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  “Have you any proof of that?”

  “No. I got rid of the phone I talked to him on.”

  Dwyer fought to conceal his disappointment. “Would you be willing to give evidence in court against him?”

  “You’re kidding, right? You want me to be a witness against Jez Law? I wouldn’t survive long enough.”

  “We can put you in protection.”

  “Unless you’ve got The Avengers to protect me I’m not interested.”

  “Well I’m sorry Ray but you’ll be going down for a very long stretch. Don’t worry though, I’m sure you’ll meet lots of old friends inside. Oh that’s right, you pissed off your old crew when you legged it abroad with all the cash while they were arrested and flung into prison. No doubt they’ll arrange something horrible to celebrate your reunion. I just hope it doesn’t hurt too much.”

  Ray turned to his lawyer. “Will you say something?”

  “I think DCI Dwyer’s right,” he replied. “Giving evidence is your only chance.”

  “Fucking useless,” he muttered. “Wait,” he added when Dwyer got to his feet. “Alright,” he sighed. “I’ll do it.”

  With a pleased smile Dwyer retook his seat. Campbell regarded him questioningly when he paused the recording of the interview. “I need to talk to Ray in private,” he told her.

  “Sir?”

  “Don’t make me repeat myself DI Campbell.”

  With a puzzled frown she got to her feet, pausing at the door to look back at Dwyer before leaving.

  “Thank God she’s gone,” said Dwyer. “Let’s hope we haven’t caught her cold.”

  “Actually I’ve not been feeling too well. I’m all hot and feverish,” said Ray, pressing a hand to his head.

  “Nice try. So, you’ve already admitted that Jez Law gave the order to kill Amber Maguire.”

  Ray nodded.

  “Mikey gave the order too, didn’t he?”

  “No. I’ve never spoken to Mikey Maguire in my life.”

  “Yes you have. You spoke to both men and they both gave you the same order.”

  “No I didn’t,” he retorted, puzzled.

  Dwyer rolled his eyes and looked to the solicitor. “Give us a moment, will you?”

  The solicitor looked to his client, he nodded resignedly. Picking up his briefcase he quietly left.

  “I’m going to sack that bastard,” said Ray. “I’d be better off with my seven year old niece as my defence.”

  “He knows yours is a lost cause. There’s nothing he can do for you. But I can. I’ll give you a new life, a new identity and help you move far away, where the Maguires and Laws can’t touch you. The only thing is you wouldn’t be one hundred percent safe with just Jez Law behind bars, would you? His business partner would go all out to get revenge against the man giving evidence against him. If both of them were remanded into custody then neither of them could do anything about it.”

  “Course they could, they have plenty of people working for them. And there’s Venom, Mikey’s wife and Jez’s sister. She’d be in charge and that is one vicious cow.”

  “She’s not what she was since the coma and then being shot in the chest.”

  “That’s not what I’ve heard.”

  “She’s a spent force. Mikey and Jez put it about that she’s still at the top of her game to inspire fear. Trust me, she’s no threat to anyone anymore.”

  Ray’s look was doubtful.

  “I want you to say that Mikey and Jez plotted Amber’s murder together. Then they’ll both get sent down.”

  “With their contacts they wouldn’t. Christ knows who they have in their pockets.”

  “Just leave that with me. All you have to do is give evidence against them both and I’ll ensure you get full immunity, no prison. I’m offering you a fresh start here,” he pressed when he still appeared doubtful. “No looking over your shoulder, worrying about being arrested or retribution from angry ex-friends serving long stretches with nothing left to lose by torturing you to death. It’s your choice Ray.”

  Ray hated the thought of becoming a grass, the police had been his natural enemy for many years but Dwyer was his only way out. If he didn’t accept his offer he would be thrown into prison and brutally murdered. “Fine,” he said, feeling horrible. “I’ll do it but I want immunity first.” Sorry Mikey and Jez, he thought inwardly.

  “Sensible choice,” smiled Dwyer. “I knew you were an intelligent man Ray.” He called Campbell back into the room and pressed the record button. “For the benefit of the tape, Mr McGinnis has new information he would like to share.”

  Ray felt his heart sink at Dwyer’s predatory smile. Sometimes the coppers could be worse than the criminals.

  CHAPTER 6

  “I’ve got them, finally,” beamed Dwyer as he and Campbell exited the interview room. “Mikey Maguire and Jez Law are going down.”

  “It’s a good start,” said Campbell. “But it’s only McGinnis’s word against theirs. You’re going to need more proof to make a charge like that stick. You don’t even have a body.”

  “I don’t need one to prove murder. There have been cases where it has been proved without one but I’m still going to Spain.”

  “He said he pushed her off a cliff. There’ll be nothing left to find.” She ended this statement with a sneeze.

  Dwyer took two steps back. “You don’t know that. Maybe a piece of her washed up somewhere,” he said, causing Campbell to grimace. “But I’ll find all the evidence I need against those bastards, have no worries there.”

  Campbell didn’t doubt that he would. She’d heard the rumours about him fitting people up.

  After his interview with McGinnis, Dwyer headed straight back to Manchester to arrange getting his star witness into immediate protective custody and out of Yorkshire, which was held under the sway of the Maguires and Laws. God only knew how many police officers they had in their pockets.

  He hadn’t been back in his office ten minutes when the door opened and DS Miller’s head popped around it.

  “Sir,” she said. “There’s someone to see you.”

  “Not now Miller,” barked back Dwyer. “I’m up to my eyes in it here.”

  Miller didn’t think he looked busy. He was sitting in his chair behind his desk, staring at the photos of the Maguires and Laws dotted about his office. Personally she thought there was something wrong with the freak and she wondered why he hadn’t been pulled up more about his weird obsession with that family. Often she’d walked in here when he was supposed to be working and found him staring at those photos.

  “There’s a DI Leonidas from Liverpool wanting to talk to you.”

  This statement dragged his attention away from his precious photos. “Leonidas? What does he want?”

  “To discuss the Law family,” she said with relish, knowing that would wipe the annoyed look off his face.

  “Well don’t just stand there looking gormless. Show him in.”

  “Yes Sir,” she sighed before leaving.

  Leonidas strode into the room, towering over Dwyer and everything in his office. Miller quietly retreated, closing the door behind her before demands for coffee and biscuits were made by Dwyer.

  “I’m DI Leonidas of Merseyside Police Sir. I’m investigating the murder of Estelle Law.”

  Dwyer’s eyes bulged. “Estelle Law?”

  Leonidas nodded.

  “In that case please sit down.”

  “Thank you Sir,” said Leonidas, taking a seat and unbuttoning his jacket. “I was told you were the man to talk to about this family. Apparently you know everything there is to know about them.” A slight lie on his part. The two detectives he’d spoken to had both said the man was completely obsessed and that Dwyer had made it his life work to bring them down. The photos on the wall behind him proved that. “You’re familiar with Estelle Law?”

  “I am. The Law matriarch, hated by her children and practically everyone in Manchester.”

  “So she wasn’t a pleasa
nt individual then?”

  “No, she was a horrible creature. A nasty prostitute and drug addict.”

  “I spoke to her children, Jez and Jules. They said pretty much the same thing.”

  “Estelle’s children hated her. She neglected them when they were kids, too busy sleeping around with losers or in a drug addled stupor. Jules however is more of an enigma than her brothers. Estelle sent her to live with a rich and by all accounts respectable family but there were rumours of child abuse.”

  “That would explain why she hates her. Neither she nor Jez attempted to hide the fact.”

  “Because they couldn’t. Everyone in Manchester knows how much the Law siblings detest their mother. But you must know, everything that comes out of their mouths is usually a lie. Don’t trust a thing they tell you. You never did say how she died.”

  “Shot in the back of the head, execution style. She’d been in the ground about eight months in some woodland in Liverpool.”

  “Eight months? That’s right around the time those bodies were found down there.”

  “Yes Sir. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

  “Neither do I.” Dwyer’s eyes tick-tocked from side to side as he frantically considered this new information. “So the Laws and Maguires are attacked and they head down to Liverpool to take out their enemies…”

  “Andrew Clayton.”

  Normally Dwyer would hate to be interrupted but he was too lost in finally piecing everything together to bother admonishing him for it. “Yes, along with Katia and Hayden Brody, none of whom have been seen since.”

  “They killed them all?”

  “Clayton and Hayden certainly but Katia Brody along with her three children left the country for Paris eight months ago before flying out to Portugal. From there she disappeared, probably to go into hiding.”

  “So Clayton and the Brodys joined forces to take out the Maguires and Laws at the wedding,” said Leonidas, getting into the swing of the theory. “Their plan failed then in turn they were attacked and killed.”

  “That’s my theory.”

  “I think you’re right Sir.”

  “Oh how nice,” said Dwyer sarcastically.

  Leonidas ignored this snippy comment, he rarely had time to pander to people’s egos. “But where does Estelle fit into it and why was she in Liverpool?”

  “My guess is she sided with her children’s enemies and paid with her life. They had to find out about that wedding somehow.”

  “Surely they wouldn’t invite her to the wedding if they hated her so much?”

  “Maybe not but Estelle had ways of finding things out. She…”

  “Is something wrong Sir?” said Leonidas when Dwyer went rigid, eyes bulging. Although Dwyer didn’t have a moustache Leonidas couldn’t help but think that he looked a lot like Hitler, the maniacal look in his eyes only enhancing the effect.

  “Amber Maguire,” breathed Dwyer.

  “Amber Maguire?”

  “She used to be married to Mikey, until he chucked her for his murdering first cousin, Jules. She knew where and when the wedding was, she looked after the kids because they were too sick to go.”

  “Which kids?” said Leonidas.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he snapped with an impatient wave of the hand. “No way would they tell Estelle about the wedding, she’d be the last person they wanted there after she gatecrashed Jules’s first wedding and they went to such trouble to keep it a secret. Amber must have been the one who blabbed.” He regarded Leonidas with sharp blue eyes. “Amber Maguire’s disappeared. We have someone in custody who admits to killing her on Mikey and Jez’s orders.”

  “Both of them?” said Leonidas with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yes, both of them,” he barked.

  “Seems a bit odd. Surely he’d just need to speak to one of them?”

  “Well he didn’t, he spoke to them both and they both told him to do it.”

  “Oh I see. He met them face to face.”

  “No, he talked to them over the phone.”

  “Then why did he need to speak to both of them?”

  “I don’t know. Why do that lot do anything?”

  Dwyer’s horrible temper, which had reduced many a criminal and police officer to jelly, failed to affect Leonidas. “So where does Estelle fit into all this?”

  “I’ve heard whispers that her kids told her if she showed her face again in Manchester she was dead. Maybe she thought taking sides against them was the only way to avoid a shallow grave?”

  “Which she did avoid. Her grave was pretty deep,” grinned Leonidas, Dwyer’s scowl failing to dampen his good mood. He loved it when a case started coming together.

  “When her kids and their friends attacked their enemies they must have been furious to find she’d betrayed them, so they killed her and buried her in the woods.”

  “Makes sense,” nodded Leonidas. “But how do we prove it?”

  “I suggest we work together DI Leonidas. I’ve been after bringing down that family for a long time.”

  “So I can see,” said Leonidas, eyes flicking across the photos around the room.

  “If we can prove they were responsible for the murders of Estelle Law and Amber Maguire we can finally bang them up for life. These are the most dangerous people not just in Manchester but in the entire north of England.”

  “Andrew Clayton and his brother might have vanished but their businesses are still running smoothly and by businesses I mean the illegal ones. Word is someone else took them over, someone very strong. My guess is it was the Maguires and Laws. I’ll speak to our MSOC Unit and see if I can find out more.”

  “Your what unit?”

  “Matrix and Serious Organised Crime.”

  “Oh yes,” said Dwyer, acting as though he’d heard of it. “Them.”

  If the Maguires and Laws did take over Liverpool then they are now the most dangerous people in the entire country.”

  “So what? They can still be brought down like anyone else.”

  “Have you anything else linking them to Amber Maguire’s death Sir?”

  “Not yet but I’ll get it. I want my people to take a look at Estelle’s body.”

  “You’re welcome to her. I’ll arrange the transfer.”

  Dwyer nodded. “And keep me informed of your investigation. You can go now,” he added before turning his attention back to the photos on his wall.

  Leonidas got to his feet thinking DCI Dwyer was spookier than Tom the pathologist.

  “Mrs Law,” said a voice on the other end of the phone.

  “Yes?” replied Rachel.

  “It’s Mrs Johnson from the school.”

  “Are the boys okay?” she asked, gripping the phone tightly.

  “Oh yes they’re fine but I am sorry to say Ethan’s been in a fight. I wondered if you could come into the school to discuss it?” This statement was issued as more of a command than a request.

  “On my way,” she said resignedly before hanging up.

  Rachel opened the door of her Mercedes, hurled her bag into the passenger seat and got inside, slamming the door shut. She’d just come out of the salon she owned after having a relaxing massage by Daina followed by a hair cut by Laila and she had felt so much better. Now she was going to have to face a meeting with that patronising old cow of a head teacher. It wasn’t the first time Ethan had been in trouble for fighting and she doubted it would be the last. Even her sweet Aaron, her youngest child, had got into trouble at school for the same thing. After the telling off he’d received from herself and Ryan he’d been much better behaved but Ethan was a rebel through and through. The more you told him not to do something the more he did it.

  She arrived at the school twenty minutes later and was led straight into the headmistress’ office to find Ethan with a bruised left cheek. He tilted his head in defiance, clearly not regretting his actions. At the opposite side of the room sat a large and slightly overweight boy with a black eye and bust lip, blood all down the
front of his shirt. It was clear who’d come off worse in that fight. He continually snivelled in a transparent attempt to gain sympathy. A skinny, rat-faced old woman Rachel took to be the boy’s grandmother sat beside him, glaring at Rachel as she walked in, eyes bright with accusation. When she met Rachel’s furious black-eyed gaze she lowered her head.

  Behind the desk in the centre of the room sat the behemoth that was Mrs Johnson, head teacher of over twenty years. She was coming up for retirement soon and Rachel couldn’t wait for that day, she loathed the rancid woman who often put statistics and red tape before the children. Her massive body spilled over the sides of the large black leather chair that was putting up a valiant struggle at taking her weight. Several chins spilled down the front of her lavender blouse. Her hair was curled into a tight mousy perm that sprung off her head like bush.

  “Mrs Law,” said Mrs Johnson in her most patronising voice. “Thank you for coming. Eventually.”

  “You only called me twenty minutes ago and I was on the other side of town,” she said, taking the vacant seat beside Ethan. “Now, if you’ve finished talking to me like I’m twelve can you kindly get to the point?”

  The grandmother’s eyes widened. She’d never heard anyone speak to Mrs Johnson like that before, they wouldn’t dare.

  “As you like Mrs Law,” said Mrs Johnson. “I’m afraid Ethan got into an altercation with Freddie here in the yard at lunchtime.”

  “You mean they had a playground scrap.”

  “Oh this was much more than a mere scrap Mrs Law. This was shocking violence, as you can tell from Freddie’s injuries in what I’m told was an unprovoked attack…”

  “Is this true Ethan?” Rachel asked him, cutting off the head teacher.

  “No,” he retorted passionately. “He was picking on Isabella Adams, he’s always picked on her. He stuck his hand up her skirt and made her scream, he wouldn’t leave her alone. So I stopped him.”

  Rachel’s expression softened as she looked at her son. She could always tell when he was lying and she was sure he was telling her the absolute truth. She turned to the snivelling Freddie. “Is this true? Did you sexually assault a female pupil?”