Take Two

CHAPTER 95

It was just after nine when they heard a key in the lock downstairs. Richards looked over at Halpin and nodded. Halpin smiled thinly and pulled a gun from his coat pocket. They heard the front door open and the alarm console began to beep. They heard the front door close, footsteps walking across the floor and then the beeping stopped.

Halpin grinned as they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. It was Terry Carter, holding a Nike backpack. His eyes widened when he saw Halpin. ‘Who the fuck are you?’ he said.

Halpin grinned. ‘I’m the guy with the gun aimed at your nuts,’ he said.

‘What are you doing in my house?’ He saw Richards for the first time and frowned in confusion. ‘Warwick? What the hell’s going on?’

Richards stood up and held out his hand. ‘Give me your phone, Terry.’

‘What?’

‘Give me your phone.’

Carter dropped his backpack and it hit the floor with a dull thud. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked. ‘What’s this about?’

‘Just give me your bloody phone.’

Carter reached into his pocket and took out a white iPhone. Richards took it from him. ‘I need you to call Jenny and get her over here,’ said Richards.

‘Fuck you,’ said Carter.

Richards shrugged. ‘If you don’t, Mick here’ll put a bullet in your head and we’ll drive around and see her at her place. Frankly I’m easy either way.’

‘Me, too,’ said Halpin, pointing his gun at Carter’s face. His finger tightened on the trigger.

Carter put up his hands. ‘Okay, okay,’ he said.

Richards smiled. ‘He scrolled through the phone menu and found Jenny’s number. ‘Terry, mate, we just want to talk to her, that’s all,’ he said. ‘Straighten a few things out.’

‘Okay,’ he said.

‘Just talk to her nice and calmly, ask her over for a drink, tell her there’s something you need to talk to her about, okay?’

Carter nodded again.

‘And just to be clear, you say one wrong thing and you get a bullet in your nuts,’ said Halpin.

‘Okay, okay, I get it,’ said Carter.

‘Good man,’ said Richards. He scrolled through the phone menu and called Jenny’s number. When it started to ring out, he handed it to Carter.