Daddy's Gone 15.2 Starting to maybe put things together here are we?” Felix had to take a long, slow breath to stop himself from vomiting over the desk. “Now who do you think Holly’s Mum might be eh?” He started laughing loudly. There was a small click in the room that wasn’t loud enough for Carlo to notice, Felix felt the cool sting of glass making a small cut in the palm of his hand. He shut his eyes for a moment, was this really happening to him? He knew, there was no doubt in his mind now, nothing he could do to correct twenty years of consecutive errors, everything fell into place like the moronic jigsaw that was his #life. Carlo’s laugh was reaching a resounding crescendo, his head flying back, slapping his own thigh with the glee of his revelation. Before Carlo could realise that Felix was even on his feet he’d thrown himself across the desk. His left hand forcefully taking the back of Carlo’s bald head, with all his strength and as fast as he could he pulled Carlo towards his right palm which just as rapidly came to meet Carlo’s neck. Gripped in Felix’s right palm was the stalk of the broken champagne flute which he’d been fumbling under the desk. The snapped glass went into Carlo’s neck as though he’d just dropped it in the ocean. Carlo’s eyes flashed open wide, he made a strange guttural groan as a cloud of deep red blood started to appear behind the base of the glass which was pressing against his neck. Felix let go of Carlo and the glass, they toppled backwards as they were released, Carlo’s chair crashing to the ground. The force of the collision and perhaps the pressure forced the glass back out of his neck, it was followed by a stream of blood which travelled much further than Felix would have thought possible. Carlo was still conscious and simply looked shocked, he slid himself to the back of the room to lean on the wall, his white shirt was quickly turning red. He raised a hand to stem the flow but Felix could see the blood passing through his fingers like thick red water. “You fuck,” sputtered Carlo with a sickening red smile, sending more blood down the front of his shirt, “you finally find some fucking balls, like this?” He coughed deeply and spat out a mouthful of very bloody spit. “Christ!” Felix turned to the safe to his right, he knew it was unlocked, it was always unlocked. He opened the door and reached inside, his hand shaking as he pawed inside without looking, the safe was empty. A blinding pain brought him to his knees, the door of the safe having crashed into the side of his head, ears ringing from the unexpected sound of a gunshot. On the floor looking up Felix could just feel the bass from the next room. Had it been loud enough to muffle the shot? Carlo had missed. Felix knew he wouldn’t miss again, even in his condition. How stupid could he have been to leave him in here unchecked? Felix rolled behind the desk, Carlo emptied two more rounds into the drawers, then started coughing again violently. Felix seized the opportunity, he made straight for Carlo’s left hand that was weakly brandishing the gun. He stamped down on his arm and took it from him easily, Carlo looked up and smiled at Felix, “You ungratef...” he didn’t get the word out before Felix shot him in the chest. Carlo let out a final breath and slumped against the wall, his hand fell from his neck which began to slowly dribble a stream of blood on the floor, his lips were still slightly smiling. Felix’s heart was pumping harder than he thought he would survive, he sat back on the desk, willing it to slow down. He felt like he might faint at any moment and shut his eyes, the gun was still loosely hanging from his right hand. He knew what he had to do, he couldn’t stay in here, no way. The music began to penetrate into his consciousness once again. Felix considered taking the Glock with him but decided it would be best to leave it in the safe before he got rid of it later. He moved the three sports bags from next to the slowly expanding pool of blood next to Carlo, one by one he quickly moved them to the back room, making sure that he locked the door after each time he slid out from behind it. Once they had been safely moved he went back into The Bar, by now the room was so full that everyone was a blur, their bodies simply melting into each other. Felix’s heart was still racing, he couldn’t get the image of Carlo’s #lifeless body out of his mind, nor the knowledge that he’d died at his hands in a fit of uncontrollable rage. He turned to Carlo’s table, the men were busy sampling their own produce and generously sharing it with the girls who were hanging onto them like saviours. “Gents,” Felix said as he addressed the table as a whole, “Sorry to have to tell you this but I’m afraid Carlo’s had to leave because of an urgent family crisis.” The table immediately looked concerned, paranoid, fearful even. “Nothing to worry about....he sends his apologies but he’s not going to make it back tonight. He’s asked me to take care of you though, don’t worry.” The faces softened slightly, nobody really cared who sold as long as somebody did. “I know you guys have got places to be...so...Ah, I was wondering if we could get this going now possibly?” The men exchanged glances, the girls looked slightly dismayed about no longer being the centre of attention. Nods showed that a consensus had been reached, the man with the product was not to be questioned, priorities were priorities after all. The girls were gently shovelled off of laps, meek apologies were made and the men filed out after Felix, nobody in the rest of the party paid any attention. Some of the men left up the spiral staircase, the others followed Felix into the back room. His palms were sweating so much that he had to wipe his hand on his trouser leg before being able to open the door. Once inside he gestured to the three bags on the floor, all of them were picked up and placed on one of the metal counters. The large Russian man opened one bag and carefully inspected its contents, with his large hands he pulled out one of the parcels to feel its weight. Then he pulled a small collapsible knife from his trouser pocket and inserted the tip into the side of the packet, twisting the blade slightly released and small quantity of white powder. He removed the blade with a small pile left on the tip, he raised it to his nose and snorted it loudly, rubbing his nose in apparent approval afterwards. He turned and gave a slow nod to the other men who all suddenly appeared more relaxed. Felix could feel beads of sweat working their way down his spine. The door opened behind the men, they all turned around like wolves suddenly alerted to a danger, but the men who entered were those who had gone upstairs previously. They now entered carrying two slim black briefcases. The men placed these on the counter next to the sports bags, both were flipped open to reveal row upon row of neatly folded bills tied in yellow paper bands. “All clean,” said the thick set Russian, “you tell Carlo we transfer remainder in morning, give him regards.” He nodded and took two bags as though neither weighed more than a bag full of confetti. The other bag was collected by one of the men of a different nationality, Felix assumed they must all be travelling together back to the mainland. As the last man left the room he nearly collapsed, sweat was pouring off of him more than it ever had before, he could feel his shirt sticking to him underneath his jacket. He closed the briefcases, his hands trembling violently. He picked them both up and quickly left the room, he took them both into his office, leaning on the door behind him as it closed, his breath coming up short and quickly. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Carlo’s corpse, he could see his #lifeless legs protruding from around the corner and that was enough. He forced a long breath out and then back in, dropped one of the briefcases on the floor and took the other with him as he left to go back into The Bar. He meandered through the crowd as best he could, the briefcase caught some people’s legs but he was in too much of a daze to apologise. He made his way to the bar, passing straight past Julian, Belle and Sophie who were having a conversation with some of the other guests. Felix could see Caleb, he made a direct line for him, knowing that Holly would be with him. Caleb turned to him and was noticeably shocked but didn’t say anything. Holly was still hanging from his arm but talking to her friends who had found some male company of their own. Felix took her free arm, standing in front of her and looking into her eyes which were fixed on his. Now he saw it, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before, it was like looking at Lola’s future. He overcame the dryness in his mouth to turn to Caleb and say, “I just need to borrow Holly for a minute.” Caleb was in no position to argue and slid his arm out of Holly’s grip. Felix pulled her through the double doors with his right hand, still madly clinging to the briefcase with his left. As he climbed the stairs Holly struggled to keep up in her high heels and stumbled twice, Felix catching her both times. Even though she knew what must be happening she was incapable of getting any words out. In the street Felix locked the doors again behind them, he was taking giant breaths and clinging to his moist forehead. “Fuck....Fuck me, Holly.... Fuck me,” Felix started to pace in front of the doors, Holly stood there silently looking at the ground. He stopped in front of her, the briefcase on the floor between them, his hand over his mouth. “Christ, Holly...” he let out his breath trying to keep it controlled. “How did you find me?” Holly was lost, she couldn’t turn anywhere, she had no idea how he knew and now she had no idea what to say. “I...I,” she stammered, unable to form a sentence, “I didn’t, my Mum did, she knew you were here all the time.” Tears started to stream down her face, Felix began to wipe them away instinctively. “Jesus, your mum...” Holly stifled a laugh that came out like a gasp for air. “Holly, I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry, there’s nothing I can say now.” Felix was half leaning on her, “Oh God, Holly.” He took a step back letting go of her and wiping his face. “You need to take this and go.” “Wh..What?” “You must still have some family in France, I need you to go, at least get out of the city for a while. Trust me, baby it’s for the best, I need you to take this and go, at least for now, for a while you need to be away from me.” “But...” She began feebly, holding herself as she started to shiver in the cool night air. “Holly, just do it please,” he said as he backed into the road waiting to flag down the next approaching taxi. “Please, Holly please, just take it and go!” “But why? What is it?” “It’s all I can do for you now, please, Holly.” A taxi had slowed to a stop next to Felix but Holly was still stood on the pavement motionless. Felix walked towards her, he took the briefcase and put it into her hand, then he took her by the arm and led her to the taxi door. “Please, Holly there’s over a million pounds in here, just take it, get some stuff and just leave for a while I’m begging you. In a few weeks things will have settled down I hope, why did you have to get involved with Carlo?” She began to complain but Felix had opened the door of the taxi and was almost pushing her inside. “Look, it doesn’t matter now, you’ll never see him again anyway.” “What do you mean?” she blurted. Felix just flashed her a pained stare, “He’s gone and he won’t be coming back, and if anyone’s looking for him they might look for you too now. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.” Before closing the door he kissed her on the cheek tasting the salt of her tears. Then he closed the door and waited for the taxi to start driving as they turned the corner, he could vaguely make out Holly watching him through the rear windscreen. Back downstairs Felix found Belle who looked terrified by his appearance, “What’s happened to you?” She asked frightened. “I’ll tell you later, Bambi,” Felix managed to say amid his panting, “I’ll tell you everything later. Have you seen Julian? I need to find him quickly.” Belle, while still looking worried pointed to the sculpture which had now begun to melt substantially due to the suffocating heat of the room. Julian was grinding against the ice sculpture like a pole dancer. Felix marched towards him as quickly as he could, using his hand to carve a passage through the crowd. Once at the table he grabbed Julian’s trouser leg and yanked on it hard. Julian looked down, surprised to see Felix at his feet, he leant down so that he could hear what he had to say. Felix cupped a hand to Julian’s ear and shouted, “Jay I need your help, now it’s urgent.” Without asking a single question Julian stepped down from his position and followed Felix through The Bar to the rear exit and into the back room. “What up, broseph? Do you need the Jay Dog for some more woman advice?” he asked covering a nostril and sniffing hard. Felix started opening cupboards, one by one as fast as he could. “What are you doing man? Are you okay?” “Come and help me we need some heavy bags and bleach, and blue roll, it’s all in here somewhere,” said Felix in a shaky voice. “Felix, are you okay? You look like you’ve been crying, buddy.” “Just help me get this stuff okay? You’ll see in a minute.” Julian joined in the search, within five minutes they’d found what they were looking for. While Julian held everything Felix opened the door to the office and led him inside, careful to close the door quickly behind him. Julian walked into the office without noticing Carlo’s body. It was only when he turned back to Felix that he saw him lying on the ground. He stumbled backwards into the wall, “Jesus fucking Christ!” He shouted, “Felix what the fuck happened?” “I know, look I can’t explain it now okay, but he fucking deserved it trust me, it was a long time coming. If it hadn’t been me it would have been someone else.” “Felix, this is some serious shit! He’s dead, Felix.” “I know he is, look help me take his clothes off, we need to get rid of his clothes, the gun, the glass everything.” Felix started to feverishly tug at Carlo’s clothes, “Then we need to pour bleach on everything, then it’s all going in the Thames.” “Felix, man... this is not okay,” said Julian, cowering into the corner. “Look, Julian there isn’t anyone else I can trust to help me with this so I need you to do this now.” Felix took a black bag from Julian and started to stuff Carlo’s shoes inside, followed by his trousers. Then he rifled through the pockets of Carlo’s jacket to uncover his wallet and mobile phone, it all went into the bag too. Julian rose back to his feet, though he couldn’t help, Julian held out the bag while Felix filled it. Once Carlo had been stripped and the clothes doused in the putrid bleach he tied the bag and dropped it on the floor. He then took the broken champagne flute and the gun, wiped both down, put them in another bag, added more bleach and closed this too. Using the blue roll Felix and Julian both mopped up all the blood, then he bleached the floor and walls and mopped this up too using yet another bag to collect the stained paper. They took the bags up the spiral staircase, Julian was sick in the courtyard while Felix told the two bouncers that Carlo had left through the front due to an emergency. He dragged Julian with him who was still being sick as he stumbled down the alley. Two roads away they came to Felix’s car which he had parked earlier, hoping to pick it up the next day before driving himself and Belle home. Felix tossed the black bags in the boot and threw Julian into the back bench of the car, hoping that he had been sick as much as he could. Felix got into the driver’s seat and fired up the car, he drove carefully to stay at the speed limit, within ten minutes he was down by the Embankment, next to the RNLI station. Felix pulled over the car and cut all the lights, he stepped out and made sure that the road was clear in both directions. Taking the bags out of the boot he pierced small holes in each of them to make sure that they would sink. He then made the six paces it took him to cross the path and toss them in the black, cold river below. He watched for a moment as the bags sank out of view, rapidly moving downstream, forgotten and if found never traced. He got back in the car and exhaled, he turned to check on Julian who was passed out in the back, dribbling something vile from his slightly open mouth. Felix knew that the body would have to wait until tomorrow when nobody was in The Bar, for now it was resting inside heavy duty bin bags, festering in a coating of bleach. Felix’s chest felt like it was being ripped in two, his breathing and pulse both causing him a huge amount of pain. Unable to do anything but wait for it to subside he began to drive back slowly. All he could think about, right up until the moment he was stood next to her again, was his first night with Belle. It had been the beautiful beginning to the tragic end. In his mind he relived the memory of that night, falling in love, more deeply than ever. Then he thought of the price he was going to pay for it, and he wept.