About to nod his head in agreement, Russ stared ahead at the TV, his eyes widening in shock as he took in the image of Jay-Jay Andrews’s face as it filled the screen.
‘Fucking hell! What are the chances?’ Russ said, lurching across the sofa and grabbing the remote control. Cranking up the volume on the TV, the two brothers stood in silence, staring at the 52-inch E-fit of Jay-Jay Andrews gawping back at them through their television screen. They listened intently as the camera zoomed in on a female police officer – DC Lucy Murphy according to the name printed at the bottom of the screen – and managed to catch the tail end of the statement as she addressed a room full of press.
‘As you can imagine, this was a very traumatic ordeal for the victim and we are determined to find the person responsible and bring them to justice.’
‘Is it true that you’ve linked this attack to the murder of Liza Fitzgerald, also pregnant, who was killed over at Richmond Park last week? Do you think you’re looking for a serial killer?’
‘A serial killer? Oh, you have got to be fucking joking!’ Sam said, staring at the TV in disbelief at the kind of lunatic they’d got themselves involved with. ‘Trust us to throw a bone at someone who’s on a fucking killing spree of pregnant birds, Russ! For fuck’s sake man! One job and already his mugshot’s all over the bloody news. This was not what we need to be dealing with,’ Sam spat. ‘It can’t be him though, can it? When did he get out of the nick?’
‘Ten days ago,’ Russ said, a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realised that the timeline fitted. That Jay-Jay would have been out when the woman in Richmond Park was murdered.
‘Fuck! We need to make sure that he keeps his gob shut about working for us. Because the police will catch up with him for this, and when they do, he ain’t dragging us down in the shit with him. This is on him and him alone. We need to make sure that he understands that.’ Sam nodded to the safe over in the corner of the room, which held their guns, so that his brother was under no illusion just how serious this was, and just how much Sam wanted to make sure the trail didn’t lead back to them.
‘Come on, Sam. Jesus! We don’t need to fucking take him out. And especially not if the police are hot on his tail. They’ll come looking for us for answers if we take him out. We’ll have to play it safer than that. I’ll speak to him; I’ll make him see sense,’ Russ said, knowing that if he had to wipe Jay-Jay out of the picture for good, he would do it. Of course, he would. He had no qualms about that. Like Sam always said, this was business and they did what they had to in order to survive.
Russ had only spoken to Jay-Jay for all of five minutes, but he’d thought the guy was sound. He’d certainly never have suspected he was capable of such sick and twisted acts. And if he was being totally honest, part of Russ felt a little impressed. It just went to show that there were some real sick fucks walking amongst them.
‘Are you having a laugh, Russ. A word? All it will take is “a word”, just one from him when the police catch up with him. And they’ll fit this shit on us in a heartbeat, and you know they will. This is their golden opportunity. And you think he won’t try and pin it on us, if it means there’s a chance he won’t go back inside? If they offer him a deal. He’s desperate, Russ. And desperate men are a fucking liability.’
‘He won’t talk!’ Russ said with certainty. ‘That’s a fact, because I’ll make sure of it.’
‘That’s just it though, Russ. We don’t know that for a fact, because we clearly don’t know him,’ Sam said, jabbing his finger on his temple to show that Jay-Jay wasn’t all there in the head. The man was mental.
‘But like you said, Sam, even if it’s true and he did do this, we didn’t tell him to do this. This has jack shit to do with us.’
‘And you reckon the police will give two shits about that tiny detail? Come on, Russ! All he has to say is that he’s working for us and they’ll make it fit. They’d love that, wouldn’t they? The golden opportunity to finally send us down. No, he needs to be sorted.’
‘Okay, Okay. I’ll do whatever needs to be done,’ Russ said, getting up and sending a text to Jay-Jay’s phone.
A few minutes later the reply came in, just as he knew it would, and he turned to Sam. ‘I told him that I’m going to come and pay him the money for last night’s job. He’s told me to meet him at some dive of a pub in town.’
Grabbing his keys from the side, Russ turned to his brother and said: ‘Leave it with me, yeah! I’ll make sure he knows the score. I’ll drum it into him personally if I have to. And if he tries anything stupid, then we’ll do it your way. Yeah? Either way, I’ll sort it.’
19
‘That lot can’t help themselves, can they? They feed like vultures. They’re bloody ruthless,’ Holder said, referring to the press. He switched off the TV that he’d been watching the press conference on as Lucy walked back into CID. ‘You did good though! I thought you handled it really well!’
‘Well, I did what I could, but as you no doubt heard, they’ve already done their homework and linked it to the murder enquiry over in Richmond, so that lot will be having a field day. The pressure is well and truly on now!’
‘Hey, kiddo! That’s
