to Maria.
‘You’re tired of me.’ Maria smiles. ‘Admit it. You are, aren’t you?’
Fucked if I’m getting into this juvenile shit again. ‘No.’
‘No?’ Maria says. ‘Is that the best you can come with?’
‘What do you want me to come up with? That everything’s hunky-dory? Is that what you want to hear, Maria? I can say whatever you want, or I can tell you I know crap when I hear it. Woman accuses man of what she herself feels. ‘You’re tired of me. Admit it.’
‘I can’t do this, Ructions.’ Maria starts putting on her clothes.
‘Where are you going?’ Ructions asks.
‘Out.’
FOUR
Ructions removes his yellow hard hat and rubs his hair as if to shake out dandruff. How the hell do workmen wear this crown of thorns from morning to night? And this hi-vis jacket … it’s like a second-hand shroud.
Panzer doesn’t seem to have a problem with his disguise. He adjusts the mirror of the open-back jeep and squints intently at the street behind him. A small dry wheeze is followed by a prolonged bout of coughing. ‘I’m … out of puff,’ he rasps.
Ructions stares. Sounds to me like you’re out of time.
Panzer recovers. ‘What happened between Eleanor and what’s his name?’
‘You mean her husband? Frank?’
‘Yeah, him.’
‘She caught Frank banging his secretary.’
‘That wouldn’t have helped.’
‘No.’
There is a mischievous grin on Panzer’s face. ‘She must be some ride, all the same.’
Ructions sighs. ‘She’s not a ride.’
Panzer sniggers. ‘You’re riding her, but it’s only business, isn’t it?’
Ructions does not respond.
Panzer’s mood changes. ‘Are you sure she’ll be sound if the cops lean on her?’
‘She’ll hold up.’
Ructions’ mobile phone rings. He looks at the number. It’s Maria. He turns it off.
‘You can’t be certain,’ Panzer says.
‘Certain about what?’
‘About the bold Eleanor holding up.’
‘I’m telling you, she’ll be fine.’
‘You say that, but it isn’t going in here.’ Panzer taps his temple.
‘She has to be tight.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘Because she’s supplied me with a full rundown of the security system, the rotas, the security guards, the staff levels and the exact amount of money that’s in the bank. If that doesn’t make her a player—’
‘Jesus Aloysius Christ! Will you shake your fucking head, man,’ Panzer says dismissively. Clicking his fingers, he adds, ‘The cops wouldn’t give two fucks about any of that.’ He starts coughing again. ‘To get to us,’ he catches phlegm in his handkerchief, ‘they’d dig up Marlon Brando to make her an offer she couldn’t refuse.’
Ructions is alarmed at Panzer’s deterioration. ‘Good God, boss, you look like a corpse that’s been sent back amongst the living on weekend parole! Are you all right?’
‘Thanks. That’s cheered me up.’
‘I didn’t mean—’
Panzer points a finger. ‘Nothing you’re saying makes Her Ladyship any less of a potential problem.’
‘But how? What would she tell them? I’m the only person she knows. It’ll be her word against mine.’
Panzer taps the steering wheel with a pen. ‘And a jury would take your word against hers, would they? They’d think you a more upright citizen than the deputy bank manager’s wife, would they?’ Panzer opens the glove compartment and throws in the pen. ‘If she fingers you, she fingers us.’
‘She won’t finger anybody.’
‘Why not? What makes you so sure?’
‘You don’t want to get it, do you?’
‘I fucking do want to get it. Fuck! I want to get it big time, but you’re not convincing me.’
Ructions runs his hand across his forehead. From experience he knows that the pistons in Panzer’s mind can sometimes turn very slowly. ‘She’s not on the bank’s payroll, so why should she come up on the cops’ radar?’
Panzer is still dubious. She’s on your radar, Romeo, because you’re letting your dick rule your brain. Panzer rolls down the window and pretends to adjust the side mirror. He turns his face away from Ructions because he knows his protégé will not like his next proposal. ‘When this job is put to bed—’
Ructions has a good idea what’s coming next. ‘Uh-huh?’
‘Why don’t we …?’
‘What?’
‘You know.’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘Course you do.’
‘Clip her? You want her clipped?’
Panzer turns towards Ructions. ‘Yeah, I do. Fuck her!’ he rasps. ‘She’s a loose end and we don’t do loose ends. Have you forgotten the golden rule? Have you?’
Be calm, don’t let him rile you. ‘How do we know she hasn’t a diary somewhere?’ Ructions says. ‘Or a recording of her handing me over the bank details? How do you know she’s not watching us right now – maybe even filming us?’ For a split second Ructions thinks he sees alarm in Panzer’s eyes. ‘Listen, Panzer, my judgement has always been good, hasn’t it? I’ve never, in all the years we’ve been together, screwed up.’ Ructions puts up one finger. ‘Not once.’
‘I can’t argue with that.’
‘I’m not going to screw up on this one either. If I even get a whimper that she’s going to give us grief, I’ll put her to sleep myself. I will. No fuckin’ sweat. But I’m telling you, she’s up for this job.’
Panzer stares at Ructions, lips pursed. He doesn’t say it, but he’s thinking it: You’d better be right, my friend. But now it’s time for a change of tack; now it’s time to throw the dog
