Screen Savers

Chapter 44

I found it hard to concentrate that weekend. I was really pumped up by the time I left the mansion to join the GWA team — fortunately, we were in Glasgow that weekend — and switching into my ring announcer character was almost more than I could handle.

I wasn’t helped by having Mark Kravitz around; I had wanted to leave him behind in Surrey, but Miles had insisted that he should be with me full-time, at least until the movie was finished. Not that I had anything against Mark, mind you; it was simply that not having seen Primavera for a few days, I wasn’t overjoyed by the prospect of having a bodyguard in our spare room.

Nevertheless, I managed to come to terms with it all, in time to put on a reasonable performance for the Saturday show. It was as well, for Everett sprang a surprise on me; for the first time in the history of the GWA, the announcer was announced himself. As the title music faded, and the special effect whizzbangs died away, the voice of big Daze himself boomed around the hall; ‘Welcome to Battleground, fresh from his starring role in Snatch, Miles Grayson’s sensational new movie, our very own Oz Blackstone!’

I knew nothing about that — Everett had kept quiet at rehearsal — and I almost proved it by fluffing my first introduction.

Naturally, Mark spent the whole day with me at the SECC. I tried to persuade him that I couldn’t be anywhere safer than in that arena, in the midst of all those guys, but like most people who don’t know them, he had a jaundiced view of professional wrestlers. By the end of the afternoon that had changed, as he watched the full run-through of the programme of matches, and saw the force of the hits which the guys took.

‘I have to tell you, Oz,’ he whispered, a suggestion of awe in his eyes as he watched the enormous Daze despatch three opponents in the wind-up ‘contest’, ‘I’ve always thought most of these guys were big fat Nellies, but that big fella, he’s something else. And your Irish pal, I can tell just from looking at him that he can handle himself.’

That was no small compliment, coming from Mark. He struck me as a quiet, circumspect man, and it was rare for him to offer a comment.

After the show, Prim and I teamed up with Susie and Mike for a meal at the Malmaison. When I called him to make the date, I suggested to Dylan that they bring their minder along to compare notes with Mark, but he told me that he had been stood down at the end of that week. ‘Oh yes,’ I said. ‘Coming round to my way of thinking about that car-bomb, are you?’

‘It sticks in my craw to admit it, but that’s the likeliest explanation.’

‘What about Stephen Donn? Have you given up on him?’

‘Yes. I couldn’t justify it any longer. The boy seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth — as far as his mother’s concerned anyway. She’s had no phone calls, no e-mails, no nothing, so I’ve lifted the wire tap.’

‘So,’ I asked him later, in the restaurant, ‘if young Mr Donn’s off the menu as far as your lot are concerned, what about me? Is anyone really trying to find my bloody stalker?’

Mike frowned. ‘I have to confess, Oz, there’s a certain lack of co-ordination among the various investigations. Mind you, it’s more difficult when you’ve got no information to share. Your pal DI Bell has got absolutely nowhere with the Auchterarder incident, and it’s the same story in Aberdeen and Fife. The boys up in Grampian haven’t even found that bullet yet. I hate to say it, but I can only see one chance of catching the bloke.’

I caught his meaning at once. ‘Sure. If he has another go.’

Prim glanced at our minder. ‘But with Mark looking after you, surely he’s not going to.’

‘No, but with all due respect to Mark, I’m not going to live my life with a baby-sitter. Once I’m finished with the movie I go back to normal and we’ll see what happens.’

‘Doesn’t that scare you?’ Susie blurted out.

‘Too right it does,’ I told her, ‘but like Mike says, if this person is after me, it may be the only way to flush the bugger out.’

‘What do you think, Mark?’ Dylan asked.

Kravitz took a sip of his mineral water. ‘It’s an unpleasant prospect,’ he answered. ‘But that’s how it has to be if the situation is to be resolved. Before I do go, I can train Oz in basic anti-terrorist procedures. They wouldn’t be any good against a sniper’s bullet, but if this guy was going to shoot anyone, he’d have done it already.

‘Since I’ve been on the case, I haven’t seen a trace of anything suspicious. Maybe the guy has run his course, but if he has, you’ll still have an uncertain time until that becomes clear.’ He glanced at Prim. ‘Maybe it would be a good idea if you two lived apart for a while.’

She stared at him. ‘What? We’re being married in a few weeks.’

‘I know,’ said Kravitz. ‘But I’ve been asked for a security assessment. Where I was trained, we began by minimising the risks.’

‘And then eliminating the threat,’ I added. ‘Usually with a round in the middle of the forehead.’

‘Sure, boss, but I don’t think we can do that here. Only guys like DI Dylan are allowed to go around tooled up these days. So guys like me, other than on very special occasions, have to adopt a more cautious approach than we might have in the past. That’s why I’m suggesting that it would be safer if you isolated yourself as far as possible.’

‘Maybe,’ said Primavera, quietly. ‘But we’re a partnership in every sense of the word. If I’m in danger through being around Oz, then so be it. It won’t be the first time, anyway. We’re not as soft as you may think we look, Mark. If anyone does have a pop at us, God help him.’

We did our best to put thoughts of our uncertain future out of our minds for the rest of the weekend. I had thought of going up to Perthshire to visit SuperDave, but Prim felt that if we turned up there complete with bodyguard, it could only worry her mother. Instead Mark and I decided that we would catch the last Sunday shuttle back to Heathrow rather than leave at sparrow-fart next morning.

I was heading for the door when the phone rang. ‘You take that, love,’ I said to Prim. I waited, just a touch impatiently, while she dealt with the caller.

When she rejoined me in the hall, she wore a surprised look. ‘You’ll never guess who that was.’

‘Saddam Hussein?’

‘Susie might say so,’ she retorted. ‘It was Joe Donn. He wants to see me tomorrow; says he’s got something for me that might be important. So I said that I’d go out to Motherwell for ten o’clock tomorrow.’

‘Just you be careful,’ I warned her, jokingly. ‘That old sod fancies you.’