Jimmy's Game (Ruthless) (36 page)

Remembering how jealous he had been earlier, he would never let another man touch her, even as he thought about it he thrust himself harder into her. Making
love to her this way he felt he had total control over her, be it all for only a short while. Lying holding each other afterwards, he said, “I’m sorry about what happened earlier babe.” Tenderly she kissed him and replied, “It’s okay, I like the fact that you feel so passionately about me; it was only because I thought you didn’t trust me I made an issue of it.” They kissed and cuddled for ages before they finally settled down to sleep.

During breakfast the next morning, Maria said, “I’ve been thinking about the possibility of us having a double wedding with Mickey.” “Well from what Mickey says, it could definitely be on.” “Then I should let Father Thomas know, I hope it will be alright at such short notice?” Smiling he replied, “Tell Thomas we’ll make a donation to the church for any inconvenience. I can’t see it being a problem if it does happen. The guest list wouldn’t change very much, the only extras would be Monica’s parents and a few of her work friends, all of Mickey’s family will be there anyway; even Fay and her family are coming over from the states. So as far as I can see a double wedding wouldn’t cause any hassle at all and I’m sure the hotel would welcome some more guests at a hundred and fifty quid a head.” She nodded just as his phone rang. It was Tony, “Alright Jimmy, just calling to let you know the coroner has just called me to say Hudson’s body has been released, they asked who was going to arrange the funeral. None of Hudson’s family overseas is going to pay; they’re not even going to come over, although they are hoping he made a will, cheeky bastards!” “People like that are worse than fucking vultures Tony. So it looks like we’ll be picking up the bill then, can we leave you to arrange it, just send us the bill.” “No worries Jimmy, I’ll sort it.”

Maria was looking forward to seeing Monica later that afternoon. Talking to Jimmy she said, “Can we stop off at a florist on the way to the hospital and get her a bouquet?” “Course we can babe.” While she busied herself, he called Mickey to tell him about Hudson and the fact that they were paying for the funeral. Joking with his friend, he said, “What with weddings and now funerals to fucking pay for, perhaps we should put our protection fees up just to cover the expenses!” They both laughed.

Mickey arranged to meet them at the hospital at two, as Monica’s parents were going to visit her later that evening.

Maria had asked Jimmy to go with her to see Father Thomas before they went to the hospital, begrudgingly he had agreed as it was en route. Father Thomas was very pleased to see them when they both walked into the church later that day. Maria kissed him affectionately on the cheek before Jimmy shook hands with him. When Maria told the priest that it was likely to be a double wedding, the priest smiled and replied, “Wonderful, in that case Jimmy, perhaps you and Mickey could attend a Sunday service soon?”  Jimmy smiled and replied, “I’ll pass that on Thomas, I’m sure we could try.” After talking to Thomas for almost thirty minutes, Jimmy smiled at Maria and said, “Sorry babe, we can’t stay much longer, remember we’re meeting Mickey at the hospital.” “I know, I’m ready the times flown by.  I’m so looking forward to seeing Monica.” From the church doors Father Thomas said, “I’ll pray for Monica, give her my best regards. Cheerio for now, hope to see you again soon Jimmy,” he added with a grin.

When they arrived at the hospital Mickey was waiting for them. “Alright Mickey, thought you’d be in with Monica?” “I was, but I came out to warn you that the nurse on duty is a right old battle axe, so you’ll have to tell her you’re Monica’s brother and sister, otherwise she won’t let you in to see her.” Jimmy laughed and said, “Neither of us look fuck all like her!” “That doesn’t matter, but just in case the nurse smells a rat, just say you’re her brother from your mother’s first marriage and Maria is
the child from your dad’s second marriage.” Jimmy laughed and said, “It’s true what they say about solicitors, their nothing but a bunch of devious bastards!” they all laughed.

As they approached the intensive care unit the nurse appeared from a small office. Instantly she looked at Maria and said; “Flowers are not permitted in ITC.” Politely Maria replied, “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realise.” “You can leave them here, when Monica moves to a private room she can have them.” “Thank you, how is my sister doing?” Jimmy grinned as the nurse replied, “She’s doing well.” After the nurse returned to her office Jimmy pinched Maria’s bum and said, “You’ll go straight to hell for lying.” “No I won’t, I’ll ask Father Thomas to square it with God for me.” They all laughed.

They were all surprised to see Monica sitting up in bed smiling. Maria kissed her on the cheek and said, “How are you feeling?” “Better, it’s painful when I move or cough; otherwise it’s not too bad considering I’ve been shot!” When Maria talked about the possibility of a double wedding; she noticed that her friend looked quite sad. “Are you ok Monica?” Keeping her voice down in the hope that the men wouldn’t hear her because they were talking; Monica replied, “I’m worried that Mickey only asked me because of what had happened.” “You’re wrong, he asked you because he loves you.” Mickey interrupted and taking Monica’s hand said, “You don’t have to talk about me as if I’m not here babe; you only have to ask me.” Looking lovingly at him she said, “More than anything Mickey I want to be your wife; only things are different now, I’ll never be able to give you children, so I need to be sure we’re doing it for the right reasons and not because I got shot and you feel obligated.” Their friends just sat quietly as Mickey replied, “I love you babe, when I thought I could lose you I realised I should have asked you a long time ago, as for children, that isn’t a big issue for me, but if you really want them we could adopt.” Then to everyone’s surprise he went down on one knee and still holding her hand said, “Monica will you marry me?” Tearfully she replied, “Absolutely, yes.” Maria also had tears in her eyes, she knew he was a smooth operator, but she never realised how romantic he could be. Reaching over, Maria squeezed Jimmy’s hand, holding it until he said, “Remember we’re supposed to be brother and sister and the nurse is watching us from her office.” Giggling she replied in a quiet voice, “Thank God she didn’t see us last night then!”

No one was surprised when over the next few days Monica continued to improve. Within a week of being shot, she was moved to her own room. Everything on the Jamaican front was quiet; no one had seen or heard anything. Tony had arranged Hudson’s funeral, he was to be cremated the following day; with a wake being held afterwards at one of their restaurants, probably Satins because it was closest to the crematorium. Mickey was uneasy about the Jamaicans, since a full ten days had passed and no one had seen or heard anything.  Lenny hadn’t had any luck at the hotel the first week, but he was going there again that Thursday.

The wedding was getting closer. Monica was getting stronger by the day. She had arranged to stay with Maria when the hospital released her, Mickey was pleased about it, because once her parents returned to Devon she would have no one except him to look after her and he did have his law firm to run, as well as other things. Another bonus was it meant that he would get to eat Maria’s cooking every night.

It was the evening before Hudson’s funeral, Jimmy’s phone rang, it was Lenny Porter, “Alright Jimmy, I’ve got something for you.” “Great Len, go on.” “I’ve been at the hotel waiting for the Jamaicans. I thought it was going to be like last week with no one showing up, but then out of the blue one of them turned up to collect a parcel.” “Fucking cushty Len.” “Yeah, that’s what I thought, anyway I followed him; he went to an apartment just ten minutes from the hotel. I could see the other Jamaicans inside.” “Good work Len, we’ve got the bastards!” “Hang on a minute Jimmy. Now me being a nosey bastard, I wanted to get a closer look, so I climbed onto the balcony so I could hear what they were saying.” “Fuck me Lenny, the hotel probably thinks they’ve got a peeping Tom!” “No one fucking saw me, but the traffic made it difficult for me to hear, now here’s the good bit, I did hear one them make reference to Hudson’s funeral.” “That’s interesting what did they say?” “That’s the problem Jim, I don’t know, a fucking great lorry went passed, so I’m going to stay here and keep watching, I’ll try to bug the apartment if they leave.” “Be careful Lenny, now we know where they are the balls back in our court.” “Got to go Jimmy, they’re on the move.” “Be careful Lenny, catch you later.” Immediately after the call ended he phoned Mickey to tell him the news. Mickey said, “Now we know they’re still here, I think we ought to tighten security at the clubs, especially while we’re at the funeral; even though the clubs will be closed, the Jamaicans might see it as an ideal opportunity to do something, especially if they think no one will be there.” “Yeah you could be right Mickey. I’ll phone round the boys to get cover for the ones who are going to the funeral, especially Shane and Billy as everyone knows they’ll be going.” “Ok mate, see you later.” Jimmy called Shane first and told him what Lenny had found out. Shane instantly said, “No problem we know some good boys who work for us on a casual basis, I’m confident they’ll be only too happy to hold the fort while we’re at the funeral. I’ll bell Billy and let him know what’s going on.” “Great, I’ll see you tomorrow at the funeral.

It was the day of Hudson’s funeral. Over breakfast Maria said, “Do I have to go Jimmy? I’ve never been to a cremation, Catholics are always buried. Having said that I’ve never been to a funeral either, but I’ve seen hundreds conducted over the years when I was at St Augustus.”  “I’d like you to come with me as a sign of respect babe.” “Ok, but I only met Hudson once or twice.” “I know babe, but you’ll be expected to be there.” Wanting to please him she agreed to go.

Mickey had arranged to meet them so they could drive to the funeral parlour together; from there they would follow the hearse. The cremation was to be held at two o’clock. It was a little after half nine that morning when Jimmy’s phone rang, it was Lenny. “Alright Jimmy, I’ve just been listening to the bug I planted at the Jamaicans apartment. Some of their conversation is from last night, but it’s what was said in the last ten minutes that I think you’ll want to hear.” “Ok Len, I’ll pick Mickey up and we’ll meet at your office in about half an hour.”

Less than an hour later the two friends were sitting in Lenny’s office. Mickey joked and said, “Fuck me Lenny, how do you ever find anything, this place resembles somewhere that’s been burgled! How the fuck do you ever get any clients; surely the state of the place would put most people off?” Lenny grinned and replied, “People aren’t interested in my office, they want to hire the best PI London has to offer and that’s m
e!” “Now that I’ll agree with.” There were piles of old newspapers, empty coffee cups and take away dishes everywhere. It could certainly be said if anyone needed a cleaner it was Lenny, although any cleaner who took his office on would certainly have their work cut out. Jimmy joked and said, “He’s got a point Len, the person you need to get this place ship shape is Gladys.” Lenny frowned and replied, “I’d never get any work done, she never stops fucking talking!” “She’d soon fucking sort you out, I guarantee within a week she’d have you house trained!” “Not a fucking chance, anyway I know exactly where everything is.” They all laughed. Neither of them could deny the fact that he was in a class of his own when it came to finding anything out. Placing the tape in a machine on his desk, Lenny said, “This is the recording I wanted you to hear, it’s from the Jamaicans apartment.”

They listened as the Jamaicans talked about hitting the funeral party at the restaurant, from the sound of it they intended to wait in the alley at the back of Satins restaurant until everyone was inside. Lenny stopped the recording and said, “The rest of the tape is much the same with the Jamaicans laughing and saying things like, ‘they won’t know what hit them.’”  Mickey said, “Instead of risking any of our lives why don’t we let Samuels earn his money for a change. If we place our own people in the alley it could leave us vulnerable at the clubs and judging by their arrogance on the tape someone is bound to be seriously injured or killed, not to mention the fact that a shootout in broad daylight would take some explaining, we’d have a hard time convincing the police that we knew nothing about it. An incident like that could open up a fucking big can of worms!” Jimmy piped in and said, “Those fucking Jamaicans are getting out of hand, especially as it doesn’t sound like they’re worrying about it being in broad daylight. What do they think they’re fucking invincible or something?” “I think I’ll go and see Samuels, I’ll tell him someone put the tape through the letter box at my office this morning. That way it becomes Samuels’s problem.”  They agreed it was a good idea.

Lenny wiped the outer casing of the tape with a handkerchief to remove his finger prints and then he handed Mickey the tape and said, “Your prints should be on it Mickey.” “Cheers Lenny, I’ll deliver it right now.” Taking an envelope from his inside pocket Mickey handed it to Lenny. “Keep it lads I’m still working the case, I want to find out more about these fucking Jamaicans, I’ll bill you when I’ve finished.” “Take it Len, it’s a bonus.” “Ok thanks lads, it’s appreciated.”

Jimmy dropped Mickey off to get his car, as he got out Jimmy said, “Watch Samuels he’s like a fucking bad penny that keeps turning up.” Mickey laughed and replied, “Yeah I know and Samuels is about to find out that I’m a bad penny too! I’ll be back in time for the funeral.”

Forty minutes later Mickey was walking towards the desk sergeant at the police station; he was familiar with him having seen him a few times. Smiling at Mickey he asked how he could help him. Mickey replied, “I need to see detective Samuels, it’s urgent.”  The officer phoned through to Samuels’s office and explained that Michael Mann was there to see him. “Send him through,” said Samuels.