Chapter 5

The beginning of the end.

The two gorillas and my friend left the office. They went over to the Merc, opened the cars boot and dragged a terrified looking Curtis out of it.

My friends had come up with what I thought was a pretty strange plan on how to get the information we wanted out of Curtis. But I should imagine that the experts at the Met, at one time or another during their lives, had questioned them all; so those experts had effectively trained them. Only normally they'd have been on the receiving end of the questions.

"Okay, arsehole, where is he?" Gorilla one demanded.

"Who? I don't know who you're looking for," Curtis blurted out.

I could see that the guy was shaking with fear. He didn't know who these guys were, but one look at them told him they were in a different league to any criminals he'd mixed with in the past.

My friend, who had had his back to Curtis, turned now and looked him in the eye.

"Where is Johnny Carpenter?" my friend said with real venom in his voice.

Curtis was physically taken aback by the question. He'd obviously expected that he was going to be asked about Simmons. But these guys were asking him about me. A look of complete confusion came over his face.

"John Carpenter? I haven't seen him since his trial!" Curtis eventually lied.

I don't think Curtis even knew where the blow came from. I only just caught sight of gorilla two's quick movement. Curtis doubled up on the floor, the breath knocked out of him by the punch to his stomach.

"Don't you fucking lie to the boss!" Gorilla one said, "Carpenter was at your office the other day. What did he want?"

Curtis, who had been staring at the size nine boots that were only a couple of inches from his face, looked up at the Gorilla.

"I dun'no what he wanted. I didn't speak to him."

"Then why was he there?" the boss asked.

"I dun'no, I told you. He's probably after me because I grassed him up in court."

"No fucking chance," gorilla one said, dragging Curtis from the floor by his lapels. "You'd be floating in that bleedin' river by now, if Johnny Carpenter was after your blood. Now tell us what did Carpenter want with a little shit like you?"

The plan here was for Curtis to get the idea that these guys weren't looking for Simmons at all. If he thought that they were looking for me, Curtis might be more likely to let slip where Simmons could be found and get himself out of the obvious jam he found himself in.

"I don't know! I told you, I just gave evidence against him in court a few years ago. I figured the guy was gonna work me over. I got out of there as quickly as I could. I ain't seen the bugger since."

"Bollocks. If Johnny Carpenter were really after you, you wouldn't be alive for us to talk to. Johnny Carpenter doesn't play games. So what did he want you to do for him and where has he gone now?" the boss asked the now quivering Curtis.

"I told you, I never spoke to him. I fink 'e was trying to put the fright-ners on me."

"Why would he want to do that?" the boss asked.

"I'm not sure. Perhaps he's looking for his missis. She ran off on him, you know!"

"Tell me more. If he's looking for her, then that's probably where we'll find him. But why would he think you knew where his missis was anyway?"

"I dun'no where she is. I fink she's shacked up with the husband of the woman Carpenter knocked off. That's all I know," Curtis gasped out.

Curtis was sounding even more desperate now. As gorilla two had produced a jemmy from somewhere and was taping it against the palm of his hand. Curtis was eyeing the thing thoughtfully.

"I think he knows a lot more than he's telling us, boss," gorilla number two said. "Let me teach him a little respect."

"What? Like the last time? That little shit was too busted up to say much at all once you'd finished with him," gorilla one commented.

"Ah, I got carried away. I'll only break a few bones 'ere and there. E'll still be able to talk. Bring 'im over 'ere where I got some room."

"No, look, I don't know nothing, I promise." Curtis almost screamed, he was in panic by then.

"Don't fucking lie to me, kid!" the boss said in a very calm but firm voice. "You obviously know about Carpenter's wife and who she's shacked up with. Now that ain't exactly common knowledge so tell me how the hell you know about it, or you and that fucking car of yours is gonna rot away in the bottom of that dock out there. No cunt will ever find you down there."

I really thought Curtis's eyes were going to pop out of his head as he looked at each of the three men in turn and then he just fainted.

They let him fall to the floor but quite gently. Then whilst two gorillas stood over him, the boss came and joined me in the office.

"Every time the little shit opens his mouth, he tells us a little bit more," the boss said to me. "By the time we get out of here tonight we're going to know everything he does. I think it's best we try to find out where Simmons is holed up first and then we'll see what he says about your frame up. Sound good to you?"

"I'm surprised you've only hit him once!" I commented.

"Ah, kicking the shit out of them is quite satisfying, but fear is a far more useful tool. Once you start knocking them about, there's a chance that you do the buggers a serious injury then they go unconscious on you and you're fucked. Bernie only gave him one little tap and the rest is down to the little shit's imagination."

The boss picked up a chair that was in the office and carried it back out to where Curtis was laying. The two gorillas picked up Curtis and sat him in the chair; then one of them slapped him around the face a couple of times. Curtis opened his eyes and looked around as if he didn't know where he was, then suddenly it dawned on him he was still in his worst nightmare. Just for a moment I thought he was going to try to make a run for it, then he seemed to change his mind.

"Right, you were telling me about this guy that Carpenter's old lady is shacked up with. Where can I find him?" the Boss demanded menacingly.

"Honest, I don't know. Down near Southampton somewhere, I think."

"And what makes you say that?" the boss asked in a much more gentle tone of voice.

I got the idea of what he was up too, when Curtis was answering his questions the boss sounded quite amicable. If Curtis didn't come up with the answers the Boss and the two gorillas sounded quite terrifying.

Curtis didn't answer for a few seconds; I believe he was thinking whether he dared lie to this man. Then after looking at the two gorillas again he explained.

"Every so often Simmons calls me and asks me to steal a car for him. I don't think he's got the guts to nick one for himself. I nick one from in town somewhere and then leave it in a car park down in Southampton for him to collect."

"What does he want stolen cars for?"