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  Still, now that her son had started the great fight, wouldn’t she enjoy seeing it through to the finish? It never occurred to her that Jasper might have died, that he was now grievously ill after his body had taken a serious battering. She was more interested in the implications of it all. The fact that it had happened and now there’d be repercussions. In her heart of hearts she even felt he was being a bit of a nancy over it all, though she would never have said that. Once her son was back on his feet it would all be resolved. So he was pissing blood? Big deal! Been there, done that! Anyone would think he was the first person to get a good hiding. They had it too easy these days, that was the problem.

  The mini-cab driver had to open the windows of the car because Karen smelled like a brewer’s dray. She didn’t take offence. She needed the fresh air herself.

  Jasper was relieved to see the back of his mother, she was such a pain. He asked his sister Junie to phone Jeanette on her mobile and tell her what was happening; he also instructed her not to tell anyone else what had occurred. He knew that if this became common knowledge it would cause a small-scale war on their respective estates. The trouble was, he wasn’t up to anything, let alone the kind of aggravation this would cause. It was worse for him because he knew he would have done the same in Jon Jon’s shoes. This had been on the cards for a long time, but his own total capitulation had been a shock to him.

  As he lay in bed he was a frightened boy inside, and this knowledge was harder to bear than anything.

  Even the knowledge that Jeanette’s father was a Turk didn’t change the way he felt about her and that in itself was a surprise. Perhaps inside himself it was something he had always known. She looked foreign, and that was against everything he had been brought up to value. His mother had brought them up to hate everyone who wasn’t English. She had made them feel that they were automatically top dogs because of their heritage.

  But now he wasn’t so sure. Apart from his friends in the ICF who had jobs, all his other so-called mates were on the jam roll and that was not the most enviable place to be. But who actually wanted to work for a living? Well, Jon Jon did by all accounts, worked his arse off, and whatever Jasper thought about him he’d had the edge last night because of that. In Jon Jon’s line of work you had to be hard to survive.

  But still he cared for Jeanette, and so did Jon Jon - that much had been proved to him last night. And he had to allow for that. He would have felt the same about things if his sister Junie had taken up with the likes of Jon Jon.

  For once in his life Jasper Copes was starting to see someone else’s point of view and the novelty was doing his head in.

  Joanie caught a glimpse of herself in the bedroom mirror and knew she had seen better days than this one. Her eye was swollen and bruised, but at least her nose looked OK so that was something anyway.

  She could hear Kira laughing in the kitchen with Paulie, his deep tones penetrating the walls. She knew he was laughing too.

  Joanie lay in bed savouring the moment. She only wished the room had been tidier. She knew his own home was kept spotlessly clean and envied his wife with the means to have a cleaner and a gardener. She most envied her for having a garden, a luxury none of Joanie’s children had ever known. Some people just didn’t know they were born.

  Jon Jon came into the room with a mug of strong sweet tea and two Paracetamols. Joanie smiled her thanks, and allowed him to scrutinise her face.

  ‘Fucking piece of shit he is! He’ll think twice before he raises his hand to a woman again.’

  Joanie didn’t answer him but clasped his hand and squeezed it gently.

  ‘You’re a good boy, Jon Jon.’

  And he was, to her. He loved her and she felt that love, as he had felt her love all his life. It was what had given him the confidence that buoyed him up every day. He sat down on the bed and sighed.

  ‘Paulie is cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Like old times, eh?’

  She nodded happily.

  He smiled at her gently.

  ‘Are you OK with me backtracking like I did and going to work for him?’

  She smiled.

  ‘’Course I am. At least he’ll see you all right. If you’re going to use the street to make money, son, you’d better make sure you’re with someone who will watch your back. In all honesty, Jon Jon, I’m glad.’

  She had put his mind at rest and they both knew it. There was so much between them that remained unspoken that sometimes they felt almost shy with one another. But the time would come when they would talk, and then they would resolve it all.

  Just not while Paulie was in the flat; not until they could each concentrate on what the other was saying.

  But Jon Jon knew he should warn her somehow about what might happen next. He was amazed his collar hadn’t been felt already. Jasper was a shitter and shitters phoned Old Bill.

  But his mother looked so happy, he didn’t have the heart to ruin that. So he smiled and chatted and waited for the knock on the door. He didn’t do a runner because he knew if Jasper grassed there would be literally nowhere to run. In his mind’s eye he saw Paulie waving the filth on the night before. When Jon Jon had taken out McArthur, he’d hoped his newfound employer would have enough clout to smooth things over. But Jasper was another thing.

  He took a mug of tea in to Jeanette and was not surprised to find her bedroom empty. For the first time in his life he was truly frightened of what she might get involved in.

  Like Jasper, he didn’t want his sister to make the mistake of her life.

  Kira went to school full of bacon, eggs and bonhomie. Happiness shone from her face.

  Tommy watched her from his balcony and she waved merrily at him.

  He realised then that he loved her. Seeing her was like a drug to him. The more he was in her company, the lonelier he felt when she wasn’t around.

  He watched her until she was out of sight then, sighing, went back inside to wait the day out until he could see and talk to her again.

  He looked at the photograph of her he kept on the windowsill in the kitchen. Kira was laughing, it was a lovely picture. Picking it up, he caressed her face with a pudgy finger.

  His father looked at him, but he didn’t say anything.

  On a tour of the massage parlours, Paulie explained what he wanted Jon Jon to do. Paulie’s current number one, Earl Jones, had to be given the hard word. In a tactful way, of course. He’d say he wanted Earl to take on wider responsibilities, learn other aspects of the businesses - or at least that was how he would describe things to him anyway. In reality Paulie just wanted him as a heavy and nothing else. Earl was a great lad but hardly the sharpest knife in the drawer. It was only his loyalty to Paulie that was keeping him employed. Jon Jon was a much better deal as a deputy. At least he could count without taking his socks off. He also had an innate cunning. The fact that he had always liked the boy Paulie didn’t admit to himself. If you analysed things too much it could do your head in; he had learned that lesson at an early age.

  ‘You have to learn the parlours’ locations and pick the money up for me as and when I ask for it. I have never had a routine. Once you do you’re fucked. Remember that, Jon Jon. Even with a rep you still get the little gangs who want easy money, so to stop the theft and the fucking embarrassment of getting robbed by a crowd of fucking ice creams, you never give anyone an insight into what you do. Right?’

  Jon Jon nodded but his head was up his arse, as Paulie observed to himself. He said nastily, ‘Am I fucking boring you or something? Here I am, giving you the benefit of my considerable wisdom and experience, and you sit there like a taxidermist’s latest conquest.’

  Jon Jon wiped a hand over his face and answered him truthfully, ‘I nearly killed someone again last night.’

  Paulie laughed.

  ‘Don’t worry, Jon Jon, McArthur will live, more’s the fucking pity!’

  Jon Jon sighed, then lighting a Marlboro Red told his boss the story of Jeanette and Jasper.

  Pa
ulie drove for a while in silence and then he said seriously, ‘I’d have done the same at your age. You’re still fucking half-cracked. Let’s see what occurs before we make any plans, OK? He wouldn’t be stupid enough to go to Old Bill, would he? Not a bullyboy like him.’

  This was said in a derisive manner, but like Jon Jon, Paulie privately wondered if Jasper was going to make a statement. If he still wanted Jeanette he would need to get her brother out of the way. Personal problems caused more hag than anything in their line of work. Many a good man was banged up on the say-so of the old woman when she wanted shot, they were all aware of that.

  Joanie was happier than she had been for a long time. When Paulie had said she was to work full-time in one of the parlours, she had assumed it was still as a brass. But it seemed that thanks to her son’s meteoric rise she was to be a receptionist. She would virtually run the place after a spot of training from a head girl known as Lazy Caroline.

  Paulie had seemed genuinely benign when he had explained her new role and she felt the stirrings of hope once more. If she used her loaf she could maybe have things back like she’d had them before. But whatever happened she would run his business like it had never been run. This was her chance, a golden opportunity, and she would not waste it. As Joanie sipped her tea she felt she might just explode with happiness.

  The first thing she was going to do today was get a good cut and colour, get her streaks done properly and her nails done. Maybe even treat herself to a new outfit, one befitting her new station in life as receptionist-manager of a massage parlour. It was like a fairytale.

  Her eye wasn’t half-bad, she’d had worse, and she could cover it up for the time being. Once she got her hair sorted out she would be fine.

  When she heard a knock on the door she assumed it was Monika. Opening it, she was shocked to see Jeanette standing there.

  ‘Where the fuck have you been all night? The school’s been on the phone again . . .’ Then something in her daughter’s face registered and she said loudly, ‘What? What is it? Is it Kira?’

  Jeanette was upset and it came over in her voice as she bellowed, ‘No, it’s not your fucking precious Kira!’

  Then the whole story tumbled out.

  Jasper Copes? Of all the people in the world her daughter had to take up with! Jasper, the local bullyboy, the local racist.

  It was laughable really, if Joanie had had a laugh left inside her.

  Jasper stared at the two policemen warily.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re on about. I was mugged.’

  The older detective sighed heavily.

  ‘Did this mugger have a white stick and a dog by any chance? Only they missed your wallet, keys, jewellery, drugs.’

  Jasper shrugged.

  The man leaned nearer the bed. Aware he was on a mixed ward he whispered now, ‘Don’t take me for a cunt, Jasper. Your mother has already filled me in on the details.’

  Jasper tried to grin.

  ‘Was she pissed as usual?’ He laughed once more. It was painful and it sounded painful. ‘She don’t know what day of the week it is half the time; the other half she don’t know her own fucking name. Now as I said, I was mugged. Or shall I rephrase that? It was an attempted mugging. Why don’t you leave me alone?’

  ‘So you’re going to sort it out yourself then, are you?’

  This was said derisively and duly taken on board by the battered boy lying in his hospital bed. Jasper beckoned with one finger and the policeman leaned towards him, his face suddenly alive with interest.

  ‘Fuck off, filth.’

  The officer shook his head sadly. His voice was resigned as he said, ‘You never learn, do you? Next time he’ll bury you, son, and he will have more witnesses than a bent filth on a bender. He’ll bury you - and do you know what? I won’t even bother to break sweat. You’re not worth helping, you deserve all you’re going to get. And knowing Jon Jon Brewer, you’ll get plenty.’

  They left Jasper then, but those words stayed with him. But he was not grassing anyone up; it was not in his nature. Plus he wouldn’t last five minutes on the pavement if he even chanced it. He just wanted to go home, but was still in tremendous pain and at least he felt safe in hospital.

  Jasper Copes knew he was in a nightmare of his own making.

  Kira left school at lunchtime. She was walking alone to the chip shop when as she crossed the busy road she saw Jeanette and waved. Her sister blanked her completely. Crushed, Kira carried on walking to the chippie, but the sun had gone from her day now.

  Then, waddling towards her, she saw Tommy, and his big welcoming smile made up for her sister’s contempt. She found that now and again she bumped into him at lunchtimes and she was beginning to look forward to it. Bethany was playing the hop as usual but Kira was too frightened to keep it up. She knew her mother worried about her, and Joanie had explained that when Kira was in school she didn’t have to worry because she knew where she was. It had been explained in such a way that the child was frightened to truant now in case she broke her mother’s heart. Consequently she was often alone.

  But today she was lucky. Not only did she see Tommy, but there inside the chip shop was Bethany. Her friend ran outside, her round face troubled.

  ‘Have you heard?’

  Kira shook her head.

  ‘Heard what?’

  ‘About Jon Jon!’

  ‘What about Jon Jon!’

  Kira was alarmed now. As Bethany explained yet another version of the events of the night before, Tommy made his goodbyes. No, he couldn’t take to Bethany. He knew her sort and he wanted Kira to himself. Just him and her. That was enough for him and for her most of the time. Such was his disappointment, he didn’t even stick around for the gossip about Jon Jon.

  Jeanette looked lost as she waited for her brother. Her long hair was unbrushed and she had not bothered to apply any makeup since she only cried it off. It had taken her mother ten minutes to talk Jon Jon into meeting her. She sat in the local McDonald’s, nervous and agitated. Luckily the staff were used to customers like her. This McDonald’s was a meeting point for skagheads. More deals were done in here than in the City of London not ten minutes away.

  As Jeanette stared out of the window at the car park, she watched the comings and goings around her. She saw small packages and rolled-up tenners exchanging hands at an alarming rate. She knew the majority of the dealers and their clients. Every now and again a smart BMW or ZX would pull up and replenish the dealers’ pockets with plastic baggies full of crack, heroin or cocaine.

  If you wanted grass or solid it was now more a street-corner thing; decriminalising it only made it easier for the dealers. They didn’t have to travel far to work. Instead they just wandered around, chatting and being what Jon Jon called ‘easy’.

  She was surprised to see him pull up outside with Paulie’s number two, Earl. If Jon Jon was bringing a fighter then he must be worried about reprisals. But who was he more worried about? Jasper and his crew or the police?

  Jeanette sighed. It was useless speculating, she would know the score soon enough.

  Earl had been given the hard word by Paulie, but was happy enough with his new duties. Inside he’d acknowledged that sometimes it had all got too much for him. He was great at the actual collecting, it was working the money out and counting it up that he had the problems with. If he was in the middle of counting and a bird walked by or his mobile rang he was fucked, would have to start the whole process over again. It was time-consuming and boring.

  Now he was babysitting Wonder Boy as he privately called Jon Jon. He had heard about his escapades the night before and grudgingly admired him for it. He was a hard little fucker and still only seventeen. Paulie, though, was good at picking out the movers. Hadn’t he picked out Earl himself? Plus he liked Jon Jon. Earl was black, both his parents were too. Jon Jon, although a mongrel, was a good kid.

  He was also mates with Sippy, so that alone guaranteed him entry into any company he chose. Sippy was Earl’s c
ousin and they were tight. He had told Earl to watch Jon Jon who was going to be big on their circuit before the year was out, and already the prophecy was coming true.

  The heavy gave Jon Jon a friendly wink as they entered the Mackie D’s. Jon Jon was pleased. He had been worried about Earl’s reaction to him usurping the number one position, but he had taken it well.

  Now he concentrated all his energy on his sister who looked so young and so appealing with her tear-ravaged face that he felt the urge to muller Jasper Copes all over again.

  Karen Copes was so drunk she couldn’t grasp what was being said to her. So she smiled and nodded and wondered when the fuck the police would leave her house.