Everything to Nothing

by Mark Henthorne

  ‘Come back to smoking. They put the powder into a cigarette or something?’

  ‘I’ve never seen anyone do that but maybe someone does. No, you chase the dragon matie, chase the dragon.’

  ‘That really doesn’t mean much to me?’

  ‘Jeez! How long you been dealing for us now? Six months and you don’t know what chasing the dragon is?’

  ‘No, sorry.’

  ‘It is simply heating the powder, usually in foil, and the fumes are inhaled. Of course, not as good a rush as injecting but it’s still nice. That is why the purer heroin should be used, so it gives a bigger rush to the chaser.’

  ‘Okay. All sounds good.’

  ‘There is five hundred grams of H there Peter. I’m trusting you. Don’t treat me like a bitch or you could end up sleeping with the fishes.’

  ‘I won’t screw you Reg. I enjoy working for you and the extra income helps.’

  ‘Good. You working the clubs tonight?’

  ‘Yeah. Go to the usuals in the city. Oh, you had better let the bouncers who are under your control know that I will be armed from now on so they expect it.’

  ‘Will do. You going to try and sell the H then?’

  ‘No. Not tonight. I need to prepare it and myself. I haven’t got time. I will still take the gun though, just in case.’

  ‘Good. Make sure it is all okay and you feel okay before you start selling the H.’

  ‘I will.’

  ‘If you make me a good yield on this I will give you more next time and maybe give you a higher cut and or a bonus.’

  ‘Alright Reg. I appreciate you trusting me.’

  ‘No hard feelings about my little prank.’

  ‘No Reg. None at all.’

  ‘Right, be on your way then. See you next week.’

  ‘Yeah, definitely.’

  ‘Bye.’

  ‘Bye.’

  *

  ‘No hard feelings! I’ll give you no hard fucking feelings!’ Peter was fuming as he drove away from the house and he was ranting as he drove. ‘Making a fool out of me was the biggest mistake of your soon to be ended life Reg Maxwell. One fine day I am going to take that Luger and blow your fucking brains out! One fine, fine day!’

  Chapter 17

  After finishing her conversation with David, Sally made her way slowly back through the surrounding land, through the developing dusk, back to the outside wall of the estate. Storm let out a little whinny as she saw the gate knowing that they were nearly home. Sally dismounted and slid her hand into her jeans pocket and extracted her mobile. She quickly flicked to the Ss in her contacts and called the security centre that was based in a room in the mansion. She saw the camera slowly turn towards her and she gave a little wave and then she heard the gate unlock. Again the light on the camera flashed three times and they made their way through the gateway and she closed the gate behind them.

  Sally remounted and dug her heels into Storm’s flanks who instantly responded into a quick canter. They stuck to the paths this time, there was no leaping over fences, and they quickly made their way back to the stables. Sally said a quick thank you to the groom who led Storm away and then she quickly strode over to the Land Rover that had been sent by security to collect her. While she was being driven back to the mansion one of the cooks called her and asked whether she would be eating at home tonight. Sally answered with a positive and asked the cook to prepare and bring a Chicken Madras to her room in an hour. It only took a few moments to reach the mansion and Sally was greeted formally by Alfred and a maid at the front entrance. ‘Did you have a pleasant ride ma’am?’

  ‘Yes Alfred, it was good.’

  ‘Any plans for this evening?’

  ‘No, none. I think I am just going to watch a film in my room and have an early night.’

  Sally entered the main entrance hall and walked over the exquisite marble floor passing between pillars of marble. In front of her the hall suddenly expanded into a large circle and curling upwards and round the wall were two elaborate staircases. Directly at the top of the circle there was also an elevator which was installed when Sally’s mother’s health deteriorated to the point that she could not negotiate stairs anymore. She did not take the elevator and Sally did not think that anyone had ever used the conveyance since the horrible morning when her mother had arrived back from the hospice to die in her own home. At the foot of each staircase there were two immense portraits of a stunningly beautiful woman and as Sally passed the portrait on the left her eyes met the eyes of her mother as usual. She held her gaze for a moment before passing onwards. Alfred and the maid had followed Sally at a polite distance behind her and only when Sally had completed the ritual of gazing at her beautiful mother did Alfred continue the conversation. ‘Certainly ma’am. In that case, after your meal has been prepared may I dismiss the staff for the evening? I, of course, will remain on call.’

  ‘Well, my father will need the staff tonight so no.’

  ‘Sorry ma’am, it looks like your father will not make it back to the estate tonight. He managed to call me before and stated that today’s business is dragging its heels somewhat and left the decisions of the house to you, ma’am.’

  ‘Okay Alfred. In that case after I have eaten then the staff may be dismissed. I don’t need them tonight. Ask one of the maids to fill the Jacuzzi bath in the Gold Bathroom. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Ask her also to place a bottle of champagne in there, a Bollinger, and also a fruit selection.’

  ‘Certainly. Will there be anything else?’

  ‘Yes, my Mini is still at the garage being fixed. I’ll need a lift there at ten thirty in the morning.’

  ‘Fine. I will ensure the Rolls-Royce is available.’ By now they had finished the ascent of the stairs and were half way along the ornate upper hallway walking towards Sally’s bedroom. Sally stopped walking and turned to face Alfred. The maid had subtly left to prepare the bath. ‘No! I mean, no, not the Rolls. I’ll need you to take me in something a little more subtle, Alfred. Suggest something that states well off, but not daughter of a billionaire well off?’

  ‘Erm, well, in that case how about your father’s Mini Cooper?’ The Mini was one of her father’s toys and he sometimes took it out on a Sunday for a little bit of fun with Ray, a security guard and a doctor should the worst happen, following him.

  ‘He might be using it tomorrow.’

  ‘From the sounds of it Sally I doubt it. I don’t think he will be back by tomorrow morning if at all tomorrow.’

  ‘Okay. The Mini will be fine.’ Sally started walking again and reached the door to her room. ‘I’ll be leaving at ten thirty sharp.’

  ‘Will you require breakfast?’

  ‘Yes, of course. In the breakfast room. Maybe my father will put in an appearance.’

  ‘Maybe, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up Sally.’

  ‘Yeah, I know.’

  ‘Is everything okay dear? You still seem down?’

  ‘No, I am okay now. The Mini has been fixed and Storm got rid of my worries like usual.’

  ‘Did you crash it?’

  ‘The Mini or Storm?’

  Alfred laughed a little. ‘The Mini of course.’

  ‘Something like that Alfred. Please don’t tell my father. He’ll have Ray driving me everywhere and security too. You know how I hate that. Please.’

  ‘I won’t dear. Your secret is safe with me.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I probably won’t see you again tonight but don’t hesitate to call me if you require anything.’

  ‘I won’t hesitate but you should be okay because I don’t think I will need you again tonight.’

  ‘That is fine. Enjoy your bath and film Sally. I will retire to my quarters now.’

  ‘Okay Alfred. Sleep well.’

  ‘You too. Good-night.’

  Alfred gave a shallow bow, turned and walked quickly yet silently down the hallway towards the servants’ quarters. Sally turned, opened her door and entered h
er room.

  On her large double bed were the bags from her shopping trip and there were so many that they overflowed onto the floor. She took her purse and mobile out of her pocket and flung them on top of a bag and then quickly removed all her clothes. Flinging these into a corner of her room, she knew that a maid would come in a remove them while she was bathing, and then she pulled on a silk gown.

  Walking over to a set of double doors she slid them open and stepped into the huge walk-in wardrobe, which was the size of a large bedroom in a normal house, and switched the light on. She glanced at her enormous collection of clothes that were all separated into brands and these brands were then separated into different styles of clothes.

  There were Dolce and Gabbana casual clothes and striking ball gowns from their most recent collections. Versace was also present, along with Gucci, Prada, Jimmy Choo and sportier, casual brands such as Reebok and adidas. She walked past them, threading through the racks of clothes, until she reached the far wall into which another door was fitted. She opened this and turned on another light that illuminated another smaller, yet still quite large room and each wall was fitted with shelf upon shelf of shoes.

  Again, the brands present here were the best and the shoes the most recent, separated again into their individual brands. She knew that she had purchased another five pairs of shoes, three from Prada, one from Gucci and a new pair of trainers from Nike. She knew instantly where these shoes where on the shelves and she randomly selected the equivalent number of shoes from each collection. Two pairs of the Prada she selected had never been worn, the other pair worn once to a ball. The Gucci and Nike had also never been worn. She carried the five pairs of shoes awkwardly to her room and dumped them on the floor. She had planned to give them to Michelle, who knew very well that the best part of her wardrobe were the shoes given to her by her best friend, but now Sally did not know. ‘Maybe give them to charity,’ she said out loud, but she knew in her heart that they would be going to Michelle eventually.

  Sally spotted the bags containing the new shoes and took them out of the bags. She carried them through the racks of clothing and placed them into the recently vacated spaces on the shelves. She took a step back and decided that one of the new pairs of Prada would look better next to another pair so she switched them round. Then she realized that it still did not look right so she spent the next five minutes shifting the Pradas around the shelves until she was satisfied that the footwear was in the best position to be pleasing to the eye.

  Absentmindedly forgetting that she was due to take her bath, she walked back into her bedroom and emptied the bags onto her bed. She instantly spotted a Gucci dress that she had bought and she picked it up and held it against her. She walked over to the full length mirror and studied the dress. She did not try it on but instead decided that she did not like it and flung the five hundred pound dress onto the floor with the shoes. Sally repeated this with all her new clothes and eventually she had around five thousand pounds worth of clothes in the rejects pile and about the same amount in the accepted pile.

  Quickly scooping up the pile of clothes she had decided to keep she walked back into the wardrobe and hung the clothes in their relevant sections. While she was doing this she rejected another two items and when returning to her bedroom she dropped them onto the reject pile. Absentmindedly again, she left her bedroom and strolled down the hall to the Gold Bathroom. She did not even think that when she got back to her bedroom later that the rejected pile of clothes would be gone and she would not even notice or think about them when she returned to her room. She had no idea where the clothes went to and she did not waste time thinking about it. Did the maid take them for herself or did she take them to a charity shop? Sally did not know nor did she care.

  *

  In fact her father took control of them. The maid, who looked after the cleaning of Sally’s room and therefore her clothes, had once taken a bundle of them to her father as she was bewildered as to what to do with them. She explained to him that ever since she started going on shopping sprees the rejected pile of clothing was a common occurrence. She stated to him that the clothes had never been worn and that they all still had the labelling attached to them. He was equally bewildered as to what to do with them. He took the clothes off her and looked at the labels, some of which had the price written on them. One in particularly caught his eye when he noticed that the label stated it was a two thousand pound dress with real diamond features. He let a whistling sound out of his mouth. ‘How often does this happen?’

  ‘Every time she returns from shopping sir. Every time.’

  ‘Right. And she has been going on these shopping sprees now for the last eighteen months or so?’

  ‘Sorry sir, excuse my bluntness, but ever since you have gave her your bank cards.’

  ‘Hmmm, right. So begs the questions, what have you been doing with them for the last eighteen months?’

  ‘They are all stored in numerous wardrobes in the numerous bedrooms sir, because I didn’t want to trouble you. But after I noticed the label on that two thousand pound one I thought that it was my responsibility to bring it to your attention.’

  ‘Yes, quite. I’m glad you did. How many clothes are we talking about here?’

  ‘I don’t know sir. A lot. Must be at least five hundred individual items. Maybe more.’

  ‘Crikey! I know she spends a lot, and I don’t mind, hell the money is just sitting there doing nothing and if it gives her pleasure then so be it, but really, that is a horrendous amount of money to be just throwing away.’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  ‘Right, what I want you to do if go round and collect them all and put them in one place.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Then I will decide what to do.’

  ‘I think charities would appreciate them sir.’

  ‘Yes, that was my first thought. I have charity functions approaching too. I may raffle them off. Leave it with me and thank you for bringing it to my attention.’

  That is exactly what Mr. Gallagher did. In fact Sally won one of her own dresses back and she obviously had no idea that she once owned the dress. She wore it the next day to a garden party. Mr. Gallagher of course found this very amusing, as did the maid.

  *

  Sally strode into the bathroom nearly an hour later than the time she stated earlier with Alfred. The bath though was still steaming as the maid had returned to the bathroom every five minutes to apply more hot water knowing that Sally would be late.

  The Gold Bathroom was indeed thoroughly gold. The walls were decorated in gold paint; the marble floor was inlaid with strips of twenty-four carat gold. The bath and faucets were gold plated and the chain attached to the plug was a twenty-four carat gold necklace that would have looked fine draped around Sally’s neck at a ball. Most people found the room garish and could not stand to be present in it for more than a few moments. Indeed, her father hated the room and was close to stripping it out until Sally asked him not to.

  For some reason Sally found the room relaxing. She thought the room was the epitome of opulence and she loved watching people’s faces that were shown round the mansion when they were informed that the gold in the bathroom was all real. Sally approached the bath and dipped a finger into it. It was at a perfect temperature for her. Then she placed a hand against the bottle of Bollinger that was placed in an ice bucket that was built into bath. Again, it was at the perfect temperature and Sally made a mental note to congratulate the maid who for once had got it right. On the other side of the bath was a plate of sliced exotic fruits such as guava, papaya and mangoes. She undid her robe and stepped over the side of the bath and slid down into the water. The bath was huge. It could easily accommodate four people in sitting positions and two easily when lying down. Therefore Sally was able to spread herself out and soak all the mental and physical aches of the last twenty-four hours out of her body.

  Only after fifteen minutes of soaking did she slide her body up into a sitting p
osition and press a few buttons on a control panel fitted into the rim of the bath. After a few moments and some noise from under the bath, bubbles slowly began to appear from the jets fitted into the bath. Soon these bubbles turned into streams of water and eventually the bath turned into a bubbling cauldron as the jets created a perfect Jacuzzi effect. Sally placed some sections of the fruit onto a smaller plate and then poured herself a large glass of champagne. She reclined so her back was resting on the side of the bath and she wiggled her bottom and body until a powerful jet was firing directly onto her lower back. Placing the glass in a holder that was again built into the rim of the bath, she placed a piece of passion fruit in her mouth and released from her lips a little sigh of contentment. Slowly she made her way through the fruit savouring the delicious tastes, occasionally taking sips of the Bollinger.

  After another fifteen minutes there was a discreet knock on the door and Sally told the person to enter. The maid though did not enter fully but instead just placed her head around the door and asked Sally whether everything was okay. Sally answered with an affirmative and told the maid that she would like to eat in ten minutes and for the meal to be taken to her room. The maid answered with another affirmative and quietly closed the door. Sally was glad the maid had interrupted her for she was falling asleep. Probably the maid was aware that this was probable and that was why she had given Sally half an hour before seeing if she was still awake. She reluctantly turned off the Jacuzzi and slowly raised herself to standing. She waded across the bath to one side of it and turned on the gold shower taps that were fitted into the wall. The water came out cold at first so she stood at a distance until it heated up. Then she placed herself under the stream of water and reached for a bottle of shower gel that was discreetly placed. Sally lathered herself thoroughly with the gel and rinsed her perfect body free of the suds. While rinsing she studied her body in the full length gold framed mirror that was opposite the shower.