Frozen Grave

Chapter 39

DC Zoe Blackman parked up in the Faith and Light hostel car park and checked her watch – she had ten minutes to wait till ten o’clock, when her mum, Diane, was due to finish her shift. Zoe’s boys were staying with friends tonight and she didn’t want Diane to have to get a taxi or a bus home from an area she didn’t know well, even though she’d said she’d be fine. Zoe was going to surprise her and take her home. She was just about to get out of the car and go in when she saw Simon Smith. She sat back in the shadows and watched him cross the car park, then she saw him stop and look back… Mahmet Balik walked up behind him, leading his dog on a chain. Blackman stayed where she was. She looked at Smith and wondered how he would handle it. She couldn’t hear the conversation. She was trying to work out how she was going to disarm Balik and not get mauled by the dog. She was also praying that Diane would not walk out just at that moment. Zoe watched and waited. Simon seemed to be in control. The dog stayed where it was and Balik’s arm gesturing didn’t seem to bother it. It stayed calm. Simon was nodding. Zoe watched as he took something out of his pocket and handed it across to Balik. Zoe didn’t dare breathe or move. Then the hostel door opened and her mum, Lyndsey and Sheila walked out, chatting.

Shit!

Now she had no choice but to get out of the car.

‘Mahmet Balik?’

He stood his ground as she walked towards him.

‘Correct.’

The dog growled at her.

‘You’re wanted for questioning at Archway Police Station about a death that happened on Parade Street.’

‘Yeah, sure.’ He started walking. Zoe shouted for him to stop. He stopped with his back to her. She stood a few feet from him and the dog, which had resumed its snarling. Balik slowly turned to face her.

‘What’s the problem, Officer?’

‘I already told you. You need to present yourself at Archway Police Station for questioning. What is your current address?’

She got out her notebook.

‘My current address is no-man’s land. I’m everywhere you won’t find me.’

‘Mahmet Balik, I am placing you under arrest.’ Zoe took out her handcuffs and took a step towards him but stopped immediately as five other youths appeared in the car park and one of them stepped up and blocked her way. She pushed him hard.

‘Get out of my face. Stand back.’ She held a pepper spray where he could see it.

One of the lads opened his jacket, to show her he was carrying a knife.

‘You spray that – you will take one of us out but then you’ll be dead,’ said Mahmet. ‘After you, then I’m going to cut these people. No one’s going to leave here unless you back off.’ Zoe held up her hands. ‘And tell Toffee and his mates we will find them.’

They turned and walked out of the car park. Zoe called on her phone for back-up.

‘They’ve got to be stopped,’ said Lyndsey. ‘Can anyone stop them?’ The three women were visibly shocked by the confrontation.

‘We will.’ Blackman was just very angry. She didn’t like having to back down. ‘I’ll make sure that something’s done about it.’

‘They’ve been coming around here, intimidating people, for long enough,’ said Sheila. ‘That dog will kill, sooner or later: he can’t control it—’

Simon interrupted: ‘We’re bound to get it, living this close to an estate like the Hannover.’

‘So this isn’t the first time he’s been round here?’ Blackman turned to Sheila and Lyndsey.

Simon turned to go past the women and walk inside.

‘It’s since the murder – it’s got worse,’ Sheila said.

Simon held up his hand to silence Sheila.

‘Let’s not get carried away with this. He’s a mindless thug, that’s all.’

‘Sheila – what have the clients said to you?’

‘Martine, Mason, Spike, they’re all too scared to come here. They saw something that night. People are staying away – too scared to come here for food. Shameful the way they behave, these gangs. It’s a disgrace.’

‘Sheila – it’s okay,’ said Simon.’ I’m going to be keeping an eye on things tonight. Any trouble and I won’t hesitate to call the police.’

‘Has anyone seen Toffee’s friends?’ asked Zoe. They shook their heads.

‘But Lolly’s been killed and they definitely did it,’ said Sheila.

‘We don’t know that, Sheila,’ said Simon.

‘Yes, we do. They were bragging about it to Lyndsey when they stopped her the other day; weren’t they?’

Lyndsey nodded. ‘They said they raped her and then injected her with corrupted heroin just for a laugh. She died in agony.’

Zoe was keeping one eye on Simon as Sheila talked. She wanted to ask him what he gave to Balik but decided she’d bide her time and talk to Carter first.

‘I can get extra protection here. I will make sure the search for Balik is stepped up,’ she said. ‘Okay, Mum, you ready?’

‘Thank you, Diane. You’re a great help,’ Simon said as they walked towards Zoe’s car.

‘I’ll be back tomorrow,’ Diane said. Simon looked surprised. ‘Well, you’ll need me, I’m sure.’

‘We certainly do,’ Sheila called out. ‘We need all the good help we can get. Thank you, Diane.’

Zoe waited until the patrol car had come and then dropped her mother home – she was too adrenalin-fuelled to go home herself and sleep.

Martine was waiting at the station ticket office, to see if her friend would be working there tonight. She pulled her shawl up over her head, against the bitter wind.

‘Spare some change,’ she asked a man walking through the station.

‘No, sorry.’

She was waiting for Larry to appear on the other side of the ticket barrier and let her in, but there was a new face.

‘Where’s Larry?’

‘Not working here this week. You got me instead. What do you want?’

‘Larry lets me sleep in here, in the toilets. Please can you let me in?’

‘Wish I could, love; but it’s more than my job’s worth.’

‘Please. Larry does. I need somewhere safe tonight.’

‘I understand you got troubles but I can’t help. You need to be on your way now. Larry will be back next week.’

‘Please.’

‘There’s no one can help you here. Go on now.’

She turned back out into the cold. She thought about where to get warm and thought of Mason; he would keep her warm and she could cuddle Sandy like a hot-water bottle.

Sandy listened to the sound of boots on gravel and began to pant. She looked at Mason and knew that she couldn’t go anywhere. The enemy was coming to them and they were already backed into a corner. Sandy licked Mason’s face in her anxiety. He stirred but he didn’t wake; she kept one eye on the edge of the fencing and waited, knowing that every instinct she had was to run but knowing too that she couldn’t.

Balik moved through the car park with the swagger of one who knows his prey is cornered and there’s just enough competition to make a fight interesting. He scraped a stick along the walls of the railway arches as he walked with his five deputies towards the far corner, like he usually did, where the fence met the road and where Mason and Sandy were hiding.

Martine came as far as the car park and hid behind a parked car when she heard the swagger chant of the Hannover Boys. The last time she had heard that, she’d watched a woman being killed. Now Martine hugged her knees as she hid by the wheel arch of the car and listened to the chanting as they moved across the car park, flushing out their prey. Everything inside her told her she must run. Survival was a solitary ambition. Now she must only care about herself. Martine picked up her bag and ran.

Zoe was still angry – her anger was legendary. No one – but no one – talked to her like that and got away with it. It was one of the reasons she’d been so grateful for passing the detective exams and keeping her head. She knew it was in her – the same anger that, made someone a criminal and made her a cop. But anger was frowned upon now in the modern force. Handling others with kid gloves didn’t come naturally to her and had been bad news when it came to role-playing in the cadet training school. But, luckily for her, her common sense had won the day and she had passed. Detective Inspector Dan Carter was her mentor. She had to learn from him and he watched over her. She phoned him now.

‘Sir, sorry to disturb you.’

‘That’s okay – shoot.’ Carter had just come off the phone to Harding and he was sitting in his kitchen, going through Olivia Grantham’s last text messages.

‘Something happened tonight at the hostel – Mahmet Balik turned up when I was waiting to give my mum a lift home.’

‘Did you call for back-up? You didn’t approach him on your own?’

‘It was a difficult decision, sir. He didn’t see me; I was in my car. He approached Smith. I saw Smith give him something. Then the volunteers, along with my mum, came out and I had to act, so I tried to arrest him but it turned out he wasn’t alone.’

‘Sure you okay?’

‘Yes, just too angry to go to bed right now, so I’m seeing if I can find any of Toffee’s friends. Sheila, who helps at the hostel, says that Balik has been looking for them. He threatened them all as he left.’

‘He might think one of them has the money that Toffee was carrying. What did Smith give him?’

‘Something compact, from his closed hand. Could have been money. I’m pretty sure he knows I saw it but he didn’t volunteer any information about it.’

‘We need to look into Smith a little deeper. We need to get hold of Toffee’s friends fast before Balik does, bring them in for questioning and offer them some safety to testify. Could be our chance to get a gang member off the street. Where are you now?’

‘Down by the railway arches in Shadwell. There used to be a car park here that homeless people slept in at one time.’

‘Keep me posted.’

Zoe slowed down and reached the road that ran beneath the railway arches in Shadwell. As her car turned the corner, she saw the dog’s eyes caught in her headlights and youths running away across the car park. She drove round to the other side, to see if she could get a better look – she was pretty sure that it was Balik and his gang. They had gone.

Martine ran back to the parade of shops where she knew Spike slept. She found him by the shop door. He didn’t move as she approached. She knelt beside him and shook him but he didn’t wake.

Mason turned onto his side to vomit as the burning flashes of grinding pain in his gut caused him to heave. He reached for Sandy. The blood was pouring into his eyes and he couldn’t see. He couldn’t hear her. He panicked as his hand reached into darkness and touched just the gravel of the car park and the wet of blood. He found the softness of her ear and traced his fingers to her muzzle. Her face was torn. Her eye smashed. No movement, no breath. He called her name again. He felt down her head to her neck and the injuries there, the bites that had ripped her flesh. Her shoulder had a large open wound there. His hand reached around her ribs to her heart. For a few seconds he felt nothing beneath his hand but then the faintest beat touched his palm.