by Joe McNally
I smiled at Prim, ’You got that one right!’
Monty: ‘What’s on the recording?’
‘Everything. Everything I just told you, step by step through the stages. Through Mave finding the shell companies, the changes in ownership, the string of betting shops, the purchase of the bookies’ pitches right around the time Ben was sober and writing that series of articles on corruption in sport. The articles you managed to stop by getting Ben drunk then giving him fourteen grand winnings from the jackpot that never was…everything. Oh, he did give you credit for not killing Ben Searcey, by the way.’
Bruno: ‘What about the stuff in Deadwood?’
Prim: ‘What about it? They put two and two together and made four. It wasn’t exactly hard.’
Bruno: ‘But what evidence have they got on Deadwood?’
Prim: ‘Bruno, I can tell you, there’s no point in you trying to get out of this. They know how loyal you’ve been to Monty. They know you pulled him from that car crash and saved his life and that you’d probably do anything for him. And, whatever your reasons, and I’m not saying you were doing anything other than obeying orders, but you’re in this. No point trying to argue about evidence now, believe me.’
Bruno: ‘There is a point. You said they’ve got evidence on the shell companies, the name changes, the betting shops the boss owns, have they got any evidence about what’s happened in Deadwood?’
Prim: ‘Nothing like what they have on the money laundering side through all the businesses, but it’s completely logical that if girls are being trafficked too, as part of the business, that Monty is doing it and cleaning the cash through the businesses.’
Bruno: ‘Completely logical is not evidence. Have they got any hard evidence on Deadwood or not?’
‘Well, no, I suppose not. Not in the way you put it, though I wasn’t concentrating that much on the Deadwood part. I’m only interested in getting my father out of this, and me. If you want to hear the recordings, I’ve got them on a memory stick.’
Monty: ‘Do you have it with you?’
‘No…didn’t see the point. There’s no computer here to play it on.’
Monty: ‘Can you get me a copy?’
‘No. No copies. You’re in the same boat as me here. The last thing you need are copies of this floating around. I’ve got one. I’ll let you hear it, but you can’t keep it. You just need to hear everything I’ve heard. You know Eddie’s voice well enough.’
Bruno: ‘When? When can we hear it?’
‘Tomorrow. Somewhere secure and private.’
Monty: ‘Bring it to my house in the morning. Bruno will meet you and drive you there.’
Prim: ‘Meet me where?’
Monty: ‘Your choice.’
Prim: ‘Where do you live?’
Monty: ‘That doesn’t matter. We will accommodate you.’
‘Fine. There’s a hotel about three miles from Dil’s place, called The Century Oak. I’ll have breakfast there and wait for you.’
Monty: ‘Bruno will be there at nine.’
‘Good.’
Silence . . .
Monty: ‘I will see you tomorrow. In the meantime, assuming everything is as you say it is, have you considered what action might have to be taken?’
‘From listening to those recordings, I’d say that’s your department. And I’d also say, we have until Eddie wakes up, and that could be in five minutes, five hours or five days, but once he’s awake, he could start talking. And, remember, she, his girlfriend, Mave, could talk anytime. It was her that dug out most of this stuff.’
Monty: ‘Is she with Eddie?’
Prim: ‘Been with him since he went in there. We visited this morning and we’re supposed to be going back this evening. Mave is staying there. They have a bed for her. So, they are both going to be in the same place.’
Bruno: ‘If Malloy has all this so-called evidence, why hasn’t he already gone to the police?’
‘Because he thinks he might have broken the law himself, well, him and Mave, in the way they’ve got all the evidence. She hacks company IT systems. She hacked your PC, Monty but found nothing. That’s another reason I think Eddie wanted to wait and try and get you to incriminate yourself.’
Bruno: ‘So what you’re saying is that they don’t have anything that will stand up in court, but you want us to handle your problem for you?’
Prim: ‘Yes, I admit it, I do want you to handle my problem, but it’s not for my sake, it’s for my father’s.’
Bruno: ‘You tell yourself that to ease your conscience.’
Prim: ‘Look, I’m not here for a morality lecture. I’ll bring the recordings tomorrow. You listen to them. If you don’t think you have a problem, fine. I’ll walk away.’
Sounds of someone getting up, then the others. Monty: ‘Let’s talk some more tomorrow.’
Prim: ‘Well. Let’s hope Eddie Malloy doesn’t wake up between now and then and decide he’s too tired to carry on with this and that he might as well just give everything he has to the police and leave the legalities to them.’
Monty: ‘Bruno and I will discuss everything this evening and we will see you tomorrow.’
Prim: ‘Whatever you decide to do, it has to be watertight…times two. Malloy and Maven Judge. Watertight and permanent.’
Monty: ‘We’ll talk tomorrow. Bruno will see you out and arrange a car.’
Prim: ‘If you decide to do anything overnight, will you call me first, on this number?’
Monty: ‘I should think it’s highly unlikely that we will need to call anyone, Prim.’
Prim: ‘Just take my number, anyway…please? I have arrangements of my own to make if something happens to Eddie Malloy…and to Maven Judge.’
Bruno: ‘You ask for a call. How do we know your place is not bugged?’
Prim: ‘Because my father’s man, the one who wired up Eddie’s house, runs a sweep on Dil’s place every day.’
Bruno: ‘What’s his name?’
Prim: ‘There’s no need for you to know that.’
Monty: ‘Bruno, I think Miss Romanic has had enough questions for today. Perhaps you’d organize a car for her?’
Prim: ‘I’m sorry to dump all this on you, Monty, but I need a way out, and so do you. It made sense to do this.’
Monty: ‘Good night. We will see you in the morning.’
Prim looked up at us, ‘That’s it.’
All was silent for a few moments, then Vita began clapping, slowly and quietly and everyone joined in as Prim smiled and looked down the tabletop. Vita said, ‘That was a bravura performance, Miss Romanic, bravura!’
Prim reddened as the rest of us added compliments. I said, ‘That should give you confidence for tomorrow. You were superb.’
Prim said, ‘This is going to sound really strange, but I enjoyed it. I was terrified, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt more alive.’
‘Ha ha!’ Vita said, and clapped again, ‘you’ve caught the bug! Let me tell you, it beats everything. Everything. Men become nothing. Money becomes nothing. You’ll be hooked now.’
I looked at Dil. He was angry. Worse, he was trying to force a smile. Vita didn’t even look his way. Nor did Prim, though that might have been to save him further embarrassment.
I stood up, ‘Mac, anything else?’
‘Bradley was delighted.’
I said, ‘He doesn’t look capable of delight, but we’ll settle for pleased.’
Mac said to Prim, ‘He thought you were superb. The whole team did. And everyone will be in position tomorrow and beyond. They can get you out at any time, on the signal.’
Prim nodded.
I said, ‘Right. Ember probably won’t do anything until he’s heard the tapes. I can’t see how he can track what we’re saying, but there’s a chance he’ll track where you’re going, so bear that in mind. And stick to the script when you’re talking, just in case. Mac’s found other accommodation to take him out of the picture for now. Prim might get tailed from Monty�
�s, so we can’t meet back here until the same time tomorrow evening. Normal visiting time.’ I hugged Prim and kissed her cheek, ‘You were brilliant. Good luck in the morning.’
She nodded, ‘I think I’ll be fine.’
‘I do too, but you need to be prepared for Ember turning up. It’s long odds against, but, as Mac says, you just need to say the get-out word if things go wrong. Bradley’s promised that his guys can be in there in three minutes max.’
Prim nodded, ‘Okay.’
‘What’s the word?’ I asked.
Her eyes flared, ‘Eddie! How many times?’
‘Last time…what’s the word?’
‘Valentino.’
‘Good.’
‘I’m hardly going to forget my father’s name!’
‘Pressure’s a strange thing,’ I said, ‘see you tomorrow night.’
82
The next day dragged us oh so slowly toward evening visiting. Blake dropped in three times, once to let us know that he’d had a call from the Racing Post to check on my progress. I said, ‘And here’s me thinking your car park is full of satellite news vans from across the world.’
‘Been there and done that in a previous life,’ Blake said, ‘it can become quite addictive.’
‘So they tell me.’
Mac arrived just after four o'clock. He was sweating. ‘Warm out there,’ he said, taking off his jacket. I smiled, ‘See, the north continues to court you. Where’s Steel?’
‘Still lying low. Probably best he doesn’t visit anyway. I’d guess we’re being watched by now.’
‘You’d guess? Didn’t it work this morning?’
‘Bradley wouldn’t tell me anything other than that Prim walked out safe and sound.’
‘He must have told you if the software worked.’
‘Best I can say is that he didn’t say it didn’t.’
I got up from my seat on the bed, ‘Mac, that was the deal! How else are we supposed to stay safe?’
‘Bradley says that’s his responsibility and that we can rest assured he will not be neglecting it.’
‘So how are we supposed to know if this is running or not?’
‘He said he hopes to be able to tell me more tonight.’
‘Fuck!’
‘Indeed.’
Mave said, ‘Would he tell Steel?’
‘I doubt it,’ Mac said, ‘and I’m not sure Steel would want to know.’
I said, ‘He’s a real leader of men this guy, Steel, isn’t he?’
Mac opened his arms and shrugged, unpeeling the sweaty shirt from his sides for a second, showing the damp patches. I said, ‘So we’re no wiser than we were this time yesterday?’
‘Well, Bradley did say that there had been some overnight activity at your place.’
‘Overnight activity?’
‘A two-man visit.’
‘From Ember’s boys?’
‘Well, it wasn’t from our side. I suppose it could have been Bruno and his guys, if they haven’t told Ember yet.’
Mave said, ‘They didn’t make a mess, did they?’
‘I doubt it. They’ll be pros.’
Mave said, ‘Pros can make the biggest mess depending on what they’re looking for.’
Mac said, ‘They were checking for the bugs that Señor Romanic was supposed to have arranged, and laying some of their own.’
I said, ‘You were listening in to the listeners?’
‘Bradley was. Fair play to him, he’s thought of pretty much everything on his side.’
‘Except telling us if Ember’s in yet.’
‘Bradley will have his reasons.’
‘That wasn’t the deal, Mac! And the plan was mine, remember?’
‘And the plan was good, Eddie. Bradley paid you the compliment of taking it on lock, stock and barrel.’
‘Then added a few rules of his own!’
‘Calm down, will you,’ Mac said, ‘if Ember’s boys are listening in here, they’re going to be wondering how a comatose patient can make so much noise.’
‘Bradley will hear me making some noise once I’m out.’ I looked angrily at Mave. She frowned deep and dramatic and said, ‘Go get ‘em tiger!’
Mac laughed. I laughed. Mac said, ‘They serving dinner soon?’
83
At seven, the others arrived. ‘All well?’ I asked as they trooped into the room. I was meaning to take in everyone, but my eyes fixed on Prim. She was poker-faced, but said, ‘Okay.’
I went to stand in front of her, ‘You’re safe? No threats?’ She shook her head slowly, as though exhausted. Dil said, ‘It took an awful lot out of her. For nothing.’
‘What do you mean, “for nothing”?’
Vita stepped forward, ‘Your friend and supposed colleague in this, Chief Constable Bradley stopped his tech team from giving us the recording.’
I turned to Mac, who rolled his eyes and looked up and sighed, ‘I’ll call him.’
Mac went out. Vita and Dil bitched about Bradley. Prim sat into the corner of the sofa staring at the wall. Mac came back. He said, ‘He just wants to make sure that what happens from here is decided by his team. He said that Prim knows what happened anyway, and she can brief us.’
‘What about Mave’s software?’
‘He wouldn’t say, Eddie. They’re monitoring twenty-four-seven. He said he’ll brief me along with Steel first thing in the morning, and that if you or anyone else here needs a briefing between now and then, his team will alert us.’
Dil said, ‘They’re watching all of us?’
Mac said, ‘All of you, all of the time.’
‘Like, now?’ Dil asked.
‘They know you’re in here and when you leave they’ll keep all of you in sight.’
‘And what if they fuck up?’ Dil said.
Mac said, ‘They’ve been very efficient so far.’
Vita spoke, ‘We’re entitled to know what’s going on. It wouldn’t be the first time things didn’t go to script with the cops. We ought to have an exit strategy.’
We all looked at Mac. He threw his “what can I do” pose and said, ‘Bradley’s not moving. I’ll get Nigel Steel to press him. In the meantime, can I suggest that Prim briefs us on what happened this morning?’
Prim sat half crouched, elbows on knees, arms tight-folded. She looked down sharply, her black hair tumbling. Dil said, ‘She’s at the end of her rope.’
Mave said, ‘Can we hold for a minute?’
I looked at her. She nodded for me to follow her and we went into the bathroom and closed the door.
We were back out within a minute. Prim was still seated. Mac, Dil and Vita stood and looked at us. I turned to Mave. She said, ‘The memory stick we made up for Prim with the false recordings on it…I added a script that would switch on the webcam and microphone of any PC the stick went into.’
Dil said, ‘Eddie told us that. But now we don’t know if it worked, do we? Bradley won’t give.’
Mave said, ‘There’s another script on there sending a backup into the cloud.’
Mac’s eyes narrowed, ‘Does Bradley know about the backup?’
‘Not unless his guys were looking for something other than what I told them was on there. Even then, they’d need to be good…very good.’
Vita said, ‘You could access this now?’
‘Yes.’
Mac raised a hand, ‘Look, I don’t think this is a very good idea. If Bradley changed his mind today about communications, it would be for a good reason.’
Vita said, ‘How do you know?’
‘I just can’t think why he would want to withhold this unless he believed it to be in everyone’s best interests.’
Vita said, ‘But you don’t know that, right?’
‘Well, no. It’s an educated guess.’
Vita said, ‘Well this is educated company, so I say we take an educated vote on it. Those in favour of Mave running this movie raise your right hand.’
Only Mac kept his down, and shook hi
s head. Mave lifted her laptop from the coffee table and placed it on the window ledge, then took to her keyboard. I turned to Mac, ‘You staying to watch?’
‘So long as it’s noted I didn’t vote for this.’
‘It’s noted,’ I said.
Prim got up. We stood shoulder to shoulder. Mave adjusted the screen, ‘Can you all see that?’
Vita said, ‘Can we lose the big light?’
Dil switched it off at the wall. The weak glow from the lamp above my bed barely reached us, leaving us standing on the edge of darkness waiting for the film to start. Mave clicked the spacebar to run it.
84
We could see all of Monty’s gargoyle face. Prim’s loomed briefly into the picture as she said to Monty, ‘You can’t make a copy of this, you know that?’
Monty: ‘Of course.’
Prim: ‘You won’t need it, anyway. Once you hear the voices you’ll know.’
Monty: ‘Indeed. Thank you.’
Monty’s PC mics then picked up the sound from his speakers as the fake tape of the recordings Mave and I had made began playing. I said to Prim, ‘Anything happen while they were listening to this?’
Prim shook her head, ‘Nothing.’
‘Was Bruno there?’ I asked.
Prim pointed at the laptop as though to show us, moving her finger to the left, ‘He was standing just off to the side.’
I said to Mave, ‘Our chatter goes on for a fair bit, doesn’t it?’
‘Forty-seven minutes.’
‘Can you fast-forward?’
Mave clicked and dragged the slider until we saw Monty turn and talk to Prim. Mave edged it back a bit and clicked play.
We heard Prim off camera: ‘Believe me now?’
Monty: ‘Leave it with us. I’ll be in touch.’
Prim: ’Leave what with you? The problem’s there…it’s obvious! It’s not going to get any smaller for you thinking about it! You haven’t got time! He could be awake just now, for all you know.’