Dead Lucky

by Lee Wood

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful. See you later.”

  Roger drove back to the equestrian centre. He was scared and worried about his dad’s safety. He knew they wouldn’t stop coming after him and his father. There was only one way to stop them. A way he hadn’t really considered before but now he knew it was his only option. The only way out.

  It was 10 p.m. when the VW stopped, and Roger got out to open the metal gates of the entrance. He drove through, stopped and locked the gates then drove the VW over to the two containers.

  He opened the back doors and removed the ski mask over Tyson’s head, then took the small pair of scissors from his pocket and cut the cable ties holding Tyson’s legs. Then he reached over and pulled him upright and pulled the gaffer tape from his mouth.

  “Where’s my dad. Why am I back here?”

  “Because your father and brother tried to double cross me. They were going to kill my father and me. So I’m going to send them a message. In the only language, they seem to understand. Come with me you piece of shit.”

  As he pulled him from the back of the VW and stood him up, Tyson lashed out with a karate kick, sending Roger backwards, hitting his head on the metal container door. He lay dazed on the floor.

  Tyson ran off into the darkness, his hands still in the handcuffs behind his back.

  With a black overcast sky and no moon visible, he could hardly see where he was going. He just wanted to get away, to find a way of contacting his father. He had no idea what this place was or where he was.

  He could make out a building in front of him. Perhaps there was a phone inside. Or some tools so he could get the damn handcuffs off.

  He walked into what seemed to be a very wide hallway. He followed it along and felt the floor beneath him change from soft to hard. He walked on trying to make out any shapes, but that section of the building didn’t seem to have any windows. He thought he heard a noise behind him? Maybe his captor wasn’t badly injured and was coming after him.

  Tyson moved faster; he glanced over his shoulder once more as he took a step forward and fell into what at first he thought was a hole. It was filled with water, and he had never learned to swim.

  39

  A Dead Man

  It was thirty minutes before Roger came to. His head hurt, but the bleeding had stopped and there was no time to lose. He looked around, no sign of Tyson.

  “Shit.”

  Roger staggered to his feet. If he let Tyson get away, it could mean the end of everything. He could never stand up against Kevin and his two sons. They would hunt him and his father down. The words Phil Jones had spoken came to mind, “Where the O’Connors are concerned I have to be honest and say you’re probably already a dead man walking.”

  Roger needed to find him. If Tyson’s father found out about the equestrian centre, he’d be there quickly, although Roger was pretty certain it wouldn’t be Kevin personally. The crack he’d given him with the baseball bat. He had taken enough first aid courses over the years to know he had probably broken Kevin’s leg.

  Roger looked for his phone. He had left it in the VW. Was it still there or had Tyson found it and called his dad? No, it was still there. Tyson would be looking for a phone. So he would probably have gone into the equestrian centre and found the offices. The phones were connected. There was a slim chance Tyson hadn’t managed to get a message out yet.

  Roger ran over to the front door of the centre and opened it. He crept along the stable run. He knew Tyson could jump out at any moment and overpower him. He tried to be quiet so he could hear any sound of Tyson, but everything was still. No noise. In the dark, Roger couldn’t see much but luckily he knew the layout.

  He walked around to the main office. The door was still locked with no sign of forced entry. Where was Tyson? Was he hiding or had he just kept running until he found the main road and then tried to flag down a passing motorist?

  Roger decided to go back to the VW and drive around and see if he could pick him up before an unsuspecting motorist did.

  As he walked round the stables for a quick look, he spotted the figure face down in the swimming pool.

  He rushed over, jumped in and swam over. He pulled Tyson from the water and using his experience of first aid and resuscitation, Roger tried to revive him.

  It took twenty-two minutes before he was too exhausted to keep going. Tyson was dead.

  There was only one thing Roger could do. He needed to tell Kevin O’Connor. Of course, he wouldn’t believe it was an accident, but it was the right thing to do.

  It was late at night. No good could come of telling Kevin O’Connor about his son so late. Besides, he was probably at the hospital getting his leg seen to. He needed to get some rest, and he would call him in the morning.

  He carried Tyson’s body to the freezer unit that had been installed to keep the feed for the horses. He was exhausted, and then walked outside to the container and spent the night on the folding bed.

  The next morning, he woke up at seven. He wasn’t looking forward to telling Kevin, but it needed to get it done.

  He dialled the number.

  “Hello.”

  Roger recognised his gruff voice.

  “It’s Roger Maynard. Look, I’m sorry to tell you this but there’s been an accident. Tyson’s dead. He knocked me out and ran off last night and drowned in a swimming pool. My condolences.”

  “This is a joke, right. You’re trying to wind me up. What’s your game?”

  “I can assure you this is no joke. I’m not that sick. It was an acc–”

  The line went dead.

  Roger’s dad Vernon had spent the night at the Milton Motel and came down for breakfast, feeling a lot better.

  He didn’t know where his son was and the phone calls he had made had gone unanswered.

  He decided to call the only person he knew might be able to help.

  He had always got on with Francis, Roger’s ex-wife. To an extent he had understood why she had gone off with someone else. Over the years, Roger had concentrated on building up his business, and his marriage had suffered as a result. He and his wife had often arranged to go over to the house for a family meal, only to find when they got there that Roger was stuck at work. They had been very hands-on grandparents. Roger was their only son, and therefore Julie had been their only granddaughter, and they had adored her. So Francis and Roger’s parents had built up a special bond over the years.

  Vernon dialled her number.

  “Francis, it’s Vernon. There’s been a spot of trouble. I’m staying at the Milton Motel. I don’t want to go over it on the phone. I wondered if you were free to come and visit me for a chat. It’s about Roger.”

  “Of course. I’ve not a lot on today. Is Elsie with you?”

  Vernon didn’t want to break the news over the phone that his wife had been killed. “No. Not at the moment.”

  “I can tell something’s upset you. I’ve just got to drop something off at the post office and then I’ll be right over.”

  40

  The Coffee Lounge Incident

  As Francis got in her car and turned left out of her driveway, she didn’t pay any attention to the tatty old dark blue Vauxhall Corsa that started following her.

  After stopping at the post office, she drove to the Milton Motel and parked at the front. The Corsa drove around the side and parked up. As she walked into reception, she was unaware of the eyes that didn’t let her out of their sight.

  Builders had just finished the refurbishment of the front of the hotel. The reception area had been updated and an extension added for a new coffee lounge so that the old coffee lounge at the rear could be turned into a restaurant and conference facility.

  Roger’s dad sat in the new coffee lounge near the entrance and looked out for Francis. As she arrived, he got up and went to greet her. She kissed him on the cheek, and they hugged. They then walked through to the corner table where Vernon had been sitting.

  Vinny Watkins was Kevin’s
cousin and had worked for him for the past eight years, between stints in prison, doing odd jobs and generally treated like a piece of crap. He had witnessed first hand the brutality of Kevin and his two sons. But he was loyal. Kevin had taken him in when he’d had nowhere to live. Now he had a small caravan at the rear of the Two Oaks Caravan Park next to the O’Connor residence. It wasn’t much, but it was a roof over his head. Kevin didn’t pay him much unless it was a ‘special job’ where he needed him to keep his mouth shut about what he had witnessed. But other than a few quid for rollups and a few pints, he didn’t need much.

  Once Vinny spotted Roger’s dad coming to greet the lady he had been tailing, Vinny walked back to his car and phoned Kevin.

  “Kevin, I was watching the ex-wife’s house, like you told me. I’ve followed her to the Milton Motel. And she’s met up with the old man you had hidden at the farm. What do you want me to do?”

  “Stay around and watch them. Call me if they leave.”

  Nothing frightened Kevin O’Connor. Nothing that was, apart from his wife, Sadie.

  He knew in his heart of hearts the news he had been given by Roger Maynard was true. Tyson was dead.

  Now he had to tell his wife. It was never going to be a good time.

  She wasn’t due to visit him in the hospital until the afternoon, but he needed to tell her now. Just in case Roger told her. If the news came from anyone else, it didn’t bear thinking about.

  He dialled her number.

  “Sadie. I’ve got some bad news. Prepare yourself for the absolute worst.”

  “What are you on about?”

  “That bastard Roger Maynard has killed him. Tyson’s dead. He drowned him in a swimming pool. Our son is dead.”

  “Where is he, this fucking Roger Maynard?”

  “I don’t know. But his father is at the Milton Motel with Roger’s ex-wife. Vinny’s there keeping an eye on them, but there’s no sign of Maynard. I guess he’s in hiding somewhere else. But we’ll get him. Believe me, we’ll get him.”

  No one took any notice of the white Mercedes as it sped into the car park of the Milton Motel. At first glance, the driver looked like any typical woman in her mid-forties. She parked the car, got out. Totally focused, walking in a straight line towards the front of the hotel.

  The driver of the Ford Mondeo leaving had to stop abruptly to avoid hitting her. Another stupid woman, who didn’t bother to look to the side, that’s what the driver of the vehicle thought at first.

  As he beeped, she kept walking unfazed, and merely turned her head and looked directly at him. He saw the fury in her eyes. He wouldn’t dare to beep again. Especially when he noticed the six-foot tall young man in a hoodie walking a step behind her.

  Having heard the car beep, Gerry Payne glanced up from the couple he was serving with cappuccinos in the café.

  He watched as the automatic entrance doors opened as if to announce her arrival as Sadie walked into the reception area with Lennox in tow.

  She turned left and strode towards the coffee lounge.

  Gerry had his eyes on her. He was cleaning a table and just six feet from where Francis and Roger’s dad were sitting deep in conversation and unaware of their approaching guests.

  Gerry noted them both, but it was Sadie who took his attention. His instinct told him the lady was trouble. He could see it in her eyes. It was almost like a red beam fixed on the two people sitting at the table in the corner. He may have retired from the police force but all his years of training kicked in. What was more she seemed familiar even if she was attempting a disguise by wearing a cheap blonde wig. All his years of experience, he knew something was about to happen. But even this didn’t prepare him for what was to come.

  As Sadie walked towards the table, Gerry watched as she put her hand into the black handbag slung over her left shoulder. He spotted the hand gun in the split second as she brought it out of the bag.

  As Sadie raised her arm and aimed at Francis to shoot, Gerry didn’t hesitate and jumped in front of the intended target. The bullet entered his shoulder as the force flung him backwards against a nearby pillar.

  Lennox was standing next to his mother and reached forward to grab Roger’s dad.

  “This is for my Tyson, you fucking bitch!” Sadie bellowed at Francis as Sadie raised the weapon for the second time.

  With his arm covered in blood, Gerry hurled himself at Sadie once more, knocking her aim to the side as the gun went off with another loud bang.

  Panic filled the coffee lounge.

  Gerry quickly got to his feet and swiped his fist across Sadie’s face. The gun slid from her hand and across the floor. Gerry’s wife Paddy coolly picked it up and pointed it at Sadie. Keeping the gun aimed at her, Paddy walked slowly backwards to the reception desk, picked up the phone and dialled 999.

  “We need police with an armed response unit and two ambulances,” said Paddy to the operator.

  “C’mon, Lennox. Let’s go. She won’t shoot us,” said Sadie, all the time fixing her stare on Paddy who still had Sadie’s gun pointed at her.

  “Mum. I’m hit.”

  41

  Hero’s Hotel

  Sadie looked down for the first time noticing Lennox was on the ground with blood coming from his stomach. The second bullet had hit him.

  Sadie rushed over.

  One of the people who had been sitting on the opposite side of the coffee lounge came over. “I’m a doctor. Let me have a look at him.”

  Gerry Payne staggered over to where his wife was standing by the reception desk.

  “Paddy, I’ll take the gun. Get Marie to fetch the first aid kit from the office.”

  Marie, the part-time receptionist, froze until she heard Paddy shout at her.

  “Marie, do what Gerry says. Grab the first aid kit from the office.”

  Within three minutes, the police had arrived, closely followed by the first ambulance.

  Sadie was handcuffed and arrested. Medics went to attend to Gerry and Lennox.

  “I think it would be a good idea if I took that, don’t you?”

  One of the police officer stood in front of Paddy and held open a plastic evidence bag .

  Paddy nodded and did as he requested.

  The second ambulance arrived, and the medics rushed in.

  Within two minutes, both ambulances rushed off, Gerry in one and Lennox in the other.

  As the vehicles left the car park, an unmarked police car with its blue lights still flashing pulled in and parked by the entrance.

  Out stepped DI Eden Gold and his colleague DS Tracy Archer, just in time to see Sadie O’Connor being led away to the nearby police vehicle.

  Eden walked over to one of the two uniformed police officers who were already on the scene and held up his ID. “What have we missed?”

  “It appears the woman walked in with a gun and fired at a couple sitting in the corner. The owner appears to have stopped the intended victim from being killed by jumping in front of the bullet. A bloody hero, according to a lady who witnessed the whole thing. The woman then tried to shoot again, and the owner stopped her, and the shot hit a young man who came in with the shooter. He was hit in the stomach. He’s on his way to the hospital, and so is the hotel owner.”

  Once all the witness statements had been gathered, Paddy led the two detectives to the main office and gave them a backup copy of the CCTV showing the incident as it had taken place.

  Tracy, ending a call, said, “Paddy, I’ve just heard from the hospital. Gerry’s going to be okay. It will take a few weeks of recovery, but he should be as good as new. Just be prepared, once the newspapers get wind of what’s happened you’ll get bombarded. He’s a hero for saving that lady.”

  “You worked with him so you both know what he’s like. He’s always been the same. Act first, think about safety later.”

  “Yes we know what he’s like, Paddy. He was a great copper. Maybe you should rename the place Hero’s Hotel.”

  “Oh God no. That would
only encourage him. We bought this place to get away from all of that. But the way he studies every customer, I’m not sure he thinks he never left the force.”

  Eden and Tracy made their way back to Trentbridge police station.

  Sadie O’Connor had been booked in and was being held in the police cells.

  “Let’s go and have a coffee and prepare some notes and then we’ll take her in for an interview.”

  “That should be fun. I bet the first thing she asks for is a brief.”

  “Her husband is in the hospital with a broken leg. And Lennox is there as well. That just leaves Tyson. I expect he’s out there somewhere plotting, but I don’t see how she’s going to talk her way out of this one. All those witnesses and the high-quality CCTV. I think we’ve got an iron-clad case for attempted murder.”

  “Yeah. Shame we can’t get the whole family off the streets.”

  “One good thing. Once we arrest her, we’ll have a chance to search the house. I wonder what goodies we’ll find in there. This could be the lucky break we’ve been hoping for all these years. Finally, we might get the chance to put at least one of the O’Connor clan behind bars for a good few years. Give the population of Trentbridge a well-earned rest from the mayhem.”

  Twenty-five minutes later, Sadie was escorted into interview room one by two uniformed police officers.