Dying to Live

Chapter 34 - True or False?

Breakfast, fried and satisfying, is nearly late enough to be lunch.

"Rested, fed and watered," I say. "I feel like a new man."

"But where would you find one at this time of the day? Boom boom!"

"You're a fucking hoot... at any time of the day."

"I'm here every day this week, folks."

"Enough," I say. "Listen, are you still game to talk to Tommy?"

"Absolutely, let's go right now and check out the ground at the Duke. If Tommy's there, we'll float our idea past him, if he's not, you can buy me a pint."

"Yeah," I say, still trying to convince myself that it's a good idea. "I mean, even if Tommy isn't interested in earning a bit of money on the side, there's no reason for him to alert Hazel, or Richard. Anyway, I'm sure a grand or so would keep him quiet."

We're about halfway to the pub when Marty's phone rings.

"Hi Frank, what's up?"

Marty's face lights up. There must be some good news.

"That was Frank," he says. "Kevin is home alone. Hazel stayed last night but she's gone to work and it seems Kevin hasn't. We should change our plan and check out the boyfriend."

"Okay, and how about we grab a couple of bottles of good wine on the way? It might help lubricate the conversation and anyway, I'm in the mood for a drink now."

"We need to see if he's willing to meet us first. Do you want to ring him or will I?"

Marty does the honours and his silver tongue works its magic. Forty-five minutes later, we're outside Kevin's apartment with a couple of bottles of red; a Hermitage and a Fleurie, Hazel's favourites, they might strike a chord with Kevin.

We're standing in a leafy back street which is populated by three storey terraced houses. Frank's directions were perfect and we know exactly where Kevin lives. If we'd followed Kevin's directions we might still be looking, I wonder if that was deliberate and deep down he's hoping we don't show.

"This is posh," I say after pressing the buzzer.

"Yeah, but it looks like each of these houses contains eight flats, if that buzzer system is anything to go by. We'll see in a minute how posh it is, I reckon it'll be pretty small."

"Come on up," says the intercom, "I'm on the first floor, flat five." The door clicks open.

Kevin meets us on the landing at the top of a couple of flights of stairs. I do recognise him, but I'm pretty sure we never met formally at MIB. He waves us in. Marty was right, the place is small, but it's perfectly formed and beautifully decorated. Once inside we avoid shaking hands and make only the minimum of introductions. It's tense to say the least.

"I remember you from work," says Kevin. "You were sacked, weren't you?"

"Yeah, they terminated me," I say, thinking back to my exit interview, "but you'll understand why soon."

"Let me put my cards on the table," says Kevin. "The only reason I'm seeing you is because I want to find out what your game is. I want to know why the hell you're concocting this stupid vendetta against Hazel just because she sacked you."

"Let me put my cards on the table as well," I say. "Hazel played me for a fool. She nearly got me killed and I want revenge for that."

"Oh bollocks," says Kevin. He jumps to his feet and bunches his fists. "Get the fuck out. I knew meeting you was a stupid idea but I wasn't expecting it to be this stupid."