by David Belbin
‘Who’s your friend, Shaz? Is she holding?’
‘No, Pops. She’s just passing through.’
The woman goes back up the stairs.
‘Pops?’ you say to Shaz. ‘I thought her name was Nancy.’
‘The guys call her Miss Popularity,’ Shaz says. ‘Pops for short. Miss because she used to be a schoolteacher, can you believe that? Beany says she gives the best blow job on the planet, says I ought to take lessons from her.’
‘How long’s she been working for him?’
‘She’s not, yet. But she loves the pipe so much she’ll do anything for anyone who gets her high.’
Shaz says this as though it’s worse than being paid for it. Maybe it is.
‘You’re not hitting the pipe too hard, are you?’ you ask.
Shaz says she’s not. ‘It does my head in. Then there’s the kiddy on the way. Are you going to give me your new address?’
You hesitate. Shaz understands what you’re thinking.
‘You’re right,’ she says. ‘Don’t. I can’t tell Beany what I don’t know.’
Outside, the sun beats down. The sweet buzz from the skunk suffuses your mind. For a few minutes you are, if not happy, not unhappy. You’re not scared of the future. You’re not scared of anything.
You’re stoned.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Nottingham storylines in this novel were inspired by, but are not directly based on, real events in 1997–98. I am indebted to Nick Davies’s Dark Heart: The Shocking Truth about Hidden Britain (Vintage, 1997) and Carl Fellstrom’s Hoods: The Gangs of Nottingham (Milo Books, 2008) for background on the Crack Action Team. My thanks to both authors, and to everybody who helped me with research for this novel. You know who you are.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Belbin is the author of more than thirty novels aimed at teenagers and his work has been translated into twenty-five languages.
He was born in Sheffield but has lived in Nottingham since going to university there; he now teaches Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University. This is his second crime novel for adults.
For more information visit www.davidbelbin.com
