Part Two: Nick
The noise of the bolt on the back of the door woke me. I must have dozed off after the black joker tossed me the food. I think it was perhaps two hours later.
The door opened and the three of them came in – Bulmer, Jacky and the hired heavy carrying a small, wooden table.
“Nick!” Bulmer exclaimed. “Sorry to keep you waiting but you know what it’s like. Business must go on.”
I stared at him through blank eyes but had nothing to say.
He was wearing a dinner suit and slipped his hand into an inner pocket and pulled out a silver cigarette case. He stood next to me, opened the case and offered me one.
It occurred to me to kick him in the groin. I was sitting in the best possible position to cause him a great deal of pain. But I wanted the cigarette. I pulled one from the case and he slammed it shut then turned away from me.
“Jacky,” he said, “give our guest a light.”
Jacky did as he was instructed
Bulmer then took a cigarette from the case himself and paced up and down the room. The black heavy carried the small desk over to the side of the bed and positioned it directly in front of me.
I sucked deeply on the cigarette. It occurred to me it could be my last.
“I’ve got a problem, Nick,” Bulmer announced staring up at the ceiling. “You’re gonna do me a favour, son, in the interest of saving my business and reputation.”
I found my voice.
“You want me to help you?” I asked and smiled. “I’d rather rot in here before stooping down to help you. Go fuck yourself.”
“Well,” he said smiling. “So there is a spark of life there after all.” He walked across the room to the mattress. “I think you will help me, lad. That is when you hear how I’ve been passing my day.”
The black heavy had already left the cell but now returned with a writing pad and two pens, then positioned himself in the doorway with Jacky. The pair looked like characters from the film Pulp Fiction.
Bulmer looked down at me and smiled as I sucked on the cigarette.
“Sorry I had to leave you so long today but I had some business to attend to. Firstly, I was at your flat today.”
This shook me.
“What the hell were you doing at my property, you bastard?”
He turned again and paced up and down the room.
“Tut, tut, Nick you have been a naughty boy, haven’t you? Jacky and I found a few grams of coke stuffed into your daughter’s spare pillow. And some needles and something to smoke in the kitchen.”
He sucked on his cigarette and flicked the ash over me.
“What the hell are you up to?” I shouted and paused to think.
“Shout as much as you like,” he said. “Nobody will hear you.”
He walked back across the room, sucked in his breath and screamed as loud as his lungs would allow then smiled at me.
“Shame about this area,” he continued. “Docklands, I mean. It never really has taken off. It just shows you, son, you can’t believe all that politicians tell you.”
He puffed on the cigarette before continuing.
“Now, where was I? Yes, the favour. I want you to write a little letter to lover boy in Paris for me.”
“What? Write a letter to Eamon for your benefit?”
“That’s right, son, only I’m gonna tell you what to say.”
“Never,” I snapped. “I’ll see you in hell first.”
I was not afraid.
Not even when Jacky’s fist smashed into the side of my face. I could taste the blood in my mouth but was getting used to it by then.
Bulmer walked back over to me.
“I think you will help me, sunshine. You know that I would not intentionally hurt your little Sally but adults, well, they can take care of themselves.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Take that couple that live a few doors away from you. You know the ones, Eamon’s sister who has that charming little place in Suffolk. Lovely old place it is with a thatched roof. Needs a bit of attention though, if you know what I mean. The only problem with thatch is that it catches fire easily. Always a problem with a place like that.”
Now I was afraid.
“Just what are you getting at, you twisted bastard?”
I was angry. So angry that again I did not feel Jacky’s fist smashing into my already sore cheek. I could feel my eye beginning to swell.
Bulmer continued.
“She’s a nice old dear, that one that lives above you in the flat. Mind you, those stairs are a bit of a hazard for someone of her age. What if she was to fall?”
The black heavy walked across the room and laid the notepad and pens on the small table. Bulmer dropped his cigarette on the floor and stubbed it out.
“Right then, son. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. If I don’t get what I want, those people will not be around come lover boy’s trial date. Do you understand? Now it’s up to you.”
My face sank and, quite unexpectedly, I burst into tears. The image of Chrissie, Peter and Annette flashed through my mind and I pictured their charred bodies lying in a heap. I saw Mrs Brown lying at the bottom of the stairs. She would not survive a fall.
It was all becoming clear, or so I thought, and I presumed I knew what this was all going to be about.
The letter was obviously going to save Bulmer and allow the people I loved to live. It was no doubt going to be a confession by me to say that only Eamon was involved in the smuggling. The planting of the drugs in my house would indicate that I was aware of what he was doing and I had probably helped him because I loved him.
I was wrong.
The reality was much worse.
What evil, twisted brain could come up with a scheme like this?
“Now, Nick. Are you gonna help me or what?”
I wiped the tears from my eyes and Jacky handed me a handkerchief.
“We don’t want blood all over the paper,” he said.
I picked up the pen and Bulmer dictated the letter, which I wrote word for word.
My dearest Eamon,
Words fail me. I don’t know where to start in saying how sorry I am for getting you into all this. I was in a desperate mess when I asked you to become involved in carrying the package to Paris.
After Maggie was taken from me, my life was in ruins. I was on the verge of putting my daughter into care and taking my own life because I could not give her the life she deserved.
I could not resist the opportunity when it came up for you to carry the stuff. I figured that if you did not know what it was, you would not get caught. Please try and understand that I could not run the risk of taking it myself.
If I was caught, Sally would be taken away and the chances were I would not see her again. But now it has all gone so terribly wrong and I can’t take it anymore. I can’t even face life. I hate myself for ruining all I had. Sally will have the best of life with Maggie’s parents.
Please don’t forget me.
I love you.
NICK.
I could hardly believe it. The whole scenario was to be my fault.
It was a suicide note from me.
Almost laughable in many ways, not in the least original and told me all I needed to know about Bulmer’s intelligence. They were, as I had already figured out, going to kill me. As Bulmer read it out loud, my life flashed before me. My daughter would never see me again and I would not be able to keep the promise I made to Maggie on her death bed.
It was, however, a way to resolve the whole situation. My friends and loved ones would be safe and Eamon would be free. Probably free to nail Bulmer and his heavies. But I would be dead.
“Yeah, that sounds all right,” he said. “What do you think, Jacky?”
“Sounds good to me, boss,” he replied.
How could a Neanderthal like him see any flaws in it?
“Yeah,” he went on. “This French bloke has it all sewn up, Nick. This was h
is entire plan, you know. It’s what I mean about being a step ahead. He makes contingency plans for everything he does and me and him are really going places. I reckon it won’t be long before the pair of us have every copper in Europe on our payroll. And who knows what more.”
I sat on the bed looking up at him. I was disgusted with them but having resigned myself to my fate, I was not afraid. I was taking Bulmer with me.
I sprang from the mattress with such a force that I knocked Bulmer to the floor and lay on top of him. I sank my already bloodied teeth into his neck and felt them pierce the skin close to his vocal chords. I tore at the muscle like a mad dog.
The blow from the black heavy’s crowbar knocked me out cold.