Dead Watch: a fast-paced thriller you don't want to miss

by Steve Liszka

  Two minutes later, they saw him standing at the window of a first floor flat, staring out at the sea. Five minutes after that, he re-emerged and, carrying his Gucci man bag, walked swiftly towards the town centre.

  With the rush-hour morning traffic having ground to a halt, Bodhi got out of the car and followed him on foot, hanging just far back enough to not look like a wallet snatcher. He tracked him to his place of work, a twelve-storey building, housing a mix of new media start-ups and more traditional companies. Bodhi knew the building well; he done a familiarisation visit there with the crew when it had first opened three years earlier. He knew that without a swipe card he would be unable to get past the guard on the lobby desk and discover which office their man worked from. It didn’t matter; they knew where he lived. Lenny had wanted to break into the flat and find out what was in the case, but Jimmy told him it was unnecessary. All they had to do was wait, and they’d soon find out who the man was and what the fuck he was up to.

  That night, from the interior of Bodhi’s van, they sat watching his flat, trying to get an idea of their new friend’s habits. Jimmy had decided to stay home and spend some time with Jen and the kids. Neither of them minded; they were just happy he still had a life to go home to.

  ‘See this is what I should get myself,’ Lenny said as he sat in the back of the Westfalia, checking out the kitchen and fold-out bed set-up.

  ‘I could park it outside the club and then bring the chicks back and bang the shit out of them. They’d love it.’

  Bodhi peered in the back and smiled at him. ‘Sure they would, big man, sure they would.’

  It was eight o’clock, and they could see the lights go on from behind the curtains in office wanker’s flat.

  ‘Do you think he’s going out tonight?’ Bodhi asked. ‘Or do you think he’s got company coming over? He looks like the type who likes to be seen, to me.’

  Lenny shrugged. ‘Maybe he’s just going to have a pot noodle and a wank.’

  A hand-holding, twenty-something couple walked towards the building and stood outside the front door.

  Bodhi pointed at them with a lazy finger. ‘I wonder if they’re here to see our boy?’

  Lenny spun around on his swivel seat just as the lovebirds entered the building.

  Seconds later, the shadows reflecting on their man’s curtains told Bodhi that he was right. This was the beginning of a steady stream of at least a dozen visitors, mainly young and mainly good looking.

  ‘Looks like our boy is in for the night,’ Lenny said. ‘I think we might as well fuck the fuck off.’

  Bodhi turned the key in the ignition and put the van into reverse. ‘I think I’m inclined to agree, bud.’

  ‘Hang on a fucking minute,’ Lenny said as another couple walked toward the house. ‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.’

  When they had gone inside, Lenny and Bodhi stared at each other, not knowing quite what to say.

  ‘Please tell me,’ Lenny finally said, when he managed to find his words, ‘what the fuck Dylan and Felicity are doing here.’

  Party Time

  Felicity watched Dylan’s reflection take an age to button up his shirt.

  ‘Please can you at least try and pretend you’re happy about going tonight.’

  Dylan’s eyes diverted from his button holes to her image in the doorway behind him. She was naked, with the exception of her knickers, and the towel wrapped around her head that made him think of an Indian Princess. He forced the worst possible attempt at a smile from his lips.

  ‘I know how you must be feeling,’ she said, ‘but don’t you think it’s time we moved on. You can’t keep dragging up what happened in your mind otherwise it’s going to drive you crazy…We’ve got to be mature about this.’

  Dylan stopped what he was doing, one button short of his goal and turned to face her. ‘I’m sorry if I’m still feeling a bit awkward about going to your boss’ home and having to pretend that nothing happened, even though we all know what you got up to with him. But I guess that’s just me; immature.’

  Felicity walked up to him and stroked his hair. ‘Let’s not go through this again. You know I’m sorry, and you know I regret what happened. But it’s not him I love, and it’s not him I want to marry and spend the rest of my life with.’ She leant in and kissed his lips. ‘You’re the person I want, never ever forget that.’

  She smiled and did up the last button on his shirt. ‘We’re not going for him. We’re going because everyone else at work is going, and if I’m not there, then people will be talking. Don’t let one mistake spoil what we’ve got.’

  ‘When you put it like that,’ Dylan said as he tucked in his shirt, ‘we should get going. The line between fashionably late and rude is a thin one.’

  Even though he had met most of them before, the demographic of Felicity’s office never failed to surprise him. Most of her workmates were young and good looking, the opposite of what he’d imagined an accountant to look like. It shouldn’t have surprised him; if Felicity was gorgeous, then there was no reason that others in her profession shouldn’t be too. There were a handful of older, more normal looking people in the office, who weren’t part of the beautiful people clique, but none of them had turned up. Whether their self-consciousness had prevented them from attending, or they hadn’t been invited in the first place, Dylan was unsure.

  Then, there was Nick, the most preened peacock of them all. He was tall and good looking with a head of thick black hair and a muscular upper body. It was only the skinniest of skinny jeans he wore that gave the hint that his workouts focused solely on his chest and arms. His baby-chick legs looked like they had never attempted a set of squats.

  Dylan had tried his best to mingle, smile and laugh in all the right places, but he couldn’t get it out of his head that he was hanging out in Nick the fucking Prick’s overpriced apartment. He was counting the minutes until Felicity was ready to leave. Hopefully, it would be sooner than later.

  An hour into the party, he saw his chance at a brief escape. He had been politely nodding along to Dan, a Doctor Who obsessive, when the man excused himself to go to the kitchen for a refill without even asking Dylan if he wanted one. Seizing the opportunity, he sneaked through the open door onto the balcony for a moment of solitude. It was cold out there; the wind came off the seafront and smacked him straight in the face, but he didn’t care, he was away from them. He could see why the apartment earned its price tag; the unobscured view of the beach and the carcass of the burnt down West Pier made it prime Brighton property. Away from the beach on the street below, his attention was drawn to a van that looked almost identical to Bodhi’s. In fact, he was almost certain it was Bodhi’s.

  ‘Hey,’ a voice behind him said, ‘do you mind if I join you?’

  Dylan turned to see Nick the Prick step onto the balcony, not waiting for an answer. God, Dylan hated him. If he wasn’t bigger than him and he wasn’t so shit at fighting, he would have punched the arsehole in the face. On the street below, the van started up and revved off down the road. It even sounded just like Bodhi’s motor.

  ‘Hey, man, how are you doing?’ Nick said. His voice, like everything else about him made Dylan’s skin crawl. He sounded like one of those models in the aftershave adverts who told you that life was for living.

  ‘Great,’ was the best Dylan could muster.

  ‘Listen, fella,’ Nick said with a smile, ‘I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you coming here tonight. I know it must have been hard after what happened between me and Felicity.’

  Dylan shrugged. ‘Yeah, well, these things happen when drink is involved.’

  Nick looked at him for a second too long before speaking again. ‘No, really, it took a lot of guts to come to the house of the man your fiancée cheated with. Not a lot of men would do that.’

  If he were a fighting man, Dylan probably would have headbutted him in the nose at that point rather than do what he did, which was nothing. ‘I’m here for Felicity’s sak
e, Nick, not yours.’

  Nick returned the smile, only with far more enthusiasm, then laid his hand gently on Dylan’s shoulder. ‘Thanks for coming anyway. It’s great to see you.’

  A fighting man would have finished him off then and there.

  ‘Listen, let’s just it give it another half hour, then we’ll go.’

  Felicity squeezed Dylan’s hand, then put her other hand on top of his for good measure. It was two hours after his encounter with Nick on the balcony. He’d wanted to leave, but he sucked it up, avoided telling her what had happened, and tried not to look too lost every time she went to socialise with her friends.

  ‘I’m proud of you tonight,’ she said, giving him a wink.

  He didn’t know what to make of that. He knew he was a bit awkward in certain situations, but thanking him for managing to spend an evening in the presence of a group of adults without embarrassing himself suggested he was more of a social misfit than he’d realised.

  They were standing in the doorway of the spare bedroom, and with no one around them to witness it, Dylan wrapped his arms around his fiancée and kissed her lips.

  ‘As I’ve been such a good boy,’ he said, seizing on her words, ‘maybe I’ll get a reward when I get home.’

  Felicity jumped as his hand move up her skirt. ‘Maybe. Now move your hand before someone sees.’

  Dylan gave her bum a squeeze before letting go.

  ‘Cheeky!’

  They turned to see Felicity’s friend Amy standing next to them. ‘Dylan, you dirty dog, I didn’t think you had it in you.’

  ‘There’s a lot you don’t know about my man,’ Felicity said, pulling him closer to her. Dylan’s face had turned scarlet.

  ‘Hey, listen, sex machine,’ Amy said. ‘Any chance I can borrow your woman for ten minutes? We’re making mojitos in the kitchen.’

  ‘Of course. You ladies go and have fun.’

  ‘Is that all right?’ Felicity whispered in his ear. ‘I don’t have to.’

  Dylan laughed like the idea was ridiculous, even though he desperately wanted her to stay. ‘Don’t be silly, I’ll be fine. You go make cocktails, and I’ll see what the men are up to.’

  In the lounge, four of those men were sat on the sofa huddled around Nick who was holding out his mobile phone for all to see. As they were facing the opposite direction, none of them had noticed Dylan’s arrival. When he got closer, Dylan could see they were watching a video of a blonde woman with massive breasts going cowgirl on top of some lucky guy. After a few seconds of her tits bouncing up and down, the camera spun around to show the identity of the person below her. Dylan almost winced as Nick smiled and gave a thumbs-up to the camera he was holding. It was only after the high-fives and pats on the back had finished that they became aware of Dylan, who had now manoeuvred himself into their view.

  Nick looked up and smiled at him. ‘Dylan, take a seat, my man. Me and the guys were just talking about you.’

  He gestured to the grey velour armchair that Dylan happily accepted. He hadn’t sat down all night, and his legs were killing him.

  ‘That’s funny,’ Dylan said, already feeling the anger from their earlier encounter building up in him, ‘’cos I thought you were watching a video of you banging some girl. Does she know you show it to your friends?’

  Nick gave the others a “who the fuck is this guy?” look, then followed it up with a laugh. ‘You’re a funny guy, Dylan. I’ll give you that.’

  ‘I try my best.’

  Nick looked to the others before starting again. ‘Yeah, we were just saying earlier what a cushy little number you must have being a fireman. What is it, four days on, four days off? You boys must be laughing.’

  Dylan shrugged. ‘Yeah, it’s great.’

  ‘And I bet your ping pong and pool must be pretty awesome too.’

  ‘Not anymore,’ Dylan said, trying, but not particularly hard, to keep things pleasant. ‘They took them away from us, back in the day.’

  He declined to mention that Central still had a rec room that would have put most youth clubs to shame. But that was the exception. What he had said was true for the most part.

  ‘In that case, what do you guys do all day? I read somewhere that there are hardly any fires anymore. I think they said it was because of the way modern buildings are constructed or some shit like that. I wasn’t that interested, if I’m honest.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Dylan said, cutting through the spectators’ giggles. ‘We do have less fires, and building construction does play a part in it. But it’s also down to us spending a lot of time putting up smoke alarms and educating people about the risks of fire.’

  Nick gave him a miniature clap. ‘Well done you.’

  ‘And even though there are less fires, it doesn’t change the fact that when you do have one, you need us there as quick as possible with the right resources.’

  Nick nodded along as Dylan spoke. ‘No doubt. You guys do an important job, don’t get me wrong.’

  ‘And then, there are the car crashes and other shit we have to deal with.’

  ‘And all the cats you have to rescue from trees.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Dylan nodded to the guy sitting next to Nick who had interrupted him. Dylan thought his name might have been Dave. ‘Don’t forget the animal rescues.’

  ‘So, what about that strike of yours?’ Nick asked. ‘All sorted now?’

  ‘You could say that,’ Dylan answered. ‘Our pensions are fucked, and we’ve got to work for at least another five years. Happy days.’

  Nick nodded, looked up to the sky, then spoke again. ‘Yeah, well, we’ve all got to do our bit, haven’t we?’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘You know, in these times of austerity. We’re all in it together, isn’t that what they say?’

  Dylan laughed. ‘You know something, Nick, there are people out there who I would take that from. Doctors or nurses, maybe. Volunteers at a leper colony, perhaps. I wouldn’t mind them taking a cheap shot at what I do. But people like you…’ He looked around the room like the sight in front of him was about to make him sick.

  Nick sat forward on his sofa. ‘Oh, yeah, and what’s that supposed to mean, exactly? People like us?’

  ‘It means, Nick, that the reason fire stations like mine are having to close, and why hospitals are shutting down and disabled people’s allowances are being cut is because the richest people in this country don’t bother to pay their fair share of taxes. And your job is to facilitate that. You help them to shirk their responsibilities, and as a result, the rest of us suffer. Yet, here you are, looking down on me like I’ve done something wrong. That’s what I mean when I say people like you.’

  Nick rolled his eyes as his friends groaned loudly. None of them said anything to challenge Dylan; they were happy to sit back and watch the two of them scrap it out.

  ‘Let’s have a guess who’s a fan of Jeremy Corbyn,’ Nick said. ‘Come on, Dylan, surely even you’re not that naive. What do you think would happen if all these businesses had to pay ridiculous amounts of tax? Not that any of our clients belong in that bracket, by the way. But back to the point, they’d leave the country, that’s what they’d do. Now what good would that do us?’

  ‘Then, let them go,’ Dylan said, ‘because if they don’t pay their taxes, then they ain’t contributing. If I earn less than thirty grand a year and can afford to pay my share, then I don’t see why your rich chums can’t do the same. Yeah, I may get a bit of downtime at work, but at least I do a job that contributes to society. I can go home at night knowing that I’ve helped people. But you lot, the only people you help are yourselves and your tax-dodging clients. So, don’t tell me we’re all in it together, because we’re not. You assholes are part of the problem.’

  A broad smile spread across Nick’s face as his eyes diverted away from Dylan to a figure standing behind him. Before Dylan even saw who it was, he could feel his blood run cold. He turned around to see Felicity staring back at him. H
er arms were crossed, and he couldn’t tell if it was the anger or sadness in her face that was winning the fight for domination.

  ‘How long have you been standing there?’ he asked.

  ‘Long enough,’ she said, before storming towards the door and charging out.

  Dylan sprang to his feet and ran after her.

  ‘Thanks for coming!’ Nick yelled after him. ‘It was great to see you, mate.’

  Nick the Prick

  Jimmy looked at his watch then shook his head. ‘He’s not coming, I’m telling you.’

  ‘He’ll be here,’ Dylan said. ‘I didn’t think he would, either, at first, but when I started crying down the phone, I had him hooked.’

  Lenny looked at the man in disgust. He was meant to be on leave, but there was no way he was missing out on this. ‘I honestly don’t think I’ve ever met such a pussy in my life. You know, my bathroom has got more skincare products in it now than when my ex-missus lived with me, and she was a stripper.’

  The morning after the party, Felicity had politely asked Dylan to move out for a few weeks while she thought about things. She didn’t care that he’d had an argument with Nick, but what she couldn’t get her head around was the things she’d heard him say about the profession they shared. If he felt that way about Nick, then the same must have held true for her. They’d sat up for nearly two hours with Felicity trying to work out how he could be with someone if he held such a dim view of not only her career choice, but also her moral being. It was all too much for her, and after sleeping on it, she ordered him to pack a bag.

  Lenny had invited him in, if not with open arms, but an understanding of what he was going through. When his relationship had broken up, he’d spent three months sleeping on the couch in Bodhi’s boat, and despite spending all his life living on the coast, he fucking hated water.

  Their time together had given Lenny plenty of opportunity to grill his new flat-mate about what the hell he was doing in the apartment of the man they were following. It didn’t take long to come to the conclusion that Nick must have been laundering Mac’s drug profits. The question that still remained was what they were going to do about it. Usually, Dylan would have seized on the chance to get one over on Nick, but now Felicity wanted nothing more to do with him, he no longer really cared.