Despite his size – he was well built, and over six feet tall – Baldock moved quickly and surely over the ground and came into TJ’s estate from the hillside, well away from the main road. He hadn’t been here for a long time. Others did the work for him now. If the place had changed, it was for the worse. He skirted gardens full of junk and rubbish, like adventure playgrounds for the insane. Baldock glanced back to the mountain to see a last smear of light strike the trees, a moment of green colour fade to black. It was just about dark now, how he liked it.
TJ’s house was in a dead-end street. One window was boarded up, another marked by a net curtain lank with dirt. A kid’s trike in need of a wheel lay on the front path. Baldock went round the back and stood for a moment outside the door. He heard raised voices. One of them was TJ’s. He followed the argument. TJ’s mother wanted him gone. ‘You bring nothing but trouble to the house!’ she yelled. Too late, mate, Baldock whispered to himself.
Baldock kicked open the door. It wasn’t hard – the door was thin wood starting to rot. It fell apart under his heavy boot. TJ was sitting at a small kitchen table, rolling a smoke. His face drained of what colour it had.
‘Jesus Christ! Baldock! Look, I can explain, mun.’
As if she’d been programmed, TJ’s mother started to scream and shout, a wicked combination she thought might have an effect on Baldock. As she stood in front of him TJ jumped up, trying to get away. It was hopeless. Baldock caught him with a large hand and flung him against a wall. TJ was no weight at all. He sank down, dazed.
‘Leave him alone, Baldock. He ain’t done nothing.’
‘You know better than that, love. Julie, isn’t it? Long time no see.’
Despite her rage, Julie dabbed at her hair.
‘Don’t hurt him, Baldock. He didn’t know what he was doing. He never does when he’s on the hard stuff.’
TJ nodded agreement from the floor, where he sat rubbing his head. Baldock thought the scene quite funny but didn’t show it. TJ had been a bloody fool and Baldock did not want to deal with this stuff any more.
‘Relax,’ Baldock said. ‘TJ, get your arse in that chair and don’t move. I’ll break your legs if you do.’
‘Sure boss. Okay.’
‘So, it’s boss again, is it?’
TJ sat down. Baldock saw that he was shaking. A skinny runt in a dirty T-shirt, nine stone soaking wet.
‘So, how much did you take altogether?’ Baldock said quietly.
‘I dunno, boss. It all went on stuff down the valley.’
‘I’ve worked it out – about a grand, I’d say. So, stealing from me and using other dealers … not good, TJ.’
‘He didn’t know what he was doing,’ TJ’s mother said.
‘Yeah, no one ever does, and you’ve told me that already.’
The mother had changed moods now. She was pleading with Baldock. She’ll change instantly, Baldock thought, try anything. Blood was thicker than water. Even TJ’s. Baldock took out his wallet and counted out five twenties. He put them on the table in a fan shape.
‘I’m a reasonable man,’ he said. ‘Everything’s cool. I’m not going to touch him, just want to get a few things straight, that’s all.’
TJ looked at the money in amazement. He hadn’t expected anything like this. It made him even more scared.
‘This is to keep your mouth shut,’ Baldock said. ‘Don’t worry about the door, the council will fix that. I’m going to take TJ with me. We need to get a few things straight.’
‘Gimme something, Baldock,’ TJ pleaded. ‘I gotta score soon or I’ll go crazy.’
‘All in good time. By the way, why’d you come back, TJ?’
‘Didn’ ’ave nowhere to go, did I? Look, I’ll work for nothing now. I did a good job until …’
‘It’s the until that bothers me.’
Baldock got up and dragged TJ to his feet. His mother sat holding the money, torn between need and loyalty. Baldock pushed TJ in front of him, and the boy made no attempt to get away. He staggered towards the door like a drunken man. Baldock knew any act of kindness now would be seen as an act of weakness and Baldock wasn’t known for weakness. He couldn’t afford to be.
‘Where we going?’ TJ whimpered. ‘I don’ wanna go nowhere, Baldock.’
‘Stop snivelling.’
Turning his back on the mother was a mistake. One Baldock would never have made a few years ago. He’d been spending too much time with the old man since Karen left. It had tuned down his instincts.
For Julie, loyalty won against need.
She snatched up a kettle and hit Baldock on the back of the head with it. She was just about able to reach. He’d had far worse but it was enough to knock him down. He made a grab at TJ as he fell, but the kid was gone, bolting through the door like the scared animal he was.
‘Run, TJ, run!’ his mother shouted.
Baldock got up quickly and again felt the need to smile. TJ’s mother had backed against the wall, five feet one of fear and defiance. Baldock chuckled.
‘Bloody hell, Julie, you got more balls than that son of yours. You were like that in school, as I remember.’
‘I’m surprised you bloody do, big shot like you.’
A kid was crying upstairs.
‘You’ve woke up Damien now.’
‘Where’s his father?’
‘Buggered off.’
Julie’s eyes strayed to the money on the table but she did not reach for it. Baldock picked it up and thought of putting it back in his wallet.
‘Here you are. I must be mad, giving this to someone who just tried to batter me. No man has for a long, long time.’
Baldock felt the back of his head. It was wet. He wiped it in one of the twenties, making a red smear. ‘Now that’s what I call blood money. It’s hush money, too, Julie. I’ll take this bump on the head if you keep your mouth shut. You know I’m going to catch up with TJ, so keep quiet and you’ll get him back. Talk and you’ll get him back in pieces.’
Julie snatched up the money.
‘I gotta see to the kid,’ she said.
Outside in TJ’s garden Baldock shut his eyes and cursed. He couldn’t believe he’d let the little git get away. It would be all over the village in a day. At least all over his world. TJ would get cheap cider off one of his scabby mates and start bragging. Baldock sighed and looked up at the stars and wished they would beam him up. They were showing strongly tonight, for some of the street lights on TJ’s road were broken. Hard white points twinkled down on him, not caring a jot about him or anyone else on his sad planet. Baldock had been interested in stuff like this once, how the universe worked, but it blew his head away. He could not grasp the size of everything and gave up trying.
TJ would have to wait for another day.