Betrayed Read Free Page A

What do you mean you know how they make their money? You mean from the fundraiser nights?’
    ‘No. Well. That as well.’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘It’s all drugs. Coke. Ecstasy. They make a fortune from that. The UVF run it big-time in Scotland – mostly Glasgow and the west.’
    Saying that Loyalist and Republican gangs were organised, drug-dealing criminals was like revealing that a bear shat in the woods. But Rosie decided to let Liz talk and see where it took them.
    ‘The UVF run all the coke, you’re saying? How exactly do you mean?’
    ‘They bring it in. In football buses. In the Rangers supporters’ buses, when they go abroad. Spain, Holland. Germany …’
    Rosie hoped her eyes hadn’t lit up.
    ‘You serious, Liz? You mean on buses when the fans travel to European Cup matches? With ordinary fans?’
    Liz nodded. ‘Aye. Most of the fans don’t know anything about it. But I used to go out with a guy who goes on one of the supporters’ buses from the pub I worked in down on London Road. I still see him now and again. I could maybe find out. But they do it in other pubs too.’ She paused. ‘But he told me that Eddie McGregor is the money man. It’s him who goes with the cash for the deals.’
    ‘You know a lot of stuff about an organisation and a criminal activity that’s supposed to be top secret.’ Rosie tried not to sound sarcastic.
    ‘Over the years I’ve got to hear a lot.’ She crossed her heavy thighs and glanced down at her chunky wedge sandals. ‘It’s never really mattered to me until now. But something stinks about Wendy going away, and I’ll do anything to find out.’ She paused. ‘Right now I want to know if you and your paper are going to do anything to try to find her.’ She stopped and swallowed. Suddenly her eyes filled up. ‘Wendy didn’t do a runner. I’m telling you that for sure. She had no reason to run away.’
    ‘Do you think something has happened to her? Is it possible she was mixed up in the drugs and you didn’t know?’ Rosie asked.
    ‘No, no,’ Liz said quickly, shaking her head. ‘Definitely not. I would know if she was involved in that. But I think something’s happened to her. And I think Eddie knows about it. Okay, I know I’m telling you stuff that could get me done in, and I’m sure the coke runs on the bus have got nothing to do with Wendy’s disappearance. But one thing I feel sure of is that Eddie McGregor is behind her going missing, and I’ve got no other way to get to him than get somebody like you to expose him.’ She shook her head. ‘But I’m terrified just being here, if I’m honest.’
    She shook her head and put a hand to her lips, looking vulnerable for the first time, and Rosie watched as she tried to compose herself.
    ‘Do you think something has happened to her? Have you told the police?’ Rosie asked.
    ‘I told them some stuff. Like how Eddie drove us home that night. But I didn’t tell them everything.’
    Silence.
    ‘Why not, Liz?’
    Silence. Rosie watched her as she wiped tears from the corners of her heavily made-up eyes.
    ‘Because I thought she would turn up. I didn’t want to do anything that would get them digging around on what the night really was – you know, the UVF fundraiser. I didn’twant to be the one who grassed that up to the police. So I just said Eddie dropped me off, then took Wendy home to her house.’
    ‘And is that not what happened?’
    ‘No. Not quite.’ She wiped under her eyes where the mascara had smudged. ‘We went to a flat Eddie uses in the city centre – he keeps the place very quiet, so nobody knows he’s got it. We just had a couple of drinks.’
    Rosie nodded.
    ‘We weren’t drunk. Just tipsy. Then Eddie dropped me off at my flat.’
    ‘So the only thing you didn’t tell the cops is that you went back to Eddie’s for a drink?’
    Liz bit her lip.
    ‘Well. No.’ She paused. ‘The next day, I got a phone call from Eddie saying to keep it quiet that we were at