for more.’
EIGHTEEN
Steven’s felt the hair rise on the back of his neck as he realised that these two were Verdi’s men, the bouncers from the sauna. His second thought as he saw the shorter of the two bring out a flick knife was that he had left his own knife lying on the bathroom floor. It was only a Swiss army knife but it would have been better than nothing.
Under normal circumstances he would have felt confident about taking on either of the men in front of him. They were the usual schemie hard men, the sort spawned by run-down council estates all over the country, young and heavily built but relying more on attitude than expertise. Watching Clint Eastwood movies didn’t make you Dirty Harry when you came up against those who had trained and fought with the best.
But these weren’t normal circumstances: he was a long way short of being fully fit and still hurting badly from his last encounter. There were two of them and the one with the knife was starting to come towards him.
‘ Verdi says he’s a doctor,’ said the other one.
‘ Is that a fact,’ hissed the knife-holder. ‘Well, ah’m the one who’s goin’ to be doin’ the operatin’ today an’ ah’m gonnae cut this bastard’s balls off.’
Steven’s back was already against one of the work surfaces: there was nowhere left for him to go. He searched with the flat of his hands over the surface, feeling for something he could use as a weapon but his eyes never left the knife in the yob’s hand. The only thing his fingers touched was a jar of marmalade. He snatched it up and raised it threateningly. The yob stopped then grinned, displaying bad teeth as he weighed the blade lightly in his hand and feinted moves to right and left as if daring Steven to try it.
Steven kept threatening to throw the jar until the yob made the mistake he had been hoping for. In anticipation of having to move his head and shoulders quickly to the left or right to avoid the jar, the yob planted both feet firmly on the ground. That was the mistake.
Instead of aiming the jar at his head or body as the yob was expecting, Steven threw the heavy jar down at the man’s feet with all the strength he could muster. It hit him squarely on his right instep before he had time to get out of the way. He screamed out in pain, dropped the knife and started hopping around in a circle, clutching at his foot with both hands. He had barely got out his first intelligible curse when Steven’s right foot swung into his crotch and he let out another scream. He fell to the floor where Steven unleashed yet another kick into the side of his head and the noise stopped abruptly.
It was all over so quickly that the other man seemed mesmerised by what had happened but he recovered in time to snatch up the knife that had spun across the floor in his direction.
‘ Got lucky, ya fucker, did ye?’ he murmured as he stepped over his unconscious companion. ‘Well, ah’ve got news fur ye, pal. Lightnin’s no gonna strike twice in the wan day. You’re a dead man. Ah’m goin tae put yer lights oot just like that silly bitch, Manson.’
‘ So you killed Tracy Manson?’ said Steven, again watching the knife rather than the man.
‘ Whit’s it tae you?’
‘ I’m putting you under arrest for the murder of Tracy Manson,’ said Steven with a calmness that he in no way felt.
‘ A fuckin’ comedian, eh? Just how do ye propose doin’ that?’
‘ Over a cup of tea,’ said Steven. He snatched up the mug of tea from the worktop and threw its contents into the advancing man’s face. The water in it was no longer boiling hot but it was still hot enough to make him yell out in pain. More importantly, it made him drop the knife. Steven kicked him hard in the stomach and he went down like his companion before him. Steven knelt down and whispered in the man’s ear. ‘At Hereford, sonny, we were taught to make our own luck.’
Steven stood up again and looked down at the sorry figure, hands held to his face, knees brought up to his chest like a large, ugly foetus.
‘ Fucking bastard,’ the yob gasped.
Inside Steven’s head a training sergeant from a time long ago yelled at him. ‘This is not a game, Dunbar. When they go down, make sure they stay down!’
Remembering the beating he’d suffered at the hands of these men and the fact that this was the trash who’d murdered Tracy Manson, Steven sent another vicious kick into him, this time into his face. It broke most of his teeth, which scattered across the floor like slimy, red and white buttons. Now, both men lay silent.
‘ Gratuitous, Dunbar, gratuitous,’ Steven murmured as he took out his mobile phone and called McClintock.
While he waited for the police to arrive, he went through the contents of the tin he’d found behind the bath panel and quickly deduced that the making of pornographic films — mainly S amp;M, judging by the titles was a much bigger business than he had realised. The notebook contained a list of titles, dates and the addresses of film studios used in the making of them. He gathered that a linked website was used to provide download facilities for the material and attract customers for the mail order of films and videos.
Steven turned his attention to the three videos. They did not have titles on the spine, only girls’ names and dates. He put them to one side and sifted through the remaining material to come across a white card, which had three multi-digit numbers on it and a single printed word, ‘Nightingale’. He decided that he’d underestimated Tracy Manson. She’d been associated with Verdi for a long time and she’d obviously managed to glean a lot about how the operation was run — smack-head or not. He’d bet money on these being bank account numbers and ‘nightingale’ a password.
The police arrived in a fanfare of sirens and heavy boots on the stairs. The men on the floor were still unconscious when Steven opened the door and two uniformed men came through. They were followed by McClintock who was still climbing up the last flight and puffing.
‘ The fags’ll be the death of me,’ he gasped by way of greeting.
Steven waited for him and ushered him through. One of the uniformed men was radioing for an ambulance; the other was going through the pockets of the men on the floor. McClintock looked down at them and turned to Steven. ‘Temper, temper,’ he said with the only merest suggestion of a grin.
‘ This one admitted to the murder of Tracy Manson,’ said Steven, touching one of the men with his toe.
Steven handed over the shortbread tin to McClintock saying, ‘Frae bonnie Scotland. This is what Tracy mistakenly hoped would put her in a bargaining position. Everything you wanted to know about the life, love and the porn business.’
‘ Didn’t you do well,’ said McClintock, accepting the tin. ‘A fucking tour de force, if you don’t mind me saying so.’
‘ Didn’t do me much good though,’ said Steven. ‘There’s nothing about a connection between Verdi and the forensic lab.’
‘ Maybe an entirely different affair,’ said McClintock. ‘No reason for Tracy to be involved. Let’s see what comes out in the wash when we’ve had time to unravel this lot.’
‘ I’ll leave you to it then,’ said Steven. He left with McClintock holding the tin and all its contents save for the white card with account details. That was in his top pocket. He had a feeling that he should hold on to that for the moment.
As soon as he got into the car — which had attracted a parking ticket and a single expletive from Steven when he saw it — he felt an almost overwhelming sense of tiredness sweep over him. He leaned his head back on the headrest for a few moments, closing his eyes and taking slow deep breaths. The adrenaline that had been pumping through his veins to fuel his fight for life had now dissipated leaving him monastically calm and free to ponder over what might have been.
When he opened his eyes again he looked at his unmarked hands resting on the wheel and brought them slowly up to his face to run his fingertips lightly down his cheeks. He recognised that he had been incredibly lucky. He had managed to take out two hard men without suffering any further injury himself, not even a scratch. He didn’t doubt that the yobs would have killed him. One slip, one missed kick, a jar of marmalade that could have been in a cupboard instead of sitting on the work surface and it could all have turned out so differently. He would be lying
