Caroline’s hands clawed into her scalp as she nodded. ‘Yeah, I did. I saw him.’
‘What did he look like?’ asked Max.
‘Tall.’ Caroline sniffed and wiped at her nose again with the back of her hand. ‘Not as tall as Gary. And pale. White like a ghost. And grinning, sort of, while he did it.’ Caroline shuddered hard and hugged herself.
‘Anything else?’ asked Annie.
‘Yeah. There is.’ Caroline’s head was nodding like a metronome now. ‘I’ve been having nightmares about it ever since. The look on his face. Like a demon or something. Like he was enjoying it.’
‘What colour was his hair?’ asked Annie.
Caroline looked at her with haunted eyes.
‘Red,’ she said.
104
They let Caroline go, and then the three of them stood in the study in silence. Finally Max spoke.
‘I’m thinking about Gina and the phone calls to the Blue Parrot.’
‘What about them?’
‘Gina knew where her brother was living, didn’t she? She must have. What if she did tell Gary? She was mental. I spoke to her, the poor old cow didn’t have both oars in the water. Raving about how you were still Constantine’s wife, not mine. Saying he was still alive. She could have said all that and more to Gary on the phone. So maybe Gary knew where Constantine was.’
It was Annie’s turn to pace the room, skirting around Tony, who stood silent, watching.
‘Sounds like Redmond did Gary,’ she said.
‘Penny to a pinch of shit,’ said Max, nodding. ‘Fucker’s a psycho.’
‘Over Constantine’s whereabouts?’ Annie stopped in front of Max and locked eyes with him. ‘Jesus, do you think Gary was playing with fire, trying to get money or something off Redmond, doing a trade? He knew that Constantine was behind the plane crash that should have killed Redmond and Orla back in the seventies. Did he give that piece of information to Redmond, maybe sell it to him, as a little taster, and then Gina comes on the phone raving about Constantine being alive and where Constantine’s living these days, and Gary thinks, I can make some bigger wedge here, better than I did before. Maybe Gary tried to milk Redmond? And maybe Redmond snapped and killed him over it.’
Max folded his arms and stared at the floor, thinking. ‘Redmond’s no fool. I don’t think he would top Gary until he had that information – if he was so desperate to get it.’
‘Caroline said he was beating the crap out of him beforehand.’
‘Yeah.’ Max’s head raised and he looked grimly at Annie. ‘So it’s possible he beat it out of him and then killed him. In which case, right now – Redmond knows where Constantine is.’
Annie considered this with a sense of dread. She considered also that Redmond could have cornered her, forced the location out of her just like he had with Gary. That he could have done with her exactly as he had done with Gary and with poor bloody Jackie. The thought brought her out in a cold sweat.
‘Why didn’t he do you?’ wondered Max, echoing her thoughts. ‘He could have.’
Tony spoke for the first time. ‘I think Redmond Delaney has a thing for Mrs Carter. Weird as that may sound.’
Annie looked at Tony in surprise. ‘Oh, really? He left me to die once. You forgotten that?’
Tony shrugged. ‘He’s a twisted, cold-blooded bastard. Who knows how his brain works? But for sure, he could have done you over and got it out of you. And he didn’t. Just saying.’
‘He likes playing cat and mouse with people,’ said Annie with a heartfelt shudder.
‘So what now?’ asked Max.
‘We get someone over to Redmond’s place. See if he’s there. He won’t be, I’m sure of it, but we should check. And then… ’
‘Then what?’
‘I have to get up there,’ said Annie. ‘If Redmond knows, then he’s going for Constantine.’
‘And I’m supposed to care about that?’
Annie looked at him in exasperation. ‘He’s Alberto’s father, and if Alberto suffers then so does Layla, have you thought about that?’
‘So you ride to the rescue? Redmond’s had a day’s start. He’s probably whacked Constantine already. And frankly, do I care? OK, once he and I, we worked together. We had a mutual respect. But that sort of went for me, when he fucked my wife.’
‘I thought you were dead. And so did he.’
‘Yeah, yeah. And not content with that, you’ve been flitting back and forth to Scotland whenever you’ve come back here, visiting that shit and not telling me. No, I hope Redmond has done the business on him. I’d like to pat that fucker on the back over this.’
‘I explained that,’ said Annie. ‘You know I did. Fuck’s sake! I’ve got to get up there and I need some back-up with me. Steve and Tone.’
‘And me,’ said Max.
Annie looked at him, startled. ‘No,’ she said firmly.
But Max was determined. ‘Look. If we’re right, Delaney’s already there and he could finish the job off properly. He could do you too, if you pitch up – even if you think you have got a free pass where he’s concerned. Don’t kid yourself. The man’s a psycho. You don’t know what he’s going to do.’
‘Max…’
‘Don’t “Max” me. You’re not going up there without me.’
Annie stuck her hands on her hips. ‘I’m not going up there with you.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘Because you want Constantine dead. Because even if Redmond doesn’t finish the job, you will. I know you. You’ll kill him.’
‘I’d be doing the cunt a favour, holed away up there, losing his fucking faculties in a five-star prison. But Delaney’s probably already sorted that problem out for me.’
‘Christ, Max…’
‘Forget it. I’m coming too.’
105
Annie made the call and they took off five hours later from the heliport in the usual six-seater Agusta 109 Grand helicopter. The pilot, a big ice-cool Yorkshireman, knew her of old; he’d worked for ‘David Sangster’ for years. The chopper’s two lines of three passenger seats were camel-coloured, butter-soft leather armchairs, each with its own drinks holder and headphones that piped soothing music. The cabin was lined to prevent too much noise, in a toning shade of cream.
As the rotors began to spin, Annie looked across at Tony and Steve, who were both plugged in to Chopin. Max had drafted them in, in case there was trouble. She was sure there would be, if Redmond was involved. One of Steve’s security boys had been out to Redmond’s place, and she’d been right: the house was deserted, not even that weirdo heavy Mitchell was there. The place was shut up tight, everything dark.
But even now, they could be wrong; Redmond could be anywhere, not at Constantine’s. Annie hoped that was true, she really did. But at the back of her mind, she doubted it.
As the craft lifted into the air, Max, sitting beside her with one spare seat to his left, said:
‘There’s no way to get a message to him? To Constantine – or Alberto, if he’s in no fit state?’
Annie shook her head. ‘They contact me. It’s never the other way round. I have no telephone numbers, no email addresses, nothing.’
‘How many times have you done this trip now?’
‘Too many,’ she told him.
‘And who owns this damned thing?’ Max waved a hand, taking in the luxurious cabin interior. ‘Or is it rented? Must cost a fucking mint.’
‘It’s owned by Constantine – or rather, “David Sangster” – through a network of corporations that winds up in Liechtenstein or the Caymans, somewhere like that.’