‘Okay. Stay with him, Lucy,’ DS Morgan instructed the officer. ‘Take another officer with you; tell Holder to stay put and watch the Bolands’ place. If anyone goes in or out, I want to be the first to know. And as soon as you find out where Ashley is heading, you let me know.’
‘Will do, Sarge.’ Lucy hung up then looked at Holder. ‘Did you hear all that?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ Holder nodded. ‘You go. And I hope you’re right and he’s not just off to get a shag somewhere,’ he said, recalling the footage they’d seen at Smokes nightclub.
Ashley was used to living a secret, double life it seemed. The man could be currently heading anywhere.
‘Wouldn’t that be amazing,’ Lucy said, rolling her eyes and flashing Holder a grin. ‘Catching the bloke with his pants down. Christ! Wish me luck.’
Getting out of the car, Lucy made her way down the road to where another unmarked vehicle sat. She’d follow in the car for as long as possible and then do the rest of the route on foot.
41
Hearing the loud bang as the back door came crashing in and smashed against the kitchen wall, Russ and Sam Boland jumped to their feet.
Startled at the sudden forced entry, their immediate thoughts were that they were being raided by the police.
That Ashley had somehow set them both up.
‘Pete?’ Sam Boland said, recognising one of the two men now standing in his kitchen. Wielding a shotgun in their general direction, Pete Baker looked seriously pissed off. His fury magnified by one of his men who stood menacingly at his side.
‘What the fuck?’ Russ said, sensing the danger they were in and moving fast in the direction of their safe, to retrieve their own guns.
Only the unnerving calmness of Pete’s voice when he gave out the next command stopped Russ in his tracks.
‘Don’t fucking move another inch, or I’ll stick a bullet in the pair of you right where you’re standing.’
Recognising the words for what they were: real. Not a veiled threat. Russ did as he was told.
The room fell silent, until Pete spoke once more.
‘Where’s Riley? Where’s my grandson?’ Pete asked, his eyes flashing with fury as he scanned the dingy kitchen for any signs that his grandson might be here. ‘And where the fuck is Ashley?’
‘For fuck’s sake, not you as well?!’ Russ said, visibly relaxing as he realised that this was all just a simple misunderstanding. Pete Baker hadn’t come for the money. This was about the kid. And Russ and Sam had nothing do with any of that. ‘We told Ashley, we don’t know anything about any kid.’
‘Any kid? This isn’t just about “any kid!”’ Pete bellowed. ‘This is about my grandson, Riley. He’s missing, and I want him back. Now stop playing fucking games with me!’
‘Pete, mate! We don’t have him,’ Sam said, sensing the imminent danger. Pete Baker was a man on the edge. Wearing the deranged expression of someone who had completely lost it, Sam knew that Pete was capable of doing them both some serious damage. Or worse.
‘Ashley’s just left, Pete. We told him the same. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, mate. But trust me, we ain’t involved with taking your grandson. We don’t know anything about it. Ashley owed us money and he’s paid up. That’s all we know,’ Sam said as Pete’s eyes went to the table.
He recognised the rucksack that he’d personally packed with the cash. The money from his safe had been poured out on the kitchen table and was in the process of being divided up into two piles.
‘Where’s Ashley gone now?’ Pete stepped closer to Sam, keeping his gun aimed directly at him.
Right now, it looked as if Pete had been right about Ashley all along.
He hadn’t come here for Riley; he’d come here for himself.
He’d ripped his own family off to save his own arse. While his own newborn son was missing.
The bloke was the lowest of the low. Nothing more than scum.
When Pete finally got his hands on him, he was going to wipe the man off the face of the planet.
‘I said WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?’
‘He’s gone looking for Jay-Jay,’ Russ intervened. Genuinely scared then this mad fucker before them would do something stupid and shoot his brother.
‘Jay-Jay?’ Pete narrowed his eyes, recognising the name of his daughter’s attacker that the police were so desperately searching for. The man who had more than likely been involved in abducting his grandson.
‘Jay-Jay Andrews?’
‘Yeah, he thinks that he must have the kid. Your kid. Your g-grandson…’ Russ said, stuttering as he corrected himself. Because not only was Pete glaring at him like a maniac, he could feel his brother’s eyes on him too. As if he’d said too much.
‘And what’s Jay-Jay Andrews got to do with you two? How do you know him?’ Pete said, sensing that there was more to this than these two fuckers were letting on. That maybe these two were involved in some part of his grandson’s disappearance and Shelby’s attack after all.
‘We ain’t involved with him, Pete,’ Sam said, silently cursing his brother for even bringing Jay-Jay’s name up. Because it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to work out the connection between the men.
Pete Baker pointed the gun back at Sam. The man was clearly out for blood and the manic look in his eyes told Sam that Pete was capable of getting it.
‘Ashley thinks that Jay-Jay’s got Riley. That’s where he’s gone now. To see if he can get him back.’ Then sensing that Pete wouldn’t take kindly to being fobbed off, Sam took a risk. ‘Look, Pete, I’ll lay everything out there for you, mate. We didn’t know about the attack on your daughter, and we didn’t know that
