Black Shadows

by Simon Swift

  "Then he started on Marcia, calling her a whore and a slut. I stopped and faced him. I was going to punch the bastard's face in. I think he sensed it and he stopped coming forward, instead calling you now. You didn't get the heavy treatment, you were just a sap. A sap for putting up with me and sap for being my partner. But most of all you were a sap for falling for my wife. He said that Marcia had seduced you, 'She offered him that sweet pussy of hers and he lapped it up.'

  "I knew he was speaking the truth. For once in his lousy life he was telling the truth and I didn't want to hear it. I suddenly felt dizzy and a little tingly all over my hands. It was like I wasn't in control of my own body. Have you ever felt like that, Errol, you know where it's like you're watching yourself doing something? I think it's when you can't cope with what is happening and you're real close to the edge.

  "I took out my gun and shot him, just once. Then for some reason I took out my spare and shot him again. That just seemed like a sensible thing to do at the time. The next thing I can remember I'm at your house the next morning waiting for you to arrive back from Alabama. I was going to tell you all about it but I couldn't. Instead I buried my head in the sand and pretended nothing had happened.

  "When Marlow left me the other night she took my bait." "She took your gun?"

  "Yes. The murder weapon became hers. I knew she was on to me and it worked like a dream. She's killed before, Errol. She will kill again if she gets out."

  He was right. I knew he was right.

  "The second weapon went to Ferriby's shack. You missed it but the police will have it by now. You did a good job Errol, you should be satisfied."

  I put my gun on the table and held out my hand. Hermeez shook it and grimaced.

  "I'm sorry, Errol. I broke the code. No gangsters, no hoodlums, no Outfit. I broke the code and I am truly sorry. Now you have done the same."

  I shook my head. "I love Claudia."

  "Yes, I am sure you do. Don't forget I love Marcia, I always have and I guess I always will."

  He then picked up my gun and looked thoughtful.

  I bowed my head and closed my eyes. I was almost willing him to do it! Hell, it was nothing more than I deserved! He may have broken the code, but what I had done was far worse!

  There was what seemed like days of silence. It was broken by the door closing. I looked up to find my gun back on the table and Hermeez gone.

  That night we eventually spent together. Not in the luxury of a five star hotel, but in my own apartment. We made our own romance, acting like children on a first date. We ordered pizza from the takeaway and drank our way through a good bottle of wine. Smoochy music drifted around the bare room and after dinner, we danced. When the record finished we kicked off our shoes and headed for the bedroom.

  Suddenly, all the coyness and fear disappeared. We indulged in the most beautiful lovemaking. Only the squeaks of my mattress invaded our moment of togetherness. Claudia was perfect throughout.

  When we finished for the second time we relaxed. Cuddling up close under the duvet, reliving in our minds what we had just done. It was only then that I thought of Marlow, and only for a brief moment.

  Playing with the curly tufts of hair on my chest, Claudia began to talk. I was only half listening, but she continued regardless. She told me how she had found the envelope after I had gone. She had tried to tell me on the telephone but I had been too busy. She did not say it bitterly or even defensively. What we had just done had made everything right. She just wanted to tell me the story.

  She'd got in touch with Hermeez and they decided to check it out. I had disappeared and maybe they could help me by giving me a surprise. Not for one second had they thought of doing anything but try to help me.

  I smiled and kissed Claudia warmly. I knew she was telling the truth. Of course, her bequest had not been the Flegenheimer Diamond, just the small matter of $10 million. She offered to buy me a new car. I failed to answer her generous offer. Deciding instead to roll over and make love once more. After all, this would be the last night I would spend with Claudia Cortene.

  The next morning I received a telephone call. It was from the new police Captain Timothy Matthews.

  "You are one sly son of a bitch."

  "Timmy, what makes you call at such an hour?"

  "What makes me…Last night we made a couple of arrests."

  "I'm very pleased for you, you'll make Captain yet."

  "I just did."

  "Congratulations. What happened?"

  There was a chesty laugh.

  "Just after I booked Flute and the delicious Marlow, we got a call of a disturbance just around the corner."

  "Very interesting Timmy, but you get disturbances every night of the week."

  "Yeah, but not involving the people that were involved in this one. They were arguing about some diamond or other. Hundreds of witnesses saw it all happen."

  "Timmy, what can I say?"

  "The only problem being the crooks had a little disagreement."

  "Oh?"

  "Yeah, the young one was most displeased. He calls the fat one ‘a stupid motherfucker’. And shot him down dead before turning the gun on the pair of goons they were arguing with. They all ended up dead except for two smart looking guys. Turns out they work for the Cortene Organization. They got the diamond, but I booked them for firearms offences and all of this happened right in front of Beech."

  "So you've got three murderers in one night eh, must be a record."

  "Damn right, Eezy. And you, my friend have got a case of bourbon. It's on its way to your place. Cheers!"

  Epilogue

  I never did find out who killed George Ferriby. Or his friend, the one that led me to the locker in the health club. He too was found shot to death a couple of weeks later and the murder was never solved.

  A little like the killing of Dutch Schultz, there were many possibilities and many red herrings. The Dutchman is widely accepted to have been a casualty of his own brashness and lack of tact. His very public spat with Thomas Dewey leading to the decision for Charlie Luciano to order the hit. This never did ring true to me. After all why would Luciano order the killing of Schultz when it would automatically lead to himself taking the Dutchman's place as Public Enemy Number One? Which is exactly what happened. I guess I am in a unique position, with the knowledge I have, and it is this that lead me to think that maybe it was the Coward that ordered the killing of Schultz, his own half brother. And it is this decision that set the whole series of events in motion that ultimately led to his own death. It's not one that you're going to read about in the papers but to me it is the most likely.

  Claudia Cortene went on to become a very successful woman. She broke free of her suffocating family when Uncle Stan was killed in a drive by shooting, a month after I last saw him. The last I heard she was making it big in the world of fashion, living mainly in Milan but jetting all over the world and earning lots of clean money. She is yet to marry after telling me that she would never walk down the aisle. That was just before she walked out on me the morning after I told her why Hermeez had left New York. It seems she could easily forgive me for cheating on her, but not for cheating on my best friend. She has a point.

  I did cross paths with Hermeez again but I guess that is for the next chapter. Unfortunately, we never made up. I never stopped loving him as a friend and I figure he felt the same. Otherwise he would have used my gun in Joe's spare room instead of just thinking about it. He still figures largely in my dreams, usually as the guiding light when I find myself overwhelmed by monsters or attacked my faceless killers. He helps me and he saves me, often, and then he just walks away.

  Timmy Matthews was on holiday when I took the call. It was long distance from a mutual friend of ours that was now living in San Diego. He said it was all over the newspapers down there after they exhumed the body of a local celebrity. He was to be flown home to Ireland and re-buried on consecrated ground. Apparently, it was protocol to give the remains a cursory autopsy
before packing it up and loading it on the airplane. It had caused quite a sensation down there and he just wondered if we had heard about it. We had not. Fancy finding an extremely precious, dark blue diamond in the remains of the man's stomach. And it was genuine too. Thought to be a cousin of the more famous Hope Diamond and worth a great deal of money.

  When I put the telephone down, I could almost see the sparkling eyes of Liam Tighe smiling down on me.

  It was the end of something big...

  BIOGRAPHY

  Simon Swift has been writing for as long as he can remember ...

  A voracious reader from an early age, he fell in love with the adventures of hardboiled detectives Sam Spade and Mike Hammer. A Humphrey Bogart season of black and white movies introduced him to film noir.

  After reading Politics and Philosophy at The University of York, he embarked on a 12 month odyssey of adventure, traveling the world. Alongside his odd pair of clean clothes and his stack of paperbacks, his most treasured possession was the notebook, which contained the chrysalis of his own hardboiled novel.

  Many years later, the result was Black Shadows, a crime novel which blends fact and fiction. It attained a gold star on Harper Collins' Authonomy in January 2010, on the way to becoming the all time top ranked crime novel and generating a record 1000+ reviews.

  He is currently putting the finishing touches to the sequel, The Casablanca Case. In the meantime, Simon passes the time teaching primary children in a challenging area, playing football with his two young children and being a dedicated husband to his lovely wife.

  As well as his family, his amazing job and writing, Simon loves most sport and giraffes.