Mark Pearson - Hard Evidence

He put his back against a wall and called out.

'Bonner!' His voice echoed around the cavernous spaces.

'I'm over here.'

As Delaney edged cautiously around the wall, the sound of a brick falling came from behind him. He dropped into a crouch and scowled when he saw that it was Kate. He held up a hand to get her to stay where she was and put a finger to his lips. Kate nodded, but walked slowly up to him and whispered in his ear.

'I couldn't just wait in the car.'

Delaney glared at her and whispered angrily, 'Well wait here. I mean it.'

Bonner called out. 'What are you doing, Jack?'

'I'm making sure there isn't a scope with my head in its sights.'

'I'm on my own here. I came to help, for Christ's sake. There's things you need to know.'

Delaney made a stay gesture to Kate and raised his gun. Kate shook her head, disapproving, but didn't say anything. Delaney moved slowly away from her and looked around the corner of the wall, then walked up to the open area where Bonner stood with his jacket off and a gun held in his right hand.

'I came alone, Cowboy.'

Delaney looked around, the gun sweeping in his hand.

'There's only me. You can put that away.'

'I should just take your word for that, should I?'

'I'm here, aren't I?

'What's it all about, Eddie?'

'Like I said. Things that you don't know, Jack. Things that happened.'

'You going to tell me?'

'That's why I'm here.'

Delaney nodded him for him to continue. 'I'm listening.'

Bonner stepped closer. 'It's just a question of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They needed a fall guy and everybody knew you were banging Jackie Malone. Didn't take a genius to put your name in the frame.'

'Who is it, Eddie?'

'They told me that Jackie's death was an accident. You know she choked to death.'

'Go on.'

'But they'd have killed her anyway. I didn't know everything that was involved. I didn't know about the kids, Jack, I swear that. And I know it wasn't you that took the cocaine from evidence.'

'You?'

Bonner shrugged with a guilty smile. 'I was caught at it a long time ago. Deals were made. People took their cut. You know how these things work.'

'Not in my world, Eddie.'

'So I had to do what I was told. Things are getting way out of hand, though…'

'Who is it, Eddie? Who told you to cover up the caretaker's statement?'

'You've got loose lips in your camp, Jack. You should know who to trust.'

'What are you talking about?'

'I'm talking about Kate Walker. She's a regular little canary.'

Delaney shook his head, taken aback. 'That's ridiculous.' He fought the urge to look back at Kate.

'I'll tell you everything, but I need to know you'll cover me. I'm out of my league here, Jack, but we can help each other.'

Delaney could hear the desperation in his voice. 'Put the gun down then and let's talk.'

Bonner held his gun steady. 'I need insurance first.'

A shot rang out like the crack of a bone, bouncing around the half-demolished walls, and echoing into silence. A spurt of blood fountained. Delaney gasped soundlessly with the sudden shock of it, his knees bent and he dropped towards Bonner.

The second shot rang out as Delaney cradled Bonner in his arms, pulling him back behind the wall. The bullet smashed into Bonner's outstretched leg and he spasmed soundlessly.

Kate took Delaney's arm and pulled him around the corner as a third bullet gouged concrete from the floor. Delaney propped Bonner against the paint-splattered wall. His face was as pale as porcelain, and he held a hand to the hole in his head, letting the blood trickle through his fingers like warm soup.

Delaney leaned in. 'Jackie Malone. Who killed her, Eddie?'

Bonner swallowed drily. 'Kevin Norrell.' He looked at his fingers, at the viscous liquid staining them, and back up at Delaney, the confusion painful in his eyes. 'Is it real?'

Then he slumped forward, his mouth gaping, his eyes open but seeing nothing in this world. Kate knelt beside him, propping his head and feeling for a pulse.

A brick fell from the upper level, crashing to the floor below, and Delaney whipped his head round. A door slammed upstairs. Delaney stood up, his eyes cold with fury. Kate grabbed his arm but he shook it off.

'Wait here.'

Delaney sprinted across the open space to a wrought-iron staircase on the other side. He held the gun forward and ran up the stairs into a large empty room. Some sunlight slanted in through the filthy windows that lined one of the walls. The floor was rotten, rain-spoiled planking ripped half up, and in places whole gaps where the floor below could clearly be seen. To the left a door hung half on its hinges, leading to a darkened corridor beyond. Ahead was another closed door. Coming to a decision, Delaney ran across the room and charged the door open. He flew into the next room, skittering on the bare wooden floor. It was empty except for an open door that swung on to an outside staircase. Delaney could hear the sound of a car being driven away at speed, but by the time he reached the doorway it was gone.

He walked back down the stairs to where Kate was waiting by Bonner's inert body.

Kate watched him, shaken, as he put the gun in his jacket pocket. 'Have you got a licence for that?'

Delaney ignored the question. 'What did he mean about you selling me out?'

Kate shrugged. 'I spoke to Bob Wilkinson, Jack. But I can't believe he would set you up.'

Delaney looked down at Bonner. 'Nor can I. And Eddie Bonner would lie as easily as breathe.'

He watched impassively as Kate checked Bonner's pulse once more. 'He's not going to do either again.'

'There's no chance?'

Kate shook her head. 'Do you think he set you up? Was the shot meant for you?'

'Not the first one. No, I think he was telling the truth, he got seriously out of his depth. They followed him, planned to take both of us out.'

'Who's Kevin Norrell?'

'Pond scum out of west London, hired muscle mainly.'

'And he's behind all this?'

Delaney shook his head. 'He hasn't got the brains. He's just an animal for rent.'

Kate stood up and dusted her trousers. In the distance, the faint wail of a police siren could be heard.

'We can't stay here.'

'Come on.' Delaney took her hand and led her quickly towards the exit.

'Where are we going?'

'West.'

Emerald Cabs was a seedy outfit based in Northwood Hills, a run-down, one-horse town west of London, out on the Metropolitan line. Stuck between Pinner and Northwood proper, it was a shabby, halfway kind of place with no real identity, something 'twixt and 'tween. It used to be a kind of breakwater, to the tide of London but the growing spread of housing development had pushed brick, steel and pollution further and further out, breaking though Northwood Hills to wash the flotsam and jetsam of modern London into Northwood and the green belt that lay beyond.

The office of Emerald Cabs was functional but scruffy. As much a front as a legitimate business. They did have a small fleet of cars, nothing luxurious, and a handful of disgruntled drivers who drove them. But Norrell didn't rely on the cab firm's turnover to keep him in pig product and beer, he earned his keep mainly through debt-collecting and hurting people. They say if you are good at something it's usually because you like doing it, and Kevin Norrell certainly liked hurting people.

He sat in front of a battered pine desk at the far end of the office, his grotesquely enlarged legs stretched out on a chair in front of him. He was dressed in baggy shorts and a cut-off T-shirt that revealed massive biceps and forearms. His face was red, flushed with the heat and marked with a permanent rash of angry acne. He had a large Wimpy hamburger in one hand and a thick milkshake in the other. Two similar-size burgers waited in a brown bag on the desk. He took a bite and smiled. Norrell was a man of simple tastes, and stuffing a half-pound cheeseburger into his face was pretty much at the top of his list of most pleasurable experiences. A bag of golf clubs stood in the corner, but it was a long time since he had played the game; walking long distances was not an option with his build. He took another bite of his burger, nearly finishing it, and sat back grunting with pleasure in his chair.