He’s lying asleep when the phone starts ringing. It’s only six o’clock in the morning. He’d been planning to let Elaine make the kids breakfast. Get them ready for school and out the door. Sleep until ten. He doesn’t feel like doing anything. Let the world fall apart if it wants. He’ll be under the duvet. Stuck his head up long enough to check his phone. No calls. Nobody wants to talk to Shug Francis. Sure, they all wanted to talk when there was something in it for them. You find out who your friends are when the pressure’s on. No contact from Don Park, despite all the missed calls. Nothing from Shaun Hutton. Nothing from Fizzy. He won’t be dead, just ignoring the calls. Hutton’s not going to have done the job, not if he’s working for MacArthur. There are no friends. Not even the ones you pulled up with you.
He thought about calling Don Park again. He must know what’s going on. If anyone could confirm or deny, it would be Don. But if Shug’s wrong about them working to isolate him, then he looks stupid. If Don has something to say, he’ll call. But that’s not why Shug hasn’t picked up the phone. It’s because he already knows what’ll happen. He’s worked it all out in his mind. Everyone’s involved in this. Everyone has plotted against him. If he calls Don, he won’t get an answer. He’ll ignore him, because Don’s working against him. Doesn’t want to talk to the man he’s ruining. Doesn’t have the balls for it. You think someone’s impressive; you think they’re professional. Then they turn round and screw you. This is what happens when you trust. You give people a chance to rip you off and they will. Anyone. Lifetime friends. New friends. Right now, he wouldn’t trust his own wife.
Reaching out and picking up the phone. Hasn’t bothered to look at the display.
‘Hello.’
‘Shug, is that you?’
The rough, rasping voice. Old and rather weak-sounding. Sounding needlessly aggressive. Alex MacArthur. Couldn’t be anyone else. ‘It is.’ That’s all Shug’s saying. Just about all he trusts himself to say. Don’t accuse the old man of anything. Don’t give him the chance to lose his temper with you. There are legendary stories of him losing his rag. None recent. They say he’s mellowed in his dotage. Bollocks! Dangerous as ever. Just better at hiding it.
‘This is Alex MacArthur. Is now a good time to talk?’ Straight to the point.
‘It is. Would it be better to meet face-to-face?’ Shug’s asking. This question matters. Face-to-face would mean MacArthur’s not afraid of a bad reaction.
‘No, we should do this now,’ MacArthur’s saying.
Shug knows. Doesn’t need to hear it. Barely listening any more. Watching Elaine get up and leave the room, because she knows this is business. Knows she isn’t meant to listen in.
‘We have a problem,’ MacArthur’s saying. ‘I’ve been hearing all sorts about you. Things you’ve been up to. Killing off targets without clearing it with me. Christ knows what you thought you were doing. Why the fuck did you want to draw attention to us? You got all sorts of nonsense going on. Police all over you. We had a deal, and you’ve pissed all over it, Shug. I can’t be a part of this any more.’
Shug’s scoffing. A bitter laugh. ‘Really? You can’t be a part of this because you think I’ve broken the agreement? Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on here.’
‘Doesn’t seem like you have a fucking clue,’ MacArthur’s saying, and coughing. ‘You been running around acting like some Hollywood gangster. Killing people off. Getting all this police attention. I thought you were smarter than this, boy. That’s why I went along with this. I thought you knew better. Fellow with a legitimate business like yours–I thought you were smart. Well, you don’t have an ounce of common sense. Not a fucking ounce.’
Shug’s sitting up in bed, holding the phone to his ear. Hasn’t said anything in ten seconds. Just staring ahead at the wardrobe opposite. Staring into space.
‘Hello?’ MacArthur’s saying. He isn’t finished yet.
‘You’ve made your point,’ Shug’s saying. ‘You might even get your way. You might be able to screw me, but you’ll pay for it in the end. You mark my words. You’ll get what’s coming to you eventually. Everyone does.’ It sounds empty even to Shug.
‘Yeah, well, you listen to me now. You’ve run around trying to act like a big man. Trying to make people think they should fear you. Well, there are people you should fear. You threaten me, and I’ll bloody well give you something to be scared of. But I’ll tell you something else. You still have Peter Jamieson to be scared of. He won’t be happy until he’s crushed you, boy. He’s a dangerous bastard. There’s evidence against him, you know. He’s not as smart as he thinks he is. You might still be able to bring him down.’
It’s just too much to listen to. This old bastard is trying to destroy him, but he still wants a favour. Thinks that Shug is going to do something for him. I break your back, you scratch mine. Trying to persuade Shug to take evidence against Jamieson. Knowing that Shug’s in all kinds of trouble. Knowing that he’ll end up in police company. Hoping that Shug will grass up Jamieson at the same time. Shug’s putting the phone down. Makes him sick to listen to that old man wheezing. Thinking he can persuade Shug to do whatever he wants. There’s nothing else to lose. MacArthur has no leverage left. Shug’s just sitting there. Another twenty seconds passing. The phone ringing again. A man like MacArthur doesn’t give up that easily. He’s used to using people. Used to getting his own way. Shug’s picking up the phone, dropping it back down again to hang up and picking it up again. Leaving it off the hook.
Remember when it used to be easy? Wasn’t that long ago. The legit business was good. The car-ring was profitable and untouchable. Took a lot of work. Some risk. But they had a system that worked. They were generous towards the big organizations. Made sure they kept them all onside. Shug was good at that. None of the big ones made a run at his business. A few smaller ones did, but Shug had enough money to buy protection. Most of the people who tried to muscle in on the car-ring were aligned to big organizations. People lower down the chain who thought they could overpower a bunch of car geeks. Most were dealt with by talking to the big organization under whose umbrella they were operating. They were slapped down. Shug paid a kickback. Problem solved. Everything goes back to normal. Nothing to worry about from the police. The car-ring was never a priority. Police didn’t even care much. Investigating something like a car-ring would cost a fortune. The reward would be to take Shug’s men off the street, leave a vacuum. Would take the best part of a fortnight for someone to set up a replacement. Probably someone who worked for Shug and knew how to do it. Police couldn’t be sure that the new ring would be so non-violent. Better the devil you know.
And it still wasn’t enough. A strong business. Good money from the car-ring, well hidden in the legit accounts. So hard to get a system that works, but he had one. A legit business big enough to absorb the finances from a criminal enterprise. Everyone making money. A loyal little bunch of employees. Good people. Or it seemed like it, anyway. But other people were making more money. Not doing anything complicated. Didn’t seem to be doing anything that Shug couldn’t do. Someone suggests that, as he’s moving cars around the country for sale, why not put something in them? Make a little extra cash. No great risk–great reward. Shug held back. Moving stuff around steps on toes. No great risk from the police, sure. But great risk from people who think you’re working against them. So if you’re going to do it, you can’t go in half-hearted. There’s real money. If you do it well, you make a fortune. A killing, even.
That’s the problem with things being easy. You think it’s going to stay that way. You think that if you can put together a car-ring, then you can put together a drugs network. Control it top to bottom. You become used to that level of control when you have an untouchable operation. So you plot. You organize. You employ. You identify the weakness in others. Identify the target and the mechanisms you can use to bring it down. Take the target’s share of the market. Then move on to the next. The next one always being slightly bigger than the last. Keep working it that way until you get to the top. Of course, Shug knew it would be more dangerous. There are no gunmen in the car trade. At least not that he knows. But he never thought it would be this way. So destructive. Pretty much from day one. And everything he tried blew up in his face. Left him looking weak and stupid. Left him with nothing. All those friends. The perfect system. The easy money. Worthless.