Jimmy's Game (Ruthless) (31 page)

Over breakfast she noticed he was unusually quiet. Pouring him another cup of tea she said, “Are you ok Jimmy is something wrong?” “I’m fine babe, I didn’t sleep very well that’s all”

When he’d finished eating he phoned Mickey, answering almost immediately he said, “Alright Jimmy.” “Just ringing to see if you’ve heard anything?” “No I was hoping you had.” “No not a dickey bird mate.” “I’ve arranged a meeting at Dixie’s with the lads, I’ll pick you up at midday; I just need to call in at my office first.” “Ok Mick, I’ll see you then.” No sooner had Jimmy hung up when his phone rang, it was Terry, “Alright Jimmy, thought you might like to know Reggie had a visit from the Old Bill; the vet reported the dog had been taken in with a bullet wound.” “So what did Reggie say then?” “Well they didn’t get any joy from him that’s for sure, he said he was walking his dogs on the common and totally out of the blue someone took a pot shot at them. They asked if he saw the shooter, I nearly fucking pissed myself laughing when Reg said, ‘No I fucking didn’t, I was more concerned over me dog than looking to see who’d done it!”  “Yeah that sounds like Reggie, do you reckon the Old Bill believed him?” “I know they didn’t, because they asked him about the club, apparently some good citizen called them about a disturbance; they heard gun shots and what may have been an injured dog.” “God bless neighbourhood watch! It was probably some nosey old fucking do gooder who had nothing better to do with their time. Cheers for letting us know, I’ll see you later at Dixie’s.” “Ok Jim we’ll see you there.” “Tell Reggie I’m glad his dog’s ok.” “Ain’t we all, fuck me can you imagine how he’d be if it had died!” “Don’t bear fucking thinking about. I’ll see you later.” Jimmy’s first thought was to phone Mickey again, but he didn’t want Maria to know about the shooting; so he decided to wait until they met later. Trying to act as normal as possible he said, “So what you got planned for the day babe?” “Gladys is going to pop round for a cuppa.” “Nice, I’m glad I’m going out,” he replied sarcastically. “Jimmy, don’t be nasty since she’s given up doing the cleaning she misses having something to do.” “I know babe.” “I enjoy seeing her, at least once a week she pops round for a cuppa and a chat.” Taking a twenty pound note from his wallet he handed it to her and said, “Here give that to her, tell her to have a night out at bingo.” Kissing him on the cheek she said, “That’s a sweet thing to do, she’ll be made up with it.” Despite his kind gesture, she knew he was keeping something from her, especially when he said, “Remember babe don’t open the door to anyone while I’m out.”  Deciding not to question him, she nodded and smiled as she said, “Will you have lunch out? Or shall I do something for you and Mickey before you go?” “No don’t worry about us babe, we can grab something if need be and no doubt you’ll cook something delicious for dinner, just make sure there’s enough for Mickey in case he stays.” Jokingly she replied, “Don’t I always do enough for Mickey!”

By half twelve, everyone was at Dixie’s, well everyone except Hudson, no one had seen or heard from him in days. When Mickey said to Tony, “What’s going on with Hudson?” Tony replied, “For some reason he seems to be keeping a low profile Mick.” “And you’ve no idea why?” “No, at first I thought it might be a jealous husband looking for him, but a couple of weird things have happened in the last couple of days.” “What sort of things?” “Well as you all know Hudson always dealt with the hot cars. I knew this week he had an order for a Mercedes and a Porsche; I’d seen the lads working on them round the workshop. Anyway yesterday his buyer approached me, I’d met him before so I knew he was kosher and not under cover. The
bloke said he’d expected a call from Hudson days ago, but been unable to get hold of him. I dealt with it then asked around at the workshop, no one has seen him. I checked out a couple of his regular women thinking they might know, but it was the same with them, even Tina and we all know he normally shags her at least twice a week. If I didn’t know better I’d say he’s vanished into thin air.” “Sounds like it, something definitely ain’t right.” Then he looked over at Jacky Boy and Kevin and added, “You two are well in with Hudson and the black community, poke around ask questions, see what you can find out.” They both nodded.

They spoke about the Jamaicans, all agreeing the only obvious link would be Maurice, based simply on the fact the Jamaicans seemed to know a lot about Jimmy and the business, and they could only have got that type of information from one of the crew. Whatever their reasons for wanting to make trouble, the priority was to find out who they were working for and how far they were prepar
ed to go to get what they want. Jimmy referred to the shooting outside the club and said, “We should expect a visit from the Old Bill, as some nosey bastard called them. As far as everyone’s concerned, Reggie wasn’t at the club when it happened, ok.” Then looking at Reggie he grinned and sarcastically added, “Apparently you were walking your dogs on the common, is that right Reg?” Everyone laughed as Reggie grinned and nodded. Jimmy continued, “Whether the Old Bill believes us or not, it’s our word against theirs and the fact that Mickey was there his word should be enough to sway it. If you’re asked about any trouble with the Jamaicans, just play it down and say they got a bit out of hand with a couple of the dancers.  Can you speak to the girls Shane, tell them what to say?” “Shane nodded and replied, “No problem Jimmy.” “Good, does anyone want to add anything?”  When they shook their heads, Jimmy continued, “In that case shall we eat?” Mickey joked and said, “All you do is eat; I think you’ve got fucking worms!” “It’s Maria’s fault she can’t leave me alone, if I don’t keep my strength up I won’t be able to keep up with her!” “Oh you poor bastard, my fucking heart breaks for you; it must be hard for you mate, having to give her good sex all the time!” “You’ve got no fucking idea what I have to put up with Mick, its sex, sex, sex all the fucking time!” Everyone laughed.

Jimmy rang their restaurant in the hope of getting a table. When the waiter said they were packed he asked them to send some food over to Dixie
’s. The men chatted about the Jamaicans while they waited for the delivery. An hour and fifteen minutes later their food turned up. When Adam the waiter from the restaurant brought the delivery in Jimmy joked and said, “Fuck me about time, if we’d waited much longer we’ve have died from starvation!” Adam laughed and replied, “The restaurant is heaving, Luigi wasn’t too impressed with you asking for such a large order, especially right in the middle of the rush hour.” “Tell the miserable old eyetie, he’ll get a good bonus at the end of the week.” Handing Adam a twenty pound note, he said, “Cheers for bringing it over.” The young lad looked well chuffed as he said, “Thanks Jimmy.”

They had just finished eating, when the door opened and in walked the
Old Bill, two regular coppers and detective Samuels, or as Mickey refers to him, slimy Samuels. Having met him several times at different social functions with Monica, he couldn’t stand him, but he always remained friendly and polite for Monica’s benefit and also because he knew what an arsehole Samuels was, he certainly wouldn’t want to make an enemy of him.

In his normal arrogant, sarcastic manor Samuels looked at the group and said, “Well this is quite a gathering, didn’t expect to see you here Mickey, or could it be that you’re representing one of them?” Calmly Mickey replied, “I’m a partner in this
club, and my friend Jimmy is getting married, so were going over the wedding plans, I’m the best man; there’s nothing illegal about that is there?” Sarcastically, Samuels replied, “No nothing illegal, but I’m curious as to why these others are here, or could it be that they’re the bridesmaids?” Shane glared at the detective.

Mickey could sense an atmosphere mounting so he quickly said, “They’re here to arrange the stag night.” It was obvious that Samuels didn’t believe him when he replied, “So what have you decided on then?” Jimmy interrupted and said, “We were just about to decide that when you interrupted us.” Samuels asked them questions about the shooting. They all stuck to the plan as earlier agreed. Well aware that no one was going to tell him anything, Samuels said, “The investigation is ongoing so I may need to speak to you again.” Then he sarcastically added, “Considering there are bullet holes in the main door I’m surprised no one saw or heard anything.” Mickey simply nodded and replied, “Yeah that was lucky wasn’t it?”

Samuels had turned to walk away when one of the policemen whispered something to him. The detective turned back and looking at Reggie said, “My colleague tells me it was your dog that was shot.” Reggie nodded, as Samuels added, “And you’re sure you were on the common when it happened?” Again Reggie just nodded, but before Samuels had chance to speak again, Mickey interrupted and said, “Is there a problem with that? I feel as though you’re implying something detective, so let’s get something straight, he was walking his dog on the common ok and several people will confirm that. So is there a problem?” Samuels knew Mickey was clever and pressing the subject would get him nowhere, so he replied, “No, there’s no problem, how is the dog?” “Yeah he’s doing ok; hopefully he’ll make a full recovery, but what bothers me is that somebody shot it in the first place. There are some sick bastards about, it’s coming to something when you’re not even safe to walk your dog. I hope you catch whoever did it soon, because next time it could be a child; maybe you would do better to take your investigation to the common and ask the people there if they saw anything. Can’t have people running about with guns, can we, that’s the trouble with London now, so many nutters. It used to be great living here, but it’s changed, quite worrying when you think about it. Anyway good luck with your investigation, hope you catch them soon.” Despite hoping that would be the last they’d hear from Samuels that day, no one was surprised when as he started to leave he turned and said, “Oh, one more thing who was working the door that night?” Shane looked up and said, “I was.” “And you are?” “Shane Bridger.”  “And you didn’t see or hear anything?” “No I must have been in the toilet or something, never heard a thing; you know how loud the music gets, it’s no wonder really. Sorry I can’t help you.” With that Samuels left.

No sooner had the detective gone when Mickey said, “He’s nothing but a jumped up little shit, he’s always on Monica’s case trying to better her. When she received the contents of Maurice’s box he was really snotty about it; the fucker even implied that she must have known who’d sent it. I’d love to see him get his come uppence; he’s such a fucking arsehole! We need to keep him at arm’s length, he could be dangerous.” They all agreed then Jimmy said, “Might be an idea to keep Reggie and Terry working at the club for a while, we can always get cover for them down the docks if need be.” Then he looked across at Shaun and said, “I’d like you to keep an eye on Maria for me. I know it’s unlikely anyone would target her, but let’s err on the side of caution; maybe for the next few days you could run her about just to be on the safe side.” “Be my pleasure Jimmy,” replied the big Irishman. “Cheers Shaun. So now our number one priority is to find Hudson.” They all agreed.

When they had finished discussing business, Jimmy joked and said, “So what have you lot planned for my stag night?” Mickey laughed and said, “Fuck off, we hadn’t thought about planning anything that was just for Samuels benefit!” “Well if that’s the case you miserable bunch of bastards, you can all fuck of home!” They all laughed. Maria kissed him as he walked in and said, “How did the meeting go?” “Fine, what sort of day you had with Gladys?” Before she could answer his phone rang, checking the ID and answering it, Mickey’s voice said, “Hi Jimmy.” “Alright Mick, what’s up?” “Didn’t you forget something?” “No, what you fucking talking about, I’ve only just left you.” “Justin.” “Oh fuck me; I completely forgot. Tell him I’ll be there in fifteen minutes!” Closing his phone he glanced at Maria and said, “Sorry babe I’ve got to pop back out for half an hour.” “Where are you going, can’t I go with you?”  Thinking quickly he replied, “I’d rather you didn’t babe, the bloke I’m going to see is a nutter and nine times out of ten he can be abusive.” “Will you be ok on your own, what if this bloke gets nasty?” “We go back a long way, he knows better than to piss me off!” “I don’t suppose there’s any point me asking why you’re going to see him.” “It’s nothing babe, just a bit of business that’s all. I should have done it on the way home; by the time you’ve got the dinner started, I’ll be back.”

Driving to meet Justin, he was annoyed with himself that he had forgotten about seeing him, which had meant he’d had to lie to Maria, but he convinced himself she would love him for it in the end when she saw the surprise.

Justin walked towards the car as Jimmy pulled up outside a large house, “Sorry about this Jimmy, but it’s difficult to get hold of you in case someone over hears us.” “No worries mate, what’s the problem?”

Maria was busy in the kitchen stirring something on the stove when he returned. Walking up behind her he wrapped his arms around her waist, gently kissing the back of her neck as he apologised for having to go back out. “If you weren’t always so keen to have sex Jimmy Dixon, I might think you’ve got another woman!” “I’ll never need another woman babe, you know that.” Turning to kiss him, she could sense he would have sex right there and then; so she quickly said, “Good, but now you’re home you can lay the table; dinner ready.” Pretending he misheard what she said, he joked and replied, “What’s that babe; you want me to lay you on the table because you’re ready!” Giggling she replied, “You’ve got a one track mind, I said lay the table stud!” “If that’s the case I’ll just have to have you for dessert then!”

During dinner as they chatted she said, “Do you think it’ll still be this good between us in ten years time?” “Without a doubt, truth is babe I can’t imagine being without you now, and the sex just gets better and better. I never thought I would feel this way; no woman has ever made me feel like this. I’ve even surprised myself, if I’m honest before I met you I had a few dates, but once I’d shagged them a couple of times I was bored. Not with you though, all I seem to do is think about having you.” Lovingly she replied, “Good, it’s the same for me. I never thought I would desire anyone.” “Maybe God got it right this time babe, perhaps we are a match made in heaven?” “You might just be right Jimmy. I can’t imagine how I would feel if you never wanted to make love to me.” “Well you needn’t worry yourself on that score babe, because it won’t happen; so hurry up and eat your dinner, I’m ready for my dessert!”