Killer Country Read Online Free

Vittoria?’
    ‘Them, yeah. Saved all this bother. You went soft.’
    ‘Maybe.’ Mace fidgeted with a lose thread on the couch arm. ‘I thought … I don’t know what I thought. I thought after the killing spree they’d been on, the case would be quick sticks done and dusted.’ He pulled out the thread, snapped it. ‘Two good scores for Captain Gonsalves notched to his service record. Paulo and Vittoria lost in the prison system. Instead they want to tell the world I tortured them.’ He wound the thread round his finger.
    ‘Which you did.’
    ‘To get a confession. How they murdered the Italian homos, Isabella and her sidekick.’
    Pylon frowned. ‘She was a problem. Isabella was bad news, we should of stayed away from her.’
    ‘She got us the diamonds, remember.’
    ‘She nearly got us killed. All because she lead you by the cock.’
    ‘I fancied her once.’ Mace pulled at the thread till his finger hurt.
    ‘Once was once. Your problem you don’t let things go.’ Pylon shook his head. ‘So what’s the captain say?’
    ‘He’s stuffed too. Colluding. Withholding evidence. Gonz’s an unhappy man. Hearing’s still set down for a month’s time. Any day they could subpoena me.’
    ‘But they haven’t yet?’
    ‘No.’
    Mace tightened the thread, grimaced.
    Pylon said, ‘You’ll pop your finger, you carry on doing that.’
    They drank in silence. Voices from the square drifting up. Pylon broke the quiet. ‘So this’s why you want to cash in, sell the business? You want to do a runner before the hearing?’
    Mace glanced at him, squinted to see his expression against the light. ‘You see another option? I’m facing jail time at the end of this. What happens to Oumou and Christa then?’
    ‘The way I see it we’ve been through this three times already with adjournments. Every time the wheels of justice fall off. Trust to the captain, the man’s got a lot to lose.’
    ‘It’s not your skin,’ said Mace.
    ‘All I’m saying,’ – Pylon slid off the window sill, stretched his back – ‘is we got to keep the options open, choose the moment to sell out. Now’s not it. Know what I mean. You can’t put your life on hold because of this court case. Maybe it doesn’t get to court. Then what?’
    Mace raised his eyebrows, the yeah, yeah in his expression.
    ‘No, hang on. I mean it.’ Pylon moved from the window, sat on the couch opposite Mace. ‘Listen,’ – leaning forward to get Mace’s attention – ‘there’s a way out, in the long term. Come in on the west coast scheme. Golf estates make big bucks.’ The west coast scheme one of Pylon’s capitalist ventures, something Mace wanted in on anyhow.
    ‘How?’ Mace took another swallow. ‘With what? Where’re Oumou and I going to get spare cash?’
    ‘From me.’ Pylon giving him the full eyeball. ‘This’s our out, my brother. You want it that badly, grab the lifeline. This comes off we can start thinking of selling up. Get out. No more crap and cranola. Liquidate the Cayman account. Live properly. We do it carefully Revenue’ll not suspect a thing.’
    ‘And the court case?’
    ‘Forget the court case. Plan positive.’
    Mace glancing off out the window at the mountain. The last of the sun against the cliffs, catching the buttresses, the red in the sandstone. ‘We sit here, all that money in Cayman, we can’t touch it. Our bucks. Hard earned moola.’
    ‘We get the golf estate we can launder it. Some of it. Whatever we want. No problem.’
    ‘It eats me,’ said Mace.
    Pylon sat back. ‘It’s a way to sort things out.’
    ‘If I go to jail.’
    ‘I didn’t say that. I said forget the court case. We face it if and when.’
    Mace looked at his partner. Unwavering conviction in Pylon’s eyes.
    ‘Believe me,’ said Pylon. ‘Mightn’t happen. So’ – he came forward again – ‘let’s put that aside, clarify this other matter, about cashing up. I’ve heard this before from you, this closing down number. Maybe