when a criminal is arrested one of the first things that happen is the interview at the police station questions and answers the detective asks the questions and the criminal answers or not some of them won't say a word others talk and talk and talk Ian is a great talker he wants to tell the detective everything from beginning to end every single detail it was tony's idea ian says moving about in his seat tony's my brother two years younger than me but
he
was always the clever one it was
all his idea i
just went along with it
he's still trying to get comfortable
it's not easy to get comfortable in the
interview room
the detective could tell him that
he could tell him about the chair he's
sitting in
it's a special interview chair
with its front legs just a little bit
shorter than its back legs
very uncomfortable
so tony says to me
one day
he says in
this is one plan that cannot fail
and he tells me about it we spend a long
time talking about it and I'm trying to
find things wrong with it
but it's good it's a really a good plan that's why I'm here
it was just too good
Ian looks around again studying the
walls
looking for two-way mirrors secret
listening to spy holes the one thing
he hasn't expected is the quietness
it's 11 30 on a weekday night
and the police station is like a ghost
town
Ian wants to see lights action
lots of police uniforms
yet again in his life, he's disappointed
he goes on with his story
tony had noticed the slip road
he drove
from fife to Edinburgh most Saturday
nights
taking a car full of friends for a night
out
on the a-90 road south of the fourth
road bridge
tony saw the signpost for the slip road
department of transport vehicle
check area only
that's what started his idea
the next morning he went back and drove
up the slip road
which took him to a kind of roundabout
in the middle of nowhere
he stopped his car and got out
there was grass growing in the middle of
the road
he didn't think the place got used much
there was a hut nearby and another slip
road
went back down onto the a-90 road
he stood there for a while listening to
the noise of the traffic below him
and the idea slowly grew in his mind
you see ian went on tony
had two guards uniforms at home
he's always had
the idea of robbing some
place
and always knew those uniforms would be
useful
and one of his old friends a man called
malk was good at getting false papers
so tony brought him in have you got a
cigarette
the detective points to the no smoking
sign
but then raises his eyebrows and says
okay he gives in a packet of ten
and some matches thanks
Ian lights up a cigarette breathes
noisily
so you see he goes on it was all
tony's idea and mark
well he'd done this kind of thing before
I was just family that's why tony
brought me in
I'm not saying I wasn't part of it
i mean that's why I'm here now
I just want it in the police report that
i
wasn't the leader the clever one
i think i can agree with that the
detective says
aren't you going to write all this down
asks
Ian, we're trained boy
we remember everything
so ian nods goes on with his story
the interview room is small and airless
it smells of all the people who have
told their stories in there
a few of the stories were even true
so we drive up this slip road a few
times
nobody notices us asks
what we're doing
tony's happy about that and the plan is
fixed for last Wednesday
why a Wednesday the detective asks
ian shakes his head tony's idea
he said he moves around again in his
chair
remembering Wednesday night
tony and ian were dressed in the
uniforms
tony had a friend with a big truck
it had been easy to borrow it for the
night
the story was they were helping someone
move house
they took the truck up to the roundabout
left the car near the bottom of the slip
road
malk was dressed like a truck driver
and he and ian waited by the truck
tony went back down to the a90
stood by the department of transport
sign
and used a torch to stop a lorry on the
road
then he told the lorry driver to drive
up the slip road to the vehicle check
area
when he got there the driver would see a
man in uniform
ian interviewing a truck driver
mark that way the real driver
wouldn't think anything strange was
going on
it was just a normal department of
transport
interviews
it worked
ian says that's what's so amazing
the driver brought his lorry up to the
roundabout
stopped it and got out
tony comes driving up gets out of his
car
says he wants to check the cargo
the detective has a question
suppose the cargo had been bananas or
fish or something we send that lorry on
and stop another one until we get
something we can sell
but we were lucky first time
washing machines 24 of them
300 pounds each
we just got them into our own truck
and away we went
ian stops you're wondering about the
driver
aren't you there were three of us
remember
we just tied him up left him in his
lorry
we knew he'd get free in the end
tony had two lock-up garages and we took
the washing machines there
we were already thinking about who
we
could sell them to
there's a man we knew the name of andy
Horrigan
who does bits of business doesn't ask
questions you know i thought
maybe he'd be interested we wanted to be
careful
who we sold to see when the news got out
about the robbery on the a
90 ian stops again for a minute
of course, we'd already made our big
mistake
one mistake ian asks for another
cigarette
his hand is shaking as he lights it
he can't get it out of his head the huge
bad luck of it
before he said a word to andy Horrigan
Horrigan has a question for him
here in held anything about a robbery on
the a90
washing machines off the back of a lorry
i didn't see anything in the newspapers
ian had said
which was true all three of them had
been surprised by that
why hadn't the robbery been in the news
ian could see that Horrigan knew the
reason
why
and ian could also see in Horrigan's
face
that it wasn't good news
it wasn't in the newspapers and it never
will be
says Horrigan he goes on to explain why
and ian feels his life coming to an end
he runs to the lock-up garage finding
tony there
tony already knows it's written on his
face
they have to move the washing machines
throw them away
somehow somewhere fast
but they don't have the truck anymore
where can they get a truck
wait a bit tony had said
starting to think again
Eddie hart doesn't want the washing
machines does he
he only wants what he put in them
Eddie hart the name made
ian's legs go weak steady Eddie
was mr big in Dundee
a man who controlled most of the
criminal business in the town
the stories about him would make your
hair stand on end if you made
steady Eddie angry you didn't wake up
again the next day
and now hurricane had said
Eddie was looking for blood
he was in the drugs business and needed
to move drugs around
a lot of what he did was this
he hid the drugs in fridges washing
machines
dryers freezers and his lorries went
up and down the country
all they needed was a few false papers
it just so happened that Tony had
stopped one of Eddie's drivers
and now Eddie wanted blood
buttony was right to find the drugs
get them back to Eddie and maybe
eddie wouldn't kill them
so they started pulling the packing out
of the washing machines
taking the backs off searching for
hidden packets
they went through every machine in both
garages checked them once twice
three times and found
nothing
wait a bit said tony
he started counting the machines
there was one missing the brothers
looked at each other then ran to tony's
car
at mark's mother's house, malk had
just fitted her new washing machine
mark's mother was as pleased as
anything she had a crowd of neighbors in
her kitchen
my boy so good to me
she was telling them he saved his
money and bought me this as a surprise
even ian knew they were in real trouble now everyone in town would get
to hear about
the new washing machines
and everyone meant eddie hart
tony and ian took mark outside and
explained
malk went back inside pulled the machine
out again and started taking the back
off
his hands were shaking so much
it took him a long time but
at last he had the backoff and began
to pass brown paper packets to tony and
ian tony explained to the neighbors
that these were just heavy things
used in packing to stop the machines
shaking in the lorry like
bricks one neighbor asked
and when tony agreed with her sweat
running down his face she added another
question why cover
bricks in brown paper
tony beyond explanations
put his head in
his hands
and wept
the detective brings back two cups of
coffee
one for himself one for ian
he's been checking things using the
computer
making some phone calls
ian sits ready to tell him the end of
the story
we had to think of a way to get the
drugs back to eddie
he has a nightclub in Dundee we
drove up there night before last
and put the drugs in one of the rubbish
skips
at the back of the club then
we phoned the club and told them
where to find the packets the problem
was
that their rubbish skips are emptied at
night
so sometime that night the skip
got emptied and
and it was me who made the phone call
and there were two numbers in the phone
book
i meant to phone the office number but i
got it wrong and
phoned the other number
which is a phone
by the bar
anyway someone answered
i said my piece and put the phone down
maybe it was a customer maybe they went
outside and
got the drugs for themselves before the
skip was emptied
maybe they thought i was crazy
or something
ian's voice is shaking he's almost
crying
so mr hart didn't get his drugs back
the detective guesses
ian nods and now your brother
and mark have gone missing
eddie's got them says ian he must have
and so you want us to protect you
the detective asks i'm in
terrible danger ian says
i mean there's a price on my head now
you've got to help me
the detective shakes his head
if somebody needs protection we can do
it
he says but there's no report of a
robbery of washing machines on the a-90
yes we would love to catch mr hart and
put him in prison
but there's nothing to prove that mr
hart
is doing anything criminal
the detective moves his chair closer to
ian
you see i know that you lost your job
after arguing with your boss and you
told your boss
that your brother would come and break
his bones
i found that out from the computer
what i didn't find in the computer was
anything about washing machines
drugs in brown paper packets or
missing persons ian
jumps up from his seat begins walking
around the room
you could go to the place where they
empty the rubbish skips
if the drugs are there you'll find them
or or go to the garages
the washing machines will still be there
unless steady eddie's taken them
don't you see i'm the only one left who
can speak against him
the detective is on his feet now too
i think it's time for you to go home son
i'll take you to the door i need
protection the detective comes up to him
again
his face very close to ian's
get your brother to protect you
his name's billy isn't it
the one who breaks bones
only you can't do that can you
because you haven't got a brother called
billy
or a brother called tony
the detective stops begins again
you haven't got anybody ian
you're a nobody these stories of yours
that's all they are stories
come on now it's time you are home
your mum will be worried about you
she got a new washing machine last week
ian says softly the man who brought it
to the house
he said he was late because he'd had to
stop at a checkpoint
it is quiet in the interview room
quiet for a long time
until ian begins weeping
weeping for the brother that he's just
lost again
you
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