Numb: A Dark Thriller Read Free Page B

Track Loans reserve the right to increase repayments at short notice. Oh, you didn’t realise when you signed the agreement – tough!
    Suddenly Mr Simpson – like so many others – would have found himself in deep shit and in debt for a lot longer than he’d expected.
    What most people don’t realise about loan sharking is that it’s not about charging high interest rates to reap back three or four times more than the original amount loaned in a short period of time, but more about trapping the debtor. It’s about creating a system that makes it almost impossible for them to pay off what they owe and forcing them to make reduced payments that barely cover the interest, therefore turning a two or three year loan deal into a long-term regular income for the lender. Using violence is always a last resort but the threat of potential violence is very common. Nash didn’t want any of the people who owed him money hurt. He wanted payment. But when people refused to open their wallets then a message had to be sent. Not what you see in films, of course. There are rarely any killings (dead people are worth nothing) and rarely any major beatings. The person still has to be fit to work and earn money and certainly not put in hospital where questions might be asked. But they have to be scared into believing that such actions are just around the corner should they fail to co-operate with their initial agreement.
    Terry Simpson hadn’t paid this month, not even an amount that would satisfy as a reduced payment. In fact he’d told the regular collector that he wasn’t making any future payments at all because he’d already paid more than originally agreed and was being robbed. Tell Nash he’s getting no more from me, goodbye. So now he had to be scared into finding the funds in future and maybe lose a few belongings in the process. He would’ve been told to expect a visit and at roughly what time. Evening visits were done first as most people were at home in the evening. If Simpson chose to be out, the next visit would be early morning, before seven o’clock. If there was still no answer then the third visit would be in the middle of the night, and there wouldn’t be a knock at the door. Instead, he’d wake up to find a couple of large, dark figures hovering over his bed. If Simpson had any sense, he’d be inside right now ready to sort this mess out one way or another. Hiding wasn’t an option.
    Mike Nash always found you in the end.
    Riley knocked on the front door and then checked behind him.
    The street was empty. Even Howden inside the Merc was hidden from this angle because of the shimmer from the dying sun that dappled the windscreen with golden splodges. That was good. Riley wanted Simpson to think he was alone.
    He turned back to the house on seeing movement out the corner of his eye.
    A figure had just darted behind the curtains of an upstairs bedroom. A second later, the lock turned in the front door. Simpson couldn’t be in two places at once, and the regular collector had mentioned that the old guy lived alone after losing his wife. So who was in there with him now? It wouldn’t be the police, Riley reassured himself. They wouldn’t get involved with this at such an early stage. Plus Nash would’ve found out before now if Simpson had talked to them. No, whoever was in there wasn’t with the law. Which meant the situation had suddenly changed.
    The front door opened and a man with thinning grey hair and reading glasses propped on his nose stepped outside - Terry Simpson himself, Riley guessed. He was short and very thin and his blue and white striped shirt and corduroy trousers hung off his skeletal frame. He certainly wasn’t going to be a problem. However, the person or persons upstairs might be. They certainly weren’t in there planning a surprise party.
    “I take it you’re here for the money?” Simpson asked, taking in Riley’s size before looking at the paperwork in his hand. There was no