Matilda Wren (20 page)

“Outside then, son.” He beckoned in the direction of the bedroom door. The sarcastic ‘son’ reference was not lost on George. It was what the older villains called the up and coming talent. He himself had referred to Sean as son, or boy, many times and Sean’s ironic affront had not gone unnoticed.

The cold eastern wind whipped itself around George as they walked from the house, across the garden and over to one of the outer buildings. Once inside, George immediately realised that Sean had been here, before coming to get him.

He also realised that Sean had no intention of letting him die a graceful and quick death.

An overwhelming smell of sulphur clung to the air. In the centre of the floor stood a tripod with a small handheld video camera and a tin bath tub filled, George correctly guessed, with sulphuric acid.

Wide eyed and panic stricken, George turned round to face Sean.

“There is no need for all of this. Just shoot me and let that be it.”

“Oh I’m gonna shoot you George, don’t you worry about that old boy.” Sean shoved George towards the bath, his eyes begun to sting from the overpowering aroma.

It didn’t seem to affect Sean though as he walked over to the camera and turned it on. Then he pointed the shotgun back at the naked man. He didn’t say anything. He knew his silence would make George babble like a baby and he was right.

“This really doesn’t need to happen Sean.” George began, almost straight away. He kept looking at the gun and then back at the bath behind him. “I can give you your freedom.

We can take out Jarvis and the Jewish cunt together. I can give you whatever you want.”

“Why would I take out Kenny?” Sean’s voice boomed around the building. It echoed out into the night, where the dark blue sky was slowly beginning to lighten.

The dawn chorus had begun, indicating the day would soon be upon them. Sean raised the gun to his eye line.

George began to sob. He pleaded and begged with Sean, to spare his life. He even went as far as to say he would work for him, that he would give up his position and hand it to Sean, in exchange for his life.

It fascinated Sean, how panic and fear could reduce the hardest of men to a quivering mess. He had an uncanny knack of tuning into people’s weaknesses and insecurities.

Dying happened to be George’s and he suspected it was Ray’s too. The film was to be sent to Ray afterwards, to show him just how far Sean would go.

The tin bath full of acid served two purposes. It showed Ray that Sean was outrageously crazy and it also disposed of the body quite nicely; apart from the teeth and some tougher bones. Sean could transfer them unnoticeably later.

“Not Kenny, then… but Jarvis. We could get rid of Jarvis?” George was so desperate. He had one hand offered out to Sean in a protective; yet trying to persuade him, way and the other hand was covering his short fat penis.

“You see George, now I have a problem. Now I think you want to take a hit out on my old friend Ken. All this talk about taking people out; it’s just not sociable.”

He watched George fluff and gaff his way through a series of stuttered apologies and assurances that it was not what he had meant. It was all rather amusing but Sean, as always, quickly became bored.

He fired two shots into George and watched him fall back into the acid filled tub. The sheer size of the man caused a huge splash and the acid spilled over the sides, fizzing around George’s blubber. Sean put the gun down on the floor and picked up the camera and tripod.

He repositioned them, to the side of the bath, filming George’s body being slowly eaten away by the chemical. He watched in enthralment, as the absorption process began to take hold. Science really was a wonderful thing.

When the body was fully submerged in the acid, the fumes finally besieged Sean and he had to go outside. He covered the bath with a plastic tarpaulin and walked out of the building, leaving his former employer to dissolve into a liquid sludge.

As he walked across the long stone drive that led round the side of the garden, he saw Kenny walk across the lawn.

He knew he would turn up. The old man had gone the whole night without a word and as much as he protested that Sean was out of his depth, he knew Kenny wouldn’t leave him.

“No phone call?”

Sean saw the look of apprehension in the man’s face.

“Took a bit longer than I thought.” Sean replied indifferently. “It’s done now.”

He went to walk past but Kenny grabbed his arm. “You reported in to Jarvis yet?”

Sean pulled his arm free and thrust his face into Kenny’s.

“When I’m ready.”

Kenny couldn’t help looking into Sean’s eyes. Somewhere under that madness was a normal person. Kenny was sure of it and for a few undisturbed seconds, he held the boys stare but Sean’s expression didn’t alter. His features didn’t soften.

The look of admiration and the need for approval had gone from his eyes and Kenny felt for the second time that week, the shift in their relationship.

“This stops now. The hold you have over me, it stops here and now. I’m no longer under you. I want you in my life Kenny, but I don’t need you there”

He went to walk away and then turned back and pointed his finger into Kenny’s chest.

“I done this for my freedom. From Anderson, from Jarvis and from you. From here on in I don’t work for nobody but me. The girls are mine, the drugs are mine and Essex is mine. I’m not interested in anything else.”

“You need a woman; not a fuck, a woman.” Kenny said. Sean burst out laughing then. It was the most ridiculous, random thing to come out of Kenny’s mouth.

Kenny started to laugh as well. It was a strange sight to see, two men holding onto one another, standing on a plush manicured lawn at five o’clock in the morning, giggling like school girls.

Kenny slapped Sean on the back. “Well then, we better go and tell Jarvis there’s a new kid in town.”

“Nahh, I got a video that will tell him all that.” Sean patted his jacket pocket. “Let’s go get some breakie and get this couriered over to Ray. It will be a nice little delivery for him to wake up to.”

Tria
III

l and Retribution When You Dance With The Devil

“What we call the beginning is often the end,

and to make an end is to make a beginning.

The end is where we start from.”

T.S Elliot 1888-1965

Chapter 12

October 2005

By the time Sean had driven back, from Brentwood to Sudbury, it was quite late in the afternoon. The sun was low in the sky; giving a red glow to the Essex-Suff olk countryside. Sean loved this part of the country; with its clean air, green trees and fi elds that stretched out for miles.

Whenever he had a tiresome or monotonous day, like today, it always managed to clear the dark melancholy void that devoured him. He hadn’t intended to be away from home for as long as he had. He only anticipated visiting Kenny to give him a little job; the desperate phone call he had received from his mother afterwards, forced him to take a detour back to his old house.

Why his sister had to cause him so much aggravation he didn’t know. He had planned to slip back into bed next to Rachel, without her ever knowing he was gone. Now, he wasn’t so sure she would still be there. He had just left without a word, or a note. What did she think when she had woken up and realised he wasn’t there.

Would she have felt rejected? The thought tightened itself around Sean’s chest. He would never reject her. Didn’t she know that? This thought unnerved him. What if she had left? What if she had thought she had been discarded and abandoned? Had he blown the one chance he had been so franticly desperate to get?

He had never fought for her; all those years ago when she had left. He had never told her that he couldn’t breathe without her. Why had he not gone looking for her himself?

Essex was a small place. It wouldn’t have been hard. Why had he not? Why had he just let her walk away, into the arms of somebody else? She hadn’t left. She had moved around, to different areas, but ultimately stayed within the county borders.

But, if he was honest, he knew the answers to all his questions. He let her walk away and had not sought her out because he knew, if she ever become conscious of who he really was, she would hate him and he could never bear to see that in her eyes, on her face. She was the only one that ever saw a glimpse of decency, kindness, wholesomeness; she was the only one that ever loved him.

The reprieve and liberation he felt, when he walked back into the house and saw her sitting on the stairs in the hallway, was tremendously overpowering.

“You’re still here. You stayed!” He couldn’t contain the delight and relief he knew was projecting all over his face.

Then she smiled at him. It was all he needed. The affirmation was so extreme.

“I wasn’t sure if I should go or stay? Mind you, I don’t really know where I am, so calling a cab wasn’t an option.

I tried to find a letter or something with the address on but you don’t seem to have anything lying around.”

“I guess I don’t really receive much post.” He walked over and sat down next to her on the stairs.

As she turned and looked at him, he traced the outline of her face with his finger. It was such a delicate and intimate move and for a few seconds, he totally bore into her soul.

“I waited so long to feel like this again Sean. It never went away, no matter what I did.”

He kissed her then. When he reached for her, she was astonished again at how she responded to him. It was as if the being disconnected for years had created a dire urgency for each other; after missing one another, yearning for and craving one another. They made love until the sun had disappeared and their bodies were downy with sweat.

Later, they slept in each other’s arms, something neither had done with anybody for years, if ever. Rachel was at peace and did not know why. She did not care. Sean was back in her life and she was determined that was the way it was going to stay.

She awoke to find him watching her. Half sitting half lying, with his head resting on one arm, smoking a joint with the other, he looked startling. It was dark and the only light that came through the window was from the security lights outside of the house; causing a beam of white yellow to glow the room. The sleep in her eyes felt thick.

“You’re still here.” It was almost a whisper. Her stretch was such a small and feminine movement; the shine to the room gave her naked body a fresh, sun tanned look.

“I didn’t think I would get away with disappearing again.” There was a hint of playfulness to his voice.

Smiling, she closed her eyes again; sleep beckoning.

She wanted to fight it; to spending every minute she could with him.

Sean put the half smoked joint in an ashtray and placed it on the floor. Nestling down beside her, he kissed the top of her head.

“Why do I not scare you?” It was almost a murmur, the words were spoken so quietly.

Rachel was awake now. Her eyes were open and she saw the confusion that was running through his mind; his eyes were dilating with the torment. For a second, she thought maybe he had taken something and this was the beginnings of a paranoid rambling, but the sincerity in his face, the lines that showed the consternation of his question, wrenched at her heart.

She fell absolutely in love with him in that instant. It had always been there, the wanting, but at that moment in time, it all became so definite. She knew what she meant to him. She always had, in the depth of her heart and mind.

It was not that she sought the power she knew she had over him, it was the way he became somebody else, only for her.

She knew she was the only one that received that treatment; it was reserved only for her. Nobody had ever made her feel so special, so exceptional.

“Why would you scare me?”

The expression changed in his face, to a solemn but earnest one.

“I have done some really bad things Rach. It’s like something inside of me head takes over and I do nothing to stop it. I just sit back and watch it unleash. I feed off the retribution I think I need to dish out.”

“Would you ever hurt me – or Adam?”