edward rama?
you're home, then.
my name's wilson.
you wrote to me about my daughter.
no reason.
round about, yeah.
it was better than a telegram.
who done it, then?
snuffed her.
no, but between the lines, eh? mysterious circumstances, and that.
this bloke she was bunked up with. this terry what'sit.
valentine. what's he got to say for himself?
how long had she been in the states? near on ten years, wasn't it? long enough to know her way about, i reckon.
what more is there.
no, not my girl. self-control, she had. point of pride. and people don't change, do they.
going straight, are ya.
y'what?
this ain't your lot?
i only asked.
what, tryin' to catch him with another bird?
where abouts?
did jenny know?
nah, coppers don't do nothing, do they.
she didn't write to me, did she.
who'd jenny get it off of -- this grass or whatever?
i think you didn't get that lot in the navy, doing your national service.
nick's a nick, n' it? no matter what state you're in. state of remorse, most likely -- for gettin' caught.
just got out meself, didn't i.
i'll be needing a shooter.
what do i do, then, look in the bleedin' yellow pages?
thought perhaps there'd be dispensing machines, you know. bung in your coins, come out with a .44 magnum, fully-loaded.
sod that. gotta get back before my probation officer wonders where i've skived off to.
travelling on a dodgy passport, n' all.
which is why i thought, save some time, get what i need under the table, like.
doesn't know where to look. at the booth featuring "classic cowboy collectibles" -- or the most obese couple he's ever seen who just walked by.
walking past, almost subliminally noting the young woman with the symbol of death on her.
trouble is, i'm not at home, see. fancied a bit of target shooting, y'know, while i'm here -- with me mate.
england. only, we saw there was a show on, thought i might pick something up for a price, type of thing.
just luck, this, really. never been to one of these before.
been to the boat show.
don't have time for a lot of paperwork, y'know. just popped over on a quick visit.
yeah?
no. not at all. do we?
i mean, it's already a steal, n'it -- what you said -- four hundred for this one?
oh, aye?
violation of my parole, this. -- goin' abroad.
fucking out of order, that. shouldn't be allowed.
it's only insurance. can't be too careful. this terry valentine, he's probably a wonderful fella. they were together how long?
well, there you are. jen must've liked him.
hang about. i thought you said he come into the restaurant where you worked with jenny.
and that's where you met jenny.
how'd the two of you hook up, then?
scans the wall for any sign of an alarm box or anything. then cocks an ear upwards.  camera craning up to show us what he hears: an air-conditioning unit humming away. which means someone must be inside.
walked.
looking for a bloke named valentine. know him?
i doubt it.
i have a message for him. about jennifer wilson.
you know her?
is valentine here?
where is he, then?
you tell him. you tell him i'm coming!!
had a feeling it was you.
perhaps it was the smoke.
she used to pinch 'em off me. funny that. one thing she never tried to get me to stop.
wanted to talk to you, didn't i?
sort a few things out.
how d'you mean?
i was skint -- didn't have no money to get here.
what was that, then?
it was the bars, then.
sewing mailbags? me? never did an honest day's work in my life, dear. wasn't about to start when i was in stir -- not with all that leisure time on my hands.
hardly buried. earning interest, love. earning interest in an offshore account. tidy little premium per annum, that.
here, aren't you gonna let me in.
 no, i went in for more improving pastimes. philosophy classes, language courses, european history, all that lark. did you know that in paris in the eighteenth century there were more rats in people's houses than there were people in people's houses.
here, are you always this sarky?
weren't you on a television series?
said it went on for donkey's years.
oh, it just ended, then.
when you've lost as many years as i have, love, puts things in perspective, know what i mean.
i can't believe jenny told you all that. about me. she was always so embarrassed.
ashamed.
she never told eddie, though.
how'd you manage that, then.
yeah, well, she started all that in london.
learnin' 'ow to speak proper. central school of speech and drama. it's no doddle gettin' in there, y'know. at seventeen. they offered her a place at rada n' all, only she'd've had to wait till the next session and she was always in hurry to get on, was jenny. she could talk posh without any training, when she was knee-high to a grasshopper. show up the old man, you know.
in jenny? 'course not. how could i be. 'course i wasn't.
footloose and fancy free.
that's the trouble, n' it. she enjoyed life.
yesterday. afternoon.
no, i had -- some other matters to attend to, you know. getting a car sorted .
well, i reckoned, saturday night, if you were goin' out, you'd probably have to come home first.
yeah, saw eddie, yeah. me and him are muckers.
he give me your address.
well, don't suppose she did, really, most of her life. on her own after her mum died. aunts and uncles for a time -- and then the bright lights beckoned.
nah, we split up when jenny was six. her second husband done a runner after she got sick. they give me compassionate leave from parkhurst to go visit her in hospital. we were always mates, me and jenny's mum. i like to think they're together again now. y'know. heavenly choir.
nah, accommodation address.
something like that, yeah.
well, you gotta have something permanent, don'tcha. even if it's a hole in the wall. no matter which jug i might be transferred to, i always got someone on the out checks up on it for me, see. anything i need to know, comes round on visitor's day -- word in my ear.
i already knew. knew beforehand. when was it supposed to have happened? -- two o'clock in the morning, eddie said.
eight hours difference between here and london. would've been, what, ten in the morning, my time. i was just coming out on the yard. now, i was in the habit of saving my newspaper till then. bit of fresh air, stretch me legs -- well, stretch the day out, really, that's what you wanna do. and i'll tell ya: i couldn't open the paper. could not pry the pages apart -- it was like they was glued together. that's how weak my hands went. thought i was having heart attack, only i knew i wasn't. bloke come up to me, he says, dave, he says, you've gone all white. i said, fuck me, i've been in prison half my life, what d'ya expect. but he was dead on, 'cause i could feel the blood drain right out of me head. and i knew .  something had happened to jen.
well, i gathered something from the article what eddie sent me. some sort of pop music producer, wasn't it.
what's he done lately.
now, you shouldn't run yourself down. my employer, mr. lindgren --
-- mr. lindgren.
my employer.
proprietor of a london firm. of longstanding.
based in london, but with international concerns.
various enterprises, style of thing.
well, not to say mr. lindgren is dishonest, exactly.
anyhow, he's always saying to me, dave, never run yourself down, son -- 'cause there'll always be plenty of people willing to do it for you.
this and that. y'know. ways and means.
why not.
have you ever known me not to be.
what'd you want me to do. stay at home, twiddlin' me thumbs. doing sweet f.a. .
what do you think.
depends, don' it.
i'll bloody well ask him.
that look again.
i got his number.
sips coffee. bites into a cookie.
gate's open. i had a butcher's at the house.
butcher's hook. look. i don't much reckon those minders of his.
he's brought in the heavy mob.
extra muscle. bodyguards.
they look a right load of wallies. patrolling back and forth outside the gate, all ponced up like the fuckin' household cavalry. watch it.
see what i mean? wearing bloomin' uniforms n' all.
look at that.
what's so fucking funny?
valets. what d'ya mean valets. what is he, then, the earl of fucking doncaster?
keep it handy, mate, all right? we're not stopping long.
cheers.
valets, eh? aren't we all la-de-da.
well, that's what we're doin', n' it.
first in, first out, that's me.
dubonnet with a twist? baby sham? tomato juice and tabasco sauce?
a series of emotions play over his face. he turns -- sees valentine coming down the stairs. valentine joins the party without noticing him.
at the foot of the stairs. watches him, all stillness and intensity.
turning to see her as she comes down.
watching them, when --
ian?
sorry. wasn't me.
unless i'm not who i think i am.
yeah?
no kidding.
right. chain of respect. that's good, that.
yeah. cheers, mate.
on the deck outside. joining ed, who's taken refuge out here with a plate of food. what wilson can't belleve when he sees it -- is that behind valentine's house, which is on top of a high hill, is nothing but desolate scrub canyon. on the other side of the railing around the deck, which is surely less than regulation height, is a sheer drop into an abyss.
what are we standing on?
could you?
why don't you go nick one of those little cooker what's its warming up the sausages cocktail and meet me in the garage. look about for a toolbox while you're at it.
pleasure.
emi in london. i work with ian.
you must know ian.
great bloke. really turned things around there. 180 degrees.
oh, i think a shake-up was in order. definitely. otherwise, people get lazy, don't they? forgetful. start thinking they can get away with things. gotta shake 'em up now and again, make 'em pay attention.
glad i got to meet you.
be seein' you.
got it?
toolbox?
put the sterno on the ground, near the center of the garage.
bring the motor around. bang out in front, right?
one thing i need.
adjusting his jacket, walking back through the house. behind him, people are rushing to the railing and looking over. a few yells of "call an ambulance!" etc. are heard.
moving across the room towards the front door. they are heading right toward each other.
steady on.
flinches, grabs a handhold.
gulps.
bloody hell.
that would be too easy.
he's gotta know why.
jumps out of his car. gun drawn. advancing on avery with it pointed.
that consuming rage overtaken him again for a second. but the exigencies of the moment snap him out of it.
turns on a dime, goes back to the car. before he's halfway in, ed's driving them away again. trunk at the back banging up and down, up and down.
pulls the rolled-up photograph of his daughter out of his jacket and looks at it.
she told you all about my details but not about his. lovely.
how did you come to have my address? found it, did you. among her things.
and how did you get it?
how long've you lived here?
early 70's. i was away. maidstone. possibly brixton.
you don't seem bothered.
tell us about it.
oh, i was gonna say .
i can see the attraction.
a jeweller's up the west end. we tunnelled our way under the shop floor from the public lavatory down the road. filthy work. trouble was, the bloody thing collapsed -- after we'd made the grab, 'n all. would you adam n' eve it.
we were lucky to be nicked. me and the lads went down there sunday evening, we weren't discovered till the monday. good job we were still breathing.
hey?
i'll tell ya something: it made me a model prisoner. put me right off any escape attempts. tunnel my way to freedom after that experience? not bloody likely.
did you. what was that in aid of?
get seven years, did you?
just now? overnight?
it's true. has to be said. i got off to a slow start.
honest. didn't know where to look till i was 21.
me mate introduced me to a woman up the street. funnily enough, she was married to a milkman. straight up. i said, "good is she? been around?" he said, "good? listen, mush, it's not that she's been around, it's that she's been around hell of a long time."
it was for nine years. the last nine years.
you ever been to london?
i've 'ardly ever left it.
i've got the hang of the driving. found this place all right.
not that i recall.
nah -- she was married to me grandad -- he was as bent as a boomerang -- used to make knuckle-dusters down the shop. crafty old sod.
dropped dead in the stalls in the odeon, muswell hill. watching doris day.
black market during the war.
you sound like my fucking probation officer.
good luck to him. he couldn't find his prick if he didn't wear y-fronts.
do us a favor. can't even go have a slash without 'em saying, what're you going in there for?
hand on his .45 now. but a fourth black guy coming up behind him. wilson lowers the .45.
i got a steady income -- i'm on the dole.
i fiddle it. they got me down as an immigrant with five kids.
last time might as well've been the first. i remember all the times, don't i. watching her grow up -- in increments.
well, she twigged by the time she was eight or nine that daddy wasn't in the royal marines or doing scientific research in the jungles of borneo or playing iago in a worldwide tour of
she used to tell me she'd turn me in. little kid. ten year old. "if you're naughty, dad, i'll tell on ya." she didn't want me sent down again, see. when i was planning some job. "i'll tell 'em, dad, i promise i will. here, look, i'm calling the old bill right now" -- picking up the telephone. i can see her, the phone in her hand. became a sort of joke between us. only it wasn't a joke.
i know that. but as time went on .  well, it wasn't a joke, was it? she had a feeling about it -- about the last job -- how long i'd get the hook for. said she wouldn't be there this time when i got out.
this is where i come in.
look, mush, you're the guv'nor here, i can see that, i'm on your manor now, right. so there's no need to get out of your pram. i'm johnny-come-lately to all this. whatever the bollocks between you and this slag valentine, it's got nothing to do with me. i don't wanna know.
i can well believe it. i'm sure he has done, son. he's about as straight as a dog's hind leg.
your guess is as good as mine, mate. i'm here on another matter entirely.
good job your lot showed up when they did or it would've been me for the high jump.
yeah. shouldn't wonder. must've done.
nothing financial. strictly personal. i can see how all this import-export malarkey might give rise to confusion where i'm concerned. a foreigner, showing up unexpectedly, like.
eh?
no, i can reassure you on that point. valentine was just as surprised by that turn of events as you.
all of what?
oh, yeah, right. the deal.
as you prefer, squire. as you prefer.
and that is?
looking the other way. gotcha.
where's big sur?
how far?
fancy it?
never thought of that. busman's holiday.
that's where valentine's scarpered.
bloke told me.
again?
yeah, i suppose. call 'em that, yeah. down the boozer saturday night. meet some of the lads.
you can't count on very many people, that's the trouble. number of times a decent job's been cocked up .
useless gits. i was gonna do the post office once.
the lot. the whole british bloody post office. i had a brilliant plan -- all worked out -- work of genius, it was. could i get anybody interested? no -- they're too busy pinching orange squash from the milkman. lazy sods. jumble sale on in watford, they'll be up at the crack of dawn.
too bleeding true, 'n' it.
standing there. wet. mad. he grabs valentine by the shirt and pushes him back into the room.
comes toward him.
is almost on him now.
who keeps coming. he grabs valentine, pulls him up, then throws him into the television.
goes to him, grabs him by the neck with one hand and pulls out his gun with the other. he seems about to speak when suddenly he screams instead.
aaaagggghhhh!
turns instinctively and whips the pistol around, smashing adhara in the mouth.
in agony, spinning, trying to reach the knife in his back, but it's just beyond his reach.
comes out after him, the knife still in his back. so intent on catching valentine he fails at first to notice avery lying in the shadows.
seems to feel it. turns. locks eyes with avery. avery could already have shot him. but there's a momentary sense of recognition: both of them just foot soldiers for fat cats -- and avery's is not worth saving.
jumps down from the steps. stops for a moment and leans his back against the railing. bends at the knees slightly.
grimacing, pulls the knife out and discards it.
a dark figure. coming into focus. walking inexorably this way.
steadily coming.
now stands before him.
tell me.
tell me.
about jenny. tell me about jenny. about the deal. whatever fucking deal you had to kill my daughter for when she found out about it, you bastard.
tell me. tell me about it, you fucking bastard.
why then. why did you do it!
shock of recognition on his face. at those words.
knows that the girl he loved .  loved valentine, too. having heard the truth, the last vestige of revenge has vanished. he gets up and walks away. leaving the quivering shell of valentine behind.
ta.
yeah, that's right.
takes this in.
i would have preferred staying home, me.
got called out to l.a., unexpected like, to do a job of work.
yeah. another little matter needs attending to soon as i return.
been away a lot.
out on a oil rig. in the north sea. nine years.
well, time off for good behavior, you know. i shouldn't have even been there -- it was these other blokes who shoulda gone in my place. i got lumbered with the job they were responsible for. i don't mind pulling me own cart, but not someone else's, know what i mean.
i had to, didn't i. nothing else for it. then just when i'd finished my nine years -- my contract -- wallop, i had to bugger off to the states.
could do, yeah.
but first i gotta give these lads a talking to, these geezers what sent me up the river, in a manner of speaking.
yeah.
Them next.