Part of me knew that the only sensible way forward was to calm down and play the game; the other part – the bigger part – had absolutely no intention of giving in. With my training I could easily floor this man if I wanted. Stamp my heel onto his foot and his grip would lessen, the palm of my hand to the bridge of his nose, and job finished. I considered it.
‘The lady doesn’t need an apology,’ I told him, struggling to stay calm. I turned to face her and found myself looking at a frightened woman. She looked deeply uncomfortable, scared and desperate. I almost felt sorry for her. I hadn’t made a mistake though; she was definitely the woman I had met the night before, the woman who had tried her best to scare me off working for Section 37.
‘Looks to me like she’s owed one,’ the man insisted. I looked at him: big feller, tracksuit, a full, hard face that spoke of gym hours clocked and fights enjoyed.
We were starting to attract a crowd. I had lost control of the situation.
The woman was backing away, though out of fear or a wish to avoid public spectacle I could no longer tell.
‘Fine,’ I said, swallowing both pride and anger, knowing that the professional way forward was to take the quickest escape route being offered. ‘I apologise if I worried you.’
Then, to the Knight Errant in sportswear, ‘Good enough?’
He looked to the woman. ‘Just let him go,’ she said. ‘He’s off his rocker – as long as he doesn’t follow me…’
‘He won’t be doing that, will you mate?’ The big feller stated, releasing my arms.
‘Not a chance,’ I replied, marching off quickly in the opposite direction before my anger got the better of me and I ended up making the situation worse.
I headed for the exit, aware that too many people were watching me as I weaved between the shoppers and out into the daylight.
Once outside, I released a held breath and leaned back against the railing between the pavement and the road. Twice now she had got the better of me in public. She was really beginning to make me mad.
‘That could have gone better,’ said a quiet voice next to me.
I looked down to see a tiny old man dishing out copies of the Evening Standard.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘She didn’t know you, did she?’ he said. ‘You were a complete stranger to her.’
‘She knew me well enough,’ I countered, then wondered how the hell this guy could even have seen what had happened. He smiled and there was a twinkle of malevolence behind his rheumy eyes.
‘Another lesson learned: we can be everywhere, we can be everyone,’ he said. ‘She no more remembers she’s talked to you before than this old fool will. We are Legion.’
‘Trying my bloody patience is what you are.’
‘Shining vanished, has he?’
This knocked the confidence from me. How the hell did he know that?
‘He’s not with us,’ he continued, ‘so there’s hope for him yet. If his little monkey can step up to the mark that is.’ He smiled again. ‘That would be you, by the way.’
I squared up to him.
‘I wouldn’t,’ he said, ‘unless you really want to make an idiot of yourself. I won’t resist, of course, but beating up an old man only seconds after threatening an innocent woman really isn’t going to get you far, is it?’
‘Who are you?’
‘August knows, though he won’t want to tell you. If you ever see him again perhaps you should ask him.’
‘Where is he?’
‘That’s for you to find out; it’s nothing to do with us. We’re just observers here. Tell you what though, just to show we can occasionally be helpfuclass="underline" when you get the phone call about the body outside St Mathew’s you need to give it your full attention. It’s important.’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘You will.’
The old man looked away and momentarily lost his balance. I reached out instinctively, trying to keep him steady. He sighed and looked up at me.
‘Legs not what they were,’ he said, his voice somehow gentler, older. He held up a paper. ‘Evening Standard?’
‘No thanks.’ Whoever I had been talking to was gone. Somehow, I just knew that. Say what you like about Toby Greene but at least he’s not slow on the uptake.
I walked back to the office.
c) Section 37, Wood Green, London
Oman had returned to his shop by the time I reached it. At least dealing with him might temporarily push my confusion to one side. Who was it that had taken such an interest in me? And how was it possible they could talk through anyone they felt like, hopping from body to body like a communicative virus?
‘Where were you five minutes ago?’ I quizzed him.
‘Warming up my lunch,’ he said, holding up a steaming Tupperware box. ‘That allowed?’
‘Sorry – not having the best morning.’
‘You don’t know bad days until you have to deal with my customers. What can I do for you?’
‘I want the app that monitors the radio broadcast,’ I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket. ‘Can you do that?’
He looked at my phone. ‘Where’s the boss?’
‘Busy.’ I had no idea how much I should trust anyone at this stage and I wasn’t about to blurt out everything that had happened.
He nodded. ‘Isn’t he always? I can’t put it on that without jailbreaking it.’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about. Just do it.’
‘Fine. And I’ll only charge you thirty quid, company discount as it were.’
Cheeky bastard.
‘Whatever. Can you do it straightaway?’
‘Yeah, but it’ll still take me a while.’
I thought about it. The idea of leaving my phone with him wasn’t comfortable but if Shining had trusted him then I supposed I should do the same. I needed that app.
‘OK, I’ll be upstairs. How long do you need?’
‘Come back in an hour, forty-five minutes – if you’re lucky.’
I left the phone on his desk and walked around the corner to the office entrance. Which is when I realised that I hadn’t been given a set of keys.
I didn’t have it in me to be angry anymore; I just pressed Tamar’s bell and steeled myself for an argument.
Eventually she appeared, this time she was at least properly clothed, in a pair of jeans and a crop top with ‘Superstar’ encrusted on it in gold sequins.
‘Remember me?’ I asked, ‘August’s friend.’
‘And I know you’re his friend because?’
‘Because I really am. In fact, I work with him.’
‘That doesn’t make you friend,’ she replied. ‘The men I “work with” – they are certainly not friends.’
‘Please let me in.’
‘Why you not call him?’
‘Because he’s not in.’
‘Where is he?’
‘I…’ I was spent by this point, frustrated and tired now the anger and panic had left me. ‘I don’t know. I need to try to find him. He’s in trouble and he needs me to help him.’
She looked at me and, after a moment, her entire mood softened. She reached out, took my hand and pulled me inside, shutting the door behind us.
‘I have a spare key for the office,’ she said, leading me up the stairs as if I was a child, ‘and I will help how I can. August is very dear.’
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I suppose he is.’
‘Well,’ said a voice from the landing above us, ‘I suppose that’s one word for him.’
And that was how I first met April Shining.
‘Might I suggest we let the poor boy sit down?’ April said, shooing me into the office ahead of both herself and Tamar.