Bad Sister(90)

‘No, I’m not threatening you. I’m trying to help you. There’s a murder investigation going on and I have a suspicion that Flint is involved, and maybe, by association, you. Anything you can say that’ll help figure this all out, then the better all round for everyone.’

‘Who was murdered?’

‘Eric Hargreaves. A prisoner from Baymead.’

‘Shit.’ Brett stood up and walked to the window. ‘Look, I’ll tell you what I know but it’s just what I picked up here and there, from months of listening. He didn’t tell me a lot – I think he wanted to keep me in the dark a bit, make me think he was doing this for me rather than for his own reasons.’

‘Doing what for you?’

‘Just let me tell it my way, please.’

Connie took a deep breath, motioning for him to carry on. She’d have to be patient.

‘I knew Flint had this score he wanted to settle, for his dad – it went way back, like twenty years or more – something about his cousin, Jonny, who was shot dead in Salford. It wasn’t gang-related stuff to start with, but gang members got involved. The kiddy had been used as a heavy for a dodgy deal by a bent businessman who wanted his shipment to come through with no hassle. Something went wrong and it was this bloke’s fault. Nothing was ever done about it, never enough evidence in a lot of these cases apparently – no one’s willing to talk, and some of the big guys have the filth in their pockets anyway, so evidence disappears.’

Connie wiped her palms on her trousers.

‘Flint said his family knew who was responsible – they didn’t have proof as such, but from the chatter after the shooting, they were certain enough to make their move. But this so-called businessman had everything tied up in his assets, and he had protection. It wasn’t easy to make him pay through the usual channels. No one could get to him in his ivory tower.’

She was afraid to ask, but knew she had to. ‘So, what did they do?’

‘Best way to get to him was through his kid – his pride and joy. Like Jonny had been to his dad, Flint’s uncle. By all accounts you don’t mess with this family and get away with it. Anyway, he bided his time. Then, wham!’ Brett smacked one closed fist into his other open hand.

Could her dad be the businessman he was talking about? It seemed like too much of a coincidence, Connie didn’t want to believe it. She shut her eyes, pressing her fingertips against them. Don’t cry.

She took a moment, not trusting her voice. ‘They got revenge by killing this businessman’s child?’

‘Yeah, that seems to have been the outcome. As far as I know they did it in such a way that it looked like an accident – wrong time, wrong place kind of thing. A fight among rival fans at a football match, or something.’

Connie bit the inside of her cheek, hard. The metallic taste of blood trickled down her throat. The bastard. All these years her dad had known Luke died because of his dodgy business dealings. How could he live with himself?

The information flooded her brain, she struggled to comprehend it. If the revenge had been exacted though, then why wasn’t Luke’s death enough? Why come after her?

‘If he got his revenge, why would Flint and his family still want to carry this on? Surely the debt was paid.’

‘Not sure.’ Brett moved away from the window, sitting back down opposite Connie. ‘I heard this and that, like how the man continued doing business in the same way, even after his son’s death. Still does. He uses other people to help him import dodgy stuff – puts their lives at risk for his own benefit. Never gets his own hands dirty, of course.’

‘Drugs?’

‘I don’t know what he’s into, but apparently he didn’t learn his lesson. He crossed Flint’s dad again years later, caused him more grief using one of his lads for a deal. They got banged up for it and he got away scot-free again. I guess they got pissed off with him. There was something else, another reason – one call mentioned that he’d royally fucked them over. Flint said things like, Who did he think he was, taking them for fools, trying to pull the wool over their eyes? I never knew the details of that, though. But it sounded like the final piss-take and they meant business then.’

‘Why not kill him, the businessman?’

‘Apart from the problem of getting to him? Too easy to trace I suppose. Flint’s dad didn’t want a direct trail that’d lead back to him, bringing trouble to his doorstep. Plus, better to watch the man suffer, no?’

Did Brett know she was the sister of the dead boy? The businessman’s daughter – the one Flint wanted to get to?

‘I don’t understand what Hargreaves had to do with this, why he was murdered.’

‘I can’t say I do, either. I heard Flint on the phone – not the PIN one – his smuggled mobile, talking about a “suitable messenger”. Brett made quotation marks with his fingers. ‘They wanted someone to not only deliver the message, but to find their way to the right person, too,’ Brett said. Shrugging, he added, ‘I’ve no idea about the particulars of this part of the plan, I wasn’t privy to it. I knew this guy was someone who you had a history with, though. That was common knowledge on the wings after it all blew up. I knew the name Connie Moore, because you’d done a favourable report for him – got him released. Then he’d raped someone.’