Simon Kernick - The Crime Trade

A pool of blood was forming on her right trouser leg just above the knee, her teeth were clenched in pain, but she was still conscious.

‘Shit, this hurts,’ she gasped, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

They say it’s a grand life if you don’t weaken, and for so long I’ve tried to live my life like that, but at that moment in time, weakness felt so tempting that I almost opened my arms to greet it. Almost.

‘We’re going to get you to a hospital, don’t worry.’

‘What about Murk?’

‘Don’t worry about him.’

‘Is he dead?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘We’ve got to get to the bottom of this,’ she whispered, her eyes opening and focusing on me.

At that moment, I felt a burst of hope, elation following close behind. I tried to calm down, not wanting to get too excited, but it seemed that maybe the wound wasn’t as serious as I’d first thought, and Murk had intended. Otherwise, surely, there would have been no way she’d be holding a conversation, particularly about how the case was going. I’ve been with conscious gunshot victims before and, contrary to what you see on the films, they don’t chat. They go into shock.

‘What’s happened with the gun lead?’

‘Jesus, Tina, don’t think about it. Rest. Conserve your strength.’ Then I leant down close to her. ‘I love you,’ I whispered.

‘You’re not angry?’

‘I’m proud,’ I told her, smiling into her blue eyes. ‘Really proud.’

At that moment, the paramedics arrived. I continued to hold her hand, whispering soothing words while the paramedics went to work, cutting the trouser leg away to reveal the bloody mess beneath.

‘You’re going to be OK, luv,’ said the older of the two a few moments later, as he wiped away the blood and examined the injury. ‘It looks like it’s only a flesh wound. A nasty one, but a lot better than it could have been.’

‘That’s easy for you to say,’ she hissed, through gritted teeth.

Five minutes later and Tina was in the back of the ambulance heading towards Charing Cross hospital. She let me hold her hand on the journey, but only after I’d promised that as soon as we got there I’d go back to the station and follow up on the gun lead.

Malik came with me, and after we’d seen her off into the operating theatre he put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a sympathetic smile. ‘Are you all right, John? You look like Flanagan did last night.’

I exhaled loudly, still conscious that my heart was thumping hard in my chest. ‘That was close, Asif. If Murk’s aim had been a little steadier, she’d have been dead.’

He knew then, I’m sure, that the two of us were lovers, but was sensible enough not to comment on it.

‘But she’s not,’ he told me. ‘She’s not. That’s what you’ve got to remember.’

It wasn’t something I was likely to forget.

Stegs spent lunchtime in the One-Eyed Admiral. A couple of small-time bad boys he knew came in, and the three of them had a good chat about this and that over a few pints. Stegs bought them both double Jamesons when it came to his round and they asked him what he was celebrating.

‘Just won a little bit of money on the lottery,’ he told them.

‘Oh yeah?’ said the younger of the two, known to Stegs only as Piko. Piko had a three-inch scar running down his left cheek and very hairy nostrils, and he sometimes sold Stegs speed.

‘Not enough to mug me for,’ said Stegs, thinking that if they had half a clue how much money he had in the boot of his Toyota they’d have had a knife to his throat in no time.

Piko and his mate left about 2.30. Stegs stayed on for a while and talked to Patrick, the barman, reminding himself that he had to remain sober as his work wasn’t yet done. But he was in celebratory mood, and he allowed himself half a gram of whiz in the toilets to keep him from flagging too much. His plan was to have a few more beers that afternoon, then slowly make his way home, buying some chocolate for the missus on the way. He was going to tell her that he’d tendered his resignation, the experience with Vokes having finally proved too much for him. Not that he was going to go and work for that hound, Clive. Instead, he was going to set up his own business, providing security advice to well-heeled firms. He knew a couple of colleagues who’d done that, and it had proved an easy way of making decent money. You just needed a few quid to get you started, and you were away. And now that few quid was no longer going to be a problem.

In fact, everything was going swimmingly for Stegs as he left the Admiral at just after three o’clock. However, ten yards down the street in the direction of his car and booty, that all changed with a suddenness that fate only keeps for those it likes to fuck up big-time.

The mobile rang, the tinny strains of Mission Impossible coming up from out of his jeans. He fished it out of his pocket and saw that it was a call from home. He took a deep breath, steadied himself so that he was sounding as sober as possible, then took the call.

‘Hello, luv, you all right?’

There was a ferocious hacking sob down the other end of the line, and Stegs initially thought she was having an asthma attack, even though she’d never had asthma before, but then came the recriminations, and he knew she was fine. Physically anyway.

‘You bastard!’ she spluttered. ‘You’ve been lying to me all this time.’

‘Hold on, luv, what is this? What are you talking about?’

‘Don’t play the fucking innocent with me!’ The F-word. The biggest verbal weapon in the missus’s armoury. Like an atomic warhead, kept back only for situations of the utmost seriousness. This, then, had to be bad. And it was. ‘I’ve had a reporter on, asking to interview you. He said you’d been suspended since last week. So, what the hell have you been doing, eh? Getting up in the middle of the night and disappearing like some sort of. .’ She couldn’t think of the right insult, so instead sobbed loudly again. ‘Have you got a girlfriend or something? Is that who you’re seeing?’

‘No, of course not.’

‘And why were you suspended? That’s what I want to know. It’s the lies, Mark. The way you’ve lied to me, all this time. I don’t think I can ever trust you again. You never talk, you never share anything with me.’

‘That’s because I can’t get a fucking word in edgeways.’

‘Don’t you dare talk to me like that! Don’t you dare! It’s you who’s in the wrong. You who’ve been lying. I’ve had enough, Mark, I really have. Me and Luke don’t deserve a selfish bastard like you.’

‘Look-’

‘How do you expect us to live without any money coming in? It’s bad enough as it is, without you being suspended. Oh God! What the hell am I meant to do?’

‘I’m suspended on full pay, there’s still money coming in. It’s all right.’

Her voice suddenly became calm. ‘No, it’s not. It’s not all right. It’s over, Mark.’

‘What are you saying?’ he asked, thinking that that was a really stupid question, since it was pretty fucking obvious what she was saying.

‘I’m saying I want you out of our house, and out of our lives. Now. Tonight.’

The full impact of her words hit him then. And something else struck him too. The fact that, when it came down to it, he loved her. He honestly did.

‘Please, don’t kick me out. For Christ’s sake, don’t kick me out. I’ll change, I promise. But don’t do this to me. Not now. Not after my best friend’s been killed.’

‘It’s too late, Mark. I’m sorry.’

‘Where am I going to go?’

‘You’ll think of somewhere. You’re a big boy now.’

‘I’m leaving the Force. I’ve been thinking about it for ages. Honestly.’