mugging victim than a top criminal lawyer. She took out her phone and notebook, checked Wayne Ferguson’s home number and made the call. His wife answered. There had been an emergency of some kind at the building site and Wayne had had to go in.She gave Kathy his mobile number, but when she tried it she got his message service.
‘He’s gone to a building site,’she said.‘A supermarket.There’s been-’
She caught a look of alarm on Martin’s face, his eyes on something over her shoulder, and when she turned she found herself staring into the faces of the two remaining Roach brothers, Mark and Ricky. Close up, in the flesh, they were nothing like the remote images on the walls at Queen Anne’s Gate. Beefy men with heavy bodies and florid meaty faces, their father’s thin gene had bypassed them or been gorged out of existence.
‘You two having a cosy chat, or what?’ Mark said menacingly. ‘Who was she phoning, Martin?’
‘It’s all right,’Martin gabbled.‘I’ve found out where he is.She was trying to get directions . . .’
‘Where is he then?’
Kathy stared at Martin. He forced his eyes away, to the two men. ‘He’s gone to North Wales, to see Grant. He’s hiding up there.’
‘Oh yeah?’ The brothers exchanged a calculating look, then one glanced back over his shoulder at a group coming down the footpath towards them, and said, ‘Let’s go into the car park.’ He took hold of Kathy’s arm and gripped tight. She tried to wrench free and he said, ‘Don’t be stupid or we’ll have to hurt you.’ His brother took the other arm and they frogmarched her towards the parking building, Martin tagging along behind.
They walked up ramps and along aisles lined with deserted vehicles until they came to a black Mercedes luxury off-roader. Inside, Kathy made out the profile of Spider Roach, and saw him turn his cadaverous pale face towards them as they approached.
‘Now,’ Mark said as his brother pushed Kathy hard up against a concrete column.‘What’s the story?’
Kathy said nothing,and Martin immediately responded.‘He left about three hours ago.The place is a cottage in the countryside.She doesn’t know the address, so I got her to phone the owner, a friend of Grant’s,but we couldn’t get through.He’s a builder and he’s been called out to a site. A supermarket, right, Kathy?’
He looked at her, appealing with his eyes.
‘What are you doing, Martin?’ she said.
‘They’ve got Lynne, Kathy, my wife. I spoke to her, she’s hysterical. Vexx and Crocker have got her.’
‘We’re not too impressed with old Martin here at the moment,’ Mark said, and gave the solicitor a playful punch on the upper arm that made him shudder.‘Sleeping with the enemy is what we hear.’ He pointed an accusing finger at Kathy.‘That right,darling?’
Kathy just stared back. She wondered if it was Tom who’d planted that little seed in their minds.
‘Tell them, Kathy!’ Martin begged.‘Tell them it isn’t true!’
‘It isn’t true.’
Mark gave a chuckle.
‘What do you want?’ Kathy asked.
‘Dad wants to talk to Brock, about what happened to our brother.You too.’
‘You didn’t say anything about her,’ Martin protested.‘You said it was Brock you wanted.’
‘A supermarket, did you say?’ Mark mused.
‘That’ll be Ferguson,’ Ricky said. ‘The one we spoke to before. In Walworth.’
Mark nodded and opened the vehicle door and got in beside his father. Kathy watched them talking, then turned back to Martin.
‘When did this happen, with Lynne?’
‘I was playing golf, not much more than an hour ago. I got this phone call. I had to drive over here. They . . .’ he glanced at Ricky, still gripping Kathy’s arm, so close to her that she could smell the fried onions on his breath and feel the hard lump of the gun under his jacket when he turned,‘. . . they’d tried Brock’s house, but he wasn’t there. They wanted me to find him, and persuade him to come out to the car. They say they just want to talk . . .’
Kathy stared at him and the words died in his throat.
She turned to Ricky. ‘What happened to Ivor wasn’t Brock’s doing.We just wanted Tom Reeves back.’
Ricky gave her a bleak look and said,‘If you say another word I’ll smash your face in.’
Mark got out of the car and came over. He took Kathy’s shoulder bag and searched her pockets, taking her mobile phone, which he switched off before throwing the lot into the boot of the Merc.
‘Okay,’ he said,‘get in.’
‘Hey,Mark,’Martin protested,without much conviction.‘You don’t need her. Let her go, eh?’
They shouldered past him without replying, pushing Kathy into the back alongside Spider, with Ricky close behind. Mark turned back to Martin and pointed at his chest. ‘You-go home now and wait. Don’t do anything stupid and maybe, just maybe, our black brothers won’t be too rough with your missus, right?’
Kathy caught a glimpse of him as the car reversed out and roared away, standing in the roadway, clutching his coat around him as if he were freezing to death.
They drove through Saturday morning shopping streets, past mean brick terraces and concrete tower blocks. After a while, Spider spoke to Kathy for the first time. He didn’t change his posture, staring stiffly ahead, but growled, ‘Vexx told me what happened Thursday night. Now I want to hear your version.’
Kathy told him, briefly, without elaboration.
He nodded and said, ‘Now tell me what Adonia’s been telling you.’
She told him some of it, omitting things that they hadn’t yet been able to follow up. The old man said no more.
An ambulance was leaving as they swung into the lane leading to the building site. They spotted Wayne Ferguson climbing the steps into his site hut and Mark parked the car and got out. Ricky followed,pulling Kathy out.As she straightened,she found the nose of a gun in her face, Mark’s index finger curled around the trigger.
‘Behave,’he said,‘or people will get hurt.’He pushed the gun hard into her side and together the two men steered her through the site gates and up to the foreman’s hut. As she stepped inside Wayne Ferguson turned and began a smile that froze as he took in the others at her back.
‘What do you want?’
Ricky stayed with Kathy while Mark advanced on Ferguson, pointing the gun at his chest.
‘Jesus!’ The builder’s eyes widened.
‘You’re going to take us to your cottage,Wayne. Give me your mobile.’
As Wayne reached into his pocket,Kathy said,‘You don’t need him. Just get him to draw you a map.’
‘Don’t be soft.’Mark kept his eyes on Wayne as he handed over the phone.‘We might take a wrong turning,and anyway,we don’t want him talking to anybody once we’re gone, do we?’
They made their way out of the hut, Mark taking up the rear. As they walked towards the gate a man in a hard hat and boots came hurrying up.
‘Oh, Mick,’ Wayne said, and Kathy felt herself and the two Roach brothers stiffen.‘Will you be all right now? I have to go.’
‘That’s fine,Wayne.Everything’s sorted.See you tomorrow.’
The man marched away and they continued to the Merc. Wayne was prodded into the front with Mark, Kathy as before in the back between Spider and Ricky.
‘So,’Mark said,‘M6 is it?’
‘Yeah.’Wayne was chewing his lip, face taut.
‘Just relax,Wayne,’ Mark said soothingly.‘Put your seatbelt on and relax. Everything’s going to be fine, as long as you two behave yourselves, okay?’
‘Yeah, sure.’
‘Lovely day for a trip to the country, eh?’
As they cleared London and headed north on the motorway, Mark switched on the radio, occasionally tapping his fingers on the wheel in time to the music. He showed no signs of being unduly distressed at having lost a brother, unlike Ricky, who seemed dangerously angry and morose. Mark made several calls on his mobile phone as he was driving, though Kathy couldn’t hear much of what was said. From time to time he would light a cigarette, and Kathy was reminded of family outings when she was small. Her father was a heavy smoker, and as soon as he lit up she would feel the nausea rise in her throat, as automatically as if someone had thrown a switch.
Apart from Mark, hardly anyone spoke.
