Private London

Chapter 90

Suzy was leaning against the wall by the door to the three girls’ apartment.

Tim Graham was sitting on the couch, holding a bloodied handkerchief to his nose. He was glaring at me.

‘You’re not going to get away with this.’

‘You threatening me, Tim?’ I asked.

‘I’m promising you.’

‘Because if you want Suzy here to…’

He shrank back into the sofa.

‘He didn’t want to wait to meet you, Dan. I had to persuade him.’

‘You didn’t have to break my nose.’

‘He took a swing.’ She shrugged. ‘What’s a girl to do?’

‘You want to tell us what you are doing here, Tim?’ I asked.

‘I don’t have to tell you anything.’

I sighed. ‘See, this isn’t one of those good cop, bad cop situations. We’re both bad cops.’

‘Right,’ he snorted derisively. ‘You’re not even cops.’

I took three paces across the room and hit him. Hard. Backhanded my fist to the left side of his head. He flew off the sofa and landed on the floor, whimpering. Tears starting in his eyes.

I was glad. Truth was I was tempted to bust him on the nose again – finish the job that Suzy had started. But I needed to get some answers first.

‘Let me explain something to you, Mister Graham,’ I said, squatting down on my heels and speaking patiently. ‘Laura and Hannah drugged my god-daughter. She was clubbed with a baseball bat like a baby seal and was left to die in the gutter.’

I bent down, grabbed him with both hands, picked him up and threw him back onto the sofa.

‘Do I have your attention now?’ I asked.

Graham nodded, holding a hand to his nose which was running with blood and drool.

‘Because of them she is lying in intensive care, fighting for life.’ That last bit wasn’t strictly true any more but I had no intention of letting the maggot squirming on the sofa know that.

‘I had nothing to do with any of it.’

I turned to Suzy. ‘I’m going outside for a cigarette. Why don’t you see if you can loosen his memory some?’

I headed for the door. He wasn’t to know that I didn’t smoke.

‘Wait!’ He practically shouted it.

I didn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want Suzy putting the hard question to me, either. And I’m a professional tough guy.

‘She wasn’t supposed to get hurt.’

‘Who wasn’t?’

‘Chloe. She wasn’t even supposed to be there. Laura slipped something in her drink. It should have knocked her out of things for a while. Not enough to do any damage.’

‘Where did she get it?’

Graham shifted nervously on the sofa. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Where do you live?’

He shrugged. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’

‘Suzy, ask him again for me.’

‘Sure, boss.’ She stepped forward from the wall.

‘Okay, okay. Just keep that mad bitch away from me!’

I saw Suzy’s upper lip twitch a fraction and figured that young Tim would pay for that remark sooner or later.

‘I live across the hall,’ he said.

I hauled him upright. ‘Lead on, MacDuff.’

At the end of the corridor we entered a living room much like the one where we had just been. Only this one was littered with the kind of detritus you would expect from a bunch of male students.

Tim Graham was making a show of looking for the key to his bedroom door. Patting his pockets. I raised my right leg and kicked the door off its hinges.

‘Jesus,’ he said. ‘Who are you people?’

I pushed him inside.

Suzy followed us in, wrinkling her nose. ‘For Christ’s sake, Tim, you ever think of opening a window sometimes?’ she said and crossed to do just that.

I was glad she did. If the outer room was a mess, this was a midden. I pushed the student onto his unmade bed and started going through his chest of drawers. Third drawer down I found what I was looking for.