‘Great, you check them out, and I’ll check out your TikToks. Off you go, champ.’
Garth ruffles the boy’s hair and watches him run out. He turns back to Nina.
‘Nice kid. Where’s the lock-up garage, Nina?’
‘You terrified him, Garth,’ says Nina. ‘A child.’
‘I don’t care,’ says Garth. ‘Again, not like “I don’t care what film we see,” I literally do not care, I can’t over-emphasize that. Where’s the lock-up?’
‘I don’t know,’ says Nina.
‘Come on,’ says Garth. ‘We going to do this quickly or slowly? I promise quickly is best.’
Nina has to think fast. She has one primary concern. They want to figure out who killed Kuldesh – so how to play this situation? Is this man going to help or hinder them? This is exactly what Elizabeth had wanted. To set the whole lot of them on a false trail. See what dust was kicked up. She makes up her mind.
‘Let’s say I tell you?’ she begins.
‘Let’s say that,’ agrees Garth.
‘What’s in it for me?’
Garth laughs. ‘That’s pretty obvious. I don’t throw you out that window.’
‘Garth, you keep threatening to throw people out of windows,’ says Nina. ‘I’m guessing you’ve never done that in real life.’
‘Guess again, miss,’ says Garth. ‘Where’s the lock-up?’
‘I want 10 per cent, if you find it,’ says Nina.
‘You want 10 per cent of the heroin?’
‘I don’t want to go anywhere near heroin,’ says Nina. ‘But I want 10 per cent of the profits when you sell it.’
‘Huh,’ says Garth, thinking about this. ‘But you already searched the lock-up, I bet. I’m guessing it’s not there?’
‘I didn’t know what I was looking for,’ says Nina. ‘You might have more luck.’
‘Ain’t no luck involved,’ says Garth. ‘You just gotta keep grinding.’
‘And they trust me, Elizabeth and the gang. Whatever they tell me, I can tell you.’
‘Why don’t you do this deal with them?’
‘They’re not going to sell the heroin, are they?’ says Nina. ‘There’s no profit.’
‘Yeah, those cutie-pies would give it straight to the cops. OK, deal,’ says Garth. ‘Where’s the lock-up? Then I’m going to pay a visit to the Yak House. Why’d you think they didn’t call it “The Yak Shack”?’
It is apparent that Garth is actually looking for an answer. She stops writing for a moment.
‘I don’t know, I’m afraid. You’d have to ask them.’
‘I will,’ says Garth. ‘You’d better believe I will.’
Nina hands him the address. Is this a very good idea, or a very bad idea? She is sure it will turn out to be one or the other.
Donna sips her coffee and reads out the text.
Not urgent, but if you were ever to get married, do you think it would be a big wedding? What sort of numbers would you be thinking about? I saw a police officer in a film yesterday shoot someone in a car park, and I thought of you.
‘From Joyce?’ Chris asks.
Donna nods. Elizabeth has asked them to keep an eye on the lock-up after a lunch they’d had yesterday. ‘See what you can see,’ she had asked.
‘What did you say?’
‘I said I’m not getting married, and they still don’t let me have a gun,’ says Donna. ‘And she said that’s a shame, you’d suit both.’
Chris holds binoculars up to his eyes for a moment, then puts them down. ‘False alarm. So you wouldn’t get married?’
‘Things to do first,’ says Donna. ‘Never been to India, never jumped out of a plane. Never really punched anyone.’
‘Yeah, get those out of the way,’ says Chris. ‘Wouldn’t want to get married with those hanging over you.’
‘You must have a bucket list?’ says Donna.
Chris thinks. ‘Well, I’ve never watched
‘She’s a lucky woman,’ says Donna. She takes the binoculars now and does a quick scan.
‘Nothing,’ she says. ‘You reckon this is a waste of time? Sitting on a hill waiting for heroin dealers?’
‘Elizabeth says they’ll be here,’ says Chris. ‘So they’ll be here.’
‘She really has you under her spell, doesn’t she?’
‘Yes,’ says Chris. ‘I choose to embrace it.’
Donna and Chris are parked high on a hill above the row of lock-up garages by Fairhaven seafront. They have been in this exact spot before, carrying out surveillance on Connie Johnson’s office. Connie now has her office in a cell at Darwell Prison, though word on the street says she’s as busy as ever.
In their absence the Benenden horse-theft case is ongoing, and thefts have recently spread as far afield as Peasmarsh. No horse is safe, and people are up in arms.
Chris and Donna already have a fairly good idea who is carrying out the thefts, however: a man named Angus Gooch who runs a livery stable near Battle, and has a string of previous convictions to his name. He is stealing horses to order, and then transporting them across the country. He has an Audi TT, so presumably it’s good business.
