When he got back to the flat Katerina
was sitting on the bed smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. She was wearing
his shirt. He leant over and kissed her forehead. She tried to force a smile
but it looked more like a grimace. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. Vinny
leant against the wall.
‘Any news?’ Katerina’s voice was weak
and fragile.
Vinny shook his head.
‘Why would anyone want to kill
Eleanora? Why Vin?’
Vinny shook his head again
‘I dunno Kat, I dunno’ but he knew it
was because he’d asked her to ask around. He knew and Kat knew he knew.
‘Vinny am I in danger?’
‘No Kat, I don’t think so, but you
wanna take a few days away? I’ll fix it.’
Katerina nodded, tears forming in her
eyes.
‘I wanna go home Vin.’
Vinny nodded, he knew she didn’t mean
back to the hovel of a flat she shared with Eleanora but home home.
‘Ok Kat, I’ll sort it.’
Silence filled the room broken by the
inhaling and exhaling of cigarette smoke. Then Katerina jumped as Vinny’s phone
bleeped.
It was the phone he used for Pieter but
it wasn’t Pieter’s number. Mila! He read the message.
‘She’s here.’
Vinny went over to a safe in his desk.
He punched in a number and the door swung open. He took out a passport and a
wad of cash. ‘Don’t go back to the flat.’ he said as he handed Katerina her
documents. ‘Book a ticket with this,
keep the rest and leave today.’ With that he grabbed his keys and left the flat
wondering how long it would take her to find the diamonds tucked inside her
passport and wondering how he’d explain his moment of altruism to his boss.
As Vinny drove he was well aware this
could be a trap, a set up, so he had to keep a clear mind and his wits about
him. He parked up about 60 metres away from Mila’s flat. Up ahead he could see
a little black Jeep. He’d seen it before somewhere. He wracked his brains and
lit a cigarette. It was warmer today but rain in the air, the start of spring?
The street was quiet, a few cars went by but there was hardly a soul to be
seen. Vinny waited, Vinny didn’t like waiting. He checked his mirrors again -
no one around. He’d wait for Georgina and then follow her. If the chance arose,
he’d make his move but he was happy for this to be a recce, an exercise in
gathering information; information was power. The door to the house opened. The woman that
emerged was unmistakably the woman who had stabbed him; stylish, sexy and
moving with self-confidence. Vinny decided that he’d have his way with her
before pulling the trigger. He didn’t need to worry about leaving traces, she
would just disappear like the others. Following Georgina out of the house was
another unmistakable figure; the small childlike Mila, she looked scared, Vinny
feared the worst. They both got into the Jeep, now Vinny remembered where he
had seen that car before. It was in the street on the day of the stabbing. It
was beginning to make sense to him now.
He readied himself to start the car but
they didn’t go anywhere.
His mobile
bleeped. It was Mila's number again. He now knew this was a trap. He looked
down at the message.
‘Father Christmas
wants to see you. :-)’ The smiley face was a bit excessive thought Vinny.
Before he knew it,
his passenger door opened and one of the Iscru brothers climbed in.
'Follow the Jeep,
don't try anything, I’ve got a knife and Dan's in the car behind.’ His accent
was thick, the voice tarred by 1000 cigarettes. Vinny saw the glint of the knife in Gregor's
hand and looked in the mirror to see the other ugly fucker right up his arse. He
was stuck in the middle with Iscru.
He did as he was
told. They drove towards the ring road. When they got on the dual carriageway Vinny
thought about putting his foot to the floor, he could lose the Jeep and the
heap Dan was driving in no time. But he’d still have to deal with the idiot
with the blade next to him. Then the passenger door of the Jeep opened and Vinny
saw something fall heavily on to the road. He swerved to avoid the object but
instinct told him Mila was already dead... And so for that matter was he.
Twenty minutes
later they pulled up outside a big house in the suburbs. Vinny approved, he thought
it was the kind of place that he would buy if he were Father Christmas.
‘Don’t move.’ said
Gregor flashing the knife to support his words.
Vinny waited until
the Romanians had manoeuvred into place.
‘Don’t make sudden
moves.’ Gregor was relishing the role of captor. ‘Get out of the car and follow
Dan, I’ll be right behind you.’
Vinny had little
option but to walk the metaphorical plank. He followed the Romanian gorilla up
the path towards the front door. As he passed Georgina she smiled and blew him
a kiss.
He had half a mind
to punch her, claw her pretty face, ruin her looks; what did he have to lose? But
Gregor had read his mind and put a steadying hand on his shoulder, keeping him
on the straight and narrow.
Dan knocked on the
door. Vinny could hardly believe his eyes when he saw who opened it.
‘Boss, what the
hell are you doing here?’ Relief flooded Vinny’s body; his boss was here, now
everything would sort itself out, this unseemly mess could be cleared up and
they could all go home.
Before Vinny could
shake his boss’s hand Georgina skipped passed him.
‘Papa’ she said
and hugged the old man. Vinny’s relief turned to confusion as he watched his
boss kiss that bitch on the cheek. Was his boss Father Christmas?
Vinny was led
through the house to the study. His boss settled behind his desk and signalled
to Vinny to sit in the chair opposite. They were alone except for one man who
stood stock still in the corner. Vinny recognised him as one of his boss’s
drivers.
‘What’s going on?’
Vinny didn’t usually feel fear, he’d never been afraid, not even when he took a beating
from a rival faction at the football. Fear had never been part of his DNA.
Until now; now he was terrified.
‘Vinny, Vinny,
you’ve spent the last 6 months ripping me off and you have the gall to ask me
what is going on? You think I wouldn’t find out that you’ve been squirreling
away anything you can get your hands on. I trusted you.’
Vinny had no
argument, since he’d been fired as a driver he’d been finding ways to feather
his own nest, to look after himself, he'd stolen goods, overcharged customers and
taken some extra commission from the pimps. He’d been careful, not too much from any one place, spread out his crime, covered his tracks but obviously not careful enough.
‘But… you’re
Father Christmas?’
‘Yes, it was a
nickname I had back in Romania.’ because of my surname. When my daughter
married that little runt Iscru I set him up in business running the girls on
the other side of town and selling drugs and booze in places where I didn’t
want to get my hands dirty. He had a free hand but still reported to me. I told
him to call me Father Christmas as a code. He was good to start with and when
the little toe rag started to cheat on my precious daughter well I could ignore
it for the sake of the business. But when he started to beat her I had to take
care of him. In fact, you did it for me, remember Georgi?’
Vinny nodded, it’d
been his first kill.
‘I offered my
daughter the business but she didn’t want it, so I took it over until my
grandchildren were old enough to take it back into their own family.
’
‘Why stab me, why
not just kill me.’
‘I wanted to see
if you’d come to me for help Vinny. If you still trusted me’ his boss shook his
head. ‘I’m disappointed.’
‘Fine, you got me,
but why did you kill Eleanora?’
‘You were too
close to her, she was too fond of you, she’d do anything for you. You asked her
to get information she was getting too close, she had to be eliminated.’
‘How do you know
all that?’
‘You have your
girls and I have mine.’
‘Anna?’ Vinny
nodded, he’d never trusted her.
‘No, Katerina.’
Father Christmas enjoyed the confused look on Vinny’s face.
Vinny couldn't
believe it. He'd been duped. She'd been in his flat reporting back on his
moves. All the tears, the fragile little voice, that fucking whore should win
an Oscar.
‘I warned you about your weakness
Vinny. But would you listen to me? No. And I knew I could use it against you.
Stand up.’
Vinny hesitated and then left his
chair. His boss stood up too, Vinny watched his boss raise his gun until it was
level with Vinny’s forehead.
‘And now, for the final time Vinny the
Diamond, don’t mess with Father Christmas.’
