One Night, page 23
Sitting opposite her was Harry’s man. He looked bored, tired. Like someone at a family party who’d rather not be there. Joel took in that look and wondered how much of a part he’d played in the expression of sheer terror on the woman’s face.
Eve was with her mother instantly, her arms wrapped around her and her lips on her forehead and cheeks showering them with kisses. She was struck like she had been in the hallway by the fact that her past and her future were here. The mother who had raised her and the man who she wanted in her future. The two people she loved most in the world. The only two people she’d really loved since her dad had died.
“Happy?” she heard Harry say behind her. “Here she is are, all fit and well. Now, how about you get that bag open and show me the fucking money.”
Chapter Fifty Six
Joel didn’t waste any time, he dumped the bag on the floor in front of Harry and ripped it open.
“Perfect,” said Harry. “Just perfect.”
He knelt and plunged his left hand into the bag. He pushed it through the neatly wrapped bundles of cash on the top, digging deep like a kid at a Lucky Dip. The hand came out again clutching one of the white and brown bricks, fifty ten pound notes held together with a crisp white band. Harry gave a little chuckle. As the sound left his mouth Eve looked back over her shoulder at him. Joel could see the look on her face but he didn’t quite understand it.
“What have you done to her?” she said to Harry. Joel looked at her then at her mother. He realised that the woman hadn't spoken since they'd entered the room.
That quick glance he'd had of the older woman a minute ago had told Joel she was upset but now that he could see her properly he realised it was more than that. She looked shocked. Shell-shocked. Like something had happened that she couldn’t wipe her mind clean of.
Harry didn’t react to Eve’s question, didn’t even seem to notice that she’d spoken. The gun was still in his hand, pointing down at the floor now, almost forgotten. Joel could see that the money had cast its spell on him, overcoming even the deadly power of the weapon.
Eve spoke again, louder this time. “Harry, what have you fucking done to her?”
Harry heard her that time and turned back to look at her. “I’ve done nothing, Eve. Just spoken to her, shared a few stories from the old days.”
He turned back to the money and was lost in it again immediately.
As Harry knelt there, transfixed by the sight and the smell of all that money, Joel wondered if he should jump him. He could wrestle that gun away, turn it on its owner. He played the scene through in his head but too many times the fight ended with the gun going off and a bullet slicing through the flesh of one of the innocents in the room. In his mind's eye he saw again the carnage of the panic room replayed in this cosy, homely space.
"If only I could keep it," Harry murmured, pulling him back to the present.
"Why not?" said Joel. "Take it. Jump in that fancy car of yours and drive. What's keeping you here, Harry? You're not married, your family don't look like they'd miss you too much. Take it. You've earned it, tonight and over the decades. Call it your retirement fund. You could be in Spain by noon, the Canaries not long after, the Caribbean by dinnertime. That amount of money would keep you for a very long time."
Harry heard the words and they were like echoes of the thoughts already bouncing around in his head. He had earned it, God knows he had. All those years of graft, building up his reputation, his empire. Always bowing to the wishes of the London mob though. What was he tonight? Their errand boy for fuck's sake. What did he have to show for all those years and all that hurt? Just the Jaguar, that was all. A fine car, the car of a man who was somebody, but when it came down to it just a car.
He pictured himself on a beach somewhere, sipping a cocktail and watching the waves roll in and out. A tidy little bottle blonde in a bikini lying next to him. Eager to please. All that money could buy a lot of pleasure. It could wipe out a lot of pain from the past too.
With the feel of money between his fingers he could almost hear the ocean. The smell of the cash was in his nostrils but he thought he caught the scent of the girl too. The sweet mix of sweat and suntan lotion. The taste of her lipstick as he kissed her.
"All the things I've done. Horrible things." He said the words to the girl and waited for her to tell him it was all okay.
"Just take it," Joel said again and Harry realised he wasn't in paradise with the girl, he was still in Southend. It felt so close now though, that golden dream.
"You know what?" Harry smiled. "Maybe I will and maybe I won’t."
He stood and swung the gun round to point at Joel. The weight of it felt good in his hand, it pulled away from him slightly as he swung it, tugging against his fingers. He stopped when he could see Joel down the barrel of it.
"Either way you and I have business to settle. Someone has to pay for all of this. You understand that, right? Money or no money, someone has to pay for all the trouble tonight."
Joel didn't even notice Eve standing up but all of a sudden she was there in front of him. Between him and the gun.
Joel could see Harry beyond her. The murder was in his eyes again. Maybe he'd figured out that if he was leaving the country he might as well settle the score before he left. Joel knew that the run-around he'd given Harry would be hard for the man to live down. That and the fact he'd slept with his niece. The money might give the old gangster a way out of his life but it wouldn't slake his thirst for revenge. Nothing would do that except Joel's blood.
He kept his eyes on Harry's and put his hand on Eve's shoulder.
"Eve, move. This is down to me."
She turned her head and looked at him over her shoulder.
“He’ll kill you,”
“I’ll be okay.” He didn’t know if it was true but he knew he didn’t have much choice. He couldn’t risk the gun going off. Not in that small room. “It’s for the best, Eve.”
“Listen to your man,” said Harry.
Eve glared at him but stepped out of the way.
Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of handcuffs. “Coppers aren’t the only ones can find a use for these,” he said. “Put them on, you tricky fucker while I think about what to do with you.” He threw them at Joel, they hit his chest and fell to the floor.
“Pick them up and put them on,” said Harry, the anger darkening his voice.
Joel bent and grabbed them, his eyes on Harry and the gun. “Do it, son or I’ll put a fucking bullet in you right now.” Joel nodded, he knew he didn’t have a choice. As long as he kept Harry happy Eve would be okay. That’s what he told himself anyway. Eve and her mother. The two of them eerily silent now, watching the scene in front of them.
The steel was warm on his wrists as he slipped the cuffs on.
“Cinch them up nice and tight now. Paulie,” Harry called to his man on the sofa. “You check them.”
The man didn’t move and Joel wondered what debate was going on in his mind. If Harry was running with the cash what mileage was there in helping him?
“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Harry threw one of the bricks of cash at Paulie who caught it with a smile. He stood slowly and walked over to Joel. The steel was encircling his wrists, tight already. Paulie’s big hands close around them and gave the metal an extra squeeze, ratcheting the cuffs a notch tighter on him. They dug into his flesh and pushed against the bone of his wrists. The hands stayed there longer than they needed to, the pressure increasing for no reason other than the fun of it. Bolts of pain shot up Joel’s arms, but the hurt helped focus his mind. He looked back into the man’s eyes and wondered what he was thinking. He could smell whiskey on his breath and his face was ashen with tiredness but he still looked like he’d put up a fight. His hands were strong, Joel could feel that as they gripped him. The guy’s arms looked just as powerful. Paulie let go at last and stepped back
“I don’t know what to do with you, Joel,” said Harry. “I really don’t. Do I kill you now or leave you for them? What do you think Paulie? Put a bullet in him? That’s what you do with a traitor isn’t it?”
Paulie spoke for the first time since Joel and Eve had entered the room. His voice was light for a man of his size. “No reason to leave him alive. None at all.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Harry. He lifted a cushion off the sofa and held it in front of the gun as he walked forwards. Joel had seen the trick before. Knew that the thick stuffing of the pillow would muffle the gunshot enough for people to pass it off as a car backfiring.
“Get him on the ground and hold him for me,” Harry said and suddenly Paulie’s thick arm was around Joel’s neck. Paulie kicked the back of his knee and Joel’s leg buckled beneath him. There was no pain, he just lost the ability to stand and fell to the floor.
Paulie landed on top of him, his forearm against Joel’s cheek, trapping his head flat against the carpet. Joel could see Harry stepping up to him, raising the pillow with the gun behind it. Smiling.
Joel was waiting for the bullet when the screaming started.
Chapter Fifty Seven
Eve didn’t know where the sound was coming from at first. Her eyes were fixed on Joel lying on the floor with Paulie pressing down on him. She knew she had to save him but she didn’t know how, couldn’t make any part of her brain work through the mystery of how she could defeat Harry and his gun or Paulie and his muscles. She turned and saw that her mum’s mouth was open, stretched wide to let the anguished noise she was making come out. Her face was still recognisable but the sound coming out was utterly alien. There was a mix of terror and sorrow in it that chilled Eve.
Harry stared at them. “Shut her up Eve or I will.” he said.
Eve took her mum’s hand and squeezed it. She touched her face, looked into her eyes and tried to make some connection but the eyes she was looking into were staring at something else. Something in the past.
Harry took a step towards them, his hand flashed by Eve’s face and then the back of his clenched fist collided with her mum’s cheek. The gun, was still gripped in it, the weight of it giving more power to the blow. Her head snapped to the side and she fell silent, the scream cut off as if a door had been shut.
“No more killing, Harry,” she said. “No more. I know what you think you are but you’re not. You can stop it any time you want. He told me some of the things you’ve done, Max told me. But that doesn’t mean you have to keep on doing them.”
Harry hit her again. The back of his hand slamming into the welt that was already rising from his first blow. “Don’t you fucking tell me what to do. No woman tells me what to do.”
Her face was bleeding now, blood trickling down the open wound over her cheekbone. Eve had never seen her mum like that, physically broken, damaged. Her eyes were glazed but she carried on talking.
“She did though didn’t she Harry. She told you exactly what to do. What would she say if she knew where it led? If she knew what you’d done to Max.”
Eve could see the rage bubbling up in Harry, his arm tensing for another blow. She threw herself at him, launching off the sofa and driving her shoulder into his gut. His arm still swung but the blow went wide and as he staggered back with her weight pushing against him. The gun slipped from his fingers and fell to the carpet. Harry saw it drop, saw it skid across the floor and go under an armchair.
“Fuck,” he shouted. “I’m going to fucking kill every one of you.” With Eve still pushing against him he fell back onto the sofa Paulie had been sitting on. He swung his fist at the back of Eve’s head, landing a blow at the base of her skull that seemed to weaken her a little.
From the floor Joel could see only bits of what was happening. He had seen Harry attack Eve’s mum, had heard her words and seen Eve drive Harry backwards out of his vision. All the time the pressure of Paulie’s thick arm pushing down on his head made it feel like it was going to crack open. The handcuffs were cutting into his wrists, his arms and hands trapped beneath his body. He could feel the numbness starting in his fingers from the lack of circulation. He could smell the other man’s stale sweat and the booze on his breath. They were as close as lovers.
From off to the side of his vision he heard the sound of a fist hitting flesh and small cries of pain coming from Eve. All he could see was her mother, sitting stunned on the sofa. Her face showing the evidence of the damage Harry’s fists could do. The blood was pouring freely down her cheek now, soaking into the collar of the dressing gown she was wearing.
She looked like she might pass out but she stood. She was unsteady on her feet and for a moment Joel thought she would fall but she managed to keep her balance. At first he thought she was going to Eve and Harry but she didn’t, she went in the opposite direction.
On top of him Paulie shifted slightly, his eyes tracking the woman. Joel could hear him muttering under his breath but couldn’t make the words out. Paulie moved again, and the pressure on the side of Joel’s face lessened as he did so. Joel jerked his head to one side, sliding it out from under Paulie’s arm, and saw the arm slam down on the floor in front of his face. Paulie’s body shifted, thrown off balance momentarily, and Joel twisted underneath him, pushing up with all his strength and tipping the big man onto the carpet.
Joel’s arms were released at last. His hands were still numb from the cuffs but his arms felt wonderfully free. Paulie was on his side, facing away from him, trying to get a hand down so he could push himself up. Joel rolled to face him and swung both arms up, looping the chain of the handcuffs around Paulie’s throat and then pulling it back as hard as he could.
He could see Harry and Eve now. Harry had his left hand on his niece’s throat and his right pulled back to punch her. Joel was trapped, Paulie thrashing in his grip, trying to get his fingers under the chain of the cuffs so that he could pull it away from his throat. Joel knew that if he let up the pressure by even the tiniest amount the other man would break free of him. His stomach churned as he watched Harry’s fist connect with Eve’s face.
He heard the punch, heard Eve cry out, heard Paulie’s rasping breath.
Eve looked over at him, blood trickling from both her nostrils, one eye swelling shut like she was winking at him.
Paulie was kicking at him now, driving his heels back into Joel’s shins. Joel pulled his right leg up, pushing it back into the small of Paulie’s back and giving himself greater leverage. His arms were straining now, the metal of the cuffs pulling against his flesh, scraping the skin away. He didn't know how long he'd been throttling Paulie for, how much breath the man still had in him.
Joel saw that Harry was about to punch Eve again, that heavy, bloodied fist was pulled back and ready. He willed Paulie to give up, to just relax and slip into unconsciousness.
And then just as he was about to throw the punch Harry looked up and stopped. His eyes were bright with surprise and something that might have been fear. Joel strained his head round and followed his gaze. He saw her then, Eve’s mother. She was crouching by an armchair and reaching underneath it. The gun, he thought, she’s going for the fucking gun. He hadn’t even seen it drop but it wasn’t in Harry’s hand anymore so it must be somewhere.
Harry opened his hand and let Eve fall back to the sofa. He strode across the room and grabbed her mum by her hair, pulling her upright to face him. “You don’t get the gun,” he said. “You don’t get anything. Just a bullet.”
Her legs looked like they were collapsing beneath her but Harry kept her on her feet. Joel could see her greying hair pulling her scalp up, the pink flesh was visible through the strands. The skin was taut like it might rip, releasing the hair and allowing her to slump to the floor.
Harry backhanded her again, harder than ever this time. It was a sharp vicious blow that sent her falling back onto the chair.
Harry knelt in front of the chair and reached under it, fingers scrabbling to hook the gun and pull it to him. He could see it, feel it with his fingertips as the slipped off the dull metal. He just had to get it. Then he could end it all. Then he could end them all.
Chapter Fifty Eight
Joel could see Harry on his knees reaching under the chair which Eve’s mother was sprawled on. The woman was still conscious but only barely.
Paulie was thrashing, fighting with all his strength to escape the chain at his neck. Joel knew that if Harry got that gun again it was all over. He had no doubt now that Harry would use it. Use it on him and then probably on the two women.
He managed to get his left knee up by the right. The two locked together pushing into Paulie’s back gave him an even base to lever against. He tugged again with all his strength, ignoring the pain in his wrists and the blood that was flowing from them and coating the handcuffs now. It had only been a couple of minutes but his aching muscles made it feel like much longer. God knows how Paulie had hung on for so long.
Harry pushed his shoulder against the chair, trying to force it backwards so his arm had enough reach to grab the gun. It didn't budge. The fucking thing wasn't on wheels, that would have been far too easy. Instead four short wooden legs dug determinedly into the carpet. The weight of that fat old bitch on top was pushing them down, making it impossible for him to move the damn thing. The chair was in a corner of the room, walls touching it on two sides and the gun equally inaccessible from either of the two open ones. It was just too fucking far under. Part of Harry thought he should just forget the lust for revenge that was consuming him. That he should grab the money and run for it but he couldn't leave that smug cunt Joel alive, not after all the trouble he'd caused. Besides if he was going to disappear with the money then killing Joel and losing the body might work to his advantage. Whoever took the money was going to have a lot of people looking for them for a very long time. If they were looking for Joel rather than him then he might just be able to see out his days in the sun with a drink in his hand and that little blonde sucking him off every night.
