No Mercy: The brand new novel from the Queen of Crime Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About the book

  About Martina Cole

  Praise

  Also by Martina Cole

  Dedication

  Prologue: 2011

  Book One: 1980

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Book Two: 1983

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Chapter Forty-five

  Chapter Forty-six

  Chapter Forty-seven

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-one

  Chapter Fifty-two

  Chapter Fifty-three

  Chapter Fifty-four

  Book Three: 1988

  Chapter Fifty-five

  Chapter Fifty-six

  Chapter Fifty-seven

  Chapter Fifty-eight

  Chapter Fifty-nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-one

  Chapter Sixty-two

  Chapter Sixty-three

  Chapter Sixty-four

  Chapter Sixty-five

  Chapter Sixty-six

  Chapter Sixty-seven

  Chapter Sixty-eight

  Chapter Sixty-nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-one

  Chapter Seventy-two

  Chapter Seventy-three

  Chapter Seventy-four

  Chapter Seventy-five

  Chapter Seventy-six

  Chapter Seventy-seven

  Chapter Seventy-eight

  Chapter Seventy-nine

  Book Four: 2000

  Chapter Eighty

  Chapter Eighty-one

  Chapter Eighty-two

  Chapter Eighty-three

  Chapter Eighty-four

  Chapter Eighty-five

  Chapter Eighty-six

  Chapter Eighty-seven

  Chapter Eighty-eight

  Chapter Eighty-nine

  Chapter Ninety

  Chapter Ninety-one

  Chapter Ninety-two

  Chapter Ninety-three

  Chapter Ninety-four

  Chapter Ninety-five

  Chapter Ninety-six

  Chapter Ninety-seven

  Chapter Ninety-eight

  Chapter Ninety-nine

  Chapter One Hundred

  Chapter One Hundred and One

  Chapter One Hundred and Two

  Book Five: 2008

  Chapter One Hundred and Three

  Chapter One Hundred and Four

  Chapter One Hundred and Five

  Chapter One Hundred and Six

  Chapter One Hundred and Seven

  Chapter One Hundred and Eight

  Chapter One Hundred and Nine

  Chapter One Hundred and Ten

  Chapter One Hundred and Eleven

  Chapter One Hundred and Twelve

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen

  Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen

  Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen

  Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen

  Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen

  Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen

  Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-one

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-two

  Book Six: 2011

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-three

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-four

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-five

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-six

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-seven

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-eight

  Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-nine

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-one

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-two

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-three

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-four

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-five

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-six

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-seven

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-eight

  Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-nine

  Chapter One Hundred and Forty

  Chapter One Hundred and Forty-one

  Chapter One Hundred and Forty-two

  Chapter One Hundred and Forty-three

  Chapter One Hundred and Forty-four

  Epilogue: 2019

  Love No Mercy? Read more by Martina Cole

  Copyright © 2019 Martina Cole

  The right of Martina Cole to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the

  Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders and obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publishers would be pleased to correct any errors or omissions if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

  Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

  This Ebook edition was first published by Headline Publishing Group in 2019

  All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

  eISBN: 978 1 4722 4942 5

  Cover photograph © Peter Kindersley/Getty Images (background buildings © Melissa Lund/Arcangel Images)

  HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP

  An Hachette UK Company

  Carmelite House

  50 Victoria Embankment

  EC4Y 0DZ

  www.headline.co.uk

  www.hachette.co.uk

  About the book

  Diana Davis has been head of the family business since the death of her husband, an infamous bank robber. She’s a woman in a man’s world, but no one messes with her.

  Her only son, Angus, is a natural born vi
llain, but he needs to earn Diana’s trust before she’ll allow him into the business.

  Once he’s proved he has the brains to run their clubs in Marbella, he is given what he’s always wanted. It’s the beginning of a reign of terror that knows no bounds.

  But Angus has a blind spot: his wife, Lorna, and their three kids, Angus Junior, Sean and Eilish. And as the next generation enters the business, Angus has a painful truth to learn. Even when it comes to family, he must show no mercy . . .

  About Martina Cole

  © Bill Waters

  Martina Cole’s first novel Dangerous Lady caused a sensation when it was published, and launched one of the bestselling fiction writers of her generation.

  Since then Martina has gone on to have more No. 1 original fiction bestsellers than any other author. She won the British Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year with The Take, which then went on to be a hit TV series for Sky 1.

  Four of her novels have made it to the screen, with more in production, and three have been adapted as stage plays.

  Her unique, powerful storytelling is acclaimed for its hard-hitting, true-to-life style – there is no one else who writes like Martina Cole.

  This is what they say about Martina Cole . . .

  ‘The stuff of legend. It’s vicious, nasty . . . and utterly compelling’

  Mirror on FACELESS

  ‘Her gripping plots pack a mean emotional punch’

  Mail on Sunday on THE RUNAWAY

  ‘A blinding good read’

  Ray Winstone on THE KNOW

  ‘Intensely readable’

  Guardian on FACELESS

  ‘Right from the start, she has enjoyed unqualified approval for her distinctive and powerfully written fiction’

  The Times on BROKEN

  ‘An extraordinarily powerful piece of family drama’

  Daily Mirror on THE BUSINESS

  ‘The acknowledged mistress of the insanely readable gangster thriller, Cole has delivered another addictive tale of men of violence and the women who love them . . . brutally compelling’

  Sunday Mirror on GET EVEN

  ‘We always get excited when a Martina Cole novel drops on our desk, and she continues to maintain her reputation as one of the best fiction authors around with this gritty and unforgettable story of a family immersed in a world of violence and revenge. Spectacular’ 5*

  Closer on THE LIFE

  ‘Martina tells it like it really is and her unique, honest and compassionate style shines through’

  Sun on THE TAKE

  ‘The queen of crime’

  Woman & Home on HARD GIRLS

  ‘Dark and dangerous’

  Sunday Mirror

  ‘Thrilling, shocking and exceptionally written, you’ll get lost in this gritty novel, which proves there really is only one Martina Cole’

  Closer on REVENGE

  ‘The undisputed queen of British crime thrillers’

  Heat on GET EVEN

  Also by Martina Cole

  Martina Cole’s bestsellers in order of publication.

  All available from Headline.

  Dangerous Lady (1992)

  The Ladykiller: DI Kate Burrows 1 (1993)

  Goodnight Lady (1994)

  The Jump (1995)

  The Runaway (1997)

  Two Women (1999)

  Broken: DI Kate Burrows 2 (2000)

  Faceless (2001)*

  Maura’s Game: Dangerous Lady 2 (2002)*

  The Know (2003)*

  The Graft (2004)*

  The Take (2005)*

  Close (2006)*

  Faces (2007)*

  The Business (2008)*

  Hard Girls: DI Kate Burrows 3 (2009)*

  The Family (2010)*

  The Faithless (2011)*

  The Life (2012)*

  Revenge (2013)*

  The Good Life (2014)*

  Get Even (2015)

  Betrayal (2016) *

  Damaged: DI Kate Burrows 4 (2017) *

  On Screen:

  Dangerous Lady (ITV 1995)

  The Jump (ITV 1998)

  Martina Cole’s Lady Killers (ITV3 documentary 2008)

  The Take (Sky 1 2009)

  Martina Cole’s Girl Gangs (Sky Factual documentary 2009)

  The Runaway (Sky 1 2011)

  *Martina Cole’s No. 1 bestsellers - Martina has held

  the record for spending more weeks at No. 1 than

  any other author

  For my beautiful new granddaughter Loretta, another

  wonderful addition to my family.

  Also thanks and much love to Darley Anderson,

  Jane Morpeth and Tim Hely Hutchinson CBE,

  for over twenty-five years as a great team!

  Prologue

  2011

  Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

  Matthew 5:7

  Eilish wondered why the fuck she bothered with any of it, but she knew that the feeling wouldn’t last. It never did.

  Sometimes it was brought home to her that the businesses were all she really had now – and this outcome was something she couldn’t have done anything to avoid. Life certainly seemed to throw her more than her fair share of shit-storms, and she could do nothing but sort them out as best she knew how.

  She looked down at the photographs. It didn’t seem possible that she was here, in her flat, looking at the smiling faces of the people she loved and wondering how – or even if – she should address the catastrophe that had befallen them.

  It had all happened so fast, and with such precise planning and foresight, she couldn’t help but be impressed. One thing she had been taught in her family was to respect anyone who had a bit of nous about them. You might not like them – and you might want to kill them – but you had to admire their acumen. It was only fair and honest to give credit where it was due.

  She poured herself another large Scotch and took a deep gulp. She glanced at one of the photos scattered around her on her bed; it was of her and her brothers as kids. They looked so happy and carefree. But that was another lie, this time for the camera. She wondered how many other families had the same snapshots in their albums – of gap-toothed, smiling kids with their expensive clothes, playing against beautiful backdrops – when in reality they were slowly dying inside.

  She was the youngest, the only girl, and they’d treated her as such.

  She couldn’t get the earlier phone call with her mother out of her head – it was like a worm eating away at her.

  She rubbed her belly and wondered if she had really done the right thing, but she had to believe that she had. She had kept her pregnancy secret from everyone around her – and that was all to the good now. As her mother had said, the children in this family were cursed, brought into the world with pain and without mercy.

  That was something the Davis family were good at, as anyone would tell you. There was no mercy for anyone – least of all their own flesh and blood.

  Finally, she cried.

  Book One

  1980

  Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.

  Charlotte Whitton (1896–1975)

  Chapter One

  ‘For fuck’s sake, Mum, anyone would think I was a fucking moron the way you carry on.’

  Diana Davis sighed and held on to her temper as best she could under the circumstances. She loved this boy of hers, but she was well aware that he had a lot to learn where the game was concerned. Angus thought that the sword was mightier than the pen. What he needed to understand was that anyone could pick a fight and earn a reputation for violence – that was the easy part. A knife, a hammer or a gun would quickly make a body known to those who didn’t matter! The real deal was making sure you got a rep with people who actually did matter.

  ‘Well, Angus, you are a fucking moron on occasion, that’s the bottom line.’ She lit herself a cigarette, taking a deep pull on it to calm her anger, as she said candidly, ‘
You do not take anything on yourself until you run it by me. That’s the law! For your information, son, you picked a fight with the one man I am currently relying on to bring serious money into my business. My business, not yours, incidentally!’ She shook her head in frustration. ‘Like I need this in my life! I’m fighting against men all the time. I don’t want to be fighting you too, son. And if you don’t wind your neck in then I will.’

  Angus Davis knew that his mother spoke the truth. At nineteen, he was still too young to be taken seriously, and sometimes he was fool enough to try and interfere with things that were, frankly, way over his head. But he did these things for the right reasons – he was trying to look out for his mum. Not that Diana Davis needed looking out for. She could piss all over most of the men she dealt with. And she dealt with a lot of men. Hard men. Men who respected his mother and were more than willing to work with her and for her.

  He recognised he had inadvertently undermined her here. It was food for thought. But what bothered him was that the men on their payroll saw him as an extension of her and not as a man in his own right.

  ‘And it doesn’t help that you and his son aren’t exactly bosom fucking buddies, does it?’

  Angus knew when to shut up, and this was one of those times. He had royally clumped Danny Cave while they were both incarcerated in a young offenders’ prison awaiting their bail hearings. No one questioned his mother’s morals, especially not a piece of shite like Danny Cave. Angus guessed that his mother knew exactly what had been said and why the incident had occurred – after all, there was fuck-all that escaped her attention. His dad used to say she was always up before everyone else had set their alarm clocks!

  Unlike his mother, Angus didn’t have it in him to turn the other cheek. One of Diana’s great strengths was the ability to ignore whatever interfered with her ultimate goals. She could swallow anything if circumstances played to her favour, plus she knew the people involved were usually relieved that they had been given a swerve and that was something to file away for later. He knew that she was right, that often the best way was the hard way; wipe your mouth and keep your eye on the big picture.

  Angus didn’t work that way. Diana expected it from him, but her son had what she referred to as a ‘loser’s temperament’, meaning his temper would be his downfall. As she pointed out frequently though, not on her fucking dime. His lack of control was something she couldn’t afford, and his reaction to Danny Cave had really yanked her chain.