As she turned to leave the room, thinking that she should probably take a bath before going to bed, her eye was drawn to Holly’s partially open underwear drawer, and her heart leapt when she spotted the red cap and neck of the bottle of vodka she’d bought on the way home from hospital sticking out between the bras and knickers. She realized that Holly must have confiscated it to keep her from drinking any more, and that saddened her, but she knew she didn’t have as big a problem as Holly obviously thought she did. Still, she made a silent vow to cut down on her drinking as soon as they were settled in a new place and she had secured a new job.
But that was then and this was now, and she needed a drink to help her sleep. So, forgetting about the bath, Josie headed to her own room and poured a glassful.
38
Gee gazed out through the window of the cab as it carried him home. It was 2.30 a.m. and he had just finished his third shift manning the doors at the newly refurbished nightclub Zenith in the fashionable Northern Quarter. He had been working as a security guard at a shopping centre for the last two years, chasing petty shoplifters and directing shoppers to stores they could easily have found for themselves if they’d bothered to check the information boards. It had paid the rent, just about, but it had also bored the arse off him, and he’d been terrified that he would end up like the old codgers he’d worked alongside, who seemed proud to have devoted forty years to a job that rewarded them with shit pay and no chance of promotion. So when his mate had told him Zenith was advertising for door staff, he’d jumped at the chance to escape the life-sucking drudgery of the Arndale.
His body hadn’t fully adjusted to the switch from days to nights yet, but the work was way more exciting, the hours were shorter and the pay was better. But he had earned every penny of that extra pay tonight. The club had been packed, and it had been all hands on deck when a massive fight broke out on the dance floor. With blokes throwing wild punches, screaming girls pulling hair extensions clean out of other screaming girls’ heads, and tables and chairs flying all over the show, it was a miracle he and his colleagues hadn’t received any significant injuries. But just as they’d got that one under control and were ejecting the instigators, another far more serious fight had erupted on the pavement outside, this time involving two rival gangs.
Outnumbered, and fearing for their own safety as well as that of their customers when they saw the array of weapons being brandished, Gee and the others had herded everyone back inside and locked the doors before calling the police. One of the guys had been caught by a machete before escaping, and Gee shuddered when he recalled the deep gash he’d seen in the man’s shoulder when they had cut his jacket and shirt off. The club’s designated first-aider had stemmed the blood as best she could until the police arrived and the man had walked to the ambulance – so he was going to be OK – but it had shaken Gee nevertheless.
Still, he’d managed to avoid getting injured himself, so he figured he’d be fit to do it all again tomorrow night.
As the cab neared his estate, Gee twisted his head when they passed the derelict church that had been used as a community centre for the estate’s residents until a council pen-pusher decided it was no longer cost-effective and closed it down. It had been boarded-up for a couple of years, and the land around it had become something of a rubbish dump for old mattresses, sofas and shopping trolleys, so Gee was curious to know why the BMW with blacked-out windows they had just passed was parked in the shadows of its driveway. He hadn’t seen the car around here before, and it looked like an expensive one, so he doubted it belonged to any of the estate residents.
No longer able to see the Beemer when the cab turned the corner, Gee shrugged it off, figuring that the car probably belonged to some rich developer who was planning to buy the plot and erect more flats. It was a damn shame, because there were precious few old buildings left in the area, but there was no stopping progress, he supposed.
Climbing out of the cab after paying his fare, Gee took out his keys and made his way inside the block. As tired as his body felt, his head was still wide awake, so he was going to take a shower when he got in, then pour himself a glass of Chivas from the bottle one of his mates had left behind after his last party, and roll a nice spliff before hitting the sack.
As he climbed the communal stairs, he saw what looked like chunks of vomit on the steps. Grimacing, he sidestepped them and continued on up to his flat.
‘Reckon he clocked us?’ Austin Gordon asked, leaning forward in the passenger seat of the BMW to scan the road through the tinted windscreen.
‘So what if he did?’ Dom Cooper shrugged. ‘He’s a brother, so he ain’t gonna think nutt’n ’bout bred’rin chillin’ in a motor.’
‘I s’ppose,’ Austin conceded. ‘So what now?’
‘We wait till the lights go out, then go see what’s what,’ Dom murmured, his dark eyes glowing red as he sucked on his spliff.
‘D’ya reckon this dude knows anything?’
‘The old man seems to think so.’
‘What if he don’t?’
‘Then we’ll have a lickle chat
