Read Blood Whispers for Free Online Page A

silence for a few minutes, watching the passers-by and finishing off their smokes.
    Eventually, Keira said, ‘Is that it?’
    ‘Is that what?’
    ‘Well, I’m presuming that since you spent the best part of two hours walking from Easterhouse to find me, there must be something more than just a confession and moaning about the Serbian mafia.’
    ‘Aye, well that’s right.’ Jay-Go was suddenly serious. ‘A bit of info for you. And the only reason I’m telling you, is because you’re a stand-up bitch and I know you’ll not land me in the shit over it.’
    ‘Should I take that as a compliment?’
    ‘Fuckin’ right you should. This is serious and I’m only gonna say it once, then I’m off. No questions, right? I’m no’ a grass and I never have been, but this is payback time.’
    ‘I don’t know why you’re saying that, Jay-Go. You don’t owe me anything.’
    ‘You’re not like all those other monkeys you work with. You looked out for me, so now I’m looking out for you. I’ve got your back, Miss, that’s how the Jay-Go works, but no questions, all right?’
    Jay-Go was staring at her now, his expression intense, waiting for her response.
    ‘I’m not quite sure what I’m agreeing to, but if that’s what you want, then fine – no questions.’
    ‘The girl—’ started Jay-Go, but Keira interrupted him.
    ‘What girl?’
    ‘No questions!’ snapped Jay-Go. ‘Just listen.’
    Keira nodded, but she suddenly had a bad feeling; an uneasy sense of foreboding that made her want to tell him to stop whatever he was about to say.
    ‘There is only one girl,’ he continued, ‘and you know exactly who I’m talking about, so don’t say another word, just let me finish. She’s cursed. You’ve got to stop any dealings with her ’cause there’s gonna be no survivors: pure bad news. You need to protect yourself from her. It’s all shit, Miss, and the word in the Bar-L is the bogey man’s coming.’
    ‘You’re not making any sense, Jay-Go,’ said Keira, holding up her hand to stop him from protesting, ‘and I’m not asking a question, I just don’t understand what you’re telling me.’
    ‘The whore! The one that got lifted at the airport – they’ve ordered a hit on her.’
    With that Jay-Go turned on his heel and started up the road.
    For a moment Keira could do little more than stare after him. How could he know about the girl? How could he know that she had been appointed to represent her; no announcement had been made, official or otherwise. It was supposed to be a closely guarded secret. How could he possibly know? The Bar-L – Barlinnie – was Scotland’s largest prison, but who in there could have found out? Keira called after Jay-Go just as he rounded the corner on to West Regent Street. She ran after him calling his name, but when she reached the corner just a few seconds later, Jay-Go was gone.

Six
    Keira sheltered inside the porch to the entrance of the Prosecutor’s office in Blythswood Square. She was leaning against one of the pale Georgian support pillars, finishing off the last of her roll-up. The square of cream sandstone buildings overlooked a public garden that in Victorian times would have been filled with bedding plants and well-tended perennials, but over the years and – more recently – with successive cuts in local council spending the garden had been neglected and left to manage itself. When it was first built, the plot had been enclosed by metal railings, but the shortage of steel for bomb making during the Second World War led to their removal and left the small green area feeling exposed and ill defined. Keira could see the irony in the metal once used to protect an area of beauty in the centre of a town being cut down and fashioned into something whose sole purpose was to destroy similar places in a different country.
    It had started raining and there was a cool, blustery breeze whipping over the top of the hill on which the square was located, just a few