Read Online Strangers by Paul Finch - Free Book Online Page B

personally – I sincerely hope you don’t – but you definitely need to know something about them. As you’re probably aware, we have a wide range of crime syndicates trading in the north-west. But tough as they like to talk, on the whole they are all dominated by these maniacs. Anyone know who they are?’

    Lucy eyed the three faces with interest. All looked to be in early middle age, but at second glance there was no doubting their chosen professions.
    ‘The Crew,’ one of the other girls spoke up.
    ‘That’s correct,’ Slater said. ‘This is the infamous Crew. For any of you who’ve spent your police service on another planet, the early noughties saw the formation of a particularly dangerous cartel here in the north-west of England … they’re known simply as the Crew, and they control most of the high-level crime in Manchester, Liverpool and various of the two cities’ satellite towns. As I say, it wasn’t always thus. Back in the day, the numerous gangsters we had up here were too busy fighting each other to actually make any money. At least, that was the case until one of our leading Manchester hoodlums –’ he indicated the middle face ‘– a certain Bill Pentecost, decided enough was enough.’
    Lucy looked in fascination at the image of Bill Pentecost, the north-west’s legendary boss of bosses. At first glance there was nothing immediately brutal about him, but on closer inspection something wasn’t quite right. He was weasel-faced, with a shock of greying ‘wire-wool’ hair. His features were lean and sharp-edged, and he wore steel-framed, rectangular-lensed glasses over a pair of narrow, ice-blue eyes.
    ‘Pentecost started his career as a council estate money-lender,’ Slater said. ‘His trademark was extreme terror; he would punish those who failed to pay up by crucifying them on doors. But he built his larger empire on drugs and extortion, finally coming to occupy a position as one of Manchester’s top godfathers. As such, his vision gradually broadened. He decided that he’d rather make deals than engage in crazy violence, and so arranged a meeting of all the heads of the region’s main gangs, at which he proposed the set-up of a kind of overarching north-west crime faction, in which they’d all participate and which in due course would become known as “the Crew”. Members would have an equal partnership and an equal say in all major decisions affecting the governance and protection of crime in this region, the endgame being to establish permanent peace and prosperity.

    ‘And guess what … with a few minor exceptions, it worked. Harmony wasn’t just restored to the north-west crime network, all these years later the Crew is still the leading underworld power in this region. It’s got a controlling interest in just about every racket you can think of, and Bill Pentecost, now in his mid-fifties, is firmly cemented in place as top dog.’
    He paused to take a breath, and for the first time smiled – a rather tired smile, Lucy thought, the smile of a guy so used to thinking how unfair it was that these killers were all millionaires while the average copper spent so much of his time worried about his pension that if he didn’t laugh about it he’d cry.
    ‘As I say, you’re unlikely to meet him,’ Slater said. ‘He never gets his own hands dirty anymore. He’s got umpteen layers of fall-guys between him and the streets, but it’s important you know who he is, because quite a few of these girls are likely to be on his pay-roll, albeit indirectly. Which brings us to the second name you need to know, and this is someone it’s just conceivable you might meet up with.’
    He indicated the left-hand image. This one portrayed a younger man, perhaps only his mid-forties, but again lean and feral of feature, an impression enhanced by a vaguely insane smile. His head was completely shaved, and his eyes sunk into pits. Lucy had the notion that if some Photoshop genius added a