by Joe McNally
Monty: ‘We will deal with it.’
Prim: ’How? I want to know how?’
Monty: ‘As you said yesterday, that is our department.’
Prim: ‘But I need to know what to expect, for God’s sake! I need to know when!’
Monty: ‘I’ll call you.’
Prim: ‘When?’
Monty: ‘Soon.’
Silence…
Prim – her tone much more composed: ‘Tell me that you understand what we’re facing here?’
Monty: ‘I understand.’
Prim: ‘Bruno?’
Bruno (still out of shot): ‘You should go home now.’
Prim: ‘Are you going to do something or aren’t you?’
Monty: ‘Bruno is right. You should go home now. I will call you soon.’
Sounds of chair legs moving on a wooden floor, then a grunt, then a shot of Monty’s left trouser pocket as he turned. Prim: ‘Give me that!’
Monty: ‘We need to keep it.’ His left hand held the memory stick.
Prim: ‘Why? You’ve just listened to every word of it. I have to take it back! My father said I must keep it! That was the deal when we spoke yesterday.’
Bruno: ‘It was your deal, Miss Romanic. Go home.’
Prim: ‘Monty, who’s in charge here? I want that stick back! What if you decide not to do anything? You’ve got evidence that’s damaging to me and my father!’
Monty: ‘Things cannot run on your timeline, Prim. You tell us all this yesterday. Now you bring us evidence. We need some time to consider things now.’
Prim: ‘You don’t have time! It’s the one single thing you do not have! Please tell me I’m not going crazy here in being the only person who can see this? I thought I was doing you a big favour. You are way, way much deeper in this thing than I am.’
Monty: ‘I’ve been in business for more than thirty years. It would be remiss of me to make knee-jerk decisions. Now, please go home and wait. I promise I will be in touch soon.’
Silence. A heel scrape. A sigh. Prim’s right hip moves into shot: Prim: ‘What is it that’s stopping you? If you’re afraid of the consequences, I have a way out of this for you, Monty. Once you’ve done what you need to do, I have a way out of this. Guaranteed. You can disappear. Your business will be bought from you for full market price.’
Monty: ‘That’s good to know.’
Prim: ‘Don’t bloody patronize me! I hate being patronized by men.’
Bruno: ‘But by women, you don’t mind.’
Silence…Prim: ‘Why are you both treating me as though I’m your enemy? I’m the one trying to keep you out of jail.’
Three steps. No heel-click. Bruno, louder now, closer to the mics but still out of shot: ‘You are the one who wants us to murder a man and a woman who are your friends.’
Silence…Prim: ‘Wouldn’t you do anything to save your father?’
Bruno: ‘Your father is an old man. He will die soon enough. What you want to save is yourself so that the American does not get Grant.’
‘She’s not American. She’s a mongrel! A bitch. I am of the nobility, the Spanish nobility!’
Bruno: ‘You are a gangster.’
Prim: ‘I am a gangster? Me? Pot, kettle, black, Mister Guta. Pot. Kettle. Black.’
Monty, turning and walking away from the webcam: ‘Go home, Prim. I will call you soon.’
Prim: ‘I’m not leaving until you tell me what you’re going to do.’
Monty: ‘We will do what is best.’
Prim: ‘Don’t worry about afterwards, about being caught. Dil can get Vita Brodie to buy your business…at full price.’
Silence.
Prim: ‘Vita Brodie has millions. She invests in lots of businesses. Dil is certain he can persuade her to buy yours.’
Silence.
Prim: ‘You and Bruno can just disappear.’
Silence.
Prim: ‘Retire. Go to Argentina…’
Silence.
Prim: ‘I will even teach you Spanish!’
Monty laughed softly. We all laughed and turned to Prim, who managed a strained smile.
Prim: ‘Answer me!’
Monty: ‘Go home.’
Prim: ‘Fuck you! And you!’
Fast steps, heel clicks…Bruno: ‘Spanish nobility, huh?’
Prim, from a distance: ‘Up yours!’
Door slam.
We waited, as though it were some TV drama and Prim might storm back in. I turned to her, ‘Was that exit stage left? For good?’
‘For good,’ Prim said, ‘except that I forgot I had no transport and I had to walk until I was clear of the house before I could ring a taxi.’
We laughed.
I turned to Mave, ‘Want to pause it?’
Mave clicked to pause then smiled at Prim and began applauding. We all joined in.
Prim said, ‘They were genuinely pissing me off in the end. I had to bite my tongue.’
Mac said, ‘That was you biting your tongue?’ And we laughed, at the release of stress, at the safekeeping of Primarolo Romanic. Vita Brodie stood and drew herself up into a flamenco pose and cried, ‘I am Spanish nobility!’ even Prim clapped her hands together and laughed at that.
I said to Mac, ‘So what was in there that Bradley thought was unfit for consumption?’
‘Maybe it’s what happened after?’
I looked at Mave, ‘Picture and sound will have kept recording?’
‘Should have. From ten-seventeen this morning.’
Mac checked his watch, ‘That’s close to ten hours. Are you planning to sit through all of that?’
I opened my arms and gestured around the room, ‘Well, I ain’t going anywhere.’
Vita said, ‘The first few minutes after Prim leaves will be the most important, don’t you think?’
I said to Mave, ‘Should we see what happens next?’
We turned back toward the screen.
Monty and Bruno are in long shot, standing at the end of a table. Monty walks slowly back to the PC and sits down, side on, and puts his head in his hands. We hear the laboured sound of his breathing. From the table Bruno watches him.
Vita said, ‘Is Monty in on this? Does he know he’s being filmed?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
Bruno walks toward him until the webcam cuts him off at waist level. He says, ‘Give me the stick.’
Monty grunts as he hauls himself to his feet. We see their hands as Monty gives him the stick.
Bruno’s voice: ‘The boss needs to hear this.’
Monty: ‘We can handle this, Bruno, don’t you think? There must be some other way. I can talk to Eddie. Things might not be as straightforward as they sounded on that tape.’
Bruno: ‘Talk to him and say what? Please keep quiet or I might never invite you to my box again?’
Monty: ‘All Eddie needs to do is sort out this thing with the horses. He’s just stumbled on this. It’s secondary. He has nothing against me. Or against you, I’m sure.’
Bruno: ‘Then he should have settled for what he found when he discovered the woman was to blame.’
Monty: ‘He still might. I think I can persuade him.’
Bruno: ‘You overestimate your influence with people. If you could see yourself…performing, you would see how pathetic you are.’
Monty put his head in his hands again and said: ‘Why should I want to go on with this bloody charade?’
Bruno: ‘What else would you do with your sad life?’
Monty, looking up and across the room as though staring into the distance: ‘Maybe I should take Miss Romanic up on her offer to sell out to the American.’ He turned to look at Bruno and said, ‘Maybe I should do that. Sydney can do his dirty work. At least my conscience will be clear.’
Bruno: ‘Much too late for that. Come on. The woman is right about time. The boss needs to know about this now.’
Monty: ‘You go. I’ve had enough.’
Bruno: ‘You’re coming with me.’
<
br /> Monty, looking up: ‘Sydney doesn’t like to have me just turn up there. You know that.’
Bruno: ‘He’s expecting you.’
Monty stares at him as though he’s been betrayed.
Bruno: ‘Get up.’
Monty rises. Bruno: ‘You walk in front.’
Footsteps…fading…the faint sound of a door closing.
The webcam films a silent, empty room. We watch the screen until Mave closes the lid. Even then we stand a while in silence until Vita says, ‘So, they take that stick to Ember and he puts it in his PC and we get to hear his plans?’
I said, ‘Ember has no PC.’
Vita said, ‘You’re kidding?’
I shook my head, ‘He’s nervous about technology. We were hoping Bruno would take Monty’s laptop with him to Ember’s place.’
Vita watched me, cold-eyed, ‘He didn’t.’
I said, ‘No, he didn’t.’
Dil got up and marched toward me, sweeping that bobbing fringe, ‘Do you mean-‘
The door opened. MacCready came in, carrying a leather case. He turned quickly and closed the door behind him. He said, ‘Sorry, everyone must leave. Now. Except Mister Malloy and Miss Judge. Carry on as normal when you exit the building. Go home, or to your place of accommodation where you’ll be met by the officers assigned to you and briefed. That’s all. Please leave.’
Vita said, ‘Hey, I need-‘
MacCready turned on his heel. His look hardened, ‘Leave. Now.’
Prim went out. Dil followed, then, slowly, Vita. MacCready said, ‘You too, Mister McCarthy.’
Mac said, ‘Chief Constable Bradley said-‘
‘Leave. Now, please. The chief constable’s orders.’
Mac turned to me and offered his hand. I shook it. He hugged Mave, then left. MacCready locked the door and put the leather case on the sofa. He smiled, ‘We understand that Ember’s people might be here sometime after dark. We should have at least an hour for final rehearsals and preparation.’ He opened the case. Fixed inside with broad elastic straps were three handguns.
85
MacCready said, ‘Please sit down on the sofa.’
Mave and I sat. He said, ‘As soon as visiting is finished, all admin staff will be replaced by police officers. This small wing, as you might already know, is dedicated to high dependency patients. Aside from officers, you two will be the only occupants of this wing. In the next fifteen minutes, you will be moved to another room in this wing where you will be under guard.’
I said, ‘But you’re staying here?’
‘Correct.’
‘You and one other?’
‘Correct.’
‘And you’ll be pulling those sheets over yourselves and taking our places?’
‘Your places will be taken, but not by us.’
‘So who drew the short straws?’
‘A couple of failed medical students, whose life is no longer worth living.’ He said it with a perfectly straight, square-jawed face and, for a moment, it stilled my rising smile…then he smiled. He said, ‘We have two excellent models provided by the hospital. They’re made of very realistic synthetic materials, including, perfectly matched hair texture and colour.’
Mave fingered her fringe, ‘You managed to get some old straw, then?’
MacCready laughed, and I was relieved to hear an edge of nervousness in it. No matter how professional or experienced, that edge of nervous anticipation is the final sharpener of the senses, especially when someone is coming to kill you. Mave sighed, ‘I can’t say I’ll be disappointed to be in another room. I thought when you opened that case that I was going to have the ultimate crash course in weapons training.’
MacCready said, ‘We couldn’t afford to lose either of you, Miss Judge.’
‘A PR nightmare,’ I said.
He raised a finger and smiled, ‘Got it in one.’
I said, ‘How do you know they’ll come to the right room?’
‘Chief Constable Bradley assures us we are dealing with a highly professional criminal who’s been getting everything right for almost thirty years. But…there will be armed officers in the other five rooms in this wing, that’s including the one you’ll be in. We also have body armour for you.’
Mave said, ‘I’m guessing all these hotshots have not been performing drill in the car park before being marched inside in full uniform?’
MacCready said, ‘Two arrived in a decorator’s van this afternoon. Six more came in ambulances dressed as paramedics or patients. Others have been here since you two arrived.’
I said, ‘I’m impressed. Either your boss is the most efficient cop in the country, or I’ve run into more than my fair share of organized constabulary chaos.’
MacCready said, ‘As with most things, what you are seeing here is the effect of someone with a lot of clout…and, of course, if you are ever talking of me to the boss, a high level of genius.’
We smiled. MacCready checked his watch and said, ‘Five minutes and we’ll get you out and get the dummies in.’
Mave said, ’You could leave everything exactly as it is and achieve the same ends.’
MacCready laughed and began unpacking the guns.
Next morning, the high dependency wing was full of of very tired cops. A night of constantly bubbling adrenaline that had never found an outlet left everyone looking as though they’d been awake for a week. At nine o’clock, MacCready came to see us, his beard shadow and red eyes betraying how he really felt despite the positive tone when he said, ‘Well, it looks like we can all safely have breakfast. I’m told there’s a review meeting due to start at HQ right about now. More news later.’
The news came from Mac, in person, when he arrived just after eleven o’clock. He said, ‘It looks like it’s going to be tonight, during visiting. Monty called Prim and asked her to let the others know she would cover tonight and that they should all have a break. We expect that Bruno will be with her and he’ll carry a syringe filled with a lethal chemical. He’ll probably be armed, too.’
I said, ‘I suppose the dummies are out, then, and we are back in?’
‘If you’re in agreement with that. Bradley wants to take it as far as he safely can. Ideally, to a point where Bruno makes it absolutely clear that his intention is to kill you both.’
‘Lovely!’ Mave said. I smiled at her. Mac swallowed. I said, ‘I’m assuming MacCready will still be close by?’
‘He’ll be in the bathroom, armed, and there’ll be two armed officers outside your door.’
I nodded. ‘How sure is he this time? He obviously got last night wrong.’
‘He didn’t, actually. They knew yesterday that tonight was the plan but had to assume it was either a bluff or that it could have been moved forward.’
‘Did MacCready and the others know that?’
Mac shook his head, ‘Bradley didn’t want any complacency creeping in.’
‘Very shrewd of him, except that it’s left him with a wing full of knackered cops.’
‘They’ll be replaced by this evening, except for MacCready who will be rested until eighteen hundred.’
I smiled, ‘Eighteen hundred, eh? You love all this Top Gun stuff, Mac, don’t you?’
He reddened, ‘I can see the need for avoiding confusion.’
I said, ‘How is Prim taking this?’
‘She appears to be all right, but did say she’ll be very glad when it’s finally over.’
I said, ‘Old Kelman Hines must be wondering what the hell’s going on. First off, he’s getting blackmailed, then he’s trying to do deals between him, Boffo and Prim. Anybody handling that side? What if he pitches up at Dil’s place today looking for Prim?’
‘He’s been spoken to…informally.’
‘Informally? Must have been you who spoke to him, then?’
‘I did. I’d have thought that the least of your worries right at this moment, Eddie.’
‘Just trying to think what might go wrong before evening visiting
by Doctor Death and nurse Prim.’
Mac looked at me and half smiled and slowly shook his head, ‘You relish this, don’t you?’
I turned to Mave then back to Mac, ‘We relish being hellish. We’re very, very glad to be bad.’
Mac looked puzzled. I said, ‘From a kids’ show on TV..a long time ago.’
Mac said, ‘I spent my younger days in a rather boring environment, I’m afraid.’
I said, ‘Your loss, Mac. Listen, one new detail on my tick list, how do I rehearse being in a coma?’
‘Mister Blake will brief you on that and rig you up to the relevant equipment.’
‘It’s going to be kind of difficult getting my timing right,’ I said, ‘I’m guessing that MacCready will not be able to see what’s happening. Nor will I. That leaves Mave and Prim to yell, “he’s got the syringe at your neck!”, which is cutting things a bit neat, don’t you think?’
‘It won’t get that far, Eddie. MacCready will go through everything step by step.’
‘Yes…first, raise the syringe, expel any air bubbles in case they damage the patient, locate the jugular…’
Mac smiled as he got up, ‘Where would we be without graveyard humour?’
‘The graveyard?’ Mave said.
When Mac left, Mave said, ‘It’s going to be a long wait for visiting starting.’
‘Well, at least we won’t have to worry about how we are going to pass an hour with our dear loved ones. “Would you like some grapes? Chocolate? A glass of Lucozade? An injection of strychnine?’
Mave watched me, ‘Mac was right. You relish this. The more dangerous, the better.’
‘You’re not exactly shaking in your shoes yourself, Miss Judge.’
‘Don’t count on it continuing, Eddie. I’m shattered after last night. Come visiting time, I expect to be an utter wreck.’
There was a knock on the door, then it opened and Mister Blake came in, smiling, ‘I hope I’m not interrupting anything?’
‘Not at all, Mister Blake,’ I said, ‘just doing a final read-through of our wills. Do come in.’
