The Jump (68 page)

Tidying up his shirt, Eric put on a tie and slipped on a suit jacket. Without the balaclava and overalls, both men looked like normal businessmen on their way home from work. Jonnie H., shrugging on a tweed jacket and a red tie, looked at the huge black man crouched in the footrest and shook his head sagely.

‘This is going to cause untold hag, Eric - you do realise that, don’t you?’

Eric laughed. ‘What a fucking turn-out! Who are you, mate - and where the fuck is Georgio Brunos?’

Ricky, smiling widely at his piece of good luck, said: ‘Let’s get on our way and then I’ll tell you what happened.’

Donna and Carol were still chuckling when they pulled away from the garages in the Astra van.

‘Did you see them two run? I’d have thought my Davey would have had more sense than to fall for that one. There’s always Old Bill round there. It’s a shithole of a place.’

Donna smirked. ‘I loved seeing that Paddy shitting himself though. I hate him now. To think I was going to give him a percentage of the building for all his help! God, I must have been so naive, so stupid!’ Her voice trailed off.

Carol, placing a hand over hers on the steering wheel, said lightly: ‘We’re all stupid where blokes are concerned. It just takes us a while to suss that out.’

Then she laughed.

‘What are we going to do with all that dosh, eh? What I couldn’t do with a few grand of that now I ain’t got Davey hanging round my neck!’

Donna looked at Carol seriously and said, ‘Are you really finished with him, Carol? Really, truly finished with him?’

Carol nodded. ‘Oh, yes. I put up with a lot from him over the years. Well, you already know that. But those books … they killed anything I felt for him. I could never look at him again without seeing those kids.’

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think that they were there, being abused and used, and I was living off the proceeds.’

Carol bit on her lip. ‘We all were, darlin’,’ she said. ‘Not just you. I should have guessed something like that was going on, but you don’t, do you? You trust people, and you trust them completely. I knew my Davey ducked and dived, I just didn’t think he ducked and dived like that. Makes you wonder what else the fuckers were up to.’

Donna turned off the A13 towards her house.

‘I should have known, too. Look at Talkto. Stephen was in over his head there.’

‘Is he really dead, Donna?’

She nodded vigorously.

‘Oh yes, he’s dead all right, or should be by now - and do you know something, Carol? I don’t really care. I know that sounds terrible but it’s the truth. He didn’t deserve to live, none of them do really. Georgio included. Once he’s back in nick, me and Alan Cox will be hounded. I might use my half of that money to go somewhere. What will you do with yours?’

Carol’s face was a picture of shock and astonishment.

‘Are you serious?’

‘Of course I am. That wasn’t Georgio’s to take anyway. And let’s face it, we can’t give it back, can we? So you might as well have half and I’ll use mine to get away from here. From everything.’

‘How much is there?’

‘Nearly three-quarters of a million pounds.’

‘Jesus wept! Are you sure about this?’

Donna smiled grimly. ‘Sure as I’ve ever been. Take it, start up another business, Carol. The notes are untraceable - that’s why Georgio wanted it. You can spend it where the hell you like, love.’

Carol grinned, showing off her white teeth. ‘You’re getting to be a

right villain!’ Donna shrugged. ‘Well, I had a good teacher, didn’t I?’

Bunty was sitting in her lounge reading a magazine when she heard the sound of a car on her drive.

She carried on reading, waiting for the inevitable knock. Bunty never opened a door before it was knocked on at least twice - it was part of her so-called image. People felt as if she was too busy to see them when she did that. It made her trivial little life worth leading to give the impression of busy-ness and authority, as if the world would stop turning without her.

When the knock didn’t come, she put down her magazine and went

over to the window. Her scream brought Harry from the kitchen, sandwich still in hand and linen napkin still tucked under his ample chin.

‘What the hell’s the matter, woman? Mrs Jenkins nearly sliced off her bleeding hand!’

‘Look, Harry! Look what they’re doing!’

He went to the window and what he saw gave him such a shock that he dropped his sandwich on to the damask covering of the chair beside him.

Then they were both rushing to the front door, fighting one another to get there first.

Flinging it open, Bunty shouted, ‘What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?’

Donna gave her a big smile. “I’m making a delivery, Bunty. Sorry it’s not a Porsche. But this lot is where it should have been from day one!’

Piled on the drive were the books and magazines from the lockup garage. Tipped out of their cardboard boxes, they were strewn everywhere, the wind picking up the magazines and distributing them haphazardly around the garden.

‘By the way, I’m burning the floppy discs, Harry. I think that’s the best thing, don’t you? Oh, and before I go, you two had better get cleared up here. I’ve phoned the Standard, Recorder and Sun. They’ll be here in no time. Child porn is big news, isn’t it? Especially for the tabloids. And think what the local papers will make of it, you a magistrate and all!’

Carol and Donna got into the Astra van and watched Bunty as she began laying into Harry with her tongue.

Carol grinned. ‘Be the first time Bunty ever did manual work in her life, eh?’

Donna watched the two of them in the van’s mirror as she drove away.

‘I enjoyed that,’ she said. ‘Now let’s get home and see what else the day brings us, shall we?’

Eric and Jonnie H. were with Alan Cox and Anthony Calder at Eric’s safe house in Ilford. The four men were listening in silence to the huge black man sitting before them.

‘Listen, before I speak, I have to have some kind of assurance that what I tell you won’t come back on me?’

Anthony Calder said levelly, ‘Just tell us the truth. We can get the buzz from inside so don’t worry about lying to us, all right?’

He poured Ricky out another large white nun and the four men sat back to listen.

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‘Georgio came to me to set up the nonces, right? i went akmg with him on the proviso that I could take out Donald Lewis at the same time. I wanted the big spot, I was sick of Lewis and his henchmen. I was doing a big one and didn’t want to do it with’Lewis hanging round my neck, you understand that?’

The men nodded.

‘Well, this morning it all went off at ten a.m. We done two paedophiles, Hall and Denning. They were the two who turned Queen’s evidence in that big trial a few months ago. You know, killing all the kids and that? So anyway, Georgio found out who they were and that was what he asked me to get him a weapon for. I asked why he wanted the weapon and he told me. That’s when we cooked up the scam between us. I knew he was having hassle off of Lewis over money, the whole Wing knew that, so it seemed logical for the two of us to team up. We did. Well, four men died this morning.’

There ain’t been a dicky bird on the News yet, but there wouldn’t be, would there? They’ll keep a lid on it until they can announce that they’ve sorted it all out. There’s been nothing about the jump either. If there was I’d have had a call by now.’

Ricky nodded at Alan and continued. ‘It was pandemonium, man. The Whig went crazy. Like, one guy was decapitated. There’s this nutter, a schiz called Eros. He’s had to have this guy’s head forcibly removed from his arms. It was fucking weird man, really weird. Like it wasn’t really happening. It was like we all got caught up in the violence, you know? You had to be there to see it.

‘Georgio took out Lewis and I took out Lewis’s minder, and then it all seemed to die down. The screws were in, we had made our point: No nonces in with the lifers. And then it was all quiet again. We were in a state of shock really at what we had done. I mean, you never seen blood like it. We were like animals, man. Like we all caught everyone else’s excitement.’

He looked at the men as he spoke and Eric nodded in agreement. ‘I know what you mean, I’ve seen it happen before in wartime.’

‘Anyway, when we were all cornered by the screws in the rec room, in comes the Governor, Hanningfield. A prize prick if ever there was one. He was surrounded by his armed men and thought he was fucking something else, you know? Looking down his nose at us. We could see that the dead men had frightened him, shocked him, but he acted like he was the big king pin.

‘Well, Georgio shit him up, man, Georgio shit up the Governor! You should have seen Hanningfield’s face when the bucket of slops hit him. It was a picture, it was pure genius. I realise now this was to get on the laydown and meet with you lot. And that’s what would

have happened, except it all went wrong for him.’

Alan sipped at his brandy and demanded, ‘How? What went wrong?’

‘There’s a TV called Sadie. Georgio was friendly with her - nothing funny, I think Sadie had stayed in her cell throughout the riot. No one even realised that she wasn’t there, to be honest. It all happened so fast, you know? Anyway, as I was saying, as we were all being led out, they were locking us up in our cells -1 expect they were sorting out who were the ringleaders and whether to remove them - when Sadie shouts out: ‘Georgio was in with Hall and Denning! He’s part of their business!’

‘No one took any notice. If Georgio had had any sense he would have ignored it. Instead he went crazy, man! And Sadie, this little queer Sadie, she fucking stabbed him, man, right through the heart! She went fucking loopy. I ran to help Georgio but they thought I was going to start the riot again and the armed screws nabbed me. I was off on a GOAD, and well, you know the rest. I think Sadie was put under sedation, she was off her head. There’s no way they could have moved her with me.’

The four men were silent then Alan said, ‘Is he dead?’

Ricky shrugged enormous shoulders. ‘Your guess is as good as mine. They put the others in the cells at gunpoint, and then I was removed and blamed for being the leader, I suppose because Brunos was out of the way.’

He nodded at Eric and said, ‘Thanks for taking me, man. I appreciate it.’

Eric shook his head in wonderment.

‘You’re welcome. We’d come for a jump and you were there. Call it fate! Now, who wants another drink while we sort out what the fuck happened here, and more importantly, who’s going to pay all our bills?’

Donna and Carol arrived home to find Mario waiting with Dolly in the kitchen.

‘Hello, Mario, what brings you here?’

He took in their duty hands and clothes and Carol’s flushed face and said, ‘Stephen died on holiday, Donna. He drowned. My mum sent me over to give you the news.’

Donna stared at Mario for a few seconds before saying, ‘Make a pot of tea for Mario, Dolly. Me and Carol are going up to shower and change, OK? We won’t be long.’

Upstairs Donna listened to Carol on the phone to her elder daughter, asking her to look after Jamie until she got home. Then

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they looked at one another and shook their heads.

‘Let’s get showered and listen to the News on the radio, Carol. I

need to know what the hell is going on with Georgio before I can

make my next move. I’ve been frightened to listen to the news today.

Once I find out the score, I can make my decision.’ Carol began to take off her clothes.

‘What about Alan Cox?’ she suggested. ‘Why don’t you ring him?’ Donna grimaced. ‘Alan Cox is the last person I want to talk to at

the moment.’ Already feeling better at the thought of a hot shower, Carol said

saucily, ‘I wouldn’t want to talk to that one either love. I’d be too

busy doing other things with him!’

Donna laughed gently. ‘That’s the trouble, Carol, I already have.’ She walked into the bathroom naked and Carol slumped down on

the bed and said incredulously: ‘Well, well, well. You are a dark

horse, ain’t you?’ Donna looked over her shoulder and said in a low voice, ‘There’s

lots of things you don’t know about me, Carol. There’s an awful lot I

don’t know about myself.’ She hesitated for a moment and then said,

‘Yet.’

Epilogue

Donna watched as the bodies of Stephen and Georgio were lowered into the ground. She knew she should be crying, but she was dry-eyed! She could see Maeve being held up by Pa Brunos, the rest of her children around her, waiting for her lead as to what to do next.

It was funny, Donna reflected, how she seemed to have no feelings any more. Her husband, the big love of her life, was being buried and she felt nothing at all.

She saw Big Paddy trying to catch her eye and she looked away from him, swallowing down a half-smile. He didn’t frighten her any more, none of them did. She wondered why.

Davey was trying to attract Carol’s attention. Out of the corner of her mouth, she hissed to Donna: ‘If that ponce don’t leave me alone I’ll knock him into the grave along with your Georgio.’

Donna felt hysterical laughter well up in her throat; she swallowed it down. Then her attention was drawn towards Milton Hardcastle, the liar of the building sites. He was crying like a baby over Georgio and she wondered at how her husband could have been so loved, yet been so bad. Was he really that good an actor, or was he just caught up in the love of money?

She instinctively turned her face away from the TV cameras. This was still a big news story. The man murdered by the transvestite, instigator of one of the most violent riots in prison history, was being buried alongside his brother who had died on holiday. She had nearly laughed out loud on seeing Stephen described as a ‘young up-and coming businessman’ in the tabloids. They were making the two brothers out to be like Cain and Abel. One too good to be true and the other rotten to the core. They even had Maeve believing it. She had sold her story to the News of the World, giving them photos of the two men as children, describing their childhood.

Donna shrugged inside her black coat. Good luck to Maeve; let her make some money from them. It seemed fitting somehow.

The priest was still talking, making the most of his television fame. The Chase cemetery had never been so popular. People had come

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from all over the East End, hoping for a glimpse of the dead men’s family and friends.

The worst of it all was, Donna was now a very rich woman; yet she didn’t really want the money. Even the payouts from the insurance seemed dirty to her.

Maeve had refused to allow her to pay for Georgio’s funeral, insisting that it would be paid for by her and Pa. They would bury their two sons together.

Donna heard the priest’s ‘Amen’ and sighed inwardly.

Carol stood beside her, together with Dolly, and the three women moved away from the graveside towards the black limousine as if of one mind.

Alan watched Donna from the other side of the graveyard and his heart went out to her. He walked to his car and climbed in beside Nick and Albie.

‘Well, the dirty deed is done.’

Nick nodded and watched the mourners as they made their way back to the black limousines.

‘Georgio lost out every way in the end, eh?’ Alan said heavily.

Nick said softly: ‘Poetic justice, really. You can drop me off in Soho, Alan I have a few people to see before I make my way home.’

Alan started the car and drove away before the three-ring circus started. Already the camera crews were talcing shots of everyone, hoping against hope to see a few well-known villains to add colour to their stories.

As Donna walked to the funeral car, Detective Inspector Frank Laughton placed a gentle hand on her arm.

‘I’m sorry, Mrs Brunos. I never meant you any harm, you know that.’

Donna faced him and said: ‘I know that, Mr Laughton. You were just doing your job. Now it’s all,over, for everyone.’

Laughton was nonplussed at her words and Donna grinned up at him as she added, ‘I really thought you had fitted him up, I really believed’that.’

, Looking down into her face, he said honestly, ‘I did - but you see, Mrs Brunos, I had the edge. Because I knew what your husband was,. I just wanted him off the streets, that’s all.’

Donna nodded sagely, then squeezed the bigger man’s arm.

‘You were a wise man, Mr Laughton,’ she murmured, ‘and I didn’t see that for a long time.’

Detective Inspector Frank Laughton watched in silence as she moved away from him. He knew in his heart there was a story to be told; he also knew that it was one story he wouldn’t even begin to

understand. Because Donna Brunos had been far too good for her husband - and he had a feeling that even she was aware of that fact now.

Maeve and Pa Brunos were waiting for her on the small pathway between rows of graves.

‘There’s a lot of me here now, Donna. I’ll not be buried in the Old Country after this.’

Donna hugged Maeve to her, both women feeling the enormity of what had happened. ‘You knew what Georgio was, didn’t you?’

‘I knew, I always knew, but he was my son.’ Maeve stared back to the open graves and whispered brokenly, ‘They were my sons, and in me own way” I loved them.’

Donna nodded, and Unking arms the two women made their way back to the funeral cars.

Pa Brunos’s sad voice broke through the air. ‘What a day, eh? Two sons buried. Two sons.’

He shook his head, tears rolling down his face and for the first time that day Donna wanted to really cry. Not for Georgio, or for Stephen, but for the two people who had created them. Turning, Donna looked into Pa’s face.

‘My Georgio, he loved you, Donna. Don’t you ever forget that.’ She felt the tears on her tongue, tasted the saltiness of them. They reminded her of the tears she had shed when Georgio had first been taken from her, when she had cried out for him.

Pa wiped his eyes with a crumpled handkerchief. ‘I’ll see you back at the house then, eh?’

Donna nodded, watching as he led Maeve away, towards their funeral car.

Carol’s voice broke into her thoughts. ‘Do you want us to come back with you?’

‘If you don’t mind. I don’t think I could stand it there alone.’ Carol hugged her. ‘That’s what friends are for, ain’t it, Doll?’ Dolly pursed her lips and blew out the air with an unladylike snort. ‘Have you seen who’s over there?’ she said viciously.

Donna nodded wearily. ‘Leave it, Dolly love,’ she said. ‘Please, just leave it.’

‘Look at her standing there, bold as brass, all tits, teeth and fucking tan!’

Carol’s voice was envious and Donna giggled despite herself. ‘Funny how it doesn’t hurt any more. All I feel is relieved it’s all over.’

As they climbed into the limousine, Donna glanced once more at Vida, standing alone with the child beside her. Her long, streaked

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make-up. She looked down, unable to meet Donna’s drove past, Donna searched the child’s face for any sign of his father there. He was Georgio’s child all right; he even had the long thick eyelashes more suited to a girl than a boy.

Then closing her mind on the scene, Donna pushed the woman and the child from her mind.

It was time to move on.

For all of them.

Maeve sat on her bed. She could hear the sounds of the family coming through the thin walls. She looked down at the photographs in her hands and felt the sting of tears again. Georgio looking at the camera with his huge dark eyes, Stephen making his First Holy Communion, looking serious and proud all at the same time. His face, like Georgio’s, full of childish innocence.

Then she thought of the child at the cemetery, Georgio’s child, her flesh and blood … and she knew exactly what she had to do. The child was the living image of him.

She stood up unsteadily and went back to the wake.

A lot of the relatives from Ireland had flown over, but the family from Rhodes had not bothered. Only Pa’s younger sister Patrina had come, and she had travelled down from Manchester where she lived with her eldest daughter, having been widowed two years previously.

Patrina took her arm and squeezed it.

‘What a day. Who would have thought any of us would be burying our children? It’s the wrong order. They should be burying us.’

Maeve pulled away from her and walked over to where Donna sat sipping whisky and nibbling a ham sandwich.

‘Hello, darlinV

Donna looked into the strained, tired face of her mother-in-law. ‘Hello, Maeve,’ she said tenderly.

Opening her arms wide, Maeve pulled Donna into them and the two women cried together publicly. The rest of the family stood back watching’, pleased at this turn of events. It reinforced in all their minds that Georgio couldn’t have been all bad to have held the love of these two women.

Maeve was crying for what could have been, and Donna was crying for all the children in Sri Lanka and the rest of the world who had been harmed by the two men buried earlier in the day.

Maeve whispered into Donna’s ear, “I’ll see to the child, Donna. You’re a good woman to have told me everything.’

Donna smiled through her tears. She sincerely hoped that

Georgio’s son gave Maeve more happiness than his father ever had.

Donna was saved from answering by Uncle Jimmy beginning to sing ‘Kevin Barry’. From long experience Donna knew that once the Irish rebel songs began, the wake was about to turn into a party. Tears and laughter would be the order of the day, then the reminiscences.

Maeve turned from her and began to sing with him:

In Mountjoy jail, one Monday morning High above the gallows tree Kevin Barry gave his young life For the cause of liberty.

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Donna knew she had to sit the wake out, and she would do that. But only for Maeve and Pa and the family.

Not for Georgio or Stephen Brunos.

She was a free woman now and a wealthy one, who owned a building business, a car lot, and Talkto Enterprises, as well as two plots of barren land abroad, all of which she was selling to the highest bidder.

She was free, free and clear, with stolen money in her possession, as well as a house worth in excess of a million pounds. She was as free as a bird now.

Yet she still wasn’t happy.

There were too many loose ends to tie up.

Alan Cox arrived at Donna’s house at eleven-thirty in the morning the day after the funeral. Dolly opened the door to him.

‘What do you want?’ she snapped.

Alan smiled. A charming smile. “I’d like to see Donna, please.’

Dolly bridled. ‘Well, you can’t. She’s prostrate with grief and she can’t see anyone.’

Alan laughed. ‘I’m sure she is.’

tie pushed past Dolly and walked into the house, calling Donna’s name.

Dolly shut the door and said, ‘She ain’t here.’

Alan looked at her. ‘Well, her car’s in the drive,’ he said loudly. ‘Don’t tell me she’s walked off somewhere. This house is in the back of beyond. Now where is she please, love? I have to see her, Dolly.’

Dolly shook her head in resignation. ‘She’s gardening. Sit in the kitchen and I’ll fetch her.’

Alan followed her through and said, “I’ll find her, while you get the kettle on, all right?’

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He was past her and out into the garden before Dolly could answer.

He followed the pathway towards the tennis court. Turning a corner, he came across Donna dressed in tight jeans, a thick cable jumper and Wellingtons, looking far too elegant to be burning rubbish in a small brazier.

He walked up to her and said, ‘My mum used to do the gardening. Said it relaxed her.’

Donna looked over her shoulder at him. ‘What brings you here, Alan?’ she answered.

He watched as she threw a small bundle on to the fire. ‘I’ve come to see how you are and to tell you something.’

Donna threw more rubbish on the fire and laughed gently, ‘What have you come to tell me, Alan? Say it and go away.’

He bit on his cigar then he said, ‘I’ve come, Donna, to see if you need any more help.’

‘No, actually, I don’t. So you had a wasted journey.’

He bit once more on the unlit cigar and burst out: ‘You’re not making this easy for me, you know, Donna. I’m trying to tell you that—’ He looked at Donna’s gloved hands and said incredulously, ‘What the fuck are you burning there?’

He walked towards her and when he saw what was on the fire he nearly choked on the cigar in his mouth.

‘Where the fuck did you get that money from!’

Donna laughed gaily. ‘It was Lewis’s money, from the robbery. I gave half to Carol Jackson, and as you can see, I’m burning my half.’

Alan pulled her round to face him. ‘Are you mad, woman? There’s a fortune there!’ Donna nodded. ‘I’m not mad, Alan. In fact, I have never felt better in my life. And I’m enjoying this, really enjoying it.’ She took a fifty-pound note from a bundle and lit it in the fire.

‘Here, light your cigar.’

Alan looked at the burning money for a second, watching the Queen’s face crumple and burn, and then he bent his head and lit his cigar, puffing on the huge brown Havana between laughing and coughing.

Finally he held the lit cigar in his hand and grinned at her. ‘You’re a wealth of surprises, do you know that?’

Donna looked up into his face and, feeling the pull of him, her need of him, she said, ‘You had to come to me, Alan. You realise that, don’t you? You will always have to come to me. My days of running after anyone are long gone. Georgio knocked all that out of me. Now what you see is what you get, and what we had in Sri Lanka was the best I have ever had in my life. But we had things to do, both

of us, before we could be together.

‘Now the only thing I ask is that you always come to me, that’s all I want from you. That you will always do the running.’

Pulling her into his arms, Alan said gently, “I’ll always follow you, Donna, wherever you want to go. I have never in my life loved before, not really, not until the day you walked into my office. You’re in my mind all the time, and you’re in my heart. I will follow you, Donna, every day of my life, because I know now I can’t live without you.’

When she still didn’t answer, he whispered, ‘You do love me a little bit, don’t you?’

Donna smiled at the hesitation in his voice and then, grinning, she pulled him to her, hugging him tightly.

‘That, Alan Cox, is about the only thing I am really sure of.’

Then she kissed him.