The Cleaner Part 2

The Cleaner Part 1

It was a dank night in Dumbarton Road, Partick, an area of Glasgow, situated on the north side of the River Clyde. The road is lined on either side with four-storey high, red sandstone tenement flats, the sound of kids in the backcourts are now long gone as they prefer to stay at home with their electronic games playing online with their mates rather than kicking a ball around or raking the bins to find little gems thrown out by others, as their parents and grandparents had done. Shouting, swearing, and arguing was commonplace among warring couples in various closes, and the piercing scream that came from the O'Brien's flat went largely unnoticed by the residents across the landing from them and by those in the flats below. The O'Briens had lived there for over thirty years and were well known for arguing when he was on 'the drink' so this situation was nothing new.

Davy O'Brien, a small, skinny, balding individual in his late fifties had not worked for years, preferring to spend his time in the local pub wiling away the hours of the days, the weeks, the months, the years, his life, staring through the bottom of a pint tumbler and a whisky glass. On the other hand, Mary O'Brien, a woman in her early fifties, with short, dyed blonde hair, and slim figure, which made her appear younger than her years, was hard-working, a cleaner in the local school, as well as taking some other cleaning jobs around the local pubs, where she was popular with the customers due to her flirtatious, friendly nature.

"Good evening ma'am," said the young uniformed police officer standing on the landing outside the O'Briens' door, a female officer directly behind him

"How can I help you officer?" Asked Mary fluttering her eyelashes and flashing her friendly smile in his direction.

"Oh Mary, it's you," he said, recognising her from his visits to the school where she worked, "Mary, there was a report of female screaming, some thought it came from here, are you okay?" he asked.

"Och aye, of course, I am son, I'm fine, maybe the scream came from somewhere else, I'm having a night in, on my own" she replied standing in her dressing gown, even though it was still early evening.

"Right, okay then, I will just report it back as a possible false alarm, sorry to have bothered you," he said as he and his colleague made their way back downstairs satisfied with her explanation.

Mary walked back into the living room, with its bay window overlooking the road below, and watched as the police car pulled away from the kerbside with its lights on. A smile crossed her face as she turned around wondering what to do with the body lying on her bathroom floor.

She stripped the body, putting all the clothing into black plastic bags, knotted them, and put them to one side. Shame about the shoes she thought as they were almost new, but they had to go as they were splattered with blood. Right, what's next on the list? she asked herself. She took a roll of black bags from the kitchen cupboard, taking them into the bathroom along with an electric circular saw used in their home improvement days. As the blade whirled, at five thousand revolutions per minute, it would all be over in minutes, the black bags would be filled up one by one, six in total. Mary stood up with blood dripping from her hands, face, and body. A shower soon removed all that before she put on her dressing gown, again. Industrial strength cleaning fluids, that she had taken from work, soon had all evidence of any wrongdoing wiped away after all she was an expert. With a bag in each hand, she soon deposited the evidence in the old bin shelter in the backcourt that nobody used anymore, locking the door behind her, and slipping the key into her pocket. She was the only one with a key as her neighbours always came to her if they needed access. She couldn't remember the last time that had happened. Anyway, everything would be gone tomorrow. Thankfully it was only Wednesday and the old school where she worked still had to have the boiler room going to keep classrooms warm in the winter.

Satisfied, she sat in the living room of the fourth-floor room and kitchen flat that she and Davy had bought years ago before he was made redundant from the shipyards, and she was happy that they were one of the first to buy it when the flats in the close were offered for sale by the council. No mortgage, no debt, no worries, she thought as she downed a cup of tea glancing towards the television and watching the clock for closing time at the pub, wondering what sort of mess she would find in the morning before she went to the school.

The following morning her alarm went off at five o'clock. As she opened her bleary eyes, she reached out, slamming the alarm on the bedside table, silencing that noise every alarm has, as it announces the new day. She looked around the room, everything was in place as it should be as she swung her legs out of the bed and standing up, pulled down her nightdress to her knees. Showered, fed, and dressed, she made her way to the backcourt. under the cover of the winter darkness, Unlocking the door, she began removing the bags that concealed the secrets of the previous evening's events and placed them into the only little luxury she had in life, her car. Davy had spent every other spare penny she'd earned in his local pub.

By six-thirty her first job was complete, and the pub was clean and tidy for opening at eleven. Davy's seat, next to the door, the one he sat on every day, was always cleaned lovingly by Mary. Next was the school for seven, she drove into the playground stopping at the boiler room. As she opened the boot of the car, she heard footsteps behind her.

"Morning Mary," said Willie Ramsey, janitor, boiler-man, handyman, and confidant to all. Everything a 'Jannie' should be.

"Mornin' Willie, would you mind if I put these bags in the furnace, the only reason I'm asking is that there is a lot of bits and pieces in them that I need incinerating."

"Nae problem, I'll give you a hand with the bags, Mary."

"Nah, you're fine Willie, they're not heavy, I packed them up and got them to the car, so I'm, fine thanks anyway."

"Okay then, if you say so." ...