by Anna Smith
‘That still leaves a big hole in the Irish family though. The Durkins were a dynasty out of Dublin, and a lot of people will want to hit back. I’m going to get Danny and Jack in and we’ll have a talk about it. See if there’s someone we can talk to there. And Billy Hill – he’s a bit of an outcast now because he didn’t join with the Colombians. In fact, he might be feeling the heat, thinking he might be next. So what do you think about talking to him? Do you agree?’
‘Sure. Hill isn’t the worst of them. He always struck me as a bit of an old gent. I’m sure that’s why he couldn’t go with the Colombians. He doesn’t have the stomach for the way they do business.’
‘But he must be feeling he needs some handers around him too. I mean he’s a big organisation, and well established in Spain, but I’d say he’s still a worried man when he hears this.’
‘Yes,’ Sharon said. ‘But in our own backyard, I think we have to tighten a lot of stuff up now. Rodriguez will be coming after us, big time.’
‘I know. I’ll get the lads in and we’ll have a talk. Are you okay over there?’
‘Yes. Vic is keeping me informed. He called me as soon as he was out of Rodriguez’s villa. He said some flunkies just moved in and started cleaning up around them with Durkin lying dead on the floor. Says they put him in a sheet and carted him off. So his corpse will no doubt turn up somewhere pronto.’
‘Don’t you think you should come back?’
‘No. Unless you want me to. I think I should be here because we have a lot of bodies now, and I don’t think I should just walk away. We’ve just started work on building a hotel. We need to make sure every area is covered.’
‘We’ve got people to do that though if you don’t want to be there. I’m thinking of your safety, and Tony as well.’
‘I’m okay. I’ve got guards everywhere and Tony is well protected too. I’ll hang fire for the next few days to see where this goes.’
‘Fair enough. Talk later.’ Kerry hung up.
She went across to the window and stood watching the cars arrive with more men to beef up security around the various businesses the Caseys ran in Glasgow. She felt a shiver run through her. This was different than it had been before, when she was going after the individuals who had murdered her family. Battling the Colombians was like taking on an empire, and though she had the manpower and firepower to do it, she hoped she’d also have the guts for it. She heard her mobile ring at the other side of the room and went across to see Vinny’s name on the screen. Before she could stop herself she picked it up.
‘Vinny.’
‘Kerry. How you doing?’
She almost smiled at the question. How was she doing? The truth was, she didn’t know if she was coming or going.
‘I’m all right, Vinny. Sorry I didn’t call you back. I . . . I’m just in the middle of such a lot of things right now.’
‘Yeah. I guess you are,’ he said.
She knew she was meant to take the full meaning of that and she did. There was a long moment of silence and she pictured his handsome face.
‘How’s Marty and his family?’
‘I haven’t spoken to him today, but they will be so relieved. Everyone is. It was the worst time ever.’
‘Kerry, I need to talk to you. Informally. Can I come and see you?’
‘What about?’
‘You know what it’s about. The whole kidnapping thing. Nobody believes for a moment that the kidnappers just handed the boy back. I think you know that didn’t happen.’
Kerry didn’t answer. Whatever else Vinny was to her, he was a cop, and she didn’t want to say anything on the phone that could be incriminating. She chided herself for the suspicion that he might be taping her and trying to reel her in. Vinny wouldn’t do that, she told herself, or would he?
‘Vinny. Look. I don’t know what to say to you here.’
‘Just let me come and see you. I have things to tell you that might interest you.’
The irony wasn’t lost on her. He had things to tell her that might interest her? That was nothing to what she had that might interest him. If it wasn’t so serious it would be laughable.
‘Okay. I’ll see you at my house.’
‘When?’
‘Tomorrow. In the morning. But just you, Vinny. Nobody else.’
‘Okay. I’ll be there. Just me.’
The line went dead.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cal sipped from a mug of tea as he sat in the city centre café waiting for Tahir. He hadn’t gone home after Jake had dropped him, because he didn’t feel ready. He hadn’t really come down to earth, and he didn’t want to go home to the house where his mum would be able to sense from him that something had happened. She knew he worked for the Caseys now, and she accepted that this was what he wanted. Even though she worked for them, lived in a flat she could not have afforded if it hadn’t been for the generosity of Kerry Casey, he was pretty sure she wasn’t involved in anything criminal. She wanted the best for her son, and Jen, who was doing well in rehab. But for Cal, the talk of university and studying had long gone; he’d told her he was earning good money now, and that this was his future. He was sixteen and he had made up his mind. He could see from the look on her face that she worried about him, that one day something bad would happen to him because of what he was involved in. If she’d known what he’d done this afternoon, she would have died of shock, and that’s why he didn’t want to be going home, having to look her in the eye right now. He was sure he had done the right thing, putting a bullet in that bastard’s head. The only thing that haunted him a little was that it was very much in cold blood – not the way it had been earlier when he and Jake and Tahir had hijacked the kidnappers’ car and they were shooting at people who were firing back.
When Jake had told him after they had seen Finbar back to his parents that they had unfinished business at the house, Cal knew what he meant. The weasel-faced guy who had sat looking at the TV when he’d gone into the house with Sinc had to be dealt with. He was scum of the earth. Jake told him that Sinc had already been taken back to the scrapyard where they were holding him, and he’d be dealt with later. He told Cal this bastard at the house was his. When they’d gone up to the door, they’d battered it in, and run through the hall, finding him in a cupboard. Jake had dragged him out by the hair as the guy was screaming that he was only doing what he was told. He was shouting that he never harmed the boy. But Cal knew by the frightened look on Finbar’s face that the kid hadn’t been well treated by this piece of shit. So, when Jake gave him the nod, Cal took his gun out of his waistband and shot him. Right there and then, as he looked straight back at him with wild, terrified eyes. Cal still didn’t know what he’d felt at that moment. There had been anger and a sense of justice, but he did not feel guilty, not then and not now. He wondered if he should. But it was done now and that was it over. He looked up from his mug of tea and saw Tahir come into the café, his eyes darting around. He looked nervous.
‘You all right, mate?’ Cal said as he slid into the booth.
Tahir nodded. ‘Yes. I’m good.’ He picked up the menu. ‘I’m hungry.’
The waitress came up and they both ordered burgers and Coke, then they sat for what seemed like an age and didn’t speak. Eventually Cal broke the silence.
‘That Jake Cahill is some guy, is he not?’
Tahir nodded. ‘He’s cool. A little bit scary too. Don’t you think?’
‘Yeah. The way he just dropped those guys. Glad I’m on his side.’
Tahir nodded, but Cal felt uncomfortable with the small talk. Tahir didn’t know that he had gone back to the house with Jake as he hadn’t told him on the phone. But somehow he felt they should be talking about this, about what they’d done today.
‘The way Jake just told you to put a bullet in that guy when he knelt down,’ Cal said. ‘How did you feel about that?’
Tahir gave him a long look, and shrugged. ‘It was like a war. Like a battle. I had already shot at
least two people, and Jake had too. So this was one more.’
‘But it was different. The way you did it.’ Cal was trying to pick his words. ‘I . . . I was wondering what was going through your mind. You didn’t hesitate.’
Tahir shook his head and stared past Cal.
‘No. I was thinking that this guy was part of what happened to the boy – to Finbar. He was part of it, and in my book he should die. It’s like my family. My brother would be here now if people didn’t want to make money from him. He would still be in the refugee camp in Turkey. But he died because people like that guy today are making money.’ He took a breath and sighed. ‘I don’t know, Cal. Maybe that is all I know. I did it because it was right.’ He looked at him. ‘What about you? Where did you go?’
‘I took the wee man to the supermarket where we dropped him off and his family came. It was great to see. He’s a great wee kid – was cuddling me and everything. But earlier, when I went in with Sinc to get him from the house, the kid was terrified. He was just a wee thing lying sobbing on the couch. It choked me, man, it really did.’
‘Bastards.’
‘So, after we dropped the boy, Jake says to me we have unfinished business.’
Tahir looked up as the waitress came with their order and placed down the plates. He waited until she went away then looked at Cal for an answer.
‘Yeah,’ Cal said. ‘We drove to the house and battered the door down. And then we found the guy in a cupboard. Jake dragged him out kicking and screaming. Then he nods to me – same as he did to you – and I shot him. Right there.’ He made a little gesture with his finger as a gun.
‘Wow! Just like that?’
‘Yeah. He was facing me though. I could see his eyes.’
‘You are freaked by that?’
Cal sighed, as he picked up his burger.
‘A little bit. But it will go away. Like the others, they got what they deserved.’
Tahir took a bite of his burger and spoke with his mouth full.
‘So, my friend, we are killers now. We must be careful. People will want to kill us.’
‘I know,’ Cal said. ‘But I think we did good.’ He went into his zipped jacket pocket and took out a wedge of cash. ‘Here. This is what Jack gave me when I went back to the house. A grand for each of us.’
‘Fuck! Really?’
‘Yes. He said we did well. That this was a big moment for us today in difficult circumstances, he said, but we earned our stripes.’ He smiled. ‘He actually said that – we earned our stripes.’
Tahir smiled, stuffed a chip into his mouth.
‘We did, my friend. We earned our stripes today.’ He took a swig of his Coke. ‘Now we deal with the bastards who are selling the girls up at the high flats.’
Cal let it hang for a moment, because there was something about his friend’s demeanour that made him think he was enjoying this killing a little too much.
‘We have to be careful, Tahir,’ Cal said. ‘I think we should tell Jack Reilly about it and see what he thinks. We should watch how we do this, because we don’t want to be the guys who are staring down the barrel of a gun, like the bastards today. Just let’s calm it a bit.’
‘We’ll see,’ Tahir said. ‘But I promised my girl I would fix this. And I will.’
‘And we will. Okay?’ Cal stabbed a couple of chips with a fork. ‘Come on. Let’s eat, then we can go for a game of pool.’
*
Kerry was glad to be sitting around the table with the people she could stake her life on. Danny, Jack, Jake Cahill and Eddie the chauffeur. Even Auntie Pat was there, sat alongside Marty Kane, who looked gaunt and tired. A couple of other men who were involved in the day’s earlier proceedings also joined them and they tucked in to some kind of Spanish rice dish prepared by Elsa. Kerry looked around at them as they ate. They were family and today had been a good day. It had been bloody, more bloody than she ever imagined she could ever be a part of, but it had been a good day. Little Finbar Kane had been returned to his family, and Pepe Rodriguez had been sent packing, with a bullet in him. She’d been surprised at the little sting of regret she felt that she hadn’t killed him. But his tail was far from between his legs, and everyone around here knew he would be back with a vengeance. The Caseys hadn’t even lost one man – three were injured but were patched up, and the operation all in all was a success. But this meeting wasn’t only about celebration, it was about what next.
‘So, Danny,’ Kerry turned towards her uncle, sitting on her right, ‘do you agree we should talk to Billy Hill? I only met him that time he came up and he seemed to be in with Durkin and Rodriguez, so I’m not up to speed on what’s been going on with him over the past weeks.’
‘I can tell you that he’s been frozen out big time and he’s having to work hard to keep his supplier in Spain onside with him. You see, Rodriguez will be pushing everyone out in Spain and trying to get a bigger slice of everything. And because he and Hill didn’t see eye to eye, he’ll have him on his hit list. No doubt about it. And Billy will know that. I’ve known him a long time – used to meet him many years ago with your old man, Kerry. He’s all right, but a bit slippery. But right now, I think he’d be glad to come on board with us.’
‘Good, so can I leave that to you to make the contact, Danny?’
‘Sure. I’ll talk to him in the morning.’
Kerry turned to Jack. ‘What do you think will happen next in Glasgow?’
Jack swirled the wine in his glass and placed it on the table.
‘I think the people who were working with Rodriguez on the kidnapping of wee Finbar will try to hit us in some way, so we are on our guard for that. They lost a few bodies today, so they’ll be sore. But some of these people today might also have been part of Durkin’s mob over from Dublin to help out, so right now we don’t really know who we’re looking for.’
‘What about this Sinc character? He must be able to tell us who he was working for,’ Kerry said.
‘He did,’ Jack said. ‘Jimmy Pearson, his name is. We’re looking for him, but he’s nowhere to be seen. He’s a prick and he owns that night club and restaurant up off Sauchiehall Street. An arsehole who spends a lot of time in Spain and he launders money but we don’t know who for. He’s never really featured on our radar before, because he keeps a lower profile. But we’re thinking he’s mixed up with a lot of people over on the Costa del Sol. He might actually have disappeared over there in the last day or so. But we’ll find him. Problem is he might already have set some irons in the fire here, so that’s why we’re watching.’
‘So where are Sinc and this Lenny character now?’
Jack looked at Danny and the two men at the end of the table dropped their eyes to their plates.
Jack reached across for garlic bread and tore a piece in half.
‘Oh them? They’re history.’
There was a brief moment where nobody spoke, and Kerry glanced at Jake Cahill, his face impassive, then at Auntie Pat, who raised her eyebrows a little.
Then Marty Kane cleared his throat.
‘Chaps,’ he said, ‘I know you can imagine how difficult these past few days have been for my family. I just want to say thanks. From my heart.’
Everyone stopped and turned to him, expecting him to say more, but Marty looked choked as he swallowed, then raised his glass.
‘To everyone here. You brought me back my grandson today. My life. Not everyone in my family would like to know that it was you who gave us our boy back, and if they did, they might not like it. But I will always be in your debt.’
Silence. Then Auntie Pat chipped in. ‘How is the wee guy settling back in, Marty?’
Marty smiled for the first time since he had arrived. ‘He’s fine, Pat. He’s good. Thanks.’
Marty had spoken with humility as he sat among criminals. And Kerry felt humbled, in turn, by his loyalty. Marty had to keep secrets from his own family. And so too did Kerry, as she sat among her family carrying her own little secret inside her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kerry awoke with a feeling of excitement, the first thought to come to her that she would be meeting Vinny this morning. She lay with her eyes closed, images of their final lunch together flooding her mind. That afternoon, as they’d sat opposite each other in her favourite Italian restaurant, La Lanterna, she’d been clear and even a little cool with him as they both knew that the relationship as it was really had nowhere to go. She probably shouldn’t even have been having lunch with him, far less the brief nights of passion they’d shared. But it was what it was, she’d decided at the time, and even though Vinny had looked a bit dejected, he would know in himself that this was how it had to be. But they’d parted as friends, both of them trying to play down any feelings they had about each other. And for Kerry’s part, her mind was made up anyway. There was no room for Vinny in her life. That was before she discovered she was pregnant with his child. Yet even now, as she lay, the palm of her hand resting on her navel, trying to imagine the little life inside her, she was still sure there was no future for her and Vinny, so there was no point in even fantasising – despite the feelings that stirred in her.
Kerry had learned to build walls like that from early on, when her mum had sent her away as a teenager to live in Spain. There was no point in weeping for ever for things that you couldn’t change, things you could not have. It had stood her in good stead all of her life – except when she suffered the miscarriage a year ago which had taken the heart from her and left her paralysed with grief. But she was getting over all of that now. A new heart beat inside her, and soon she would go to the doctor and organise a scan so that she could see the baby for real, and love it even more, if that was possible. She stretched her hands behind her head and lay listening to the activity outside, cars coming and going, voices of the security guards. The place had been buzzing with people in the last twenty-four hours, but up here in her bedroom and study on the first floor, she was solitary. She could indulge herself in these reveries like this, allowing herself to think of what her life would be if she was just an ordinary woman expecting a baby and waiting for the father to come and see her.
