Feuer Frei Ch. 03

He was taken to the cop shop and charged,, Peter and Dave arranged to go down there tomorrow to give full statements in the afternoon. Debs and I arranged to do the same, then we left, following a policeman's advice to go to the hospital.

Some might blame bureaucracy, others immigration which if either is the case I don't know. One thing I do know is, if you are not a real emergency you will do a lot of waiting at the hospital, I slowly moved through the machine that is the NHS. I was assessed, X-rayed, diagnosed and eventually sent on my way with a handful of pain killers that hurt more to swallow than the pain they relieved. All in all it would have been a total waste of a Friday night, but to me. It was well worth it.

Jack and Paul were hammering on my door at half eight. Debs answered the door in her dressing gown. I was in the kitchen sipping coffee through a straw. Debs showed them through and then left us to shower and get dressed. They laughed at my efforts to drink with a straw, but shut up when they realised I was in real pain.

"Brung that DVD round." said Paul, offering a valid excuse for them being here. Other than just being plain nosey.

I took it from him and then came the twenty questions. Once I had assured them that there was a little scuffle and I was ok other than a sore jaw they started taking the piss and grilling me in more detail about the events of last night.

Speaking was painful, so I tolerated the piss taking without giving any comeback and waited for Debs to join us, she then related the events from yesterday evening.

As unlikely as it may seem Debs got the hint she should make herself scarce and leave us "boys alone" to chat, she got ready to go shopping.

Before she left Jack showed me the text he had received yesterday before telling me to go. "A lurk @ b"

"Paul will fill you in." he told me, before leaving with Debs on saying he needed to pick up a few bits for himself. After the door closed Paul explained that Shaun was being watched by someone. Someone else that had an interest in justice, at least as far as Shaun was concerned. I wanted to know more but he would only tell me they were not in a position to either personally punish him or find the funds for his demise.

"If you do decide to, um 'ave him dealt with, then he will sort it out." he said, a little too insistently.

Why was he pushing me to do this? What does he get out of it? It seems to be important to him.

"Yeah well stop pushing me." I told him. "You know me, I don't bend to peer pressure, especially after what I've just been through." I stared at him, not hiding my annoyance.

"Aw'right, aw'right" he said holding up his hand. "Won't mention it again, you ever putting the kettle on?"

I nodded and turned to fill the kettle for another coffee, smiling at his "subtle change of subject."

When I sat down again, I was at a loss for something else to talk about. Paul offered nothing, we sat there for a good ten minutes before I broke.

"Okay okay, I'll talk about it, but don't try and bully me into doing something I'll regret."

"He'll be out today you know, if he's not already." he stated. "You already know he is gunning for you and..."

The doorbell rang interrupting him. I went to answer it. It was a policeman. He bade me a good morning and introduced himself as Sgt. McBride. I was puzzled, I had arranged to go to the station this afternoon, why the pre-emptive strike? When I asked he suggested we go inside to talk, I invited him in. We walked through to the kitchen, I found it empty. It seemed Paul had taken his leave and vacated by the back door. Knowing he liked to keep encounters with the constabulary to a minimum I didn't mention there had been anyone there.

Sgt. McBride started questioning me about my whereabouts, and seemed disappointed that I was going to be able to prove my whereabouts last night. It seems a certain car had been vandalized and stolen from and I was the prime subject. Unfortunately for the Sgt. I was still at the hospital when the car had been discovered. Fortunately for me laughing at someone else's misfortune is not yet considered a crime. Nor is offering to buy the culprits a drink should he find them.

Shortly after he left Debs and Jack returned from their shopping trip. When I mentioned the police had been round, I think I caught a slight guilty smile from Jack, but he said nothing, after a coffee I showed him out, reminding him I would not be working on Monday. Once he had gone I set about erecting a security door along the side of the house, just in case of any further attempts from Shaun and his friends.

All too soon Monday came round and we headed down to the court for nine thirty and settled down for yet another long wait.

I was again explained the why and wherefore of the inquest to me. It was because the death was violent and it was to decide whether the death was an accident or not. That and nothing else, the circumstances did not matter. Most hearings were just a formality and had one or three people to make the decision, occasionally it was made by a jury. If it was decided the death was not accidental, then and only then would the CPS decide whether I would be prosecuted. All bollocks as far as I am concerned. He's dead, I'm not. If he hadn't broke into my house he would still be alive, why has anyone got a problem with that. If someone gets killed by a train, they don't blame the train driver, they blame the twat on the tracks. What's the difference? The stiff is still only dead because they were somewhere they shouldn't have been.

The hearing I was attending didn't start till after lunch, statements were read out from Debs, myself, the slag, Mark, Debs, myself and the coroner. The man reading the statements, did just that, he read them out with a boring droning monotonous voice, so I sort of phased out .I heard everything, but each sentence was overwritten by the next, so nothing actually went in. I started looking around the room , it was then and only then I noticed that I was being stared at.

I noticed the eyes first, wide, red and filled with hate. Tears shining on her seasoned face, her dark tight curls lightening with grey. She saw me looking at her and didn't turn her gaze, I could almost feel the hail of bullets from the mental AK47 she had pointed at me in her mind. I assume she was Winston's mother. Yes I can feel her admittedly justifiable hate, but hey I wasn't the one that had raised a rapist thug. I was called to answer some questions, to clarify a couple of pieces in my statement, after I had vowed to tell the truth etc. I was questioned, suddenly glad of the few chats I had with Sandra.

"How did Mr White end up at the bottom of the stairs?"

"I helped him, I pulled him down."

"Why would you do that?"

"He had a gun to my wife's head, and the intention of raping her, it was to me at the time the only way out of a difficult situation."

"So you say you helped him down, in your statement you say you pulled him backwards, causing him to fall. Was it your intention to kill him?"

"My only intention at the time was to get out of there, to get myself and my wife to safety."

"What makes you think he was going to rape your wife?"

"He was telling me in graphic detail what he and his friends were going to do."

" This would be Mrs Lucy McGarret and Mr Mark King."

"Yes, and he also said others would be coming."

I stared at the woman I assumed to be Winstons mother, for the first time since I had noticed her she looked away from me, her head dropped, looking at the floor. Was this shame? I wondered.

"Why did you only act when you were at the top of the stairs, why not sooner?"

"Because that was when he pushed her over, that was when the gun was not held directly at her head."

"Did you fall down the stairs?"

"No" I exclaimed. "He had a gun, I grabbed Debs and ran."

"We have from the coroners report, that the cause of death was a broken neck, most likely from the weight of the person landing on his chest, as indicated by these bruises on the chest. Can you explain how it appears you jumped on his chest?"

I was suddenly scared, I knew I had jumped on his chest, I had heard the crack of his neck as my feet grounded on his chest. I knew this was the most important answer in the case, I knew I had to make them believe a lie. " I, er, I tried to jump over him, but holding onto my wife I couldn't get the distance, was that it? Did I..." I let my voice trail off.

"So it was not your intention to land on his chest."

"No, no, of course not, I, we needed to get away."

"That is all Mr Jones, thankyou."

I left the witness box and joined Debs, now Winston's mother averted her gaze, for that I was grateful.

Time was getting on, I could see the magistrate looking at her watch, it was looking like there was going to be another day, she adjourned at three thirty. The next day I was relieved to see the woman I thought to be Winston's mother, was not there. Unfortunately Shaun was. Debs turned white as he walked in. He looked over at us then moved to, and sat in the exact same seat that Winston's mother had occupied the previous day. That was a message, a threat and I understood. I no longer felt relieved, he kept looking at us and smirking.

No sooner was the hearing was resumed it was over. It was done in just over an hour; just summing up then a verdict of misadventure was given. I suppose a decision had been made some time over the interceding hours. Although relieved at the verdict, I was more than apprehensive at the presence of Shaun. Debs clung to me as though her life depended on it. We went directly from the hearing to see Laurence, my solicitor to apply for a restraining order. As we sat waiting to go in, I made a decision.

After hearing what we had to say, Laurence got Debs and I to fill in a standard form and sent it off to the courts, telling us it should be dealt with by the end of the day or within 24 hours at the latest, it would however not come into effect until he has been served, then if he breaches the conditions he would be arrested.

Debs was not happy, she said she was not ready to face other people after what had happened Friday. I reminded her that she had already gone back to work, and that she was only off for the hearing, she would return to work again tomorrow. I looked deep into her eyes, I could see the thought frightened her and at that moment I realised it was Shaun, she was terrified of him, I tried to assure her that come tomorrow afternoon the restraining order would be in effect. She began to tremble, I thought about letting her have her way and take some more time off, but we both knew that was not good. We needed to fight back, and we both needed to get back into the swing of things. I felt myself getting angry again, I wanted to hurt him, I wanted to hurt him bad. I felt my fist clench as the anger mounted, I felt the blood pounding in my veins, my breathing was deep and laboured. If he was there I would have throttled him and you would have had to kill me to get me to stop. Then as suddenly as it came on, the anger was gone. I was calm, only the sweat lingering on my brow showing any sign of my previous mood. I pulled out my phone and called Pete. We spoke for a while, he agreed that either he or Dave would walk her to her car, then chuckled as he told me he had sent a bill to Mr S. Derby, for car parking. He didn't want him to encourage him to do it again so he had charged him £300 per 12 hour period or part thereof, he said it more than covered Deborah's wages for her absence. So she would not lose any pay. I laughed with him and after we said bye I told Debs.

Debs then seemed to pull herself together, she insisted we hit the supermarket to get some things for dinner. Call me paranoid if you want, but I am sure I caught sight of Shaun a couple of times. Once across the car park and once inside the shop. Both times I felt no more anger, just pure hatred and increased resolve to make him pay. I said nothing to Debs, if she saw him, she didn't tell me either.

We got home, Debs busied herself with house work and making preparations for tonight's meal, me, I sat down in front of the telly and although I don't think I fully slept I almost slumbered laying on the sofa with my eyes closed, half listening to the news, trying to decide whether to give some money to Paul's friend of a friend, or did I want the satisfaction myself.

It's strange how the mind works, the connections and correlations the brain makes. There had been an armed robbery, the thieves had escaped on a motorbike. Hearing the newscaster reporting reminded me of a customer I had had a few months back, Johnno he liked to be called. He was one of those hells angel types, big Harley Davidson motorcycle, long hair and a beard. I was on his roof, just finishing off the cement and he called me down for a cuppa. We were chatting over this and that and the postman came. Well he got a speeding ticket, from a camera on the A1 Near Grantham. He was well pissed off. Most cameras are forward facing, so they can identify the driver, this makes it less likely for motorbikes to get caught, but there are a few that look at the back of vehicles and he had been caught by one.

That's an alibi, I thought, suddenly fully awake, my mind now fully alert and running possible scenarios that would end this bollocks, once and for all, at least with Shaun. I didn't know that much about him apart from he thinks the world revolves around his cock. Hopefully that would be enough. It took me less than an hour to come up with a basic plan and it shouldn't cost me too much, especially if I could find my old pay as you go phone.

I started looking through drawers and cupboards, I didn't want to tell Debs anything about what I was thinking. I exhausted the possibilities so I moved out to the garage. I eventually found it, in a box, a box that I had meant to throw out some time ago, a box that contained stuff I should have thrown away years ago. As I re-packed the box I clasped hold of another item and as my hand held it more connections were made in my brain. Sick, nasty connections, sick nasty connections that made me smile.

The phone was dead and not with the charger, but earlier in a drawer I had found the spare ends for the car multi charger, so I could charge it in the van. All I had to do now was get Debs phone and find out whether she had deleted the wanker off it or not.

The gods were smiling on me today, her handbag was on a chair in the lounge. I took her phone and disappeared out to the garage. I looked for Shaun, stud, lover, sd, derby and found nothing so I started scrolling through her phone log. I should have done that first, last Sunday she got a text from an unrecognised number.

That had to be him.

[I still want u wen can we meet]

her reply [Never leave me alone]

him [U want me 2 I know it]

her [Fuck off]

him [Txt wen u chang ur mind] then another [U will]

She hadn't replied.

I copied the number down on the back of my fag packet, deleted the texts and blocked the number before going back inside and returning her phone to her handbag. I felt happier than I had for months. I showed Debs how happy I was at bedtime, three times. It was a fundamental turning point in our marriage, that night was the first time I had gone down on her since before the last time she had me tied up.

The following day at work I charged up the phone, I found I still had £3:40 credit on it, more than enough for my purpose.

At lunch time we were sat in my van eating our pack-up when I asked Jack about a neighbour of his I knew he didn't like.

"Does you mate Carter still have that golf?"

"He's no fuckin' mate of mine, but yeah, why?" he replied

I ignored his question and asked. "Does he still go away most weekends on his vespa."

"Yeah I think he's got one of them all nighters at Yarmouth this weekend, but why?"

"Do they still do them?"

"Yeah, but why d'ya want to know?"

"Do you have anything to do with your old mates?" I said

"No"

I knew he was lying. "Jack?" I insisted.

"Ok, just one, and that's only to buy stuff from." he admitted guiltily.

I knew what the "stuff" was and ignored it.

"So if that golf was to go missing, say Saturday afternoon, it would be unlikely to be reported stolen until late Sunday morning at the earliest."

A big grin spread across his face. "What you plannin'?"

Again I ignored his question. "And if it went missing, could it be delivered to the old barn on lower lane, and hidden inside it." I asked him.

"I don't see why not."

"And would the thief be prepared to fit this to the passenger seat." I offered him the object I had found in the box.

He nodded. "The thief should know it's broken and not to use this so don't fit it till he has finished playing. It needs to be finished with and parked up by half seven."

"Mr goody two shoes, I can't believe you're even thinking of such things." Jack chided.

"Are we going to do some work today or what?" I said climbing out of the van.

Paul and Jack were waiting for me when I walked into the bar, the place was heaving. It was a darts night. I checked on their drink situation before I went to the bar and got three pints before squeezing in beside Jack.

Although we all wanted to talk about the obvious subject we stayed away from it, until we went outside for a fag. It was raining so we sheltered in Paul's car to smoke, then I asked him for a favour, he readily agreed but seemed a little put out when I also told him I wouldn't be needing the services of his friends friend. I then pulled out an old map and showed him exactly where something was.

That all agreed I set off for home and arrived back before ten. I found Debs curled up on the sofa watching the telly. She sat up to let me sit beside her and lay back down with her head in my lap. We fell asleep in that position, I awoke in the early hours, my head wedged between her buttocks and the back of the sofa. She stirred as I forced myself to sit up. I felt a tear trickle down my cheek as I realised we had almost lost this. I coaxed her awake and we headed up to bed, once naked and under the covers I pulled her to me and we quickly fell back to sleep.

As I waited for Jack the next morning I sent a text from my old phone.

[new no. D :) ]

I was shocked when I got an immediate reply.

[I knew u want me]

"Arrogant bastard, This might just work." I thought as I replied.

[U still want 2 ply]

him [U or +hubby]

me [+hubby]

him [Ur plce]

me [Urs]

him [no can do]

Fuck, I had forgotten he was married. I thought for a minute. [will gt rm pk u up]

[where]

[pk u up outsd urs]

then [9 sat]

then nothing for a couple of minutes, I felt the phone tremble in my pocket as I drove from Jacks to the Job.

We had a coffee in the cab before we started. I read his reply. [Ok c u then] I sent the same back to him. I smiled as I turned the phone off and zipped into my jacket pocket.

Turning to Jack I said. "Tell Paul I'll meet him at eight on Saturday, and make sure you can prove where you are all night."

I pulled into the secluded layby, a well known dogging spot and I pulled up behind the only other vehicle. Later, I had heard there would be cars filling the layby, but for now it was too early.

I transferred a bag I had with me to Paul's car then I talked over final details with Paul, and at half eight he was driving towards the A1 ready to head north in my van, at around ten he should be heading south in the vicinity of Grantham.

I drove to the old barn and switched cars again, at around twenty to nine I was waiting down the road from Mr Derby's house. At five to nine I saw him come out from his house and walk to the road. I watched as he looked up and down the road and at his watch. I let him repeat this a few times before I flashed the headlights, he looked over and then he looked in the other direction and nodded before he began walking to where I was parked.