Jakes Revenge ( Part 3 )

Stevie was true to his word. When Jake went downstairs half an hour later, there was only his Mum and Dad standing in the kitchen.

Not much was said, Mum made a cup of tea, then they all sat down to watch “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”.

Jake got every question right and suddenly realised that he’d learnt more in prison than he ever had at school!

At half past nine he kissed them both goodnight and went up to bed. When he got to the top of the stairs he heard his Dad say quietly, “We’ve just got to give him time love, he’ll be back to normal after a few weeks, but it’s got to be at his pace not ours”

He couldn’t help thinking how wise his old man was. He did need time; time to settle back into “normal” life again, but also time to plan his next move and that would start tomorrow!

He didn’t sleep well on his first night back home, it was just too damn quiet, yes he lived in the East End of London so there were allways sirens going all night long, either Police or Ambulance but not much else. He was used to hearing footsteps all night long; every prison he ever stayed in, the night screws must have taken size eighteen fucking boots, because they made a loud thud every time they hit the floor!

There was always someone coughing somewhere on the wing, it would echo around the place like wind in a cathedral. Then there were the “wailers”, there was always someone, somewhere who wanted to have a good old cry at two in the morning, saying how he missed his kids or his missus, the night seemed to break people down in prison.

He did eventually get to sleep just before midnight but was wide awake again just before six. His prison routine was now ingrained in him, awake at six, doors open at seven, slop out then shower, breakfast at seven thirty, every prison had been the same, routine was an important thing.

He knew Mum and Dad wouldn’t be up till around seven thirty so he had a while to sort things out, make his plan. He took several folded up sheets of A4 paper out of his jacket pocket. He unfolded each one and carefully laid them out on his bed.

During his time inside he had written down absolutely everything he could remember about the “Three Amigos”.

He started with squashed nose; this was the guy that had done most of the talking and the one that Jake was most confident of finding. He picked up one piece of A4 from his bed, at the top of the page it said in scribbled ballpoint pen SQUASHED NOSE. There was a list underneath.

Bald, not shaven, naturally bald.

Age about 40 -45.

Accent, London, most probably South and possibly even South East.

Height about 6ft and weight about seventeen stone.
Muscular, definitely a gym user.

Looks, battered face, possibly from boxing but also misshaped ears, so maybe ex rugby player as well.

No visible tattoos. No wedding ring, but gold ring on little finger of right hand.

Hand made suit, not “off the peg”

Jake then picked up another piece of paper and started to laugh. It had been the source of much amusement when he was inside, it was a drawing of a big ugly face, it was Squashed Nose!

When he was in Wandsworth there was an old guy doing time for fraud. This guy could paint and draw anything, a great gift you might think, but when you start forging oil paintings by some of the greats and selling them as originals, well, you’re gonna get in trouble. That’s exactly what happened to Old George!

Inmates, and screws, would go to Old George and describe their loved ones to him and he would draw them, mainly it was sketches of their kids or wives or parents but Old George could draw anything.

Jake went to see Old George one day and asked him to draw him a picture of his “dead older brother”, he described him to Old George in painstaking detail, Old George drew it exactly as Jake described and the result was a perfect picture of Squashed Nose!

Everyone laughed when they saw what Old George had drawn; even Old George said it was the ugliest he’d ever done. Jake convinced everyone that it was of his dead brother and he just wanted something to remember him by, Jake kept it close to him at all times, a constant reminder of the reason he was doing his time.

Now was the time to put the list and the drawing to work.

When he was in Chelmsford nick his cellmate was Pete, Pete was a career criminal from Fulham, not the posh part, the tower block part by Worlds End. He once asked Pete if he knew anyone that could get someone “taken out”. Pete was cagey and wanted to know why Jake would want such a thing, Jake made up a story about some local villains threatening his family and might want some muscle to scare them off. Pete didn’t buy the story at all, he knew that Jake could look after himself well enough, he’d had first-hand experience of one of Jakes “moves”, but they were mates and he figured Jake had his reasons. He told Jake that there was a guy who owned a garage in Bermondsey, a car mechanic called Geoff; he might be able to point him in the right direction. Jake wrote down the address, it was also on the list!

So part one of his plan would start today, he would take the picture down to Bermondsey, track down Geoff and see if he could get any info that might start a trail to Squashed Nose.

There was a knock on Jakes door.

“Just a minute!”

Jake quickly tidied up the sheets of paper and put them in a drawer beside his bed.

“Ok, I’m decent now”

The door opened, it was his Mum holding a cup of tea.

“Morning Jake, thought you might like an early cuppa, sleep ok?”

“Thanks Mum, yep like a log”

“Oh that’s good Jake, we were worried you might not sleep well on your first night back, you know, what with all the changes”

There was an awkward silence as though his Mum thought she had said the wrong thing. Jake took the tea from her put it down on his bedside table, and then gave her a hug.

“You’re the best Mum in the world you are, thanks for everything, without you and Dad I don’t know how I’d have got through all this”

Jakes Mum held him close and started to cry.

“We’ve missed you Jake, really missed you, but now you’re back, back for good, we’re a family again”

Jake wiped the tears from her face and gave her a smile.

“Right, let’s see if you can still make me a proper breakfast!”