Beyond the Rage

by Michael J Malone

  ‘You can call me Diana.’ She crossed her slim legs, pulled some hair behind her ear, cocked her head to the side and gave a little smile. ‘I’ve always liked that name.’

  Je-sus, Kenny thought, she’s flirting with me. He looked at her heavily made-up face; he’d initially thought she was in her late-fifties now he was revising that up to mid-seventies. She was mutton cryogenically frozen, dressed as a Dallas makeover lamb,

  Whatever she was, he felt himself drawn to her.

  ‘And Alexis came to you because?’

  ‘I’m her mother.’ This was said with pride, worry and a slight uplift to her eyebrows.

  Kenny opened his mouth to speak. Nothing came out. He couldn’t have been more surprised if she’d asserted she was a vampire and Twilight was based on her life story. Did she know what her daughter did for a living? Did she really know why she had fled the city?

  ‘I know everything, Kenny. My daughter keeps no secrets from me.’

  The question must have been written all over his face. ‘You sure about that?’

  ‘She’s a working girl and you’re one of her... nice clients.’

  ‘Right,’ Kenny said. What else could he say? ‘I... she told me she was Italian-Swiss.’

  ‘Her father is,’ Diana smiled and looked up at the ceiling as if she could see through it and into the bedroom above, where her daughter lay sleeping. ‘Her mother is as Scottish as you are.’

  ‘Do you know what happened in Glasgow today?’

  Diana nodded and bit her lip and for the first time Kenny read fear in her expression.

  ‘Do you have any idea who this monster is?’ she asked him, leaning forward in her chair.

  ‘I don’t. No. But as soon as I find out I’ll deal with him.’

  Diana sat back in her chair. She looked at Kenny. She scanned the room and then her eyes stared into his as if she was measuring him for a lobotomy.

  ‘Will you be able to do the necessary?’ she eventually asked.

  The necessary? Kenny made a face.

  ‘Don’t be naïve, son. I know you skirt outside the law. I can tell looking at you that you’re a man of violence. Will you be able to take this evil man on and make sure he never harms another person?’ Her expression was dark, her nostrils flared with the need to see her daughter safe.

  ‘Yes,’ Kenny replied and meant it. He’s never hid from a fight and had started more than a few, but his actions had never led to another man’s life being taken. This man, however, had him worried. His actions were disturbing and in his viscera Kenny knew that there would be a reckoning and only one of them would walk away. ‘I’ll do what it takes to protect my friends.’

  Diana laughed loudly, throwing her head back like a pantomime villain. ‘A friend, bless you, son.’

  ‘What’s so funny?’ Kenny found himself irritated by her response.

  ‘You, ya numpty. Her friend. Alexis is a stunningly beautiful woman. You’ve a penis and a pulse. You no more want to be her friend than I want to get my nipples pierced.’ She shuddered. ‘You want to possess her. You want to have her hang off your arm so that all your tiny-dicked pals will be jealous.’

  ‘That’s harsh and unfair,’ said Kenny. ‘I’ve driven all the way to this bumfuck of a place to help her, so don’t tell me...’

  ‘Oh, don’t get your gusset all twisted, son. I’m just messing with you,’ She laughed again. Then she studied him again. ‘I get it.’ She paused. ‘You’re in love with her.’

  ‘I... I... eh.’ Kenny was at a serious loss at what to say. This woman could tie him up in verbal knots.

  ‘Ach, I shouldn’t be surprised. They all are.’ She chewed on the inside of her lip. ‘Whisky?’

  ‘Eh...’

  ‘Here’s the deal, Kenny me lad. If you want to help my daughter, you’ll let her sleep tonight and find somewhere to keep her safe in the morning. In the meantime, you’re welcome to the couch and a wee drop of the hard stuff. I’ll throw in the banter as an added bonus.’

  ‘How could I refuse such a generous offer?’ Kenny felt himself match her smile.

  ‘Where do you think Alexis got all that charm from?’

  ‘Were you on the game as well?’

  ‘Cheeky monkey,’ Diana laughed. ‘Fair enough question, I suppose.’ She stood up and walked out of the door. She returned moments later carrying a bottle of Glenmorangie and two glasses. ‘In answer to your frankly impertinent question,’ – grin – ‘no, I wasn’t on the game, but I am a wee bit... unconventional, you might say. So my daughter felt able to fill me in on her career choice.’

  ‘And where do you get your conventions from?’

  ‘My mother died when I was a child. My father was a touring actor and over the years I had many mothers from a variety of walks of life.’ The emphasis she placed on the word ‘variety’ suggested to Kenny that her mothers could have been anything from teachers to whores. Diana poured them both a generous measure. ‘I learned not to judge.’

  ‘Nice house,’ said Kenny, taking the offered glass.

  ‘Liar.’ Diana sat back down. ‘All these fucking teddy bears do my head in.’

  Kenny must have looked mystified, for Diana went straight into an explanation. ‘Mad psycho attacks daughter and kills her friend. Do you think she’d be daft enough to risk him following her when she goes to pay her old mother a visit? The house belongs to a friend.’ She made a dismissive noise as she eyed up a line of ceramic teddy bears on the mantelpiece. ‘A very sad friend.’

  For a time they sat in companionable silence, both of them sipping their whisky and each of them lost in thought.

  Diana drained her glass and walked out of the room. Kenny heard her go upstairs, rummage in a cupboard and then come back down again. She was holding a quilt and a pillow when she walked back in the room. Kenny could just about make out the peak of her hair over the height of the bedding.

  ‘God.’ She let it all fall to the floor. ‘Nearly bloody killed myself coming back down those stairs.’ She blew some hair out of her mouth and stood before him with her hands on her hips. ‘Right, don’t even think of trying to sneak into her room in the middle of the night. I’m a mother, I know all these tricks. Besides,’ she laughed. ‘I slipped her some antihistamine instead of paracetomol. Used to knock her out for days when she was a wee girl.’

  She turned as if to walk out of the room and then turned back. Her expression was a study in fear and an acknowledgement of her weakness in the face of the threat to her daughter. For the first time, Kenny thought that despite the make-up and the clothes, Diana looked like what she was: an old woman.

  ‘You’ll keep my daughter safe, won’t you, son?’ she asked.

  24

  Kenny was blessed with an ability to sleep anywhere, any time. His cousin Ian used to joke that if he was hanging off the edge of a cliff he would take time out for a catnap before trying to save himself.

  This was a talent he put to good use as soon as Diana’s feet hit the bottom of the stairs. He was frustrated about not getting a chance to speak to Alexis, but her mother was not someone you could easily defy.

  He pulled his mobile phone from his pocket. Searched for recent numbers and sent a text with the postcode and house number and then kicked off his shoes and slumped into the chair.

  It felt like only minutes since he closed his eyes when he opened them to find Alexis curled up on the chair opposite him.

  ‘Hi,’ she said softly.

  Kenny groaned and stretched. ‘Who are you?’ he asked while looking out of one eye. ‘And what have you done with the nice lady who was talking to me last night?’

  ‘She’s something, isn’t she?’ Alexis left her seat to come over to sit on Kenny’s knee. She placed her head on his shoulder. ‘Thanks for coming. I had no idea what to do.’ Her voice was small like a child’s.

  �
�Want to talk about it?’

  ‘My knight in shining armour,’ Alexis said and sat up. Even shadowed with grief and weak with fear, Kenny thought she looked gorgeous. ‘Coffee?’ she said.

  ‘You sure you’re up to it?’

  Alexis placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a weak push. ‘I’m sick with worry, Kenny not paralysed.’ She stood up and took a hold of his hand. ‘C’mon through to the kitchen.’

  The kitchen was larger than the narrow hallway leading to it suggested it might be. Big enough to have a panoramic window above the sink, all the usual cupboards – in a fetching pink pine – and all the usual electrics. In the middle of the floor sat a circular pine table. Diana sat in one of the four chairs in front of a pot of coffee. She looked once again like just she’d come out of hair and make-up department at Weird Old Ladies R Us.

  ‘Coffee?’ she asked in the same tone she’d offered a whisky with the night before. Kenny nodded and slumped into a chair. Alexis sat beside him and poured drinks for them both into a pair of matching teddy bear mugs.

  Diana grimaced. ‘See what I mean? These bears are getting on my tits.’

  ‘Mother!’ Alexis admonished.

  Diana exhaled. ‘Right, like he’s never heard the word “tits” before.’

  ‘I’m certain he’s heard it, but not from the mouth of an old lady.’

  ‘Oh.’ Diana held a hand over her heart. ‘How careless the young are. I’ll “old lady” you, missy. I could show you and your young man a thing or two.’

  ‘My mother’ – Alexis turned to Kenny – ‘hit her peak in the Eighties and decided to take up permanent residence there.’

  ‘Is that code for my mum’s an out-of-touch old slapper?’

  Looking at the faces of the two women, Kenny could see that this was a well-worn argument that would re-surface whenever there were tensions in either of their lives.

  ‘It certainly wasn’t easy bringing my friends home from school to be faced with...’ – Alexis held her hand out towards her mother and moved it up and down – ‘...that.’

  ‘Ladies.’ Kenny thought he should interrupt before it became even more personal. ‘This is all very Jerry Springer, but there’s no cameras here and I’m sure we have more pressing matters in mind. Like, who the psycho killer is? Why he’s after you and how we are going to find him?’

  ‘I like him, Alexis,’ Diana smiled and patted his hand. ‘But Kenny, you have a lot to learn about mothers and daughters. That was just how we say good morning.’

  ‘In that case I hope to God I never see you fight.’

  ‘Can I get you some breakfast, Kenny? Some toast, perhaps?’

  ‘She makes it seem like you have a choice, Kenny. It’s either toast or toast, I’m afraid,’ said Alexis.

  ‘I don’t want anything, thank you Diana, apart from being told what the hell is going on here.’ He turned to face Alexis. ‘Do you still want me to be your business partner?’

  Alexis nodded, her movement quick but sure.

  ‘In that case I need to get up to speed with whatever the hell is going on.’

  ‘In that case I need some whisky in my coffee. Mother?’

  ‘You want to pickle your liver at seven in the morning, you do it yourself.’

  ‘Oh for chrissakes, where’s the bottle?’

  Diana told her; Alexis fetched it and poured a generous measure into her black coffee. She took a small sip, shuddered and then took some more. She offered her mug in a salute. ‘Here’s to Scots courage. Why’s it always Dutch, eh?’

  Kenny allowed her to settle before telling her story. He knew that to press her at this point would only delay her even more.

  ‘I was in the Merchant City flat. The one you...’ She gave Kenny a meaningful look. ‘I was finished for the afternoon and one of the girls... Cora…’ Alexis choked on the word. She coughed and dabbed at her eye. ‘Cora had booked the flat for the evening and she was about to...’ She couldn’t speak anymore and leaning forward, head in her hands, hair obscuring her face, she began to sob.

  Diana stood up from her chair and moved round to hug her daughter. After a couple of minutes of Kenny feeling as useless as tooth floss in a nursing home the women separated and Alexis appeared ready to resume her story.

  ‘Where was I? Cora... I can barely mention her name without seeing her like that...’ Alexis screwed her eyes shut. ‘He... pulled the knife across her throat like... she was nothing. Nothing.’

  ‘Was it the same man who attacked you?’ Kenny asked.

  Alexis nodded.

  ‘You’re sure?’

  ‘No doubt.’

  ‘So who is he?’

  ‘I don’t know his name, but he was sent by my old boss with the warning.’

  ‘Why did you need to be warned?’

  Alexis took a sip from her drink. ‘That is the question...’

  ‘Alex,’ warned Diana, ‘time to stop dithering. Tell the man.’

  ‘Right, Mum. Give me a minute. This isn’t easy.’

  ‘I’ll tell you what’s not easy. Being in labour for fourteen hours and then seeing your beautiful daughter throwing herself away for a man.’

  ‘God, Mother. Every time you get annoyed with me you throw that in my face. I was in love, for fuck’s sake. Have you never been in love?’

  ‘Will the pair of you stop it?’ Kenny interrupted. ‘You’re doing my head in.’

  ‘My daughter was a market trader, Kenny. Working for an investment bank. She was one of the best traders in the city.’

  ‘Mother...’

  ‘Her so-called husband was a waster...’

  Kenny was stunned and tried to hide it. Of course she had a history, it just wasn’t something you asked your favourite prostitute about.

  ‘He was an addict, Kenny.’ Alexis took over from her mother with a look. ‘Gambling, cocaine, alcohol... you name it, he scored it. He got into some serious problems. I tried to bail him out... and a series of bad choices led to him taking a nosedive into the Thames and me fleeing London to escape.’

  ‘Except that kind of life follows you, Kenny,’ Diana butted in. ‘Alexis was given to a local bigshot as payment of a debt...’

  ‘I feel that debt has been repaid with interest and I want my independence,’ Alexis said, putting steel in her posture and determination in her voice.

  ‘And lemme guess, Mr Bigshot doesn’t agree?’ asked Kenny.

  ‘Give that man a prize,’ said Diana. ‘Or at the very least a fresh cup of coffee?’

  Kenny smiled at her attempt to add some levity to the conversation and nodded.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ he said, ‘it’s like a TV drama.’ He paused in thought. ‘Who’s Mr Bigshot?’

  ‘You don’t want to know.’

  ‘Yes I do.’

  ‘You don’t, trust me,’ said Alexis, her eyes heavy with warning. ‘If I told you his name, neither of us would be alive this time next week.’

  ‘Sounds like a man with a lot to hide,’ said Kenny.

  ‘Kenny, don’t, please.’

  ‘A man with a lot to hide can be bargained with.’

  ‘Not this guy, Kenny. He won’t risk the world knowing his secrets.’

  ‘So he’s a real bigshot? A prominent citizen? Have I met him?

  ‘Kenny. I’ve said enough. Please stop asking me.’ She leaned towards him and took a grip of his hand. ‘I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you as well.’

  ‘Who else has been hurt?’ Kenny asked. ‘Apart from Cora and yourself?’

  ‘That’s the first time they’ve gone after one of my friends.’

  ‘So,’ said Kenny thinking aloud, ‘they’ll kill your friends, but they want to keep you alive.’

  ‘She’s the asset they don’t want to lose, Kenny,’ said Diana, making a face.

 
; ‘I could do without the sarcasm, Mother.’

  ‘It wasn’t sarcasm, sweetheart. It was pride. What mother wouldn’t choose such a career path for her daughter?’ Diana tossed her hair. Her words were flippant, but her expression was tight with self-loathing. She wasn’t having a go at her daughter; she was blaming herself. Somewhere along the line she had failed her child and she couldn’t bear it.

  ‘Enough, ladies. Do I have to put one of you on the naughty step?’

  ‘Oh, that would be nice,’ said Diana. ‘Will you spank me as well?’

  ‘Oh, Mother,’ said Alexis wearily. ‘Do you ever turn it off?’

  ‘When they nail my coffin shut, darling,’ Diana replied and took a swig from her coffee.

  Kenny felt a dull ache in his abdomen and pressure on his bladder and realised he hadn’t used the toilet since he arrived the previous evening. He stood up. ‘The toilet?’

  ‘Up the stairs,’ both women answered in unison. ‘Second door on the left.’

  Once inside the toilet he was not surprised to see that the teddy bear theme continued, albeit in a more relaxed manner. A toilet roll was sat on the top of the cistern with a pink crocheted cover on it and part of the design was a small blue bear.

  The sink, bath and toilet were all white, the carpet was a dark pink, as were the curtains and the huge fluffy towels strategically positioned here and there. Everywhere Kenny looked in the small room there were feminine touches; lace, ribbon, powder puffs, perfume and soaps. So much so that as he unzipped and pulled his trousers down he felt that he should be covering his genitals, in no way should he touch them and that as soon as he was finished he should set about the room with a scrubbing brush to erase any sign that a man had even been here.

  He gave vent to his relief with a soft ‘Aaaah’ when his bowels and bladder emptied. This feel-good factor even extended to him humming a tune.

  A noise made him stop. A knocking noise. Could someone be at the door? He wiped himself clean and thought about the text he sent the previous night. It was to Mark Donaldson and simply gave his whereabouts and the line, A protection job. Interested?