Free Hider/Seeker Page A

Harry, playing along with the charade.
    Tucker nodded to the man in the back of the Jaguar.
    The car window rolled down fully with a short hum. ‘It’s Mr Bridger, isn’t it?’ shouted Nick Linehan, with a Belfast bark.
    Harry went across to talk to Linehan who was not alone in the car. In the front seat was another heavily built man that could have been Tucker’s twin brother.
    â€˜Do I know you?’ asked Harry, crouching down to the car window and staring at Linehan, a big man with bulging eyes. The polo neck under his jacket accentuated his strong jaw.
    â€˜Jump in, we need to talk.’
    â€˜My mother always taught me never to get into cars with strangers.’
    Linehan didn’t smile.
    Tucker ground the remains of his cigar under his foot while his twin stretched out of the car. With his path blocked by both men, Harry got into the back seat next to Linehan. Tucker sat behind the wheel and waited for his double to return to the car before driving off.
    â€˜So what’s this about?’ asked Harry.
    â€˜All in good time,’ replied Linehan, his voice becoming sharper and louder as if Harry was hard of hearing. ‘How’s Bethany?’
    Harry swallowed air. ‘You’re a friend of Beth?’
    â€˜That’s why I’m here,’ he replied, his eyes remaining steady and unreadable. ‘Came to offer her my condolences, but the porter said she’d company. Decided to hang around to see who her gentleman caller was.’
    â€˜How do you know Bethany?’ asked Harry.
    â€˜Through her husband.’
    Harry was joining dots in his head and nothing was making much sense.
    â€˜I’ve heard things about you,’ said Linehan.
    â€˜From Eddie, you mean?’
    He nodded. ‘Son, you shouldn’t be hanging around here. There’s nothing for you.’
    â€˜What are you getting at?’
    â€˜I saw you at his office, and days later he was found dead,’ said Linehan, raising his big hands. The same hands that slapped and punched his wife. Destructive hands that had their own cruel logic that could break anything or possibly kill anyone, given half a chance.
    â€˜I’m not too sure I like the way that sounds.’
    â€˜Ed told me you’d turned up out of the blue, looking for work. Said you used to do odd jobs for him in the past and wanted a hand out for old times’ sake. But he didn’t want you hanging around him. Told me you were difficult to get rid of, like gum off a shoe.’
    â€˜I was waiting for his call,’ said Harry, deciding to go with the cover story invented by Eddie to protect Angela Linehan. ‘Then I read in the paper what had happened to him.’ Harry looked out of the window and they were driving down Gloucester Avenue, a road where he’d had many a good meal and a pint. ‘You can pull over, anywhere along here.’
    Tucker didn’t stop the car.
    â€˜I don’t want you disturbing Bethany with any of your financial problems. I’m certain that is what Eddie would have wanted me to do.’
    â€˜The thought never crossed my mind.’
    â€˜Really? I know your type. A common scrounger. Aren’t you?’
    Harry didn’t mind him thinking that and said nothing.
    â€˜If I were you,’ continued Linehan, ‘I’d get away now while you still can because the boys in blue have developed bad vibes about you, Mr Bridger.’
    â€˜Where did you hear that?’
    Linehan dismissed the question with a wave of a hand. ‘Come on. You know it yourself.’
    Harry remained silent because it was true.
    â€˜They’ll find a way of dragging you into their investigations,’ went on Linehan, ‘and given half a chance, they’ll pin it on you. Because that’s what they do best. Right?’
    â€˜Are you giving me advice?’
    â€˜Not exactly, more of a warning. This is as plain as I can make it. Just leave her alone.