CHAPTER 46
“Why did you agree to act as a negotiator, when you have not been trained in such work?”

I could see that the two of them weren’t interested in the easy questions. I gathered as much logic as I could find.

“I don’t think there was any real choice. We had an armed man taking shots at people he didn’t like, time was crucial to clear the roadway outside, as there was a high probability that the rallygoers would contain gang members, and we couldn’t risk moving the crowd while there were live rounds being discharged. Morris had been very specific in asking for me”

“You can confirm that you have had no formal training in this work?”

“Um. No more than the usual conflict resolution training we all get. The team had some heavier personal protective equipment available”

It did weigh a ton, and there was a collar arrangement round my neck that made me feel like one of those odd men squatting behind a baseball batter, or perhaps someone in goal in ice hockey. Not that I had any experience of either, but never mind. I just felt swaddled. Brad was terse in his final advice.

“Go in, but not too close. Beware of moving in front of the fires. Don’t stand up. No easy target for him, OK? Find out what the fuck he wants, and it gets stupid, just get out of the way. This stops, and if that means the hard way, then that’s his hard luck. You come out in one piece even if he doesn’t. Got that?”

I had. I started the waddling crawl as Brad had so clearly directed, against his amplified call to Pig.

“Carl, DC Sutton is coming forward. You will have ample opportunity to talk, but any sign of threat and I will terminate the meeting. No more options. No more choices”

I caught a hint of Pig’s coughing laugh, but all I could really hear was my own breathing. Bloody hell, the kit was heavy.

“Carl? It’s Di Sutton. You want to talk, I am happy to listen. Enough of this. More than enough”

“Come on over, girl”

There were a couple of toppled bikes just before the marquee, and I settled myself behind them as comfortably as I could, the ceramic plate or whatever it was weighing painfully on my breasts.

“I think this is close enough, Carl. You hear me OK?”

“Aye, Diane. How’s Posh doing, her and her copper?”

“I think you already know the answer to that. Happy as, isn’t it?”

“Aye, it is. Had my doubts about him, didn’t I? Was going to warn him off. Bit of a slap, aye?”

That grunting laugh again, my mind going back to my terror down by the lock gates. Hell, Pritchard hadn’t scared me, nor even Ashley Evans, once I got the measure of him. One man in a prison cell, crying on a warder’s shoulder, had come close, no shame in admitting that, but Pig terrified me. My rapist had been all rage and bluster, Pritchard and the rest snide and nasty, but Pig was simply tranquillity and threat all at once.

No. No shame in being frightened by him, and I realised that one word said it all. I wasn’t frightened of him, not worried about a bogeyman, but actively frightened by him. Whatever he did would always be deliberate, calculated and effective. Take the initiative, girl.

“She has her book out. Read it?”

“I have that. Got a nice way with words, she has. Picked the right friends at long last. That was what kept me watching her plod. He has his own friends”

Bugger the initiative; I was intrigued. “Who are you on about, Carl?”

“Nobody’s called me that for years, except for Mam. Deb Wells, that’s who”

Brad’s voice was tinny in my earpiece, but clear.

“Unit on way to make sure of her safety, Diane. Keep it up. He’s talking and not shooting”

“Pig, then, if you want”

“Aye. Name I bloody well earned, isn’t it?”

“I agree. What about Deb?”

“Woman with class, isn’t it? Ah, you won’t understand that. ‘Class’, girl. Lives her own life, takes no shit, only gives it when she needs to. Class, girl. I remember…”

He started coughing, and there was an odd sound to it, even for him.

“I remember when she was on the scene, her and her Mam and Dad. Sound pair, that. Minded their own business, played no games. Knew when to stay and when to fuck off. Good people. Pukka lifestyle bikers, they were. Raised her well. Things been different, aye? Anyway, that ship sailed too many years ago. How’s the kiddy? Rhodri, isn’t it?”

Shit. Was that a threat, and if so, why? He spoke again before I could marshal my thoughts.

“Na, not to worry, girl. Kid’s safe. Caught a couple of the Brawd sniffing, so that was sorted. Only by me, got that? You might want to look in Pontsticill reservoir”

Sodding hell. Brad was chuntering away, but I ignored him.

“Are you saying there are two bodies in that reservoir?”

“Dam end. You might want to get them out before people turn to bottled water”

“And who is responsible for their deaths? I must caution you that you do not have---”

“Oh, shut the fuck up, Diane! Anyway, that was a while coming. Brawd are too full of themselves, and that Titch was a right cunt. Your SAWAT wannabes take him out?”

“I have no idea”

“Tit with the sub-machine gun”

The thump of a round tearing away part of Lexie’s helmet.

“Er, yeah. He’s gone. Terminally”

“Good. Never could stand the fucker. No class, aye? Now, listen. Your boys need to get round to our clubhouse. The rest of my brothers are locked in the store room. Never involved, aye? Never knew what was going down. Me, and a couple of the other Officers, aye? All our doing. So you let those poor innocent victims of kidnap out so they can bury their brothers properly”

You sneaky bastard! I actually admired him just then, as the sheer audacity of his plan made itself clear. I was smiling when Noble asked his next question.

“So, Diane, he claimed that only three of his club were involved in the events that evening?”

“Oh, absolutely! In its own way, it was genius. The other club took the bait, and we did the cleaning up for Morris. When the boys entered the clubhouse, they found almost all of the club sitting handcuffed in a locked room that just happened to have armchairs, a telly, a toilet and a supply of beer. They suckered the Brawdoliaeth big style”

“And your team as well?”

I found myself blushing.

“Yes. Us as well. We ended up doing the shooting. Not great”

“Did Morris have any other revelations? I will admit that owning up to two murders must have been… surprising”

Struggling to make myself comfortable, a strap a little too tight, I had asked much the same thing of Pig.

“Why, though? Why put yourself here, the one to take the blame? That isn’t exactly your style, is it?”

“What the fuck do you know about my style, little girl?”

Careful, Diane. Really softly softly now.

“No offence, Pig. It’s just that you always struck me as someone who does his own thing, clears up his own messes. Careful, isn’t it? And here you are, taking the whole pile of shit on your own neck. I’d call you honourable if, well, you were, yeah?”

Another coughing, grunting laugh.

“Aye, girl. Love you too, isn’t it? Honest I am, and honest I will be. I have watched you, you and that hard-faced dyke bitch you used to work for, and if it’s class, aye? She has class, that Elaine Powell, and she fucking well knows how to hold a grudge. That sister of hers, shit, even knowing what she is I would have given her one myself. She’s got sound people with her now, though, people I respect, so that bus has gone. Na, that Elaine Powell, she knows how to clean her turf up. Doesn’t let shit go without proper consequences. You are straight, though. I like that. Too many lying fuckers about, like that boss of yours with the rifles pointed at me”

He drew in a bubbling breath before shouting out “I KNOW YOU’RE OUT THERE YOU CUNTS!”

In a much quieter voice, “Turn that wire off, Diane”

Brad’s own voice was terse.

“Find out why, Diane”

“Why, Pig?”

“Just do it, girl. Tell your wannabe SAS boss that I have no more confessions to make, aye? No more bodies to pick up. Has he gone to see to my brothers?”

Brad was to the point. “Unit on way. There in about ten minutes”

“He says they will be there in ten minutes, Pig”

“Good enough. Turn it off or fuck off and I start shooting again”

I made the decision.

“It’s off. What do you want?”

“Ah, girl. Easier now, with just the two of us. You know, I have always been a reader, isn’t it? Ever since I was a kid. You heard of Pratchett? Terry? Discworld books?”

“Heard of. Never read any”

“Very clever man. And Glen Campbell, one of my favourite musicians. Same shit. Fucking Alzheimer’s, isn’t it? Not the way a man should go. Campbell even wrote a song about it, but he couldn’t fucking remember the words. Had to have someone hold up a paper for hum. Not right, not the way”

Ah.

“Is that you, then?”

“Yes girl. That’s me. Going to be gone soon, but I would be gone long before I died. Really shitty, that. Anyway, Titch has helped”

“He hit you?”

“Aye, girl. Gut-shot, I am, and bleeding out. So you look after your boys, and you give my best to Posh Paula and Deb, and you tell them that the Culhwch isn’t gone. Just me, aye?”

“Pig, we can get a medic to you---”

“No. Not this time. Not one for dribbling, me”

He started to croak out a song I half recognised.

“I hear you singing in the wires…”

There was one loud bang.