Devil You Know (6 page)

At last I was able to move.

“Gary! The shutters!”

We leapt for the shutter door together, as behind us the fire raged closer.

“Come on, everybody, help!”

I think real panic began to set in then. Even for Al Butler. What if we couldn’t get the steel shutter lifted? It wouldn’t just be the cameras that would be burnt to a crisp, it would be us, too.

It was harder lifting it this time. We didn’t have the same leverage, but determination and fear made us strong. Smoke was beginning to fill the warehouse. The shutter rose slowly at first. And then, once again, it zoomed to the top. We were out of there and into the open in a flash, coughing and spluttering, tears in our eyes from the smoke.

“Come on!” Claude shouted, moving back from the fire step by step. I moved too, back out onto the street. That’s when I heard a scream. I looked around. The flames, the smoke had begun to seep into the premises beside the warehouse and the flats above them. And they weren’t derelict after all. They weren’t empty. People still lived there, worked there. Claude had seen it too.

“Come on!” Baz yelled. I grabbed Gary and we stumbled away from the scene. I was excited, frightened, mesmerised, I can’t even explain the emotions that were racing through me as fast as that fire was taking hold. We ran until we were sure we were out of sight, and then we headed for higher ground so we would have a view of the whole block and the fire.
We stood for a moment, trying to get our breath back and shaking the smoke from our clothes, watching as a tornado of flames erupted from the warehouse roof. The whole block was now ablaze.

Then, the worst thing, the worst thing ever. People came running from the flats we had thought were empty – from doorways, from the back, from the front. Hurtling down stairs to the street. Through the smoke we could even make out a couple jumping from windows.

“They’ve got to be out. All of them,” I said to Gary.

“Got to be,” he said.

In the distance I could hear a siren coming closer. Fire engine? Police? Didn’t matter. Time to get out of here.

Al Butler was still with us. He was leaping up and down screaming, “Brilliant! What a night!” Loving the fire, the destruction. This had been his plan all along. He looked mad. The fire reflected in the ice-blue of his eyes gave him the look of something alien, someone not quite human.

Baz was laughing. “They won’t need central heating in them flats now.”

Was Baz trying to impress Al Butler? I thought he was. Because I surely knew him too well to believe that seeing people flooding from that burning building wasn’t worrying him. It was worrying me.

He looked round at me and winked.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said.

Al Butler didn’t move. For him, we weren’t even there any more. He still stood, fascinated by the fire. It was the last time I ever saw him.

We were back on the other side of the estate before we stopped running.

The fire lit the night sky. Little fireflies of light floated up into the darkness. Sounds were everywhere; we could hear them in the distance. Sirens and yells, screams, shouts.

“Do you think all those people got out?” Gary’s voice was shaking.

“Fire brigade’s there, I think they must have. You saw them.” Claude squeezed Gary’s shoulder, as if to reassure himself as much as Gary that
it was true.

“They’ll be ok. They’ll be ok.” I think I was trying to reassure myself too.

Time to go.

Time to get out of here.

My mother was in when I got back. She didn’t say a word about me going out, she was just relieved to see me. She had heard rumours about a gang fight somewhere on the estate, and it had worried her. I lied when she asked me if I’d heard about it, told her me and the boys had stayed at the precinct, just chatting, we weren’t involved in any fight, this was the first I’d heard about it, I said. Maybe I should have told her the truth then. But I didn’t. I didn’t want another argument, and she obviously didn’t want one either.

“I think I’ll just go to bed, Mum.”

I don’t know how she didn’t smell the smoke. I was sure it must have soaked though my clothes and into my skin. If she did, she said nothing about it.

I stood under the spray in the shower for ages, trying to get clean, trying to calm down, stop shaking, trying to stop my heart from thumping. I was still scared, yet I’d never felt so excited. I can’t put the feeling into words. How can you have two different feelings at the same time? I kept listening for the police bursting through the door, imagining that they had followed me home, that they knew who I was and what I had done. Imagining that the CCTV camera hadn’t been destroyed after all.

I went into my room and flopped on the bed. I couldn’t sleep, just kept going over and over all that had happened that night. Dodging the Young Bow, leading them right into a trap with the Dragos. That’s how it had started, and it had been exciting, it was smart. Had that only been tonight? So much had happened since then, it seemed a long time ago.
We’d run through the streets, our excitement building, the car alarms going off, running again… Then meeting up with that Al Butler, and everything seemed to change. As if it wasn’t real any more. We had followed him inside that warehouse; I can see it now with that red glow around us. Just a bit of fun to begin with, until Al Butler had spotted the camera. And suddenly it seemed it was all taken out of our hands.

Over and over in my mind I was in the middle of that fire again. I could feel the heat of it. I saw the orange and red and white flames leaping, dancing, racing through the warehouse, almost as if they were living things searching out what they could touch and destroy. I didn’t want to move. I wanted to keep looking.

But I felt sick when I made myself remember the people in the flats nearby. Had all of those people managed to get away? Had the fire been put out? If I’d been the cause of someone being hurt I’d never forgive myself. I had never seriously hurt anyone in my life. I took out my phone, wanted to call Baz, decided against it. Because I bet he didn’t feel guilty. And if I wouldn’t call Baz, then I wouldn’t call any of the others.

Later, I heard Vince coming in. “Heard about the fire?” he asked Mum. As soon as he said it, I sat up in bed. “Massive fire, further up on the estate.”

“Oh my goodness, anybody hurt?” my mum asked.

It was a moment before he answered her. Cliffhanger moment. I could imagine him, pulling open the fridge door, taking out the milk, having a swig. He always did that as soon as he came in. Mum always giving him into trouble for it. She didn’t give him into trouble now.

I wanted to shout, ‘Answer her! Was anybody hurt?’

“Quite a few were taken to hospital. Don’t know how serious they are. Big fire though. Started in a carpet warehouse, I heard, then everything round about it went up. Still raging.”

“How did it start?”

I held my breath as I waited for his answer.

“Who knows? Always something going on. There was a big gang fight
on the estate as well.” He paused. “Is Logan in?”

Right away he was suspicious that I was involved.

“He’s been in for ages,” Mum said. “Thank goodness.”

“Been a busy night on this estate, police everywhere,” Vince said.

“Oh, Vince, I wish we would hear about that house,” her voice became a worried whisper.

I didn’t listen after that. I fell back on the bed. They didn’t know who started the fire, not yet. I was a tumble of emotions. Why did Baz dare Al Butler to do it? Why hadn’t we tried to stop him? Why did we follow him inside? We could have just helped him lift the shutters, and then run on. Why didn’t we? If anybody died because of that fire, I’d… I’d… I couldn’t even think about what I would do.

I went to the same school as Lucie. The other boys all attended the big high school on the estate. I once said to Lucie that I wondered why that was, and she had an easy answer. “This is the loser school. You get sent here if nobody else wants you. Everybody here is a loser, just like you and me. A loser or a weirdo.”

“I’m not a weirdo.” I’d never to admit to that. “Or a loser.”

“Well, I am definitely a bit weird. Can’t deny it.”

We, both of us, had been excluded more than once. I had run with a bad crowd up in Aberdeen, got into all sorts of bother, and that reputation had followed me here. That was why I still had a social worker. Our school was especially for kids like us. ‘Troubled teens’ I think they called us.

“We’re special,” I told Lucie. It was what the social workers were always telling us anyway. “So this is a special school.”

“A special school for weirdos!” she had insisted with a giggle. Then she stared at me for a moment in that strange way she had. “You’re not as weird when you’re on your own,” she said. “You should try it more often.”

It wasn’t the other boys she was talking about. Lucie had never met any of them. It was Baz. I wanted to ask her why she disliked him so much, but I knew the answer to that already. She thought he was a bad influence on me.

Lucie and I usually walked to school together, ate together at break and sat on our own on the steps outside the school entrance for lunch. Always on our own. Even in a school for weirdos we were weirder than the rest, it seemed.

It was easy to see why Lucie was shunned by most of the girls both at school and on the estate. She didn’t fit in with them at all. She had no
favourite pop band. I don’t think she even liked music. She wasn’t interested in clothes or make-up. The boys ignored her too. Most of them were a bit scared to talk to her, the rest just didn’t like her.

In a way, I was her best friend. Sad state of affairs for anybody.

I met her at one of the corner shops the day after the fire. I’d been dying to be out and hear what was happening. I hadn’t slept all night.

“Heard about the fire?” she asked.

It would have been impossible not to have heard about it, it was the top item on the local news that morning. It had taken all night and fire crews from all over the city to contain the blaze.

Did I swallow, did my face go red? “I heard. Did everybody get out?”

“There’s a few in the hospital.”

“Serious?”

She looked at me in that funny way she had. “Goodness, you’re really worried about them, aren’t you?”

“I have got a nice side, you know.”

She shrugged. “If you say so.”

“You seem to know everything. Do you know who started it?”

“It was arson,” she said. “Deliberate. That’s what they’re saying.”

“They can’t be sure of that.” Did I sound guilty? “Dry summer night, easy for things to catch on fire.”

Lucie shrugged. “Forensic evidence. They’ll know.” She fumbled in her rucksack and took out a bottle of juice. Unscrewed the lid and took a long swallow. “And there’ll be CCTV footage of course.”

CCTV! The very thought of it made me shiver. All of us boldly walking in, and even waving. What had we been thinking about?

“The cameras would have been destroyed in the fire… Wouldn’t they?”

I saw the beginnings of real suspicion in her face. “You seem to know a lot about this fire.”

“I have an alibi, don’t you worry.”

“Didn’t even know you were a suspect, Logan.”

I could feel my face go red. “I’m not. I’m just saying… I was with my pals. I didn’t even hear about it till I was home. Vince came in and told us.”

Lucie laughed. “Oh well, say you were with your pals and they were with you. Not a lie anyway. You can alibi each other.”

“We were just hanging about last night, nowhere near any trouble.” I shouldn’t have said a word about the fire in the first place. “Anyway, cops wouldn’t be interested in boys like us.”

Lucie sneered. “Don’t be too sure,” she said.

When I went home that day, I half-expected the place to be filled with black-uniformed cops in riot gear, waiting for me. Instead, the house was empty. No one was home.

I took out my phone. I called Baz. “Have you heard anything?”

“No, mate,” he said. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Meet you at the shops?”

“In ten,” he said.

The boys were all there. I think we all expected to find the precinct swarming with cops, but it wasn’t. Still, we were nervous.

“I hope those people in the flats are ok.” First thing Gary said. “I hadn’t even noticed there were flats there.”

“I saw them,” Mickey said. He had brought Ricky with him, of course. “But I thought they were empty.”

“Me too,” I said.

“There’s a few of them people in hospital.”

“I’m not going to feel guilty,” Baz broke in. “We didn’t start the fire. It was Al Butler. He was aiming to torch that place from the beginning. So nothing was our fault.”

He was right, of course. Nothing would have stopped Al Butler. But had Baz forgotten he had dared Al Butler to drop the match – double-dared him? Of course he had, and none of us reminded him.

“The police were at my cousin’s, questioning him as to ‘his whereabouts last night’.” Claude tried to make it sound funny. But nothing was funny that day for us. His cousin was one of the usual suspects. Always the first the police picked up when there was any kind of trouble.

“I would have got a real wallop from my dad if he thought I had anything to do with this.” I remembered then Gary saying he had left home a couple of times because of his dad’s heavy hand.

The story of the fire had been on the television, it was all people on the estate seemed to be interested in. People walking past us, huddled in groups, all talking about it.

Baz laughed. “Your dad’s got some nerve, all the dodgy things he gets involved in.”

Gary said nothing. His jaw clenched. If any of us but Baz had said that, I’m sure Gary would have flown at us. Instead, after a moment, he only shrugged. He didn’t want a fight. “My dad’s never started fires,” he said. “My dad’s never been arrested. Doesn’t expect me to be.”

I patted him on the back. “At least you’ve got a dad who cares about you.”

He pulled his shoulder away from me. Gary didn’t like me. I didn’t think any of them did. Not for the first time I reflected if it hadn’t been for Baz they wouldn’t have let me near them.

“Do you remember the CCTV camera? Do you think it really was destroyed?” I had almost been afraid to mention that.

Gary nodded. “All I’ve thought about. We’re on that camera. If it wasn’t destroyed, they’re bound to find out who we are.”

Baz broke in confidently. “No, that Al Butler tore it from the wall, remember, and the rest of it melted. Stop worrying about it.”

Mickey shook his head. “Anyway, my ma says it’s an insurance job. That happens all the time. The owners set deliberate fires then claim the insurance money. End up with more money than the place is worth. The cops won’t be looking for us. I’m sure of that.”

Ricky let out a yelp and Mickey laughed. “See, Ricky agrees with me.”

“Who was that guy last night, Gary, you said you knew him?” It was Mickey who asked.

“Knew
about
him,” Gary corrected. “His name’s Al Butler. Bad news. I nearly died when I saw him there. Did you see his eyes light up when he watched the fire? He’s crazy.”

I remembered how blue they looked, bluest eyes I had ever seen.

“I think he’s done that before,” Claude said.

“I think he has too,” Gary said. “He came well prepared for it anyway.” I felt guilty when I thought of my own excitement as I saw the fire taking
hold. I wasn’t like Al Butler, was I?

“So he would have done that whether we were there or not, eh?” Claude looked around us hopefully, waiting for someone to agree with him.

“We couldn’t have stopped him,” Baz said. Was he trying to justify daring Al Butler to drop the match?

Did that make it better? That we couldn’t have stopped him? We hadn’t even stayed to make sure those people did get out safely. We didn’t wait to help. No. We were every bit as guilty as Al Butler.

“Do you think the cops’ll come after us?” Mickey asked. His dog looked up at him, as if it understood every word.

Baz answered. “Oh come on. We’re only boys. Nobody’s interested in us. Nobody saw us. I think we should celebrate.” He pulled a wad of notes from his pocket. We all gasped.

“Where did you get that?” Claude asked.

Baz grinned. “Remember the Xbox games? Sold them on the way home.” I waited for him to tell them I’d been with him when he sold them to a couple of junkies hanging around the underpass. I had wanted him to just throw them away, didn’t want anything to do with them. But when did Baz ever listen to me? I was glad that in the end he didn’t mention me. “Well come on, look a bit happy about it. They would only have got burned up in the fire. We need cheering up.” He was laughing. “The drinks are on me.”

So we all ended up in a local burger bar, courtesy of Baz and the Xboxes, burgers all round.

“Love it here!” Baz said. “You get onion rings so big you could wear them as a necklace!”

He was in a great mood, and that was when he was at his best. He took our minds off what had happened. He made us all laugh.

Mickey tied his dog up outside, but it whined so much he left before he’d even finished his burger.

“Take him home and come back,” I said. “We’re all going to the cinema.”

But he shook his head. “Naw, left him last night and the night before. He’ll be really upset if I leave him again tonight.”

“You’d think he was your girlfriend!” Gary shouted.

“Better than a girlfriend, my Ricky.” There was a softness in Mickey you had to like. I watched him walk away, Ricky padding along beside him, looking up at him, as if he was taking in his every word, and I knew Mickey was talking to him the way he always did.

“Him and that dog of his,” I laughed.

“Mickey and Ricky!” Baz was laughing. “They could be a double act! Like Laurel and Hardy.”

We were all in a much better mood when we went on to the cinema.

We didn’t last long in there. Throwing popcorn about, kicking over cokes, using our phones, annoying everybody. We were all hauled out, and barred from going back.

As soon as we were outside, Gary turned on me. “That was all your fault, why can’t you ever just keep quiet?”

“Me?” I said.

“You started all that throwing stuff about. I wanted to see the movie.”

Baz stepped in. “You didn’t have to join in. Your choice. You could have left… like Mickey.”

Gary stepped back. He’d never stand up to Baz. But he still glared at me. “You’re nothing but trouble.”

He knew the school I went to. They all did. He knew how often I had been excluded. He was waiting for Baz to say something, but he didn’t. Neither did I.

Then Gary was off, running down the street. Claude hurried after him, always best friends. “Hey Gary, come back!”

“Don’t let Gary bother you,” Baz said as we walked home.

I wanted to say,
He only puts up with me ’cause you’re here
. But how
pathetic would that sound? I wanted too to ask why on earth Baz liked me. No one else seemed to. But how pathetic would that sound as well?

It was as if he read my mind. “You and me are alike, Logan. I know we’re completely different, but somewhere in here,” he tapped his head, “we’re exactly the same. Don’t worry, I won’t desert you. You’ll always have me.”

Then Baz left, taking the path behind the shops to his place. One last wave, and he was gone.

A second later, he popped his head round the corner again. “Well, not tonight you won’t have me of course, I’ve gotta go home… but I’ll be back tomorrow. And then I won’t desert you!” I could hear his roaring laugh as he disappeared again.

He had made me feel good. I wouldn’t let Gary spoil my mood. As I lay in bed that night and looked back on everything, now that we were out of danger, I realised it had been a great weekend. Exciting, dangerous, and we hadn’t been caught. We wouldn’t be caught. And I tried to push the surveillance camera and the people still in hospital to the back of my mind.