‘You’ve hurt your face,’ said Miller.
‘Sticking it where it’s not wanted.’ Smiley stepped inside.
‘Who’s this?’ Miller gestured to Max.
‘He doesn’t know anything,’ I said. ‘Let him go.’
‘We’re not stupid, Miss Kilkenny,’ said Miller.
‘Think murder’s clever, do you?’ I retorted.
Smiley breathed in sharply, then brought a gun out from his suit, held it up against my head, cool on my temple. I felt absurd relief. It wasn’t a knife, he wouldn’t cut me like the other one had. It didn’t last. Giddy with fear, I heard my mouth running on. ‘People know we’re here, you know. What are you planning to do? Kill us all? Bit over the top, isn’t it? Four corpses.’
‘Oh, it’ll be front page,’ said Miller. ‘Crack Addict Massacre. We’ll piece it together. Hobbs, a runaway, lured you all up here. Said he was in trouble.’ Miller tilted his head to the side as though he was dreaming up the next bit. ‘But he wanted money, he needed to get a fix. You refused; there was a scuffle. He flipped. The three of you were shot at close-quarters, your pockets emptied. We found Hobbs in the city centre, a couple of hours later. He’d managed to score. He made a verbal confession on the way to the nick, told us where to find the gun. He still had some of your property in his pockets. Sadly’ he paused and smiled. I smelt mint, ‘sadly, before we could get the police doctor to him, he’d gone into a drug-induced coma. He never recovered.’
‘Just like JB’ My bowels were churning. ‘How did you fix his overdose? He’d never have let you near him with a needle.’
‘I like the old-fashioned ways myself,’ said Smiley. ‘Take someone by surprise, give ‘em a good whiff of chloroform. Few seconds, they’re out of it. All the time in the world, then. Set it up just right.’
‘Why?’ I said. ‘He found out about Sharrocks. He realised Martin had got mixed up with a paedophiles’ ring. That was it, wasn’t it?’
‘A little knowledge is such a dangerous thing,’ said Miller sarcastically.
‘You wouldn’t be told,’ said Smiley. ‘You ignored the paint; off you trot, bothering Mr Kenton. He wasn’t pleased. So I rang you, to make things clear.’ He leaned even closer to make his point. ‘What did you do, stupid cow, you go off sniffing round Mr Mackinlay. Well, when he let us know, I had to send the boys, show you we meant business. But you wouldn’t drop it, would you?’
I resisted the urge to explain; that I thought I had dropped it – I hadn’t realised it was one big conspiracy. I imagined them all on their car phones complaining about me, while I lumbered around.
I got flippant then. ‘You’re giving me a headache,’ I said to Smiley. He clicked the trigger. My bones ran soft. I darted a look at Max and he winked. I couldn’t believe it. He did it again, a slow deliberate wink. He’d cracked.
‘Get the girl,’ Miller instructed Smiley. ‘I’m getting piss wet out here.’ Smiley moved the gun from my head, edged away and swung out through the back of the tower. Miller stepped in, slid out his own gun and trained it on me.
‘You better sort out which one you’re using,’ I said, ‘or it’ll bugger up the forensics, won’t it? Did you get the results you wanted on Derek?’
He gave me a warm smile. ‘Turned out nicely. Fingerprints on the steering wheel, hair on the dead woman’s clothing. We can place him in the car. That’s all we need.’
‘What’s in it for you?’ I asked. ‘You like raping children too?’
His jaw tensed. The gun slammed across my cheekbone, heavy enough to jolt my jaw and neck. The burning turned to numbness. I put my hand up and felt for damage. The stitches were split, the wound had burst open. It felt sticky.
‘I’m a rich man,’ Miller said. ‘Perversion doesn’t interest me. Money does. I’m not about to give that up.’ He was on the payroll. A cop who could sort out any difficulties with the law. That would go for the pornography they were producing, as well as the abuse. He could even turn his hand to a stupid mistake like murder.
Max began to make a huffing noise, covering his glasses with his hands. The sound echoed in the damp air. I leaned over towards him and put my arm round his shoulder.
‘Very touching,’ muttered Miller. ‘Smiley, what the fuck are you playing at?’
As he yelled, Max pulled my head close. ‘Get down,’ he whispered. I began to slide down to Martin’s level. A flash of anger stopped me, half-way down. He was about to pull some stupid macho stunt that’d get us all shot. Before I could straighten up and caution him, I saw Max’s leg flick out. His foot, his trainer, kicked hard at Miller’s hand. I heard a snapping sound. Miller gasped and the gun flew up. Max kicked again, at his balls now. Miller groaned and began to double up. Max’s hand flew out and slashed at his windpipe, the other hand at his shoulder. The force sent him keeling over backwards. When he hit the ground, I heard the air woof out of his body. Max rubbed at his hand.
‘Judo?’ I asked. Oh, you wonderful boy.
‘Aikido,’ he grinned. ‘Where’d the gun go?’
I shrugged. ‘It’s so dark. Is he dead?’
‘Bloody hell, I hope not. He should be out for a couple of hours, though.’
I shuddered. A gunshot rapped out somewhere behind us, making me start. Leanne or Smiley? We waited in silence. There was the sound of footsteps running, shoes not trainers. My heart was thumping in my ears, muffling other noises.
Smiley appeared, gun in hand. ‘She’s taken off, scared…’ He stopped short when he saw Miller, approached slowly, swinging round and back like a paratrooper in a film.
He knelt down and put a hand to Miller’s neck.
‘He’s dying,’ I bluffed. ‘You can’t save him now. Max’s a karate expert; he’s ruptured his kidneys and damaged most of the internal organs. He’s bleeding to death from the inside.’
He shook Miller. ‘You’re lying,’ he screeched.
‘Without Miller, there’s no way you can make it work. Who’s going to falsify the confession, put the gun in the right place, arrest Martin?’
I was irritating him. ‘Shut it.’ He shoved the gun down in the direction of Martin. ‘This’ll have his prints on. I can make him O.D. here. It doesn’t matter, they can figure it out.’
‘They’ll know it stinks,’ I said.
‘It doesn’t fucking matter,’ he shouted in desperation, the gun waving in his hand. He fought for calm and levelled the gun at me. I wouldn’t beg. I’d pleaded before, with the man who held a kitchen knife to my throat. I’d begged and he’d stuck the knife in anyway.
I licked my lips. The buzzing in my ears grew louder. I wouldn’t be able to go swimming with Maddie.
There was a click, then a crack, and Smiley jerked to the side. He staggered back a couple of steps, then stood teetering on his feet. I smelt cordite again. He levelled the gun and squeezed the trigger gently.
I was slammed back against the stone. The shot rang out. My arm sang with pain. The ground drifted.
Smiley dropped to his knees. The gun slipped from his fingers. I couldn’t see where he’d been hit. Leanne came running.
‘He thought I’d gone,’ she said. ‘Now I’ve got him.’ She knelt in front of him and placed the muzzle up against his forehead.
‘Leanne, no,’ I croaked.
‘You killed Derek,’ she said, matter-of-fact. The gun clicked. There was a dreamy look in Smiley’s eyes.
‘He couldn’t swim,’ he said. ‘We had to keep Sharrocks out of it.’
She nodded. ‘He supplied the kids. Did you ever go to the parties, Smiley? We used to have them at Hanley Court or we’d go off in the minibus. Special games we had to play.’ Her voice was so low I could only just hear her. ‘Secret games. Always lots of visitors. We got sweets. Mars Bars. He always brought Mars Bars.’
Someone likes chocolate – that was what Nina had said – lots of Mars Bar wrappers in the rubbish.
‘Leanne.’ I leant forward.