Crash Course by Derek Fee (pdf to ebook reader .txt) 📕

short minutes to pay his last respects. Bent over her coffin, he was astonished at how peaceful she looked. It was as though she had moved back in time and was his mother as she used to be before she had retreated into her mind. In a way, he felt happy for her. It was a blessed release from a low-quality life. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell on his hand. He would never forget that he had been partly responsible for his mother’s degeneration. He turned his head and saw Davenport sitting at the rear of the chapel. His presence didn’t comfort him. The final strains of the music filled the small chapel and the gear of the conveyor clicked as the mechanism engaged. The curtains swished as they opened and the coffin moved towards the furnace. There had been a time when he would have wanted to jump on the coffin and go into the fire with it. He remembered the burial of his children. Standing on the cold wet grass above the hole into which they were about to be lowered, he’d felt that there was no purpose in life. He had wanted only to join them, and as soon as humanly possible. The coffin disappeared and the curtains closed. He buried his head in his hands. When he looked up, the coffin was gone and a fit of nervous coughing had broken out in the chapel. He felt his father’s hand circle his shoulder and the tears fell freely from his eyes. They left the crematorium together and paused at the exit while the small attendance filed past. Some of them clasped his hand in theirs by way of condolence. Finally, only he and his father were left.

“It was all my fault,” Kane said looking into his father’s tear-stained face.

“She died of a massive heart attack.” His father’s hand tightened on Kane’s shoulder. “It was congenital. Nothing to do with either you or me. At least she’s happy now. She’s up there somewhere playing with the young ones. I sometimes think that’s all she was waiting for. She would have gone the day after they died if she could have but that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. She had to suffer a little first but I think she has what she wanted now.”

“And where does that leave you?”

“The same place you are.” He stared through red-rimmed eyes. “I’ll go on. Tonight I’ll make my way into work and I’ll try not to remember. What about you?”

“I’m in the middle of an operation,” Kane said simply.

“I suppose that’s why you only arrived today.”

He thought there was a hint of bitterness in Patrick Kane’s voice. But today was not the day for an argument.

“At least it’s sunny wherever you are.”

“What?”

“Your suntan,” his father said. “Is Davenport taking care of you? You must be up to something bloody important if he didn’t tell you that your mother was dead until last night.”

The sky was a dirty grey colour in keeping with the occasion. Along the road, cars and lorries trundled about their normal business. His mother was dead but it was business as usual. The small crowd who had attended the service had dispersed. Only Davenport stood off to the side.

“I wanted to hold a wake. You know sandwiches and a few pints of beer. But there wasn’t really anyone I wanted to share a drink with.”

A warm rain-laden wind brushed Kane’s face.

Patrick Kane tossed his head in Davenport’s direction. “Your boss is waiting for you.”

Kane shuffled. “What about that drink?” he said. “Don’t I qualify?”

His father smiled for the first time that morning. “That would be a turn-up for the books. You and I drinking together. Mulling over the old times. Raking up all the dead bones. I’m feeling suicidal enough without getting into that kind of session. The father and son bonding will have to wait for another day. Do me one favour.”

“Name it,” Kane said.

His father nodded at Davenport. “Tell that fellah to fuck off and find himself another patsy. We’ve put enough Kanes in the ground over the past few years. I don’t want to be around when it’s your turn. It isn’t natural.”

“Soon, Dad, soon.”

His father turned and hugged him. “Now, Mark, before it’s too late,” he said quietly into his son’s ear.

Kane returned his father’s hug. “I’ll be back soon and we will have that drink together.”

His father released his hug and cast his eyes downwards. “Aye,” he said moving towards the gates of the crematorium. “I’ll be waitin’ for your call.”

Kane watched him leave and make his way up the road in the direction of his car. He wanted very badly to grant him his wish.

As soon as his father left, Davenport made his way towards him.

“Thanks for at least informing me that my mother was being cremated,” Kane said as Davenport approached.

“I spoke with your father.” There was no emotion in either Davenport’s face or the tone of his voice. “Your mother died suddenly. There was no warning. The funeral couldn’t take place over the weekend and I knew I could get you here on time. I made an executive decision to let you race before I told you.”

“That was kind of you. Don’t my feelings come into this at all?”

“There was nothing you could do. Your father had it under control.”

You arrogant bastard, Kane thought. An ‘executive decision’ made so that he could continue to build his career on the backs of others. He‘d give a month’s pay to punch out Davenport’s lights but resisted the urge.

“Ready to go back?” Davenport said.

“You know, you’re all heart, skipper,” Kane said, contempt dripping from every word. “What if I said no?”

“You won’t,” Davenport said quietly. “Tom told me how you performed yesterday. That should get our friends’ attention.”

“Who says that they’re still out there?”

“Oh, they’re still out there all right. Europol is getting reports that a flood of cocaine is hitting the continent. It appears that