Mirror Man by Jacques Kat (ereader for textbooks txt) 📗

Grandad, I’ve snapped the sweeping brush. How are we going to clean this mess up now?’ I mumbled, looking at the third pile of glass I’d seen that day.

‘Never mind that,’ he said as the duo pushed past me.

‘You’ve got him, JC,’ said PC Williams.

‘What you waiting for?’ shouted Grandad. ‘Get your cuffs out, quick!’

‘Oh crap, yeah.’

I watched as PC Williams fumbled for his handcuffs. He dropped them on the floor before finally holding them securely in his hand. On the ground, The Suit groaned.

Grandad threw his arm aside. ‘For God’s sake, hurry up, man.’

‘Alright!’ the constable yelled back as he fastened them on the intruder.

‘Where’s Anna?’ asked Grandad.

‘Mum?!’ I’d been so distracted by the glass I hadn’t found her.

I ran back down the hall to the front room, her room. No sign.

Next, the back sitting room. Nothing, only some leftover crockery I’d yet to clean away.

I headed for the dining room. A lamp had been knocked over, casting a shadow on the floor. I moved to stand it up, but it wasn’t a shadow. It was Mum, unmoving, still dressed in her funeral attire.

I crouched beside her. A small pool of blood stained the carpet near her head.

‘Mum,’ I whispered as I placed my ear closer to her face. She was unconscious but breathing.

‘Grandad! Grandad!’ I yelled. ‘Phone for an ambulance!’

I stroked her hair and waited. I refused to move from her side until the ambulance took her to the hospital. Grandad promised he’d drive me straight there once I’d spoken to the detectives who arrived in droves.

Chapter Twenty-five

Mum had to stay in hospital for a couple of nights after the incident, she drove the nurses and doctors crazy begging to be allowed out early. But after that things started to go back to normal after The Suit’s arrest, like Grandad and Mum promised they would.

I returned the guns to the safe in the shop until I could figure out what to do with them. We cleaned out Mr Phillips’s flat, donated his clothes to charity, and brought any items of value down into the storage room and the shop to sell. Business picked up. Tina’s belly was growing. Life couldn’t be better.

One Sunday afternoon with everyone sat around the table waiting for dinner to be served, I asked the family to quiet down, as I had an announcement to make.

I lowered my head. I could feel them all staring at me in awe. I’d never given an announcement. Ever.

‘Come on, lad, don’t keep us in suspense. What did you want to tell us?’ said Grandad.

‘Umm… what it is…’ I chewed my lip.

‘JC, just take your time and think your words through,’ offered Tina.

I took a deep breath and let the words form in my mind before I let them spill out. ‘I’m ready to try looking at you all again.’

My family gasped, then waited for my next move.

I looked at each one of their faces individually, then they all exploded into cheers and rounds of applause.

‘There you are, son,’ said Mum. ‘We’ve all missed seeing your beautiful baby blues.’

‘Thanks, Mum,’ I said, smiling at her.

‘I can’t believe it!’ exclaimed Tina. ‘It’s a miracle. They really are beautiful.’

‘Thanks, Tina.’

A warmth swelled inside me upon seeing all of their beaming faces. This was my family, and after everything we’d been through recently, I never wanted to let them out of my sight.

*

The day after my revelation, I gave Mum the afternoon off to go shopping for some new outfits. I wanted to inspect the guns again to see if I could find a way of getting rid of them. I took out some of the paperwork and the guns, then sat at the counter on my wooden stool to go through it all meticulously. I removed the guns carefully, checking for any secret compartments, but after finding nothing of interest, I fastened it back up.

I was about halfway through Mr Phillips’s paperwork when the bell above the door rang.

‘Be with you in a minute,’ I said, not looking up.

‘Take your time,’ a man’s voice said. Then I heard the lock on the door being turned.

My head flashed up. Two large men were stood near the door. One of them turned the open sign to closed, then they stood sentry at either side with their arms crossed. They both glared at me, nostrils flaring in tandem. The men wore black suits, and one was holding a briefcase by his side. They were the men I’d originally thought were working with The Suit. A third man came towards me; he had the same tanned skin as The Suit.

I stood from the stool and stepped back from the counter, dropping the sheet of paper I had in my hand.

‘Can I help you?’ I said, trying to sound confident even though I was terrified.

‘At last, we meet face to face. It’s true what they say about you,’ the man who approached the counter said, cocking his head. I detected a French accent similar to those on Allo Allo!

I had no idea who he was, but I played along, hoping what he wanted would become obvious.

‘What do they say?’ I asked.

‘You dress ever so smartly. You have an intense stare and a presence about you. That’s how my men knew it was you. Though I wasn’t told you had blue eyes, they are… what is the word? Ahh, exceptionnel,’ he said.

He was talking about The Suit. He thought I was The Suit!

‘Everything they say is true,’ I said, keeping up the pretence.

‘I know we agreed three months for you to track them down, but my men have been following you, and they raised… umm… suspicions that you might be… ripping me off. You went missing, which is why I’m here. My men assumed you’d taken the guns and fled. But here you are. In this… establishment.’ He said holding his arms out wide.

Things were becoming clearer. The Suit had been tasked with retrieving the guns, though I couldn’t comprehend how this man, or