The widows, p.21
The Widows, page 21
Ruby drank a mug of coffee as she sat in the living room with a view of the garden and the road beyond. She thought of everything she had now, and of how difficult it had been to get there. She and Bella and Cissy had a score to settle for sure – they were owed payback for what had happened that night. But for Ruby, the score she had to settle didn’t involve any of them or Tommy Mallon or anyone else in the circle where she had moved in recent years. The score she longed to settle was with the man who had murdered her mother.
For so many years, Ruby had kept that scar in her heart hidden, as she made her own way in the world along with Cissy, once they did the runner from the Glasgow children’s home. She’d only been ten years old when she’d seen her mother for the very last time, that winter’s night when she told her she was going to work and would be back home before she was asleep. Her mother had told her she worked in a bar that was open late some nights, so late that Ruby had to go to bed by herself and curl into a ball, waiting for the sound of her mother’s high heels clattering on the street below and into the entrance to their third-floor flat. She’ll be home soon, Ruby would tell herself as she climbed into bed. And most nights she was. But not this night. This night she never came home.
Ruby stayed in the flat for two whole days, eating whatever was left in the cupboard and fridge, not going to school, and waiting by the window. She’d been afraid to go to any of the neighbours because in this block of flats, everyone had their own problems with their broods of children and often absent husbands and fathers. But after three nights alone in the house, Ruby was awoken by a commotion outside in the street, the flashing lights and the voices. She’d got out of bed to find a few neighbours already outside, and two or three police cars and a van, with uniformed officers out in the street talking to neighbours. Then the knock at the door, again and again, getting louder each time, forced her to the hallway. She opened it slightly to see a female police officer and another woman in a uniform she didn’t recognise. The woman had a kind face and gave her a sympathetic look. You’re to come with us, Ruby, the woman said, reaching out to her. She’d asked, Where’s my mummy? We’ll explain later. Come on now, you can’t be here by yourself. But where is she? Where’s my mummy? Your mother has gone, Ruby. But you’re going to be okay. Is she coming back? Somewhere in Ruby’s eight-year-old psyche she knew she would never see her mother again. And she didn’t. It was two days later when she overheard girls talking in the children’s home, saying her mother was murdered. That she was a prostitute. That she was found in an alleyway with her throat cut. Ruby’s childhood ended there and then.
In the following months, once it had been explained to her as best it could, Ruby kept asking when they would find the man who did it, because she knew in the films they always found the bad guys. The kind policewoman who visited told her they would find the man. It would just take time. But the years rolled on and Ruby had so much to contend with in the children’s home that little by little, the thought of never seeing her mother again became a reality, and the promise that she made to herself every night was that she would find the man who took her, and she would kill him herself. Perhaps it was that, Ruby used to think later, that made her kill so easily and without compunction when she was given a job to do. Once she was told the story of who the person to be taken out was, and the hellish things they had brought on someone vulnerable, Ruby called up her memories and the blackness from those days, and it was easy to dispose of them. But she had never seriously looked for the killer in all those years. However, in the past three years she’d begun to visit the iconic Mitchell Library in Glasgow and spent hours going over and over the microfiche files, reading and rereading through her tears the grim details of her mother’s murder. The suspects, the men who had been with her all those nights when she had apparently been working at the bar, had been interviewed and released. Her mother had been working the streets. Someone was out there who had used her, and there must have been many of them. But one of them had killed her. She hadn’t found him. Not yet. But the day would come.
The sight of Bella padding into the living room pulled her out of her gloomy reverie. Bella’s hair was all over the place and she yawned as she came in. ‘Christ! It took me fully two minutes to figure out where I was when I woke up.’ She laughed. ‘Actually, for a moment I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Lying on those puffed-up pillows with that big duvet wrapped around me, I slept more last night than I’ve slept for the past three years.’ She shook her head, still looking bewildered. ‘Thanks, Ruby. For that alone.’
Ruby smiled and stood up.
‘You mean, you’ve forgiven me for not finding a way to get in touch these past years?’
‘What?’ Bella said, surprised. ‘What’s to forgive, Rube? I never thought for one moment you’d run out on us. Never. We were more worried that you were dead, to tell the truth. Honestly, the sight of your face yesterday in that café might have been the best thing that’s happened to me since my son was born.’ She looked at Ruby and grimaced. ‘I need to talk to you, Ruby. I need to find a way to see him again. He’s slipping away from me. If anything, that’s what I’ll never forgive Billy for doing. It was bad enough before, but what he and Tommy did that night has probably finished any chance I had of getting my boy back.’ She paused. ‘You know she came to see me in jail, Carole?’
‘Really? Why?’ Ruby said.
‘To gloat. The bitch. To tell me that it was over for good now, and the fucker even tried to get me to sign adoption papers.’
‘Christ!’ Ruby said, walking away and gesturing to Bella. ‘Come to the kitchen with me. We can talk while I make some breakfast.’
Bella followed her.
‘You know, Ruby, that was our job in the pokey, to make the breakfasts.’
‘Really? What did you cook?’
‘Just normal stuff. No smoked salmon or croissants. Just stodge and some fruit and yoghurt. Things like that. But the chat in the kitchen with some of the girls was funny at times. Some real characters in there. Poor souls too. All across the jail.’
Ruby switched on the coffee machine and it sprang to life. Then she put some oranges into the juicer and pushed the button, watching as it pummelled the fruit and the container filled with juice. She went into the cupboard and brought out three bowls and some cereal, as well as yoghurt from the fridge and fresh fruit.
‘Go on, girl,’ Ruby said, gesturing at Bella to get stuck in. ‘Knock yourself out.’
Bella helped herself to some of the food as they sat at the breakfast bar, looking through the window at the large garden that seemed to stretch on forever.
‘This is some gaffe, mate, I’ll tell you that. You renting it?’
‘Yeah. A friend of mine owns it. It’s Leo’s. Remember you met him before we left? Up in the Marbella hills, where he looked after Cissy for a couple days? Sold me the lease for as long as I want.’
‘Leo? Yes. I remember him. Handsome Leo, the rich mystery man with the big villa. Some mate that.’
‘He’s a good guy, one of the best. We used to work together a few years ago – I’ll tell you all about it some time. I’ve been working with him since I got away that night. Making money, and stuffing the bastards who would stuff everyone else.’
‘You getting away with it, though?’
‘So far, so good,’ Ruby said. ‘But to be honest, I came to Glasgow because I also have an old score to settle.’
‘What score?’
‘My mum. I told you years ago she was murdered, didn’t I?’
‘Yeah,’ Bella said. ‘Can’t imagine how that must have been for you as a kid. Don’t know how you got through it, Ruby, and that’s the truth.’
Ruby filled the coffee mugs and handed one to Bella. She took a moment to answer, sighing first.
‘I suppose I promised myself that one day I would find my mum’s killer and I would do him in myself. It’s a warped pledge for a little girl, but I never lost that sense of anger, never managed to silence it. No matter how my life turned out – you know, us in Spain, Tommy, all the things and the luxuries I had over there. No matter what, there was always this burning in my chest. One day, I told myself. One day.’
Bella shook her head.
‘But how the hell are you going to find him, Ruby? I mean, have you ever even been close?’
‘No. Not for a long time, and being in Spain and all the stuff was a distraction. But in the past years, since I’ve been back here, I’ve been thinking about it so much more. I’ll get there.’
‘I hope you do, Ruby,’ Bella said. ‘And talking of old scores, I want to look at my in-laws closely – Carole and Davie Prentice. I want to ruin them. They’re gangsters – maybe not real big shots in the scheme of things, but there’s no way that they’ve made their money legally and are retired, as Carole told me.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
In the weeks that passed, Ruby listened to the intelligence Leo had gathered on Tommy’s organisation – its shipments and how things were looking for him on the Costa and beyond. She had schooled Bella and Cissy as much as she could on the money laundering side of his business, how he and Billy, and Digby in Manchester, moved cash and cleaned it up. Ruby described how she and Leo had hijacked a lot of money on at least two occasions in the last six months, and how that would hurt Tommy and Billy’s business. Then, Leo told them of a mouth-watering proposition to do even more damage. It was almost too good to be true. But if they were rumbled, then it would be curtains for all of them. Leo told them of the set-up over dinner in a private room in the Kimpton Blythswood Hotel in Glasgow.
The venue was Leo’s choice. It wouldn’t have been Ruby’s, because Blythswood Square was a notorious red-light district, and whenever Ruby went there, she always thought of her mother walking around, watching the cars cruising and hoping to pick up a punter. Despite her misgivings, she was enjoying the dinner, as well as being with Bella and Cissy the way they used to be, back on the Costa del Sol, where evenings spent like this were the norm. After the waiter served the meal and wine, Leo slipped him twenty quid and told him they would give him a shout if they needed him. So now they were alone, Leo explained.
‘It’s happening day after tomorrow,’ he said. ‘These guys are no strangers to flying out to Dubai with suitcases full of money. They fly first class so they can take extra luggage, and the cash is all sprayed and vacuum packed to avoid detection at airport security.’
‘How much money are they carrying? And how many cases?’ Bella asked.
Leo sat back. ‘I’m told they have three suitcases each. So, six cases. And at least seventy grand in each case,’ he said deadpan.
‘Jesus!’ Cissy said. ‘That’s unbelievable. Imagine how your bum would be twitching, going through security knowing you’ve got that amount of dodgy money in your case. I couldn’t do that.’
Leo smiled. ‘It happens all the time, Cissy. In every airport across the country. These guys doing it in Glasgow will probably have smuggled fortunes in over the past year. And they’re well paid. Five and six grand a trip. Not a bad day job.’
They all looked at Ruby and were silent for a few moments. Then Ruby spoke.
‘They’ll have minders, though, won’t they?’
Leo shrugged. ‘Someone will have driven them up from down south, but once they’re booked into the hotel suite, the minder’s job is done. It’s up to them to do their job. They know what’s at stake.’
‘Must be tempting just to do a runner with all that money. To disappear,’ Bella said.
‘They wouldn’t last long. The cases will have trackers on them and the risk is too great. If they did a runner, they’d be dead in a matter of days.’
‘So, Leo, is there an actual plan?’ Ruby asked.
Leo poured more wine into their glasses, topping up Bella’s tumbler, and half smiled. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘It’s simple. We’ll rob them at the hotel.’
Bella and Cissy glanced at Ruby in disbelief.
‘Oh, that’s all right then,’ Bella said. ‘I thought for a minute we were going to be doing something dangerous!’ Her voice was laced with sarcasm to the mild amusement of the others.
‘What if it goes wrong?’ Ruby asked.
‘It won’t. I know these guys. A couple of wee toerags in fancy clothes who think they’re cock of the walk. They’re not going to sit in the hotel all night watching the cases. They do this all the time. They’ll be in the bar getting wired into the drink and looking to get laid before they crash out in bed.’
‘What do you think?’ Ruby asked, looking at Cissy and Bella.
Bella turned to Leo. ‘Do we know whose money it is? I mean, who’s sending it?’ she asked.
‘I’m told it’s coming from Digby’s mob. He’s stashing a fortune in Dubai, buying up properties around the harbour and stuff, cleaning up his money. Once it’s over there nobody can get near it.’ He paused. ‘And if it’s Digby’s money, then you can assume it’s Tommy Mallon’s too. They’re all in it together.’
‘I’m in,’ Ruby said.
The others nodded.
‘What could possibly go wrong?’ Bella said, knocking back the remains of her lime and soda. ‘And I’m the only one who’s completely sober!’ she added with a chuckle.
Ruby, Bella and Cissy were in the bar at the Kimpton the following night, sat at a table away from the bar, sipping cocktails, dressed in expensive clothes as though they belonged there. The bar was busy with businessmen, or overnight guests coming in for pre-dinner drinks before hitting the town. Leo had called from his car to say the mules had already arrived and checked into their hotel suite. He knew the concierge very well and had given him a decent pay-off to palm a key into Ruby’s hand when she approached him.
She went out to the foyer, and the concierge on the desk gave her a nod as she approached and discreetly slipped the room key into her hand. When she sat back at the table and gave Bella and Cissy a glimpse of it, they looked impressed. A mixed group arrived at the bar, and it looked like the end of a few days’ conference in the city, as some of them still had their badges on. They were all sinking champagne from sweating ice buckets along the bar.
A few minutes later, Ruby’s mobile pinged with a text from Leo to say the mules were about to enter the bar. She watched the entrance as they strode in, suited and booted, hair gelled, and already looking as if they’d had a couple of stiff drinks. Within an hour, the bar was busy with customers, and a few women were sat on high stools at the bar, looking as though they could be well-dressed hookers, though you could never tell in a place like this.
It was later in the evening as most of the earlier champagne-swirling crowd had drifted away for a night on the town that the women at the bar remained where they were, and the mules sidled up to join them for a drink, flashing their money, and full of chat. At one point, Bella came back from the bar and reported that the guys looked well coked up. Within an hour, the women at the bar were talking about going on for a drink at the basement bar along the road that had live music. One of the mules was keen, but the other was trying to talk him out of it, saying they had an early flight. But finally he agreed to go for one drink, and Ruby was surprised to see them walk out of the door, past the big window at the front of the hotel and head along the road to the bar. Ruby texted Leo to let him know and was told to go for it. She turned to Bella and Cissy and told them it was now or never.
Ruby and Bella crossed out of the bar and into the foyer, then casually went into the lift to the third floor, glancing at each other, faces tight with trepidation. Outside the door was a luggage rack on wheels which must have been left by one of the porters – either by mistake or arrangement. Ruby slipped the key card into the door and it clicked open. They walked into the room, which was messy with bath towels and clothes scattered on the floor. And under the window lined up in a row were six suitcases.
‘Jesus!’ Bella said. ‘I’m shitting myself.’
Ruby went across and picked up two of the cases, and gestured at Cissy and Bella to do the same. Then all three of them wheeled the cases out of the door and onto the luggage rack. As they approached the lift, it pinged and they all looked up, startled, as the light showed it was stopping at the third floor.
‘Oh shit!’ Cissy said. ‘What if that’s them coming back?’
All three stood rooted to the spot as the lift doors opened, and a burgundy waistcoated concierge with a florid complexion glanced at them standing with the luggage rack. They waited, lost for words.
‘I’ll take that for you, ladies.’ He winked, dragging the luggage rack inside the lift. ‘I’m instructed to take this to the car park, so we can use the tradesmen’s entrance. Just follow me.’
They stepped inside, hearts thumping as he pushed the button for the ground floor and they watched as the lift lights descended.
When they hit the ground floor, the lift doors opened from the opposite side into a concrete corridor.
‘Here we are,’ the concierge said, as he pushed the luggage rack out of the lift. Then without another word, he turned and went back into it.
‘Did that just happen?’ Bella asked.
‘He’s taking some risk doing this,’ Cissy said.
‘He’ll have been well paid for it,’ Ruby said. ‘But the mules will do nothing about it once it’s gone, so there will be no investigation. It’s not as if they can ask the cops to come in. The dicks have lost the money. They can take the consequences. If they’d sat on their arses in the room, it wouldn’t have happened.’
The headlights of Leo’s car flashed and the three women pulled the cases off the rack and wheeled them towards the open boot, where Leo stood waiting. Before each case was heaved into the boot, Leo held out some kind of gadget and passed it over the case. When a light flashed on his gadget, he quickly drilled a small hole and gouged the tracking device out. Once that was done, they all got in the car and sped out of the car park and back to the flat.
