Authors: Kimberley Chambers
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Contemporary, #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery, #Thrillers & Suspense, #Crime, #Contemporary Fiction, #Crime Fiction
The Victim (44 page)
Instead of calling Flatnose Freddie, Eddie dialled Larry’s number. If Ricky hadn’t died and Gary didn’t have a bullet lodged somewhere in his leg, Flatnose could have mopped up quite easily. Raymond was now over his earlier concussion and Ed could have just turned up at the hospital and pretended he had taken a good hiding from someone. Bullet wounds were different gravy, though. The Old Bill would start sniffing around like there was no tomorrow.
‘What’s up, Ed?’ Larry asked, half asleep.
When Eddie told him the score, Larry had never woken up so quickly in his entire life. ‘So, did all this happen where the tyres are kept?’ Larry asked, trying to catch his breath. He could barely believe what he had just heard.
‘Yeah. We’re still here now.’
‘Right, get yourselves out of there and get rid of any incriminating evidence you might have on you, and I mean everything. Once you’ve done that, set fire to the warehouse with the O’Haras still inside. Then call an ambulance, followed by the police. You tell the authorities that you went up to Scotland to get your grandchildren back, and then you got followed home. Tell them the truth about Joey picking the kids up from the garage – it’s probably on camera anyway – and say you drove straight to the yard because you didn’t know where else to go. You tell the police that you have no idea how the fire actually started. Say that you overheard the O’Haras talking and you think that they were planning on burning you alive. Your injuries and Ricky’s death should cement your story and do not involve Joey in the end part.’
Eddie sighed. ‘I’d rather just ring Flatnose, Lal. I can’t be doing with all the Old Bill’s questions; I’ve just lost my son, for fuck’s sake. Ain’t there another way we can sort this without involving them? And what about the forensics? Say they discover that the O’Hara’s had been shot? We’ll all be in shit-street then.’
‘Now listen to me, Ed, and listen very carefully. The O’Haras have killed not only your father, but also your son, and if you loved Harry and Ricky as much as I know you did, you wouldn’t want their deaths to be in vain, would you now? What you’ve just told me about Jed murdering your father has literally knocked the stuffing out of me. Harry wasn’t just one of my clients, I classed him as one of my best friends as well. You must honour your dad’s and Ricky’s memories, Ed. Fitzgerald Smythe is the best QC I’ve ever worked with, but even he couldn’t get you out of this one. Even Einstein would falter on a case such as this. Please, just do as I say, Eddie. It’s the only way out this time, I can promise you that. As for the forensics findings, we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.’
‘OK,’ Ed said ending the phone call. He turned to Gary, Joey and Raymond and repeated the conversation.
‘I can’t drag my brother’s body out of ’ere like a lump of dead meat. You’re gonna have to do that,’ Gary muttered.
Eddie nodded, then turned to Joey. ‘How did you get here?’
‘Dom brought me. I told him to wait five minutes in case yous weren’t here, then drive back to Frankie’s.’
‘You’d better go and check he ain’t still sitting there. If he is, jump in the car and go back to your sister’s. Say nothing, though, Joey, I’ll do all the explaining later.’
‘Nan and Grandad are at Frankie’s an’ all,’ Joey informed him.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake! You’re just gonna have to try and act normal, boy. I’ll get there as quick as I can.’
When Joey left the building, Eddie tried to stand up, but couldn’t. ‘We need to get rid of everything now, boys. Rope, knives, baseball bats, the gun, the whole fucking caboodle,’ he ordered, as Raymond helped him up.
‘How we gonna do that? Ray, you’ll have to dump all our props somewhere; I can’t drive with this leg,’ Gary replied.
Eddie looked at his son’s dead body. It was lying only a couple of feet away from him. The mess they were all in was suddenly getting to him and he felt ill, really ill. How the hell were they meant to clean up after themselves, then burn the place down when only Raymond could fucking walk properly?
‘Look who I found,’ Joey said, as he reappeared with Stuart and Terry by his side.
For the second time that day, Ed thought how his prayers had been answered. He briefly explained to Tel and Stu what had happened, then told them what Larry had said.
‘Come on, mate, let’s get you up,’ Stu said, as he and Terry bent down to help Ed.
‘Tel, you get rid of the gun and any shit in the back of the van. Look near the Portakabin for a knife, ’cause O’Hara’s other son got stabbed. When you’ve done that, go straight back to Frankie’s,’ Eddie instructed.
Terry nodded and ran from the building.
‘Stu, you help Raymondo take Ricky outside, then I want you to take Joey home for me. Say nothing when you get there, not even about Ricky. I’ll do the talking when I get back from the hospital or wherever the cunting Old Bill take me.’
Unable to watch his brother’s body being dragged along the floor like an animal carcuss, Gary half limped and half ran out of the building. Stuart and Raymond picked Ricky up by his arms and legs and, instead of torturing himself by watching, Ed distanced himself by focusing on the hero. Joey had been such a disappointment to Eddie as a child, the runt of the litter, and when Ed had found out his son was gay, he had all but disowned him.
‘Come and sit ’ere, boy,’ Eddie urged him.
Joey did as he was told. As a kid and a teenager, all he had ever wanted was his father’s acceptance, but he hadn’t wanted to gain it this way. He put his head in his hands. ‘I’m still in shock, Dad. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I saved your life and Gal’s and Ray’s, but I can’t believe that I did what I did. How can I go back and work up the City next Monday? I feel like a different person. As for Dom, we ain’t gonna survive all this, I just know we ain’t.’
Eddie put his arms around his saviour’s shoulders. For years Eddie had wanted to wipe the O’Haras off the face of the earth, and now Joey, the most unlikeliest of heroes had just achieved what Ed had previously failed to do himself. ‘You’ll need to take some time off work to get your head together, but don’t worry about you and Dom, you’ll be absolutely fine. Match made in heaven, yous two.’
Feeling himself about to falter, Joey did his best to stop himself crying. ‘You always said that shooting lesson would come in handy one day, didn’t ya?’ he joked tearfully.
Eddie ruffled Joey’s blonde hair then, with the arm that wasn’t broken, held his son more tightly than he’d ever held him in the past. ‘I love you, boy, and I’m so bloody proud of you.’
‘I love you too, Dad, but I’m not very proud of myself at the moment,’ Joey said honestly.
Eddie tilted Joey’s chin upwards, so he could look him in the eyes. ‘Do you wanna know why you did what you did today?’
Joey nodded. He knew why he had done what he had deep down, but he could never tell his father that Frankie had known about his Grandad Harry’s death. That would always have to remain a secret between the two of them, as Joey knew that his father would go apeshit if he ever found that out.
Eddie stared at his son intensely. ‘You might have been a softie as a child and then turned all gay on me, but you can never change the stock you were reared from. What’s bred in the bone will one day come out in the flesh, Joey, and you proved that today, boy.’
Joey was confused. ‘And what is that supposed to mean? That I killed Jed and Jimmy just ’cause I’m a Mitchell?’
With immense pride in his eyes, Eddie smiled. ‘No, Joey. You didn’t kill them just because you’re a fucking Mitchell. You killed them because you are Eddie Mitchell’s son.’
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Epub ISBN 9781409051282
Published by Preface Publishing 2011
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Copyright © Kimberley Chambers 2011
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