“Okay, folks. Time to go,” said Dan.
He looked back and saw Mark and Joanne standing in silence. They were close together, but the atmosphere between them was tangible, frosty.
Dan shot them a look but decided not to mention it.
“Okay. Time to get you home.”
***
Dan headed for Southchurch, and five minutes later, he was dropping them off outside Mark’s family home. Joanne and Mark got out of the car. Mark walked away and started to open the front door. He waved and walked inside without a word, and left the door hanging open for Joanne, exposing the brassy light of the hallway to any and all who passed on the quiet street. On the other side of the road, two skinny looking women, all legs and short skirts, walked past them with arms folded across their narrow chests. Joanne lingered by Dan’s open car door. They both watched the girls walking by and drew the same conclusion.
“Working girls,” said Joanne.
Dan nodded. “Yeah,” he said, quietly. “On their way to Ambleside for another night’s trade. That’s life for some people.” Dan looked at Joanne and she looked down at him in the car. She seemed unwilling to follow Mark inside. Dan could see she had a lot on her mind, yet had trouble sharing it. His mind drifted to Eva. He wanted to see her, just to see her and speak to her and see she was okay.
“Hey, Joanne… You did really, really good.”
“You mean, apart from handing you a job working for Alex Galvan?”
“Yeah… but even that, you meant well. And we handled it, didn’t we? You can do this job, Joanne. I can see that. Eva sees it. Sometimes you get a little too keen and you get your fingers burned, but still, I was just the same at your age. You’re made for this line of work. I don’t know why you’d want it, but there it is.”
“That’s nice to hear you say,” said Joanne.
“But you know we can’t employ you. Not yet. We would if we could.”
Joanne nodded. “I know.”
“Keep at it, Jo,” said Dan.
“I fully intend to,” she said. Dan caught something in the tone of her voice. A hint of arrogance and certainty. But then the girl always had plenty of sass to spare.
“And if you do find out the link between your connection and Alex Galvan…”
“Galvan?” said Joanne.
“It stands to reason,” said Dan. “Robert Golding was Galvan’s man. He used us to find Alma for Galvan. Your colleague is another link in the chain to Galvan. I suspect there could be more.”
Joanne frowned. “It wasn’t my colleague, Dan. I can assure you of that. He was misled too.”
Dan chewed it over. “Fine. But he was a link in the chain. Get him to consider who gave him the intel. It’d be good to know.”
“I will,” she said.
“And,” said Dan, “I hope you can fix things with Mark.”
Joanne looked down at the pavement. “I’m not so sure about that part.”
Dan frowned.
“Dan, do you think you could still hire Mark’s ex?”
“Jo, you’re having a bad day. That’s all. If Eva and me split over every bad day we ever had, we’d have split up one hundred and fifty times a year by now. So don’t you quit and run…” But Dan saw the look on Joanne’s face and added. “Not unless you really, really have to.”
“Everything changes, right?” said Joanne. “I mean, things are always changing, all of the time. That’s not a reason to be upset, is it?”
“Everything changes,” said Dan. “But the best things, the truest things, they always, always stay the same. Don’t make a mistake, Jo. Go get some sleep.”
Dan patted his steering wheel and Joanne shut the car door. He started the car, and waved as he gunned the complaining engine down towards Ambleside. The skinny girls in the short skirts looked at his loud car as he passed them by. Behind him, Joanne watched the Egomobile turn away at the junction. With a sigh, she turned for Mark’s garden path. She took hold of the door handle and got ready to go inside. But just as she was about to cross the threshold, she stopped and looked down the street then up at the moon. The rain had stopped. The clouds had parted to show a scattering of stars. The night was silent, but there was plenty of noise in her head. She stepped back outside and closed the door. Slowly, step by step, Joanne walked away. Up in the first-floor window, Mark watched her leave. The fanlight of his bedroom window was wide open, just as it had been open all day. Mark had heard everything. He watched her walk away and wanted to open the window and call out her name. His mother still wasn’t back, after all. But even after all they’d been through, something inside – something hurt and stubborn wouldn’t let him call her. She was beautiful, maybe the most beautiful girl he’d ever have. But it wasn’t enough. There were too many secrets. Too many lies to stay close. He watched as she disappeared at the end of the street. And for the first time in hours, his head started to hurt, and Mark knew it had nothing to do with concussion.
Twenty
Eva walked into the office and dropped her bag on the front desk. Her eyes landed on Dan. He was seated at the back of the office, the glow of his laptop reflecting from his face, a can of lager in his hand. Dan’s eyes tracked to Lauren, who closed the door behind them.
“Are you okay?” said Eva hoping her eyes conveyed some love and her own need for something in return.
Dan nodded. He sipped his beer and looked between Eva and Lauren, their unwelcome guest. “I’ve been better. I’m just debating whether to call the police now or wait until Dawson, Palmer or Hogarth call me. It’s going to happen sooner or later.”
“What about?”
Dan’s eyes flicked from Eva to Lauren. “Long story,” he said.
“Your problem client?” said Lauren wearily.
The other one, Dan didn’t say.
He was drinking but not drunk. His eyes looked thoughtful, almost peaceful. The door had been open and the office lights were still on. Eva guessed he had been waiting up for her. Dan’s face seemed bright, friendly and eager to see her. But as soon as he saw Lauren shuffle into the office behind her, her yapping voice still full of questions, Dan’s face had changed. The light in his eyes dimmed and Eva watched as he downed a few more rapid gulps of lager. His reaction made Eva hastily explain the reasons behind Lauren’s presence, all the while hoping Dan would be able to read between the lines. Eva had come home for respite. But so had Dan. And now both of them knew there would be precious little on offer. Eva saw Dan’s eyes were loaded with tension and trouble… things he could hardly share in front of Lauren. But Dan spoke anyway - because it had to come out.
“The other client,” said Dan, “turned out to be an even worse scumbag than we knew. He was working for Galvan, Eva. Galvan used us to find Alma because she had information he needed to stage his comeback. I think he wanted to use it to take over the UK Uber business.”
“The Uber business? Galvan?” said Lauren, shaking her head. The words seemed meaningless in Lauren’s mouth. Dan’s eyes flashed with irritation.
“Do you mind? This is a work conversation. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut.”
“Can you give us a minute, Lauren?” said Eva.
The woman pursed her lips and gave a single nod. “I’ll get a glass of water or something,” she said, wearily. She walked into the back kitchen and made a half-hearted effort at closing the door. Dan lowered his voice.
“I can see why he used a go-between,” said Dan. “We’d never have willingly helped him. But how he knew about Alma, that still bothers me. Robert Poulter, real name Golding, found out that Alma had a book of secret info on the Uber gang… but he seemed vague about how Galvan knew about her in the first place. Then there was the job itself. How was Joanne passed that lead?”
“She was used, of course. But she denies it. Her friend at the council or whatever, was given dud information. And the dud information was given to him by someone else. Links in the chain back to Little Man Galvan, whoever would have guessed,” said Eva.
Alex Galvan, short in stature, a youngblood gangster maturing in hard times. His gigantic ego made up for any height deficiencies.
“A lesson in itself,” said Eva “Joanne needs to learn not to trust everyone.”
“Yeah,” said Dan, sipping at his drink and looking pointedly at Lauren. She’d emerged from the kitchen, arms folded, glass of water already drunk.
“Sorry to intrude,” said Lauren. “Bringing me here wasn’t my idea. Eva insisted.”
“Fine. It doesn’t matter,” said Dan. “We got through okay,” he said, giving Eva the shortest possible version. “We even got paid. I’m sure we’ll be able to fix your problem too.”
An awkward silence followed, mainly because Eva really wasn’t so sure. Dan’s eyes flicked between them.
“Well, I guess I’ll leave you to discuss it. I’m going up,” he said.
“We’ll be up soon. Lauren will sleep on the sofa.”
“Fine,” said Dan, for the second time. But it wasn’t fine. He nodded at them both and took his beer can with him. Left with Lauren, the silence soon returned.
“Do you really want me to run through everything again?” said Lauren. “To prove it to you?”
Eva sighed. “No. I heard them myself, Lauren. And I’ve seen all that other stuff. What I really need now – what you must need too, is to put it all down, and just to take a breath – just for a few hours. I promise, we’ll do what needs to be done. Tomorrow.”
“Will we?” she said.
“I said we’ll do what needs to be done…” said Eva. …and nothing more. Dan needed a break, Eva understood that. The case had tired him out, and it seemed he had been hurt. Now Eva needed a semblance of normality too. She waited as long as she could before she took Lauren upstairs into their apartment. Dan stood up from the sofa as soon as they arrived.
“Please, don’t leave on my account,” said Lauren.
“It’s not on your account. But it’s been a rough day,” Dan shot Eva a look. “Something’s up with Joanne and Mark too. Especially Joanne. It could be about that dud lead, maybe something else. But she’s got something on her mind.”
“I noticed that too.”
Dan made to walk past them. “Anything else I should know about?” asked Eva.
“She’s thinking of dumping Mark. So be prepared for the fallout on that one.”
“Where’d that come from? They looked so happy lately.”
“Like I said, something’s going on behind the scenes.”
“You had a rough day…” said Eva, seeing it in his eyes.
“Getting chased by two gangland gunmen can do that sometimes. Life’s funny like that.”
Lauren’s eyes sparkled at them. She folded her arms in admiration. It was hard to tell if she was being authentic. Either way, Eva found it annoying.
“See. I don’t know how you two do it. Either of you. I knew you were the people to help me.”
Dan’s face formed a grim smile. “Then at least we’re good for something… That’s it from me. I need to crash.” He dragged a hand down his face. “I’ll take a last beer for company and leave you two ladies to your plotting.”
Plotting. The word made Eva wince. Dan gave her a weary wink as he moved on down the corridor towards the kitchen.
Five minutes after Dan adjourned to the bedroom, Eva made her excuses to Lauren and followed. She found Dan on the bed, feet up, shoes off, beer in hand, laptop set on his denim-clad thighs. “Hey,” he said, looking up. “Sorry to leave you, but I needed this.”
“I think I need that too,” she said.
“But you brought her back instead,” said Dan.
“There was no way out of that, believe me. I’ve seen the evidence now, Dan. It looks really bad. Her partner, Jamie Blane, is setting up to kill her. We heard him arranging the kill with a guy who must be the hitman. It could be the very same guy who engineered Mrs Blane’s car accident a few years ago.
“Another hitman? What is it with hitmen today? They come along like buses,” Dan sipped his beer, his face deadpan. Eva didn’t smile.
“So at least you’ve seen the evidence,” he said.
“Yeah,” said Eva. “I’ve seen online orders for cleaning equipment, saws, disposal bags all ordered by Blane… I’ve read emails about the kill between Blane and the hitman. I’ve heard their conversation about pushing the button on doing away with her. You’ve seen and heard Lauren. She’s in a state. She saw the knife in Blane’s car and he’s been abusing her in all kinds of ways for a long time now. It looks like the end game is finally here.”
“Then she’s telling you the truth. Even so, I can’t say I like the woman. She hurt you, Eva, and it doesn’t matter how many years ago that was, I don’t like it. And now she’s here, dominating you, your life with her problems.”
“She’s a client. That’s what they do. And she hired me to protect her.”
“Us, not just you.”
“No, Dan. This one is really difficult and very personal. We both get paid, but she hired me. It’s a woman thing, and it’s about our past. It’s complicated. It’s me she wants.”
“See what I mean. She’s needy and she’s using you and your past friendship.”
“Because she’s terrified.”
“So you’re defending her now? That’s new.”
“I wanted to see you, that’s why I came home. She was pushing me to act right now. I never make great decisions under pressure like that.”
“Yes, you do, Eva,” said Dan. He sipped again. “You always do. Which means something else stopped you. Intuition. A gut feeling maybe.”
“That’s your thing, Dan. All I needed was a little time. I needed to see you, make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m okay,” said Dan. “Now we just need to fix her case and get the woman off your back.”
“Come on,” said Eva. “Was I supposed to leave her to it and see if she ended up dead?”
Dan sipped his beer. “I’m sorry. I was just looking forward to some peace, that’s all.”
“So was I. Do you have any idea what she wants me to do?” said Eva.
Dan grimaced.
“I promised I’d help her whatever it takes.”
“So…” said Dan. “What will it take?”
“If he’s as bad as she says? If he really is a killer? I don’t know… but she keeps mentioning how we’ve always done ‘whatever it takes’ in our careers. You and me. She’d read up on us, Dan. The good and the bad. I think she wants me to take him out. She hasn’t said it, but I’m certain that’s what she wants.”
Dan looked into Eva’s eyes. “That’s not you, Eva. That’s the opposite of who you are.”
“Then what am I going to do? She’s in danger – she’s totally boxed in – and the only option we have is to face him down. I brought her here to buy some time to think of another way out, but I don’t see it. Every other option is a dead end. I’ve explored them all. Seriously, I don’t know what to do.”
“Then quit the case and give her over to the police. This isn’t your problem, Eva. She dumped you like a sack of you-know-what, and then twenty years on she waltzes back into your life and demands you do what?! Just because it suits her?”
“I know… But we were close once. Her life is in the balance. And I made her a promise.”
“Then break it.”
“She was a friend.”
“And was she loyal to you? Tell me. Go on.”
“But I can’t just throw her under a bus. By tomorrow this guy Blane will be coming for her. I heard him plotting to kill her, and now I’ve stolen her for the night. He’ll go into panic mode and push this button of his.”
“Maybe. But when I look at that woman, and I think of what she’s done to you in the past, and I swear, half of this looks like it’s in her head. If you hadn’t told me what you’d seen and heard, I would have insisted you call for the men in white coats.”
“And that’s what I thought too, until I heard them talking tonight –
Blane and the hitman. This is real. It’s not just in Lauren’s head.”
Dan shrugged. “You know what you heard. So it’s your call. What are you going to do?”
Eva bit her lip before she spoke. “I’ve got no choice. When you see the evidence I’ve seen, there really is no option.”
Dan sighed and tipped the rest of his beer down his neck. “But you’re not going to do what she asked, right?”
“This guy is sick, Dan. He’s a violent scumbag. He uses women, takes what he wants, then he abuses them and gets rid of them anyway he can.”
“Promise me, Eva. We’ve crossed that line before and you know it destroys you. It eats at you for years. You can’t do what she’s asked.”
Eva shook her head. “You know I can’t do that. But if Blane is planning to hurt her, I think I can stop that happening if I act now.”
“Then how? What will you do?” said Dan.
Eva narrowed her eyes and looked at Dan’s empty beer can. The promise of a drink had never looked so appealing.
“I won’t do what she wants. But perhaps I could slow him down. Tell him what I know, do a little more, but only if necessary. I could make him think twice.”
“You mean, resort to violence?” said Dan. “You?”
“Don’t say it like that. I would never hurt anyone unless they did something to provoke me. Unless I had to defend myself.”
Dan looked at Eva through half-closed eyes. “But you’re still saying you intend to clip his wings.”
Eva didn’t respond. The idea was too ugly to verbalise, but Dan nodded anyway.
“I think you might need my help on that,” he said, draining his can.
Eva shook her head. “No, this is my problem. If you think about it, this Lauren mess has followed me for years. I need to handle it.”
“But according to you, this guy’s a killer. I won’t let you face it alone.”
“But Jamie Blane? Jamie Blane’s not a killer. Blane’s just a twisted puppeteer. He’s been an office desk jockey his whole life. I’ll be able to handle him. Just a little scare, that’s all. He’ll fold when he sees what he’s up against.”
Cuts Both Ways Page 28
