She slowly sat down opposite him, her mouth drawn in a thin, hard line.
‘I know you are dealing drugs to the Bellview inmates and did the same at Holloway. From what I’ve seen, it’s been going on in plain sight for years.’
She folded her arms tightly across her chest. She looked strong, but her eyes betrayed her, and he could hear her grinding her teeth.
‘Here’s the deal. If you agree to help me, I keep your secret. Then when the job’s done, if it’s all gone my way, you get your passport and clear out, never to be seen again. If you don’t agree, I hand your little notebook to the police.’
Now Janet was certain Josh did actually know everything. For the first time she sounded afraid.
‘I wouldn’t last two minutes if I gave up my dealers. These are gang lads, street thugs even the cops don’t mess with.’
‘I don’t want your dealers.’
‘So, what the fuck do you want? I can’t give you my stash, they’ll kill me.’
‘Other way round, sweetheart. I’m going to give you my stash.’
Janet looked confused. Josh opened his folder, took out Rodney Middleton’s photograph and put it down in front of her. He then prodded it with his finger forcing Janet to look.
‘Yes, I know who he is,’ she said, ‘but he’s not after anything from me, except his legit medication: OxyContin and anti-depressants. He got beaten up, see, and they damaged his shoulder. He doesn’t mix with the junkies ’cause they’d punch him out for his tabs.’
Josh took a deep breath. ‘We have a week, at a stretch, two.’ Janet sat in stunned silence as she watched him pull on a pair of surgical gloves and take several numbered sachets from the folder. ‘Give him sachet number one first. It’s fentanyl. Not enough to kill him, but enough to scare whoever finds him. Give him naloxone to bring him round. I want everyone to think he’s using. Next, give him sachet two. This is fentanyl with a tiny amount of xylazine. Again, not enough to kill him. He’ll find it harder to remember what happened this time. Use the naloxone again. Next, sachet three. Then four. Then five. You get the idea. None of these should kill him but, by now, he’ll be starting to bleed and ulcerate because each sachet contains a slightly higher dose of xylazine. He’ll be asking you for more pain relief, so dosing him can happen in plain sight... just like it always does. You be on shift, Janet. You be the one to check on him. You be the one to ignore the zombification if it happens. You be the one to treat his ulcers, keeping them covered, making out they’re fine. Sachet number eight is the final one.’
Janet remained impressively calm in the midst of this litany of horrors.
‘I know you can do this. He’s a piece of shit.’
She leaned forward. ‘How do I know I can trust you?’
‘You have no alternative but to trust me. Do what I say... and you get to go to New Zealand.’
She took a deep breath. ‘Who was the fucker that tipped you off about me?’
‘No one tipped me off, I’m just a fucking great detective. You oversee the inmates’ medication. You got empty capsules and pill crushers hidden in your home. You use Dr Zardari to write legitimate prescriptions, mainly painkillers or sleepers I guess, making sure they’re capsules. Then all you gotta do is empty the capsules out and refill them with whatever it is you’re selling. Then you’ve got a legit bottle of prescription medication containing pills filled with your street drugs. No one would ever guess. It’s so simple, it’s genius.’
She laughed, shaking her head. ‘I thought it might be that young Eric you were having such a pleasant chat with, sugar and spice and all things nice... evil little prick carved up his siblings you know. Anyway, look, I only have two weeks till I retire. It’s impossible.’
‘Nothing’s impossible.’
‘No, no,’ Janet panicked. ‘You’ll fuck off and leave me in the shit.’
Josh paused to think for a second. ‘Janet, all I want is for Rodney Middleton to get what he deserves. That’s all I care about. I don’t give a damn about what you’ve been doing.’
Janet put her hands flat on her knees to stop her foot from jiggling. Josh could tell she was thinking, weighing up how much he was guessing and how much he could actually prove. But without her passport and cash, none of that mattered. Josh took out a burner phone and put it in her hand.
‘No one else gets involved; it’s just you and me.’
She wrapped her fingers around the phone and shut her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again she seemed to have made a decision. ‘Then I guess we have work to do. Turning your drugs into capsules. It’ll take a while. We can have a microwave dinner while we work.’ Janet stood up. ‘I suppose a fuck’s out of the question?’
Josh howled with laughter as Janet headed into the kitchen. She was definitely a piece of work. Which was good in one way: she’d be more than capable of giving Middleton the send-off Josh wanted. But she’d also be capable of double-crossing him if she could.
‘Hey Janet,’ he called out, ‘don’t go poisoning my ready meal. I’ve scanned your notebook to my phone and sent it to a friend of mine. He’ll only send it to the cops if I don’t call him every day for the next two weeks.’
It was a lie, but it wasn’t a bad idea.
Chapter 10
In the end, Jack and Maggie didn’t talk about Adam again that night. They’d simply shared a bottle of wine, talked about nothing important and then headed to bed. Neither of them had actively decided to avoid the subject; they were just fed up of arguing.
It was gone midnight as Maggie lay in the curve of his body, his arms around her waist. Maggie felt more content than she had for a long time.
‘I do love you, Jack, and I’m sorry if I sounded like a pain in the arse earlier. It’s just that I was worried. I know I’ve been a bit over the top. I thought it could be baby blues... that was part of my stress for a while.’
Jack didn’t reply although she knew he was listening because his thumb stroked her forearm. He just let her talk. ‘Recently, you’ve not been sleeping too badly and have been more like your old self, so it could be really good for you to return to work. It feels like we’ve turned a corner. Especially now the building work is finished.’
‘Just promise me no more extensions or walls being knocked down,’ he said.
Maggie laughed. ‘I promise the dining room arch can wait.’ She pulled Jack’s arm tighter around her. ‘I’m really looking forward to going back to work. Penny will have her help, you and I will be earning again. It’s all coming together, Jack.’
Jack reached out to turn off his bedside light as Maggie turned around to face him.
‘So, isn’t it a bit unwise for you to go and meet up with this Adam Border again?’ In the darkness, she could feel him tense.
‘Mags, it’s over. I’m not getting involved again.’
‘You got involved again by going to see him. Please don’t get angry, Jack. I’m just trying to understand. Isn’t he just an art forger?’
Jack tossed the duvet aside and moved to the end of the bed. ‘Do you know who Gustav Klimt is?’
‘I think I’ve heard of him,’ she said dubiously.
‘They found a finished painting on his easel called Lady with a Fan. In June 2003 it sold for eighty-five million. When I was in Adam’s studio at the school, he showed me these cuttings about the painting and the auction and then he goes over to one of the easels and whips off the sheet like a magician... and there’s the painting.’
‘What, the real one?’
‘No, a fake. But he said he’s going to switch it for the eighty-five million job.’