Howard Linskey - The Dead

Then he flounced away, exiting stage left, while the photographers snapped away at him as if he was a movie star. Baxter walked with his chin up and his head held high. Anybody with a shred of decency would have avoided making that speech, but child killers don’t have decency. Men like Baxter think laws don’t apply to them and they can do whatever they like. Thanks to our barrister it seemed that he was right.

Palmer tailed Baxter halfway across the city to make sure nobody else was watching him. He was clean, as you would expect. The police were already embarrassed enough at his acquittal. They weren’t going to compound that by following the guy who’d just made them look so stupid in front of the media. Baxter was on his own when he walked into a hotel on the Quayside and checked in. He went to his room and surveyed it to see if it was to his satisfaction, but he didn’t hang about. Instead he left the room and walked down the rear staircase. We’d chosen the hotel carefully, so he could slip quietly out the back unnoticed by the girls manning the reception desk. Palmer was waiting with a car. Baxter climbed in and Palmer sped off.

The lock-up we’d chosen was well outside the city. We used the warehouse to store all sorts of stuff we needed to keep from prying eyes but it was as good a place as any to keep Baxter out of sight while he freed up my money.

Baxter seemed calm when he walked into the room with Palmer. He obviously thought I’d keep my end of the bargain and he was right. I might be a cold, hard, over-logical fucker but I’m not going to break the terms of an agreement I’ve sworn on my only child’s life. The important thing now was to make sure I got our five million back.

Baxter looked at me as if we were old friends who’d had a row and now he wanted to patch things up with me. ‘Thank you,’ he said, ‘I mean it. That lawyer you hired…’

‘Shut up Baxter,’ I told him, ‘I don’t want to hear it. All I care about is the money. You keep your end of the bargain and I’ll keep mine.’

‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’ he asked.

I reached into my pocket and handed him the flight ticket I’d bought him, and his boarding pass. He scrutinised them for a moment, to check they were genuine, then went to put them in his pocket, but I snatched them from him. ‘Not yet Baxter. Not till I get my money back.’ I put the tickets on a table set against the wall.

Palmer steered Baxter towards a chair in the centre of the room then he handcuffed both of Baxter’s wrists to the arms of the chair.

‘Oh come on,’ protested Baxter, ‘is this strictly necessary?’

‘Yes,’ I told him, ‘it is. I don’t want you trying to do a runner.’

Kinane was scowling at Baxter from a corner, but I had given him strict instructions not to intervene. There are a whole bunch of unwritten rules in the criminal world but the biggest by far is that you do not rape or murder children. I knew Kinane wanted very badly to kill Baxter and take a long time doing it.

‘Shall we get on with it then?’ asked Baxter waspishly. ‘I have a plane to catch in the morning.’

Robbie wrote down every word, as Baxter outlined how we could access the funds he had buried in that Cayman Islands bank. When Robbie was finished recording everything Baxter told him, he left the room so he could get word to Vince, our man out in the Caymans to handle the transaction. Then we waited. And waited. Baxter should have had the sense to shut up, but he couldn’t help himself.

‘First thing I’m going to do when I get out of here is take a long, hot bath.’

Kinane looked like a dog being held back by an invisible leash; a leash that I was holding.

‘You’re not going anywhere until I’m convinced we can access that money,’ I reminded him.

‘That’s just a formality,’ he reminded me. ‘I have no intention of cheating you out of your millions,’ and he smiled slightly, ‘don’t think I’d sleep too well if that were to happen. Would I, Joe?’

This was too much for Kinane and he climbed to his feet and stepped towards Baxter. He bent low so he could look right into Baxter’s face.

‘Let me do him anyway,’ he implored me, without taking his eyes away from Baxter’s, ‘even if he gives up the money. We’ll give him the same chance he gave that little girl. That would be fair, don’t you think?’

Beads of sweat were forming on Baxter’s face and I took my time before replying. I was enjoying watching him shit himself like this. In the end though, I was forced to say, ‘No Joe. I gave him my word on Emma’s life, you know that.’

‘That was your word,’ Kinane protested, ‘not mine.’

‘And I’m the boss,’ I reminded him, ‘I swore that no one who worked for me would harm him.’

‘Jesus Christ!’ shouted Kinane and he slammed his fist down hard on the table in front of Baxter. Then he added, ‘Maybe not today, but one day. One day, Baxter. It will be you, me and a dark alley somewhere and then you’ll be sorry for everything.’

‘I wouldn’t say another word if I were you Baxter,’ I warned him and he finally saw sense, staying silent for more than an hour while we waited.

Eventually, and not before time, we got the call from Robbie confirming that we could access the money and would be able to transfer it whenever we wished. I tried not to show how relieved I was, but we were so close to running out of operating cash I doubt we’d have gone another month without a serious intervention from someone.

‘It’s done,’ I told Baxter.

‘Then you can let me go,’ he told me acerbically, ‘I fulfilled my side of the bargain, now you can keep yours.’ Then he added, ‘Oh, and don’t forget the money.’

‘It’s in the car,’ I told him. ‘Keep an eye on him you two,’ I told Kinane and Palmer, ‘but make sure he doesn’t trip and hurt himself while I’m away.’ Palmer accepted this but Kinane shot me an evil look.

I walked out of the room and back to the car. I took out the holdall that contained the generous sum of money Baxter had extorted from me, in return for the repatriation of my five million, then I nodded at the guys standing outside the warehouse so they knew we were done. One of them followed me to the warehouse door and stepped inside with me. He walked quietly behind me all the way to the inner office, but waited outside. I stepped in and placed the holdall on the table next to his airline tickets and Baxter’s piggy little eyes lit up.

‘My end of the bargain,’ I told him, ‘it’s all in there. I promised you that and I promised that neither I nor anyone who worked for me would ever lay a hand on you, as long as you delivered our money.’

Baxter nodded, ‘I’m grateful, I really am,’ he said, then he glanced at the handcuffs, ‘now if you could just let me go?’

‘Not yet,’ I told him. ‘The deal was I have to let you go on the same day,’ I looked at my watch, ‘there’s still five hours to go before I have to uncuff you.’

‘Oh come on, you are joking aren’t you?’ asked Baxter. ‘I can’t believe you are going to be so petty. Are you really going to leave me here for five hours until you take these cuffs off me? Seriously?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘seriously, but don’t worry, one of the boys will come back and uncuff you before the day is over.’

‘Christ,’ he said in extreme irritation, then he seemed to compose himself, ‘very well, play your little games if you must. Just make sure you take these two out of my sight and make sure someone you trust comes back to let me go. Remember your oath.’

‘I remember it alright,’ I said, ‘every word. Come on boys,’ and I walked away from Baxter. Palmer and Kinane followed reluctantly.