by Mick Moran
His curiosity arisen, Brendan delayed starting the engine while he waited for the man to drive past. As far as he knew there was no other way out of the car park. He needed to get back to open the pub, but a few more minutes wouldn’t matter.
But no car passed. After about five minutes, Brendan decided to go. He could wait no longer. Instead of turning left out of the car park, however, he turned to his right. Something told him that he must satisfy himself that there was no exit in that direction. Also he needed to see if the man was sat in his car.
It was, as he had thought, a dead end. A brick wall stopped him going any further. Also, the half dozen or so cars parked on either side were unoccupied. Unless the man was crouched down he wasn’t in any of those cars. He had disappeared.
Brendan had wasted enough time. What was he doing anyway? The man was strange. So what. Feeling embarrassed, Brendan quickly did a three-point turn and left the car park.
***
It was about eight o’clock on Friday evening. Andy was sat on the bed trying to write a letter. He was very tired. He just wished to lay his head on the bed and sleep. But the letter had to be written. He’d just talked on the phone to Brendan and Andy’s mother had to be told about Martin. She would then pass the news on to Martin’s brother. It would be upsetting news. Nevertheless Andy felt it was his duty to communicate it. Not that Martin’s brother could do anything about it. He couldn’t leave the farm or his wife, who was in poor health.
Andy also must inform his mother of his changed circumstances. She liked to know all about him. He couldn’t send any money this time, but hopefully he would soon be able to. The job was promising. As the days got longer there would be more and more overtime. It was hard work, but he’d get used to it. He’d spent all day shovelling concrete and pushing wheelbarrows full of it. He was exhausted. But, he wouldn’t put that in the letter. He would just say it was a good job.
The light was barely adequate and Andy was struggling to concentrate. He looked around the room, which he shared with Jimmy. It was very basic, containing little other than two single beds and a wardrobe. They would have to share the wardrobe. Andy had already put some of his clothes in. The rest, underclothes socks etc, would have to be left in his suitcase, which he’d pushed under his bed.
Jimmy hadn’t bothered to unpack. His suitcase was still on his bed since he’d changed his clothes after getting in from work. His work clothes were strewn on the floor. Sharing with Jimmy was not ideal, but Andy was not complaining. At least Jimmy had left him alone to write his letter. Jimmy had stayed in the lounge after their evening meal.
***
The three men, Dave Campbell, Brian King, and Sam Wilkinson were sat in Dave Campbell’s living room. It was not the cosiest of meetings. Brian clearly resented having his Saturday afternoon disrupted. Also, he expected others to be there.
“Is this it?” he asked, in almost disbelief. “You gave me the impression that lots of others would be here.
“Yes Brian. Sorry to disappoint you, but I had to make sure that you came. This is it. We mustn’t involve more than is absolutely necessary.”
“But, others are involved, if it’s about what I think it’s about.”
“I, Brian, you know what it’s about. Are you sure that you won’t have a cup of tea or something.” Dave saw how restless Brian was.
“Yes. Yes. I’m sure. Just get on with it.”
“O K. Well, you both know why you’re here. There’s been a major cock up. A project, which should have been very simple, was messed up. I know there have been rumours and whispers about what happened and who was involved. Well, that must stop. You know what they say about idle talk.”
“Are you accusing me?” Brian was annoyed.
“No Brian, I’m not accusing anyone. I’ve asked you here so you know exactly what the situation is and how serious it is.”
“It’s serious for you.”
“We all planned this project. No one can wriggle out of it now.”
“We planned it. We left it to you to implement it. Nothing could go wrong, you said.”
“Something unexpected happened, which was out of my control. Let me explain.”
“You know what the project was. We all talked about it. Two boys were sent to the Manchester area to carry it out. I know some think that I personally went. I didn’t. I sent those two boys. You both know who they are. They’re smart lads, especially Allan. There was no reason to suspect that here would be any hitches. But, I’m afraid they bungled it. They got the wrong man and now he’s dead.”
“How could that happen?”
“It wasn’t entirely their fault. It turned out that the name the target was known by down here was not his real name. Down here he was known as Michael O’Malley but up there he used his real name, Martin something or other. Now it turns out that a man by the name of Michael O’Malley lived in that area: not at the address the boys were given but close by. The man was older and frailer than their intended target. So they should have known that he was the wrong man but they didn’t.”
“Didn’t they warn him first like we agreed?”
“Yes. They said they did but he ignored the warning.”
“Yes. Of course he did. He was the wrong man. He wouldn’t know what it was all about. So, what did they do?”
“Their instructions were to make sure that he knew that they meant business. But, they went too far.”
“They killed him.”
“Yes. It didn’t take much. Like I said, he was old and frail.”
“Jesus, what a cock up. Didn’t you know about the man’s real name? I thought you did the research.”
“Yes. I did know something about it. But, I thought, to tell the boys would only confuse them as it seemed he no longer used his real name.”
“You thought. You thought. It looks to me like you didn’t fucking think at all. It’s a right cock up. But, it’s your cock up. Don’t drag us into it.”
“Brian, what was done was done was done on behalf of the group. If those boys are arrested a lot of stuff will come out. None of us have clean hands: not least you Brian. For example, the raid on that Paki shop: You were lucky to get away with that, if you have got away with it. The case is not closed yet.”
“Those boys don’t know anything about that.”
“Tommy does and he’s probably discussed it with Alan.”
“Well, it must have been you that told him.”
“He was there when it was discussed. Don’t worry. It’s been impressed on him the importance of not talking about it to anyone else. But, in police custody, who knows what would happen.”
“He’d break. That’s for sure. What about the other one?”
“He’s the one that I’m really worried about.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, he doesn’t seem to have the stomach for all this, and I don’t know where he is.”
“He works for you, doesn’t he?”
“Not any more and he seem to
have disappeared.”
“Don’t you know where he lives?”
“He’s not there anymore. He hasn’t been back to his flat for over a week.”
“Why do you think he hasn’t the stomach for it?”
“It was the way he reacted to how I dealt with the man who was going to report us to the cops.”
“You’d better tell us about that. What did the man know that he could tell?”
“The man was the intended target. He knew what the boys did and he followed them down here. He confronted us in The Queens. He told us that he knew what the boys did: that they killed a man, and that he was going to the police. He had to be stopped.”
“So, what happened?”
“I stopped him. I did what had to be done.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No. He’s in hospital, unconscious, though.”
“Fuck. Can’t you do anything right? When he comes round he’s going to talk.”
“From what I’ve heard that’s very unlikely.”
“How do you know?”
“Sam will tell you.” Dave turned to Sam Thomson, who had been silent until then “Tell him what you know Sam.”
Sam didn’t work for Dave. He was, however, a recent enthusiastic member of “The Angry Whites”. Unlike Brian he felt privileged and delighted to be there. The invitation to join Dave and Brian was an aspiration fulfilled. In awe of the two heavyweights in the organisation, he had been a silent listener up to then. But, given the chance, he relished the opportunity to impress.
Sam cleared his throat. “I talked with the landlord of The Antelope after he’d been to see him. I followed him to the hospital and waited for him coming out. Then, making conversation like, I got him to tell me that he’d visited a man who was unconscious. He seemed very worried. From what he said, I don’t think the man will recover.”
“You don’t think!” Clearly that was not good enough for Brian. “You don’t know, though, do you?”
“No.”
Brian turned to Dave. “So, you’re in the shit whatever happens. If the man recovers you’ll be done for attempted murder and implicated in another murder: If he doesn’t its two murders. But, all this has nothing to do with the rest of us.”
“That’s not right Brian. If he doesn’t recover we have no problem. It was only him that linked us to what happened in Manchester. And if he does recover we don’t know what he’ll remember. He certainly won’t know what hit him that night.”
“Who does know? Who was there?”
“Just me and the two boys that he was going to report to the cops.”
“You said that you feared that one of them might blab?”
“Yes. Alan. That was over a week ago. He threatened to go to the cops. But I think it was just a threat. He’d be dropping himself in it if he carried it out. If he had done it we’d have heard something by now.”
“I don’t get this at all. Why would he go to the cops? He’d be reporting himself.
“He got himself into something he can’t deal with. Apparently it was Tommy that beat up the man who later died. But, Alan was there. Whether he likes it or not he was part of it, and now he regrets it.”
“Well he needs to be found and made aware of the consequences of any blabbing he might do. And I don’t mean the law. What are we doing about finding him?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find him. We’re keeping an eye on his flat. He’s been back to it once: at least once. Tommy visited him. Tommy wasn’t going to tell me but Sam, who was keeping an eye on the flat, saw him enter and told me. He’s a good detective is Sam.” Dave patted Sam on the shoulder causing Sam embarrassment.
“Anyway, when I confronted Tommy he told me about it. Apparently Alan has got a job but he wouldn’t tell Tommy where it was. Tommy thought Alan was back living in the flat. But apparently he had only called to pick some things up. Joe Casey was there too. Remember him?”
“That bastard. I’ll kill him one of these days.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be dealt with. But right now we have more pressing problems.”
“Yes,” said Brian, “that man in hospital mustn’t be allowed to talk.”
“Like I said, it’s unlikely he’ll recover.”
“We must make sure he doesn’t.”
“Brian, he’s in intensive care. There is always a nurse with him or close by,”
“We could at least warn him. We scared him before. We could let him know that this was just a warning.”
“How could we do that? He’s unconscious.”
“I meant when he wakes up.”
“That’s unlikely. But if it does happen we can’t be there.”
“What do you propose that we do then? Nothing?”
“Yes. That’s our best course of action: just carry on as normal. There’s nothing to link us to that man Michael O’Malley’s death. During the time that they were away, those boys are shown in my books as having worked continuously for me. I’ve taken care of that. The books even show the jobs that they were on.
“It seems that wasn’t good enough for one of then, though. Was it? Alan is it? He’s not carrying on as normal,”
“I’m not bothered about him any more. Sooner or later we’ll catch up with him”
“He must meet with an accident,” said Brian. “Maybe a fatal one.”
Dave grimaced. “Careful Brian.” Clearly Dave was concerned about what Brian might do. “Don’t worry, he’ll be dealt with. But, please, leave him to me.”
Brian was not having it. “Like we left the Manchester job to you,” he retorted.
“They’ll know in ‘The Antelope.’ Sam sensing the heat in the debate and in order to change the subject spoke. He’d been thinking “The man in hospital,” he explained. “There’s a lot of interest in the man in ‘The Antelope.’ The landlord will know how he is.”
“You’re right,” agreed Dave. “Those Paddies stick together. It would look suspicious, though, if someone else who wasn’t a Paddy went in there asking questions.”
“Not if he was a friend of the man,” said Brian. “He could say that he used to work with him.”
Although dubious, Dave didn’t totally dismiss the Idea. “It would have to be someone who wasn’t known in there,” he commented. “None of us are regulars, although the landlord will probably know you and me Brian.” Dave turned to Sam.
“Sam, did you say that no one saw you that night you found out about the man being in hospital?”
“No. I was in the other room when I heard the conversation. But, the landlord will know me. I talked with him at the hospital.”
“Yes, of course. That rules you out.”
“I’ll find someone,” said Brian confidently.
Dave shook his head. “We mustn’t involve anyone else. The fewer that knows about this the better.”
“What about Tommy,” asked Sam? “He’s already involved.”
“Yes,” mused Dave. “We could trust him. But, he’s not the brightest spark.”
“He doesn’t have to be a brain surgeon,” said Brian.
“No. I suppose not. I’ll have a word with him.”
Chapter 15. Joe’s plan
It was early Sunday evening in The Antelope. Andy and Jimmy were sat on their own in the music room. They were early because they had come straight from evening Mass. Andy had insisted that they go to Mass. Jimmy went along reluctantly, complaining that he was too tired. They had worked all day that Sunday. The visit to the pub after Mass was Jimmy’s enticement. He’d never be too tired for that thought Andy.
But Jimmy was not happy. “This is no craic,” he complained, dolefully sipping his orange juice. He was still on the wagon; clinging on grimly.
“You’ll get used to it,” said Andy, though doubting it. The encouraging words, however, were not helpful. Jimmy turned on Andy.
“You’re enjoying this,” he grumbled.
“No; not at all. Aren’t I on orange juice myself?”
“It’s all right for you. You never drank.”
“You were all right with it here the other night.”
“That was different: we were here on business. But, on a night out, it just isn’t right.”
Their attention was diverted to the door. Jimmy’s face suddenly brightened on seeing who entered. “It’s Teresa,” he said.
“Andy, and Jimmy,” she exclaimed. She seemed surprised but clearly pleased to see them. Smiling, she approached them holding out her hand.
Happy that she remembered their names Jimmy stood up and eagerly took her hand. Andy did likewise.
“Is Brendan about?” asked Teresa.
They both shook their heads. “We haven’t seen him,” replied Jimmy.
“He should be down shortly.” The barmaid appeared at the bar. She’d overheard the question. “He’s having a rest. He had a busy afternoon. But, if you need to see him, I’ll tell him you’re here.”
“No. It’s O K thank you. Let him rest. I’ll see him when he comes down.”
“Will you have a drink Teresa?” asked Jimmy.
Andy smiled to himself. A bit of skirt, he thought, Jimmy can’t resist.
“Thank you Jimmy,” replied Teresa. “I’ll have an orange juice.”
Jimmy seemed momentarily taken aback. He’s paranoid, thought Andy, sensing that Jimmy had briefly thought that Teresa, by her request, was alluding to Jimmy’s own orange drink. Maybe I am enjoying this, he thought. Serves him right. It’s my turn. Bet he buys that pretty barmaid a drink too, thought Andy, even though money is in short supply, which was one reason, maybe the main reason, why Jimmy was still on the orange.