Die Tryin' (38 page)

He glanced up to meet Charlie’s manic stare with concerned eyes. ‘Marco? You mean Marco?’

Charlie shook his head.
‘No. I mean
Tony…’

Nick frowned. ‘T-Tony?’ he stammered.

‘He came back, Nick. He came back and told me everything!’ Charlie said. ‘Told me what you were doing to us. Told me that Marco was a decoy. I see ’em, Nick. I told you. They talk to me. Maybe now you’ll believe…’

And now it was Charlie who was looking smug and self-serving, and he suddenly realised how good it felt. Disgustingly good to be a smug bastard.

‘And now you’ve killed us,’ Nick replied in a sad, defeated voice.

‘No, Nick. You killed us. A
loooong
time ago,
re
. Kaiser fucking Söze you ain’t, boy, believe me…’

And with that, Nick’s head went all the way down, probably for the first time in his life.

‘Nothing personal,
re
Niko,’ Charlie then said as the copper restraining him led him out of the mausoleum. ‘You hear—
it’s nothing fucking personal!’
Charlie shouted after him as they stepped outside.

When Nick was gone, Charlie took in a deep breath, still in the painful grip of the copper, but inside he was rushing—high on revenge; high on smugness (which he now realised was a more dangerous drug than crack), and high on justice.

He allowed his head to drop and he stared at the concrete floor. And then he began to laugh, unable to hold in that rush any longer. ‘You lot cut it fucking fine, didn’t you?’ he then said as he lifted his head up again. ‘He had a gun!’

‘Be grateful we came at all,’ the one holding his arm replied, and tightened his grip. ‘Now shut your trap!’

Charlie groaned, then laughed again, the pain not bothering hm. It was worth it.

Another copper bent down and picked up the bag of jewels Charlie brought with him. He opened it up. He stared from its contents to Charlie, showing him the inside of the bag. Laid out on his open palms was a load of junk—two pence pieces, bottle caps, spoons, broken pens.

He gave Charlie a quizzical look; Charlie just shrugged in return. ‘A decoy,’ he said, and smiled thinly. ‘I threw the real lot in the Thames.’

The copper stared at him sideways. ‘Go on,’ he then said. ‘Get him out of here.’

Charlie was shoved forwards, and he took a final look at the tomb as he passed by it. The dragon breathing its triumphant fire stared at him with now what appeared to be benevolent eyes.

‘You can all rest now,’ Charlie said to it as he was led out of the mausoleum to a waiting Panda car.

Charlie was soon back at the Tally Ho Corner park benches alongside his only true friends—the hobos, the junkies, the drunks, and the dead.

The court case was short, the sentences passed swift. Theodorou was sent down for murder; conspiracy to murder; grave-robbing; illegal possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear, plus a few other misdemeanours on top, which all added up to what Charlie saw as a paltry twenty-five year sentence. For the shit he’d committed, they should have thrown away the key, but the joke that was the UK justice system saw to it that a multiple murderer would live out the second half of his life outside a cell. Charlie was philosophical—at least he
was
going to serve time for what he did, and at least his name would be mud for the rest of his life, meaning he would never be able to live normal no matter what.

Charlie’s testimony together with the recording he caught of Nick confessing in the mausoleum (Tony, the genius, told him to use XR2’s own style against him and record the bastard using a hidden microphone wired up to a tape recorder in his jacket pocket. Without Tony’s ingenuity, Charlie wouldn’t have had the first idea to do that), were what really nailed Nick good and proper. Charlie hated to think how long Nick would have got otherwise.

Probably a slap on the wrist and forty hours community service removing graffiti from train stations,
he surmised with an air of pessimism. Regardless, there was nothing Nick nor his poncey lawyers could do or say to quash his sentence; he had no defence in the eyes of the law. He was bang to rights. Taki, Tony, Nick Mavro, Carla, all got their revenge on the fucker they once called a friend, and Charlie had never felt so good about life as the moment when the judge sent Theodorou down.

Flash scumbag, not looking so smug now,
he thought to himself as a dejected looking XR2 was led out of the court.

Have a nice fucking time in the showers, re…

As for Charlie, he himself escaped any charges. The courts decreed any role he played in the conspiracy he did so under duress having been drugged by Theodorou. And confessing to the police beforehand (another shrewd idea from Tony) to the things he done (such as helping to bury Taki), as well as assisting them with getting Nick to confess, and testifying in court against the
real
criminal, aided his defence.

During the trial, it was revealed that Elisabeta Panucci was Marco’s step-grandmother; the bones in the tomb with her—his natural grandfather. Charlie didn’t get to know the exact ins and outs, but from what he could gather there was a family dispute; Elisabeta disowned Marco’s mother—her step-daughter. When Elisabeta died, she shunned Marco’s mother, leaving the whole of her estate to the state, and demanding to be buried with the jewels that she loved so dearly when she was alive. So, Marco took it in his own hands to go and take the jewels (which, rightly or wrongly, he felt his mother deserved), to get himself and his mum out of the cramped flat they shared in Somers Town.

As the jewels were no longer in existence (when Charlie was requested to hand over his cut, he relayed his belief in the cursed jewels, and the resulting action he took to dump them in the Thames), they couldn’t be returned to the tomb—where they legally belonged. It was decided that Nick Theodorou be forced to pay back what he had earned from his cut (turning him insolvent in the process). After a minor legal wrangle, the courts declared that as the only living next of kin to Elisabeta Panucci, Marco’s mother was entitled to the money. A very nice little nest egg. Unfortunately for her, without a son to share it. But the way Charlie saw it, Marco sacrificed himself for her happiness and survival. And for that, she could be proud of him.

However, there was a downside. And that concerned Maria Savva. She was forced to hand over her house, as well as any money Tony left her. And with a child to raise, that was bad news. Charlie had no idea how she felt about him sending the father of her child down, triggering the repossession of her house. But he couldn’t show any sympathy, he had to do it. The word on the grapevine was that she was devastated, not only that Nick had been sent down, leaving her alone with a child to bring up, but also because of her bad luck with men. The exact words he heard relayed:
I really know how to pick ’em…

But Charlie felt he had no choice in either situation. He did what he felt was right, regardless of the consequences.

‘You did do the right thing,
re,’
Tony reassured him. He was sitting next to him on the park bench at Tally Ho Corner, wearing both a black trench coat, and a solemn expression on his face. His fingers were interlocked and resting on his knees.

‘I hope so, Tone,’ Charlie replied, and smiled wryly.

‘Trust me.’

And Charlie did.

‘It was a good plan we came up with in the end wasn’t it?’ Charlie stated.

‘Yeah. We nailed that prick good!’

Charlie then remembered something about the court case that brought a smile to his face and he laughed. ‘It was well funny watching XR2 coming out of court and Taki’s mum running up to him and slapping him, then watching the expression on his face when Nick Black’s mum and your mum queued up behind her, ready to give him some treatment as well.’ Charlie smiled broadly to himself as he recollected.
‘Nice…’

But, Tony wasn’t smiling. ‘Listen,
re,’
he said, staring straight ahead, that low key look still on his face. ‘You’re not gonna see much of me any more. Okay?’

Charlie felt his face frown in confusion. ‘Why not, Tone?’

‘I’m in a horrible place,
re
. And if you can contact me, it means you’re in this place too, and I need you out of here, okay? You gotta stop feeling bad. When you’re depressed, when you’re paranoid, doors in here open and the other fuckers here can jump in.’ Charlie immediately thought of the Old Witch and he shivered. ‘You gotta be happy,
re
. And you gotta keep laying off the
skata
. You done well so far, keep it going ’cos that shit makes you paranoid, and that’s when the bad ones get to you. I’ll do my best fight ’em off, but I can’t always be there…

Besides, I can’t have you feeling like that because Maria needs you.’

Charlie turned to face him, but Tony was still facing forwards. ‘How do you mean?’

‘I trust you,
re,’
Tony replied. ‘You’re the only one I do trust. You gotta look after her. You gotta do right by her. Okay?’

‘I hear you, Tone. But…’

‘What?’

‘She hates me.’

‘You gotta set things straight. No pussyfooting around, tell her what’s what. Just say to her… say to her: ‘fairy cakes.’

‘Fairy…
Fairy cakes?’
Charlie exclaimed, not believing such a thing could ever be associated with Tony Savva.

‘Yeah, fairy cakes,’ Tony replied, in a serious voice. ‘Don’t think I’ve gone
pushti, re
!’

‘All right, all right, Tone,’ Charlie reassured him. ‘I ain’t.’

‘Good. Now, say that to her. I trust you, man. I know I can rely on you. But, you gotta straighten up. Sort yourself out.’

Charlie nodded positively. ‘I will, Tone.’

Tony nodded, turned and looked at Charlie, and gave him a faint smile. ‘And don’t worry; the bed next to mine in here is reserved for XR2. He’s on his way, believe me…’

Charlie returned the smile and Tony nodded again, his eyes still blank and distant.

He got to his feet. ‘I’ll see you later, Charlie. Now go and help Maria. But, no fucking funny business! At least when I ain’t there to see…’

He then turned and walked slowly away. Charlie watched him as he took a left, entered the pub, and disappeared.

How fitting,
Charlie thought to himself and chuckled, just as a shiver raced up his spine. He looked away to see a teenage couple walking hand in hand along the street—young, happy, innocent; oblivious to the pain and suffering of real life; yet to experience its pitfalls and heartaches. He sighed.

I trust you, man. I know I can rely on you. But, you gotta straighten up. Sort yourself out,
he heard Tony say in his mind.

He nodded his head in response.

He agreed one hundred percent.

*****

‘I can feel a lift in my soul,’ Charlie said. ‘Feels great as well. Like some kind of natural drug. Better than that other crap…’

‘You’ve done very well, Charlie,’ Snow White replied, making him smile. ‘You can be proud of yourself.’

‘So, where have you been?’ Charlie asked her, glad to hear her voice after so long. ‘I’ve been stuck with the Old Witch for ages.’

‘There was a storm surrounding the island. Whenever darkness covers everything like that, then the dark ones are free to do as they please, and we’re stuck here with nothing to do but play dominoes, bored out of our minds!’ She chuckled as she spoke.

Charlie now felt he understood what Tony meant when he talked about feeling happy, and Snow White’s words reinforced this. The darkness was something inside of himself, something in his soul. If darkness formed there, then the dark natured souls in and around him could fester, grow strong, feed off his energy like parasites and run amok inside his head, squeezing out the goodness such as Snow White. But, thankfully, all the shit festering inside him looked to have finally passed, he wasn’t scared or paranoid any longer, and he was off the drugs once and for all.

Everything was set straight and the souls were at peace.

‘I think I understand,’ Charlie said to her. ‘It’s been a horrible situation.’

‘I know Charlie. I was there for every step of it. You may not have seen me, but I was there. I felt your pain.
And
the pain of your friends.’

Charlie nodded his head, and smiled again, glad Snow White was back. ‘I think it’s time to go and see Maria,’ he then told her. ‘I promised Tony.’

‘Yes,’ Snow White replied. ‘I think you should.’

*****

Charlie walked up to the front door of Maria’s mum’s house, butterflies fluttering inside his stomach. He wanted this to go well and knew there was a good chance it wouldn’t.

He took in a deep breath before pushing the doorbell, practicing in his mind exactly what he was going to say and how he was going to deliver it. After a while, the door opened and his heart leaped up into his mouth. He felt his whole body freeze in an instant, but in the same amount of time, it melted once he laid eyes on Maria. She stood in the doorway, tiredness stamped into her flawless features and suddenly Charlie felt regret stab him in the heart.

She’s had it bad and she doesn’t deserve it,
he thought bitterly to himself.

‘Hello, Charlie,’ she said, and gave him a thin smile that quickly melted into nothing.

Charlie took a deep breath. ‘I just wanted to tell you that I beat up Mario because he treated you like no human being should ever treat another human being. I did what I had to with Nick because the people he killed deserved justice, including your brother who he tricked into taking his own life.
Tricked
me
into tricking
him
to take his own life.
You’ve had some shitty luck with men. I know that. I’ve seen it. But, don’t let it put you off us forever. We’re not all scum. Some of us still have values, believe it or not…’ He trailed off, and then sighed. ‘Tony asked me to say something to you. Does ‘fairy cakes’ mean anything to you?’

Charlie watched her eagerly, saw the look of shock that sprang onto her face, then the tear that welled in her eye and subsequently streamed down her cheek.