Chapter 17
BUTCHER
I've done this many times. My guys would pick the dirty motherfucker up when instructed. We had plans in place for how this would work. Going forward they’d be working with Keelan, so I wanted him to see each part. There were a lot of moving parts that we had to execute with precision.
Keelan was waiting for me at the old filling station as instructed. I got out of my car and walked towards him, nodding in greeting as I leant up against the grill of his car next to him. Taking a burner from my pocket, I open it up and send a message to my guys.
Update
In sight. Ten minutes to go time. Hour until deposit.
Understood
Deleting the messages, I remove the sim card and destroy it before putting the phone in a bag and then on the floor, crushing it. I’d deposit bits along the road as we drove.
Keeping my attention on my task I ask, “You get all that?”
“Aye, standard procedure for me.”
“Fucking excellent. We’ll get to the disposal site now and set up.”
“Stock?”
“I’ve got caches everywhere, I’ll let you know where they are. This one is about a mile that way. We’ll circle back around.”
Keelan doesn’t say a word, just follows me to my car and slides into the passenger seat.
We make the drive in the opposite direction to the site. I let the broken phone fall out of the bag onto the road a little at a time until it’s empty, stuffing the bag in my pocket to be disposed of later.
We get to one of the many sites I have supplies at. This one is an old garage; it looks derelict, but it’s not. I hand Keelan another pair of disposable gloves. “Double glove you don’t need a split and to leave any DNA in here,” I order.
He doesn’t argue. Taking the gloves, he puts them on, covering up the ones he’s already got on.
We load up rolls of plastic, a clean saw, tape, metal chair, disposable suits, shovel and a box of tools.
I’m old school, and only use tools that are available at all major hardware stores and are disposable. They are destroyed after each job.
I explain my process to Keelan as we work.
We suit up first before we even enter the house, including our shoes.
Once inside, I take him to the room with the least windows.
The entire house is clear of furniture. We make short work of taping sheets of plastic to the walls of the room and the floor, setting up the chair and our tools.
Once I’m happy with the room I ask, “Any questions?”
“No,” Keelan shakes his head, looking around the room as if cataloguing each piece, making notes. It’s what I would have done.
It’s now a waiting game.
“They’ll be here soon. We’ll wait outside for them.”
“Do you always use your crew to drop them off?”
“No. Each case is different, but this time I didn’t have time to set up a room before the job.
Usually, I do everything myself. Better for everyone if I’m ever caught, I don’t want to bring anyone down with me.
The less they know the better. I have a few of my crew I trust to help if I need it.
We’ll do the disposal and dumping though, I never allow anyone else to do that. ”
“Okay. I prefer working alone.”
Like I said, man of a few words.
I think he’s done when he suddenly asks, “Why’d you offer Aiden cleaners if you do it all yourself?”
“I only do these jobs myself. Cleaners are used for family business, we don’t always have time for those. I can take my time with these ones.”
“Understood, and they’re trustworthy?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I stand straight when I hear the sound of a vehicle approaching. “As trustworthy as anyone else in this game. We’ve never had a problem, but there’s a first time for everything.”
I wonder if Aiden knew how much his fixer worried, and if he appreciated the loyalty of the man next to me. I’d have to mention it the next time we spoke.
A dark brown panel van stops in the yard and two of my guys get out. They tip their chins at me, “Boss.”
“Lads,” I respond, but wait for them to bring the cunt they’d picked up to us.
They haul him out of the van by his feet, and I bite back a chuckle when I see how they’ve got him tied up.
They gagged him, bound his feet and arms then used the hog-tie method to secure him to a pole that they hefted over their shoulders and walked over to us.
“Got your delivery boss. He was a little mouthy and got a little violent with Sally, so we had to slap him around a bit. Teach him some manners when it comes to talking to a lady.”
“Thanks lads,” I say, taking one end of the pole and nodding at Keelan to take the other. “Get rid of that van and get yourselves home.”
“Aye, boss.”
We wait for the two of them to get in the van and leave before we take the cunt to the disposal room and get to work on him.
It's sweet music listening to his screams as I read down the list of his crimes and then do to him what he’d done to others. Neither Keelan nor I are gentle. We’re covered head to toe in blood.
We’re nearing the end of what we want to do to him, and we’ve got him bent over a chair, pants down by his ankles.
Keelan has a hold of a hammer. Like I say, an eye for an eye, and every rapist deserves to feel what it’s like to be violated.
We’ve had to rouse him a few times, as he keeps passing out from pain.
Weak arsed motherfucker.
We’d gotten tired of listening to his pleading hours ago and had gagged him again. I’d taped the pictures of all his victims to the wall and the list of his transgressions, then ticked each one off using his blood as we worked our way down the list. Rape was the last we had left.
That’s when we hear it, and freeze. We share a surprised wide-eyed look at the unmistakable noise of the front door opening and closing. Then nothing for a minute.
I’m horrified when a voice calls out my name, soft, uncertain and a little shaky, “Butcher.”
My stomach sinks to my boots when I realise Moira is here.
“The fuck man? Who is she?” Keelan hisses, his eyes wide behind his safety glasses.
Tilting my head back, I sigh tiredly. I know this is the make or break of my relationship with Moira, depending on her reaction when she sees us.
“My woman,” I reply before raising my voice, “In here, sunshine.”
Keelan jerks in surprise, “The feck man?”
I hold up my hand, “It’ll be handled,” I assure him as Moira stops in the doorway, wide eyes bouncing around the room; to the photos, to the man we’ve got bent over a chair, to me and Keelan covered in blood, Keelan with the hammer in his hands. It’s clear what we were about to do.
She’s cataloguing the room, and I’m cataloguing her. Noting that she’s dressed right, hair covered and wearing gloves.
I know then that Uncle Sean and Aunt Jess know she’s here. This is the final test.
Can she cope with this life, or will she need to be disposed of? My heart’s beating double time as I wait.
Moira will be the one that decides the outcome of her fate, depending on her reaction to seeing me in work mode.
The reason they call me Butcher.
Not that I have any remorse when it comes to this work. I’ll miss it when I stop. There is no doubt that I’d stop for her, but something in me is a little broken because I’m not sure what kind of man I’ll be without being able to take out the trash.
I guess we’d be finding out if I was completely retired, partially retired, or not retired at all. Well, we would as soon as Moira let me know how she felt about me killing for a living.
I’m not sure if Moira was aware when she set out tonight how much the rest of our lives depended on her reaction to seeing me at work.
My breath gushes out of me, and I sigh with relief as she evenly speaks. “A rapist, huh?”