Murder on the Hill (15 page)

“A phone number? Why would I want that?”

“Oh, you will want this. Unless, of course, you don’t want to meet your brother.”

The grin on his face told me he wasn’t lying. He had obviously done his research and knew that I had been looking for my siblings. Now my fear turned to something else, a deep longing and anger that he had managed to do something I’d failed at all my life. And now he was using it as a carrot.

“What do you want from me?” I asked. There was little I wouldn’t do to find my brother. Whether he wanted me to find him was a different issue, but I would cross that bridge when I came to it.

“Black diamonds,” he said. “Ironic, really, considering what you stole from me.”

“I didn’t steal anything,” I said. He laughed, knowing it was bullcrap. But I had denied it from day one, so I wanted to at least be consistent. And besides, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of admitting the truth to him. He got off on that kind of power, and I refused to give it to him. It was a small thing, considering the debt I owed, but a girl has to have a victory to cling to, no matter how small.

“So what about black diamonds?” I asked.

“Somehow,” he said, “I managed to procure one. I know it’s not the only one, and I want the rest. If you bring me the full necklace of diamonds, you’ll get this phone number, and I’ll consider negotiating more favourable terms of your debt.”

“And if not?”

He tore the paper up and threw it at me like confetti. I wafted it away, but he leaned forward suddenly, grabbing my head and pulling me close to him. I felt the barrel of the gun press against my ribs.

His breath warmed my face as he leaned in. My stomach lurched with revulsion.

The grip on my hair tightened.

“I’ll find use… for your body,” he whispered in my ear. I shuddered at the images that conjured.

The door suddenly swung open.

Alex, along with officers Kava and Salassi, stood in the opening. Alex leaned down and brought his head into the car. He looked from me to Ivanov. “Cosy chat?” he asked. “Is this a party for everyone?”

Ivanov let go of my hair, and I slumped back away from him. Alex gripped my shoulder and turned to the gangster, who wore a sick grin on his face. “Cobb,” Ivanov said with a small incline of his head, “working late this evening, aren’t you?”

“Bad guys come out at night,” Alex said. I saw a strength and fierceness to him that I hadn’t seen before. He was like a lion now, staring down the fearsome buffalo in Ivanov. The two beasts just glared at each other, both realising they were in a difficult situation.

“Indeed they do, Cobb. You best be careful. Bad guys are dangerous people.”

“They’re not the only ones.”

A tense silence developed between the two men. All the time Alex had a grip on my shoulder. Eventually, after I squirmed due to the pain of his grip, he seemed to snap out of his death stare with Ivanov and stepped back.

“If you don’t mind,” Alex said to the gangster, “my friend here and I have important things to discuss. You’ll have to have your little party another time, perhaps.”

I stepped out of the car, feeling safer with the police than Ivanov, but not by a huge margin. My debtor fixed me with a glare. “You have two days,” he said to me, “or…” He spread his hand to indicate the confetti of paper. And to Alex, “Always a pleasure, Cobb. Say ‘Hi’ to your chief for me. And watch out for those bad guys.”

He leaned forward, forcing Alex to stand back. Ivanov closed the door, and his driver drove the Rolls out onto the road and away into the London labyrinth.

Cordi exited the station and, ignoring Alex, pushed between Kava and Salassi.

“Come on, Harley, let’s go home and get some rest.”

“I can give you a lift,” Alex said.

“No,” Cordi snapped. “I’ll get a cab.”

We headed back to her place, and both crashed on the sofa, exhausted. We had a bit of a cry over Winkle and the stress of the evening and decided to ignore Alex and crack this case ourselves. I told Cordi about what happened with Ivanov.

“If we find the killer, we’ll find the necklace,” she said. “It’s all connected. My experience tells me that much, at least. I feel we’re getting close. The fact that someone came after us is proof of that. But we’ll need to be careful.”

“Careful’s my middle name,” I said with a wry smile.

I was so happy to have my new friend by my side. As close as I used to be with Sapphire, the fact we’d barely spoken since I had left told me all I needed to know of how deep our friendship ran. I suppose we only stayed friends for as long as we did because of our shared foster experience. Now I was out of her hair, I guessed she had some distance and realised she was better off without me. And she probably was. I didn’t feel bad about that or blame her.

Trouble and I went together like Oreos and milk.

“You know what we need?” Cordi asked.

“Sleep?” I asked, stifling a yawn.

“A brandy and some cake.”

“Yeah, count me in.”

While Cordi went into the kitchen to fix our late night snack, I slumped further into the sofa and closed my eyes for just a moment. I felt something land on the top of the sofa next to my head. I turned and looked up. Monty!

He just stared at me for a moment before curling up and purring until he fell asleep.

Perhaps Monty wouldn’t be my end after all—unless this was a trap.

I trusted that cat less than Ivanov, but sleep waited for no man or beast, and soon I was drifting off, dreaming of diamond necklaces, phone numbers, and white bottoms waiting to be spanked.

CHAPTER 17

Day 5

The Coach and Horse was quiet at midday. I sat in a booth and looked around the old place. Just two others, a pair of businessmen, were sat on the other side of the pub, nursing a couple of pints, probably working out some deal.

“Here you go, darlin’,” the barman said, placing a glass of white wine on the table. He winked at me, and the corners of his lips stretched up into a smile. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks,” I said, a little embarrassed. He held my gaze for an uncomfortable moment with a grin on his face before returning to his post behind the bar. I smiled politely back and sipped my wine. It was chilled and dry and just what I needed after all the events of the day before.

Cole was due to meet me here at twelve p.m. I got here early, as Cordi was dealing with Aunt Maggie, something about paperwork for the business. Not wanting to get on the wrong side of Maggie, I agreed to meet with Cole. He had my passport for me.

While I waited, I thought about the Bellman case and tried to put it all into some kind of order. None of it made sense. So far, all the suspects had rock-solid alibis, even if they did also have motivation.

The whole thing with the doru didn’t make sense either. And the supposed cursed necklace was yet another clue that I couldn’t connect with anything. There had to be some critical piece of information we had missed that would make it all clear.

I didn’t get a chance to think on it for too long when a shadow appeared by my side.

“Harley,” Cole said, smiling down at me.

“Hey,” I said, my smile now genuine and not just for being polite. “You’re looking smart today.” He wore a great-looking suit and crisp white shirt. No tie. “I didn’t think you’d be working on much today. Take a seat. Want a drink?”

I knew I was babbling. I always did when I was alone with Cole. He made me feel like some besotted school girl with a crush. So I just took a deep gulp of wine and shut up before I made more of a fool of myself.

“Already ordered,” Cole said, “but thanks. You looked deep in thought for a while there. Anything the matter?” He leaned forward, concern etched on his beautiful face.

“Um, everything, as usual.” I laughed nervously and finished my glass of wine.

“Are you in trouble or, should I say, more trouble?”

I told him everything about the case, Winkle, and my last meeting with Ivanov, leaving out the bit about Alex enjoying a good spanking.

“Well,” Cole said, lowering his voice. “I think I can provide a solution to all of that.” He slid over a brown envelope. “I got your new passport. There’s also a little something in there.”

I opened the end of the envelope and looked inside. There was a stack of fifty-pound notes. “Jesus, Cole, what’s this for?”

“To help you start new—if you didn’t want to stick with Cordelia. It’ll be enough to buy a couple of months’ time from Ivanov to allow you to get away and start again somewhere else. I’ve got some friends in the US that could help with—”

“I can’t, Cole, not now.”

“Why not?”

“I’m too invested in this thing with Cordi. I can’t leave her to deal with it herself. And besides, Ivanov has something I want.” I told him about finding my brother.

“What if he’s bluffing? That number could be for anything.”

“I can’t risk it. I need to know.”

I took the passport and checked it over. It looked great. As legit as any I had ever seen before. I placed it in the pocket of the jeans Cordi had lent to me. It reminded me I needed to go clothes shopping later and buy some of my own gear. I couldn’t keep wearing Cordi’s old stuff.

“Thank you, though, Cole, I really appreciate it, but I can’t take this.” I slid the envelope of money back across to him. “Besides, I’m determined to get that reward from the police. It’s become a point of principle.”

Cole looked into my eyes with a deep intensity that made my heart flutter. “I understand,” he said, taking the cash and placing it inside his jacket. “In a way, I’m relieved you’re staying. I would miss you. Who else would I have to look out for?”

I felt my cheeks start to flush. “I’d miss you too,” I said. We shared a quiet moment, and I wanted to lean across and kiss him, but our relationship had always been professional. It felt like too big a bridge to cross, despite my feelings for him.

“So,” he said, finally breaking the moment, “if you’re staying, how’d you like to help your old pal out with a simple hacking job?”

Hah, there was the old Cole I had come to know. “What are the details?”

“There’s this auction tomorrow night. Biggest one in decades. All the big crime bosses will be there bidding for one lot in particular. We’re talking deals of over a million.”

“What’s this one lot that’s so valuable?”

“Nazi memorabilia,” Cole said with a hushed voice. A disgusted expression spread across his face. “I’ve been tracking this particular guy for the last couple of years with the aim of taking him down for good. He funnels the proceeds into a number of neo-Nazi groups. The problem is, none of my contacts are involved. I don’t know the actual location. That’s where you come in.”

It felt like old times before all the craziness with Ivanov: Cole and I scoring a big deal or planning on taking down some underworld scumbag.

That was Cole’s real motivation for all this. I guess we both had a kind of Robin Hood complex. A few small crimes were fair payment if it would mean we could take down someone bigger and badder, and give away a large chunk of the proceeds to various charities.

Cole lost his mother to heart disease, so he regularly gave his ill-gotten gains to the Heart Foundation. I spread my donations across a number of causes: various children’s charities and cancer research being the main focus.

I’m not using that as a way of saying that what I’ve done in terms of criminal activity is entirely excusable, but it’s not just for random, selfish greed. If it was, I’d just take Cole’s money and leave, but he needed my help, and so did Cordi. Although, it could quite possibly be the other way around too. I needed them just as much.

“What do you need from me?” I asked, intrigued.

“I’ve found out who’s running and organising the auction. They have a small office in Soho. I need you to install a key logger on their computer so I can get access to the secure email system. It’s all online, so there’s no emails kept on the hard drive.”

A key logger was a piece of software that you install onto a computer. It sits in the background undetected, recording every press of a key and click of a mouse. It then sends that information to a server over the Internet. Cole would then be able to download that file and find out what the user’s password was for their email system.

“That sounds simple enough,” I said. “You have the software?”

“Here.” He passed me a USB drive, which I pocketed. “It’s from your old pal Henzo. ‘Plug ’n’ Play’, he said. No need to reboot. Just stick the drive in and execute the application. His software will do the rest. I have the server access details already, and it’ll alert me via text message when it’s sent the file.”

He also gave me the address of the office I’d need to enter.

“This could finally be the way to get rid of Ivanov,” Cole said.

“Is he involved with this Nazi stuff?”

“Nah, just the money involved would be enough to pay him off for good.” He looked around the pub to make sure no one was watching. The barman was on the other side, chatting to the two business dudes. “After the goods have been paid for, I’ll be there. We’ll split the money fifty-fifty. It’ll be the biggest payday of our lives.”

A shiver of excitement shot up my spine and made me shudder. Cole’s intensity and excitement never ceased to affect me. “Count me in,” I said. Before I could say anything else, my cell rang, breaking the moment. “Sorry, I got to take this,” I said. It was Cordi.

“Hey, Cordi,” I said. “What’s up?”

“We’ve got a new lead. Alex managed to get a shot of the bike’s number plate and traced it to a golf and country club. Are you still at the Coach and Horse?”

“Yeah, just having a chat with Cole. That’s good news about the lead. When do you want to go check it out?”

“We’re picking you up in about ten minutes, if that’s okay?”

“We?”

“Alex and I. He came over earlier.”

“Huh, how come he’s involving us? I got the distinct impression he wanted us out of his way now that he was leading the homicide investigation.”

“I have a feeling he wants to keep us involved so he can keep an eye on us. That, or he’s up to something. Probably wants to get on my good side so I’ll sign the divorce papers. Okay, gotta go, Alex is at the front door. See you in a bit.”