‘Just take it Deana. Your dad clearly needs you.’ Pushing the money into her hands, Luke went upstairs and came back down with the medication. ‘There are some other painkillers in there as well. Naproxen is good for pain. If and when you can, let me know how he is, yeah?’

Giving him a weak smile, Deana nodded. ‘I will Luke and thank you. I really appreciate it and so will Dad.’ Without thinking, she reached forward and kissed him on the cheek, making him blush. Then she turned and left to catch a taxi on the high street.

As she approached the pub, Deana felt nervous. Her father could already be dead. And if things had gone differently earlier, they could have all been dead. The very thought of it made her blood run cold. Deep down, she knew whoever had sent those men would be waiting to hear news of whether the job was done. Which meant someone could come back tonight, she thought to herself. Walking into the pub, she was surprised to see that everything looked normal. It was as though last night had never happened.

Maggie was behind the bar and Deana caught her eye. Whatever Dante and her mum had done, they had cleaned this place up to perfection. Heading upstairs, Maggie was hot on her heels and once inside the bedroom, Maggie shut the door. ‘Well? What happened?’

‘I’ve got these. This is a morphine patch and here’s some antibiotics. I’ll be getting more later but we have to wait for now. This place looks amazing. What about all of the blood on the carpet?’

‘What can I say? I’ve never cleaned carpets so quick in my life,’ she laughed.

Deana turned towards the bed where her dad lay. ‘How is he? I must confess I’ve feared the worst. Oh God Mum.’ Deana wrapped her arms around Maggie. ‘What if he had died?’

‘Well, he hasn’t, has he? Look. He’s pale and has a temperature, but he’s mumbling in his sleep. Let’s put this patch on and see if it helps. I’ve already started to spread the word that he’s ill, so if anyone asks, that’s the story. Just tell them we think it’s Covid. I’ve put an ice pack in a tea towel on his forehead to keep the temperature down. We need to get these pills inside him.’ Maggie looked at the antibiotics. ‘Fortunately, they are capsules, so we can take the powder out and just open his mouth and pour it in. Let’s try and sit him up a little bit to get some water inside him.’

Between them they managed to get some water and the medication inside of Alex and even though he was half-conscious, he seemed co-operative before falling back to sleep. ‘That’s the best we can do, love. Only time will tell now.’

‘Where is Dante?’ Deana asked, wondering how her brother had been dealing with it all.

‘Mr Cool as a Cucumber? He helped me and then went to school, keeping everything normal. Christ Deana, I don’t know if we’d have managed without his idea to put the bodies in the freezer! I thought we’d have to stage a break-in and take your dad to the hospital.’

‘Me too,’ Deana agreed. ‘What about the people who sent those gorillas? Won’t they be waiting for an outcome? Surely they will want to know if the job was finished. Maybe we should have gone through their pockets to find out who they were?’

Maggie wrung her hands nervously. She wasn’t sure if she should be telling Deana this but then again, what did it matter? They were all in this together now, after all. ‘When your dad did a job… in the old days.’ Hesitantly, she thought about her words. ‘Well, the word was to keep your head down or disappear for a few days after the hit. No contact so that no one could connect you to the person who’d been killed. That old plan will still be the same I presume, so that will give us a few days’ grace until we have time to think clearly. God, I’m exhausted.’ Maggie sat on the edge of the bed and sighed as tears rolled down her face.

‘Don’t, Mum, or you will start me off. We need to carry on as normal. And I know all about Dad’s past Mum, so don’t worry. He told me where he had hidden the rifle I used to kill that guy,’ Deana said, shaking slightly with shock.

‘You were so brave, Deana love! Me and Dante looked to see if there was anyone else waiting in the shadows, but there wasn’t even a car outside. They must have driven here, but I don’t know where they parked their car. It will have been a stolen one, so the police will probably find it once it’s reported missing.’ She stood up and rubbed her hands together. ‘Right, I’m going to freshen up this bedding up as best as I can. When you pick up the new medication later, will you get more bandages, too? We’re going to need some.’ Maggie pulled back the duvet and saw that Alex’s bandage was soaked with blood and it was seeping through into the sheets and possibly the mattress.

Leaving the room, Deana let out a huge sigh. She too felt exhausted. ‘What a bloody day,’ she muttered to herself. But then she thought of Luke and a smile spread across her face. Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad day after all, she mused to herself.

Days passed until a week had gone by. Luke had got them all the medication they needed and Alex had passed the worst. They had taken it in turns sitting with him through the night mopping his brow, but each day he had got stronger until slowly they could spoon soup into his mouth. And now he was sitting up in bed speaking coherently. Everyone had asked about him, including the police. And Luke had been better than his word and had sent a positive Covid test for them to use as proof of Alex’s continued absence.

They all felt like they were treading on eggshells, permanently lying to everyone, even more than they already were. Once Deana was alone with Alex, she mentioned the mobile phone Luke had told her about and told him about the part he had played in saving his life.

‘He’s a good kid Deana. I saved his life and he saved mine. We’re equal now. But we need to sort those bodies out,’ Alex remarked. ‘I’ve had an idea.’

‘Yeah, Mum’s already sorted a lot of that out. She had a couple of those suit covers in the wardrobe and after we put cling film over them, we managed to get both of them into one of those. We put them so far to the back of the freezer we nearly froze to death.’ She laughed, making Alex laugh too. ‘In the meantime, we have the brewery on our backs wanting to dig up half the beer garden to build a bike shed. All part of their “ditch the car, have a drink” promotion for the summer.’

‘Really?’ A flash of an idea passed through Alex’s brain. ‘They’re digging up the beer garden? That means they’ll have to lay cement, doesn’t it?’

‘Yeah, it’s going to be a pain in the arse. All that noise and builders, although Mum thinks it will bring in “more custom”,’ Deana mimicked as Maggie entered the room.

‘What are you two plotting?’ she laughed.

‘Deana was just telling me about the builders and the bike shed. It seems like God has sent us a winning hand – don’t you think?’ Alex smiled.

Following his train of thought, Maggie’s eyes lit up. ‘Oh my God Alex. Do you think we could get away with it? It would solve a problem. A really big problem.’

Deana looked from her dad to Maggie. ‘Anyone want to let me in on the secret?’

‘We’re going to bury one of the bodies under the bike shed,’ Alex whispered.

‘Yeah, but there are two bodies, Dad, so what about the other one? More to the point, those builders are going to lay the cement in daylight. It will be set by the time they leave. How are we going to put a body underneath it?’

‘Leave that to me and your mum. The second body, as you point out, well, we need him. We need to have a male body found in Kent to satisfy their boss’s curiosity. It’s going to be gruesome, because he can’t have any DNA.’

‘Oh my God!’ Maggie groaned. ‘I know what you’re saying Alex. You’re going to chop off his head and hands – no fingerprints, or dental records. Not even hair.’

‘While he is frozen solid, we can transport him elsewhere and dump him. At least that way there won’t be any blood trail.’ Maggie and Deana could see Alex’s mind working overtime. The horrendous idea made them feel sick inside.

‘Well, we need to get this ball rolling. First of all, I need to tell a very twitchy Mark that his buddy is feeling much better and has now tested negative. He’s been in every day asking about you. He really thinks a lot about you.’ Maggie smiled. ‘We’d better put a shirt on you to cover the bandage. It’s much better now, but if I tell him, the whole world will know.’

Alex rubbed his shoulder. ‘I need to take a look at this. Is there a big hole?’

Maggie’s face lit up. ‘Not any more. While you were unconscious, I got my needle out, then Dante glued it together. Quite surprisingly really, but it actually worked and it seems to be healing well.’ Pleased with her and Dante’s nursing skills, she smiled, although Alex winced inside.

‘Thank God for that.’ Alex laid his head back on his pillow. ‘I need to stop taking the medication now; I think it’s making me more light-headed and drugged up. I need my wits about me.’

Maggie unwrapped the bandage and waited as Alex slowly looked down at his wound. ‘My God, that’s amazing. In time, you will hardly notice it. Christ, I half expected you to have used pink cotton.’ He grinned.

‘No, Dante got some invisible thread and we used that. No wonder he’s doing great in his biology classes. I have to admit Alex, he’s been fantastic. You make sure you let him know that.’ After putting a clean bandage on his wound, Maggie put a clean shirt on him and made him look more respectable. ‘Right, I’m going down to let Mark know. I will send up some food for you.’ Blowing him a kiss, Maggie left to spread the news that Alex was on the mend.

Deana waited until her mum had gone before saying, ‘The phone, Dad. I want to text Luke and let him know you’re okay.’

‘Fair enough. It’s behind the vent in the bathroom.’ Just then they both heard a thumping up the stairs and looked at each other. ‘Mark!’ they said in unison and laughed as the door swung open.

‘Alex! Christ, I thought Maggie had buried you under the patio. Great to see you mate.’ Holding two bottles of beer in one hand and a plate of sandwiches in the other, Mark sat down on the end of the bed. ‘Boy, have I got loads of shit to tell you.’

As Deana was about to leave the room, she cast one last look at her dad and smiled. Her mum was right, she thought to herself. Mark might be a pain in the bum, but already the colour was returning to Alex’s cheeks as he listened to Mark’s funny stories. He was doing him the world of good. They didn’t even notice when she shut the door behind her.

Now Deana knew where the mobile phone was, she followed Alex’s instructions and found it. Switching it on, she saw the only number on it was Luke’s, or so she presumed. Pressing call, she waited. Finally, Luke answered the phone. ‘Alex! Oh my God, it’s great to hear from you, mate. I’ve been worried about you.’

‘No,’ stammered Deana. ‘Erm, it’s me… Deana. Dad’s a lot better now, but I thought you’d like to know.’ Suddenly, she felt shy. She couldn’t think of anything else to say, but didn’t want to end the call.

Taken aback, Luke also seemed awkward. ‘Oh, Deana… He told you where to find the phone, then? Well, he must be feeling better. How’s you?’

A warm feeling filled Deana, although she couldn’t explain it. Maybe it was because she had found someone she didn’t have to lie to, someone who would help her when times got tough. He had already proved that. ‘I’m okay Luke. It’s good to hear your voice. Maybe we’ll talk again soon. How’s your mum, by the way?’

‘She’s asked about you. I said you had family stuff to sort out.’

‘Send my regards Luke. Maybe I will see her some time.’ Deana crossed her fingers, hoping for an invite.

‘Well, you know where we live Miss District Nurse,’ he laughed again.