Without breaking her stride, Mag approached her target, Luke. “Can I help?” a polite smirk briefly appeared on Luke’s face instantly boosted her. “You seem to be having problems with your car.”
“Err yes, damn cars.” Luke was looking around, but both Mark and Matt were long gone. He reached inside his coat but couldn’t find his phone. “Yeah, both front tyres have been slashed.
“Honestly its senseless vandalism like this that really makes me mad” as she handed her mobile phone to Luke.
“There’s no signal.”
“Perhaps you’d have better luck inside.” Luke obediently followed her back inside the hotel eager to get out of the cold night air. “Let me buy you a drink.”
“No, no, please allow me, it’s the least I can do for…the battery’s dead too. Reception's closed for the night. May be there’s a pay phone.” Mag’s cool exterior hiding both joy and apprehension as she watched her target disappear into the hallway before re-emerging looking defeated.
“I took the liberty of ordering you a whiskey, any luck?”
“No. The phone’s out of order.”
“Listen I’m sure you’ll be able to find a garage tomorrow. The smile on his face was all Mag needed to assure her of victory. “I’m Mary by the way.”
“John Batiste, nice to meet you,“ lifting his glass. “Cheers.” All Mag had to do is hold her smile.
Matt and Mark turned all the drawers inside out. It pleased Matt that Mag ended up in a dump of a housing estate. He and his associates made sure they removed all the capital from the old house, before it was repossessed by the building society.
“Nah, there’s nuffin ere, she must have em wiv her. Should we wait for her to get back or what?
“No. Let’s call it a night. The bitch has to show up some time and when she does.” Matt put his fist through the hardwood door.
Luke’s eyes began to focus. The pain in his head made him crash back into the pillow, slowly realizing he had company.
“Hello there” Mag kissed him and smiled as she wrapped his shirt around her. “You know Luke I don’t think...
“What! How did?..” She put her hand over his mouth as she laid next him on the bed.
“I’m Mag.” The look on Luke’s face said it all, he shot out of bed.
“The gems where the fuck are they? You were supposed…”
“I’d be more concerned about what Matt will think when he learns that you slept with his wife. Fury took hold of him he needed time to think, retreating to the bathroom. He’d been played, yet he was curious to see where the game would lead, he decided to give her enough rope. He flushed the used condom down the toilet. Mag zipped up the sleeping tablets inside her bag she had no doubt they would come in handy again; after all she had no intentions of screwing Luke twice. Though she quite liked the idea of meaningless sex after enduring the over bearing attentions of her pig of a husband – or conjugal rights as he called it. Luke re-emerged donning a fixed smile and a sinister look that Mag recognized all too well. She handed him his shirt and his mobile phone.
“Breakfast I think.” Luke was a good listener he’d had enough practice. He did not intend to be gofer not for anyone least of all for her. If she wanted to get back at Matt, it was to his mutual benefit but he intended to reap the rewards - a million of them. Pressing speed dial one, the all-important call would get the ball rolling.
“Okay it’s all set, tomorrow at nine.” Mag watched Luke leave. She knew he couldn’t be trusted, but a split two ways was better than nothing. She had got this far and wasn’t prepared to back down. A new life awaited her, far from the dingy high rise in the middle of nowhere. All she had to do was to make sure she held her nerve.
It was past three and Mag hadn’t slept, not because of the rendezvous but because of the fight, she had with her mother. She received her ex-husband’s calling card in the smashed partitioned wall. Clearly, Matt still controlled every aspect of her life, including her parents. She rolled out of bed, grabbing her bag, checking the contents, passport, visa, cash and the gems. Mag wanted to phone Luke, to tell him she’d made a mistake, she didn‘t want the money. Her parents were right she spent too much time with her head in the clouds. Realizing the time, she lay in bed wide-awake looking at the cold, damp ridden walls. This wasn’t home and she had no intentions of living out the rest of her days in that rat-infested hellhole. All she had to do was to get through one more day and she'd be free, happy and rich, very rich.
“You made it then – great.” Eden rushed towards Mag and flung her arms around her.
“Why here?” Mag prompted Eden to take a pew and in a hushed voice.
“I was christened and married here as were my kids.” Mag paused for a while. “I’ve bought two plots here next to my parents’ graves, but enough sentiment. “We’d better re-strategize now the goal posts have changed.” Eden nodded. In the sanctity of the hallowed walls of All Saints Church a plan was hatched in a hushed voice audible only to the spiritual inhabitants.
Matt’s car was clearly visible as she entered the rooftop of the designated meeting point, parking her car at a distance Mag watched. There seemed to be disturbing atmosphere about the place that she attributed to her anxiety and the cold. The car lights and the blanket of stars is all that lit the rooftop. Matt and Mark watched Mag unable to avert their eyes not even for a second. As planned, it was Luke who walked towards her and no sooner had she handed the gems to him, sirens blazed and armed police emerged from every corner, Mag motionless let the tears stream down her face. She wanted revenge but watching Matt and Mark forcibly wrestled to the ground, handcuffed gave her no satisfaction. Luke was arrested and frog marched to a waiting police van. She was obviously next. Her rights were read to her though she didn’t really hear the words. As she was led away her thoughts wandered to goby Gabby and her fellow gossips and the exaggerated way Mag’s arrest would be recounted in the office.
The Chief super personally congratulated the entire team for a successful undercover operation. The gems had disappeared but the team concluded they'd eventually be found in the possession of some low life trying to fence them. Therefore, it was just a matter of waiting. Luke emerged as the hero, his colleagues insisting on a prolonged celebration, it was the early hours before he sauntered out of the Bishop’s Mitre public house. The thought of home daunting him as he opened the door, greeted in deafening volume of hollow emptiness. Luke staggered a little, while giving a fleeting thought to poor gullible Mag, wondering how long it would take her to realize that she was nothing more than an expendable pawn in a highly dangerous game. She was released without charge as per the plan. Falling to his knees Luke crawled until he reached the tall boy, using his left hand to slide through the narrow gap between the wardrobe and the wall. He pulled out an evidence bag carefully unraveling it. In the palm of his hard working hands were fifty priceless gems. The wilds of Africa awaited as did his distant family who would welcome the prodigal son. His painful joint creaked as he stood quickly, the room seemed to spin as he dropped the gems sending them careering across the wooden floor in fragmented pieces. A cold sensation dawned as the colored glass dazzled. “That fucking crafty bitch,” he needed to think. Flustered and agitated he ran his course fingers through his graying hair. He hunted around his person for his mobile phone and within a few moments the iniquitous smirk returned to his bronzed face. Africa would have to wait as South America beckoned in search of two women who had managed to out-fox an undercover CID officer of over twenty five years experience. He poured another mug of black coffee and began to pack.
The night were the worst for Matt, wide awake, his ribs aching and bruised. The medics said he would heal in time and eventually returned to general population, except the governor did have one dilemma, he’d never before had to detain a eunuch, though he was still waiting for the report from Chief Exec’s office at the hospital as to how the error was made in the first place as Matt Dolan was never scheduled for surgery ele
ctive or otherwise. Still an overcrowded prison took his priority as he locked up the paper work in the filing cabinet. Eunuch or no eunuch Matt was a crook who had been found guilty by the courts.
“Senorita, Senorita. Buenos Dias senorita Lang" Alexi gently averted her gaze from the waves rolling on the shore; the defiant surfers riding the rising crests before crashing in submission to its mighty force. The seasons were changing and the sublime vista would now prepare to hibernate. “Orla senorita. Còma estā.” Alexi focused on the little face.
“Moi bien gracias.” Her veneered smile appeased Patrick. “That’ll be all for today class, pack up your things or you’ll be late for the ferry. Alexi grabbed her books catching a glimpse of her polished persona in the glass of the classroom door mirror; it was a shame about poor, naïve Mag but she had to go. The metamorphosis revealed Alexi, a strong and confident woman of the world. She missed her children and her parents, the echoes of their warnings repeating in her head. Credulous Mag may have listened but independent Alexi had no time to dwell in the past. She followed the school children onto the ferry; the North Sea winds blew her long chestnut locks into her perfectly chiseled face. The sight of the Holy Island meant she was home.
Mark never found it problematic to fit into a daily routine, any routine including prison. He'd always felt more at home in an institution. It's all he'd ever known, children's homes, schools, youth offenders and prisons. He knew he'd be out early with good behavior. But this time things were going to be different. He'd find a job, a small flat and settle down. Handing the small package to Kez, the money safe in his hands, he headed straight for his cell. Yes this time things were going to be different.
As the clock chimed Eden changed out of her overalls, washing the paints and glues off her hands. At last it was finished, the first exhibit of her new collection. She found great pleasure in her new hobby as a taxidermist. The chiming of the clock stopped and she grabbed her exhibit heading into the cottage straight into the small hallway through to the bijou study housing the newly fitted glass cabinets, setting her exhibit on the desk Eden ran upstairs to change, the old floor boards creaking beneath her. She peered below into the street hoping to spot Alexi walking up the sacred narrow Lindisfarne Street where saints once tread in their quest for opus dei. As soon as she spotted Alexi she ran downstairs, her long dress was flowing and her bare feet skipping. They embraced locked in a passionate kiss.
“How was your day?” The two held hands as they entered the study together. “Well what do you think?” Alexi burst into laughter.
“Well Ms d’amour I think you have surpassed yourself,” lifting up the newly mummified erect penis of her ex-husband. ”Pity it didn’t feel like this when he and I were married.” Eden opened the door of the glass case and Alexi placed the phallic exhibit in. “Well I think this deserves a toast.”
“Here’s to absent friends.”
“Senorita, lots more holidays in the beautiful airs of South America.”
“I’ll drink to that and may your new found hobby prove to be satisfying.” Another chink of glasses followed as they moved into the newly re-fitted kitchen, the beams on the ceiling and the inglenook fireplace the only two remaining original features.
“So where would you like to eat tonight daughter?” The two women giggled. “There’s is a choice between The Crown and Anchor or The Manor House Hotel or of course The Ship Inn.” Eden kissed Alexi on the cheek.
“You decide mother. I’ll finish up here and you get ready.” Alexi bolted up the stairs stopping briefly to look at the tide from the landing window. It made her feel safe. Her senses warned her frequently that it was only a matter of time before her past caught up with her. Even on this remote costal island people were curious about the duo. The income from derived from fencing the gems paid for a very cozy life behind the modest façade of teaching at the local primary. She and Eden had already decided that if the inevitable happens they would take themselves to their final place of rest in the gardens of the All Saints Church where two burial plots bought and paid for would house them together for eternity.
Gabriella thanked a stunned Chief for his time before exiting his office. She wasn’t surprised by his expression, after all it wasn’t every day the head honcho learned that one of his most trusted officers was a seasoned crook. At least this time she was placed in charge of the undercover operation which inevitably meant success. She turned out of the police station onto the main road heading straight to the airport; South America was her destination now that the Mag Dolan trail had run cold bringing down Luke the mastodon her pre-occupation.
End of part one.
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