Grass

by Cathy MacPhail

  It was a great day all round.

  Veronika even smiled at me – not that that was important. Forget I said it.

  But as I lay in bed that night, listening to my mum and dad talking and laughing and making plans downstairs – the way I hadn’t heard them in a long time – I don’t think I’d ever felt so happy.

  The only dark spot was those mints. Were they even now in some forensic laboratory being studied, dusted for prints, being discussed as a possible clue to the murder?

  The very thought of it made me want to vomit.

  I wiped the thought away. I was just being silly. They wouldn’t be interested in my Mint Imperials. I was safe.

  Things would have been so different if I’d confessed to what I’d seen. We’d be on the witness protection programme. We’d all be in danger. We’d probably have to change identities, move somewhere else. I wouldn’t be lying here in my own bed, and my dad wouldn’t be starting his new job next week.

  No. I had definitely done the right thing.

  g

  13

  The same week my dad got the job McCrae had his funeral. It was Sean who urged me to go. I didn’t want to. I knew my mum and dad would want me to keep well back from it – and I also knew it would bring back too many horrible memories.

  But Sean wouldn’t let it go. ‘It’s going to be pure show business, Leo. You know the drug dealers and the gang bosses always have the best funerals.’

  And he was right. Their funerals were like royal events.

  He saw I was still hesitating and he wondered why. I never had before. ‘What has been wrong with you lately? You’re acting weird.’ And once again he came up with the same answer and I let him believe it. ‘Veronika,’ he said. ‘It’s because you saw big Aidan talking to her, isn’t it?’

  I hadn’t actually seen that at all. Aidan Shaw? What could Veronika possibly see in him? He was tall and skinny with sticky-out teeth like a horse and half the girls in the school drooled over him. I’ll never understand women. Would Veronika fancy him too?

  Sean answered the question I hadn’t even asked. ‘I don’t think she even likes him. She kept looking over at you when he was talking to her.’

  ‘Did she?’ That surprised me. Could Veronika possibly be interested in me?

  Sean nudged me and laughed. ‘See I knew it was her that was putting you in a dream. I see her sneaking a look at you all the time.’

  ‘Seems to me you spend more time looking at Veronika than I do.’

  But still he went on and on about this funeral. It was to take place on Saturday morning and a big crowd was expected. Who would want to go to see McCrae’s funeral, I wondered.

  But a lot of people did.

  And in the end, I was one of them. I ran out of excuses for Sean and I was dragged there reluctantly.

  We could hardly find a place to stand just to watch. The streets leading from the funeral parlour to the cemetery were lined with people.

  ‘Why are so many people here?’ I said to Sean.

  ‘To make sure he’s dead,’ Sean said without a bit of hesitation. ‘McCrae tries to climb out of that coffin and a hundred people will whip out their sub-machine guns and shoot him again.’

  The thought made me feel sick. I had seen him die once. Didn’t want to see it again.

  Sean found a great spot for us to watch the parade – sorry, funeral – a lamp post near the cemetery gates we could both step up on and which would give us a clear view of the street. I still wondered why all these people had come to watch the final passing of an arch villain. Was it to see the spectacle? Or was it really to reassure themselves that he had gone for good?

  It certainly wouldn’t be out of respect.

  Everyone knew McCrae had been responsible for beatings, for selling drugs outside schools, for shootings. No one could forget the Sheridan girl. He had got off with her murder too. But everyone knew he was guilty. No doubt about that.

  No, people surely hadn’t come here out of respect.

  Sean tapped my arm. ‘Hear that? They’re coming.’

  At first I couldn’t make out the sound. Then I realised it was the clip-clip of horses’ hooves. The crowd fell silent.

  The procession turned the corner. It was led by a young boy in a tall black hat and a frock coat. He walked solemnly in front of a glass coach pulled by four jet-black horses. The black plumes on their heads quivered in the breeze. McCrae’s coffin lay in the back in full view, even though the carriage was filled with all kinds of floral tributes.

  THE BEST DAD IN THE WORLD

  McCrae had several children all by different mothers and seldom saw any of them.

  OUR BEST FRIEND

  That was another joke. McCrae had no friends. People feared him too much to become his friend.

  Sean was thoroughly enjoying the whole spectacle. ‘Hey! Can you read that one, Leo?’ He pointed it out to me. A great wreath of red and white roses.

  SADLY MISSED.

  * * *

  He tried to stifle his laugh. ‘He wasn’t missed though, was he? Somebody got him, right in the –’ Sean grabbed at his chest, pretended to tumble to the ground.

  It wasn’t like that, I wanted to tell him, remembering the spray of blood. Feeling sick again at the memory of it.

  Why had I come here?

  After the carriage there was a silent procession of mourners.

  McCrae’s mother, weeping, held up by two of her daughters, stumbled along at the front. All three were moneylenders, with a reputation for beating people up who couldn’t pay on time.

  Everyone was in black – a long snake-like column of black following the carriage.

  And there, right behind the family, was Armour. He was carrying a wreath. His face was suitably grim. Was he remembering the moment he had shot McCrae? Was he regretting it?

  At one point the mother stumbled. She almost fell, and it was Armour who leaned forward and steadied her with one firm hand. She glanced back at him and smiled gratefully.

  I wanted to scream at her, ‘Don’t smile at him. He killed your son!’

  But she must have suspected that anyway. There were rumours all through the town that it was either Armour or Nelis who were the prime suspects. Was she afraid too? Afraid of Armour now she had no son to protect her?

  Probably.

  They walked on, following the glass carriage through the cemetery gates and up the long winding path to the crematorium. The crowds broke up after that.

  Sean jumped from the lamp post. ‘Told you it would be pure show business.’ He wiped his hands. ‘Well, that’s him gone. Up in smoke. Best way really. Too many people would be scared he’d rise from the dead at midnight and come after them.’ He put on his best Zombie face and started chasing me.

  I started laughing too. He was right. McCrae was out of the picture. One less villain in town.

  And as for Armour, I’d never see him again.

  g

  14

  ‘If you don’t chat up Veronika today, you’re gonnae miss your chance.’

  Sean, on Monday, still going on about Veronika. He nodded over to where she stood at the corner of the English department corridor with one of the girls who had made friends with her. Shannon Farrell.

  ‘You think I’m gonnae go over and chat her up with Shannon Farrell there?’ Shannon Farrell was the kind of girl who could freeze you with a look at twenty paces. Half the boys in the school were terrified of her. I was one of them. ‘And anyway, I don’t want to chat her up at all. I don’t know why you keep going on about that.’

  ‘Because I’m your best mate and I know exactly what you’re thinking.’ He leaned towards me and whispered. ‘And I know you’re thinking about Veronika. And you better stop thinking and start talking befo
re she’s taken back to Poland.’

  That shook me. ‘How? Is she leaving?’

  ‘Heard her dad can’t get his work permit renewed or something. So take your chance now, boy!’ He grinned from ear to ear. I know people say that all the time but Sean’s the only person I know who can actually manage it – grinning from ear to ear. I always tell him it’s because he’s got a big mouth.

  Thinking about Veronika indeed. Just because she’s got that long blonde hair, and green eyes like the sea and – I’ve hardly noticed her, honest. He nudged me so hard I stumbled.

  ‘Go on. Go up to her and offer her a Mint Imperial.’

  ‘Oh great chat-up line. “Fancy a Mint Imperial?”’

  ‘Where are your Mint Imperials anyway? I haven’t seen you eating any for ages.’

  The sudden thought of them made me feel sick. I hadn’t bought them, hadn’t wanted one since . . .

  Mint Imperials, tumbling out of the bag on to the pavement with a rat-a-tat-tat, like machine-gun fire.

  ‘Are you OK, Leo? You’ve gone white.’

  I tried to grin from ear to ear . . . not got the mouth for it.

  ‘It’s the canteen dinner. It’s coming back on me.’

  Now it was Sean’s turn to go white. ‘Canteen dinners!’ He pretended to choke. ‘They should use them instead of weapons of mass destruction.’ He looked across at Veronika. ‘Aw, look at that. You’ve missed your chance again. Look who’s chatting her up now.’

  Aidan Shaw, standing there like a big drip. I could never understand how any girl could fancy him. But he was never short of a girlfriend. Whatever he was saying to Veronika, he was making her laugh. Her teeth seemed to sparkle in the sunshine, bright and white. Not surprising, considering her dad was a dentist. He was even making Shannon laugh. No mean feat. A snarl was usually the nearest thing she got to a smile.

  But she was laughing now.

  Sean patted my shoulder. ‘You know what they say, pal. If you’re no’ fast, you’re last.’

  I wandered home that day from school in a bit of a dream. I wasn’t thinking of Veronika, I wasn’t hearing that laugh of hers. She was the last thing on my mind. No – I was thinking of nothing in particular. Not anything that I can remember now.

  And I turned a corner on to a quiet street and there he was.

  Armour.

  He was leaning against a car, a silver grey Mercedes, and smoking a cigarette. It was as if he hadn’t noticed me. But I knew he had.

  I almost turned and ran back, out of his sight before he’d even seen me.

  If you’re not fast . . .

  I wasn’t fast enough. He turned in that split second I was thinking about it and his blue eyes locked on mine.

  I stopped walking. Couldn’t move if you’d paid me.

  It was Armour who started walking towards me.

  Why?

  I’d kept my mouth shut. Hadn’t told a soul.

  I tried to make out if he had a concealed weapon on him. Would I notice it? A bulge in his jacket, a gun hidden up his sleeve ready to be whipped into his hand?

  The street was empty. Traffic on the nearby road sounded miles away.

  I was alone. Alone on a lonely side street with a killer.

  I was the only one who knew his secret. The only witness to his crime.

  The only one who could testify against him.

  And now he was heading straight at me.

  I was a dead man.

  g

  15

  He stopped right in front of me. I couldn’t bring myself to raise my eyes to his. Instead, I concentrated on his brown leather shoes.

  ‘Leo, isn’t it?’

  My eyes shot up to his face then. He knew my name. He had blue eyes that seemed to bore right through me.

  ‘Do you live around here?’ he asked me.

  He knew my name – I’d bet he knew exactly where I lived too.

  I wanted to ask him what he was doing but my voice had dried up in my throat.

  ‘I’m glad I bumped into you, Leo,’ he said. As if it was an accident. As if he hadn’t been waiting here on this quiet street just for me. ‘I wanted to thank you.’

  I began to feel sick again. I didn’t want him to thank me for keeping my mouth shut. But it was what he said next that stunned me.

  ‘I hope I already have thanked you . . . in a small way.’

  What did he mean by that? He’d already thanked me? ‘Wh – what?’ The word seemed to stumble out of my mouth, like a drunk man.

  ‘I hope the Bissett Boys haven’t been bothering you any more?’

  I took a step back. Armour grabbed at my arm as if he thought I would fall, and I almost did.

  ‘You spoke to the Bissett Boys.’

  ‘Well, let’s say I had some friends of mine have a word with them.’

  The Bissett Boys would never bother me again. I could walk the streets without fear.

  ‘Thanks.’ I couldn’t help saying it.

  He shook his head. He had a mop of thick brown hair and when he shook his head it seemed to move like a wave. ‘Don’t you go thanking me. You’re the one I should be thanking.’ He moved against the railings. A slight touch of my sleeve and I moved with him. From this spot no one could see us. This was a quiet, tree-lined street with hardly a passing car.

  ‘It was a terrible thing you witnessed, Leo. A terrible thing. I wanted to explain to you.’

  How do you explain cold-blooded murder, I wanted to ask him. But I said nothing. I was still too afraid. But I was surprised too – surprised that he was speaking like this to me. And I was intrigued. Yes, that’s the word. Intrigued. I wanted to know what he was going to say next.

  ‘McCrae was scum,’ he said. ‘Real scum. Sold drugs at school gates. Did you know that?’

  Of course I knew that. Almost everyone in my school and everybody else’s did. We could see the cars on the street outside the school at lunchtime – McCrae’s cars – and pupils leaning in, buying whatever was for sale.

  ‘Have you seen any lately, Leo?’

  I didn’t even have to think about it. Since McCrae’s death the cars no longer appeared.

  ‘I made sure of that,’ Armour said. ‘That’s one thing I’ll have nothing to do with.’ He took a long final draw on his cigarette, then flicked it over the railings. ‘McCrae was out of control. Remember the Sheridan lassie?’

  How could anyone forget the Sheridan lassie?

  ‘That was terrible,’ Armour went on. ‘McCrae wasn’t just a hard man. He was evil. And he was getting worse. Getting off with her murder, that was the final straw. I knew then the police would never get him.’

  He was right. I had even heard my dad saying the same thing.

  ‘Somebody had to get rid of McCrae. I’m just sorry, really sorry, you had to be there to see it.’

  ‘So am I,’ I heard myself say.

  ‘It would be different if it had been an innocent man, Leo. I would have expected you to speak up. But it was McCrae. He was only getting what he deserved.’

  Everything he said seemed to make sense. He hadn’t meant for me to see, that was pure accident. And McCrae would just have gone on and on with his evil if he – Armour – hadn’t stopped him. Armour had done the town a favour.

  And I had kept my mouth shut and the Bissett Boys would never be after me again.

  I was trying to find a downside in all this, and couldn’t.

  ‘Leo,’ Armour said, smiling. ‘That means lion – the symbol of kings. Did you know that?’

  ‘I’m called after my grandad,’ I told him.

  ‘There are so few people in the world you can trust, Leo,’ he said. ‘Especially in my world. I could use a boy like you. A boy who knows how to keep his mouth
shut.’

  He held out his hand to me. A big, tanned hand. He had a villa in Spain, I’d heard. And on his finger a gold coin ring. ‘The King of Bling’, my dad called him. My dad would never give him the dignity of calling him ‘The Man’. But I held out my hand, and shook his. I was even more glad now that I’d kept my mouth shut. It was too late anyway to say anything. How could I explain waiting so long to come forward?

  ‘Good lad,’ he said. He began to back away, heading again for his car. He’d gone only a few steps when he stopped.

  ‘By the way . . . hope your dad likes his new job.’

  g

  16

  He got into his car and drove off. Raising his arm in a goodbye wave to me, Leo McCabe. I was alone again on the quiet street before those last words he had said to me sunk in.

  ‘Hope your dad likes his new job.’

  He knew my dad had a new job.

  How?

  Or did he just know everything about me? He knew my name. He had found out about the Bissett Boys, knew my dad was out of work. What else did he know?

  I walked on in a kind of dream, and it took me a while to sort it all out in my mind. He had called off the Bissett Boys – his way of thanking me.

  My dad had got a job. Was that another of his ways of thanking me? Could he do that? Get my dad a job?

  I’d heard my dad say that Armour had a finger in every pie. Couldn’t quite figure out what he meant by that till he explained that he owned legitimate businesses, buying them with dirty money earned from selling drugs and guns, my dad said. It was called money laundering.

  Had my dad got a job in one of the businesses he owned?

  And even as I thought it, was that such a bad thing?

  McCrae was a real bad guy and Armour had disposed of him. Did that make Armour so bad? He could have disposed of me too. I’d been waiting for it. Instead, he had rewarded me.

  Had my life got worse because I’d kept quiet?

  No. It had got better. I wasn’t afraid walking home now. Wouldn’t be again. Even if I was to see the Bissett Boys standing in front of me, blocking my way, I wouldn’t be afraid.