“Hey!”
He spun around, already in a crouch.
“Terry? Terry? Is that you, man? I can’t see a thing.”
“Who’re you expecting, Jammy?”
The voice was so close. He must be behind a tree or something. It felt like his eyes were sticking out of their sockets.
“Where are you, Terry?”
A black form passed in front of a tree trunk not fifty feet from him.
“Terry?”
“You don’t sound too good there, Jammy. Lost in the woods, are you?”
“Terry? I thought you meant out there, out near the road.”
He watched Malone’s silhouette approach. Malone laughed.
“You’re shivering, Jammy. What’s the matter? It’s boiling in here.”
He saw the liquid glint of lights from the traffic in Malone’s eyes. Definitely out of it.
“Well, it wouldn’t have been the place I’d have picked, Terry, you know?”
“Oh. Well, who fucking asked you? Here-where’s that fancy bike of yours?”
“Back out there.”
“Why didn’t you drive in like I done?”
“Well, I didn’t know how the ground was and stuff, and-”
“Are you going to moan about the weather now or something? Here: if you’re that worried about a bit of fucking rain, drive home in the van. Yeah. Try it, why don’t you?”
He heard the liquid swill before he could make out the bottle which Malone put to his lips. Even Terry the Bull needed the booze to get by tonight.
“You want a little swig there, Jammy? Seeing as we’re partners and all?”
“No. No, thanks, Terry.”
Malone sniggered.
“You’re not in the mood to celebrate? Christ, Jammy, you’re no fun. Hey!”
He waited for Malone to down another gulp.
“You’ve had time to do a little thinking, haven’t you, Jammy?”
“How do you mean?”
The hand was so quick that he felt the slap before he could move his head. Christ, how did he keep those reflexes while he was pissed?
“Speak fucking English, Jammy? Don’t ask me what I mean! You saying I can’t talk or something? I’m talking about you and your plans!”
He smelled the whiskey now, heard Malone’s breath.
“You think I’m a gobshite too, Jammy? Don’t tell me the thought didn’t cross your mind that you might want to feed me to the Egans too. Like you could play it back on me the same as I could on you? Huh?”
“No, Terry! No way, man. I would never do a thing like that.”
“That’s right, you wouldn’t! And you know why, don’t you? ’Cause I’d fucking do for you, so I would!”
Malone took another swig from the bottle.
“So let’s go. Partner.”
Malone stumbled twice on the way to the van. Following, Tierney caught odd words from him as he walked.
“So don’t even think about it, Jammy, you hear?”
The engine’s oily smell mixed with the faint scent of heated rubber hung in the air around the van. Terry Malone turned.
“So gimme what you got, Jammy. Then it’s a last look and bye-bye.”
“Are you going to, you know, leave everything here, Terry?”
“You got a better idea? I spent ten minutes wiping the fucking seats and the wheel and God knows what’s in there. I’m gone, man. You want to hang around, go ahead-but I was never here.”
“Okay. I was just wondering and all-”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gimme.”
He took the envelope from the inside pocket of his denim jacket.
“What is it, Jammy? Powder, pills? Cash? What did he do her for?”
“Who-oh, Leonardo?”
“Who do you fucking think I’m talking about?”
“Cash.”
Malone yanked at the side of the envelope.
“How much?”
“A thousand, Terry. Just short of a thousand.”
“What if I find it was more and you kept stuff back?”
“That’s all of it, Terry. I swear to God.”
“Less the money Leonardo was talking about, huh? Some pal, man. Some pal. You wouldn’t believe it, man. Some fucking pal.”
“I don’t get it, Terry. I know he wasn’t straight-up about it all.”
Malone stuffed the money into his pocket.
“Straight-up? Oh, Christ, what a gobshite you are! Right up to the end, man. There he was trying to sell you down the river, spinning some cock-and-bull about you-and you’re the guy he stashes his take with! The only guy he could trust! Human nature, I’m telling you!”
Malone was shaking his head. The end, right up to the end. Was Leonardo dead?
“I tell you, if he hadn’t tried to run for it-if I didn’t have to throw a frigging van at him to stop him, he might have been singing a different story-Holy Jesus! Did you see that one?”
The colour of the flashes seemed to have turned to green now. His mind was ready to burst. What the hell had happened between Leonardo and Malone? He looked back at the van.
“Let’s go, man! It’s been doing this for the last half-hour. It’s bound to start lashing sometime. Come on!”
He caught up with Malone who tripped again, spilling a little from he bottle. He had to ask him.
“…lift on the bike,” he heard coming over Malone’s shoulder. “Yeah! should have come straight out and admitted it. Show a bit of self-respect, you know? Hey, where is this fucking bike of yours anyway?”
“Over that way. Terry-”
“He would have sold you down the fucking river for a tenner, man. Oh, stupid he wasn’t-I mean, he knew that he better not have a heap of money on him, so he’s smart enough to stash it. But, Jesus, Jammy, you were the right iijit to let him do that to you. Man! If Eddsy ever found out… Hey, what story did he tell you about where he got the money anyway? I never got that far with him. How did he get by you?”
“Well, it was like…well…”
Malone stopped. The grove was fifty yards behind them. The smell n the air had a sting to it now.
“Oh, I get it! You’re too fucking embarrassed, aren’t you?”
He watched Malone drain the bottle and reach back to fling it away. He stopped and turned around.
“Jases, that wouldn’t be very smart, would it? Come on.”
“Terry, what about him. You know. What’s going to happen?”
“I’m going to get a lift down the quays off you. You’re going to get five hundred quid-if there’s really four and a half grand here. We’re going to go on our merry fucking way.”
“No. I mean the van and-”
“Shut up, would you? He’s a goner, man: brown bread! Don’t keep asking about him! Hey, I’ve got feelings too, you know. But fellas like him, they’d rob you blind. It’ll square off okay with Eddsy. It’s a message, right? I’m going to give Eddsy a thou and tell him that Hickey must’ve put the rest in his fucking arm. Hickey was a junkie, right? So a junkie’ll go through big money in a few days. They get into a party, they lose the head-everyone bangs up-fuck, Eddsy’ll be surprised there’s anything left. Is that the road there? Come on!”
“But, Terry, what about the law? What did he tell you about the law? You said they were asking him stuff about me and everything-”
“Ah, give over, for Jases’s sake! What have they on you, man? Have you got a record? Have you gotten picked up and given the treatment all day and all night? Don’t be so fucking stupid! I can’t believe it! You’re a little bleeding angel, Jammy!”
“What?”
“Christ! Don’t you get it yet? They never asked him anything about you! He was trying to buy time! He was lying through his teeth!”
Malone grabbed his forearm.