MAURICE DICKOV SIGHS HEAVILY and asks William Watt, ‘What do you think you are doing?’
‘I’m trying to speed things up,’ Watt says sheepishly. ‘DON’T.’
Watt shakes his head and speaks softly, ‘Maurice, when I paid for my wife, I didn’t expect–’
‘Did you think I would go there myself?’ Dickov bares his teeth in a smile. ‘Did you?’
Watt doesn’t answer. Scout seems to be giggling and trying to hide it. Shifty is ablank. It’s as if he isn’t there.
Maurice comes around the desk to Watt, who cowers.
‘William, we are both businessmen. We have all chosen the wrong men to work for us at one time or other. It is not easy to find a man for a task like that. What can I say? I chose the wrong man for the job.’
It sounds so reasonable, Watt doesn’t know what to say.
Maurice continues, his hands out, ‘I have asked you before: let me fix this. You said yes. Now you’re interfering with our plans. You have been recompensed with the land deal, a big deal, and now–’ Dickov opens his embrace towards Manuel and looks disappointed–‘this.’
Watt tries to explain. ‘Maurice, it’s been over a year… it’s too long.’
Dickov glowers at the rug. He is actually furious now.
Dandy reads how angry Maurice is and it makes him nervous. Everyone is afraid of Dandy but Maurice Dickov is the problem. Dandy steps in to take over before something terrible happens. He comes around the desk and stands between them and Maurice’s wrath.
‘We’ve been chasing you two bastards a’ night.’
William Watt means to step forward to address his accusers but he is extraordinarily drunk and staggers about in a strange offbeat dance. The circle of men watch until he is still. Now he has blacked out again and forgets why he is dancing in front of men in a dark office.
Dickov raises his voice. ‘THIS IS DECIDED.’ This is rare. Everyone is scared now, except Watt because he’s blacked out and wouldn’t know trouble if it bit him on the arse.
Watt shrugs and steps back to Manuel’s side. That is a big mistake. It suggests an alliance.
Dandy watches Dickov carefully as Dickov tilts his head, a smile localised to one corner of his mouth.
Watt begins his defence. ‘The night fell away from us,’ he says. ‘But, Maurice, you must understand. I’ve been disgraced, my business–’
‘NA’B’DY GAES A FUCK, WILLIAM.’ Dickov’s accent is no longer affected émigré. It’s pure Shettleston. ‘You want people to think you’re a good guy. You want to think you’re a good guy. You think you can pay us to kill your wife and still you’re not responsible? You’re a fucking VUSHKA.’
Dickov has shocked himself by using a word of his baba’s. It is low Bulgarian for parasite. He stops. He breathes and says calmly, ‘The whole deal has been a mess, I admit. In part because you don’t even know who is in your house at night-time. But we are fixing this–’
Watt whines, ‘It’s taking so long.’
‘WE’RE CLEARING THIS UP AND YOU’RE PISSING ALL OVER IT. You’ve been with Scout to the cops. It’s decided.’
No one says anything for a moment. It is in the pause that Manuel steps forward and speaks to Maurice Dickov. His life has been a catalogue of impulsive errors but this is the biggest mistake he will ever make.
‘I’m going to hang?’ he slurs. ‘Just me, myself? Why wouldn’t I just tell them yous have give me the job?’
Maurice seems calm. He smiles pleasantly. He crosses his arms. ‘You let yourself go in that house, Peter, didn’t you? You did what ever little fancy came to mind. Now you pay. You hang. We will take your mother. We will rape and kill your mother.’
Manuel’s mouth falls open. He looks as if he might cry.
‘We will rape and stab her tits,’ says Maurice. ‘We will dump her fucked bleeding naked corpse in the front garden of your pitiful home. Your father will be found guilty of it.’ Manuel is afraid to breathe. Maurice hasn’t made the threat conditional yet and he makes Manuel wait. Then he leans in. ‘If you tell.’
Manuel knows Dickov means this. Dickov will find a man for the job, a man with a history of doing things like that, and he will pay him to indulge the worst of himself on Manuel’s mother, just as Manuel did his worst on Watt’s family.
Dandy McKay is watching this and listening as his world collapses. Dandy has done dark things, bad things. He justifies them through a complex, fragile theology. All of this is shattered by Maurice threatening to have someone’s mother raped and killed. Suddenly, unexpectedly, he sees that the Gordon Club will end soon. Dandy will lose a lot of money and status because of Peter Fucking Manuel.
Abruptly, Dandy punches Manuel hard on the side of his head. Manuel loses his footing. It wasn’t a very hard hit but he was off balance. He stumbles three steps and the circle of Scout and Shifty close in around him. Watt is left outside, looking away, confused and needing the toilet.
Manuel has his fists up but only to block. He knows he can’t hit back. He looks from Scout to Dickov to Shifty to Dandy. Only Scout, grinning and showing his raggedy teeth, meets his eye. Scout’s eyes say, Sorry, pal, but I’m at work.
Dandy punches Manuel again and again until he hits Manuel’s cheekbone at an awkward angle and splits the skin on his knuckle. Dandy shakes his hand and huffs. He’s angry about it.
Scout waves Dandy back, offering to take over, which is good of him because he’s got two shiners and a broken nose already.
Graciously, Dandy lets him.
Scout tips his head to ask if Manuel is ready?
Manuel is ready and drops his hands. Scout throws a punch in a wide arc, looking as if he will hit his face but actually aiming for his stomach. As the fist hits it winds Manuel and Scout laughs at his own joke. Manuel wasn’t ready for it. It knocks the breath from him, makes him stagger.
Scout giggles and, smack, hits Manuel on the side of the head, then on his ear. He short-jabs Manuel’s mouth and cuts the inside of his lip; blood bubbles up between Manuel’s teeth.
Scout maintains eye contact with Manuel while he hits him. They’re having a conversation–ready? Bam! Here comes another one. Crack. Over soon. Come on, pal. Here’s another. Not too bad.
Manuel knows who he is among. He has taken beatings all of his life and knows when it is worth fighting back. He has taken much worse than this, knows Scout is being measured. He is hurting Manuel but it’s really only symbolic.
‘Yes, darlink, but do be careful,’ Dickov admonishes gently. His eyes are on the carpet and the glass display cabinet. He doesn’t want his office smashed up.
‘Sure,’ grins Scout, panting a little. He looks at Manuel again, punching him on the side of the neck this time.