Taunting the Dead (24 page)

And what the hell had happened to the knife in his outhouse? Steve’s idea to hide it at The Gables would have been fine if it hadn’t gone missing. And if it turned up, Steve couldn’t look out for Phil while he was in prison. He should have got rid of it and kept his mouth shut.

Phil began to panic. It was all sounding quite dangerous now. He had to get to the bottom of this business with Shaun and quick. He needed to figure out exactly who he was covering up for, before it cost him in more ways than one.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Lee had rehearsed what he was going to say before going to see Shaun Morrison that evening. Yet still, he was as nervous as hell. This was one of the biggest challenges of his life and he wasn’t sure he could pull off a mature enough attitude.

For starters, he’d never tried blackmail before. In his eighteen years, he’d tried almost everything else. At twelve, he’d been caught nicking at the local supermarket on numerous occasions and got away with cautions. At thirteen, he’d been caught doing his first TWOC and cautioned again. At fourteen, he’d attacked another lad and ended up in juvie for six weeks. At fifteen, he’d gone down for three months for burglary. At sixteen, he’d been wiser and cottoned onto himself. He’d taken time to watch his dad and his uncle Steve and learn his trade. And despite not being as hard as he’d liked, at eighteen, he wasn’t about to go back inside for something he’d done but hadn’t yet got away with.

Right now, he was hiding in the back alleyway behind The Orange Grove. He’d thought he’d wait until Shaun came outside and then collar him but his plan hadn’t included the rain lashing down. Not knowing the routine of the restaurant, he’d hid behind the stinking bins for over three hours. Soaked through and pissed off, eventually he heard the back door open. Some woman came running out with a load of black bags. Lee ducked out of sight as she threw them into the bins and then rushed back in out of the rain.

Another twenty minutes and he’d had enough. Cursing himself for wasting time, he squelched around to the front, opened the door and stood dripping on the doorstep.

Shaun was alone behind the bar, stocking up the shelves ready for the evening session, when he looked up to see him. His face dropped as he recognised Lee immediately. He hadn’t seen him in a while. What did he want? He went over to investigate.

‘Yeah?’ he spoke sharply.

‘We need to talk.’ Lee’s voice came out hoarse after he’d been quiet for so long. He coughed to clear his throat. ‘About Steph Ryder.’

‘Oh?’ Shaun tried to act nonchalant but Lee saw his hesitation. And when Shaun pushed him out onto the pavement, it gave him courage to continue. The road outside was fairly quiet, office and shop workers leaving for the day. There were a few people scattered in the distance, but the street would be pretty dead until the theatre show finished around ten thirty.

‘I know what you did,’ Lee told him. He threw his cigarette butt into the road.

Shaun followed its path with his eyes before looking at him again. ‘And what would that be?’

‘Actually, I think you’ll find it’s more a case of what you didn’t do.’

‘So what didn’t I do?’

Lee glared at Shaun underneath the street lights. He was medium build, not much to him, easy to handle with one punch. Shaun looked as though he was quaking in his boots. And he kept glancing into the restaurant. What a wuss.

‘You didn’t kill Steph Ryder, that’s for sure,’ he said.

‘Keep your voice down!’ Shaun barged into Lee’s shoulder as he pushed past. ‘I’m not discussing this here.’ Lee followed him to the back of the building and found himself where he had started five minutes earlier.

‘What do you want?’ Shaun turned abruptly, taking Lee by surprise.

‘Money.’ Lee took a step backwards and then gained his composure. ‘Five grand to keep my mouth shut.’

Shaun nibbled his bottom lip before replying. ‘Keep your mouth shut about what?’

Lee made a big deal out of sighing. ‘Look, man. You were told to knock off Steph. You didn’t. Then –’

‘Do you know who did?’

‘I might do. But –’

‘I need to know!’

‘Shut the fuck up, will you? All I know is that you didn’t kill her and you told my old man you did.’

‘That’s got nothing to do with you!’

‘I think you’ll find it has everything to do with me. Because if he found out that you were lying?’ Lee made a cutting motion at his neck. Shaun paused long enough for Lee to gain a little more confidence. ‘You’re deep in it, my friend.’

Shaun knew how deep he was in it without some teenage thug thinking he could get the better of him. He wondered what his game was and exactly how much he really knew.

‘Your old man know you’re here, then?’ he asked.

Lee laughed snidely. ‘Don’t fucking play me.’

‘Get out of here.’ Shaun walked away, then took a few steps back and looked Lee straight in the eye. ‘I killed her. That’s all you need to know.’

‘No, you didn’t.’ Lee stayed firm. ‘I saw you in your car on Leek New Road. You were puking up on the pavement. I drove past you.’

Shaun gulped. ‘That wasn’t me. You must have been mistaken.’

‘It was you. I –’

Lee didn’t anticipate the fist that came tearing up towards his chin in a flash. He staggered back at its force. The next punch knocked him to his knees, the kick following it connecting with his ribs. He curled up into a ball to protect himself as another kick caught his back.

Fuck, he hadn’t been expecting this. Once down, he couldn’t get up. Shaun wasn’t supposed to be a fighter. He’d heard his dad talking to Terry, who’d called him a teddy bear. This was more like being attacked by a grizzly bear. There was nothing he could do but cover up as much as possible and ride out the storm. Then he’d get the fucker later.

He felt one more kick and then it stopped as quickly as it had started.

Shaun grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him up to his knees. ‘Don’t you ever threaten me again, do you hear?’ he seethed. ‘What I did or didn’t do is no concern of yours. Now, fuck off and don’t come back.’ He pushed him away roughly.

Lee struggled to his feet and walked off, his steps laboured and shuffling. A few feet away, he turned back.

‘You’re dead, mate,’ he told Shaun, holding on to his ribs. He tasted blood, spat it out. ‘Either you get my money or you’re fucking dead.’

Shaun bent over in the silence of the alleyway. Soaked through, he took a few moments to catch his breath before looking up again. But Lee was nowhere to be seen. The little fucker had scarpered.

He leant on the wall. His right hand was throbbing; already he could feel it beginning to swell. What the fuck had he got himself into? Shaun admired the lad for having the audacity to try something like blackmail but he’d just got rid of one debt. He sure as hell wasn’t going to create another.

He stared into the shadows, his familiar surroundings so alien, shrouded in darkness. In the distance he could hear traffic, the odd shout, but here in the alley there was nothing but a ringing in his ears. And stillness, making it all the more sinister. Anything could be lurking in there. He shivered. Fuck, what a mess.

Still breathless, he wondered what to do next. He couldn’t go back into the restaurant like this without Carole suspecting something. She was bound to have come downstairs by now to find the front door unlocked with no one in the restaurant. He checked his watch. Some of the staff were due to start the five-thirty shift in minutes.

Slowly, he walked around to the front, wary of the cameras tracking his every move once back on the street. To his relief, Carole was upstairs. But it took one cry from Stacey and she was downstairs in a flash.

‘What a bloody mess,’ Carole said as Shaun concocted a story about an intruder coming in through the kitchen as he was behind the bar. ‘I didn’t even know you’d gone outside.’

‘It all happened so quickly.’ Shaun winced as she placed his hand under the cold water. Underneath the blood, there was some nasty swelling.

‘We’ll have to call the police and report this.’ Carole shook her head in disbelief. What was happening to them lately?

‘No, I’ll be okay.’

‘But –’

‘I said no!’ Shaun lowered his voice when he saw the hurt expression on Carole’s face. ‘I don’t want any retaliation. He could have been on something. You know what some of the druggies are like around here. And he might come back.’ He tried to make light of the situation. ‘Besides, you should see the other guy. He didn’t get a look in.’

Carole took his hand in hers and ran a finger over his knuckles. She knew he was putting on a brave front. It was the first time she’d seen him hit out at anyone. She ought to be proud of him but instead she felt annoyed that he’d been so stupid as to put himself in danger. She shuddered as her mind went into overdrive.

The alleyway at the back of their property was a haven for layabouts hanging around. The property next door but one had been empty for a few months now, and since a group of squatters had moved in they’d had nothing but trouble. Cars had been damaged and broken into, one of the neighbouring businesses had been burgled and they’d had to upgrade their security alarm system. This incident could have been much worse, especially if the attacker had pulled a knife.

‘He was stealing the stock.’ Shaun covered Carole’s hand with his own to reassure her. ‘It was an opportunist. I saw red and he got the brunt of it. It’s a good job he scarpered when he did or else I’d have walloped him again. It was my fault. I nipped out to the bins with a cardboard box I’d crushed. We need to be more careful about locking the back door.’

Carole still wasn’t convinced. ‘I still think we should report it,’ she said.

‘For fuck’s sake,’ Shaun snapped. ‘Don’t keep going on about it. He got away with nothing; that’s all that matters!’

Carole’s eyes filled with tears. She held up her hands in resignation before walking out of the kitchen.

Shaun swore silently. Now he’d upset her as well. He dabbed at a cut he’d noticed, hoping it wouldn’t become too prominent over the next few days. He was bound to see those police officers again and they’d want to know what he’d been up. And he could hardly tell them that without landing himself in it too.

‘Fuck!’ He spoke aloud this time. He’d have to sort something out soon or that frigging Kennedy family would be the death of him.

Later that evening, Allie took a call from the coroner. The post-mortem had been completed yesterday but there were several things to finalise before the report came through. There was only her and Nick left on the floor so she headed over to his office.

She knocked on the DI’s open door. Nick sat at his desk, shirt sleeves rolled up by now. Even this late on, the faint tang of his aftershave caught her nose. Nick was always well presented. He wasn’t one of those men who got out of bed ten minutes before they had to leave the house, not even bothering to clean their teeth. She admired this in a man. Likewise in… Damn, she was thinking of Terry Ryder again.

‘Steph Ryder was pregnant,’ she told him in the tone of an excited five-year-old. She coughed, a little embarrassed about her outburst. It sounded as if she was gloating.

‘Pregnant?’ Nick looked up. ‘I suppose you wondered?’

‘Who the father would have been?’ Allie moved a pile of paperwork off a chair and onto the floor before sitting down opposite him. ‘I did, yes.’

‘The daughter. How old is she? Seventeen?’

‘Yes, but Steph Ryder is thirty-eight. It is easily possible.’

‘I have no doubt of that,’ Nick nodded. ‘It’s just that they’ve been married since they were teenagers. It hardly seems something that they’d plan. Maybe they were trying to inject romance into a dead marriage.’

‘Which is not the way to go about things,’ Allie snapped before she had time to think who she was snapping at.

Nick sat back in his chair, eyebrows raised.

‘Sorry, sir.’ Allie looked on sheepishly. ‘I mean, having a child isn’t necessarily the thing to stick people together. Normally it seems to be a wedge that drives couples further apart.’

‘Lots of couples do it, though.’

‘And lots of children end up in single parent families because of it.’

‘My, we are cynical today, aren’t we, Mrs Shenton?’

Allie smirked at him. Nick knew she and Mark had put off children and now were unsure if they wanted to have any at all. And just because they might not have any, it didn’t stop her having strong views on other people’s being treated well.

‘How far gone was she?’ Nick’s fingers were in a steeple.

‘Thirteen weeks. Puts a different slant on things, don’t you think?’

‘I wonder if she knew.’

‘I wonder if
they
knew.’

Nick paused for a moment. Then he sat forward and went back to his work. ‘I assume you can break it to him in the morning? Go by yourself this time.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

When she parked up in the driveway of The Gables at eight thirty the next morning, Allie hadn’t expected Carole Morrison to open the door – and certainly not dolled up as if ready to go to a party. She wore black trousers, the highest of patent heels and a red knitted top that accentuated her neckline as well as her cleavage. The curls of her hair were immaculate, make-up perfect.

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes when she saw Allie.

‘I need to speak to Mr Ryder.’

‘He’s busy.’

‘Too busy to see me?’ Allie frowned. What an absurd thing to say.

Carole’s guard dropped. ‘Yes, of course. Sorry, come on in.’

Allie was shown through to the family room while Carole went to let Terry know she was here. The room was exactly how she remembered.
Exactly.
There wasn’t a dirty coffee mug, a magazine, a pair of shoes hanging around. It seemed that chaos didn’t rule in the Ryders’ residence. It gave the place the air of a show house.

Carole rejoined her a minute later. ‘He’ll be with you in a moment,’ she announced as if she was head waitress. Oh, yes, Allie thought snidely before turning to her. She would be used to that.

‘Helping him out with something, are we?’ Allie asked, wanting to figure out why she was here.