Two-Faced (39 page)

He walked along aimlessly when he hit the street, not knowing or really caring where he was headed, mulling everything over. It had been good to come back because it had opened his eyes to some stuff that he hadn’t been conscious of. He hadn’t thought that he’d brought any preconceptions or expectations along with him on this visit, but it was clear to him now that he
had
expected to find that people had moved on, as he himself had. And the fact that they hadn’t depressed him.

Like Davy, stuck in the centre of the little universe he’d created around himself; a world with a shifting population of misfit boys, all thinking they were tough, yet drawn to their king like moths to a flame; craving the stability he seemed to offer, and finding a purpose in life by doing his dirty work and lining his pockets.

And Liam wasn’t knocking Davy for that, because he performed as big a service for the boys as they did for him. There had been a time when Liam himself had thought that Davy was the man, and he was undoubtedly dangerous because he could inflict real damage when he cut loose – like when he’d given Kedga that going-over and put him in hospital. But Davy was getting too old for all that shit and one day someone was going to spot a weakness and destroy him. Yet, instead of planning ahead and turning his attention to other, safer businesses while he still had the chance to walk out of the life he was in, Davy stayed put. Like that plot where the old house had stood – Liam would have already sold it by now, but the way Davy was going it would still be sitting there in another five years.

Still, Davy’s life was Davy’s life, and he was going to live it as he saw fit. He was a good mate – but only because he’d decided to take Liam into his heart. If he hadn’t, Liam had no doubt that he could be his worst enemy.

Pushing Davy out of his mind, Liam found himself thinking about the conversation he’d just had with Darren. The lad had surprised him, because he obviously had a yen to do something with his life. The depressing thing was that it would probably never happen – because of Davy. Dealing for someone else was a mug’s game; you made enough money to keep yourself going, but rarely enough to be able to step up a level and become your own boss – or step out of it and take a chance on something else, like Liam had done.

Still deep in thought, Liam didn’t realise he’d been heading towards Michelle’s house until he suddenly found himself standing opposite it. Frowning, he gazed up at the bedroom window, wondering if Michelle really
was
locked in there, like Darren had said: tied to the bed to protect her from herself, dreaming about the drugs she could no longer get her hands on while her famous sister and their mum lived the high life around her.

Liam shook his head to clear the depressing thoughts and headed round onto the Princess Parkway to look for a cab. As soon as he’d concluded his business with Steve Dawson in a few days, he was getting on a plane and going home. Manchester would always hold a special place in his heart, but right now he needed out of here because there were too many ghosts dragging him down.

25

Steve had just come back from Dover, and he wasn’t in the best of moods. Seven young Kosovan girls had been smuggled in and he had no idea what he was supposed to do with them. He’d specifically ordered Thai, because that was what sold best, but the fuckwit driver had been panicking so much about the fact that he’d nearly been rumbled in Calais that he’d flat-out refused to keep them. They were Steve’s problem, he’d said, and if Steve tried to get heavy about it he was going to hand himself in to the police and tell them exactly what he’d done – and who for.

With the driver safely out of the way now, bobbing headlessly out to sea on a stream of fast-moving sewage, Steve still had the problem of the girls – most of whom couldn’t even speak English. He could have kept them all, he supposed, but he just couldn’t be arsed trying to find places for them. And it didn’t help that some of them looked diseased, because the last thing his customers wanted was girls coughing death into their faces while they were fucking them.

Steve made a snap decision and picked the two prettiest, most healthy-looking ones and told Vern to put them in the car. Then, shoving a bunch of money into the hands of the other girls, he clapped his hands and sent them scurrying to freedom in the dark.

Back at the club after the long drive back, he’d had Tiny, his minuscule Chinese bar-and-girl-manager, feed and bathe the two he’d kept. Then, after giving them a little something to relax them, he’d locked them in their new rooms, leaving two of his men to listen out for them.

After taking a shower to wash the stench of them off him, Steve went into the windowless office that could only be accessed through the lounge that he and his men used for their private meetings and video viewings. Here he rang a select few of his clients to let them know that he had some new meat on the menu.

Relaxed by the time the club opened for business, Steve took up his seat at the bar, figuring that maybe it hadn’t worked out so bad after all. The bitches he’d released didn’t know anything about him, so he was in no danger of them grassing him up. And the ones he’d kept had caused more interest among his clients than he’d anticipated, so they would soon be earning their keep.

When Liam arrived a couple of hours later Steve felt firmly back in control and gave his visitor a questioning smile.

‘Hope you don’t mind me calling in out of the blue,’ Liam said as he sat down on the neighbouring stool. ‘But something’s come up and I’m going home sooner than I expected. I thought I’d best come and see you before I go, though – see if you’re still interested in that stuff we were talking about.’

Steve told Liam that he would have informed him if he’d changed his mind. Then he offered him a drink and, jerking his chin at Liam’s case, said, ‘You got the new lot, then?’

Liam murmured, ‘Some of it,’ and glanced cautiously around. The club was packed and, although most of the guys already looked wrecked, he didn’t want to talk business around them.

Steve waited until they had their drinks, then stood up and led Liam to the back of the club, putting him out of his misery.

Liam followed Steve out through a claustrophobic little maze of locked black-painted steel doors into what appeared to be a private kitchen area. He frowned when Steve opened a door which led to a flight of narrow stairs and the sound of muted weeping floated down to them.

‘You sure this is all right?’ he asked, wondering if it was Steve’s woman and they’d had an argument or something.

Assuring him that everything was absolutely fine, Steve relocked the door behind them. The weeping was coming from behind one of the locked doors at this end of the long corridor. As they passed, Steve kicked it and yelled, ‘Shut the fuck up, you stupid cow!’

Because it wasn’t his business, Liam said nothing and followed him into a room at the far end. Two burly men were sprawled on chairs in there, drinking from a bottle of whisky which stood open on the coffee table and watching a blue movie on a small plasma TV in the corner.

Barking, ‘What have I fucking told you about watching this one without asking me first?’ Steve snatched up the remote to switch the film off.

Before the screen went blank Liam caught a glimpse of the face of the girl in the film who was being gang-banged by three men. The hairs stood up on the back of his neck. The picture had been crystal clear, and the camera-work was obviously of professional quality so there was no mistaking that it had been Michelle. And she looked every bit as drugged-up and skinny as Darren had said.

As he noticed the look on Liam’s face, Steve’s expression switched from anger to its usual unreadable neutrality. ‘Something wrong, mate?’

Liam’s instincts told him that something definitely wasn’t right about this set-up, but he didn’t know Steve Dawson well enough to start asking questions. So, shaking his head, he said, ‘No. I just thought I’d seen that girl somewhere before, that’s all.’

Steve took him into the office, locked the door behind them and took his seat at the desk. After waving for Liam to take the seat opposite, he peered at him in silence for several long moments. The guy had obviously recognised Mia and that wasn’t good, because things had been going really smoothly until now.

Mia had told him all about the little stunt they’d pulled when they’d pretended that her sister Michelle was her in order to keep Mia’s name clean when the coke pictures had come out. She’d told him in the mistaken belief that he would release her once he knew and would let her go back to the wonderful life she’d actually thought she should be allowed to live without him. And the
tears
when she’d realised that he’d meant what he’d said about him owning her . . .

But if Mia had thought that her mum would be worried enough to start up an international manhunt to save her she was mistaken again, because mommy dearest, obviously assuming that Mia had disappeared of her own free will, had simply replaced her with her sister again – giving Steve the perfect cover to hold her for as long as he liked.

And he
did
like.

But now that this guy had recognised her, if he said the wrong thing to the wrong person he could turn everything on its head. Which left Steve in an awkward position. Did he kill him, and give himself the hassle of having a body to dispose of – which he could really do without right now? Or should he let Vern and the boys give him a physical talking-to, in which case – if Liam was anything like Steve, and Steve suspected that he was – he’d probably go away and start digging until he found the bone? Or should he just spin him a line, and hope he accepted it and let the matter drop?

Having already sensed that Liam was the kind of man who – unless he was provoked – kept himself to himself and didn’t bandy other people’s business around willy-nilly, Steve decided on the third option.

‘You probably
have
seen that girl before,’ he told Liam now, adding, ‘Or, should I say, you
think
you have. You see, her sister’s a model, and there’s pictures of her all over the place just now.’

‘Oh, right,’ Liam murmured, trying not to sound as sick as he felt.

‘My girl prefers the
private
kind of modelling,’ Steve went on. ‘Only she doesn’t want to wreck her sister’s career so we’ve decided not to release any of her films just yet. You understand what I’m saying?’

Getting the point loud and clear, Liam nodded. He’d seen something that he hadn’t been supposed to see, and now he was being warned to keep his mouth shut.

‘I hope so,’ Steve said darkly, linking his hands together on the desktop. ‘Because foolish talk costs lives.’

Unfazed by the threat behind what was obviously Steve’s favourite phrase – although Liam personally thought it made him sound like a knob – Liam casually laid his case down on the desk, saying, ‘Whatever you and your girl have got going on is
your
business, and I’m not interested in anything except my own. So, if you’re ready to take a look . . . ?’

Smiling slowly, sure that they understood each other perfectly, Steve nodded.

Steve opened his concealed safe twenty minutes later, counted out the agreed amount of money and handed it to Liam in exchange for the diamonds wrapped in their black velvet cloth.

‘So when will you have the rest?’ he asked, already deciding that he’d made the right decision by moving into this line, because there was something awesome about actually handling the stones instead of just talking about them. As soon as you saw them in reality, you knew that you were dealing with something that had the power to hypnotise money out of pockets. And they seemed to have a physical energy when you touched them, which made you want more of them.

‘I’m not sure,’ Liam told him, smiling as he locked the money into the case.

He’d listened to Steve’s explanation about Michelle and it had sounded feasible, but his instincts were still telling him that there was something more sinister to it. He might not have known Michelle for long, but he knew that she’d been far too reserved and shy to go into this line of work. Obviously the drugs would have changed her. But, in his experience, people who were so deep into drugs that they would sink to the level of doing porn didn’t give a flying fuck about anyone else, so why would she have been so concerned about protecting Mia’s career? That didn’t make sense.

Liam knew that he wasn’t going to get any answers here and now but he was determined to find out what was going on. And to do that he would have to make Steve trust him and want to keep in touch.

‘My guy never gives me any warning,’ he said now, setting the bait. ‘He just calls and tells you he’s at such and such a place, and if you want what he’s got you’d best come
now
.’

‘And what if you can’t?’ Steve asked as he took a bag of coke out of the drawer.

‘You make sure you
can
,’ Liam said simply. ‘Even if you have to jump off whoever you’re fucking and jump straight on a plane. See, his stuff is the best of the best, and if you don’t get it someone else will snatch it out of his hands.’ Smiling conspiratorially now, he added, ‘And I’m not missing out on the stuff he’s bringing over this time, because I’ve heard rumours that he’s got hold of something pretty special that all the other dealers are desperate to get their hands on. But that baby is
mine
.’

‘How much?’ Steve asked, immediately wanting it just because everybody else did.

‘Oh, I don’t think I’ll be selling this one just yet,’ Liam told him, smiling regretfully. ‘This is what we call a keeper. It’s a rare one, and the value goes through the roof when you sit on them for a bit. Maybe in a year or two.’

‘Everything has its price,’ Steve said confidently, laying out two thick lines on a mirror. Pushing the mirror towards Liam, he held his gaze as he handed him a gold straw. ‘Name yours.’

Liam snorted the line to let Steve see that he was one of the lads and so had nothing to fear from him. Then he sat back and wiped his nose.

‘I’ll call in and see you when I get it,’ he said. ‘And we’ll talk about it then.’