Zodiac's toy - John Jones (bill gates best books txt) 📗

soak him, and he stood up and stretched. He picked up the bag of ill-gotten gains and saw her around ten metres away, looking at him. He walked with her.

"What is it?" he asked, "can I help you?"

"Yes you can help". They walked out of the park. "If you can just follow me. We'll get a taxi to the train shop".

"What?"

"Or a bus to the plane station". Ray simply looked at her, and she smiled as they walked. They crossed a main road, and the rain seemed to ease, but not completely. The woman pointed ahead to a bus-stop which had around eight people waiting.

"Wait here with me for the bus". Most of the people were inside out of the rain, and the woman entered, Ray staying outside. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.

"I'll be going now...if you", but the woman just gestured for him to come inside. Ray hesitated a few seconds, then walked in to her.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We're gonna get on this bus and go the plane shop, then we're gonna fly to Chile. Then we're gonna climb a mountain, and when it's night-time were gonna lie there and look up at the stars and we're gonna see the constellation of Virgo and you're gonna fuck me". Some of the others around them glared at her, some moving outside. The woman put her hand down her trousers into her crotch, grinning at him. Other people left until there was two who had pretended not to hear or see. Ray backed away. The woman then put both hands to her head.

"Oh," she said, "I've just realised. If you fuck me I won't be a virgin anymore. Go on, go away". Rays backing away resulted in him turning around and walking quickly. He could hear her laughing as he did.

Although he walked in the direction of the high-rise, he found himself going down a road he didn't frequent much, and one of the shops along here was a small aquarium. In the window were several tanks of different species, but as he passed by, he noticed that in each tank, there was only two fish, and each of those fish were not swimming around, instead simply floating there, watching him walk by.

“Fuck..!” he muttered, it can't be anything but a coincidence, because the zodiac is not real.

What else could it be? What else could it be? What else could it be? What else could it be?

He made his way back home and was soon slumping on Shane's sofa.

Lee came in.

"Fred went and sorted out that fella that threw darts at you. Pounded his fucking face in. So he's gonna replace you".

"Alright," Ray said, quietly relieved. "Where's he gone?"

"He's not gonna live here. He's got a wife and kids and all that a few miles away, so he's gone back to them and he's gonna come here most days to help me out, a bit like what Blotto was to Gary".

"Right," Lee then went into the bedroom.

"I think we can get shut of this lot," he said surveying the weapons, and the money around the safe in the open cupboard.

"Ray! come and help me with this". He appeared, and Lee was picking up wads of notes in both hands. "Grab some cash and bring it through to mine".

For a few minutes, they went back and forth carrying the money and putting it on the desk in Lee's ‘office’.

He discovered that the small safe in Shane’s was not locked, only shut over, and they carried more wads into the flat.

Eventually Ray and Lee were stood looking at the money-covered desk.

"Okay, so I've got all this, plus what I got from the post-office, and what Gary had left out. Now all I need to do is open his safe". The large steel digital keypad safe was behind the desk beneath a window. "And I know it’s fucking locked".

"Maybe Fred knows how to open it," Ray said, "or he might know someone". Lee just nodded.

"Yes...possibly". He stepped forward and picked up a wad of notes and handed them to Ray. “Do us a favour. Go and get all our shopping in. Just gets loads of stuff, and you can keep what’s left. Fucks knows you don’t deserve it but go on, fuck off before I change my mind". Ray did, muttered a thank-you, and turned and left, walking back to Shane's flat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 42

 

When Fred came back, he brought a friend with him. Lester Caldwell was a reedy individual who seemed to epitomise the word 'sly'. Some people just looked untrustworthy and that was Lester. The type who ducked and dived his way through life, cutting corners, getting everything he could for free, and selling anything that had at least one pennies value. The type who would sell his Grandmother’s false-teeth to buy a cigarette.

Lee had no choice but to allow him in.

"Lee, this is Les. You mentioned you needed a safe-cracker, so Les here knows a bit about opening them".

"Oh, right, okay". Lee brought him through to show him, but Les walked slowly, looking at the surroundings. The televisions, the tablets, money that Lee had not put away which was lying around. He gave Fred a knowing glance as if to say: 'You were right'.

So Les looked at the safe. He had only ever managed to open one before, and that was because somebody else had tried and failed before him, and had loosened the lock. This was a digital passcode safe, and he could tell straight away this wasn't going to be cracked anytime soon. Les always talked himself up, but mostly fell short on delivery.

"Oh it's one of those safes," he said, "shouldn't be a problem. I've seen these before". He proceeded to push buttons on the keypad, look around it, size it up, as if he knew what he was doing.

"Gonna need special tools though, but don't worry I can get hold of them". Lee's red light in his mind flashed, but he wasn't in a position to express his doubt. Maybe he really could get the safe open.

 

Fred and Les stayed awhile until there was a knock on the door, a customer, and they left.

Out in the car-park, Fred whispered to Les, as if Lee could somehow hear from there.

"See, told you he's got loads of stuff. I know there's no fucking way you're getting into that safe, but I know you can get hold of horse tranquiliser and a van," Les nodded. Fred continued:

"When you’ve got it, I’ll have a drink with him, spike his drink and when he's knocked out you can get the van and we'll clean the place out".

"Sixty forty," said Les. "I'm getting the tranquiliser and the van".

"Yes, and who told you about it in the first place? Fifty-fifty, take it or leave it". Les thought for a few moments, even though he knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Okay. I'll get the tranquiliser".

"Yes. Today. Now. I want it as soon as possible".

"Okay, I'll get it and text you". He then left. Fred watched him go, then walked away also.

 

What to get for a wedding present, Ray thought. They'll probably get enough irons and toasters and cutlery sets, so what can I get that's different? Wine maybe. Not sure if Wayne drinks it, but Caroline does. So he guessed the next time he was at work, he would try and steal the most expensive bottle they had, and perhaps a few glasses. Shouldn't be too difficult, he thought, satisfied.

Still though, they didn't sell suits, so he would have to fork out, and wound up in the flat and left, heading for the small tailors that catered for all occasions. He would probably have to be fitted out, so took some of the money Lee gave him and headed into town.

Ten minutes later he could see it in the distance, but passed by a charity shop. There was a mannequin in the window wearing a black shawl dinner suit.

Fuck it, he thought, it'll save messing around getting fitted, and it looks like it'll fit me, so he entered, and five minutes later was in the dressing room nodding to himself in the mirror doing up the cuffs. Not bad, not bad. Pretty smart. It was one size too small, but it looked like nobody would notice.

He decided he would keep it on and go and show Caroline, and would ask for a bag for his other clothes. An elderly woman was ahead of him, being served. As he waited he looked at a shelf of paraphernalia. Puzzle sets, coasters, dvd box-sets. What he didn't notice however, was the scorpion that left his top pocket and crawled onto his shoulder. The lady serving glanced at him as she served the woman and her eyes widened and she pointed.

"Sir, there's a Scorpio on you shoulder".

"What?" Ray looked and there it was, a bark scorpion. He flinched and swept it off, but sweeped it towards the counter. Both women flinched also. The customer screamed as it seemed she had a phobia of crawlies, and would have screamed had it been a lady-bird or butterfly.

Then more came out of the pockets and crawled over him.

"What the fuck?" he said flapping around, trying to swat them off. He twirled and crashed into a rail of coats.

"Scorpios!" the woman screamed as she headed for the exit. "Scorpios!"

"Take it," the woman said behind the counter, as scorpions started crawling around the shop.

"Take the suit and go". Ray didn't need telling twice. He staggered his way to the exit as more scorpions left the pockets.

Out on the pavement, the creatures scuttled in all directions, and still they came, crawling over him as he frantically swatted at them. People shouted and back away.

"Scorpios!" somebody yelled, and Ray fell to his knees when it seemed like the last scorpion left his top pocket, scuttled down his arm and away on the pavement.

He was breathing heavily, then got to his feet, gathered his bearings and made his way gradually towards Carolines. He tentatively tried to check all the pockets on his way, and was soon satisfied that there were no more.

There must have been a nest or something that got disturbed, he thought. Shouldn't clothes be checked by the charity workers before putting them out on display? then decided that a free suit was a free suit.

 

Ten minutes later Caroline was sat at the gazebo, her hands over her face in despair.

"So let me get this straight," she said, looking at Ray in the back garden, stood there in the suit. "You stole a suit from a charity shop because it had scorpions in it".

"No I didn't steal it, the woman said I could have it".

"Because it's got scorpions in. You took the suit because it had scorpions in the pockets. Are you serious?"

"Yes, there was loads of them. Must have been a nest inside or something".

"Sounds like you said it had scorpions in the pockets, the one serving believed you, and you walked out with a free suit. It sounds exactly like you stole from a charity shop to me". Ray sighed.

"I was gonna pay...anyway, any chance you could wash it. There might still be eggs inside it or whatever".

"What happened to your other clothes?"

"They're still in the shop. I was too busy trying to get scorpions off me to think of them". Caroline said nothing for a few moments, then leaned back in the chair.

"Why couldn't you just have gone to a proper tailor and rented a proper suit?"

"Well they probably would have charged loads and I saw this in the charity window".

"Couldn't you have afforded a tailor? My big day and you still have to get things on the cheap. You can't help it can you Ray? and it's too small anyway," she said, looking down at his one inch of socks below the hemline.

"Leave it here," she sighed, "I'll make sure it's got no scorpions in and that it gets a proper wash. You've still got clothes