Diamonds Forever

by Justine Elyot

‘You see, Deano, I had a thought – a thought that might work very well for you,’ continued Lawrence. ‘Do you remember when we were in the car and I surprised you by encouraging our friend here to, ah, express his emotions?’

  ‘You told him to hit me!’ recalled Deano, affronted.

  ‘Yes, but there was method to the madness, and the more I think about it, the more convinced I am. If Scumbag there does attack you, then he goes straight inside and you have a wonderful opportunity to gain the sympathy and perhaps eventual affections of your estranged wife. After all, she’ll soon realise that she’s been wasting her time when she sees what a thug she’s been involved with. And what better to bring back the old feelings than seeing you with a few cuts and bruises, victimised? They love a victim, after all, don’t they? The ladies?’

  ‘What are you on?’ moaned Jason, trying to tough his way past the goons, but they took hold of his arms, preventing him from moving.

  Deano drained his drink, looking as wary as a man who had just downed four-and-a-half measures of a strong single malt possibly could.

  ‘I don’t like this,’ he said. ‘It’s dodgy. I see your reasoning though. Thanks for thinking of me, but …’

  ‘Think about it,’ entreated Lawrence.

  ‘You want me to let Jason rough me up? I don’t want to get roughed up.’

  ‘And I don’t want to do it either,’ contributed Jason, though he sensed he would have little choice in the matter if the balance of Deano’s decision was tipped the wrong way.

  ‘Of course it’ll involve a little bit of discomfort,’ said Lawrence. ‘But think of the advantage. Think of the amazing press you’ll get too. It’ll be great for album sales. Jenna will run back to you with open arms. Everything in the garden rosy again.’

  ‘And what’s in it for you?’ asked Deano, frowning.

  ‘She rides off into the sunset with you and I get my home back,’ he replied promptly. ‘Not to mention the collateral pleasure of revenge on this little turd.’

  Jason was dismayed to see that Deano appeared to be giving the proposition his serious consideration.

  ‘He’s mental,’ he blurted. ‘Don’t do it. He doesn’t care about you, or Jenna, or any of us.’

  This seemed to kick-start Deano’s moral compass.

  ‘No, he’s right,’ he said. ‘It’s too risky. Too much could go wrong. And no guarantee Jenna would fall for it either. Sorry, mate, but I’m out.’

  The goons closed ranks.

  ‘Are you sure about that?’ asked Lawrence, his voice silk laced with poison. ‘You see, I’ve been talking to your friend Parker. In fact, more than talking. I sold her some of her favourite nice white powder, for you and her to share tonight. And I happened to carelessly leave my phonecam running while I did it.’

  There was a stunned silence.

  ‘You did what?’ said Deano weakly.

  ‘There’s footage of Parker taking the stuff off me – and the conversation makes it very clear what it is and who it’s for. In fact, she tells a delightful anecdote about you snorting it off her breasts one night. It would make any tabloid journalist worth their salt scream for joy. And I know a few journalists …’

  ‘Why would you even …?’

  ‘It’s the Harville code,’ said Lawrence, grinning. ‘Always make sure you have something on everyone. Even if you can’t see how you’ll use it to begin with. Insurance. It’s my business.’ He tapped the side of his nose.

  Deano, summoning some bravado from somewhere, laughed.

  ‘And do you know what my business is, Harville? I’m a rock star. I booze, I shag around, I snort a few lines. It’s expected of me. Who exactly are you expecting to shock with this?’

  ‘Your friend Parker, presumably,’ said Harville without missing a beat. ‘But you don’t mind sending a lamb to the slaughter, I suppose?’

  There was a silence. Harville’s point had hit home.

  Deano sighed.

  ‘Maybe you’re right,’ he said. ‘Maybe it’ll help my cause with Jenna.’

  ‘That’s the way to see it,’ approved Harville. ‘A moment of pain for a lifetime of gain.’

  ‘But if I do this,’ said Deano hotly, ‘that’s it. You’re out of my life. No coming back for more favours. You delete the stuff with Parker off your phone and we start again, as if we’d never met.’

  ‘Ground zero,’ said Lawrence, nodding earnestly. ‘For all of us.’

  ‘Are you having a fucking laugh?’ said Jason desperately, struggling with his captors. ‘This is insane.’

  Deano walked over to Jason and stood with his chin raised towards his love rival.

  ‘Go on then,’ he said. ‘One clean punch. Do your worst.’

  ‘I’m not doing anything,’ insisted Jason, but one of the goons aimed such a vicious kick to the back of his knee that he staggered and lost his footing, crying out in anguish.

  ‘You’ll do as you’re told,’ said Lawrence softly. ‘And then all this will be over, and you’ll get out of here alive.’

  ‘Steady on!’ exclaimed Deano. ‘I’m not getting mixed up in any murders.’

  ‘Figure of speech,’ murmured Lawrence.

  ‘Do it,’ growled a goon, releasing Jason’s arm but keeping a tight hold on the back of his neck. ‘Take a swing at him.’

  ‘Jenna’s a tramp,’ said Deano suddenly, putting his face close to Jason’s. ‘She must be, to shack up with a piece of scum like you. I bet she was all over you. Nice bit of rough. If only I’d known that was what she liked, I needn’t have bothered trying to work out what was wrong between us. I could have just bussed in some bums from Skid Row to keep her happy … Oof.’

  But his exclamation was nothing to do with Jason hitting him.

  Jason had lashed out, yes, but Deano had ducked and sprang away from him, to aim as fierce a blow as he could to one of the goons.

  The goon had seen it coming, quick as it was, and knocked Deano to the floor.

  ‘Shit!’ shouted Lawrence, running over to the motionless figure of Deano. ‘What have you done?’

  ‘He was going to have a go at me!’ whined the goon. ‘He was trying to get one over on us.’

  ‘Christ, have you killed him?’

  Lawrence leant over Deano, feeling for a pulse.

  The goons joined him, too anxious and guilty to notice Jason slipping away into the hallway behind.

  When Deano woke up, he had no idea where he was.

  Everything was a blur – as much in his head as in front of his eyes, and besides, it was dark. There was a smell of damp in the air, though – he was sure of that, and a sense that he wasn’t alone. He heard the shifting of fabric beside him, a person in motion, then a voice.

  ‘What happened to you?’

  ‘Who’s that? Where am I? Fuck, my head!’

  He clutched it, gasping, and gave up his attempt to sit.

  ‘I’m Kayley – remember me?’

  A sense of grateful pleasure appeared amidst all the bad feelings. Kayley. Yes. This was good.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Yes, I do.’

  More bad memories amongst the good.

  ‘I suppose you hate me for what I did? Going up to the Hall?’

  ‘Yeah, well, you lost me my job, but never mind that. You’re in a hell of a state. What happened?’

  ‘I don’t know his name, but whoever he is, he’s got a right hook straight out of Raging Bull.’

  ‘Out of what?’

  ‘You don’t know that movie? About a boxing champion?’

  ‘Oh, right, I get it. But I still don’t get what you’re doing in here.’

  ‘No, neither do I. And I don’t know what you’re doing here either. Are you mixed up with Harville? Do you work for him? Where is this place?’

  He managed to sit up this time, and make out Kayley’s eyes in the gloom.

  ‘Your guess is as good as mine, duck. And me, work for Harville – do I fuck? No chance. Never in a million years.’

  ‘So, what
…?’

  ‘He’s been out to get me ever since I grassed him up, to get Jason out of bother. And now he’s got me.’

  ‘So, are you saying he’s, like, keeping you prisoner?’

  ‘Certainly looks like it. Unless he wants me as a pet.’

  ‘So then I’m …?’

  ‘I don’t know but it’s not exactly the kind of accommodation you’re used to, is it, love? Where’s the en suite? I’d complain to the management if I were you.’

  He laughed weakly, enjoying Kayley’s down to earth black humour despite their dire straits, but sobered rapidly once the pain came clanging back into the side of his head.

  ‘But he can’t do this,’ he whimpered. ‘What on earth is he playing at? He can’t do this to me. I’m Deano Diamond!’

  ‘Yeah, well, you might be surprised to know that I’m human too, but apparently it’s OK to chuck me in a cellar,’ said Kayley.

  ‘I didn’t mean that … It’s outrageous behaviour, no matter who …’

  ‘Yeah, sorry. Just feeling a bit sensitive. It is hard to see how he could get away with doing this to you. I mean, people care what happens to you, don’t they? Lots of people. I wouldn’t worry. The feds’ll be all over this place like a dose of the clap before you know it.’

  ‘I hope you’re right. What does he think he’s doing?’

  ‘Why did he lamp you one? If you don’t mind me asking.’ Kayley sat herself on the edge of the uncomfortable camp bed.

  He could smell the faint remains of her cheap perfume and hear the clanking of a big chunky bracelet. There was something in those twin stimulants that transported him back to his teenage years and made him feel as if anything was possible. Strange for a man lying injured on a camp bed in a locked room.

  ‘I don’t know. It was all a bit chaotic. Harville had some hare-brained scheme to get his revenge on your friend Jason, and I somehow ended up at the sharp end of it.’

  ‘Jason’s here?’ Kayley’s voice was urgent. ‘In this building? Now?’

  ‘Well, he was. I …’ Deano tailed off, the effort of memory putting too much strain on his aching brain cells.

  ‘That’s really weird. What’s he doing here? Is he looking for me?’

  ‘No. Harville kind of tricked him into getting into the car with us. Jason didn’t realise who I was with at the time.’

  ‘So he’s being kept prisoner here too?’

  ‘Well, perhaps. I didn’t realise the place had a suite of dungeons … You never can tell, can you?’

  ‘Jenna’s going to be beside herself. Her boyfriend, her ex and her PA all missing at the same time. Surely the boys in blue must be on their way.’

  Deano heard the hope in her voice, a hope that came from fear.

  ‘How long have you been down here?’ he asked, putting his own problems aside for the first time in his concern for his co-prisoner.

  ‘Not sure. Hours.’

  ‘Not days?’

  ‘No. I don’t think so. Time passes pretty slowly down here, though, so I couldn’t really say. They’ve fed me once, so I guess half a day?’

  ‘Jesus. What the hell is Harville playing at? Does he really think he can do this?’

  ‘He’s a bastard. I’ve tried to warn you. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants.’

  ‘But what does he want? How is holding us prisoner going to achieve anything?’

  ‘Maybe a ransom? From Jen. She’s loaded and he wants to buy back the Hall. Could be a bargaining position.’

  ‘For God’s sake, he’d do all this for a house?’

  ‘He’s obsessed with the place. I’ve seen the lengths he’ll go to, first hand.’

  ‘He’s a lunatic.’ Deano paused for thought before adding, ‘Well, Bledburn’s Got Talent is definitely off.’

  Kayley’s laugh pealed through the stale air, and warmth crept slowly into Deano’s chest. Making her laugh seemed like a significant achievement, especially in these conditions.

  But she sobered quickly and said, ‘I wonder what he’s done to Jason. Do you think he might …? I mean, he really hates Jason …’

  Deano swallowed.

  ‘You think he’s capable of …?’

  Nobody wanted to put the thought into the open, where it had to be addressed. But Deano couldn’t shake the thought that a man who could attack and imprison a very famous person wouldn’t think twice about killing a lesser mortal.

  A sound he didn’t at first recognise as a sob came from Kayley.

  ‘Hey,’ he said, once he’d worked out that she was crying.

  He put out a hand to touch the dim outline of her arm. It shook under his fingertips. He sat up properly and put an arm around her, drawing her close. Her ponytail tickled his wrist as he slid her into his embrace. The perfume flooded his senses and he almost swooned at the feel of her in his arms, shuddering and warm and so comfortable against him. How long had it been since he had just held someone, or been held? He couldn’t remember.

  All his experiences of intimacy in the last few years had taken place in a coked-up haze, in tour buses or dressing rooms or hotel elevators. They were generally fast, furious and over in a couple of minutes. He didn’t like waking up with somebody else in his bed – for some reason, he thought of that as infidelity, while the quick post-gig shags didn’t strike him in the same way. He could scratch his itch with any number of groupies, but he had never wanted to share a bed with anyone but Jenna.

  All the same, it was nice, this feeling of closeness and protectiveness. Kayley was certainly cute. Did she have a boyfriend? He almost asked her, but it didn’t really seem the right time.

  ‘We’re gonna be OK,’ he said, as convincingly as he could, although he was by no means sure of this. ‘You’ll be out of here in no time, back to work at the Hall.’

  ‘I doubt it. She sacked me,’ said Kayley through her tears. ‘Remember?’

  ‘Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that. But she might take you back. If I beg her on my knees.’

  ‘Would you do that?’ Kayley looked up at him. He could see the teary gleam of her eyes.

  Yes, God, yes, for you.

  ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘It was my fault, after all.’

  ‘That’s true,’ she said. ‘You muppet.’ But she said it affectionately, with a little cracked laugh.

  She shivered suddenly, seeming to contract in his arms.

  ‘Did you hear about the body?’ she said.

  ‘What body?’

  ‘The skeleton they found under the Hall.’

  ‘Oh … yeah, I did. It was all over the news.’

  ‘Perhaps that’s how we’ll end up. Bones in a basement. Perhaps nobody’ll come for us and we’ll die down here, of starvation. Perhaps that’s what happened to her. Perhaps Lawrence knew all about it.’

  ‘Don’t be daft, Kayley,’ said Deano, his local intonation coming back in sympathy with hers. ‘They said the skeleton was more than a century old.’

  ‘Yeah, but they’re all the same, those Harvilles. Aren’t they?’

  Deano sighed. ‘So we always used to say.’

  ‘I should never have touched him with a bargepole.’

  ‘Who, Lawrence?’ Deano drew back a little, wondering if she could see his quizzical expression in the dark.

  She sighed. ‘Yeah. I was gullible and he dazzled me.’

  ‘Seduced you, then threw you into a cellar? Seems like a Harville way to go about things.’

  ‘It was a long time ago. That’s not what this is about. This is just revenge for grassing him up.’ She drew a quick breath. ‘But I wish I knew what he had planned.’

  ‘He’ll let us out soon. He’ll have to. He’s in a whole world of trouble already – no point making it worse.’

  ‘Or – in for a penny, in for a pound,’ said Kayley gloomily.

  Deano pulled her closer, wanting to shut out the dark for her, wanting to bring in some light and some hope. Just for her.

  ‘Well, do you have any idea where he might be?’


  Jenna waved away Linda’s offer of a dented can of Coke and looked around the tiny coop of a living room as if Jason might be hiding beneath the coffee table.

  ‘Not me, duck. He could be anywhere. I’m surprised he ain’t told you where he’s gone. You two had a row, have you?’

  ‘Just some silliness,’ said Jenna, trying to convince herself. It was, wasn’t it? Just silliness. He was being touchy and she had more than a genuine right to be agitated over the Facebook photo.

  The vultures had been gathering when she left the Hall to come and look for Jason, who had left the phone that had caused all the trouble on the floor in the bedroom.

  ‘The thing is, Linda,’ she said uneasily. ‘Shit. You’re going to hear about this from someone, so it might as well be me. The thing is, a … compromising … photograph of me has turned up on the web.’

  ‘Nudie shots? Jealous, is he, of your past?’ Linda’s glee rather overrode her clumsy attempts at sympathy.

  ‘No, it was him that took the photograph,’ said Jenna. ‘Just thought I ought to warn you.’

  ‘Eh? What the bloody hell did he put it online for? Daft beggar. I’m not surprised you had a row. I’ll give him a row when he turns up here.’

  ‘No, no, it was an accident. The wrong buttons were pressed. I panicked, and he thinks I overreacted.’

  ‘Overreacted? I don’t think so, love. You’re a big star. This could hurt you.’

  ‘Exactly, exactly, that’s what I said, but he just didn’t seem to get it.’

  Jenna began to pace, then noticed somebody staring up at the window from the back of the shops and pulled the curtains tightly shut.

  ‘So he marched off in a strop,’ continued Jenna. ‘And I thought he might have come here. That’s all.’

  ‘Well, I wish he had, but he didn’t,’ said Linda. ‘Look, let me put the kettle on, at least. You look like you could do with a sugary tea.’

  ‘Oh, all right. While I’m here, there was something I wanted to talk to you about anyway.’

  ‘Ooh,’ said Linda absently, wandering over to the little galley kitchen off the living room and getting mugs sorted. ‘That sounds official.’

  ‘I haven’t been able to mention it to Jason. I just think he’d … not take it very well.’

  ‘Ooh,’ she said again, more interested this time. ‘Tell me more.’