Blood Tracks (26 page)

“Kylie, I’ve done nothing wrong,” Declan whispered from under the desk. “I’ve got to find Gina. She’s not safe, but how am I going to get out of here with all of the port police looking for me?”

“Don’t worry, I’m on it,” Kylie answered. “There’s only a couple of the coppers left here now. The rest have gone to look around the dock.”

Much to Declan’s relief, Kylie stood up. He uncurled his aching limbs. She passed a yellow hard hat under the desk.

“Right, put the hat on and, when I say so, you get out from there and follow me to the entrance of the warehouse, but keep your head down,” she warned.

Declan did as he was told and Kylie led him to the Chunky Chocs lorry that had just been loaded up with cocoa sacks for the chocolate factory.

Kylie opened the passenger door of the cabin and ushered Declan in.

“Hey, Kylie, what are you up to?” the surprised lorry driver asked, lowering the bacon cob that had been heading for his mouth.

“Hiya, Charlie. You know Declan, don’t you?” She smiled sweetly. “I just need a little favour. Could you be a wonderful man and give Declan a lift out of here?”

“Well, yeah, no problem.”

“Only thing is, he needs to lie on the floor until you get through the gates,” she said, pushing Declan onto the litter-filled floor of the cabin.

“Why? What have you been up to?” he asked Declan.

“Nothing bad,” Kylie interjected. “Just a little game of hide and seek with the port police. You’ll do this for me, won’t you, Charlie?” She pouted at the pot-bellied driver.

“Anything for you, Kylie,” Charlie replied, revving up his engine.

Declan waited until they were clear of the dock road before he got up.

“Thanks a million, Charlie,” he said, checking his phone.

The driver glanced over and saw the look of panic on the young man’s face as he listened to Gina’s breathless message.

“What is it?” Charlie asked.

“I need one more favour,” Declan said. “Can you make a little detour to drop me off somewhere?”

Gina tried desperately to compose herself. “I don’t care about some stupid boy,” she blustered to Tom. “So what if he’s used me? At least he’s told me what I needed to know. At least I know what you’ve been up to; the kind of man you really are, working for this warlord when you know how…how
evil
he is.”

“It’s just business,” Tom retorted. “I’m not responsible for what some man is doing thousands of miles away, in a country I don’t even know or care about.”

“But those diamonds help pay for his weapons.”

“If it wasn’t me then someone else would be profiting.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Long enough. It’s been easy money. It’s a simple system that had never caused a problem before…”

“Before what?” she demanded.

Tom clammed up for a moment. “Just tell me where the diamonds are, Gina. Time’s running out!”

She laughed viciously. “But the thing is, ‘Uncle Tom’, time’s not running out for me, only for you.”

“What does that mean?”

“I haven’t got the stones. I’ve given them to someone – someone you don’t know – and I’ve told them that if they don’t see me within an hour then they’re to take the diamonds to my house and give them to Sissouma. And I gave this person a very important message to pass on to Sissouma; they’re going to inform him that the stones are from me,
Gina Wilson
, because you,
Tom Cotter
, were planning to take them and disappear. So you see, if anything happens to me, those diamonds will be delivered to Sissouma and then
he’ll
come after
you
.”

“I’ll just phone him and tell him it’s a lie,” Tom said brashly.

“And you really think he’s going to believe you?” Gina scoffed. “Didn’t he tell me that you’d already tried to cheat him once today? The only thing that will save your skin is if
you
hand him those diamonds. That’s the only way that he can be sure that you weren’t going to run off with them; you know I’m right, don’t you?”

Tom didn’t answer. She saw his fists clench.

“I’m prepared to do a deal with you,” she said, repeating the words she’d been rehearsing in her head. “If you tell me the truth about my dad, how he got those stones, what happened on this bridge that night, then I’ll tell this person not to take the diamonds to Sissouma.
But
if you won’t tell me, or if I think you’re lying, then I’ll make sure that you never get a chance to take the stones back to him.”

“How can I tell you what happened, when I wasn’t there?” Tom hissed.

“We both know that’s a lie.”

“Do you understand that you’re playing with my life here?” his voice rumbled.

“Of course, I do,” she answered coldly.

He moved closer, looking down on her. She could smell the stagnant canal on him; his clothes were filthy, his tanned face haggard, his immaculate veneer gone.

“Gina, you don’t make deals with me. You’ll do as you’re told. You’re going to phone whoever you gave the stones to and tell them that you’re fine and that we’ll come and collect them. Under no circumstances are they to take them to Sissouma.”

Gina shook her head at the ground. “I’m not going to do that.”

His face darkened. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

She looked up and held his gaze, forcing her voice to be strong. “Wow! Aren’t you the big man? You can do what you like. I won’t tell you anything, or phone anyone.”

He lunged at her, seizing her by her school shirt, pinching her skin. He raised his other arm high above her head.

“Make the call.”

“No!”

His arm swished through the air, his hand slapping her across the face with such force that it rocked her off her feet. He let go of her, and she stumbled against the side of the bridge, grappling around for support. Her ear rang from the impact of the blow. Tears of pain and fury rolled down her blazing cheek.

“Please don’t make me do this, Gina.” He looked genuinely pained. “Phone the person you gave the stones to.”

She straightened herself, brushing her clothes down before declaring, “You really are a special kind of ‘uncle’.”

“You’re forcing me to do this,” he mumbled.

“Do you want the name of the person I gave them to?”

“You know I do.”

She paused, as if it was on the tip of her tongue, but then said, with a supercilious smile, “Sorry, it’s slipped my mind.”

He snapped, grabbing her again and delivering a blow to the same side of her face that was twice as brutal. It felt like he’d hit her with a brick. She crumpled to the ground; a sliver of blood trickled from her red-hot ear. He stood over her as she struggled to get up only to fall back again.

He looked on the verge of tears – for himself? For her? She couldn’t tell.

“For God’s sake, Gina, tell me who’s got them.”

She slurred like a punch-drunk boxer. “No. And if you hit me again I’ll pass out and then you’ll never know.” She started to chuckle manically, red-stained saliva dribbling from her swollen mouth.

Tom crouched down to her slumped body and held her face in between his hands, his wild eyes searching her dilated pupils.

“Do you want him to kill me, Gina? Could you live with yourself knowing you could have stopped it?”

Gina’s eyelids drooped, her head fell forward. He shook her skull. “Come on, Gina,
please
phone them!”

She rallied, easing herself into a sitting position against the bridge wall. “I’ll phone them,” she mumbled through ballooning lips, “but only after you tell me the truth about what happened that night with my dad.” Her blurred eyes strained to focus on her watch. “Tick-tock, Tom, your time is running out. Only thirty minutes before they give the diamonds to Sissouma.”

She waited for his next move, desperately trying to hold her nerve, terrified at the thought of another blow. But Tom didn’t touch her. Instead he bowed his head and hid his face in his hands. He remained crouched like this, as if he’d retreated into his own world. Her instincts told her not to break the unbearable silence, so she sat and watched, fear keeping her throbbing brain alert.

The silence was only broken by the sound of a train, which sped beneath the bridge, making Tom’s whole body shudder. He uncovered his face; the weight of his stare pressed down on her.

“You’ve got to promise me that you’ll stop this person taking the stones to Sissouma, because I’m going to tell you the truth.”

At that moment Gina knew that he meant it and a terrible sense of dread flooded her.

“I always make sure I’m at the warehouse if I know I’m getting one of my special deliveries,” Tom began, “but this shipment arrived two days early from the Ivory Coast. I was up in Glasgow so Marty just took control; he got the cargo stored and carried out the quality control checks on random sacks of beans. And that’s when he found them – a fluke. I suppose, after all these years of getting away with it, my luck just ran out that day. Of course, your dad wasn’t stupid. He guessed what they were; why else would a pouch of stones be hidden in a sack of cocoa beans?

“He phoned me straight away, told me what he’d found, said he was about to contact the port police to hand them over. I told him not to. Pretended I didn’t know what the hell was going on. I said that I wanted to see them for myself before we brought the authorities in. Alarm bells started ringing for him. He asked me outright, ‘You’re not involved in this, are you, Tom?’

“I said, ‘Of course not. How many years have you known me? It’s just I’m the boss, it’s my business and it’s not your place to go making decisions before I’ve even had a chance to assess the situation.’

“He agreed but I could tell he had his doubts.

“I told him that I’d drive straight back from Glasgow. I’d been having meetings, I hadn’t even checked into my hotel. I told him that we’d meet up so he could show me the stones and that he wasn’t to tell anyone yet, in case one of the lads in the warehouse was involved. I said to send everyone home, shut up the warehouse and that I’d phone him to let him know where to meet when I was close to home.

“I spent the whole drive with my stomach in knots, working out what I was going to say to your dad. How I was going to convince someone as straight as Marty to give me the stones. I knew what was at stake. If Marty blew the whistle, I was more scared of what Sissouma would do to me than the police. By the time I got to the city it was dark, the weather was foul and I was so wound up that I stank of sweat and stress. I doused myself with aftershave to try to mask it. But I tipped the whole bottle on myself, I was so nervous.

“I needed to meet Marty somewhere secluded, away from prying eyes. I came straight here. I know this place well. I never tell anyone, but this is the street where I grew up. That was my house in the middle. Even back then it was barely fit to live in.

“I phoned your dad, told him where to meet me. He said that he couldn’t, that he was outside the sports centre picking you up. He said that he’d see me tomorrow, but I couldn’t let that happen. I knew that the more time Marty had to think about it the more likely he was to go to the police. I insisted he came to meet me. I told him it wouldn’t take long, that he should leave you in the car, well out of sight. I told him that you’d both be home in no time and that you’d be none the wiser. He wasn’t happy but in the end he agreed.

“I was already on the bridge getting soaked to the skin by the time I heard Marty’s car. The moon was the only light but my eyes had adjusted to the dark, so I was able to watch him as he felt his way towards me. I waited until he was close and I whispered, ‘Where’s Gina?’

“‘In the car, down the street. She can’t see anything, she knows nothing.’

“I said, ‘I really appreciate this, Marty. Let’s sort this thing out, hey? Have you got the stones?’

“Marty patted the pocket of his overalls.

“‘Let’s see them, then.’

“He handed me a leather pouch. I tipped the contents into my hand and inspected them as best as I could in the bad light – there were five of them, rough, dull and bluish stones. They looked like what I’d expected to see. Sissouma had already informed me that this delivery was particularly special – not the usual white diamonds.

“Marty said, ‘Okay, now you’ve seen them. Are you going to phone the police?’ He was calling my bluff.

“‘Listen, Marty. It’s not that simple.’

“Your dad shook his head at me, full of self-righteous disapproval. ‘What the hell are you involved with, Tom?’

“He bombarded me with questions about where the diamonds were from and how I got involved in this racket. He wanted to know how it all worked. I was careful what I told him. I thought I knew how to play him. I kept it simple, didn’t tell him that they were blood diamonds; said it was a smuggling operation for a mine owner; someone who wanted to avoid paying taxes, had their own cutter and buyer all organized, so all I had to do was retrieve the stones and get them to the cutter. I tell you, my heart sank as I watched his stony face.

“I said, ‘Don’t look at me like that, Marty. It’s not like I’m helping to smuggle drugs or something. With this racket, no one’s getting hurt. The only one losing out is the tax office. It was a good business opportunity and I reckoned I might as well get involved. There’s never been any problems,’ I said, ‘and that’s why I’d like you to benefit as well, Marty – share in my good fortune. I can cut you in on this. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut. You’ll get paid for doing nothing. Just think of what that extra money could buy for Clare and the kids. You could take that holiday to Trinidad, buy a decent car. Whatever you want! Your family deserve this. Do it for them.’

“But your dad shook his head and said, ‘Look, I’ve heard enough. Gina will be getting worried, wondering where I am, so I want this sorted now. We go back a long way, Tom. I always knew that you were a tough businessman but I liked you, saw the best in you, but right now, I feel like I hardly know you. I’m going to give you a chance. Give me the diamonds and tomorrow I tell the port police that I found them in the cargo. They can take it from there. I won’t mention you. You can do what you want, deny all knowledge…or you can tell them the truth.’ He raised his eyebrows at me, knowing that this wouldn’t happen in a million years. ‘But one thing is for sure,’ he said, ‘this has to stop! I need you to promise me that.’

“I shouted at him, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ I could feel panic taking hold of me; I wasn’t going to be able to persuade him. I knew Marty. Your dad was a man who wouldn’t even look twice at an attractive woman in a pub without feeling guilty. I had to make him understand. I said, ‘For God’s sake, Marty, you don’t want to mess with these people. I need to get these stones to the cutter. If you get the authorities involved we’ll both suffer the consequences. The people I deal with won’t take kindly to their business being ruined and I guarantee that they’ll come looking for you.’ He thought I was threatening him. I said, ‘It’s not a threat. It’s what will happen.’

“He hesitated and, for a second, I thought I’d got through to him, but then he took out his phone. He said, ‘Sorry, Tom. This is your last chance; agree that I hand those stones over to the authorities tomorrow and that you’ll stop all this
for good
or I phone the police, right now.’

“I said, ‘No, I can’t let you do that!’

“I saw the screen of his phone light up and that’s when I lost it!

“I remember grabbing for the phone and then Marty taking a swing at me and suddenly we were on the ground…grappling with each other on the wet cobbles. I must have knocked the phone out of his hand, it spun off along the ground and the next second I’d dragged Marty up and had him pinned against the side of the bridge. I was so pumped up, it was like I was possessed or something. When I held him there I didn’t see my friend, I could only see this man who was going to ruin my life; everything I’d ever worked for. All those years of fighting to make something of myself, clawing my way up from the bottom of the pile. But I didn’t mean it to happen; you’ve got to believe me, Gina. I don’t even know
how
it happened! I lifted him off his feet. I just kept lifting him, higher and higher…the look of horror on his face – as if
he’d
realized what I was going to do even before
I
did. He grabbed for me but I hit his hand away and the next moment I’d somehow bundled him over the side of the bridge.

“There was a sickening thud. I looked over and saw your dad’s body sprawled across the tracks… He was facing upwards, his eyes shut; one of his legs was twisted behind him like he was made of rubber. The rain was pelting down on him, but he didn’t move, not even a twitch. I stood there staring at him, frozen to the spot, not knowing if he was dead or alive. It was only the blast of the car horn that brought me round. It made me jump out of my skin. I realized that it must be you, waiting in the car, wondering why your dad was taking so long. And then I saw the headlights of the train in the distance, cutting through the darkness, rocketing towards us, and I knew that I had to get Marty off the tracks…

“I could have done it; I could have run down the embankment and dragged him off, called an ambulance, saved my friend, taken the consequences…but I didn’t,” Tom whispered, as if he still couldn’t believe it. “Instead, I found myself scrambling on the ground, looking for Marty’s phone. I was shaking so badly that I could hardly press the keypad to write the text.”

“
Forgive me. Dad,
” Gina whispered. “You wrote that?”

“Yes, and then I got your number up, pressed send and threw the phone onto the track like it was a red-hot coal. I didn’t dare look down again, I just ran to the other end of the bridge and I crouched in those bushes, my heart thumping out of my chest, the sound of the train getting closer and closer until I heard the screeching of the brakes.” Tom’s voice tailed off. He shook his head; his hand covered his mouth.

“You haven’t finished,” Gina said. “Go on.”

“No, Gina, please. I’ve told you everything,” he pleaded.

“I said, go on!” she bawled, the veins in her neck straining. “I want you to tell me every last detail. All your lies, all your deceit. What did you do when you heard the brakes screeching?”

Tom bowed his head. “I put my hands over my ears, screwed up my eyes, rocked on my heels to make the image go away.”

“And then what?” she demanded.

“The train came to a stop and for a second all I could hear was the hissing noise from the engine, but then your voice rang out from the dark, calling for your dad. The sound of it made me retch. I swallowed back the bile, watching you through the undergrowth as you ran frantically about the bridge. You suddenly came in my direction, scanning the trees; you lingered there, leaning into the bushes. You came so close that I could see your bare feet, hear your panicked breathing and I just curled up tighter, into a ball, willing you not to see me.

“Then I saw you cross the bridge and head down the embankment and I took my chance. I shot out of the bushes and sprinted across the bridge and down the street. I’d parked my car on the next road and as soon as I reached it, I locked myself in, as if someone was chasing me, ready to drag me from it. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to control the shaking. My teeth were chattering so hard I thought they’d shatter. I squeezed myself tighter and tighter but a furnace couldn’t have taken away the feeling that my blood had frozen.

“I knew there’d be sirens and people lifting their curtains and coming out of their houses to see what they were missing. I had to get moving. I steadied my hand to get the key in the ignition and I drove out of the city, knowing that I couldn’t go home. I booked into some crappy hotel, paying cash, using another name.

“I sat in the room in my wet clothes, sobbing and shaking, drinking my way through the contents of the minibar. I was woken at four in the morning by my mobile. I had to peel myself off the bathroom floor to answer it. It was your mum, hardly able to speak, she was so shell-shocked. She just kept repeating ‘Why would Martin do this? Why would Martin do this?’ I told her that I’d drive home straight away. I had to end the call to throw up in the sink.

“I splashed cold water on my face. I forced myself to look at my reflection in the mirror – it disgusted me. I didn’t know how I could live with what I’d done but I knew that I had to. I gave myself a good talking to: what was the point in the truth coming out? Marty was dead, there was nothing I could do to change that. I knew that it looked like suicide. I could help that theory along by telling people that Marty had been depressed, but I swore that I’d try and make amends by being there for you, Danny and your mum. I could provide for you, look after you, offer you a comfortable life.

“Once I’d made that decision I blocked out everything else. I pulled myself together, cleaned myself up and went to drop the stones off at the cutters. It only took him one look to raise his suspicions. When he examined them and announced that they were fakes I felt sick.

“Sissouma was soon on the scene and I knew I was in trouble unless I could convince him that I didn’t know where the real diamonds were. He had to believe that when I retrieved the stones from the sack, they’d already been swapped. He had my house turned upside down, he threatened to torch the warehouse and, of course, I couldn’t exactly go to the police about it. I tried to tough it out but then, for some reason, I started getting unwanted attention from port security and then the Inland Revenue wanted to check my books – it seemed as if someone had tipped them off. I got too twitchy. I thought it was best to disappear for a while until things had died down. I felt so bad; I’d promised your mum that I’d be there for you all and then I’d bolted.