Brotherhood of Blades (21 page)

‘I don’t give a monkey’s fuck what you think,’ Reilly said to Mince with an edge of threat. ‘That tattoo on your arm says you are my Brotherhood. That means you do as I say. Got that, Mince?’

Mince stared at him for a second, then said quietly, ‘She’s still a child.’

‘I ain’t no child, Mince,’ Alysha said. ‘Please. Let’s do some skunk and have sex.’

‘You heard the lady.’ A triumphant grin spread across Reilly’s face.

Mince looked at Alysha. ‘We will, Princess. When you’re a bit older, d’you hear me now.’

‘She wants some charlie and a good fuck, now,’ Reilly said.

‘I won’t do that.’

Reilly looked across at Boot and Scrap. ‘What d’you think, boys?’ he asked, not expecting an answer. His mouth twisted and his voice became a growl. ‘You’ll do as you’re told, Mince, like all Brotherhood do. You know the rules.’ He turned back to Boot and Scrap. ‘Ain’t that right, bros?’

Georgia was tidying around Stephanie, who was at her desk writing up reports. She brushed crumbs into a pile with a piece of paper, then fetched the bin and swept them in.

‘I’m all in,’ she said.

Stephanie nodded. ‘Nothing more to do here tonight. Jason Young is locked up, and hasn’t called anyone. The gun’s at ballistics, and the knife’s gone to forensics with his clothes. And my report is finished.’ Stephanie threw her pen down.

Georgia picked up her coat.

‘I haven’t had time to shop for days. I was going to pick something up on the way home,’ Stephanie said. ‘Fancy coming back to mine for pizza? I don’t even know if the kids are stopping in. Lucy’s in charge, but she’s been staying out till two in the morning some nights. I’d like to be there when she gets in tonight, to ask her what’s keeping her out all hours.’

‘She’s probably fallen in love,’ Georgia said. ‘Sixteen is an impressionable age for a girl.’ Georgia didn’t have a clue if it was, but it sounded good. ‘Pizza would be great. And I’d like to see Lucy and Ben again. If they’re in.’

‘Fat chance. It’s Saturday.’

‘My new Black Eyed Peas CD’s in the car. Lucy can borrow it if she likes.’

‘Give me Robbie Williams any day.’

Stephanie’s maisonette was in darkness when they arrived. She opened the door, and before she had a chance to reach for the light switch Georgia tripped over a pair of wellingtons in the middle of the hallway.

‘Sorry,’ said Stephanie as the hall filled with light.

‘Not a problem. At least it’s not that motorbike you were rebuilding. It took four washes to get the grease off my jeans.’

There was no sign of either Ben or Lucy. Stephanie left a message on Lucy’s mobile. ‘Peaceful night for us,’ she said reaching into the cupboard for plates as Georgia unloaded the beers from the off licence bag and looked around for glasses.

Stephanie tossed her a bottle opener. ‘We don’t need glasses. Saves on the washing up.’

They settled on Stephanie’s lumpy sofa, pizza boxes on their laps, beer on the table in front of them, vying for space with old newspapers.

‘Two murders on that estate in twenty-four hours, and another balancing on the edge,’ Georgia sighed. ‘DCI Banham is asking for a lot of paperwork. I just hope we can wrap it up quickly.’

‘You reckon on Jason Young for both?’ Stephanie asked her. ‘I do.’

Georgia pulled at her bottom lip. ‘He has a strong motive for stabbing Haley. She grassed him up.’ She bit into a pizza slice and pushed a strand of sticky cheese into the side of her mouth with her finger. ‘But why shoot his own gran?’ She shrugged. ‘Dawes believes Reilly is involved.’ She wiped her mouth on a sheet of kitchen roll. ‘They won’t be in it together, so which one is it? I’d go for Young. But there’s something that doesn’t add up.’ She swigged some beer down. ‘We need to get the ballistic tests back to know more.’

‘Young’s prison reports say he was attacked on a daily basis towards the end of his stretch, but he never retaliated.’ Stephanie lifted the beer bottle to her mouth and took a long slug. ‘Maybe he’s just clever, and planned to get Haley all along, and then his gran found out.’

‘Possibly. But Haley was a police informant. Anyone who knew that would want her dead.’ She shrugged. ‘It’s not cut and dried, that’s for sure.’

‘The faint bloodstain on the sweatshirt we picked up at Sally Young’s was too weak to give us anything, which is a shame.’ Stephanie licked tomato sauce from her fingers, reminding Georgia of a cat she had seen in a television advert.

‘Young will go down again anyway, for carrying a firearm and a knife, and with his record he’ll be off the streets again, for a good few years this time.’

Georgia carefully laid down the remains of the pizza slice. ‘That’s not enough,’ she said fiercely. ‘If he killed Haley Gulati, I want him for murder. I want justice for that woman.’

Stephanie cracked open another bottle and handed it to Georgia. She took another bite of pizza and chewed thoughtfully for a few moments. ‘David Dawes wants Reilly for this. He seems to know everything about the Brotherhood. I really do wonder why he is so interested. It doesn’t seem healthy.’

‘It’ll be personal.’ Georgia lifted her eyebrows. ‘We’d all like to know more about him. I thought you were going to find out.’

Stephanie nodded. ‘I wouldn’t mind shagging him anyway. I don’t need a reason. He’s kind of hot, don’t you think?’

Georgia smiled. ‘Not my type.’

‘Who is your type? You’re so fussy!’

‘Certainly am.’ Georgia made an effort to relax her shoulders. ‘Anyway, with you around there’s never enough for two.’

‘I wish.’

‘I’ll happily pay up if you do shag him, but you have to get some info on him too,’ Georgia told her. ‘Find out why he’s got such a thing about gang crime.’

‘I’ll do my best.’ Stephanie gave a burst of laughter. ‘But I’ll wear him out first.’

Georgia laughed too. ‘Have you never heard the expression,
leave ’em wanting more
?’

Stephanie grinned. ‘That’s for comics, not nymphos.’

Georgia laughed. ‘Tell me what’s going on with Ben and Lucy. Is Lucy still planning a career in the force?’

‘So she says.’

‘And Ben?’

Steph shook her head. ‘No way. He says we live and breathe the police. All he wants is to get away and travel.’ The smile left Stephanie’s face. ‘I’m not sure I’m a good influence on them. I’m never here.’ She sighed. ‘Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to keep them away from their father.’

Georgia took a long swig of beer and swallowed hard. ‘You’ve given them everything you can, including a lot of love,’ she told her friend. ‘They’re teenagers, and they’re good kids.’ She pulled the end off another slice of pizza and put it in her mouth. The soft cheese and tomato stuck to the roof of her mouth and she rounded it up with her tongue. ‘Think about those estates kids. Most don’t even know who their father is, and most of their mothers neither know nor care where they go. A lot are too busy using their benefit money to feed their drug habit. What chance do the kids have? We can’t blame them for turning out the way they do. It’s the system that’s wrong, not the kids. In their own way they’re victims too.’

‘Yo-Yo Reilly doesn’t fall into that category,’ Stephanie said. ‘I’ve got no sympathy whatsoever for that son of a bitch.’ She tapped her forehead. ‘He’s clever and evil. He didn’t even grow up on the estate. He had two parents, and was sent to school and given a chance. He finds out who’s vulnerable, feeds them drugs and puts them on the streets. Or if they’re blokes, he pretends he’ll be their family, and he’ll take care of them. He buys them top of the range trainers and phones, and they sell his drugs for him, and beat up a few people who don’t pay, cos he tells them they’re his brothers. I even feel sorry for those vicious dogs. He is one evil bastard. Dawes is right to want him behind bars.’

Georgia smiled. ‘You are keen on DI Dawes, aren’t you?’

‘He’s cute.’

‘Well, you’d better make your move quickly. He’s only on attachment for this case. Forensics will be back tomorrow or the next day, then Jason Young is going down for a very long time. We’ll be old and grey by the time he comes out; you don’t want to wait till then to get Dawes into bed. Besides, you’ll have lost your bet.’

‘I have no such intention, ma’am.’ Stephanie gave a mock salute.

‘Then I’ll raise the bet to thirty quid – but only if you find out why he is so interested in the gangs on our side of the water.’

‘Make it thirty-five. You’ll get your information.’

FOURTEEN

L
uanne took a drag on the spliff she was holding between the fingers of her right hand. The path outside Mince’s flat was deserted, but the estate was still crawling with Feds. None of them seemed to be showing any interest in her smoking. Alysha had been inside with Mince since yesterday.

Yo-Yo appeared further down the path, flanked by Boot Ripley and Scrap Mitchell. Two of Yo-Yo’s dogs strained against their spiked collars and throat leads; Scrap was hauling one of his behind him too.

Yo-Yo did not look happy. Luanne lowered her hand to hide the joint.

‘What’s going up?’ he asked her.

‘I’m just waiting for Alysha.’ She was painfully aware what could happen to you if you disobeyed Yo-Yo, no matter how many Feds might be around. It made her nervous but she thought she was doing a good job of hiding it. ‘She’s well up for it, but what I hear is that Mince don’t wanna know.’ The spliff was making her talkative.

Yo-Yo’s eyes flared.

‘Alysha wants to lose her virginity,’ she rabbitted, hoping she could talk Yo-Yo out of blaming Alysha and giving her a hiding. ‘It’s Mince. He thinks she’s too young.’

‘Ain’t up to him to think,’ Yo-Yo snapped. One of the dogs leapt at Luanne, and she had to jump a couple of feet back to avoid getting bitten. She felt a hot trickle of urine between her thighs.

Yo-Yo jerked his head at her bandaged arm. ‘That tells you who’s running this gaff.’ He took a step closer. ‘Got it?’ The dogs growled.

She gave a quick nod and took a careful step backwards.

‘That sister of yours wants to earn, and sure as fuck she’s gonna make me some money. She was begging Mince to give her one yesterday.’ He moved in on her again, and she smelled stale sweat and yesterday’s alcohol. ‘You should be thanking me. I’ve let Mince to do the honours. I usually take care of the pretty ones myself.’ He stroked her braided hair. ‘We want her to like it, see.’ His hands tightened around her braids and tugged them spitefully, pulling her head back. She was used to being hurt, and had learned not to show pain or fear. Bitter experience had taught her that was Yo-Yo’s weakness; fear and pain in a woman’s eyes made him wild with sexual desire.

‘There’s a lot of bastards out there with big wads of money,’ he said. ‘Those that like ’em young.
Very
young.’

‘Yeah,’ she said turning her head away and dragging hard on the spliff.

Yo-Yo snatched it from her and passed it to Boot. He pushed Luanne aside, yanked his dogs by their choke chains and went to hammer on Mince’s door.

‘Just give them a bit more time,’ Luanne pleaded.

The clout seemed to come from nowhere. The side of her head jolted against the wall and pain exploded inside it.

‘Fucking don’t tell me what to do!’ he spat at her, turning back and aiming a kick at the door. The dogs burst into a terrifying chorus of ferocious barking. Luanne again felt warm urine run down the inside of her leg.

A couple of seconds later Mince’s face appeared around the door. ‘What’s up?’ he asked.

Yo-Yo pushed past him, followed by Boot and then Scrap. Luanne was left on the path, her good hand nursing her newly swollen lip. She thought of Chantelle, and almost started to cry, but she took hold of herself. Her sister needed her. She followed them into the flat.

Jason Young sat bolt upright in his chair, opposite Georgia and David Dawes. Beside him was Clive Bury, the duty solicitor. Bury suffered from dust allergies, a problem which irritated the hell out of all the detectives he worked with. Interview recordings were often ruined because his incessant sneezing or nose blowing obscured vital evidence. Georgia used his presence on the duty roster as a way to ensure the custody suite was properly cleaned, but Stephanie had no patience with him. This morning he sat next to his client with a large maroon and white handkerchief protruding from his cuff and the usual jaded expression across his face.

David Dawes placed the transparent evidence bag containing the handgun on the table in front of Jason, next to another containing the knife found in his sock. Both had undergone intensive forensic testing, and the police were only waiting on the results before charging him.

Those results could take another day or more. During the morning meeting Georgia had suggested they push for a confession from Jason. Dawes had still insisted that Reilly was behind it all, which to Georgia seemed irritatingly pointless. They had caught Jason Young red-handed with the weapon; what they needed was for him to tell them why he killed his gran.

She had asked Dawes in front of the full murder squad if his vendetta against Reilly was personal. Dawes had looked furious, but refused to be beaten down. Everything that happened on that estate, he maintained, had Yo-Yo Reilly behind it; no one dared cross him. He studied this gang and knew everything about them. Georgia pointed out that before Jason Young went down he had been the one who ruled the estate; now he was out, it was highly possible he was going to claim back his turf.

Their job, she reminded Dawes, wasn’t to clean up the streets of South London, but to solve a fatal stabbing, a cold-blooded shooting, and an attack, which looked as if it was about to turn into yet another murder. And though she wholeheartedly agreed that getting Reilly off the streets would prevent further crime, their current energies should be focused on these murders. She suggested that Dawes ask himself whether his determination to take Reilly down might be clouding his judgement.