HE HELD her tight and she held him back, both afraid they might drop to the floor if they let go. The fear that had rushed through Darian when he saw Gallowglass move was a new intensity to him, but it was over now.
“Ross.”
Darian turned around. The low grunt of his name had come from the man bleeding on the floor. Corey was standing over his protégé. Darian had expected to see the DI with his phone out, calling an ambulance, but instead he was standing still, looking down with disgust at a man he’d thought he’d known better. Gallowglass was ignoring him, focused on Darian.
“Ross, I’m going to tell you.”
Corey said, “Shut up, Randulf. Don’t listen to him, Ross, he needs help, he’s raving. The man has a knife in his guts and a fever in his brain, for fuck’s sake.”
It was Corey’s tone, the desperation of it, that had Darian walking across the floor toward Gallowglass. If this was something the DI didn’t want Darian to hear then it was something he wouldn’t allow himself to miss. He stood over Gallowglass, letting the man’s fading eyes meet his.
Gallowglass said, “You need to know because you’re the only one that cares about it. Them…They don’t care. Since the night it happened they’ve been lying. Playing games. With you, and with me.”
He grimaced and stopped, looking down at the knife but still not daring to touch the thing that was trying to take his life. He was in pain and breathing fast, but his voice held rising strength and he seemed like he was going to make it. Darian felt comfortable letting him take the time to tell his story. Corey opened his mouth, but Darian spoke first.
He said to Gallowglass, “Go on.”
“She, your girlfriend, she was supposed to be getting the gaffer, Corey…she was supposed to be getting him information about Guerra’s business. Incriminate people. Find out where the money was. He was scared. Lucas, others before him…Other stations are standing up…standing up to him now. He wanted money to get out. She helped him. Then they split up, Guerra, he chucked her…found out, I don’t know. She went after him. It was her. It was her that killed him. Went to his flat because there was more she had to get for Corey. He had…that night he had the papers on him. All of it. Got them from the bank. The gaffer’s money, Slight, all the details. The bank tipped the gaffer and he told her…told your girlfriend. Didn’t want him using them…Chased him and stabbed him. Then she got him in to clean it up for her. Him. Corey. Him and me went round. We took the body away to buy us time. He went…we went into the flat and took away all the stuff about his money. Anything dodgy. Protect the cash so Corey can get it. Then we put the body back…Back in the alley where it was before. The guy who found it, he was our guy, working for us. We controlled the whole thing. Everything. Made sure Corey was in charge of the investigation. It was all up to us, but he was so damn greedy…Wanted everything for himself.”
Gallowglass paused again because his breathing was rapid-fire. Darian looked at Corey, saw the expression on his face change from curious to sickened. He looked back over his shoulder at Maeve, standing by the window. She seemed fascinated, but not scared and not ready to step in and defend herself.
Gallowglass said, “She’s not right, Ross. She’s dangerous. Always was. Corey covered up for her because she helped him get the papers from Guerra, that was what he wanted. It told him everything. Everything. He knew where all the money was now…Not just his own, either. He’s been scared lately, scared. His contacts are getting picked off. He’s not getting away with it anymore. So he wanted to take all the money and run. Use Guerra’s papers. Needed to protect your girlfriend for that. Keeping a killer on the streets. A killer. That was when I knew he’d lost it.”
That was as much as Corey was willing to listen to. He shouted at Darian, “He’s talking shite and you’re stupid enough to listen to him. Maeve killing Moses? Give me a break. Me letting her get away with it? Not a chance, not a bloody chance. This is insane. The man’s losing his wits with his blood; you can see that, you can hear it.”
Darian didn’t pay any attention. He turned and looked at Maeve, the person who mattered most to him in that room. She smiled. A little curl of the lips at either side, cheeks dimpling sweetly, her eyes on Darian, judging him. She wanted to know what his reaction was going to be before she provoked it, so they held eye contact for five or six seconds while Corey shouted and she didn’t leap in to defend herself. Just smiled.
All the talk of wanting to get justice for Moses, and now she stood there and smiled. The confusion was dizzying. It was Gallowglass that snapped him back to clarity, talking to Corey.
“All that talk about doing the right thing, that was bullshit. You said we were going to help the city. You said I was going to still be doing police work. I was intimidating people for you to make money from them. I was covering up for a murderer. A murderer…You made a fool out of me. Well, I put a stop to it, didn’t I, gaffer? I put a stop to all your lies. That’s what a good cop does. Now you got to face the music. You and me together. I’ll tell them every damn thing.”
Corey said nothing. He stood looking down at the man he had trained and considered a worthy apprentice. This was betrayal, a failure of priorities the DI couldn’t comprehend.
Darian turned fully to face Maeve. She had been dumped by Moses when he found out she was feeding info to Corey. She waited outside the flat and she went for him, cut him. Moses ran but he was carrying the paperwork that shone a light on his work, so he tried to be careful, tried for escape without looking for help. She killed him and called Corey to cover it up. He covered up a murder because she got him into the flat to clean out the rest of the paperwork that would tell Corey where mountains of dirty money were. That trail of soiled wealth led him to Moira Slight and Durell Kotkell.
Darian looked at Maeve and said, “Why did you hire me? You could have been clear if you hadn’t brought me in.”
The smile spread. “I didn’t want to be clear. I told you, I wanted justice for Moses. You know what really surprised me? I went to his flat and I didn’t know what I was going to do, but when I did it, it was perfect. I’ve never felt anything like it. The excitement, Darian, there’s nothing in this world like it. The power of life in your hands, running on the edge of death. You’ll never experience the thrill of it, and I wanted to keep that going. It was fun. Don’t pretend you didn’t have fun with me, because I know you did. You loved it, and I loved it.”
He didn’t know when it had happened but the window behind her was wide open. It was uncharacteristically still out there, the curtain hardly moving. Maeve still smiled, looking Darian in the eye. This had always been her plan. Ride the thrill all the way to whatever ending it arrived at, and here it was.
Darian said quietly, “Don’t.”
She shook her head and laughed. Then she stepped backward and perched on the windowsill. She dropped back into the dark Challaid night.