Chapter 9

The photographs were laid out on the desk and the man turned to his two subordinates. "Good. But it's not enough."

"He goes back to London today; word is that he will be back in seven weeks time."

"Right, well we get it then. I want..."

"Word is, Guv, that he will be moving here." A smile crept over the face of the aged gentleman who looked at the pictures. "I want a low-profile, and try and pick up any of these weak links. That guy, he came at the end and he's local, Kadema, let's go pay him a visit and see if we can find out any more about him. But we keep it quiet. I don't want him scared off. I don't want Kadema knowing what's going on. Keep it subtle."

"No Guv. But what about umm, those three?"

"I know 'em. I'll deal with that end, but I need to get that sick bastard. This is my island and no-one comes here and starts messing with kids on my turf. I see Francis there, so that means Ricardo's been over. And I want all of those sick bastards, I want details on them, who are they?"

One of the gentleman pulled up a sheet of paper and passed it across. "We would have stopped it, got 'em then but we knew you wanted everyone."

The "Guv" rubbed his chin and then spoke with his London accent. "Yeah. He hasn't bought a big villa like that with a private beach for five people. And he hasn't got the cash to buy that outright unless he planned on getting some dough from somewhere. I bet, we'll have every pervert in the Caribbean coming here soon for some sick parties. I want to know when he next comes."

"But Guv..."

The experienced man held up a finger. "I know what you are going to say. They are good kids, and you want to protect them. We all do, but I want to get that bastard and I want to get all of his friends. Now if he holds any more parties and we can get there in time, we will stop it and we can grab the sick fuckers but until we can get every link in this fucking chain, I don't want them nabbed."

There was a nod, and the pictures were filed away, Paul would be trailed the moment he stepped foot on the island, and what with the contacts that he had "Guv" could make sure that he knew the moment the Englishman stepped foot on his turf.

"Oh, and Oli. Pay the kids a visit, and make sure they are OK."

"Happy birthday, love," Joseph said and passed his wife a small box that she eagerly unwrapped, the contents sparkling seductively in the light.

"Wow," she cooed and kissed him on the cheek, she had wanted a new necklace since she had silently pawned her other necklace the week before to pay for a night on the betting sites but was now regretting it. "It's..."

"Is it diamonds?" Lewis asked his speechless mother and he nodded. The entire necklace had cost him in excess of £10,000 but he was feeling especially guilty, what with his dalliances with Sarah and felt it right to treat his wife. Katherine passed over a small, wrapped gift that contained an engraved glass while Lewis gave his mother a book about cake making.

Charlotte thanked her family and edged them towards the door; she wanted to get on the laptop and her reminders that they were "late" went unheeded. Matthew arrived a few moments later and passed the mother another card and gift that she opened, glancing at the clock. She only had ten minutes until the $25,000 jackpot from AsianBingo started and felt her fingers twitch over the wrapping paper.

Matthew had bought her a bottle of gin, Charlotte's favourite spirit, from the islands of Scotland and the mother licked her lips appreciatively, but she wanted to get online, before her family saw.

"Come on," she yelled at her husband who sauntered down the stairs, straightening his tie. "You'll be late. Lewis!"

Lewis emerged in his school uniform, still dirty from the day before, and she shooed them out of the house. "What's the rush Mum?" Katherine asked and Charlotte snorted.

"You mustn't be late, just on my account," Charlotte told them and glanced at the clock; four minutes. "Go on."

"We won't, we got loads of time," Joseph said and picked up his cup of tea that was removed from his grasp.

"No you haven't, go on."

"Honestly love, we are fine, now give me a kiss and..."

Charlotte reached up and kissed him on the lips. "Now go. Come on." Matthew shrugged at Katherine and Charlotte looked back at the clock; three minutes.

Charlotte closed the door behind them waving her children off and sprinted into the living room, tripping over a small stool, and skidding to a halt at her laptop. She had set it to "hibernate" the day before and tapped at the keyboard as it booted.

"Come on, come on," she moaned as the slow machine creaked into the Operating System; one minute. She frantically clicked on the browser, frustrated as the page took a few moments to load. "Oh for fucks sake." The computer finished loading the Anti-virus and eight browser sessions opened. Charlotte frantically typed in the Domain name and let it automatically sign in. She registered for the game with three seconds to spare.

It might cost $25 but there was a top prize of $25,000 and it would be hers. Which is exactly what the other 7,391 other contestants thought as well.

Only Charlotte needed to find £2,500 to buy back her old diamond necklace, a family heirloom and the inheritance from Joseph's parents, that she had pawned and whose absence would be noticed by her husband at some point in the not so distant future. $25,000 would make everything better.

"Oh look is Vicky's ex," screeched a high-pitched voice. "Vicky!" Matthew groaned as he turned to see a gaggle of girls on the table adjacent to where he and Gareth were due to sit. "Vicky!" The aforementioned ex-girlfriend turned around at the bar and looked at the table. "Look it's the inadequate you used to fuck." There was a gaggle of laughter and Matthew scowled at his ex-girlfriend.

"Hey mate, it's that frigid witch you used to live with," Gareth said an equally loud voice and Vicky screwed up her face.

"Yeah, fuck you Matt," she said with a snarl and was warned as to her language by the barman.

Matt held up his hands. "Hey, I said nothing," he told her, his heart beating loudly as he watched her bring some drinks over.

"I want nothing more to do with you," she told him as she sat down, ignoring his perplexed look. "And don't look at me."

Matthew looked at Gareth and then back at the small group of girls, Victoria deliberately sitting with her back to Matthew. "I don't want to look at you," he told her and positioned his chair away from her. Matthew and Victoria may not have parted on good terms, but she was the daughter of a friend of the family and their less than amicable split had caused interesting conversations with his mother who had always liked the self-centred girl.

Victoria snarled and then said something that made the girls giggle. "She fucking with you, shall we move?" Gareth asked and Matthew took a gulp of his beer and shook his head.

"No," he told him and then turned around. "It's OK Vicky, I really don't want to look at you, your nose, bent and large as it is, makes me realise how much prettier your sister is." Victoria gasped and turned around, her eyes blazing. "Tell me, do you open beer bottles with that, or is it just useful for snorting drugs?"