Michael Flynn looked Declan Costello straight in the eyes, and Declan knew that whatever had happened with this Steven Golding, Michael had buried a long time ago.
Michael lit another cigarette, and he drew on it deeply. He needed to calm himself down, needed to remind himself that he had come a long way since those days. He was at the top of his game, and there was no one with the strength to challenge his position.
‘Steven Golding was one of the first jobs that your brother ever gave to me. Well not him, but his father. His father was Daniel Golding. Ringing any bells now, is it?’
Declan nodded; it had all just slipped into place. ‘That was you? Fucking hell. I knew Patrick had something to do with it, but you’d only just come onboard. I never thought you’d be involved.’
Michael nodded. ‘Patrick told me to go to an address in South London and burn the house down. It was about a debt he was owed. He said that if the house was torched, the insurance would pay out and everything would be hunky-dory. I did what he asked of me. I never knew there was anyone in there – I had been told it was an empty property. But, as I found out afterwards, it wasn’t empty. Daniel Golding, his wife, and his two young daughters were in there. Steven survived because he was staying the night at a friend’s. I only realised later that Patrick had known all along that the house wasn’t empty – he had planned for it to go down that way.’
Declan Costello was looking at Michael as if he was a stranger, as if he was someone who had gate-crashed his way into his home.
‘I never knew. I never even dreamt that it might have anything to do with you. Everyone was up in arms about it – those girls were only twelve and fourteen years old. And it was you? You who poured the petrol through the letter box and burned them to death in their beds?’
Declan was outraged, absolutely disgusted. He was remembering the shock waves the deaths had sent through their community. Daniel Golding had owed money to everyone – like any compulsive gambler he had no real care about borrowing from all and sundry; he believed he could win anything he borrowed back. But no one he owed money to would have taken it out on his family, that just wasn’t done. Daniel deserved whatever he might get, but his kids and wife were sacrosanct.
Michael Flynn grabbed hold of Declan’s shirt front, dragging him roughly towards him and, looking into his face, Michael said furiously, ‘I did what your fucking brother told me to do! I thought the house was fucking empty. Patrick had assured me of that. Afterwards, do you know what he said? He said, “Typical fucking Danny Golding. Always in the wrong place at the wrong time.”’
Declan pulled himself away from Michael’s grip. ‘I’m sorry, Michael, I know that my brother was a fucking looney. Why do you think I stepped back after we took Patrick out? I loved him as my brother, but I knew that he needed to be culled, like a fucking wild animal. Now you’ve told me, I can see it perfectly. You were a young lad, taking his word at face value, and that would have appealed to him. The knowledge that you were unaware of the truth would have appealed to him.’
Michael laughed nastily. ‘I swallowed it, I really believed that it was an accident at first, and I put it out of my mind. I convinced myself that it wasn’t my fault. And do you know what, Declan? It wasn’t my fault. I did what Patrick told me to do. When it went fucking pear-shaped, he stood by me and I appreciated that. But, years later, when I really knew him, I realised he was too shrewd not to have known that the house wouldn’t be empty.’
Declan Costello poured them both more whisky. Michael took his drink gratefully.
‘That was my brother Patrick all over, Michael. I know what he was capable of. That night, when we took him out, deep down I didn’t feel guilty about it. I was relieved – so relieved to know that he was gone at last, and that I didn’t have to police him any more. But, that aside, why would this Mrs Singh warn you about Steven Golding?’
Michael Flynn looked at Declan warily. He had just told this man the biggest secret of his life. The biggest shame of his life. But he trusted him.
‘Mrs Singh saw me that night. I bumped into her husband outside their shop, and she came out to talk to me. She knew by then that I was working for your brother – she even tried to warn me off! She told me that night to get home and have a bath because I stank of petrol. Of course she didn’t know why then but, as the Golding family only lived a few streets away, it wasn’t long before she did the sums. I knew I could trust her. I never told Patrick about her – I knew that he would have seen her as a threat to him, to his world. It never occurred to him that some people might just be naturally loyal.’
Declan laughed then. ‘My brother never trusted the concept of loyalty, Michael, that was his problem.’
Michael sighed heavily. ‘I told you all this because you needed to know. But I can only tell myself that I did what I was told to do.’