracked open another bottle and handed it to Georgia. She took another bite of pizza and chewed thoughtfully for a few moments. ‘David Dawes wants Reilly for this. He seems to know everything about the Brotherhood. I really do wonder why he is so interested. It doesn’t seem healthy.’
‘It’ll be personal.’ Georgia lifted her eyebrows. ‘We’d all like to know more about him. I thought you were going to find out.’
Stephanie nodded. ‘I wouldn’t mind shagging him anyway. I don’t need a reason. He’s kind of hot, don’t you think?’
Georgia smiled. ‘Not my type.’
‘Who is your type? You’re so fussy!’
‘Certainly am.’ Georgia made an effort to relax her shoulders. ‘Anyway, with you around there’s never enough for two.’
‘I wish.’
‘I’ll happily pay up if you do shag him, but you have to get some info on him too,’ Georgia told her. ‘Find out why he’s got such a thing about gang crime.’
‘I’ll do my best.’ Stephanie gave a burst of laughter. ‘But I’ll wear him out first.’
Georgia laughed too. ‘Have you never heard the expression, leave ’em wanting more?’
Stephanie grinned. ‘That’s for comics, not nymphos.’
Georgia laughed. ‘Tell me what’s going on with Ben and Lucy. Is Lucy still planning a career in the force?’
‘So she says.’
‘And Ben?’
Steph shook her head. ‘No way. He says we live and breathe the police. All he wants is to get away and travel.’ The smile left Stephanie’s face. ‘I’m not sure I’m a good influence on them. I’m never here.’ She sighed. ‘Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to keep them away from their father.’
Georgia took a long swig of beer and swallowed hard. ‘You’ve given them everything you can, including a lot of love,’ she told her friend. ‘They’re teenagers, and they’re good kids.’ She pulled the end off another slice of pizza and put it in her mouth. The soft cheese and tomato stuck to the roof of her mouth and she rounded it up with her tongue. ‘Think about those estates kids. Most don’t even know who their father is, and most of their mothers neither know nor care where they go. A lot are too busy using their benefit money to feed their drug habit. What chance do the kids have? We can’t blame them for turning out the way they do. It’s the system that’s wrong, not the kids. In their own way they’re victims too.’
‘Yo-Yo Reilly doesn’t fall into that category,’ Stephanie said. ‘I’ve got no sympathy whatsoever for that son of a bitch.’ She tapped her forehead. ‘He’s clever and evil. He didn’t even grow up on the estate. He had two parents, and was sent to school and given a chance. He finds out who’s vulnerable, feeds them drugs and puts them on the streets. Or if they’re blokes, he pretends he’ll be their family, and he’ll take care of them. He buys them top of the range trainers and phones, and they sell his drugs for him, and beat up a few people who don’t pay, cos he tells them they’re his brothers. I even feel sorry for those vicious dogs. He is one evil bastard. Dawes is right to want him behind bars.’
Georgia smiled. ‘You are keen on DI Dawes, aren’t you?’
‘He’s cute.’
‘Well, you’d better ma
ke your move quickly. He’s only on attachment for this case. Forensics will be back tomorrow or the next day, then Jason Young is going down for a very long time. We’ll be old and grey by the time he comes out; you don’t want to wait till then to get Dawes into bed. Besides, you’ll have lost your bet.’
‘I have no such intention, ma’am.’ Stephanie gave a mock salute.
‘Then I’ll raise the bet to thirty quid – but only if you find out why he is so interested in the gangs on our side of the water.’
‘Make it thirty-five. You’ll get your information.’
FOURTEEN
Luanne took a drag on the spliff she was holding between the fingers of her right hand. The path outside Mince’s flat was deserted, but the estate was still crawling with Feds. None of them seemed to be showing any interest in her smoking. Alysha had been inside with Mince since yesterday.
Yo-Yo appeared further down the path, flanked by Boot Ripley and Scrap Mitchell. Two of Yo-Yo’s dogs strained against their spiked collars and throat leads; Scrap was hauling one of his behind him too.
Yo-Yo did not look happy. Luanne lowered her hand to hide the joint.
‘What’s going up?’ he asked her.
‘I’m just waiting for Alysha.’ She was painfully aware what could happen to you if you disobeyed Yo-Yo, no matter how many Feds might be around. It made her nervous but she thought she was doing a good job of hiding it. ‘She’s well up for it, but what I hear is that Mince don’t wanna know.’ The spliff was making her talkative.
Yo-Yo’s eyes flared.
‘Alysha wants to lose her virginity,’ she rabbitted, hoping she could talk Yo-Yo out of blaming Alysha and giving her a hiding. ‘It’s Mince. He thinks she’s too young.’
‘Ain’t up to him to think,’ Yo-Yo snapped. One of the dogs leapt at Luanne, and she had to jump a couple of feet back to avoid getting bitten. She felt a hot trickle of urine between her thighs.
Yo-Yo jerked his head at her bandaged arm. ‘That tells you who’s running this gaff.’ He took a step closer. ‘Got it?’ The dogs growled.
She gave a quick nod and took a careful step backwards.
