He was starting to run with me on this one, but the last vestiges of wariness remained. “What was it, then?” he asked.
I shrugged, trying to stay casual, even though any minute now Langford and Mr Ali could emerge from the Portakabin behind me and expose me for the liar I was. I wondered if people really did end up buried in concrete footings.
“No idea, mate. They don’t tell me, and I don’t ask,” I said blithely. “I just had to get the thing here from Manchester before close of play, and that’s what I’ve done.” I checked my watch, just to prove it. “Anything else is not my problem.”
He nodded, still mistrustful, but unable to put his finger on anything concrete. Until I’d taken two or three steps away from him, that was.
“So where’s your bike?” he called after me.
I froze, painted on a smile and turned, indicating the gloopy mud underfoot with a grimace. “I left it out on the road,” I said. “You think I’m bringing my nice Suzuki through shit like this?”
He gave me the first sign of warmth as he nodded. “No, s’pose not,” he said and waved his hand, dismissing me. “All right then. Off you go. In future, just make sure you check in with the foreman before you go wandering around on site, will you? It’s against the regs.”
“No problem, mate. See you.” I tried my best not to run the rest of the way to the road, but it was a close thing. Once I was out of the site I had to stamp my feet to get rid of the mud galoshes. Then I jogged back round to the trading estate and retrieved the bike.
All the time I was waiting for the sounds of pursuit. I didn’t know how soon the man I’d bumped into would mention my presence to Mr Ali. If he mentioned it at all.
I wished I’d pretended to own a different make of motorbike. At least then if they decided to come looking for me, they’d have been on the wrong track to start with. Damn. Why couldn’t I have said Kawasaki, or Honda? Even a lowly MZ would have been better than admitting to a Suzuki. Mind you, then I’d have had less reason for not wanting to trail it through the mud.
I rode back to Lavender Gardens by a circuitous route, and arrived with a headache from constantly squinting in the Suzuki’s vibrating mirrors for any sign of stalking Transit vans.
There weren’t any.
I had to assume, for the moment at least, that I’d got away with it.
Once I’d locked the bike away and recovered from Friday’s usual clamorous greeting I had chance to think about the conversation I’d eavesdropped on. What was Mr Ali paying Langford to do? What wheels were turning? And what was it that people were beginning to suspect?
I cast my mind back to Nasir’s outburst in Shahida’s living room. He obviously knew more than he was telling, but about what?
And why did Langford think he and Garton-Jones’s men were doubling up. Doubling up in what way? Streetwise were being paid to clean up the estate. I hadn’t liked their methods, and neither had anyone else, so they’d gone. How had that left the way clear for Langford’s mob? Unless he was doing the same thing . . .
It occurred to me, slowly, that maybe Mr Ali was paying the vigilantes to keep Lavender Gardens clear. The only thing was, their actions had misfired badly when Fariman had been stabbed. Maybe Mr Ali wanted to be seen as the public-spirited hero, but only after Langford had successfully done his job. When he’d cocked up, the builder was suddenly understandably keen to put as much distance between them as he could.
It wasn’t unreasonable to assume that as Nasir worked for Mr Ali, he’d got wind of the plan somehow. But what was his connection with Roger? And why was Mr Ali taking it upon himself to clean up the estate in the first place?
I shook my head. I needed more information before I could even begin to draw any watertight conclusions. Much as I thought I was pushing my luck, I rang Jacob and Clare again.
By the time I put the phone down ten minutes later, I felt easier in my mind. Intrigued, Clare had suggested that she have a rummage through the Defender’s archives first thing in the morning, and photocopy anything on Mr Ali or Langford that seemed relevant. I could collect what she’d got, she told me with a grin in her voice, when I went round for supper at the weekend.
With the promise of Jacob’s cooking to lure me, that wasn’t a difficult offer to accept.
Ten
The next day, which was Friday, I was due to work a late shift at the gym. I rode out of Kirby Street around four in the afternoon, and got my first inkling that maybe getting rid of Garton-Jones hadn’t been such a good idea, after all.
It was fortunate I wasn’t caning the bike, because as I stooged round a corner I found the gap between the cars parked down either side of the street was blocked by a group of teenage Asian lads. Some were leaning on the cars, while the others were just milling about.
I pulled the clutch lever in, tucked two fingers round the front brake, and coasted slowly to a halt about twenty feet away, eyeing them guardedly through my visor. A few of them saw me coming and shifted to one side, but there were half a dozen who stayed put, hands on hips, heads tilted. You didn’t need a master’s degree in body languages to be able to read their stance.
For a few moments, we faced each other off, while I did a furious mental search for alternative routes out of the estate. There weren’t any. Even if I could have turned the bike round quickly in the space available, which wasn’t easy with a steering lock that relied on speed to make it viable.
One of the boys took a couple of swaggering steps forwards, beckoning me forwards exaggeratedly with both hands. He was mid-teens, difficult to put an age on accurately, with peroxide blond hair that was startling against his olive complexion, and orange wraparound sunglasses.
I knocked the gear lever down into first, but didn’t let the clutch out. There was no way I wanted to just ride at them. There was no guarantee they’d shift. In fact, I stood more chance of hitting one of them and dropping the bike, and that wasn’t likely to turn into a healthy scenario, particularly for me.
I got out of it by sheer luck. A police Astra turned into the other end of the road and came cruising towards the boys. They dispersed quickly, not ready quite yet for an all-out rebellion against authority. The two burly coppers inside glared at all of us suspiciously as they crawled past, but obviously didn’t feel inclined to leave the safety of their vehicle to investigate further.
I took the opportunity when it was offered, letting the clutch out with a handful of revs and shooting through the empty space left by the Astra, before the boys had chance to close ranks behind it.
I glanced in my mirrors as I accelerated away down the street. With the police car safely round the next corner, I expected to see the boys moving out into the road again. Instead, there was no sign of them. I even stopped, turning to scan the area behind me, but it was eerily deserted. Had the police car spooked them? Or was there more to it than that?
They’ll mark you out, O’Bryan had said. They’ll make it personal. Yeah, well, I thought, trying to shrug off the itch that had suddenly developed between my shoulder-blades, maybe he was right.
As I was early for work, I did a quick detour through Lancaster and down onto St George’s Quay to drop in at the flat. I left the bike next to the kerb outside and bounced up the wooden staircase to the place I called home.