Sudden Death (21 page)

She was the kind of person whose emotions were written clearly on her face and Erasmus didn’t think she would be able to convincingly lie to him even if she wanted to. He believed her.

Erasmus took a step towards her and she cowered back into the couch like a frightened animal. He realised she expected him to hit her. He held his hands up.

‘What about Jessica?’ Erasmus asked.

‘I don’t know. She just said she had something on him, that’s all. I don’t know what happened. That’s all I know. After that we were all banned for a bit. Until she went away.’

Natalie looked small, and broken. Erasmus believed her.

‘Do you think they could have harmed her?’

Natalie pointed at her black eye.

‘They would do anything to protect the players. Anything.’

She stood up and stepped closer to Erasmus. She was pretty, for sure, and someone who was used to using her sexuality. Erasmus swore inwardly as he realised he was getting turned on by her.

Her dressing gown was open loosely at her chest and he could see the side of one of her enhanced breasts.

‘Like what you see, do you?’

She moved even closer, standing an inch away from him. Every nerve ending in his body was sending the same message: take her, take her right now. He took a deep breath. Her smell was intoxicating, feminine and fresh.

‘You can have me if you want,’ she whispered, ‘if you promise to get me an invitation for the wedding.’

Erasmus took a step back. In the battle between heart and body, his heart had won. He couldn’t do this any more.

‘I don’t think that would be a good idea.’

She shrugged her shoulders.

‘You don’t know what you’re missing out on. I’m the best lay you’ll never have.’

Taylah began to cry again. She sighed and took out another cigarette.

‘Well, if we’re not going to fuck you better leave now. I don’t want the nosy bastards in the street talking.’

He handed her his card. She took it.

‘Listen, if anyone else tries to threaten you call me straight away, do you hear’

She shrugged. Erasmus took another look around and then peeled a couple of twenties from his wallet and handed them to her. She took them silently, with a look of resentment.

Outside Erasmus sat for a moment, thinking. He pulled out a packet of rolling tobacco and Rizlas he kept in the glove compartment for emergencies and rolled a cigarette.

Jessica had something on Wayne, Wayne had gone away in March and Jessica had gone to Australia at the same time, according to her father. He hadn’t seemed concerned about her but when was the last time he had heard from her? And if it was by email alone, could it be a sock puppet account? If Pete could invent someone maybe someone could pretend to be Jessica?

Erasmus smoked the cigarette and blew smoke out of the window. He needed to talk to Wayne. But first he needed to pay a visit to Gary Jones. He had a good guess where he would be.

***

Dave was standing outside the Blue Room door as per usual. He was surrounded by a semi-circle of dancing young girls but who, in reality, had their eyes locked on to the door, waiting for a chance to slip through to an imagined Nirvana.

Erasmus nodded at him and Dave nodded back. Dave was a man of few words and even though the club wasn’t packed the music from the sound system made it difficult to communicate.

Erasmus leaned in to Dave and shouted in his ear. ‘Jeff wants a word about security clearance for some journo. He wants to speak to you about it now. I’ll take over here.’

Dave looked doubtful but Erasmus guessed that he could use a break to phone his wife Tracey who he had complained to Erasmus was always ‘giving him grief’ for not being in touch. He guessed right. Dave extended his thumb and little finger and wiggled his fist next to his ear. Erasmus nodded again. Dave walked away, pushing past the gaggle of girls.

As soon as he had gone Erasmus punched the code into the pad. He pushed the door open, quickly shutting it behind him to stop the girls swarming in, and walked into the Blue Room.

It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dim lighting inside the Blue Room. When they did he could see three players sitting at the centre booth. He recognised Gary Jones, Kristos and one of the younger players from the youth team. All three were looking down at their laps and had contorted expressions of pleasure or amusement on their faces. In the dim light their skin looked yellow and dark shadows hung on their faces like shrouds.

Erasmus had gotten halfway across the room before the players noticed him. It was Kristos who saw him first. Erasmus raised a hand in greeting. Kristos, unsure, a look of confusion on his face, raised a hand back.

Erasmus had nearly reached the table when Gary looked up in response to a nudge from Kristos.

A ‘what the – ?’ was barely out of his mouth before Erasmus had reached across the table and grabbed Gary by the lapels of his black silk shirt. Erasmus could now see the line of four young girls under the table, lined up on their knees, smudged, heavily made-up faces upturned like hungry chicks waiting to be fed.

Erasmus pulled Gary up and onto the table. The girls screamed and scattered. Gary’s pants were round his ankles and his tumescent member shrivelled in the space of two seconds to the size of a withered acorn.

Gary made a noise that sounded like an attempt at speech but became lost in his throat, coming out like a wet gurgle.

Erasmus looked at the other two players.

‘This is between me and him though if you do want you to get involved that’s fine because, frankly, you’re scumbags. Your choice.’ He smiled at them although he knew he couldn’t cover up the fact that his eyes were screaming murderous intent.

The guy to the right of Kristos raised his hands in a ‘not me, guv’ gesture. Kristos looked at Erasmus and then shook his head.

‘Shame,’ said Erasmus. ‘You’ll have to do.’

Gary squirmed on the table and tried to pull up his trousers. Erasmus didn’t let him. He dragged him off the table and pushed him to the floor. Gary was on his knees now and looking up at Erasmus.

‘This is for Natalie.’

Erasmus’s fist collided with Gary’s left eye. He screamed in agony and curled up into a ball.

‘This is for those girls,’ he said gesturing to the group standing in the corner, mouths agape. ‘And all the other girls.’

Erasmus stepped back and then kicked Gary hard in balls. This time there was no scream as Gary’s throat was blocked by the torrent of vomit that he disgorged onto the floor.

‘And this is for me.’

Erasmus dragged Gary up and pulled him, kicking and begging, to the door of the Blue Room. Erasmus pulled it open and dragged Gary through, depositing him, trouserless, stinking of vomit and crying, onto the dance floor in front of the girls who had been waiting at the door. Some of the girls began to laugh and point. Gary wriggled on the floor, trying to cover himself up.

‘See you around, Jonesy,’ said Erasmus over his shoulder as he walked away.

CHAPTER 28

Erasmus knew that news travelled fast but was also aware that bad news travelled exponentially faster. So when he turned into his apartments drive in Sefton Park he wasn’t surprised to see the large black Mercedes sat there like a gigantic spider waiting for its prey. He parked his Golf next to it and got out.

The rear window of the Mercedes slid down. Babak was sat in the back with Steve Cowley. Cowley looked pleased with himself.

Babak beamed at Eramus.

‘Good evening, Erasmus, so good to see you again. Please get in, we need to talk,’ said Babak.

The door of the car swung open revealing the sumptuous black leather interior.

Erasmus hesitated for a moment, being in the back of a car was not exactly the best tactical position to be in if things got nasty, but what choice did he have?

‘OK.’

He slid onto the smooth leather seats. Babak reached across him and pulled the door shut. There was a soft thump followed by a click as the central locking was activated.

The car smelled of the expensive cologne that emanated in waves from the Armani clad Cowley. Erasmus wrinkled his nose.

‘If you’ve come for Wayne I’ve told him he can stay here a few more days. He needs space.’

Babak smiled again. It was a smile that spoke of uncompromising victory.

‘Oh I haven’t come to speak to Wayne, I’ve come to speak to you. To thank you for all your hard work. Wayne’s left, by the way. Recent events made it impossible for him to stay with you,’

Cowley leaned across, his face was a shade of beetroot red.

‘You fucking nearly killed Gary. You fucking psycho. Ted hires you to protect the players and you nearly kill one. We are going to sue your fucking arse off!’

Erasmus instinctively balled his fists. Cowley must have seen the fury in his eyes. He backed away towards the far door of the car and crossed his arms across his chest.

Babak leaned across and placed a large hand on Erasmus’s forearm.

‘There is rarely the need for unpleasantness. The thing is, we are on the same side, you and I: Wayne’s side. I understand your differences with Gary. He is of no consequence.’

‘But?’ spluttered Cowley.

Babak put a hand on Cowley’s arm and looked at him. Cowley sighed and sank back into the car’s rear seat.

‘You don’t need to go sneaking around speaking to the wrong types of people. Just ask me, Erasmus. Ask me anything. Go ahead.’

‘Why did Wayne go to America in March?’

Babak turned to Cowley and nodded.

Cowley didn’t hesitate.

‘They went because Wayne and Gary had sex with Jessica Tallow and that other girl in the VIP room of the Blood House Bar in front of the rest of the team. They were drunk and she got pregnant. I wanted him out of the way while I dealt with the negotiations.’

‘Negotiations?’

‘Sex is a commodity and she didn’t hesitate to use it. Once she found out she was pregnant she got in touch and we negotiated. Every sponsorship agreement we sign these days has a morality clause in it. They can terminate and demand repayment in the event a player causes the brand reputational damage. An illegitimate child following an orgy could have sunk Wayne’s brand. I had to deal with it and I did.’

‘You struck a deal with Jessica?’

Cowley smiled.

‘Exactly, we did a deal. It’s what makes the world go around. She got some money and we obtained her silence.’

‘And what about Natalie’s silence?’

Cowley waved a hand airily.

‘No need to worry about her. She is just a football groupie, a sink estate slut. They are ten a penny. No one would believe her story. And unluckily for her she didn’t get pregnant, so there was no DNA evidence, as such.’ Cowley chuckled. ‘There isn’t an editor in the land who would give her column inches, trust me on this one.’

‘But Jessica was smart and she has a father who is a solicitor.’

Cowley inched along the seat towards Erasmus. He jabbed a finger in the air.

‘Exactly, you see my dilemma. I had to pay her off. The father handled negotiations from her side and he struck a hard bargain but we did a deal. But now you’re poking your nose around and Team Wayne can’t have that.’

‘He doesn’t know, does he? He doesn’t know he fathered a child?’

‘He doesn’t need to know. We take care of that side of things. It’s an occupational hazard for my boys. You’ve seen it; those women throw themselves at them. They are like sirens, I have to protect them.’

Erasmus thought of Natalie and her dresses lining the walls of her tiny house. She didn’t seem much like a siren to him.

‘He needs to know he is a father.’

Erasmus felt an almost overwhelming urge to punch Cowley hard in the face as he responded with a derisory snort of vicious laughter.

‘Of course, he’s not a father. It was a term of the settlement that she got rid of the sprog. There is nothing to tell him.’

Erasmus shook his head. He had experienced callousness all over the world and still it got to him every time. Maybe the day it didn’t should be the day he worried about

‘If he didn’t know about this then why has his form collapsed since March?’

Cowley shrugged and ran the fingers of his left hand down the lapel of his suit.

‘Steph has been having an affair with De Marco since around then. Maybe she found something out, lipstick on his collar, something like that. It’s no matter, form is temporary, class is permanent. And he’s picked up in recent weeks, three goals. Big teams are starting to sniff around again,’ smirked Cowley.

‘That’s not what Ted Wright thinks,’ said Erasmus.

‘Ted Wright is a dinosaur who doesn’t understand how things work. Wayne Jennings is a brand, not a footballer. But Ted is on board now, I’ve told him what we did and he understands. Maybe it was a mistake to keep him in the dark, a misjudgement, but he understands we were doing it for the right reasons. Wayne will be sold to a Russian club in January, Ted will have money to keep his club afloat, and Wayne will be playing for the richest club in the world.’

‘And you will have a large fee.’

Cowley pulled an exaggerated pout.

‘Everyone is happy, everyone gets rich. Where’s the problem?’

Something didn’t seem right.

‘I’m calling Ted.’

‘Be my guest.’ Babak waved an arm regally.

Erasmus took out his phone and dialled Ted’s number. He answered almost immediately.

‘Erasmus, I was going to call you.’

Erasmus kept his eyes on Cowley.

‘I’m with Steve Cowley and Babak. They tell me they have being speaking with you?’

There was a sound of a deep intake of breath from the other end of the phone and Erasmus could imagine that Ted was shifting his weight uncomfortably.

‘He’s told me everything. I don’t condone it, you understand, and he should have come to me. I have sent De Marco on loan to Hull. We can’t have him disrupting the team. I presume he’s told you we’re in negotiations with Anzhi for the sale of Wayne. He needs a new challenge and with his improving form and Babak’s contacts we can get top dollar. They have to pay a premium being Russian. Emerging markets are where it’s at, Erasmus.’