Heartless Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

  Wayne ignored the sergeant. He would dearly have loved to land a punch on him but knew better.

  ‘Can I give you an early morning call?’ he continued.

  Wayne shuffled into the cell and flopped down on the thin mattress. He was glad to be on his own away from the baiting and leg pulling. He knew it would take him a while to sleep and in that time he needed to think carefully about what he was prepared to say tomorrow.

  Chapter 53

  Maureen saw bundles of money. She had no idea how much, possibly twenty thousand pounds, maybe more. Next was a book with lists of transactions, various names with amounts in grams or quantities and letters along with dates and times. She was horrified. Was he involved in drugs like the police had suggested when they questioned them both about Sean Bailey?

  She felt dizzy and had to sit on the floor. Her world had just fallen apart. There were other documents including lists of names, addresses and phone numbers. All were completely meaningless to her. She skimmed through and noticed how many appeared to be foreign in origin.

  There was also a folder marked Godfrey. Again there were various handwritten notes with amounts of money, addresses of properties and names and some photocopies of death certificates of elderly people, all signed by a G Clancy. Another folder was simply marked Jed. Who was that? She couldn’t immediately understand what it all meant.

  A noise pierced the silence of the annexe. Someone was knocking at the outside door. Who could it be? She remembered locking the door behind her as she had on the previous occasion. Had Ron awoken? But he wouldn’t knock at his own office door. Now she was panicking. As fast as she could she put the contents back in the safe and closed the door.

  She had no intention of answering the door, hopefully, they would go away. But it was odd, the caller had managed to pass Corey, their security man. Her brain couldn’t work under these levels of stress. Then she heard a voice which sounded like Corey.

  ‘Hello? Mr Radford?’

  What should she do? Surely, Corey had a key to this annexe. She had to stop dithering and make a decision. Perhaps she could convince Corey that Ron was feeling unwell and had asked her to come down here to collect some paperwork. She scurried to the front door and unlocked it.

  ‘Hello, Corey. I was just collecting some papers for Ron, he’s not feeling too well.’

  ‘Oh, sorry to hear that. Jed has something for Mr Radford. Can I take him over to the main house?’

  ‘No!’ shouted Maureen, rather too loudly. ‘No, the doctor said he must rest, we saw her this afternoon. I can give it to Ron.’

  Maureen looked at the face before her. It definitely looked familiar. At that precise moment, she couldn’t recall where she had seen the man but she definitely had.

  ‘Pleased to meet you,’ said Jed, offering his hand. ‘Corey, perhaps you could leave us for a few minutes, I can explain my business to Mrs Radford.’

  ‘Yes, please come in,’ said Maureen.

  ‘Corey, can you come back in about fifteen minutes?’

  ‘Of course. See you later, Jed.’

  ‘Come and sit down,’ said Maureen, leading the way into Ron’s office.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Jed, taking the chair in front of the desk. ‘How is Ron, or Cole as I usually call him?’

  Maureen remembered the time when she’d jokingly used Ron’s middle name and the response it elicited, yet the man before her had used a shortened version of the name. How odd, she thought.

  ‘He’s just tired, he’s taken some new tablets, they’ve made him a bit sleepy,’ she replied, returning to the moment.

  ‘Well, I’ve come to collect something from him.’

  ‘Oh, what exactly?’

  ‘My file.’

  ‘Your file? I don’t understand.’

  ‘Somewhere in this office there is a file, marked Jed, no doubt.’

  ‘Well, I can’t help you I’m afraid,’ lied Maureen, hoping that her demeanour hadn’t given her away. ‘I don’t know the contents of all these filing cabinets, I merely came to collect some papers he left on his desk,’ she said casually.

  ‘Oh, where are they?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The papers on his desk. I can’t see any?’

  ‘Look, I think you should come back another time, I’m not fully conversant with my husband’s business dealings.’

  ‘I bet you aren’t,’ said Jed, a smile beginning to play around his lips. ‘But as you married Ron you must have realised he’s no angel?’

  Maureen remained silent, her eyes fixed on her visitor.

  He continued, ‘I’ve done some things for Ron which are well, a bit borderline, let’s say. I’m making some changes in my life, moving on. Cutting my ties with Ron. Hence I need to make sure he doesn’t have any information which might fall into the wrong hands.’

  Suddenly, Maureen felt emboldened. ‘I’ve seen you before, haven’t I? You’re Jason Edward Dawes, Jed, for short, I assume.’

  ‘Very good. I thought someone had been looking out of an upstairs window when I left one time.’

  ‘That’s not the only time I saw you, perhaps in the flesh, yes, but I saw your picture when the police came round. Why were you shot in the leg?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘Is Ron involved with drug dealing? Was Sean working for him?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘I could go to the police. You’ve obviously come back to the area. They might be able to track you on cameras. Arrest you.’

  ‘That’s true. You could and if they charge me don’t you think I might be tempted to mention Ron’s name? What will become of you then? Ron would find out who shopped him. He’ll kill you or have you killed.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ laughed Maureen, nervously. ‘Ron wouldn’t kill people. He might not be completely honest but that’s entirely different.’

  Jed laughed. He threw his head back. He reached in his pocket and brought out a gun which he placed on the desk before him.

  Maureen stifled a scream. Was she dreaming? The whole episode was unreal.

  ‘Want to handle it? It’s real?’

  Maureen shook her head furiously.

  ‘And it’s loaded. No point in having one if you don’t intend to use it? Don’t you agree.’

  ‘Please put it away.’

  ‘OK, I will but I won’t hesitate to use it.’

  ‘Please leave. I won’t say anything, I promise.’

  ‘But I’ve not got what I came for. Ron has some information about me. A sort of CV but not like the one you usually show to people. Do you get my drift?’

  Maureen put her head in her hands. She was close to tears, her whole body was shaking. She was willing her brain to function. Somehow she forced it to think through the situation.

  ‘Look, I don’t know what information you are talking about and even if I did know, there would be a problem,’ said Maureen. ‘If I were to give it to you, then Ron would know I’d been in his office. He’d know I was the one who had handed it over to you. What would happen to me? He’d be furious.’

  ‘Hmm, that’s true,’ said Jed. ‘You are an intelligent lady.’ He stood up and started to wander around the room, stopping in front of the glass-fronted cabinet to look at the golf trophies. ‘It’s a bit of a problem, isn’t it?’

  ‘Come back another day and see Ron. Sort out your differences amicably. I’m sure you can make him see reason.’

  ‘Well, that all sounds very nice but I think you are being a bit naïve. However, you do have a point. I have no guarantee you won’t go to the police, do I?’

  ‘I won’t, I’ve told you, I give you my word.’ Maureen was pleading with Jed. ‘Look, I have money of my own, I can give you some. Then you can leave us alone. Ron will forget about you.’

  ‘Ron doesn’t forget, he has a memory like an elephant,’ he paused, then sat down again, opposite Maureen. ‘Do you know, I worked for Ron for many years, sorting out his problems, getting him out of fixes and the one
time I make a slight mistake, something I couldn’t have foreseen he’s angry. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone except himself.’

  Maureen knew that Jed’s description of Ron was accurate. Despite his apparent displays of affection, Ron was primarily in love with himself.

  ‘Yet he’s not too annoyed to keep me on his payroll and complete one last job to even the score.’

  ‘How do you mean, even the score?’

  ‘You’ve heard the saying, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?

  Maureen nodded.

  ‘Ron is very fond of that little phrase and so he told me to subject a few people to the same fate which befell poor Sean Bailey. Not that I really minded. I wanted to get my own back too.’

  Maureen looked horrified.

  ‘You’ve killed people?’

  ‘No, I just had a little talk with them, slapped them on the wrist and told them to be good boys.’

  Maureen felt sick. She had married someone who operated by the most evil of motives. A murderer who dealt out his own version of justice.

  ‘You are Ron’s hit-man.’

  ‘I prefer the moniker of fixer. Sounds less sordid.’

  ‘Ha, you are sordid. The whole thing is sordid.’

  ‘Well, that’s your opinion but I doubt many will mourn the loss of some of the Kilburn Boys.’ Jed paused, then slapped the table making Maureen flinch. ‘Anyway, I’m here as I have a present for Ron in return for my folder. That sounds fair, wouldn’t you say?’

  Maureen nodded. She felt it was best to agree with the man before her.

  ‘Ron always thinks he has the upper hand. He has to be in charge and if anyone tries to take control he can’t cope. He’s got to be number one.’ Jed smiled and nodded at Maureen. ‘You’d do well to remember that bit of advice. Ron uses people and when they’ve outlived their usefulness he will throw them away. That’s what he’ll do to you if he suspects you are thinking of challenging him in any way.’

  ‘Rubbish, you are making this up to frighten me. You should leave. I’ll tell Ron you’ve been threatening me and if he’s as dangerous as you say then he’ll get rid of you.’

  ‘He might try. Don’t forget I’m going to be out of here. You, on the other hand, live here. You are rather vulnerable.’

  ‘Ron needs me. He needs my money for his investments.’

  ‘Hmm, those would be Welch Property Investments, would they?’

  ‘Yes,’ replied Maureen. ‘But how do you know about my background? Did Ron tell you?’

  ‘He might have done. I’m sorry about your husband, Hubert.’

  ‘Thank you. It was a shock. I’d no idea he would take his own life, even though he had cancer.’

  ‘Yes, I think it must have been a shock. Hubert didn’t seem that ill.’

  ‘How do you mean? Did you meet him?’

  ‘Briefly. I had a drink with him.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘At his house where he was living.’

  ‘What were you doing at his house? He wouldn’t have had business with you!’

  ‘That’s true. I was merely a messenger. For Ron.’

  Maureen began to feel uneasy. Where was this leading?

  ‘Your husband was left handed, wasn’t he?’

  ‘Well, yes but why is that relevant?’

  ‘Oh, I just noticed him writing something. Usually when people write left handed it shows quite characteristically in their writing style.’

  ‘I’m sorry but I’m not following you. Hubert’s demise is no business of yours. It was a tragic end due to his depression.’

  ‘Tragic indeed but quite timely don’t you think?’

  ‘Timely? How?’

  ‘Well, it followed quite soon after he held you captive. I could still see the marks on his wrists. Ron was really angry about that when he phoned me.’

  ‘Ron had no business telling you personal details like that. It was a moment of madness on Hubert’s part. He’d just had a shock.’

  ‘A moment of madness which proved fatal in fact.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘It was a decision which had fatal consequences.’

  Maureen couldn’t take it all in. ‘I don’t follow you and I want to stop talking about Hubert, it’s in the past. Ron had nothing to do with his death.’

  Jed raised an eyebrow and smiled. ‘Anyway, it’s probably best to leave it in the past. The verdict was suicide. Besides, if it wasn’t suicide and foul play was involved, then the person they would most suspect would be you. Don’t you think? After all, you had the most to gain from his death.’

  ‘Rubbish, I didn’t kill him, or order him to be killed.’

  ‘I know that and you know that, but would the police believe that? You can hold on to that thought if you like. When I’ve gone, you’ll have time to go over our conversation and you will thank me for warning you.’

  ‘I doubt it,’ said Maureen.

  ‘I’ll go now and make another appointment with Ron. I’ll have to make sure I don’t mention our little discussion. That could be very embarrassing,’ he paused. ‘Embarrassing and dangerous, for you, that is.’

  Maureen held Jed’s gaze. In the last few minutes, she had been catapulted into an alternative world. An underworld where different rules operated.’

  ‘Here’s my number. Should you need it.’

  He scribbled down his number on a post-it note. Maureen stared at it as she heard Corey return to collect the visitor.

  ‘You seem a nice person. Classy too. Congratulations on your recent marriage,’ said Jed as he walked out.

  Maureen sat for a few minutes. Had that encounter really happened? Her nerves were jangling, her brain in complete turmoil. She needed to return to Ron before he awoke and started to wonder where she was. Maureen checked that everything was as she had found it, locked up and stole back to the main house.

  She closed the front door quietly and peeped into the lounge. Ron was still where she had left him but he had changed his position slightly, now on his side with his knees drawn up towards his chest. She put his leather key wallet back in the discarded trousers, placed both his mobiles on the settee next to him and left him alone.

  Maureen was desperate for a brandy to calm her nerves but she didn’t want to risk waking Ron. Questions would abound in the morning when he discovered he wasn’t in bed but by then she hoped she could offer a plausible explanation. She opened the fridge and poured a large glass of white wine and drank it down as if it were water. She had so much information to process, she just didn’t know where to start.

  She looked at the designer kitchen and realised her days cooking for Ron with these state of the art appliances would now be numbered. She simply had to get some sleep to give her brain a chance of planning the future, things always seemed clearer and less depressing in the daytime. Or would they? She climbed the plushly carpeted stairs to bed. Tonight, in less than an hour, her whole world had been shattered.

  Chapter 54

  Maureen was already breakfasting in the kitchen when she heard the lounge door open. She looked up from her phone as Ron walked slowly across the hallway to join her.

  ‘Morning, darling. Sleep well?’ she asked.

  ‘What the hell was I doing asleep on the sofa?’

  ‘Well, sleeping,’ smiled Maureen. ‘You looked so peaceful when I went to bed I didn’t want to disturb you.’

  ‘I never drift off like that. I feel dreadful this morning, completely hung over. How much did I drink?’

  ‘A small amount of brandy, not that much.’

  ‘I feel so groggy. God, what’s happening to me?’

  ‘Ron, I don’t want to sound pessimistic but you aren’t well. The sooner you have this operation the better. Perhaps it was because you took your tablets at the wrong time and got out of sequence.’

  ‘Yes, that’s probably it. I need to make sure I don’t get distracted again. You were kind enough to get me that pill mate, the least I can do is use it prope
rly.’

  ‘Tea or coffee? Sit down and I’ll put the kettle on.’

  ‘Coffee, please. Perhaps it will wake me up a bit. Pills, where’s that box?’

  ‘I’ve put them out for you on a saucer,’ said Maureen, ‘here you are.’

  ‘Thanks, nurse,’ smiled Ron.

  He checked his phone whilst Maureen made him a cafetière of coffee.

  ‘Toast, cereal, fruit?’

  ‘Er, just toast, thanks,’ he said without looking up.

  ‘There’s plenty in the fridge for lunch but you’ll have to fend for yourself today. I’ll cook dinner of course.’

  ‘Why? What are you up to?’

  ‘I’ve got to spend the morning at Welch Properties, Laura needs me to go through some things with her. Then a friend has asked me to have lunch with her, one of my old neighbours. We’ll go to a cafe in town so I won’t be back until late afternoon after I’ve been to Waitrose.’

  ‘We can go out to dinner if you’d like, as you’ve got a busy day?’

  ‘No, I want to eat here. Besides I don’t want you having a funny turn in the restaurant.’

  ‘I’ll make it up to you when I’ve had this operation. Sorry, I’m a bit useless at the moment.’

  ‘Don’t be silly. Hopefully, the extra tablets will help you until you have your bypass operation. Dr Young should be contacting us soon about that.’

  ‘I realise now I need to have it,’ said Ron. ‘I can’t pretend any longer.’

  ‘Good. It’s nice to hear you say that. I don’t like to keep arguing with you and forcing you to accept medical help. It’s wearing me down.’

  Ron reached over and held Maureen’s hand. ‘I think I’ll go and take a shower now. It might make me feel better. Then I’m going to wander down to my office. I’ve got some things to catch up on.’

  Maureen’s own heart missed a beat at the mention of his office but she had been careful not to leave any signs of her late-night visit, or of her visitor. ‘Right, well, I think I’ll make an early start. I’ll phone you later, or text you. OK?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘You will keep your spray with you all the time, won’t you?’