My back was to the wall now, but, as I’d backed up, I’d angled my steps so I ended up next to the scythe. A rusty garden implement against a gun and two experienced fist fighters. They don’t stand a chance, I thought to myself.
‘Show him…’ Kirkcaldy barked the order at Collins and indicated his car with a jerk of his head. Collins went over to the car and opened the trunk, lifting out something wrapped in a blanket. He carried it in his arms like it was a baby. He laid it on the floor and unwrapped it for me to see. It was the Ky-Lan demon statuette. It had been broken into two pieces. The fake jade was less than an inch thick. The contents spilled from the broken sculpture: tightly wrapped waxed paper bricks.
I sighed as something tied itself into a knot in my gut. I knew what Kirkcaldy having it meant. ‘Sammy Pollock?’
Kirkcaldy smiled, and it reminded me of the way Sneddon smiled. ‘Just like everything else in Glasgow, Lennox, the Clyde is unpredictable. You dump two bodies at the same time in the same place and one washes up and the other sinks without trace.’
‘He didn’t deserve that, Kirkcaldy. He was just a kid.’ I thought about how Sheila Gainsborough would take the news. I hadn’t earned my fee on that one, that was for sure. But, there again, it wouldn’t be me who’d be breaking the news to her. I gave a bitter laugh.
‘What’s so fucking funny?’ asked Kirkcaldy.
‘Just that I was working two cases that I never connected. I’m not as smart as I thought I was.’
‘You’re smart, Lennox. Too smart. But you should know by now that nothing happens in this city without it being tied into everything else. And before you get all huffy about Pollock, remember that he brought it on himself. He wanted to play with the big boys. He ended up way out of his depth.’
‘I don’t think you’re far behind him. You having that stuff means you don’t just have a bunch of irate gypsies after you. Have you heard of John Largo?’
‘I’ve heard. And I know this is his stuff. But he’s still looking for Pollock and Costello. We happened on this by chance. We’re in the clear.’
‘Not that in the clear. I found you.’
‘No you didn’t. All that you said to Collins here was smoke and mirrors. You were grouse-beating. Except now it’s the grouse with the gun on you. Anyway, you’re not going to be telling anyone anything.’
That’s that then, I thought. If there was one thing you couldn’t accuse Kirkcaldy of, it was ambiguity.
‘How did Costello and Pollock get their hands on the jade demon? There was no way they could have known what was in it.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong. Young master Pollock was a young man of cosmopolitan tastes. Bohemian, you might say. He was a bit of a hashish smoker and had experimented with opium. No other bastard in this city would have realized the value of refined heroin, but Pollock knew all right. But that was as smart as he got. He was no master criminal and he thought he was dealing with Al Capone when he got in tow with Paul Costello. But Costello was a wanker and as much out of his depth as Pollock was.’
‘So how did they get their hands on this?’ I asked. The three of them — Soutar, Collins and Kirkcaldy — were all facing me now, with their backs to the doors. Kirkcaldy had left the door open a few inches and I could have sworn that I had seen it move. My shadow at the window was maybe not another accomplice after all. I pinned my hopes on a guardian angel.
‘Paul Costello was always looking for a score,’ Kirkcaldy continued and I made a gargantuan effort not to cast a glance at the garage doors behind him. ‘I think he was trying to prove he could be a real player, like his Da. Fuck all chance of that. He didn’t have the brains to blow his hat off. Sammy Pollock was supposed to be the thinker. Talk about the blind leading the blind. Anyway, they did a couple of night-time jobs. They got two other guys in with them. Their first score was a warehouse with cigarettes. French shit. They didn’t have a clue how to move the stuff on, other than going round the clubs and pubs themselves. Complete amateurs. You don’t pull a job unless you’ve done a deal in advance with a fence who’ll move the stuff on. Not only did these wankers have no deal, they didn’t even know a fence.’
‘So they went to Small Change?’ It was all fitting now.
‘Aye… he took the stuff off them for peanuts. Now Small Change was no Fagin, but he did handle the odd dirty merchandise now and again. Especially if there was decent money to be made. But only if it was something special and there was a high brokering margin to be made.’
‘It still doesn’t explain how Pollock knew to steal the jade dragon.’
‘Pollock and Costello had help on their jobs. Two guys who worked for Costello’s Da and a pikey who provided extra muscle,’ said Kirkcaldy. Again something fell into place for me.
‘The five of them did the cigarette job,’ Kirkcaldy went on. ‘All the stuff came from the warehouse used by that Frog, Barnier. Before they get to the cigarettes, they have to open a few crates to check before they hit the jackpot with the fags. The genius pikey cracks open a jade statue by accident and sees it’s full of packets. He tells Pollock and Pollock jumps to the conclusion that it’s hashish. So they take the statue as well and get away scot-free. But when Pollock gets home and opens one of the packets, he realizes they’re all in the deepest shite. He realizes it’s not hashish but heroin, and pretty high grade. He takes a sample from one brick, puts the brick back and glues the statue back together. He takes the sample straight to Small Change. Small Change doesn’t know the slightest thing about narcotics, so he comes straight to yours truly.’
‘So these two guys you said were working for Costello,’ I said, ‘I’m guessing that they did a deal with you and Small Change and then delivered up Sammy Pollock and Paul Costello… So what went wrong?’ I kept my eyes fixed on Kirkcaldy’s and ignored the figure I saw on the edge of my vision slipping in through the doors and edging, crouched down, along the wall and behind the cars.
‘The pikey works out there’s something more to the job and starts asking for more money or he’ll talk. Except he doesn’t know that I’m involved now. He also happens to be a bare-knuckle fighter who Uncle Bert has fixed up with a few fights at Sneddon’s place.’
‘And he just happens to die during the fight?’
‘Aye… funny that.’ Kirkcaldy smiled coldly. ‘Quite a coincidence. Particularly as Uncle Bert gave him some special medicine before the fight. Told him it would make him fight better and not feel the other bloke’s punches. The last bit was right. The stupid pikey bastard took it. The other fighter was able to beat the shite out of him and then he started bleeding like fuck. From the beating or the drugs I don’t know.’
‘And your problem’s solved.’ I tried to stay relaxed and natural, when all the time I was mentally measuring the distance to the rusting scythe and waiting for the figure hidden behind the cars to make his move.
‘Naw… that’s when our problems just began. Turns out that the pikey is Sean Furie’s son… the brother of the one up for Small Change’s murder.’
‘So that’s the glaba you have to pay…’ I said. ‘A Baro ’s son won’t come cheap.’
‘It takes more than a bunch of pig-arsed Irish gyppos to scare me. It’s a nuisance that I don’t need at the moment. I can’t sell the heroin yet and I needed to raise money to buy the knackers off.’ He jerked his chin in the direction of the broken statuette. ‘This is the biggest business opportunity I’ve ever had. This stuff’s going to be big here… Have you seen Glasgow on a Saturday night? Half the city gets totally fucking stocious. Thousands of men out of their skulls on booze. No one drinks for the taste and Christ knows they don’t drink for the social fucking aspect. Do you know what they want? They want a holiday. They drink because for a few hours they can step outside their lives. If cheap whisky or red biddy gives them a day trip to Largs, this stuff is two weeks in fucking Monte Carlo. This…’ He bounced the package in his hand, as if assessing its worth. ‘This is the future, Lennox. This is Glasgow’s future. We won’t be able to get enough of this stuff to keep up with demand. I’m fucking telling you, this stuff was made for Glasgow. Because this stuff makes Glasgow go away. Anyway, talking about making things go away, enough chat…’