Bad Blood Rising Read online

  “You’re like a brother to me, Joe, you know that. Your pain is my pain, mate. Don’t worry, we’ll find Angie.”

  Joe smiled weakly. “I’d offer you a drink but everything’s been smashed.”

  “Don’t worry about that, we’ll get it sorted. It’ll just take a couple of phone calls. I guarantee it will be as good as new in no time.”

  Karl walked towards the door, and then turned to face Joe. “Will you be coming back to work tomorrow night?”

  “Sure,” he smiled weakly. “The show must go on, right?”

  “Good. I’m going to Cedar Road for a couple of hours tonight with Victor. I want to see if there’s any talent suitable for the club.”

  “Good luck with that,” Joe smirked. “See you tomorrow.”

  It was just before eleven when Karl got back to the Emerald. There was a note on his desk requesting he ring David Glendenning urgently.

  “Karl, thanks for getting back to me,” David said. “I’ve got some news about what we were talking of earlier.”

  “Where is he?” Karl snapped, ignoring pleasantries. “Where is the thieving little bastard?”

  “Before I tell you that you have to promise not to get me involved. No one must know you got the information from me, okay?”

  “Where is he?” Karl repeated, the aggression in his voice unmistakable.

  David took a deep breath. “Manchester. He’s staying in Manchester with the girl. But Karl, you must promise…”

  “Stop fucking about David,” Karl growled. “Where in Manchester?”

  David read out the address and Karl scribbled it down.

  “Thanks,” he said coldly. “I’ll take it from here.”

  “Karl, listen to me, you can’t…” But Karl had already hung up the receiver and was dialling another number.

  “Barney? Barney, it’s Karl Maddox. How are you, mate?”

  “Karl, it’s good to hear from you,” Barney greeted warmly. “How are things over there in the wilds of Yorkshire?”

  “I need your help,” Karl said abruptly.

  “Anything, mate, you know that. After what happened to Jason, I owe you big time.”

  FORTY

  Erica was wearing the green satin dress Karl had chosen for her when working at the club. He had insisted that three nights a week she should network with guests in the lounge bar for a couple of hours before working on the accounts in the office. A small desk had been put in the corner for her use. Above the desk were screens for the newly installed cameras.

  It was Friday night. Erica had already worked at the Emerald for three consecutive weekends. She hated being there, but she knew better than to complain. Working in the office was no better, being constantly under Karl’s scrutiny.

  “Keep an eye on those screens,” he instructed her, “especially the ones in the foyer. We don’t want a repeat of last month, do we?”

  “It’s Joe I feel sorry for,” Erica sighed. “Just imagine, your own sister doing that to you, the wicked girl. Poor Joe must be devastated.”

  “He’ll get over it,” Karl said dismissively. “I’ve had his flat fully refurbished. I can’t do more than that.”

  “I don’t think it’s about the flat, it’s more the misplaced trust. He thought a lot about Angie. I don’t think he’ll ever come to terms with what she did to him.”

  “Well, I’ve done all I can. I just wish everyone would keep their personal problems away from work.”

  There was a sharp rap on the door and Victor entered the room.

  “Mr Karl,” he said, giving his usual broad smile, “there’s someone to see you. He says it’s urgent.”

  “Does this someone have a name?” Karl asked sarcastically.

  “Yes, Mr Karl,” Victor answered, oblivious to the sarcasm. “His name is Colin Clutterbuck.”

  Karl frowned. The name was vaguely familiar. “Did Colin Clutterbuck say what he wanted?”

  “No, Mr Karl, only that he needed to speak to you urgently.”

  “Well, you’d better show him in.” Karl grinned, suddenly remembering where he knew the name from. “Erica, you can go into the lounge and mingle for a while. I’ll let you know when I need you.”

  Erica shrugged. “Okay,” she said. “I need to stretch my legs.”

  As she went through the door, she almost collided with Karl’s visitor.

  Colin Clutterbuck was a short, stocky man in his early forties. His bald head and round chubby face gave him the appearance of a large egg. Steel rimmed spectacles sat halfway down his long, thin nose and behind the thick lenses were a pair of shrewd grey eyes.

  “Karl, good to see you,” he greeted, holding out his hand. “Long time no see, eh?”

  Karl smiled at his visitor and shook his hand warmly. “It must be ten years, no, nearer twelve.”

  “You haven’t changed a bit,” Colin said smiling. “I heard you were doing well for yourself. I always knew you would.”

  “What about you? What are you up to these days?”

  “Not much I’m afraid,” Colin sighed, sitting down heavily on the leather couch. “It’s not easy getting a job once you’ve been inside, especially in my line of work.”

  “I suppose not,” Karl said sympathetically. “Would you like a drink?” He walked over to the cabinet and began pouring himself a whisky.

  “No, thank you. I never touch the stuff.”

  “That’s right, I’d forgotten. You don’t drink and if I remember rightly, you don’t smoke either. So tell me, what do you get up to?”

  “I embezzle,” Colin said proudly. “I steal from rich bastards, right from under their bloody noses.”

  “Two million, wasn’t it?” Karl asked, sitting next to him on the couch.

  “Nearer three,” Colin corrected. “I’d have got away with it too if I hadn’t got bloody shingles the week before the auditors came in. Nasty thing, shingles.”

  “Bad luck. So how long did you get?”

  “Eight years. Can you believe it? Eight bloody years for doing what those rich bastards do all the time. I was just unlucky to get caught, that’s all.”

  Karl nodded. “Well, Colin, it’s very nice to see you after all these years, but why are you here? Don’t tell me you’re looking for a job?”

  “Well actually, that’s exactly what I’m looking for. I desperately need a job and, if I’m not mistaken, you need someone who knows what they’re doing where finances are concerned.” Colin gulped excitedly, his breathing becoming more irregular. “You need someone working your books who won’t ask too many questions, right? I could save you a king’s ransom in taxes, I know every dodge there is, and as far as investments go…”

  “Whoa!” Karl interrupted. “Just hold on a second, Colin, not so fast. Are you seriously asking me for a job?”

  “I’m not asking, Karl, I’m begging.” Colin took out his handkerchief and dabbed at his perspiring brow. “I don’t know where else to go.”

  “Colin, mate, I’m sorry you’re on hard times but you can’t work here. This is a business that’s cash only, dodgy cash at that. The temptation would be too much for you. Think of the pressure you’d be putting yourself under.”

  “Bloody hell, you don’t think I’d be daft enough to try and steal from you, do you? You’re my friend. You proved that more than once in prison. Please, just give me a chance to show you what I can do.”

  Karl frowned. “Colin, I don’t think…”

  “Please, Karl, a month’s trial, that’s all I ask. For old time’s sake?”

  Karl studied the little man sitting next to him. He knew that Colin had a brilliant mind where finances were concerned. Even the judge at his trial had commented on the cleverness of his crime. Newspapers had written about his brilliance, declaring him to be a genius, a totally dishonest, unscrupulous genius, but a genius nonetheless.

  “I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” Karl said, somewhat reluctantly, “come to the office at nine o’clock on Monday morning and we’ll see if yo
u can still work your magic, but no promises, mind. It’s only a trial, remember that.”

  “Thank you, Karl,” Colin beamed, taking off his glasses and polishing them furiously with his handkerchief. “You won’t regret it.”

  “I’d better not because I’ll promise you this…” Karl’s tone suddenly became menacing, “if I ever have reason to think you’ve had your sticky little fingers in the till, it won’t be prison you’ll be going to, it’ll be the morgue. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Colin took a deep breath, replaced his glasses and dabbed his brow yet again with the handkerchief.

  “Well?”

  “I give you my word. You have nothing to worry about on that score. I’ve learned my lesson. From now on I’m going straight.”

  Karl began to laugh, lightening the mood.

  “There’s no need for that. I never said you had to go straight. What I said was where my money is concerned, you resist all temptation or else.”

  “Karl, all I want is to earn a decent living again and get back my self-respect. Surely you can understand that?”

  Smiling, Karl walked over to the office door and opened it. “In that case, Colin, I’ll see you on Monday morning. Ask Erica to come through on your way out, will you?”

  “Erica?”

  “The woman you collided with earlier. Erica’s my wife.”

  “Right,” Colin grinned as he walked through into the club. “And thank you for giving me this chance, Karl. You won’t regret it.”

  “I’d better not, for your sake.”

  Karl couldn’t help feeling that perhaps he had invited a wily fox into his chicken coup.

  “Who was that funny little man?” Erica asked as she came into the office.

  “That funny little man, as you call him, is Colin Clutterbuck. He’s probably got the best financial brain in the country. I’ve just set him on to do the accounts.”

  “Does this mean I don’t have to work here anymore? Please say I don’t.”

  “Are you saying you don’t like spending time with me?” Karl glared at his wife suspiciously.

  “Of course not, darling, but I want our time together to be something special. The cinema or out for dinner perhaps, not stuck in this room working until the early hours. Do you know when we went out together last? It was when we went to dinner with Danny and Billy. That was ages ago.”

  “Alright, I’ll see what I can do,” Karl said peevishly, “but the Emerald Club doesn’t run itself, no matter how many staff there are. I still have to be here to make sure it runs smoothly.”

  “I suppose so, but what’s going to happen if you expand like you were talking of doing earlier. You can’t be in two places at once.”

  “Opening a second club won’t be happening for a couple of years yet. I thought maybe Joe could manage it. What do you think?”

  Erica shrugged in response.

  “You know Erica, the more I think about it the more certain I am that Joe would be the right person to run the Topaz Club.”

  “The Topaz Club? You’ve got a name planned already?”

  “Of course I have. The next club I open will be the Topaz and following that will be the Sapphire. What do you think?”

  “I think you need to make sure the Emerald is on its feet first,” Erica said thoughtfully. “Running three clubs isn’t going to be easy.”

  “The trouble with you is that you have no ambition.” Karl took out a cigar from the desk drawer. “Trust me, if I say I will have three successful clubs in the next few years then that is exactly what I will have.”

  “I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds,” Erica shrugged. “Now, can we go home? It’s getting late.”

  PART TWO

  2008

  FORTY-ONE

  It was the clock striking nine that caused Charlotte to wake from a troubled sleep. Her neck felt stiff and her body ached through the uncomfortable position she had been laid in. Turning on the light, she walked over to the dresser and retrieved the letter she had received that morning.

  The envelope was a heavy cream wove with the name of the solicitors, Maguire & Flynn, heavily embossed in gold lettering on the left-hand side. The notepaper was equally impressive with the firm’s Dublin address and contact details along the top of the page. ‘Dear Ms O’Connor,’ it read, ‘We act on behalf of your late parents, Mary and Liam O’Conner. Firstly, please accept our deepest condolences for your loss. I met your mother on several occasions over the years and found her to be a most remarkable woman.’ Charlotte re-read the opening paragraph again. Why would her mother be visiting a firm of solicitors in Dublin she wondered? What business could she have with them? The letter continued, ‘We would be obliged if you could please visit our offices this coming Monday at, say, ten o’clock. There are some important matters which we need to discuss with you as a matter of some urgency.’ The letter was signed ‘Shamus J Flynn – Senior Partner’.

  Charlotte frowned. What matters could there be? The cottage was rented from her Aunt Maureen and the souvenir shop that her parents ran had only been leased. After a few minutes, she picked up the phone and rang her Aunt Maureen.

  “What do you think it’s about?” she asked after reading her the letter. “What can solicitors want with me?”

  Maureen was silent for a moment.

  “Charlotte, I don’t know all the facts but I think you need to speak to your Aunt Erica.”

  “Erica? What on earth for? I hardly know her. Dad said she was married to a gangster so we didn’t have much to do with either of them.”

  “Oh Erica’s a decent woman. Did you manage to speak to her at the funeral?”

  “Yes, briefly, but I was too upset to get into conversation. Besides, Erica only stayed the one day. She did invite me to visit her in England, though.”

  “Well, if you take my advice dear, that’s what you should do. Have you told Rory about the letter?”

  “Yes, I told him this afternoon.”

  “What did he think?”

  “He’s as much in the dark as I am. He wanted to go to Dublin with me on Monday but I’d rather go on my own.”

  “Yes, perhaps that’s for the best. I suppose you two will be thinking about getting married now, eh?”

  “Oh, don’t you start, I’ve enough with Rory. He’d get married tomorrow if I agreed.”

  “Well, you are eighteen, Charlotte. I was married with a baby when I was eighteen.”

  “I’m sorry but that’s not for me. I don’t want to get married until I’m at least twenty-one. Besides, if I married Rory and went to live on his farm, who would teach 3B their letters? Tell me that.”

  “So is it a career you’re wanting?”

  “I’m not sure what I want, to be honest. I just know that settling down isn’t right for me, not yet anyway.”

  “Take my advice and be careful, Charlotte. Men like Rory won’t hang around for ever.”

  Charlotte giggled, despite herself.

  “I’m going to bed now, Aunt Maureen. I’ll let you know what happens on Monday.”

  “Alright, darling. Goodnight.”

  FORTY-TWO

  Dressed in a smart dark grey suit and white blouse, Charlotte arrived at the offices of Maguire & Flynn at a quarter-to-ten. She had tied her long blonde hair in a ponytail and her porcelain complexion bore only the minimum of makeup.

  “Good morning,” said the middle-aged receptionist in a somewhat nasal voice. “Can I help you?”

  Charlotte introduced herself and said she had an appointment with Mr Shamus Flynn.

  “Oh dear,” sighed the receptionist, who Charlotte could see from the nameplate on her desk was called Deidre. “Poor Mr Flynn had a bump in his car this morning. He’s at the hospital with a suspected broken leg.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Charlotte said sympathetically. “I suppose I’ll have to make another appointment when he’s recovered.”

  “No need for that dear,” Deidre snif
fed. “His son Patrick has taken over his father’s clients for the time being.” Deidre pressed the intercom on her desk. “He doesn’t normally work from these offices but … Mr Flynn, there’s Ms O’Conner in reception. She has an appointment with your father but…”

  “That’s alright, Deidre. I’ll be through in a minute.”

  “Will it be tea or coffee you’ll be wanting?” Deidre asked cheerfully, getting up from her desk. “Personally I prefer tea but we do have some instant coffee somewhere.”

  “Nothing thanks,” Charlotte smiled. “I don’t drink tea or coffee.”

  “Is that a fact? Why ever not?”

  Before Charlotte could reply, one of the doors leading off Reception opened and a tall, dark-haired man walked into the room

  “Ms O’Connor?” he smiled, holding out his hand in greeting. “I’m Patrick Flynn. I’m so very glad to meet you.”

  Charlotte held out her hand and was impressed with his strong grip.

  “Mr Flynn, I’m sorry to hear about your father’s accident. Is he alright?”

  “Oh, he’ll be fine. Silly old sod crashed his car into a lamppost again, that’s the third time in less than two years. I keep telling him he needs to change his glasses but well, you know how stubborn fathers can be?” He smiled and Charlotte became aware of how handsome Patrick Flynn was with his broad forehead and square chin, straight nose and penetrating deep blue eyes.

  “Mr Flynn, I’m not sure what I’m doing here exactly,” Charlotte said hesitantly. “Your father’s letter wasn’t very specific.”

  “If you’ll come through to my office, Ms O’Connor, I’ll explain everything.” He smiled and Charlotte became aware of his perfect white teeth. The faint aroma of his cologne made her feel slightly aroused as she followed him through to his office.

  “Please, take a seat,” he smiled pulling back a black leather chair at the front of his large, imposing desk. “Have you been offered tea?”

  “Yes, but thank you, no.”

  “Alright then, Ms O’Connor, let’s get down to business.” Patrick sat behind the desk and opened a buff coloured file. “There is in our client account, a substantial amount of money in your name. Our instructions were that on the untimely death of your parents before your twenty-first birthday, you were to receive that money in full.”