Betrayed (30 page)

‘You’re a silly bastard,’ Eddie said. ‘Never mind. We’ll get you sorted tonight. Some Eastern European bird to sit on your face.’

‘Sounds good to me.’ Jimmy tried his best to look relaxed, but his insides were going like an engine. He thought he detected a look of distrust on Eddie’s face but told himself it was his imagination. He had to hold his nerve.

‘Right.’ Eddie picked up a menu. ‘We’ll get some grub here before we go to meet Flinty.’

‘Is he here?’ Mitch asked.

‘He’s on his way. We’re meeting him in some wee boozer across the river. Then back here to head for the match.’

Jimmy wanted to ask if they were doing the pickup with Flinty, but he didn’t like the look Eddie had given him earlier. Christ! I’m feeling guilty and I haven’t even been doing anything, he thought. He was relieved when Mitch spoke up.

‘So what we going to do with the stuff when we’re going to the match?’ he asked. ‘We can’t leave it in the hotel room.’

Eddie looked at him and shook his head wearily.

‘Fuck me! Good thinking, Batman! I was going to just leave it behind the reception desk.’ Eddie’s mouth curled sarcastically, then his face hardened. ‘Just fucking watch and learn, Mitch. That’s what you’re here for.’ He looked at Jimmy. ‘The two of you. Just look and fucking learn. And do what you’re told.’

Mitch’s face flushed and he looked a little sheepish. They sat in silence for a moment, then Jimmy spotted his father crossing the road towards them and he stood up, glad of the distraction.

‘There’s my da,’ he said. ‘I’m going to see him for five minutes. If you’re ordering, get me a burger and chips. No salad.’

‘What’s happened to you?’ Jimmy’s father stopped in his tracks when he saw his face.

Jimmy managed a smile. ‘Wee disagreement with a man from Liverpool.’

‘What? When did that happen?’ His father walked towards the hotel entrance with Jimmy at his side.

‘Couple of hours ago. Wee bird I met. I went up to see her and her boyfriend came in.’

As they got into the foyer his father motioned them towards a couple of empty sofas.

‘I’m sweating like a horse, son. Can you get me some water or something?’

‘Course.’ Jimmy waved a waiter over as they sat down. ‘You all right, Da? You shouldn’t be out walking in this heat.’

‘I know. I kind of lost track of how far I’d gone, then I had to find my way back.’ He wiped sweat from his brow. ‘That old town’s lovely up there.’ He gave Jimmy a long look.

‘Aye. The whole city’s great.’ Jimmy glanced at him, then away.

The waiter arrived with the water and his father took a long thirsty drink.

‘So,’ he said slowly. ‘What happened then? Tell me more?’ His tone was gentle but emphatic.

Jimmy shook his head dismissively. ‘It’s nothing, Da. Just a wee punch up. I didn’t know she had a boyfriend and she asked me up to her flat, then he came in.’

His father looked at him in silence as he drank some more water. Then ran a hand over his mouth, slammed the glass on the table and looked Jimmy in the eye.

‘That’s bullshit, Jimmy, and you know it. I can smell it from here.’

‘What?’ Jimmy said, startled.

‘I’m your da.’ He leaned forward, lowering his voice. ‘I can tell when you’re lying. You were always shite at it. That’s why I’ve always hoped you’ll never have to lie your way out of trouble.’

Jimmy snorted a half smile, remembering some of the
tales he’d told his father when he knew he was in for a hiding after things he’d got up to as a youngster.

‘I’m not lying. That’s what happened.’ Jimmy looked at him seriously.

His father said nothing, just nodded his head.

‘Anyway, I’ve got some food coming over there, so I’ll need to get back in a minute. I’m going somewhere with Eddie and Mitch in the afternoon.’

‘I know where you’ll be going,’ his father said, pokerfaced.

‘Da.’ Jimmy gave his father a pleading look. ‘Give me a break.’

Silence. Then his father folded his arms.

‘I saw you, Jimmy.’

‘What?’

‘This afternoon. I saw you.’

‘Where?’

‘Up the town. Up that old town area. I was out for a walk and I was in one of them wee touristy shops and I saw you go into a flat. Just the back of your head, mind you, but I saw you.’

Jimmy said nothing.

‘And I saw you when you came out. You didn’t have a sore face then. So don’t bullshit me, son.’ He looked at him sternly. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Da!’ Jimmy said, exasperated. ‘Give me a break.’

‘Tell me. There’s trouble, is there not? I can see it all over
your face. Who gave you the black eye? It wasn’t to do with some bird. I saw you when you came out of that flat and you’d no black eye, and then I watched you go into a bar. I was going to come over, then I saw a lassie go in and a big guy behind her. So I just stayed away. Then I watched you leave a few minutes later, Jimmy. And that’s when I saw you with the black eye. It happened in there.’ He reached over and grabbed Jimmy’s wrist tight. ‘So don’t fuck around with me. There’s trouble. Tell me.’

Jimmy sat in stunned silence. He could feel sweat on his back, even in the air conditioning. He had to stay calm because in five minutes he was going to have to go back to the table and act normal with Eddie and Mitch. He was going fucking nuts here and he’d nobody to turn to. Eventually he looked across at his father’s blazing eyes and he knew he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

‘It’s Wendy, Da,’ Jimmy whispered. ‘She’s here.’

‘Oh fuck,’ his father said. ‘Here? In Seville? Have you seen her?’

‘Yep.’

Silence.

‘That’s amazing. So why the sore face? If that was her in that flat you went into, she certainly didn’t give you a sore face.’

‘I don’t know. That’s the truth. I don’t know who gave me the black eye. Some big fucking minder guy. From Eastern Europe or somewhere.’

‘But why? What’s going on? Whose minder?’

Jimmy shook his head.

‘Da. Listen. Please just stay out of it. I’m out of it now. I’ve dealt with it. Me and Wendy are finished. That’s it. I’ve got work to do here.’ He shook his head.

‘Who was the minder with? That lassie that came in to the bar behind you? Who was she, Jimmy? What you mixed up in? I’m telling you this, son, if you’re mixed up in something, I want to know about it. You’re in trouble. So tell me.’

Jimmy took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

‘Da, listen,’ he whispered. ‘This is fucking serious. Wendy has been to a reporter about Eddie. And Liz, her pal from the bar. She’s here too, and they’ve both talked. The paper’s trying to expose Eddie with the coke. They’ve been working on a story, and the reporter bird has talked Wendy into it.’

‘So they’re going to get him done while he’s here?’

‘They’re going to try.’

‘That means you too. Fuck me!’

‘It doesn’t mean anything, because they don’t know anything. They don’t know when this or that’s happening. So they can’t set Eddie up. They wanted me to be a part of it. To help them. To grass.’

‘Fuck’s sake. Have you told Eddie?’

‘Are you kidding?’

‘Good. Tell that fucker nothing. Because if he gets wind of it, the first thing he’ll do is get you and Mitch to drive that
shit home that you’re picking up today. That’s McGregor’s style. He’ll come home on the bus and he’ll be whiter than white and you’ll get stopped somewhere between here and Glasgow, and it’s you who’ll get the jail.’

‘But nobody knows anything. Not Wendy or Liz, or that reporter bird. They know nothing, Da. So I’ll just keep my head down and get this over with.’ Jimmy tried to force a smile but didn’t quite manage it.

‘Who does the reporter work for?’

‘The
Post
. I think she said her name was Rosie Gilmour. Cheeky bastard. But ballsy enough to take me on. She said she had stuff on me.’

‘Like what?’

‘You know these reporters. They’ll say anything to get people to talk, to get them to admit something.’

‘So what did she say?’

Silence. Jimmy swallowed.

‘She must have said something, Jimmy, because whatever it was, you came out of there with a sore face.’

Silence.

‘Da. She said the cops in Glasgow have got a bank card belonging to some dead guy and my fingerprints are all over it. Mine and Eddie’s.’

‘What guy?’

‘It was a job. A hit. I was with Eddie and Mitch. We had to do over two wee pricks for someone in the town. It was ordered from Belfast.’

‘Did you kill them?’

‘Eddie shot them.’

His father thought for a moment, then his eyes narrowed.

‘Them guys fished out of the quarry? That was you?’

Jimmy nodded. ‘It was an order.’

‘How in the name of fuck have the cops got the bank card with your fingerprints on it?’

‘I don’t know. I gave it to Eddie when I took it out of the guy’s pocket. I don’t know what he did with it.’

His father shook his head.

‘Fucking hell. You’re in big bother, son. Big fucking bother.’

‘I’ll deal with that when the time comes.’

‘The cops will be waiting for you when you get back. You’d better watch for big Eddie dropping you in the shite.’

Jimmy knew he had to go. This conversation was making him even more nervous.

‘Come on. We’ve got a big match tonight, Da.’ Jimmy stood up. ‘Listen. I need to get back. We’re seeing Flinty in a couple of hours.’

‘And watch that slippy-titted bastard, Jimmy. Don’t turn your back on him.’

‘I won’t,’ Jimmy said. ‘See you later.’

‘Right. Don’t be late. I’ve got your ticket for the match.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

‘Here they come,’ Rosie said as McGregor came out of the hotel along with Dunlop and Mitch, and walked towards the line of waiting taxis.

‘I see them,’ Matt said. ‘Your man Dunlop’s got a decent shiner there.’ Matt gave Adrian a playful dig on the shoulder from the back seat. ‘Remind me not to get on your tits, big man.’

Adrian turned slightly to Rosie and gave her what passed for a smile. Then he switched on the engine.

‘So we follow them,’ he said, as though they were going for a picnic.

‘Yeah. Keep as far away as we can. Donna told us which bar they’re going to, so Javier and Garcia should already be there. But we’ll track them just in case they go somewhere else.’

As they drove two cars behind the taxi, Rosie reflected on the fiery discussion with Javier and Garcia earlier as
they ate lunch in the cafe following her dust-up with Jimmy.

Garcia was emphatic that he didn’t want Rosie and Adrian anywhere near the meeting with Flinty, because if this was the drugs pickup and the exchange of money, then it was crucial that he and his team of undercover policemen were able to witness and discreetly film it to use as evidence.

Garcia was irritated as he spoke.

‘Because, Rosie, you chased the man into the bar and had the confrontation with him, you should stay away from this meeting.’ He waved his hand dismissively. ‘As soon as you come on the scene, you may be recognised. It is dangerous and it could blow everything. The whole operation. Can you not see that?’

Rosie partly could, but resented the way he was talking down to her. She glared at Javier.

‘Look.’ Javier put his hand up to interrupt, and spoke to him in Spanish. Garcia blew smoke out of pursed lips and folded his arms petulantly.

‘Listen,’ Rosie butted in, knowing Javier was trying to keep the peace, ‘I don’t want to miss the handover of the drugs. Don’t you understand that? okay. We won’t know exactly what it is they’ll be handing over to Flinty or what he’ll pass them. But I need to be somewhere to witness it.’

‘Why?
Por qu
é? Is unnecessary!’ Garcia raised his eyebrows and snorted.

‘It
is
necessary, Juan. For me,’ Rosie said, antagonised.
She could see that the strident woman tack didn’t work for men like Garcia. She tried to soften a little. ‘This is my story. I’m the one who’s going to be writing it. I need to see it through every step of the way. I’ve been working on it since Glasgow … Weeks ago.’

‘But Matt will have pictures, Rosita.’ Javier gave her a ‘calm down’ look with his eyes.

‘Fine,’ Rosie snapped back at him. ‘But I need to be there. And in any case, my gut feeling is that even if I bumped into Jimmy Dunlop when he’s sitting in Eddie McGregor’s company, nothing would happen.’

Garcia shook his head and rolled his eyes.

‘You are being naive,
señora
.’

‘Listen, pal.’ Rosie felt her face flush. ‘I’ve been doing this job for nearly fifteen years, all over the world. If I’d been bloody naive, I would be dead by now. So don’t tell me I’m naive.’

Javier tried to keep his face straight as Garcia shifted in his seat and opened his mouth to speak.

‘Let her finish her point, Juan. Please.’ Javier put his hand up.

‘Look, Juan,’ Rosie said, ‘let’s not fall out over this, and I do appreciate the help and cooperation of the Guardia Civil … but try to see it this way. Dunlop’s girlfriend asked him to grass on the UVF. For him to tell Eddie about that would be to sign Wendy’s death warrant, and Dunlop would never do that. He loves her.’

‘How can you be sure he won’t tell this McGregor?’ Garcia spread his hands in appeal.

‘I trust my instinct.’ Rosie sat back, folding her arms, and there followed a resentful silence.

In the end, they agreed that Rosie would be in a cafe close enough but far enough away, and she settled for that. It was only a small victory, but she had to win it. Garcia knew the area well. He grudgingly gave her the name of a cafe close by, then got up and went outside.

As Rosie and Javier got up to leave, he took hold of her arm.

‘Rosie, it is not smart to rub this man up the wrong way at this crucial point in the investigation. Why can’t you see that? Jesus, woman!’

‘It’s his fault.’ Rosie gave him a defiant look, knowing she sounded sulky. ‘He’s got an attitude.’

‘
He’s
got an attitude?’ Javier smiled, shaking his head as he walked away. ‘See you at the cafe. Now be careful. Please.’

Adrian drove the car past the cafe where Javier and Garcia were already sitting a few tables away from Flinty Jackson, accompanied by two shaven-headed minders. Rosie hoped she’d made the right decision to come.