Zodiac's toy, John Jones [nonfiction book recommendations .txt] 📗

heard voices from Shane's when he got back, so went inside his other flat.

Later on, Lee was more annoyed with Ray for not making the sales-pitch harder with Owen, and he didn't believe the others were 'away'.

"...but he said he didn't want the weapons and tell Lee to fuck right off. That's what he said".

"...should have smacked him if he said that. I'll go and sort him out myself. You're fucking useless d'you know that?"

He helped Lee with moving the weapons from Shane's to the 'office', cautiously doing so in case other tenants came by.

When the last lot of knives had been moved, Ray just closed the door to Shane's and went and opened a can of lager.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 48

 

Wedding day, Ray thought, and spent the morning with a few butterflies in his stomach, although he wasn't sure why.

He wondered why people get nervous on wedding days. If they'd lived together, been boyfriend and girlfriend for months or years, engaged, then what was the difference after marriage? They just went back to the way it's always been. Perhaps it was all the fuss around it. Have I got and done everything I need to? Who will I be meeting? Will I have something to say to some relative I've never seen or knew existed?

Still though, it was Caroline's and Wayne's day, and he was pleased for them.

 

He made a hearty breakfast, and dressed in the clothes he wore on his night out with the shoes he'd bought.

He looked at the picture on the wall and smiled at it. She should like this, he thought, and took it off, putting it under his arm.

He left the flat and saw that Lee’s office was ajar and went inside to find him kicking the safe with frustration.

"I'm going the wedding now," Ray said. Lee just nodded.

"Have fun," he said, and went back to glaring at the metal box. Ray left, and wondered why he bothered telling Lee at all. Just a half-assed 'Have fun'. He shook his head and descended the stairs out into a cold morning.

As he stepped onto the pavement beside the high-rise car-park, he saw a familiar looking man on the other side of the road. A familiar looking man who walked further down, then crossed the road, heading to the flats. A familiar looking man with a picture under his arm.

It's that guy, he thought, the one who really annoyed Lee and Gary. The guy who looks like me, and he's wearing identical clothes.

It must just be a neighbour that looks very much like me, he thought.

 

Lee was on his knees fiddling with the keypad when he heard the door open and saw 'Ray' come in.

"Thought you were going the wedding," he said. The doppelganger walked across and lifted the picture, bringing it down, smashing it over Lee's head.

"Fuck!" he shouted, collapsing to the side. Glass had lacerated his face and blood spattered the floor and safe.

'Ray' picked up one of the grenades that was on the sofa. Lee stood up and looked with shock at the doppelganger.

"What the fuck Ray you cunt!" he shouted, and stepped towards him with his fists clenched, but saw that 'Ray' had picked up a grenade and pulled out the pin.

"Have you tried blowing it open?" he said, throwing it to the safe.

Lee quickly scrambled away. It exploded, but only managed to move the safe a few inches. It didn't open. 'Ray' laughed, and threw another grenade at it.

"Ray what the fuck are you doing?" another explosion. Lee backed away further, covering himself like a boxer receiving a barrage of punches. Some shrapnel hit him in the stomach and chest.

The doppelganger quickly pulled the pin out of the others and threw them at the safe. They exploded in a chain reaction, and the steel box slowly swung open to reveal more wads of money and jewellery and watches.

"You've always been a fucking cunt Lee," the doppelganger shouted in Ray's voice, then gestured to him the way some men fired up for a fight will goad an opponent. He gestured with both hands for him to 'come on'.

"Come on then! Come on!" but then the doppelganger ran to the entrance of the flat, shoving Lee into the wall of the hallway as he hurried past, then stopped to make sure he followed.

"Ray you fuckin' bastard!" Lee shouted, and ran after him, seeing the doppelganger at the top of the stairs before running down.

When Lee reached the top, he didn't see the man, but the entrance door slowly closing. He dashed down and burst through, looking around and seeing the real Ray across on the pavement about forty metres away, still looking towards the high-rise, contemplating whether or not to follow the man, or continue to Caroline’s.

The fact that he didn't seem threatening, and still had the picture under his arm meant nothing to Lee as his anger was in full rage.

"Ray you fucking cunt, get here!" Ray's eyes widened.

Fuck, he thought, that bloody guy. Lee barrelled towards him, and he could see he was absolutely incensed.

He could do nothing but turn and run. What did the man do? he asked himself, as he ran as fast as he could along the pavement, his fear rising.

"Ray!" screamed Lee. He's gonna kill me, Ray thought. Fuck! An image of Blotto flashed in his mind, and he ran as fast as he could into the traffic.

The traffic however, seemed to stop or slow down and be in such a position for him to avoid any collisions.

"Ray!" Lee screamed across the road, trying to cross, his supposed aggressor close enough to see the blood on his incensed face, but on the pavement continued to run, and turned down a side-street hurling down it as if he was in the olympic hundred metres.

From around the same corner, the doppelganger appeared and smiled across to Lee, gesturing to him. People stopped to watch, some took out their phones.

"Come on Lee you fucking pussy". Lee barrelled across the road, a car screeching to a halt. He banged against left light but carried on running. 'Ray' turned the corner, and when Lee reached there, saw the real Ray near the bottom of the road.

"Fuck," he muttered, and dashed after him.

Ray ran across the road, again, the traffic polite to him, and he ran into a paved shopping area, amongst pedestrians, and turned another corner out of sight of Lee who was much further back.

He had to stop to catch his breath, red-faced, panting, leaning against a wall. A teenage girl was walking nearby holding a phone but looking at him.

"Please," he said, "please, take this picture to my sister Caroline. She lives at 18 Conrad road. Tell her Ray can't make it. Tell her to have a lovely day. I'll pay you". The girl lowered her phone.

"Please!" Ray said, offering the picture, and the girl could see the genuine anguish in his face. She took it. He reached in his pocket and took out a handful of notes and threw them at her feet.

"Thanks," he muttered, breathless, and carried on staggering away.

"Ray!" shouted Lee, behind him, around 40 metres away. The girl stared at the incensed man who seemed equally out of breath who was focused on Ray, up ahead, his face reddened, still bleeding from the glass, but mustered enough renewed energy to pelt at and gain on him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 49

 

The house was a hub of activity. Shelley was there, their parents and bridesmaids, so when the doorbell rang it was Caroline who was closest and answered in her bathrobe with rollers in her hair. The teenage girl proffered the picture.

"Are you Caroline?" she asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Message from Ray. He said he can't make it but to have a lovely day".

"What? Ray!" she took the picture and looked at it. The girl walked away.

"Thanks," Caroline said, rather confused, then and felt anger rise within her, but she suppressed it, and stepped on to the pathway.

Can't make it but have a lovely day...can't make it but have a lovely day...can't make it but...she felt tears forming in her eyes.

"Ray," she muttered, looking at the picture, at his smiling face.

She could not have known that Ray, even within the turmoil his brain was going through at that time, knew that to tell her what was really happening, 'Please help me Lee is gonna kill me!’ would have spoilt her day, so he had rapidly thought, quick message, can't make it, have a lovely day, would mean she still got married, still was happy, and the next time she saw him, if at all, she would be angry with him, but so be it. He would much rather face her wrath than Lee’s, and would have to put up with it, even if he missed her wedding day.

She stood there a while, staring at the photograph, smiling slightly, then held it to her side in one hand and surveyed the area as if he would appear. She put one hand on her stomach, intending to tell him today that there was a new life growing inside her.

"Ray," she said again, quietly, shaking her head, then went back inside the house, closing the door behind her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 50

 

Ray had found renewed strength, but Lee was still fast approaching.

"Get here you fuckin..!" Ahead of them there was a small queue for a cash-machine, and Ray barreled through them, but when Lee did, one lady put her foot out and tripped him up. He crashed and rolled, coming to a halt on his back. He glared at the woman who looked worried, wondering why she did that.

"Fuckin' bitch!" but then 'Ray' loomed over Lee, grinning.

"Come on dick-head, you can do better than that,” and punched him in the face, breaking a nose that had already been broken four times. Then the doppelganger ran, and Lee screamed with absolute rage, got to his feet and hurled after 'Ray', who turned a corner out of sight. When he reached it he saw the real Ray over the other side of the road, and something in his mind, through the turmoil, wondered how on earth he could have got ahead so fast, but ran after him, and found that after about thirty seconds his energy levels were seriously depleting, as were Ray’s.

They began to jog, Lee a little faster, but then coming down the road in the opposite direction, a cyclist turned and sped across, mounted the pavement, and before Lee realised what was happening, barreled full tilt into him, and they both crashed into a flower display outside a florists.

The cyclist got to his feet, rubbed an aching shoulder and winced, but picked up the bike and laughed, before riding away.

Lee took longer to get to his feet. The public around all looked in his direction, but he staggered across to a crossroads and looked around.

Ray was gone.

"Ray!" he shouted, "Ray you fucking bastard!" he scanned around, his face red, his nose bloody.

"Ray you cunt, come and face me!"

Then he did, or his doppleganger did. On the diagonal corner to where he stood, he appeared from behind a group of several people who were waiting to cross and gestured a 'come on' gesture.

"Come on then Lee," he shouted, "this way", and Lee, not thinking straight, just launched himself in that direction. Vehicles screeched to a halt and people shouted and beeped the horns. 'Ray' was further down the road, gesturing for him to follow, a grin on his face, which incensed Lee to find more strength from within, but only to jog faster.

Ray had to stop, he was too exhausted, hands on his knees breathing heavily. Looking behind he could not see his pursuer around the bend of the road, but guessed he would appear very soon. He was near a train station, and saw an electronic display above the entrance. The next train to anywhere but here was three minutes away.

He hoped if he could hide until the train came, he could escape that way, so