I paused to take another sip of water.
‘I do think there was a car crash and someone’s face got mashed up a bit, but I don’t think Margot died. But I could be wrong. The important thing is that Margot and Sally-cum-Lillian helped Tam set up this honey-trap. But they weren’t alone. Arthur Parks was involved. He was directing customers and a couple of his better girls to the operation. I started off thinking that once Tam and Lillian had got what they wanted out of the operation, Arthur Parks was surplus to requirements, so they killed him. But that doesn’t fit with the way he died. Parks was killed by someone who wanted information out of him. It wasn’t a quick death. My thinking is that it was either Tam’s new business partners or the highly professional mob who thought they’d got him that night above the Highlander. Ronnie Smails got his from the same killer as Arthur Parks.’
‘Was Smails tortured?’ asked Jonny.
‘No. He wasn’t. And that doesn’t quite fit. Yet.’
‘So who is this highly professional outfit you keep banging on about?’ Sneddon lit a cigarette and looked at me coldly. Sceptically, I thought.
‘This is where it gets all very political. And why you guys have been getting the treatment.’ I took another slug of water. My head was starting to hurt again and everything still felt unreal, as if I had been detached from myself and was hearing my own words as if they were someone else’s. ‘You see, I know where these stolen guns are heading. I don’t know when, but I know how and can hazard a guess at which ship they’ll be on. I have this friend who said she was fed up with Glasgow and the way no one can see past the city boundaries. Well, Tam McGahern did. He served in the Middle East and he saw decades of strife ahead and the opportunities that that strife offered. Tam was ambitious, but every time he tried to fulfil his ambitions he ended on a collision course with the Three Kings. So he decided to go around you. Beyond your horizons. Those robbed guns will soon be on their way to Aqaba in Jordan and my guess is from there straight into the hands of Arab insurgents.’
I gave them a moment to absorb what I’d been telling them.
‘I reckon Tam’s been at it for over a year,’ I continued. ‘He started off with ex-army surplus, old and decommissioned guns. But the Arabs are up against one of the best equipped and most disciplined armies in the world. So Tam saw the opportunity to strike it rich. One big deal to get him a new face and a life in a new country. The States. So he planned this robbery with Jackie Gillespie and roped in the extra skills and finance he needed through blackmail. I would reckon that there’s at least one British Army top-brass type on the list.’
‘This all sounds very fucking elaborate,’ said Sneddon. ‘A bit too ambitious for a couple of wee Taig shites. No offence, Murphy.’
Hammer Murphy didn’t reply but continued to gaze his murderous hate at Sneddon. At everybody.
‘ Very ambitious,’ I continued. ‘These stolen weapons aren’t just any old guns. I talked to an army pal of mine; he told me they were commissioned last year to be the army’s new small-arm. The Sterling-Patchett L2A1 submachine gun, delivering five hundred and fifty rounds per minute. The Arabs are desperate to get their hands on this kind of stuff. Tam has struck gold, but the reason he needed a new face and a new start is he knew that the Israelis were already onto him and would never let go until they got him. That’s the professional mob, Mr Sneddon. Mossad, if I’m not mistaken. Which is why you three are up to your ears in shite. The City of Glasgow Police will be under enormous pressure to clear all of this up. How much they know about the destination of guns or the involvement of the Israelis, I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure they will have guessed that the guns are headed for the Middle East.’
I paused. My head was pounding again and I felt sick. I took some more water. I noticed that everybody was looking at Jonny Cohen.
‘What?’ he said, his face clouding with anger and disbelief. ‘You think because I’m a Jew I’ve got something to do with this? Just because Murphy here is a fucking spudmuncher doesn’t mean he’s gun-running for the IRA.’
‘Take it easy, Jonny,’ I said, and then turned to the others. ‘Jonny’s right. Mossad would only use its own operatives.’
‘And one of them is the guy you ran into in Perth?’ asked Sneddon.
‘Yeah. Called himself Powell. Looked like Fred MacMurray. He and his cronies have been all over this from the start. It was they who killed Frankie McGahern, thinking it was Tam. But they’re not that easily fooled, so they spirited Wilma away and found out from her they’d got the wrong McGahern.’
‘So you’re saying they tortured and killed Parky?’ asked Sneddon.
‘Maybe. But I think there’s something more to that. There’s a Dutchman around. Big guy, rich. I reckon he’s brokered the sale of the guns.’
‘McGahern’s trips to Amsterdam?’ asked Sneddon.
‘That’s my guess.’
‘Well,’ said Murphy. ‘Those kyke bastards have stirred up all kinds of shite for us. I say we get even.’
I laughed at Murphy and he reminded me with a threatening look that he was unused to the experience. ‘You don’t understand, do you?’ I said. ‘Just eight years ago there were six million dead Jews across Europe. Maybe more. Millions of others left homeless or totally fucked up. All the Jews know now is that a very serious and nearly successful attempt was made to wipe them off the face of the earth. Now, call them touchy, but they seem to have gotten a little pissed about it all. Get this into your head, Mr Murphy… all of you… the people you are talking about going up against are the toughest, hardest, deadliest, most unforgiving bastards that have ever walked the earth. I don’t know what Mossad’s motto is, but I can have a guess: nobody fucks with the Jews any more.’
‘So what do we do?’
‘There are three ships that McGahern has been using to ship weapons out to Jordan. All done through John Andrews’s shipping company. All I need to find out is when they’re planning to move the guns.’
‘Then what?’ asked Jonny Cohen.
‘One of two things. We can tip off the cops so they capture McGahern and company in the act, or you combine all of your forces and hit McGahern together. Then we dump the guns and tell the cops where to find them. My ideal solution would be to get in touch with the Mossad boys. They’re more than capable of taking it from there. Unfortunately they seem to have forgotten to put their number in the ’phone directory.’
‘Fucking easy choice,’ said Murphy. ‘We tell the coppers and they take all the fucking risks. And they’ll maybes start leaving us alone.’
‘That would be ideal… but, like I said, I’ve a funny feeling that McGahern’s got a copper on the payroll. McGahern could be warned off and we’re back to square one.’
‘So a fucking bloodbath down at the docks is the way to go. That what you’re suggesting?’ asked Murphy.
‘Listen, the alternative is that you lose your crowns. This has been a four-sided game until now: your three outfits and the police. And let’s be honest boys, you’ve all got at least a couple of coppers each in your pockets. But Tam McGahern’s raised the stakes, and the temperature. Because of these guns going missing, Glasgow will be crawling with Ministry of Defence types, Special Branch and Military Intelligence. Added to them there’s a Mossad assassination squad out there and, I’m guessing, a few Arabs over here to keep tabs on the deal.’
I leaned back in the chair. My head still swam. I closed my eyes and took another long drink of water.
‘The first thing we’ve got to do is find Jackie Gillespie. One of the robbers is supposed to be wounded and it’s my guess it’s Gillespie.’
‘Why?’ asked Jonny.
‘Because I’ll bet he wasn’t wounded by an army bullet. I’ve seen the way Tam and Lillian work. They don’t want partners. Leaving Gillespie dead at the scene would have worked for them. No one associates Gillespie with the McGaherns, but everyone knows that he’s worked for each of you at one time or another.’