The Betrayed: A shocking, gritty thriller that will hook you from the first page
Page 15
‘What? The rest of the firm are here but I’m not welcome?’ Stuart said, his tone full of sarcasm as he feigned his surprise. ‘I only came for the evening do. The piss-up. Couldn’t turn down all this free drink, could I? Besides, Jimmy probably wouldn’t even fucking notice that I’m here. He’s too busy with his new bird,’ Stuart said, slyly looking over at Alex. He took no time in getting down to business. His intentions suddenly made clear.
‘I know who she is!’
Alex bristled. Stuart might be drunk, but he clearly wasn’t completely without his faculties. The lad had a fucking axe to grind, that was obvious. Why else would he have turned up here, spouting his shit? He must be either extremely brave, or extremely stupid to come here to Jimmy Byrne’s wedding.
Alex figured on it being the latter.
Fuelled by the skinful of alcohol he’d clearly consumed, Stuart was deluded into thinking that he was being clever. Only he’d already got Alex’s back up, and with the mood Alex was in, he was treading a thin line.
‘I recognised her old dear too. See, last time I saw her I got a real good look at her.’
Hearing the slur to the kid’s voice, Alex decided to try and keep his cool. Not biting to Stuart’s words he carried on toking his cigarette. He could feel his temper getting the better of him, but for now, he was trying to wait the conversation out. See where Stuart was going with the shite he was spewing before he decided what he was going to do about it.
‘I saw them both standing at the bar. The blushing bride and her eccentric mother. It took me ages to try and place where I’d seen her before, then it hit me!’ Stuart grinned triumphantly, as if he’d just lifted his personal best at the gym. ‘That was their flat you sent me to, wasn’t it? Her and that little old lady of hers. They are the ones from the florist in Dean Street. You and Jimmy were paying me to cause aggro for them both.’
Stuart was glaring at Alex now, his eyes boring in to the man. He had the upper hand. For once in his life, he actually had something big on someone. Someone like Alex Costa and it felt fucking good. Like suddenly, Stuart was holding the man by the balls. He felt powerful.
‘But, I get it. You and Jimmy wanted me and the boys to go around and cause a bit of aggro. Wind the old bird up a bit because you wanted her out of the flat,’ he said, taking another long drag of his cigarette. ‘Paying me to set fire to the bastard thing is seriously fucked up even going by Jimmy’s standards.’
Stuart raised his eyes at Alex, letting the man know that he was on to him.
‘Jimmy must be one serious ruthless bastard to actually want to burn the old lady’s flat to the ground. Especially knowing that his future bride and mother-in-law were inside. Man, that is bad. Only, then I got thinking about you telling me to lay low. What am I laying low for? The fire was weeks ago?’
Stuart flicked his fag onto the ground and stamped it out with his shoe.
‘So now I’m thinking two things. One – you don’t want me around the old bird and her daughter in case they recognise me? ’Cos let’s face it, that wouldn’t look good, would it? And two – it ain’t just the old girl and her daughter you want me to keep away from. You don’t want me around Jimmy either, do you?’ Stuart said with certitude, as he waited for Alex to react.
Only Alex wasn’t giving him jack shit.
‘He doesn’t know, does he? The fire was all down to you.’
This was his moment of glory. The reason he’d come here tonight to Jimmy’s wedding. Knowing full well that they were surrounded by every face in London. No one could do jack to him somewhere so public.
‘You paid me £2k to do your dirty work, which as it goes was good money for a night’s earn. Only I’ve been paying the price ever since. It’s been six weeks since the fire and I’m all out of pocket now. So the way I see it, £2k don’t cut it. I want more.’
The very least the man could do was see him right financially. If Jimmy had this kind of wealth to literally piss up the wall, Alex wouldn’t be too far behind.
‘See, I like to think I’m a fair bloke, Alex. You ask me to do a job for you, and I do it, no questions. But making out that I need to lay low for my own protection? When really you want me to lay low for YOUR protection. You don’t want Jimmy to find out that you were the one that told me to torch the place.’ A couple of grand shoved inside an envelope for the job he’d done, which in all fairness for five minutes’ work had been a right touch. Stuart had doused the shop in petrol and lit a match. It was hardly fucking slave labour. Only Stuart realised now that he’d missed a trick.
If Alex didn’t want Jimmy to find out that it was him that had ordered the fire then that meant there was more money to be made here. Much more.
‘I might go back in there you know, and make a little speech. Welcome the new bride and her mother into Jimmy’s family properly, before I let Jimmy in on a few home truths. How’s that sound? Bet he’d love to hear what his right-hand man’s been up to behind his back.’
Alex had heard enough.
Throwing his cigarette to the floor before grabbing Stuart by the lapels of his jacket, he slammed the kid into the brickwork behind him, winding the snide fucker with the force of his strength.
Stuart Matthews was a liability of the worst kind; drunk, he was dangerous, at best, but factor in the fact the kid must be brain-dead when it came to his level of intelligence and Alex wondered what the fuck the kid was thinking. Waltzing in to Jimmy’s wedding and threatening him.
Him. Alex Costa. Who did the muggy little prick think he was? It was all he could do not to shove his fist down the kid’s mouth and bust every one of his yellowed, nicotine-stained teeth.
Scanning the empty courtyard to make sure no one was listening in to their conversation, Alex leaned in close to the boy, digging his closed fist hard against Stuart’s windpipe.
‘You need to watch your fucking mouth!’ Alex spat. ‘Don’t even think about trying anything funny, Stuart. I’m warning you. I told you to lay low, and I told you that for a reason. So don’t come around here trying to blackmail me, ’cos you, son, are going to cause fucking murders for yourself.’
Giving the lad one last dig, Alex let go.
Stuart doubled over, struggling for breath as the last bit of air escaped from his lungs. For a second he thought he might lose his bottle. He’d forgotten how brutal Alex could be. Jimmy was ruthless, but Alex was a hard fucker too. He was no match for the man. Only, catching a glimpse of Jimmy Byrne walking up the path towards them, Stuart suddenly realised that he once again had the upper hand.
‘Jimmy!’ Stuart said, his arms outstretched, his tone overfamiliar, which only indicated to Jimmy that the lad was half-cut.
‘Congratulations, man! What a place huh? It’s like a fucking palace.’
Turning his attention to Alex, Jimmy kept his voice down.
‘What the fuck is he doing here?’
Glancing around anxiously to make sure that Colleen and Edel weren’t around, the last thing Jimmy needed was anyone recognising Stuart from the break-in at the shop. He couldn’t risk his wife and mother-in-law spotting the kid here, it was far too risky.
‘Ah come on, Jimmy man! I fucking grafted for you. You’re not going to begrudge me being here tonight to wish you and your lovely Mrs well, are you?’ Stuart said with a sneer. ‘Me and Alex were just saying what a lovely couple you both make. Weren’t we, Alex?’
Knowing that was a blatant lie and seeing the irate expression on Alex’s face, Jimmy knew that there was something else going on here: his instinct telling him that he’d clearly interrupted what seemed to be a heated conversation.
‘What’s going on?’ he said agitatedly. He’d been on his way up to the honeymoon suite. Colleen had called it a night. Wanting to sneak out of the wedding without anyone realising that they’d gone so as not to cause a fuss, Colleen had gone up to the room to wait for her new husband to join her.
The day, so far, had been perfect and the last thing Jimmy wanted right now was
any aggro.
Stuart looked at Alex and shrugged.
‘Alex was just saying that he needs to sort me out some money that he owes me, weren’t you, Alex?’ Stuart said, knowing this was his one and only chance to completely mug Alex Costa off. The man would be desperately wanting to save his own arse right now, to ensure that Jimmy didn’t find out what Alex had paid him to do.
‘Oh yeah? What money’s that then?’ Sensing Stuart’s undertone, Jimmy stared at the kid questioningly. He wasn’t buying Stuart’s bullshit story.
‘It’s nothing, Jimmy. Forget it,’ Alex intervened.
Then turning back to Stuart, Alex flashed the lad a warning. ‘Tonight isn’t the time and place to sort out business. So let’s do this another day, yeah? You were just going to get off, weren’t you? You only popped in to wish Jimmy and Colleen all the best, didn’t you?’ Alex glared at the kid, his eyes boring into him, willing him to just shut the fuck up, and go along with what he said.
His warning wasn’t enough to deter the stupid fucker though.
‘Don’t treat me like a cunt, Alex,’ Stuart spat back. Alex would love that, wouldn’t he? Stuart to just skulk off back to where he’d been ‘laying low’. Out of sight, out of mind. Well, Stuart was resolute; he wasn’t going anywhere until Alex agreed to pay up. ‘Why don’t you tell Jimmy why I’m really here?’
This would teach Alex for thinking that he could get him to do his dirty work, and then mug him off as if he was nothing. If the man wasn’t prepared to pay the premium to keep his mouth shut, then he was only too happy to let the treacherous fucker be on the receiving end of Jimmy’s temper, even if that did make Stuart a grass. At least he’d be showing his loyalty to Jimmy.
Alex didn’t speak.
It spurred Stuart on to thinking that he had the man where he wanted him.
‘That fire on Dean Street. Your wife and mother-in-law’s place. It was Alex told me to go round there and torch it. Rang me up pissed out of his nut. Told me you’d okayed it all.’ Stuart blurted everything out. ‘Only now I’ve done it, the bloke wants to banish me from the face of the earth. Why’s that, eh? ’Cos he doesn’t want you to find out what I did; ’cos it will drop him right in the shit. Well I ain’t no one’s mug.’
‘You stupid cunt,’ Alex said, screwing his mouth up in distaste as he shook his head at Stuart’s confession.
‘I thought you said you sorted this?’ Jimmy said to Alex, not so much as faltering at Stuart’s confession.
The man was acting as if he hadn’t even heard the words that had come out of Stuart’s mouth.
‘Hang on a minute.’ Stuart stared at the two men, dumbfounded – the sudden realisation that he’d read the situation completely wrong. ‘You knew?’ he stuttered. ‘You knew about the fire?’
‘I told you it was too much of a risk letting this cunt run his mouth off. You were supposed to deal with him.’ Jimmy was talking now as if Stuart wasn’t even there. Looking only at Alex as he spoke.
Unable to believe what he was hearing, Stuart was starting to feel on edge. This was why Alex had been making him lay low. Alex had been trying to save his arse only Stuart had been too stupid to realise it.
‘You shouldn’t have come here tonight!’ Alex said, the initial sympathy he’d felt for Stuart replaced with irritation. He’d tried to do the kid a favour. He’d thrown him a lifeline, and Stuart, being the gormless prick that he was, had chucked it all back in his face.
Jimmy had wanted Stuart dealt with properly. He hadn’t wanted any loose ends that could lead anyone back to them regarding the fire. But Alex hadn’t the heart to see the order through.
Stuart wasn’t even eighteen. Just a kid.
As it turned out, Jimmy was right. Stuart was a liability. Clearly not capable of keeping his mouth shut after all. If the kid had even half a brain he’d be dangerous. Still, there was nothing that Alex could do to save his arse. Not now he’d come here tonight and tried to pull a stunt like this.
Realising that he’d fucked himself, Stuart didn’t know what to say to redeem himself. His only hope was to beg.
‘I get it now,’ Stuart said, backtracking. ‘I misread the situation. I thought Alex was mugging me off, mugging us both off, Jimmy. I won’t say a thing, you have my word.’
But Jimmy and Alex both knew that Stuart Matthews’s word was worth shit. He’d already proved that he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. There was no way that Jimmy Byrne would let the man fuck everything up for him. Not when he’d worked this hard to get where he was.
The lad barely had time to register what was happening as the two men dragged him behind the old barn at the back of the courtyard.
He’d come here tonight to try and cause murders for the men. Unbeknown to Stuart Matthews, the only murder he had managed to instigate was his own.
Twenty-One
Colleen Byrne sat on the edge of the bed sipping her glass of champagne, as if she was still in some sort of dream world.
Her head was spinning. The magic and excitement of today had been everything that she’d wished for and more. Every minute of her and Jimmy’s wedding had been every bit as wonderful as she’d hoped it would be. The venue, the food, the atmosphere. It was like something straight out of a movie.
Now she was married, she couldn’t really believe it. She was a Byrne: Jimmy Byrne’s wife, and as she waited for her husband to return to the honeymoon suite she couldn’t help but feel a mixture of both apprehension and excitement at the thought that they were going to consummate their marriage.
Colleen had been both dreading and anticipating this moment for weeks. Still a virgin, Colleen just hoped that she was going to be good enough for Jimmy. He’d made no secret of the fact that he’d had a lot of girlfriends before her. The man had years of experience ahead of her.
Downing some more champagne as she stared at the clock, the longer she waited for him, the more her nerves were starting to get the better of her. Jimmy had been ages. He’d told her that he’d sneak out and follow her up; but she’d been up here waiting for ages now, and currently on her second glass. She was in danger of drinking too much champagne and passing out drunk if he didn’t get here soon.
Suspecting that someone was keeping him talking, Colleen smiled to herself. If anyone would have cornered him as he tried to make his getaway, she could bet her life it would be her mother.
Her mum just adored Jimmy.
She’d be talking the hind legs off the man right about now, and Jimmy would be too polite to interrupt her.
Finishing off her drink, tipsy, Colleen decided to go back downstairs and look for Jimmy. She was his wife now and it was her duty to rescue him, she thought to herself with a giggle.
* * *
‘Leave it, Jimmy. For fuck’s sake, he’s had enough, Jimmy!’ Using every bit of strength he had, Alex Costa dragged Jimmy Byrne away from the mess that was now Stuart Matthews.
‘What the fuck’s got into you, Jimmy? He’s just a kid. He fucked up!’ Alex spat, rubbing his head in dismay.
He’d never seen Jimmy like this before. Not at this level of lunacy. The past few minutes Jimmy had been like a man possessed. Incoherent. Like the lights were on, but no one was home as he viciously attacked Stuart Matthew. The kid didn’t stand a fucking chance.
Vexed that Stuart Matthews had the audacity to come here on his wedding day, that he could have cost him everything, Jimmy hadn’t held back his fury.
What scared Alex the most was that even he hadn’t been able to stop Jimmy. Unhinged, Jimmy had carried out his incisive attack until it had gone way too far for Alex’s liking.
Now it was too late.
‘Look at the state of him, Jimmy. There’s nothing left,’ Alex said as he stared down at the sickening mush of red pulp that had once been Stuart’s face. His head had caved in, his nose and eye sockets sunk under the force of Jimmy’s punches and kicks, leaving him unrecognisable.
Not even human anymore.
He was dead.
Only Stuart Matthews had been one of them. He’d been part of Jimmy and Alex’s workforce and that’s exactly why Alex had thrown the kid a lifeline.
‘Fuck, Jimmy! Look what you did!’ Alex said, spitting out the last of the bile that had risen at the back of his throat. This was exactly the reason that Alex had told Stuart to lay low in the first place.
Jimmy had been gunning for him.
If Stuart had just done what he’d told him, and kept his fucking head down, then he’d have been all right. It would have all died down after a couple of more months. Stuart would still be alive.
But no, the stupid bastard had other ideas.
Coming here to Jimmy’s wedding and trying to cause shit for him. Fuck me. All Alex had tried to do was help the kid out, and for his troubles, Stuart had swiftly stabbed the man in the back. Still, that didn’t mean that Alex wished the stupid fucker dead.
Stuart was still technically a kid. His life had barely started and now Jimmy had ruthlessly snubbed it out.
‘Fuck!’ It was Jimmy’s turn to swear. Snapping out of the red mist of rage that had consumed him, it was as if he’d just woken up from a trance, seeing suddenly what Alex could see.