by Jim Eldridge
‘I liked working with you too,’ said Jo. ‘The truth is, it was just about the only part of it I did enjoy.’
Angelo looked towards Tee, who was still talking to Barry.
‘What about sexy Tee?’ he asked.
Jo shook her head. ‘Yeah, he’s sexy, arrogant, brooding, but he’s a dick. And he’s trouble. Right now I don’t want or need anyone like that in my life.’ She gave him another smile. ‘But you, now, you’re sweet. And that’s important.’
Angelo’s face flushed red again. He looked like he was about to continue the conversation, expand on it, maybe — thought Jo — even suggest a date. But before he could, they were aware of Barry standing by them, scowling. He obviously didn’t like to see his employees looking happy, certainly not when they weren’t doing anything that related to work. Barry gestured at the shelves, some of which had a few empty spaces on them.
‘Angelo, why do I see empty shelves in my store?’ he demanded. ‘Didn’t I tell you yesterday to fill ’em? I’m sure I did.’
Angelo nodded and headed for the storeroom. Barry gave Jo a cold look and followed Angelo, continuing his lecture. Pompous prick! thought Jo. Suddenly she felt a rush down below, and the trickle of liquid. Shit! She should have checked the calendar. Fucking period. She was sure it was early — they said that working nights threw your body clock out. Well, this was throwing her fucking calendar out. She left the register and walked down the aisle to the hygiene products and grabbed a box of tampons.
‘Hey!’ snapped a voice. Jo turned. Tee was bearing down on her. ‘What’s with leaving the register?’
Jo held out the box of tampons.
‘I’m sorry, I need to deal with this,’ she told him. ‘I’ll be back in two minutes.’
Tee shook his head.
‘You never leave a register unattended,’ he told her. ‘And I can’t let you go to the back with those until you’ve paid for them.’
Jo stared at him, incredulous.
‘Oh come on! How can I pay if you won’t allow bags up here?’
Tee glared back at her impassively.
‘Leave them, go get your money, come back, pay for them, and then you can go and do whatever you have to.’
Jo wanted to tell him to fuck off, but what was the point? He’d sack her, and that would be her best job gone. With her stepdad out of action, her family needed the money she was earning here. She sighed and dumped the box back on the shelf, and then headed for the stairs to the staff restroom.
‘Hey, where you goin’?’ demanded Tee.
‘Like you said: to get some money so I can pay for them.’
Tee shook his head.
‘Not so fast. You stay on that register until someone gets back.’
Jo glared at him. His expression still seemed impassive, but there was a look of secret pleasure in his eyes. He loved playing this sadistic game, and a girl like her was his perfect target. Well, he might control her because he was her boss, but he wasn’t going to grind her down, and she’d let him know that.
‘Fine.’ She shrugged. ‘Great. I’ll just bleed on the floor, shall I?’
Tee shrugged.
‘Don’t care,’ he said, and he gave a nasty smile. ‘But I’m watching you.’
‘Oh, are you?’ said Jo. All Tee’s pettinesses and little nastinesses popped in front of her. Well, she was gonna wipe that smug smirk off his face. ‘Just so you know, I’m watching you too. What did you do with that safe key yesterday?’
She’d struck home. She could see it in his eyes — a mixture of fear and panic, and anger. Real vicious anger. He grabbed her and pushed her back against the shelves, his hand holding her by the throat. ‘If you say even one fucking word . . .’ he began.
Then the sound of footsteps came to them. Tee released Jo and stepped back, just as Angelo appeared.
‘All done,’ announced Angelo cheerfully. ‘I’m back on the till.’
Jo gave him a grateful smile and headed for the staff restroom to collect her money. As she stormed past Tee, he watched her go, a mixture of fear and hate in his eyes.
44
The night dragged on. Tee left Jo alone, although she was aware that every now and then he cast a vengeful glare at her, as if he was waiting for her to do or say something and was ready to cut in and tear her apart.
As the clock ticked away, the store became its usual empty self, with just a straggle of customers. Jo stood at the till, waiting. Angelo was on the other till. Everything was normal. Nothing was happening. But then Jo noticed a shift in the mood of the place, and in Tee. A handful of youths had ambled in, most of them wearing hoodies. Jo recognised them from the previous night — one of them was the one who’d been exchanging something with Tee. Automatically she looked towards the safe key on its hook. It was still there, in its place.
She looked towards the safe, and realised that the displays had been put up in such a way that the safe was out of view. Then she looked at the CCTV monitors. Same thing: the safe had been hidden by displays of packs and boxes and cans.
She looked at the others. Everyone else was acting normally: Angelo was on the till, watching a couple in their thirties as they selected some sweets. A woman customer was examining the cigarettes, as if she was weighing up whether to buy a different brand. Unusual, thought Jo. Most people just go in and buy the same brand. What’s there to think about? And the woman didn’t look like the usual customers they got. This woman looked like money and class. It was in the clothes she wore, and the way she stood. A woman comfortable and confident in herself.
Ron was over by the door, picking his nose and trying not to let anyone see what he was doing.
Tee was at the other end of the store, just hanging around and trying to look casual. That was so unlike his usual tense, aggressive manner that Jo knew it was a lie. Something was going down, or about to go down.
The door opened and another youth came in. She recognised him from before. Dillon. The one Shannon fancied. She expected him to go to Tee, but the two ignored each other, as if they were complete strangers. That alone set alarm bells ringing. She knew they knew each other. That whole crowd knew each other: Tee, Kerrys’s brother Manuel, Dillon, and the other one who was here. What was his name? Smoothy, that was it. Jo had heard someone call him that.
She looked around. Smoothy was nowhere to be seen. But she knew he hadn’t left the store, because she’d been keeping an eye on the door. Where was he?
She watched Dillon stroll casually to the side of the store, to where the safe was. But the displays had been built up in such a way that the safe was out of sight. Dillon disappeared, his head ducking down behind the display.
The safe. It had to be the safe, thought Jo. Tee must have passed the safe key to them the previous day, and they’d copied it and then slipped it back to him. They were robbing the safe!
She wondered what to do. No one but her seemed aware of what was going down, except for Tee, still trying to appear casual and not involved. What could she do? Nothing, not against Dillon and Smoothy and Tee. And why should she? OK, so they could be robbing the safe. So what? Ted’s 24-Hour Mart didn’t pay her to act as security; that was Ron’s job. Why should she put herself in the way and risk getting seriously hurt? Would the company give her a reward? Would they fuck! No. They’d just claim it on their insurance. OK, she might get a few column centimetres in the local paper: ‘Shopgirl heroine fights robbers’, but then what? Sacked for giving them bad publicity. If the paper said this place had been robbed, the customers would stay away, scared in case it happened again.
Suddenly she saw Dillon and Smoothy appear from behind the display, and now she saw they were both holding guns. Fuck!
‘All of you!’ yelled Dillon. ‘Hands up and get over by the tills!’
Angelo, Ron and the two customers in their thirties stared at Dillon, their mouths open. They all looked stunned. Bewildered. Jo shot a look at Tee. He was already putting his hands up, and he looked shocked as well, as if
this wasn’t part of the plan. Whatever the plan was. The well-dressed woman stood where she was, a look of amusement on her face, and slowly she raised her hands, but just to shoulder height. She looked as if this was some kind of joke. She didn’t look like she was afraid.
Dillon rushed towards Angelo and the two customers, brandishing the gun at them and at Jo.
‘Put your hands up!’ he screamed at them. ‘On your heads!’
Jo, Angelo and the two customers obediently put their hands on their heads. Smoothy pointed his gun at Ron.
‘You!’ he yelled.
Ron came back to life from his shock. He was the security guard, he should be doing something, but as he stood there, dithering, one of the other youths came up behind him and punched him hard, and Ron crumpled to the floor. Another youth came over and the pair of them dragged Ron to his feet. Immediately, Ron put his hands on his head.
‘OK!’ yelled Dillon. ‘If you all keep your mouth shut, you won’t get hurt!’ He turned to Angelo and Jo. ‘You, I want all the money in them tills.’
Angelo opened his till and began to take out the money. Jo reached out as if to open her till but instead managed to let her fingers hit a button operating one of the CCTV cameras so it could record what was happening. Dillon, suspicious and on edge, jerked the gun at her.
‘What you doin’?’ he demanded. ‘Open that fucking till!’
Jo opened the till and took out the cash drawer.
‘No more games!’ snarled Dillon. ‘Tee, take your shit!’
With that he pulled a package from his pocket and threw it towards Tee, who caught it. Everyone in the place turned to look at Tee, stunned. Tee stared at the package in his hands, then shouted angrily at Dillon, ‘You idiots! You were supposed to act like you don’t know me! You drop the stuff off, grab the money from the safe and leave! You don’t rob the whole place and you don’t implicate me!’
‘Yeah, if the money you said would be in the safe was there. But it wasn’t! There’s fuck all cash in there! Nothing!’
Angry, Dillon stormed over to Jo. He grabbed her by her hair and pushed the gun into her face. Jo felt the pain of her hair roots being pulled and gasped.
‘Are you gonna keep your mouth shut about what happened, babe,’ Dillon rasped into Jo’s ear menacingly, ‘or do I have to hurt you?’ He turned to the others, waving the gun at them, and demanded, ‘Are all of you gonna keep your mouth shut?’
‘Don’t hurt her!’ begged Angelo, anguish on his face.
‘Shut your mouth!’ Dillon snapped at him.
‘I won’t say anything, I promise,’ said Jo.
Dillon turned to the others, aggressive, angry.
‘The rest of you?’
The two customers nodded. Jo noticed that the classy-looking woman just stood, impassive, as if she didn’t care about what was happening. What’s up with her? thought Jo. Dillon noticed it too. He pointed the gun at the woman.
‘And you?’ he demanded.
The woman hesitated.
‘Don’t get brave in here!’ Dillon barked at her.
He’s afraid, thought Jo. He’s on the edge. The woman nodded.
Suddenly a gasp from the door made them all turn. A man had walked in from outside. For a second everything was frozen in time: the man at the door, Dillon and Smoothy with their guns, the people with their hands on their heads, the other boys. Then the man yelled, ‘I’ll get the police!’ and ran back out into the street and disappeared into the night.
‘Fuck!’ yelled Dillon, anguished. ‘There’s a police station just down the road.’
‘Lock that door!’ Smoothy shouted, and the boy nearest the door ran to it and pulled it shut. As he did so, they saw the doors being pulled at, as someone from outside tugged at them.
The boy held on to the doors, keeping them shut tight. ‘I don’t know where the lock is!’ he called desperately to Dillon.
There was a banging from outside. Dillon and Smoothy hesitated, unsure what to do.
It’s too soon for the police to have got here, thought Jo. Please don’t let them panic and start shooting.
She looked at Dillon, who seemed torn by indecision. He glared at the door as once again there came a banging from outside, more insistent this time.
‘OK! Hands down!’ hissed Dillon. ‘But remember, we’ve got guns. No warnings, or else.’
Dillon and Smoothy stuffed their guns hastily away out of sight as the others took their hands off their heads. At a nod from Dillon, the boy holding the door opened it, and Shannon walked in.
45
Shit! thought Jo. I’ve got to get her out of here. It’s bad enough we’re in trouble, but Shannon could get seriously hurt, and she’s not even involved! She could make things really worse.
‘Hey, Jo!’ called Shannon, and headed towards the counter.
Smoothy glared at Jo, a warning look that said, ‘Get rid of her.’ Dillon had already turned his back on Shannon so she wouldn’t see him.
Jo gave Shannon a cold, hard look.
‘I can’t talk now, Shaz,’ she said curtly. ‘You need to go.’
Please, let her get the message, she prayed. Let her feel what’s going on here and realise I’m trying to save her life. Just go, Shaz. Please.
Instead Shannon stopped and stared at Jo, stunned.
‘But . . . you told me to come!’ she said.
‘Yeah, and now I’m telling you to go,’ said Jo curtly.
‘But . . .’ began Shannon, her mouth open in shock. She looked as if Jo had slapped her for no reason. Oh God, prayed Jo. Please, Shaz, just go! Get out of here. I’ll explain later.
‘Go!’ repeated Jo, forcing her voice to sound harsh and brutal. ‘Get out!’
She saw Shannon’s eyes well up with tears.
‘But I’m here to talk to you! Why are you behaving like this?’
Please, Shaz! she prayed. Go! But one look at Shannon’s face told her this way wasn’t working. The only way to get rid of her was to be really brutal. Humiliate her.
‘Shaz, will you just piss off!’ she snapped with forced anger.
It didn’t work. Shannon didn’t go. If she doesn’t go, she’s gonna be dead, groaned Jo.
Shannon looked at Jo, tears brimming in her eyes. ‘Why, Jo?’ she begged. ‘Why?’
It was Dillon who took charge. He suddenly turned round so he was facing Shannon and said with a cruel sneer, ‘Cos she’s here with her man and she don’t want you around.’
Shannon’s mouth dropped open. She looked as if she’d been struck in the face.
Before Jo knew what was happening, Dillon had grabbed her and pulled her towards him. She felt the hard metal of his gun pressing warningly into her side. Suddenly he kissed her. Yuck! thought Jo. But she knew what Dillon was doing — getting rid of her friend the only way he knew.
There was a gasp of horror from Shannon. Jo turned towards her, still aware of the gun pressed into her side. Shannon’s face was contorted in fury and pain. She dug into her pocket, pulled out some loose change and threw it at Jo and Dillon, the coins bouncing off the counter.
‘Thanks for nothing!’ Shannon burst out, not bothering to contain her anger. ‘I fucking hate you!’
With that she snatched a box of Pringles from the display with such force that the whole display collapsed, sending the other Pringles boxes scattering. Then she ran for the door and out.
For the first time, emotion leaped into the rich woman’s face. Shock and panic, thought Jo. The woman turned on Tee, her whole body no longer languid and laid back, but tense like a coiled spring.
‘Did she take them?’ she demanded.
‘I don’t know,’ said Tee, looking helpless.
Take what? thought Jo. What was going on? The woman glared at him, and if looks could kill then Tee would have fallen dead on the spot. ‘I think she did!’ she raged. ‘You said this would be simple. If she took them, you’re a dead man. Dead!’
With that she ran out of the store after Shannon.
‘OK!’ shouted Dillon, and his gun reappeared in his hand. ‘Hands back on heads!’ Smoothy pulled out his gun too. Dillon rushed over to the two remaining customers and thrust his gun at them. ‘Hand over your wallets!’ he ordered.
Fumbling, they produced their wallets and handed them to him. He flipped them to the IDs and scanned them, then stuffed them into his pocket.
‘Now I know who you are and where you live,’ he told them. He swung round and addressed all the others. ‘If any of you people say anything, you’re dead. And, Tee . . .’ Dillon tossed his gun towards Tee, who caught it automatically. Dillon grinned. ‘Now that’s got your prints on it, just in case you’re thinking about getting clever!’
Dillon ran to the door, followed by Smoothy and the others of his gang, and they vanished into the night. Jo felt a wave of relief, which vanished as she saw Tee, an expression of fury on his face as he looked at the gun in his hand. He straightened up and levelled it at them. It’s not over yet, thought Jo.
‘You heard what he said!’ snapped Tee. To the couple he shouted, ‘Get out of here! You never heard nothing. You never saw nothing. If anyone even looks at me wrong for the next month, I’ll find you!’
The couple took the opportunity, running for the door, desperate to get away from this madness. Tee then turned to Angelo. Angelo held up his hands.
‘I won’t say nothing, Tee. I swear,’ Angelo assured him, alarmed.
But Angelo’s words weren’t enough to stop Tee. The whole business of losing whatever it was that Shannon had taken, the warning from the classy woman, being betrayed by Dillon, had pushed him beyond anger. Tee began to hit Angelo with his free hand, punching him in the face and the body. Blood poured from Angelo’s mouth where Tee’s fists had split his lips.
Jo moved quickly to the CCTV recorder unit, pressed eject, and when the disc slid out, popped it down the front of her trousers. Then she turned on Tee, who was still working out his anger on Angelo. ‘Stop it!’ she yelled. ‘Leave him alone!’
She jumped on Tee’s back, clawing with her hands at his arms, trying to stop his punches, but Tee flipped her off. Police sirens could be clearly heard approaching. Tee hastily dropped the gun and kicked it under the ice-cream fridge. Then he turned and headed towards Ron, his fists bunched, anger writ large all over him. Ron backed away, but Tee attacked him, all his frustration and rage coming out as he punched Ron to the ground and then kicked him.