“This Hickey character,” he muttered.
Boots thumped in the hallway. A tall alien passed the doorway.
“Oi!” Kilmartin called out.
The alien returned. Minogue studied the motorcyclist’s visor.
“Take off the helmet, man!” said Kilmartin. “How do we know you’re not a robber?”
Eilis stood in the hallway behind the Garda motorcyclist. She nodded at Minogue.
“A phone call for you, your honour. A Sister Joe.”
The motorcyclist was a smiling, big-toothed motorcycle Guard in his early twenties.
“Ah,” said Eilis. “And how’s the bold Garda Madden?”
Footballer, thought Minogue. He picked up the jug. Eilis took the envelope.
“Thanks now, Gabriel,” she muttered and attacked the string on the flap. Madden stepped backwards into the hallway to let Minogue through.
“Gabriel?” Minogue heard Kilmartin say. “A messenger? Is this the Annunciation all over again?”
He cut across the car-park and skipped down the alley toward the back door of the poolhall. He felt light- headed, happy almost. He sat on the edge of a window-sill and pushed his back against the iron bars. Sweaty already. He began to calculate again. With the fifty he could get a hit off Ginger down in Parnell Street. With the couple of quid he had left of his own, he’d have forty left. He’d try again later on with Mary. Why hadn’t she told him that she’d jacked it in with that Tresses kip? He looked up and down the alley. Two skins walked by the mouth of the alley and looked in. One broke his stride and slowed to eyeball him. He was moving toward the door of the poolhall when the skins disappeared. He stepped into a doorway and flattened his back against the metal panel. His knees had gone watery.
So what the hell were those two bastards looking for last night anyway? Maybe they’d mixed him with someone else? Narcs? No: one of them looked familiar. You couldn’t tell these days. He thought about the time that a narc who looked like a knacker and smelled like a knacker put the hand on Ginger. In broad daylight, in Stephen’s Green, for God’s sake, Ginger laughing because he was high and didn’t believe it was happening. But those two last night, not a word out of them. They’d just come after him. Why was he shivering, and it like bloody Morocco, for God’s sake? Get the money, score off Ginger; phone the ma, see if she knew what was going on.
Steps. He looked out. Jammy was standing in the alley with his helmet in his hand.
“Jammy! Thanks a million, man! I won’t forget it, I swear! You and me are-”
Tierney’s hand was on his shirt. He looked into Jammy Tierney’s face and saw the contempt. Tierney began to twist his collar.
“You lying fuck, Leonardo!”
Tierney pushed him away and laid the helmet down.
“Jammy! Are you mad? Jesus! What’s with you, man?”
Tierney closed on him. He took a step backwards.
“Jammy! Don’t, man! What are you doing? What have I done? What?”
Tierney wasn’t stopping.
“Tell me, Jammy!”
Jammy Tierney reached out and shoved. The push caught him as he was taking another step back. He fell. Tierney lifted his foot.
“Jesus, Jammy! Man!”
He scuttled back until his shoulder hit a bin.
“Don’t, man! For Jases’ sake, just tell me what I’ve done! Tell me!”
“Get up.”
“I’m not going to get up just so’s you can start in on me, man!”
“Get up or I’ll use me boots on you.”
He elbowed around the bin until he was at the wall. He laid a hand on the dustbin. Jammy Tierney was breathing heavily. He tried to decide which way to run.
“Go ahead,” said Tierney. “Try and run. See how far it gets you.”
A sob almost escaped him. At least Tierney was talking.
“Is it the money, Jammy? Is it? What have I done? Give me a chance here, man!”
“You and your Mary this and your Mary that. I should have known. Your brain is fried, man! It’s gank! You’re a fucking menace, that’s what you are. You drag everyone down with you.”
“What? Honest, man-”
“I shouldn’t even be talking to you. Get up, you fucking waster.”
He drew himself up until he was on his hunkers. He could get a good start if he went for it. Tierney jammed his hand into his pocket and flicked something at him. Folded paper-money.
“You still going to run?”
“Thanks, Jammy! Thanks! Look, man, whatever I did, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
There were more bills than there should be. He tried to smile but Tierney kept staring at him. He looked down and thumbed through the bills. There was two hundred quid. Had Jammy made a mistake? He looked back into his eyes.
“So you’re sorry,” said Tierney. His eyes had a weird glittering light in them now.
“Yeah, Jammy, you know…? Whatever it is…”
“What use is sorry to Mary? Tell me that, you fucking bastard!”
“Jammy, I swear to you-”
“What? You’re always swearing to me about something!”
“If it has to do with, you know, what I said about Mary and me, that was just, well, I suppose I was just spoofing a bit. It’s just a dream, sort of-”
“Shut fucking up!”
“I swear-I mean, really! The truth is, she doesn’t think much of me. You know that. Look, tell you what. I’m going around to see her this afternoon. You know?”
Was Jammy nodding or just shaking?
“She’s going to talk to Bobby Egan, see if he’ll give me a start. Then I’ll pay you-”
“See?” Tierney’s voice rose. “You’re lying again! This morning you told me-You’re such a lying… You just-Ah, Christ, who cares. Get the boat tonight. Stay away.”
“To England you mean?”
“To the North Pole! The Sahara! Fucking Timbuktu, I don’t care!”
“Jesus, Jammy. Why would I want to make a move like that, you know?”
The movement was even quicker than he guessed it could be. It wasn’t a fist, but it stung.
“Because you’ll be fucking next!”
His ear was burning from the slap. He rubbed at it and backed away.
“I don’t get it, man! What are you saying?”
Tierney’s eyes seemed ready to pop out of their sockets.
“What do you mean, Jammy?” Tierney stuck his face right up against his.
“Mary was taken out of the canal yesterday, you fucking bollicks! Can you fucking hear me in there? She’s dead!”
He studied Tierney’s eyes, the drawn lips, the anger.
“Did you hear me? She’s on your conscience! Whatever you did, you and your fucking messing-whatever you conned Mary into. You got her killed, man! Whatever you talked about, whoever you talked to- you’re poison, man! Fucking poison!”
He couldn’t move. He tried to say something. The whole place seemed to glow. Everything grew sharp and scary. He tried again but only his jaw moved. Tierney’s chest was heaving. He looked up at the sky over the alley. He wondered if he was going to faint.
“This isn’t really happening, is it?” he whispered. “You can’t be serious, man.”
“You don’t think so?” Tierney snarled. He pushed him in the chest.
“Swear to God, Jammy! Don’t make up stuff, man. It’s not funny any more!”
“You’re telling me you don’t know? The Egans think you do. Talk to them about it.”
