Disobey (33 page)

R.I.P. Chloe-Jane, click
here
to subscribe.

When Alfie clicked on the link, he saw a counter ticking down. 0 days 18 hours and 10 minutes, 9, 8, 7, 6, seconds.

Dropping the phone onto the table as if it were suddenly burning into his hands, Alfie slumped into the chair next to Franny. ‘Oh, fuck Fran. Fuck … I don’t believe this.’

The others gathered round the table and everyone stared at the horrifying video. Del and Frankie caught each other’s eye. Franny placed her hand on Alfie’s arm partly to comfort him but more to steady herself as she felt her head start to spin.

Looking up from the phone, Lola spoke, ‘What the hell is this, Alf?’

Alfie buried his head in his hands. ‘It’s my worst nightmare.’

Lola’s voice was shrill. ‘You mean it’s Chloe’s worst nightmare. Look at her. Alfie, you’ve got to sort this. Don’t matter what you do, whatever it is, you have to get her back, Alfie!’

They were interrupted by Alfie’s phone ringing again, the number withheld.

Lola leaned forward. ‘Answer it, quick Alfie!’

Snapping into movement Alfie picked up the phone. ‘Yes?’

‘Ah, Mr Jennings.’

‘Lee, just tell me what you want. You can have it. You can have anything.’

There was a chuckle. ‘I don’t want anything. I have
everything
I want right here.’

‘You’re dead, Lee. Do you hear me … dead.’ Alfie gripped the phone, spitting his words.

The sarcasm dripped from Mr Lee. ‘No, Mr Jennings, I’m clearly not. That’s Jodie’s department.’

‘You fucking bastard.’

‘That’s as maybe, Mr Jennings, but like I told you, right at the beginning. You brought this on yourself. And besides, this is just a courtesy call. I can’t help but notice that your introductory free subscription to my video service is about to expire. Just about eighteen hours left.’

Alfie was desperate. ‘What do you want, Lee? This has gone too far, I want her back.’

‘Mr Jennings, she’s not yours to take back.’

‘Just answer the question. What is it you want?’

‘I don’t want anything.’

‘Stop playing games, Lee. How much? Name your price.’

‘I don’t think you’re listening to me. I said I don’t want anything.’

‘You want me to beg? Is that it? I’ll beg, I’ll do whatever it takes.’

‘No, Mr Jennings, I expect you to watch. Watch the clock and watch what happens. People pay a lot of money for this, and you’re getting it free.’

‘What the hell are you going to do?’

‘I think the clue’s in the title. R.I.P. Chloe-Jane. There’s nothing left for you to do now, except sit back and enjoy the show.’

61

They all sat out in the car. All five of them, squeezed into Del’s Range Rover.

‘You sure this is going to work, Alf?’

Alfie stared at Frankie. ‘No, but I ain’t got any other ideas. But if I know this man, I know he’ll do anything to get what he wants. Wouldn’t you say, Lola?’

Lola nodded, looking around at them all. ‘He’s right. From what I hear through the Soho grapevine the man would put his grandmother on the street if it meant he was going to get a catch.’

Del shrugged. ‘It’s not the way we usually do things. Feels … I dunno, unclean somehow. Makes me feel dirty. But okay, I’m in.’

Franny agreed. ‘We’re all in.’

Alfie’s eyes brimmed with tears. He was feeling overwhelmed with all the emotion. He choked on his words as he spoke. ‘Thank you guys … Thank you. I know you’re going on the line to do this.’

Del winked at Alf. ‘Don’t worry about it, mate … After all, we’re family.’

Detective Spencer leaned back in his chair. He pushed his hands against his desk, forcing out a loud noisy fart, letting the cannelloni he’d had for lunch have a final word. A knock at the door came, before his sergeant popped his head round.

‘Gov, there’s someone here to see you.’

‘I’m busy, so tell whoever it is they need an appointment.’

‘Actually Gov, it’s …’

Del Williams pushed into the room, followed by Frankie, Alfie, Franny and Lola. Del gave a hostile stare to the sergeant, before turning his attention to Spencer.

‘We ain’t got time for all this; we need your help.’

Detective Spencer stared at them incredulously. To see a handful of gangland faces standing in his office,
voluntarily
, was something he thought he’d never get to see.

‘To what do I owe this … this dubious honour? You lot shot any more of your girlfriends?’

Stepping forward Frankie Taylor grimaced, partly at Spencer’s attitude but also at the rancid smell that hung in the messy office.

‘We’re trying to find a missing person and much as it pains me to say it, we can’t trace her without your help.’

Spencer roared with laughter, much to the annoyance of all assembled, but his laughter soon turned into a sneer. He banged on his desk. ‘You lot have some front. You come here wanting my help, yet I recall only a small while ago, all of you had either conveniently gone AWOL or had a severe case of amnesia about events which happened right under your nose.’

Del spoke, hating every moment of talking to the Old Bill. ‘Well we’re here now, and strangest thing is, we seem to have got our memory back.’

Spencer leaned forward. He shook his head, not believing what he was hearing. ‘Come again.’

‘You heard Spencer, we’ve got our memory back. All of us. And we’ll all give you a statement about what happened. About us being there … when Casey was shot.’

Spencer nearly choked on his own saliva. He stared, pointing his finger one at a time at them. ‘You … you lot are going to give a statement?’

Franny sat down on the chair next to her. ‘That’s right. All of us, even Lola here. If … If you help us.’

‘Always a catch with you lot.’

Lola joined in the conversation. ‘Ain’t no catch, darlin’. You want the statements, we want Chloe back, and because of that, you’ll get what you want.’

Spencer chewed on his pen top, managing to bite his own tongue. Irritated, he spoke, directing his conversation to Alfie. ‘I don’t do missing persons, not my department – unless they’re dead, and I take it this …’

‘Chloe.’

‘Yes, this Chloe isn’t. Problem you’ve got is I don’t trust any of you. What’s to say I help and you decide to back out of giving me the statement? I reckon I should get the sergeant here to deliver you back out onto the street where you belong, don’t you?’

Frankie Taylor’s face flushed as he went to lunge at the detective but before he could speak, Del Williams gently pulled his friend’s arm down and spoke carefully.

‘Look, you’ll get your sworn statements about the Casey Edwards shooting. You can have it now.’

Spencer raised his eyebrows. ‘Now?’

‘Well, part of it. You see, the feeling’s mutual. We don’t trust you either. What’s to stop you not helping us once we give you the statement?’

Spencer fell silent. He could tell they were desperate. There was no way the likes of Alfie Jennings, Del Williams, Frankie Taylor, Franny Doyle or that creature Lola Harding would ever step foot in a police station without being cuffed. He’d waited a long time to put Vaughn Sadler away; a very long time. The man had been the scourge of his career, having always escaped the heavy weight of justice by having a watertight alibi or a slick lawyer to hand. But now, now they were willing to grass on their own, all in the name of this person, Chloe.

He spoke to Franny. ‘And if I agree to this?’

‘We’ll give you the statement you want. I’ve spoken to Casey and she’ll give you one too, and then you help us. Tell us what we need to know about where our girl is being held.’

‘Being held! I thought you said they were missing.’

‘Jesus, what’s the difference?’ Frankie snapped.

‘There’s a lot of difference, Mr Taylor. Kidnap isn’t my department either.’

Lola blurted out. ‘I don’t care if your department is the shoe section in flipping Harvey Nicks, we need you to find her, and fast. Del, show him.’

Without saying anything, Del Williams opened his laptop and placed it on the desk. The screen burst into life and Spencer gazed mesmerised at the streaming of the girl tied up on the chair. He was transfixed by the grainy picture of Chloe staring back at them in a bleak concrete room, dressed only in flimsy underwear, occasionally tugging at her restraints, her eyes bulging in terror as she breathed hard around a tight gag.

And in that moment, Detective Spencer realised just how much they needed him. And just how far they’d go to save her; including grassing on Vaughn Sadler. He hid the smile, but finally; finally he’d got him. The sweetest thing was, Vaughn wouldn’t be brought down by Spencer, oh no, he would be brought down by his so-called friends.

‘Et tu, Brutus.’

Frankie snarled. ‘You what?’

‘It’s Shak— You know something, Taylor; forget it. I was about to explain, but I doubt you’d understand.’

Frankie clenched his fists and it was only the image of Jodie and the thought that Chloe-Jane was still out there and her life hung in the balance that stopped him from smashing Spencer right in his face.

‘Okay, gentlemen and
ladies
.’ Spencer turned to look at Lola as he emphasised the last word. ‘The sergeant here will take you into the interview room, and take your statements officially, so there can be no cock-ups and no getting out of it. Agreed?’

Alfie looked concerned. ‘Agreed, but as you can see by the countdown, we ain’t got much time.’

‘The moment I’ve got the statement in my hand, I’ll get onto internet vice and tracking.’

Forty minutes later, Detective Spencer held the signed statements of all of them in his hand. He read each one. Each one short and brief. Apart from their names, each one said the exact same thing as Alfie’s did.

I, Alfie Jennings, admit that on the day of the 18th April this year, was present at the club, Whispers which is situated in Old Compton Street when Casey Edwards was shot.

This is a true and accurate statement.

Alfie Jennings.

Spencer looked up, placing the statements carefully on his desk as he stared at them all. He spoke to Del.

‘Is that it?’

‘That’s all you’ll need for now – or get. You’ve got what you want, we’re admitting we’re there. There’s no backing out now. You’ll get the rest of the statement when you’ve done what we asked. Just in time for Vaughn’s court appearance. You should be dancing on the ceiling, mate. You win.’

Detective Spencer didn’t say anything but he certainly
felt
something. Del was right, he had won. At last, Vaughn Sadler was going to get his comeuppance.

62

‘For fuck’s sake how long is this going to take?’ Alfie paced around the room. The time it was taking for them to trace the video link seemed to be dragging on, yet the time they had left was speeding by. And it was doing his head in.

‘Calm down, Alf, they’re doing their best. I know it’s tough, but try to hold it together.’

Alfie whispered to Franny, not wanting anyone else in the room to hear what he was saying. ‘No Fran, they’re doing fuck all. I think they’re taking the piss. How do we know that they’re actually doing anything?’

‘Come on, Alf, they aren’t going to play games. Chloe is in trouble, they know that. They’d have to find her, even if we didn’t come here. What we’ve done is shove her to the top of the queue, and Spencer is making sure she’s top priority. That’s good isn’t it?’

‘Yeah, if we had all the time in the world, but we ain’t got time, babe; look at her.’ Alfie gestured his head towards the large screen on the wall of the internet tracking crime office which monitored and streamed the live link of Chloe-Jane. But neither of them could bear to look up at it. Neither of them could bear to see Chloe’s life being counted down in minutes and seconds.

Alf, looking like a broken man, turned to one of the police officers sitting at his desk. ‘Do you have to keep that up there all the time? That’s my niece for Christ’s sake, and I don’t need a constant reminder of how long she’s got left, as well as a constant reminder of how long you fucking lot are taking.’

Franny didn’t say anything. She felt the same way as Alf did, but understood that the police officers probably needed to keep an eye on Chloe, just in case …

‘Come away, Alf, leave them to it.’

Franny was grateful to see Del and Frankie arriving back from the coffee machine, and she noticed how neither of them looked towards the screen either. It was too raw. Too real.

Del enquired, ‘Any news?’

Alfie shook his head, glaring hatred at the police officers who in his mind, were deliberately taking longer than they had to.

‘Sweet FA, they just seem to be typing away, doing nothing much. It’s doing my head in; Fran’s the only thing keeping me from losing it completely.’

He leaned over the nearest police officer’s shoulder. ‘Look mate, how much fucking longer is this going to take?’

Detective Spencer spoke from behind him. ‘Mr Jennings, I advise you to just let these men do what they have to do; they’ll work much quicker without, how shall I put it, without your
constant encouragement
.’

Alfie glared at the detective. He’d never liked coppers. Never. But this one; this Detective Spencer was an oily, smarmy bastard. Alfie hissed at Spencer, feeling the comforting hand of Franny on his back.

‘Then I suggest that this lot hurry up or …’

Spencer interrupted, giving Alfie a smug smile. ‘The deal’s off? Oh no Jennings, our deal’s certainly not off. There’s no going back. You lot said that yourself.’

As much as Spencer pissed Alfie off, he was right about one thing. There was no going back; not now. Not now they were here forty-five minutes later, watching Chloe-Jane’s life tick away.

‘I think we’ve got something, Gov,’ one of the officers shouted.

Detective Spencer, along with Del, Frankie and Alfie, ran across to where the police officer was sitting, whilst Lola clung onto Franny, scared to raise her hopes. Spencer spoke, authority in his voice. ‘What have you got?’