The Thirty-ninth Week
Monday 26 November — Sunday 2 December 1984
The Mechanic drives to his mother’s house at Wetherby. He has come to say goodbye. Not see you later. Hegets out —
Drum roll –
Here come the dogs. Down the drive. Tongues out and tails up. Fuck, he missed them. Missed his dogs. Dog might not stab you in the back. But dog could still break your heart. He knows that now. The dog loves you, and you love the dog –
Breaks your bloody heart —
The Mechanic knows that now. Now it’s too late.
He looks up from the dogs. He sees his mother in the doorway. He stands up —
She shuts the door. She turns the key. She draws the curtains —
It is midday. Noon. November 1984.
The Mechanic puts the dogs in the back of the Fiesta. He drives up to the Dolby Forest with them. They get out. They walk through the forest to the place —
The Mechanic kisses the dogs. The Mechanic shoots the dogs.
He digs two pits near an old badger sett and buries them next to Dixon —
Their scents confused. Their bones mixed.
Stay. Fucking. Free –
Free of everything and everyone. Their scent and their bones.
Terry Winters had his head against the window. Terry stared down at the streets below. He didn’t know if it was dusk or dawn any more. He’d not been to bed in over two days. He ate only aspirins. He drank only coffee. High Court orders had been served on Paul and Dick as they left Congress House in London last night. The bailiff had thrown the orders into their car. Dick had thrown them back out. Left the papers to scatter into the night. But the orders had been served. The orders effected. Paul and Dick phoned Terry from London. Click-click. Paul and Dick told Terry exactly what they thought of him. Told him again and again. The orders meant their funds had been found in Switzerland and Luxembourg. The orders meant their funds would be frozen –
Five million in Luxembourg. Five hundred thousand in Switzerland –
Everything undone.
Terry had to get to the money. Terry had to get to it as fast as he could. Terry knew he could engineer the release of the money in the Luxembourg courts; that the orders were not valid outside the UK. Terry knew then he could move it –
If he could get there and get there in time.
Terry picked up the phone. Click-click. Terry phoned round airlines and airports. Click-click. Terry phoned the local owners of private aircraft and airstrips. Click-click. Terry chartered a plane. The plane would cost twelve thousand pounds. Terry said yes, he’d pay cash.
Terry phoned Mike Sullivan. Click-click. Terry told him to pack his bags –
To meet him at Leeds-Bradford airport.
Terry drove home fast. Terry had to pack quick. Terry had to pack cash –
The President was on the radio. The President talked of their debts to the dead.
Terry went up his drive. Terry went into his house. Terry went into his pantry. The tins were still there. The tins full of money. Terry emptied all the tins into one big black bin-liner. Terry thought that was enough. Terry left the suitcases alone in the loft. Terry looked at the clock on the wall. Terry piled the empty tins back up in the pantry. Terry walked out of the front door of his house with the big black bin-liner in his hand –
Terry stopped dead in the drive. Terry dropped the bin-liner onto the ground.
The President was standing at the end of the drive with Len.
Terry Winters said, ‘I can explain.’
The President shook his head. The President nodded to Len –
Len walked up the drive. Len picked up the bin-liner. Len opened the bin-liner.
Terry said again, ‘I can explain.’
The President shook his head again. Len took hold of Terry by his arm –
They took Terry with them. They took Terry in –
They tied Terry to a table. Told Terry to take his time. Take this time to think.