Fallen Idols

by Neil White

  ‘Ruined?’

  ‘You got it. Ruined, just like you ruined me. Just like you ruined my family.’

  David put his head down.

  She pointed the gun back at David. ‘You killed my parents as good as if you had stood over them with a gun. No, I’ll change that. I saw how you getting away got to them. Made my father into a shadow; he hated himself, knew what he had allowed to happen. My mother saw it and hated herself for not making it different.’ She leant forward and jammed the barrel into his chest, making him cough and cry out with pain. ‘You did that. You changed everything for this town, just so you could go off and make big money. What about the ones you left behind?’

  She stood up straight. David rolled onto his side and rubbed his chest. He gritted his teeth in pain.

  ‘I thought this was about Annie,’ he hissed at her.

  Liza wiped a tear from her eye. ‘It’s always been about Annie,’ she said, and started to sob. ‘Every waking moment, every time I looked at my mum and dad, every minute I saw how they hated themselves, all of that, all of the time, it was always about Annie.’ She screeched. ‘You killed my parents, you killed my town, you killed my childhood. Always Annie. Always.’

  He didn’t say anything. He just watched her, the arm holding the gun starting to waver, relax, lose its focus.

  ‘And about you,’ she continued, her voice coming in chokes and sobs. ‘Every time I turn on the television, open a magazine, there you are, smiling, laughing, winning. Always fucking winning. You get what you want. So it was always about you. About what you did to Annie. And to them.’

  ‘And it was never about you?’ David asked, quiet and careful.

  She began to scream, the noise echoing round the park. David’s hands shot to his ears, the gun waving around in front of him. She paused for a breath. Then she heard something. A phone. The ring of a phone. There was someone there.

  She turned away.

  I jumped, startled. Laura’s phone. It was in my pocket. The ring tone was loud, filling the space around me.

  I scrabbled about in my pocket. I looked up and saw that they had heard me.

  I got the phone out of my pocket. The noise got louder. I could see Liza looking around.

  I clicked to answer. ‘Yes?’ I said in a whisper.

  Laura’s voice sounded loud.

  ‘Jack. Where are you?’

  I could tell by the noise in the background that she was with the police.

  ‘I’m looking out over Victoria Park.’

  ‘Anything doing?’

  ‘Everything is doing,’ I answered. ‘Liza Radley is here. And David Watts. You need to get some people down here now.’

  Laura was silent for a moment. I sensed her shock, so I carried on.

  ‘And if you can get a camera, you’ve got a million-dollar shot when you pull in by the park.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’ she asked. She sounded worried.

  I watched Liza for a moment, looking unsure. Then something occurred to me.

  ‘Turn off your phone. You’ll get the next five minutes on the voicemail.’

  I heard her shout my name as I took the phone from my ear, but when I pressed callback a few seconds later I went straight to the pre-recorded tones of the message service. I hung the phone off the waistband of my trousers and started to climb out from the darkness and into the sunlight.

  Laura looked around the room. Nell and Mike were watching her expectantly.

  She held Tony’s phone in the air.

  ‘Leave this switched off.’

  Nell put her hands on her hips. ‘But where is he?’

  Laura grinned. ‘Where else? Victoria Park.’ She looked over at Tony. ‘With Liza Radley and David Watts.’

  Tony raised his eyebrows. This was turning into one hell of a story.

  Nell began to smile. She looked over at Mike. ‘Convinced yet?’

  ‘Let’s go,’ he said. He made as if to go out of the room, but then he stopped when he saw Laura get up to follow him.

  ‘You stay here, detective. You’re off the investigation.’

  Laura shook her head. ‘I helped solve this. I’ll get a book deal, maybe magazines. At the moment, it was solved by a reporter and an off-duty cop, while the rest of you ran around the country not knowing where to look. Take me with you, and maybe I’ll talk up your help.’

  Mike looked over at Nell, whose expression gave little away.

  ‘You left London on a routine enquiry,’ Laura continued. ‘You’ll go back a hero if I go with you. Your careers will orbit. Leave me here, and I’ll say you just got lucky, or maybe worse.’

  Nell began to smile as well, and as Laura walked past her, triumphant, Nell nodded and winked.

  Tony stayed where he was. He passed his camera to Laura.

  Nell raised her eyebrows. ‘You not coming?’

  He shook his head. ‘Let them have their day,’ he said.

  ‘I’ve had mine. I only went along for the ride.’ Nell considered him for a moment, and then walked out of the room.

  *

  Liza looked around the park, to the fence curving around the slope, and into the trees, the bushes. As she looked over, the gun swung away, pointing the way she was looking.

  David’s eyes went keen, his body tensed.

  Liza continued to gaze about her, unsure if she had heard it right. Someone was there, watching, listening.

  David moved fast, athlete’s speed, grabbing at the gun, his hands clasped around the barrel, his arms firm and strong.

  Liza felt the tug and looked down, her eyes wide in panic, sensing the danger. She tried to get her finger around the trigger to fire it, but his grip was too strong. David yanked hard at the gun, throwing himself backwards. She flew towards him, falling forward, the gun still in her hand. He kicked up with his legs and caught her square in the chest. She winced and then felt her feet lift off the ground as he carried on backwards, throwing her over his shoulder, using the gun as a lever. She landed in a dust cloud, an untidy sprawl, and as she landed she lost her grip on the gun, her last grab desperate and tearful.

  David sprang to his feet. He had the gun in his hand, pointing right at her. He was smiling now. He stood over her and looked down. She scrabbled backwards, off the concrete and onto the tarmac surround. He walked after her, the gun pointed down at her.

  ‘Keep crawling, little girl, because when I catch you, I’m going to blow your fucking head off.’

  Liza stopped and flopped backwards. She was breathing heavily.

  ‘Looks like I win,’ he said, his voice low and menacing. Then he spread his arms out, cocky and taunting. ‘Did you really think it would be any other way?’

  He then leant forward and put the gun against her head, pressed the steel into her skin, making a cold red ring.

  Liza closed her eyes and pressed into the gun. Tears were streaming down her face. He snarled, grimaced, began to squeeze on the trigger.

  Then he heard something. He turned round. There was someone walking across the park towards him.

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  I began to walk towards them.

  I could see them, David Watts standing over her, the gun in his hand, set against the backdrop of the fields leading away from Turners Fold. There was no one around, and I was walking towards them, every step taking me nearer to somewhere that maybe I ought not to be. My hands were shaking, but I kept on going forward, my eyes fixed on David Watts, reminding myself of why I was there, reminding myself of what had happened the last time my father came down to the park.

  The walk seemed to take forever. The grass was thick, the soil dry, and it seemed to drag at my feet, making my steps slow and heavy. I could see his surprise. As I stepped onto the concrete base of the aviary, just yards away, he looked down at the gun. As I got closer, he began to smile.

  ‘Glad you got here,’ he said. ‘This woman was going to kill me.’

  I stopped right in front of him. ‘Bullshit.’

  He
was taken aback, too surprised to say anything.

  ‘That’s right, you got it.’

  He looked down at Liza, who looked confused. ‘She’s the woman who has been shooting footballers,’ he said.

  I looked down at Liza and then back at David. ‘Yes, I know.’

  ‘Then why are you looking at me like that? I’m not the bad guy.’

  I shook my head. ‘Depends on where you look, because where I’m looking right now, you started all of this.’

  He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again.

  I stared into his eyes. ‘You heard me, you bastard.’

  Again, he opened his mouth, but still nothing came out.

  I looked at his face, and for a moment it was hard to believe that it was David Watts. The face I was used to seeing was the confident king of the England team, dependable football star. He endorsed soft drinks, spoke up for charities, London’s favourite adopted son. The person in front of me looked haunted. His face was filthy, streaked with dirt and sweat, his smile a grimace of broken teeth and blood, his top lip swollen and painful. His skin looked drawn and pale, as if he hadn’t slept in days. But it was his eyes that I noticed. Gone was the easy smile, the glint for the cameras. His eyes looked dark and red, flitting around like he was fuelled, angry and wired.

  ‘My name is Jack Garrett.’ I watched for a reaction. There was nothing. Just arrogance. I raised my eyebrows. ‘Sound familiar?’

  David shook his head slowly. Then I saw something in his eyes, as if the name had started to turn some wheels.

  ‘Garrett?’

  I nodded, my mouth set in a thin line.

  His jaw moved from side to side, the barrel of the gun starting to dip as I became his focus.

  ‘My dad was a policeman,’ I said, my face calm, my insides burning.

  David Watts went pale. ‘Was?’ he asked eventually. I could tell he knew the answer.

  I nodded again, slowly, trying to make sure he got the link in his own time. ‘Died this week.’ I looked towards Liza, who was starting to look interested. ‘Died right back there, in front of the aviary, where you’ve just been. Right where they found Annie.’

  David’s hand started to shake, the gun waving at thin air. He was staring slack-jawed. He looked back to Liza, who had started to move backwards on the floor, away from him.

  He turned to me as if he was about to say something, but I held my hand up to stop him. ‘Don’t waste your regrets on me,’ I said. ‘I’m not interested.’

  I began to walk around him, away from Liza, so that he could only look at one of us at any time. He twisted his body to track me, tried to stop himself from turning away from Liza, but I kept on circling until he had no choice. I stopped when I was right opposite her, with David in between.

  His eyes flashed to her, then back to me. The gun was pointing at the floor.

  I looked at Liza. I didn’t hate her. I pitied her for the life she had led and the choices she felt she’d had to make to get even. I saw something flicker back, maybe a smile, but then she went straight-faced again when David turned to his side and pointed the gun back at her, his head turning on a pivot to keep us both in his sight.

  I looked to Liza. ‘Did you know he’d sent someone after you?’

  Liza stared back at me, unsure what to think. Then I saw recognition kick in.

  ‘You were at the house.’

  I nodded, and then looked at him. He looked uncomfortable, as if he thought we were acting together.

  I thought I could hear cars getting closer, tyres bouncing along, the rush of an engine.

  ‘Did you know that same guy killed Rose Wood last night?’

  Liza looked confused.

  ‘Rose Wood, Colin’s mother. He killed her last night, once she had given him your address.’

  Liza’s eyes flashed back to David Watts, wild and angry. His breathing was getting fast, his face red.

  I looked at David now, my own anger getting hard to contain.

  ‘And he chased me out of my own house,’ I continued, ‘tried to kill me as I got away down the road.’

  David’s arm began to move, the gun twisting round to face me.

  ‘And he killed my father,’ I said, my eyes burning into his. ‘And for that, I’ll hound you for the rest of your life.’

  I stepped closer. David began to lift the gun up at me. My stomach crawled with fear, but I contained it, beat it back. Behind David, I saw Liza scrabble to her feet. I kept my stare, dared David to keep going. I didn’t keep a watch on what Liza was doing. The last I saw, she had her hands behind her back.

  Nell’s car screamed towards Victoria Park, no sirens. She felt tremors of excitement, sensing that something special was about to unveil itself as they got further along.

  The trees came into view first, and the grass slowly spread as they got nearer. Laura gasped as she saw them. David Watts had a gun, and he was pointing it right at Jack’s head. Then she saw Liza and her hand went to her mouth.

  ‘Oh shit,’ she heard Mike say, as the view was obscured for a second by the mist of dust. She pulled out her camera and pointed it. She began to reel off shots, zooming in. Then when she knew she had enough, she set it to record moving pictures. Laura zoomed in on David Watts. As soon as she heard a shot, she was going to capture the next ten seconds. This was evidence, strong and clear.

  Mike and Nell jumped out of the car and ran round to Liza’s blind side. They opened the rear doors and hissed at Laura to get out. She looked back at the scene on the field, and then grimaced before sliding out.

  Once on the path, crouched behind the car, she retrained her camera on David Watts. She was ready again.

  *

  ‘I didn’t ask him to do those things.’

  David Watts was trying to swallow, his mouth dry. He looked round as the cars came into view. Two of them. One a marked patrol car, the other one a black Mondeo. I glanced over. I thought I could see Laura looking through the glass. I tried to hide my relief.

  David looked back again. He licked his lips, nervous. He had an audience now.

  I shook my head. ‘Bullshit, David. He wasn’t doing it for free.’ I smiled, but there was no warmth.

  ‘He’s dead now.’

  It was Liza. I looked over. She had her hands in her jacket pockets.

  She nodded. ‘That’s right. Died this morning. He was going to kill me.’

  I shook my head and tutted. ‘You’re in a lot of trouble, Mr Watts. That’s a conspiracy.’

  The gun carried on towards me. I flinched but held my ground.

  ‘Who’ll believe that crazy bitch?’

  I looked him right in the eye. ‘I do. I was there.’ I shrugged. ‘So it’s not just her. And there are the calls you made to Glen Ross.’ I began to smile again. ‘Oh yes, do you think people don’t remember that? David Watts, football hotshot on the phone, wanting to speak to Glen Ross? It almost went into their diaries.’

  David was getting angry. I could see the gun waving as he squeezed hard, fighting an impulse to fire. His face was screwed up, his eyes dark.

  ‘The guy you sent was at the station,’ I continued. ‘Did you know that? He was seen. People overheard him, you know, the little people who you think don’t matter. Your name came up.’

  The gun got closer.

  ‘Do you think Glen Ross will help you out this time?’

  He blinked.

  ‘Do you think I hadn’t worked it out? The pay-off?’ I snarled at him. ‘How low can you go, David? As far as your money will take you?’

  Still he said nothing, so I took a step closer to him.

  ‘How did you do it, David?’ I continued, mocking him, looking past the dark barrel of the gun, now inches from my face. I thought I could see my death in its shadows. ‘How could you kill someone and just walk away?’

  ‘I didn’t kill anyone.’

  I looked over at Liza. ‘I heard you confess.’

  He laughed, dark and bitter. ‘That won’t stan
d up in court. She had a gun in my face.’

  ‘What about “Rath Dé Ort EW”, scratched onto the back of your chain?’

  He almost dropped his gun.

  I nodded at him. ‘That’s right, Eugene David Watts. A little gold chain left at the scenes of all the football shootings. Just like you left in Annie’s hand.’

  ‘I still had that chain after Annie died.’

  I nodded. ‘Yes, I know. Glen Ross gave it back to you.’ I cocked my head. ‘Why did he do that?’

  I watched a tear drop out of his eye, his chin tremble. He shook it away, tried to make himself strong.

  ‘How much do you want?’ he said.

  ‘Is that all you have to offer?’ I stepped closer until I felt the gun barrel against my neck. ‘I want what she wants. I want you ruined.’

  He shook his head, and then grinned, dark and red. ‘Money. That’s what this is all about. That’s all it’s ever about. Name your price.’

  I said nothing.

  ‘C’mon, prick, how much? Ross took his cut.’ He flicked his head towards Liza. ‘Everyone took a cut.’

  I saw a tear run down Liza’s face, saw her hand scrabble in her jacket pocket.

  David was snarling now. He pushed the gun into my neck, knocking me back, making me cough. I could hear shouting behind me, scrambled footsteps as people got behind their cars.

  ‘You bought them?’

  He nodded. ‘Oh yes, I fucking bought them all right. Just wrote them a cheque like I was at Tesco’s,’ and then he laughed. ‘Annie’s daddy snapped it up like a lottery win. I could see it in his eyes. New car, new house.’ He jabbed me in the neck again. ‘I paid my dues for Annie.’

  ‘But you couldn’t buy my father.’ I looked at Liza. ‘Or her father.’

  He flinched at that.

  I saw Liza looking at me. She hadn’t realised who I was, or how we were connected. She knew now.

  ‘They’d seen you on the night,’ I continued. ‘My dad. Her dad. And they’d seen Annie, lying dead just there, blue, gold chain swinging in her hand.’ I shook my head. ‘You couldn’t buy him, so you had him killed. One less person in your way.’