Vacuum

by Bill James

  ‘He discusses coups with you?’

  ‘He talks a little. I know his mind. I can read him all right, I think. I hope. My theory is, if he discovers you’re in on it, he’ll realize surprise is not available any longer, and he’ll not go on. OK, you’ll say now you’re not, in fact, aware of his plans, or only this very vaguest outline I’ve just given you.’

  Harpur said: ‘I’m not, in fact, aware of his plans, or only this very vaguest outline you’ve just given me.’

  ‘It shapes like this – and it’s what shatters my nerves. Jason is where in the ex-Shale, new-Shale, organization? Number Two? Three? Either way, he’s not the designated leader, that heir nominated by Manse. He’s Michael Arlington, isn’t he? All right, Arlington must have some strengths or Manse Shale wouldn’t have picked him. But there are these wobbles of his mind, the General Franco, El Caudillo, complex. OK, spasms only, but potentially dangerous spasms. And who knows what they might develop into? He’s got a Falangist civil guard’s three-cornered hat, you know. Well, yes, of course you know. And you’ll probably sense what comes next: Jason doesn’t believe Arlington has the sustained judgement, strength and determination to manage the kind of operation needed. He’s going to try to push him out. In a way, the logic is irresistible.’

  ‘Which way?’

  ‘Irresistible but perilous.’

  ‘Push him out how?’ Harpur replied.

  ‘Yes, push him out.’

  ‘Demote him?’

  ‘More than that, I imagine. Jason would be afraid Arlington might make bother for him from the back-benches. It could be Arlington’s turn to try a coup. It’s what Franco did against the Popular Front government, isn’t it?’

  ‘You’re saying Jason and his mates would kill Arlington?’

  ‘And afterwards, Jason will run the show, maybe backed by his allies. He’s got those three possibilities I listed to think about: maybe Iles has fallen out with Ralph and is going to get rid of him; maybe your new Chief has taken decision-making away from Iles; maybe Iles himself has concluded, post Sandicott, that the drugs scene has to be totally cleaned up. Whichever, Jason believes he can handle it and that General Franco couldn’t.’

  ‘And you?’

  ‘What do I think? It’s miles too dangerous. OK, Arlington has lapses, but he’s bound to know how to protect himself. A bodyguard is almost always with him – Edison Something.’

  ‘Whitehead,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Capable?’

  ‘Experienced.’

  ‘Loyal to Arlington?’

  ‘As far as I know.’

  ‘Arlington will be able to deal with any attempt at a putsch. As I’ve said, what familiarity with coups, with putsches, does Jase have? Why imagine he’d be any better at an internal struggle than Arlington? Think Madrid. Did any putsch against General Franco succeed once he got power? And in Spain, Franco didn’t have Manse Shale backing him.’

  ‘If I talk to Jason—’

  ‘Tell him what you’ve heard and that it’s stupid. If this new Chief is set on destroying not just Ralph’s firm but what remains of Shale’s as well, there’ll be nothing for Jason or General Franco to lead. He – whichever – will be annihilated by the police under your new disinfecting boss. My own bet is that’s what’s happening, in fact. The Low Pastures raid was only a beginning. True? This Upton wants a totally pure domain. It’s not a matter of Iles’s turning against Ralph, nor of Iles changing attitude. This is a new Chief acting like a new Chief. He comes trailing clouds of clean-up.’

  ‘That’s poetic.’

  ‘Nearly. Or he’s been instructed to start a clean-up.’

  She had an intellect, Karen Louise Lister, despite the ‘re’s. She saw damn clearly. She’d be able to run a firm herself. Harpur said: ‘If I talk to him, he’ll obviously know I’ve been leaked to by someone.’

  ‘By someone, yes.’

  ‘Don’t you think he’ll know who?’

  ‘You needn’t say.’

  ‘The only other possible would be one of his co-plotters. Why would they do that – give away a plan that could bring them fat money and power? No. You’ll be top of the likelies.’

  ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘How would he react if he came to suspect you? What you’re doing is a kind of betrayal, isn’t it? This is his prized project and you aim to sabotage it.’

  ‘He’d see I was trying to help him.’

  ‘Don’t count on that.’

  ‘I’d like him to stay alive,’ she replied.

  In fact, Harpur thought she was taking risks for Wensley in a way he would almost certainly detest. That’s how women could be. Governed by love – admirable; but their responses narrowed, simplified by love – sometimes, not so admirable. ‘You also should try to stay alive,’ Harpur told her. He felt reasonably certain he would have said that to anyone in Karen Lister’s situation: it wasn’t to do with her fine face and body. He still reckoned he’d achieved very considerable neutrality as regards those, and spoke to her as most police officers, of either sex, would speak to anyone who needed a warning about a hazard, hazards. In any case, she was fucking obviously and intensely committed to Jase. ‘I have to go for the children now. I’ll drive you to your car,’ he said.

  Did she seem hurt, let down, by this dismissal? ‘Is that wise?’ she said.

  ‘I don’t know a wise way for you to get to it, but it’s got to be got to so you can go home as normal. Do a bit of token shopping en route?’ He left the cups and saucers out and the remains of the bread. He felt there was something innocent looking about a currant loaf which might reassure Hazel and Jill. If an interlude had been innocent, proclaim this innocence. Make the most of it. Things would not always be so easy. A currant loaf was kiddies’ picnic grub. It smelled of fruit, not sex. Definitely no aphrodisiac.

  He took Karen to her car. On the way she said: ‘Your boss man – Ilesy. I’m told he thinks the main aim of policing is to keep innocent, civilian blood off the streets. He wouldn’t mind pushers and barons getting hit—’

  ‘He’d love that, is always working towards it, preferably so they’re killed, but complicated disablement would do. Disfigurement at least – loss of something facial.’

  ‘Not ordinary people in the crossfire, though.’

  ‘He has his own way of viewing things. Crossfire can definitely be a pain.’

  ‘But, look, if Jason and his mates try to eliminate General Franco and his mates, there could be a hot war – will more or less certainly be a hot war – probably crossfire, possibly blood on the streets. These people know about weaponry.’

  ‘Which people?’

  ‘The ones Iles wants dead – from either side.’

  She’d left her car outside a little group of shops and a chiropody practice called Jubilant, presumably after that line in the ‘mine eyes have seen the glory’ hymn – ‘be jubilant my feet’. Harpur said: ‘You drive away first. I’ll wait to find whether another vehicle pops in behind. Mobile on, please, in case I need to tell you. You’ve got a hands-free set?’

  ‘What if a vehicle does pop in behind?’

  ‘You’ll know – we’ll know – they know you’ve been talking to me. I might even be able to get an identification.’

  ‘But why would they tail me in the first place?’

  ‘They live with the constant expectation of broken trust. All crook cliques are like it.’

  ‘Which they?’

  ‘People around Jason, I’d say. Maybe Jason himself. They constantly sniff for treason. And do checks for treason.’

  ‘And what do I do if they come after me?’

  ‘We’ve got to hope they don’t.’

  ‘Oh, thanks, I think I could have worked that out for myself,’ she said. ‘But what do I do if they do come after me?’

  ‘You’d have to think about getting out.’

  ‘Getting out of what?’

  ‘Ditching Jason. Doing a bunk.’

  ‘To?’

  ‘Have yo
u got somewhere you could go? Parents? Siblings? Or would Jason know about these – perhaps he’s visited them with you, so, not a bright idea. Is there a good, same-sex friend somewhere, just to get you out of sight for a little while, until you find a permanent bolt-hole?’

  ‘This doesn’t add up, does it?’ she replied. ‘If I don’t go home because I’ve got something tracking me, they’ll track me to where I do go, won’t they?’

  Yes, a sharp mind here. ‘Go home. Act unafraid. Then, when you spot a chance, get in the Mini again and hop it.’

  He knew it was dismally poor, entirely fallible guidance. He lacked anything better. Thank God, he observed no car get into the Mini’s slipstream. But, as he’d reminded her, these might be smart experts they were dealing with. Perhaps they’d seen her arrive now in Harpur’s vehicle. They’d realize he would be watching. They’d have tactics to beat him, and her. To provide a belated reason for being here he stepped from his car and went into the ‘eight-till-late’ convenience store and bought some wine. Then he left to meet the children.

  During the trip to Arthur Street after judo, Jill said from the back seat: ‘Shall I tell you how I see the Karen Lister matter?’

  ‘Probably,’ Hazel said.

  ‘This is a woman from one of the gangs, most probably Manse Shale’s, or Manse Shale’s as was,’ Jill said. ‘Everyone knows there’s trouble in the firms because of those killings and then Manse going drop-out and into holiness. There could be a scrap among Manse’s people to decide who takes over. Oh, I heard from kids who buy from his outfit that he named someone to run things, but this someone is someone whose brain goes historical and abroad now and then. Not really good for a business.

  ‘Maybe Karen Lister has a boyfriend, partner, who might be thinking of a grab at the top job, to give some true leadership. So, she’s scared for him. Very. She thinks that in any battle he could get hurt or even killed, which is most likely right. Maybe he and his little band would be outnumbered. She hopes to bring some sense to things. She’s so scared, she wants Dad to meet him and tell him to lay off, and when Dad tells him to lay off he’ll lay off, not because Dad told him to lay off, but because, if Dad tells him to lay off, it shows the plan is not a secret, and that means there can’t be no surprise, which is vital in such a plot, as all know. Karen has shopped the boyfriend, or whatever he is.’

  ‘Can’t be any surprise,’ Harpur said. ‘Or can be no surprise.’

  ‘No, there can’t be any surprise,’ Jill said. ‘Yes, there can be no surprise. That’s the picture, isn’t it, Dad? You should feel proud, I suppose, because she comes to you and blows the whole plan. She’s a woman who seems to trust you.’ Her tone said women of this sort were scarce.

  ‘Matilda Shale was at judo tonight,’ Hazel said. ‘She comes now and then. It’s always been now and then. Laura Cave, the little twit, asked her if she wasn’t frightened to be in the Jag with her dad after all that. But Matilda stayed calm. She said why should she be scared? The shooting was done, the job finished.’

  ‘Like the job was to kill their stepmother. That’s how it sounded, wasn’t it, Haze?’ Jill said.

  ‘And the brother by accident,’ Hazel said.

  ‘Yes, him by accident, but not their stepmother by accident,’ Jill said. ‘Nobody would bother her and her dad now. That’s what she seemed to say. I thought Matilda was telling us, but without the actual words, that she didn’t believe Laurent had it right when he said twat Ralphy laid on the Jag shooting. If Ralph had done this, it would be because Manse was a rival in the trade and should be got rid of. But Ralphy wouldn’t have such a reason to arrange for Manse’s wife to get it.’

  As he expected, neither of the children mentioned Karen Lister to Denise. She was already at 126 after the swimming tutorial when they arrived back, and she’d cleared up the living room. No stain on Karen’s cup, luckily, because she hadn’t come lipsticked. ‘I saw your car parked up near Jubilant, Col,’ she said. ‘I guessed you’d be doing a bit of shopping on the way to judo, so I didn’t stop.’

  It sounded as though his car was unoccupied at that time, didn’t it? Karen Lister must have gone. ‘I wanted to pick up some wine,’ Harpur said. ‘We’ll have a glass later, shall we?’

  ‘Who’s into currant loaf?’ Denise replied.

  ‘Jill and I needed something before judo,’ Hazel said, ‘to build strength for the arm locks.’

  ‘And the best china!’ Denise said.

  ‘Now and then we show Dad we can be ladylike,’ Hazel said. ‘The crocks are expensive, and we don’t want him to feel it’s money wasted as far as we’re concerned. He deserves some consideration.’

  ‘Definitely,’ Jill said.

  ‘That’s really kind,’ Denise said. ‘Isn’t it, Col?

  ‘It’s family,’ Hazel said.

  ‘They’re truly thoughtful girls,’ Harpur said. He might have liked to talk to Denise, though, about the visit from Karen Lister: talk to and listen to, for her reactions and advice. But the children had obviously decided it would be risky to mention that Karen had called. Perhaps they judged right. Things had to be kept OK with Denise. The remains of that currant loaf could have brought embarrassments. Hazel had headed them off. She had a strong, practical streak. She’d deftly neutralized the loaf by swiftly claiming she and Jill were the ones who’d fed off it. So, no need to admit Harpur had been entertaining a quite young woman with legs and so on here alone for at least an hour.

  Just the same, Harpur ran through in his head the kind of conversation he might have had with Denise about Lister. Denise possessed a good, quick but dogged brain, perhaps a match for Karen Lister’s.

  ‘The girlfriend-slash-partner of someone in Manse Shale’s firm called because she’s worried about him,’ Harpur might have said.

  Denise would grow alert. ‘Called? On the phone?’

  ‘No came here.’

  ‘To the house?’

  ‘It’s in the directory.’

  ‘If it was business, why didn’t she go to the nick?’

  ‘She’s got an aversion to police stations. It’s not uncommon.’

  ‘She just rolled up and knocked the door, set on seeing you personally?’

  ‘Not exactly that.’

  ‘What then?’

  ‘She waited in the street until we came out, on the way to judo. She wouldn’t want to be seen knocking the door of a senior cop.’

  ‘Seen who by?’

  ‘She wondered if she’d been tailed.’

  ‘So she puts herself on show pounding the street.’

  ‘Yes, she’s not always very logical.’

  ‘Why would she be tailed?’

  ‘I don’t think she was.’

  ‘But why would she imagine it?’

  ‘People in these firms don’t believe love for one of their members is the same as loyalty to the outfit. The two different interests can clash.’

  ‘So, what’s her worry about?’

  ‘She thinks he’s going to try for control of Manse Shale’s company.’

  ‘The control has already passed to someone, hasn’t it? That’s what I heard in college. Quite a few students get their stuff from his team. And lecturers. Shale more or less appointed someone, didn’t he? Isn’t it a bloke they call General Franco, real name Arlington?’

  ‘He calls himself General Franco from time to time, and acts the part. That’s the guts of the problem.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘The boyfriend doesn’t think this new leadership with its mental quirks is able to handle big changes sure to come in the drugs game here.’

  ‘And the boyfriend thinks he could handle them? But she’s not so sure?’

  ‘Her worries start before that. She isn’t confident he can manage the grab for the top job.’

  ‘That’s a pretty poor response from a girlfriend, isn’t it? Where’s the love? Where’s the esteem? Where’s the lustful complicity? It knocks him, poor bugger.’

  ‘It does. But she’s shre
wd. She could be right.’

  ‘A lot of people mix up being cautious with being right. Why does she come to you? Is that part of the shrewdness?’

  ‘She wants me to see him and hint I’m aware of the plan. She calculates that if he finds it’s known he’ll chicken. Coups need confidentiality.’

  ‘God, this is sleazy of her, wouldn’t you say? And isn’t it all very flimsy, Col? She’s only guessing he might have a go, and that, if he does have a go, he’ll get damaged. So hypothetical. This is figment on figment. And suppose you do go to see him. He’ll deduce she’s spilled to you, won’t he?’

  ‘Possibly. All the same, she thinks she’s doing what’s best.’

  ‘Do you?’

  ‘Not certain.’

  ‘Will you see him?’

  ‘Not certain.’

  And he wasn’t. He had no official cause to interview Jason. He didn’t want to bring retaliation and punishment upon Karen Lister. If the chat with Denise had been real, she’d probably have put her doubts much more forcibly. In his fantasy script he provided some of his own weak quibbles for her to speak – but that’s all they sounded like: weak quibbles. Denise didn’t go in for quibbles of any category. They were enough to make him undecided, though.

  ‘How’s the crawl?’ he said.

  ‘Better,’ Denise said. ‘The coach gave me some really close help.’

  ‘Oh, good.’

  ‘Showed me how to get my left arm going deeper and coordinate more closely with leg rhythm. It was a session very much focused on my legs and thighs.’

  ‘Oh, great.’

  ‘You don’t have to get steamed, you know.’

  ‘Steamed?’

  ‘The coach is a woman. Hetero woman.’

  ‘Great,’ Harpur said.

  ‘Did you get steamed about it?’

  ‘A bit, yes.’

  ‘Great,’ Denise said.

  Harpur made some more tea, using the quality cups, saucers and plates again, and he and Denise sat on the chesterfield and finished the currant loaf. But watching Denise eat, he thought for a couple of moments again of Karen Lister’s good little teeth as part of a death mask.

  EIGHT

  That dawn search by low law-thugs at Low Pastures brought big changes to Margaret Ember. Above all, she decided she could not leave Ralph, whatever her plans might have been before. To bolt now with the children would look like the filthiest cowardice, and a vile obsession with Ralph’s loot. The police had suddenly turned against him after an epoch of gloriously permitted, endlessly incrementing profits; so, his wife buggers off and leaves him to it, scared of more cop harassment, and scared also that the raid could mean Ralph’s chief business would get hammered, and the marvellous money shrink or even stop. This was how her escape would be seen. She couldn’t do it. She had to stick with him, help him if she could, support him.