A Cold Killing (Rosie Gilmour) (23 page)

‘Jesus fucking wept!’ Dunn shouted.

He slapped Rosie so hard that she reeled backwards, barely able to keep her feet. For a few seconds she heard their voices in the distance and thought she was going to pass out. Christ almighty! This was really happening.

Rosie tasted blood when she came to, and as she eased her head from her chest she looked up just in time to see the bucket of cold water being thrown at her. Dazed, she automatically tried to put her hands up to defend herself. Where were her hands? It took a split second to realize that they were tied behind her back. She gasped as the icy water hit her face, then her eyes scanned the room. No Ruby. Just her. And Tam Dunn. Then it all came back flooding back to her.

*

Dunn had been like a crazed animal when he had realized what was going on. Or at least what he thought was going on. He was screaming to Tony that he’d been shafted by this Melissa cunt and some Bosnian fucker who’d come down to J B Solutions to buy weapons. Who the fuck were they? he’d screamed at Tony, who stood dumbfounded, looking from Ruby to Tony to Rosie.

‘Who the fuck are you?’ he screamed at Rosie as he hit her again, dragging her by the hair and pushing her up against the wall.

Rosie was utterly helpless. She hadn’t even considered a scenario like this. The last thing she had expected was Tam fucking Dunn to come walking into the place. She wasn’t even thinking straight enough to give him any kind of answer. Whatever she would tell Dunn now, he wouldn’t believe her and he would beat the shit out of her. But if she told him she was a reporter he would kill her. Even her fuddled brain told her that.

‘I . . . I’m Ruby’s friend,’ she croaked, knowing she was digging an even bigger hole.

‘So what the fuck were you doing talking to me in an English accent, trying to buy weapons? Conning the fuck out of me.’

He’d turned on Ruby.

‘And you? Fuck you.’

He slapped Ruby hard, bringing blood to her lips. She didn’t lift her hand to wipe it but stood glaring at him. Then he turned to Tony.

‘And you’ve obviously been fucking this bitch so much that all your brains have gone to your dick. She’s done you up like a fucking kipper, you bastard moron.’ He threw his hands in the air, frustrated. ‘I knew there was something dodgy about her when you brought her for dinner that night. So I asked a couple of the boys over in Spain about this Ruby bitch. They said she was around that night Rab got torched.’

‘I know that, Tam,’ Tony said sheepishly. ‘I’ve asked as well. But there’s nothing to link her.’

‘And who the fuck are you? A polis? Of course there’s something in it. And did it not occur to you that it was a bit of a coincidence when wee Malky got torched in his house?’

‘Look, wait a minute,’ Ruby protested.

‘Shut . . . the fuck . . . up!’ There was a spray of spittle from his mouth as Dunn slapped Ruby again with the back of his hand. She staggered back.’ He turned to Tony. ‘And by the way, dickshit, she saw everything that night in the restaurant, with that wee tart. Fuck me!’ He glowered at Tony. ‘You need to deal with this. Right. Fucking. Now! Today!’

Tony shifted on his feet and said nothing.

‘Do you hear me? Because if you don’t, then every cunt from London to Glasgow will have your balls on a plate.’

‘I hear you.’ Tony looked at the floor.

Dunn turned to Rosie again. He signalled to one of the silverbacks.

‘Get her next door. Out of here. I’ll get the fucking truth out of her if I’ve to punch it out of her face.’

She didn’t even see the punch coming, but the force of it knocked her clean out.

*

Rosie was soaked and shivering. She could feel her lip puffing up and her cheek swelling. She gagged at the taste of blood as she swallowed it. There was no noise coming from the room next door.

‘So who the fuck are you?’ Dunn stood over her. ‘You’re going to tell me eventually – you know that, don’t you? Because let me tell you something, sunshine, whatever reason you were down at my place, pulling the wool over my eyes with your big-time arms dealer from Bosnia, I fell for it. And that’s made me really, really angry. So you’re dead anyway. History. Whoever you are. The only choice you get to make now is how you die.’ He pulled out a revolver from his jacket pocket and pointed it at her. ‘It can be quick, a single shot to the head. Or I shoot you in the legs and leave you to bleed to death here. Your choice. It’s no problem for me.’ He placed the gun on a table against the wall. ‘And by the way, your old school pal Ruby. She’ll be fucking dead meat an’ all. And her zombie sister.’

Rosie looked up at him and closed her eyes as the tears stung. She gritted her teeth and tried to hold them back but they were spilling out of her eyes and now rolling down her cheeks. Had it really come to this? In some shithole with a psycho holding a gun to her head? He and people like him who took what they wanted and murdered their way through life so they could be top of the heap of shit they lorded over. But she had no answers left. Because nobody was coming to help this time. For all she knew, Boswell-Smith and the captain could have been bumped off by now, and Adrian, too. She still had the tracking device behind her collar but she had no way of knowing if it was working – and even if it did, how the hell were they going to get in here?

Dunn left the room and slammed the door, leaving Rosie alone. She tugged at the rope tying her hands, stretching and pulling at it with her fingers, but there were no loose ends. She tried to pull herself together, but the thought that Ruby was somewhere in this building waiting to die along with her sister brought the tears again. Ruby had got involved in this because she’d asked her. She hadn’t had to do it. Whatever Ruby was, whatever she’d done or however she’d lived her life, she’d done it to survive. And she had been planning to get out. She could probably have been gone by now if she hadn’t agreed to help Rosie with her investigation.

Suddenly the door opened and one of the silverbacks came in, dragging Ruby by the hair. Her face was bruised and battered, her eyes puffy and black. He shoved her roughly onto a chair and tied her hands behind her back. Rosie caught her eye and saw the defeated, broken look of a frightened little girl. But Rosie was relieved to see her. At least she was still alive.

Tony stood watching both of them, saying nothing. All his wind and swagger had evaporated, humiliated in the company of Dunn, who was now calling all the shots.

Dunn walked across and leaned over Ruby and into her face.

‘So you killed Rab Jackson, didn’t you?’

Ruby shook her head.

‘And Malky? You set fire to the poor cunt’s garage, leaving him to burn to death, didn’t you?’

Ruby shook her head again and looked at the floor.

‘Look at me, bitch.’ He yanked her head up by the hair.

Ruby winced with the pain and looked at him.

‘Just so we’re clear here, I was telling your mate from school,’ Dunn said sarcastically, ‘you fuckers are history. Finished. It’s nothing personal. I don’t hate you or anything, and I know Tony likes a shag at you, and I’m always okay with that kind of thing. So it’s not personal. But you’ve tried to shaft me. Not just me, but the whole team here from Glasgow to London. What the fuck made you think you could do that?’ He went across to Tony and took the folder from him, leafing through it. ‘You see this shite? That’s all it is. How do I know if any of the stuff in here is true, or just something you’ve made up to keep us happy while you fuck off somewhere?’

‘It’s not. The information is solid. I don’t want your money.’

‘Shut the fuck up. I’m talking. Do you think I’m going to believe a word that comes out of your mouth now after what you’ve done? You brought this bird into your life – for whatever reason, I don’t know. And suddenly she’s down at my place conning me with some business deal. That’s bad enough in itself. But then she suddenly pitches up here with you? I mean, what’s the fucking score? It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. So. You don’t have a choice any more.’ He paused, a smirk spreading across his face. ‘Well. You have one choice actually.’

He nodded to one of the silverbacks, who turned and left the room. Rosie and Ruby glanced at each other again. Seconds later, the door was pushed open and he walked back in, supporting an unsteady Judy, who tottered through the doorway.

‘Judy! Oh Judy!’ Ruby shouted, tears coming to her eyes as she tried to move in the chair.

Judy gazed in her direction and then blankly out of the window.

‘Judy. It’s okay. Don’t worry. It’s all right. I’m going to . . .’ she sobbed. ‘I’m going to look after you, just like I promised.’

The silverback pushed Judy onto a chair by the wall, and she sat staring at the floor.

Rosie swallowed her tears, watching helplessly as Ruby dissolved into sobs. Dunn went across to Judy. He put the gun down on the table and grabbed hold of her hair with both hands. Her face tightened with shock and pain. He shook her head wildly.

‘See your sister there, Judy? She’s a fucking liar. Don’t believe her. She’s always been a liar.’

Judy’s eyes flickered towards Ruby, and Rosie thought she saw a flash of recognition. Dunn let her go, then crossed the room and stood in front of Ruby.

‘So,’ he said calmly, ‘here’s the deal. You have one choice. Not about your life, but about the life of that fucking zombie over there. Before you die, you can tell us what’s going on here and if all that shit in the folder about the bank details is genuine. Because there’s a lot of our money tied up in there, so if it’s not genuine then we can’t get it after you’re dead. Here’s what’s going to happen. You tell us what’s going on with you and your school pal, and we take Judy back to the home unharmed. We’ll drop her off, and you’ll make the phone call to them telling them she’s outside, that you couldn’t cope with her and you won’t be back to see her again. You do that before we kill you, and we’ll take her back – if you tell us right now what exactly is going on. Now, if we find that the bank details are wrong in the next couple of days, she’s dead meat. We’ll go to that home and we will kill her.’ He gave her a menacing look. ‘And by the way, you were in the restaurant the other night, so you know I’ve got no problem doing somebody in.’ A sick smile crept over his face.

Ruby’s whole body trembled and her head rocked from side to side in despair.

‘Tell me, bitch!’ Dunn slapped her hard. He grabbed her hair, almost pulling her out of the chair, then punched her again and again in the face in a frenzy. ‘Tell me!’ he screeched. ‘Tell me!’

From the corner of her eye Rosie saw Judy’s face crumple in horror and her lips move. Then it happened so quickly that for a split second Rosie thought she was imagining it. Did Judy just move her hand from her lap and pick up the gun on the table? Judy opened her mouth in a silent scream, then suddenly let out a tormented, piercing squeal.

‘No! No! Stop!’ Judy wailed.

Everyone in the room turned, startled. But it was too late. Judy had already fired the gun. Bang. A shot whizzed past Dunn and smashed a window behind him. Before he had a chance to dive or move towards her, she fired again, this time hitting him. He staggered backwards towards the window.

‘Fuck! Get the fucking gun!’

But Judy was now randomly firing around the room as everyone dived for cover. Then she turned and fired again at Dunn as he collapsed to the floor. Another shot hit his body, then Rosie turned away as another opened up his gut and he lay motionless.

‘Judy! Judy! Oh, Judy!’ Ruby screamed and sobbed. ‘Oh my God!’

Nobody moved. Then suddenly the door burst open. Two men in masks charged in and Rosie’s heart sank. Tony must have had a panic button somewhere on his desk. This was it. She braced herself. One of the men quickly moved around behind the desk to where Tony and the silverback lay on the floor.

‘Move a fucking muscle and you’re dead.’

Rosie’s mouth dropped open as she recognized the abrupt tones of the captain.

The other gunman came towards her and pulled up his balaclava. Superintendent Boswell-Smith grinned broadly.

‘The cavalry has arrived, ma’am.’

‘Christ almighty! You cut that a bit neat, did you not?’ Rosie managed a smile through swollen lips, grimacing at the pain, but relief flooding through her.

The captain slapped handcuffs on Tony and the silverback, then went across to Dunn. He pushed at his body with his foot.

‘Might not need cuffs for this one, guv,’ he said.

‘Get an ambulance,’ the superintendent said. ‘I want this bastard alive.’ His eyes scanned Rosie’s face. ‘You all right, Rosie? Give or take a few bruises?’

She sniffed, trying very hard not to cry.

‘I’m okay. Can you untie me, please?’

He placed his gun back in his shoulder holster and untied Rosie. She stood up but felt her legs go weak. The superintendent held on to her.

‘Easy there,’ he said. ‘It’s the shock.’

Rosie looked across at Ruby, who was sobbing, tears of relief streaming down her cheeks.

As soon as the captain untied Ruby, she leapt out of her chair and across the room, throwing her arms around Judy, both of them sobbing. ‘I take it this is the lady you didn’t want us to meet?’ Boswell-Smith said as he watched them.

Rosie nodded, unable to speak.

He glanced around the room.

‘Right. Let’s get this show on the road,’ he said. ‘Since I’m not officially here, Rosie, I can’t call in the plods. So do you have a plan?’

‘Yes. I can call a contact. I’ve made an arrangement. But they can only come after Ruby and Judy are out of here.’

‘Fair enough. We’ll wait until they’re in the building, then we’ll disappear.’ He paused. ‘And we’ll talk later, regarding our own arrangement.’

‘Sure,’ Rosie said, knowing he was referring to the dossier. Losing the story was a small price to pay.

She pulled out her mobile, but there was no signal.

‘I’ll need to step out to get a connection.’

In the corridor she breathed in the musty, damp air as though it were elixir to her lungs. She could feel tears coming to her eyes, and she bit her lip to keep them back as she walked into one of the empty rooms to get a better signal. She stood at the window, gazing at the inky blackness of the River Clyde and out across at the lights of the city, wiping away tears of relief. Then she thought she saw a passing shadow on the window. But it was too late. The click of the gun came just as she felt the cold metal on her neck.