The Crew

by Bali Rai

  ‘All I ever seen is bad,’ replied Della. She stood up and went over to the window. ‘See, DI Elliot, you don’t get it round here. No one likes the police because they’ve learned the hard way that Babylon can’t be trusted. So when things get messed up, we turn to each other. I would rather let Nanny help me out than you because he knows what he’s doing . . .’

  ‘But—’ began Elliot.

  ‘Nah, man, let me finish. If you lose something round here, or you wanna find someone, it’s better to ask the kids on the mountain bikes and the dealers and those poor cows that work over by the church and that. We don’t need no community police round this way ’cos we police ourselves, up to a point. Yeah – the dealers and the pimps just go about their business – but so what?’

  ‘What about authority?’

  ‘Authority? I look up to my mum and Billy’s mum and the rest of the Crew. I look up to Nanny and his mates, and the women who have worked them streets for years just to send their kids to school with full bellies. I don’t look up to you and your institutions, man. For what?’

  ‘I know it’s hard,’ said Elliot, looking almost sad. Man, she was definitely strange for a copper. She was sympathetic.

  ‘Nah, you don’t know. To most of you coppers this is a no-go zone. Most of ’em don’t give a shit. They patrol because they have to.’

  ‘Yeah, man,’ agreed Nanny. ‘If all a dis dealin’ and slavery of woman a gwan in your middle-class area then it would get close down dead. But from when it contain in de ghetto . . .’

  ‘. . . then your institutions and your police don’t give a monkey’s,’ finished Della, wiping a tear away.

  Elliot knew that she wasn’t about to change anyone’s mind and to her credit she stopped trying. See, in the ghetto, Elliot – if she was as sincere as she seemed – was an anomaly, an aberration. She wasn’t par for the course and that was the real problem. Della and me and the rest of the Crew – even Ellie, who hadn’t always lived here – could see what was going on. We saw the good and we saw the bad and we weren’t stupid. Only coppers and teachers and social workers who told us things were getting better – only they were stupid. Because they were telling lies to people who already lived the truth.

  The interview had drifted into a debate almost – until Mr Sykes pulled us all back into focus. ‘Are we gonna sit round and talk bloody sociology or are we gonna do something to find Jas? Poor lad could be dead.’

  ‘Let me call my boss back,’ replied DI Elliot, looking a little embarrassed. ‘See where we’ve got to.’

  ‘Nothing like gettin’ yer priorities right,’ added Ellie’s dad, with sarcasm and just a touch of anger.

  thirty-four:

  wednesday, midnight

  DI ELLIOT SPENT about twenty minutes on the phone to her boss and by that time it was getting close to midnight. As soon as she got off the phone she went into the kitchen and spoke to Jas’s mum. I stood with her as she spoke. Apparently Busta had offered to give evidence against Ratnett without even being asked. The police had threatened him with a child kidnap, murder and abuse charge and that had scared him silly. I knew why too. Busta would gladly have done time for a normal crime – getting sent down was a rite of passage in the ghetto, a way to get respect. But doing time on a child abduction charge? On the nonce wing? Forget it. Busta would be finished.

  They still had no clue where Jas was – only that Ratnett was involved. And Busta was prepared to help, in return of course for some lesser charges against him. Their plan was to get Busta to call Ratnett and tell him that we had given him the second bag. Busta would then arrange a meeting with Ratnett to hand over the money and hopefully find out where Jas was being held. The whole thing would be taped so it could be played back to Ratnett when he was arrested. A classic sting operation, as my crime novel heroes would have put it.

  Jas’s mum sat and thought about it, telling Elliot that she didn’t care what they did as long as Jas was safe. She told her that all she wanted was for her son to come back in one piece and not end up like Claire. Elliot reassured her that the operation was a top priority and would happen almost immediately. As soon as Busta had been wired up and briefed.

  ‘We won’t allow it to drag into tomorrow,’ said Elliot. ‘It’s too much of a risk.’

  Jas’s mum shuddered at the word ‘risk’.

  Elliot then turned to me. ‘Well, that’s all I’ll be needing from you,’ she said quietly.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Obviously I’ll need you to fill out proper statements and possibly testify – once we arrest Ratnett and put him on trial. But as far as playing the detective . . . leave that to me.’

  ‘But Jas is part of our crew,’ I protested.

  ‘Yes, I know,’ she replied patiently. ‘And the best thing you can do for him is to stay at home and let us find him. We will find him.’

  ‘Like you found Ellie, you mean?’

  Lucy Elliot gave me a look that said, Don’t push it. I didn’t.

  My mum stepped in and agreed with her. ‘You’ve done enough, Billy,’ she said. ‘Busta is in custody and Ratnett is about to be arrested too.’

  ‘But Jas—’

  ‘Jas will be fine,’ she said, smiling. ‘DI Elliot will make sure of that, won’t you?’ She looked at Elliot.

  ‘Yes. I will personally make sure of it.’

  ‘Yeah, right,’ I said, resigned to the fact that our little adventure was over.

  ‘Look, Billy – thanks for your help. I just can’t allow myself to put any of you in danger. This is serious. As far as we know, Ratnett is desperate – he’s already implicated in the murder of one person. I can’t risk anyone else. It’s against my ethical and professional judgement.’

  ‘You mean it’s more than your job’s worth?’

  ‘Yes, it is. I didn’t slog my way to where I am just to throw it away,’ said Elliot. She meant it too.

  Zeus, who had disappeared upstairs earlier because of the number of people in the house, reappeared with a sheepish look on his face and stood by the door, whining.

  ‘He needs to go outside,’ said Ellie.

  ‘Has anyone walked him?’ I asked, looking around.

  ‘Yes, Billy,’ replied my mum. ‘In between finding out about a murder, losing Jas and having half of the street in the kitchen, someone managed to take him out.’ Sarcasm of the highest order.

  ‘Billy, Billy – dissed by your own mother!’ said Will, which made everyone grin. Even my mum.

  She looked at me with a smile. ‘Well? It was a stupid thing to ask,’ she said.

  ‘Thanks, Mum,’ I replied, mildly annoyed.

  ‘I’ll take him,’ offered Della suddenly.

  ‘Della, it’s after midnight,’ said Sue.

  ‘Well just let him out into the yard,’ added my mum.

  Will stood up and yawned. He looked at Della and then Ellie. Turning to my mum, he told her that he’d go out there with the girls. He grabbed Zeus’s lead from a hook above his basket and opened the back door. Zeus didn’t need a second invitation, bounding out into the yard. Not bad for a dog you normally had to drag out of his basket.

  Della looked at me. ‘You coming?’

  ‘Nah,’ I replied, yawning.

  ‘OK,’ replied Della with a sad look in her eyes.

  ‘Dell, take your phone with you. Just in case,’ I said.

  ‘Just in case what? You think with half the police force having visited your house tonight that anyone is stupid enough to try anything? In the back yard?’

  ‘No, but just to be sure.’

  Della’s eyes frosted over. ‘Let them come, Billy. Mood I’m in – a bwoi’s gonna get a kickin’ anyways.’

  Looking at her face, I could well believe it. But she picked up her phone anyway, her beautiful feline features set in a serious way.

  thirty-five:

  thursday, 00.45 a.m.

  THE PHONE RANG just after quarter to one in the morning. I was in the kitchen with my mum, Nanny and Su
e.

  ‘Yeah, can I speak to Nanny?’ The caller was Ronnie Maddix – no one else had that voice.

  ‘Hang on a minute, Ronnie,’ I replied, ‘I’ll just get him.’

  The conversation lasted about ten minutes, with Nanny listening mostly. I sat down next to my mum and waited for him to finish.

  My mum looked at Sue. ‘I wonder what he wants now,’ she said.

  Sue shrugged. ‘Ronnie Maddix,’ she said quietly. ‘Now there’s a blast from the proverbial.’

  I wondered whether I should mention what Ronnie had told me about my biological father but decided that it would be the last thing my mum would want to hear right now. Anyway, he was history, so why bring him up? My mum told Sue about his earlier call and Sue’s eyes grew wider.

  ‘Is he still in the same game?’ she asked my mum, who nodded.

  ‘People like him never change.’

  ‘I don’t get it,’ said Sue. ‘What does he have to do with all of this?’

  ‘He told us where to find Busta,’ I replied.

  ‘Ah – the ghetto grapevine,’ smiled Sue.

  ‘Do you all know him then?’ I asked.

  My mum and Sue looked at each other. ‘We did, once. Long time ago, kid.’

  Sue agreed with my mum. ‘People like him are best left in the past,’ she said.

  ‘Well, he did us a favour,’ I replied. Bad move.

  ‘Ronnie doesn’t do anyone a favour unless there’s something in it for him,’ snapped my mum.

  ‘Your mum’s right, Billy. He’s not the kind of man you want to owe anything to. Monetary or otherwise.’

  I thought about what they were saying and then shrugged it off. I didn’t care what Maddix did – all I knew was he had helped us out and that was fine by me. I didn’t owe him anything, anyway. He didn’t have to help.

  Nanny put the phone down and came back to the table. My mum eyed him suspiciously. ‘Is it payback time already?’ she asked.

  ‘Nah, baby – nuttin’ like that.’ He sat down and scratched his bearded chin.

  ‘So – what did he want?’ asked my mum sternly.

  ‘Him find one of Busta bwoi dem. The bwoi tell him where Ratnett deh.’

  ‘What?’ My mum looked at Nanny in disbelief.

  ‘Ronnie just told me where Ratnett holdin’ Jas. Him a watch de place – seh him have a plan. I man ago meet him.’

  ‘Ronnie knows where Jas is?’ I added. ‘And we can go get him?’ Nanny nodded. I realized that something wasn’t quite right with what Nanny was telling us. ‘How did Ronnie know about Jas?’ I asked.

  We hadn’t even known about Jas’s abduction when we’d met Maddix and we certainly hadn’t told him that Ratnett was Busta’s boss. After all, we’d only found that out when we had come back to the house. After speaking to Maddix. A long while after.

  Nanny looked a little sheepish. ‘Listen, Ronnie a run t’ings. Him know about the dodgy policeman already.’

  ‘So why didn’t he tell you?’ asked my mum, getting angry.

  ‘Because I tol’ him we want Busta. I never even mention de police.’

  ‘But he must have known that Busta and Ratnett were connected. He had to, man. Like you just said – Ronnie knows everything.’

  Nanny looked at me and nodded.

  My mum sighed. ‘I give up,’ she said. ‘This is getting too stupid for words. Call the police, Nanny. This is a child’s life we’re talking about.’

  ‘OK, mek yuh call the Babylon an’ tell them,’ he said to my mum. ‘But me nuh ina dat, man.’

  ‘You’re scared of what Ronnie might think?’ she asked, sighing again.

  Nanny shook his head. ‘Listen, from when man t’ink I man a grass – me can’t stay round here.’

  Nanny had a point. Right or wrong, where we lived, being labelled an informer was the worst thing that could happen. Especially to someone like Nanny. It could make life dangerous for him. It was all right helping the police to get Busta – he had kidnapped one child and helped kill another. The whole thing about informing didn’t apply to nonces – they got what was coming to them. Busta was lucky that the police had him. In our neighbourhood anyone that messed with a kid got wasted, man. It was simple, black and white, ghetto logic.

  But telling them what Maddix had planned – that was different. Ronnie was the man, not to mention a friend of Nanny’s. He couldn’t grass him up. No way. Where would that leave Nanny? The next time a crack dealer got busted or the police closed down some pimp’s operation, the finger would point at Nanny automatically. That was the way things worked. And my mum knew it. Nanny was in an impossible situation. Rock and a hard place style. It was the life we lived in.

  ‘DI Elliot told us that Busta was going to take them to Ratnett anyway,’ I said, realizing that no one had to call the coppers.

  ‘And?’ asked my mum.

  ‘Well, think about it, Mum. If they know where Ratnett is, then we don’t have to tell them, do we?’

  ‘I man a try to tell yuh de same t’ing,’ said Nanny, exasperated.

  My mum considered our argument for a moment, realizing that we were right. There was no point in telling the police about Ronnie. They would find out anyway. If anything, I wanted to call Ronnie and warn him about the police. I didn’t make the mistake of voicing my opinion, however – the mood my mum was in. I was more than happy to let her realize that we didn’t have to get Nanny into grief with his friend. And realize she did.

  ‘OK, I see your point,’ she conceded. ‘You know, sometimes it’s like talking to a double act, talking to you two.’

  I smiled at her. ‘Like father, like son,’ I said. I swear she had to hold back a tear.

  I heard the back gate open and shut again, and went to the door. As I opened it, Zeus padded in, heading straight for his basket, followed by the others. I quickly filled them in on what was going on and immediately Della and Will were raring to go with Nanny. Nanny and my mum tried to tell them ‘no’ but it was no use.

  ‘We’ll wait for the police to deal wid Ratnett,’ Della said, looking at me and Will. ‘We won’t even go anywhere close to the action – honest. I jus’ wanna be out there when they find Jas – make sure he’s all right.’

  My mum sighed. ‘Well, Ellie is definitely not going,’ she told us. ‘She’s been through enough already.’

  Ellie looked relieved at my mum’s words. ‘I’ll stay and man the phones,’ she said, looking enquiringly at me. ‘Then I can text you if anything happens here you need to know about.’

  I smiled at her and nodded. ‘That’s a good idea, Ellie – someone needs to keep us all up to speed.’

  Ellie beamed at me.

  I looked at my mum again, expecting her to put up resistance but she just nodded and then told us to be careful. ‘Leave the criminals to the police,’ she told us. ‘Just make sure that Jas is OK.’

  ‘It always best to leave de t’ief to de police,’ agreed Nanny.

  ‘Just keep the kids out of danger, Nanny.’

  Nanny nodded.

  I looked at Ellie, who was still smiling, walked over and gave her a kiss on her forehead. Then I did the same with my mum before turning to Nanny, Della and Will. ‘Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s make a move!’

  thirty-six:

  thursday, 1.30 a.m.

  AS SOON AS we hit the street Nanny got out his brick and called Ronnie Maddix, arranging to meet him down an alley that ran behind the church. The alley was a favourite spot for working girls whose punters didn’t have cars or other places to go to – a local landmark, if you like. As soon as Nanny put his phone away we started to jog towards the crossroads where the church stood, reaching the meeting point in five minutes or so.

  The junction had its usual night-time traffic and no one paid much attention to the dread and the youths jogging in their midst beyond a fleeting glance of recognition or interest. Further away the night air was filled with the wail of an ambulance siren, a blast from a passing police car and, somewher
e, a scream, followed by yelling and then silence.

  We made our way into the church grounds, a girl of no more than fifteen – dressed like a lapdancer – telling us that Ronnie was waiting for us round the back. The churchyard was dark, the two streetlamps closest to it broken again. On purpose. I found it hard to know where I was stepping in the darkness, glad that I had on trainers with a thick sole, just in case I stood on an upturned hypo or a used condom. Nanny rounded the wall into the alley, the rest of us right behind him, and we made our way down past the back of the church.

  About halfway down Ronnie appeared in front of us. To this day I couldn’t tell you where he came from. There was nowhere he could have been hidden – no bins or walls to shield him from us. He just came out of the darkness, scaring the shit out of me.

  Nanny didn’t even flinch. ‘Yes, Ronnie,’ he said, holding out a fist which Ronnie touched with his own.

  ‘Nanny,’ he said before looking to me. ‘And his little crew.’ He laughed.

  ‘So wha’ ’appen?’ asked Nanny, ignoring Ronnie’s jibe, nodding in the direction of the street.

  ‘Got two girls out front watching things for me.’

  Nanny noticed a red vinyl bag sitting on the floor. He pointed at it, looking at me. I was as puzzled as he was and shrugged my shoulders. ‘What’s in that?’ I asked.

  ‘Money,’ replied Ronnie, smiling. ‘Honey for the trap.’

  ‘What trap?’ Nanny and me spoke in unison. We didn’t have a clue what Ronnie was on about.

  Ronnie grinned this time, like a kid with the best new toy at Christmas. Then he outlined his plan to get Jas out. As he spoke I wondered how long it would be before DI Elliot turned up and whether I should warn Ronnie of her impending arrival. Once I’d heard the ‘plan’, I hoped she would show before he put it into action. The plan was all over the shop, and that was me being kind. Five minutes later I realized that my hoping was in vain and I cussed DI Elliot and the police under my breath as Nanny and Ronnie made for the front of the church, the rest of us bringing up the rear.