Gareth Dawson Series Box Set

by Nathan Burrows

  I’d not seen David this talkative for a long time but had heard a rumour — from Big Joe, who else — that there was a lass working in the supermarket down the road who David was sweet on. About bloody time, I thought, before making a mental note to phone up a dentist and get a rough quote for the lad.

  “Gareth?” I heard Tommy call my name. “You still with us, mate?”

  “Yep, sorry, got distracted,” I replied.

  “I said, is tonight the night?” he said in a stage whisper, although we were the only people in the pub apart from a couple sitting on the opposite side of the bar well out of earshot. David leaned in before speaking.

  “The CCTV out the front’s all set up,” he said, nodding like a wise old man. We’d persuaded Big Joe to let us install a camera over the front door to the pub. I’d paid for it, mind. It would provide proof for anyone who might need it that they were at the pub. At least, it would provide them with video showing they’d arrived, and left. This was why, when I’d arrived at the pub, I’d made sure the camera got a good look at my face as I walked in through the front door.

  “Yeah, I reckon so,” I replied. I looked at my watch. “I’ll head away in about an hour. He normally leaves The Griffin at about ten, straight after the quiz.”

  “You all set then?” Tommy asked.

  “Yes mate, good to go,” I replied.

  “And you’re sure you don’t want me to come with you?” I looked at Tommy as he asked me this. Part of me would have loved him to come along, even if it was just to stop me bottling it at the last minute, but this was something I needed to do myself.

  “I’m good, cheers. Just make sure you stay in here so we can all leave together in case I need an alibi.” I glanced at David who nodded in reply. “Right then gents,” I got to my feet and looked at their glasses. “Same again?”

  About thirty minutes later I left The Heartsease by the back door and stopped for a smoke in the beer garden. As I finished my cigarette, I ran my hand up and down the battered baseball bat in my jacket pocket. It was a child’s baseball bat, about half the size of a proper one, but it was made of wood and solid as anything. I pushed the picnic table over to the fence and used it to get over the fence. There were no cameras behind the pub or on the other side of the fence where a strategically placed wheelie bin provided an easy way to get down into the alley. I pushed my gloved hands into my pockets, shivering against the cold as my breath appeared in front of me in white clouds. It was definitely getting colder. The Griffin pub was only about a ten-minute walk if I’d taken the most direct route, but if I’d gone that way I would have been picked up by about three cameras. At least, that’s what David had told me, so I took the route he’d recommended as being the safest.

  By the time I got to the car park opposite The Griffin, I was breathing hard. When I was about halfway there, I’d realised that it would take me longer than I’d thought, so I’d had to get a shift on. I stood in the shadows of the community centre over the road from the pub where I hoped Robert would be. I was sure I couldn’t be seen where I was hiding, but I pulled my beanie hat down to just above my eyebrows just in case anyone spotted me. I wasn’t sure if Robert had already left or not and started to get anxious in case he’d left early. I looked at my watch, figuring I’d give it fifteen minutes, twenty at the outside, before heading back to the warmth of The Heartsease. In the end, I’d timed it right.

  Only five minutes after I’d arrived, a familiar figure opened the door and stepped out into the night. Robert shivered, blowing into his hands before turning left and walking through the car park of the pub. Bollocks. I was hoping that he’d go into the alley down the side of the pub, but not tonight. There wasn’t a Plan B, but now that I was here I might as well see what I could come up with. I gave him a few seconds head start before setting off after him.

  I kept about a hundred yards behind him as he made his way down the road, running through various scenarios in my mind. One challenge would be getting close enough without him realising. A much bigger challenge was the amount of traffic on the road. I guessed that the fact it was so cold meant that more people were using their cars than usual, but the odds of being spotted if I tried anything in the open were high. I had two options. There was a patch of scrubland two hundred yards in front of him that was right next to the road. I knew that in the middle of the scrubland was a large patch of clear ground. Maybe I could drag him in there and away from the main road. As an alternative, there was a railway bridge further along where the footpath and road separated for maybe twenty yards. Beyond the bridge were a few shops and businesses with cameras, so whatever I did would have to be this side of the bridge.

  Robert seemed oblivious to his surroundings as he almost lost his footing on the icy pavement. He didn’t look behind him once, so I closed the gap between us to about fifty yards. I ran my hand over the baseball bat in my pocket, making sure I could pull it free without it snagging on the material of my coat and looked around to make sure that there wasn’t anyone else around. To my dismay, I saw two men walking in the same direction as Robert and I, but on the opposite side of the road. They were both hurrying, dressed for winter in hats, thick jackets, and gloves. They were faster than I was, and I resigned myself to tonight not being the night as they walked past me. I swore under my breath as they overtook me, and I slowed my pace down as I considered the best way to get to The Heartsease. By the time I’d worked the route out in my head, the men on the other side of the road were only a few yards short of Robert, who was just walking past the patch of wasteland before the railway bridge. Although I was on my own, I was still lost for words when the two men broke into a run and crossed the road, each of them grabbing one of Robert’s arms and dragging him through the bushes into the scrubland.

  I swore again to myself as I broke into a run, reaching the edge of the wasteland a few seconds later. I stopped, trying to work out the best thing to do. I crept into the bushes just far enough to see what was going on. I was dressed in black anyway, and as long as I was careful I should be able to get near the clearing in the middle. In the end, I couldn’t get as close as I wanted to. The frozen ground was noisier than I’d expected, so I settled for a spot on the edge of the clearing where I could just see the three figures through the gap between the bushes. Robert was standing between the two men, his arms either side of him with palms extended. I was too far away to hear anything other than muffled voices, not helped by the traffic on the main road only a few feet away. Robert looked as if he was trying to placate the men. The two men both had their backs to me, but I could see in the glow of the street lights that Robert was scared, his eyes wide. White clouds puffed from his mouth as he spoke quickly.

  Robert was focused on the larger of the two men, who was also the one doing all the talking. I looked around, trying to see if there was a way I could get closer to them so I could hear what they were talking about when the smaller of the two men drew his fist back and hit Robert hard in the stomach. It was a nasty blow. Hard enough to make me wince even though it wasn’t me that had been hit, and one that Robert hadn’t seen coming. He went down on the icy ground with a sharp exhalation of air I could hear from my vantage point. The smaller man took a step backwards and pulled his foot back as if he was going to kick Robert in the head, but his companion put a hand out to stop him. The little guy shrugged his shoulders at his colleague and turned away. For the first time, I got a decent look at his face, or at least what little I could see of it under his hat. The only thing I could really make out was a solid jaw and small eyes. Not enough to recognise him if I saw him again.

  The larger of the two men crouched down and said something to Robert before getting back to his feet. He turned to his colleague and nodded. The second man’s foot drew back again, and he put the boot hard into Robert’s ribcage three, maybe four times before taking a step back and looking around the clearing. I shrank back into the bushes as quietly as I could, thinking for a second he was looking directly at me. I
held my breath until he looked away, not wanting to give him any sign I was here. From what I could see, he could be the other guy’s big brother, but then again they were dressed almost identically. I watched as they both stepped back through the bushes towards the main road. Robert was now kneeling on all fours, and from the clouds coming from his mouth, he was breathing deeply. Probably trying not to be sick. I realised that I could finish it here and now. Just step out and give him the good news with the baseball bat, but somehow it didn’t seem fair when he was down already. I wanted him standing in front of me, eye to eye, so I could look at him and he at me. I also had no idea where the two men had gone. After a minute or so, Robert got to his feet, rubbing his stomach and chest as he did so. He stumbled back toward the main road, pushing against the bushes to get back to the pavement. I watched him go, figuring that there’d be another time for us to finish our business, before I lit a cigarette and headed back to the pub.

  It took me longer to get back to The Heartsease than I thought it would, and as I approached the alleyway at the back of the pub I realised that it was almost closing time. I climbed onto the wheelie bin, over the fence and down onto the picnic table before walking back into the pub through the back door. The only people in the pub were Big Joe, Tommy, and David. All three of them looked at me as I walked in, questioning looks on their faces. I nodded at Big Joe who was standing behind the bar holding an empty pint glass in the air. He started filling it up as I sat down next to Tommy and David.

  “Job done?” Tommy asked, looking hard at me.

  “Nope, nothing doing,” I said. “He got a kicking all right, but not from me.” I relayed the events of the evening to them both, stopping when Big Joe came across with a pint for me and starting again for his benefit.

  “And you’ve got no idea who those blokes were?” Big Joe asked when I’d finished the story. “You’d never seen them before?”

  “No, mate,” I replied, taking a large sip of my beer. “Not sure I’d recognise them again, either. One big, one smaller but still a fair size. Didn’t get hair colour, both dressed in black.”

  “What’s this Robert joker’s last name?” Joe asked. “I can ask about, see if anyone knows anything?” I shook my head. The last thing I wanted Robert to find out was that the landlord of my local was asking questions about him.

  “Honestly Joe, it’s fine,” I said. “I’ll catch up with him eventually, don’t you worry.”

  It was proper cold by the time I left the pub and walked back to my flat. Ice was forming on the car windscreens, and I realised that I’d not put the heating on before I’d left earlier in the evening. When I got to the flat and opened the door, the temperature inside was almost as cold as it was outside. I got into bed as quickly as I could and lay there shivering.

  It wasn’t as if there was a warm person in the bed next to me. Not anymore.

  17

  It was almost a month before I caught up with Robert again. It was another Thursday, another quiz night. He’d missed the last couple of weeks’ entertainment. I knew because I’d been watching from my usual spot over the road. I’d changed my routine, mostly to avoid messing Tommy and David about. Running past the pub the weekend after Robert had been sucker punched, I looked at the sign to find out what time the quiz started. For the next couple of weeks, I’d been in the community centre car park about half an hour before it began and had left a few minutes after the start time. I guessed that he was lying low as he never showed up on any of the nights I was watching.

  That Thursday though, I’d struck lucky. About ten minutes before eight, a taxi had pulled up outside The Griffin. It had a large yellow canary on the side of it, and a sign that told the world it was a Canary Car. I suppose the bloke who ran the firm must have been a Norwich City fan. Robert got out of the car after giving the driver some cash and walked into the pub. I pulled a phone out of my pocket and texted Tommy and David to let them know it was on for tonight. It was a throwaway phone, bought for a tenner off the market and fitted with a sim that came with a couple of quid credit. All bought for cash. My usual phone was back at the Heartsease, in Big Joe’s hands. I’d written out some text messages for him to send from it at various intervals throughout the evening so that if anyone looked, my proper phone was there all along and I was using it in that location. I’d been a bit hesitant giving him the pin number for my phone, but needs must. I knew Tommy and David would make their way to The Heartsease once they’d got my text message, and they’d swear blind I’d been there all night if anyone asked. My face was already on the CCTV arriving at the pub and then, later on, we would all be on the camera leaving together after a hard night on the pop. A few seconds later, the throwaway phone buzzed and I read the message from Tommy confirming he and David were on their way to The Heartsease.

  I looked across at the pub and could see Robert through one of the windows. He was sitting at a table with two other men who I’d never seen before, although I’d seen one of them walk in a few minutes before Robert had arrived. I’d never seen Robert leave with anyone else, either. He always seemed to leave just after the quiz finished, on his own. I spent the next couple of hours smoking far too much, watching Robert through the window. It wasn’t as cold that night as it had been when I’d waited for him before, but I’d brought a small hip flask filled with cheap whisky. My unofficial three pint a night rule was only a guideline anyway, and a bit of Dutch courage wouldn’t hurt. I unscrewed the flask and took a small sip before tucking it back into the pocket of the hoodie I was wearing. Just enough to warm my stomach. I wanted to leave some for afterwards.

  While I waited, a fog rolled in from the Norfolk Broads, which were only a few hundred feet behind The Griffin. It seemed fitting somehow, how the light changed and became much more diffuse. More threatening. I thought through my plan as I watched the swirling mist. I had a solid alibi in place, backed up with CCTV that proved I was where I said I was. The running clothes I was wearing were all disposable, bought from Snetterton Market with cash. It wasn’t kit I would go running in, but I’d chosen it so that I could blend in by at least looking the part. The natural distrust of the stall holders at the market meant that nothing was recorded anywhere, either on paper or on film. My feet were freezing in a pair of cheap trainers, but all my clothes would be going into a yellow plastic bag at the end of the evening, along with the baseball bat. The only thing I would keep was my hat. I’d worn it on almost every job I’d ever done, and as I’d never been caught, this made it lucky. The plastic bag with the clothes in would be going to a friend of Big Joe who worked as a hospital porter at the Norfolk and Norwich hospital. One of his jobs was loading bags of clinical waste into the industrial incinerator, and for fifty quid a pop he’d throw in an extra bag of whatever you wanted him to as long as it wouldn’t explode. Fifty quid was a lot for one bag, but the incinerator was big enough to cremate all sorts of nasty stuff from the hospital so was pretty much bulletproof in terms of destroying any evidence. Money well spent in my opinion.

  I could see Robert laughing with his friends inside the pub, and I used this to psych myself up. I don’t think I’d laughed properly since I’d buried Jennifer. Not like he was laughing now, that was for sure. Standing around in the cold for over an hour and a half didn’t help. I looked at my watch every few minutes until twenty to ten. Almost time for Robert to leave, based on the time previous quizzes had taken. I knew whatever happened, this was ending tonight. I took another sip of the whisky, a large one this time, and waited for the door of the pub to open.

  A couple of minutes later, the door opened, and Robert himself stepped out into the cold night air. Despite the fog, I could see him clearly. He took a few steps forward and stopped, looking down at his phone and jabbing his thumb at the screen. Robert held the phone up to his ear and spoke for a moment before disconnecting. I guessed he was phoning for a taxi. Good idea, especially after what had happened to him the last time he’d walked home. You never knew what sort of people would be ha
nging around this time of night, I thought as I patted the inside pocket of my jacket to check that the baseball bat was where it should be. I'd sliced a hole in the bottom of the pocket liner to fit the bat into it, and a couple of times it had slipped through the hole completely, but it was right where I wanted it to be. Robert turned and walked towards the alley at the back of the pub. It was on.

  I crossed the road, looking left and right to see if there was anyone around as I did so. The only person I could see was a man in a strange looking hat walking a dog. He was at least a hundred yards away and didn’t look as if he was hurrying. I wasn’t going to hang around anyway, not with a Canary Car on the way. I knew their offices were about ten minutes away up in Thorpe St Andrew, but the car could be closer. I pulled the baseball bat halfway out of my pocket as I walked towards the alleyway, and slowed down to deaden the noise of my footsteps as I walked into the dark corridor. When I inched my way to the courtyard at the back of the pub, I could see Robert with his back to me, using the yard as a toilet. I stopped a few feet behind him to wait for him to finish his business. His shoulder jerked as he finished and zipped up his trousers. I waited until he turned around.

  “Hello Robert,” I said as he turned to face me. “Remember me?”

  I’ll never forget his expression that night, not for as long as I live. It was almost comical. At first, he hadn’t got a clue who I was, no doubt helped by a few beers. Then, as the penny dropped, his face changed completely. He didn’t look scared like he had when he’d been talking to the two men in the clearing, just before he’d taken one to the gut. He didn’t look scared at all. He looked absolutely terrified, which was exactly how I wanted him to look. I tightened my grip on the baseball bat hidden behind my back.