‘A few grand is what I said. How about we call it a round five grand?’
‘What did she tell you?’ asked Richards.
Dunbar frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Don’t fuck me around, Dunbar. What is this really about? What did she say to you?’
Dunbar’s frown deepened. ‘She wanted me to check you out.’
‘That’s it?’
Dunbar shrugged. ‘I’ve worked for her before. She trusts my judgement.’
Richards laughed harshly. ‘Well that’s not working out too well for her, is it?’
‘I’m just trying to maximize my earnings,’ said Dunbar. He stood up. ‘If you’re not interested, I’ll just take the two hundred and give her the facts. It’s no skin off my nose.’
‘Relax, Max,’ said Richards. ‘I’ll pay.’
Dunbar grinned. ‘I knew you’d see it my way. Oh, and she wants to know if you know an accountant called Cohen.’
‘Does she, now?’
‘He works for some firm of accountants. Cohen and some Polish name. What do you want me to tell her?’
Richards shrugged. ‘Tell her the truth. I don’t know the man.’
‘No problem.’
‘You’ll take a cheque, right?’
Dunbar laughed. ‘It’s a cash-only deal,’ he said.
‘I don’t have that much on me,’ he said. He gestured over at Halpin. ‘See that guy over there in the overcoat? His name’s Mick. He’ll give you the cash tomorrow. He can call you on the number you used to call me?’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Dunbar. ‘Pleasure doing business with you.’ He held up the cigar. “And thanks for this.’ He grinned and walked away.
Richards went over to Halpin. ‘All good,’ he said.
‘What did he want, boss?’
‘A bloody shower for a start,’ said Richards. ‘He stank to high heaven.’ He patted Halpin on the back. ‘Come on, let’s go back to the club.’ They walked together across the square. ‘We’ve got a problem with the lovely Carolyn,’ said Richards. ‘She asked him to check me out, see if I’m naughty or nice.’
‘She hasn’t spoken to the cops. If she had, they’d be all over us by now.’ Halpin scratched his head. ‘Do you think Dunbar’s trying to set you up?’
‘He’s not smart enough for that. If his brains were gunpowder he wouldn’t be able to manage a loud fart.’
‘So all she wants to do is have you checked out? That’s good, right?’
Richards shook his head. ‘No, it’s bad. As bad as it gets. She’s checking me out because she saw what I did. She told him to find out if I knew Cohen.’
‘So why hasn’t she gone to the cops?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Richards. ‘But I know one thing. She’s one hell of an actress. When I saw her, butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Then she goes and hires Dunbar. She’s one cool cookie.’ He dropped what was left of the cigar onto the pavement and ground it out with his heel.
CHAPTER 45
Dunbar’s mobile rang and he put down his copy of the Daily Mirror and looked at the phone’s screen. The caller was withholding his number but that was nothing unusual, half of his calls came from blocked numbers. It was Halpin. ‘I’ve got your five grand,’ he said.
It was Thursday, the day after Dunbar had met Richards in Leicester Square. It had been too easy and Dunbar mentally kicked himself for not asking for ten grand. ‘Excellent,’ said Dunbar.
‘One thing, the boss wants to be sure you’ve given the woman a glowing report.’
‘No problem, soon as I get the money I’ll go and see her. I’ll tell her Warwick’s the best thing since sliced bread.’
‘No, he wants more than that,’ said Halpin. ‘He wants me to be there when you check in with her.’
‘That’s not going to fly,’ said Dunbar. ‘She knows I work alone so she’s going to wonder why I’ve turned up mob-handed. Plus, she made it clear she wants this done on the QT.’
‘Then I need to hear you make a call before I give you the money.’
‘That’ll work,’ said Dunbar.
‘You can make the call, I’ll give you the five grand and everyone’s happy.’
Dunbar looked at his watch. It was ten-thirty. He had a surveillance operation he was supposed to be starting at five o’clock that evening but, other than that, he was free all day. ‘I’ll meet you somewhere,’ he said.
‘You don’t want me to know where you live, is that it?’ said Halpin. ‘Waste of time, pal. We already know.’
‘Bullshit,’ said Dunbar. He wasn’t on the electoral roll and none of the utilities were in his name.
Halpin chuckled. ‘Where are you now?’ he asked.
‘Home.’
‘I meant which room, dickhead.’
Dunbar frowned. ‘The kitchen.’
‘Walk through to your front room, mate, and open your blinds.’
‘Fuck off.’
‘I’m serious, dickhead.’
Dunbar walked quickly into his sitting room and peered through the slats of the wooden blinds covering the main window. Halpin was standing on the pavement outside the house. He grinned and waggled his fingers at Dunbar. ‘Surprise,’ he said.
Dunbar cursed and put his phone away. He went to the front door and opened it. ‘I don’t see people at home,’ he said.
‘There’s a first time for everything,’ said Halpin, unbuttoning his overcoat. He reached inside and took out a bulky envelope. ‘Do you want your bloody money or not?’
‘Yeah, all right, come in,’ said Dunbar. He held open the door and Halpin stepped inside. ‘Kitchen,’ said Dunbar. ‘I’ve just made a pot of tea.’
Halpin walked through to the kitchen as Dunbar closed the front door. ‘Nice,’ said Halpin, looking around. ‘You married then, Maxwell?’
‘Wife died a few years ago,’ said Dunbar. ‘Cancer.’
‘Yeah, cancer’s a bugger,’ said Halpin. ‘Took my old fellah last year. Colon.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Dunbar. He gestured at the teapot. ‘You want tea?’
‘Milk and one sugar,’ said Halpin, sitting down at the kitchen table. He toyed with a sovereign ring as Dunbar poured tea for the two of them.
‘Let me see the money then,’ said Dunbar as he sat down.
Halpin slid the envelope across the table. Dunbar took it and grinned when he opened it and saw the money inside. Halpin leaned over and took it from him. ‘It’s yours once you’ve made the call,’ he said.
‘You know she works every day?’ said Dunbar. ‘And her phone has to be off when she’s on the set.’
‘I’m in no rush,’ said Halpin. ‘Just keep calling until you get through.’
CHAPTER 46
Andrea had the giggles. Corpsing they called it, and Andrea could have corpsed for the Olympics. The scene was a simple two-hander, Diana and Fiona sitting in a wine bar discussing their friend Saffie’s new boyfriend. Saffie was a buyer for a top London store. She was in her fifties and had a thing about younger men. Much younger. There were ten lines of dialogue in all, accompanied by sips of Ribena masquerading as claret. The scene was the day before Diana would discover Fiona in bed with her husband and it was light banter with a couple of very funny lines.
The first take had been almost perfect except for the fact that, at one point, Carolyn had accidentally clinked her glass against the bottle. It was a small thing but Harrington wanted to go again. That’s when the giggling had started. The line was simple enough. All Andrea had to say was ‘good things come in small packages’, which was meant to be a double entendre and was supposed to be accompanied by Andrea raising one eyebrow, one of her trademark looks. She fluffed the line and said ‘on small packages’ and, from that point on, she was unable to say the line without cracking up. She had half a dozen goes at it before apologizing profusely to the director and the crew, took a minute to compose herself and tried again. Unfortunately, she went from bad to worse and would giggle as soon as Harrington called ‘action!’