Good Riddance

By Evan Baldock

Plenty of retirees have hobbies; Gloria’s just happens to be murderous . . . An entertaining new crime thriller by the author of Bang Bang, You’re Dead.

At this stage of her life, Gloria Jones just wants peace, quiet, and as little stress as possible. But her habit of helping others in need is hard to break—even when it gets her into trouble.

So when Gloria encounters a distraught young girl and learns about a shadowy London gang of human traffickers exploiting women, she simply can’t let such injustice stand. After all, it’s not the first time she has stopped vicious criminals from hurting someone . . .

Then again, her health isn’t what it used to be—and this time, there’s a distinct possibility she could wind up dead . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781504080057

Book preview

1

Tuesday 14

th

September 1999, 9.20 a.m.

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Detective Chief Inspector Juliet Simpson had been working for the National Crime Agency for just three weeks, having been successful in her job application two months previously and required to give one months' notice in her old post.

Her success had been partly due to the intervention of her ex-lover, Assistant Commissioner Graeme Skelton, who’d unceremoniously removed her as head of Operation Chiddingstone eight months previously and was desperately trying to make amends. Chiddingstone, an investigation into a nationwide hunt for a serial killer, had rattled on with no success in identifying the killer, a killer who was still at large six and a half months later.

Juliet’s driver pulled off the secluded country lane and onto a wide gravel driveway, sweeping past overgrown grass verges and flower beds sitting happily in dappled autumn sunlight that had found its way through overhanging branches from adjoining woodland. Their car pulled up outside the attractive detached house, which sat comfortably in a remote location of the Essex countryside. The house was well concealed from the road and Juliet smiled to herself on seeing the vibrant red leaves of Virginia Creeper, her favourite plant, snaking their way up the house’s left-hand corner.

She couldn’t age the house. It could have been built anytime between the 1930s and 1950s, it’s understated architectural design being a blend of two distinct ages. Whatever the truth about the house’s origins, she liked the look of the place.

Climbing from the front passenger seat, Juliet pulled back her long wavy brown hair and tied it in a tight ponytail, her green eyes scanning the front of the house for any sign of recent habitation. Slamming the car door closed, she registered two Scenes of Crime vans and a white police carrier containing a full search team of one Inspector, one Sergeant and six Constables. They had been waiting on the driveway when her car had pulled in, just as she’d requested.

Her driver was Detective Constable Stuart Graves, an experienced officer with ten years as a detective under his belt. His fair hair was a little too long for a police officer, something she’d mentioned to him on the drive up from their base in Hackney. His crisp brown-grey suit was smart though, so she hadn’t given him too much of a hard time about his hair. As he climbed from the driver’s seat, he looked over the vehicle’s roof and gave her a reassuring nod.

The house was neat and tidy but the windows were grubby and looked like they needed cleaning. The garden had once been loved and cared for, but was now untidy and overgrown. The whole place had an aura of neglect and not being tended for several months, which was something she’d anticipated. She glanced at a white board that proclaimed the house name in black writing, it was partly obscured by bushes to one side of the drive, and proudly displayed the name ‘Paradise Lodge.’

Juliet’s first posting in the NCA was as Senior Investigating Officer into an explosion of organised crime gang violence. An explosion that commenced after the sudden disappearance of crime boss Michael Higgins and his three children, Seamus, Declan and Gail in the early spring. Rival Crime gangs moved quickly to fill the vacuum caused by their disappearance, each gang fighting tooth and nail to position themselves to take over the family’s crime enterprises, positioning that rapidly descended into violent and prolonged bloodletting.

Months of enquiries into their disappearance had proved fruitless, until enquiries unearthed that Michael Higgins had purchased Paradise Lodge in a cash transaction four years previously. The estate agent who completed the sale was still employed by the agency and had been asked by Juliet to attend. On seeing two plain-clothes officers climb out of a vehicle, he strode confidently up to Juliet, holding out a hand in greeting.

Hello, Dan Nwokonkor. Pleased to meet you.

His deep voice and soft Nigerian accent were pleasant and welcoming. Juliet shook his hand warmly.

Thank you for coming.

No problem, pleased to help. Although I’m not really sure what I’m here for.

She pointed at the house.

You know the place better than any of us, I need you here in case we miss something. I understand you don’t have keys for the property?

Dan shook his head and turned his bottom lip over.

No, we only keep spare sets in rentals, not purchases.

She smiled and nodded towards an officer holding a large red-metal door enforcer, the type you see on the news when police force entry to a property. It had two handles on one side and the officer in charge of it was absent-mindedly swinging it in his right hand as he chatted with colleagues.

Never mind, we’ve got a warrant to search the place, we’ll open her up with the big red key.

Walking towards the front door, she called the officer over.

All set?

He nodded.

Ready to go Ma’am.

She rapped the large, black front door with her knuckles… nothing, she clenched her fist and hammered loudly. Silence. Juliet turned and nodded to the officer.

Okay, do it.

The burly PC approached the door, located the mortice lock and smashed the enforcer onto the lock three times with no apparent effect, but on the fourth strike the door burst open with a loud crash, a shattering of glass and a splintering of wood. Juliet thanked the officer and stepped into the hallway, the crunching of broken glass and splintered wood under her footsteps sounded crisp and clear.

She hadn’t revealed anything to her colleagues, but Juliet was confident what she would find at the address—four badly decomposed bodies. The remains of the murdered Michael Higgins and his family. The reason for Juliet’s certainty was her close friendship with an elderly lady named Gloria Jones.

Now, Gloria wasn’t any ordinary old lady. Oh no, she wasn’t like any old lady you’d ever met before, and Juliet thought the world of her.

Over a three-month period from the previous November through to the end of February, Gloria had been a ruthless vigilante. It was something she’d never intended, but events happened beyond her control and before she could stop herself, she had reacted against a pair of vicious street robbers.

Before long, she’d grown in confidence and had become bolder. Seeing injustice everywhere, she slowly developed from a quiet, almost shy old lady, into a determined and ruthless killer, striking back against violent criminals throughout the country. Not only was she standing up for herself, but for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves.

Gloria was the person Operation Chiddingstone had been looking for since the killings started, she was the person Juliet had once overseen the search for. But despite her position and the knowledge she possessed, Juliet had no intention of giving up her friend. In fact, after upsetting events in her personal life, she found herself fully supporting Gloria’s cause to rid society of criminals destroying decent people’s lives, doing whatever she could to help her evade capture.

Michael Higgins, the man in charge of London’s largest and most notorious Organised Crime family, had known from the outset that Gloria was the vigilante everyone was looking for. One of his staff had witnessed her first killings, where Gloria had gunned down two violent street robbers, immediately reporting what she’d seen to her boss. Anonymous letters sent by Higgins started arriving at Gloria’s home, meaning she knew someone was watching her, but who?

Following Gloria’s fourth set of killings, Higgins made contact and used threats to recruit her into his organisation, very much against her will. He’d used his knowledge of her murderous deeds as leverage, while simultaneously making vile threats to her family if she failed to comply.

Days before, Higgins had recruited Gloria’s friend, Police Sergeant Sean Aylen, by using similar threats against his family. Taking advice from Sean, Gloria reluctantly agreed to work for Higgins, believing Sean’s reassurances that they could plan an escape from the gang’s clutches at some stage in the future.

At the end of February 1999, after a heated exchange in her flat, during which she’d made it plain she wasn’t impressed being pressganged into his organisation, Gloria was summoned to meet Michael Higgins and his family early one Saturday morning. She was taken to a house in Essex, fully expecting to be disposed of by the brutal and uncompromising family, but unbeknown to Higgins, Gloria had gone prepared. Their arrogance and self-confidence had left them vulnerable, and taking her chance, Gloria struck first.

Returning to London to meet Juliet and Sean, she revealed to her friends that she had successfully disposed of them in a house in Essex, a house owned by the Higgins family. Michael Higgins had confidently boasted to her that nobody outside the family had knowledge of the house’s whereabouts, so Gloria was confident their bodies were unlikely to be found for a very long time.

She refused to pass on any further details about how she’d killed them, or what exactly had happened. She’d had enough of killing, enough of being a vigilante and didn’t want to discuss it any further. In her judgement, the less Juliet and Sean knew about her activities, the safer they would be.

Juliet was staggered at the abilities of her pensioner friend and amazed she had managed to take out four violent criminals on her own. Sean didn’t care how she’d done it; he was simply ecstatic. It felt wonderful for him and his family to be free from the Higgins clan’s evil clutches, once and for all.

Juliet didn’t know the exact location of the house where Gloria had been taken to, but having learned about Higgins’ purchase of this house four years previously, she was confident Paradise Lodge was the property of which Gloria had spoken.

One thing was puzzling her as she stood inside the hallway, bodies that have lain dead for several months have certain characteristics, one of which is producing swarms of insects that vary in species, depending on how long the body has lain there, the other is the overpoweringly foul smell of death. But after the door had been smashed open, there was nothing—none of what she’d learned throughout her career to expect when searching for decomposing bodies. The only smell was one you would expect from a house unlived in for several months, a sort of musty odour.

Inviting the search teams to step inside, she directed them to work in pairs, asking the SOCO’s to wait in their vehicles until the initial search had been completed. Juliet waited with DC Graves and Dan Nwokonkor in the sumptuously furnished and decorated lounge.

She didn’t have to wait too long for the search teams to report. After all, four badly decomposed bodies shouldn’t be too hard to find. Within twenty minutes all the rooms in the house, the outside sheds, the garage and the gardens had been searched, all with negative results. Blowing out a huge sigh, Juliet’s shoulders sagged, presenting a picture of disappointment to all around her.

That just leaves one possibility, said Dan cheerily.

Juliet stared at him, her face a mask of bewilderment.

What are you taking about?

The basement.

What basement? Nobody mentioned a basement.

Juliet was being deliberately deceitful, she’d known about the basement before they’d arrived, Gloria had told her about it when relaying her story all those months ago. Ensuring they found the entrance to the basement was the very reason she’d insisted on having the estate agent present in the first place, after all, she couldn’t really insist on there being a basement if she had no prior knowledge of the building’s layout.

Dan pointed to a door next to the attractive bookcase, a narrow door that looked like the entrance to a tiny cupboard.

That leads downstairs to a soundproofed room, it was used by the pop star Genna—she was the house’s owner before Michael Higgins, she used it for recording her music.

Summoning the officer carrying the enforcer, Juliet ordered the door to be opened. Moments later, the enforcer had done it’s work and the door now remained in place by virtue of the bottom hinge alone. She’d turned on the stairs light and led a group of officers down the steep, narrow and claustrophobic staircase. At the bottom, a single heavy steel door barred her way. She picked up a faint scent of something she’d smelt many times before in her career... a revolting smell that once you’d experienced it, you never forgot, the smell of death. She shouted upstairs.

Dan, did you say this was a soundproofed room?

Yes.

She frowned and glanced at Stuart Graves

That should mean the room is completely sealed from this side, but I can already smell dead bodies. She addressed her fellow officers with her concerns, Cover your noses and mouths ladies and gents, this could be bad.

Beckoning Stuart to join her at the door, she grabbed the solid steel bar handle and pushed hard. The door made a loud sucking sound and slowly opened; some of the lights in the room were still on.

They were greeted by an apocalyptic scene accompanied by an overpowering smell of rotting flesh. There was an explosion of insects and moths which quickly engulfed them, many of the insects moving past the officers queued on the stairs and heading up towards the lounge. As their eyes adjusted and they became accustomed to the swarms of creatures, they stared down at four badly decomposed human bodies… they had found the Higgins family.

2

Wednesday 16

th

January 2002, 10.25 a.m

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Walking home from Tesco, having collected her weekly food shopping, Gloria dodged her way along Charing Cross Road through a large party of noisy Spanish schoolchildren. A sheen of frost remaining on areas of the shaded pavement persuading her to mind her step.

Squeezing between a particularly unruly group of over-excited youngsters, she accidentally bumped into a woman walking in the opposite direction. Instinctively apologising, Gloria looked into the face of the woman and realised it was one of her best friends, Suzie Winter. Gloria was delighted to see Suzie’s friendly face, but shocked to see her sporting a swollen lip and black eye.

Oh my God, Suzie. What on earth’s happened?

Gloria had politely asked the question, but deep inside she already knew the answer. Over the past few months, she had seen Suzie in this state on a couple of previous occasions. She had no doubt how the injuries were caused, it was by her partner, David Middleton, who, after being loving and caring for the first few months of their relationship, had suddenly become controlling and abusive.

Suzie first expressed her concerns to Gloria some weeks ago, and had briefly flirted with the idea of breaking up with him. But her feelings for him had remained strong, and she’d decided that she loved him too much to lose him. David constantly asserted that his behaviour was Suzie’s fault, because she did things that made him angry. Instead of standing up for herself, Suzie meekly accepted her lot, hoping things would improve and he would return to being the loving man he once was. In recent months, his behaviour had turned from mere control to violence, the level of which was steadily increasing.

Suzie absent-mindedly pushed a cigarette butt around with the toe of her shoe, as she spoke with a distinct fracture in her voice and her eyes red through crying.

David punched me in the mouth for taking too long making his dinner. When he’d finished eating it, he walked into the kitchen and dropped his plate on the floor. He said it was disgusting. He grabbed my hair and smashed my face into the fridge, then he made me clear up the food mess and the broken plate on my hands and knees. The blood dripping from my nose onto the floor annoyed him even more.

You poor love, would you like me go to the police with you?

Gloria knew the answer Suzie would give; the same answer as when she’d offered to help before.

No. Thank you, Glo. Suzie looked thoughtful. He’s apologised, bought me flowers and said it won’t happen again. I’m sure he didn’t mean it; he just lost his temper. He’s got a fair point, I’m not a great cook, so it was probably down to me anyway.

What the hell are you talking about? You shouldn’t be accepting any fault! For Christ’s sake… Gloria stalled in mid-sentence, exasperated. It’s not your fault, Suzie! That’s what he wants you to think, can’t you see he’s got into your head? He’s controlling you! You can’t go on living like this. He’s getting worse. Surely you don’t still love him?

Love him? She paused for a moment. I think I still do, but I’m not sure any more. She seemed to be considering her words carefully. He blames his anger on me, he says I make him aggressive. I think maybe he’s had enough of me, perhaps he’ll leave me soon. She seemed uncertain whether to be happy or sad at the thought, looking to Gloria for all the world like a lost child. Don’t worry about me Glo, I’ll be okay.

Staring angrily at the alarming injuries to her once confident and independent friend, fury raged inside Gloria. She thought back to the first time Suzie had introduced David to her and remembered how much she’d liked him. He’d seemed bubbly and full of fun when they first met. Suzie was ecstatic she’d found a loving and caring partner who was popular with her friends. Indeed, he still was popular with some of her friends, but only the ones who hadn’t yet heard about what was going on behind closed doors.

When they first met, David appeared to be the perfect partner, he was good looking and charming, and he constantly had Suzie laughing with his sharp sense of humour. But after the first few blissfully happy months, his behaviour slowly changed. On the surface he appeared to be the same lovely guy, but in private he’d begun controlling her mentally.

It started with him constantly belittling her and making her look stupid in front of their friends. Then, as time went on, he persuaded her that if she truly loved him, she wouldn’t keep secrets from him, that included telling him her passwords, which she begrudgingly gave to him, allowing him to slowly take control of her life.

He was now in a position to read her email, Facebook and Twitter accounts, he even took control of her bank accounts and finances, sometimes drawing out money from her private account to spend on himself.

Listen to me Suzie, you need to leave him before he goes too far, you could end up getting badly hurt.

Suzie fixed Gloria with tear-filled eyes and her friend could see there was something she wasn’t saying.

What’s the matter, Suzie? Why are you looking at me like that?

Suzie didn’t answer, but her eyes remained on Gloria as the tears rolled gently down her face.

You know something about him, don’t you? What is it, what have you found out?

Lifting her eyes to the thick clouds scudding across the sky, then returning them to Gloria, Suzie finally spoke.

His cousin, Merle, can’t stand him. She told me he’s a dangerous man. She said he works for a criminal gang… a very nasty criminal gang.

Oh shit. I thought he worked in sales?

David told me his job is selling floor space at large corporate events. Sometimes he goes out for hours late at night and works through until the early hours.

That sounds like bollocks to me, selling floor space would be a nine to five job, why would he need to be out at night? Didn’t you suspect something wasn’t right?

Not really, although he seemed to be hiding something from me last week.

Gloria raised her eyebrows questioningly.

What Suzie, what was it?

I never got a good look at it. I’d fallen asleep on the settee and he rolled in just after two in the morning, I woke up as he closed the front door, but kept my eyes closed. I didn’t want to speak to him. He came over to me to check I was asleep, but I wasn’t, I was shamming. As he turned his back, I opened my eyes, he took something out of his coat pocket and hid it in the back of the sideboard drawer… I think it was a gun.

Gloria’s mouth gaped open.

Christ Suzie, a gun! How can you go on living with a man like that?

Suzie shrugged.

I’ve never questioned his working hours before and now I’m too scared to ask him about it. He’d blow his stack if I questioned him. Merle says he’s evil, she told me how he abused his wife… it was terrible what he did to her.

Suzie started crying and Gloria pulled her close, wrapping a consoling arm around her shoulder.

Jesus Suzie, what happened?

Apparently, they were fine for several years after the wedding, but the abuse slowly got worse, until one day he threw her down the stairs and broke her back.

Fucking hell! Is she okay?

She is now, but she was in a wheelchair for several weeks and it took her over a year to walk again without pain, she still walks with a limp.

That’s terrible! What happened to him?

His wife was persuaded by her brothers to press assault charges. He was taken to court, but his story that they were arguing at the top of the stairs when she slipped and fell was accepted by the jury. There was a witness, but despite what they said, he was found not guilty.

Who was the witness?

Their eight-year-old son, Jacob, apparently he saw it all, but the judge ruled that he was a minor and therefore his testimony was unreliable in a case involving a dispute between his mother and father. That reduced the evidence to simply his word against hers.

That’s unbelievable. I take it she refused to go back to him after that?

Yes, her brothers ‘persuaded’ him to leave the area. She made quotation marks with her fingers. They knew all about his crime links, but were too incensed to be cowed by that threat. Merle says it was all they could do to stop themselves giving him a fucking good hiding, but they thought better of it.

Shame.

Suzie forced a broken smile.

Two months later, I was unlucky enough to meet him in Sainsbury’s and fall for his shitty chat-up lines. We’ve been together ever since.

Gloria’s eyes widened, imploring Suzie to let her help.

Come and live with me for a while. You’ll be safe, I promise. I won’t let him hurt you again.

Suzie shook her head.

No. Thank you for your concern, but that maisonette is mine, not his, I’m not going to run away from my own home. If anybody leaves, it should be him. Don’t worry, I’ll be okay, if he doesn’t change sometime soon, I’ll sort something.

Gloria very much doubted that Suzie would be okay, but could see nothing would change her mind. She