The Jump

  Donna’s hotel was discreet and classy. It was for people who enjoyed solitude and were willing to pay for it. It was a far cry from the Bay View in Hikkadoa.

  There was a small pathway leading to the water itself, and a freshwater shower. Following the pathway, Alan slipped into the sea, letting the cold water envelop him and cleanse him of the sights and sounds of the day. He wanted it to wash away the feeling of dirtiness Stephen had left upon him.

  He closed his eyes tightly as he pictured the small body of the little girl. He tried to blot out the picture, and the unwanted memories it evoked. They didn’t even know her name.

  He swam for ten minutes then came out of the water. As he walked up the pathway he saw Donna on the verandah in a thin wrapper, fresh from the shower, the outline of her body revealed against the lights.

  As he reached her she sat down on one of the padded chairs and picked up her glass of scotch.

  Alan rubbed himself dry then settled beside her. ‘How are you feeling now, love?’ he asked tenderly.

  Donna shook her glistening wet hair. ‘I don’t know. It’s all been too much to take in, I think.’

  ‘It’s the little girl that’s the horror, eh?’ He grasped Donna’s hand as he spoke and she was grateful to him. She nodded her head, eyes shimmering with tears.

  ‘She was so small, Alan, so vulnerable. Like a little doll. I wish we could go to the authorities.’

  He wagged her hand up and down as he spoke.

  ‘Listen, Donna, we went through all that earlier. They would bang us all up, you included, and believe me when I say a lesbian wing on Holloway would be preferable to being banged up here. Let Joey sort it out.’

  Donna took a deep breath and watched the moon.

  ‘We always seem to be letting other people sort things out, don’t we? Shall I tell you something, Alan? When I first met Jonnie H. and Nick and all the others, I was terrified inside. I had to pretend that I was in control, you see. For Georgio. If you knew how frightened I was! Even when I met you. I didn’t like you very much, a convicted murderer.

  ‘No matter what I found out about Georgio, I never cared. Nothing could be that bad, see, because I loved him so very much. I was grateful to him, because until I met Georgio I was little Orphan Annie, Donna Fenland, nobody. He made me into somebody. He gave me a family, and a life. As the years went on, I was grateful if he made love to me. Really grateful. Pathetically grateful, in fact, because I knew he was seeing other women. Yet that was preferable to not having him. I needed him desperately.

  ‘How could I have let him, or anyone for that matter, do that to me? How did it happen, Alan?’ She looked into his face then. ‘How did I allow myself to get caught up in all this?’

  Alan put a heavy hand up to her face and cupped her cheek. ‘As you said, Donna. You loved him.’

  ‘But is that really any excuse - for all this?’ She pulled his hand away from her face. ‘It was weakness, Alan. I was weak inside. I’ve always been weak inside. Deep down I wanted the house and the cars and the big brash husband. I’d never done a day’s work. Forty years old and never, ever done a real day’s work.’ She laughed gently. ‘That’s shocking really, isn’t it? I judged those mothers today, who took their kids to the Bay View Hotel, and I’ve never been without money once in all my life. Without love, without affection, yes, but never without money. Georgio always gave me plenty of that. Who am I to judge them when I can’t even produce a child?’

  Alan was quiet beside her, knowing that she had to get it all out of her system before she could get on once more with her life.

  ‘You’re a nice man, do you know that? Why didn’t I ever realise it before?’

  He shrugged, embarrassed. ‘After what you just found out about your old man, the Yorkshire Ripper would be classed a nice man.’

  Donna laughed then, a tired sound. Standing up, she looked down into Alan’s face. Then she knelt in front of him, resting her head in his lap. Instinctively, he placed a large hand on her hair, rubbing the nape of her neck gently. Wanting to make her feel better, knowing that she needed someone to make it all all right.

  As she pushed her face into his groin, he felt the first stirrings of arousal. Closing his eyes, he begged his body not to embarrass him further. It was only when he felt her hand slipping into the front of his boxer shorts that he realised what she was doing.

  As she slipped his erect penis into her mouth, he lay back in the armchair with shock. Easing back on his foreskin, she took his whole member down the back of her throat, pulling gently on his balls as she did so. Then drawing her lips along the length of him, she released it and looked up into his face.

  Burying his face in her hair, he whispered her name over and over.

  An hour later they lay on the beach together, letting the waves wash over them. Donna snuggled in the crook of his arm, smelling the saltiness of the sea on his skin and the everpresent scent of his Cuban cigars.

  ‘Fucking hell, Donna, I can’t believe this.’

  His voice was quiet, full of pent-up emotion. ‘If you knew the number of times I’ve thought of us like this . . .’

  His voice trailed off. She was better than his wildest fantasy, and as far as he was concerned, Georgio Brunos must have been stark staring mad to let her go. But then, Georgio never did have any real taste.

  Donna leaned up on her elbow and looked down into his face. ‘I think we both needed it. After today, it was the natural conclusion really.’

  Her words hurt him, cut him to the quick.

  ‘It meant more than that to me Donna. Much more.’

  She lay down again and let the cool water run over her body. She couldn’t answer him.

  ‘Tell me why you murdered that man, Alan. I really want to know.’

  He sighed painfully. ‘Are you sure?’

  She snuggled tighter into him, feeling the pull of the man beside her.

  ‘I’m sure,’ she whispered. ‘After the last few weeks, I don’t think anything could ever really affect me again.’

  Finally, after what seemed an age, Alan began to talk.

  ‘Years ago when I was in the West End, before the restaurants and all that, I used to do a lot of ducking and diving. Me and the wife weren’t hitting it off and I spent a lot of time in the clubs and that. I was the typical villain in those days, out all night, asleep all day, poncing around making a bit of bunce. I’d had me day with the bare knuckle and I was investing in all sorts of places. That’s when I met Joey’s father.

  ‘You see, Donna, we sorted out the Chinks. They were everywhere then, and we all realised that if we weren’t careful, they’d take the place over. There weren’t any real big villains about then, the Krays were the only ones who ever really had an empire of sorts and by today’s standards that was penny ante. But anyway, back to the story.

  ‘I first met up with Jack Coyne and JoJo in a house in Fulham. They were all down: the Liverpudlians, the Geordies, the Birmingham boys, even the fucking Scots. They were everywhere, see, and they were running women. Now the Asians, or Pakis as we called them all in them days, were like us. They felt there was room for everyone. The rinky dink dinks, however, had different ideas. They wanted the lot - gambling, women, everything. Well, the Chinks are renowned for kids. You only have to look at Thailand and that. And they were catering to that market. We was all up in arms, see.

  ‘Anyway, one day we went to see this Hep Keng or whatever his name is, and walked into serious aggravation. Jack Coyne shot him, he shot him in the face. It was fucking pandemonium. There was shooters going off all over the show.’ Alan was quiet for a moment, remembering.

  ‘Well, the rub is, we were all right. The only real casualty was a Scottish bloke who was shot in the back. We all scooted off before the Old Bill arrived. Then as we were all mustering up for the next round, I go in a club in Soho.

  ‘There was a little bird I used to see called Minerva of all things. A right funny little bird she was and all. She really made me laugh.
Anyway, I’m looking for her, and the next thing is I see her mate Jacqueline something or other - last names ain’t a must in Soho, as you know. It turned out that a Chinese guy had cut Minerva’s throat with a Stanley knife - beat the shit out of her first, like. I heard that every time her heart beat, the blood shot three foot into the air. He stood and watched her die. All over me, because she was my little bird and I was one of the men treading on his toes.

  ‘Minerva was seventeen, full of life, a great little kid. I found out who he was and, well, you know the rest.’

  Donna was quiet, drinking in all he had told her. ‘What happened then?’

  Alan shrugged gently. ‘I was nicked, got sent down, and the others sorted it out. JoJo O’Neil done a deal with them, the ponce! That’s why I never liked him. He’s always dealt with them. And that was it. I never regretted one day what I did for her. It was the least I could do really. If it wasn’t for me she’d probably be married now with a load of kids somewhere. Worrying about paying the mortgage like everyone else.’

  Donna kissed him gently on the lips, and he whispered, ‘Rough justice, that’s what we call it.’

  She kissed him again. ‘I wish I could tell a story like that about Georgio. You’re worth ten of him.’

  Alan didn’t answer; he didn’t want to break the spell. Instead he gathered her into his arms and kissed her properly.

  Pulling away, she looked over the sea and said to him, ‘I feel as if a veil has been lifted from in front of my eyes, as if I can really see the world properly for the first time in years. I hate him now.’

  The words were like music to Alan’s ears.

  Sadie came into Georgio’s cell in full sail. After being told by Lewis that she was once more a free agent, she had gone to town.

  She was wearing her best clothes and her hair was freshly dyed and backcombed to within an inch of its life. Her make-up had been applied with exaggerated care.

  Georgio grinned. ‘I take it you’ve seen the new bloke then?’

  Sadie grinned impishly. ‘Isn’t he a darlin’? And I hear he’s as queer as a fish.’

  Georgio laughed. ‘What’s the word on the Wing, Sade?’

  She sat down sedately on a chair. ‘You’d better be careful, Georgio. From what I’ve read off Lewis’s lips, he’s really arming his blokes up. Is there going to be a showdown, do you know? Only I’ve seen the way Big Ricky looks at him sometimes. He’s also taken to staring at Beavis and Butthead as well. What’s going on?’

  ‘Nothing is going on as far as I know. Just you keep your eyes peeled and read any info you can. That’s all you need to do, love.’

  ‘So what’s happening with Beavis and Butthead then? I’m telling you now, Georgio, if something ain’t done about them soon, I’m going to do something myself.’

  Georgio closed his eyes in annoyance. ‘It will all be sorted soon, all right? Fucking hell, Sadie, what’s got into you, eh? Fuck me, I feel sorry for the bloke you finally take up with, you’re worse than a woman!’

  Sadie grinned. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

  ‘Take it any way you like, just give me a break from all this. I’ve got a lot on me mind.’

  Sadie knew when to change the subject. ‘I love the way your wife dresses,’ she confided. ‘Very understated, but sexy.’

  Georgio laughed in delight. ‘That’s Donna all right. The understated bit anyway. The sexy bit I ain’t so sure of at times.’

  ‘You’re a right slag, Brunos, but then you know that.’

  Georgio laughed again, coarsely. ‘Listen, Sadie, I ain’t a man who can be tied down, my old woman knows that. She keeps her mouth shut and her head down. That’s how I like my wife. Now my girlfriends are a different ballgame . . . I like ’em to be a bit sassy, like. Have a bit of a spark, you know. But me wife, I like her to be “understated”.’

  ‘Who was the girl who visited today?’

  Georgio rolled his eyes to the ceiling. ‘Fucking hell’s bells! It didn’t take you long to find out about that, did it? What is this? Top security or Gossips’ Corner? That, my little munchkin, is my future wife. Only don’t mention it to the old one, as she don’t know yet!’

  Georgio laughed at his own wit and Sadie tutted in distress.

  ‘You’ve been on the prison hooch, ain’t you? It takes the lining off the stomach, you know.’

  ‘Sadie love, it could take the lining out of me overcoat and I couldn’t give a toss. Today, I needed something and so I had it. By the way, where’s the heroin coming from? How’s Lewis getting it in?’

  Sadie hunched slim shoulders. ‘That’s a state secret, mate. No one knows. But I think it’s coming in through the kitchens meself. Black Dessie brings it to Lewis, I know that much, and he’s in the kitchen, so I just put two and two together.’

  ‘Do you know where Lewis keeps his stash?’

  Sadie looked worried for a moment and said slowly, ‘What if I do?’

  Georgio grinned then. ‘If you do, Sadie, I’ll give you a good bit of bunce for the information. I’ll also make sure you get first choice with the new boy, how’s that?’

  Sadie smiled, making herself look very young and pretty.

  ‘He keeps it in his clock radio. But for Gawd’s sake don’t let on I told you!’

  Georgio rubbed his hands together in glee. Then, lifting his mattress, he took out a bottle of Famous Grouse whisky.

  ‘How’d you get that?’ Sadie asked.

  Georgio took a long pull and then said, ‘There’s a friendly little screw I know. Want a pull on it?’

  Sadie nodded and he handed her the bottle. ‘And don’t get fucking lipstick all around the top.’

  Sadie rolled her eyes and took a long drink. Then passing the bottle back to Georgio, she took a joint out of her pocket. Lighting it, she said, ‘Might as well have a bit of a party, eh?’

  Their laughter could be heard all over the Wing.

  The sun was rising and Donna and Alan sat side by side, watching its brilliant ascent.

  ‘I’m going to book a flight as soon as possible.’ Alan nodded his agreement. ‘The sooner we get back the better. There’s still a lot to be done.’

  Donna pulled on her cigarette and blew out a long stream of smoke. ‘I can’t wait to see Georgio and tell him he’s going to have to sit it out for years. I’m really looking forward to it.’

  Alan stared at her in the dappled red of the sunrise and said seriously, ‘You can’t tell him that, Donna.’

  ‘What! What are you talking about?’

  He took a deep breath. ‘There’s too much been done. The jump is due in three days, Donna, there’s no way we can stop it now. No way. Too much has already been set in motion.’

  She shook her head in denial at what she was hearing. ‘You’re joking! Tell me you’re joking!’

  ‘I wish I could,’ Alan groaned, ‘but the jump’s out of our hands now. It’s in the hands of Eric and the others. It’s Georgio’s jump, only he can cancel it. That’s the law of the criminal world. If we went and called it off now, Georgio would know about it in a matter of hours and he would have the jump rearranged in another few hours. We did all the collar, love. Now Georgio gets to name the fucking day.’

  Donna was flabbergasted.

  ‘You’re telling me that after all you’ve seen here, he is still going to get out? The jump will still be on?’

  Alan nodded.

  Donna got up abruptly.

  ‘Well, that’s just where you’re wrong, Alan Cox! My husband will rot in that jail for this little lot, if I have to turn Queen’s evidence myself! He isn’t going anywhere. Especially not over to Ireland. I’ll see to that personally!’

  She walked back into the hotel room and poured herself a large scotch. Her whole body was shaking with indignation, and her temper was on a short leash.

  Alan followed her inside.

  ‘Listen to me, Donna. By the time we get back, the jump will be only two days away right? Now Georgio will have already li
ned up his disturbance. That will happen no matter what. And Eric will have Jonnie H., and the whole caboodle already in place down south waiting for the jump. We can’t stop that. Only Georgio could, and he’ll make sure it goes ahead. At this point only he can stop the men from doing what they’re paid for.’

  Donna threw back the drink and pulled her dressing gown tight around her body as if hiding herself from him.

  ‘You’re not seriously going to tell me that you want him out still, are you?’

  Alan said quietly, ‘Of course not. But what I can do is see that he has no real help. In fact, it would be better to let the jump go ahead, because if we play our cards right, he’ll be left high and dry and it won’t be down to us, not directly anyway.’

  Donna looked at him as if he had developed horns in front of her eyes.

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  He barked at her in growing anger, ‘Listen to me, Donna. I have a lot of clout in the criminal world, but in case it escaped your notice, so does your old man. The truth of the matter is, if we fuck him up, we’d never be able to sleep easy in our beds again. You know yourself, Paddy, everyone, is in on this. When it all comes out, there’s going to be a lot of red faces, and not with embarrassment - but with rage. We can’t even let this be handed over to the police, it’s gone too deep for that now. We have to do it in such a way as to fuck him up, but he can’t point the finger at us. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

  Donna shook her head in stunned silence.

  Alan stared into her strained face and said sadly, ‘The trouble is, at this moment in time, neither do I. But I’ll think of something, love, don’t worry about that.’

  She poured herself another drink and said waspishly, ‘And what about Stephen Brunos, eh? He knows more than enough about everything. What if he tells Georgio me and you came out here like Batman and Wonder-woman and fucked up his plans? What then, eh?’

  Alan closed his eyes and said sadly, ‘Donna, Stephen Brunos is dead.’