looked around the crowd. There were no takers for now. Some fancied their chances one to one, but not in front of this particular crowd; losing here would damage their standing and Jinx was a formidable opponent.
“Evening, Gentlemen,” a voice from behind them stopped everyone. “Well, we have quite a gathering here.”
Looking around, the gangsters were faced with Chief Carlton. He was the head of the division’s uniformed police force and more than familiar with the rogues in the alleyway. There were eight uniformed police officers with him and more arriving every second. Big Mick decided it was time to go and moved away from the group.
“Not so fast, Michael,” Carlton said sternly. “We’ll need to speak to all of you before you go anywhere. What happened to him?” The police officer nodded toward Billy. He was whining in agony.
“I didn’t see anything, and you can’t hold me,” Mick snarled. The last thing he needed was a lengthy interview with Merseyside’s finest. “He fell.”
“I think you know better than that, Michael. You can answer some questions here, or we can do it at the station. It’s up to you. Did anybody see anything?”
“Like Mick said, Billy fell,” Gus added.
“Okay, he fell. Put him in an ambulance,” Carlton nodded to one of his officers. He stepped forward and helped Billy onto the main street where the emergency services were working flat out, ferrying the shocked and injured to casualty. There was thick black smoke billowing from the entrance to the club and an army of firemen was battling the flames inside the building. “Witnesses are telling us they heard gunshots and an explosion of some kind,” Carlton said. Would you care to enlighten me what went on here?”
The gangsters remained silent. There was no point in making a smart reply; Chief Carlton was nobody’s fool. They had all had prior dealings with him. He knew who ran the city’s underworld, but knowing who was in charge was not enough to lock them up behind bars.
“Okay. My constables will take your details and a brief statement. If I need to talk to you, I’ll be in touch. I don’t suppose any of you are carrying firearms?”
The group of villains stayed tight-lipped again. The weapons had been stored in vehicles when they had come out of the club. They stared stony-faced at the police chief.
“Fine, let’s get them processed, constable.” Chief Carlton walked by them and further into the alleyway. He was curious as to why they were there. “What were you doing here?” He mumbled to himself as he looked around.
Jinx watched him while waiting his turn to speak to the uniformed officers. The police officer stopped near the backdoor and pulled on the steel plate. It was solid. There was a skip next to it, overflowing with empty boxes and bin bags. He shoved it out of the way with his Sshoulder. Some of the bottles rolled off the top and smashed onto the floor. Behind it was an arched basement window set into the wall. There were rusted bars set into the brickwork.Chief Carlton knelt down and studied them. The bolts, which should have secured the metal frame, were missing. He poked his index finger into one of them and frowned. Jinx smiled as Carlton tugged at the bars and they came away in his hands. He looked around at Jinx as he pushed against the grimy window they protected and it creaked open. “Is this what you were looking for?” The police officer raised his eyebrows as he spoke.
Jinx looked away. That was how they had gained access to the club and escaped unnoticed. Someone had known where the stake money was. They had known how to get into the cellar, and the hiding place for five kilos of uncut cocaine. Jinx wanted his money back and he wanted Leon put out of business. The arrival of the mysterious masked men could prove to be useful if he played his cards right. On the other hand, the Turks would be looking to recover their cocaine and slaughter whoever had had the nerve to
Yael Politis
Lorie O'Clare
Karin Slaughter
Peter Watts
Karen Hawkins
Zooey Smith
Andrew Levkoff
Ann Cleeves
Timothy Darvill
Keith Thomson