Billy

by Donna Joy Usher

  ‘See you tonight, partner.’ Bob held out his fist and I bumped his knuckles.

  ‘Have a good one.’ I washed up my coffee mug and placed it in the top drawer of my desk before farewelling the others and heading out the front. Martine was already waiting for me.

  ‘That man from the train station is sitting across the road,’ she said.

  ‘I thought he might be.’ I walked over to the reception desk. Lucille had already replaced Lester. ‘Hey Lucy, is Gloria still here?’ I needed to tell her about Big Bad Ben.

  ‘Think she’s still in room two. Want me to buzz her?’

  I nodded. I might not get to see her that night, and I’d feel a lot safer knowing that Bad Ben was off the streets.

  I wandered back to Martine’s side to wait. She was flicking through a dog-eared Cosmo magazine.

  ‘I hope this is important, Probationary Constable Smith.’ Gloria looked as tired as I felt.

  Martine looked up from her magazine. ‘Oh, hello again. Fancy meeting you here.’ She stood and took a step towards Gloria.

  Gloria tipped her head to the side. ‘I’m sorry.’ She looked Martine up and down. ‘Do I know you?’

  Martine let out a giggle and flapped her hands. ‘I’m so sorry. I think I’ve confused you with somebody else. Please ignore me.’ She sat back down and picked up her magazine.

  ‘I won’t be long,’ I told her.

  She flapped a hand at me without looking up.

  I gave Gloria a vague story about overhearing a couple of guys talking about Big Bad Ben. She seemed to buy it, hrmmming and nodding as she wrote down my description of him. ‘I’ll look into this tonight,’ she said. ‘Good work.’

  Martine was exactly as I had left her, so engrossed in the magazine that she didn’t notice my approach.

  I nudged her leg with my knee. ‘Let’s go.’ I needed to sleep.

  ‘Is she gone?’ she asked without taking her eyes off her magazine.

  ‘Who? Gloria?’ I looked over my shoulder. ‘Yeah, why?’

  She flipped the magazine shut and tossed it onto the coffee table. ‘How embarrassing,’ she said. ‘This is exactly what Sally is talking about.’

  I stared at her. It could have been my sleep deprivation, but I was pretty sure she was making no sense at all. ‘What about Sally?’

  ‘Oh, you know.’ She stood and followed me to the door. ‘About how I’m not believable.’

  I held up a hand. ‘To start with, if I remember correctly, Sally said that I would never make a believable woman. So, I’m not sure her word is gold on this subject. And secondly, what are you talking about?’

  I placed my hand on the door but didn’t open it. Today’s plan was a simple one but we needed our wits about us.

  Martine looked back over her shoulder. ‘Gloria,’ she whispered. ‘Martyn met her the other day. She’s friends with Christina Wong.’

  ‘The Nappy Queen?’ I whispered back.

  She nodded. ‘I forgot it was him she met, not me.’ She pulled a face.

  ‘Anybody could make a mistake like that,’ I said.

  ‘Sally wouldn’t.’

  I resisted mentioning that Sally wouldn’t really have to worry about that because she was a woman. Instead, I said, ‘You ready?’

  She pulled sunnies out of her handbag and put them on. ‘Ready as I’ll ever be. The car’s where we planned.’

  I gave her a twenty second head start before I headed up the stairs. The man from the other night was leaning up against a lamp post on the other side of the street. I saw him see me, but he stayed where he was, staring at his phone.

  I headed for the train station, walking briskly to stay ahead of him. I could see Martine further up the street. She stopped next to a white Honda. A Hertz sign on the driver’s side door was visible as she opened it. She hopped in and about five seconds later the car started.

  I lengthened my stride. Shifting my handbag to my left arm to give my right hand unfettered movement. I didn’t deviate towards the car till the last second. Then I pulled open the passenger side door and slid in, in one smooth movement.

  ‘He’s dialling a number,’ Martine said as she pulled out of the parking spot. ‘Now he’s talking, most probably trying to get the number plate. Won’t do him any good.’

  ‘Who hired the car?’

  ‘A client of Martyn’s. Not that he knows it. And Martyn paid cash when he picked it up.’

  I nodded. It was untraceable back to Martine. That was all I cared about.

  We drove for five minutes, me watching our six till we were sure there was no tail. Then she headed back to the apartment block.

  The stairs felt like climbing a mountain. I had fought, and run, and eaten too much sugar. I was wiped out.

  ‘Night.’ I mumbled when we got to my floor. ‘Ring you when I wake up.’

  ‘Sweet dreams.’

  Cocoa welcomed me when I entered the apartment but Nick was not up yet. His shoes were by the front door so I knew he had come home from his date with Bianca.

  I found him asleep on my bed. I stood and stared at him while I worked out if I had the energy to kick him out. I didn’t.

  I flopped down on the other side and before you could say, ‘Nick snores,’ I was fast asleep.

  ***

  Ready out the front.

  I rubbed at my eyes as I read Martine’s text. I was exhausted. You’d think I would have adapted by the end of my fourth night shift but it just never seemed to get easier.

  Today seemed particularly bad though. I think it was the psychological effect of knowing I was only going to get a couple of hours sleep before getting ready for Mum’s ceremony.

  ‘Finished.’ Bob stretched his arms above his head and turned towards me. ‘You?’

  I grunted. I didn’t even feel capable of one word sentences.

  ‘I can’t believe we got all of them.’

  I grunted again.

  ‘Well except,’ he lowered his voice, ‘You Know Who.’ He looked over his shoulder. Daniel was still tapping away at his computer but everyone else had gone.

  It had been a busy three nights. Not that most of the list had been that difficult to bring in. The problem had been all the other petty criminals wanting me to arrest them. It seemed a selfie while being arrested by ‘Super Cop’ had become all the rage in the underground community.

  As a result, Bob and I had processed more people in the last few days than we would normally in a couple of weeks. I was sick of writing reports.

  ‘See you in a couple of days.’ I felt Bob’s hand on my shoulder.

  ‘Say hi to Sasha.’

  ‘Will do.’ I could hear the contentment in his voice. It was nice that he had finally found somebody who appreciated him for him.

  I hit ‘save’ on my last report then screwed up a paper list I had been working off and tossed it into my bin. It perched on top of the headless rose stems.

  Carlos had been predictably sending roses every day, but the messages had been getting terse. No more, ‘Till we meet again.’ Now it was all, ‘Who’s been a naughty girl,’ and ‘Stop, or I’ll shoot.’

  I stowed my stuff and grabbed my bag. Martine had been working late as well and I didn’t want to keep her waiting.

  We were still using the hire car to shake my tail. The second night he had been parked down the road from the Station. Martine and I had exited, climbed into the car together and he had pulled out right behind us.

  Then, she had driven past the station and I had jumped out, bought myself a ticket and jumped on the next train. She had picked me up again at the other end and driven me home.

  The third night I had walked to the station, waited for the train, then pretended to search my bag as I was getting on. At the last second, and before my tail could react, I’d given up my search, sworn and jumped back off the train.

  I sure hoped this all ended soon. Up to now we had been relying on unpredictability to lose him without making him suspicious, but I was almost out
of ideas.

  I heard Trent and Gloria speaking as I neared Trent’s door.

  ‘How is it going?’ Trent asked.

  ‘Not great.’ Gloria let out a big sigh. ‘The dealers just don’t know anything.’

  ‘Maybe we just need to find more of them.’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Gloria said. ‘I think your Super Cop has just about cleaned the streets. ‘You should have seen how many dealers she brought in.’

  I opened my mouth to tell them that Bob had been every bit as responsible for our success as I was, but remembered in time that I wasn’t meant to be eavesdropping.

  Instead, I pretended to look into my bag so that if anybody came around the corner they would think that was why I had paused.

  ‘Yes, well, the stakes are high for her.’ His voice sounded distracted.

  ‘What do you…?’ Gloria stopped. I could just imagine the cogs in her brain clicking over. She certainly wasn’t stupid.

  ‘Nothing,’ Trent said. ‘The stakes are high for everybody on this one. So many deaths.’

  ‘I knew it.’ Her hissed statement was triumphant. ‘It’s him, isn’t it? Her American boyfriend. He’s your plant.’

  ‘Shut up, Gloria. No one can know. His life depends on it.’

  ‘Hey, calm down. I won’t tell anyone,’ she said. ‘It’s just been annoying the hell out of me. Good to have that itch scratched.’

  ‘Annoying you because you didn’t know, or annoying you because I wouldn’t tell you?’

  He was teasing her. I couldn’t believe it. He had just outed Billy and he was teasing her about it.

  Part of me, a very large, very tired part of me, wanted to barge in there and tell him exactly what I thought of that, but the smaller alert part of me maintained control and I stayed silent outside the door.

  ‘Look,’ Trent let out a sigh. ‘I’m actually glad you know cause I need your help.’

  ‘Anything, Baby.’

  ‘I have to go to this Award Ceremony today and I am meant to be meeting him.’ He lowered his voice forcing me closer to the slightly cracked door. It was going to look really bad if one of them opened it. ‘The next shipment arrives tomorrow and he’ll have the details of the drop today.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before? This is what we’ve been waiting for.’

  ‘The Super wanted to keep it secret till the last second.’ He let out a deep sigh. ‘Just between you and me, he suspects we have a rat amongst us.’

  It took me a second to realise he wasn’t talking about the four-legged variety.

  ‘No.’ Gloria sounded scandalised. ‘Surely not.’

  ‘Money talks, Babe.’

  ‘But still….’ There was silence while both of them considered who could be the crooked cop. Either that or they were kissing.

  ‘I need a favour,’ Trent finally said.

  ‘Anything.’

  ‘I’ve been trying to contact him to move the meeting but his phone is off. I can’t risk texting him.’

  ‘You want me to meet him?’

  Trent let out a huge sigh and I could imagine his scratching at his head like he did when he was upset. ‘I don’t see any other choice. We need to know where to send the Tactical Group.’

  ‘You could miss the ceremony.’

  ‘I can’t. I’m being promoted.’ He sounded embarrassed.

  ‘What? They’re making you Inspector?’

  I jumped as my phone pinged to let me know a text had come in.

  Still waiting.

  Shit. I strode down the hall away from the door not a second too soon.

  ‘Chanel?’

  ‘Hmmmm.’ I turned towards Trent. ‘Oh, hey.’ I rubbed at my eyes and yawned.

  ‘Don’t forget the ceremony today.’

  ‘How could I forget?’ I pulled a face.

  He laughed. ‘Don’t forget to wear ceremonial dress.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘They sent out an email yesterday.’

  ‘I haven’t had time to read my emails.’

  ‘Yes, I heard you’ve been busy. Good work by the way.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  I let out a huge sigh. I had been planning on wearing civilian clothing. Now I was going to have to spend time prepping my ceremonial uniform. Time I would rather spend sleeping.

  I waved and continued on to the reception area. Martine had her head back, her eyes half closed.

  ‘Sorry.’ I yawned again. ‘Let’s get this done so we can get some sleep.’

  My tail was sitting across the road. It was a little insulting how stupid he thought I was. I mean, really.

  ‘No car today?’ Martine asked. ‘Oh, this will be easy.’

  I scanned the parked cars up the street. I could see the shadow of a head a couple of cars back from the Hertz rental.

  ‘I think there’s two of them.’

  Another shadow moved in the car.

  ‘Shit,’ I said. ‘There’s three of them.’

  We walked past them and hopped into the hire car.

  ‘Stakes just got higher.’

  ‘The drop is tomorrow.’

  She glanced sideways at me. ‘You sure?’

  I nodded. ‘Just heard Trent tell Gloria.’

  Martine indicated and pulled out. ‘What do you want me to do?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ The original plan wasn’t going to work.

  ‘Think.’

  ‘I’m too tired.’ I pulled out my phone and called Nick.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Bianca?’

  ‘Oh, hey Chanel.’

  ‘Did Nick leave his phone with you?’

  She let out a low, throaty laugh.

  ‘Forget I asked,’ I said. ‘Is he there?’

  ‘He’s in the shower.’

  ‘I need to talk to him.’

  ‘Hang on.’

  I could hear the miscellaneous noise of her moving, then water running in the background. The water got louder and I heard Nick say, ‘You want to get in here and let me scrub your back?’

  ‘I’d love to,’ she purred, ‘but Chanel is on the phone.’

  ‘What’s she want?’

  ‘He wants to know what you want.’

  ‘Tell him we still have a tail and we’re not sure what to do.’

  ‘They have a tail.’

  ‘Still, hey?’ The water shut off. ‘Where are they now?’

  ‘Where are….’

  I interrupted her. ‘We just went past the station. Two men in a car are right behind us.’

  There was a rustle as Nick took the phone from Bianca. ‘Make and model?’

  I shifted so I could see the car in the side mirror. ‘White, Ford, station wagon.’

  ‘Tell Martine to drive past Bianca’s. Drive slow. I need a couple of minutes to put this together.’

  I hung up. ‘Nick said to drive slow and head for Bianca’s.’

  ‘What do we do when we get there?’

  ‘Keep driving.’

  It wasn’t difficult to drive slowly through King’s Cross at that time of morning. Pedestrians were popping out from behind poles and parked cars and twice Martine was forced to slam on her brakes to avoid hitting one.

  We anticipated a zebra crossing and stopped, waiting for a group of school girls to get to, and then across the road.

  Approximately four minutes later we turned onto Bianca’s street.

  ‘I hope Rocket Man has something good planned,’ Martine said.

  We passed Bianca’s building and I looked around trying to see him. Just when I thought we had been too fast, Nick popped up from behind a car and lobbed a couple of balloons into the air.

  They landed with a splat onto the bonnet of the car behind us and milk exploded all over the windscreen.

  Brakes screeched and the car came to an abrupt halt. The windscreen wipers flapped back and forth as Martine increased her speed.

  I let out a whoop as we sped away from the stationary vehicle. She took the next two lefts and t
hen a right, but there was no sign of the car.

  I rang Nick and put him on speaker. ‘That was awesome.’ I laughed. ‘Where did you get water balloons at such short notice?’

  ‘They weren’t water balloons, Toots.’

  I could hear Bianca laughing in the background.

  ‘Well, what were they?’ Martine asked.

  ‘You owe me a couple of extra-large, glow-in-the-dark, ribbed-for-her-pleasure condoms.’

  ‘Oh, eeeewwww.’ I hung up.

  ‘Extra-large?’ Martine pulled into the underground car park. ‘Do you really think?’

  ‘I’m trying very hard not to think,’ I said. ‘That is not something I need to know.’

  ***

  ‘Chanel.’ Nick’s elbow accompanied his words. ‘Wake up.’

  ‘Huh.’ I jerked my head up and stared at the stage. It felt like the ceremony had been going forever. I looked at the clock. It had been going forever.

  ‘You just missed Tess get her award.’

  ‘Really?’ Shit. What sort of daughter was I? I had slept through my mother receiving a bravery award.

  ‘Nah. Just kidding. She’s up next.’

  I sagged back in my seat in relief. She would never forgive me if I did. I opened my eyes as wide as I could, but the stage still seemed to be getting smaller. I shifted in my seat, jerking my head. I pinched the web of tissue between my thumb and first finger.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Nick whispered in my ear.

  ‘Trying to stay awake.’

  ‘Do you want help with that?’

  ‘Please.’ I could feel myself losing the battle with my eyelids.

  He lifted a foot and jammed it down on top of my shoe closest to him. I let out a muffled yelp and the people in the row in front of us turned to look.

  ‘Sorry,’ I whispered. ‘Just stubbed my toe.’ I waited for them to look back to the front before I hissed, ‘That hurt.’

  ‘Are you still falling asleep?’

  ‘I’m too mad to be tired.’

  ‘You can thank me later.’

  His smug smile made me want to hit him with something, but I resisted. We were in public, and experience had taught me that he was fast. I’d probably miss and break a finger or something like that in the process.

  ‘Tess Milano.’

  I yanked my eyes back to the stage as Mum, looking amazing in a navy-blue fitted skirt, cream blouse, and navy and cream pumps that I was betting had cost more than my month’s wage, walked towards the Super.