Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
ALEX
“The punter you had a drink with in the club. Twice. The one you said you weren’t seeing again.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Been going through the security footage, have you? That’s a bit weird, even by your standards.” I’d meant it to be a barb, but the words tasted disturbingly real.
Kelvin snorted as he swirled the whisky he’d helped himself to. “It wasn’t exactly rocket science to guess who he was. Very blond, very lithe. I could tell at a glance, even under that stupid coat. And very much your type.”
I poured my own drink and said nothing, because I wasn’t prepared to talk about Kit, no matter how much Kelvin prodded. I shifted my shoulders in a useless attempt to relax the muscles that were now hard as iron. It didn’t work.
“I’m supposed to be on holiday. Remember? It was your suggestion after all.” I sat down on the sofa opposite the one he was lounging on; he looked like a cat about to strike. “What’s happened?”
“Timmins is dead.” He said it with the force of a blunt instrument to the back of the head.
“What?” I jerked backwards.
“He was found in some stinking alleyway near Peckham, between two industrial sized bins around the back of a knocking shop. He was badly beaten, his throat was cut, and he had a gaping head wound. His phone and wallet were taken. Looks like a nasty mugging gone wrong. Or, if he’d been visiting one of the girls, maybe he refused to pay up and a pimp tried to teach him a lesson that went too far.
Who knows? But it means any shit he might have been thinking of throwing isn’t going to hit our fan. ”
“Christ. But what do you mean by shit hitting the fan? I was with you when you spoke to him, remember, when you told him to keep a lid on things? There was never any indication he was going to—”
“There’s more. Listen to this, it’s from McNally.” Kelvin fiddled with his burner phone. Detective Constable McNally, a young, ambitious, smart copper we had on the unofficial payroll, and so bent he was in knots.
I leant forward, every muscle in my body tense as I listened to McNally’s clipped tone.
Coppers caught taking backhanders from strip clubs and massage parlours employing illegals…
The main chance for a zealous Assistant Chief Constable with god on speed dial, an eye on the Commissioner’s job, and keen to make a name for himself kickstarting an investigation into police corruption…
Everybody watching their back, making sure if dirt was thrown nothing would stick…
I slumped back into the sofa. “So what Timmins said was true.”
Kelvin nodded. “I called McNally as soon as I got his message. There’d been the odd rumour over the years about Timmins being on the take, but nothing substantial enough to prompt further investigation and never anything to indicate he had an association with us.
McNally said if any notice was taken of Timmins by the higher ups, it was because he was a lazy bastard who was treading water until retirement.
” Kelvin looked me full in the face. “We’ve got nothing to worry about.
Especially not now he’s lying in a deep freeze in a hospital morgue.
Timmins wasn’t stupid, he knew if he ever tried to point the finger at us, we had so much on him he was never going to retire on a fat pension and see out his days in his retirement bungalow with the lovely Mrs. T.
“McNally said although nothing could ever be proven, the intel he had was that Timmins had his dirty little fingers in a lot of pies and was starting to get greedy. As his call to us so very clearly demonstrated. Seems to me somebody else, somebody a lot less reasonable than us, decided he needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. However you look at it, it’s done us a favour.
” Kelvin shrugged. “He was starting to outlive his usefulness. There are smarter, younger men coming up the ranks, men like McNally. It was only a matter of time before Timmins was put out to pasture. Or on a slab.”
That was one way of putting it. Did I care that Timmins was dead? The honest answer was no. Kelvin was right. By that one phone call, the man had shown he was a problem in the making, a problem somebody else had solved for us. I rubbed at the sickness churning in my stomach.
“Who’d you reckon might have been involved if you think his death was deliberate?” If he was murdered, in other words.
“I don’t know. I’ve put feelers out and am waiting to hear back.
Maybe it was a mugging gone wrong, perhaps he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Or, maybe, he pushed the wrong people a bit too hard.
Bottom line is, somebody else took care of the severance for us.
” Kelvin chuckled as he poured himself another whisky, and one for me, too.
“They haven’t released the news yet, but it’s likely it’ll be announced as a street robbery.
You can just hear it, can’t you? DS Timmins, an experienced and much admired upholder of the law, brutally murdered when he was looking forward to his impending retirement to spend time with his family. Makes you want to throw up.”
We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, both of us thinking through the ramifications of Timmins’ untimely demise. Maybe what had happened was just some kind of freaky fluke, but it didn’t seem likely.
“Kitten.”
“What?”
“Sweet piece, your little Kitten. Not like you to bring anybody home. I’m surprised.
Not your usual M.O.” Kelvin settled deeper into the sofa, resting his head into the back rest. He appeared relaxed, except that his gaze was fixed on me as he waited for me to answer.
Or rise to the bait. I took another sip of whisky, taking my time.
“He’s a friend, like I said. And his name’s Kit.”
“Alex, babe. You don’t have friends. I don’t have friends.
We don’t have friends, not in our world.
But what we do have is each other. Joined at the hip.
Blood brothers. Always have been, always will be.
The only other you and I need is, well, you and me.
I mean, it’s not like I’m saying don’t have fun.
Have fun, but know where the boundaries are. ”
“I know what I’m doing.” I wasn’t sure I did, but I kept that to myself.
Kelvin pushed himself up from the sofa, the expression in his eyes almost indulgent, as he came around the back of me to pick up his jacket, thrown over the back rest. Arms wound their way around me, and Kelvin’s face rested against mine, the faint scratch of stubble he could never quite shave away prickly against my own clean shaven skin.
“I’m sure you do, babe, I’m sure you do. You just need to be careful, that’s all. Say hi to Kitten for me.” He kissed my cheek before releasing me. Behind me the door closed with a soft click, leaving behind the lingering scent of his cologne.
“His name’s Kit,” I whispered into the silence.