Jimmy's Game (Ruthless) (14 page)

The door to the apartment opened, “Only me love,” called the familiar voice of Gladys. “We’re in here Gladys.” Entering the lounge she smiled and said, “Hello Mickey, this is a nice surprise, how are you love?” “Very well thanks and yourself Gladys?” “Oh not too bad, me old bones play me up, but I mustn’t grumble. Oh and look at you Maria, don’t you look better love? Shall I put the kettle on?” “Not for us
thanks Gladys, we’ve got to go out on business.” said Jimmy. “Fair enough, just me and Maria then.”

Before leaving Jimmy said, “Now remember girls, don’t answer the door, phone or the intercom, just in case it’s Maria’s ex- boyfriend.”

Shaun was driving Nick to a meeting at one of his clubs; he had been very cagey with the Irishman about it. As Shaun parked the car he noticed a black MPV, he recognised it as one of the vehicles that the Russians used. Nick got out and walked towards it as the passenger door opened and Uri got out and embraced him as he kissed his cheeks, the Russian was flanked by three big mean looking Russian bodyguards. Shaun walked behind them as Nick unlocked the door.

Inside the two bosses sat at a separate table, leaving Shaun and the othe
r bodyguards several feet away. Shaun tried to listen in on their conversation, but it was difficult, although he did hear the Russian say that he had only arrived in England the day before. Then the other bodyguards started talking, making it almost impossible for him to hear what was being said.

Over at Nick’s table Uri poured them a drink and said, “So, you enjoy your stay in the Ukraine Nicolai?” “Yeah I had a good time; I’m looking forward to us doing business.” “Ah yes, our business arrangement takes effect from tomorrow, the goods will be arriving at approximately ten o’clock tomorrow night. They are coming by private plane which will land in Kent; you will meet the delivery and take it to your designated place. The following day I will meet you and we will deliver the goods personally to the individual buyers, is that clear?” “Crystal clear Uri.” “Good, just one other thing, do not damage any of the goods.” “As if I would.” They both laughed, before Nick added, “About the delivery, how many packages, (girls) and when do I get paid?” “Unfortunately there will only be ten items and not the eleven that we spoke of, one was so badly damaged we could not send it. When I meet you I will pay you, also Sven has arranged for another delivery in nine days time, you can handle that, yes?” “Consider it done.” “I think I will enjoy working with you Nicholai, we make lots of money together. Now tell me, did you get the girl back?” Nick looked angry as he replied, “Not yet, but I will by Friday!” “Do you think she knows anything that could be bad for us?” Nick was only too aware that she probably did know things about him, but in an effort to convince the Russian that he had nothing to worry about, he arrogantly replied, “No, and even if she did she wouldn’t be fucking stupid enough to open her mouth!” It was obvious the Russian didn’t share his trust in her keeping quiet, especially when he replied, “I think maybe you make sure she is quiet if she is risk to us, I get you another dog to fuck, it will be my gift!” “That’s very generous of you Uri, but I think I’ll wait ‘til she’s back.” “Maybe you should just eliminate her, but I think you like this girl and that could be very dangerous for all of us.” “Don’t worry Uri; I’ve told you, I’ll deal with it.  Anyway with all the business you’re sending my way I won’t have the time to train another one!” They both laughed and then the Russian looked deadly serious as he said, “On this occasion I give you the benefit of the doubt, but if she is trouble I kill her myself and next time you think more carefully before playing poker. This man Jimmy will he be a problem?” Nick knew only too well Jimmy could be a problem and probably would be, but trying to sound confident he replied, “No he’s just a fucking hot head, he knows I won’t let her stay there.” “Maybe I speak with this Jimmy while I’m here, convince him to send her back?”

The last thing Nick wanted was for them to get involved, or for his crew to realise the depth of his association with them, so grinning he replied, “Thanks for the offer Uri, but I can handle him. If things don’t work out then I’ll let you know.”

They talked for another half hour before Nick said, “I should take you out for something to eat, but the time is just after three, so it’s too late for lunch and too early for dinner, unless you want to eat early?” “There is no hurry, maybe we talk some more first and then we go out for dinner.” Nick nodded.

Shaun had sat quietly throughout the meeting, trying to make sense of the snippets of conversation he’d heard.

“Is that your phone ringing Mick?” asked Jimmy as they drove to St Augustus church. Turning the radio volume down Mickey answered the call and recognising the caller ID said, “Hi Jeff.” “Is it a bad time to call, are you driving Mickey?” “No you’re alright I’m in Jimmy’s car; how can I help you?” “After you called my curiosity got the better of me, so I’ve been looking over that case, just thought you might want to mention something to Lenny.” “What’s that then?” “Well that young Melanie wasn’t the only girl to go missing from St Augustus. Over a period of time, five others were reported as runaways; we looked at foul play but drew a blank, although in my opinion the priest was dodgy.” “Lenny will be grateful for this Jeff. Do you remember off hand any of the other girl’s names, only he’s bound to ask?” “I can go one better than that, I have the file sitting here in front of me.” “Hold on while I grab a pen.” Reaching inside his jacket pocket, Mickey produced a notepad and pen. “Ok Jeff, fire away.” “Well you already know about Melanie Humphreys, she was actually the last girl to be reported missing; the others were Caroline Bowen and Kate Fitzpatrick both fourteen. A few months later, Maria Davis fifteen, then after her two disappeared together, both fifteen, Louise Harper and Jenny Swan.” “Cheers for that Jeff, catch you soon.”  “What was all that about?” said Jimmy, as the call ended. “Apparently several girls went missing; Jeff’s given me their details.” “That’s interesting; perhaps we ought to drop a few names and see what reaction we get from the priest?” “Great minds think alike those were my thoughts exactly!”

Pulling into the church they noticed a hearse along with several other parked cars. A group of mourners were standing around a grave listening to a priest conduct the service. “Shall we go and pay our respects?” said Jimmy. “Indeed,” replied Mickey in a sarcastic tone. From the description Maria had given them and the finger the priest wore his ring on, they were in no doubt that it was father O’Brien. None of the mourners seemed to take any notice as they stood with them. That’s the thing with funerals; nobody knows exactly who knew the deceased.

When the service ended and the mourners slowly made their way back to their cars the two friends approached the priest, “Lovely service Father,” said Mickey, “Do you think you could spare us a moment?” “Of course,” replied the priest politely. “Thank you, we won’t keep you long, only my colleague and I are investigating the disappearance of several girls from here.” Immediately the priest looked concerned and unlike his speech of a few moments earlier stuttered slightly as he replied, “Sorry who did you say you were?” Mickey held out his hand and said, “Sorry, Peter Taylor and my colleague is David Tyler.” “Who did you say you’re working for,” asked the priest nervously. “Actually Father I didn’t; our client would prefer to remain anonymous, I’m sure you understand.” “I don’t think I can be of any help to you; I told the police everything at the time. You must understand those young girls had been raised in a convent, so the outside world seemed very attractive to them. Once one of them finds the courage to run away, it unsettles the others.” With a look that told the priest he didn’t believe him, Mickey sarcastically replied, “So you think they all ran away to see the world? That seems a trifle extreme, wouldn’t you agree Father?” Now visibly shaking the priest replied, “I’m sorry I must attend the wake of the funeral, I can’t answer
any more of your questions.” “Of course Father, we’re sorry to have come at such a bad time.” Looking relieved the priest turned to walk away, but Mickey called to him and said, “Just one last thing before you go Father, could you confirm for us that the girl in this photo is in fact Melanie Humphreys?” A look of sheer panic appeared on the priest’s face as he reached out and took the photo, glancing briefly at it he instantly said, “Where did you get this?” Sounding very professional Mickey said, “Could you just confirm her identity please Father, also the ring on the hand in the photo, we are correct in thinking it’s the type of ring worn by priests?” Visibly shaking and now sweating, the priest replied, “Well I think so, but I can’t be totally sure.” “Not sure about what Father, the girl or the ring?” “Yes I believe that could be the type of ring worn by priests, although I couldn’t say for sure.” “What about the girl?” “Sorry but I can’t say I recognise her.” “Really, but you saw this girl on a regular basis Father, surely you must know? And the ring you’re wearing today looks exactly like the one in the photo.” The priest retreated as he passed the photo back and said, “Sorry I really must go!”

Driving back in the car Jimmy joked and said, “Did you see the old bastard shaking when you gave him the photo, he nearly shit himself! Oh, and what was with Mr Taylor and Mr Tyler?” Glancing at him briefly and grinning Mickey replied, “They were the first fucking names that came into my head!” “Well just for the record, next time could I be someone with a bit more flair?” Mickey laughed and said, “Next time I’ll introduce you as fucking Colombo, how’s that?” “Yes that would be fine thank you Theo.” “Theo, who the fuck is Theo?” “You know, Theo Kojak.” The two friends laughed as Mickey grinned and said, “Who loves you baby!” They were still laughing when they parked at Jimmy’s apartment.

They both noticed as they entered that Maria looked anxious as she said, “Hello, how did it go?” Before replying to her question Jimmy said, “Where’s Gladys?” “She’s just left, so tell me how did it go?” “Fucking dodgy old bastard, he nearly shit himself when we showed him that photo. I would imagine just about now he will be on the phone to either Nick or Maurice.” “So what happens now?” “Well the first thing we do is send a copy of the photo to Nick. Then we get your notebook from the church, I thought Jacky Boy could get it, his mum goes to that church he can go with her. After all that shagging he does with Lisa, he could do with confession!” They all laughed. Then Mickey said, “We’ll need the exact details on where he can find it babe.” Maria nodded.

For the next couple of hours the three of them went over all the details. Mickey phoned Jacky Boy about going to church, while Jimmy rang Lenny Porter to ask if he had managed to find anything out. Lenny answered his phone and said, “I was just about to phone you Jimmy.” “Can I take it from that you’ve got some news for us Len?” “Yeah, one thing I’ve discovered is Father O’Brien has some very unsavoury friends, who regularly make large donations to the church via the priest.” “Sounds interesting, so who are they?” “Well for starters there are two of your mates, Maurice and Nick.” “That’s no surprise, anyone else we know?” “There were some names that I didn’t recognise, but there were two others that were familiar; one I’m certain Mickey will know it’s the bigwig QC Quinton Randal-Scott, known in certain circles as a pervert who likes to fuck little boys; his preference apparently being blond boys aged between twelve and fifteen. The other name was Uri Karpov, a known sex trafficker wanted by the police in several countries. Spends most of his time in the Ukraine and the Philippines catering for clients requesting children for sex, originally from Russia, he’s always well protected. Travels under several aliases; a low life sadistic bastard with money and contacts.” “Fuck me Lenny you have been busy!” “Just doing my job, I’m lucky I still have my contacts.” “Yeah they come in very handy Len. I’ll drop your money round in the next few days.” “Hang on to it Jimmy, I’ll keep digging for a while this could be interesting.” “Fair enough, so is there anything else?” “Not at the moment, but I’ll be in touch.” “Cheers for this Lenny,
catch you soon.”  Jimmy filled Mickey in on the information Lenny had given him. With a smirk Mickey replied, “From what Lenny said this thing with Maria could be just the tip of the iceberg. We need to get our hands on that diary as soon as possible, but we can’t do anything now, so if you two don’t mind I think I’ll call it a day.” “Yeah no problem Mick, you’re right we can’t do anything until we get the notebook.” “See you tomorrow.” They both thanked Mickey as he left.

Once alone Jimmy looked at Maria and said, “Sorry I haven’t spent much time with you in the last couple of days, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. Anyway how did you get on with Gladys?” “Really well, I enjoy her company.”
After they’d sat talking for a while Jimmy said, “I fancy having a long hot soak in the Jacuzzi,” jokingly he added, “Of course if you feel any overwhelming desire to come in and scrub my back, feel free! I know I’m shy but for you I’ll brave it.” They both laughed, before she replied, “I might just do that.” Surprised by her reply he looked stunned as he said, “Great, in that case feel free to do with me as you wish!” They both laughed.

Twenty minutes later she was lying in the jacuzzi between his legs, resting her back against his chest. They could feel the tiny air bubbles bursting against their bodies. Wrapping his arms around her he fondled her breasts and she could feel his erect
ion against her back. Lying there she was experiencing feelings she’d never had before, she so wanted to turn around and make love with him; she wanted to feel him inside her; had she not have been raped so violently by Nick she would have. Slowly she turned round to face him. Pulling her closer he kissed her passionately as he held her in his arms. Kissing him made her feel alive. “I’m sorry I can’t make love to you,” she said. “I know babe I’m sorry too, but that time will come and I’m content just having you here with me; not to mention flattered that you want me after all that’s happened to you.” Despite feeling embarrassed, she wanted to explain to him how she was feeling. Snuggling her head onto his shoulder she said, “I always imagined real love would be wonderful, but I never thought I would experience it. I truly believed that one day Nick would kill me, or if I ever did manage to escape all men would treat me badly. Spending time with you has changed that; with you I’ve want to experience love.” Kissing her neck he said, “Making love is a good thing to do and if it’s with the right person, it can be wonderful.” Stroking his face gently and looking deep into his eyes, she said, “I love you Jimmy.” Pressing her lips to his, they kissed passionately as the warm soapy bubbles flowed over them. Sliding her hand down into the warm soft water, she found his hardness, easily moving her hand up and down. Still kissing her he laid his head back against the edge of the Jacuzzi and feeling totally relaxed, he climaxed within minutes.