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CHAPTERTWENTY
Loose ends
GRIM
“Ma’am, she’s high and she’s dangerous. I’ve taken the liberty of restraining her. She’s in the basement,” Cleveland says as he greets us both at the door of the club several hours later. It’s been a long drive back from Wales. Tense, with stilted conversation and both of us stuck in our own heads.
“Thank you,” I say tightly.
“Harris has already questioned the man using Rodriguez’s credit card. According to the guy he got it from acrack-whore.His words, not mine.”
“Ford’s mum?” Beast questions, wanting to confirm what we already know to be true given the conversation I had at Sandy and Frank’s house less than four hours ago. Turns out Mary sold Rodriguez’s credit card to some punk in exchange for a hit.
“Yes.”
“And Rodriguez?” I ask.
Cleveland shakes his head. “He’s dead, Ma’am. It would appear she took a knife to him. Stabbed him several times.”
“When?”
“From the state of his body, and rigour mortis, I’d say he’s been dead at least 24 hours.”
“Fucking hell,” Beast exclaims, squeezing the bridge of his nose. He looks as tired as I feel.
“I took the liberty of removing his body from her flat. I’ve covered it up on a gurney in the basement. I assumed you wanted to see the body, check if it’s him.”
“You assumed right,” I agree.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” Beast swipes a hand through his hair. “How the fuck did they know each other?”
“I have no clue,” I say, shaking my head. “But I want to know what she was doing with him, and more to the point,whyshe killed him?”
“I guess we’re about to find out,” Beast replies, and I feel a sense of impending doom skirting down my spine. I shiver involuntarily and Beast grasps my wrist. “You good?” he asks, sliding his hands up my arms and squeezing my shoulders.
“I don’t know. None of this is making any sense.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It isn’t,” he agrees, a tightness around his jaw as he jerks his chin towards the open doorway. “Come on, let's get down there. The sooner we question her, the sooner we get some answers.”
When we enter the basement, we see Ford’s mum is strapped to a wooden chair. Her hair is matted with dried blood and her skin and clothes are filthy with it. Wild eyes stare up at us as we enter the room, but there’s no acknowledgement there, just a vacantness that’s unnerving. She’s grinding her jaw like a cow chewing grass, still high on whatever drug she’s taken.
“She’s off her tits,” Beast remarks.
“No shit,” I mumble, casting my gaze to the body laid out on the gurney in the corner of the room, covered in a white sheet.
Beast follows my gaze and strides over to the gurney, pulling back the sheet. I gag at the carnage. “Fuck me, she went crazy on his arse,” Beast remarks. “She ain’t just stabbed him a couple times, she’s put so many holes in him his fucking intestines are hanging out of his stomach.
I swallow down bile rising up my throat at the ruin that is Rodriguez’s chest and stomach, and turn my attention back to Mary who’s as far from a fucking saint as you can get.
“Mary?” I say, taking a step slowly towards her. I know she’s been restrained, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious. She’s clearly psychotic, and when people get all in their head like that you’d be surprised how strong they can be. “Can you hear me, Mary?”
“Bastard. I won’t have it. I won’t have any of it,” she hisses, her eyes snapping to my face, a little bit of lucidity registering before it’s gone again and she’s back to grinding her teeth. The sound is like nails on a chalkboard, and fuck does it makes my skin crawl.
“Careful, Kate,” Beast warns, circling behind her and ducking down to check Cleveland’s rope tying skills. “She’s a loose cannon right now, and you’re right in the line of fire.”
“I’ll be fine,” I say, batting his concern away.
“She’s well restrained. So, yes, you’ll be fine because she ain’t getting out of that. However—”
