by Mark Timlin
‘Go round behind him,’ barked Pandora. Pascall hesitated then did as he was told.
‘You’ll never get away with this,’ I said as Pascall clumsily frisked me.
Pandora smiled. I didn’t blame him. The line was out of a thousand bad movies.
‘He’s clean,’ said Pascall when he’d finished.
‘So what now?’ I said.
‘Now you kill Louis and Ninotchka, and then yourself. I’ll swear I tried to stop you. I’ll be broken-hearted. You loved her, but she loved another. The papers will lap it up.’
Pascall’s mouth dropped open. You don’t often see that, but it happened.
‘Grand opera,’ I said into the silence. ‘No, soap opera. No one’s going to buy that, Keith. Are you crazy?’ He didn’t answer, but by the look on his face he was. Just a little. Anyone who gets his own way all the time is, I suppose. Maybe disappointment keeps you sane. Or maybe anything can drive you crazy in the end.
‘You can’t…’ said Pascall, and Pandora gut shot him. Pascall looked disbelievingly first at Pandora and then down at the neat hole just above his belt buckle. He touched the wound experimentally, opened his mouth to say something, but just let out a sound halfway between a belch and a moan and fell like a rubber man on to the carpet in front of us. Ninotchka screamed, but cut it off when Pandora looked at her through slitted eyes.
‘You’ve blown it, Keith,’ I said. I hope I said it with more confidence than I felt. By my calculations I was the next in line to be dealt with. I just hoped I could get him to talk for a bit and that someone in the hotel had heard the shot.
‘No,’ he replied. ‘You’ve blown it. You blew it coming up here. You should have taken that tape to the police.’
That was two mistakes I’d made. Two too many.
‘I’m sorry, Nin, I never wanted to hurt you,’ he said.
‘Thanks, Keith,’ replied Ninotchka. ‘That makes me feel heaps better.’
Pandora shrugged.
‘And more insurance money for Keith. It just keeps rolling in, doesn’t it?’ I said.
Pandora showed his big teeth in a grin and I dearly wished I’d kicked him in the head the time I’d had a chance. ‘So how did it go, Keith?’ I asked.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Did Bobby Boyle come to you, or did you go to him?’
‘He came to me.’
‘Handy that, the same time that you screwed up killing Shapiro.’
‘No. He’d been bugging me ever since we got here.’
‘What did he want?’ asked Ninotchka.
‘His old job back. Drummer with the band. What a joke!’
‘The joke was on him, wasn’t it?’ I said.
‘It sure was. He even brought a pair of sticks with him so he could audition.’
‘And one of them got hammered into Turdo.’
‘That’s right.’
‘So tell me, did he do the murders or did you?’
‘I did of course. Bobby wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was just useful to have around.’
‘To act as the fall guy. Just like you said on the tape.’
‘Correct.’
‘But, Keith, if he’d been arrested, don’t you think he might have mentioned your involvement? If only in passing?’ The bastard was so pleased with himself he only needed the odd prompt to keep him going.
‘Are you serious? He didn’t know what the fuck was going on. He was totally crazed. He was on another fucking planet, man. And even if something had got through to whatever he had between his ears instead of a brain, who would have believed him anyway? The guy had been in and out of the funny farm for years. He was a certified lunatic. Who do you think they would have believed? All that would have happened was that they’d’ve stuck him back in the rubber room where he belonged. It was just a bonus you two helped him take a dive. Got him out of my hair.’
Literally the fall guy, I thought. ‘A stroke of luck for you really,’ I said.
‘That’s right.’
‘Not for him.’
Pandora shrugged again.
‘You bastard,’ said Ninotchka through bloodless lips, and for a moment I thought she was going to go for him. So did he, and he turned the gun towards her. I caught her arm. ‘Don’t.’ I said.
‘Good advice,’ said Pandora, smirking.
I ignored the comment. ‘And it almost worked too,’ I said.
‘It’s still working.’
‘No,’ I replied. ‘It’s all over, Keith. Give up.’
‘No, it’s not.’
‘There’ll be too many questions asked.’
‘I’ll be long gone by then.’
‘If you really believe that, then you are fucked, son.’
He shook his head. ‘Long gone,’ he said, again, almost dreamily.
‘Keith, what are you on?’ asked Ninotchka.
‘Just his own damned ego,’ I commented.
Pandora grunted angrily and his eyes focused as he remembered where he was and what he was doing, and the gun that had been drooping slightly in his hand came up again. That was dangerous. I had to keep him talking. Play for time.
‘And it was you that got Valin to get rid of his security and his girlfriend the night he was killed?’ I asked.
‘Correct again. I told him I had to see him privately on band business, and not to tell anyone else.’
‘And then you choked him?’
Pandora nodded again.
‘For the insurance money?’
‘That’s right.’
‘But why kill Elmo? What had he done apart from supplying lousy drugs?’
‘He sussed out what was going on. Turdo must have said something. Not as stupid as he looked, was Elmo. He tried to put the black on me. Threatened to go to the cops. No chance. He was expecting a nice little bonus that night in the swimming pool. But he got more than he bargained for. And it would all have worked out nice if it hadn’t been for you two. Everyone thought him and Turdo were killed by a lunatic with a grudge against the band.
‘He was. You,’ I said. ‘But poor Bobby got the starring role in that movie.’
‘Right,’ he said, and as he did so the outside door to the suite opened and Andrea Batiste walked in. She stood disbelievingly in the doorway looking at us, and Pandora walked over and grabbed her arm and pulled her in. Never letting the barrel of the gun waver for a second.
‘What the hell’s going on?’ she said.
‘Just a glitch,’ said Pandora. I really think he was beginning to enjoy the whole episode.
Andrea saw Pascall lying on the floor. She pulled away from Pandora’s grasp and knelt next to Pascall’s body and felt for a pulse. ‘He’s dead,’ she said disbelievingly.
‘Your pal Keith killed him,’ I said.
She stayed kneeling, looking up at us over one shoulder.
‘Just like he killed Turdo, Elmo and Valin,’ I explained.
‘Keith?’ she said.
‘Don’t listen to his crap,’ said Pandora.
‘And he’ll probably end up killing you too,’ I said. ‘After he’s killed Ninotchka and me.’ I looked over at Pandora again. ‘It’s getting to be too many, Keith,’ I said to him. ‘Don’t you think someone’s going to get suspicious soon?’
He bared his teeth in the approximation of a grin again, and shook his head.
‘Is this true, Keith?’ asked Andrea.
He said nothing.
Ninotchka said, ‘Andrea, can’t you get him to see that he’ll never get away with it? Just let us go, Keith. It’s all over.’
Before Pandora could reply, there was a knock at the door. It was getting to be like Piccadilly Circus in the suite. ‘Why don’t you answer it?’ I said. ‘It’s probably the police.’
Pandora went to the door, stil
l keeping the gun steady. ‘Who’s there?’ he shouted.
‘Us,’ came the reply. It was Slash’s voice.
Pandora opened the door. The two girls came in and Pandora shut the door behind them and leant up against it.
‘It’s the end of the line,’ I said. ‘Even you must see that now.’
‘He’s right,’ said Andrea. ‘You’d better let them go, Keith.’
‘And if I don’t?’
‘You’ll have to kill me too.’
‘That can be arranged.’
‘And the girls?’
He shrugged. But I didn’t think he was quite as confident as he had been.
All I needed was a slight diversion. Anything to break his concentration. Anything so I could get my hands on that damn gun.
‘Christ!’ said Andrea. ‘I knew you were a cold son of a bitch, but I never knew you were this bad.’
‘We live and learn,’ I said. ‘Pascall had to die to learn. How many more before you put that gun down, Keith?’
‘Listen to him,’ begged Andrea. ‘For God’s sake, listen.’
‘If you don’t shut your dumb mouth, you’ll be next, bitch,’ said Pandora. And made as if to move against her.
And then The Flea gave me the diversion I needed.
‘Don’t you hurt my mother!’ she said, and hurled herself at Pandora like a tiny human cannonball. He slapped her out of the way and I had my chance to make a move. But as I went for him, my left foot, my bad foot, the foot I’d been shot in so long ago, and that had barely troubled me for months, decided to give me one of its timely reminders that all was still not well, and that metal plate can never fully replace healthy bone. As I moved, it shot a stab of pain like a lance of fire up my leg, and I stumbled.
Pandora was quick, I’ll say that for him. As my leg gave way, he went back a step and brought the gun round and bounced it off my skull. My head rang like a bell and I hit the deck. Pandora laughed, and pointed the pistol at my head, and The Flea, who had picked herself up off the floor where she’d fallen when he’d hit her, got back into the act. She grabbed his gun hand and sank her sharp white pointed teeth into his wrist and ground her jaw until I think they must have met bone. Pandora screamed, and dropped the pistol and hit out at The Flea with his left hand doubled into a fist. He kept punching her until she released her grip, and still he hit her until she curled up on the floor and lay very still. While this was going on I pulled myself to my feet and went for the gun. But Slash beat me to it. She dived in and grabbed it, moving back out of reach and pointing it in Pandora’s and my direction.
By that time we were close enough together and she was far enough away that she could cover us both. We froze. ‘Give me the gun, Slash,’ said Pandora and held out his right hand. Blood dripped from his wrist and soaked the cuff of his fancy shirt.
‘No,’ said Slash. ‘You’ve killed my sister, you bastard.’
‘She bit me.’
‘You didn’t have to kill her.’
‘She’s not dead,’ said Pandora. And as if to prove him right, she groaned and moved slightly. ‘See,’ he said triumphantly. Slash looked over towards her sister. ‘You were going to hurt my mother.’
‘No, baby, I was just mad. I didn’t mean it. Trust me. When this is all over we’ll go away together, just the two of us. We’ll get married like I promised.’
‘If you believe that, you’ll believe anything,’ I said. ‘Trust your sister. She’s sussed him out.’
‘Shut your mouth,’ he spat at me. ‘Slash, honey, please.’ His tone changed and he drew out the last word as if he was speaking to a baby. Which I suppose he was in a way.
‘I don’t know,’ she said.
She was holding the gun two-handed like Sonny Crockett in every episode of Miami Vice that she’d watched on video. I wondered if she knew how to use it.
‘Give me the gun,’ said Pandora again. And moved one step closer to her.
She bit her lip and shook her head and moved the gun fractionally towards him. He stopped. ‘Shoot him then,’ he said, pointing at me. ‘Shoot him, for God’s sake.’
She looked at me, and moved the gun fractionally in my direction. I felt my sphincter tighten. What the fuck was there to know? Point the thing and pull the trigger. That, as Lomax had said, is all she wrote.
‘Shoot him, you stupid cow!’ said Pandora.
I saw her eyes lock on to mine and I thought it was all over for me. ‘He was decent to us,’ she said. ‘He warned us about you. He said he’d help if we needed it.’
My mouth was dry and I licked my lips.
‘Fuck you, you mean,’ said Pandora. ‘He just wanted to fuck the pair of you.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘He could have had us easy. But he wouldn’t. He cared about us. Which is more than you’ve ever done. He told us about his daughter. He said we could all go out together to the movies or something.’
‘He probably wanted you all to have a scene together.’
‘No,’ she said. And her voice rose an octave. ‘No, that wasn’t it.’ And I could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
‘Shoot, you silly cunt!’ he screamed. ‘You’ll ruin everything.’
I saw her finger tighten on the trigger and she closed her eyes before she fired.
‘Alice, no!’ screamed Andrea. But she was too late.
The first bullet hit Pandora in the thigh and exited taking a shower of blood and flesh with it. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something. The second bullet hit him just below his collarbone and sprayed more blood. The third entered his chest and stayed there. The fourth missed him completely, and broke the window behind him. The last bullet made a perfect black hole in his forehead, and took half the back of his skull and a huge hank of his curly blond hair and deposited it on the wall behind him like a small dead animal crushed by a speeding car.
With each shot that hit him he moved a step backwards until the last one killed his motor function, and he crashed on to the carpet.
Slash kept pulling the trigger and even through ears deafened by the gunshots, I counted a dozen or more metallic clicks as the hammer fell on to the empty cartridge cases in the chamber of the gun that she was clutching like she’d never let it go.
This ebook edition first published in 2014
by No Exit Press
an imprint of Oldcastle Books
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First published in 1991 by HEADLINE BOOK PUBLISHING PLC
All rights reserved
© Mark Timlin 1991
The right of Mark Timlin to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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978-1-84344-274-5 (epub)
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