On the Sly : The Grange Complex Book 2
On the Sly: Chapter 17

Ellie

I was sure that I already had my breakthrough story. There was something going on in that club, something big, and on top of that Adrian was smuggling drugs for money. Mack was fobbing me off, but he knew more than he was prepared to say. He was hiding stuff from me, and probably from Claire too for some reason. I had to stay focused and replace more evidence. Nathan had asked me to dance, but I texted back saying that I was sick. I needed a break and work had been manic. The magazine was celebrating a special issue and Phil had given me more work. My job as a pole dancer needed to wait. Jordan was out in the field, chasing another story, keeping me out of the loop, along with everyone else.

I knew that I had to go back to Coral on the weekend, ask more questions about Andrew, and replace out if anyone knew anything else about Adrian. I hated the fact that Andrew was now connected to my father, that he had the best defence solicitor in Scotland. Now I understood everything—he used me to get to him, probably sensing that he was going to be in trouble soon.

My father used to be different, kind and loving. After Katie’s death he transformed, became bitter and unpleasant. That was his way of dealing with my sister’s death. I knew he cared for her, more than he ever cared for me.

When I got home, it was just after six. Once I had some food, I sat on the sofa and focused on the information that was in front of me. Wealthy small business owner who leads a double life is connected to a drug smuggler with no real criminal past. All I needed to know was how Adrian knew Andrew and what kind of business they were both into.

I was trying to work, but thoughts about Mack and our latest night together were distracting. On top of that he was fascinated by Shetland Islands, just like I was. God, why did I keep doing this to myself? We had the chemistry, and we were both in love with that rural, raw part of Scotland, Lerwick. I couldn’t deny that there was something about him that drew me deeper and further into wanting to be with him. A relationship was out of the question and I didn’t need to be tangled up with another affair. Love wasn’t for me. Yes, Mack was handsome, kind, caring and protective. The kind of man that I could see myself being with, but was he the kind of man who tired of a woman and went on to another? Was that what happened with Claire? Or did they merely replace out they weren’t suited to each other? Either way, I didn’t want to be the one to break another marriage.

All of a sudden my phone started vibrating, and I snapped out of daydreaming about Mack and our perfect life together. I glanced at the screen noticing that it was an unknown number. Not many people knew what was going on with me these days. My friends were keeping their distance and my father, well, he wanted nothing to do with me. I sent the phone to voicemail and went back to typing. After a while I received a text message saying that I had a voicemail. I dialled the number to listen.

“I know who you are and I know where you’re hiding. I want five thousand pounds or I’m going to the press. Jonathan Grant will be pleased to know that his daughter is using fake papers while working as a reporter. I’ll call again tomorrow. Answer this time; otherwise your face will be all over the news again.”

Blocks of ice cascaded down to my stomach. I stared at the phone for several minutes thinking that this was some kind of mistake. No one knew that I was using a different surname. I’d chatted with some of my girlfriends, but they wouldn’t do that, they wouldn’t sell me out, and so far no one had visited me to know where I lived. The voice … I had no idea who it could belong to. Someone must have talked about me. Or had I been recognised? Maybe it was someone at work, or on the street?

All of a sudden the article didn’t seem important anymore. This guy, whoever he was, wanted money in exchange for his silence. I really didn’t need this right now.

Mum had left us when I was young. I never remembered her, but right then, I wished that I could see her, talk to her. I suddenly felt so lonely and abandoned. For as long as I could remember there had always been me, Katie and Dad, until that tragic accident years ago. Katie, my little sister, had died in a fire and that was the reason that Dad hated me.

Now, some psycho was trying to blackmail me for money, when I was trying so hard to redeem myself, to make people forget that I was a home wrecker.

I closed the laptop and got up, wondering if it was wise to call my father. He made it clear that he didn’t want anything to do with me, but this was about him too. Surely, he wouldn’t want another scandal. This could crush his already wounded reputation forever.

I picked up my jacket with the car keys and decided to go out for a drive to clear my head. Maybe it was Andrew. Maybe he recognised me when I was dancing for him in the club. He had proven to me that he was capable of destroying me.

It was dark when I left my apartment, and I instantly felt depressed. I couldn’t imagine spending Christmas here alone, without any friends. I thought about Mack, wondered if he had plans already, but I quickly pushed away these thoughts. He had a wife that he needed to look after.

I sat in the car for five minutes thinking about what to do, weighing my options. Dad was too furious with me and he wouldn’t take my phone call. My father had angered many people, but I couldn’t think of anyone who would have known about my plans.

I listened to the voicemail again, trying to pick up on anything, the accent, the tone, but nothing came to my mind. I was just about to switch on my engine and drive off when I spotted Mack with Adrian walking side by side towards the car park.

I frowned, watching as Mack was laughing from something that Adrian had said. I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing. All this time Mack had been telling me to stay away and now they were leaving together. Adrian was kind enough to offer Mack a job, so maybe this was none of my business. I had enough problems that I needed to take care of, but something about this didn’t seem right.

I made a split second decision: I decided to follow Adrian’s swanky car. Maybe I was being paranoid. They were probably only discussing work, but I didn’t like the fact that Mack had been so critical about Adrian and now he was hanging out with him, like they were the best buddies. I kept driving after them, certain that Mack wouldn’t do anything illegal. He knew that Adrian was smuggling drugs and that he was using his business as cover up. It was odd that he was going somewhere with him, especially so late at night. My thoughts were racing while I tried to keep a safe distance so they wouldn’t notice me.

I followed them through to the city centre, rolling through the busy traffic. Adrian’s car was gorgeous and it was easy to keep an eye on it amongst the other cars. He obviously liked bringing attention to himself.

They passed through the city, heading towards the outskirts. When they finally stopped, I didn’t recognise the area at all. It was an old industrial park, filled with burned-out cars, dumped rubbish, and a few ruins of abandoned buildings. They didn’t leave the car, and I started to get worried. Suspicions heightened my senses and my heart skipped a beat when a black BMW arrived. Three burly well-built men stepped out of the car. They started talking, and it looked like Adrian was introducing Mack to them. It was dark and some of the street-lamps weren’t working. I managed to see that one of the guys passed some kind of package to Mack.

I couldn’t breathe, my pulse was speeding. I had no idea what was in that package, but I suspected that it wasn’t good. When the large guys had driven off, Mack shook hands with Adrian.

This wasn’t any kind of social meeting and I was truly convinced that there were drugs in that package. Whatever it was, it wasn’t legal. I had my own theory about what went down in isolated places like that. I shook my head trying to get a grip on the whole situation, not wanting to believe that Mack was involved with anything illegal.

I sat there watching them until they jumped back in Adrian’s car and vanished. All the things that I had shared with him the other night didn’t matter anymore. Mack had lied to me. Adrian offered him money and he jumped at the opportunity. I had no idea what to think or who to trust anymore. It was time to fight back, time to start taking control of my life and write this damned story.

Mack

The evening that Marvin had told me about his cousin and Johnny Hodges, I didn’t think I was going to make it to the end of the shift. Darkness had shrouded me. Marvin kept talking, but I fell into despair; the world around was crushing me.

“Hey, mate … mate, are you all right?” Marvin asked, snapping his fingers in front of my face. “You went a bit pale. Don’t fucking tell me that you get travel sick.”

“I’m fine, bad heartburn,” I snapped back, trying to breathe, but the air wasn’t getting into my lungs. I knew the psycho Marvin was talking about; I knew him well, as I had been seeing his face in my nightmare for quite some time now. He was dead, shot during riots. He was lucky that I didn’t get my hands on him first; otherwise he would’ve suffered a long and very painful death. For months after Charlotte’s funeral, I imagined how much she had to suffer that day, how much that psycho had hurt her.

Marvin kept talking and I struggled to pull away from the shattering grief. For years everyone was certain that this guy just wanted to have some fun, that he went too far because Charlotte was a police officer. He caught her off guard, he was high, and lost control. I believed them, tried to let it go, but something in the back of my mind told me that this wasn’t it.

Johnny fucking Hodges—he was behind this all along and no one had known. Marvin liked to big himself up pretending to be in the know, but I knew that he wasn’t bullshitting me. Charlotte made a decision to go in there alone, Hodges didn’t like that she got inside, so he told one of his guys to make an example out of her. Rage was filling me up slowly and I was having trouble keeping still. Finally, everything made sense: the recording from that day, the noises that were coming out of that room. Yeah, I made myself listen to it, because I wanted to remember that voice. And now the truth came to light.

When we arrived back at the depot, I pushed myself to pretend that I was fine. Lurkin had waited for me. I wasn’t ready to talk, I was ready to wreck him, but my objectives had changed. I didn’t care about Lurkin anymore; I had to get closer to Johnny Hodges, the man who was responsible for my wife’s death.

“Can I have a quick word with you, Mack?” he asked. I nodded mechanically.

“I might have something better for you tomorrow, a job that can earn you shit loads of money; just let me know if you’re interested,” he said once I was inside his office. He looked serious and I knew that I just hit the jackpot, but I didn’t care. Yesterday, I’d have been ecstatic; right now I was seriously pissed off.

“Whatever, as long as I’ll make enough cash and keep my woman off my back,” I said, knowing that I needed that lead, needed to know if he could take me right to the top.

“Good, I’m glad to hear it. I’ll give you more details tomorrow. Remember, keep this between you and me,” he said, patting me on the back.

“Will do.”

I nodded. I had no fucking idea how I managed to get through that conversation. I didn’t remember getting back to the car, but I remembered throwing up on the side street, my stomach heaving. When I finally stopped, I smashed my fists into the wall until my knuckles bled. Charlotte had died because she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My breathing was raspy and shallow, my head was spinning. I sobbed, hanging on the wheel, remembering what that bastard had done to her. Johnny fucking Hodges. I hadn’t even realised how important he was after all.

The pain was spreading into my bones, coursing through my veins like a poison. After all these years I was so close and I was going to kill that motherfucker with my own bare hands.

Hours later, I drove back to the complex, still shaking. When I walked through the door, I didn’t know if it was day or night. I had no idea who I was anymore.

“Tobias, you’re late. Why … God, what happened?” Claire asked when I slid down on the floor, closing my eyes.

“Johnny Hodges is Lurkin’s silent partner; they own Coral together in the city. His real name is Andrew Hamilton,” I explained, barely recognising my own fucking voice. The grief overshadowed everything; it kept slipping in, crushing me deeper and driving me further away from sanity.

“Mack, what happened? You’re shaking.”

She was asking questions again, so many fucking probing questions. It wasn’t her fault. Only now I began to realise that I had been wrong all these years for blaming her.

I carried on talking. “Lurkin wants me to be part of his naughty boys squad. Tomorrow is the day.”

“I don’t care about that scumbag; just tell me what happened, Tobias?”

“Johnny Hodges asked that piece of shit Nate to make an example of Charlotte. What he did to her, this wasn’t a spontaneous decision—it was an order.”

Claire sat down next to me and stared at me with horror in her eyes.

“How do you know all this?” she asked.

“I had a chat with someone, a lad that works for Lurkin. He grew up on the streets and he liked to talk, sharing his little stories.”

Claire was asking me lots of stuff about Marvin, but I wasn’t in the room. I knew that Ellie had been involved with that piece of shit. Andrew, her ex that made Ellie his. Everything was spinning and I questioned my own judgment, wondering why I had to be there that night at the party.

This whole thing was bigger than I thought, but I was overcome with grief, my soul ripped away from my body. Claire started pulling info on that garbage Hamilton. She helped to get me on my feet, saying nice words, calming words.

I couldn’t break again. I couldn’t go through another round of therapy. I had a job to do and we finally had some real progress. Lurkin was mine and we were close. I shut my eyes in the dark bedroom and distracted myself with thoughts of Ellie. That night that we spent together she had made me a man again. She had pulled me away from my grief, but now that I knew who she was, this thing was over, forever.