Dan looked around as Alice Perry drew to a halt at the end of the front path to Chestnut House. The girl smiled at him and gave him those bright shining eyes on full beam. They were easy to look at, and Dan felt an immediate pang of self-condemnation. The girl was an old-fashioned siren, he knew that well. Trouble with sirens was they were still alluring whatever danger lay behind them. Dan told himself to think of a sailor being lured toward the rocks whenever he saw those eyes. The thought made him smile, but the method worked.
“The meeting did go well, I take it?”
Dan stiffened and folded his arms. Again, he noted the girl was dressed well in another one of her upgraded skirt suits and blouse.
“Meeting?”
“It’s an office building, Dan. You just left the building behind you. It doesn’t exactly take a genius to work out you had a meeting in there, not unless you’re moonlighting as a delivery man. So who were you in there to see?” Alice looked up at the business names stencilled on the windows from the first floor to the fifth. Dan glanced up. None of the logos featured mentioned The Renton Trust.
“Who knows?” said Dan, allowing himself a smile.
Perry raised an eyebrow. “As it happens, I do.” Perry leaned her backside against the wall beside him. Dan played the game of reading her eyes to see if she was bluffing or not.
“You guessed. That’s not the same as knowledge, Alice,” said Dan.
“Okay. Shall I try again? You were here to see The Renton Trust. They offered you a job. How am I doing so far?”
Dan frowned.
“They invited you here because they were interested in hiring your services to look at the Uber threat. And because your last job involved unmasking the man who killed their founder, nailing two Uber drug-dealing murderers for good measure.
Dan’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t worry. It’s not actually sorcery or clairvoyance or anything. It’s better than that. I called the Trust not long after Carl Renton died. I said I’d like to keep abreast of any information, so I could help promote their charity in The Record. Lo and behold, their media guy gave me a call to tell me all about their plans yesterday.”
“But that was before they even called me, before I’d been invited. I might have declined. Then they would have looked stupid.”
“You saying no to a job? Or to taking on some serious villains? Since when? That’s not the Dan Bradley I know. I would have bet good money on you coming here. In fact, that’s the only reason I’m here in the first place. I knew you would be.”
“Eva might have been here too.”
The girl’s eyes sparked at him. “And is there any reason why that should be a problem for anyone?”
Dan snorted. “Only for you.”
“I’ve got thick skin. You remember that skin of mine, right?”
Dan shook his head. “You’re unbelievable, Alice.”
“Thank you. So, did you like my holiday snap? Did Eva like it?”
“You’re always out to cause trouble. You were supposed to help me, not set a fire under my feet.
“Is that what I did? What kind of fire was it, exactly? I could have added another shot just to jog your memory about the possibilities.”
“I don’t need any possibilities, Alice.”
“You never know until you try,” she said.
“Just what are you here for?”
“Judging by the look in your eye, I’d say you’d got the job. I’d hire you. What are the parameters of this job, exactly?
“Alice, what do you want?” said Dan.
“You’re a player in this town, like any other. I want stories. I’ll give you information, just like I gave you before, and you have to return the favour, and the world keeps on turning.”
Dan nodded. “Then I’ll let you know if anything comes of this meeting.”
“But I’ll already know that part. What I need is the inside track. I need the story of what happens when you crack this new case.”
“It’s confidential. Like every case is.”
“Not if you solve it… and if it’s high profile, it soon becomes public knowledge anyway. And when that happens, I’d like the inside story before it blows up. And until then, if you’d like your free-flowing source of high-quality information to keep on delivering, I’d like some nuggets in return.”
“Just like before, eh?” said Dan.
“Almost, except this time it’s better,” said Alice. “This time it’s a level playing field. No tricks or traps from me, straight up. And no more avoidance or dissing from you. Understood?”
Dan paused and looked Alice Perry in the eye. She smouldered at him, but he guessed that went with the territory. She offered him her hand. He looked at it, small, soft and manicured.
“Understood. But the stories come only on my terms. No exposés. No weird profile stories or blackmail. Nothing bad.”
“Fine,” said Perry. “We’ll start from there, shall we?”
Dan took the girl’s hand and shook it once. Her fingers lingered a moment on his palm before the handshake ended.
“I’ll call you, Danny Boy,” said Alice, “but there’ll have to be meetings too. Don’t fret. We can meet on neutral territory. Or at my office. With witnesses, if even that’s a little too risqué for you. It’s okay, Dan. One day you’ll trust yourself with me. Maybe.”
Dan frowned and raised an eyebrow.
“You know, you look tired, honey,” said Alice. She peered closer into Dan’s eyes and drew back.
“Is she treating you okay?”
Dan’s eyes narrowed. “That’s none of your damn business.”
Alice smiled. “Isn’t it?”
Dan shook his head and stood away from the wall.
“I’ll be in touch,” she said. “Or, you can always call me. I think you know my number.”
Dan didn’t answer. He walked on up the street and didn’t stop until he got in his car. The noisy engine drew a few looks from the workers and vagabonds walking down Baxter Avenue, but Dan ignored them. He drove away with as much nonchalance as he could… but, damn it, the Egomobile was becoming an embarrassment. Dan glanced in the rear-view mirror and caught Alice Perry watching, shrinking away into the distance. The girl raised a hand to wave goodbye, as if she knew he’d look back. Maybe it was sorcery after all.
Twenty-three
Mark failed to make it into the office. Much as Dan predicted, there was some trouble afoot. What with Dan’s disappearance, Mark’s absence only cemented the feeling of being sentenced to deal with Lauren alone. For what they had to discuss, it was probably for the best. Essential even. But the lack of familiar company gave Eva an edge of melancholy to go with her anxiety. Something bad was going to happen, but how bad it would be, she didn’t know.
Lauren was speaking, recounting once more what had happened as she sipped her coffee. Didn’t she talk about anything else? Of course not, you judgey bitch, Eva scolded herself, she’s a battered woman. Her life is on the line.
I need to call Mark. See if he’s okay, thought Eva, half tuned in, half out, maintaining the balancing act to keep sane and reasonable under growing pressure.
“Three times. Three times he’s texted and that’s since eight o’clock,” said Lauren. Eva’s eyes narrowed and widened as she tried to recall what Lauren had literally just said. But it was too late. She hadn’t been tuned in, and Lauren saw it. Lauren gave her the slightest shake of her head. “Eva, Jamie has texted me abusive messages three times since eight. Abusive or demanding. He wants to know where I’ve been, who I’ve slept with, when I’m going home.”
“Three more texts?” she said. There was an A4 pad in front of Eva, a well-chewed biro in her hand, both of which were little more than PI props. They were supposed to be planning their actions, but Eva was still struggling to see what her method would be. Finally, she was beginning to see, something unpleasant as this could never come down to planning. It would come down to facing the situation as it unfolded – down to
the only options available to her. But at least the props had helped postpone reality for a short while longer.
“You didn’t delete those last ones, did you?” said Eva.
“Of course I did. It’s drip, drip, drip. He’s getting into my head again. He wants me weak. He wants me ready for the kill. I can’t let him win, not even for a second.”
“The texts! Save those texts!”
“Eva, you can’t threaten this man. You can’t make him back down.”
“For the court case, then” said Eva. “If and when it comes.”
“There will be no court case, If he goes unchecked, there’ll only be a post-mortem and an obituary in the paper. Mine.”
“Tell him things have changed. You’re safe now, you have a place, and if anything happens to your family, he’ll be arrested. And then save every communication you receive from now on to back it all up.”
“Eva, you don’t want me here. Dan doesn’t, that’s for sure. And the only way to get out for sure and keep my family safe is to fight fire with fire. If you’re not going to do it, then I’ll have to do it myself.”
Eva nodded and looked down at the blank page.
“That’s it. You wanted out of this all along. You’re going to cut me loose and watch me go, aren’t you?” said Lauren.
Eva hesitated before she denied it. “No, I’m not.”
“But we’re going round in circles. What are you going to do?”
The phone on Eva’s desk buzzed again. It was Lauren’s phone. Both sets of eyes went to it. Lauren met Eva’s eyes and nodded. Lauren lifted the phone, read the latest text, sighed and turned the phone to face Eva.
You’ve done it now. I warned you, Lauren. Remember, You made this happen. And as of right now, there’s no way back. At last I’ll be free of you. Remember, you brought this on yourself.
Eva looked up to meet Lauren’s hardened eyes. “There. Does that make it any clearer for you, Eva? Today, Eva. He’s going to do something today!”
There was a new edge of panic in Lauren’s voice. Eva re-read the text. Out of context, it might have been a standard issue relationship decree. The ultimatum which is overturned by a big making up. But the finality of the tone stuck in Eva’s head. At last I’ll be free of you. There was such certainty in it, that it made Eva turn cold.
“Oh jeez… Oh no,” said Lauren. “If I’m going to beat this, I need to know what he’s planning… is he going to do it himself? Or is he paying the guy at the Perryman…? Eva… can I check something, please… on your laptop?”
Eva listened to the woman’s high-pitched panic. She turned the laptop towards her. “Help yourself,” she said.
Lauren shook her hair and tucked a lock behind her ear. With a trembling hand she began to prod at the keyboard.
“I want to check his work emails. I can’t check his home ones anymore, but who knows… let’s see.”
Lauren opened the web browser and navigated to the Blane recruitment agency website. She clicked into the intranet, then typed a password to get into the email accounts. Eva watched her log in to Jamie Blane’s email account, and wide eyed Lauren began to scan the emails. Eva nestled close to read them too. There was a stack of emails with company names, client names, job titles and job numbers in them, peppered with dozens of marketing emails. Those were pretty obvious. As were the recruitment agency ones. Lauren scrolled down the page and Eva saw nothing to be alarmed about. It looked like another fruitless task. But then Lauren clicked into the deleted emails folder. And right there, under a stack of rejected sales emails were two communications of note. The first was from Suzie Appleby.
“What’s this?” said Lauren.
She opened the email and they read it side by side. Eva was happier that way. It gave Lauren no chance to filter, and there was no chance of Lauren’s bias misreading the situation.
Honey,
You made me so happy last night. Can’t wait until our nest is empty. Looking forward to making you a very happy man in my new home – our new home. And I mean happy in all ways ??
I’ll be thinking about you all day.
Suzie-Pie
“Ugh. That makes me want to puke. And do you see, he’s already promised the tart that she can move in – into the empty nest?! That means when I’m dead, Eva. He’s told her I’m leaving, but I’m not leaving. He told me I’m forbidden to leave.”
“Open the other email, Lauren.”
Eva’s eyes flicked down to the second odd email. She’d already scanned the sender, suspecting an email from the alleged hitman. But this one wasn’t from IronVelvet. This was something else.
Lauren clicked it open and they both read the words.
The first part of the email was a response. A four word response.
“Congratulations, Jamie – button pushed.”
Beneath it was the previous email that had prompted the reply – the email from Jamie Blane sent at 06:44am that very morning.
“She didn’t come home. I think she knows something is happening, I don’t know how, but she does. Time to push the button – today.”
Neither email was signed off. But adding them all up, the context was crystal clear. The conclusion unavoidable.
“Today, Eva. He’s going to try and have me killed… today.”
Eva looked at Lauren and saw the bright cold fear behind her eyes and she couldn’t blame the woman or fault her. The calm of the early morning was gone. Lauren Jaeger was finally losing control and the baton of responsibility was being passed to her, whether she liked it or not. Willing or not, she was now the one who had to be in charge.
“What now?!” snapped Lauren.
“Stay calm. Breathe,” said Eva. “You already did the right thing. You came to me. You asked me to help and we’ve both watched this coming, haven’t we?”
“But you’re so very reluctant to help me… I know why, because of what I did and all, but, Eva, I tried to apologise, I really did. I need your help, Eva… or I’m gone…”
“Listen to me. You’re not gone. He can’t touch you while you’re with me. No one can. There’ll be witnesses. Consequences. It just can’t be done.”
“What if he hits you too?”
The thought jabbed at Eva like a blade, but she did her best to hide it. “That won’t happen. Blane is a businessman and so is his contact. They’ll be after you, that’s all. But they’ll want to do it the easiest way possible. My very first job, my most important job is to prevent that happening.”
“And you can do that?”
“We’ve been doing this a while now, right? You said it yourself,” said Eva, laying on the confident tone in her voice. “We’ve overcome gangsters, foiled terrorists, brought down corrupt men of power – hell, we’ve even crossed swords with the security services and we’re still here. You said it yourself,, that’s why you’re here. I won’t let it happen.”
Lauren forced a smile and dabbed at her eyes.
“Yes, yes… I know you can do it. You can stop him.”
“First, we have to consider how he’s going to make his play,” said Eva. “Jamie Blane looks like he’s hiring a hitman, yeah? But this email is different to the last ones. They were named, or signed IronVelvet. But this is a different email address – same context, same tone, same words even – push the button – but why use a different address?”
Lauren shrugged. She looked skittish. Her mind was obviously racing.
“Well, it could be to disguise his trail. Email addresses are so easy to concoct. It’s even easier than buying a burner phone… that could be one reason, Lauren. But there’s another thing. We don’t know this guy is a hitman. He may be just a confidant – Jamie’s go-to man. The arranger.”
“You think this isn’t about a hit? Come on, Eva! You’ve seen everything there is to see.”
“That’s not what I mean,” said Eva. “What I meant is that this could be the clean-up man, not the killer. You said Jamie had the knife and all the equipment and the bags. He ordered
them and picked them up.”
“Yes, he placed the orders… that makes sense.”
“Then that makes me think Jamie is going to be more involved than we think. I don’t think this is going to be a hit out on the street, Lauren. I think he’s going to make you disappear in the penthouse. Maybe when you go home.”
Lauren’s eyes flashed wide open at Eva.
“Jamie could do all of that himself?”
“As bad, as awful as that sounds, that’s what makes sense. The way I read it is that Jamie is going to make you disappear… ‘empty the nest’ in terms of cleaning up. But I think the button pressed here, is for disposal of the body and the evidence. That’s what the rules were this time, remember? The guy was too busy for the full job.”
“Jamie… is going to dismember my body…” said Lauren, slowly.
“Lauren…” said Eva.
The woman’s eyes flitted around the office, her face framed in fear. Eva reached out and placed a hand on her wrist. “Lauren. It’s not going to happen. In either scenario, hitman or home job. It’s not going to happen.”
“But I can’t avoid him forever, can I? He’ll hurt my family.”
“I know that. And the button has been pushed, so whatever that means, we’ll deal with it today. Today, okay?”
“You said keeping me safe was the first part. Eva, what’s the second?”
Eva swallowed and kept her gaze even as she looked into Lauren’s eyes.
“I’ll deal with him,” she said. Eva forced her voice to sound confident and firm as she added. “Whatever it takes. And just in case he has a backup plan, in case his confidant or hitman is waiting in the wings, I want you nowhere near him while I fix this. All I need you to do is get me into the building. Soon as I’m in, I want you out, understood? I’ll fix the rest.”
“Fix the rest?”
“Trust me. I’ll do what needs to be done.”
Lauren examined Eva’s eyes. She smiled a little and nodded her head.
“What about you? What if you end up trapped?”
“Please, that’s enough with the what ifs. Jamie Blane is a recruitment agent. He’s an amateur. I know the type. No matter how bad and tough he thinks he is, he’s never come up against anyone like me. He doesn’t stand a chance.”
Cuts Both Ways Page 30
