‘I’ll have to remember to tell Laura that. Her old lady’s a Scot. So you don’t think it’s him?’
‘Gladwell? No, too old, too busy and he’s got enough on his plate keeping his boys out of trouble.’ He’s got four sons. Remember we met the eldest and his shrew when we went up there a couple of years back to sort out that construction scam? What was her name again?’
‘Martine,’
‘You called her Lady Macbeth.’
‘With good cause,’ I assured him, ‘but not to her face. She was as sour as a bag of lemons that one.’
‘Imagine fucking that,’ and he whistled as if he was contemplating the demands of the SAS selection process.
‘Tommy Gladwell must have done it, at least a couple of times. They’ve got two kids.’
‘He’s a twat that bloke.’
‘Known as ‘wee Tommy Gladwell from what I remember, even though he was fat and forty by then.’
‘He’s like all the Gladwell lads, carries on like he’s hard as nails but he can’t shit without his old man’s permission and now he’s got his wife involved in his business, imagine that,’ he clearly thought that was taking feminism a step too far.
‘London then?’ I suggested.
‘Met’s all over it. You’ve got Super grasses and SOCA, the ARA and not to mention all the competition, Albanians, Russians, Yardies and Turks. Who’d have time to come up here?’
‘Maybe they think it’d be easier?’ he gave me a filthy look, ‘I’m not saying they’d be right mind but, you know, with some people, the grass is always greener,’
‘It’s possible,’ he conceded then reconsidered, ‘no, no, you’re telling me that some fat cockney twat’s gonna come all the way up here, shooting his mouth off, while we let him get away with taking over the place? Nah, I can’t see it, can you?’
‘I dunno,’ I said, ‘it happened to the football club.’
He laughed so hard at that I thought he was going to choke.
‘Who then?’ I urged him when he’d calmed down.
‘What about closer to home?’ he asked.
‘You mean our crew or beyond?’
‘Either.’
‘Our mob? Only one man with the balls and the brawn and, how can I put this nicely? I can’t. He’s not got the brain.’
‘Finney? I know and he’s loyal, at least he always has been and we pay him a lot. I mean what’s he going to spend it on? He wouldn’t make a boss and I can’t see him working for anybody else after all these years. So, not Finney, anyone else?’
‘I’ve thought about it, obviously I have. I’ve thrown out all my preconceived ideas about these men we’ve been close to for years but even then I just can’t see any of them having the capability or desire to be the boss.’
‘What about Jerry Lemon?’
‘What about him?’
Bobby shrugged, ‘he’s been with me all this time,’ he said, ‘maybe he wants to be Top Boy?’
‘I thought about it,’ I said, ‘but honestly? No, I can’t see Jerry Lemon wanting to take you out of the equation. He’s loyal enough and sensible. He knows he’s making good money right where he is. So, no, I don’t think so.’
Bobby chuckled, ‘that’s what I like about you son,’ he said, ‘I heard all about the way he spoke to you down at the snooker hall, ‘course I did. He treated you like a cunt but when you get the chance to whisper in the bosses’ ear about him, maybe get him on my bad side, you play a totally straight bat. Did it even cross your mind?’
‘Yeah,’ I admitted, ‘but only for a second. So Jerry Lemon doesn’t have me on his Christmas card list, so what? If he’s bitter about something that’s more about him than me.’
‘Trouble with Jerry, he’s old school. He doesn’t like you because he reckons you’ve never paid your dues. You’ve not killed men for the firm, you’ve never been inside or had to punch your way out of the gutter like he had to, like I had to. We both had to fight on the streets every day when we were young, fight for everything, and you didn’t, but that isn’t your fault and it doesn’t make me come over all sentimental for the old days, because they were shite. Jerry had a very hard life when he was a nipper and it’s affected him, but basically he’s a good bloke. I’ve told him right enough that you’ve put money in all of our pockets one way or another. He’s admitted to me privately that the stuff you do keeps us all out of jail but don’t expect him to give you any credit for it.’
I nodded, ‘it’s no big deal,’ so Jerry Lemon had a hard time when he was a nipper. My heart bled for him.
‘And the new breed?’ he asked, ‘Monk and JD?’
‘JD doesn’t know what day it is. He’s been enjoying too much of his own product. Monk’s lads are making their living from house breaking with violence and his main muscle got eleven years not long back.’
‘What for?’
‘Broke into some poor couple’s home and accidentally woke them up, decided he might as well rape the wife while he was there, knocked her old man senseless first though, then tied him up and made him watch. Police arrived while he was still on top of her.’
‘Christ almighty,’ said Bobby, ‘is there no fucking decency in our game any more?’
‘To tell you the truth, I have been through every name I can think of; every apprentice hard-knock and wannabe villain who might have heard of you and thought they could do a better job but there’s nobody in our bloody league, not even close.’
‘Whoever it was, they knew about the Drop,’ he said, ‘and not many do, even in our outfit.’
‘I’ve been thinking about that as well,’ I said, ‘we’ve been sloppy; you, me, everybody. There’s six people who’ve been down south with that money in the past two years. It only takes one of them to boast to a mate or tell some bird they’re shagging and word can spread like the clap. Soon a whole bunch of people know Bobby Mahoney sends money to a top level fixer every month.’
‘You’re right,’ he admitted, ‘it pains me to admit it but you’re right. So what are we going to do about it?’
‘We are going to keep asking people until we hear something useful. We are going to stay sharp and make no mistakes, we are going to tighten things up and make sure there are no more fuck-ups. We are going to ride this one out and we are going to win.’
‘You sound like the boss already,’ he said, ‘you sure you don’t want my job?’ he frowned at me, but I knew it was a wind-up.
‘No,’ I said, ‘I have a better quality of life than you do and I don’t need the stress.’
‘Thanks a bleeding lot.’ He smiled.
We talked some more about business and I was pleased to be back going over the detail again. Eventually, he said, ‘you’re still coming to our Sarah’s 21st right?’
‘I was planning to,’ I said, ‘as long as you still want me there.’
‘Course,’ he said, ‘but do me a personal favour Davey. Stay off the sauce and get her and her daft friend home at the end of the night. They want to go off to some club after the meal and she won’t want her old man there with her,’ he stopped looking at me then. Instead he studied a space on the wall just over my left shoulder and said, ‘with all that’s been going on, I want to be careful, you know,’ I did know. He meant if someone wanted to hurt him, really hurt him, they could go after Sarah. ‘Look after her for me.’
‘Sure,’ I said straight away and he nodded like he was genuinely grateful.
‘One other thing,’ he told me, ‘you’ve not got any answers yet, so it’s time you went to see Kinane,’ I’d known this was coming and been dreading it but I nodded like it was a sensible idea. ‘Get down that gym of his and find out what he knows. He must have heard something.’
‘Okay Bobby,’ I said.
‘And take Finney with you,’ Christ, that’s all I needed. Finney and Kinane in the same room together. Having them both in the same city was scary enough.
TWELVE
