‘And you can fuck right off,’ said Bobby but he was still laughing. I’ve seen Gary, the in-house male masseuse and if he isn’t gay, he should be. Personally I couldn’t give a fuck who anybody shags, as long as it isn’t children, but I wouldn’t be comfortable getting a massage from any man, especially Gary. I reckon he’d enjoy it more than I would.
The massage Tina’s mate was giving me was excellent. It was just what I needed and chilled me right out, unwinding all the knots of tension in my back and neck. ‘Frank’s’, named in honour of Bobby’s personal favourite Frank Sinatra, was a gym and spa that Bobby had a share in. His fellow investors may or may not have been fully aware that his stake was based on ill-gotten gains but they didn’t seem to care and it was a legitimate form of income, which supported our story that Bobby was, to all intents and purposes, a successful, local businessman.
When Tina was done, Bobby said, ‘leave us to it pet,’ and the girls disappeared. We wrapped the towels around ourselves and I followed Bobby out into the steam room to talk business. I closed the door tightly behind us and we almost disappeared in the vapour, but I could still make out Bobby’s face as he sat opposite me on a little wooden slatted bench. He was wearing that frown again.
‘What you got to tell me?’
‘Not much,’ I replied, ‘just the reason why you should start trusting me again.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘It’s not enough.’ I said.
‘What isn’t?’
‘The money,’ and I made sure I looked him right in the eye when I said this, ‘the amount that’s gone missing wouldn’t be worth the risk for crossing you. Let’s put aside for one minute the fact I’ve known you since I was a nipper, let’s ignore the years of loyal service shall we? We both know that right now that doesn’t mean much. Someone has ripped you off and it could be anybody, including me. If I was you, I wouldn’t trust me either. Maybe I’ve got money worries you don’t know about, debts or perhaps I just want a bigger house. Maybe my bird’s been bending my ear about it.’
‘Go on,’ we were staring each other out at this point.
‘Or look at it another way. What if I’m just too ambitious? You’ve said no to a couple of my ideas this year so perhaps I think you’re slipping and I could do a better job than you as the boss. Suppose I can’t be bothered to wait till you retire to someplace hot and I want you out of my way.’
‘Fuck me,’ he told me with something like astonishment, ‘you tell it straight don’t you?’
‘Don’t kid me you haven’t had those thoughts in the last few days.’
‘Maybe I have.’
‘Course you have. You’re trying to work out who’s brave enough or stupid enough to move against you by stealing the Drop, but my point is, the Drop isn’t large enough for me to chuck in a good screw with your firm. Think about it, if I was going to rip you off, it would have to be big, really big. We both know I’m a clever cunt and I wouldn’t want to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life waiting for Finney to turn up and put me in the ground. For that, it would have to be millions and I would never be able to sleep easy at night if I left you breathing.’
‘Jesus,’ he said, clearly shocked by my lack of tact but I could see he understood my point.
‘If I was working with Cartwright I’d have had to split the Drop and there’d be fuck all left for either of us, so let’s assume that’s why I topped him. If I wasn’t working with him I’d have to kill him anyway, but we both know I’m no killer and I can prove I was in Thailand when he was last seen, so I must have paid someone and the same logic applies. I’m not going to give the job to a couple of crack-heads and watch them balls it up, so it would have to be a professional and they aren’t cheap. Same problem, I’m a young man, I’d be on the run and I’d have sod all left to retire on.’
‘Fair enough,’ he said. The sweat was pouring down Bobby’s face and I could feel drops of it sliding down my torso. They had the heat up high in the steam room today.
‘Besides, you know I could earn the same money in two good years with you so why would I jeopardise that? You taught me to pay top men well enough so they don’t even think about betraying you.’
Bobby looked at me for a long while without saying anything. Then he looked away, like he was thinking. In my fevered state I was starting to wonder if I’d gone too far and he was going to suddenly lose it and smash my head in on the floor tiles.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said finally.
I wasn’t expecting that.
‘Come again?’
‘For not trusting you.’
I let this sink in for a bit then said, ‘you shouldn’t trust me,’ and he looked me right in the eye, ‘you shouldn’t trust anyone Bobby, not right now.’
‘You’re right Davey,’ he said, ‘but you are the only one who ever tells me that, which is why I do trust you.’
He was looking straight at me again in that unflinching way he had of sizing people up, ‘you can forget tomorrow’s deadline.’
I nodded gratefully. I felt the pressure visibly lift until he jabbed his finger at me and said, ‘but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. That money was still your responsibility and Cartwright was one of your boys, so it’s still your neck…’
He didn’t have to finish.
‘Course,’ I said, ‘I’m all over it, believe me.’
‘Good, you should be,’ he didn’t look much happier now that he’d stopped suspecting me of personally ripping him off. I guess he had the same problem; someone had done it and we still didn’t know who, ‘and I’ve got a job for you.’ He finished.
‘What kind of job?’ I didn’t know why but I was suddenly worried he was going to ask me to kill somebody to prove my loyalty. It was an absurd notion but I got a little surge of panic anyway. The heat in the steam room was making me feel weak and I wanted to get out of there.
‘The Drop. I need to make good on the Drop. I want you to deliver it and I want you to take Finney, just in case.’
Just in case someone tries to kill me or just in case I try and run off with it, I wondered, probably both.
‘When we realised it hadn’t reached him I managed to buy us some time but it did not go down well,’ he continued, ‘so I’ve put some extra in there to sugar the pill. Northam will let you have it when you turn up with Finney. Make sure you hand it over to Amrein personally and whatever you do make sure he understands we are back in control.’
‘Of course,’ I said. He was teaching me to suck eggs but I understood. He was stressing out, making sure no detail was left to chance. I’d have done the same in his shoes. ‘I’ll get it there, no problem.’
‘Good, make sure you do.’
I spent Monday morning at our restaurant in the Quayside. I knew I’d get some peace there. I sat at a table before it opened to the public, making calls, sending members of our crew out on errands, following up leads and leaning on people, anybody I could think of who might know anything about Cartwright, however trivial. My meeting with Bobby had bought me some time but I knew I couldn’t relax, not until I’d got his money back, every penny.
The sun came out, shining through the big open windows, bathing the place. It was a lovely spot and Bobby hadn’t skimped on the décor; bright white linen tablecloths topped with outsized wine glasses and expensive flower arrangements, welcomed the diners, who could sink into soft leather banquette seating and chose from a wine list that had more pages than the phone book. This was about as classy as we got.
The place opened up around me and people started to wander in. It was quite busy for the beginning of the week; mostly business lunches by the look of it, but there were one or two well-heeled couples and some ladies who lunched.