Screams in the Dark (16 page)

‘You’re kidding. For an elbow?’

‘Yep.’

‘Imagine what you’d get for a set of bollocks.’ He put one hand protectively between his legs.

‘Indeed. Especially a pair that have hardly been used.’ Rosie chuckled.

The sudden loud thump on the roof of the car made them jump.

‘Shit! What the fuck?’ Matt looked at Rosie.

Then the fist banged on Matt’s window.

‘Oh Christ!’ Rosie’s stomach turned over.

‘Shit, Rosie. We’re nicked.’

The burly security man bent down and his face was at the window.

‘Open the window. Now, please.’

Matt looked at Rosie.

‘Open it, Matt. No choice.’

As Matt slowly rolled down the window they could hear garbled voices on the guy’s walkie-talkie.

Rosie leaned across and attempted a perplexed expression.

‘Sorry, but I think we’ve taken a wrong turn. Can you help us? We were looking for the main gate, but I think we’ve come up the back way by mistake. Is there a main entrance?’

‘Who you looking for?’ The guy stood back. ‘Can you get out of the car please?’

‘Of course,’ Rosie said, opening the door. She jumped
out and quickly went around to the driver’s side as Matt slowly got out. The security man flicked him a derisory glance. Matt gave him a ‘sorry mate’ shrug, and Rosie put her hands up apologetically. The security man towered above her, built like a superhero, all chiselled jaw and broad shoulders. And not unattractive.

‘Thank goodness we met you.’ Rosie attempted a bit of breathless charm. ‘We might have ended up driving around for ages. These places are so
big
.’ She gave Matt a frustrated look. ‘I told you this was too quiet to be the main gate.’

Matt looked suitably reprimanded.

‘What are you looking for?’ He seemed to soften a little. ‘You Jocks?’

‘Yeah,’ Rosie smiled weakly. ‘We don’t get out much.’

The big man unfolded his arms. ‘So who you looking for?’

‘Quality control,’ Rosie said. ‘I have to pick up some documentation.’

‘Medical rep?’

‘Yeah,’ Rosie heard herself saying, hoping it was the correct answer.

‘Well, you’re totally at the wrong end of the plant.’ He pointed to the gate. ‘You have to go out here and follow the fence all the way round and eventually you turn right and you’ll see the big sign. Don’t know how you missed it.’

‘We came in the other way,’ Rosie said quickly. ‘We got lost after the motorway.’ She glowered at Matt.

‘You’re not as smart as the Scots I knew.’ The security
guard flashed her a smile. ‘I was in the army with a few Jocks. Mad bastards, but balls of steel.’ He stuck out his chest. ‘We saw a bit of action we did. Northern Ireland. Was in Bosnia for a while. Some real shit happening over there.’

‘Really? Bosnia?’ Rosie was encouraged enough to risk a bit of chat. ‘It looked awful on the telly. Those poor people.’

‘Yeah. Was. Lot of bad things happened.’ He stared past Rosie into middle distance.

‘How long you been out?’

‘Two years. Invalided out in the end. Combat stress they call it.’ His eyes grew dark. ‘Lost a couple of good mates in Northern Ireland, then Bosnia on top of it just got to me.’ He sniffed. ‘That stuff changes you.’

Rosie gave him a sympathetic look, wondering why he was telling her all this. He looked lonely enough to talk to anyone.

‘Must have been tough. The thing is, a lot of that stress with soldiers just gets forgotten about. I read in the papers that a lot of soldiers just get ditched when they get out. Terrible that. After everything they’ve given.’

‘Too right,’ the big man said, shaking his head. ‘And after all that fighting and stuff, you end up working in a shitty job like this. Directing fucking traffic.’

Rosie let the silence hang a little. ‘So is this the area you work in all the time?’ She threw the line out in the hope he would grasp it.

‘Not all the time. It gets rotated. But I end up here a lot.’ He jerked his head in the direction of the buildings
where the men had dropped their boxes off. ‘They keep animals and stuff in there for their experiments. And you’ve to watch this gate a lot, because we get them animal rights geezers turning up, trying to break in. A couple of them chained themselves to the railings last year. Daft, tree-hugging bastards.’

Rosie laughed. She was always amazed at how much information people just volunteered without thinking.

‘Yeah, a lot of them are nutters.’ She glanced at the buildings. ‘So what do they keep in there? Mice and rats?’

‘Yeah. But more than that. Monkeys. Chimps. But it’s mostly rabbits and rats. They test the drugs on them. Nobody gets to go inside. All top secret. But I heard they do all sorts of shit to the animals.’

‘Yeah,’ Rosie said. ‘It’s all very controversial stuff. No wonder it’s top secret. You ever been in there?’

‘Nah. It wouldn’t shock me though. I’ve seen a bit of shit in my day.’

‘I bet the papers would pay plenty for a picture inside that place.’ Rosie could feel Matt staring at her in disbelief.

The big man laughed. ‘Yeah, you’re not kidding. Don’t think me and the boys haven’t talked about it.’

His walkie-talkie buzzed, and gravelly voices could be heard. He put it to his mouth and spoke into it, saying he was on his way. ‘I need to go, mate.’ He looked almost reluctant. ‘But good talking to, you, I like the Jocks. Right. You know where you’re going now, don’t you?’

‘Yes, thanks for your help … er …?’ Rosie gave him an enquiring look.

‘Eddie,’ he said, stretching out a hand. ‘Used to be Lance Corporal Barnsley.’ He shrugged. ‘In another life.’

‘Great to meet you, Eddie. I’m Rosie. Thanks again for your help.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘Good luck to you, Eddie.’

He let go of her hand and walked away, then after a few yards he turned around to face them and gave a half salute and a smile.

‘Christ,’ Matt said. ‘Quality control? You are some chancer, Gilmour. I’ll give you that. A Grade A chancer.’ He shook his head and opened the driver’s door. ‘Come on. Let’s GTF before he remembers he didn’t even ask for your ID.’

Rosie’s mobile rang as she opened the car door, and her eyes popped.

‘Emir?’

‘Rosie. It is Emir.’

He sounded breathless.

‘Christ man. Where are you? I’ve been looking for you for days.’

‘I had to run, Rosie. They came for me. Can I see you?’

‘Of course, Emir. I’m on my way up from England.’ She looked at her watch. It was already two in the afternoon. ‘I can meet you tonight. Same place as last time? Around seven?’

‘Okay. I be there.’ The line went dead.

CHAPTER 16

From the window of Starbucks, Rosie sat sipping a latte, her eyes darting all across the busy concourse at Central Station. She felt suspicious of anyone who so much as looked in her direction. The paranoia was beginning to kick in, and she’d been looking over her shoulder all the time as she’d walked up from the office for her meeting with Emir. They’d come for him, he’d told her on the phone. So it was a stick-on they were still looking for him.

The phone call from Don as she and Matt drove up from Manchester hadn’t helped. They’d found a corpse in a burnt-out car earlier in the morning, and they were almost certain it was Tam Logan. The charred remains were beyond recognition and they were checking dental records. But engraved jewellery taken from what was left of the body suggested it was Tam. The post-mortem was underway, Don told her, but the pathologist had given them an early heads-up that there was a bullet wound to the chest. Rosie felt a pang of sympathy as
she remembered Jan Logan’s angry tears a few days ago when they spoke. She wondered if they’d knocked on her door yet in Spain to give her the news she already knew – that her man was dead. Poor Jan, her children without a father, even a half-wit no-use bastard of a father like Tam. In another life, with a better start, things could have been different for a feisty, bright woman who could clearly hold her own, but you didn’t get a lot of choices growing up in Springburn. Too often the only way out of there was to get deeper into the clutches of the scumbags and gangsters who ran the show.

Rosie jumped nervously as a waiter clearing tables accidentally nudged her in the passing. Jesus. She needed to calm down. She rubbed her face and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, the way she’d learned in the yoga class. But it would take more than deep breathing and yoga chants to get her through this story. She almost smiled to herself at the thought. Things were definitely beginning to unravel though. If they’d shot Tam Logan and burned his body, that meant they were trying to close down all the doors. She wondered just how Frank Paton and Tony Murphy had featured in all of this. If what Tanya had told her was correct, then they were all over this, providing refugees for the chop. It was almost unthinkable that two leading Glasgow lawyers could be doing this. And it had all become too much for Tony Murphy. Rosie thought of Frank Paton and what must be going on in his head right now. She’d have to find a way to get to him. She tried another deep
breath, but it was interrupted, as she saw Emir walk through the doorway and head towards her. His face was a mask of grey.

‘Emir.’ Rosie squeezed his arm and resisted the urge to hug him.

‘Thank you to seeing me, Rosie,’ Emir said, his eyes moistening a little. He swallowed and Rosie saw his chin tremble as he fought back tears.

‘Let me get you a coffee, Emir. Go and get a seat over in that table in the corner.’ She squeezed his arm again. ‘You’ll be all right.’

He crossed the floor and sat in the booth. Rosie watched him from the counter as he sat with his head in his hands.

‘Here,’ she said, returning to the table with a coffee and a sandwich which she opened and handed to him.

‘Thank you. I am very hungry. No food since yesterday. No money. I sleep in a field.’ He bit off a huge chunk of the sandwich and took a mouthful of steaming coffee, wincing as it burned him. He wiped his mouth and took another bite.

Rosie caught a whiff of days’-old sweat and dirty clothes from him. She waited until he had eaten the sandwich before she spoke.

‘So, Emir,’ – she lowered her voice to almost a whisper. ‘You look shattered. I was really worried when you disappeared. I went to your house and neighbours told me they hadn’t seen you since that morning you were with me. Tell me what happened.’

He nodded, swallowing the last of the sandwich and taking a swig of coffee.

‘I tried to run, Rosie. They came to kill me.’ He ran a trembling hand across his face.

‘They came to your house?’

‘When I go into my house the same morning I see they are there already. They jump out on me. Two of them. One cut me with the knife. Stab me.’ He rolled up his shirt, caked with hard blood and sticking to an angry, swollen wound. He grimaced in pain.

‘It’s poisoned,’ Rosie looked at the congealed blood and tender flesh. ‘You need to get this cleaned and dressed. You should have had an injection or something, Emir. Christ!’ She shook her head.

‘No time to think, Rosie. I fought them, the two of them, in my house. I hit one with a bottle and the other I stabbed with the knife I took off him. Then I ran from my flat and into the lift.’

‘God almighty!’

Emir nodded. ‘But the lift stop at every floor. And when it come to the ground and the door open, they are waiting for me. Don’t know, maybe they come down the stairs. Three more people were in the lift and they see everything, but nobody help me. The men are dragging me out and punching me. They take me to the car and put me in the boot. I see people watching, but nobody help me.’ He shrugged and shook his head. ‘Like if this is normal in Glasgow? I don’t know.’

Rosie sighed. ‘Not normal, Emir, but not that uncommon. Gangsters. Lot of areas are all run by drug
dealers, so people would be too afraid to interfere.’

‘Or maybe they don’t care. I am just refugee. A foreigner.’ He looked down at the table.

Rosie felt ashamed. He was right. The people who stood by may have stood by anyway, because you don’t walk into another man’s fight in the middle of a housing estate unless you want your face slashed. But most of them probably gave less of a damn if it was a refugee getting battered.

‘So what happened then?’

‘They take me to the same place. Remember I told you? The place out of Glasgow. As soon as I am on the road, I know where I am going. It is where they took Jetmir and me that day.’

‘Then what?’

‘Nothing. They drag me from the boot and put me in a room in the place and left me there. I think the place … the building … look like where they kill the animals. We have places like that in Kosovo, where farmers are taking their animals for killing and selling.’

‘It’s called an abattoir here, Emir. Or a slaughterhouse.’

He nodded. ‘Okay. So I am there all day. They hit me on the head with a stick and knock me out, and leave me there. When I wake up later, I can hear outside them doing things, but I don’t know what they do. I hear machines like saws and hammering. Then I see from the window that it is getting dark and there is no sound outside. I hear cars starting the engines and driving away. Then is very quiet, and very dark.’

‘So how did you get out?’

‘In the room I saw a metal thing. Like a pole. Maybe they didn’t see it. So I found it in the dark and when I am sure everything is quiet, I use it to break open the door from the side. It worked.’ He shook his head and looked bemused. ‘I was surprised. Suddenly I am out there, I am free. I am in this big room like in a kitchen, or maybe a butcher place with the long metal … I do not know the word. But where the butcher chop things.’

‘Benches?’ Rosie said.

‘Yes. I think benches.’

Rosie pictured the scene.

‘That’s unbelievable, Emir.’

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but I am also frightened because in one minute somebody maybe come in. But there is no noise. Just quiet and dark.’

‘So what did you do then?’

‘I find my way along the wall and look for the door. But it is locked. Big heavy door and I cannot open, even with the metal pole. So still I am trapped. I cannot see anything because it is so dark.’ He shrugged and sighed. ‘So I wait until it is getting light. Then I see from the window maybe I can climb out.’