this go?
Reuben waved his ID again, indicating the car. “I’d like you to come with me, if you’d be so good,” he said.
Another man had climbed out of the passenger seat and moved round to take over driving duties. A policeman? Did I recognize him from the night before? I couldn’t be sure, but he might even have been one of the ones dishing out Dean’s beating.
“I... Am I under arrest? ”
Reuben’s smile wasn’t the kind that offered reassurance. It was a humorless thing, a mask.
Without thinking, I crossed my arms, hugging myself as if a sudden chill had swept through what was, in fact, a mild spring morning.
“It’s fine, love,” Reuben said. “Just routine. This is my home patch. I see a new face, especially one as pretty as yours, and I like to get to know you.”
His words were about as reassuring as that mask of a smile.
§
The inside of the Ford Focus smelled of fast food, cigarette smoke, and sweat.
DI Glover climbed into the back seat beside me and immediately the car pulled out into the narrow street.
I peered out of the windows, wondering if anyone had seen the exchange, if maybe even Dean might still be around, but there were just a few strangers passing, studiously looking the other way.
Reuben seemed content to let the silence drag out, and I understood enough to know he was using it to unsettle me, not that I needed to be any more unsettled than I already was.
“So,” I said brightly, “how may I help you?”
Silence, still. He was studying my features, his expression unreadable.
“I’m trying to work it out,” he said, finally. We were out on a main road now, stop-starting in the morning traffic. “You Deano’s new bird, or just a casual bit of skirt?”
The same thoughts had been racing around my head all morning, and I probably wasn’t any closer to an answer than the DI was, as far as Dean Bailey’s view of it was concerned.
“I’m trying to work out how close the two of you are,” he went on. “How... involved .”
If I hadn’t been creeped out before, I certainly was now. I shook my head. “I don’t know what you mean,” I told him. “Dean and I are just–”
“–friends. Don’t give me that, love. Those shadows under your eyes aren’t what you get from being just friends all night.” He didn’t need to laugh at his own jokes. He really didn’t.
“Where are we going?”
“You want to go to the nick and talk to me there under caution?” he said. “Or you want to go somewhere else, maybe? Good-looking girl like you. Could fit in well around here, you know what I mean? Plenty of career options. But you know that, sleeping with a Bailey, right?”
I forced a smile, and said, “I think I’d rather go to the police station and have this conversation under caution, thank you.”
That smile again. Hands raised, as if in surrender.
“Fine, fine,” he said. “Just saying.”
Leaning forward, he put a hand on the driver’s shoulder and said, “You hear that, Phil? Bethnal Green police station, if you would?”
Turning back to me, he went on: “Things are going to get nasty around here, you understand that? It’s my job to pick up on the undercurrents, stay a step or two ahead.”
“‘Nasty’?”
He gave a brief nod.
“Your Dean, he can be a bit naughty sometimes. You saw him last night, didn’t you? He’s a loose cannon. Stirring things up with our European friends like that. He was well out of order.”
“I think he got the message.”
The smile seemed more genuine this time. I’m not sure that was a good thing.
“Things are changing around here,” said Reuben. “It seems Dean and his brothers are among the last to cotton onto that. Seems we have to take every opportunity to get the message across.”
I desperately hoped that was the full extent of my role in this: passing on DI Glover’s warning to reinforce the message they’d given Dean in a more physical manner the night before.
“I’ll pass that on,” I
Reuben waved his ID again, indicating the car. “I’d like you to come with me, if you’d be so good,” he said.
Another man had climbed out of the passenger seat and moved round to take over driving duties. A policeman? Did I recognize him from the night before? I couldn’t be sure, but he might even have been one of the ones dishing out Dean’s beating.
“I... Am I under arrest? ”
Reuben’s smile wasn’t the kind that offered reassurance. It was a humorless thing, a mask.
Without thinking, I crossed my arms, hugging myself as if a sudden chill had swept through what was, in fact, a mild spring morning.
“It’s fine, love,” Reuben said. “Just routine. This is my home patch. I see a new face, especially one as pretty as yours, and I like to get to know you.”
His words were about as reassuring as that mask of a smile.
§
The inside of the Ford Focus smelled of fast food, cigarette smoke, and sweat.
DI Glover climbed into the back seat beside me and immediately the car pulled out into the narrow street.
I peered out of the windows, wondering if anyone had seen the exchange, if maybe even Dean might still be around, but there were just a few strangers passing, studiously looking the other way.
Reuben seemed content to let the silence drag out, and I understood enough to know he was using it to unsettle me, not that I needed to be any more unsettled than I already was.
“So,” I said brightly, “how may I help you?”
Silence, still. He was studying my features, his expression unreadable.
“I’m trying to work it out,” he said, finally. We were out on a main road now, stop-starting in the morning traffic. “You Deano’s new bird, or just a casual bit of skirt?”
The same thoughts had been racing around my head all morning, and I probably wasn’t any closer to an answer than the DI was, as far as Dean Bailey’s view of it was concerned.
“I’m trying to work out how close the two of you are,” he went on. “How... involved .”
If I hadn’t been creeped out before, I certainly was now. I shook my head. “I don’t know what you mean,” I told him. “Dean and I are just–”
“–friends. Don’t give me that, love. Those shadows under your eyes aren’t what you get from being just friends all night.” He didn’t need to laugh at his own jokes. He really didn’t.
“Where are we going?”
“You want to go to the nick and talk to me there under caution?” he said. “Or you want to go somewhere else, maybe? Good-looking girl like you. Could fit in well around here, you know what I mean? Plenty of career options. But you know that, sleeping with a Bailey, right?”
I forced a smile, and said, “I think I’d rather go to the police station and have this conversation under caution, thank you.”
That smile again. Hands raised, as if in surrender.
“Fine, fine,” he said. “Just saying.”
Leaning forward, he put a hand on the driver’s shoulder and said, “You hear that, Phil? Bethnal Green police station, if you would?”
Turning back to me, he went on: “Things are going to get nasty around here, you understand that? It’s my job to pick up on the undercurrents, stay a step or two ahead.”
“‘Nasty’?”
He gave a brief nod.
“Your Dean, he can be a bit naughty sometimes. You saw him last night, didn’t you? He’s a loose cannon. Stirring things up with our European friends like that. He was well out of order.”
“I think he got the message.”
The smile seemed more genuine this time. I’m not sure that was a good thing.
“Things are changing around here,” said Reuben. “It seems Dean and his brothers are among the last to cotton onto that. Seems we have to take every opportunity to get the message across.”
I desperately hoped that was the full extent of my role in this: passing on DI Glover’s warning to reinforce the message they’d given Dean in a more physical manner the night before.
“I’ll pass that on,” I
Similar Books
