“You expecting Dave to come up with a master plan, or what?”
Slow was right, of course. When I’d got back to Medensworth the previous night, I’d met Dave walking out of the village towards me. The joy of seeing him was undermined when I realised that it hadn’t occurred to him to get any transport. Now my feet were like raw steaks. And I still had to drive Lisa’s car back to her house and go through all the performance of lying to her about where I’d been for so long. She’d kept sniffing my breath, as if she couldn’t believe anyone could stagger in so late looking such a mess and not have been drinking. Well, I must admit my story about going for a walk in the woods and getting lost sounded a bit weak. I was too tired to approach the question of whether or I’d be allowed into Lisa’s bed, so I slept on the settee. At least it meant I didn’t have to face the teddy.
Now I was pacing up and down in my own sitting room. No need to hide from Craig any more.
“Let’s face it, Slow, if we go looking for this Perella bloke, we ain’t going to find him, not for bleedin’ months. So...”
“Yeah?”
“We’ve got to get him to come to us, right?”
“Right,” said Slow. “But why would he want to do that?”
“Because we’ve got something he wants?”
“Have we?”
“We could have.”
“Like what?” asked Metal.
“Well, what does he want, do you reckon?”
“Money,” said Slow.
“Yeah, and the goods,” said Metal.
“And customers for it.”
“And what doesn’t he want?”
“Hassle from the cops.”
“Yeah, or trouble from other firms.”
“Bigger firms, Metal?”
“Well, he’ll be worried about what Eddie Craig’s up to, dead sure.”
“But is he worried about me?”
“He might be.”
“Yeah.”
“He might be worried about what you know, Stones.”
“Or I could be a threat, a challenge?”
“How’s that?”
“All this stuff... it started to happen when we tried to expand the business, right? Nobody bothered with us when we were just handling the small stuff. But as soon as we moved up, somebody went out of their way to shaft us. The cops got tipped off about a load, a van’s set up for us with the wrong merchandise. And that fire bomb — somebody meant that for us, Slow.”
“Tell you what, Stones — he doesn’t give a toss, this Perella bloke, does he?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, those lads that did the ram raid. They could easily have gone down, couldn’t they? And there’s Rawlings and Lee too.”
My brain was running now. They did work these meetings, after all.
“Slow, do you reckon he’s worried enough about what I know to follow me?”
“Well, maybe.”
“I’m thinking about the other night, when we left the Ferret.”
“Wasn’t that the cops?”
“How do we know?”
“You’re right, we don’t. But, shit, they were amateurs all the same.”
There was a pause.
“So you’re trusting him, then,” said Slow Kid.
“What? Me? Who?”
“Eddie Craig.”
“Never in this world. What makes you say that, Slow?”
“I mean, we don’t really know that all this isn’t just Craig trying to close us down.”
“Craig all along? Yeah?”
“And he’s fed you this stuff to send you looking for someone else. Could be, right?”
I sighed. “We do have interests in common.”
“Like shit.”
I rubbed my bruises as I stood up from the computer desk. I still had my memories of Craig and his mates. But you have to let bygones be bygones sometimes. When you’re on the same side.
Suddenly, I was struck by an unpleasant mental picture of Lump Hammer Stan. In my vision, he was lurking in some bushes near a car park at Hardwick Hall.
“Off you go then, lads. I’ll catch up with you later.”
I took a quick glance at the paper for the results of the National Lottery draw. My numbers hadn’t come up. Well, I was gobsmacked. Just when things were going so well, too.
I made it to Hardwick in record time, irrationally worried about whether Lisa would be there. In fact, I saw her coming out of the staff exit as soon as I arrived. She was surprised to see me, and I thought she looked around a bit uneasily, as if expecting someone else. The thought went through my mind that maybe she’d already seen Lump Hammer Stan or some other charmer stalking about the grounds. We stood for a few minutes under the big lime tree.
“Hi, love.”
“Hello, Stones. What are you doing here?”
“I thought you might like to go for lunch, so I came to pick you up. Or, if you’ve got your car here, we could meet up somewhere. Where do you fancy?”
“I’m really sorry, Stones, I’ve got other plans today.”
“Oh yeah? Funny, you seem to be the only person round here who’s got plans that don’t involve me.”
“What do you mean?”
I really wanted to tell Lisa what was happening, but I couldn’t. How could I warn her she might be in danger without explaining why? And she wouldn’t be in danger anyway, if I did what Craig wanted.
“I’d like to know what you’re going, Lisa. It’s important.”
“What’s the matter with you, Stones? You seem edgy today.”
“I’m all right.”
“Still sore from last night?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I still don’t understand why you went for a walk in the woods in the first place. Not on your own.”
“I was just thinking.”
“You were on your own, weren’t you, Stones?”
“Honest, love.”
“Mmm.”
“Look, don’t worry. I’ve got everything sorted out.”
We walked together across the gravel towards the car park. There were visitors arriving constantly, being directed by car park attendants onto the grassy area. I wondered for a second why Lisa had parked her car out here with the public, instead of in the staff section.
“Stones,” she said suddenly. “You’ve been in some sort of trouble recently, haven’t you? I can tell.”
“Yeah, but it’s nearly over now.”
She smiled. “I get the feeling someone’s going to regret it if they’ve been causing trouble for Stones McClure.”
“You bet. There’s a bloke out there got it coming very soon.”
Careful. That was close enough.
“Just take care, won’t you?” she said. And she sounded really concerned.
“Anyway, how’s the detective work going? The Cavendish job.”
“Very well, thank you.”
“Found lots of clues to his relatives?”
“They’re adding up.”
“Are they? Two and two?”
She frowned. “There’s definitely something wrong with you.”
“Why?”
“You haven’t made any crude remarks about Michael Cavendish yet.”
“Why should I?”
“Because you’re an inverted snob, that’s why. And you’re jealous of him.”
We were standing on the grass now. I couldn’t see Lisa’s Fiat, and she was looking from left to right among the cars as if she couldn’t spot it either. It still didn’t click with me.
“You’ve got me all wrong. I’ve got nothing against the bloke. It’s just his hyphens I don’t like. They’re bad taste, like having furry dice in your car window.”
“That’s more like it.”
“I suppose you’ve got to keep seeing him. To report on progress or something?”
“Actually, it’s him I’m meeting.”
“Ah.”