But where Lucy’s father had made an effort to go straight, his sister hadn’t seen the point.
‘She’s different from me.’ He sighed. ‘She’s smarter. More quick-witted. Ambitious. She’s determined too.’
Lucy had visited Helen Flowers once. She couldn’t think of the woman as her aunt. She had a coldness about her that Lucy didn’t like or trust, as well as the dead eyes of a fish. She’d confirmed the story Lucy’s dad had told her, that they’d been brought up by a variety of foster parents.
‘Not all of them were nice,’ Flowers told Lucy. ‘Some of them just wanted the money the government paid them for supposedly caring for us. One household gave us dog food to eat. Another used us as drug couriers.’ Her expression intensified. ‘It made us resilient. It also gave us a hunger for money. We could never have enough. Can you understand that?’
Lucy nodded, not because she condoned the woman’s rationalisation – she’d known far worse-off children who hadn’t turned to crime later – but because she wanted to create a sense of connection between them.
After a while, Lucy began honing her questions.
‘Don’t you care about the people you’ve endangered by selling fake products?’
‘Of course I do.’ She sounded affronted but the expression in her eyes didn’t change. ‘But I don’t let my feelings get in the way. I mean, I’m as warm and caring as the next person, but let’s face it, it’s a big bad world out there, everyone’s trying to get one over you… You’ve got to look after number one, right? If someone messes with you… maybe tries to undermine you, rip you off… well, you take care of it. Do whatever needs to be done.’
‘Including hurting people?’
‘Sometimes. But that’s business, isn’t it?’
‘What about John?’ Lucy wanted to know if her father shared the same sociopathic behaviour.
Flowers stared at Lucy, unblinking. ‘He’s more squeamish. I didn’t tell him the half of it, believe me. He’s a fantastic salesman, but he just didn’t have what it took to be at the top.’
‘You’re Shaitan, aren’t you?’ Lucy asked. When Helen Flowers didn’t respond, Lucy said, ‘It’s okay. I’m family. You can tell me.’
Flowers leaned back with a sigh. ‘They’re so stupid, the Arabs. They actually believed I was a djin, can you believe it? All we did was tell a couple of stories and they swallowed it, hook, line and sinker.’
‘And when Kaitlyn Rogers left Morocco, Jibran Bouzid contacted you and told you she was a danger.’
‘She was going to ruin everything,’ Flowers hissed. ‘She’d already targeted Ricky, the fat slob. She’d even been to Southwark, poking about, trying to find John. It was only a matter of time before she did irreparable damage.’
‘You killed her.’
The fish eyes gave nothing away but Lucy felt her skin crawl. Her aunt was a killer. No doubt about it.
Now, Tomas was walking towards her with Ajay at his side. Ajay bumped fists with her but Tomas greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.
‘Wish you weren’t getting married, DD,’ he said, bouncing on his heels. ‘And to a cop! What a waste.’
‘How’s Ricky?’ she asked Ajay.
‘Very grateful to you, man. ’Cept he’s not so happy ’bout all the interest in his bizniz affairs, thanks to you too.’
‘Any blowback on you?’ She arched her eyebrows at Tomas, who shrugged.
‘It’s all above board, DD. I swear it.’
She gave a snort. As if she believed that, but Tomas and his lot were so slippery she doubted if the police would find anything to pin on them.
They talked a while, about the case, its ramifications not just in the UK but abroad, until Lucy put her head on one side and said, ‘I’ve just got one question, Tomas.’
A guarded expression rose, but he nodded.
‘Why did you give me the BreatheZero address? Without it, I may never have made the connection.’
He picked up his beer, took a couple of gulps. Exhaled. ‘I thought what they’d done, what they were doing, was disgusting. Selling fake stuff like that… it really made me sick. Dad told me all about it, see. How that aeroplane got blown up. How everyone knew about Carl and what he was up to with that cold witch of a sister. Your mum didn’t know, mind you. She only discovered he was selling fake detectors when a warrant was issued for his arrest. That’s when your mum threw him out. That’s when he disappeared.
‘Nobody was too sure about him running off with another woman, but Dad and his mates let your mum put the story about. They were pretty sure she was disgusted with what he was doing too.’
Lucy studied Tomas, thinking over his dissembling to Dan. He’d said the photograph of Chris Malone was of Helen Flowers. He’d wanted Flowers to be found. Wanted her to face justice.
Tomas may be a criminal, but he had his own code of right and wrong. She knew exactly where he would have got that from.
She turned her wine glass around. When she spoke, her voice was low. ‘Your dad was the whistle-blower, wasn’t he?’
He sighed. Met her eyes. ‘It’s not something he’s proud of, ratting on a mate. But he thought what they were doing was so bad, someone had to put a stop to it.’
She nodded. ‘He did the right thing. Both of you did.’
‘Yeah. But look where it got you.’ He looked gloomy.
‘Hey, it’s not all bad. I’ve been offered a book deal!’
‘No way!’ His face lit up. ‘What’s it going to be called? DD’s big exposure?’
She slapped his arm. ‘Enough of the DD. Call me Lucy, please?’
‘Sure, sweetheart. But you’ll always be Delicious to me.’
Lucy wasn’t going to take the book deal. She was notorious enough, thank you
