The Scrapper (15 page)

‘I said, where’s the phone?’ The barman pointed down to the far end of the bar. Hoping that the fellow actually understood his question, Sparrow started to make his way down through the bar. As he came out of the milling crowd at the bottom he saw a wall-phone tucked under the stairs. He made his way over and inserted a coin. He dialled the number.

‘Snuggstown Detective Unit, can I help you!’
It was a female voice.

‘I need to get a message to Detective Clancy. It’s urgent.’ Sparrow was roaring over the noise of the pub.

‘He’s expecting a message. Is this it?’
the girl asked, to Sparrow’s relief.

‘Yes!’

‘Go ahead then.’

‘Eleven-fifteen, the bridge, Stephen’s Green Park!’ Sparrow called each word very deliberately.

‘You’ll have to speak up. I can’t hear you, it’s very noisy there. Can you get to a quieter phone?’
Although she was in the quiet of the police station the girl was now roaring back at Sparrow. Sparrow stuck a finger in his left ear and spoke even higher than before, if that was possible.

‘I’m lucky to have got to this phone, love. I said eleven-fifteen, St Stephen’s Green Park. At the bridge!’

Sparrow glanced around furtively, but he didn’t have to worry. Nobody was paying a blind bit of attention to him. The phone began to beep, looking for more money. Sparrow thrust his hands into his pockets, but came up without any change.

‘Shit!’ he exclaimed and slammed the phone back into its cradle. Again he beat his way through the milling crowd to the bar. The same barman came over.

‘Are you okay, pal?’ he asked.

Sparrow was just about to ask the man for change for the phone when at the other end of the bar he saw Teddy Morgan coming through the door. Teddy looked furtively around the room; he was obviously looking for Sparrow.

‘I said, are you okay, pal?’ the barman called again.

‘Yeh. Give us a pint, pal!’

The barman went to the Guinness pump to begin to pour the pint. Although Sparrow pretended not to notice, he saw when Teddy Morgan recognised him and noticed relief
in Teddy’s face. Teddy called to the barman for a drink. Within a couple of moments Sparrow’s pint was delivered. He paid for it, and in his change received the coins he needed for the phone. He sipped the pint standing at the bar, still pretending not to notice Teddy.

Sparrow checked his watch; it now read 10.50pm. He placed the pint on the counter and left. Heading for the door, he passed within ten feet of Teddy, but again he pretended not to notice him.

Sparrow turned right towards Dame Street, walking casually as if he was going nowhere special with nothing on his mind. After about a hundred yards Sparrow glanced over his shoulder. Behind him, maybe two hundred yards away, the dark Jaguar was crawling along the kerb. Sparrow was less than half a mile from Stephen’s Green. He knew he was being followed and yet also knew he must get to a phone, for without Kieran Clancy’s arrival the entire plan is fruitless. More than fruitless. It was probably going to be fatal.

‘Task Force Base to Task Force One! Over.’

Both Kieran and Michael jumped as they hear the young woman’s voice on the radio. Kieran called back.

‘Go ahead, Task Force Base.’

‘The subject has telephoned in. Over.’

‘Go ahead, give me the message!’

‘I’m afraid, Detective Clancy, the message was pretty garbled
.
Wherever he was ringing from was very noisy but I wrote down what I think he said.’

‘Sweet Jesus tonight! You’d think they’d be able to take a simple message!’ Kieran roared at no-one in particular.

Michael stretched his hand across and laid it on Kieran’s arm. ‘Hey, Kieran, keep cool. It’ll be okay.’

Kieran took a couple of deep breaths and returned to the radio. ‘Give me what you have then, Task Force Base. Over.’

‘He said, I think, eleven-fifteen at a bridge in some park?’

‘A bridge in some park?’ Kieran repeated what he’d heard to Michael as if Michael hadn’t heard it.

‘What park has a bridge in it?’ Kieran asked again, thinking aloud.

‘The Phoenix Park?’ Michael asked.

‘Maybe. That’s where he arranged the first meeting with me. Maybe it’s the Phoenix Park!’ Both detectives were stumped.

‘But where in the Phoenix Park is there a bridge?’ Kieran asked.

‘The Furry Glen,’ Michael said. ‘I’m sure of it.’

Kieran thought about this.

‘Will we close in on the park?’ Michael was ready to go into action.

‘I don’t know, I’ve a feeling if Sparrow meant the bridge in the Furry Glen he would have said the Furry Glen! I just don’t know, Michael. Let me think about it!’ Kieran went back to biting his thumb-nail.

Sparrow made a decision. Instead of going up Dame Street he went into George’s Street and took the first left down Dame Court. As he turned into Dame Street he saw the Jaguar indicate to follow. When Sparrow turned left into Dame Court he was out of sight of the car and would be for about five or ten seconds. Immediately he rounded the bend he began to sprint. Looking over his shoulder he saw the lights turn into Dame Court. Sparrow stopped to a walking pace again. He had put a little more distance between the Jaguar and himself, and felt he’d achieved something.

Halfway up Dame Court, Sparrow took a right into Corbally Avenue, an ‘S’ shaped lane which would be difficult for the Jaguar to negotiate. Once again as soon as he’d taken the turn Sparrow sprinted. The distance between him and the car had now increased so much that as he turned into South Anne Street the Jaguar was just beginning to negotiate the first bend in the avenue. Sparrow took advantage of this, sprinting up South Anne Street into Drury Street and was halfway up Drury Street before he saw the lights of the Jaguar swing into South Anne Street.

Sparrow now took a sharp left into the Westbury Mall. This area was pedestrian only, and by the time he had exited at the far end of the Mall he had lost the Jaguar. As he walked along Chatham Street he searched but found no phone kiosk. He turned into Grafton Street and headed towards Stephen’s Green. He checked his watch. It read 11.05pm.

Sparrow calculated that if he was lucky he would have one more chance to ring Clancy. He saw his chance. The
phone kiosk was on the corner of Stephen’s Green and Grafton Street just outside Pizza-Pizza. He didn’t go directly to the kiosk, but instead went to the doorway of Pizza-Pizza and checked Stephen’s Green in every direction, then Grafton Street in every direction. And he even waited until it was quiet on South King Street. Then staying close to the shopfronts, Sparrow made his way to the phone kiosk. He looked around carefully, then, satisfied he was in the clear, darted to the kiosk, took out a coin, and lifted the receiver. The receiver cable dangled in his hand, severed.

‘Bastards!’ Sparrow said aloud as he slammed down the receiver. Sparrow would not get another chance. His only hope was that the first message he gave had been understood. He headed for Stephen’s Green.

Michael stopped the car outside of the security hut at Áras An Uachtaráin. This beautiful building, formerly the home of the Viceroy of Ireland in the centre of the Phoenix Park was now the home of the President of Ireland. There was a twenty-four hour police guard on the building. When the two detectives pulled up in the car the guard on duty made his way from the security hut to their side window. Michael lowered his window.

‘Good evening, lads, can I help you?’ he asked in a heavy Dublin accent. Quickly Michael explained that they were looking for a bridge in a park and that they had taken the Phoenix Park as their best bet. But the guard shook his head.

‘Well, I’ll tell you where the bridges are here, but if you ask my opinion you’re on the wrong track altogether.’

Kieran leaned across Michael. ‘Why? Where do you think we should be looking?’

The guard took off his hat and looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘Well now, if I was looking for somewhere quiet, in a park that had a bridge, I’d probably be thinking more like Stephen’s Green,’ he said. He didn’t even have time to replace his cap before Kieran had screamed, ‘Go!’

The car did a reverse handbrake turn. At full speed Michael and Kieran belted towards St Stephen’s Green, four miles away.

Sparrow carefully scaled the spiked railings of St Stephen’s Green Park. It had begun to snow again and the fresh blanket meant that his feet simply crunched softly as they landed. Stealthily he made his way through the bushes, crawling in places through undergrowth to a spot where he could be concealed and yet watch the bridge over the small stream that runs through the park. Sparrow crouched low and waited for some sign of life. Within minutes Sparrow heard a rustling sound in the bushes behind him. He sank lower into his hiding place. The rustling got louder as whatever it was came towards him. With the orange street lights for a backdrop, Sparrow saw a dark, shadowy figure getting closer, and closer. As the figure passed by Sparrow’s hiding spot, Sparrow pounced. He placed his hand over the
mouth and pulled the figure to the ground. Instinctively he drew his left arm up in the air to punch into the face. He pulled his punch just in time. It was Froggy.

‘Froggy, for Christ’s sake, what the fuck are you doin’ here?’ Sparrow eased his hand off Froggy’s mouth.

Froggy looked terrified. ‘I follow you. Help you. Are the bad mans comin’?’

‘You shouldn’t be here!’ Sparrow was annoyed at this new complication.

‘I help you, Spawoo. We box them?’

‘No, we won’t!’ The thought that went through Sparrow’s mind was that of all the friends he had it had to be the retarded man who was with him in his deepest moment of fear. Sparrow sagged.

Froggy sat up. ‘Spawoo angry with Froggy?’

‘Yes! Sparrow is angry with Froggy,’ Sparrow said, trying not to sound too angry.

‘Spawoo not Froggy’s friend now?’

Sparrow put his arm around Froggy. ‘Yes! Yes, Sparrow still Froggy’s friend.’

Suddenly in the distance Sparrow heard the click of a steel heel-cap. He pushed Froggy to the ground, and crouched down low. Slowly Sparrow raised his head until he could just about make out the bridge. Three figures strolled casually down the path towards the small bridge. Froggy put his head up, but Sparrow pushed him roughly back down and put a finger to his lips. ‘Shush,’ he warned.

Froggy repeated the motion and the sound.

In the dim light that was bleeding in from the street lights outside the park it was hard to tell Teddy Morgan and Bubbles Morgan apart, as both were wearing dark overcoats.
But there was no doubt that the stocky man in the tan camel-hair coat with the brown velvet collar was Simon Williams. Sparrow supposed he should be delighted. It had worked, Simon was here. But instead he was terrified. There was no sound of police cars screeching up. No other noises in the bushes of Serious Task Force men stealthily making their way towards the bridge. There was no sound but the click of Simon’s heel as he made his way to the bridge. The entire plan had gone badly wrong. The Morgan brothers were supposed to be incarcerated in a cell somewhere. They weren’t. Kieran Clancy and his Serious Crime Squad were supposed to be here. They weren’t. Froggy was not supposed to be here. He was. The whole thing was a mess.

‘Task Forces Two and Three, I repeat, St Stephen’s Green, entrance at the Shelbourne Hotel end. Wait for me there. Over,’ Kieran barked into the radio.

‘I could make better speed if you’d let me use my siren and light,’ Michael called to Kieran.

‘No! No sirens, no lights, I don’t want to scare them off!’ Kieran checked his watch. It was 11.13pm. He repeated that same thought into the radio microphone. ‘Task Forces Two and Three – no lights, no sirens. Over.’ Both cars acknowledged receipt of Kieran’s message.

‘Step on it!’ Kieran said to Michael.

‘I have me foot to the floor, what d’you want me to do – take out a hacksaw and cut a hole in the floor?’ Michael
called back sarcastically to relieve the tension. In other circumstances Kieran would have laughed. Not this time. Instead he took out his pistol, checked that the cartridge was full, shoved it back up into the handle, and cocked his gun.

Slowly and quietly Sparrow slid out of his jacket. He handed it to Froggy.

‘Froggy, do you want to help Sparrow?’ he asked earnestly. Froggy simply nodded in reply.

‘Okay, see this jacket, Froggy? This is an important jacket. Froggy, stay here and mind this jacket. Okay?’ Again Froggy nodded. The jacket wasn’t at all important, of course, what was important was that Froggy stayed exactly where he was. Sparrow had enough to worry about with his own life, he didn’t need to worry about Froggy’s as well.

‘Stay here and mind jacket, okay?’ Froggy repeated in a whisper. Sparrow curled his hand around the back of Froggy’s neck and pulled Froggy’s head toward his own. When they touched foreheads Sparrow patted Froggy on the side of the face. ‘Good man!’

Sparrow began to crawl through the bushes for a couple of yards. When he felt he was clear of Froggy’s spot and that where he had come from couldn’t be detected, he made for a pathway. He then stood, brushed himself down and casually strolled over to meet the three men. On his way he glanced around. There was no sign of Detective Clancy or anybody else.

Right on the brow of the bridge the four men met face-to-face.

Teddy was the first to speak. ‘Well, well. The little Sparrow is out of his nest!’

Sparrow ignored Teddy and looked directly at Simon Williams. ‘Hello, Mr Williams.’ He spoke casually, as if meeting Simon in a supermarket.

‘Hello, Sparrow. You look a bit rough.’ Williams looked very confident.

Sparrow examined himself. ‘Yeh, well, I’ve been having it kind of rough for the last few days, if yeh know what I mean. Still, it’s over now, isn’t it?’ As he spoke, Sparrow’s eyes never left Simon’s eyes. Sparrow could see the anger there.