Hustle Read online

  ‘For now, it is.’ Rafe slipped his hand round Coco’s waist; she smiled up at him. ‘Better things to do and all that.’

  ‘What about Nina Glass?’

  ‘That depends entirely on her brother, doesn’t it?’

  3

  This is what I know: it’s a great game when you’re winning, and at the moment, I could honestly say I was. London, at least the parts of the city that mattered, belonged to the Glass family. My business was high-risk. I made enemies in my sleep – no surprise some of them would fancy their chances. Bring it on: to take what I’d built away from me, they’d need steel balls and an awful lot of luck.

  LBC – the Lucky Bastards Club – in Margaret Street, the hottest nightspot in the capital, was a year old and it was time to celebrate. Everybody loves a party, especially when it was invitation only, the booze was free, and they could say they’d spent the night rubbing shoulders with Luke Glass.

  Out on the dance floor, a middle-aged stockbroker danced with a girl who could’ve been his daughter. At the bar, a nineties pop idol held court, talking about himself to somebody I paid to listen. Their histories were very different but their need was the same: to relive a time that had gone and wasn’t coming back. LBC gave them that chance and we charged them for the pleasure.

  Mark Douglas, my head of security, pulled me aside. ‘Haven’t heard from Nina, have you?’

  Nina was my sister – one of them – a lady who went her own way in all things; giving the party a miss wouldn’t be out of character. Except, that was the old Nina – the new version was all-loved-up with Douglas. Men didn’t usually last around her. Often, she hadn’t bothered to introduce them. No point. When the novelty wore off, they’d be gone. Douglas had the field to himself.

  Nina had been damaged more than me by our dysfunctional family – a mother who’d abandoned us when we were kids, and the alcoholic father she’d left us with. Douglas had brought whatever it was she’d lacked: she was happy. Ex-cops from Glasgow weren’t the kind of people I’d normally hire; he was different. His career north of Hadrian’s Wall had come to a shuddering halt when they’d caught him stealing more than the tea money. To put the outcome beyond doubt, on his way out of the door he’d given his boss a slap.

  At his interview, he’d told me the story himself. Just as well, because I already knew. I’d given him the job and, so far, hadn’t regretted it. In fact, I’d come to rely on him.

  Better than that, I liked him.

  Douglas scanned the crowd. ‘She isn’t answering her phone.’

  ‘It’s still early.’

  He checked his watch. ‘Nah, she should’ve been here by now. Something must’ve happened.’

  ‘Something like what?’

  ‘She’s been a bit secretive lately.’

  I put my hand on his shoulder. ‘Think she’s found another man?’

  Douglas snapped at me; he was jealous. ‘That’s not what I’m saying.’

  ‘So what?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’

  ‘Relax, she’ll be here. You two haven’t had a falling out, have you?’

  He ran a worried finger down his cheek. ‘No, everything’s fine.’

  ‘Look, this is Nina we’re talking about. Any minute she’ll waltz in like a model off the front cover of Vogue, fashionably late. The whole place will notice her – exactly the reaction she’s looking for. If you’re really worried, ask George to send a couple of his guys over to her flat.’

  He rejected the suggestion. I’d known he would. George Ritchie ran the operation south of the Thames. Mark Douglas handled the top end of the business. Professional rivalry meant their relationship hadn’t flourished. More than once, I’d knocked their heads together to remind them they both worked for me. Added to that, Nina had held a resentment against Ritchie long before her boyfriend arrived on the scene and wouldn’t welcome him interfering in her life.

  Through the crowd, on the other side of the room, a woman eyed me over her champagne glass. I took in the long hair, the ebony face beneath, and returned her stare. She smiled into her drink; her work was done. So was mine – the wealth of the people in LBC right at this minute would equal the gross national product of a small country. The club had been a gamble, but the money I’d spent on it had paid off and, after the last six months, I was ready for some serious R & R.

  As I crossed the floor a figure cut in front of me and threw her arms round my neck.

  Charley said, ‘Don’t worry, she’ll wait.’

  I disentangled myself. ‘Certain about that, are you?’

  ‘Absolutely.’ She mimed an apology at the woman and turned back to me. ‘She’ll forgive you when you tell her we’re related.’

  Sister No. 2 was enjoying herself. She’d exploded into my life, a blast from the past I wasn’t aware existed, determined to be part of the family she’d never known. Long-lost siblings coming out of the woodwork set off alarm bells, though she’d proved it was Glass blood in her veins, eventually, even convincing Nina. So far, the truce I’d brokered between my siblings was holding. How long it would last was anybody’s guess.

  Charley was a stunning redhead who ran front of house and the girls on offer to the platinum card members. She’d earned her seat at the table. Thanks to her, LBC had the best-looking hookers in London. And the most expensive.

  ‘Who is she?’

  ‘That’s what I was about to find out. Probably blown my big chance.’

  Charley shot me a withering look. ‘Oh, please, Luke, don’t go all modest on me. Tonight, of all nights. These people think this party is about the club. You and I know it’s about you. LBC is your success.’ She shouted in my ear above the music. ‘You can be proud of what you’ve achieved, brother. The place is rocking. Got more applications for membership than we can handle. Could be time to put the prices up.’

  ‘Again?’

  ‘Yes, again.’

  ‘Isn’t it expensive enough?’

  ‘Obviously not or we’d have the floor to ourselves. Exclusivity isn’t part of the attraction – it is the attraction. Look around you, brother. These people have made it; they can go anywhere. They come to LBC to be seen coming to LBC.’ She paused. ‘Speaking of being seen, where’s Nina?’

  ‘No idea. Mark’s worried she’s got another man.’

  Charley shook her head. ‘She’d have to be mad to mess him about. And, anyway, he’s wrong. Her and him are solid. She’s probably had a big entrance planned for months.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m wanted elsewhere. Thanks for the dance.’

  Her name was Shani; apparently, it meant ‘wonderful’. Not many men would disagree. Charley had called it right: she’d waited. Her eyes were warm enough to take a bath in and I had a feeling this was the start of something. The music was loud. Too loud for what I had in mind. I ordered champagne and we went upstairs to the door away from the noise. Margaret Street was white; snow was still falling. Shani sipped her bubbles. ‘This is my first visit to your club. I like it. LBC. What does it mean?’

  ‘It’s a reference to something my brother used to say. Danny hated people who’d had everything handed to them so he invented this imaginary place: the lucky bastards club. A lot of our members fit the bill.’

  Shani laughed. ‘That’s a great story. I’d like to meet him.’

  No, she wouldn’t.

  ‘Unfortunately, he isn’t in London now.’

  ‘Where does he live?’

  Asked with the slightest trace of accent. My reply was tinged with regret I didn’t feel and wasn’t an answer to her question. ‘I haven’t heard from him in a long time.’

  ‘What a pity. He sounds charming.’

  She shivered in the cold air. I took my jacket off and put it round her shoulders. She smiled and drew closer. ‘Your brother isn’t the only one who’s charming. Thank you. We don’t get this kind of weather in my country.’

  ‘Where are you from?’

  ‘Egypt. From Zamalek in West Cairo. Do you know it?’

  ‘I can’t say I do.’

  Shani gazed past me into the bitter night. ‘It’s an island of quiet leafy streets surrounded by the Nile. My sister and I were born there.’

  ‘You mean there’s another one at home as beautiful as you?’

  The smile faded and I realised I’d said the wrong thing. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…’

  ‘No need to apologise, how could you know? She died three and a half years ago.’

  ‘Sorry to hear that. What was her name?’

  ‘Zahra. It means flower. Losing her so early was hard. It still is. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it.’ She touched a locket hanging round her slender neck on a sliver of silver chain. ‘I carry her with me always. She’s here now.’

  ‘Is she?’

  She lowered her forehead and looked up. ‘You’re making fun of me but the bond between us can never be broken.’ Shani opened the delicate clasp and held it in her palm. ‘Do you want to see her?’

  Inside, a girl smiled for the camera, the resemblance so striking it could’ve been the lady in front of me. Suddenly, I felt uncomfortable. On my way to the door with this beautiful creature, the last thing I’d imagined was a conversation about a missing brother and a dead sister. Danny had been many things; charming wasn’t one of them.

  She stood under the statue of Fortuna, the Roman goddess of good fortune, her long dark hair falling to the smooth skin of her shoulders and the black and gold dress plunging between her breasts. Green eyes observed me beneath the soft arch of her brows, assessing me as thoroughly as I was her. When she spoke, her parted lips revealed straight white teeth.

  ‘Are you shocked I keep my sister’s picture with me?’

 
‘Not at all.’

  Shani pursed her lips. ‘Somehow, I don’t believe you, Luke Glass.’ She ran a finger over the figure of Fortuna, carved from a single block of alabaster. ‘The ancient Egyptians saw death as a temporary interruption, rather than the cessation of life. When they died, they were mummified so the soul would return to the body, giving it breath and life.’

  ‘Is that what you think?’

  ‘Of course not. I love her, there’s no more to it than that.’

  Her use of the present tense was interesting.

  We talked for a few more minutes, even shared a laugh, but the mood had gone and wasn’t coming back. Not tonight. She told me she was in town with her father to buy property. Good news. It meant it wasn’t my money she was after.

  ‘My sister Nina runs an agency. Perhaps she could help him with his search?’

  She nodded, distracted, toying with the locket. ‘I’ll mention it to him.’

  Before I got into my wonder-of-me spiel, a black Merc glided out of the snow and drew up at the kerb. Shani shook my hand. ‘I have to go.’

  ‘Go where? It’s still early.’

  ‘We’re flying home tomorrow. It was nice meeting you, Luke.’

  ‘When will you be back?’

  She smiled. ‘Soon, very soon.’

  4

  The couple in the next room were fucking for England, their cries rising to frantic crescendos, dying, and starting again. Imagining the scene wasn’t difficult – whether they knew it or not the lovers were feeding on each other, physically and emotionally. Nina had known the God-like superiority of watching the light fade in another human being’s eyes, the shattering intensity of the power: she’d been there; she remembered. Compared with it, even the best sex was nothing. The woman – Coco – had had a taste of it tonight, extinguishing a life as casually as blowing out a guttering candle. Relishing the kill. Inevitably, she’d hunger for more.

  Doing it again would be easy.

  Nina’s shoulder and chest hurt from the fall in the snow, a dull ache threatening to become something more. Having her hands tied didn’t help. The bitch, Coco, had deliberately pulled the rope too tight so it chafed her wrists; Nina cursed and wiggled her fingers to keep the circulation going. The chair was hard and might’ve been comfortable thirty years ago; it wasn’t now. Behind the door, a pink dressing gown hanging on a peg suggested this was someone’s room, but the carpet, the matching cabinets, and the bronzed lamps on either side of the elevated bed were old enough to have been part of the original furnishings. If this house came on the market, she’d buy it and burn it to the ground.

  With shadows for company, fear slithered through her and, for the first time, she thought about Mark. She hadn’t told him about her visits to Poland Street – the bracelet and the necklace were Christmas presents to celebrate six months as a couple. He wouldn’t realise she was missing, let alone know where to start looking for her once he did. Nina was aware she’d forged something with Mark Douglas, something real. She trusted him even more than she trusted Luke, and didn’t want what they had together to end with these upper-class idiots.

  She forced herself to calm down and think clearly: when she didn’t show up at the party, Mark would speak to Luke. Luke would call George Ritchie and a search party would be sent to find her. Ritchie would rub his hands together and rehearse the tired lecture she’d listened to so often about enemies everywhere. George could be an old woman – no doubt about that – but an old woman who understood his business and, for once, Nina was grateful for him.

  A groan from the next room told her Rafe and Coco were at it again. Rafe believed he was smarter than everybody else. It wasn’t true. He should’ve kept it simple and shot her – he hadn’t; in the heat of the moment he’d taken her hostage. Then, when Coco discovered who they had, their fates were sealed.

  The door creaked; the heavy handle turned slowly. She saw it and strained against the ties holding her to the chair. On the other side of the wall, Rafe and Coco had finished and were talking in post-coital togetherness. So, it wasn’t one of them. Julian had made his intentions clear. Left to him, her body would be discovered at the side of a road somewhere far from here. Nina held her breath, expecting the worst, certain that, with the leader preoccupied, he was taking his chance.

  As it opened, the darkness was broken by light from the hall. Rafe’s brother was eighteen or nineteen at most. He came closer, his round face glowing with the freshness of youth. Yesterday, he’d had his whole life ahead of him. Thanks to Rafe and his girlfriend, his future wasn’t what it used to be. He hunkered down and pressed a cup to her lips. Instinctively, she pulled away. ‘It’s okay, it’s only water.’

  He took a cloth from his pocket and wiped the blood Nina had forgotten about from her forehead – an unnecessary act telling her all she needed. In the position these people were in, kindness of any sort was weakness. Nina remembered his name. ‘Let me go, Henry.’

  Henry gently dabbed her temple and didn’t respond. She tried to reach him. ‘Henry, listen to me. Let me go. Let me go and it ends here.’

  ‘What about Rafe?’

  ‘No one will be harmed if you do what I say.’

  ‘I can’t – you know I can’t.’

  ‘Yes, you can, of course, you can. Until now, this is just a big mistake, a mistake everybody can walk away from. I see where your brother’s going with it. The minute he makes that phone call, there’s no road back. It’s over, for you, Rafe, Coco, Julian, all of you.’

  Nina let the threat sink in.

  Henry said, ‘You don’t understand. Rafe is… he’s not like other people.’

  ‘Then, you need to look out for yourself. Because nobody else will.’

  ‘You’re wrong. Rafe will look after me. Rafe always looks after me.’

  ‘I’m not wrong. He’s crossed the line. He can’t look after anybody. Not even himself.’

  ‘Stop talking or I’ll go.’

  Nina wasn’t going to persuade him: this boy worshipped his brother. In his eyes, Rafe was invincible. He lifted the cup to her lips again; she angrily turned away. ‘Don’t touch me. Didn’t you hear Coco’s reaction when she found out who I am? Ask yourself why that was.’ She struggled forward in the chair. ‘Because I’m Nina Glass. Luke Glass’ sister.’

  Henry clung to the mantra he’d had drummed into him. Trust, absolute and unshakable, had become dependency, blinding him to the truth of the situation. ‘Rafe won’t let anything happen to us.’

  Nina spat the words into the semi-darkness. ‘He already has! For Christ’s sake, use your head. Luke will tear him apart with his bare hands. You’ll all go the same way. Screaming in agony. Your bodies will never be found. I’m giving you a way out. Take it, Henry. I’ll tell Luke what you did – you won’t be harmed.’

  ‘What about Rafe?’

  Nina was done with lying. ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, Henry. Rafe’s already a dead man – he just doesn’t know it. I wouldn’t save him even if I could.’

  The candour of the reply had an effect. Henry faltered. ‘It’s Coco. Since he met her, he’s—’

  Nina cut him off. ‘The jeweller had made it out of a concentration camp, survived the fucking Nazis – his prison number was tattooed on his arm. Your brother shot him in the heart. He’s an arrogant fucker who’s wandered into a world he thinks he can control. He hasn’t a clue. Rafe is going to pay the price for what he’s done and so he should. Don’t blame anybody else.’ She stopped, breathless, then went on. ‘Coco’s a bitch who’ll kill me for the fun of it. And Julian, well, he made it clear what he’d do.’

  ‘Rafe won’t let them.’

  Nina was having a conversation with a robot. ‘Are you hearing me? For fuck’s sake, forget him. He’s history.’

  The voice startled them. ‘I admire your certainty, Nina Glass.’

  Rafe leaned against the doorframe, his face hidden in the half-light, smoke rising from the cigarette in his hand. Over his shoulder in the hall, Coco was smiling. He said, ‘When I make contact with your brother, we’ll find out who’s history.’

  He dropped the laid-back pretence and came towards her. ‘Until we do, try turning my brother against me again and I’ll personally remodel your pretty face. Better still, Coco will do it for me.’