I Sell The Dead Page #5

They call him the Spider

because he likes to play

with his victims for hours

before killing them.

They say once he's ready to kill,

he uses a three-clawed

hook to gauge out the eyes

and the tongues of his victims.

Then there's his son, Cornelius Murphy.

One of the meanest bastards

I've ever met, alive or dead.

Rumor has it he's a corpse grinder,

grinds the bones from

the coffins he's nicked

and sniffs them.

He can smell out the dead

before they're even cold.

Valentine Kelly,

Murphy's right-hand man,

so to speak.

They say she got her name

after she was almost burned to death

by a lover on Valentine's Day.

Her face is so twisted and deformed

that she keeps it hidden except

for those she's about to kill.

Then there's the Bulger.

You couldn't find a more loyal servant.

Murphy saved him from

being beaten to death once.

Left with no teeth,

Murphy had a dentist of sorts

graft dog teeth onto his gums.

Bulger owes him everything.

You're all cowards.

There's money to be

made in Langols Island.

That's enough to keep

us all happy and lovely

for a really long time.

You lot are telling me you're afraid.

In a word, yes.

Yes.

Yeah, looks like it.

This lot can't be any worse

than what's in those boxes.

Fanny, forget it.

I'm sticking to the cemeteries.

Lads.

Remember, you are our apprentice,

not our partner.

You got to reign it in a little, love.

Thanks, Ronnie, but no thanks.

Yeah, well, maybe it's for the best.

Just thought I'd give

you lads a heads-up.

Murphy and his lot,

they won't be on the island

till tomorrow morning.

There'll be other jobs, Fanny.

When?

There won't be other jobs like this one.

If we're afraid of

crossin' a few knackers

like this Murphy's lot.

This one could've set us up for a while,

gave us enough money to enjoy life,

take me down to the Sinister

Duck once in a while,

live it up,

instead of going to that old

kip every night of the week.

What about our dream of

doing better for ourselves?

You be careful of dreams, Fanny.

They'll lead you down a garden path

and into a ditch before you know it.

The Fortune of War,

filled with people who

followed their dreams.

Look what they got to.

Willie's right,

keep chipping away at the smaller jobs,

everything else will fall into place.

Willie Grimes.

What about him?

If you had any backbone,

you'd be out on your own

instead of letting that

old drunk lean on you.

He's a drunken old coward,

and he's dragging you down.

That's not fair.

Willie and I go back a long way.

You'd be on that island if you

weren't listening to his fears.

We could be on and

off before anyone else.

There'd be no trouble.

It'll end badly,

and it'll end with a lot of blood.

You don't know what

these people are like.

This is your first job.

Took me years to get it down.

Willie's right.

You have to earn your keep

before you tackle a big job like this.

If we're gonna make it

anywhere in this world,

we got to stand up for ourselves.

This Cornelius and his

dad can't be all that bad.

No one's that mean.

When Cornelius was five,

his mother gave him one

of them clockwork toys.

He loved it.

He was always playing with

it, always winding it up.

His father stomped on it.

He just crushed it.

Then there was the time

when little Cornelius

found a baby chick.

Called it Pappy, fed it,

you know, took a shine to it.

His dad crushed the life out of it.

Poor little Pappy,

all spread out on the floor like that.

Then his mother buys him a rabbit.

This time Cornelius is determined

not to let his old man harm the animal.

At age five, he strangles

it and partially devours it,

just so his old man can't get to it.

He's a born and bred merciless killer

trained not to care about life or death.

It's a different league.

Feck this.

I'm off to Langols Island.

I can take care of meself.

And if you and that poxy

Willie Grimes are too scared,

then I'll see you down at the pub later.

You can't go on your own.

Well, then get up out

of bed and come with me.

We need this job, Arthur.

I'm sick of being broke.

There's good money

coming to us, Fanny.

There'll be no trouble.

Please, Arthur.

We can do this.

What are you doing?

I'll make it worth your while.

It'll end badly.

Fanny?

Arthur.

Fanny.

Forget it.

There's no way I'm going to the island,

and that's the last word of it.

Must be out of our bleeding minds,

out here at this hour of the night.

Letting a woman tell you what to do.

Yeah, well, you'll

be thanking me tonight

when we've made a

killing off of this lot.

A killing.

That's what I'm afraid of.

Oh, shut up, Willie.

We're out here now.

We may as well make the most of it.

I can't see a thing in this fog.

How far is the island?

Ought to be there by morning

if we don't hit rocks or worse.

Worse?

There are things

swimming around in this sea

that you don't want to come across.

Have you been out here before?

No.

Only ever heard the stories.

Me da used to go fishing out here.

Yeah, my little brother and I

used to watch him from the summit.

That's a really nice memory, Arthur.

There was this one time

he was coming back in to land.

The water all around

him started bubbling up,

and then we saw it.

A black mist it was,

surrounding my old man's boat.

Something hidden inside sucked

him down to a watery grave.

Yes, that's a... that's

a lovely memory, Arthur.

Ah, he was all right, he was.

Never laid a hand on us neither.

A hard worker too.

Bloody fool to be

fishing in these waters.

True.

So we have a few hours on

Murphy and his men, right?

Ronnie said they wouldn't

be here by morning.

Get the crates, get

the hell out of there.

No trouble, right, Willie?

That's fine by me.

Did you bring your crucifix?

Of course.

Whoopsie daisey.

Did you hear that?

Aye.

What was it?

Arthur's old fella coming

back to give him a clatter.

There's worse things out here

than running into my old dad.

I hate these waters.

It's eerie.

I suggest we keep our

mouths closed from here on in.

Wake me up when we get there.

Must be out of our bleeding minds.

Excuse me.

Could you keep the noise down, please?

Or I'll cut your bleeding head off.

What are we gonna do now?

No killing, you said, no trouble.

We was gonna knock him out with this.

And have him get up and kill us?

You must be daft.

You have no idea

what you've just done.

They've cornered the

market for too long.

This is our time.

We're going to be rich.

You stupid cow.

Willie, just get the

crates side by side.

Just do it now.

Listen, you,

I've done foolish things in my life,

but I have never put anyone

in harm's way to make a profit.

And what you've done here...

You.

We go now, with her or without her.

We may as well get

what we came here for.

Arthur, have you lost your balls?

No, but look, it's right here.

Listen, if we go now,

we can still go unnoticed.

Yeah, and empty-handed.

You don't get it at all, do you?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes