Deadly Business Read online

  ‘In the stomach,’ I repeated.

  Jonathan pointed to his groin. ‘Yes, there; he kicked him like Jean Claude van Damme does. Duncan fell down, making funny noises. It was a long time before he could get up again. I was scared. I thought that when he got up he would really hurt Tom. I was going to go for Conrad, but Tom wouldn’t let me. He said he had used wing chun, and his teacher had told him he should never use it against anyone who isn’t trained in it himself.’

  I smiled; that’s my boy. An adult attacked him, he decked him and he felt guilty about it. ‘What happened when Duncan did get up?’

  ‘Nothing. Duncan didn’t go near him again. Janet got him a beer, and he sat down and drank it.’

  ‘Did neither of you tell your mum what had happened?’

  ‘No. Tom wouldn’t let us. He said Duncan wouldn’t bother any of us again, and he didn’t. I was glad when he went away, Auntie Primavera; I didn’t want him to come back. I don’t want Mummy to see him.’ His eyes filled with tears again, and finally, they flowed. ‘I just want my daddy back,’ he cried.

  I hugged him to me. ‘I know, wee man,’ I whispered, ‘I know. You’re far too young to have learned how tough the world can be.’

  I thought of Susie as I spoke, Susie and her precarious future. I hoped that wee Jonathan had been wrong about what he said he’d seen in Casino Square, but he’s a very bright wee chap and not given to flights of imagination or extravagant statements.

  ‘Auntie Primavera,’ he murmured, as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, ‘am I really grounded till Monday?’

  ‘I can’t overrule Conrad,’ I told him. ‘He’s your guardian while you’re here. But I can tell him what’s worrying you, and if you tell him that you’re very sorry for using that word and promise not to use it again, you might find that he gives you a suspended sentence.’

  ‘What’s that?’ His eyes widened. ‘You mean he’ll hang me?’

  I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. ‘No, love, I mean he might let you off. Now, go on with you, get yourself out of that beach stuff and into clean clothes before they all get back.’

  As I spoke, there was a loud bang or small explosion, from somewhere not too far away. Wee Jonathan jumped. ‘What was that?’ he gasped.

  ‘That was the start of the San Juan celebrations. Fireworks don’t scare you, do they?’

  ‘No!’ He said the word as if I’d insulted him.

  ‘Good, in that case we can all watch them from my bedroom terrace. Go on, now, get yourself ready.’

  I shooed him upstairs then went along to the sitting room. I checked the time and worked out that it would be around midday in Arizona, then picked up the landline phone and punched in Susie’s mobile number.

  ‘Primavera,’ she answered … number recognition is a very useful tool, ‘how are you? Is everything okay? Are the kids okay?’

  ‘The kids are fine, Susie; the two older ones and I are all going to a reggae concert tonight.’ As I spoke, another firework exploded.

  ‘What was that?’ Susie asked, sounding as anxious as had her son. She sounded tired, too, wearier than I’d ever heard her; I knew that the treatment had been tough, but I’d hoped against hope that she was on an upward curve.

  ‘Relax,’ I laughed, ‘it’s a fiesta tonight. Big celebration in Spain. There’s music on the beach from around midnight; I’m taking the two older ones.’

  ‘Sounds like fun. How’s my daughter?’ I guessed what was behind the question. Janet’s periods had started in the month before Susie went for her third treatment.

  ‘Timely,’ I advised her, ‘and perfectly normal. She’s coping fine.’ I smiled. ‘I had to take her for some new bras last week, and a couple of bikinis.’

  ‘My God, she’s growing fast. I hope she knows when to stop.’

  ‘Like mother like daughter, I reckon.’ Susie’s not very tall, but she’s a big girl.

  ‘And Tom?’

  ‘Next time you call, and he picks up, you will get a shock.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ she sighed. ‘Does he sound like …’

  ‘Put it this way, the vocal register’s still a little bit higher, but he’s on the way there. He said something to me the other day when I had my back to him. He sounded so like his dad it made me shiver.’

  ‘Primavera, they’re so young. Or is it us that’s old?’

  ‘Hell no! It’s life; it’s what happens to your kids. What did you think, that they were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell?’

  ‘Maybe,’ she giggled, ‘with wee Jonathan as one of the Lost Boys. How’s he behaving?’

  ‘He’s as good as gold,’ I fibbed, slightly. ‘He doesn’t fancy the reggae concert.’ I paused. I’d been wondering how to get round to the reason for my call, and she’d given me an opening. ‘He and I have just been having a chat. You know what he told me? He thinks he saw Duncan Culshaw a few weeks ago, sitting at a table in Casino Square.’

  There was a silence, just a couple of seconds, but it registered with me. ‘Oh,’ Susie exclaimed, breaking it, ‘that wee scamp. What an imagination he’s got.’

  ‘Yes, indeed. I doubt that even Duncan would have been stupid enough to go back to Monaco after you’d ended the relationship.’

  ‘I didn’t end it, Primavera,’ she said. ‘He left me, remember.’

  ‘I meant you, plural.’

  ‘Of course. Sorry.’ Her tone had changed. She was definitely shifty, where before, she’d been upfront.

  I changed tack. ‘Have you finished your treatments?’

  ‘Yes. The last one was four days ago, but they gave me a platelet infusion after that. They said my count was low.’ She sounded matter-of-fact, but I didn’t like the sound of that. It meant that her blood was thin and that its essential ability to clot had been compromised, leaving her open to potential risks. ‘They’ve finished now, though,’ she continued. ‘My supervising clinician wants me to stay here to recuperate for another couple of weeks, but I’m not so sure about that. We’d like to get home sooner.’

  ‘We?’ I repeated.

  ‘Audrey and me,’ she replied, quickly.

  ‘Mmm. I tell you, Susie,’ I said, ‘I’m so glad wee Jonathan was wrong. You are well shot of that Duncan character. When I heard about him hitting Tom … I go cold with anger thinking about it.’

  ‘He did what? Who told you that?’

  ‘Wee Jonathan did, just now.’

  ‘Why the little … He never did like Duncan, Primavera.’

  ‘Come on,’ I protested. ‘You’re not calling your own son a liar, are you?’

  ‘No, but …’ She hesitated. ‘Has Tom said anything to you about it.’

  ‘No, he hasn’t,’ I admitted. ‘Possibly to stop me from thrashing the bastard.’

  ‘When’s this supposed to have happened?’

  ‘Last year, at your place. Duncan tried to use Janet as a servant and Tom took exception to it.’

  ‘And Duncan hit him?’

  ‘That’s what wee Jonathan said.’

  ‘But Tom never complained to me. Honestly, Primavera, he didn’t. This is the first I’ve heard of it. Why didn’t he say anything?’

  I chuckled. ‘From what I gather, he felt that when he kung fu-ed Duncan in the balls after he tried to hit him a second time, it put an end to the matter.’

  ‘He did what?’ At the other end of the line I heard a sound that was half gasp, half chortle. ‘Last year? He was only eleven then.’

  ‘Tom’s been going to his martial arts class since he was six, Susie. He was one grade off his black belt when this happened, and he got it a few weeks later. It’s lucky for Duncan that he was only eleven. He’s grown over the winter; if he did it now the guy would be looking for his nuts behind his ears. And it would serve him right.’ I took a deep breath. ‘That man is a nasty piece of work. From the start of your relationship he was using you.’

  ‘Using me? How?’

  Suddenly she sounded even more tired and deeply anxious. I hesitat
ed. I was concerned that I was about to go over the top with her. After all, this was a woman who had undergone rigorous treatment for a life-threatening condition. She did not need undue stress or disturbance in her life. ‘Forget it, Susie,’ I sighed. ‘I’ve said enough. You don’t need to hear this story right now. Since the guy’s history, you don’t need to hear it at all.’

  ‘But I do need to,’ she insisted, sounding as if she’d dredged up renewed strength from somewhere. ‘If it involves Duncan and it affects me, I want to know about it. So come on, girl, out with it.’

  Oh Primavera; your hot head and your big mouth. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘if you insist.’ I launched into the tale of Culshaw’s unannounced visit to L’Escala, his exploitative ‘novel’, his attempt to screw two million out of me to protect Oz’s reputation and my own, and to the way I had seen off both him and his threat.

  She heard me out without interruption. When I was finished I heard her blow out a huge sigh. ‘Did you keep a copy of the book?’ she asked.

  ‘I destroyed the original. As for the copy he gave me, that had a bloody virus on it that crashed my laptop a couple of days later. Trust me, Susie, you wouldn’t want to have read it.’

  Another sigh, a very tired one at that. ‘Ah, Primavera, why didn’t you tell me all this at the time?’

  ‘I was going to, and then you were diagnosed, so I didn’t. Culshaw was gone, so I decided it wasn’t necessary.’

  ‘Ah, but as it’s turned out it was. I didn’t tell you the truth earlier. Wee Jonathan was right in what he saw. Duncan is back; and what have I done? I’ve only gone and married the guy, that’s all.’

  ‘You’ve married him?’ I repeated. ‘Duncan bloody Culshaw? Are you out of your mind?’

  ‘Given the circumstances,’ she said sadly, ‘that’s possible.’

  Four

  I had to end the call with Susie’s sensational announcement still hanging in the air, as the front door burst open and the house was invaded by the wave of energy that is Tom and his half-sister.

  ‘How’s foul-mouth?’ Conrad asked me after they had headed off to their rooms to smarten themselves up for dinner and the night ahead.

  ‘Contrite,’ I told him. ‘He’s going to apologise to you, and ask for mercy. Your shout, though,’ I added. ‘I’m not involved … even though it is my roof you’ll be imprisoning him under over the weekend.’

  The minder smiled. ‘I might give him a reprieve, if he’s sincere.’

  ‘I think he is,’ I said. ‘The wee chap’s had something on his mind. Has he said anything to you about Duncan Culshaw?’

  ‘Him?’ One word, but it carried a volume of contempt. ‘No, nothing at all. Why should he have?’

  ‘Because he thought he saw him, in Monaco, before you all came here.’

  ‘Slim chance, I reckon,’ he murmured. ‘That man’s a gold-digging waster if ever I saw one. I was glad when the boss got shot of him. So were the kids. He scared Jonathan. If he’d been around much longer I’d have had to do something about him, but thankfully, Susie saw the light, although she’s never said anything about it, not even to Audrey.’

  My face must have been sending out signals, for suddenly, his eyes narrowed. ‘Little Jonathan was wrong, wasn’t he?’ he asked. ‘That wasn’t really Culshaw he saw, was it?’

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ I replied. ‘He’s back.’

  ‘Oh shit.’

  ‘And there’s worse.’ I dropped Susie’s bombshell on him.

  ‘What?’ he gasped. ‘She’s …? But Audrey’s with her, I’ve spoken to her just about every day and she’s never said a word about it.’

  He pulled his mobile from his pocket and hit a speed dial button. Cellphone reception can be dodgy in St Martí, because of the thickness of the stone walls of its buildings, and so he stepped out on to the front terrace to maximise the signal and probably also for privacy while he interrogated his wife. I left him to get on with it, and I went down to the kitchen to warm up the seafood pasta sauce that I’d knocked up earlier in the day. I was weighing enough linguine for five … yes five; wee Jonathan may be a shrimp, but he can eat with the hungriest of us … when Conrad joined me again.

  ‘It’s true,’ he announced, not that I’d been in any doubt. ‘Audrey told me that Culshaw turned up in Scottsdale just after they did, “to be with her and comfort her” he said, and moved into their hotel. Susie told her to keep it secret, even from me. He wasn’t with her for the hard yards of the treatment though; it was still Audrey who went to the clinic with her when she had her chemo. He just hung around the hotel and fawned over her when she got back. Two days ago, the day after the course was finished, Susie told Audrey to charter a plane. Audrey wasn’t sure about it, for the chemo had knocked ten bells out of her, but Susie insisted, and yesterday morning the three of them flew to Las Vegas and did the whole Elvis Presley impersonator wedding bit. Audrey thinks that Culshaw had arranged it all last week.’

  ‘And she didn’t tell you even then?’

  ‘She hasn’t had a chance. They only flew back to Scottsdale late last night. She had to do her own insisting this morning: she called a doctor this morning to check over Susie, over her objections, because she was so knackered from the trip. He’d to give her a multi-vitamin injection, just to get her out of bed.’

  ‘Bloody hell.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Conrad said, hesitating before going on. ‘I don’t know what this means for me, Primavera. I can’t stand the man, and I’ve never hidden it from him. He’s going to want to get rid of me, that’s for sure.’

  ‘And Audrey?’

  ‘No, I don’t see Susie ever letting her go. They’re too close.’

  ‘Then don’t you worry about it. I have a feeling you’ll be okay. Susie didn’t employ you originally, Oz did, and for a very specific reason, one that’s still valid. Do you have a contract?’

  He nodded. ‘Yes, twelve month rolling, with the company, but effectively it’s Susie who employs me, and if this guy’s her husband …’

  ‘If he is. It all sounds as fishy as this here sauce.’

  ‘He is, Primavera. Audrey was there, remember. She was their witness.’

  ‘Vegas marriages are as easy to dissolve as they are to do,’ I said. ‘I lived there for a while; I know how the place works.’

  ‘Maybe they are,’ he countered, ‘but only if Susie wants to do that, and from what Audrey said, she won’t. She says she’s besotted with the guy.’

  ‘She may have been yesterday, but I’m not so sure about today, not after I filled her in on some background she didn’t know about.’ I gave him a potted version of the previous year’s blackmail attempt and of how it was thwarted. ‘I had my reasons for not proceeding with a criminal complaint,’ I told him, ‘some of which you can probably guess, but if I have to, I can still fill out a denuncio. The tape of our conversation is pretty damning and I suppose the cops will still have it. In fact, tomorrow morning I will do that very thing.’

  He frowned. ‘That would be risky. You were right to hold off last year. Oz wasn’t exactly whiter than white, but the truth is, he was blacker than even you know.’

  ‘Do I want to know how black?’ I murmured, although I wasn’t sure he’d kept any secrets from me.

  ‘No, you don’t, but understand this, a full investigation into his past wouldn’t just be tricky; it could be calamitous.’

  His firmness made me pause. ‘I’ll sleep on it,’ I conceded, ‘and decide in the morning.’

  ‘Okay, but think really carefully before you do anything.’

  I made him that promise and set about the evening meal. The sauce was simmering, the linguine was boiling, and I was making some tomato bread when the phone on the counter rang. I snatched it up, hoping that it was Susie calling to tell me that she’d just terminated the shortest marriage on record, but it wasn’t. No, it was Duncan fucking Culshaw.

  ‘Ah, the happy bridegroom,’ I said after he’d announced himself.

  ‘Ecs
tatic,’ he agreed. ‘Tough luck, Primavera. Your attempt to shaft me with Susie fell flat, I’m afraid. I heard her talking to you … I’m never far from her now. I’d assumed that you’d go nuclear the moment you found out about us, so I’ve been prepared for a while. There are two sides to every story, and I’ve just told her mine. If you’re interested, I explained that I’d gone to you to ask for your cooperation in preparing an authorised biography of Oz Blackstone, and in selling the idea to Susie. Your reaction, I told her, was to twist everything around and set me up with your friendly local cops. I added that they scared me so badly that I made myself scarce … which is pretty much true … until I decided that I really couldn’t live without her, and came back. Naturally, Susie takes her husband’s word over yours, so get used to the idea of her being Mrs Culshaw, and not the widow Blackstone any longer. Naturally also, I take her safety and that of her kids as seriously as she does. To emphasise that I’ve persuaded her to give Conrad Kent a fifty per cent salary increase, with a bonus for every incident-free year.’

  ‘And what about my kid’s security?’ I hissed.

  ‘Your Tom can look after himself very well,’ he chuckled, ‘a lesson I learned very painfully. You had best keep him close, to look after you.’

  ‘Are you threatening me, you idiot?’

  He laughed, mocking me. ‘Of course not; I’ve got no need to threaten you. Primavera, you aren’t even a faint blot on my landscape, not any more.’

  He paused for a few seconds. ‘But here’s something you should consider; think of it as a promise though, not a threat. As Susie’s husband I’ve now got free access to her considerable resources. I intend to use them. I may not be able to touch you, or your son, not physically, but I’m going to get you both back, you for what you did to me with those cops, and him for that kick in the family jewels. I’m going to investigate everything that your beloved Oz Blackstone ever did. If there are secrets hidden, as I suspect, I’m going to uncover them. If there aren’t, then what the hell, I’ll make them up. Either way, the memory of the blessed man, which Tom seems to hold so dear, that’ll be something you and he will want to hide from rather than worship.’