The coach bomber, p.8
The Coach Bomber, page 8
‘No,’ she said. ‘Sure, he’d come home with presents and that, but it was always the same. Something to wear in the bedroom, something to wear when he was out to show me off.’ Macleod looked at the woman. He could see how that would work. Maybe her best years were past her, but he still thought she could turn a few heads. The pity welled up in him for someone who was a trophy wife, not there to be loved, just there for the amusement of the man who kept her. ‘They came in and told me,’ Erin continued. ‘I started to cry, but really there’s not a lot to cry for. I haven’t had much of a life. He controlled where I went, so it’s good riddance, Inspector. Somebody’s done me a favour.’
The kettle clicked and Erin began to pour it, but Macleod shook his head, reached forward, poured half the contents down the sink, and filled the kettle up again. After pressing the button, he waited for a good thirty seconds before the kettle began to bubble again.
‘I understand why you’re glad he’s gone, but I need to know where he was going and did he have any trouble?’
‘There’s always trouble,’ said Erin, ‘always somebody he had to sort out. Understand me, my husband was a right bastard. Evil with it, too. I know. I suffered the physical side from him, but so did the people he was with. All of them in there, they would have been scared of him. I’ve seen many of these guys before. I’ve seen him hit several of them. There’s the odd one or two that aren’t around anymore.’
‘You saying he finished them? Shot them?’
‘I’m saying I haven’t seen them. I didn’t get to see that side of it. He was never daft enough to commit something like that in front of me, make me a witness to things, make the boys a witness. Instead, he would do it in the quiet, but certain people never came back, or they’d turn up all of a sudden with bruises. Accidentally fell over. I’ve had to do that a few times myself. He liked a bit of the rough stuff, and not mutually, Inspector. We all have our fun and games, but not like this.’
Macleod nodded and the kettle clicked again. ‘I may need to talk to you another time,’ said Macleod, ‘when I find other things out, if that’s okay with you.’
‘If you can get me on my own. It won’t be easy for a while. They’ll be worried about me talking now he’s gone. Worried I could say things, things I might know.’
‘Do you know anything?’ asked Macleod.
The woman shook her head. ‘Eamon wasn’t stupid. He kept me out of everything. Yeah, I knew that type of thing he did, but I knew no specifics. There’s no court I can stand up in and grass on him. He didn’t trust me for that. Thank God, he liked me enough not to put me in that position.’
‘Definitely like, not love,’ said Macleod. ‘I’m sorry. I would say I’m sorry for your loss, but that seems a bit shallow. I’m sorry for what you had to take up to now and I’m sorry for your boys.’
‘Thank you, Inspector. You’d better drink some tea.’ The pair made their way back into the living room, where Alan shortly returned, standing at the side of the room, listening intently. Macleod asked some banal questions. Did Erin know where the man was going? How long had he been away from the house? It seemed that Eamon McGinty had been gone only that morning. Together they had dropped the boys at a nursery before McGinty had dropped her home again. He had then packed his bags. She assumed that he was going to the airport.
‘He could be away for a couple of days at a time,’ she said. ‘But it wasn’t always the case.’ Macleod did not overstay his welcome, realizing there was nothing to be gained from talking in this cauldron. He made his way out of the house, back to the car, and the rather green constable within it.
‘Did that go well, sir?’
‘Things don’t go well and they don’t go safe,’ said the Inspector. ‘Things just go and you take from them.’
‘And what did you take from that?’ asked the constable.
‘That the woman in there can’t speak. Eamon McGinty was certainly part of some serious criminal activity. Also, that Mrs. McGinty has no alibi.’
‘You think she did it?’
‘No. There’s nothing to indicate she did. There’s nothing to indicate that she wasn’t just here. She said he dropped her here and then he disappeared away. All I’m saying is she has no alibi.’
This is war. That’s what Clarissa had said. He wondered how Hope would get on, talking to Eamon McGinty’s boss. If they were quick, maybe they could stop a reprisal, but they’d have to know who had done it. More than that, they’d have to prove it. And in proving it, they would then be open to the whims of McGinty’s gang. Would a police arrest and jail sentence be enough for the person that did this or not? And then, of course, there was the idea that McGinty was just an innocent passenger and there was something quite different that had gone on with the coach. As ever, more questions than answers, thought Macleod.
Chapter 10
Hope had to trawl through a large number of criminal records to find Eamon McGinty’s contacts. Making her way down to Inverness, she found a rather disreputable bookmaker’s and watched it for a while. Jerry Flanagan was the person she was looking for. He had long black hair, a man of forty-five who tried to look like he was twenty-five, wearing a baseball cap backwards, an oversized hoodie, and jeans that hung off his backside. Often, he was stoned according to the reports, but on other occasions, he could be seen at the bookmaker’s trying to make enough money to get stoned again.
But the good thing about Jerry was he knew a lot of people. He knew who went with whom, who ran with whom, and who not to cross. Jerry was a survivor. Not a particularly adept one, because he’d had his kickings in his time, but for the things he got involved in, the fact he was still alive meant he knew who not to cheese off and who he could grass on.
Hope watched him enter the bookmaker’s that afternoon. After telling her constable to remain in the car, she made her way in after him. Most bookmakers these days are rather neat inside, she thought. Gone are those days of cesspits, smoke in the air, swearing and cursing, and the scrunched-up bits of paper being handed back and forward. Now there are screens showing all the races, a clean counter with electronics and neat betting slips being passed back and forward. You can even pay by card, and yet this particular establishment still had the word seedy written all over it. When Hope walked in, every eye turned to her.
‘Look at the arse on that,’ said a voice out loud. Hope flicked her head to the right, saw the overweight man who had said it and walked over towards him. He stood glaring at her, almost daring her to do something. She reached inside her leather jacket, took out a warrant card, and slapped it in his face.
‘You’re lucky you get the warning. The next person gets hauled out of here. Gentlemen, there’s a lady present and if you don’t treat her like a lady, she won’t treat you like gentlemen.’
There was a general murmur and then a man behind her gave a large wolf whistle and announced, ‘Yeah, but he’s right about the arse.’ Hope turned, walked directly over to the man and grabbed his nose between her forefingers.
‘I’m not allowed to break your bones, but then again, I could leave and come back in without my badge. How would that suit you?’ she asked, twisting his nose hard, so much so that the man fell off his seat onto the floor. The others laughed at him until Hope raised her hand and turned and stared at them. ‘Next time I come back in without the badge.’ Then there was silence.
‘You,’ said Hope, pointing over to the corner where Jerry Flannery was trying to hide. ‘I’d like a word.’
Flannery was shaking his head and Hope wondered if he was smacked up. She leaned over closer as he cowered in the corner.
‘Eamon McGinty,’ she whispered in his ear. ‘Who’s his boss?’ Jerry squirmed, trying to fit himself into the corner like some sort of frightened mouse. Hope leaned forward, grabbed his jacket and started searching inside. She pulled out a white packet.
‘Tell me now,’ she said, ‘or you’re down the station.’
‘That’ll break my parole,’ he said.
‘Eamon McGinty’s boss, who?’
‘It’s Sammy Devine, but you didn’t get that from me.’
‘No, and you didn’t get this back from me.’ Hope took the packet, opened it and poured it inside the man’s jacket. She shook it up a bit and several bits fell on the floor. ‘Get your life cleaned up,’ said Hope and then turned around, striding across the room and out of the door. Once she reached the street, she thought back to what Macleod had said to her once about keeping an eye on Clarissa Urquhart because the woman was an operator. Hope wondered how Clarissa would have operated in there.
Sitting back in the car, Hope asked the PC to drive downtown because the name of Sammy Devine was well known. He owned a couple of clubs in the city, but beyond that the force had been trying to gather evidence of his other dealings. Drugs, extortion, illegal gambling dens—Devine was into most things. There was even a prostitution ring, although they didn’t believe the women were trafficked. Rather he was more of the main pimp, not that it made it any better.
Hope made her way to Devine’s main club and again left her constable companion outside. On the doors of the club was a rather underdressed woman and there was certainly no doubt about what the sort of entertainment she would see inside, but things had not got going yet. Across the street from her, Hope saw a man shuffling past in a sudden rush when she glanced at him. Maybe he had been eyeing up the leggy woman in lingerie who was advertised on the doors of the establishment, or had he been casting looks at her?
Hope shook her head and then stepped up to the door. She found places like this difficult. Any exploitation was wrong, that was a given, but places where people simply enjoyed the more physical sights and sounds of entertainers were not something she had an issue with. Macleod would be raging at the scene, but Hope was only angry about the women who were exploited by people without integrity. That being said, she would not be here by choice.
There was a closed sign advising they would open up later that evening. Hope thundered her fist against the door, so much so that the door was flung open, and a rather ugly man shouted out, ‘What the hell do you want?’
‘I’d like to see Mr. Devine,’ said Hope in a very calm voice.
‘Mr. Devine doesn’t want to see you,’ said the man and went to slam the door shut.
Hope put her foot in it. ‘Yes, he does. I’ve come from Macleod and we’re not taking kindly to the idea that a coach just gets blown to smithereens. I want to talk to Mr. Devine about this. After all, McGinty was on board.’
The man’s face dropped and he looked a little panicked. ‘You can wait here,’ he said. ‘I’ll go and see if Mr. Devine would like to see you.’
Hope forced the door open. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘Mr. Devine is seeing me,’ and she strode past the man into the club.
Hope was never a frequenter of these places and certainly Macleod hadn’t been either. In their time they’d occasionally had to pop into a gentleman’s club but rarely was there any activity going on. As Hope entered the main room, she saw a man sitting with a shot glass in front of him, watching two women on the stage. They were taking up angles and positions that Hope had never encountered in all of her relationships and she saw the delight of the man gawking at the women. Music thundered out across the room, and it was only when Hope was halfway across that the man caught sight of her and raised up his hands, instantly cancelling the music.
‘You two, nice work, but get out. Looks like I need to talk to a real lady.’
‘Mr. Devine, my name is—’
‘Your name is Hope McGrath. You’re Macleod’s sergeant. Just because our paths don’t cross doesn’t mean I don’t know my coppers and you’re here because you’ve realised that Eamon McGinty was on that coach going to the airport. Am I right?’
‘You are,’ said Hope, hoping her face didn’t show the unsettlement that was going on inside at her being recognized.
‘Forgive the performance going on. If you’d let my man come and tell me you were here I would have dispatched the ladies before letting you into the room.’
‘That would have been kind, but it doesn’t really take away what you do with them, does it? I’m not here to be entertained,’ said Hope. ‘I’m here because—’
‘You’re here because Macleod thinks this could kick something off,’ said Devine. ‘But what makes you think we know anything about it? Why do you think it was for our man?’
‘We have plenty of thoughts about who it could have been for,’ said Hope.
‘And yet you’re here to see me.’
‘Routine enquiries.’
‘But yet there’s no one with you. You’re not here for routine enquiry,’ said Devine, ‘So let’s not kid me.’
‘Okay,’ said Hope, nodding. ‘I’m here because Macleod is worried that this bomb was set for your man.’
‘And does he know that for a fact? Where did the bomb come from?’ asked Devine.
‘Have you much experience yourself?’ asked Hope.
‘I don’t deal in that sort of thing. I deal in lovely women for my men to look at. You can accuse me of being a devotee to the female body but you can’t accuse me of being a man who deals in bombs.’
‘Has anyone upset you recently? I mean in a big way, or have you upset anyone else? If this kicks off, it won’t be pretty.’
‘If what kicks off?’ said Devine. ‘I haven’t said I’m doing anything, and who do you suspect would do it? If I’m this figure that you think I am, who’s going to challenge me? Why would they kill Eamon McGinty? He was nothing to me. Small fry.’
‘Oh, you won’t miss him then, and you won’t be bothered.’
‘You could say that. Certainly nothing to get out of bed over.’
Hope stared at Devine, trying to read him, but the face was immaculate, just a smiling glare at her. Behind him, she saw a couple of girls suddenly enter the room and then they turned to go.
‘No, no, ladies. In and onto the stage.’ Hope wondered why they suddenly looked embarrassed simply because she was there. The total lack of clothing disgusted her but she turned away, realizing that she recognized one of the girls. It had been maybe two weeks ago, and she’d been walking through the holding cells when she saw the woman being placed inside for drug dealing. Maybe she’d been given a warning. Hope thought she saw a chance to talk to someone who might know a little bit more.
Vacating the club, she sent the constable on to the station and waited outside. There was nowhere to sit indoors and have a good view of the club, so instead she walked round and round waiting for the correct moment until she saw the doors open and the girl she had spotted before, coming out. She had a large raincoat on now, but she strode along in high heels. Maybe she’d dressed quickly to get out of there. But whatever had happened, she was certainly fast on the move. Hope watched her jump aboard a bus and only just about managed to get on herself. The bus had an upper deck to which the woman climbed the steps. Then Hope followed her up top and along to the rear of the bus where she sat down beside her.
‘Plenty of other space, love,’ said the woman to her.
‘There is indeed, but I think I’d rather sit with you. Though you have a lot more clothes on this time.’
The woman looked at her strangely. ‘If you’re coming in the club for that sort of thing, I don’t do it outside, okay? There’s no extras, no freebies going on.’
‘No, but how does he pay you? If I have a look through that jacket pocket now would I find something?’ Hope saw the woman tense. ‘It’s not good when you get hauled in, is it,’ she said, ‘because next time they might throw the book at you in a proper way. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t do some of those things on stage unless I’d sniffed something up my nose or drunk a hell of a lot.’ The woman looked out the window.
‘In case you hadn’t noticed my name is Detective Sergeant Hope McGrath and I need some information.’
‘I don’t talk about that place outside,’ said the woman.
‘Well then, we can talk about it down at the station after I do a stop and search on you right now and find the bit of powder that you don’t want me to. You’ve really got to learn to keep a better face.’
The woman seemed to shake, mulling over her choices. But then she turned to Hope with an ugly sneer and said, ‘Okay, what you want? But you don’t tell anybody about it.’
‘I only want stuff that anybody could know,’ said Hope. ‘You ever heard of Eamon McGinty?’
‘Yeah, I heard of him.’
‘One of Devine’s men, isn’t he?’ said Hope.
‘He wasn’t one of Devine’s men; he was Devine’s rising star. He came into that club and shook most of the men around it up. From what I could gather, most of them were afraid of him. With good cause, too.’
‘Were you afraid of him?’ asked Hope.
‘All of us were afraid of him, and not like we are of Sammy Devine. Sammy’s a right nasty one if you cross him. See, if you don’t, he’s fine. He treats you okay. Sammy buys you clothes, nice ones. Yeah, sometimes, some funny ones. Likes you dressed up for him, but, you know, nice stuff too for walking about outside. He gets you gear as well. Keeps you in it. You play right by him, he’s okay. You obviously don’t drop things. I mean, this now, you don’t tell him about this. If you do, I’d deny it anyway.’
‘I won’t tell him anything but tell me more about Eamon McGinty. You don’t have to worry about him. He’s dead.’
‘They said that to me today. He was on that coach, wasn’t he?’
‘Do you know why he was on that coach?’ asked Hope.
‘No, I don’t. I don’t know why they go anywhere. But I’ll tell you this, there’s a lot of happy men in there today.’
‘Why?’ asked Hope.
‘He wasn’t liked. Right bastard. Not just to us but to them as well. I mean, if you got McGinty and he set his eyes on you, you panicked. He wasn’t a nice man with it. And to the guys in there, if they were out of line and they challenged him—in fact, at times as much as look at him, he’d beat them to a pulp. But Devine liked that, his enforcer, and that meant that McGinty was moving up. You could see that. Some of the guys when we were entertaining would curse McGinty. You heard things about how he was moving. So yeah, I think most people are glad he’s gone.’
