Stephen Leather - Dead Men

He washed up, then looked out of the sitting-room window. Elaine’s driveway was empty. He sat down to watch daytime television with the sound low so that he would hear her return. At just after midday he made himself another cup of coffee and gazed out of the sitting-room window as he drank it. The driveway was still empty. When he’d finished his coffee he washed his mug, then paced round the kitchen. He hated doing nothing. At least if he was penetrating a criminal gang he could hang out with villains. He felt like a dog that had been locked in the house while his master was at work and could see why it might chew the furniture.

He’d taken a risk in searching Elaine’s house, and he’d only gone through the rooms on the ground floor before he’d called it quits. But he knew, too, that the only way to find out whether or not she had a gun was to be proactive. He opened the front door. There wasn’t a car or a pedestrian in sight. Everyone was either at work or in front of the television. Shepherd closed the door behind him and went to Elaine’s front door. He pressed the bell and heard it buzz in the hallway. He pressed it again, for longer this time, but there was no response. Her car wasn’t in the driveway but the garage door was down. Perhaps it was inside.

He stood back. All the curtains were drawn at the upstairs windows. He took the keys out of his pocket and inserted the first in the lock. As he turned it he heard a car driving up the road. He pulled out the key, palmed it, pressed the doorbell and took a pace back. He heard the car slow and pressed the bell again.

A horn beeped twice and he looked over his shoulder. It was Elaine in her white VW Golf. He waved with his left hand as he slipped the key into his back pocket. His heart was pounding. If she’d been a minute later she’d have caught him red-handed and the whole operation would have been blown.

She pulled up in the driveway and climbed out of the Golf. ‘Hi, Jamie, what’s up?’ she called.

‘You’ll never guess what happened,’ he said. ‘I’ve got your phone and your purse.’

‘You have not,’ she said.

‘A couple of cops came round this morning. They stopped a car and the guys in it did a runner, but they left behind half a dozen stolen mobile phones, your purse and my wallet.’

‘I don’t believe it,’ she said.

‘Sometimes you get lucky,’ said Shepherd. ‘Put the kettle on and I’ll bring your stuff round.’

Tariq looked down at the girl. She had been bound and gagged with strips of insulation tape. ‘She’s awake,’ he said. ‘She’s pretending to be unconscious.’

Salih walked over and stood next to him. He kicked the girl’s side and her eyes opened. She stared up at the two men in horror. ‘Good,’ said Salih. ‘We can begin.’

Mazur was sitting on the sofa, drinking a can of orange Fanta. ‘Why don’t we wear masks?’ he asked.

‘Because the people in Pakistan who want this done want it done by Muslims,’ said Salih. ‘Don’t worry, once I’ve shown them the picture I’ll delete it.’

‘It’s okay, Mazur,’ said Tariq. ‘If it wasn’t okay, Hakeem wouldn’t have asked us to do this.’

Mazur drained his can and dropped it into a black plastic bag. He stood up. ‘I’m ready,’ he said.

The girl was lying on a large sheet of clear plastic. There would be blood. A lot of blood. Salih had rented the serviced apartment for a month. It was close to Paddington station and its two main attractions were that it had a varnished hardwood floor and that it could be accessed from a lift in the underground car park.

Salih picked up his mobile phone. ‘You know what you have to do,’ he said. ‘Untie her, but keep the gag in place because there are other people in the building. Strip off her clothes.’ He handed Tariq a carving knife. ‘Then you slit her throat.’

The girl bucked and writhed on the floor but she was helpless. The Valium injection Salih had given her when they had abducted her had worn off. It was important that she was conscious when she died, that she was fighting for her life. In an ideal world he’d have taken the gag off but he couldn’t risk her screams being heard.

Salih stood back and raised his phone. He pressed the button to start its video camera, the signal that Tariq and Mazur should begin.

Shepherd sipped his coffee. He was sitting on the black leather sofa in Elaine’s front room. She’d put an Oasis CD on her stereo before making them both coffee and putting out a plate of Jaffa Cakes. She sat down next to him. ‘Everything’s there,’ she said, closing her purse. ‘Even the money. There’s not a quid missing.’ A big-screen Panasonic plasma television hung on the wall in front of them, with Bang and Olufsen tower speakers at either side. A bookcase had been built into the wall and on it was a framed photograph of Elaine and Robbie Carter on their wedding day. He had worn his RUC uniform, and she was in a white dress. There was only one other photograph on show, of Elaine and Robbie on a sofa with a small boy lying across their laps, grinning. It was in a silver frame on the mantelpiece.

‘He was a good-looking man,’ said Shepherd, nodding at the wedding photograph.

Elaine smiled fondly. ‘There must have been fifty cops there, it would have been a great day to carry out a robbery in the city.’

‘He died, you said.’

‘He was shot by the IRA,’ she said quietly. She reached for her packet of Marlboro and lit one, then passed the pack to Shepherd.

‘Oh, my God,’ said Shepherd, hating his fake sincerity. ‘That’s awful.’

‘It was a long time ago.’

‘What happened?’ he asked, then added hurriedly, ‘I’m sorry. That was a stupid thing to ask.’ He lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply.

‘It’s all right, Jamie. It was a long time ago. There were five of them and they burst into the house one night and shot him.’

‘Elaine, no! That’s terrible.’

‘It’s what it was like back then. It was a war.’

‘And you saw it happen?’

‘It was in the kitchen.’

‘Did they catch them?’

‘They caught four of them. They were sent to prison but they were all released under the Belfast Agreement.’

‘You mean the Good Friday Agreement?’

Elaine sighed. ‘Depends which side of the divide you’re on,’ she said. ‘The Catholics call it the Good Friday Agreement.’

‘Because of the religious overtones, I suppose.’

‘Or because they want to make it seem like their own agreement,’ she said bitterly. ‘Anyway, whatever you call it, the politicians decided to set free the paramilitaries. All four walked free. The fifth had run away to America.’

‘I’m sorry, Elaine.’

‘It happened. I got over it.’

‘I don’t see how you could ever get over something like that,’ said Shepherd.

‘It’s the old cliche. Time heals all wounds.’

Shepherd sipped his coffee. He knew he had to ask about her son. It was an obvious question for Jamie Pierce to ask, but he hated intruding into her personal grief. ‘Where’s your son now?’

Elaine forced a smile. ‘He died too. A few years ago. Leukaemia.’

‘Elaine . . .’

‘Please don’t say you’re sorry, Jamie. I’ve had all the sympathy I need over the years.’

‘What a nightmare for you. What a bloody nightmare.’

‘I’ve had more than my share of bad luck.’ Elaine held up her cigarette. ‘That’s why I’ve got no fear of these things. The one thing I’ve learnt is that people die whether or not they smoke.’

‘Why didn’t you move?’ he asked. ‘How could you stay here after that?’

‘It was our home,’ she said quietly. She looked at her watch. ‘Anyway, I’ve got calls to make before everyone goes home for the day, so I’m going to have to kick you out.’