45

‘He said what?’ Cara couldn’t believe her ears.

‘Yeah,’ said Heather. ‘He had the wrong guy all along.’

‘But how could he…? How could…?’

‘You know, I’m not comfortable talking about all this drug stuff. It totally turned our Danny’s head and probably cost him his life. So, if you don’t mind I’d rather not. Not now, hen. I can’t handle it.’

‘But, Heather…’ Cara began, but reading the pain in the other woman’s face she couldn’t push her any further. ‘It’s just, for our Sean’s sake I need to know what’s going on,’ she finished, but heard the strength in her voice fade as she spoke.

‘Listen, doll. There’s a bunch of guys out the front. Speak to them. I really didn’t want some of them here at all.’ She shook her head. ‘What they do turns my stomach, but everybody needs to grieve, right? And maybe some of them will see what happened to Danny and take it as a warning.’

Heather looked into the near distance, drifting off. Cara steered her back to where her thought had been going. ‘The guys out front?’

‘Yeah. One of them, guy called Stan. He’s well in with all that crowd. Maybe he knows something? He’s got that cheeky-chappy thing going on. He probably tried to chat you up as you came in.’ She made a face of apology. ‘Have a word wi’ him.’ With that, she walked out of the kitchen and back to the group solicitation she’d been receiving before Cara came in.

Outside, Cara approached the group of men and youths, looking for the one who Heather referred to as Stan. When she reached them, the men split apart to let her through. She got a couple of smiles, nods and somebody asked how Danny’s ma was.

Unsure who she should answer, she spoke to them all, looking around at their faces. ‘Poor woman’s in a bad way.’

She got several low and gruff ‘ayes’ in response.

When she got through the other side and reached the pavement beyond the gathering, she had another look to see if Stan was there and with a sinking feeling realised he had gone. Looking at a couple of young men at the outskirts of the group, she picked one who looked most friendly.

‘Hey, mate,’ she said. ‘Do you know Stan?’

‘Sorry, missus,’ he said and shook his head. ‘Don’t know him.’

His friend looked at her and said, ‘Stan the Man?’

‘Yeah,’ said Cara hopefully.

‘Never heard of him,’ the man said. Then the two of them burst out laughing.

‘Very funny,’ Cara said, made a face at them and turned and walked away. Then she heard a shout. She turned; it was Stan making his way through the crowd.

‘You’re never leaving without saying cheerio?’ he said to her. ‘Just went inside for a … the loo and I come out and you’re about to leg it.’ He was holding both his arms out and Cara could see he was playing to the gallery, and realised that was also how she could get to him.

She gave him a stare and then turned and walked away.

He caught up to her and held her arm. ‘Did I say something to offend you?’ His smile was large, but she read a faint worry in his eyes that she might leave him with egg dripping from the tip of his nose. He wanted to impress the gang and was concerned she wouldn’t play along.

She took a couple more steps, allowing him to judge her pace, then dropped her head a little and said quietly, ‘It brought it all back you know?’ She allowed a little of her genuine sorrow to leak into her voice. ‘Seeing Heather in there. Talking about Danny…’

‘Sorry, darling, and here I’m acting all Jack the lad.’ He put an arm over her shoulders. And she allowed it, granted him that little prize … for a moment, and then quietly said, ‘Move your arm or I’ll mash your nuts.’

He moved his arm.

‘You knew our Sean, eh?’ She swung round to face him. ‘How?’

‘We did the odd job, here and there, you know?’ He was standing back from her now.

‘For the Gadds?’

His face changed. A wariness appeared in his eyes.

‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell anyone. Sean died working for those bastards and Danny was my last hope to find out the truth.’ She allowed a little tear and inched closer to him.

‘That wasn’t what happened,’ Stan said. ‘Who told you that?’

‘It’s what I heard…’

‘No, I was there as well, doll, and I can tell you that was most definitely not what happened.’

‘Oh, Jesus,’ she said softly. ‘I don’t know who to believe.’ She gave a little sob, exaggerating it a little. ‘This is, like, old news. I mean who cares, right? Our Sean’s dead. Now Danny…’ She tailed off, allowing more of her genuine feelings to show.

Stan looked around as if assessing who was nearby. Then he stepped closer, put a hand on her shoulder, but with real tenderness now. ‘Listen, I’ll tell you what I know, but you can’t tell anyone. I mean anyone, or I’m toast. There’s some dangerous people involved here.’

‘Okay,’ she said making her eyes large. She put a hand on his lower arm. ‘What can you tell me?’

‘Go to the polis with this and I’ll deny everything.’

She snorted. ‘To the polis I’m the crazy sister with a different theory every month. I’ve given up on the polis ever being any help on this.’

‘Right,’ said Stan making his mind up once and for all. ‘Not here. That car there…’ He nodded in the direction of a white Vauxhall Astra just two cars up.

Cara gave him a dead-eyed look.

‘Nae funny business, doll.’ He held his hands up. Cara pretended to weigh what he was offering.

‘Give me your car keys?’ She held out a hand.

‘Nice wee car, innit?’ And the cheeky chappy was back. ‘Want to go for a ride?’ He said the last few words louder. Got a cheer from his mates.

If he gave her what she wanted, Cara thought, he deserved that little victory. As he pulled the keys from his pocket she shot out her hand and grabbed them. His eyebrows went up.

‘Impressive reflexes you’ve got there. You some kind of secret ninja or something?’

She ignored his question, turned and walked towards his car, aimed the remote and pressed a button. Sitting in the passenger side, she kept hold of the car keys.

‘Aww, you not fancy a wee drive?’

‘Thanks for the offer, Stan, but would you mind if we just talked?’ She’d keep up the little woman act for as long as it took, although she was close to grabbing one of his fingers and snapping it if he didn’t get on with it.

‘And that’s the story of my love life right there, darling.’

‘How well did you know our Sean?’ she asked.

He smiled. ‘We did a few runs together…’ He paused as he judged her expression. ‘But the least said about that the better. He was a cheery wee guy, that’s what I remember most. Was always the sparkiest person in the room. Him and Danny were a riot when they got together. A proper double act.’ His smile softened. ‘Poor bastard.’ He twisted in his seat to face her. ‘And the polis never listened to you? That must have been murder, darling. Pun intended.’

‘It was hellish and my name’s Cara.’ She turned in her seat to meet his gaze, her expression a request for him to start talking.

He took the hint. ‘Right. Stan.’ He pointed at himself. Studied her. ‘You sure you want to hear this, Cara? It wisnae nice.’

‘I think I’ve heard the worse of it already, Stan. Please. Just tell me what you know.’

‘Right.’ He faced ahead and looked out of the window as if he was gathering his recollections into some kind of order. ‘We didn’t work for the Gadds. We worked for another mob – best if I don’t mention any names – who are in competition with those boys. Sean was paid to run young Christopher off the road in retaliation for something Gadd did. Just a warning, you know? But, with Sean and Danny, you got one, you got both. Sean was driving but. And they were just supposed to break the boy’s leg or something, not kill him.’ He grimaced. ‘Poor bastard’s head hit the kerb and he clocked out.’

Cara thought about Paula, thought about the Gadds, and wondered how much she really knew about all of this. She felt a sudden pang of sympathy for her.

‘For yonks nobody knew nuthin’,’ Stan went on. ‘It was officially a hit-and-run – and Sean thought he was free and clear, you know. For ages. Then he started talking about it. The eejit even said to one of his mates – when he was stoned, to be fair – that he’d got away with murder.’

‘Christ,’ said Cara, closing her eyes against his stupidity.

‘We heard Bill went totally off the rails after Chris died. He was still dealing, like, but apparently he had a strong case of the guilts cos he loved that boy as if he was his own. Found some peace on the pills and in the bottle. Then, eventually, the truth made it back to him.’ He winced. ‘And the rest is history.’

‘So, Danny was there when Sean was beaten?’

‘Aye.’

‘But why wait till now to kill Danny? Why not do them both at the same time?’ Cara couldn’t believe she’d asked such a question. As if gang murder was a regular part of her life.

‘Bill’s missus – a bit of a porker by all accounts – she wanted them both killed…’

‘Daphne Gadd was there – when Bill beat up Sean?’

‘Danny said she was going mental. She was totally egging Bill on. Shouting stuff like…’ Stan adopted a falsetto ‘…“I want every bone on his body broke. I want every injury our Chris had on his bones.” Danny said she was very nearly frothing at the mouth.’

‘How did Danny get away?’

‘The way he tells it … sorry, told it. It was as if Bill sickened himself on poor Sean. Couldn’t handle it anymore and just walked away.’

‘But why kill Danny now?’ Cara repeated.

‘I saw Danny-boy up the town, might have been the week before he was killed. He was out of his nut. He’d been doing well, ken? But something set him back onto the nasties.’ His eyes grew distant as if he was accessing a memory.

‘What?’

‘He said he saw Bill Gadd a few days after the brother died. And Bill Gadd saw him,’ he said the last part with the tone a judge might pass a death sentence.

‘And why was that important? If he didn’t have the stomach for it then, what changed?’

‘Danny and his big gub. He approached Bill and his missus. Told them he’d go to the polis and tell them everything he knew about Sean’s death, and all it would take to keep him quiet was ten grand.’

Ten grand. Cara heard Danny’s mother’s voice. Something about a wedge of cash. And Danny had said something too the last time she’d seen him alive. He really thought they’d stump up.

‘Well, anyway…’ Stan paused. He looked ahead out of the window and for a moment seemed like a different person. Like someone carrying a great weight and purpose, and he didn’t much care who got hurt in the exercise of that purpose. Then his expression lifted and he was Stan the Man again. In that second Cara felt like she got a glimpse into who he really was. Asking more questions might be like drawing a polar bear’s attention to your presence, but she couldn’t help herself.

‘What are you hiding?’ she asked him.

He snorted. Held his hands out. ‘What you see is what you get, darling.’

‘Aye, so you do. You know more about all of this than you’re letting on. What can you tell me, Stan? I’ve been fighting Sean’s corner for years now, on my own. And I was almost getting somewhere. What can you tell me?’

Stan crossed his arms and judging by the tightness in his jaw there was an internal debate being waged. ‘All I’m saying is with Danny they’ve gone too far this time. The people I work with are on it.’

‘Aye, I know the story: the people you work with will sort it and no one will ever hear of it. But I want the truth to be known. The Gadds were up to all sorts and my brother was murdered because of it.’ As she spoke she read his expression, convinced now he was teetering on the edge of something. ‘Please?’ she added. ‘What can you tell me?’

He grunted and pulled his phone from his jacket pocket. ‘I’m not a grass, right? And if this ever – I mean ever – gets back to certain people…’

‘I swear. No one will ever hear anything from me.’

‘Well, that will not do,’ he grinned as if a new approach had just occurred to him, one with greater impact for the people he wanted to hurt. ‘You know what? I’ve changed my mind. You can go to the polis. If that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes.’ His thumbs flashed over the surface. ‘What’s your number?’ She told him and he keyed it in to his phone. ‘Right, there you go.’ He smiled and his look was grim. ‘Danny didn’t deserve to die in a doorway like that. You’ve got a day to get your sense of justice. After that justice goes to the street.’

Cara plucked her phone out of her pocket to access the file that Stan had sent her, and as he kept talking she noticed that she’d missed a text from Paula. She could read it later. This was more important. And now that Stan had released himself from his code of silence, it seemed he couldn’t shut up.

‘The guy in this photo I just sent you? You need to watch him. He’s connected to some big criminal outfit in Eastern Europe. Word is there was a lot of money involved and he was getting help from the Gadds to move it.’

The phone pinged that a message had been received. She opened the message and looked at the picture on her screen.

She knew this guy.

How did she know this guy?

‘Danny said he saw him following him in a big Ford, a Mondeo or something. Danny was bricking it. Said as soon as he got the cash from Bill Gadd, he was going to leg it. Go somewhere warm.’

It was the mention of the car that did it. Cara did know this guy. He was in the backseat of the car that drove past her with Kevin Farrell and Elaine Teenan. And she was sure he was the guy outside her flat in the blue Mondeo who scared Danny off.

‘You get that to the polis, Cara,’ said Stan. ‘And you watch yourself. This guy is in with some Eastern European criminal outfit. He’s Polish, I think. Some kind of enforcer for hire, is what I hear. Whatever he is, he’s a whole new kind of dangerous.’