The Tale of the Wolf (The Kenino Wolf Series) (25 page)

I called Bosley. It was time to tidy some mess.

‘
Bosley, go to mine and get those things you left behind and bring them round to Seedy Clarence’s.’

‘
Why?’

‘
I owe you a promotion. Be quick … time’s running against us.’

‘
Eh ... was that Bosley?’ Tabatha looked at me quizzically.

‘
Yep. We have to do something about Clarence and this Frazer fella in the boot.’

‘
And you think calling Bosley's the answer.’

‘
Yeah. Now drive to Leon’s. We need to get the snowman.’

The minute he saw us pulling up, Leon came running out.

‘
Wolfy, you need to deal with your friend. I have a baby and
he’s
not helping.’

‘
What did you want him to do? Sing lullabies’

‘
Wolfy, that ain’t funny. You know what I mean.’

‘
Yes, Leon, I know. Pop the boot, Tabs. Come on, Leon, give me a hand.’

Leon and I pulled The Beggar out of the freezer and walked round to the boot.

‘
I don’t think he’s going to fit, babes,’ Tabatha observed. ‘Maybe we should get a van.’

‘
Oh my god, Wolfy. You have another dead body in your car. What are you doing?’ Leon was shaking. He almost dropped The Beggar.

‘
Hold him properly. He’s not dead, just asleep.’

‘
What the hell are you up to?’

‘
You really want to know?’

‘
No … no, I don’t want to know anything. Just take them all away.’

‘
Tabs, open the back door. He’ll just have to go in the back seat.’

She opened the door and we shoved in The Beggar.

‘
Hey, Kelly. How you doing?’ Kelly had just appeared in the yard.

‘
He’s got another body,’ Leon stammered.

‘
He’s not staying, just passing through, and I’m taking the old one.’

‘
Good. That’s just what I was coming to talk to you about.’

‘
I told you he wouldn’t be here long.’ I’d had no idea what I was going to do with him when I’d left him, but now I had a scheme, I was feeling quite chipper.

‘
Okay then, Wolfy, we’ll leave you to it ... hi, Tabs.’

‘
Hi, Kelly.’

‘
Come on, Leon,’ she ordered her husband. ‘Unless you want to help them?’

Leon took one look and ran behind Kelly back into the club.

Tabatha was laughing. ‘You’d think we weren’t welcome.’

‘
I know. Oh well. Better go to Seedy Clarence. He won’t mind the extra guests.’

When we reached Clarence's night had already set in and so far all we had was a name in Nikita Kruchenko and a missing sibling in Michael. The Longy investigation was not going well. Although getting Seedy Clarence could never be regarded as a bad day.

We carried Frazer in and dumped him in the front room. Clarence and the goons were awake and struggling on the floor, but the ropes were too tight. Clarence’s eyes popped out when he saw me and Frazer. I popped the three of them again.

Then we got The Beggar.

‘
We need to put him in Clarence’s freezer,’ I said to Tabatha.

We emptied the freezer of all its contents bagged them up and then squished in The Beggar. Clarence’s freezer wasn’t as big as Leon’s, just your standard domestic job. It was seriously hard work. There was much snapping and cracking as we crumpled him into the smaller space.

Life had certainly changed a lot for me lately, but I was strangely happy. I’d told Tabatha I loved her and she’d reciprocated. Okay, it hadn’t been the most romantic of moments but at least I’d said it.

By the time we’d finished, sweating and exhausted, I was in serious need of a beer. I grabbed two out of Clarence’s fridge and handed one to Tabatha.

‘
Now what?’ she enquired.

‘
We wait for Bosley.’

‘
Are you sure that’s a good idea, babes?’

‘
For once, yeah. Cheers!’ I said clashing bottles.

‘
Okay.’ She trusted me.

We sat on the hall stairs drinking the beer and relaxing, just enjoying each other’s company and waited for Bosley.

It didn’t take long for him to appear.

‘
What’s this about?’ He demanded as soon as we let him in.

‘
Did you bring the stuff?’

‘
Yes. Now what’s this about? What the hell are you up to?’ Bosley had walked into the front room and seen our trussed up guests.

‘
Entertaining,’ Tabatha smirked.

‘
Yeah, it’s a rope and knots party.’

‘
Is that Seedy Clarence?’

‘
Yeah, and some hooligan called Scott Frazer. Did you bring the stuff, or did you just break into my yard for fun again?’

‘
I brought the stuff.’ Bosley said it with such an air of shame that I almost felt sorry for him. Well almost. It was Bosley.

Tabatha watched, bemused, as Bosley pulled out a blue carrier bag from under his jacket.

‘
I can't believe I'm doing this. What am I doing? Why am I here?’

‘
Now, now. No time for philosophy … work to be done.’

Yes, I was enjoying it. Bosley was on my side and Tabatha loved me. Sometimes life’s not so bad. Okay, there's the whole murder aspect, but if you looked beyond that there's always a silver lining.

‘
Right, we need to spread out the Charlie and the scales on the table.’ Tabatha took the bag from my hands smirking like a Cheshire cat. She knew Bosley, knew his love for me and was as equally amused as I was. Soulmates.

I know I'd gone a bit soppy but love could change a man and I was in love.

‘
I'll rub some up their nostrils make it look good,’ Tabatha said. Her professionalism was admirable.

‘
This is a frame up, isn't it, Wolfy?’ Bosley said disgusted.

‘
No, this is that shitbag Seedy Clarence, and Seedy Clarence’s goons. And that other unconscious fucker is Seedy Clarence’s master. He's called Scott Frazer. So no, Bosley, this isn't a stitch up. This is justice.’

‘
Hmph.’ Bosley stifled a laugh. ‘Justice? Please!
You
are not telling me about justice.’

‘
Well, you can always leave, Bosley. I'll give that gormless twat the tip-off that Seedy Clarence and his henchmen are doing a big Charlie deal. I'm sure Gormless would make an excellent detective inspector.’

‘
Just hurry up.’

‘
Okay then. So you don't want Gormless to get the call?’

‘
He couldn't find his arse if you kicked him in it. So how do you know Clarence worked for this guy?’

‘
Clarence told us.’ Tabatha piped in shoving the final dab of Charlie up Frazer’s nostrils.

‘
And why did he do that, I wonder?’ Bosley said eyeing the dismembered dollies.

‘
Tabatha's very persuasive,’ I said lovingly. ‘We finished?’

‘
Yeah.’

‘
Okay then, Bosley. We better go. Give it about an hour, then they should be waking up, and you can nab ’em. Say all that “you’re nicked” stuff that you coppers love.’

‘
Just get out and take the ropes off. If they’re all tied up it will look wrong.’

‘
Shit!’ I said realising we'd still left them tied. That's what comes from being a smartarse.

Tabatha and I removed the ropes quickly and positioned the four round the table. Bosley didn't help. He had no gloves on and the few fingerprints he'd already created would be covered when he raided.

‘
Oh, Bosley …’ I called back as we were just stepping out the front door.

‘
What?’

‘
I think there’s a dead body in the freezer. I’m not sure … it’s all wrapped up in bin bags and I obviously wasn’t going to open it. But you might want to check that. Later!’

Bosley didn’t even respond he just rushed straight to the kitchen. Tabatha was holding the laughter back so hard I thought she was going to burst a rib.

‘
You take the piss, you really do. Where to now?’

‘
I don’t know. Truthfully, after all that madness all we have is a name. That way,’ I indicated, meaning just to move. She pulled off and we headed into the night.

We’d only been gone about ten minutes when my phone rang. It was Bosley.

I was worried. ‘I forgot to mention,’ he said as soon as I answered. ‘I’ve found your friend’s brother.’

‘
You’ve found Michael?’

‘
I think so. I’ll know for sure in the morning. When it’s confirmed, I’ll let you know.’

‘
Brilliant, Bosley. How did you do it?’

‘
I’m the police. It’s what we do.’

‘
Oh yeah. Well done, Detective Inspector.’

‘
I’m a DS.’

‘
Not by tomorrow. Later.’

‘
We’re going to see Michael?’ Tabatha had overheard the conversation.

‘
As soon as Bosley confirms it.’

‘
So what shall we do now?’ She said seductively.

‘
I’m sure we can think of something.’ With that we went back to mine.

Bosley filled me in later about his glorious bust of Seedy Clarence and Co.

He had returned to the house an hour later, after an anonymous tip-off, mob-handed with as many blue bottles as he could raise.

They burst through the door to Clarence’s making sure to cause as much damage as possible.

Clarence and Co had just started to stir as the door came off. Realising what was up Clarence tried to make a dash while his goons felt up for a fight with the constables.

It did not go well, as Bosley, the sly old bugger, had made sure to bring coppers who knew Seedy Clarence. As such much damage was caused all round.

And although Bosley may not have liked the set-up, the raid produced a cache of illicit material which I state, for the record, had nothing to do with me.

Between the S&M paraphernalia in the basement and the guns in the loft, Tabatha and I didn't really need to have bothered. There was enough of Clarence’s life to appease Bosley's conscience … and enough big blokes with size 10s and the ability to use them to appease mine.

And, of course, the dollies all had to be destroyed beyond repair. Well someone had said that's where the contraband was kept. And the police had to check, and had to check thoroughly by ripping them apart.

I greatly enjoyed the bit of Bosley’s story, where Clarence cried like a little girl. I enjoyed it so much I made Bosley tell it twice. And Bosley informed me that I was right. It was a dead body in the freezer. And even more oddly, he said, it was The Beggar. I feigned ignorance and he feigned belief at my ignorance, and we left it at that.