April sat at her desk and checked the Post-it notes attached to the edge of her computer screen. Some she had left from previous days, aides-memoire to remind her of outstanding tasks. She took the phone from a basket, letting her fingers run over the surface once it was removed from the plastic, protective sheath. It was the one Lucy had charged in the café. She was eager to know its contents but she would have to wait until the tech guy she had requested arrived. Lucy tapped on the door and popped her head round. She held a mug of coffee.
‘Morning. You have it I see. You wouldn’t know from looking at him. Seemed such a nice chap.’
‘They’re not all dressed in cloaks, Lucy. He’ll be paid. You’re aware there’s a system in place for this kind of thing. It’s above board, as I said when I asked you. It’ll not be much but hopefully it will be significant. How was Wigan on a wet night?’
Lucy frowned. ‘Wet and dark. I live nearby and the town centre behaviour hasn’t changed since I worked there.’
April sat back and tapped her fingers on the desk. ‘Did you live near the centre?’
‘Those were early days. King Street on a Friday and Saturday night was educational. Town centre’s not what it was. Like most big towns, there’s a dearth of shops and as they close you see fewer people other than the homeless. The town was a good grounding for me. Stayed five years and then moved to Merseyside. Promotion into plain clothes. Love it even though my new boss gives me challenges.’ Their brief burst of laughter was interrupted by a second tap on the door. The tech guy popped his head round and smiled.
Sadiq stared at the view. It seemed to stretch for mile after mile, blackness illuminated by a wealth of urban colours. An aircraft flew down the Mersey, the noise distinct and the lights the only visible feature. Planes occasionally disappeared within the low cloud only to reappear further along in the dark. Even now he could make out the Wirral but there was a blur, a watery mix of predawn and drizzle.
His feet resting on the coffee table, the man on the sofa interlocked his fingers before gently flexing them backwards. The resulting slow pattern of clicks from each of the knuckles brought a slight shiver to Sadiq’s spine. The sound was not too dissimilar to that of a snapping neck.
‘The shipment comes in on Thursday, providing nothing gets in the way at this late stage. You know what can happen on these cruises, what with food poisoning and the like.’
Sadiq’s expression said it all; he was helpless. ‘I’ve no control, bro. What will be, will be.’
The pause was palpable.
‘You know the procedure, it’s all set up.’ The other man tossed a large brown envelope onto the coffee table between his feet. ‘The cruise liner docks on time according to the schedule. Remember too that this is a new couple so they’ll be skittish. Let’s hope they remember what Abid told them. He was good at some things! They seemed confident when it was first organised, but the closer they get to home, the more the nerves will be kicking in. I’m sure they’ll be doubting their sanity, desperate people do. If they’re successful then they’ll do it again. We haven’t put all our eggs into this one basket. Stay well back just in case they bottle it. They have a key to the car parked in the same carpark as their car. It will be positioned next to theirs and they’ll drop our goods into the boot. I only want it collecting after forty-eight hours. I’ll have it watched and then you can send in one of your boys. And Sadiq …’
Sadiq turned briefly to glance at the river and then back.
‘Make sure the fucking driver is over twenty-one, no bloody kids. Is that understood? And put that in a supermarket carrier bag.’
‘Bro. Fully. It’ll be Doc.’ He moved across and collected the envelope. ‘Supermarket bag, sure thing. This goes into the safe until then.’
‘Did you do a thorough job? The body was clean, Sadiq? I have your personal assurance, do I?’ The tone of voice conveyed the point subtly but it clearly still registered as a definite threat.
‘I checked myself, bro. The tattoo removal, he was shaved, finger pads, teeth removed as instructed. Considering what we did to the poor bastard, I’m amazed the coppers managed such a good job with the photograph they posted. Amazing what computers can do nowadays. Reincarnation you could say.’ He laughed, but it swiftly faded as he was laughing alone.
‘It’s no joke,’ his companion stressed. ‘They can bring the dead to life, you’re right. Now, the flat?’
‘It was cleaned whilst we held Chelle. All his stuff and some things she’d kept were collected. I’ve taken pictures.’
Sadiq grabbed a remote and a large flat screen television lowered from the ceiling to fill most of one wall. He then ran through a slideshow of a number of photographs showing the flat before and after.
‘Inevitably, bro, there will be prints and DNA as we can’t get rid of that other than by torching the place.’ He paused letting the thought sink in. ‘We waited till she was out and let Toland know that Chelle was visiting her mother. We informed her she’d had an accident, Chelle would be away for a while and that someone would be calling for her things. Seemed to go well.’
‘So where is she now?’
‘She was brought here as you requested. We’d collected some of her things from the flat. She wasn’t clean after fucking Malik had held her …’ He did not finish. ‘Not clean in that sense, abused like … I don’t think so anyway.’ Doubt was clear in his voice.
‘If I find out Malik or any of his boys didn’t keep it in their trousers they’ll not be worrying about trousers or girls as
