House of Lads

by Roland Lloyd Parry

  Maya set off running again. She went quicker on the firm sand, rustling through stacks of seaweed and crunching on razor shells. Running to the water.

  All my strength had gone. A stitch in my side was killing me. My lungs were burnt out.

  I couldn’t run anymore.

  Her white top faded out of sight in the dark.

  I thought about running back to hide in the dunes. To burrow into one and let it fall in on top of me.

  No time. There were the torches, flashing over the crests of sand. The slobbering and panting of the rozzer-dogs. And now the bizzies could see me. One was shouting at me to stand still.

  I turned back to face the sea. Looked right, towards Southport. Left towards town. No sign of Maya.

  The bizzies were yelling louder. I turned towards them. I heard another car behind me on the beach.

  I span round.

  Ragging along it was. Must be bizzies, I thought. But there was no blue flash. It braked a few yards away with a skid and a scatter of sand. The headlights shone on me. A door clicked open and a feller got out the back.

  He stood there in the beams.

  I lifted a hand again to shield my eyes. Tried to get a look at him. All I could see was his dark suit.

  He held the car door open.

  “Jump in.” he said.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the torches coming down the dunes. Then I was in the back of the car, watching through the tinted window as the bizzies hit the beach with their torches.

  Paterson got in next to me and the car started crawling. A blacked-out screen blocked my view of the driver.

  He patted my knee. I flinched.

  “Well,” he said. All fake and chirpy. “I thought we’d have a talk. The three of us.”

  “Eh?”

  “Let’s pick up your girlfriend. Maya, isn’t it?”

  “Leave her alone. She’s nothing to do with it.”

  He frowned and pouted.

  “She’s not!” I told him. Wondered if I could do something right for Maya at last. Spare her having to meet that twat.

  “I’ve not told her nothing,” I said. “We’ve just been copping off.”

  He laughed, staring out the window. His eyes scanning the sand.

  “You’ve got a good heart, Azo,” he said. “Shame about that.”

  He tapped on the glass behind the driver. The car stopped with a jolt. Paterson jumped out and strode off.

  A minute later he was back, pushing Maya in first. She sat in the middle, between me and him. He pulled the door to. I felt the locks clunk home all round us. Paterson smoothed his fringe back.

  “Don’t worry, Maya,” he said. “I’ll have you back home soon. Raz’ll never know you were gone.”

  She stared at him.

  “Let her go,” I said. “I told you. She’s nothing to do with all this.”

  “You could have fooled me, Azo. Chasing her in the moonlight? She must be someone special,” he said. Sarky bastard. “But what do I know? I’m catching up.”

  “You weren’t taking my calls. Why don’t we start with that?”

  Maya turned and looked at me, wondering what I’d got her into. Wondering who I was.

  I’d messed things up for her tonight alright. I’d do what I could to make up for it. Best I could do now was get Paterson to look after her. Rescue her from Raz and Mossie and whoever the scums were who she’d worn the headscarf for. Get her safe and then hunker back down in the house. Get on with the job by myself.

  “Look,” I said. “Do what you want to me. I’ll take the rap for that lad at The Grace. But you’ve got to help her. Don’t make her go back to Raz.”

  “Why ever not?”

  “He’s got plans for her. God knows what. Sick shit. She’s not safe.”

  He raised his eyebrows like a smartarse.

  “She’s no use to you,” I told him.

  Paterson shifted in his seat and twisted round to face Maya. “Oh, but she is though,” he said. He smiled at her. “Hello. Paterson.”

  He held his hand out. She didn’t shake it.

  He tapped on the tinted glass in front of him. The car started moving again, along the sand towards the city with the sea to our right.

  Paterson looked at Maya.

  “There’s something Azo’s not told you, love,” he said.

  She glanced at me, her cheeks splatched with tears. Then she turned her face away.

  “Azo’s not just some scally working for Raz,” Paterson went on. “He works for me too.”

  “And who are you then, granddad?” she snapped.

  Paterson twisted round further in his seat. He grabbed her hand and moved his face close to hers. She squirmed. He gripped her tighter.

  “Why’s a nice girl like you hanging around with Raz?”

  She shrugged. He went on. “You need him to look after you, don’t you Maya? You’re on the run. It was naughty what you did at the bank.”

  He let it sink in, watching her face right close up.

  She sniffed. “So you’re a bizzie.”

  Paterson sighed. He stared past her out of the window like he wasn’t listening and scratched his head.

  “Poor Maya,” he said. “Always the same drill. You get out of your depth. You run away. Run out of pills. Hit a downer. You can’t win. You should have been on holiday this summer. Instead you’re living with Raz and Mossie. Getting back to your roots? Or are you up to more naughtiness?”

  “How do you…”

  He tapped his head. “I’ve got a file on you, love.”

  Maya spoke again, softer this time.

  “The bank,” she said. “I’ll tell you who else ripped it off.”

  Paterson laughed, throwing his head back and showing all his teeth.

  “I already know that, Maya. But thanks. It’s sweet of you. Next time I want some insider tips, I’ll know who to call.”

  Her face had gone pale. Her voice came out all soft. “I thought that was what you nicked me for,” she said.

  “Maya, Maya,” Paterson said, patting her on the knee. “You’re not nicked. I’d have to fill out all kinds of paperwork. I picked you up so you can help me. You’re on the inside there with Raz. Even closer to him than Azo is. And not only him. Mossie. Rodney. And the leaders of the meetings in Warrington. You’re close to where the money is. That’s where we want to be. Where Azo could never quite reach.”

  She blinked. “If you’re not nicking us, stick it up your arse. I’ll not go back to Raz now.”

  Paterson shook his head gently. His face hardened.

  “Maya,” he said. “Your mum’s lying there on her driveway, turning stiff. Who are we going to blame for that?”

  She stared at him. No words. She stared at me.

  “No she’s not,” I said. “I let go of her. Go back and see.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. Paterson watched them brim up and scatter.

  “She was breathing when I run off,” I said.

  “Well I dropped by to see her straight after,” Paterson said. “She’s not breathing now.”

  Maya shut her eyes as she cried.

  “Any ideas?” Paterson said. “Who can we blame?”

  Her face crinkled. Forehead, nose, cheeks. She bowed her head and lurched into big heaving sobs.

  “Who do you think?” she spat.

  “You don’t mean Azo?” he said. “He wasn’t there.”

  She raised her head, her face sticky with tears, her fringe matted with sweat and sand.

  “Azo’s not been anywhere for months,” Paterson said. “He works for me, Maya. Off the grid. So will you be, if you join in. Off it for good. You’ll be safe. If I turn you loose here and now, you’ll be caught in no time.”

  “Fuck off,” she whispered. She flopped her head down, sobs jerking at her neck.

  I wanted to reach over and touch her. But Paterson sniffed and banged the last nail in.

  “Why would you do it, I wonder? Perhaps she threatened to turn you in.
Anyway. Murder on top of fraud. That’ll get you life.”

  Maya had gone still. I started thinking she’d passed out. Then she coughed.

  “What’ll it be, love?” he asked her. “Go down, or work for me? I’ll sort out your pills.”

  Nothing.

  “You’re a good girl,” he told her. “You act tough, but you’re kind inside. You want a quiet life, don’t you? Well I can help you have that.” He patted her knee. “Good girl.”

  He changed his tone. Business.

  “Raz is going to be moving those lads around,” he said. “He may be moving you too. I want to know where. Azo knows how to reach me.”

  He dropped Maya off back at the roundabout, out of sight of the house. I gave her my key and asked her to leave the latch up. She took it without a word. Wouldn’t meet my eye.

  After she was out, Paterson pulled the door to. The car moved off again, crawling round the block.

  “Nice girl,” Paterson said.

  “She doesn’t know what she’s doing,” I said. “She’s sick.”

  “Bipolar. I’ve seen worse.”

  “And now you’ve killed her mum?”

  He didn’t answer. “Maya will be alright.”

  He reached in his pocket and handed me this little paper bag.

  “For Maya. Lithium, valproate, olanzapine. I’ve written the dosing on the box. To you, for safekeeping.”

  I’d been waiting for him to nab me. Now here he was, and not a word about what I’d done. What was worse than him pulling me out of the game? Keeping me in it, and dragging Maya in too.

  “So,” he said. “I was in your neck of the woods a few weeks back. They were peeling someone off the tracks. The friend of the lad you ran into in The Grace.”

  “You said you’d always be on the end of the line for me,” I yelled at him. “Any time. Help me out, like I was helping you. Where were you that night?”

  He looked down at his lap and let out a big sigh.

  “Alright, Azo. I’ll come clean. I was letting you stew.”

  “I’m dead if Raz finds out who I am. And you’re the one sulking?”

  He turned his head and looked me hard in the eye.

  “We saw you. You went to meet your boy.”

  I wanted to hit him. I twitched. Breathed. Stopped myself. Thought for a sec. I reached in my pocket, grabbed the Nokia and stuck it in his lap. He looked down at it, cleared his throat and picked it up.

  “Hold on to this, Azo. You’ll be needing it.”

  He tried to stuff it back in my trackie. I wriggled but he rammed his hand down, leaving the Nokia in my pocket. He straightened up in his seat.

  “You made it very hard for me, you know,” he said. “Going to see little Ali like that. By the rules, I should have hauled you in.”

  “Then why didn’t you?”

  “This job you’re on. I could feel it was a big one. Now it’s heating up. Thanks for your letter by the way. So Raz had you picking up his mail at Tranmere. Guns from the Balkans?”

  I looked down at my lap. “No. The guns came in a container through Bootle. At Tranmere it was this case. Kind of safe box. And he’s got a fridge that’s locked. I reckon he’s put the box in there.”

  Paterson froze. Just for the shortest sec. He nearly looked worried.

  “The ship came from Liberia,” he said. “That’s what Raz said.”

  He nodded.

  “You know more about all this than I do.”

  “Not enough,” Paterson said. “I’ve got to keep my hooks in Raz. I couldn’t cut you loose. I bent the rules for you. Even though you did let me down. I wanted to see if you’d hang in there without me. If you’d wanted to bail you were smart enough to do it without my help. But if you sat tight you were my kind of man. That was the test, Azo. You passed.”

  He had the driver head to Litherland.

  “Remember what I told your girlfriend,” Paterson said. “The lads are going to start moving around soon. Find out who handles them. Raz’s friends. The links in the chain.”

  “Moving around? Why?”

  “You tell me. Work together. See where they go. And don’t lose sight of Raz.”

  “He’s waiting for me to slip up so he can do me.”

  He reached over and grabbed my shirt in his fist. He tugged me towards him. Pulled my face right close to his. I smelt cough syrup on his breath and apple shampoo in his hair.

  “You do what you’ve got to do,” he whispered. “You keep in with him, lad, do you hear?”

  I nodded.

  “And you get inside that fridge.”

  We were back at the roundabout in Litherland.

  “When will you let me see my boy?” I asked him. Broken record.

  “When Raz and all his friends are banged up,” Paterson said.

  “You’re a fanny flap.”

  “And you are a bard and a gentleman.”

  I climbed out. Paterson called out to me as I was walking off.

  “I’ll be answering the phone from now on,” he said.

  She’d left the front door open. I slipped inside, clicked the latch gently behind me and stood there, listening. To my right came snores from Raz’s bedroom. I looked left at Maya’s door. No light from under it. I pushed it open a crack and stuck my head round.

  In the glow from a streetlight, I could make out the shape of her, lying in bed on her side. I stepped forward and peered close at her face. Her eyes were open, staring at the wall.

  I sat down beside her on the bed.

  She didn’t move.

  I took Paterson’s paper bag out my pocket, opened one of the boxes from it and split out a pill. Put my fingers to her mouth and worked it between her lips.

  She moaned, gurgled and tried to swallow. I put Paterson’s bottle of water in her hands and wrapped her fingers round it. Unscrewed the top and put the bottle to her lips. Poured some in her mouth. She coughed and water slopped down the pillow.

  I thought about leaving her with the rest of the pack. Thought again. I put the pills back in my trackie pocket. Went to the door and turned.

  Her eyes had closed.

  27

  I looked at the Nokia. Nine a.m. I crawled out of bed, limbs aching. I limped downstairs.

  The lads were getting dressed and having their showers. No sign of Raz. No Rodney. Still no Manc. I looked in Maya’s room. Her bed was empty. I kept the pills in my pocket for when I saw her.

  I went in the kitchen and got the bowls and cereals out for breakfast. When the lads had all come down, I left Casho in charge and said I’d go to the garage myself for the shopping. As I was taking my coat off the banister I stopped and looked at the space next to it. That cellar door. I’d hardly looked twice at it since I’d been here.

  Just a Yale lock like the one on Raz’s door. I’d have to see about that. Have to get another look at the fridge too. Have another crack at picking the locks. For that I’d have to get hold of the Manc.

  Raz showed up about six with the other three. Maya in her headscarf, pale and quiet. Rodney was all smug. Like there was something big going on and it was all about him.

  I asked Raz where they’d been. He patted me on the shoulder.

  “Tomorrow you drive me,” he said. “I tell you all about it.”

  “Tell me now,” I said.

  He gave me this look, then melted into his old mad grin and whacked me on the shoulder. Rodney smirked to himself.

  Raz told Casho and Ayax to take care of dinner and sent Maya to her room. She popped to the bog first. I left pills by her bedside with water for her to find when she came down.

  She came out of her room later to eat with us. Worn out. Pale. She wouldn’t look me in the eye.

  When he’d finished eating, Raz threw down his napkin and slapped his belly. He stood up, scraping his chair back on the floor. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Maya, then jerked his thumb sideways towards her room.

  “Little Bo-Peep. Go to sleep,” he said.

  S
he slunk off.

  “Too much work makes Jill a sleepy bunny,” Raz said.

  He snapped his fingers again, at Hanzi this time. Pointed to the sink. Casho had stacked our dishes there. Hanzi started washing up.

  Raz stretched his arms. He leaned over and slapped my shoulder.

  “Come ’ead, Azo, la’,” he said. “To work.”

  He led me out of the kitchen. Rodney followed. He’d been quiet all tea. Or his mouth had at least. That hum of smug-arseness off him had got a notch or two louder since he’d been popping out on trips with the two big men.

  I glanced back as Raz led us into the hall. I caught Rodney’s eye. This nasty smirk on his gob.

  Raz had stopped by the cellar door. Key in his hand.

  “You told us it was jammed.”

  He unlocked it and opened the door.

  “Something you need to see, la’.”

  He pointed down the steps. A dim glow came from the bottom.

  I used to think of my dad when I was scared. I’d never known whether he was brave or good or anything. That’s what had given him his power. He was so deep and dark and unknown. Like that song in infants they used to sing about God. So high you can’t get over it, so wide you can’t get round it. Wonderful love. It gave me strength, that deepness. He was like God, my dad. He could be anything I made him.

  He wasn’t there though now, was he. He’d not save me from Raz. And Raz had it in for me. I could tell that now. I wasn’t meant to walk out of this cellar. I felt it in my gut, my heart, my head. I started hearing words. No clue where they came from. They told me this was it.

  I took hold of the dusty hand rail and put my foot on the top step. My legs were trembling. I started hobbling down the stone staircase into the gloom. Raz and Rodney clumping down behind me.

  I thought of Ali. I wondered what he was doing. Having his bath. Playing with his Buzz Lightyear. He’d be starting school soon. Did he ask for me? Did he think of me when I wasn’t there? How long had it been? Three months? Like a lifetime for a lad that young. All that life I’d missed. All them weekends wasted. Every day taking me further from him.

  There were stacks of wooden crates all over the floor at the bottom. A big torch lying on its side, switched on.