57

I phoned Chris on the way back from Coulson’s to get him up to speed.

‘You did what?’ he demanded. ‘Is he dead?’

‘There was still a pulse when we left.’

He paused for a moment as if digesting this.

‘Fuck him,’ he eventually said. ‘The man got what he deserved. Let’s hope there’s a bleed in his brain and he croaks it.’

‘I’d rather not be a murderer,’ I said, feeling a shiver throughout my body at the idea.

‘You did what you had to do, John. Don’t be feeling guilty. If what you say is true…’

‘It’s true.’

‘Then your conscience should be clear.’

‘It would be clearer if I phoned for an ambulance. Regardless of what the old prick has done I wouldn’t want his death hanging over me.’ I made a mental note to call 999 after we stopped talking.

We sat quietly on either end of the line for a few minutes, both of us lost in our own thoughts, as if we were reluctant to break the connection.

‘Oh, you need to know,’ Chris broke into the hush. ‘We got an offer in for the house. I forgot to say in all the drama. A very good offer.’ He gave me a number, a number that would pay for Mum’s care for a good number of years. And with a sense of relief that any last shreds of duty we had to her as sons would be satisfied by managing this arrangement for her, I offered him my thanks.

My mind then returned to the situation with Thomas. ‘All of this means that Marinello no longer has a hold over Thomas. It was Coulson who killed poor Robert Green. Thomas didn’t have anything to do with it.’

‘Yup. We need to go and visit Marinello. Find out what he was so worried about and make sure he doesn’t have Coulson Number Two on standby.’

Next morning at ten o’clock Thomas, Chris and I were sitting in Chris’s car outside Marinello’s nursing home.

‘Anything on the news?’ asked Thomas, and I knew instantly what he was talking about.

‘I phoned for an ambulance,’ I admitted.

He nodded. ‘And?’

‘Anonymously,’ I said. ‘So I don’t know the outcome.’

‘If he’d been found dead surely there would have been something on the news about it,’ Chris added.

‘Fair enough,’ said Thomas as if he didn’t care one way or the other.

‘Why are we here?’ I asked, unsure why we were bothering and keen just to have this whole thing over and done with. ‘With Coulson no longer a threat, do we still need to talk to the old man?’

‘Yes,’ Thomas said firmly. ‘Coulson got one thing right. No loose ends.’

‘But he’s done,’ I said, remembering what the old man was like when we visited him.

‘We don’t know if he’s got other people on his books like Coulson,’ Thomas said.

‘And, don’t you want to know why?’ Chris added. ‘Why he was frightened of Thomas?’

‘Collins seemed to think that the old man was more incontinent than senile, so I’d like to test that out,’ replied Chris.

‘Why would he put on an act like that?’ I asked, remembering how the old man’s mind wandered when we last visited.

‘To mess with us?’ Chris suggested. ‘Anyway, will they even let us in?’

‘Maybe not mob-handed,’ I said. ‘I think it’s important Thomas goes in. And I got nowhere the last time. Why don’t you two go and I’ll wait here.’

They got out of the car and made their way to the front door. I leaned back in my seat, turned on the radio and waited for them to return.

Half expecting them to see them walk straight back down the path, having been refused entry, in fact a full song had played and they were still inside. Then another song. And another. They had to be getting somewhere, I reasoned.

Some minutes later I saw a familiar car draw up, and Gina Marinello get out.

Shit.

I couldn’t sit there any longer, not with Gina now in the picture. I had to know what was going on. I got out of the car and followed her up the path to the main door. I walked in just a few strides behind. She went past the reception desk, seemingly unaware of my presence, and took a left down a carpeted corridor. As I passed the desk the woman behind it gave me a smile.

‘Sir, if you would just like to sign the—’

‘I’m with her,’ I half whispered and winked, and continued to follow Gina.

She entered a room about halfway along the corridor. I arrived just as the door clicked shut, but that was enough to catch a glimpse of Chris and Thomas sitting by the old man’s bed. I caught the door before it closed and stepped inside.

‘And who are you?’ the old man in the bed asked. Everyone else in the room looked at me.

‘I couldn’t—’

‘What on earth is going on here?’ Gina looked from me to Chris, and then to Thomas. ‘Oh my God,’ she said, hand to her mouth. ‘They found you? You’re still alive.’ Then, as if old emotions she had suppressed took over from her surprise, she demanded, ‘How come you’re here? And what do you want with my grandfather?’

‘Now, Gina,’ the old man said. There was a defensive edge to his voice, and perhaps even a little fear. ‘Let’s hear the boys out.’ He was propped up on a bank of pillows and I couldn’t help but compare him to my mother: two people at the end of their lives, with their pasts catching up with them.

Of course, the old man’s guilt was currently supposition, but the more I considered the situation the more I was convinced he was involved in all this.

‘This man helped abduct my first boyfriend, Grandad. I’m not going to roll out the red carpet. In fact’ – she rummaged in her handbag – ‘I’m going to call the police.’

‘No one is calling the police,’ Benny said in a surprisingly strong voice. ‘I want to know why these men barged into my room, and what they have got to say for themselves.’

‘If I can talk, please?’ Thomas looked from Gina to Benny. ‘Whatever happened, it was a long time ago. And it needs to stay in the past. I have no wish to bring it all up again. I just want to be left in peace to bring up my kids. I’ve got a new life now. I won’t do anything to harm that.’

‘Who’s asking you to harm anything, son? And what is it that you think you know?’ As Benny spoke his eyes narrowed.

‘Do I need to spell it out?’ Thomas said. ‘Cos I’d rather not.’ He gave Gina a quick glance.

‘My granddaughter knows all my business. All of it,’ Benny repeated. ‘There’s no need to be coy on her behalf.’

‘What, the stuff that Seth did?’

‘Seth who?’ Benny asked.

‘If that’s the way you want to play it, fine,’ Thomas said.

‘Oh my,’ said Benny. ‘I suddenly feel quite tired.’ He closed his eyes.

‘If that’s the way you want to play it, I’ll just keep on talking,’ Thomas said, as if he found Benny’s fatigue a little bit too convenient. ‘Seth was trafficking kids from your fairgrounds, Mr Marinello. You knew. You took a cut of his proceeds by way of a licence, I guess. At least, that’s our information.’

‘Oh, come on,’ said Gina. ‘That’s bloody ridiculous.’

‘But I won’t say anything’ Thomas said firmly. ‘I want to forget the whole thing happened. I just want to be left in peace.’

‘Don’t we all, son,’ Benny said. He looked over at his granddaughter as if judging how she’d received this news. ‘You should just go, Gina,’ he said. ‘Get on with your paperwork, or whatever it is you do here on a Wednesday.’

‘What’s he talking about, Grandad? Did this Seth person actually traffic kids from the Shows?’

‘It was all so long ago, darling,’ Benny wheedled. ‘Don’t you worry yourself about any of this. It’s all just a bit of confusion. I’m sure it can all be…’ He looked as if he was struggling to find the right words, and it occurred to me that in his stronger days he would have been able to talk Gina down much more easily.

‘And how did this Seth pick his victims?’ Gina asked.

‘These kinds of places attract a lot of troubled kids. Loners. Kids that wouldn’t be missed. Kids who wanted to run away,’ Chris said. ‘Like Thomas here.’

‘That doesn’t explain Robbie,’ Gina said, her face pale. ‘He wasn’t a runaway. He wasn’t a kid who no one would ask questions about. And he certainly wasn’t alone. Why was he chosen?’ She looked from Thomas to Benny.

‘As I remember it,’ Thomas said, ‘Seth said he had an order for a young, blond boy.’

Gina shuddered. ‘Jesus.’ Her hands were over her stomach as if she was finding this new information to be physically painful. ‘But still. Not your typical victim…’ She stared at her grandfather.

He met her eyes for a moment, before looking away. His bottom lip trembled.

‘Tell me you had nothing to do with this, Grandad.’

Benny closed his eyes tight, and then exhaled slowly. When he opened his eyes again it looked as if he had come to a decision.

‘He was only supposed to give him the frighteners,’ the old man spoke in a way that suggested he no longer had the energy to maintain his secret. ‘Your mum and dad were worried you were going to run away with the wee creep.’

‘Mum and Dad? What do they have to do with it?’

‘Darling, you don’t want to go there. This is all ancient history.’

‘Oh my God,’ Gina said, her voice raising in volume and pitch with each word. ‘Who was it? Mum or Dad?’

‘Your mum,’ Benny said in a whisper.

‘The witch couldn’t bear seeing me happy.’ Her handbag slipped off her lap and fell to the floor. ‘We were sixteen. I knew I went on and on about running away with him. I was just trying to piss her off. I would never have done it.’

‘Your mum was pretty convinced you were only days from packing a bag. She had the boy looked up, and found out his uncle was a panto … pardo…’ He struggled to find the right word. ‘She was inconsolable. No way were you going to bring a kiddie-fiddler into our family, she said.’

‘So based on hearsay she had an innocent boy abducted and sold into God knows what? Jesus, this is like a bad movie.’

‘The boy escaped, or so I heard. Made his way down to London,’ Benny said. ‘Whatever happened to him after that wasn’t down to us.’

‘He escaped?’ Gina asked, her mood now laced with a sense of hope.

Thomas opened his mouth to respond, but paused before doing so, and I guessed he was editing events in his mind, hoping to give her a more palatable version.

‘Please tell me the truth,’ Gina said. ‘I at least deserve that.’

‘I felt bad about what happened, about my part in … so I … We escaped from Seth. But he found us again and…’ The truth was evidently still too painful for Thomas to tell.

‘And?’ Gina was wringing her fingers.

‘He got us both on smack. Made us addicts. And then one day Robert got a bad batch.’ Thomas looked down at his hands, his face etched in shame. ‘He died.’

Gina just sat there and stared at him. Then she began to sob.

‘Honey, don’t be getting upset,’ Benny said. ‘This happened a million years ago. So much good stuff has happened since.’

‘How can you say that?’ Gina sat forwards, wiping the tears from her face with the heel of her hand. ‘Because of me, because of my hateful mother, a beautiful boy died.’ She then seemed to have a thought. ‘What about Peter?’

‘Peter?’ Benny asked.

‘My fiancé. He had a car crash just before we were due to get married. Did my parents have a hand in that as well?’

‘Now, now,’ said Benny. ‘You’re letting your imagination get the better of you.’

Gina stared over at her grandfather. ‘So, Mum just wanted Robbie frightened off. You put Seth on it, and instead of, what, giving him a kicking or something, he got this guy here’ – she indicated Thomas – ‘to lure him somewhere private and then he was…’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t even say it,’ she whispered.

‘Honey, please, don’t do this to yourself,’ Benny said, and by the way he was leaning forwards in his bed, he wanted nothing more than to console his granddaughter with a hug – and felt his inability to do so very deeply.

‘Did you carry on dealing with Seth after he came back from London?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Did Seth continue to traffic kids and did you continue to take a cut?’

‘Darling, it’s not as simple as that…’

‘Actually, it is … and don’t call me darling.’

Marinello fell back on his bed and for the first time since we’d entered the room he looked every inch the old and infirm man he was – as if his granddaughter’s good opinion had been the one thing holding him together, and now it looked to have been withdrawn, there was no reason to go on.

‘You are my grandfather and as such I have a duty of care. Your needs as far as being warm, fed and dry will continue to be met, just like any client of this home. But that is it. Our relationship is over, because frankly you disgust me. The sooner you die the better.’

I gasped at the brutality of her statement.

Gina got to her feet, smoothed down her skirt, and looked at the three of us. ‘What did you hope to accomplish by coming here this morning?’ Her stance was rigid. Only the slight tremble in her hand betrayed the fact that she was only just holding it together.

Thomas explained about Collins, the photo in his wife’s pocket and the threat this implied. And restated his intention to forget that the Marinellos ever existed, provided he had assurances his family would be left alone.

‘You can be assured that my grandfather’s interest in your family is over. I will see to it.’

‘Thank you,’ said Thomas, relief in his voice.

‘I no longer care about the old man, but I care about my family’s reputation, so if I get a whisper that any of this is coming out, you will wish you never fucked with me.’

She stared at each of us in turn. And I saw a whole other side to this woman. She may have been innocent in this situation, but the ruthlessness that informed her grandfather was there in the straight line of her shoulders and the determination of her gaze. ‘I don’t want to see any of you ever again.’