Page 112 of An Eye for an Eye

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Burrows was just about to turn the sign on the front door from open to closed when a black cab pulled up outside the Roxy Cinema in the Commercial Road. The fare got out, his eyes darting in every direction, and although he couldn’t spot anything suspicious, he didn’t relax. He began to walk the last hundred yards, only stopping to look in a side window to check he wasn’t being followed. He wasn’t. He turned the corner and couldn’t miss the three balls that hung above a sign declaringJake Burrows, Pawnbroker. Established 1983.

He glanced inside the shop window to see an old lag he recognized seated behind the counter. He once again checked up and down the street. Still nothing. As he entered the shop, a bell rang above the door.

‘Mr Faulkner,’ said the pawnbroker, looking up. ‘What a pleasant surprise.’

‘Cut the crap,’ said Miles. ‘Where’s my watch?’

‘Locked up in my safe out the back,’ said Burrows. ‘Give me a moment and I’ll go and fetch it.’

Burrows got up from the counter and disappeared behind a curtain. Miles looked out of the window to make sure another customer wasn’t about to join him. If they had, he would have left without another word – not a risk worth taking.

He turned back. Still no sign of Burrows. Miles began to wonder what was taking him so long and was about to leave when he reappeared. He placed the timepiece on the counter.

‘Quite magnificent,’ said Burrows. Miles picked the watch up and checked the inscription on the back, before he strapped it onto his wrist. He took four pristine wrappers full of twenty-pound notes out of an inside pocket and placed them on the counter.

‘But we agreed on six thousand not four, Mr Faulkner,’ the pawnbroker reminded him.

‘Like you,’ said Faulkner, ‘it was all the cash I could lay my hands on.’

Burrows stared at the money and then at Mr Faulkner before he picked the wrappers up and placed them under the counter.

Miles left the shop without bothering to say goodbye. He stepped out onto the pavement and closed the door behind him. He was hailing a cab when a voice behind him said, ‘You’re nicked, Faulkner, and this time you won’t be able to claim the watch wasn’t yours.’

Fair cop were not the words Faulkner expressed when Chief Inspector Hogan handcuffed him and led him away.

CHAPTER 33

‘IWILL,’SAIDROSS.

The vicar turned to the bride and said, ‘Will you, Alice, take Ross to be your husband. Will you love him, comfort him, honour and protect him and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?’

‘I will,’ said Alice.

William stepped forward and handed the wedding ring to the vicar.

Alice smiled when Ross slipped the ring on her finger and repeated the wedding vows. Only the chief bridesmaid had a bigger grin on her face.

As the newly married couple walked back down the aisle together, they were greeted with smiles from both sides. Jojo, holding the train, followed them out into the churchyard, where a photographer was waiting.

He gathered the family together, along with the best man and the bridesmaids, before he took a series of snaps, while the rest of the guests made their way across to the Shamrock Hotel for the wedding lunch.

When the bride and groom appeared, everyone rose from their places and applauded Mr and Mrs Hogan as they made their way to the top table. Once the applause had died down, the guests remained standing while the vicar said Grace.

Only William ignored the smoked salmon as he turned the pages of his best man’s speech once again – unnecessarily, as he knew the words off by heart. He looked up as his untouched plate of smoked salmon was whisked away, to see his father and the Hawk seated at the other end of the table, deep in conversation.

‘So now the date of the trial has been fixed, Julian, should I assume you are confident of a guilty verdict and sending Faulkner back to jail?’

‘Certainly not, Jack – one can never be certain of anything when Booth Watson is appearing for the defence.’

‘I think even Booth Watson will find it difficult to convince a jury that the Rolex with Faulkner’s ex-wife’s signature etched on the back didn’t belong to him, or that four cellophane packets each containing a thousand pounds didn’t come from the same bank account as the ones found on Kevin Scott on the day Avril was murdered.’

‘Booth Watson will remind the jury that Faulkner was in America at the time,’ said Julian, ‘and I confess it would have helped if Christina had been willing to give evidence confirming it was the Rolex Daytona she gave her ex-husband as a birthday present.’

‘I think you’ll find that it was Wilbur who talked her out of giving evidence,’ said the Hawk, ‘and who can blame him after what happened to Avril.’

‘I’m only surprised Faulkner was granted bail,’ said Sir Julian.

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