This is where you bluff.., p.16
This is Where You Bluff (The Steve Ash Trilogy Book 3), page 16
“I’m surprised I didn’t recognise your name. I’ve watched a few games of cricket; I must have just missed you. What do you do now?”
Andy sat back in his chair as the dealer threw cards out to the players, and the two men stopped chatting. Steve looked at his cards. I’ve got seven two again… He looked around the table and saw Andy had Q ♥ Q ♠ and was sitting in the cutoff position. The action folded around to him. He announced a raise and threw in fifty-five thousand.
Steve looked ahead to the players between himself and Andy. One player had a pair of tens and a small stack. Steve knew how the action would play out before the players involved, and sure enough, the small stack went all in and Andy called. The board ran out 3 ♥ 6 ♥ 10 ♥ 7 ♠ 9 ♥ to give Andy the flush, and his opponent walked away with an exasperated shrug.
After Andy had finished stacking his chips in piles of twenty, he continued the conversation. “I’ve been playing poker professionally since then, and I have a YouTube channel where I talk about science. My most recent video is on the guys who found light from the other side of a black hole.”
The dealer distributed the cards, and Steve looked down at A ♦ 10 ♠.
“I thought a black hole swallowed all the light around it?” Steve said.
Andy smiled back at him before folding his cards. “People thought that for a long time. They tracked it using X-ray waves and tracked two sets of flares, one from the front side and one from the back. It’s exciting, because it proves something Einstein predicted in his general theory of relativity. Anyway, enough about that. I don’t want to distract you from your hand.”
Steve looked to his right and saw that the player in the button, a twenty-something wearing a New York Yankees jersey, had raised with 8 ♦ 3 ♣. He looked at the player in the big blind, an Iranian man in a loud Hawaiian shirt, who had J ♠ 6 ♠. No way he’s going to call. Time to blast these guys away. Steve three-bet the original raiser’s fifty-five thousand raise and made it two hundred thousand to go. The big blind folded quickly, and the original raiser puffed out his cheeks before throwing his cards into the muck. That’s how to do it. Small incremental gains.
“Did you have a good hand?” Andy asked.
“Yeah, I had the best hand,” Steve replied, with a grin.
“Pocket aces, then.” Andy said, and whistled.
They played for another hour, both Steve and Andy picking up chips as they edged closer to the bubble. Steve started to feel the day catching up with him and decided to ease off. Andy took over Steve’s position as chip leader of the table. It’s better if someone else is the chip leader at this point, thought Steve. It means the attention is away from me.
They played hand for hand for around an hour, until they were down to just one player left to bust. Steve looked down at A ♠ 5 ♠. He was on the button, and watched as Andy opened the betting with a raise to seventy-five thousand: he had A ♦ 10 ♦. He has about five million in total. I’ve got about… Steve looked at his chip stack and tried to work out where he stood. Four million or so. I have position and I can see his cards, so maybe I’ll play one more hand and take the pot down on a later street.
Steve threw his chips in and everyone else folded, then the dealer dealt the flop: 6 ♣ 9 ♦ 2 ♠. Pretty dry board, and it hits my range more than his. I’ll wait for him to bet, then raise.
Andy didn’t bet, though, deciding to check to Steve. Steve picked up some chips, and after thinking about how much to bet, threw in one hundred and twenty thousand, just over half of the pot.
To Steve’s surprise, Andy called the bet quickly, and the dealer dealt the next card: Q ♥. Andy checked back, his face expressionless, and Steve decided to fire again, this time betting almost the size of the pot, at three hundred and fifty thousand. You’ve got to fold now, Andy. You’ve just got ace high and I’ve bet a lot. Steve’s opponent didn’t fold though, again quickly calling the bet.
The dealer dealt the river, 3 ♣, and Andy checked. What does it take to get rid of this guy? I’m going to have to bet a monster.
Steve counted out some chips before pushing two huge towers over the betting line, one spilling as Steve pushed it. Come on, Andy, that’s about a million there. No shame in letting your ace high go.
“Do you have a good hand?” Andy asked.
“Yeah,” Steve replied curtly.
“Hmm,” Andy said, picking up some chips and playing with them. “Not good enough, though, I think.” He paused a moment longer. “I’m all in.”
Steve’s stomach fell through the floor. I’ve got no moves left; he’s completely outplayed me. He has a better hand than me, so my only option is to fold. He’s only able to do this because he has the most chips. Damn it, Steve, this is a rookie error. He probably doesn’t realise he’s bluffing with the best hand.
Steve grimaced and folded his cards.
The Iranian next to Steve whistled. “Tough hand, my friend. He’s a good player that Mr Watson, y’know.” Steve didn’t reply, cursing himself for making such a stupid mistake. He’d lost almost half his stack in one hand.
Chapter 36
It was the early hours of the morning before Jessica walked into the interview room, accompanied by Jim. She had been laser-focussed on the task at hand, and the hours had melted away.
She sat down at the table and stared at Samuels. He looked back at her, holding her gaze. Then she looked at the solicitor sitting next to Samuels. He was a gaunt man in his fifties, and his skin was so pale that Jessica wondered if he had seen any sunlight in the last decade. “What’s your name?” she said abruptly.
“I’m called Stan Anderson.”
“OK, Mr Anderson, are you aware of what we are here to discuss?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
“Fantastic, then we’ll get started.” Jessica pressed down the red button on the tape recorder, the long beep indicating that they were about to begin recording. When it eventually stopped. Jessica leant forwards.
“DCI Samuels, you have been arrested under suspicion of perverting the course of justice and for misconduct in a public office. Your arrest is the result of a statement given by Eddie Liddell. Before I read his statement to you, please could you tell me how you know Mr Liddell?”
“I’ve never met him in my life. I only know of him because we have been working on the case together.”
“Have you ever spoken to Mr Liddell on the phone?”
“No. I have never spoken to him, never met him, never heard of him until I took over as DCI in this department.”
Jessica sat back in her chair. “Well, that’s not true, is it DCI Samuels?” she replied. “I distinctly remember you telling me on your first day that you had been following the case for some time. Was that so that you could pass information on to them?”
Samuels’s solicitor whispered something into his ear, and he replied quietly. Jessica only heard the last sentence Samuels said: “I don’t have anything to hide.” He looked at Jessica and Jim. “I did take an interest in the case before I took the job, but not because I was passing on information. I was just genuinely interested. I’ve worked with people coming from this department, who told me how difficult these guys are to catch. They always seemed glad to be off the case, but it made me want to take it on. I wanted to catch the uncatchable crooks. So when I heard there was a vacancy in the team, I snapped it up.”
Jessica raised an eyebrow. “So you’re saying you took advantage of Travis’s death.”
Anderson answered on behalf of his client. “DI Rice, I must protest at the question. My client took a job because there was a vacancy. The circumstances of that were unfortunate, but outside my client’s control.”
“You don’t need to answer that question,” Jim said calmly. Jessica shot him a dagger of a look before she opened the file in front of her.
“I’m going to read you Mr Liddell’s statement. For the tape, this is document EL1.” Jessica took out a piece of paper. “‘Our contact went by the name of Samuels. He rang us whenever there was an operation that might have an impact on our business, and if needed, we would change our plans. Just recently we’d arranged a meeting with a drug dealer called El Perro Loco. He told us you’d be at the car park, so we moved the meeting to the casino. Not ideal, because we like to keep up appearances in there, but it did mean we were in control of the CCTV.’” She put the paper down. “Do you remember that operation, DCI Samuels?”
“Indeed I do. We were all sat waiting in the van, and I was as disappointed as you were when they didn’t turn up.”
“DI Rice, is this the only evidence that you have against my client? Because if it is, my client should be released on the basis that Mr Liddell could be talking about anyone. Do you have any concrete proof that my client has ever spoken to Mr Liddell?”
Jessica glared at the solicitor. “I am now showing DCI Samuels document EL2, a photo of a mobile phone that was found underneath a drawer in his desk. Do you recognise the phone, DCI Samuels?”
Samuels picked the document up and examined it. “Yes. You found it earlier when you came into my office.”
“This phone has been linked to calls with Eddie Liddell and other members of the Jacques mob using DoubleVPN, to encrypt messages. Have you ever used this phone?”
Samuels put the picture down. “No. I hadn’t seen it before you pulled it out from underneath my desk.”
“So what are you saying? That someone was coming into your office and hiding the phone there?” Jim snorted.
Samuels stared straight at Jim. “Yes, that is what I’m saying. It’s not my phone. I have never worked with Eddie Liddell, Alexander Jacques, or any of the people we have been investigating in this case.”
Jim half smiled at Samuels. “Come on Samuels, that excuse is as weak as piss. Liddell says this has been going on for years. You expect us to believe that someone has been sneaking into that office for years and hiding that phone in a DCI’s desk without anyone ever seeing it?”
“Maybe not for years. Maybe a few weeks or a few days. Maybe it was just once. Or maybe it was planted there.”
Anderson leant forwards. “You haven’t provided any information about fingerprints found on the phone. Have you found any?”
“There were no fingerprints on the phone,” Jessica retorted.
“That neither proves nor disproves my client’s use of the phone. Do you have any matching GPS location data for this phone and his personal phone?” Anderson asked, calmly.
“Not yet. We are waiting for the analysts to provide that,” Jessica said firmly.
“In that case, I think my client should be allowed to get some sleep whilst you obtain that evidence, and then we can reconvene.”
Jim leaned over and whispered in her ear. “We should probably take a break here and patch up the holes he’s pointed out. There’s too much for them to defend themselves with at the moment.”
Reluctantly, Jessica agreed. “Pausing interview at 5:04 am.”
“Jessica,” said Samuels, “I really would like my call. My wife will be worried sick that I haven’t got home yet, and you said I could make a call.”
“Ah yes, of course. I’ll arrange for one of the uniformed officers to escort you to the phones now.”
* * *
“I’m sorry, Jim. I didn’t think things would turn out quite like this, and we’d be up all night chasing this guy down,” Jessica said when they had taken Samuels back to jail. “I dragged you all the way up to Edinburgh for nothing.”
“Not for nothing: we have time to find more evidence. Besides, you could do with an ally.” Jim put his hand on her shoulder and smiled. “They killed your friend, and if they really are as uncatchable as Samuels says, having skin in the game might just give you the edge. We’re so close, Jessica, so let’s finish this.”
Jessica went back to her desk and logged into her laptop. I could do with a coffee. I’ll check my emails, then get one for Jim and I. Jessica typed her password in and accessed her email. Three emails from the top was one with the subject: URGENT: STEVE ASH INTELLIGENCE. Jessica clicked on it. It was from the analysts, but her eyes went straight to the audio clip attached. He wore the wire!
The bass from the music was thumping, but the analysts had done their best to amplify the voices. “Nice one, thanks, Alexander. So how long have you been doing this for?” Steve said.
“What do you mean?” Alexander slurred. He sounds like he’s had a few.
“When did you first spike someone’s drink?”
“Oh. Funny story actually. Can you guess who the first person was that I spiked? I’ll bet you can’t guess. It’s someone you know though, probably the least likely person you can imagine would ever take drugs. Go on have a guess.”
“Erm. I dunno.”
“Eddie Liddell!” Alexander started laughing.
Holy shit. This is dynamite! Jessica grabbed her laptop and ran over to Jim. “Jim, you have to listen to this.” Jessica started the audio from the beginning and when it had finished playing, she looked at Jim. Their eyes locked onto each other, and for a moment, Jessica forgot about the case. A moment passed, then Jim cleared his throat. Jessica felt her cheeks flush but ignored the sensation. “Do you have someone in Nottingham you’d trust to play this to Eddie?”
Jim shuffled some paper as he spoke. “Connor, no question. Forward me that email and I’ll get it to him.”
Chapter 37
Eddie walked into the interview room with a smirk on his face. He’d resigned himself to the fact that he was going to prison; there was too much evidence linking him to the murder. It’s a relief, to be honest. I don’t need to hide who I am anymore, and I’m not worried about the people on the inside, either. I’ve spent enough time with the bottom feeders to know how to get their respect. I’ve had the best sleep in years over the last few weeks. And the coppers still need me. I know lots about people they’re interested in. If I drip-feed them bits every now and again, I’ll be able to negotiate on things like the length of my sentence and my privileges in prison.
He sat down opposite DC Parker. He’d come to know them all by name, since they always introduced themselves when they started the recording. “Hello, DC Parker. What can I do for you today?”
“I’ll explain in a moment, Mr Liddell. We need to switch the recorder on first.”
Eddie’s solicitor took a seat beside him, then Parker held down the red button on the recorder. Eddie relaxed in his chair, curious about what would be discussed.
Once the beep had finished, Parker began speaking. “Interview with Eddie Liddell. Present are DC Connor Parker, Eddie Liddell, and his solicitor, Austin Hall. Eddie, you remain under caution from your previous interviews. I don’t have many questions to ask today, but I want to play you an audio clip which we received last night.” In front of Parker was a laptop, which he turned around so that they could all see the screen. “For the tape, I am about to play audio file D in the evidence file.” Parker tapped the mouse and the audio started to play.
“Nice one, thanks, Alexander. So how long have you been doing this for?” I thought Steve had been arrested as well. Why is he out in Vegas?
“What do you mean?” Bloody hell, he’s with Alexander! Wait! Did Steve send this?
“When did you first spike someone’s drink?”
“Oh. Funny story actually. Can you guess who the first person was that I spiked? I’ll bet you can’t guess. It’s someone you know, though, probably the least likely person you can imagine would ever take drugs. Go on have a guess.” It was Achilles. We were out at a party and he was starting to get tired so Eddie gave him a boost. That was a really good night out. Eddie smiled to himself.
“Erm. I dunno.”
“Eddie Liddell!”
Eddie sat bolt upright, staring at the screen.
Alexander’s voice continued speaking. “He had absolutely no idea I spiked his drink. I’m not even sure he knows all these years later, though I’m sure he wouldn’t be that bothered. It was a long time ago.”
He spiked me!
“Eddie? Why Eddie?” Steve asked.
“Do you know what a good friend does, Steve? Good friends are many things. But one of the things they do is make sure you stay grounded. That you don’t get ideas above your station. They don’t let you become arrogant in the face of success. If that success is getting too much for you to handle, they take precautionary steps to make sure you are brought back down to earth. I did that for Eddie all those years ago.”
He stole my career … my chance to become a success … my chance to save my mum.
“Why? What was Eddie doing that was so successful and so bad at the same time?”
“He was going to win himself a pro boxing contract. He thought he was gonna become like Muhammed Ali or Mike Tyson. People don’t do that where we’re from. He thought he was going to travel the world, make millions and leave us all behind. But I had other ideas. I needed him with me.”
The bastard!
“Together we have achieved so much, and we have done it in the way people from our ends do. We’ve grifted, sold, and stolen our way to success, using nothing but wit and street smarts. Look at us right now. I’m snorting coke of a bar in a casino I’ve built in Vegas and nobody can do a damn thing to stop me.”
Parker paused the video. Eddie was shaking with rage, his face flushed red. He stared at the still image of an audio wave on the laptop screen. “Are you OK, Eddie?”
Eddie didn’t respond, but looked down at his feet. How could he? He was my friend — he knew what was going on with my family — and he still—
Eddie stood up and roared in anguish. He looked at the two other men in the room, his solicitor and Parker, who had also stood up and were maintaining a wary distance.
Suddenly the door burst open and two uniformed police officers entered, batons raised. They stepped between Eddie and the other men, their weapons raised and ready to strike. “Don’t hit him unless he attacks,” Parker commanded the two men. “Eddie, I understand that you have just had a shock. But whatever you do, don’t do anything that means we have to restrain you. We don’t want to do that, believe me.”
