by Tony Black
I called his bluff. ‘And I thought Nadja was only after my body.’
‘What?’ said Roberts.
‘I’m guessing you’ve been talking to Benny’s right-hand man, or in this case woman. It was a man, but then Billy Boy was taken out, wasn’t he?’
Collins edged closer. ‘I’m warning you, Dury.’
Roberts held him off. His Clarks shoes squeaked on the floor.
I started to smirk. I knew now I’d been had by Nadja, probably to root out Billy Boy’s missing footage. I saw that with both Billy and Zalinskas out the picture, she stood to take over the entire outfit. A tidy little manoeuvre.
How much Zalinskas knew about Nadja’s scheming was a blank to me. I guessed not much. Both, however, now needed me out of the way. While the court case carried on, I figured, my life was safe. After that I was all out of options.
The pain in my head intensified, felt like my brow might crack down the middle. Who held all the power in the room was obvious.
My only hope, was to chance my luck. ‘Let’s deal.’
They looked at each other, frowning in symmetry.
‘You don’t hold any cards, Dury,’ said Roberts.
I spat out another mouthful of blood.
‘Let’s see what the Bullfrog has to say about that, shall we?’
‘You’re mad, fucking mad,’ said Collins. He began to laugh again, this time without the maniacal edge.
Roberts pushed him aside. ‘Shut up, would you? Let me talk to the man.’ As he leant over the desk, Collins turned away and kicked at the cell door. ‘I won’t tell you again to shut up. Now, Mr Dury, what, exactly, would you have us say to Mr Zalinskas?’
I sat up, brought my nose to within an inch of his. ‘Tell the Bullfrog I have, in my possession, some very interesting footage. Footage that would not do his current position any favours.’
This played right into Nadja’s hands — exposing the footage was just what she wanted. Risking the wrath of Zalinskas, though, that felt insane. Being in possession of the footage had cost Billy Boy his life and I’d just declared my ownership. But what option did I have? I needed to get Amy on a plane, somewhere far away until all this blew over.
My only hope was Zalinskas’ case would drag on a little longer; if it didn’t, Amy’s life was ruined. And I was a dead man.
‘And if we don’t pass on your message?’ said Roberts.
I rocked back on my chair, looked under the table. ‘I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes.’
63
A while back, the producers of the Brits pulled off a coup when they got Paul Weller to agree to appear at their awards ceremony. They had every reason to feel proud of themselves, had been trying to get the Modfather for years. But then, they blew it.
They asked Weller to do a duet with James Blunt.
‘I’d sooner eat my own shit,’ he was reported as saying.
I felt the same way about my only option.
As I sat in the cell, I mapped out a plan in my mind. But none of it sat easily with me.
I paced up and down, near wore out the floor.
After an hour or so, Collins and Roberts showed their hand and sent in a doctor.
He checked my nose, said, ‘It’s a clean break but it’s been broken before.’
I smelled whisky on his breath. ‘And?’
He wiped away the dried blood with a cotton bud, squeezed the bridge. ‘You can’t polish shite.’
‘Is that a medical opinion?’
‘It’s my opinion.’ He stood up, put on his shabby dogtooth coat. ‘Don’t pick it for a few days, it’ll heal itself.’
He tapped on the cell door to be let out. I shook my head at him, he hadn’t even asked me how I’d sustained these injuries. Just presumed I’d fallen down the stairs on the way to the cells.
‘Another upright citizen. The city can be proud of you, Doctor,’ I said.
He didn’t bat an eyelid.
I paced for another half hour, then sat on the cell floor, staring at the wall like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape. Wished I had a pitcher’s mitt and a baseball. All I had was misgivings, fears, regrets.
Occasionally my nose throbbed. I tried to clear out the blood inside by pressing a nostril, one at a time, and blowing out. It helped at first, but soon became too painful to touch. I let it be. Left nature to take its course.
The throbbing settled into a persistent pain in my head and jaw. I learned to stay still, any movement resulted in agony. After a while, pain became the norm and I numbed my mind to it. I found if I concentrated, a Zen-like peace could be achieved. I’d just about perfected this when I heard a key in the lock.
I expected to see Collins and Roberts again, felt ready for them. But this time, shock walked in.
My blood began to race. My heart pumped me up for a whole new kind of fight.
As the door closed I stood up, faced the enemy.
‘That looks like a terribly painful injury you’ve got there, Mr Dury,’ said Cardownie. He wore a green sporting jacket, leather patches on the elbows and one shoulder. Tucked around his neck, a cravat, yellow with green paisley swirls. He’d obviously been yanked from a shooting party.
‘Funny that, there’s nosebleeds every time we meet,’ I said.
He laughed aloud. ‘I’m so glad not to be the one on the receiving end this time.’
‘There’s time yet.’
His laugh subsided, he took off his tweed cap. ‘Come now… we can be civilised, can’t we?’ He squirmed, tucked his hands behind his back and fired a crooked grin at me. He’d been sent by Zalinskas to do his dirty work. I saw now where the real power lay.
‘Civilised… now there’s a word. Goes hand in hand with profits.’
‘Quite. Coolidge, I believe. You’re obviously an educated man.’
He sounded like a character from a Noel Coward play. My fists clenched. I wanted to grab his scrawny neck in my hands, twist the life out of him. Kept seeing the footage of him pushing aside that young girl like some worthless rag after he’d had his fun with her.
‘Nothing that’s worth knowing can be taught,’ I said.
He missed that one, put on his ‘what a chippy fellow we have here’ smirk. The kind he kept for the below stairs type that I clearly appeared to be to him.
I prepared to deliver the lash. ‘Don’t you agree?’
Silence. He twisted his tweed cap in his hands. This whole affair seemed such an irritation to him. I mean, for someone like him to be forced to come down here, sort out this mess. To deal with a common grunt like me. I saw I churned his insides, just like the rest of the masses beneath him.
I gunned the pedal. ‘I know Billy Thompson knew the value of knowledge.’
Cardownie’s face twisted at the mention of Billy, but I wanted a wince out of him. ‘What’s that you say, Minister… an upstart? Och, I’m sure you’re right, Billy Boy was definitely an upstart. Son of a publican, the gall of him, thinking he could drag himself out of the gutter, make something of himself.’
‘He was a common criminal!’ burst out Cardownie.
‘Now, now. What’s raised your dudgeon, Minister? The common bit or the criminal bit?’
He put his sleekit eyes on me, then drew them away. I knew he wanted the footage, but while I had it, there was time to play.
‘I’m gonna take a guess here — not the criminal bit. No, because we know you have some powerful friends from that particular community, do you not, Minister?’
‘I have not,’ he barked.
‘No? Then who pulled you away from your pheasant shoot?’
Cardownie smacked his hat off his corduroys, then stuffed it in his jacket pocket, pointed a finger at me. ‘Now look here…’
‘I’m looking.’
‘Oh, what’s the point? You clearly have your agenda.’
‘Haven’t we all?’
‘ What?’
I seemed to have lost him, felt like it was time to spell things out, said, ‘Must be annoying
for you to find someone who doesn’t share your agenda. I bet that doesn’t happen very much in this town, Minister.’
He looked ready to pop. ‘I’ve had just about enough of this. If you want to play silly little games that’s your prerogative, Mr Dury. I for one am not prepared to stand idly by and listen to this… this, arrant nonsense.’
I raised my hands. ‘You done?’
He made towards me, the soles of his expensive brogues slapped heavily across the floor. ‘Do not goad me, Mr Dury. I can walk out of that door every bit as easily as I walked through it. You, however, cannot. And neither can your young lady friend.’
Game over. But I’d had some fun with him.
‘What’re you selling, Minister?’
He lowered his tone, the smile eased back into place. ‘Glad you’re prepared to see sense. Now, about the matter of the… item of property pertaining to Mr Zalinskas’ business affairs.’
‘Oh, that.’
He stuck a finger under his cravat, took a handkerchief from his pocket and patted the moisture from his forehead. ‘Quite. What do you propose to do with it?’
I turned up the heat. ‘We are talking about the same item here. I mean, to be doubly certain, we are talking about the footage of some teenage prostitute taking a length off your good self.’
He dropped the handkerchief, turned away. ‘Mr Dury, must you, please… I really won’t hear you-’
‘Tell the truth? Oh, don’t worry about that, my lips are sealed — or should I say, can be.’ I walked round in front of him, looked him in the eye. ‘You see I’m just as prepared to be bought as any of your gentlemen’s club buddies.’
His jaw tightened. Veins raised in his temples and throbbed like insects burrowing beneath his skin. ‘I am, shall we say, in a position-’
‘Authorised — let’s get the word right.’
‘As I say — I am authorised to see the charges pertaining to both yourself and the young lady dropped.’
‘Wiped clean. Not dropped to be reactivated at a later date. Wiped clean, or do I need to call in a lawyer to draw up an official agreement?’
He returned to his handkerchief, carefully folded it, dabbed at his upper lip. ‘I don’t think the services of a legal practitioner will be required. In your demotic, Mr Dury, the charges will be wiped clean. I can guarantee that. In exchange, of course, for the safe return of said items.’
‘ Item… Billy only had one copy, and I didn’t make one either.’
‘How can I be assured of that?’
I crossed the floor again, stretched out my hand. ‘Minister, we’re both gentlemen, surely.’
‘But there are people who will seek assurances that this unfortunate incident shall never again be-’
I cut in, ‘Whoa, whoa, there. I’m trusting you on the charges angle, a little bit of respect in my direction, if you please. Otherwise…’
He caved.
‘How will you arrange delivery?’
‘On the outside.’
Cardownie made for the door, knocked twice then turned back to face me. ‘I need hardly remind you, Mr Dury, that you have incurred the displeasure of some extremely powerful people in this city.’
‘I guessed as much.’
‘Do you really think you can get away with it? I mean to say, one can quite easily have a class of creature like you stamped out.’
‘Is that what you told Billy when he tried to blackmail you?’
The smirk again. Keys rattled outside the cell door. ‘Your type never learn, do they? No matter how harsh the lesson.’
‘My type?’
The door handle turned. ‘Make the delivery, Mr Dury, and take your medicine, now there’s a good little man.’
64
Col cleared the snug for us, made coffee. Amy curled up at my shoulder; she still trembled like a frightened child. I’d sent Hod to make the drop, until he got back with the all clear, we were on pins.
‘You should see a doctor for that nose,’ said Col. He placed a blanket round Amy’s shoulders. ‘Drink up, girl… Goodness, she’s in a terrible state, Gus.’
I rubbed her back, tried to tuck the blanket in tighter. ‘Amy, do you want me to take you home?’
Tears started to roll, sobbing. ‘No. Can’t I stay here with you?’
‘Sure, sure,’ I said. ‘Just relax, it’s all going to be fine.’
I checked the clock, I knew time was running out for us. I needed to get Amy away from the city. I couldn’t risk any more fallout striking her. But, Christ, how did I tell her that?
I’d dragged her into this, I might not have meant to, but sure as shooting she was here because of me. I fired up a tab, dragged deep. My mind wouldn’t function. Ideas seemed like something I used to have.
‘Col, a word,’ I said.
He left Amy’s side, joined me at the bar.
‘We need to get her out of here. We’ve very little time. If she’s still around me when they come looking…’
‘I know, I know.’ Col trembled, went behind the bar and poured himself a large whisky; I’d never seen him drink before.
‘What’s this?’ I said.
His face turned ashen, his eyelids dropped. ‘Courage… I need courage.’
He raised the glass, downed it in one, I grabbed his wrist. ‘I don’t think you should.’
He snapped, ‘Don’t tell me that, Gus. This is all my doing, do you think I can’t see it?’
I tried to set him straight. ‘Col, none of it, not one bit, has anything to do with you.’
He shook my hand off, returned to the bottle. ‘What do you know? You understand nothing. Didn’t I put you on to this? Didn’t I start it all. By the Lord above, wasn’t Billy my son!’ A tremor passed through him, head to toe, and he started to cry. ‘When I look at that girl through there do you know what I see, Gus?’
I shook my head. ‘What do you see?’
‘Those girls… those poor young girls, all of them.’
‘Col… don’t.’
He raged: ‘No. Billy brought those girls in, he was a maker of misery — him and all that pack. How could a son I raised be guilty of so much misery?’
‘Don’t. Don’t do this to yourself.’ I wanted to stop him. To see him get a grip, because every word he said felt like another drop of acid on my own conscience. ‘Amy needs us to be strong right now. We need to get her away from this. It isn’t fair on the girl to see any of us folding; I’ll take what’s coming to me, but for Chrissake, let’s keep her out of it.’
Col put down the glass, seemed to gather himself.
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘We need to get her away… do you still have Billy’s money?’
‘Of course. I wouldn’t touch it.’
‘Then give me some of it, now.’
I returned to Amy, flicked on the television to try and distract her. She sipped at her coffee, started to come around. She was tough, I knew that, but even still, she’d need some time to get over this. Time, however, was one thing we didn’t have.
Col appeared with Billy’s Nike holdall, handed it to me. He gave me a look I’d never seen before, imagined it to be the kind exchanged in the trenches of World War One, just before two buddies went over the top.
‘It’s done,’ said Hod. As he walked in the door my thoughts clicked into place.
I grabbed his arm. ‘Right, I need a word.’
I led him away to the bar, left Amy with Col, told him to keep the coffee flowing.
‘Hod, get her out of here,’ I said. I handed him a bunch of notes. ‘Get on a flight — Paris, Ayia Napa — bloody anywhere.’
He took the cash. ‘So that’s it then — it’s over, we just cave?’
‘There’s that word we again. It’s me that’s brought this on.’
‘And what about finding justice for Billy?’
‘Billy found his own justice.’
‘Meaning?’
‘He wasn’t exactly Mr Nice Guy. Go figure, Hod.’
Hod pulled his head in, tried another line of attack. ‘And what about Col then?’
‘He knows the score better than anyone.’
‘I think it’s wrong, Gus, to come this far.’
‘Drop it, would you?’
‘You’re letting them off, Gus. Billy’s killer is walking free and nothing’s changed, there’s still a racket feeding off the misery of those girls.’
‘Hod, I’m telling you — drop it.’
He stared me in the eye. I turned away. As he passed, I felt his shoulder cut into my own. I spun around, nearly knocked to the ground.
‘I’ll be telling Amy what she should really make of you,’ said Hod.
‘I wish you would.’
‘I thought I knew you better than this, Gus. Thought you’d never go down without a fight.’
If an answer waved in my mind, I missed it.
On the TV screen Zalinskas’ face flashed up. The case had concluded.
I ran through to the snug, stood under the television.
‘I don’t believe it,’ said Col. ‘He’s walked free.’
I knew all hell might break out at any minute. ‘Hod, get her the fuck out of here… now.’
65
I readied myself for the worst.
I told Col all I’d learned about Billy and the case. I filled him in on Nadja and Zalinskas, on Cardownie and the footage and anything else I’d missed out on previous reports. Throughout he sat quietly, listened. He seemed to be recording all I said, storing it away, but his eyes looked dead.
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t get all the answers.’
‘No matter,’ he said. ‘What does anything matter now?’
‘I wanted to give you some closure, you know that, Col.’
‘What else could you do? They’ve drawn in the wagons. You’ve done all you could, Gus. I’m thankful for that.’
I’d called a taxi, the driver blasted on the horn from outside the pub.
‘What will you do?’ said Col.
‘Get away for a while. I think I might be able to patch things up with Debs — just maybe.’
‘You deserve some happiness.’ He leaned forward, called me in, hugged me. I thought he felt cold. ‘Thank you, Gus Dury.’