They rang the bell and were surprised when sixteen-year-old Lois Thompson opened the door. She looked like she’d been chilling in front of the TV, dressed in grey sweat pants with a ripped knee and a giant Luton Town football shirt that must have belonged to her dad.
‘Hey,’ Bruce said. ‘James slashed his leg, is your mum home?’
‘Did my dad send you over?’ Lois tutted. ‘He knows she goes to Weight Watchers on Monday night.’
‘Oh,’ Bruce said, exchanging an awkward glance with James as Lois examined James’ leg.
‘Looks nasty,’ she said. ‘I can take a look if you like. I used to be in the St John Ambulance when I was a kid.’
‘Would you mind?’ James nodded. ‘It’s a long walk home.’
‘Try not to drip blood anywhere.’ Lois let them into the hallway. ‘It’s brand new carpet and my mum would freak.’
‘Thanks,’ James said, pulling off his football boots.
‘Leave ’em on the mat,’ Lois smiled. ‘The first-aid stuff is in the big bathroom up on the first landing. Can you manage the stairs?’
‘I can hold the banister and hop,’ James grinned.
Lois looked at Bruce, unsure why he’d taken off his boots. ‘Aren’t you going back to the game?’
‘Oh …’ Bruce said.
‘There’s not much going on,’ James said, covering hurriedly. ‘Can’t he wait for me here? I might need help coming back down the stairs or whatever.’
‘I guess,’ Lois said. ‘It’s Bruce, isn’t it?’
Bruce nodded.
‘I tell you what Bruce, you both look half frozen. Why don’t you go in the kitchen and make some tea? There’s all kinds of biscuits in there too.’
Bruce had been knocked off his stride when Lois answered the door, but he now realised that the search would be easier with only one person in the house and being left alone downstairs was perfect.
As Bruce cut into the Thompsons’ expensively fitted kitchen, James wound his football shirt around his leg to stop the blood dripping and began walking upstairs.
‘First on the left,’ Lois said.
She reached in behind James and pulled on a light cord, revealing a space that was as big as James’ room on campus. There was a large corner bath, a stack of lifestyle magazines beside the toilet, a separate shower cubicle and a wicker lounge chair in front of a circular window.
‘Sit down,’ Lois said, as she threw a bath towel over the bottom half of the lounger to keep the mud off. ‘I’ll sponge off the worst of it, then you can have a soak in the bath and I’ll bandage it up when you’re clean.’
‘Cool,’ James nodded, sitting down with his grubby legs stretched out in front of him.
‘Raise your leg up, so I can see the cut,’ Lois said, as she leaned over the bath and turned on the taps.
‘You’ve got a nice house,’ James grinned.
‘Parents are a pain though,’ Lois smiled, as she knelt on one knee and began peeling off his football sock. ‘You must get heaps more freedom living in the Zoo.’
*
It was a large house and Bruce had to be completely sure that Lois was the only person home. After scrubbing his hands under the mixer tap, he filled the kettle, then grabbed the backpack and headed out into the hallway.
He moved stealthily in his socked feet. His first step was to open the door that went into the basement. He peered down the slatted wooden steps and was pleased to see all the lights out and no sign of life.
Next, he raced down the ground-floor hallway, checking that the living-and dining-rooms were empty before opening the door to Sasha’s study. The room was a fair size, done out in matching Ikea office furniture. The longest wall was all shelves, crammed with books: mostly the histories of football clubs and biographies of players. Two partially melted trophies rescued from the Mad Dogs clubhouse stood atop the filing cabinet.
Bruce unzipped the PDA from the backpack and used it to phone Chloe.
‘I’m in the study now,’ Bruce whispered. ‘James is upstairs being cleaned up by Lois. Are you in place?’
‘I’m in the car directly across the street,’ Chloe said. ‘If anyone comes in or out you’ll be the first to know.’
‘First impressions aren’t good,’ Bruce said. ‘It all looks like football stuff.’
‘Sasha’s had the cops on his back for yonks,’ Chloe said. ‘He’s too smart to leave anything obvious in his own home. Remember what we discussed: be thorough and keep your eyes peeled for small clues.’
‘Will do,’ Bruce said, as he ended the call and flipped open the leather appointments diary in the middle of Sasha’s desk.
It was mundane stuff: hospital appointments for a bad knee, a meeting about the insurance on the clubhouse, taking the car in for a service. But as Bruce flipped it shut he noticed Sasha had used the inside front page to write down several phone numbers and he used the PDA to snap a couple of photographs.
Next he moved on to the desk drawers. Amidst the pens, clips and elastic bands were a couple of CD-ROMs, but there was no computer in the room and Bruce didn’t have the equipment on hand to copy them. The next drawer was stacked with old photos, whilst the large file drawer at the bottom appeared to be a makeshift liqueur cabinet, stacked with partially drunk bottles of vodka and brandy.
It was only as Bruce pulled the drawer open to its fullest that he spotted a pair of old Nokia phones squeezed between duty-free sized bottles of Jack Daniels and Cuervo Gold. The handsets looked cheap. Maybe they were just phones that Sasha no longer used, but the way they were propped deliberately between the bottles made him wonder.
Whilst home phones, internet connections and contract mobiles are easy for police to listen in on, pay-as-you-go mobiles, bought and topped up with cash, are completely anonymous. What’s more, they’re cheap enough for criminals to use for a few weeks and throw away before the police get wind of them.
Excited by the phones, Bruce laid each one on the desk and switched it on. As the grey and black LCDs went through the start-up screens, he was relieved that neither handset was set up for a PIN number. As soon as the phones detected the network, Bruce dialled *#06# and the phone’s unique handset ID flashed up on screen. He flipped the PDA into voice-record mode and carefully read out the numbers before placing the handsets back exactly as he’d found them.
Bruce looked around the room and decided that his next move would be a rummage through the filing cabinet and then a flick through the bookshelves, just in case anything had been tucked inside.
*
Upstairs, Lois slid her hand across James’ thigh as she stared at the clean rectangle of flesh around his cut.
‘It’s not all that deep,’ she murmured. ‘We’ve got some binding plasters that will hold the two halves of the cut together. It should heal up fine.’
Lois backed off and swished her hand through the clear bath water. ‘Feels about right to me,’ she said. ‘I haven’t put in soap or anything because it might sting if it gets inside the cut.’
‘You wouldn’t want that,’ James smiled. ‘I’m a total baby.’
‘You don’t look like a baby,’ Lois noted admiringly, as James stepped towards the bath. ‘Do you work out?’
‘I lift some weights,’ James nodded. ‘Nothing major.’
There was an awkward pause. He had to pull down his shorts and boxers before climbing into the water, but Lois stood less than a metre away and she clearly wasn’t going anywhere.
‘Don’t be shy on my account,’ Lois smirked. ‘I’ve seen plenty of blokes in the nude.’
James didn’t want to seem like a prude, but he didn’t like the idea of being naked in front of Sasha’s daughter. His solution was to turn towards the bath and drop his shorts quickly so that she only got a flash of his bum. Mercifully, Lois had backed up to the bathroom door by the time he’d settled into the hot water. He figured she’d be out of the room by the time he’d soaped his arms; but instead of leaving she slid the bolt across and pulle
d Sasha’s Luton Town shirt over her head, unveiling a bright orange sports bra as she approached the bath.
‘What do you reckon?’ Lois grinned, as she unhitched the bra.
‘Stop!’ James spluttered. ‘No offence, Lois, but if your dad found out about this he’d kill me … Slowly.’
‘It’ll be OK,’ Lois said reassuringly. ‘Mum won’t be back for ages and if Dad comes in he’ll go straight down the basement to play cards.’
‘But,’ James said anxiously. Lois was sexy and completely up for it, but the image of what her powerfully built father had done to the councillor was fixed in his head.
‘You only just moved into town and I heard from Wheels that you didn’t have a girlfriend,’ Lois said, as she pulled down her sweat pants. James was stunned by the lack of underwear as she opened the bathroom cabinet and spun a foil-wrapped condom across the room. It hit his arm before landing in the bathwater.
‘What’s that for?’ James asked stupidly. He could hardly breathe and half expected to wake up and find it was all a dream.
‘I don’t know where you’ve been,’ Lois said, as she stepped into the water and kissed James on the neck. ‘And your mate’s wandering around downstairs, so if you want some action you’d better hurry up.’
35. SIMEON
James felt numb as he walked down the front steps of Sasha’s house. He hadn’t wanted to put his muddy kit back on after the bath, so Lois dug out one of Sasha’s old tracksuits and a pair of trainers. Both were a couple of sizes too big, but that was the least of his worries.
The fact that he’d just lost his virginity felt like a three-hundred-kilo gorilla on his back. And to make matters worse, Lois had suggestively mentioned that he could bring the clothes back any time he liked.
‘You’re acting weird,’ Bruce noted, as they walked away from the Thompsons’ house towards the bus stop. ‘Is everything OK?’
‘Course,’ James said, shrugging half-heartedly and keen to change the subject. ‘How did you get on with the search?’
‘Not bad. You were up there with Lois for ages, so I had a chance to go through everything. I got the numbers for a couple of pay-as-you-go phones. I snapped some interesting business cards and I even managed a quick rummage through the cupboards in the living-room. I don’t think I’ve unearthed anything spectacular, but it might get us somewhere.’
‘The phones sound good,’ James said, though he found it hard to concentrate. His heartbeat was all over the place and there was a two-thousand-voice choir in his head screaming you just had sex!
‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ Bruce asked again. ‘You look pale and you’re all clammy.’
James wished Bruce would stop talking and let him get his head straight. ‘I guess it’s the cut on my leg,’ he said irritably. ‘You dug that glass in too deep.’
‘You know what’s weird though?’ Bruce asked, raising one eyebrow slightly.
‘What?’
‘You know Lois asked me to make a cup of tea?’
James nodded.
‘Well after I’d searched Sasha’s study, I made a quick cuppa and when you didn’t come down I started taking it up the stairs.’
‘You what?’ James gasped.
‘It was really strange,’ Bruce smirked. ‘When I got up near the bathroom I could hear water splashing everywhere. You were making this kind of low groaning noise, then afterwards I could have sworn that I heard Lois saying that you weren’t bad for a first timer.’
James realised he’d been rumbled. ‘She was all over me, Bruce,’ he blurted. ‘You’ve got to keep this quiet.’
‘Do you reckon?’ Bruce laughed. ‘Sasha would hook you up by your scrotum and Dana … Well, let’s just say she wouldn’t be too happy if she found out.’
James had grown to hate his reputation for cheating on girls and he really cared about Dana.
‘It wasn’t my fault,’ James shouted. ‘Lois locked the bathroom door and then practically jumped on top of me.’
Bruce wasn’t listening. ‘You’re such a jammy dog. She’s got a good body. Was it as amazing as everyone says it is?’
James got a kick out of the fact that he’d leapt into the adult realm, while Bruce was forced to remain curious. ‘It was OK,’ he shrugged. ‘I mean, it’s definitely nice to have done it. But Lois kept bossing me around, which wasn’t exactly how I imagined it …’
‘The dominant female,’ Bruce giggled, ‘very kinky. Kerry’s gonna burst when I tell her.’
‘For god’s sake,’ James said. ‘You can’t tell anyone. You’ve got to swear, Bruce. And I’m only fifteen and a half, so I could get expelled if the staff find out.’
But by this time Bruce was laughing so hard that he could barely stand up. ‘Sasha’s daughter!’ he howled. ‘You dirty little goat.’
James was starting to get annoyed. ‘Will you shut up? It’s dark and there could be anyone walking around here.’
‘Sorry,’ Bruce grinned, as he wiped tears on to the sleeve of his tracksuit top. ‘Don’t worry, I’m your mate and was only joking about telling Kerry, but…’
Bruce couldn’t finish the sentence. He was laughing so hard that he had to clutch his stomach to stop his sides hurting.
*
The boys had arranged to meet Chloe at a bus stop about a kilometre from Sasha’s house. From there they made the short drive to her hotel near the town centre. It was gone eleven when they arrived, but the gang lifestyle revolved around late nights and long lie-ins, so neither boy was tired.
‘You look like you’ve been laughing,’ Chloe said as the boys stepped into her room.
For a moment James thought Bruce was going to crack up again, but after a little snort he managed to get a grip on himself.
‘Care to share?’ Chloe asked.
‘Oh, it was nothing,’ Bruce lied. ‘Just this old lady with one of those fancy poodles with all the hair done up in pom-poms. They always make me laugh.’
Chloe looked baffled. ‘It never ceases to amaze me the stuff teenage boys think is funny,’ she said. ‘I’ve got the laptop logged into the police computer. You said you had phone numbers or something?’
Bruce guffawed as he sat at the small hotel desk and pulled the PDA out of the little backpack. ‘The main thing is that I’ve got a couple of pay-as-you-go phone numbers,’ he said. ‘Do you want me to run them?’
‘Sure,’ Chloe nodded. ‘If you know how to use the system.’
Bruce opened the PDA and played back the voice recordings he’d made of the numbers and handset IDs. Technically, you were supposed to get a judge’s approval to access mobile phone records, but in reality the intelligence services had instant access to call records from all of the major networks. If they found anything interesting, they could always get permission afterwards.
As a long list of phone numbers appeared on the laptop screen, Bruce was delighted to see that both mobiles had been heavily used right up until earlier that evening.
‘Print everything off,’ Chloe said. ‘I don’t have analysis software here, so we’ll have to go through it by hand.’
Over the course of the mission, James, Michael, Bruce and Gabrielle had collected the phone numbers of gang members whenever they could. The big men like Sasha and Major Dee covered their tracks by regularly switching phones, but most of their deputies stuck to one handset. Despite this, there were still more than a hundred numbers on the list.
Once three months of Sasha’s calls had dropped into the tray of the laser printer, Chloe divided the twenty sheets into three piles and split them evenly with the boys. They each grabbed a pen and began marking off numbers.
‘07839 is Savvas’ home number,’ Bruce said. ‘25614 is one of Wheels’ phones.’
Chloe and James skimmed through their papers, writing the name of the person Sasha called beside each instance of the number being dialled. Within ten minutes, they’d marked off most of the numbers and eliminated a few others – such as the garage that was fixing Sasha’s car –
by using a reverse searchable version of the telephone directory.
‘I’ve still got one number that comes up every day or so,’ James said, as he lay on Chloe’s hotel bed. ‘It’s a mobile ending 42399.’
Chloe nodded as she ran her finger down the list of Mad Dogs phone numbers. ‘I’ve got it on my sheet too. It’s an unregistered mobile, but it’s not on the list.’
‘Yes it is,’ Bruce said, waving his copy of the number list at Chloe. ‘42399, Simeon Bentine.’
‘Where?’ Chloe asked, as she slid her nail down the page for the third time. ‘I can’t see it.’
Bruce had made a discovery and seemed pretty full of himself. ‘I’m not using the list me and James got,’ he explained. ‘This is Michael and Gabrielle’s list.’
‘Get out of town,’ James grinned, as he snatched the paper from Bruce to confirm that the phone numbers matched. ‘You’re right … So who the hell is Simeon Bentine?’
‘No idea, but Michael should know where he fits in,’ Chloe said, as she picked up her mobile from her bedside cabinet and gave him a call. ‘Hey, is it safe to speak?’
‘Chloe,’ Michael said fondly. ‘It’s safe. I’m in a cab heading off to some house party.’
‘Sounds like fun,’ Chloe said. ‘Listen, I’m here at the hotel with James and Bruce. We’ve got a call log from an unregistered mobile phone found in Sasha Thompson’s house. It looks as if he’s been spending a lot of time speaking to a man called Simeon Bentine. Ever heard of him?’
Michael sounded shocked. ‘You said Simeon? E-O-N?’
‘That’s what I said. Who is he?’
‘He’s Major Dee’s money man. I’ve only met him a couple of times. He’s in his fifties, not much in common with the other Slasher Boys. Dresses in a pinstripe suit, drives a dark blue Mercedes E-class, respectable. You know, not blinged up or anything.’
‘So you’d be pretty surprised to hear that this guy is on the phone to Sasha Thompson almost every day?’ Chloe asked.
‘This is huge, Chloe,’ Michael said excitedly. ‘This is the mother we’ve been waiting for. Simeon is the money man, which means he always knows when Major Dee is doing a big deal because he has to put the cash into position.’