The Front (33 page)

       
Ripping the top note out, he peered at it closely. It bloody was! The marks were there in each of the Queen’s eyes.

       
Leaping into his car, he pulled the rest of the notes out and scrutinized them. Some were clean, but the rest were marked. He separated them into two piles on the seat beside him. There was forty-five quid in the clean pile; one hundred and seventy in the marked.

       
Reinserting just a few of the marked notes into the wallet, he pocketed the rest and got back out of the car. If he was going to take this to The Man, he sure as hell wasn’t losing it all again!

Ged drove to Mal’s flat in a fury. That thieving bastard’s face would be indelibly marked on his memory, and when he saw him again, he’d make him regret the day he did what he’d just done.

       
No one had ever pulled a gun on him before. It had totally freaked him out. But now the shock was wearing off, he felt like turning his car around and hunting the cunt down. And when he found him, he’d rip his head off and stamp all over the hole!

Mal and Lee were up in arms when Ged stormed in and told them what had happened.

       
‘Why didn’t you pan his bleedin’ face in?’ Mal said. ‘I’d have battered the fuck out of him!’

       
‘Bit hard when you’re stuck inside a car with a gun in your fucking face!’ Ged snarled back at him. He slammed his fist down onto his knee. ‘But I’ll kill him when I get my hands on him, man! I swear I will!’

       
‘Who was it?’ Lee asked. ‘Did you know him?’

       
‘Yeah!’ Ged spat. ‘That’s why I stopped him in the first place. He stopped me and Sam when we were leaving here the other night and asked where that smack dealer, Millie, lived. Then the cheeky bastard’s got the nerve to pull a gun on me for asking him where this Simeon lives!’

       
‘You say he was looking for Millie?’ Mal asked, narrowing his eyes. ‘Well, that’ll be it, won’t it? He’ll be a bleedin’ junkie! And you know what they’re like, man. Head cases!’

       
Ged shook his head. ‘No, he wasn’t a junkie. He was too smart looking. And his car was a top-of-the-range BM.’

       
‘Probably nicked it,’ Mal snorted. ‘Like he nicked your wallet. Cunt! So, what you gonna do about it?’

       
Ged shrugged, pursing his mouth furiously. ‘I don’t care about the wallet – there was only about two hundred in it anyway. It’s him sticking that gun in my face I’m pissed off about!’

       
They discussed the mugging for a while. Then they got onto Ged’s reasons for going to that block of flats in the first place, and why he was so eager to find Simeon. They were shocked when they heard about Linda. They’d known her since she was born, and had never imagined she’d go off the rails like this.

       
‘You want to go and drag her out of there, give her a good hiding and lock her in her bedroom,’ Mal suggested. ‘And batter the fuck out of the guy for messing about with her while you’re at it!’

       
‘ ’S right!’ Lee added indignantly. ‘The guy wants locking up! Bleedin’ pervert!’

       
‘What do you think I was there for?’ Ged snapped, flicking a disbelieving glance at Lee for making that statement in the light of everything Ged had heard him say about schoolgirls. ‘I was planning to find out which flat he lives in,’ he went on. ‘And if she was in there, I was gonna break his door down and get her out!’

       
‘So what’s stopping us?’ Mal asked. ‘Let’s get down there!’

       
Ged shook his head. ‘No. I’d already decided to leave it till it got dark. I think that’ll be better – especially now.’

       
‘Right, then,’ Mal said. ‘We’ll go when it’s dark.’

       
‘Eh!’ Lee jumped up, fired by a sudden revelation. ‘You don’t suppose it was him, do you? That Simeon you’re looking for?’

       
‘No.’ Ged shook his head. ‘Linda’s friend told me he was bald, but this bloke’s got dreads.’

       
‘I bet he knows him, though.’ Mal arched a knowing eyebrow. ‘Why else would he go psycho like that? He must have been covering for the guy.’

       
‘Whatever . . .’ Ged rolled his head on his neck. ‘I can’t do anything about it right now, so there’s no use winding myself up, is there?’

       
‘Just so long as we sort this Simeon creep out when we find him!’ Mal said. ‘Poncey cunt he must be and all, with a name like that!’

       
‘Oh, believe me,’ Ged said. ‘I intend to.
And
the thieving bastard who took my wallet! Now, how’s about one of you makes me a brew while I let Caroline know what’s happened?’

       
‘Yeah, I reckon we could all do with one,’ Mal said, pushing himself to his feet. ‘Here you go, mate.’ He handed his stash tin to Ged. ‘Make yourself a spliff, eh? And don’t worry about Linda. We’ll find her – together, mate!’

       
Ged looked up at him gratefully. Of them all, Mal was the last one he’d expected to show genuine concern. But here he was, doing exactly that – and, looking at his face, Ged knew without a doubt that he was genuine.

       
‘Thanks, Mal,’ he said. ‘I really appreciate that.’

       
Mal shrugged modestly. ‘What are mates for, eh?’

19

Max held the wallet out towards The Man. The Man snatched it and threw it open, pulling the notes out and riffling through them.

       
‘How did he come to have this?’ he growled angrily. ‘That’s sixty quid of my fucking money! How come?’

       
‘I don’t know,’ Max said – glad he’d decided to replace just a bit of the money as he watched it disappear into The Man’s pocket. ‘I didn’t exactly get to ask him.’

       
‘And how come he gave it to you?’

       
‘Like I said.’ Max shrugged. ‘He pissed me off axing questions about you, so I pulled my gun on him!’ He laughed nastily. ‘And the pussy turn yellow and give me his wallet!’

       
‘It’s not funny!’ The Man bellowed. ‘Who was he? And why was he asking about me? What exactly did he say?’

       
‘Just that he was looking for you. That he knew you lived in these flats . . . And that you might have a young girl called Linda with you!’

       
‘How did he know that?’ The Man barked. ‘Who’s been chatting my business?’

       
‘And how come he stopped you?’ Jake interrupted, a suspicious gleam in his eye.

       
Max rounded on him furiously. ‘How the fuck do I know?’

       
‘So you’re saying he just got lucky?’ Jake snorted. ‘Yeah,
right
!’

       
‘Nah, hang about!’ Max said. ‘He stopped me ’cos I stopped him the other night! I axed him where to find that Millie!’ He sat back, smiling smugly. ‘So you can stop your insinuations, Jake. Trying to make out like I’m a fucking informer, or something!’

       
‘Hang on, hang on!’ The Man cut in. ‘So you seen him the other night? You asked him where this Millie lived, and he told you, yeah?’

       
Max nodded. ‘Yeah. Well, roughly. Didn’t know the number, though, so I had to ax someone else when I got over there.’

       
The Man’s face darkened. ‘Bit of a coincidence, isn’t it? You talk to him just before you give Millie a going-over, then the man comes looking for me? Knows my name – and even mentions that slag Linda. Something ain’t right with this!’ He shook his head, pursing his mouth. ‘Nah! It’s wrong!’

       
‘You sure he wasn’t Babylon?’ said Jake.

       
Max shrugged, slumping down in the chair. ‘That’s what I thought when I first saw him, but I don’t think so.’

       
‘And what makes you so sure?’ The Man asked.

       
Max grinned. ‘Well, I never seen a Babylon give up ’im wallet before!’

       
Jake shook his head and wandered over to the window. Max could be such a dickhead. This man sure as hell sounded like a Babylon. And it was too much of a coincidence that he just happened to have been hanging about when Max went looking for the dealer who supposedly had the money, and now he was here asking about The Man. People walked in and out of these flats all day long – how come he hadn’t stopped anyone else? How come he’d chosen Max?

       
‘What car was he in?’ The Man asked.

       
‘Ford,’ Max told him with the true sneer of a BMW driver. ‘Dark blue. Pretty old.’

       
‘MNE plate?’ Jake asked.

       
‘I didn’t notice,’ Max admitted.

       
‘All the undercovers in Moss Side use dark Escorts and Cortinas, and they all got MNE plates,’ Jake said. He turned to The Man. ‘If I was you, I’d start wondering if the Babylon haven’t been watching you.’

       
‘You think?’ The Man asked quietly. Jake shrugged and went back to looking out of the window.

       
The Man looked down at his hands. This was definitely too much of a coincidence. In all the time he’d been dealing with Pasha, he’d never been fingered. Yes, the police had been getting a bit more active on the scene lately, but they’d never connected him to anything, had never tried to bust him. Even when they did that mass raid a month before Pasha copped it, they hadn’t set foot near him or Pasha. But now, ever since that money had turned up with Max’s boy, Stevo, things were starting to happen. It wasn’t good.

       
In light of this more pressing matter, it slipped his mind that Max had also been asked about the girl.

       
‘I don’t like this,’ he said to Max a minute later. ‘It’s too close. Seems to me this guy gave you my money knowing you’d bring it straight to me.’

       
‘What good would that do?’ Max asked.

       
‘Could be a set-up,’ The Man said grimly. ‘If Stevo and his boy Millie had already been gripped by the Babylon and had the money taken off them, that would explain why they didn’t have none of it when you went looking. And if that Millie one was warned not to say anything, that’s why he wouldn’t give it up when you put the arm on him. They probably figured whoever it belonged to would go looking for it, and held onto it to use as a trap. What we’ve got to do is figure out what’s really going down here, and make sure we don’t get fucked up.’

       
‘It’s a bit late for that,’ Jake muttered darkly. ‘Seems like it’s already started.’

       
‘Well, they ain’t got nutt’n on me,’ The Man snapped. ‘Even if they have got the money, there’s nothing to say it’s mine. No one knew about the marks except us in this room.’ He looked at Max hard. ‘You didn’t tell no one, did you?’

       
‘Course I didn’t!’ Max protested. ‘I’m not that stupid!’

       
‘Well, the only other one who knew was Pasha – and he’s not telling no one nothing!’

       
‘Not now,’ Jake agreed. ‘But what about before he was hit?’

       
‘What you talking about?’ The Man shot at him. ‘You know he was safe!’

       
‘You don’t know, though,’ Jake countered. ‘That might be what this is all about. Think about it. He had his family working with him – they
must
have known what he was doing for you. He couldn’t have hidden it from them, not when he was doing it from the shop. They might think you’re behind him getting whacked. They could have gone to the Babylon and worked out this deal to set you up so they could get revenge.’

       
The Man didn’t speak. He hadn’t thought of this, but now realized it was altogether possible.
Damn
! If that was the case, he had his work cut out for him. He couldn’t afford to sit back and let the nephews think their uncle’s death was anything to do with him. Apart from anything else, his pride wouldn’t allow him to let his reputation be sullied like that. He would have to go and see them, sort it out.

       
‘Max, you’d better go now,’ he said. ‘Call me later and we’ll arrange a meet. Where you gonna be?’

       
Max stood up. ‘I’m going home for a shower and something to eat. I’ll stay there. Just give me a ring when you’re ready.’

       
The Man nodded and turned to Jake. ‘Come on – we’re going to see the nephews.’

       
Jake frowned at him from the window. ‘Is that a good idea? Supposing the Babylon are still sniffing about down there?’

       
‘So what?’ The Man retorted. ‘Man’s gotta eat, ain’t he?’

Ten minutes after Jake drove The Man out of the car park, Lee drove in. Scanning the cars already parked, he said to Ged, ‘What did you say it was?’

       
Ged had already looked. ‘It’s a BM,’ he said, ‘but it’s not here.’

       
‘That’s all right,’ Lee said, reversing into a space and cutting the lights. ‘We can wait.’

       
‘All night if we have to,’ added Mal. ‘I’ve got the necessaries!’ He held up a handful of five-skinners he’d rolled earlier. Lighting one, he put his feet up on the dash and filled the car with smoke.

       
‘Let’s play I-spy!’ Lee said, ignoring the groans of the others. ‘I’ll go first. Er, right, I’ve got one! I-spy with my little eye, something beginning with L.’

       
‘Lift?’ said Sam.

       
‘Nah.’

       
‘Lorry?’ said Mal.