Skull Meat: A Paignton Noir Mystery by Leins Tom

Author:Leins, Tom
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dirty Books
Published: 2017-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

“Can your presence in his office be traced back to me?”

“I doubt it.”

She takes me by the hand leads me into the bedroom. A layer of grey dust seems to cover everything in the room. The telephone is unplugged and there is lipstick on the receiver. The room is full of crates. A half-smoked packet of cigarettes sits on the bedside table. It seems to have a Polish health warning label. Marie shivers in her underwear and climbs onto the double bed.

“If you need any help – any men – just ask.”

Everyone knows that the Andretti Family are a spent force in this town. She could set me up with a couple of shell-suited cousins with shoulder holsters, but they would only end up as collateral damage in this demented territorial pissing contest.

What is the fucking point?

She smiles woozily at me and then kisses me hungrily. I feel something tighten in my gut. I’ve been here before, and her moves are like something out of an amateur fuck-flick.

Down to business, once again…

***

2am.

The dull sound of a fist pounding on the cheap plywood door wakes me. It sounds like dirt being shovelled onto a coffin. My coffin.

I climb out of bed and slip into my jeans. I open the curtains, but it is still early, and there is no real view to speak of – just the crumpled, worn-out Paignton skyline – lurking a polite distance away from the seething mass of shabby concrete and violent contradictions that I call home.

Marie is awake now too. She switches on the bedside light and lights a cigar.

I glance across at her, and she shrugs.

When I peer through the peephole a fat bloodshot eyeball squints back at me. Chris ‘Creepshow’ Crispin. What the fuck does he want?

I open the door and his teenage entourage pours into room like human effluence. Sometimes Paignton makes hell feel positively lukewarm in comparison. Creepshow prods me in the chest and sniffs, as if smelling gone-off meat.

“Where’s Marie?”

I flash him a sly grin and shrug.

“Beats me…”

What the fuck does a lower-league goon like Creepshow want with Marie?

He prods me again.

“This ain’t your beef, son. Give it up before you get hurt.”

I realise that he doesn’t even recognise me from our encounter the other night. This bastard is thicker than fresh cow-shit.

“Who’s gonna hurt me, fat man? You?”

I turn my back on him and walk back into the apartment, leaving the door gaping open like a toothless smile.

As his hood-rat friends tear the lounge apart I walk into the kitchenette and prepare a rum and coke. He waddles over and stands over me, his obscene bulk undulating beneath his shiny leisurewear.

“How would you like to wake up in a nice, tight body-bag tomorrow morning?”

I laugh.

“At least I’d fit in a body-bag. Not like you, you fat fuck!”

He gurgles back a threat, and glowers at me, trembling.

The hoodlums finally notice the bedroom door, and it caves in with a skeletal crack. Marie walks out, fully dressed, but her make-up has been badly applied, like a cheap drag act.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.