1953 - The Things Men Do (11 page)

Bill grinned.

"You bet we are. I've got a machine-gun, a box of grenades and a couple of automatic rifles. Anyone who starts messing about with me will know all about it."

"Aw, stop kidding," Berry said and laughed. "I hear you take nothing with you except a club and a prayer."

I stood aside, listening to all this, certain now that my suspicions were right. Why should Berry have toned the conversation to this subject unless he was after information?

"Don't believe all you hear," Bill said good humouredly.

"We can look after ourselves all right. We have a surprise for any hold-up thug."

"I don't know why you aren't equipped with armoured cars like they have in the States. They carry guns over there, and if they have to, they shoot."

"So do their cops," Bill returned. "Our cops don't carry guns, but we've got a lot less crime here than they have. Work it out for yourself." He turned to me. "Well, so long, Harry, see you at seven."

"If you two boys haven't anything special to do tonight,"

Berry put in quickly, "why don't you come along to my place? I'm throwing a little party. Nothing special; a few girls, a few drinks, a bit of fun. What do you say?"

"No, thanks," I said before Bill could speak. "We're fixed up for tonight. Thanks all the same."

Berry lifted his shoulders.

"Well, if you change your mind, it's 3a Queen's Avenue: top flat. Look in any time." He flicked ash on the floor before adding, "Ed'll be there, and so will Gloria."

I felt Bill look at me.

"Sorry; we can't make it tonight."

"I've got to move," Bill said. "Be seeing you."

He nodded to Berry and walked quickly back to the sorting office.

Berry began to pick his nose as he gave me a long, hard stare.

"Was he kidding, would you know?"

"Kidding about what?"

"Carrying guns."

"Worry you?" I said, taking a page out of his book.

He laughed, although his eyes hardened.

"Just curious, that's all. Well, I can't waste any more time. Ed'll be in tomorrow."

"What was the idea leaving Joe here all night?"

I was watching him closely and saw his eyes flicker.

"He was on the job."

"In the dark?"

"Why not? Good time to work at night, pally. No interference." He turned away and walked back to the partitioned room.

A few minutes to seven o'clock, Bill returned. I had changed and was waiting for him. Berry had gone, but I knew Joe was in the partitioned room behind the locked door.

"All set?" Bill asked.

"Coming now."

He helped me close the double doors. I locked them, and then we walked down Eagle Street to Oxford Circus, caught a bus to Soho, and walked along Greek Street until we came to the small Greek restaurant where we usually had supper on our nights out.

While we were waiting to be served Bill said suddenly, "That bloke Berry doesn't look like a radio expert."

"Well, you don't look like a guard on a mail van: so what?"

Bill grinned.

"He looked like a Spiv to me, Harry."

I very nearly told him then about my suspicions, but on second thoughts checked myself. Gloria would be at Berry's party tonight. She would probably get back to her flat around midnight. I would be able to get rid of Bill by that time, and I planned to go to her flat after I had left Bill and have it out with her. It would be unwise, I argued to myself, to tell Bill what I suspected until I had talked to Gloria.

"Newly everyone looks like a Spiv these days," I said carelessly, and was glad when the waitress brought the first course.

After the meal, we walked over to the club that was in a street off Tottenham Court Road.

"When's this big consignment of yours coming off, Bill?" I asked, as we waited on the kerb for the traffic lights to change to green.

"What consignment?" he asked sharply.

"Didn't you say you were expecting to escort something big this week?"

"That's right, but I'm not supposed to talk about it."

"So they have security even in the Post Office. Seriously, Bill, do you carry a gun? I know you were kidding, Bill, about the grenades, but do they let you have riffles?"

"Not a hope. I have a club that's about as good as a sick headache, and my wits: that's all."

"Doesn't it worry you?"

Bill laughed.

"Not a scrap. We take precautions. If we've got anything really big, we alter our routes and our times. Anyone planning to rob a van would have to know when we start and that's something they just don't know. We haven't had any trouble in years."

"You were up and about pretty early this morning."

He looked a little startled.

"Did you see me?"

"I heard the van and I looked out of the window."

"Between you and me, Harry, that was a rehearsal for the big day: keep it under your hat."

"When's the big day?"

Bill shook his head.

"That's something I can't tell you. I don't know myself. We’ll have it jumped on us without any warning." He abruptly changed the subject and began talking about Middlesex's chances against Surrey. I took the hint and entered into a heated discussion with him. He had always supported Middlesex, but I fancied Surrey had the edge on them this year.

It was ten minutes past twelve when we came out of the club.

We stood on the pavement while we lit cigarettes.

"Well, I'm off home," Bill said, stifling a yawn. "I was up at half-past one this morning. Thank goodness I have a day off tomorrow. Can you see yourself home?"

"Just about. I was wondering about you."

Bill grinned.

"I can manage on my own steam. If I don't get into bed soon I'm going to fall asleep on my feet. See you tomorrow afternoon."

We parted at the bottom of Greek Street. I caught a bus to Oxford Circus and then walked quickly along Oxford Street to Bond Street.

I arrived outside Gloria's flat about twenty-five minutes past midnight. The flat was in darkness. I wondered if she had already got back and had gone to bed. It was unlikely, but to be on the safe side, I rang the bell. There was no answer so I decided she hadn't come back yet. I walked over to a dark comer of the mews and, leaning against a wall, settled down to wait.

I waited for some time. It was close on one o'clock when I heard a car coming. A moment later a taxi slid into the mews and pulled up outside the flat.

My heart began to hammer against my side as I saw Gloria get out of the car. She was wearing a white strapless evening gown and carried a fur coat on her arm.

She paid off the taxi, and while she was hunting in her bag for her latch-key and before I could change my mind, I went quickly over to her.

At the sound of my footfalls she turned sharply.

"Hello, Gloria," I said, my voice husky.

"Well, for goodness' sake! What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"I'm sorry to be so late, but I had to see you. It's important Gloria. Could I come in and talk to you?"

"But it's nearly half-past one," she returned, her eyes looking at me from under their lashes. "You can't come in now."

"It's important."

Suddenly she laughed.

"Oh, all right Harry. Come in. I bet this is a gag, but I'll fall for it."

She unlocked the door and together we entered the small hall. She went past me up the stain and I followed her into the big lounge.

She snapped on the lights and crossed over to the radiogram and turned on some swing music, lowered the sound so it was scarcely above a whisper.

"Hell! I'm tired," she said, dropping her fur coat on chair. "Get me a drink, Harry. A whisky, and have one yourself."

"I don't want anything, thanks."

"Of course you'll have a whisky."

She went to the bar, poured two large whiskies and pushed one glass towards me. She drank half hers in one thirsty swallow.

"I don't know why I'm talking to you," she said, setting down the glass. "After the way you stood me up the other night."

"I'm sorry about that. My wife . . ."

"For heaven's sake don't start making excuses," she said and laughed. "I guessed your wife found out. It's amazing how wives do find out isn't it? Never mind; it's just one of those things."

"There's something I must ask you, Gloria."

"It'll wait, won't it?" She lit a cigarette. "I want to get out of this thing. Come into the bedroom with me while I change, Harry."

My heart skipped a beat.

"I—I'll stay here."

She smiled.

"Scared of me, Harry?"

"Maybe. Anyway, I'm not looking for trouble."

"Aren't you? I wonder

She gave me a long inquisitive stare, then went into the bedroom, leaving the door open.

I drank some of the whisky and tried to keep my eyes from straying to the open door, but after a minute or so I looked. I saw her standing before the long wall mirror, clad only in a white brassiere and panties, and the sight of her, like that, set any heart racing and turned my month dry. I watched her slip into a flame-coloured silk wrap. She came out, fastening the wrap and I saw her smooth, naked thighs and long legs before she flicked the wrap into place.

That glimpse and what I had seen in the bedroom had a devastating impact on my good intentions, and I had to take a grip on myself to stop grabbing her in my arms.

"How do you happen to be here tonight?" she asked, coming over and sitting on a stool by the bar.

"My wife's gone to see her mother."

"So you thought you would come and talk to me."

"Yes."

She lifted her glass.

"You've come at the right time, Harry. I'm just in the mood for you."

And I was in the mood for her.

"I—I want to talk to you about Dix."

"Are you sure?"

"Gloria, what do you know about Dix? Did you know he's a crook?"

She finished her drink and set it down on the bar. Her face was expressionless. Then she slid off the stool and came close to me.

The look in her eyes had me going. Seeing her, the orange wrap accentuating her black hair and eyes, she seemed to me to be the most desirable woman I had ever seen.

"I must know, Gloria," I said, scarcely knowing what I was saying.

She took my hand. The feel of her flesh against mine sent a shiver down my spine.

"Let's go into the other room, Harry."

I was beyond resisting. I went with her across the room and into her bedroom. She clicked on the lights. Instead of the two shaded lamps coming on that I had seen previously, fights came on everywhere; in the ceiling and around the big wall mirror which reflected down on to the white rug that lay by the enormous bed.

"I love lights," she said and went over to the mirror and stood before it looking at herself. "Why do people always make love in the dark? I want lights, and lights and more lights. I want you to see me and I want to see you." She turned, looking at me, her eyes glittering, "Do you think I'm beautiful, Harry?"

"The most beautiful woman I've ever seen," I said huskily.

"I believe you mean that. But you haven't seen me yet as I want you to see me."

She undid the clasp at her waist and slipped out of her wrap, letting it fall to the floor at her feet. Her hands moved quickly, shedding her other garments. In the blaze of light, her skin had the lustre of pearls.

For a few seconds she stood motionless, letting me feast my eyes on her, then she held out her arms to me.

chapter ten

O
kay, okay, you two, break it up."

Dix's sneering voice sounded as if he were in the room.

Gloria slid away from me. She snatched up her wrap and slipped into it.

I lay on the bed, paralysed, and stared around the room, trying to see from where the voice had come.

"What was that?" I said. The words came out of my mouth in a croak.

"Oh, shut up!" Gloria said, and went over to the mirror and fluffed up her hair, then she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand with such a grimace of disgust that it turned me sick to see.

"Who was that talking?"

"Who do you think, you dumb, stupid ox?"

I was off the bed by now.

"Was that Dix?"

She ignored me as she touched up her lips in the mirror.

My hands were shaking. I could scarcely breathe.

"Gloria! He's not here, is he?"

"Oh, shut up!"

I went across the room and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her round.

"Is he?"

She wrenched herself free and hit me three times across my face so quickly and violently I had no change of avoiding the blows.

"Don't touch me, you stinking lout!" she said shrilly, her face white and as hard as granite. Her eyes looked like holes in a sheet.

I heard the door open and I spun round.

"Take it easy," Dix said, coming into the room. "Okay, Gloria, beat it. I want to talk to him."

Gloria pulled her wrap about her and walked out of the room. Dix shut the door behind her.

He was wearing his black suit with the white pinstripe.

His hat was thrust to the back of his head, and there were beads of sweat on his face.

"Well, pally, you seemed to be giving yourself a good time."

Rage that I had never known before took hold of me. I wanted to maim him, to tear out his throat, to trample and stamp the blood out of his body.

I moved towards him, my hands thrust out, my fingers hooked.

"Better not, pally . . ."

I was within distance now. I sent over a swing to his face that had every ounce of my weight and strength behind it. He moved his head a fraction and my fist shot past, bringing me on to a short punch that landed solidly under my heart. It made my knees buckle. I closed with him, my hands reaching for his throat, but he threw me off with one tremendous shove, and as I came in again, he dug his fist into my body under the heart and I went down on all fours. I felt as if my ribs had been pushed in; as if I had been kicked by a horse.

I remained like that for several seconds, and then I slowly pushed myself upright He stood waiting, his hands down at his sides, the sneering grin on his face, his eyes watchful and gloating.