The Legacy: Trouble Comes Disguised As Family (Unspoken Book 2) T. Belshaw (management books to read .txt) 📖

typed in his forename, surname and the area in which he lived and pressed search.

‘GOTCHA!’ she cried as his name appeared on a short list of Wilsons. She checked the address the listing showed and realised it was only a couple of miles out of town, just off the main Gillingham road.

Jess left the screen open on the search page, started the engine again and set off for Atwood Park apartments.

Knowing the area well, she turned off the main road on her grandmother’s estate and drove along a narrow B-road until she hit the dual carriageway. A mile and a half further along, she pulled off onto a private track that led to a newly tarmacked area with enough room for a couple of dozen cars. Jess parked in front of a row of young Cypress trees, got out of the car, checked her phone again for the apartment number, then walked along a shrub lined path and up a set of wide steps that led to the huge, tinted glass doors that fronted the apartment block.

Built into the brickwork at the side of the doors was an electronic calling system. Jess pressed the button for flat two and waited. A few seconds later a familiar voice answered.

‘Yes.’

‘Bradley, it’s Jess.’

‘Jess? What the… I’ll be right out, give me a minute.’

Jess waited patiently, looking through the doors into a wide entrance lobby. A minute or so later, Bradley appeared from a corridor at the top right-hand side of the foyer. He shuffled towards her, his face badly bruised, one eye almost closed and his right arm in a sling. Jess’s face fell.

Bradley pressed a button on the right-hand side of the entrance and the glass doors slid open.

‘Oh, Bradley, I’m so, so, sorry,’ she said.

Bradley pulled his head back and winced in pain as Jess leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek. He forced a thin smile, then looked nervously over her shoulder, into the car park.

‘You had better come in,’ he said.

She followed him in silence across the foyer and along a wide corridor until they reached a thick wooden door. Bradley pushed it open, then stood aside to allow Jess to walk in.

The apartment was expensively furnished with two, white-leather sofas, a black, leather recliner and an antique coffee table set in the middle of the room. The walls were hung with family photographs and a series of what looked to be, original water colours.

Bradley waved to one of the sofas and waited until she sat down before sitting on the sofa opposite.

Jess smiled softly and put her bag on the seat at her side.

‘Bradley, I’m… oh, I’ve already said that.’ She reached towards him. ‘How are you feeling now?’

‘Sore,’ he said abruptly.

‘I bet. You look it.’ Jess withdrew her hand and clasped them on her lap. ‘What happened, Bradley? I saw the report on the news this morning, I was so shocked, I had to come straight over to see how you were.’

He touched his face and winced again.

‘Two men in hoodies were waiting for me when I came out of the office last night. I didn’t notice them as I locked up. They took my watch and my wallet, but thankfully left my briefcase. It was just an opportunist mugging according to the police…’ he hesitated. ‘I think they’re probably right; I don’t have any enemies that I know of… apart from your grandmother that is, and I doubt that even she would go as far as to hire a couple of thugs.’

Bradley leaned back on the sofa.

‘What were they like, these men? Did they say anything when they attacked you?’

‘Not a word, they just set about me. I thought it odd that they didn’t take my phone, but maybe they thought they’d got enough with my wallet and watch. I only had about fifty quid in my wallet so they’ll be disappointed with that when they open it. I rang the bank and cancelled the cards as soon as I could stand up.’ He paused. ‘It’s the watch I’m most upset about. My father bought it for me a few weeks before he died.’

‘Oh, Bradley. I’m so sorry.’

‘Don’t be, Jess, It’s hardly your fault.’

Jess bit her lip. ‘What were they like?’ she repeated her question.

‘Oh, I don’t know, just men, not teenagers, but young-ish. They had ski masks and hoodies on, both wore Nike trainers and track suit bottoms.’

‘And they said nothing at all? So, you don’t know if they were local or not?’

‘Oh, I’m sure they were local. Why would anyone travel from a distance, on the off chance of meeting me as I came out of the office?’

‘True, I suppose. It’s just that… Well, two men came to the farm the other day, they demanded I pay fifty thousand pounds into a bank account. They gave me a phone number to call and said I’d be given the account number to transfer the money to.’

Bradley straightened, listening intently.

‘And?’

‘And nothing. I didn’t do anything. I can’t anyway without your agreement.’

‘But how would these men know you had money, Jess? I don’t understand.’

Jess sighed.

‘I believe it’s all to do with my father’s gambling debts.’ She held up a hand to silence Bradley. ‘He owes money all over the place and not to the sort of people who are willing to allow him to set up a debt repayment plan. He owes money to people in London, bad people, and he’s owed money to a couple of local gangsters, called the Duncans, for years. Now, I don’t know if the two that called on me were sent by my father, trying to scare the wits out of me, or whether they’re in the pay of the Duncans.’ Jess looked down at her hands, then continued. ‘I really don’t know if the two who called on me were the same men that attacked you, that’s why I asked if you thought they were local. It could still have been a random mugging, even after what