The Front (42 page)

       
‘Tell me it’s not that freak or I’m out of here!’ Eddie said, throwing the list down on the table.

       
Paul laughed. ‘Chill out! It’s Vanda.’

       
Eddie tutted. ‘The ugly sisters! Thanks, mate!’ He waved a hand around the small room. ‘Think that Jane’ll get her fat arse in?’

       
‘She’s not that big,’ Paul grinned. ‘And she’s sound when you get talking to her.’

       
‘Mmmm,’ Eddie murmured. ‘So long as talking’s all she’s after! Well, we’d better get a move on,’ he said then, picking up the list. ‘So you can devote all your attention to your girlfriend when she gets here!’

Half an hour later, they had another fourteen names of local BMW owners. All black men living within a ten-mile radius of the supermarket.

       
Including Winston Dennison, Eddie knew five of them. He ruled one out straight away – he’d been in Strangeways for at least three months. That left Lenny Wilde, Benjamin Cooke and Max King, and Eddie said they were all capable of being involved in something like this.

       
Paul circled their names alongside Dennison’s and said he’d check these first.

       
They’d just finished when Jane and Vanda arrived. Paul made Eddie promise to behave himself before letting them in.

Jane had brought a couple of videos, and Vanda had a couple of bottles of wine. Eddie decided he wanted something to eat before they settled down to watch the films, which reminded Paul that he hadn’t eaten yet either. Vanda offered to drive them to her favourite Chinese takeaway in Moss Side.

       
As they turned off the Parkway a short while later and drove past the fire station, Paul happened to glance out of the window in time to see the back end of a car turning onto the road leading to the flats. Something stirred in his gut. It couldn’t be – could it?

       
Probably not, but he had nothing to lose by checking it out.

       
‘Pull over!’ he said.

       
‘What is it?’ Vanda asked, swerving in to the side of the kerb and braking hard.

       
‘What’s up, mate?’ Eddie turned to look back at Paul who was desperately trying to open the back door.

       
‘Let me out, will you?’ Paul said. ‘It’s a bloody child lock!’

       
Eddie jumped out and opened the door. Getting out, Paul leaned back in and said to the two nurses, ‘Just wait here, we won’t be a minute.’

       
Eddie followed as Paul ran across the road to the wall running alongside the approach road to the flats. Ducking down, he waved Eddie to get down too.

       
‘What is it?’ Eddie asked, crouching beside him.

       
‘Not sure yet.’ Paul hopped along until he found a section where the wall was missing some bricks. Peering through, he had a perfect view of the car park. And there it was, reversing into a space behind a Jag. ‘Look,’ he said, pointing through the gap in the wall.

       
Eddie moved up to the gap to look. He couldn’t see anything amiss. ‘What?’ he asked.

       
‘It’s on the other side of the Jag,’ Paul hissed excitedly. ‘A Mark Two Escort – with a full body kit and blacked-out windows!’

       
Eddie peered hard, but still couldn’t see it. ‘You’re imagining things,’ he jeered.

       
‘I’m bloody not!’ Paul said. ‘I saw it reversing in. You can’t see it now, but I’m sure.’

       
‘What are you two whispering about?’

       
They both jumped at the sound of Jane’s voice.

       
‘Jeezus!’ Paul hissed. ‘You frightened the bloody life out of me!’

       
‘Sorry!’ she giggled. ‘Let’s have a look.’ She pushed her face into the gap. ‘I can’t see anything.’

       
‘Sshhh!’ Paul shifted her aside as the car door suddenly opened. ‘We’re checking something out.’

       
‘This is great!’ Jane whispered excitedly. ‘Is police work always like this?’

       
Before Paul had a chance to shush her again, a man climbed out of the car, laughing as he hopped about pulling his underpants from his bum.

       
‘Bloody Hell!’ Jane yelped. ‘That’s him!’

       
Paul threw a hand across her mouth. ‘Who’s
him
?’

       
Jane pulled his hand down. ‘That man in Cas the other night. The one who stuck his hand up my skirt!’

       
Ignoring Eddie’s incredulous look, Paul said, ‘Are you sure?’

       
Jane snorted softly. ‘I’ll never forget that filthy laugh!’

       
‘What’s this?’ Eddie was puzzled.

       
‘I’ll tell you in a minute, mate,’ Paul said. Then, turning back to Jane, he asked, ‘Now, you’re absolutely sure?’

       
‘Positive!’

       
He pinched her cheek playfully. ‘You beauty! I could kiss you!’

       
He almost laughed aloud at Eddie’s look of horror. But he managed to keep his face straight as he sent Jane back to the car, telling her, ‘Wait five minutes, and if we’re not back, go home. I’ll ring you tomorrow, okay?’

       
‘Okay,’ she agreed reluctantly.

       
‘She isn’t half good at creeping about, for a big lass!’ Eddie said when she’d gone. ‘Now, what’s going on?’

       
Paul told him Jane’s experience with the man at the hospital, emphasizing the implication of the timing of the incident – in the early hours of Sunday morning!

       
‘Don’t you see?’ he said, gabbling furiously as the story took shape in his head. ‘Our eyewitness sees an Escort – and there it is. There was one injured, who the girl went back for later. Then Jane treats a bloke at Casualty and says that’s him in the car – the same type of car as that used in the job! The witness says one of the men was big, and Jane says the man who brought her pervy patient in was big. And get this! Jane thought her bloke had been shot when she first saw him!’

       
‘And had he been?’ Eddie asked.

       
‘Well, he reckoned he cut himself climbing park railings.’ Paul shrugged. ‘But he would say that, wouldn’t he?’

       
Eddie shook his head. ‘It’s a bit far-fetched, mate.’

       
‘You’d have to have been there,’ Paul said. ‘It makes sense to me.’

       
‘You reckon we should call for back-up?’

       
‘No!’ Paul hissed. ‘We’ve got to get something more solid!’

       
‘Like what?’ Eddie asked. ‘A solid bullet through your head?’

       
‘Let’s just watch for a bit,’ Paul said. ‘See what they’re doing. Come on.’

       
They shuffled along the wall until they were almost in line with the men in the car. Then they settled down to watch.

‘What we gonna do, then?’ Lee asked, back in the car now.

       
‘Wait and watch,’ Ged said, shifting uncomfortably in the cramped back seat. ‘God! Why did we have to come in this rust bucket?’

       
‘Oi! I’m doing you a favour,’ Lee said. ‘It’s better than sitting in your car, innit? What if that bloke who pulled the gun on you turns up? I don’t fancy getting shot ’cos he remembers your clapped-out piece of shit!’

       
‘All right!’ Ged held his hands up. ‘Point taken! Someone make a spliff.’

       
‘What we waiting for?’ Mal asked, getting his skins out. ‘I don’t wanna just sit here all night. I thought we were going door-kicking?’

       
‘We’ve got to get inside first,’ Ged reminded him.

       
Just then the beam of headlights turning onto the road lit up the interior of the car.

       
‘Shit, that’s bright!’ Ged said, wincing at the approaching light. ‘Stupid git’s got his full beam on!’ Squinting at the car, he felt a sudden jolt in his chest. ‘That’s him!’ he yelled.

       
‘Who?’ Lee bobbed his head up and down, trying to see past Mal.

       
‘The shithead with the gun!’ Ged snarled.

       
They all turned to watch as the silver BMW came to a stop on the other side of the Jag. The man who climbed out was exactly as Ged had described him.

       
‘Let’s spark him!’ Mal said, sneering at the man through the darkened window. ‘Look at him . . . Wanker!’

       
‘Good job he can’t hear you,’ Ged muttered.

       
Mal twisted around to glare back at him. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

       
‘Fuckin’ ’ell, Mal!’ Lee hissed, whacking him on the shoulder and nodding nervously towards the man. ‘Don’t start yelling, he’ll hear you!’

       
‘Well, tell
him
not to make out like I’m some sort of tosser!’ Mal snarled, still glaring at Ged.

       
‘I only meant because he’s got a gun,’ Ged said. ‘I’m not calling you a coward. Why do you take everything so personally?’

       
‘I ain’t scared of him,’ Mal snorted. ‘Even if he has got a gun!’

       
‘Be scared of the bullets, then,’ Sam said seriously.

       
‘What we doing then?’ Lee asked. ‘He’s going in. We gonna follow him, or what?’

       
Ged shook his head. ‘We’d never get over in time.’

       
‘So what are we gonna do?’ Mal asked, lighting his spliff.

       
Ged didn’t know what to say. He’d been set on finding Linda tonight, and hadn’t considered what would happen if this man turned up at the same time. This just complicated things. They couldn’t risk going in unarmed, but he didn’t want to leave, either.

       
‘Let’s just wait,’ he said after a minute. ‘See if anyone else comes.’

       
‘I bet he’s gone to see that Simeon,’ Lee said.

       
Mal shook his head. ‘Nah, I reckon he probably lives here.’

       
‘Either way, he must know him,’ Sam said quietly. ‘If he’s in the guy’s flat and we go steaming in, we’ll get our heads blown off. And if he just lives here and hears a door going in, he’s likely to do the same.’

       
‘That’s why I think we should wait,’ Ged said. ‘I only need to know if she’s here. I can work out what to do if I know that.’

       
‘Yeah,’ Mal agreed. ‘We can just suss out if she’s here, then come back when the dickhead’s out and snatch her.’

       
‘She won’t like it,’ Lee sniggered. ‘She’s been here for days now. He must be doing something she likes!’

       
Reaching over the seat with lightning speed, Ged grabbed Lee’s hair and pulled his head back, snarling into his face, ‘Shut your filthy fucking mouth!’

       
‘All right, all right! I’m sorry!’ Lee yelped. ‘Owwww – mind me stitches, man!’

       
Ged let go and slumped back in his seat. ‘Don’t ever talk about Linda like that again!’ he hissed, wiping the grease from his fingers. ‘’Cos I’m warning you, man, one of these days I won’t be able to stop myself!’

       
Lee patted his hair down and turned away, pulling a comical face at Mal.

       
‘Here,’ Mal said, passing the spliff over the seat to Ged. ‘Have a puff on that and calm down. And you . . .’ He kicked Lee’s leg. ‘Stop going on about Linda, before you get your head kicked in!’

‘Why hasn’t anyone gone in after him?’ Eddie asked.

       
Paul frowned. ‘I don’t know. I can’t work it out. What the hell are they doing?’

       
They shifted along a few more inches, hoping to get into a better viewing position. But they still couldn’t see into the Escort.

       
They’d thought it must be a meet when the BMW suddenly turned up, and had expected at least one of those from the other car to go inside with the driver. But he hadn’t so much as glanced their way, and they weren’t making a move. It didn’t make any sense.

Ten minutes passed, then the door of the flats suddenly opened and Max came out. Holding the door open, he looked all around, then motioned to someone inside.

       
In the Escort, everyone lurched forward in their seats to see who he was waiting for. Seconds later, two more men appeared, leading a girl between them.

       
‘That’s not Linda, is it?’ Sam asked.

       
‘I don’t think so,’ Ged said, peering hard through the window. ‘But I can’t see too good from here.’

       
‘Holy fucking shit!’ Mal yelled as the group passed beneath a dim light. ‘It’s not Linda – it’s Suzie!’

       
‘What?’ they all chorused, straining forward with disbelief.

       
‘It is, as well!’ Sam said, his voice high with surprise. ‘What’s
she
doing here?’

       
‘The two-timing little slag!’ Mal snarled. ‘No fuckin’ wonder she never come back from the shops, the fuckin’ little whore! She’s been hiding out here all fuckin’ day! Bitch! I’ll kill her!’

       
Ged leaned across and grabbed Mal’s shoulders, hauling him halfway into the back seat.

       
‘Shut your fuckin’ mouth!’ he hissed as the men and Suzie neared the BMW. ‘Look at her face, man! She’s scared out of her mind!’