Pulling back the duvet and getting out of bed, Maggie reached for her robe. ‘I’ll go down and see if they need anything.’ She yawned. ‘You might as well get up Alex, they will be digging the hole and laying the foundations for the bike shed. I thought that might interest you.’ Pausing, she waited till he opened his eyes properly, and gave him a knowing look. For a moment they both stared at each other, and Alex nodded.
‘Time to put Plan A into action, Maggie.’
As Maggie opened her bedroom door, she could already see Deana and Dante opening their bedroom doors, scratching their heads and yawning. ‘What the fuck is that racket Mum?’ asked Deana, going towards the landing window.
‘Oy, mouth! It’s the builders. I’ll go and ask them if they want a drink. You two get yourselves sorted. Breakfast in ten minutes.’
Deana tightened her dressing gown around her and followed her mum to the kitchen. ‘I’ll put the kettle on. Builders are always thirsty, especially before they’ve even done anything. Dante, you jump in the shower first.’ Maggie acknowledged Deana’s help as an apology. She didn’t like bad language coming out of her young daughter’s mouth but accepted it in certain circumstances.
Opening the back door of the pub, Maggie saw the workmen unloading their tools. They had been a few days earlier and measured up, but to be honest, even she hadn’t expected them to arrive this early and on time. ‘Hi boys.’ She waved, trying to catch their attention as they rummaged through their trucks that were parked on the grass. One truck was full of spades and all other kinds of building materials, and the other held the thing they were hoping for – the cement mixer – and wow, she thought to herself, it was a big one. Smiling, she wandered up to them. One middle-aged man jumped out of the driver’s seat. ‘Mrs Silva?’
‘Indeed, I am, and you and your men look like they could do with a cup of something. Am I right?’ The other three workmen cheered at the suggestion. ‘Does that include biscuits missus?’
‘It will include a bacon sandwich when the chef gets here,’ she laughed. ‘So, what are you starting with?’
‘Got to dig a big rectangle hole first, but we’ve got our diggers.’ He laughed and put on his hard hat. ‘We’ll section all of this off and try not to make too much mess.’
‘Would it be okay if some of my regulars still come out in the beer garden for a smoke now and again?’
‘Yes, sure thing and that includes us.’ The builder shrugged. ‘Plus, we’ve been told to lay some new turf for you. Brewery orders.’ He gave Maggie a salute and wandered off to speak to his other workmen. ‘Oh, by the way, Mrs Silva, we might have to put an extension lead through your back door if that’s okay,’ he shouted after her, but Maggie wasn’t listening, she’d already got the information she needed.
Shivering from the early-morning cold, she ran upstairs. ‘Get those lot some mugs of tea and biscuits Deana, then come straight back.’ Deana had already started and picking up a tray, she placed the mugs on them. ‘I’ll be back in a bit, Mum. I didn’t know how many there were so I’ve made loads.’
‘That doesn’t matter; they’ll drink them anyway. Thanks, love.’
Alex sipped his coffee while sitting at the breakfast table. It had been a couple of weeks since his skirmish and he felt much better. Life had gone on as normal, even though it had surprised him that no one else had come looking for him. Everything had gone quiet lately and for that he was grateful.
Once Deana had come back moaning and groaning about the stupid wolf whistles and remarks the young builder had made, she sat down. ‘He needs a good kicking, shit shoveller.’
‘You’re going to smile at him, Deana until our job is done,’ Alex warned. ‘Those builders are going to dig their hole and lay a foundation. Then they will fill it full of cement so people can park their bikes. That is where we come in. We have had two dead bodies in the back of the freezer for two weeks; it’s time they left town.’
‘But Dad, it’s broad daylight. Everyone will be at work soon. How do we go in the freezer, take out two frozen bodies and walk out into broad daylight and put them in cement in front of the workmen? And, I might add, whoever might be having a cigarette out there?’ asked Deana, while stating the obvious.
‘For the moment, and for the sake of health and safety, the place is currently off limits. They can stand out the front like they do at other pubs and clubs that don’t have a beer garden. The bodies we take out now will take a while before they defrost, so we can put them in the smoking shed underneath the benches.’ Seeing Deana’s and Dante’s faces, he held up his hand. ‘Maggie, you are going to offer the workmen a nice carvery lunch, free of course, but,’ he said, ‘they leave their boots outside, eh? I’m going downstairs before the kitchen staff come, I have something to do.’ Alex stood up and went downstairs.
Opening the door of the huge walk-in freezer, Alex stood back to avoid the chilly blast of cold. Inwardly he cursed himself for only wearing jeans and a T-shirt as it was sub-zero in there. Methodically, he moved everything aside and went to the very back of the freezer where the bodies had been hidden. Shivering, he knew he only had a few minutes before his own body temperature dropped. Having to lie on his stomach, which froze him even more, he reached out his arms and eventually felt what he was looking for. With both hands, he pulled at the bag, until he eventually felt it move. Bit by bit, he eased it out and finally, he stood up, panting. He felt light-headed. Heading towards the door, he opened it and took some breaths and wrapped himself in the chef’s overalls, shivering and blowing on his hands.
Walking out of the kitchen, Alex stood near the radiator and rubbed his hands together. Looking up at the coat rack, he saw a body warmer and putting it on, he walked back towards the freezer. Taking a breath, he walked back towards the body bag and dragged it out into the kitchen. Unzipping it, he looked at the frozen body inside before standing up and looking around the kitchen for the chef’s knives. Spying a meat cleaver, he smiled. That was just what he needed, he thought to himself, as he picked it up. Kneeling down, he raised the cleaver and with two blows, he hacked the head clean off the frozen body. He was glad it was frozen; there was no blood. Raising the cleaver again, he did the same with the hands and feet. Standing up, he searched the drawers for a black bin liner and put the head, hands and feet inside. All that was left was the torso. With a huge sigh, he knew he had to go back into the freezer and get the other body and once he had pulled it out, he methodically, put everything back into place.
Startled, he looked up as someone entered the kitchen, and sighed with relief as he saw that it was Maggie.
‘How you doing, Alex? You look blue. Here, take this.’ She handed him a large brandy, which he gulped back to warm his bones. ‘You could get hypothermia in there.’ Walking closer, she rubbed at Alex’s arms.
‘I’m okay Maggie. Christ, you buried those guys so far back, we could have left them there forever.’ Alex reached forward and kissed her lips. ‘Mind you, my balls are stinging from lying on that floor.’
‘Maybe it woke your tadpoles, Alex. They do say the cold is good for that. Maybe another little Silva could be swimming its way to the forefront,’ Maggie laughed.
Cocking his head to one side and smiling, Alex nodded. ‘Now that’s a novel idea. Does that mean I’m on a promise or that you’re feeling broody?’
‘Who knows? But mind back to business Silva and out of your trousers.’
‘Right, that bin liner goes into that body bag, and that one comes with me later and don’t get them mixed up,’ Alex laughed.
Maggie glimpsed into the bin liner she was holding and saw the back of a man’s head.
‘They do say two heads are better than one, Maggie.’
‘Oh God Alex, you’re sick and at this moment in time, while I’m holding a bin liner with someone’s head in it, you are definitely not funny.’
‘Make light of it. Keep reminding yourself who those people were and what they were going to do to us all.’
‘Fair point, but let’s keep the kids out of it. They know enough. I don’t want them having nightmares.’
He nodded, realising how pale and nervous she looked. ‘Come on Maggie, love. After today, it’s all over. When I’ve finished, the news will be that the torso of a male has been found in Kent. Pereira and the mob will hopefully presume that’s me. That’s all I can hope for. Maybe that will take the heat off for now.’
‘Well, they are going to get one hell of a shock when you turn up in court with your head still on, Alex.’
Reaching forward, he held her tight. ‘I just need you to be stronger for a bit longer, okay?’
Sighing, Maggie nodded. ‘I’m just having a wobbly that’s all. Come on, let’s get this sorted out before the staff come.’
‘The man in the bag with two heads we need to get outside. The closer it is to the building site, the easier it will be to drop it in the hole without it being seen. We will have to be quick though.’
‘But how are we going to get that those bags out of the kitchen without being seen?’
Trying hard to think, a light bulb switched on in Alex’s brain. ‘Hang on a minute, I have an idea.’ Going outside, he came back through the kitchen entrance with two wheelie bins – one blue and one black. ‘Now we know who’s who and it will be easier to wheel this over to the hole and dump him in.’ Inwardly, Alex wanted to laugh as he thought of some drug dealers opening the blue bin and finding a frozen dead man. It would scare the shit out of them! ‘Put some bin liners on top, make it look full.’ Slapping his hands together, he looked at Maggie, who was still staring at him in awe and wonderment. ‘Ready? Let’s do this.’
After a few minutes, they were both panting. ‘Christ, Alex, not only are they cold, they are stiff. This one with no head fits well, but the other one sticks up. We can’t close the lid.’
‘Bollocks. Just put some bags on top of it. Hopefully he will melt soon and sink lower,’ he laughed. ‘It only looks weird to us, because we know what’s in there. No one else will take any notice.’ They looked at each other for a moment with worried expressions.
No sooner had they cleared away and put the bins out, Chef walked through the door. Alex and Maggie looked at each other with relief. For now, the bodies were safe and it was just a matter of waiting for the right opportunity.
Alex strolled over to one of the builders. ‘Is it possible to have a bucket of sand? We don’t want people smoking out here while you’re busy, so I thought we’d put a sand bucket out the front for their cigarette ends. If that lot come trailing around the back, you’d never get anything done and they’ll all be trailing their mess indoors.’
‘Yes, sure thing, Mr Silva.’
‘How long before you’ll be pouring the cement?’
‘Depending on how quick we get on with the digging, could be as soon as the end of the day, then we have to wait for the cement to set before we can build the actual bike shed,’ the builder said as he handed Alex the bucket of sand he didn’t really need.
The day seemed to drag slowly. Alex felt he had spent the day clockwatching and even Mark wandering over and cracking his usual jokes had no effect. Once the workmen had taken their lunch break and had their free carvery, Alex had gone out the back for an inspection. They hadn’t dug as deep as he’d expected. It was going to be a shallow grave, but it was better than nothing.
‘Any work on tonight, Mark? Need to stretch my legs and get out of here. I feel like I haven’t been out in ages.’
‘Hmm, nothing major apart from picking up an exhaust for scrap. I bought a car at auction the other day. It needs a new exhaust and tyres but once I’ve serviced it I can sell it on.’
‘I’ll pick it up for you if you want.’
