‘But why would he need it?’ Ruby was puzzled. She knew that Sarah’s mum was a dipper, a shoplifter, and her dad broke into places to steal things, but this was a whole new level.
‘My dad says he’s movin’ up in the world, he’s goin’ to be a big-time blagger,’ Sarah couldn’t hide her pride. She puffed her chest out, then held out her arm, pointing the gun squarely at Ruby.
‘Don’t bloody point it at me! Put it down. Sar, stop it!’ Ruby hissed, making Sarah giggle.
‘Don’t worry, scaredy-pants, Dad keeps the rounds separate. He says he won’t load it, only wave it around when he starts doin’ the bigger jobs like robbin’ banks for Charlie Beaumont.’
Ruby had heard of blaggers and knew Sarah’s dad did some small jobs but had never realised that the people she knew were doing big-time jobs. A blagger, or bank robber, was the top of the criminal hierarchy, everyone knew that.
‘Who’s Charlie Beaumont?’ Ruby said. Her voice sounded strange, as if she had something stuck in her throat.
‘Oh,’ said Sarah airily, ‘he’s Dad’s boss now. He’s a proper crook, a big-time blagger and he knows all the big jobs. My dad’s gone up in the world. He says that as soon as the money comes in, we’ll move to a bigger house somewhere posh, just like Charlie.’
‘Oh, but I don’t want ya to move,’ Ruby replied, her head spinning. She’d grown up in Star Lane. She knew that petty crime was rampant and people did what they did to survive, but this was something else, something she’d never experienced before.
‘You’ll come and stay in our mansion, don’t worry, we’ll still be friends . . . Go on, Rube, try it yerself. It feels heavier than ya think.’ Sarah held out the gun but Ruby shook her head. ‘I don’t like it, Sar. You, your parents and Alan could all be in big trouble.’
Suddenly all Sarah’s nice things – the huge television, the Betamax video player – all seemed to belong to a world Ruby didn’t understand. She didn’t want to admit, even to her closest friend, that the sight of the gun had shocked her, but she couldn’t help but shudder.
‘Put it back. It ain’t right to get it out. Yer dad won’t like us playin’ with it . . .’
‘We ain’t playin’ with it, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes!’ Sarah sneered, sensing her friend’s dislike. ‘Anyway he’s my dad and I can do what I like with it.’
‘Go on, just put it back. Please, Sar.’ Mollified by Ruby’s plea, her friend replaced the handgun in the holdall and zipped it up. Ruby watched as Sarah closed up the hidden hatch and laid the carpet flat again. She felt better once the gun was hidden, but she still had that queasy feeling of walking into new, unchartered territory.
‘I’ve got to go . . .’ Ruby said falteringly, trying to smile at the girl standing in front of her. Sarah shrugged her response.
‘See ya,’ Ruby said. Her friend stared after her as she left through the small kitchen that was filled with boxes of top-of-the-range toasters from a jump-up Sarah’s brother Alan had done recently.
When Alan’s luck came in, the whole neighbourhood knew about it as him and his dad, Mike, would buy rounds in the pub all night, returning home pissed and singing loudly, waking up the whole street. Sarah would always have a new dress or shoes the next day as well. Ruby had even seen Mike hand a big wad of cash to Sarah’s mum, Julie, over the dinner table on the nights she stayed for tea. The family talked about robbing and stealing openly and easily, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. It was the opposite of her own house, but Ruby was used to Sarah’s family. Now the gun, the blagging . . . that seemed something else.
Her head was buzzing as she crossed from Sarah’s yard to her own via the small alleyway that ran along the back of the Victorian terraced houses.
‘Sarah’s parents in The Anchor again?’ Cathy sniffed disapprovingly as Ruby opened the back door and let herself into the small kitchen. Ruby watched her mum sipping a cup of cocoa, a rare luxury in their house, trying to puzzle out what to say.
‘A penny for ’em, darlin’,’ her mum said softly. She must’ve spotted something, some expression on Ruby’s face. Ruby was different to the rest of the family, but Cathy knew her daughter. Whereas her oldest child Bobby was content with his home and family, Cathy had a feeling that inside Ruby was yearning for something better, a cleverness that wouldn’t be content with a small, honest life. The knowledge scared her. She worried for her daughter.
‘Did something happen, luv?’
‘Of course not. I’m just tired, Mum, I promise. I’m fine. I’m goin’ to bed.’ Ruby managed a weak smile. There was no way she’d willingly share the news of the gun with her mum. She knew Cathy would hit the roof. Louie, her dad, would go ballistic if he found out what was really going on next door. Ruby’d never be allowed to hang out with Sarah again for sure, so she hurried through the kitchen and up to her room at the back of the house. She needed time to think.
Cathy watched her daughter as she made her way upstairs, a slight thread of concern nagging her, but it was late and she too was tired, so she let it lie.
CHAPTER 3
BANG, BANG, BANG. Ruby startled awake, glancing at the alarm clock by her single bed. It was just past 6 a.m. and the dawn sunlight was only just filtering through her plain curtains.
‘POLICE! OPEN UP!’
‘Oh my God!’ Ruby exclaimed, leaping out of bed and running the few paces to her window. Her small bedroom was at the back of the family home, overlooking their yard and the neighbour’s yard too. As she pulled a section of
