I’m serialising this complete short story, SELFIE, completely free all this week in the run up to the launch of my new crime novel Gargoyle Pixie Dog tomorrow. Read on or catch up here or on Danny’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DannyLancasterInvestigates. Here’s
SELFIE: day 4 of 5
He’d put in a lot of hours on this job but time wasn’t an issue. While Danny was following Black, Gemma’s photos were seeping round the world like leaking sewage.
Black ran five miles every morning before work at a call centre. After work he spent an hour at the gym. Some nights he went out with the lads. On the others it was home to the flat he shared with his mum in Saltdean. A couple of times he visited a blonde in Kemp Town. Danny wondered if Black had recorded their love life.
What Danny needed was leverage, an in. Having followed Black to work, he had gone for a run, out along the seafront to the marina and back. A chilly wind blew from the west and a broad band of coffee-coloured water with foam topping nagged at the shoreline where the sea churned the shingle.
Gemma was a kid in a small case he hadn’t wanted to take on. But meeting her, talking, had brought to mind his daughter Hayley and son Wayne. They lived with his sister.
It seemed a lifetime since Kathy died. She’d been mum and dad to the kids while he was on tour in Afghan. All the pressure, none of the fun. The cancer had killed Kathy because she didn’t want to make a fuss, left it too late. He’d lost good friends in combat but this was different. And every time he visited the kids he saw her face.
A gust of wind punched into him as he passed the Steve Ovett statue. The shriek of gulls morphed into a police siren. A blue and yellow check patrol car tore past on its way to someone else’s drama.
He ran as far as the peace memorial, then cut inland. Starbucks in Western Road was busy with young vloggers and tech-preneurs, heads down over their MacBooks as they carved out fortunes in cyberspace. Danny wondered what Gemma’s future looked like.
***
Different bar, same routine. All of the footballing friends were drunk but Black was mullered. Danny couldn’t keep sipping the same lager for ever. A guy alone was already getting noticed.
Two girls in spray-on bodycons walked past. Black bellowed something Danny couldn’t hear and reached out. The girl nearest, the brunette, swerved away, gave as good as she got, and the two walked on. Just as Danny was about to call it a night Bramley broke from the group and began easing his way through the noisy crowd towards the gents’ toilets. Thirty second later Black began to follow.
Danny couldn’t risk going in there too so he waited. Two minutes later they were back. Again, something was niggling.
***
Danny chased a last smear of egg yolk around the plate with a strip of crust.
“Cheers, Wanda. I needed that.”
“So how’s it going?” she asked.
“Nowhere.”
“That bad, eh?”
“I need an angle, leverage. I’ve followed the guy but it’s the same routine, gym, work, boozing with his mates.”
“He’s burning the candle a bit for a wannabe star footballer, isn’t he?”
“Frankly, yes, but he’s young, fit and keen. We’ve all been there.”
Wanda nodded.
“Sorting him and his photos out won’t solve Gemma’s problem. According to Karol those pictures could be on computers all over the world. This business could drag on forever unless I get something I can use.”
“What about his friends?” asked Wanda.
“He’s pally with them all but seems closer to Bramley. They’re always together, very touchy, shake hands a lot, like they share a secret.”
“Gay?”
“You never know but I don’t think so. It’s something else.”
“So what’s your best guess?”
“I thinks it’s drugs, steroids, and Bramley’s supplying. But it’d be hard to prove. I can’t follow him around with a sample bottle. Black’s not the sharpest tool but even he’d notice that.”
He saw the look in Wanda’s eye.
“What?”
“I think I might be able to help there, Danny.”
***
As expected, the Audi TT was first into the car park. As soon as Ryan Black went through into the changing rooms Danny followed. He had his trousers round his ankles when Danny walked in.
“Can I help you?” The tone wasn’t friendly.
“I want a word.”
“If you’re a talent scout I’m already talking to Ronnie Matthews.”
“You have a talent for upsetting people.”
Black kicked his trousers away, looked up. His shoulders went back, arms braced, but it wasn’t easy to look hard in a shirt, tie and Beckham boxers.
“You’d better get out.”
“I need a word.”
“And the word is get out,” said Black.
“That’s two words. I’m here about Gemma.”
“You her dad?”
“A friend.”
“Bit old, aren’t you? She’s just a kid.”
“A kid whose life you’ve blighted. And you certainly didn’t treat her like a kid.”
“Ancient history.”
“Not that ancient you didn’t call her last week, then put her photos on the net.”
“It was just a laugh.”
“You’ve got a funny sense of humour. This isn’t reality TV. This is her life.”
“Yeah, well, whatever. You’ve made your point. Now I’ve got training.”
“I’m not done.”
Black pulled off his shirt and tie, squared up to Danny in his boxers.
“Oh yeah? Fancy your chances, grandad?”
FINAL EPISODE TOMORROW
█ SELFIE is an edited version of a story in my new Danny Lancaster crime novel Gargoyle Pixie Dog, a short thriller and six short stories available as an Amazon ebook for only 99p. Just click this link – www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010T2CHK4 – or read Sarah Hardy’s review here: https://bytheletterbookreviews.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/gargoyle-pixie-dog-by-bill-todd/. The final part of Selfie will be published tomorrow.
©BILL TODD
