The Make

around their heads. Gracie was afraid that she was going to vomit, right here and now.

The heavy looked into the depths of the bin.

‘Can’t see nothing in here,’ he said, and slapped the cover back down.

Which left the other one.

Oh shit, please don’t let it be Lorcan.

The heavy was striding to it, pulling open the lid. Again, the sweet aroma of degradation filled their nostrils, and there were new things in here too. Oh joy. Cooking oil and sweat.

Sweat? thought Gracie.

‘Something in here,’ said the heavy, and reached in.

The whimpering got louder. The thing in the bin was trying to shout out.

That’s not Lorcan, thought Gracie. That’s a woman.

Feeling faint with relief, she moved forward and peered inside. It was so hard to see a damned thing back here in the shadows, but there was someone in there. Terrified eyes stared up at them. There was a gag covering the mouth.

‘Come on, help me,’ said the heavy. ‘Let’s get the poor bitch out of there.’

Gracie helped. It was awkward; the middle-aged black woman was heavy and stiff with cold. They somehow got her out of the bin and she collapsed in a heap on to the hard cobbles. Her hands were tied behind her back. Gracie knelt and fumbled with the gag until she got it free. She threw it aside.

‘My boy, he’s gonna hurt my boy,’ the woman whined loudly, her face a sheen of sweat and tears.

Gracie looked up at the heavy. He shrugged.

‘Who’s your boy?’ Gracie asked the shaking woman.

‘Lefty!’

Now where had she heard that name before?

‘You’re talking about Drax?’

The woman was nodding frantically. ‘He locked me up in the back room. He locked me up, tied me to a chair, that man is crazy. Then Lefty came and the man threatened him, said he wanted his boy Alfie back or he’d do things to me.’

‘Alfie?’ Gracie yelped. And now she remembered where she’d heard the name Lefty. Alfie had mentioned him as they all sat together in the hospital cafeteria. Lefty had procured Alfie for that nonce Deano.

She looked down at the woman. Grabbed her plump shoulders. The heavy was trying to untie her hands, but they were securely bound. The woman’s desperate eyes stared wildly into Gracie’s.

‘Where’s Lefty now?’ asked Gracie urgently.

‘I don’t know,’ the woman wept. ‘But he came back, that monster came back, and he had a blond boy in there, in the office. He was asleep, drugged, something. I don’t know. That bastard Drax took me past him, gagged me, put me in that filthy thing with all the rubbish, said he’d see to me later.’

Shit, thought Gracie. That’s Alfie. He’s got Alfie.

The heavy at last got the woman free of her bonds and she brought her arms round and rubbed gingerly at her bruised wrists.

‘Where’s Deano now?’ asked Gracie. ‘Is he still inside? Is he still in there with the boy?’

If he was, then Gracie was calling the police right now, to hell with it. It was way past time that bastard was locked up.

The woman shook her head. ‘No, he left. Drove off with the boy in his car, a big black car.’

‘Where would he go? Do you know where he’d go?’

The woman was shrugging, looking around her with dazed, unfocused eyes.

Gracie grabbed her shoulders again and shook her, hard.

‘Come on. Lefty. Your boy. Did he see Deano just here, always here? Did he go to Deano’s home sometimes?’

‘No . . .’ The woman was near breaking point, Gracie could see that. Exhausted. Terrified. Beyond all sensible thought.

‘Lefty could be with him at his home,’ said Gracie, knowing that Lefty was all the woman was capable of focusing on right now. ‘If Lefty’s with him there now, we can help. Do you know where Deano Drax lives? Then we can find Lefty.’

It was a lie, but it was a necessary one. All Gracie would want to do for a lowlife kiddie pimp like Lefty was kick him straight in the nuts, but she needed this woman to come up with something. She thought of Alfie, little blond Alfie. Thought of Lorcan. Drax could have them both. She had to get something out of this woman.

‘Come the fuck on,’ snapped Gracie. ‘Think.’

‘Steady,’ said the heavy, watching her.

‘You be steady,’ said Gracie hotly. ‘We’ve got to get to that fucker. I’ll call the police if I have to, right now, they’ll know where he . . .’ She fumbled in her coat pocket. Her mobile wasn’t there. Shit. She’d left it at Lorcan’s.

‘I got it,’ said the woman.

‘What?’

‘Deano Drax’s address,’ she said. ‘Lefty went there sometimes. He told me all about it. A big place. A big country house with a thatched roof and lions on the gate.’

‘Tell me,’ said Gracie.

Chapter 59

Lorcan got back to the casino very late, much later than he’d expected. They’d been working overtime to get the thing just right, and he’d paid through the nose for the damned thing, but now he had it, and she was going to be so pleased. Delighted. It could be his last Christmas present to her – or the first to cement their new relationship.

He went up to the flat. The first thing he noticed was that the man he’d left guarding the door was gone. Off to take a piss or something, fair enough. He let himself into the flat. All was normal, quiet, warm and cosy.

‘Gracie?’ he said quietly, switching on the low, ambient lighting in the sitting room.

He crossed the room, slipping off his coat. She was probably in bed by now, asleep. He thought of her curled up there, her brilliant mane of hair spread out across the pillows, and smiled. He walked into the bedroom, moving quietly so as not to wake her.

From the light spilling into the bedroom from the sitting room, he could see that the bed was empty.

He felt his guts tighten in alarm.

He put on the light. ‘Gracie?’

Lorcan crossed quickly to the en suite, pushed the door open. It was empty.

He got out his mobile. It was switched off. He often did that; he hated the damned thing. He switched it on, checked his messages. Nothing from Gracie. He didn’t have Paul – the heavy’s – number. He phoned hers instead. It rang and rang. He could hear it ringing. He drew closer to the bed. Gracie’s mobile was on the bedside table, flashing, vibrating and ringing. She didn’t even have it with her.

He went back outside the door. Looked again at the empty chair there in the hall. Wherever she’d gone, it looked like she’d taken some backup with her. He hoped so, he really did. He went to the bedside table, grabbed a pen and paper, scrawled a note. Gracie, if you come back and read this, STAY HERE. He tucked it under her phone. Then he switched on his own mobile, praying for her to contact him any way she could and say she was okay. He snatched up his coat, and went out again.

Chapter 60