‘You need to help me out here,’ she said.
He walked towards her and stopped about a foot away. Kelly heard footsteps and was distracted, turning sideways.
‘You need to watch your back. If you get too close, they’ll come for you too,’ he warned her.
‘Is that what Jamie told you? Were he and his sister about to go rogue?’ she asked.
The footsteps got closer.
Joe went pale at the mention of Angelina again.
‘Why did Jamie move her to a remote hotel?’
‘He wouldn’t tell me.’
‘You didn’t know?’
‘If I did, do you think she’d have been killed?’
Kelly hesitated. She was gobsmacked. Not only had Joe lost his love, he’d been prevented from protecting her.
Or at least that’s what she was being told.
‘We need to talk properly, Joe. Come with me; I can protect you,’ Kelly said but even as she did she knew it was a promise she couldn’t see through. HQ was breathing down her neck and how the hell could she keep someone safe when she couldn’t even gain access to vital witnesses?
Joe laughed.
‘Who do you think you are? The fucking Sweeney?’
‘You’re too young to rememberThe Sweeney,’ she said.
‘That’s the problem with you institutionalised lot, isn’t it? You underestimate everyone else who’s outside of the system.’
Kelly held his gaze and she felt small. Ridiculed. Insignificant. Irrelevant.
‘It’s important I understand what Jamie and Angelina were about to expose before their deaths.’
Joe backed away.
‘Am I under arrest?’ Joe asked.
‘Of course not,’ Kelly said. ‘Don’t go. Wait. Take this,’ she said, holding out a card.
He took it.
‘Contact me anytime. Be forewarned that I won’t hesitate to arrest you if I find out you were involved.’
He skipped backwards, almost tripping, and then disappeared as a lorry roared past and whipped up dust into her eyes.
‘Fuck,’ Kelly said.
‘Boss?’ she heard Emma shouting and went back across the road to her car.
‘Where were you?’
‘I’ve just spoken to Joe Folly,’ she said.
Chapter 34
