Chapter 4

It was a very pleasant ride, despite the lack of comfort, and he asked me if he could take me to dinner that evening. I suggested the Wherry as a good place, and he told me that he would pick me up at seven.

At the farm, we man-handled the rack into Susans’ house and into the spare room. Silvana and Luigi took the van back to Roy and to reclaim the car that they were driving. Susan and I had most of the day looking at the dresses, trying on the ones in our sizes. She declared that there were fifteen that she thought could sell easily and she allowed me to pick two for myself, keeping the other three to go into her own wardrobe.

“If I wear one it will show that the goods are worthwhile. If the others are as good as these, there shouldn’t be a problem moving them. When I get the old house demolished, I can pay some of the workmen in cash, so dropping the amount of pounds in the case. Then I can get an industrial shed erected on a concrete base. It will be split into two halves, one side for strawberries and the other side for my new import business when I get it going. This has been a strange time, Maxie, but I can see it getting so much better.”

That evening, she said that she would call her mother and repair any broken bridges, with the main thing to tell her that her son-in-law was dead and buried. I went and made ready for my date, making sure I was clean and smelt good. With my sexiest undies on, a slip dress and a bolero jacket, I was in my heels and ready when Luigi arrived. I wished Susan good luck with her phone call, and she smiled when she told me that she would see me for lunch, tomorrow.

Luigi had the car that they had hired, and I directed him to the Wherry. We had a lovely meal with some interesting discussion, laced with sexual inuendo. We both had oysters. When the music started, I told him that I wanted to dance, and we grooved to the beat for an hour. At one stage, we were at the waterside of the hotel, looking out over Oulton Broad. He laughed.

“When I learned English, this was said to be a lake, or a body of water. I have seen lakes in Italy and Switzerland and this small pond is not one. So, I will call it just a body of water.”

“In these parts, Luigi, it is called a Broad, which is particular to the area. All the water is filling old peat mines and is a very popular place for boat people who never want to be more than ten yards from the shore. They can spend weeks sailing slowly around. I’m told that it’s very restful.”

“In America, a broad is a woman.”

“Well, we do contain an awful lot of water, if the scientists are to be believed. Actually, I need to rid myself of some of that water and then we can go somewhere romantic.”

“There is a nicely romantic picture on the wall of my room.”

“That’s good enough for me. See you in a few minutes.”

When I got back, he held me close and kissed me passionately. Then he took me to his hotel to see if the oysters we had shared worked. At least three of them were perfect. I had never had an Italian Stallion before, and he made me squirm and squeal. I hoped that the walls were thick enough to dampen the sound I made, more than once. He made many of the men I had slept with seem like hairy apes, he was so smooth and experienced. We finally fell asleep with me not worried about the very damp spot under my butt.

In the morning, I woke him by tickling his morning glory and then sitting on it. We showered together and it was almost good enough to be kissing with the water cascading over us to get us going again. Unfortunately, I think I had drained him, so we just washed each other.

We had breakfast in the room and then he drove me back to the farm. Oddly, at some time during the night, it could have been after our second time, there was a thought that crossed my mind. When we got there, I asked him if he could come with me this afternoon as there was something I needed to ask someone. He told me that his father and Silvana were going to use the car to go and see Clements’ parents in the afternoon, so I told him I would pick him up in the Cortina.

I got the third degree from Susan and told her that she should try her own Italian and see what it was like.

“The only Italian I know of in this town has the chippie by the docks. He’s fat and eats too much garlic.”

“You might want to go and see Silvana in Naples someday. I’m sure that there are lots more like Luigi around.”

“That way I can get laid while listing the trip as a business expense.”

“It’ll be difficult to explain what your business is!”

I got changed into my PI outfit, with the skinny jeans, boots, and black blouse. We had lunch and I got into Tina and drove to the hotel. The reception rang through to Luigi and he came down to give me a toe-curling kiss. When we came up for air he smiled.

“Just love the black outfit, Maxie. Where are you taking me?”

“Something that Roy said has niggled my brain. I want to ask him about it.”

I drove us to Roys Autos, and we went to talk to him.

“Roy, when I first spoke to you about Clement and him taking your cars; you said something about his friends and boats. I seem to remember you saying they had a couple. Is that right?”

“Yes. They had the trawler that was found up the north coast to fish with.”

“What was the other one?”

He asked us to wait a moment and went off to his office, coming back with a postcard.

“Clem gave me this. It’s not kept at Lowestoft but used to run trips out of Yarmouth for the holidaymakers. They’d run up to near Grimsby to see the seals when they’re home. All day trip with plenty of booze. By the time they saw the seals most of them wouldn’t care. The boys bought the boat and the business when the original owners retired.”

We looked at the postcard. It showed a boat that looked like it had started life as a modern trawler, with the rear deck now having a cabin with a railed upper deck.

“Me and the missus took the kids on it once. If it’s blowy you can sit in the cabin in the warm and buy the expensive crisps and drinks. When you wanted to sight-see, you go up on the upper deck. The old crews’ quarters were converted to a large kitchen for the food preparation. The old guy and his missus were good seafood cooks. He’d refitted the original output to give less slow speed torque but a better rate of knots without a heavy loading. It really went well.”

The card said that it could be found on South Denes Road. I asked Roy where it was, and he told me that it was the road that ran along the seaward side of the River Yare as it went towards the sea. The berth was nearly at the river mouth. I had an involuntary shiver when I saw that the boat was called ‘Fates’ Sealer’.

We got back into the car, with me looking at the map and Luigi driving. On the way I rang the Inspector to tell him about the new information. He took it all in and told me that he would meet us there, but not do anything stupid. As if!!

When we got to the berth, it looked as if the deal had included a two-storey building on the end of a line of sheds. The boat was moored off to the right of the entrance where there were car parks. A van was parked between the building and the quayside. We got out of the car and looked at ‘Fates’ Sealer’. It looked similar to the postcard, except that the cabin windows had been painted over. Luigi wandered off to look more closely, while I went past the building to look at the van. It was a Transit, but there were no side windows, although I could see seats in the back when I looked through the front window.

As I went back towards the boat, the door of the building opened and a hand grabbed my arm, pulling me inside. I only got a glimpse of a very large man before he hit me in the head with a roundhouse swing and I saw stars.

When I came round again, I could hear shouts. I was sitting in an armchair, in what looked like the reception lounge of the sea trip business. My wrists were cable-tied in front of me and there was an evil smelling rag stuffed in my mouth. The large man was looking at the scene outside and swearing. When the noise quietened down, he turned to me.

“You bitch! You brought the police here! I was going to add you to the shipment, but now I think that you might be my passport out of here.”

He pulled me off the chair and put his left arm around my body, taking a meaty grip of my right tit. He then took me to the door, which he opened slightly, and then picked up an Uzi machine gun and hustled me outside.

When the police saw us, a call rang out to put down the weapon and surrender. He held the barrel of the Uzi to my chin and told them to back off. He was going to leave in the Transit and if anyone tried to stop us, I would be shot. He backed up towards the van and I heard Luigi call out.

“If it looks like a gangster and talks like a gangster, the only thing left is to call it a -”

I realised what he was telling me and before he could say “Duck” I had pulled my head and shoulders to my left, just before a rifle bullet entered the guys brain. He had pointed the Uzi towards the voice, and he must have pulled the trigger as he died, because all I could hear for several seconds was the sound of the gun firing, smashing glass and a lot of shouting.

I was still being grasped by the tit as we fell in a heap, and he let me go enough to roll away from him. I was hyperventilating as I lay there. Luigi rushed up and pulled the gag out of my mouth and then pulled out a penknife, cutting the cable tie. I put my arms around his neck and sobbed in relief until a couple of paramedics came to take me to their ambulance to be checked out. That’s when I saw my faithful Tina. It looked as if it had taken the full magazine from the Uzi. The windows were shattered, there were holes all over it, and it looked like several rounds had hit the engine bay, as there was both water and oil puddling under the front.

I looked at the boat, to see a policeman with a rifle standing on the small bridge, giving me a wave. The Inspector came over to the ambulance with a big smile on his face.

“You cracked it in one, Maxine. We have the rest of the gang on the boat. They were shackling ten women to the seats in the cabin when we boarded and managed to catch them unawares. There was an armoury in there, and there would have been a hell of a gunfight if they had posted a guard.”

“That may have been who grabbed me. You couldn’t have been far behind us. I was knocked out, but I don’t know how long for.”

Luigi stayed with me as I was checked over. Except for a bruise that was already showing on my temple, and around my eye, I was deemed all right to go, as long as I got checked out by the hospital in a few days, to make sure that I didn’t have concussion. The Inspector told a uniform to drive us back to Lowestoft and then told me that he would organise the moving of my, now dead, Tina.

“I have a few friends who do most of the accident assessments, so, if we can have the insurance papers, I’ll have it listed as written off due to criminal activity.”

I showed him the papers in the glovebox, took my other keys off the fob, gave the steering wheel, or what was left of it, a pat and wished her bon voyage. I went to get my handbag from the back seat, to find it had two bullet holes through it, with my make-up mirror in a thousand pieces. I looked over to the body, now covered in a blanket, and wished him well with his seven years bad luck.

As we left in the back of the police car, we saw a TV truck arriving, along with some reporters. The police took us to the hotel, discussing the implications of the raid between themselves. From what I gathered, there would be some good things coming their way from the success of this afternoon. At the hotel, we went up to the room and I saw myself for the first time when I looked into the bathroom mirror.

The bruising would be tender for days, but that wasn’t the worst. The right side of my head was spattered with bits of skull and brain. I stripped off and had a long shower. After a while, I started feeling better. I was alive, and there was a handsome man in the next room, along with a freshly made bed. When I had dried, I put on the towelling robe, leaving it loosely open, and went into the bedroom. Luigi had anticipated my reasoning and was in the bed waiting for me.

We were drying off after another shower when there was a knock on the door. Luigi put a robe on and went to answer it. He called out that it was Silvana, so I put my robe on to go and see her. He was telling her what had happened and the first thing she did was look at my clothes, draped over a chair.

“You can’t wear these, Maxine, not until they’ve been cleaned. Come to my room, I think I have some things in your size. I owe you, not only for finding my husbands’ body, but for also finding the Bastardo that killed him!”

I put my underwear on and then put the robe on to follow her. She was a few doors further along and when she opened the wardrobe I nearly fell over. If this was what she packed for a few days, I would hate to think what her excess baggage costs were. I ended up with a black silk shirt and a black pencil skirt, both Erminia labels. As we picked them, I had to tell her how I got so scuffed and with the bruising. That’s when she hugged me and told me I was the bravest woman she had met. Then she dropped the bombshell.

“How nice of your British police to shoot that gangster for you, no charge. In Napoli they won’t do that sort of thing unless we pay them!”

Luigi drove me back to the farm. I didn’t feel up to having a dinner with them, tonight. I was also coming down from the adrenalin boost from Yarmouth. He kissed me and then told me that they would be flying out in the morning. He said that he would be happy to welcome me to Napoli if I wanted to go and visit him. I told him that I may join Susan when she does a business trip as her personal bodyguard. We kissed some more and then he was in his car and leaving my life.

When Susan saw me dressed differently and sporting a growing bruise, she had to know what had happened. She put the kettle on as I took my old blouse to the laundry and put it in soak. I read the directions on the soaker, and it said nothing about eliminating brain stains.

Over a hot cup of tea, I told her most of what happened since I left in the Cortina. It was close to six and we put the TV on to see the news. On the local station we saw Tina, in all her bullet-riddled glory, and the report showed the ten girls being looked after by paramedics before leaving the scene in a coach. The odd thing was that they all had just fuzz on their heads, as if they had all been shorn. There was also vision of the dead body with its cover, as well as the arrested crooks being loaded into prison vans. It was spoken of as a police raid, without any mention of either me or Luigi, which suited us both.

I stayed with Susan another two weeks. During that time, she drove me to the hospital to be checked out for concussion. She also drove me to the police station where I was told that my input had brought great kudos to the local force, having cracked a drug and human trafficking gang. ‘Fates’ Sealer’ had given them GPS readings for their delivery that night, and they had now identified the ship they were going to meet, with it to be raided whenever it arrives in territorial waters. The arrested men all said that it was their boss who had done any killings, very handy now he was in the morgue.

I received a cheque for the write-off value of poor Tina. She did, however, get a second lease on life. Roy had made an offer to the insurance for her, and I was still in town to officially open the new-look Roys Autos, with Tina on the roof of the office and a sign that read, ‘Unlike this car, our vehicles are bullet-proof.’ I left him, that day, driving a very nice ‘A’ Class Mercedes with about a tenth of the mileage that Tina had shown. He had given me a very good deal, having chased down the guys who had killed his friend.

The in-laws were also very appreciative of what we had achieved. Clements’ mother confided that Susan was now a much nicer person since I had arrived. The three of us went shopping in Norwich one day, Susan driving us. I bought a new handbag to replace the one that had been shot. I didn’t throw the old one away, though. No, that was coming home with me, to go to a place where I can look at it and remember Luigi. I had a non-musical earworm that came to me before I went to sleep almost every night.

“If it looks like a hunk, smells like a hunk, it must be a Luigi.”

It was going to take me some time before he left my mind. I wondered if I had actually fallen in love, or if I was overloaded with lust. There was no way I would be following him to Italy and becoming a gangsters moll. I had better things to do.

My bruising had started to turn odd colours when I finally said farewell to Susan, loading the Merc with my case and my new clothes. She had grown into a seriously competent woman, a far cry from the directionless slob she was when I arrived. The demolition of the old farmhouse had been arranged and I had helped her clear out the good things, putting it all in one of the old sheds for safe keeping. She now cleaned her place every few days and it would be welcoming to anyone who visits.

Before I left town, Susan and I had a dinner at the Wherry, determined not to be picked up by boys. We both wore our Erminia dresses and stood out among the locals in their more casual wear. We ate well and emptied a bottle of wine between us. We had taken a taxi there and would be taking a taxi home again. Susan asked me if I liked the view.

“Luigi said that it was a pond, rather than a lake. He called it a body of water. I have to agree, as he seemed to know a lot about bodies, even mine.”

Marianne Gregory © 2024