brushing off the hand he places on my shoulder, annoyed with myself because his touch makes me tingle and I want to collapse into his arms and holler like a baby. But, I won’t allow that to happen.
My expression hardens. "There are two things you should know about me, Tommy. If that really is your name, because I don’t know what the truth is any more. One, my name’s Nancy, not sweetheart, doll or darling. I’m nobody’s sweetheart." I pause to give him plenty of time to digest what I've just said. "And two, I’m not a stupid, wee lassie who’ll be dazzled by your charm. I know when I’m being spun a line. Shug never said anything to me about turning his life around. And, he would have told me that when I visited him a few days ago."
We’ve stopped at the traffic lights. There’s an old wino panhandling for change. This would be the perfect time for me to wrench the door open, jump out and start running and keep on running until I was alone. There’s a bar across the road and thanks to late opening, it’s still busy. If he tries anything, there are plenty of witnesses and there's CCTV.
Tommy wisely keeps his hands to himself.
"Shug wasn’t killed over some petty prison argument. He was set up. It was a prison hit."
He looks straight at me, eyes boring into mine and I know he’s telling the truth.
As I sit there, trying to take in the ramifications of what he’s saying, the lights change and we pull away. My chance of ditching him have gone.
In a way, I’m relieved because I’ve nowhere left to run.
Chapter 26
"But, who’d want to kill him? He was a petty thief, not Tony Soprano."
There’s an edge to my voice. Shug was small fry. He was someone who found it easier drifting his way through life on the rob, instead of doing a decent day’s work. He got off on the thrill of it all. He wasn’t the kind of cold, calculating criminal who made enemies.
Tommy doesn’t so much as blink. "It’s better to think in terms of why and not who. Anybody will kill anybody if the price is right."
"Who put a price on his head, then?"
Tommy looks me straight in the eye. "Shug was looking after a gun for someone. The last time he was busted for burglary he didn’t have time to put it somewhere safe, so he managed to smuggle out a message to your parents asking them to dispose of it."
"My parents…" I’m choking on the words. "They hid a gun for Shug?"
I can’t believe they’d do that. Not my mum and dad, who were as law-abiding as they come. When they got the wrong change at the store, they’d always pipe up and hand it back.
"Afraid so. That’s what signed their death warrant. Who else would a lad in trouble go to, but his mammy and daddy?"
"How do you know about the gun?" I fire out the question, meeting him with a stone cold, hard stare, giving him no time to think.
"Shug confided in me. He knew I wouldn’t tell anyone because of client confidentiality and all that."
"Why go to so much trouble for one gun?"
From what I’d heard there were plenty of guns in Glasgow. Why was this one so damn special?
"This one had been used," says Tommy." Probably in a series of armed robberies. That’s what they do you know. Get some patsy to stash the gun in payment for a debt or in exchange for some favor."
"How do you know all this? Are you a cop?"
I’m joking – no cop I’ve heard of would clock someone over the head with a crowbar – but for a brief second, he looks worried.
"Me? Nah, don’t be daft."
My head’s spinning. If what he's saying is true, Shug was responsible for Mum and Dad’s deaths, for my ordeal. He brought hell to our door.
“What now?”
I’ve got to be practical. Yates will come after me and so will his boss because they’ll think I have the gun. There’s no way he’ll call off the dogs; not when he has so much to lose.
Tommy meets my eyes with a piercing gaze of his own. “We go after the man who owned the gun. The man who ordered his two thugs to
My expression hardens. "There are two things you should know about me, Tommy. If that really is your name, because I don’t know what the truth is any more. One, my name’s Nancy, not sweetheart, doll or darling. I’m nobody’s sweetheart." I pause to give him plenty of time to digest what I've just said. "And two, I’m not a stupid, wee lassie who’ll be dazzled by your charm. I know when I’m being spun a line. Shug never said anything to me about turning his life around. And, he would have told me that when I visited him a few days ago."
We’ve stopped at the traffic lights. There’s an old wino panhandling for change. This would be the perfect time for me to wrench the door open, jump out and start running and keep on running until I was alone. There’s a bar across the road and thanks to late opening, it’s still busy. If he tries anything, there are plenty of witnesses and there's CCTV.
Tommy wisely keeps his hands to himself.
"Shug wasn’t killed over some petty prison argument. He was set up. It was a prison hit."
He looks straight at me, eyes boring into mine and I know he’s telling the truth.
As I sit there, trying to take in the ramifications of what he’s saying, the lights change and we pull away. My chance of ditching him have gone.
In a way, I’m relieved because I’ve nowhere left to run.
Chapter 26
"But, who’d want to kill him? He was a petty thief, not Tony Soprano."
There’s an edge to my voice. Shug was small fry. He was someone who found it easier drifting his way through life on the rob, instead of doing a decent day’s work. He got off on the thrill of it all. He wasn’t the kind of cold, calculating criminal who made enemies.
Tommy doesn’t so much as blink. "It’s better to think in terms of why and not who. Anybody will kill anybody if the price is right."
"Who put a price on his head, then?"
Tommy looks me straight in the eye. "Shug was looking after a gun for someone. The last time he was busted for burglary he didn’t have time to put it somewhere safe, so he managed to smuggle out a message to your parents asking them to dispose of it."
"My parents…" I’m choking on the words. "They hid a gun for Shug?"
I can’t believe they’d do that. Not my mum and dad, who were as law-abiding as they come. When they got the wrong change at the store, they’d always pipe up and hand it back.
"Afraid so. That’s what signed their death warrant. Who else would a lad in trouble go to, but his mammy and daddy?"
"How do you know about the gun?" I fire out the question, meeting him with a stone cold, hard stare, giving him no time to think.
"Shug confided in me. He knew I wouldn’t tell anyone because of client confidentiality and all that."
"Why go to so much trouble for one gun?"
From what I’d heard there were plenty of guns in Glasgow. Why was this one so damn special?
"This one had been used," says Tommy." Probably in a series of armed robberies. That’s what they do you know. Get some patsy to stash the gun in payment for a debt or in exchange for some favor."
"How do you know all this? Are you a cop?"
I’m joking – no cop I’ve heard of would clock someone over the head with a crowbar – but for a brief second, he looks worried.
"Me? Nah, don’t be daft."
My head’s spinning. If what he's saying is true, Shug was responsible for Mum and Dad’s deaths, for my ordeal. He brought hell to our door.
“What now?”
I’ve got to be practical. Yates will come after me and so will his boss because they’ll think I have the gun. There’s no way he’ll call off the dogs; not when he has so much to lose.
Tommy meets my eyes with a piercing gaze of his own. “We go after the man who owned the gun. The man who ordered his two thugs to
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