Dead and Buried (25 page)

Mikhail Gavlik
. Mikey’s real name.

‘You need to get off,’ Munroe said. ‘I’ll bring the hardware to Kathy before tomorrow night.’

‘Good,’ Brendan said.

‘When can I see Mum?’

‘Now if you like. The hotel’s in Bloomsbury. She’s there under Kate Markham. It’s the Lord Buckingham, room eighteen. Holborn is the closest tube station.’

Brendan stood up and buttoned up the mac he was wearing. It looked brand new. Had he actually bought it in preparation for the aftermath of the shooting? Joshua stepped across to hug him. Then Brendan walked away. When the cafe door shut behind him she turned and stared at Munroe. He immediately made eye contact with her.

‘Why does Brendan have to do this?’

‘To finish what we started.’

‘Why tomorrow night? Why not do it in Essex tonight? Why have you waited a whole year for this?’ Joshua said.

‘That’s a lot of questions.’

‘I think we deserve to know.’

‘Do you?’

Munroe sat back and folded his arms. He looked pleased with himself. ‘Time was you didn’t want to breathe the same air as me. Now that I’ve saved your father you feel differently.’

‘Just explain,’ Joshua said, irritation in his voice.

‘The judgement will take place tomorrow night because there will be many of Parker’s friends and associates there. Some from Denver, some from Florida. Brendan will use American hardware, which I have procured.’

‘Hardware?’ Rose said.

‘He means a gun, Rose.’

‘That’s right. Then the blame for this will rest on one of Parker’s associates. At least the
suspicion
will rest there. It will just seem as though there’s been a falling-out between rich gangsters.’

‘But why did Mum and Brendan have to be there for a year?’

‘They have to be completely and utterly trusted. That way when Brendan takes Macon Parker aside to deal with some fictional problem Parker won’t hesitate. Neither will Parker’s minders. They won’t feel the need to protect their boss because they think that Brendan and Kathy are part of the family.’

‘But when it’s done won’t they suspect Brendan?’

‘Brendan will be gone. Parker’s associates will all suspect each other for planting Brendan. They’ll be rushing off back to the States and your father and your mother will turn into different people. Which reminds me. I have to go soon and give Frank Richards his new papers.’

Munroe took a slim envelope from his pocket and put it on the table. He looked pleased with himself as though it was a winning card. Rose knew he expected her to look at it but she wouldn’t. It would be a new passport for the man who shot Baranski. A new name, a new life. Clearly he wasn’t to be involved in Macon Parker’s death. Rose pulled some chewing gum from her bag. She put it in her mouth and chewed it slowly. Her stomach was empty but she didn’t dare swallow anything in case it made her sick.

‘Why were they in Cromer last summer?’ Joshua said.

‘How did you know that?’

Joshua shrugged.

‘Parker insisted they have a week’s holiday. He knew someone who owned a seafront property and set it up for them. They had no choice but to go along with it. They couldn’t be sure that one of Parker’s associates might not check up on them. They had to look like normal holidaymakers.’

Rose remembered the photographs taken by Rachel Bliss, her one-time friend. Her mum and Brendan in deckchairs looking out to sea. How overjoyed she’d been when she saw those pictures – proof of life.

‘Now I will say goodbye,’ Munroe said. He picked up the envelope and slid it into his pocket. ‘I doubt we will meet again. I wish you both well.’

He walked away. Rose didn’t watch him go but when she heard the street door close she felt the tension falling from her shoulders. She put her hand on Joshua’s arm and felt the tightness in his muscles.

‘I’ll never give up trying to link him to Skeggsie’s murder. He might think that he’s got away with it. He might think that what nearly happened to Dad has made me change my mind but it isn’t true. He’ll slip up or I’ll find some evidence. One way or another he’ll pay for killing Skeggs.’

Rose didn’t speak. These were just brave words. Joshua had no choice but to accept what Munroe did. Munroe had made it clear that if he was ever arrested he would make sure that her mum and Brendan were put in danger. Rose remembered the notebooks, the list of names Joshua had shown her. Someone attached to one of those men would want to take revenge and Munroe would know their parents’ new identities and where they had relocated.

Because of this Munroe would always be safe.

Rose found the Lord Buckingham Hotel easily. The receptionist phoned through to her mother’s room. It was on the first floor. Rose used the stairs and knocked gently on the door. Her mother opened it and pulled Rose inside, giving her a tight hug. When she let go Rose took her hand and walked her across to the window to look at her. She was wearing her glasses and looked like her old self. She had on a jumper over jeans and boots. Brendan must have brought her things up from Essex the previous evening. She took her mother’s wrists and looked at the red marks, the skin broken in places.

‘Does it hurt? Are you all right?’

‘I’m fine. What about you, though? Those grazes on your face!’

Rose put her fingers up to her cheeks. She’d forgotten about Mikey pushing her into the privet the previous evening. So much had happened since then.

‘I was so worried about you.’

‘Sit down,’ her mother said, pulling out a chair from a desk and edging it towards the bed. ‘Don’t let’s go over this stuff that’s just happened. There’s the future to think about.’

‘But there’s still tomorrow . . .’

Before the future could come Brendan and her mum had to kill a man. Her mother shook her head and put a finger on her lips. She wasn’t going to talk about it. She looked tired but there was hardness around her eyes, a tightness to her jaw. It was a barrier between them. Rose didn’t feel she could cross it.

‘Oh, Rosie, it’s so good to see you. So grown-up. Taller than me. There’s so much I want to ask you, so much I’ve missed. Tell me about school . . . About living with your gran . . . Now you’re at college . . .’

Rose shook her head. She couldn’t talk about any of those things as if her mother had just returned from working abroad for a few months. She couldn’t just act as if this was a normal kind of reunion. There was an elephant sitting in the corner of the room and it was staring hard at her.

‘I wish you wouldn’t do this . . . thing. Just for me . . .’

‘I’m doing this thing
for
you. For you and other people. For a girl who was brought to this country with the promise of a better life . . .’

‘Polina Bokun.’

‘Yes. For poor Polina and for all the others who are victims.’

For a fleeting moment Rose thought of Daisy Lincoln. Daisy wearing her mother’s pendant, her hands tied behind her back with Brendan’s tie. How was she ever going to be able to talk about that?

‘Just think about the day
after
tomorrow. That’s when everything will change,’ her mother said. ‘James is organising a new life for us.’

‘I don’t trust him.’

‘But we do.’

Rose remembered the first time she saw Munroe. He came to talk to her after her mother and Brendan went missing. She’d been twelve years old, sitting in Anna’s drawing room. He’d been in uniform, respectful, sympathetic. He’d known her mother before, he’d said. He’d never stop trying to find her, he’d said. He’d told her his name and made her trust him. His lies poured out like honey.

‘Joshua hates him.’

‘I know. James has told us what Joshua’s feelings are. But you know I have a lot to be grateful to James for. It was because of him that I came to London. I met him on a training course in Manchester just after I joined up. He encouraged me to become a detective and transfer. It was really hard to get on in the police with such a macho culture. As well as that I was a single mother. I was on my own. Your gran and I hadn’t spoken for years. I had no help from anywhere and James offered to let me live in Brewster Road.’

‘How come?’

‘He owned it. He’d moved out and was thinking of renting it. He let me have it for a nominal rent and that meant I could pay for really good childcare. I owe him a lot.’

‘I didn’t know that.’

‘No reason why you should.’

‘But he wasn’t part of the Butterfly Murder?’

‘No, he was sent up to Newcastle to oversee the local investigations. The Newcastle force weren’t getting anywhere finding the killer of Simon Lister and they wanted an independent officer to look over the case. Someone from another force. Brendan decided to tell him what had happened. James was prepared to turn a blind eye and later on he got involved in the project.’

Rose was quiet. It wasn’t the Munroe she knew. She thought of him hurting her hand, threatening to expose her parents. Should she tell her mother this?

‘Joshua will calm down. Grief fades. He’ll begin to realise what a terrible mistake it all was.’

That will never happen,
Rose thought.

‘You didn’t know Skeggsie. I didn’t really get on with him that well. He was self-contained, not exactly a warm person but Josh . . . He was like a brother to Josh.’

She was tearful suddenly. Why was she crying for Skeggsie when she had all this bigger stuff to cry about? She grabbed her mother’s hand.

‘This is why I don’t think you should
do
this thing. When you kill someone you hurt other people as well and those people never forget. They carry that poison with them for ever. All your life you’ll be looking over your shoulder for people like Baranski.’

‘I’m used to that.’

‘It nearly got you killed.’

‘But it won’t happen this time. In a few days we’ll be in another country and if you want, in a while, we can make arrangements for you to join us. James will do that for us. It’s important to him that he makes us all a family again. We trust him with our lives. Look how he got me away from Baranski. He’s made mistakes but he’s a good man.’

Rose shook her head. Her mother stood up.

‘You have to go home now Rose. Let us finish our work. I will contact you in a couple of days.’

Her mother was by the window. She had her back to the room. Rose looked at her. She was standing tall like a sentry. She was determined. There was nothing Rose could do to change her mind.

TWENTY-FIVE

The next morning Anna made breakfast for Rose.

‘Was Joshua well enough to go home the other night? He still looked a bit peaky to me.’

‘He was feeling a lot better.’

Anna put a plate of toast in front of Rose. The slices had been cut into triangles and there was a pat of butter in a dish and a small glass pot of jam. Rose spent a long time buttering a piece while Anna talked.

‘I’m sorry I’ve not been around much over the last few days. As you know our function was last night and it was very successful. We raised over thirty thousand pounds. We’re thinking of doing it on a yearly basis. The most successful aspect of it was the auction. Oh, look, I picked up something for you.’

Anna placed a small plain brown bag on the table.

‘Oh.’

‘Have a look.’

Rose pulled out a black lace scarf. She unfolded it. It was long and dropped to the floor but it was narrow and would have to be wound round and round the neck. The lacework was intricate with single white pearls woven in here and there.

‘I know you like to wear black and white. It’s a beautiful piece. Nineteen-twenties, I think.’

‘It’s great,’ Rose choked out the words. ‘I like it lots. Thank you.’

‘Good. In a couple of days we’ll get the decorator in to look at the Blue Room. Have a think about colours and furniture.’

Rose heard Anna’s heels tapping along the hall floor. She sat alone in the kitchen, only half of her toast eaten. In her hands she held the lace scarf. Anna had really thought about what she would like. It was fragile and lovely and looking at it gave her a lump in her throat.

At college she sat alongside Jamie Roberts. The class was Law and the tutor was talking about the morality of restorative justice.

‘Really like the scarf,’ Jamie said. ‘You don’t normally wear stuff like that. Girly stuff.’

‘It’s vintage,’ she whispered back as if that was some kind of excuse.

Rose made notes. She glanced at the textbook and then up at the whiteboard. She did it methodically without looking at the classroom clock. She wanted the lesson to be over. Then there would be another and lunch and then a further two classes. Then she would go home and maybe spend some time with Anna in the Blue Room and that way the day would pass and it would be time to go to bed.

Not that she would sleep much.

The previous night had been a wakeful one.

After eating with Joshua at the Camden flat she’d gone back to Belsize Park. Anna had been out so she’d gone up to the attic. She saw traces of Blu Tack on the wall where Joshua had had his display of Polina Bokun. She spent a bit of time edging it off with her nail, trying not to leave a mark on the wall. Then she’d gone downstairs to her rooms and put the television on and sat watching it mindlessly. At some point she went to bed and had a broken night’s sleep. She’d thought of texting or ringing Joshua but really didn’t know what to say to him. It was just a day they had to get through. Just twenty-four hours to tick by until this whole thing would be over.