‘What? Who’s dead? Who is this?’ Kathy stood up and hurried towards the living room door.
‘Is what kinda trouble yuh get me mixed up inna?’
‘Walker? Is that you? Who is dead?’ Marshall hurried to Kathy’s side.
Walker swore into the phone. ‘Me baby mother. Dem couldn’t find me, so dem go to her house and kill her.’
‘How do you know it was related?’
‘Dem find UNX on the wall. Painted in her blood.’
‘Oh my God!’
‘Is wha’ yuh get me into?’
‘I don’t know. I am so sorry,’ Kathy cried into the phone.
‘Me need more money.’
‘How much do you need?’
‘A hundred bills.’
‘OK. I need to talk to my manager. I’ll see what I can do. Meet me at seven o’clock.’ The phone went dead. Kathy collapsed into Marshall’s arms.
Kathy and Jeff stooped and watched Walker turn off East Street and head towards the car. A few moments later, headlights lit up the small lane. A large rat, almost the size of a small cat, scurried away from a pile of garbage and disappeared down the water drain at the side of the road. Walker froze and quickly raised his hands above his head. His right arm was visibly lower than his left, and there was a small bloodstain near the shoulder of his white shirt. Walker was bracketed by lights from two jeeps, one before him and one behind him. Kathy could make out the silhouette of a man climb out of the vehicle facing Walker and saunter towards him. He stood arms akimbo a few feet in front of Walker. Kathy could not hear what was being said, but she could see the man aggressively pointing at Walker, who seemed to be cowering under the influence of the forceful appendage. The man slapped Walker across the face. Walker stumbled backwards from the force of the blow, and then there were two flashes and loud explosions, and Walker fell, like a felled tree, on his face.
‘Oh my God!’ Kathy gasped.
‘They just murdered Walker!’ Jeff exclaimed.
Suddenly, there was a barrage of gunfire. Jeff’s car rocked from side to side, and the windows exploded as the bullets bombarded it. Jeff and Kathy ducked below the wall and looked at each other in shock.
‘Kathy, we have to go! When they realise we are not in the car they will come looking for us,’ Jeff blurted out; his grey eyes were as large as saucers.
As suddenly as it started, the gunfire stopped. Kathy and Jeff kept as low as they could and scampered across the dusty yard of the office building on East Street from where they had observed the terrifying incident. They jumped over the chain-link fence and ran around the corner of the building before they heard the startled shouts behind them.
‘We need to get back to the Gleaner!’ Jeff shouted. His barrel chest, crew cut and booming voice reminded Kathy of a sergeant major. They sprinted across the car park of the building, heading north. They were only a half-mile from the newspaper building. They heard the engines starting behind them and the screeching of tires. Kathy and Jeff dug deep and sprinted faster up the slight incline towards the Gleaner Company building, Kathy’s long athletic strides helping her pull away from the short-legged Jeff. They had just run across North Street, when they heard what sounded like the first vehicle entering East Street from the lane, apparently driving the wrong way up the one-way street. Only one hundred yards to go!
‘Open the gate! Open the gate!’ Jeff bellowed as they ran towards the building. Kathy always wondered how such a large voice could emanate from such a small man. A guard pushed his head out the guardhouse, recognised Kathy and Jeff and quickly jumped to action. The large gate started swinging open within seconds. Jeff and Kathy dove through the twenty-foot gate, and without prompting, the guard shut the gate behind them. Jeff and Kathy scurried into the guardhouse and sat with their backs against the wall as the first vehicle skidded to a halt outside the gate.
‘We a look fe some gunman dat just come dis way. Yuh see anyting?’ a voice shouted at the guard.
‘No, mi no see nuting. Is what dem do?’ the guard answered.
‘We just have a shoot-out wid dem down de road. We kill one of dem, but we tink two of dem get wey.’
‘If me see anyting me will call yuh. Who me must ask for?’
‘Just call SIC Squad. Dem will patch you tru.’ The engines gunned violently and the vehicles sped off east, along North Street.
‘Oh my God, Jeff. It’s the police!’ Kathy whispered. ‘The police just murdered Walker!’
Jay jumped out of his chair. ‘Let’s not jump to any quick conclusions. This murder is horrific, but unfortunately, there are far too many of these in Jamaica every day. We have no idea what this guy Walker has been involved in. This could be related to any other underhanded activity he has been involved in. This is not concomitant.’
Jay looked around the eight-seater table at Kenneth, Sean and Marshall. Jenny had invited the group over for brunch before Kenneth took Jay to the airport, and they were seated at the dining table after a hearty meal of mackerel rundown and green bananas. Kathy was in animated discussion on her phone, pacing from one side of the room to the other. The green pastel drapes that covered the dining room windows fluttered in the breeze. Marshall killed a mosquito that had landed on his forearm.
‘Jay is right. We have to tread very carefully here. Inspector Albert’s SIC Squad is a very decorated unit. Maybe this is a case of a few bad apples,’ Kenneth said.
Jenny walked into the room, ‘I say we stay out of this. What has this got to do with us? Why should we get involved? The risks seem far too high.’
‘That is true, but innocent people are being hurt. The Martin girl is still missing, and now these two young men are dead,’ Kenneth objected.
‘So let the authorities handle it,’ Jenny appealed. ‘We are not the police.’
‘Yes, but …’ Kenneth objected.
Jenny pulled a chair from the table, and sat down. ‘We are dealing with cold-blooded murderers with badges.’
‘Well, we don’t have any evidence of that,’ Jay interrupted.
Jenny glared at him. Jay quickly examined his navel, as Kathy sat down beside him.
‘We must not get involved,’ Jenny insisted.
Kathy’s phone rang. She looked at the display with some apprehension, and then relaxed when she recognized the number, ‘It’s my manager.’ She answered the phone, ‘Hello Craig.’
‘I’ve been trying to get hold of you. Your phone has been busy.’
‘Yes. I was speaking to …’
‘Jeff is dead.’
‘What?’ Kathy whispered into the phone. Everyone around the table stopped talking and focused on Kathy.
‘He didn’t come into the office this morning. We tried to call him but he didn’t answer. So I sent someone around to his apartment. He was found shot to death in his bedroom.’
‘No! This can’t be happening!’
‘There is more. The gunmen wrote the letters “K UNX” on the wall in blood.’
‘What? Oh my God! No!’
‘Do you know what this is about? I know you and Jeff were working together on an assignment for the last few days.’
‘Yes, we were. But I can’t talk about it yet.’
‘Well you’ll have to talk about it soon. The police want to talk to you. Inspector Albert called …’
‘What? What did you tell him?’
‘I told him I would try and track you down because you hadn’t been in this morning.’
‘OK. Don’t tell him anything. Craig, I’ll get back to you. I have to go.’
‘Kathy? You don’t want me to tell Inspector Albert anything? What is going on?’
‘I don’t know what is going on. I need some time to figure this out and clear my head. Bye.’ Kathy hung up and swore. Jenny flinched. ‘Sorry. Excuse my French.’
‘What’s going on?’ Jenny asked.
Kathy related her conversation with Craig. The group sat in quiet reflection. Kathy rested her head on the table, cushioned by her arm, and started crying. Jenny walked over, pulled up a chair and consoled her. Marshall put his arm around Kathy and kissed her neck. The only sound in the room was that of Kathy’s sobbing.