‘Tony,’ Gently said, ‘I’ll have a milkshake and a sandwich.’
Tony dropped the teapot noisily, grabbed a shaker and slopped milk into it.
‘Whata would you like?’ he gabbled.
‘Same as the chaps,’ Gently said.
‘They got banana,’ Tony said.
‘Make mine banana,’ said Gently.
He took a leisurely survey of the premises. Two transport men were also sitting there. They looked bored. They weren’t eating and they didn’t catch Gently’s eye. At the silent table was a seventh chair and a vacant space on the table in front of it. Gently paid for his order, took it to the space, placed his trilby by it, and sat on the chair.
‘Now,’ he said, ‘as a matter of form, we’ll take the names and addresses first.’
He looked encouragingly round the table. No one answered him a word.
‘You,’ he said to a squash-nosed boy, ‘your name is Salmon, so I’m told.’
‘Like what’s it to you?’ Salmon said. ‘We haven’t been doing nothing, screw.’
‘We’ll come to that,’ Gently said. ‘You live in Barnham Road, don’t you?’
‘Tell him, Jack,’ said a thick-featured youngster. ‘We go for this screw knowing who we are.’
They gave him their names and addresses. Gently wrote them in his notebook. They were Jack Salmon, Jeff Cook, Pete Starling, Bill Hallman, Frankie Knights, and Tommy Grimstead, Hallman being the thick-featured one. Tony watched this going on with increasing agitation. The transport men seemed restive. One of them was heeling the leg of his chair.
‘Right,’ Gently said. ‘Now just for the book, how long have you been here?’
‘Like an hour and a half,’ Hallman said. ‘Ask anyone how long we’ve been here.’
‘Tony?’ Gently said.
‘It’s the truth what they say,’ Tony said. ‘They been here the hour and a half, mister. I don’t wanta no trouble around here.’
‘You won’t get it,’ Gently said. ‘Not if you keep your nose clean. What do these other two gentlemen say?’
The transport men were looking sheepish.
‘That’s about right,’ one of them muttered. ‘We’ve been here an hour, and they were here in front of us.’
‘You want to get away?’ Gently asked.
‘’Bout time we were going,’ the man said.
‘I should get away,’ Gently said. ‘You’ve nothing left to stop for now.’
The two men got to their feet hastily. One of them stumbled as he went through the door. Tony was clutching his arms anguishedly as though they were bothering him with cramp.
‘Good,’ Gently said, ‘that’s the inessentials. Now we can get down to business perhaps. What are the six of you sitting in here for — why aren’t you at work like other people?’
‘Like we work when we want to,’ Hallman said. ‘Is there a law against it, screw?’
‘Yuh,’ Salmon said, ‘what gives with you, screw? We can sit in here as long as we like.’
‘So you weren’t told off for it?’ Gently said.
‘We weren’t told nothing,’ Hallman said.
‘You weren’t told to tie those sheets on your bikes.’
‘Not nothing we was told about,’ Hallman said.
‘Then you just tied them on, did you?’ Gently said. ‘You just got the same idea. All six of you.’
‘Yuh, that’s about it,’ Hallman said. ‘Like we just got the same idea about that.’
‘And about meeting in here?’
‘Yuh,’ Hallman said.
‘And bribing a couple of transport drivers to witness your alibi for you.’
Hallman stirred, his eyes rolled a little as he tried to keep them fixed on Gently’s. ‘Like whose saying we bribed them, you tell me screw,’ he said.
‘It’s true anyway,’ Salmon put in. ‘We dug you feeling round our engines. We’ve been sitting here since after lunch, and you know it, screw.’
‘So they were only paid to tell the truth,’ Gently said.
‘Yuh,’ Salmon said. ‘That’s why we paid them. Like you’d come in here trying to hang us up somehow, and wouldn’t go much on what Tony told you.’
‘And why should I come in here doing that?’
‘Screws,’ Salmon said, ‘we know them.’
‘You knew I was going to come in here?’
‘Yuh,’ Salmon said. ‘No.’
‘Which way do you want it?’ Gently asked.
‘Like it’s none of your business,’ Salmon said. ‘We can sit here if we want to. And we can pay money if we want to.’
‘For an alibi for nothing?’
‘Like never mind!’ Hallman said.
‘I don’t mind,’ Gently said. ‘I’m just interested, that’s all.’
He sucked some of the milkshake through his straws and took a bite from the sandwich. None of the others was eating or drinking. They sat still. They looked unhappy. When some traffic went by they would all glance out of the window. Tony was also watching the traffic, he was leaning nervously on his elbows.
‘How much longer,’ Gently asked, ‘do you think I ought to wait here?’
They looked startled. Hallman glared, Salmon pouted and dropped his eyes.
‘I’ve other business,’ Gently said. ‘But I don’t want to spoil the fun. You’ve taken some pains to lay it on, and I wouldn’t like to disappoint you.’
‘Smart,’ Hallman said. ‘You’re being smart, screw, aren’t you?’
‘That’s a screw’s business,’ Gently said.
‘Yuh,’ Hallman said. ‘A screw’s business.’
‘You can sling your hook,’ Salmon said. ‘We don’t care what you do.’
‘Tony,’ Gently said, ‘what do you say?’
‘I don’t wanta the trouble,’ Tony moaned.
‘Shut your trap, Tony,’ Hallman said. ‘Who says there’s going to be trouble?’
Tony wrung his arms again, tried to wind himself into the counter. Time crept by. Gently finished his sandwich, got only a bubbling from the bottom of his glass. The general unhappiness was increasing, nobody was looking at Gently now. Salmon was frowning in a ferocious way. The faces of some of the others were flushed. Only Gently, lighting his pipe, looked relaxed and mildly amused.
‘Set up a couple more shakes, Tony.’
Tony came out of the counter with a jerk.
‘You want I maka you two more shakes?’
‘Yes,’ Gently said. ‘Then we’ll have them ready.’
‘Smart,’ Hallman said bitterly.
‘Just not dumb,’ Gently said.
‘You don’t know nothing,’ Hallman said. ‘ Big-headed screws being smart.’
Tony made the shakes. The timing was good. He was pouring out the second one when the two motorcycles pulled in. Nobody looked out of the window, Gently was sitting with his back to it. They heard the engines being killed, the rests kicked down, footsteps. The footsteps stopped in the doorway. Gently jetted out some smoke.
‘Come in,’ he said. ‘Don’t be shy. You’ve kept us waiting twenty minutes.’
‘Well, look who’s here,’ Bixley said, strutting in and making a posture. ‘Like our big-deal screw from the Smoke has come slumming again.’ He stood feet apart, arms on hips, staring mockingly at Gently. He was wearing a windcheater and jeans. A nervous, dark-eyed youngster accompanied him.
‘Yeah, slumming,’ Bixley grinned. ‘That’s the tag for what he’s doing. Waiting for you and me, Alfie, thinking up some jazz to put across us. Isn’t that nice of the screw, Alfie? Don’t he look a real square’s square? Slumming here along with some jees and thinking up jazz to put across us!’
‘Have I met you?’ Gently said to Alfie.
‘Meet the screw, Alfie,’ said Bixley. ‘Man, he’s got big eyes for you. Like keep it down or you’ll get slapped.’
‘What’s your surname?’ Gently asked.
‘Tell the screw,’ Bixley said.
‘Alfie Curtis,’ Alfie said. He looked worried, kept his eyes down.
‘Now he’ll ask you questions,’ Bixley said. ‘That’s what screws do, they ask questions, Alfie. Like where you’ve been since lunch, that sort of crap. You know?’
‘I know,’ Alfie said. It didn’t seem to make him happier.
‘You’ll love this screw,’ Bixley said. ‘He’s a real wild screw, man.’
He swung round on his heel, strode across to the counter. Tony pointed a trembling finger at the two milkshakes. Bixley pulled off his gloves and grabbed a shake off the counter. He jerked the straws on to the floor, swallowed down the shake at one draught. He burped. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.