Clean Break

Clean Break by Val McDermid

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Authors: Val McDermid
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off them, they wouldn’t be inciting anyone else to steal something for them to buy, now would they?
    â€œSomebody catch up with you?” I gasped between sit-ups.
    â€œWorse than that,” he said gloomily. “I set up a meet at Anderton Services on the 61. Ten grand for a wagon of Levis. Everything’s going sweet as a Sunday morning shag when it all comes on top. All of a sudden, there’s more bizzies than you get on crowd control at a United/City match. I legged it over the footbridge and dived into the ladies’ toilet. Sat there for two hours. I went back over just in time to see the dibble loading my Audi on to a tow truck. I couldn’t fucking believe it, could I?” Dennis grunted as he did a handful of squat thrusts.

    â€œSomebody tip them off about you?” I asked, fastening a body protector over my front.
    â€œYou kidding me? This wasn’t regular Old Bill, this was the Drugs Squad. They’d only been staking the place out because they’d had a tip a big crack deal was going down. They see somebody handing over a wad of cash, and they jump to the wrong conclusion.”
    â€œSo what’s happening?” I asked, pulling the ropes apart and climbing into the ring.
    Dennis followed me and we began to circle each other cautiously. “They lifted my punter and accused him of being a drug baron.” He snorted. “That pillock couldn’t deal a hand of poker, never mind a key of crack. Any road, he’s so desperate to get out of the shit he’s drowning in that he coughs the lot. Next morning, they’re round my house mob-handed. The wife was mortified.”
    â€œThey charging you?” I asked, swinging a swift kick in towards Dennis’s knee.
    He sidestepped and twisted round, catching me over the right hip. “Got to, haven’t they? Otherwise they come away from their big stakeout empty-handed. Theft, and obtaining by deception.”
    I didn’t say anything. I didn’t need to. Dennis might have been clean as far as the law is concerned for half a dozen years now, but with his record, he was looking at doing time. I feinted left and pivoted on the ball of my foot to bring my right leg up in a fast arc that caught Dennis in the ribs.
    â€œNice one, Kate,” he wheezed as he bounced back off the ropes.
    â€œBit of luck, your punters might decide it would be bad for their reputations if they weigh in as witnesses when it comes to court.” It wasn’t much consolation but it was all I could think of.
    â€œNever mind their reputation, it wouldn’t be too good for their health,” he said darkly. “Anyway, I’ve got one or two things on the boil. Just a bit of insurance in case I do go down. Make sure Debbie and the kids don’t go without if I’m away.”
    I didn’t ask what kind of insurance. I knew better. We worked out in silence for a while. I was upset at the thought of only seeing Dennis with a visiting order for the next couple of years, but there was nothing I could do to help him out, and he knew that as well as I did. Even though we have more attitudes in common than
seems likely on the surface, there are areas of each other’s lives we take care to avoid. Mostly they’re to do with knowledge that either of us would feel uncomfortable about keeping to ourselves. I don’t tell him when I’m about to drop people in it who he knows, and he doesn’t tell me things I’d feel impelled to pass on to the cops.
    After fifteen minutes of dodging each other round the ring, we were both sweating. I lost concentration for a moment, which was all it took. Next thing I knew, I was on my back staring at the strip lights.
    â€œSloppy,” Dennis remarked.
    I scrambled up to find him leaning on the ropes. I could have knocked the wind out of him with one kick. Or maybe not. I’ve come into contact with that rock-hard diaphragm before. “Got a lot on my

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