The Last King of Brighton (7 page)

‘You know him?' Hathaway said.

‘From the racetrack,' Reilly said.

Hathaway glanced at Rita and lowered his voice.

‘How's that bloke? McVicar?'

‘He'll mend. Eventually.'

‘Won't he want to get his own back?'

Reilly drew him to the window. A flock of seagulls skirled in the gusts of wind. The sea was boisterous, huge swells rising and dipping.

‘People react to bad beatings in different ways, but more often than not it breaks their spirit. He was all mouth.'

‘You know the type?'

‘I've been around them most of my life.'

Hathaway went closer to Reilly.

‘Is my dad a gangster?'

‘You'd be best asking him questions like that.'

‘Would he answer?'

‘No idea,' Reilly said.

‘Did he send Barbara away?'

Reilly smiled again.

‘You'd be best asking him questions like that.'

FOUR

Rebel Rouser

S
ean Reilly was at the Duane Eddy gig. He stood out like a sore thumb, smartly dressed and two decades older than anybody else. He was with a group of men at the bar.

The gig was in the Hippodrome. The group's first taste of real dressing rooms. Duane Eddy didn't hang out with them. Just said hello and shook their hands and went to his dressing room. Charlie was in awe. His backing band were British session musicians. They helped The Avalons set up their gear.

The ballroom was packed but with a potentially combustible mix of mods and rockers. The mods were on one side and the rockers on the other. The group came out and got stuck into some Buddy Holly then switched to rhythm and blues. Hathaway was glad they were on a raised stage as within ten minutes the first mod and first rocker had met in the middle for a fight. More a tussle really – punches and kicks but nobody went down. When they withdrew another three or four from each side started up.

The girls were all clustered right in front of the stage, a lot of them leaning on the stage. Hathaway saw Dan eyeing a couple up as he sang. He dance-stepped over and leaned into him.

‘Watch it – we don't know who they belong to.'

When Duane Eddy came on the rockers made more fuss than the girls. Hathaway and the group clustered at one end of the bar. Reilly gave a little wave from the other end. Hathaway excused himself and went over.

‘Wouldn't have thought this was your sort of show, Mr Reilly.'

‘Gentlemen, you've probably seen this young pop star around on the pier. He's Dennis's lad.'

The men around him all nodded and smiled.

‘Doing a bit of business with the proprietors. And a bit of behind the scenes wheeler-dealing.'

Reilly looked over as the latest groups of mods and rockers drifted into the centre of the hall and clashed.

‘It's almost choreographed,' Reilly said. ‘Which is the nearest anyone is going to get to dancing tonight, I think.'

‘Lot of blood,' Hathaway said.

‘Head wounds bleed excessively, however minor the injury. No, this is quite restrained, I think. It could have been a brawl but it isn't. Very neat.' He looked round. ‘I see the bouncers have made themselves scarce. Sensible.'

He moved across to Hathaway and spoke directly into his ear. Hathaway got a whiff of whisky on the breath.

‘Recognize anyone on the left-hand side of the ballroom?'

‘To be honest we've been trying not to look at anybody on either side of the ballroom.'

‘Good policy when you're in the middle. But take a look now, why don't you?'

Hathaway did and almost immediately saw three of the Teds who had given them the beating in Seven Dials.

‘Those three guys over there – and these two heading back to them.'

Reilly nodded.

‘That little squirt and those two big fellas, and these two with bloodied knuckles?'

Hathaway nodded.

‘All right, then. You enjoy the rest of your evening.'

‘I want to go over,' Hathaway said.

‘That would be foolhardy in the circumstances. Leave it for the moment.'

Hathaway looked from Reilly to Reilly's men ranged at the bar.

‘What are you going to do?'

‘Negotiate.' Reilly patted Hathaway's arm. ‘Get back to your friends now.'

When Hathaway went back over to Dan and the others, he looked across at the five Teds-turned-rockers. They were in a huddle, laughing. He wondered what they had thought when they saw the group up on stage before Eddy came on.

Eddy's twanging guitar was going over big. Charlie was in raptures. Hathaway leaned over to Dan.

‘Those Teds are here. The ones that did us over.'

Dan spotted them immediately.

‘Bloody hell. Small town – should've thought.' He looked back at Hathaway. ‘Do you think we should do something?'

‘Not here – we'd get mobbed. Maybe after.'

Dan looked uneasy.

‘They gave us a good hiding last time. What makes you think this time is going to be any different?'

Hathaway glanced down the bar at Reilly. He noticed that three or four of his men had disappeared.

‘We need to hold on anyway. My dad's bloke down the other end of the bar has something in mind.'

Dan looked down the bar.

‘That hard-looking bloke and his oppos?'

Hathaway nodded.

Eddy finished the instrumental and Charlie temporarily reconnected with the rest of the world. He looked across at Dan and Hathaway.

‘A god walks the streets of Brighton,' he yelled.

‘He came by minicab, I think,' Dan said, laughing.

Charlie glanced around the room. He looked straight at the Teds and his eyes widened.

He stepped closer to the others, his hand rummaging in the pocket where he kept the bike chain.

‘Have you seen who's over there?'

‘We have,' Hathaway said.

‘Well?'

‘Well, nothing. There's nothing to be done at the moment.'

‘Bugger that,' Charlie said. ‘I'll have that big bastard.'

Hathaway still had his own rage at the one who had intended to piss on him. He was imagining broken bones. Even so. He reached up and ruffled Charlie's hair.

Charlie jerked back and patted his mop-top, into place.

‘Even though you're masquerading as a mop-top we know you're really a Teddy boy through and through. I'm not sure if Teds have etiquette, but I'm sure it's not on for one Ted to attack another in the middle of a conflict with a bunch of mods.'

Charlie was staring so hard at the group of Teds that Hathaway was sure they'd sense it and look over.

‘After, then,' Charlie said.

‘Johnny's dad's friend said to hang on.'

‘Johnny's dad's friend?' Charlie said disdainfully. ‘Is your dad going to walk us home after school too?'

‘It's not like that,' Hathaway said.

‘I fight my own battles,' Charlie said. ‘Time you did too.'

‘What's your problem with my dad?' Hathaway said, squaring up to Charlie. ‘I notice you didn't turn down this gig he got us.'

Charlie looked at Hathaway but ignored the question.

‘I say we ambush them afterwards. The element of surprise will work in our favour. What do you say, Dan?'

Dan and Billy both looked from Hathaway to Charlie. Dan shrugged.

‘You going to fight your own battles?' Charlie said to Hathaway.

Hathaway was stoked up.

‘OK. Just let me tell my dad's bloke.' He looked down the bar but Reilly and his friends had gone.

The Avalons were backstage by the time Eddy finished his encores. He came off in a rush, gave them all a wave and a ‘Thanks, guys' and went back out to sign photographs and autographs for the long queue already in place.

‘Let's go,' Charlie said.

‘What about our gear?' Dan said. ‘We've only just got it – don't want to lose this lot too.'

‘It'll be safe enough. Come on.'

This from Charlie, who'd freaked out when the original gear had been wrecked.

Dan picked up a beer bottle, and Billy found a block of wood and he hefted it in his hand. Billy looked queasy. He looked down at his elastic-sided Chelsea boots.

‘Wish I was wearing winkle-pickers.'

Hathaway looked at a long pole with a hook on the end. He'd switched to aikido and had been doing kendo. He only knew a four-strike sequence so far – two defensive, two offensive – but reckoned that would be all he needed. He dismissed the idea, though, worried that if the police got involved, he would be treatedmore harshly for using what was obviously an offensive weapon.

He was concerned about Reilly and his instructions, but he had been provoked by Charlie's comments.

It was drizzling when they stepped out into the alley at the back of the dance hall.

Hathaway looked to see if the Teds might be among the autograph hunters, waiting to jump them.

A thin stream of people went past the end of the alley. Charlie led the way down. He kept his right hand in his jacket pocket.

Most of the audience was only now starting to spill out into the street in front of the dance hall. There were two exits and the police, who were out in force, were ensuring mods went out of one and rockers out of the other.

There was a lot of shouting between the two tribes but the police were in a solid wedge between them. There were half a dozen police vans parked on the pavement on the other side of the street. Hathaway saw Reilly and some of his friends standing beside the uniformed police. They were all watching the audience emerge and Reilly was talking quietly to a red-faced sergeant who was nodding. It was Sergeant Finch, the one who'd asked to be remembered to Hathaway senior earlier in the week.

Hathaway saw Reilly gesture to the sergeant as the Teds emerged. The next moment, the Teds were surrounded by around a dozen police. There was a moment's discussion then they were led off and put in the back of one of the vans. Hathaway and the others looked at each other.

‘Well, that's that,' Billy said, looking relieved. He took the lump of wood out from inside his jacket pocket and laid it against a wall. Dan put his bottle down beside it. Hathaway looked back over to the sergeant. The sergeant nodded at him. Reilly had gone.

Hathaway's father was in the sitting room when he came downstairs the next morning.

‘Come in here a minute, will you, son?'

‘What's going on, Dad?'

‘That's a big question, Johnny.'

‘Mr Reilly was at the Duane Eddy gig.'

‘Glad to hear it. He needs to get out more.'

‘Some Teddy boys were there and at the end the police took them away.'

‘That's a result for law and order, then.'

‘Mr Reilly seemed quite pally with a sergeant.'

His father clasped his hands behind his head.

‘Pays to keep in with the boys in blue, especially in our business. What is it you're asking me, son?'

‘What business are you in, Dad?'

‘I've got a lot of businesses, John. My fingers in a lot of pies.'

‘Are they all above board?'

His father sucked his teeth.

‘There are grey areas. But if I tell you I have reached an accommodation with the police, will that put your mind at rest?'

‘What will happen to those Teddy boys?'

‘Probably a drug bust, wouldn't you say? Might find they were suppliers, not just users. Now let's take that as a for instance. There'll be a gap in the market there. It'll need filling. If I knew people who had access to the pills that young people today like to use, I might be tempted to fill that gap.'

He was watching Hathaway closely.

‘You don't pop pills, do you, John?'

Hathaway shook his head. Charlie did and Dan had tried them, but he'd never been interested.

‘But you're not morally opposed to it?'

‘Morally opposed?' Hathaway laughed at his dad saying those words.

‘Yeah – you know? You understand there's a difference between the law and what's right?'

‘Of course,' Hathaway said, feeling uncomfortable at having such a conversation with his father.

‘Well, I sometimes operate within that gap between the law and what's right. People want these pills. They give them a buzz. Supplying them isn't hurting anyone. Public service, you might say.'

Hathaway glanced at his father.

‘Seems to me it's only reasonable that if my son's group is providing the music, his family should profit from ancillary activities.'

‘So you want me to sell drugs at our gigs?'

‘No, no, no. In the pubs nobody is selling without the landlord's say-so. And the landlord's are beholden to us. You just have to be sure we get our cut.'

‘Rough stuff?' Hathaway said, and his father burst out laughing.

‘I don't think so,' his father said. He saw the look on his son's face. ‘Not that I don't think you'd be capable of it. But your role is managerial. I have wage-packet people for anything else. You don't even need to get involved with the dealers. At the end of the night, when you get your fee, you get an extra envelope too. That's all.'

At the end of Friday night's gig, Hathaway took up his duties. Dan and Bill had both gone straight off, so he left Charlie at a table drinking a beer.

‘Hello, Mr Franks,' he said to the landlord at the bar. ‘Wondered what the take was tonight.'