‘Concierge.’
‘Mr Twizell, please. Flat ten.’
‘Apartment. Just a minute, sir.’
Sir waited impatiently. When the concierge came back on the line she sounded apologetic. ‘I’m sorry, sir. The number doesn’t answer. I know Mr Twizell is in because he had a visitor a short time ago.’
‘Male or female?’ I gave it a conspiratorial tone to which she didn’t respond. ‘Male.’
‘What floor’s Mr Twizell’s on?’
‘He’s on the top floor. Is there anything wrong?’
‘No,’ I said, thinking, yes!
Back to Mayfield under a leaden sky. I used the GPS to guide me and found the Mayfield Apartments to be a three-level modern block packed onto a tight bleak cul-de-sac. There were spaces for cars but I wouldn’t have wanted to manoeuvre the Falcon into any one of them. The apartments had to be one-bedroom jobs with everything miniaturised that could be. The only thing generous about the set-up was the size of the rubber-tree plants in the tiny garden.
The concierge sat at a small desk in a small tiled lobby. She was thirtyish with a neat, efficient-looking appearance. She glanced up from the computer keyboard she’d been tapping.
‘Yes?’
‘I rang a little while back for Mr Twizell. Would you try him again, please?’
She frowned, worried, and hit a button on her phone. I could hear the ringing.
‘No answer,’ she said.
‘Did he leave a mobile number with you?’
‘I wasn’t here when he arrived.’
‘Please look. It’s important.’
She tapped some keys, found a number and rang it. ‘No answer again,’ she said. ‘What’s the problem?’
I headed towards the lift.
‘You can’t just go up. I’m supposed to notify the residents.’
‘You tried,’ I said.
I rode the lift to the top floor and got out into a narrow carpeted area. Three apartments up here, with number ten at the front. The lift door closed noisily behind me and the door to apartment ten opened. Hector Tanner stepped out. He was immaculate in a suit and tie as before but this time he was carrying a pistol fitted with a silencer. He pointed the gun at my chest.
‘Saw you from the window, Hardy. A pleasure to meet you again.’ He gestured with the pistol. ‘Step inside.’
~ * ~
17
I walked down a short passage to a living room with windows that looked out to the street. Twizell was sitting in the middle of the room on a chair, with his arms drawn back; both his feet were pinioned to the chair legs by plastic restraints. He was wearing an old dressing gown and looked very vulnerable and afraid. He evidently hadn’t had time for a shower since getting back because his scratches were still untreated. He had a black eye and his mouth was puffy with a split upper lip.
Hector pointed to a chair drawn up to the table. ‘Sit over there, Hardy, and sit very still. Johnnie and I have been having a little talk.’
I wasn’t too worried about Hector’s gun. I had my .38 stuck in the waistband of my pants in the small of my back under my shirt-tail. I thought I could distract Hector long enough to get it out and make matters even. ‘He goes by Jack now,’ I said.
‘So he tells me, but I think I’ll stick with Johnnie. That’s how I knew him when he came to us with a very interesting proposition. That’s before he nearly killed my sister.’
‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘after you’d filled him full of some kind of truth drug.’
‘True, but he was on something already and the combination did the damage, so it was partly his fault.’
That was interesting. Hector looked to be one of those people who didn’t take the blame for anything. A weakness.
I relaxed in the chair and scratched my chin. Best to keep moving in small ways as a preliminary to a big move.
‘Why’d you go into hiding, Hec? I wouldn’t have thought the cops would have much on a cautious man like you.’
‘I didn’t go into hiding. I just happen to have a few places to stay that nobody knows about.’
‘So you’ll show up at your father’s funeral tomorrow?’
‘I’ll have to think about that.’
‘But you’ll be there in spirit. I wonder if they’ll let Joseph out to attend?’
‘Shut up. I’m grateful to you for getting Johnnie out early. Now you can help me persuade him to tell me where the money is.’
‘Don’t do it, Jack,’ I said. ‘The Tanner mob is finished. They’re in debt all over the place and with Jobe and Joseph out of action Hector’s fucked. He needs the money worse than you do.’