Take Two

CHAPTER 63

Richards changed out of his wet clothes and then showered again and put on a suit and tie. He was slipping on his shoes when the door entry phone buzzed again. He hurried over to the handset. It was Halpin. Richards said he’d be right down.

Halpin had parked his Lexus in the road and Richards climbed in. The wipers swished back and forth across the windscreen,

‘You okay boss?’ asked Halpin. ‘You look like shit.’

‘I didn’t sleep much,’ said Richards.

Halpin pulled away from the kerb and headed for West London.

‘Everything went okay, yesterday?’ asked Richards.

‘Sure.’

‘No problems at all?’

Halpin shook his head. ‘Took the boat out, dumped the chest in the water, headed back.’

‘And you saw it go into the water?’

‘Boss, I did it myself. Me and Sonny.’ He looked across at Richards. ‘Something wrong?’

‘Just want to make sure it was done right.’

‘It was, boss. As right as rain.’

Richards took his cigar case out of his jacket pocket and lit one. ‘Never thought I’d kill a woman,’ he said quietly.

‘It had to be done, boss,’ said Halpin. ‘You had no choice. If she’d grassed you up it’d be life behind bars. For you and for me. And she hired Dunbar. She wouldn’t have done that if she wasn’t on your case.’

‘Yeah, you’re right.’ He puffed on his cigar. ‘I just wish there’d been another way.’

‘You could have married her,’ said Halpin.

Richards looked over at him. ‘What?’

‘I’m just saying, wives can’t testify against their husbands. So if you’d married her…’ He shrugged. ‘Just saying.’

‘Yeah, well just don’t say,’ said Richards.

They drove in silence for a while. ‘How’s it going with the truck driver,’ asked Richards, eventually.

‘I’m on the case,’ said Halpin. ‘It’ll be easy enough. He sleeps in the cab when he’s away from home. I think I can get a look at his roster to see when he’s away and I could do him miles from London.’

‘You okay with that?’

‘Boss, my name’s in the frame for all of this. I’m covering my own arse.’

‘Then cover away, Mick.’

‘It’ll mean I’ll be away for a day or two.’

‘No sweat, I’ve nothing major coming up. I’ll be okay. I’ll let you know when it’s a good time.’

Richards took a long pull on his cigar. ‘You’re okay with the way it went down?’ he asked.

‘What do you mean?’

Richards shrugged. ‘Getting rid of her the way we did.’

‘We didn’t have a choice, boss. It was her or us. And I don’t know about you but I’m not going to do a twenty stretch for anyone. She brought it on herself by hiring Dunbar. If she’d just kept quiet she’d have been fine.’

Richards nodded. ‘Yeah,’ he said.

‘Look at this way, boss. That bastard, Cohen, was stealing from you and you did him without a second thought. She would have done you more damage than he did, no doubt about it. We did what had to be done. End of.’

‘You’re right,’ Richards said quietly.

‘Damn right I’m right,’ said Halpin.

Richards settled back in his seat and tried to get his head straight for when he met The Mint. The rain was heavier now and, even at full speed, the wipers were finding it hard to cope with the deluge.

They reached a set of red traffic lights and Halpin brought his Lexus to a halt. Richards stared through the windscreen with unseeing eyes, his mind on the money that he was getting ready to transfer to one of The Mint’s offshore accounts. The swish-swish of the wipers was almost hypnotic. There was a white Audi TT stopped at the lights on the other side of the junction. There was a woman at the wheel. Richards narrowed his eyes as he tried to focus. He took the cigar out of his mouth and leaned forward. ‘What the fuck…?’

‘What boss?’

The lights changed to green and the Audi leapt across the junction. Richards turned to watch the car speed by. ‘Turn the car around!’ he shouted.

‘What?’ said Halpin.

‘Turn the fucking car around!’ shouted Richards, twisting around in his seat. ‘Just fucking do it!’

Halpin hit the turn indicator but there was a bus coming towards him. The bus driver sounded his horn and accelerated.

‘Come on, come on!’ shouted Richards.

Halpin stepped on the accelerator and twisted the steering wheel. The bus driver slammed on his brakes and pounded on the horn as Halpin made the turn.

Richards pointed down the road. ‘That Audi,’ he said. ‘Follow that Audi.’

‘I don’t see an Audi, boss,’ said Halpin, accelerating down the street. The bus driver was continuing to pound on his horn behind them.

‘There, she’s turning. See?’

Ahead of them the white car turned into a side street. ‘She? Who is it, boss?’

‘Carolyn Castle. She was driving.’

‘Boss?’ He took his foot off the accelerator and the car slowed.

Richards pointed ahead. ‘Don’t fucking stop, get after her!’

Halpin did as he was told.

‘It was her. I swear to God it was her!’ hissed Richards.

‘Boss, it can’t be.’

‘Don’t tell me what can’t be. I fucking saw her!’

‘She’s dead, boss. You know she’s dead.’

‘Just fucking follow her!’

Halpin sighed and nodded. ‘Okay, okay.’ They reached the turn that the Audi had taken and as they went around the corner Richards leaned forward. There was no sign of it. ‘I don’t see it, boss,’ said Halpin.

‘Faster, she must be ahead of us.’

Halpin accelerated but even in the heavy rain he could see the road ahead was clear. ‘Boss…’ he said. ‘It’s not here.’

‘She must have gone down a side street,’ said Richards. ‘Turn around. Let’s go back.’

‘Boss, if she did, we’ve lost her. She could be anywhere by now.’

‘If? What do you mean? You think I’m fucking making this up?’

‘I’m just saying, boss, I didn’t see her.’

‘You saw the Audi?’

‘I guess.’

‘You guess? You fucking guess? What the fuck are you saying? You think I’m making this up?’

‘Boss, look, I saw the car but I didn’t see who was driving. How could I, what with all this rain and all? And you’re starting to spook me carrying on like this. She’s dead. She’s at the bottom of the North Sea.’

‘Unless you fucked me over.’

‘Fucked you over? What do you mean?’

‘How the fuck do I know that you did what I told you to do? Maybe you let her out. Maybe she paid you off. How else do you explain the fact she’s alive and well and driving around?’

‘Come on, boss, you only caught a glimpse of the driver as she went by. It could have been anyone.’

‘Yeah? And who was ringing my bell? Answer me that?’

Halpin said nothing.

‘Just drive around for a bit. Keep looking.’

‘Sure. Whatever you want, boss.’ Halpin turned left into a side street lined with parked cars and they scanned left and right, looking for a white Audi. Fifteen minutes later they were still looking. Eventually Halpin looked at his watch pointedly.

‘Okay, let’s leave it,’ said Richards. ‘We’d better not keep The Mint waiting.’