Isaac rang the bell at the security door to the block of flats. A gruff voice answered. ‘What do you want?’
‘DCI Cook, DI Hill, Challis Street Police Station, Homicide.’
‘You’ve got a warrant?’
‘We can get one, haul your sorry arse down to the police station. Tell Mr Frost we want a few words with him, or we’ll come back later with a piece of paper, make it official.’
‘Very well. I’ll press the button. Enter the lift and enter 756 into the keypad.’
Outside Frost’s penthouse, the two men stood, Caxton and O’Grady. One was squat and menacing, the other taller, fitter, and altogether a better-looking man, although that was subjective, and neither would have been regarded as handsome. Caxton had a scar above his left eye, O’Grady had broken his nose on more than one occasion, and the bridge was skewed to one side.
‘Mr Frost doesn’t like uninvited guests,’ Caxton said.
‘Then maybe he shouldn’t go roughing up people, lending them money they can’t afford to pay back,’ Isaac said. Larry thought Isaac was playing a dangerous game, baiting the heavies even before they had met Frost. It wasn’t the first time Isaac had gone on the offensive, and most times it worked, produced the appropriate reaction, but they were on the seventh floor of the building. It was a long way down, and the security door at the front of the building would be strong enough to hold any help at bay for long enough.
‘Mr Frost isn’t going to like you coming in here accusing him.’
‘Tell him we’re here. We don’t have all day.’
‘Go easy,’ Larry said. ‘We’re in Frost’s territory here.’
‘We need a reaction. A black eye won’t do you any harm, and if they do hurt us, we’ll have the measure of them, know that Frost is our man.’
Inside, sitting on a brown leather chair, was the man himself. The penthouse was too warm for Larry, just right for Isaac. ‘What can I do for you?’ Frost said as he got up from the chair. Even though he was at home, he was dressed in a suit, white shirt, and a tie.
‘We understand that you lend money?’
‘Nothing wrong in that. I’m even registered, an office in the city. More of a broker really, put those who want the money in touch with the lending institutions, take the commission.’
‘You don’t work from there?’
‘What for? Employ people, that’s the secret. Ideal for me, ideal for them.’
‘Okay, that’s the legitimate side of the business,’ Isaac said. ‘What about the other side, the high-risk clients, those who can’t get money from the banks?’
‘I can’t do much for them. If they’ve got themselves in trouble, destroyed their credit rating, that’s their problem, not mine.’
‘Why the two men outside? If you’re legit, you’ve no need of protection.’
‘Not all those that get loans can pay them back. The bank forecloses, divorces occur, and then the man is on his own, looking to blame someone. He can’t take on the bank, but he can take on my company and me. Caxton and O’Grady can deal with anyone who comes near me, plus drive the car, run errands.’
‘Mangle kneecaps part of their job description?’ Isaac added.
‘Chief Inspector, you’ve been reading too many gangster books, watching too many films. That’s not how it works in real life.’
‘It does. We’ve seen it before, and you’re involved. What about the man you had kneecapped, walking with a permanent limp?’
Frost appeared agitated, started walking around the room. Larry could see Isaac getting under his skin.
‘I’ve let you in here in good faith. I thought I was helping with your enquiries, not aware that you intended to insult me, accuse me of being a criminal.’
‘Mr Frost, we know all about you, not that we can prove it, not yet. No one’s speaking. It appears that they’re more frightened of you than they are of the police. Why is that?’
‘I’ve done nothing wrong. If people want to borrow money, that’s up to them. If they can’t pay it back, I can be sympathetic, but I’m not a charity.’
‘Ralph Lawrence, you lent him money?’
‘I’ll not say I’ve never heard of the man, as I read the newspapers, surf the net, the same as everyone else. He’s the son of Gilbert Lawrence, the madman with all the money and his dead wife upstairs in her bed.’
‘And you’ve never met him?’
‘What for?’
‘The man’s borrowed money, a lot of it. We know he came to the lender of last hope, he came to you.’
‘I suggest you leave. I would call the police, but you’re here already. I’ll be making a complaint.’
‘Do what you want, Mr Frost. We’ll be watching you, and the next time you put someone in the hospital, we’ll be there. And remember, neither Ralph Lawrence nor the kneecapped man has spoken to us. They keep telling us it was an accident, although how you can shoot yourself in the knee is a mystery to us.’
Isaac and Larry got up to leave. Larry turned around and looked at Frost, already on his phone making a call. ‘Where was it? We were told it was Dubai where you had Steve Samuels killed.’
‘Samuels?’ Frost said.
‘The gambling club owner who borrowed a lot of money from you, skipped the country, a couple of Russian whores in the car. You had him killed.’
‘Inspector, I’m not a man without influence, my name counts for something, at least it does in this city.’
‘Any action against Lawrence and the other man and we’ll be back. And if we see Caxton and O’Grady anywhere near them or us, we’ll take them in for questioning. No doubt we’ll find something to charge them with,’ Isaac said.
‘A fertile imagination, Inspector Cook. I hope the Met treats you well when you’re back in
