I was watching the taxi meter closely, which mounted higher and higher every several seconds until it was surely bound to equal the Greek deficit figure.
‘Have you learned anything more about Reid?’ Zara asked.
‘Very little,’ I said. ‘Already convicted of double murder and given a life sentence with a minimum of thirty-five years to serve before he’s eligible for parole. His family are paying us privately, a modest amount, to advise on whether or not he has any realistic prospect of appealing the conviction.’
‘He was given to you through Percy?’
‘Not quite. I was actually recommended to him by, ah – by Billy Barber.’
‘Oh, awesome! I love meeting the fascists of Belmarsh.’ She lowered her voice, grumbling. ‘And my ex used to moan about her job at Primark …’
We arrived at the prison and, after paying the taxi driver almost the sum I was being paid to advise Reid, I moodily surrendered myself to the familiar torturous groping of Belmarsh’s security staff.
It was twenty minutes before we were led through the legal visitors’ corridor to the cell where Reid was waiting for us. He was a powerfully built black man of around fifty with dreadlocks as thick as rope. He greeted the two of us with an open, engaging smile; in that smile, his teeth were stained deep yellow.
‘Mr Reid,’ I said, taking a seat across the table. ‘I’m Elliot Rook. This is Zara Barnes.’
‘Isaac,’ he replied softly. ‘And just like that, we’re all friends. So, my good-good people, what are my chances of appealing this shit?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Zara interrupted, raising her hand like a pupil in a classroom. ‘If you don’t mind, there’s one preliminary matter I’d like to ask you about …’
‘Go on, little one,’ he said. It didn’t seem patronising. His tone was rather warm.
‘Our services were recommended to you by an ex-client named Barber, is that correct?’
‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘Billy Barber. So?’
‘So …?’ She looked between us, frowning. ‘William Barber is a white supremacist, a racist to the core, and you’re – you’re –’
‘A Black man?!’ Reid shouted. Then, after holding out for a second or two longer, he exploded into booming, almost deafening laughter. ‘I’m sorry, little one, but you should’ve seen your face!’ He wiped a knuckle across one leaking eye as the hysterics quietened to a chuckle. ‘Priceless.’
Zara didn’t seem so amused. Her front teeth were set into her lower lip, hands gripping the edge of the table to keep from being huffed and puffed into oblivion.
Once more, Reid was smiling. ‘In here, a man is just another con. Barber was all right by me. We padded together until he was taken into high security, but he told me he was going to get this Rook onboard. Next thing I know, Barber’s a free man. You must have the golden touch, my friend. The question is, will you be doing the same for me?’
‘I hope so,’ I replied. ‘Why don’t you tell me a little more about the night in question. You were somehow connected to the killings, weren’t you?’
‘Unwittingly. I cruised over to Margate with a mate of mine from London to meet a couple of ladies off Tinder. You know how that game goes. Tinderellas, I call them.’ He glanced to Zara and waggled his eyebrows. She didn’t respond. ‘Only, when we got to Margate, this mate of mine started giving me the business. He wanted driving here, he wanted driving there. I must’ve looked like I was Driving Miss Daisy.’ He sat up straight, imitating Morgan Freeman with the steering wheel in both hands. ‘Um, yes’m, boss! Lord knows! I used to rassle hogs down yonder!’
I blinked. ‘Your friend was white, I take it?’
The act quickly vanished, his face flinching as if he’d given too much away. ‘Long story short,’ he said, ‘this supposed mate of mine had promised these Tinderellas a wild night.’
‘What sort of a wild night?’
‘Well, I don’t want to use the term “coke-fuelled orgy” in front of a little one, but …’
‘He wanted drugs,’ I said.
‘You got it. Now, I was pretty baked. The next thing I knew, I was giving a lift to two of his mates I didn’t know. All there was to do, they said, was drop them off back at their place, where my boy would pick up the sniff, and then we’d be nothing but a couple of princes on our way to the ball. The sexy ball, you feel me?’
‘Yes,’ Zara said. ‘I think we got that.’
He grinned softly. ‘We turned up to the place and I waited outside while they went in.’
‘And let me guess,’ I offered, ‘instead of collecting the drugs, the dealers were killed.’
‘Of course,’ he said, the grin somehow remaining. ‘I couldn’t even tell you how long I was sitting out there behind the wheel. Hours I guess, but the sirens woke me up. The police said I went in with one of those, what do you call them? Zombie knives. This thing was still sticking out of some fool’s chest.’
‘And this mate of yours?’ I asked. ‘The one you’d driven from London.’
‘Slipped out the back door and left me behind.’
‘So,’ Zara said, ‘one more time, if you don’t mind. This friend of yours wants drugs. The local dealers aren’t home, so he presumably makes a phone call and you have to go and pick them up. These two dealers willingly get into your vehicle and show you to their place. Then, as soon as all three men are inside, your friend turns around and kills them both?’
‘That’s it. That’s been my argument all along. They had this dog, you see. Big fucker. Pure white. An Argentino, they call it. Mexican or something. I don’t know how anybody could pull a knife with that fucker around and still get out of there without either wasting the dog first or getting torn up enough to leave a hefty trail of DNA behind.’
‘The dog was loose in the same room at the time?’ I asked.
‘Yep.’
‘How can you be certain?’
A grim chuckle, darkening his eyes to something far less friendly. ‘By the time Old Bill got there, the animal had turned hungry and been at one of the bodies. Guts everywhere. A real mess. The first pig to walk into the place lost half his left hand. He’s scarred up to the shoulder now. He managed to put a taser into the dog and gave it a heart attack, which killed any chance of being able to prove that the mutt wouldn’t recognise me.’
‘Why would these two dealers have done that?’ I mused. ‘I mean, why would they invite their own killer inside? A rival from London, no less?’
‘Isn’t that obvious?’ Reid leaned forward. ‘These players weren’t rivals. They were part of the same game. Word is these two dealers, they were sort of, like, end-of-the-line pushers.’
‘For a county lines operation?’ Zara asked, briefly catching my eye.
‘If that’s what they’re calling it.’ He shrugged. ‘They get given a place to live, an area to run, and even their own dog to hold the stash. It’s like a franchise. Only, these fools decided to cheat the system. They had their hands in the till. Management aren’t into that, so they sent someone down from head office to have a word. Start afresh.’
‘Did the men talk between themselves in your car?’ I asked. ‘Did they seem amicable?’
‘That’s the fucked-up thing,’ he said. ‘My mate – former mate, I should say – acted like he didn’t know them at all. He was making out he got this number from somebody else, but he had to have known them, right? Shit, this dog’s territorial enough to rip a cop’s hand off, but it lets a stranger put a knife through its owners.’
‘Maybe the dog was scared of the knife?’ Zara tried.
‘I doubt it,’ I said. ‘I’ve seen the breed and I don’t believe they’d back down from anything. Not unless …’ I fell momentarily quiet.
Yes, I had seen them. They’d been savage, incredibly so, right up until Jacob Werner had arrived. But was it really Werner they were afraid of? Or was it something he’d said?
‘Obey …’ I muttered to myself.
Reid tipped his head. ‘Come again?’
‘What if it wasn’t the face they recognised?’ I asked. ‘What if the management, as you call them, have a keyword already trained into the animals?’
At my side, Zara snapped her fingers. ‘Of course! This guy walks in and pulls a knife. The dog rears up, but before anything happens your mate says the magic word and the dog falls onto its haunches!’
Reid shook his head in disbelief. ‘Holy shit. You are worth the money. Does this mean you could get me out?’
‘The story is logical enough,’ I said, ‘but there’s a gaping flaw, as far as your defence is concerned.’
‘Which is?’
‘The prosecution could simply suggest that you were the killer invited inside. That there was no mate to begin with. You made it past the dog the same way your so-called friend must have, because you were the assassin sent there by management. Then, when you pulled the knife, you said the magic word.’
His face sank. ‘What I just told you is the truth. I wouldn’t even know the damn word!’
‘That may be so, but can’t you see the hole? Unless you can somehow prove that you never left that car, then your appeal would be lost before it begins. Although …’
‘Although?’ His ears perked.
‘There could be another way,’ I said. ‘Tell the truth. The entire truth. Throw the real killer under the bus.’
Every bit of humour left the room. ‘Are you serious?’ he asked.
‘Why not?’ Zara joined. ‘Your mate left you behind to take the fall. He’s out there right now enjoying the freedom that should be yours.’
‘I don’t care. I won’t roll on him.’
‘So, tell us about the gang instead,’ I pressed. ‘You seem to know enough about their business. Do they have a name?’
‘No. I don’t know.’
‘How about the E10 Cutthroats?’ Zara asked.
That, apparently, was the final straw. ‘What the fuck is going on here?’ he snapped. ‘I hired you for advice about my appeal, and here you are grilling me like a couple of cops! I think you’d both better get out of here before I lose my famous cool.’
‘Mr Reid,’ I tried, ‘Isaac, I really do think we could help you, if you’d just be willing to give us –’
‘No.’ He held up a hand as large as a stop sign. ‘You think I was born yesterday? You’re into something, the pair of you, and I want fuck all to do with it.’ He stood up and walked past us for the door; he banged on it and the warder opened it from the other side. ‘I might not want to spend the rest of my life in this place, but I do want to have a rest of my life.’
Then he asked the guard to take him back to his cell, and our conference was over.
I had no choice but to let Zara order an Uber on her phone to take us back to central London, which was an hour’s drive away, after promising to transfer the fee before it ever tried to leave her empty account. I hadn’t slept much after the destruction of my car, so all I really wanted to do was get home.
‘I’m going to take the dog for a walk,’ I said. ‘Try to clear my head and forget all about last night. Come along, if you want. I could use a designated scooper.’
‘Wow, thanks, but no thanks. I’ve had Andre’s bail application listed at Snaresbrook for tomorrow afternoon, and I’m still struggling to decide on the change in circumstances that will even justify me making it.’
‘You’ll figure it out,’ I said. ‘I’ve no doubt.’
‘Yeah, right. And maybe tonight I’ll get a lucky break, and his circumstances really will change.’
‘Perhaps they will,’ I said.
And overnight, they did.