by Emmy Ellis
“You going soft?” Joe asked in the lull between songs.
“They’re starving, I’d bet my last quid on it. No one can think straight on an empty stomach. The brain doesn’t aid well in negotiations when your guts are growling.” Lenny didn’t have to say more than that. Yes, he’d gone momentarily soft, but it was to his advantage. Play the good host, or boss if he had his way, give them what they craved—food, a good life, money in their pockets—and he’d have them eating out of his hand. He’d have done a good deed as well as coining it in.
“You’re a good bloke underneath it all.” Joe nudged him. “Even though you make out otherwise.”
“Yeah, well, keep your mouth shut about that. We don’t want everyone knowing.” Lenny held the open wine bottle by the neck and carried the two glasses in his other hand, the stems forming an X. At the booth, he placed them down and sat next to Li Jun. “Food will be here shortly.” He poured wine and gestured for them to drink up. “Now then, can you cook?”
Nuwa clutched her glass and stared at the contents as if it contained liquid gold. “Li Jun learn from young. He very good.”
Lenny beamed. “Music to my hearing equipment, love.”
“Eh?” Nuwa frowned.
“Never mind.” Lenny leant forward. “I just so happen to own the Jade Garden down the road. You know the place I mean. You can manage it for me if you like. We need to discuss a few things first, but if you’re up for it, the place is yours, rent-free, and there’s a flat upstairs. You get to keep all the money made by selling takeaways if you do something for me—I’ll buy in the first lot of what you need food-wise, and after that, you’re on your own in that regard. You treat it like any other business, buying in the goods and whatever, paying your taxes.”
“Do something for you?” Li Jun still hadn’t touched his wine.
“Yeah.” Lenny shifted closer and whispered into Li Jun’s ear what he had in mind. Told him who he was, what he expected, what the consequences were if this pair fucked up.
Li Jun snatched up his glass and downed the contents. He shivered. “That is naughty.”
Lenny held back a laugh. Naughty. This bloke was mint. He’d get on with him. “It is, but it pays. As well as earning from the food takings, I’ll give you a grand a week for the other part. All you need to do is what I just told you—and keep your mouths clamped.”
Nuwa frowned between them.
“And make sure your lovely wife here knows the score, too.” Lenny stared at Li Jun. “Got any family here?”
Li Jun shook his head. “We moved here to earn money so they can come.”
“I’ll be blunt. You’re cleaners at the minute. That’ll take years to save enough. If you do what I want, they’ll all be here by next month, I guarantee it. I’ve got empty flats that need tenants. I own a high-rise. They can help in the business, and everyone’s happy. What d’you reckon?”
The golden egg. Lenny was offering it to them—with specifications—but he had a feeling the opportunity was too good to pass up. All right, he’d already let him know if anyone blabbed they’d be dead, but it was a simple process—run the Jade, pass over the drugs, hand Lenny the money every week, and live the high life.
“I must ask Nuwa,” Li Jun said, scared out of his mind by the look of him.
A waitress appeared with the food then, and Lenny stood. She placed the plates on the table, handing over knives and forks wrapped in white napkins, the crest of The Doncaster Arms in one corner.
“Enjoy your meal.” She smiled and walked away.
Lenny grinned down at his new friends. “Get your laughing gear around that lot and have a chat. Mind you make the right decision, though. You’ll be loaded, never go hungry again. Same for all your family. You know it makes sense.”
Nuwa took the napkin off her cutlery and cut a sausage. The poor cow must have thought she’d walked into Heaven and Lenny was Gabriel.
Lenny strode to the bar and elbowed Joe. “It’s in the bag, you wait and see.”
Joe raised his eyebrows. “That quick? And they didn’t flinch about selling the gear?”
“He’s having a natter with the wife, but I can’t see them turning it down, can you? Look at the state of them.”
Joe studied the optics ahead. “It’s a big ask. Drugs stored on the property. They’re the ones selling it, therefore, they’re the ones who’ll get nicked for it. You’ve got one hell of a job on your hands spreading the word folks can get weed and whatnot with their dinner—what if the pigs hear about it?”
Lenny laughed. “It’s like everything I do. The pigs will mind their own, otherwise they’ll find themselves minus a limb.”
He still couldn’t get over how easy it had been to take over the estate, the residents doing as they were told, coppers turning a convenient blind eye for a few quid. So long as Lenny kept a tight rein on everyone, the coppers seemed happy to pretend shit wasn’t happening. Lenny ruled here, and people would do well not to forget it.
He sank another pint with Joe while he waited for the couple to finish their meal. “How’s your old man?”
Joe grimaced, the pain of his father’s imminent death appearing as deep, curved wrinkles bracketing his mouth. “Don’t think he’s got much longer. Six months the hospital reckon, but he seems to be failing faster.”
“That’s shit, that is. Looking forward to taking over the farm?”
Joe shrugged. “In a way. I grew up there, know it like the back of my hand, but I enjoy the factory, the people. I’ll miss it. Then there’s you finding a new manager.”
So Lenny would have to cross that particular bridge sooner than he’d thought. “Francis can deal with it for a while. It won’t hurt her nipping in when Cassie’s at playgroup. I’d rather that than pick someone too quickly and make a mistake. She hasn’t worked there since she got pregnant, but it’ll be like riding a bike, and anyroad, she can go back once Cass is in full-time school. We’ll manage. Ted and Felix will help her out. Good blokes, they are. You just worry about your end. It’s going to be tough when your dad dies. Concentrate on Lou and Jess, yourself, not the factory.”
Joe swallowed. “Shut up now. It’s getting a bit sentimental.”
Lenny smiled. “Yeah, and I don’t usually go for that malarky.”
He stared into the mirror behind the bar and eyed the couple. Their plates were empty, the wine three-quarters gone. Nuwa spoke animatedly, her face devoid of the harshness from before, her whole demeanour that of someone breathing in the life-giving oxygen of a new dawn, a dream coming true. Li Jun didn’t appear so enthralled, and it seemed Nuwa encouraged him to take that golden egg with both hands, no matter the consequences.
Li Jun gazed over and made eye contact with Lenny in the mirror. Lenny turned, elbow on the bar, and raised his eyebrows. Nuwa waved him over, her eyes sparkling. Fuck, Lenny was the king, giving this woman hope of a better future, and he felt bloody good about it.
He joined them in the booth. Looked at Nuwa. “Did your old man tell you exactly what you’re in for?”
She nodded. “We will risk it.”
“Good decision. Now then, if you want to finish that wine, I’ll take you to have a gander at your new takeaway and flat. Where do you live now?”
“In bedsit.” Nuwa told him the address.
The shitty street Doreen Prince lived in. Those bedsits were slums.
“Got visas?”
Nuwa smiled. “Yes, we allowed here. Friend find us cleaning job before we come.”
“Excellent. And you’ll be giving your family jobs before they come, so their visas should go through okay. I’ll get my mate over there to arrange for your belongings to be taken to the flat. Drink up, we’ve got somewhere to be, haven’t we. Give me the keys to your place.”
Nuwa dug in her pocket and handed them over. “We not have much. Some clothes, some personal things in bedside drawer. The furniture not ours.”
He left them and stood beside Joe, explaining what was going on. “So
get your arse there and bring their shit to the Jade.”
Ten minutes later, Joe on his way to the bedsit, Lenny led the couple down the street, past The Shoppe Pudding, the laundrette, and on to the Jade. They stopped outside to stare at the takeaway with its flash new sign. The windows were whitewashed, he hadn’t wanted people nosing inside while the builders had been in, but these two would soon know they were onto a good thing once they saw the refurb.
Lenny unlocked the door and entered first, giving Li Jun and Nuwa one last chance to piss off into the sunset, back to their scutty bedsit. They spoke with their eyes, staring at each other, Nuwa smiling, Li Jun frowning—he wasn’t quite there yet in taking that all important step. She spoke in what Lenny assumed was Mandarin, her voice full of urgency.
“Look, pal, if this is too much for you, back away now,” Lenny said. “It’s not as scary as it sounds. If you want, any time you get caught dealing, you can make out some fella forced you to do it or he’d kill you.” He chuckled. “Because that’s the truth. You just don’t say who that bloke is. But you won’t get caught, I’ll see to that. You do what I ask, everything will work out.”
Nuwa came inside and stared through the cutout in the wall behind the counter. The gleaming new kitchen was in view, and she gasped. “This is your dream.” She spun to face her husband. “Come and see. We will be happy here.”
Li Jun’s shoulders sagged, and he appealed to Lenny. “I do not want to die. I do not want my wife to die. Or my family.”
“No one’s going to sodding die.” Christ, any more of this, and Lenny might end up feeling sorry for him. He shrugged. “It’s your call. If you walk away, no hard feelings.”
Li Jun stepped inside.
Lenny grinned. Deal done.
Chapter Six
Cassie sat in the passenger seat of Jason’s car. He’d driven past Brett Davis’ place, but the lights were off. Karen Scholes had been on the pavement, and Cassie didn’t need that nosy cow asking questions. That woman liked to know the ins and outs, and Cassie didn’t trust her to keep things to herself.
“We’ll come back later,” she said. “He’s probably in bed. Killing’s an adrenaline rush. If it’s him, he’ll be knackered—or he’s celebrated and zonked out, off his tits on coke.”
“Where to now then?”
“Try Graham. See if he’s really having a party.” Although if he wasn’t, the amount of food he’d bought from Li Jun was a bit much for one person. Graham lived alone as far as she was aware. Then again, buying enough food for several people was a good cover if you were involved in robbing the Jade. The money he stood to make from his part in it would more than cover the cost of the grub.
Jason headed there, Cassie staring through the passenger window at the houses whose inhabitants she kept close at heel. Amazing how she could do that, but she had her father to thank for doing the groundwork. Without him telling people they had to obey her when he died, she doubted the majority would have been so amenable. It was simple to her: Do as I ask, and no one gets hurt. If they had owt about them, they’d comply and get on with their lives.
Jason was unusually quiet. Earlier, when she’d asked where the fuck he’d been for so long, he’d told her he’d gone for a drive after delivering Jiang’s body to the meat factory, needing to clear his head of the anger that’d whipped through him at someone having the cheek to even think about robbing the drugs, robbing ‘us’. She hadn’t told him it was her and Mam being robbed, no ‘us’ about it, thinking it was a slip of the tongue on his part, that he saw them as a solid unit, and she supposed she ought to be grateful for that instead of grumbling to herself about it. Plus, she understood how he felt regarding the anger—she was keeping a tight rein on her annoyance, but she’d let it out once she got home and told Mam what had been going on.
Jason turned down Leopold Road and slowed to check the house numbers. At their destination, number fifteen, disco lights flashed inside a living room containing a fair few dancing bodies that presented as silhouettes, arms waving, heads thrown back with laughter. So he was having a party, and anyroad, Li Jun had said the intruder was slim. Graham certainly wasn’t, thick around the middle and a short-arse to boot, so he wasn’t the machete man. Still, she needed to talk to him. He could have seen someone hanging around when he’d left the Jade. Without him realising it, he might have knowledge tucked away inside his wide head that she needed in order to find the fucker.
Jason parked, and she got out, waiting for him on the pavement beneath a streetlamp. A chill swept through her, the cold air biting her straight away, and she hugged herself. Together, they walked up the garden path, and she knocked loudly, thinking it might not be heard above the thumping music, some rave crap or other, the partygoers probably reliving their twenties. She absently wondered whether any of them had bought mollies to recreate it properly.
The door opened, swinging back the way it did when someone who was drunk yanked on the handle. The music was louder, the laughter chasing it, and Cassie winced. A blonde woman stood there, about forty, half-cut, swaying, a glass of something transparent and bubbly held up. A chunk of ice jostled and butted the inside, a slice of lemon diving to the bottom, its pip falling free.
“Yeah?” She hiccupped.
“I need to speak to Graham.” Cassie didn’t recognise her. Maybe the guests were relatives from out of town or people from another estate.
“Someone moaning about the music, are they? Fucking killjoys.” She turned and shouted down the hallway, “Graham!” Then off she went, staggering past the newel post with a mound of coats hanging on it, leaving the door wide open, veering into the living room shouting, “Woi-oi! I’m back!”
Cassie glanced at Jason. He shrugged, the gesture telling her he didn’t understand the concept of getting rat-arsed. She hadn’t heard of him going out on a bender, so maybe he imbibed more than one at home in private like she did.
Movement in the corner of her eye had her looking forward. Graham came out of the kitchen ahead and ambled along, smiling away—until he clocked who stood on his step.
“Oh fuck. We’ll keep it down. I’ll get someone to—”
“It isn’t the music.” Cassie smiled tightly. “Come out here a second and close the door to. This is between you and us. No need for your friends to hear this.”
Graham obeyed, giving her a worried look. Cassie and Jason stepped back so he had room on the path. Graham straightened his curry-stained top.
Nervous Nelly or what. She should be ashamed people felt this way around her, but a life of being taught not to connect to anyone else’s emotions, to erase all empathy while she was working, meant she curbed any sorrow.
“You were at the Jade earlier,” she said.
“Yes?” Graham’s forehead wrinkled. “What’s up with that?”
She forgave him the belligerence. Drink probably lent him some bravado now he knew she wasn’t going to punch his face in or use her barbed whip on him. “Did you see anyone hanging around when you went in, and again when you left?”
Graham peered into the darkness over her shoulder, thinking, hand splayed over the stain. “Some fella by the hedge opposite, waiting for the bus.”
Li Jun had seen him, too. How bloody long was he standing there? Did he plan to go into the Jade, then Graham came along, preventing him? “What did he look like?”
“Skinny. Didn’t really take much notice, to be honest. I stuck the food in the car then went down to The Pudding.”
“Was the man still there by then?”
“Yeah, no bus came past. I picked up a birthday cake and whatnot then went home.”
“See anyone in the laundrette when you walked past?”
“No. Funny you should say that. It was empty. Even the woman who runs it wasn’t in there. The lights were on, though.”
Cassie filed that information away. They’d be visiting her. Either she’d been taking a break out the back or someone had warned her to go there for however long it took to steal
the drugs. If that were the case, though, why hadn’t she got hold of Cassie and told her she’d been threatened or whatever?
“Was the street empty?” she asked.
“No one about except for me and that fella over the road.” He paused. “Hang on, there were a couple of young lads.”
“What were they doing?”
“Dicking about like kids do. One asked me if I was going home after I’d been in The Pudding. I said, ‘What’s it got to do with you?’ Nosy sods.”
Had the kids seen owt? It’d take a while to find out who they were.
“And no one approached you when you parked outside the Jade? You know, telling you to make yourself scarce?”
“No! Why would they?”
“Doesn’t matter. Enjoy your party.”
She led the way to the car and got in. Jason dropped into the driver’s seat and closed the door, then plugged in his seat belt.
Cassie did the same. “So we can safely say the man by the hedge is likely our robber—well, he’s the only one who was around other than the kids. Graham said the street was basically empty—I assume that means at either end. No one there telling people to steer clear for a bit. Was it just a coincidence that no one but Graham was there as a customer?”
Jason drove off. “There are quiet nights, although Li Jun would argue otherwise. Maybe there were people either end and Graham just didn’t notice, too busy sorting the food for the party. The kids could have been used to give a warning. You never know, they could have done it in your name. That’d make sure folks did as they were told.”
She didn’t like the idea of that. Not only was using her name a colossal sin in her eyes, it could point the finger of blame at her if Jiang’s murder ever got out and the police she paid to look the other way had no choice but to investigate it. “Kids have a habit of opening their mouths, can’t stand keeping secrets, so choosing them to do your dirty work is a stupid move.”
Jason flinched.
What was that all about?
