The Charmer

by Mandasue Heller

  ‘So you believe me?’ The relief was heavy in Joel’s voice.

  ‘I believe you were at the bar with your lady friend when you said you were, yes,’ Seddon conceded. ‘But I also believe that you said goodnight to her there, then nipped across town to wait for Mr Grayson.’

  ‘But I didn’t. I swear—’

  ‘To God. Yeah, I know,’ Seddon said in a bored voice.

  ‘Look, please just go and talk to Honey again. Tell her that you know she was lying about knowing me. She’ll admit the rest then, I know she will. She’s just scared.’

  31

  ‘I’ve got it!’ Psycho yelled, barrelling into the front room with a jubilant grin on his face.

  ‘Got what?’ Eamon glanced up from the couch.

  ‘The fucking address!’ Psycho declared, flapping a piece of paper in the air. ‘Took me nearly a fucking year, but I told you I’d track the cunt down!’

  ‘For real?’ Eamon sat up a bit straighter. ‘How?’

  ‘With a bit of fucking brain power.’ Psycho jabbed a finger at his temple. ‘His bird only left a fucking forwarding address for her mail! All I had to do was find out exactly which house they’d sold, and the rest was a piece of fucking piss! Shit, I should be a fucking detective, me!’

  ‘So, what we doing? Going down there?’

  ‘Too fucking right. Bell Jimmy and tell him we’re coming for him, then get your shoes on and your arse in gear. There’s no way I’m missing him this time. The cunt’s arse is mine!’

  ‘Yeah, well, make sure you’ve got your piece in your fucking hand this time,’ Eamon said, getting up. ‘I’m taking that other wee cunt right the fuck out if I see him again.’

  Still smarting over the last encounter with the ‘Bally Boys’, as they called Lance and his crew whenever they recounted their last trip to Manchester, Eamon was saving his best bullet for the little one with the big mouth.

  ‘No need to worry about them tossers,’ Psycho jeered. ‘They only caught us last time ’cos they had a bigger fucking car and surprise on their side. We’ll be in Wazzer’s fucking jeep this time – and there’s no way they’re stopping that monster in their fucking poncey four-by-four.’

  Outside, a horn sounded. Standing face to face in the hall when they were ready, Psycho and Eamon beat their chests, then body-slammed each other. Then, grinning wildly, they set off to pick Jimmy up from his girlfriend’s.

  Then they headed for Manchester.

  32

  ‘Please, babe,’ Joel pleaded, looking through the crack in the door. ‘Take the chain off. I need to talk to you.’

  ‘Go away,’ Maria called from across the room. ‘Please, Joel, I can’t deal with this. Just leave me alone.’

  ‘I didn’t do it! The police have let me out – that should tell you something.’

  ‘They’ve got you on CCTV. I saw it, Joel. It was you. You looked straight at the camera!’

  ‘It wasn’t fucking me!’ Joel yelled, getting frustrated now. ‘Why won’t anyone believe me?’

  ‘Go away!’ Maria yelped, terrified that he would try to kick the door down. ‘I’ll call the police!’

  Knowing that he couldn’t afford to get another pull, Joel gave the door one last kick.

  ‘Right, I’m going. But I’ll be coming back, Maria. You’re wrong about this, and you’re being really unfair. Anyway, you’ve got all my stuff.’

  ‘I’ll pack it for you,’ Maria said. ‘You can pick it up from the maintenance man’s room tomorrow. Now just go.’

  Running to the door when he gave up and walked away, she slammed it shut and double-locked it. Reaching for her phone then, she rang Vicky, her hands shaking so badly that it took three attempts to get the number.

  ‘Vicky?’ she sobbed. ‘Oh, thank God you’re in! I didn’t wake you up, did I?’

  ‘No, I was watching telly.’ Vicky yawned loudly. ‘What’s up?’

  Listening as Maria blurted everything out, Vicky said, ‘Right, take a deep breath. I know you’re scared, love, but you need to calm down, all right?’

  ‘Yeah, all right,’ Maria agreed, making an effort to bring herself under control. ‘Can – can you come here for a bit? Just till he’s got his stuff and gone.’

  ‘I can’t,’ Vicky said regretfully. ‘I’m waiting for Leroy to come home. But you’re more than welcome to come here.’

  ‘It’s two in the morning,’ Maria said, wiping her nose. ‘I can’t land myself on you at this time.’

  ‘Don’t be so bloody soft,’ Vicky scolded. ‘There’ll be ten to fifteen big blokes all over my lounge in a minute. You don’t think your skinny little arse is going to take up much room, do you?’

  ‘Ten to fifteen?’ Maria repeated.

  ‘MCs and rappers from the gig,’ Vicky explained. ‘They like to come back here and set up the decks to work on next week’s stuff.’

  ‘Doesn’t it disturb the kids?’

  ‘Babe, nothing disturbs my kids. They’ve heard it all before. So, get your arse round here now!’

  ‘Yeah, all right,’ Maria said gratefully. ‘I know Joel won’t come back right away, but I just don’t want to be here if he does.’

  ‘Don’t blame you,’ Vicky said. ‘Sounds like a right arsehole. Anyway, call yourself a cab. I’ll be waiting.’

  ‘Just a minute,’ Maria whispered. ‘Someone’s ringing the buzzer.’

  ‘Well, at least you know it won’t be him again, ’cos he’d be at the door with his key, wouldn’t he?’ Vicky said. ‘Stop freaking out, and go and see who it is.

  ‘Okay, but stay on the phone,’ Maria said nervously. ‘Just in case.’

  ‘All right, but don’t be too long.’

  Holding the phone like a kind of good-luck charm, Maria went to answer the intercom.

  ‘Maria Price?’ A man’s voice said. ‘It’s the police. Can we come up for a minute and have a word?’

  ‘Oh, yeah, of course,’ Maria said, pressing the release button. ‘Come right up.’

  ‘It’s the police,’ she told Vicky, relief rich in her voice.

  ‘Great! They were probably watching him and they’ve come to check you’re okay. Let me know if you’re still coming round after they’ve gone.’

  ‘Okay, but make sure you can still hear your phone if those guys are going to be making a lot of noise.’

  Down below, Eamon grinned at the others as the door clicked open.

  ‘That was a bit bloody easy.’

  ‘You know what they say about gift horses,’ Psycho said, yanking the door open. ‘Kick their fucking teeth in.’

  Everyone knew the drill. Fletch went ahead to do his usual with the lights, while Jimmy stayed behind downstairs to watch the doors.

  Reaching Maria’s door, Gerry gave a couple of knocks, then held his fake badge up to the spyhole.

  Maria was smiling when she opened the door, expecting to see a reassuring uniform. She started to tell them to come in, then froze when she saw four large men in dark clothing, their faces covered by masks of famous people. Joel was between Marlon Brando and Ronald Reagan, his face a bloody mess.

  ‘What’s going on?’ she gasped, terror stealing her breath.

  ‘Inside,’ Psycho hissed, giving her a shove that sent her sprawling halfway across the room. Coming after her, he reached down and yanked her back onto her feet before tossing her onto the couch. ‘Keep your fucking mouth shut, and you won’t get hurt – right?’

  Joel was flung down beside her. Landing in a crumpled heap, he gave an agonised moan.

  ‘What have you done to him?’ Maria squawked, looking up at the men as they roamed around the room, turning things upside down. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Keep it zipped,’ Eamon barked. ‘Or we’ll finish him off, then you! Got that?’

  Nodding, Maria reached down the side of the cushion and felt for her mobile which had slipped down when the man threw her. Pressing redial, she prayed that Vicky would hear what was going on and not start shouting.

>   ‘Who are you?’ she asked, speaking loud and clear. ‘What do you want? There’s money in the bedroom if that’s what you’re after, but that’s all I’ve got.’

  ‘Ah, but that’s not true, is it, love?’ Psycho said, coming and leaning right over her. ‘See, we bumped into our old friend Kyle outside, and he told us all about your inheritance.’

  ‘I don’t know anyone called Kyle,’ Maria said, her wide-eyed stare riveted to his. ‘Please, I think you’ve got the wrong person.’

  ‘Oi, Kylie!’ Psycho yelled, bringing his foot up and planting it hard on Joel’s thigh. ‘Tell your bird to stop trying to bullshit me before I give her a good shafting!’

  Throwing a hand over her mouth when Joel cried out, Maria said, ‘His name’s Joel! You’ve got the wrong people. Please, just leave us alone.’

  ‘Oh, fuck, yeah! I keep forgetting he’s calling himself Joel these days.’ Psycho laughed. ‘Sorry for calling you a liar, love.’ Squatting down in front of her, he looked her over appreciatively. ‘You’re a bit of a babe, you, eh? All that lovely blonde hair, and big blue eyes. I think you and me’ll go and get ourselves better acquainted when we’re done – what d’y’ say?’

  ‘Please don’t.’ Maria shook her head, her expression fearful. ‘Take the money – take whatever you want. Just go.’

  ‘Not till we’ve got what we came for,’ Psycho said, running the barrel of his gun up between her legs. ‘See, your man Joel here got a bit of a battering when we spotted him driving out of this place and rammed him off the road just now. And, cunt that he is, know what he said? He offered to bring us back here and let us have you if we let him go. And we’re like, why would we want the lassie when we’ve finally got the grassing cunt we’ve been hunting down all this time? So then he tells us all about your money, and we couldn’t turn that down, now could we?’

  ‘But it’s not here,’ Maria said, terrified of what they would do to her now. ‘Honestly, it’s not. There’s a bit in my bag in the bedroom, but apart from that everything else is in the bank.’

  ‘We figured you’d say that,’ Psycho told her. ‘So me and my bro are going to take you round all the banks while the others wait here with your wee man. Do it fast enough at enough different ones and they don’t catch on in time to take your card off of you. But see if you try and get away before we’ve finished, or do anything stupid to draw attention to yourself, your man here’s dead. You got that?’

  Hardly daring to breathe as he pointed the gun at Joel’s head now, Maria nodded quickly.

  ‘Good girl,’ Psycho said, patting her leg. ‘Then, when we’re done, you and me are gonna have a shag or two. So, come on – get your coat and your card, and let’s be off before it gets light and people start walking about, eh?’

  Down in the entrance, Psycho told Jimmy to stay on guard while he and Eamon took Maria off for a drive.

  ‘Anything happens, bell Gerry,’ he said, propelling Maria out of the door. ‘And don’t you forget what I said about drawing attention,’ he whispered menacingly down her ear.

  Heading for the jeep, Psycho kept a tight hold on Maria’s arm while he waited for Eamon to get the keys out. ‘Fuck’s sake!’ he hissed. ‘Why didn’t you have ’em ready?’

  ‘’Cos I didnae, okay!’ Eamon hissed back.

  ‘What the—?’ Psycho spun around when something hard jammed into his back. ‘The fuck is this?’

  ‘This’ was a large group of black guys surrounding him, and more round the other side around Eamon, hoods pulled low over their eyes, scarves up around their noses.

  ‘Nae way are we getting fucking mugged!’ Psycho snorted incredulously. ‘What is it with us and this fucking place? We cannae move without some arsehole trying it on wi’ us!’

  Almost laughing now, he made to reach for his gun, but Leroy stepped right up close and stuck his own gun into Psycho’s gut.

  ‘Don’t even think about it, Jockstrap, or I’ll blow y’ raas pussy head clean off!’

  ‘Oh, aye,’ Psycho drawled, his eyes glinting evilly as he glared down at the smaller man. ‘Fancy y’sel a bit, do ye, eh, pal?’ He started grinning now, the adrenalin pumping blood through his veins and energising him. ‘Come ooonnnn . . .!’

  He and Eamon simultaneously launched themselves into the surrounding bodies, kicking and butting, punching and biting, like the mad bastards that they were. They knew they stood no chance, but they intended to enjoy every minute while they could.

  Luckily for them, Leroy’s crew weren’t intending to kill them, or they’d have gone down a damn sight faster than they eventually did.

  Standing stock-still with fear, Maria almost screamed when someone grabbed her arm and ran her out of the car park and around the corner. Davy was waiting in a car with the engine running.

  ‘Tek her back to Lee’s,’ her rescuer told him in a thick patois. ‘We gon’ fuck dem clowns up a bit and be right back, yeah?’

  ‘They’ve got g-guns,’ Maria warned him, shivering as the warm air blasting from the heater seeped into her.

  ‘Me nah fussed ’bout dat,’ the man told her with a wide white grin. ‘Wha’ever dey got, we got more. G’wan back t’ Vicky, now, man. She’s waitin’.’

  33

  ‘Oh, babe, are you all right?’ Vicky asked when Davy ushered Maria into the living room with a protective hand on her arm. ‘Here, have this.’ Pouring a large shot of brandy into a glass, she handed it to her. ‘Neck it and let it settle you down, then tell me what happened.’

  Sitting Maria down on the couch, Vicky rubbed her friend’s arms to warm her up while she gulped at the fiery liquid.

  ‘Better?’

  ‘Yeah, thanks.’ Maria smiled gratefully. ‘Did you hear me on the phone?’

  ‘Every word, babe. God, you must have been crapping yourself. I didn’t know what the hell I was listening to at first. I knew it was you ’cos your name came up, but when I heard you I knew you wasn’t talking to me. I thought the police were roughing you up, or something. It wasn’t them, was it?’

  ‘No, it was those Scottish guys that were after Joel last year.’

  Frowning, Vicky lit two cigarettes and passed one to her. ‘How the hell did they find him after all this time?’

  ‘They reckon they ran into him in the car when he was leaving mine. They’ve really beaten him up, Vicky. He was in an awful state. I feel terrible for leaving him there.’

  ‘Didn’t I hear one of them saying something about your inheritance?’ Vicky reminded her. ‘How Joel had told them all about it and agreed to give you up in exchange for him?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Maria murmured, her chin wobbling as the extent of Joel’s betrayal sank in.

  ‘Come here,’ Davy said, putting an arm around her, making her feel safe and warm. ‘Don’t go getting upset. Lee and the lads will sort it out.’

  ‘Yeah, and don’t you go wasting any tears over him, neither,’ Vicky told her firmly but gently. ‘His kind always comes up smelling of roses. Don’t they, Davy?’

  ‘Too right,’ he agreed shyly. He couldn’t believe he had his arm around Maria. He’d have thought he’d died and gone to heaven if he’d had a chance to do it when he was a kid.

  ‘What should I do?’ Maria asked, resting her head on his broad chest, vaguely aware of how fast his heart was beating.

  ‘Wait till Lee comes back,’ he said. ‘Find out what’s going on, then work out your story and bell the police.’

  Maria looked up at him. ‘You think I should tell the police?’

  ‘You’d be stupid not to,’ Vicky cut in. ‘Seeing as you’re already involved with them over that murder.’ Softening her tone then, she said, ‘How you doing over that, by the way?’

  ‘Still shocked.’ Maria shrugged miserably. ‘I just can’t believe it’s happened. He was such a nice man; really honest and considerate. And now he’s dead, and it’s all my fault.’

  ‘Oi! You can get that out of your head right now!’ Vicky scolded. ‘It was nothing to do with you
. And if he was as nice as you say, then he’ll know that, and he won’t want you blaming yourself.’

  Leroy and a couple of his guys came in just then, panting and sweating from the run back.

  ‘What happened?’ Vicky asked, looking him over worriedly. ‘Are you okay? Where’s everyone else?’

  ‘Gone home,’ Leroy said, going into the kitchen for some glasses. Coming back, he poured everyone a drink. Giving Vicky a kiss when he handed a glass to her, he said, ‘Don’t worry, babes, they’ve just done a disappearing act so’s they don’t get connected. They’re sound. Nothing major.’

  ‘Did someone get hurt?’

  ‘Just a few cuts and bruises. Nutt’n life-threat’nin’.’

  ‘Dem Scottish dudes was hea-vee, guy!’ One of his mates laughed. ‘You can see why they like all that football hooliganism shit, innit? But they wasn’t no match for da Scarlett Posse!’

  ‘Seen, man, seen!’

  Laughing, the three fight survivors touched fists.

  ‘So what did you do to them?’ Vicky persisted. ‘You didn’t kill them?’

  ‘Nah, just roughed ’em up,’ Leroy told her cheerfully. ‘They had another three friends inside, an’ they come out and tried giving it large. But they got what they was lookin’ for, so I doubt they’ll be trying anything like that again. We warned ’em we won’t be quite so lenient next time.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Maria murmured, feeling a little guilty for getting them involved.

  ‘No worries.’ Leroy winked at her. ‘Any friend of my lady’s is a friend of mine.’

  ‘And ours,’ one of his mates added.

  ‘So, you calling the 5–0 in?’ Leroy asked, wiping the sweat off on a towel that Vicky had tossed to him off the laundry pile. ‘Best had, you know. That other bloke didn’t come down, and you still need him out of your gaff.’