It was finding out about his daughters that had tipped him over the edge this time. Declan had heard the rumours about them – especially Assumpta. More than a few people had seen fit to put him wise about his nieces and their lifestyles. The men who had approached him had been sensible enough to know that if Patrick ever got wind of his daughters’ antics there would be hell to pay, and they had wanted Patrick to curb his girls before something like this happened. Declan had listened to the gossip, but he had no intention of telling his brother anything.
Carmel hadn’t connected with her girls once they had grown up. In Declan’s opinion, she was incapable of any real connection with anybody – she was too selfish, too self-absorbed. As long as the girls were well dressed, and their make-up was perfect, she didn’t care about anything else. It wasn’t that she didn’t love them in her own way, it was more down to Carmel’s inability to show interest in anyone other than herself. He had never liked her, but he had to admit she did do her best for Patrick. He believed that, in her own way, she loved him – at least as much as she was capable of loving anyone other than herself.
His brother was talking to himself and some of his mutterings were sending chills through Declan’s body.
‘I know that we have got to take Ozzy Harper out, Declan. We’ll go over to his house tonight, and just shoot him, end of. Quick, clean and neat. It will send a message to everyone then. All the people who have been running me down, slagging me off, taking me for a cunt, will know that they are living on borrowed fucking time. They’ll realise that, eventually, I will get round to them as well – and I will do just that, Declan. I swear on our mother’s fucking grave. I will take them out, each and every one.’
Patrick was deadly serious, and Declan was appalled. He smiled at his brother, aware that he had to talk him out of this lunacy. It was getting far too fucking dangerous. He was actually contemplating killing a man they had known all their lives, who was a real friend, a decent bloke – and a hard man in his own right.
‘I think Ozzy is away, Patrick. I heard he was in Spain. He has a gaff out there, remember? In Marbella. We’ve stayed there many times.’
Patrick’s eyes were darting everywhere. Declan knew his brother was now wondering if he could be trusted. Patrick’s paranoia was getting worse by the minute. He had to sort this out before Patrick really went postal. Imagine if Patrick had decided to kill someone, and no one was with him to talk him out of it! It could literally cause fucking murders. Or what if his brother took against Carmel or his girls again? He was more than capable of killing them – he had killed before, after all. Only then, he had planned it out beforehand, and it had been nothing more than a means to an end. Now it was just an idea that popped into his head, and he felt honour bound to see it through to the bitter end.
Patrick was confused. ‘Are you sure that Ozzy is away, Declan?’
Declan nodded. He glanced around his brother’s office, saw that the door was closed and the French windows locked tight. He knew Carmel and the girls were upstairs, prisoners in their own home.
‘Why don’t we go and meet Michael? He will know for definite where Ozzy is. That way we can be sure, can’t we? Michael always keeps tabs on everyone, it’s in his nature.’
Declan picked up the phone on the desk casually, and rang Michael’s house. He explained quickly and loudly that Patrick wanted to kill Ozzy, but no one was sure if he was in Spain at the moment, so could Michael please meet them at their old offices at the scrapyard. That way they could talk it over together, and plan what they were going to do about it. The scrapyard was the best place because, as Patrick said, all their other offices were bugged.
At the other end of the line, Michael listened to Declan quietly. He could hear the desperation in his voice, and understood that Patrick was obviously completely out of control now.
He kissed Josephine gently on the lips and left her curled up on the sofa watching TV. ‘I won’t be long, darling. I have to pop out for a while.’
Josephine was used to her husband’s odd hours. She smiled her goodbyes. ‘See you later, Michael. Try not to be gone all night.’
He didn’t answer her.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Patrick and Declan arrived at the scrapyard and, as expected, Michael was already there. The lights were on in the Portakabin that passed for office space, and Declan noticed that the night watchman and his Doberman were gone. He understood the significance of that. He could not change anything that was going to happen. It had gone too far now.
Patrick didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, however, and he walked quickly towards the offices.
Declan followed his brother slowly into the Portakabin, sorry that it had to come to this, but knowing that there was nothing else to do now. Patrick was a liability, and that could not be tolerated.
Chapter Forty