It was just paper with a little artwork, and plant extract with a touch of refinement, but the world turned on it. We carried it all out to my car in a black bin bag. It only took the one trip, and it fitted easily in the boot. I had the gun in my jacket pocket. I signalled for him to get in.
‘The boot?’
‘Passenger seat.’
He was relieved. It’s amazing what difference a gun and the lack of knowledge about a person’s abilities and intentions can make. I liked it. I thought that maybe I should carry a gun more often. Maybe get a holster. And a tin star. So that I could chuck it in the dirt one day and say, ‘This time all bets are off.’ It could be a catch-phrase. I could use it maybe three times in one adventure, and bring it back for the sequel. ‘This time all bets are off,’ I said.
‘What?’
Enigmatic, too.
He reached for his seat belt.
I said, ‘What are you doing? We’re not going on a picnic.’
He let go of it and it snapped back. ‘Sorry.’
‘So you sold out to the Millers.’
He nodded ruefully. ‘Worst mistake I ever made.’
‘And you can’t just walk away.’
‘They had me from the moment the cash hit the table. I should have known. I was just trying to save the company, my home, my family. And now it comes to this, shot dead in a car park.’
I did not correct him. Even though I had a gun, and he was up to his neck in the coke and cash business, I suspected he was a glass-half-empty kind of a guy anyway. Probably it went with the security territory. He didn’t trawl for new custom by saying, sure, it’ll never happen. He sowed fear and reaped the dividend.
I said, ‘Do you know who I am?’ He shook his head. There was perhaps a glimmer of hope in his eyes. ‘I don’t mean in the sense of you promise not to tell anyone if I let you live, I mean really, literally, do you know who I am or why I’m here?’
‘Does it matter? I knew one of you would come for it.’
‘One of who?’
‘I don’t know. One of whoever supplies this stuff. One of whoever wants it back or wants to muscle in. What is it they say? It’s just business?’ He shook his head bitterly. ‘You gangsters, no disrespect intended, but you kill each other, tit for tat, tit for tat, but you never seem to disappear. Well you have it now, and you can deal with the consequences. If you’re going to do me, do me now.’
I said, ‘Hold your horses. I want to know how it works. The system. Do you deal direct with the Millers?’
Derek Beattie shook his head. ‘Once a week they send two guys into the back office, they cut and seal, deliver to our clients.’
‘And bring the money back?’
‘Most pay by direct debit.’
‘Direct . . .?’
‘Sure. Look, these people, they’re middle class, respectable, they don’t want to be standing on street corners looking for their entertainment. They don’t want hoods coming to their homes dealing either. So what we do is provide security for their home, their business, that’s what they pay for, they just happen to pay a bit above the going rate so that they can get their coke delivered by a nice man in a uniform. Goes into the bank by direct debit, we take it out in cash and keep it here for the Millers to collect. No cash changes hands with the clients. It’s a perfect business model.’
‘With the exception of Abagail Pike. I hear she’s handing out envelopes of cash to your people.’
‘Yes, well, she’s an exception.’
‘Because of who she is? Her husband?’
‘She owes and she’s trying to pay it off without her man finding out. Do you mind if I smoke?’
‘I’d rather you didn’t. How much are we talking about?’
‘Abagail? Twenty grand. Plus interest.’
‘And the interest probably isn’t what the Nationwide is currently offering.’
‘You know how these things work, you build up the addiction, give lots of credit, then you call it in, except the interest is such that she will never be able to pay it off piecemeal. She makes token payments, but she knows what the real deal is.’
And so did I, suddenly.
‘Political influence,’ I said.
‘She has a certain amount of her own clout,’ said Derek, ‘but mostly I think it’s the husband. Everyone knows that for all his big talk, he’s putty in her hands.’
‘That’s why the Millers waltz around free and you can go on collecting your direct debits.’
He said, ‘I really need that cigarette.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘Have a HobNob.’
I showed him. He demurred.
‘As a last request,’ he said, ‘it doesn’t quite have the same effect.’
‘Well that’s a matter of opinion. If I let you live, will you . . .’
‘Yes.’
‘. . . give up smoking?’
‘Yes.’
‘Go from coke to Diet Coke.’
‘Yes. One million per cent.’
I nodded, and tried to look thoughtful.
He reached into his jacket.
‘Easy,’ I said.
He stopped. ‘It’s just my phone.’
I kept the gun on him and gave a short nod. He produced his iPhone.
‘I have that model,’ I said.
‘If you let me live, you can have it. Everyone we deal with is on here, contacts, amounts, dates, times, even the direct debit details.’
‘I could just shoot you dead and take it.’
‘You don’t know the password.’
‘Tell me the password or I’ll shoot you.’
He sighed. ‘I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t.’
‘That you are.’
He handed me the phone. ‘There you go,’ he said. ‘Please let me live.’
‘Why don’t you just send the info to my phone, then you can hold on to it?’
‘No. It’s my work phone. Their phone. If you don’t kill me, they certainly will. No point in hanging on to it.’
‘Password?’
‘I don’t have one.’
‘You were bluffing me.’
‘Yes, sorry.’
I said, ‘You have no password for your phone? You’ve no security on your car park, and you don’t use half the functions on the safe in your office. If you don’t mind me saying, you’re fucking useless at security.’
‘I know,’ he said, nodding mournfully, ‘but as it turns out, I’m a fantastic drug dealer. Go figure.’
I felt sorry for him, just a little tiny bit. We both knew that if I didn’t kill him then the Millers would, although not before they’d wrung every last tiny bit of information out of him. You don’t lose your employers the best part of two million pounds and get a written warning.
I told him to wait for a moment, then got out and opened the boot. I took three thousand in twenties out of the stash. When I dropped it into his lap, he looked surprised.
‘Take it,’ I said. ‘Go and get your wife and kids and disappear. Different country. Start over. Put your house up, but don’t come back to show people round.’
He looked at the money. He shook his head. ‘I can’t,’ he said. ‘If I run, they’ll think I’m in on it.’
‘And if you stay?’
‘They’ll think I’m in on it.’
‘So run and stand a chance, or stay and get shot.’
‘You’re not shooting me?’
‘Nope.’
‘Not even a flesh wound.’
‘Nope.’
‘Could you just hit me with your gun then, make it look like I didn’t give it up without a fight?’
‘No can do,’ I said.
He looked down at the money in his lap. ‘I’ve no choice, then. The wife’s going to be furious. We’ve just paid for Sky HD. It’s a one-year contract. We’ll never get out of it.’
I had sympathy in that direction.
‘The fuckers will get you every which way,’ I said.