Chapter 34
R iordan
My bike wheels bumped over the potholed street, and I parked outside the dilapidated Victorian crescent in North Town where my sister and I used to live. Wind cooled my hot head as I removed my helmet, and dead leaves skittered through the churchyard across the road. The place Bronson killed Cherry, though every trace had gone.
I scowled and faced the houses. The white terraced row used to be grand, positioned on a hill overlooking Deadwater River and the dockside warehouses below. Now, they were split into damp and mouldering flats.
I’d spent a decade sleeping on the sofa here and had never wanted to come back, but in the same breath, wouldn’t let my sister face this alone.
Who knew what had happened to her father this time. Whether Adam Walker was on the floor in a drunken coma, or had choked on his own vomit, he went missing often, but one of these times would turn out to be the last. I hoped this wasn’t it.
Two cars pulled up behind me, my sister and four skeleton crew exiting. Gen came to my side. She managed a thin smile, and together, we crossed the pavement and entered the street door.
In the narrow hall, the TV noise from the two downstairs flats battled each other. We climbed to Adam’s front door.
Gen knocked. “Dad?”
No answer came.
I found my keys but stopped on the way to using them. “He’s changed the locks.” A shiny new cylinder graced the grimy door. “The only reason would be to keep someone out. Me, obviously.”
Gen touched a long crack in the wood. “Arran said the door had been busted when he came around a while ago. Probably Dad coming home drunk and barging in. He’s had it fixed. That’s all.”
“Did he give you a new key?”
She sighed. “No.”
From behind, Lonnie said, “Need me to smash it?”
I found my skeleton key. “He’ll only fly into a rage if he’s in there. I’ll get us inside.”
Like at the mayor’s house, the door opened easily under the cheap lock replacement and revealed the dark living room. My sister flipped on the light, her shoulders up as if to protect herself from what was inside.
I hid the same feeling.
I had no desire to face the man or relive the scorn and disgust he’d set loose once he realised he didn’t need to play pretend with me anymore. All I wanted was to keep Gen safe.
But the room was empty.
We searched the two bedrooms and bathroom. No sign of the man.
Back in the living room, the crew members backed off to outside, and Gen wilted against a wall.
“It’s a relief not to find him… You know. He’s probably slunk off with a woman. It might even be my doing.”
“Why? Let me guess, he hit you up for money?”
She deflated further. “Got it in one. Not a small sum either. He asked me to tap Arran for a loan, but the reason kept changing. A holiday, a car, though God knows he’s never sober enough to get behind a wheel. I told him I wasn’t going to do that. He hung up on me.”
“Sorry. You deserve better.”
She hugged my arm in the way she used to hang off me as a kid. “We both did. I’m good, though. I have you still. And Arran now. Plus Everly and Cassie. I’ve actually never felt happier. If you and Cassie…”
“No fishing.” I lightly shoved her.
She elbowed me harder in the ribs. “Fine. By the way, you know Arran proposed to me, right?”
I choked on a laugh. “Married to the mob boss. Congratulations.”
“Dick. He’ll be your brother-in-law, so you’re as in it as much as I am.” She grinned, too.
What a change for two kids who’d hated the gangs with a passion. I guessed we both still did, just not the skeleton crew. Somehow, that had become our life.
I pulled her in for a hug and ruffled her hair because it always annoyed her. “I noticed the ring, but it’s nice to be kept in the loop.”
Gen squeezed me then pushed away, smoothing the yellow strands back into place. “I know you weren’t watching the last game so I wanted you to hear it from me. And Dad, for that matter.”
Her father would mainly see it as an opportunity for his own gain, but I kept that to myself.
“Do you want him to give you away?”
Gen shuddered. “Hell no. I am not down for that archaic bullshit.”
“Wise choice. Plus less chance of him making a fool of himself on your big day.”
“If we ever find him. He was seeing a dancer who left the warehouse and joined the Four Milers. Arran said he’ll keep an eye out when they next encounter Red’s people.”
“Is that likely to be soon?”
She slid me a glance. “Secretly, yes. He has big plans when it comes to them. I’m sure he’ll fill you in now you’re a member of his crew. Which I love, by the way. I had this fear of you disappearing.”
“Why would I do that?”
She snorted and crossed the room to peer from the window. “You don’t share the things you’re upset about and have a history of sloping off to lick your wounds alone. I know why you didn’t tell me about Mum, but that’s an extreme example. I figured with losing your job and the fallout with Dad, I wouldn’t see you for months. You’d take off, find work in another city, and rarely reply to my messages.”
She had a point, and that had been my intention, though I didn’t want to ghost her. I just didn’t enjoy passing on stress, but a realisation hit me that I’d done exactly that with Cassie. I’d told her about my hurt over my father. I’d shared more than I ever had with anyone else.
My sister turned. “I have a question. Did you ever suspect that about Dad, before Mum told you?”
She meant the fact he wasn’t related to me.
I shoved my hands into my pockets. “No. I only knew he hated me.”
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. If I suddenly had two kids land in my lap, I’d treat them differently than he treated us. Or you, I mean. He stayed in this flat which only had two bedrooms so you had to sleep here.” She kicked the offending couch.
I hated that piece of furniture. It wasn’t long enough for my frame, so sleeping there for years had been a punishment.
“He wanted me to leave,” I guessed. “Why change his life for a kid who wasn’t his? It would’ve meant putting in effort, and we both know he didn’t enjoy doing that.”
“But why not say? Why didn’t he help you? It made me realise how small a person he is. I’m sorry I didn’t call him out on it when we lived here.”
I didn’t need my sister pitying me. I jerked my head at the door. “Come on. We’re done here. This is just him pulling a normal disappearing trick. He’ll be back when he’s back.”
Gen sighed but nodded.
Her movement revealed the coffee table behind her. The place was never tidy, but a collection of strewn items on top of it caught my attention. A scattering of cut-up paper. Scissors. The broken shade of the overhead light had concealed it in a patch of darkness.
“What’s that?”
She followed my focus and snapped on a lamp, bending over the mess to examine it. “Newspaper articles? They’re of the murders. God. How macabre of him to be collecting those.”
I joined her. The top sheets were of Bronson’s confession. Lower ones had pictures of dark streets and crime scenes. Of the dead women. One listed the sites the women were murdered, in exactly the same way Bronson laid them out except with the addition of Alisha’s hanging at the end.
My sister leafed through a stack.
My phone buzzed. I answered the call.
“Zed Alley. Fifteen minutes,” a man ordered.
The line disconnected.
I stared at my phone then took a screenshot of the number and sent it to Cassie.
Riordan: This your brother?
Cassie: Friend-shaped. Have fun!
I turned back to Gen. “I need to leave. He isn’t here.”
She took a shocked breath and reached for something on the table. “What the hell is this?”
She picked up a knife.
A black-handled combat blade.
I recoiled. “Put it down. Why would you even pick it up?”
She squeaked and fumbled it, the weapon dropping. “I don’t know. What the hell is he doing with that?”
“He bought a gun to go after a gangster. Maybe it was backup.” I knelt to examine it on the grubby carpet.
The blade gleamed with a streak of something.
“Did you nick yourself?”
She swore and showed me the side of her hand and the thin line of blood. “For fuck’s sake. Must’ve been when I dropped it.”
“Disinfect that. Now.”
I enclosed the handle in the sleeve of my leather jacket and pursued her to the bathroom sink where she grabbed a bottle of disinfectant from under the counter. Gen winced at the sting but scrubbed the tiny wound.
When she was done, I placed the knife in the sink then doused it, too, scrubbing it with paper towels that I flushed after.
My sister watched me, her face pale and another paper towel clamped around her injury. “You think it could have been used. That’s why you’re cleaning my blood from it.”
“I don’t know that. But no way am I leaving a rogue knife with your fingerprints and DNA on it in this flat. If he’s in trouble…”
We shared a glance that meant the rest could be left unsaid.
Then she closed her eyes and thunked her head on the peeling wallpapered wall. “Arran is going to kill me.”
I blew out a breath. “I’ll get rid of it. Let’s go.”
Outside, Gen climbed into the car and returned to the warehouse with her crew escort. I shadowed them to be sure she’d got inside safely then drove my bike to the city centre street where I’d been ordered.
Messing around with Adam’s newfound interest in weaponry had cost me time, so I was late.
In a darkened street, I killed the engine and hopped off, eyeing the yellow lit alley entrance.
Zed Alley ran behind busy restaurants and city centre shops. It was wide enough for deliveries at the entrance but narrowed to a footpath between buildings. Industrial bins and piles of cardboard boxes littered the edges, and music thumped from a nearby club.
There were no people in sight.
My phone buzzed as I left my bike and paced further away from the single streetlight, my stomach tightening in anticipation. This was sketchy as fuck.
“Hello?” I said without looking at the screen.
“Riordan? It’s Everly. I know you’re not in the warehouse, but I was just making an announcement, and, well, I wanted you to be part of it.”
I kept my voice low, a strange and ominous feeling pressing down on me. “Sorry I’m not there. Announce away.”
“Connor and I are expecting a baby!”
Around her, people cheered happy sounds. Surprise caught me. One sister engaged, the other expecting.
“Congratulations,” I murmured. “I already know you’ll make an amazing mum.”
Everly thanked me.
Ahead of me, a man in black stepped out of the shadows. A dark mask covered his face, only his eyes visible, and I went still. Gripping my helmet tighter, I peered into the gloom.
“Jamieson?”
I hadn’t asked Cassie which brother wanted to see me. It made sense that it was the youngest of the men, as I knew he was in Deadwater. He’d been with Arran.
The figure took a step but shook his head. I held my ground, killing the call to stow my phone. Everly would get an apology later.
“Struan, then. Nice intimidation tactic.”
It definitely wasn’t Sinclair. His height would give him away. The fourth brother, I hadn’t met.
In a distinctly unsettling move, the man leaned in. A snake poised to strike. It was the kind of shite Cassie would pull, but I still wasn’t certain that I hadn’t got here too late and come up against some chancer with a mask. God knew they were common enough in this city.
I tensed up.
The asshole uttered a growl and charged me.
Fuck. I ducked down into a fighter’s stance and spun to avoid him. At the same time, I threw out my forearm. It hooked his throat. The bastard dropped down, and I landed on top of him. We tussled for control. I grappled one arm then reached for the other to restrain him, not wanting to knock him out in case this was some test.
My consideration cost me. In a heartbeat, he flipped us, then snatched my phone from the pocket of my leathers.
This was a fucking mugging?
I gave an enraged yell, but the guy danced away. Halfway down the narrower part of the alley, he whipped down the mask, revealing his face.
Fucking hell. It was Struan after all.
“Nice action. Someone taught ye well.” He grinned. Waved my phone. “Cassie’s gone out this evening.”
“Where is she?”
“Doing something dangerous.”
I sprinted to catch up. I hadn’t heard her on Everly’s call. Shit. “Then why the fuck are you stealing my phone?”
“Ye track her, aye? Then you’d better catch me, lover boy.”
He exited into the city street. By the time I burst out after, he’d thrown himself behind the wheel of a sports car. Neon-blue under-lights made sure every person around was looking at that damn vehicle.
Struan gave me one final smirk then hit the accelerator, burning rubber as the car pulled out.
Turning, I bolted back to my bike, crammed my helmet on, and wheeled out of the alley exit before shooting off. Why would Cassie leave without telling me? Where would she go?
Why the fuck did her brother decide this was a good time for another of his goddamn lessons?
All the charitable thoughts I’d had about knowing how to shoot and fight fell away.
I was seconds behind Struan, but the slow city traffic had caught him at the lights.
Or he’d waited for me.
I weaved between a bus and a taxi, someone yelling at me from their window. The sports car’s engine growled. Against a red light, Struan connected his gaze to mine in the rearview then accelerated away. I gritted my teeth and followed, running the red and missing a delivery scooter by the skin of my teeth.
I chased him through Deadwater’s town centre and out past Town Hall, where Everly used to work. A police siren wailed. Neither of us heeded it. Right would take us back towards the river and the warehouse. Struan zoomed left. We wove through traffic, him going on the wrong side of the road, me keeping on his tail. Normally, I would shoot through the city with ease, but the cat-and-mouse game sent my temper into the red. I needed my phone. He had no right.
On a wide boulevard lined with student accommodation, Struan cruised on, giving me enough slack to catch up to his tail. I drew close enough to crash into him if I chose, but that would be my life forfeited, not his.
Shooting out around him, I hit the gas and zipped ahead, taking point.
Satisfaction filled me. With him stuck behind me, I was in control. I continued on until we were clear of traffic, then braked and wheeled my bike around, facing him down and blocking the road.
Struan pulled up inches away, that meaty engine rumbling. From behind the glass, he regarded me. Cocky son of a bitch.
To taunt him, I spun my back wheel, kicking up smoke while keeping to the spot. The racket my bike made reverberated off the surrounding buildings, almost masking a second police siren.
I had him. He’d asked me to chase him, and now he was caught. I raised my visor and folded my arms. For a beat, he stayed exactly where he was. Then the man gave a sarcastic wave, threw his arm over the passenger seat, reversed neatly in an arc, then sped off down a side road.
Mother.
Fucker.
I went hell for leather to catch him. The chase took us out through side streets and into an area that was more suburban. Run-down houses and broken streets.
We shot down a wide road, over and undertaking slower vehicles until we reached a junction with a graffitied shop on the corner. Only then did I realise where we’d ended up.
Four Miler territory.
A warning sounded inside me, making it through where the horns and sirens hadn’t. I couldn’t take that turning. I was skeleton crew. I’d be jumped. Probably find myself dead with how high tensions had become. Rumour had it there was vicious infighting going on, encouraged by Red in his search for a new second.
Struan clearly lived in some kind of grey area of invincibility as he roared past the graffiti, over the line, and blocked the end of the road.
He hit the downlights to flood the tarmac in sea blue then climbed out. “Come on, Riordan. I’m waiting.”
“Give me back what you stole.” I revved but stayed on the relative safety of the neutral ground.
He shrugged and leaned into the car to extract my phone. Waved it at me. “Better be quick. Cassie needs ye.”
I’d fucking kill him. When this was over, and my goddamned heart got its normal rhythm back, I’d haul him to Cassie’s feet and ask her permission to end her big brother.
It was then I picked up another threat.
Sirens. Multiple ones, coming in fast.
I’d been so caught up in the chase, I’d failed to pay them the right attention, but of course people had called the cops.
In nearby houses, residents peered from windows, and in the street behind Cassie’s brother, a door opened and a woman stepped out. She spotted us then froze.
Recognition ticked over in my brain. She was familiar, even with a hoodie concealing half her face. I knew her from somewhere. The warehouse, maybe.
If she worked for Divide or Divine, what the fuck was she doing out here?
Struan’s asshole smile spread. He slid my phone into his back pocket and strode across the street to me.
I readied to leave. “What the hell are you doing? Get the fuck out of here or you’re going to get arrested.”
He finished at a run, tackling me from the bike. I fought him. Struan caught me in a headlock.
The cop cars flew down from both ends of the street and out of the junction. We were surrounded, quickly and efficiently. Doors popped and boots drummed. I struggled, but Struan tightened his grip.
“Let it happen. Learn.”
My fucking idiotic brain caught up.
Cassie asked him to help me understand how he got away with being arrested. The leverage they had on the police. I’d taken the bait without a thought for anything other than her.
“Is she even in trouble?” I snarled.
“Hands where we can see them,” an officer yelled.
“Nope, unless ye consider knitting needles a danger. That’s what she’s doing tonight with her girls.”
Fucking knitting while I was out chasing her brother around like a rabid dog.
It was at that moment, as we were rushed, shoved down on the cold tarmac, I remembered something that I should never have forgotten. The knife tucked away in my boot.