A Long Way Down Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  A Selection of Recent Titles from Ken McCoy

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Epilogue

  A Selection of Recent Titles from Ken McCoy

  The DI Sep Black Series

  DEAD OR ALIVE *

  A LONG WAY DOWN *

  The Sam Carew Series

  MAD CAREW

  TRIPPER

  HAMMERHEAD

  LOSER

  * available from Severn House

  A LONG WAY DOWN

  Ken McCoy

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  First published in Great Britain and the USA 2017 by

  SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of

  19 Cedar Road, Sutton, Surrey, England, SM2 5DA.

  This eBook edition first published in 2017 by Severn House Digital

  an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited

  Trade paperback edition first published

  in Great Britain and the USA 2017 by

  SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD

  Copyright © 2017 by Ken McCoy.

  The right of Ken McCoy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-7278-8730-6 (cased)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-84751-844-6 (trade paper)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-904-6 (e-book)

  Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.

  This ebook produced by

  Palimpsest Book Production Limited,

  Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland

  PROLOGUE

  Leeds West Yorkshire: March 2014

  Charlie Santiago departed both his office and his life through an open window with the gusto of an Olympic diver, leaving splashes of his viscera all over the stone-cobbled yard fifty feet below. The overnight rain had washed most of the blood into a nearby gulley grate and thence into the city drains. It was an ignominious end for such a man. In life, Charlie had been a successful businessman: handsome, respected by some, feared by others and wealthy. In death, his destroyed and bloody remains had lain there all night in a misshapen heap in the cold rain; saturated, alone and unobserved. His fall from health, wealth and happiness was as terminal as his fall from the window. A lone face at the window looked down at Charlie’s body. It was a face without emotion or concern.

  With Santiago being an important member of the community Detective Chief Inspector Wood of the West Yorkshire Police decided to lead the investigation himself. It had been initially reported as either an improbable suicide, or a probable murder. The man had fallen a distance of over fifty feet, from an office window to the cobbled yard and had landed on his head.

  Forensic evidence would prove the death to have been suspicious, possibly a murder. There were signs of a struggle. The disarray in the office including one of Santiago’s shoes left behind and the grazing on his knuckles was sufficient evidence of that. He’d fought a losing fight and had been dispatched out of the window which had been conveniently wide open.

  It would have been an exhausting, terrifying and probably noisy death. Murder was the initial finding but a murder with no suspects, no clues, no evidence and no apparent motive, just a dead body down there in the yard. It was a seemingly senseless murder, of which DCI Wood and his team had failed to pick up any leads. The inept DCI had therefore labelled it a possible suicide and had handed it over to the Cold Case Unit while it was still very much lukewarm. DCI Wood, an unpopular officer and the beneficiary of at least two sideways promotions to get him out of someone’s hair, was a major contributor to the West Yorkshire Police cold case files. Detective Superintendent Jane Hawkins, the officer in charge of the Cold Case Unit, was becoming heartily fed up of picking up the pieces after Wood had dropped a case before it had been properly investigated.

  ONE

  March 2015

  Detective Inspector Sep Black found himself confronted by three known felons. Known to him, because at some time in their past he’d arrested all three of them, albeit separately and now they were all out of prison and together and bearing deep grudges against him.

  They were outside a pub he’d just left, trying to track down a man he’d been looking for in connection with a cold case he was working on. He’d had a call from a reliable snout to say the man was in there, but the information was wrong, which had puzzled him as his snout was usually most reliable. But it was a puzzle no longer. It would appear that the snout had been ‘got at’ and he was worrying that his snout, Gerry Beddows, was still in one piece. Gerry was by no means a young man, nor was he much of a fighter or fast on his feet, but Sep’s major worry was that Gerry would come out of this all right. He was both of the things that his snout wasn’t, but Sep was also just one man.

  He was in a pub car park, which was deserted because it wasn’t exactly a popular pub. Deserted to the extent that whatever happened here wouldn’t be seen by any witnesses. All three of these men could be classified as thugs. All three were wearing knuckledusters, a weapon Sep wouldn’t have minded having right now. His ideal plan of action would be to run. He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day and all that. But turning and running was out of the question because he was surrounded. One in front, one behind and one over to his right. All he could do was his best, which was usually considerable. He did a 360 turn to assess them all and, knowing them all of old, he decided that the one on the right would be the easiest to take, but he would need to take him before the other two joined in. Speed was essential here. Without actually looking to his right he shifted in that direction with his eyes on the man in front of him until he was no more than three yards away from his target. Then he spun around, took two strides, brushed aside a wild punch aimed at his head and in one twisting movement, took the man in an armlock, broke his arm, and pulled the duster from the man’s fist. Then he backed away from the other two who had advanced, warily, having been remind
ed of just what he could do and knowing that he also was armed with a knuckleduster. Sep was the biggest man there and the toughest and the one filled with the most rage. It was a rage fuelled by the certainty that these men had come to kill him and they had probably already killed old Gerry Beddows.

  The injured man was staggering around, out of action and howling with the pain of a badly broken arm. Sep scowled impatiently and shouted at him over his shoulder, ‘Stay down there and don’t get up, you whining bastard!’

  The other two had experienced the rough end of his ire before and neither of them wanted to be the target of his next attack. His violent rage, plus the casual way he had disabled their crony, had them on their guard.

  Once again Sep assessed the situation. If they had any sense they’d both move in on him at once, launching a two-pronged attack from opposite sides, but it would appear these men had other ideas. One was tall and not as stocky as the other. Sep thought he’d leave him until the last, but the tall one came for him first. Sep closed the gap between them with one long stride and, ducking under the thug’s first blow, landed a heavy blow himself with his right fist, on which he now wore the knuckleduster. It took the man on his left cheek and knocked him onto his back with a broken cheekbone. The third man was now right behind him and he jumped on Sep’s broad back trying to take him in a headlock. Sep dislodged one of the man’s fingers and bent it back far enough to snap it. This caused the man to lose his grip to attend to the acute pain in his broken finger, as the second man tried to get to his feet only to be met by Sep’s boot in his face, slamming him back to the ground, unconscious. Sep now surveyed the damage he’d done. The two conscious men with broken bones were hurrying to a car, so he ran after them and thumped them both in the backs of their heads with his knuckle-dustered fist. Both went down. Sep dragged the unconscious one over to join his two companions

  ‘Stay down, boys,’ he told them. ‘Anyone tries to get up, they’ll get the toe of my boot in the teeth and these boots have got steel toecaps.’

  Sep allowed his fury to simmer. It had been part genuine, part theatrical, but it had served its purpose into making them believe they’d been dealing with a dangerous madman. He took out his mobile and rang the station. ‘This is DI Black. I need a van to the Ostler’s Arms car park to pick up three customers and I want it right now!’

  Sep followed the van to the station, went inside and asked the desk sergeant, ‘Has there been a report of a man being attacked in the last few hours? Small man, about seventy.’

  ‘We’ve had a report of a man’s body being found, sir.’

  ‘Description?’

  ‘Erm, hang on … five feet six, old feller. They have a name for him. He had a driver’s license.’

  ‘Gerald Beddows,’ guessed Sep, hoping he was wrong. His hopes were dashed.

  ‘That’s him. Did you know him, sir?’

  ‘Yes, I did. In that case, the three who’ve just come in are the main suspects in his murder. They might need a bit of medical attention. If they have to go to hospital they need to be under twenty-four-hour guard.’

  Sep went through to Detective Superintendent Ibbotson’s office – the CID boss.

  ‘Afternoon, Sep. What’s Cold Case doing in here?’

  ‘I’ve just brought in three men who attacked me in the course of an investigation and I’ve good reason to believe they killed my informant, Gerry Beddows, who was found dead earlier. I’m very upset about that, sir.’

  ‘Yes, I know about the Beddows killing. Didn’t know he was your informant. We’ll try and make a DNA connection with the people you brought in. Thanks for what you did, but I think you need to get over to your own people in Cold Case before Jane Hawkins accuses me of poaching you.’

  ‘Just keeping you informed, sir.’

  ‘Before you go, Sep, these men you brought in. They attacked you, did they?’

  ‘They tried to, sir. Old customers of mine when I worked with your lot. I think they had it planned and I think they made Gerry Beddows set me up with a false lead; after which I’m guessing they killed him, sir, which is what I think they intended for me.’

  ‘Will they need any medical attention?’

  ‘They will, sir. They were quite violent.’

  ‘I’d best get an ambulance over here.’

  ‘Any luck at the Ostler’s?’ enquired Detective Superintendent Jane Hawkins.

  ‘Only bad luck. My snout had been got at by three of my old customers, It was a set-up, ma’am. I managed to bring all three of them in to the station. They’re in custody now. My snout was found dead.’

  ‘What? Old Gerry Beddows … oh no!’

  ‘I’m afraid so, ma’am.’

  ‘Well, I think I’d better tell CID that I want a word with those three scrotes myself before they get at them. You’d better sit in with me. If they went to such trouble to set you up, they must know something about the case you’re working on.’

  ‘Maybe, maybe not, ma’am. Personally, I think I just walked on their patch, they saw me and decided to take advantage of the situation.’

  ‘Your reputation has you treading a very dangerous path, DI Black. Are they all in one piece?’

  ‘More or less.’

  ‘Well they’ll be stuck with less till I’ve had a word with them. I expect forensics and DNA will put them bang to rights for Gerry’s murder so they won’t have much to lose by coming clean.’

  ‘They’re all in a bit of pain, ma’am, and villains tend to be not so stubborn when they’re in pain.’

  ‘Sounds like you roughed them up a bit.’

  ‘I broke one or two bones that’s all.’

  ‘And you’re OK? No injuries?’

  ‘None at all, no.’

  ‘Good. I’ll tell them how lucky they all are to have found you in a good mood. Did you get any further with your case?’

  ‘I didn’t, ma’am.’

  TWO

  March 2015

  James Boswell double-checked the name of the Grimshawe Hotel. Yes, this was the right place – more of a downmarket workman’s lodging house, unworthy of the label ‘hotel’, he reckoned. Maybe it had been a hotel a hundred years ago when the district had been a habitat for professional people who had brass plates outside their doors advertising that they were doctors, lawyers, dentists and architects, but the last of the professionals had moved on sixty or more years ago when the district began its descent into decrepitude. Leeds was a big and booming city with huge, modern developments ongoing in the city centre but none in the district where the Grimshawe Hotel was located. This was a building that had been well-named. James wasn’t surprised that the classy woman whom he was to meet in there had chosen such a dump. He knew her reason, but it was even more of a dump than he’d anticipated.

  The reception at the Grimshawe was a serving hatch in a wall that might have once led to a kitchen in days gone by. There was a brass bell which he banged with his palm a couple of times to summon the attention of whoever was going to book him in. He looked about him and gave a sigh. Was this really the right place? No way would this woman set foot in a dump like this. She said she had information that would be invaluable to him. He must have got it wrong, but how? It was her choice, not his. Or did this dump have some connection with her information? Yeah, what else could it be? An old woman appeared in the hatch. The cigarette she was smoking was down to its last half-inch with a good inch of ash still attached. She looked to be in her late nineties and not ageing well. Her manner was belligerent, albeit tempered by her voice being little more than a croak.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I booked a room. The name’s Boswell.’

  She looked down at a ledger that was open in front of her and squinted at it. The ash dropped off her cigarette as she wiped her nose with an elaborate sweep of a forefinger and put on her glasses to take a closer look.

  ‘That’ll be twenny quid.’

  ‘I’ve already paid by card over the phone.’

  ‘Card,
eh? We don’t get much o’ that bollocks. It weren’t me yer paid. I wouldn’t know how ter do it.’

  ‘Yes, I did it yesterday evening. It was a man I spoke to.’

  ‘That’s why it weren’t me. I’m only on till six. Anyroad, yer woman’s already up there, waitin’ for yer. Just one night, is it?’

  ‘Just an hour or so, maybe less.’

  ‘Quick shag, on yer way ’ome ter the wife, eh? Yer dirty bastard!’

  The hotel was matched in class by its receptionist.

  ‘No, it’s not—’

  He gave up on his protest. Why should he worry what she thought?

  ‘Well, it’s still twenny quid. It’s upstairs, room 7 and don’t make too much bleedin’ noise. It’s right above here. I’ll be able to hear every squeak o’ the soddin’ mattress.’

  He went up the stairs which had been carpeted sometime in the dim and distant past, probably around the time it had last been cleaned. Cobwebs, dust and dirt abounded. He passed a man coming down, followed by a woman who was cursing him for not paying for some extra service she’d rendered. She paused and called back to James.

  ‘Are yer lookin’ fer business, darlin’?’

  ‘Er, no, thank you.’

  James got to the top of the stairs which led to a dimly lit corridor with a single strip of jaded carpet running down the middle. He came to room 7, knocked and pushed the door open. The woman was standing at the window, smoking and looking out, with her back to him. It was her all right. From the back she looked well-groomed and elegant, with glossy black hair down to the shoulders of her expensive-looking coat. It wasn’t her normal colour hair, probably a wig. He knew that and he knew she’d be totally out of her comfort zone in this place. But it had been her choice, not his. For the purpose of this subterfuge she was calling herself Winona. Shabby meeting place, wig and a false name? James thought she was overdoing the secrecy bit.

  ‘Hi,’ was the last word he’d ever say.

  The woman didn’t turn or respond. She just continued looking out of the window at the dingy street beyond and smoked her cigarette. She winced at the sound of a blow to the back of his head striking James to the floor, unconscious. Two more blows killed him. Winona and James’s assailant left immediately, with Winona sparing James a brief but troubled glance. The old woman in the reception area was aware of them leaving but she hadn’t got her glasses on so she wasn’t entirely sure who it was. She put them on only to look out of the window and was fairly certain it was the woman who’d only arrived a few minutes ago. She shook her head. Strange goings on in this bloody place, still, it wasn’t her job to worry too much. People leaving were of no interest to her, they will have already paid their dues on arriving. Her grandson paid her well enough to go to the bingo three nights a week and the pub four nights. He also gave her a roof over her head free of charge.