Jackson whistled again. He patted Dean on the shoulder and laughed. He liked Jinx and the way he helped the community he lived in, but he didn’t like him enough to warrant missing that kind of payday. Jackson was approaching his fifties faster than he wanted to and that kind of money would secure his future. If Leon gave them a cut of any other business he picked up then he could live with killing Jinx, but the look on Dean’s face told him that his colleague wasn’t so sure. Dean was going soft lately, talking about his family. He had big plans for their future; plans that didn’t involve shooting rival gangsters or burying people alive in the forest. If Dean didn’t want in on the deal, he would do it himself.
“Come on, Deano.” He slapped him on the back again. “Twenty grand, you don’t like Jinx that much, do you?”
“It’s what comes afterwards that worries me. Killing Jinx won’t be the end of it, Jackson. You won’t live long enough to spend the money, you fool, none of us will.”
“I’ll take my chances for that kind of money.”
“People will think Bodger did it, or the Turks. They’ll believe whatever rumours we put out there,” Leon grinned. “We have a meth shipment arriving tomorrow night at the docks. We’ll put our business in order and then we’ll take out Jinx. The money for the meth is all here. Pick it up tomorrow before you get the drugs.”
Dean agreed with a grunt. Jackson smiled and thought about his bonus. The drug pickup was not complicated. They had the security guards on the docks in their pocket. Dean could concentrate on that for now and worry about the Jinx problem later. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he knew that he didn’t want to be around when all hell broke loose. Leon placed the bag of money into a safe at the back of the storeroom and the door clunked as it closed. The storeroom smelled musty and damp. Apart from the safe, it was empty. There were no computers or keyboards for sale here, just the women upstairs. The men secured the metal grilles over the door and padlocked them into place. As they left the Crazy Computer shop, the Gecko watched them from a parked car across the road in a side street. He had listened to their conversation via a scanner and picked up some very interesting information. They were planning to make a hit on the moneylender Jinx Cotton. That was a problem, because Gecko wanted Jinx around. His enquiries had taught him that Jinx didn’t like the drug dealers in the city any more than he did. He could be useful for taking out Leon`s network of brothels and drug dealers. Gecko needed the safe combination to steal Leon’s money, but now he knew when it would be open, and he knew where they were collecting a large shipment of meth. Tomorrow would be a busy day.
Maria was checking rooms on the third floor. Time was ticking away and the team of cleaners that she supervised were the worst she had ever worked with. The majority of them couldn’t speak English, especially when she was reprimanding them. Their level of understanding dropped dramatically sometimes when it suited them.
“Yasser, have you finished your block yet?” She shouted down the corridor. A bedroom door slammed and then there was silence. “Yes Maria, of course I have finished my block, would you like me to help the others finish theirs?” she answered herself as no one else was there.
The corridors were dark. Too dark to see properly on a gloomy day when the daylight coming into the hotel was limited. The owners had built the hotel inside a converted cotton warehouse and the walls were exposed red bricks. Huge iron girders supported the floors above. The public areas had stripped wooden floors. The architects had kept the vaulted ceilings as a feature. It added character to the building, but the lighting was poor. “Shannon!” she shouted down the next corridor. “Shannon!”
“What?” A bedroom door opened and the voice made Maria jump with fright. “Do you have to shout?” Shannon laughed.
“It’s the only way to be heard in this bloody place,” Maria smiled. Shannon was a great help. She was quick and her standards were good. Checking her rooms took nothing more than a cursory glance.
“How are we doing for time?” Shannon asked. The hotel would want the rooms handed back to them ready for new guests.
“We are nowhere near done.” Maria wiped her brow. Her back felt clammy and sweaty. “I feel like I’m coming down with something,” she moaned.
“I’ll help you check the rooms.” Shannon felt her forehead. “You do feel hot though, Maria.”
“I feel like shit,” Maria tutted. “Menopause, I hope. At least I’ll have an excuse to be a grumpy bitch.”
They both laughed. “I’ll take the floors above, you check this one and we can meet on the first, okay?” Shannon suggested.
“Thank you,” Maria clasped her hands together. “Now where is that lazy bastard, Yasser?” She shouted, “Yasser!”
“In here, Maria,” his voice came from further down the corridor. The fire doors muffled the sound. “Man in here is fucking sleeping, lazy prickhead.” Yasser held a cloth in one hand and a spray bottle in the other. “I’ve been knocking all the morning!”
“Keep your voice down,” Maria hissed. She suppressed a laugh. “The word is dickhead, Yasser.”
“I know, dickhead,” Yasser frowned. His English was coming on slowly.
“Which room?” she asked.
“This one.” Yasser pointed to the door rather than try to say the number. Numbers were still hard. “Lazy prickhead,” he muttered as he opened the door to the room opposite to check if he had cleaned it. He had.
Maria checked her watch. It was way after checkout time. She knocked loudly on the door. “Housekeeping!” She shouted as a warning. There was no sound from inside the room.
“Open the door!” Yasser was annoyed. “Lazy dickhead!” He smiled as he pronounced the words correctly.
“You have to knock, Yasser,” she said, knocking again. “I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve disturbed shagging or masturbating over the years.”
“I’ll knock.” Yasser tried. “Housekeeping!”
“One time, I walked into a room to find the occupant handcuffed and gagged.” She raised her eyebrows and laughed at the memory.
“Oh, lady was playing the game?” Yasser asked with a straight face.
“It’s
on the game
, Yasser. On the game,” she explained. “Anyway, someone had left the poor bloke face down on the bed dressed in stockings and a leather miniskirt. The fire brigade had to cut him free.”
“Him, it was a man?” Yasser looked confused.
“Yes, you get all sorts in this job.” She had some stories to tell. “Housekeeping!” She shouted as she opened the door. She stepped inside and froze when she saw the blood on the carpet. The smell of rotting flesh hit her like a hammer.
Alec listened to Chief Carlton, trying to make sense of the previous twenty-four hours. “It’s an impossible task to put the jigsaw together when the jigsaw keeps on growing.”
“We cannot be certain if we have all the pieces, let alone begin putting them together.” Will leaned back in his chair and chewed his nails as he listened to the uniformed officer.
“Nothing makes sense.” Alec added.
Early that morning, there had been an unexpected incident in the city centre which seemed to be connected to Alec’s investigation.
“What time was the hand found?” Alec reached for his pen. It was a silver Parker that his wife had bought for his birthday and looking at it reminded him that he hadn’t been home for two days. Every time he called her the conversation was terse and she ended the call in a huff. It was easier not to call for now.
“A chamber maid used her pass key to open the room at eleven thirty this morning. The guests are supposed to checkout before eleven so they knocked on the door and then used the pass key when they got no reply,” the chief explained. “She found the hand and called in when she realised it wasn’t a prank. She is in a bit of a state, poor woman. Our first officers arrived at eleven forty-five. Graham Libby thinks it belongs to your victim at Jamaica Street.”
“What do you think?” Alec frowned.
“It isn’t every day that a severed human hand is found in a hotel room.”
“I am confused as to why it was left behind by the killers.” Will chewed his nails. “The murder was weird enough before, but this adds to the strangeness of the case.”
“There is something missing,” Alec frowned.
“It’s connected to your murder investigation. There’s no doubt in my mind, although it is odd.” The chief loosened his tunic at the collar.
“They made no effort to hide it?” Alec frowned again.
“No. It was lying on the bed in clear view.”
“Did they leave anything else behind?” Alec was curious to see if they had planned to return to the room before the maid discovered the hand.
“Nothing, except some blood spatter on the carpet,” the chief replied. “The room was booked under a false name and paid for in advance, with cash. Forensics are collecting evidence and dusting the place for prints now but they think that the blood is fresh.”
“What has Graham Libby said about it?” Will asked. The forensic investigator would be in possession of the hand already.
“Closer inspection revealed the severed hand is in a decomposed state, matching the timescale of your victim. It cannot be a coincidence.”
“So it is from our victim.” Alec frowned and looked at Will. There seemed to be little doubt about it. “Something happened to make the killer leave it there.”
“Well, it’s a left hand. He says the state of decay means that it could be from a body in that condition, and it looks like they removed it with a saw,” the chief shrugged. “The only useful thing we have for you is that there was a gold ring on the index finger.”
“We know what type of ring it was, a sovereign, right?” Will sat forward. “We haven’t seen it though. Do we have a picture yet?”
“Yes, here,” the chief handed them a picture. “I’ve sent the photos to your computers. Smithy called to let me know they had them.”
“Thanks, chief. That might help to narrow down our missing persons.” Alec had already spoken to Smithy about the discovery, and the team had been informed. Will made a call while they chatted and informed his officers about the sovereign ring. It was a personal effect and it would help identify the victim. They had found nothing else so far.
“Whoever left it in the room was in a hurry, and they’re connected to your murder investigation.” The chief didn’t envy Alec’s position. “The CCTV discs are on the way to you.”
“Let’s hope there’s something useful on them,” Will said.
“Is there anything regarding the victim?” the chief asked.
“Nothing.” Alec frowned. “We have to hope that the child is still alive.”
“It doesn’t help that we don’t know who we’re looking for,” Will added.
“Until we identify the woman, we’re shooting in the dark,” Alec agreed.
“Have you thought about going public yet?” The chief looked troubled. “An appeal could yield something to work with.”
“We’re searching for a needle in a haystack as it is.” Alec shook his head to disagree. “An appeal would throw up so many distractions that we’d be looking for a needle in a mountain of needles.”
“I agree with the super, chief,” Will said. “Until forensics come back, we should keep the investigation under wraps. If the kid is alive, then we could spook the killers into disposing of them.”
“You are guessing that those footprints belong to a living child, not another victim?” The chief’s face darkened.
“We have to,” Alec said vehemently. “We know two people were tied to those chairs and we know there was a child in there. We also know that the kid left the footprints getting into a vehicle, not getting out of one. We have to assume the child is alive until we have evidence to prove otherwise.”
“It will be hard to keep this from the press, Alec,” the chief commented. “The entire staff at the hotel will know about that hand by now.”
“We’ve kept the murder concealed from the press but it won’t stay that way for long,” Alec agreed. “We cannot make an appeal based on what we know now, it’s a shambles.”
“What the hell is going on?” Will shook his head as he ended his call to Smithy.
“We might have found a link to our killers but I can’t see what it is yet,” Alec said.
“Maybe it is a breakthrough, but we aren’t out of the starting blocks until we get the forensics back,” Will sighed. The case was a mystery.
“God knows why they would leave a severed hand in a hotel room, something happened there,” Alec repeated and sighed. “I believe you have a conundrum of your own, chief. What happened at the nightclub downtown?”
“It’s a mess, Alec.” The chief looked tired and the weight of his investigations seemed to be grinding him down. “We have reports of an explosion and gunshots. One witness said he saw one of the bouncers firing a shotgun at the doors leading into the back of the club before the explosion happened. Then there was a fire and that’s about all we have, except the owner lost the top of his ears somewhere along the way and none of the CCTV tapes have shown anything from that room.”
“Is the manager Jessie James?” Alec was familiar with his name from previous investigations into the club.
“That’s him,” the chief confirmed. “The hospital said his ears were cut off with scissors or something similar but he’s saying nothing. He alleges that he’s having trouble remembering.”
“I bet he’s not hearing well either,” Will said sourly, but it got a smile from his superiors. “Jessie and his cronies play poker in that back room sometimes, don’t they?”
“Yes.” The chief nodded. “There were more villains there that night than on Crime Watch. We found them searching the alleyway behind the club for something but none of them will elaborate about what happened to the place or Jessie’s ears.”
“What about the CCTV tapes?” Will asked. “Don’t they show
anything
?”
“Not the ones from the back room of the club. They’ve mysteriously disappeared, I’m afraid,” the chief replied with a shake of the head.
“It sounds like you’ve done all you can with that one then,” Alec said. He couldn’t connect it to their investigation.
“Gangsters with missing ears points to a row over drugs or money in my mind.”
“I agree,” Will said. “Jessie must have pissed off the wrong person and if he won’t report it, then there is no crime to investigate.”
“Leave them to it,” Alec added. “It’s been pretty quiet since we nailed the Nelson brothers’ killer, but it doesn’t take much to rock the boat again.”
“What do you know about what happened inside the club before the fire?” Will asked.
“Nothing yet, there’s a wall of silence around it.” The chief shook his head. “We had a few eyewitness statements taken outside the club but when we re-interviewed them, their memories were blank.”
“It sounds like a few phone calls have been made,” Alec smiled.
“It does, unfortunately.”
The three officers went quiet for a moment. It seemed that both cases were dead in the water until the scientists finished their tests. “If you want to get off for a few hours, I’ll let you know when the results come in, guv,” Will said. He was aware that his boss should be at home. The forensic team would be finished soon and it looked like the severed hand was from their victim. The pace of the investigation would accelerate when the results came in. If he was going to go home, he needed to go now.
“Well, I’m going to take you up on that offer and go home to face the music.” Alec looked at his watch. It would be hours before any forensics came in and his teams were out looking at the missing persons who matched the age of their victim. He had time to build some bridges at home.
“Is Gail still cracking the whip, Alec?” the chief laughed.
“Don’t they always,” Alec tried to make light of his domestic situation, but he knew he was in the doghouse. He stood up and walked to the door. “Call me as soon as anything comes in.”
“Good luck, guv,” Will laughed and waved. He turned to the chief. “See you later, sir. I’m going to go to the hotel lodge and take a look around the room if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” the chief replied and jokingly saluted. “I am more than happy to leave our mystery hand with you!”
Alec took the stairs down to the car park. He couldn’t be doing with making small talk in the elevator. The signal in the car park was poor so he dialled Gail’s number on his way down the stairs, but it rang once and then clicked to answer phone. She had ‘busy buttoned’ his call again. Gail knew it annoyed him when she did that. Alec was stuck between his workload and his responsibilities as a husband. He didn’t have a job where things could wait. Evidence disappeared if it wasn’t gathered immediately, and criminals disappeared faster still. Over the years Gail had always been supportive, but recently she had become distant and cold. Alec wished he had a time machine or a stunt double, but deep inside he knew his marriage was in crisis. The sad thing was that his investigation took priority. They always did.