The Reckoning (Carter Brothers), page 13
Roused from his thoughts, Clifford looked up.
‘The friend’s name?’ Danny urged him.
‘Oh.’ Reaching out for his glass, Clifford took a long sip in the hope it would relieve the burning in his throat. ‘Adam,’ he choked out, ‘Adam Christos.’
Danny felt the floor shift beneath his feet. It couldn’t be! He turned his head to look at Moray and could see the same shock he himself felt written across his friend’s face. Adam Christos – the name brought memories flooding back into his mind, and not one of them good.
He and Moray had been just fifteen years old when Christos had subjected them to horrific sexual abuse. Two years later, they’d committed their first murder. They hadn’t even meant to kill Christos, not really, they’d set out to maim the man, to give him a kicking that he wouldn’t forget in a hurry, but once they’d started, they hadn’t been able to stop themselves and, egging one another on, the end result had not only been horrific but had also been, as Clifford had so rightly pointed out, barbaric. The memories of what took place that night were ingrained into Danny’s brain and, all these years later, the sickening image of Adam Christos’s body swinging from a rusting hook still haunted Danny’s dreams… or his nightmares, whichever way you wanted to look at it.
Pulling back his fist, Danny punched Clifford full pelt in the face, the crunch of bone hitting bone loud in the otherwise quiet room. As Clifford howled in pain from the impact of the hit, Danny felt a moment of satisfaction, and as he and Moray shared a glance, Danny gave a nonchalant shrug. The punch had been warranted as far as he was concerned, not that he was trying to find an excuse for it, he didn’t need to. Clifford had more than deserved what he’d had coming to him; he was a slimy fucker, everyone knew that. Danny was only glad that he’d been the one to dish it out. He’d never liked the ponce, there was something about him that rubbed Danny up the wrong way, hence why he’d gone to town on the prick all those years ago. Not that Danny felt any kind of remorse for that either. The fact it was all down to him that Clifford had become a recluse in the first place meant fuck all, and why should it? It wasn’t as though they were pals, it wasn’t as though Clifford was even a big player. The only firm he had running around after him, from what Danny could make out, were kids. It was an embarrassment, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it was like looking at his old boss Freddie Smith all over again. Like Clifford, the majority of Freddie’s firm had been made up with teenagers, and they all knew how that had ended. Freddie had been a nonce.
Ten minutes later, as they made their way back to his car, Moray cleared his throat and shot Danny a sidelong glance. ‘Christos’ – he blew out his cheeks – ‘I didn’t see that one coming.’
Raising his eyebrows, Danny remained silent. He would never have said it out loud, but hearing Adam Christos’s name had unnerved him in more ways than he could have ever imagined. Christos had been a monster, a paedophile. He’d deserved to die, and given the chance, Danny would kill him all over again.
‘Looks like Aaron is in the clear, then,’ Moray added, feeling nothing but guilt for suspecting his son had been involved.
Danny turned his head. ‘This changes nothing; the gun was still smuggled in by someone we trust.’
His heart sinking, Moray sighed and as they walked on in silence, he rubbed his hand across his face. ‘Look, mate.’ There was a desperate tone to his voice. ‘Aaron had fuck all to do with this. Do you really think he’d try to top me? He’s my son, for fuck’s sake, not some fucking stranger.’
Shaking his head, Danny turned to look at his oldest friend. ‘Who are you trying to convince,’ he asked, ‘you or me?’
Moray momentarily closed his eyes. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Danny was right, who exactly was he trying to convince?
The next morning, Jimmy Carter perched his backside on the edge of the desk. As always, it was standing room only at the scrapyard, and the remaining Carters were either leaning against the walls or sprawled out across the sofas, their long legs kicked out in front of them. ‘Yeah, I’ve heard of Gerry Mann,’ he said, nodding. ‘Years back, Tommy had a run-in with him in the boozer, the Royal Oak, I think it was. Or was it the Three Travellers? Anyway, Mann had been running his mouth off about something or other, and well, you know what Tommy was like’ – he laughed – ‘he had a short fuse at the best of times. He ended up taking Gerry outside and weighing him in, and that was pretty much the end of it.’ He shrugged. ‘Ever since then, Mann’s steered clear of us.’
‘He’s got a bit of a rep, ain’t he?’ Danny asked.
Jimmy screwed up his face. ‘A reputation for what? The man’s an absolute fool. He shat himself when Tommy went for him, he was literally quaking in his boots. I thought he was gonna burst into tears at one point. Nah,’ he said, shaking his head, ‘he sends his son Joey in to do his heavy work for him. He was pals with… what was his name.’ His face a mask of concentration, Jimmy clicked his fingers several times, as though hoping the action would somehow jog his memory. ‘That’s it, Christos,’ he said, pointing his finger forward, ‘the geezer who Freddie topped years ago, you know the one I mean, Freddie and whatshisname, Lee… Lee Hart, they strung him up on a hook and left him there to rot.’
‘Yeah, I know who you mean.’ Averting his gaze, Danny nodded. As close as he and Jimmy were, he’d never divulged to anyone that it had been him and Moray who’d murdered Adam Christos and not their one-time boss Freddie Smith and his associate Lee Hart; he was too ashamed, too afraid to see the disgust filter across his friend’s face. He and Moray had sent two innocent men to their deaths for a murder that they themselves had committed, or at least Freddie and Lee had been innocent of that crime anyway, there were far worse atrocities that they had been guilty of, that they had deserved to die for. The abuse of young boys being just one of them. The very notion still made his stomach churn with repulsion, and not forgetting the price Freddie had put on his head, if he’d had his way, Freddie would have seen him butchered, or toppled into a shallow grave with half his face blown away. Either way, he would still have ended up dead.
‘So what’s Gerry’s problem with you and Moray?’ Jimmy probed.
‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ Danny lied. Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he kept his gaze firmly on his boots, sure that Jimmy would be able to see his guilt; he was like Tommy in that respect, could smell bullshit a mile away. ‘Any idea where I can find him?’
Jimmy blew out his cheeks. ‘Last I heard, he was living in Manor Park, whether he’s still there or not I haven’t got a clue. He used to drink in the Three Rabbits, from what I remember.’
‘Joey Mann?’ Jonny, the younger of the brothers, piped up as all eyes turned towards him.
‘Yeah.’ Danny turned his head to look at him. ‘Why, have you heard something?’
Rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip, Jonny shook his head and, as he caught his eldest brother’s eyes, he shrugged. ‘Nah, nothing, I’ll keep my ears to the ground,’ he stated.
Danny smiled his gratitude and, as the conversation turned to the upcoming diamond heist, he failed to notice just how quiet Jonny had become.
An hour later, once his brothers, four nephews and Danny had left the scrapyard, Jonny held back to speak to Jimmy in private.
‘What’s up with you?’ Jimmy asked as he patted his pockets down, looking for his car keys.
For a brief moment, Jonny hesitated.
Looking up, Jimmy narrowed his eyes; it wasn’t like his youngest brother to keep things close to his chest, he could be a mouthy little fucker and that was at the best of times. ‘What’s wrong?’
Jonny sighed and, glancing towards the door, he shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘Joey Mann.’
‘Yeah,’ Jimmy asked, ‘what about him?’
‘It’s just…’ Jonny hesitated again, shifted his weight from foot to foot then shook his head. Maybe he’d read the situation wrong, maybe what he’d witnessed had been innocent; it had to be, didn’t it? Danny was no fool, they all knew that; he would never have allowed someone to take him for a ride, even if Maria did have the body of a supermodel, it just wouldn’t happen, Danny was too astute to let someone get the better of him.
‘For fuck’s sake,’ Jimmy growled, ‘spit it out will you, bruv, I haven’t got all day. Unless it’s escaped your notice, we do have work to do, and while we’re on the subject of work, you’ve still got that debt to collect over in Canning Town, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about it either, you were supposed to have sorted it out yesterday.’ He poked his finger forward, his eyes hard. ‘And no, before you ask, I can’t send one of the boys over there,’ he said, referring to their nephews. ‘It’s about time you started pulling your weight around here. I’m getting sick and tired of carrying you. Even young Thomas is starting to complain that you do fuck all while he’s out grafting his bollocks off; he reckons you sit in the car all day talking to your fucking birds while he’s running around like a blue-arsed fly doing all the donkey work, a job that you’re being paid a hefty wedge to do, might I add.’
‘I saw him,’ Jonny blurted out, cutting his brother off. ‘Joey, I mean.’
‘When?’ Jimmy narrowed his eyes and his voice rose several decibels. ‘Why the fuck haven’t you said anything before now?’
‘This was months ago,’ Jonny answered with a dismissive flick of his hand.
‘So what’s the problem, then?’ Shrugging on his jacket, Jimmy located his car keys and hooked the metal keyring over his index finger.
‘Well, he wasn’t alone, and it’s just, well, until now I didn’t really think much of it, but…’ His voice trailed off.
‘What?’ A sickening sense of dread churned in Jimmy’s gut. ‘Who was he with?’
‘He was with Danny’s missus, Maria, and yeah,’ Jonny said, holding up his hands, ‘it was probably innocent but…’
Jimmy snapped his head towards the door where just moments earlier his friend had exited, his mind reeling. It had to be a coincidence, didn’t it?
‘It’s a bit fucking weird, don’t you think, that Gerry was asking around for a shooter and a couple of months earlier Maria was having a cosy drink with his son? And now I think about it, it really was cosy, it was just the two of them and they were close, like really fucking close. She couldn’t have been any closer if she tried, she was practically sitting on his lap.’
‘Yeah,’ Jimmy conceded, as he quickly calculated the dates in his mind. Maria hadn’t been on the scene that long, a few months maybe, four at the most. They’d all been pretty much stunned when Danny had popped the question so soon into the relationship. ‘You’re right, bruv, it is fucking weird.’ For a few moments, he chewed on the inside of his cheek. ‘Leave it with me,’ he said, giving a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, ‘and I’ll have a word with Danny, see what he knows about it.’
‘Nice one, bruv.’ Relieved to get what he’d witnessed off his chest, Jonny clapped his brother on the shoulder. ‘And before you bark your orders again,’ he said, holding up his hand, ‘I’m on my way to Canning Town right now.’ As for Thomas, he’d clip him around the back of the head when he saw him next, the little fucking grass. He wouldn’t mind, but he’d only been on the phone to his latest bird Chloe for an hour, two at the max. He’d even weighed young Thomas in for it, hundred quid he’d given the ungrateful little bugger; anyone would think the lazy sod had had to do a real day’s graft, the way he was carrying on.
Once his brother had left the office, Jimmy slumped down in the chair, wondering what Jonny’s revelation could possibly mean. Had the meeting between Joey and Maria been innocent or could there have been an ulterior motive? Whatever the outcome, one thing he did know was that he wasn’t looking forward to breaking the news to Danny, not one iota.
12
‘She did what?’ Stacey was incredulous. Rising from her seat, she gripped onto the scrubbed pine table that took centre stage in her kitchen so hard her fingertips turned white. ‘The no-good dirty bitch.’
‘Hold your horses, Stace.’ Placing a hand over his sister-in-law’s, Jimmy motioned for her to sit back down. ‘We don’t know all the facts yet. For all we know, she might have even told Danny that she was meeting up with Joey. It could well have been innocent; they could be mates.’ Despite his words, he highly doubted this to be the case. Danny had had no idea who Gerry or his son even were, let alone that his fiancée was on friendly terms with them, and from what Jonny had hinted at, they were very friendly.
‘Innocent, my arse,’ Stacey said through gritted teeth. ‘The little bitch, what’s she playing at, eh?’ Her gaze turned towards the front door; she was in half a mind to tear out of the house and have it out with the woman there and then. Danny, of all people, didn’t deserve to be messed around; he was a good man. Admittedly, he had a reputation as a tough man, but underneath his hard exterior, he had a heart of gold, he had morals, and not only was he as loyal as they came but he was also the type of man any woman would be happy to have by her side, herself included.
‘Well, you’ll have to tell him,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘He needs to know what he’s marrying into.’ Her eyes widened and she got to her feet again. ‘It could have been Maria who planted the gun; no one would have suspected her, she wouldn’t have even been searched, she could have easily hidden it away.’
Jimmy nodded; the exact same thing had crossed his mind too. Slumping back in the chair, he thought the situation through, debating whether or not he should give Danny a call or speak to him in person. Glancing at his watch, he took note of just how early it was, the club wouldn’t be open for hours yet. ‘I’ll pay him a visit and speak to him,’ he decided. Hopefully it would give him enough time to think of a way to broach the subject.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Stacey tilted her chin in the air. Right from the get-go, she’d known that something wasn’t quite right about Maria. At first, she’d thought that it was just a case of plain old jealousy getting in the way and clouding her judgement. As much as she didn’t want to, she couldn’t help but admit that she’d been envious of the fact Danny had seen something in Maria, something that he hadn’t been able to see in her. If only she’d been able to close her feelings off for him, it certainly would have made her life a lot easier, only it wasn’t as easy as that, was it? You couldn’t switch your feelings on and off like a tap. Jealous or not, though, it just went to show that all along her gut instincts had been right, Maria wasn’t good enough for him, and as far as she was concerned, she never would be.
‘Good,’ she said, her face set like thunder. ‘And I’m coming with you.’
Maria was on a mission, and breezing into her fiancé’s club, she was armed with a stack of bridal magazines. She was more than prepared to wait until the club closed if need be for him to agree to both a date and a venue for their upcoming nuptials. In fact, she wasn’t leaving until they’d put a plan into place. The quicker the wedding was booked, the happier she would be, she decided. She hadn’t spent months working her arse off just for him to give her the cold shoulder now. As she was about to pull open the door that led up to the offices on the first floor, the sound of footsteps across the empty dance floor behind her made her turn her head.
Striding towards her were Jimmy and Stacey Carter. The sight of them made her frown. Twice in as many days they had taken it upon themselves to turn up at the club, and glancing up at the staircase, she briefly wondered what was going on, what it was that she wasn’t privy to.
‘Maria,’ Stacey called out, ‘can I have a quick word?’
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, instead Maria plastered a wide smile across her face. ‘Of course,’ she replied, making sure to keep the irritation from her voice.
Once they had reached her side, she watched as Stacey patted her brother-in-law’s arm. ‘We’ll be up in a bit.’ She smiled up at him.
Jimmy hesitated and, noting the look that passed between them, Maria narrowed her eyes, not for the first time wondering what the hell was going on. What wasn’t she being told? Was it something to do with the shooting or was Danny looking for more relationship advice?
‘Go on’ – Stacey nodded – ‘go up. We won’t be long, I promise.’
‘Is this about yesterday?’ Maria chimed in before Stacey could open her mouth to speak. ‘Because if it is, I apologise.’ Crocodile tears stung her eyes, and she delicately wiped the tears away. Careful, Stacey noted, not to smudge her mascara. ‘I’ve been under a lot of pressure; you know, what with the wedding and everything.’
‘And not forgetting the shooting; Lexi almost lost her life,’ Stacey said, not taking her eyes away from Maria’s face.
‘Of course,’ Maria agreed as an afterthought. ‘I mean, anyone could have been hit, Moray, Logan, even me.’ She closed her eyes as if in distress, which of course she wasn’t. She couldn’t give two hoots about Danny’s kids; she wouldn’t have even cared if both had been hit. In fact, it would have made her life a whole lot simpler not to have had to deal with them any more. Maybe she should have demanded that Gerry add Logan and Lexi to his murderous plan; it would have been one way of getting rid of them, that was for sure. ‘It just doesn’t bear thinking about, does it, and my poor Danny’ – she sniffed – ‘he’s really cut up about Lexi. Not surprising, really. I mean, she is his daughter and, like you said, she could have died.’
Stacey smiled; she had to hand it to Maria, she was good, just not good enough to pull the wool over her eyes. She’d already been there, done that, and had the bloody t-shirt when it came to vindictive women. A name sprang to her mind, the name of a woman who until now she hadn’t thought about in years, the same woman who had once tried and almost succeeded in destroying her marriage. In fact, she and Maria were so similar they could have been sisters, twins even; both were beautiful, both had the same wicked streaks, both only ever thought of themselves, regardless of who they hurt in the process.
