There was no real love lost between them, he was certain of that. For him, Sam had been an easy ride. Somewhere to stay for a few days now and again, while he needed to get away from his overbearing family. Someone he could boss around, who wouldn’t stand up to him.
The truth was, Daniel didn’t even really like him any more. Sam had been grating on his nerves for weeks. Acting all paranoid and possessive. Constantly asking where Daniel was going and what time he’d be back as if he was his keeper.
Hence why Daniel had sought out other men in the first place. Sam was a bore. The other men at least gave him pleasure before Daniel returned the favour by inflicting immense pain on them.
He could do that with Sam tonight too, now, he thought.
Put the fucker out of his misery one final time.
He smiled then, deciding to let the bastard sweat it out in the bathroom for a little while longer. Let him fear for his life for a while more. That was all part of the fun.
Daniel had more pressing matters to attend to, for now, like finishing off that bottle of vodka that he’d made a start on and keep an eye out for that sadist bastard, Alfie Harris.
The fucker hadn’t turned up here yet, but it was only a matter of time.
And Daniel would be ready for the fucker when he came.
He’d be ready for them all.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Going through Daniel’s phone contacts with trembling hands, Sam Miles found the number he’d been looking for.
‘Come on, come on,’ he said, almost silently as he pressed call, praying that Daniel wouldn’t overhear him, that he hadn’t noticed Sam had taken his phone. He didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t just stay here, cowering in his own bathroom, and the mood that Daniel was in, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before Daniel summoned him out, or worse still, until he came in here looking for him.
The phone was ringing now. But the sound of Daniel banging about in the kitchen was drowning it out. Daniel had lost his head. Getting more and more riled up as he continued to smash the place up.
Shit!
He shouldn’t have tipped the rest of the alcohol down the sink. He should have just let the man drink himself into oblivion. Into a coma. At least then Sam would be safe, instead of hiding out in his bathroom. Afraid for his life.
And he really was afraid.
There was no doubt in his head now that Daniel Byrne was a murderer.
‘Daniel?’ Jack Taylor’s voice came through, causing Sam to close his eyes with relief.
‘No, it’s Sam. Sam Miles. Daniel’s boyfriend,’ Sam spluttered now. Aware that he didn’t have much time. That the second Daniel heard him making this call he’d come crashing through the bathroom door to stop him. ‘I’m sorry for calling you, Jack, but I didn’t know who else to phone. I’m with Daniel, but he’s not right. He’s not right at all. He’s pissed paralytic and he’s smashing my flat up—’
‘For fuck’s sake!’ Jack Taylor said with irritation.
‘He’s just fucking lost it, Jack. He’s saying some real fucked-up stuff too,’ Sam said, unsure if he should repeat word for word what Daniel had told him. But something told him that he should be straight with Jack. The man might have the Byrne family’s interests at heart, but he was still first and foremost a police officer. A detective inspector at that.
Jack Taylor would know what to do, Sam was certain of it.
‘Tonight, he came home covered in blood. He told me that he killed someone. Some barman in a bar in Soho.’ Sam was crying now. Filled with panic at being alone in the flat with this madman, he was petrified. ‘He said he could do it to me too, that he could snuff my life out. That he was more than capable of doing it.’
‘Okay, Sam. Calm down,’ Jack Taylor said, recognising the panic in the younger man’s voice. He knew himself what Daniel Byrne was capable of, and he didn’t want to scare the kid any more than he already was. ‘Where are you now? Are you safe?’
‘I’m in the bathroom. I’ve locked the door, but if he wants to get in, he will. You haven’t seen the state of him. It’s like he’s just lost it.’
‘Okay, Sam. Give me your address. I’m coming over. Okay!’
Sam recited the address, then holding the phone nearer to his mouth, he said, remembering the other things that Daniel had confessed to him: ‘Shit, Jack. He said other stuff too. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but he said that he killed his dad. I mean, he wouldn’t just make that up, would he? Do you think that’s why he’s so fucked up? Do you think it’s true?’ The man was a monster. A lunatic. There was no doubt in Sam’s mind that Daniel Byrne had lost his.
‘Listen. Stay in the bathroom, okay. Do not come out until I get there. I’m on my way. Just stay put where you are.’
Hanging up the phone, Jack Taylor smashed his fist against the bar. Fucking Daniel! The bloke was a complete liability. With all the shit they had going on right now, this was the last thing that they needed to be dealing with. Though Jack knew that, once and for all, it did need dealing with. And properly.
The only problem was, he was currently tied up on a call over in Soho himself. Having gone straight to The Karma Club after leaving Nancy, he’d then been called out to investigate a murder in a gay bar over on Dean Street. Another gay man murdered in cold blood. It had all the markings of a serial killer on the loose. Shit! Jack closed his eyes as he recalled Sam Miles’s last words about Daniel confessing to killing someone in a bar in Soho.
Staring across the crowded room now, as the forensic pathologist and the team of Crime Scene Investigators continued to process the crime scene for any clues on the perpetrator, Jack felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Looking down at the twisted, disfigured body on the floor.
Jack knew exactly who the murderer was.
Daniel Byrne.
The man had been on a killing spree right under Jack’s nose. Killing gay men, purely for the sake of it. Another fucking mess that Jack would have to sort out for the fucker. There was no way that Jack could just leave the scene of the crime, but at the same time he needed to get his arse over to the flat and fast. Before Daniel did something really stupid like try and kill Sam Miles too. Before the rest of the police force were called out to deal with all the drama and commotion.
If that happened, it was guaranteed that Daniel would then take the opportunity to well and truly stitch Jack up then too. He would have no qualms in dragging Jack down in the shit with him.
His only other option right now was that maybe he could send someone else over there to try and help Sam get out of the flat. The only person that he could think of was Nancy, and even that was a gamble. Jack wasn’t sure that he could trust the girl not to take things into her own hands, and Jack couldn’t risk letting Nancy just wade on in there unprepared for what she was really dealing with. Jack was going to have to let the girl know the truth now.
That Daniel Byrne was a murderer. That he’d killed her father.
And that Sam Miles was now in grave danger.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Staring in through the window of Megan Harris’s private room in the Intensive Care Ward of St George’s Hospital, Nancy Byrne stood in silence, watching as Alfie Harris sat at his daughter’s bedside, an attractive blonde lady sitting beside him. His girlfriend? Wrapping her arm around Alfie as he held onto his daughter’s arm. A solemn look etched on the man’s face. Staring at his child with such determination, he looked as if he was physically willing her to get better.
Nancy watched as the woman leaned in. Kissing Alfie on the forehead, before he hung his head and began to openly sob.
Reaching her hand out for the handle, she froze. What was she even doing here? she thought suddenly. Coming here and interrupting this family at such a harrowing time. What would she even say? That she’d heard what had happened. What her brother had done. That she was here to offer her condolences, her support. That was bullshit, and even Nancy knew that. She was here to make
sure that Alfie Harris knew that what happened to his daughter tonight had nothing to do with her. It had been solely Daniel’s doing.
That was the truth.
That her brother was a liability. But here and now wasn’t the place to air her grievances about Daniel. Of course it wasn’t. What had she been thinking? Fuck. This had been a stupid idea, she thought as she eyed the machinery and equipment in the room. The tubes, and monitors that Megan Harris was attached to. Her gaze going to the nurse in the room with them. Standing at the foot of the bed, writing something down on the clipboard. Her expression looking just as solemn.
Nancy couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go in there. She was too scared to face the man whose daughter seemed to be clinging on literally to dear life and, in fairness, she was probably the last person that Alfie Harris wanted to see right now, and she could understand that. Of course she could. This wasn’t the time and place to bring up her grievances about her brother.
Turning on her heel to leave, she heard the sound of her phone ringing out loudly, echoing throughout the cold, sterile corridor. Shit! Scrambling about in her bag, cursing herself for not remembering to turn the thing off before she’d come into the ICU, she mouthed the word sorry to a passing nurse, who, in turn, shot her a disapproving glance. Turning to face the wall, Nancy answered the call.
‘Hello?’
‘Nancy? It’s me. Jack.’
‘Jack! What’s happened? Did you go to the club? Did you find anything out?’
Pushing away the thoughts of what they’d both done together just hours before, Nancy tried to stay focused.
‘The dealer and the bloke that gave Megan Harris the gear have been dealt with. Alfie Harris saw to it personally. I guess Daniel will be next.’
‘I guess so,’ Nancy said, not bothering to add that Daniel seemed to be off the hook for now. That Alfie Harris was back at the hospital, at his daughter’s bedside. That once again her brother was getting away with fucking murder.
‘Though your brother is still intent on causing ructions of his own, Nancy. I just had Sam Miles on the phone. Seems like Daniel has really fucking lost the plot tonight. The poor kid’s locked away in the bathroom. He said Daniel is saying some fucked-up shit.’
‘Like what?’ Nancy said, closing her eyes, knowing full well what was coming next.
‘Look, I hate being the one to say this, and fuck knows if it’s even true, Nancy,’ Jack said cautiously, knowing that once he spoke it would be out there forever and there’d be no coming back from it. He just hoped that Daniel Byrne didn’t drag his name down too. ‘Daniel’s told Sam that he killed your father. He said that it was him and Gavin Hurst that had both blackmailed him. He said he’s killed others too?’
Nancy was silent. Finally her brother was admitting it out loud. It must have been getting to him. Eating away at the mad bastard just as she had hoped that it would.
‘Where is he?’
‘You can’t face Daniel on your own, Nancy. Sam said that he’s off his fucking head. He said that he thinks he murdered someone tonight. That Daniel said as much, that he’d come home covered in blood. I’ve just been called out on a job. A murder investigation. Some poor bastard in a bar in Soho was beaten to death late last night, and I think Sam’s right. I think Daniel was behind it, Nancy. It’s not safe. I’m over here now, but I can be with you in forty-five minutes. We can deal with Daniel when I get there. Properly. For now, I just need you to get round to Sam’s place and see if you can get him out of that flat. The kid’s terrified.’
‘Give me the address,’ Nancy said, without missing a heartbeat.
‘Promise me, Nancy. You won’t confront Daniel. I mean it—’
‘I promise I’ll wait for you to get there before I go in. I’ll just help Sam,’ Nancy said. ‘What’s the address?’
Jack recited the address that Sam Miles had given him.
‘I mean it, Nancy. Do not go in there. I’ll get there as quick as I can,’ Jack said, worried now that Daniel would tell Nancy the truth.
That’s the sort of thing the bloke would do.
If Daniel Byrne was going to go down in flames, you could guarantee that the fucker would take every other bastard down with him.
He’d love that.
Telling Nancy how Jack had known about Jimmy’s murderer all along. How Jack had been there. How he had seen it all and, worse still, how Daniel had paid him off for his silence.
And then there was the attack on Nancy too.
Fuck!
He was taking a massive risk letting Nancy go there on her own, but what choice did he have? For now, he had to stay here at the scene of the crime they were investigating. He’d have to slip away as soon as he got a chance. Then he could deal with Daniel properly. Silence the fucker for good.
‘Don’t go in until I get there, Nancy, promise me.’
‘I promise,’ Nancy said, hanging up the phone.
Placing the phone back inside her handbag, she felt for her father’s gun.
She’d lied to Jack.
She had no intention of waiting for him to arrive. Nancy decided that it was high time that she put an end to this shit with her brother once and for all. He needed to pay for what he’d done, and she was going to be the one to do it.
A voice behind her, startling her, made her jump out of her skin.
‘Well isn’t this a nice surprise, Nancy Byrne?!’
It was Alfie Harris, standing in the doorway behind her, a look on his face telling her that he’d been listening to every word.
Chapter Thirty-Six
‘Where is he?’ Nancy said, keeping her voice down as she entered the flat.
She hadn’t been expecting Sam Miles to be standing at the front door waiting for her when she arrived. She thought that she’d be turning up to chaos. To Daniel on the warpath, and Sam still locked in the bathroom.
‘He finally passed out. I was going to leave, but Jack said he was on his way.’
Nancy nodded. ‘Yeah he is. Are you okay?’
Sam Miles nodded, but Nancy could see the younger man was anything but.
‘He’s in there,’ he said, nodding towards the sitting room where Daniel had finally passed out on the sofa. ‘I can’t do this, Nancy. He’s fucked up in the head. All the things he was saying. About the other men, about your dad. Were they true?’
‘’Course they weren’t, Sam,’ Nancy said through a tight-lipped smile, not wanting to freak Sam Miles out any more than he clearly already was. ‘Look, you’re right about Daniel. He’s a mess. He hasn’t been right for weeks. I think my dad’s murder has tipped him over the edge. He’s having some sort of a breakdown.’
Sam nodded. This was exactly what he wanted to hear. He knew it wasn’t the truth though, but he wasn’t going to argue about that. He’d seen the blood all over Daniel. He’d heard the malice in the man’s voice when he’d admitted to murdering his own father. The same malice he’d used when he’d threatened to snuff out Sam’s own life, too, tonight. Still, Sam was doing the smart thing and playing along. Eager to get Daniel the fuck out of his flat and out of his life for good. Now Nancy was here, she could happily deal with him in any way she saw fit.
‘Tell you what, Sam. Why don’t you make yourself scarce, yeah? Let me deal with Daniel. I’ll have him out of here for when you return later this morning, yeah? Have you got somewhere you can go?’
Nancy Byrne was being polite, but her tone told him that she wasn’t asking him. She was telling him.
‘I guess,’ Sam said, realising that it was almost 6 a.m. now. He was hoping that Nancy would just wake Daniel up, and take him with her. Though he figured it wasn’t going to be as simple as that. Nancy Byrne looked fit to kill, and if what Daniel said was really true then he wouldn’t put anything past the woman.
‘I’ll go to my parents’ place.’
Nancy nodded, glad that Sam Miles was complying. Then she stepped aside, giving him the hint to leave.
‘Now? Oh, right. Yes,
I’ll get out of your way,’ he said, still shocked and dazed from the night’s events. He quickly grabbed his coat and shoes, picking up his car keys from the kitchen side, glancing back to where Nancy stood in the doorway, watching over her brother with those cold steely eyes. The only resemblance she had at all to Daniel, Sam thought.
‘I’ll get out of your way then,’ he said as he slipped past her, acting as if he was the one that had suggested it.
The relief hitting him, just like the cool air did the second he was outside the flat. He had no idea what fate awaited Daniel now, but he did know that he was glad to be rid of the mad bastard.
Daniel, and his family with all their fucked-up secrets.
Sam Miles never wanted to see another Byrne as long as he lived.
Staring down at her brother as he lay comatose on the sofa, passed out, in his drunken slumber, so blissfully unaware of the nightmare that awaited him when he finally opened his eyes, Nancy thought about the last time she had done this. How she’d stood over her brother as he’d slept, holding a gun in her hand. But then she hadn’t been ballsy enough to fire the damn thing. She deeply regretted that now. For not being strong enough, and ferocious enough to avenge her father’s death like she’d promised herself that she would. For not making Daniel pay for what he’d done.
Now she was going to put all of that right.
She had to.
Picking up a glass of water from the coffee table, she poured it over Daniel’s head. Watching the man leap from the chair, shouting out in shock as the cold water cascaded all down him.
‘What the fuck are you doing?’ he bellowed, thinking it was Sam being a cunt to him. Teaching him a lesson for falling asleep drunk on the sofa again.
But it wasn’t Sam. Seeing his sister’s flaming red hair and that stern look on her face, her piercing green eyes boring into his, he did a double take.
‘What the fuck are you doing here? Where’s Sam?’
The Broken_A gripping thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat Page 25
