She sure wanted to. Just crawl into a bottle and shout ‘Sayonara, suckers’.
Block out everything.
The Rapist,
Brant,
McDonald,
…And especially Rosie.
But she wasn’t certain she’d return. Her father had climbed in and never emerged. Without awareness, she was shredding a head of cabbage. A voice said, ‘I don’t think it will improve.’
She looked up. A man in his late-forties was smiling at her. He indicated the cabbage, said, ‘Like life, it doesn’t get better with the peeling away.’
Jeez, she thought, He is one attractive guy.
His hair was snow white and he had a three day beard, which was dark brown. Then the eyes, deeper, holding brown. They held her.
He said, ‘According to the experts, shopping is the best way to meet members of the opposite sex.’
She didn’t think such gibberish deserved an answer so she said nothing. If it bothered him, he hid it well, said, ‘My Mother believed you should go out the door you came in.’
‘Which means what, exactly?’
‘That I’m backing off; sorry to have interrupted your shredding.’ Then he turned and walked off.
Falls said quietly, ‘Oh that’s great, frighten him right off.’
Her eyes turned again to the booze and she made her decision, shouted, ‘Hey!’
He stopped, and when she caught up, she said, ‘Tell me more about yer old Mum.’
Brant was going against his instincts but, hell, he felt reckless. As he and Sarah returned to the station, he asked casually, ‘What’s yer plan for this evening?’
She took it easy, answered, ‘I’m going out with friends.’
‘Have a good time, eh?’
‘I’ll try.’
After she’d gone, he sat in the car and tried to figure out what he was feeling. Took out a cigarette and lit it. As the nicotine hit, he tried not to admit that he was disappointed. Then he looked up to see Sarah and McDonald leaving the station.
Her head was thrown back, laughing.
Brant said, ‘Fuck.’
Tommy Logan was hyper, roared, ‘See what happens to those who fuck with me.’
His men grunted in agreement. What they mainly hoped was he’d be brief.
More: ‘Not even the cops can come at us. I had a chief inspector try, eh … Where is he now?
‘His DS, the hard case Brant, what had he to offer? Bloody zero, that’s what. I’m throwing a party on Friday, the biggest fuckin’ bash in south-east London. This is just the beginning.’
Flushed, he wiped his brow and waited for applause. Applause wasn’t really in their vocabulary but they knew a response was required. A few hip-hips were produced and it had to suffice. Tommy turned to his right-hand man, said, ‘Get the invitations out. Let it be known it’s the event.’
‘Sure, guv.’
He was the only one Tommy trusted. The rest he knew would sell him for a pony.
Ideally, Tommy would have loved to get Johnny Logan singing for the party, but he’d found out he was lost in cabaret in Western Australia. Still, he might do a song himself, it depended on the crowd.
The party invitations went out. Harry, the solicitor’s name went on the invites. Thus, a broad cross-section of people could be invited. Including the Super.
The Super rang Harry, ‘Harry, it’s Superintendent Brown.’
‘Superintendent, how are you?’
‘Fine, fine. Thank you for the invite.’
‘A pleasure. Will you and your lady wife be able to attend?’
‘Wouldn’t miss it.’
‘Splendid, the theme is law and order.’
‘Highly commendable.’
‘The Lodge will be there.’
‘Better and better, Harry. Any help I can give?’
Harry paused, gave it the momentary respect, then, ‘Any chance some of your lads might assist with security?’
‘They’d be delighted to.’
‘Well, that’s a load off my mind. See you at the party, then.’
‘Absolutely, thanks again.’ The call concluded.
Both men felt they’d done pretty damn fine.
Drinking lights out
‘I don’t think I’ve had pina coladas before.’ Sarah I had two empty glasses in front of her, working on a third. It was unlikely she’d had a drink of such calibre before.
McDonald knew the barman and had signalled, ‘doubles’, on each round. What used to be called a Mickey Finn but now was simply referred to as ‘loaded’. McDonald was drinking scotch-singles-and watching Sarah go down.
Feeling the alcohol, she said, ‘My Mum would forgive a man anything if he was handsome.’
McDonald posed the obvious, ‘Would she have forgiven me?’
Sarah gave him a shy look, said, ‘You know the answer to that.’
He gave a modest nod which came across as smarmy. She said, ‘My father could dance on the side of a saucer.’
She pronounced it ‘soo-sir’ as the coladas kicked in.
McDonald gave the obligatory chuckle, asked, ‘Fancy one for the road?’
Emboldened, she asked, ‘One what?’
Music to his ears.
Another drink and it would be Ride City.
Band
‘Own us’ were an up and coming band. A cross twixt Oasis and Verve, they were still hungry. Word of mouth was beginning to repeat their name and a record deal was in the air. When approached to do Tommy Logan’s party, they didn’t hesitate a moment, said, ‘No.’ Relayed back to Tommy, he said, ‘Fuck ’em.’
Then, ‘Burn ’em.’
Tommy’s right-hand man proposed he have a chat with them. Tommy asked, ‘Why, Mick?’
‘Cos they’ll get us lots of press.’
‘OK, have a shot but if nothing’s doing, screw ’em.’
‘They’ll agree, I guarantee it.’
The lead singer was named Matt Wilde (sic). He had acquired the mandatory mid-Atlantic drawl for rock stars. Plus, he scratched a lot. Mick found them rehearsing in a warehouse at the Elephant. He listened to their set and thought, Christ, they’re bad.
Matt called a break and signalled to Mick. Being summoned by a nineteen-year-old pup was energising. The star was scratching his neck, asked, ‘What’s yer bag man?’
‘I’d like you to reconsider doing the Law ’n’ Order party gig.’
‘No can do man, never gonna happen. It hasn’t got, like, cred. You hear what I’m saying?’
Mick shrugged, asked, ‘Do any Vince Gill?’
‘What?’
‘You have a mobile?’
‘Course.’
‘Tell you what, give Kate a buzz.’
‘Kate?’
‘Is there an echo in here? …Yeah, Kate, yer model girlfriend.’
Matt was less sure of himself, took up his mobile and, as required, dialled. ‘Kate?’
‘Matthew, hi.’
Mick said, ‘Ask her if there’s a blue Datsun parked outside.’
He asked … waited, then, ‘There is … OK.’
Mick nodded, said, ‘There’s a bloke sitting here, he’s got an acid container … need I paint a picture.’
Matt jumped at him and got an almighty blow to the solar plexus. The band members murmured but didn’t move.
Mick said, ‘Copyright infringement but we’ve got it sorted … haven’t we, Matt?’
Matt, still on his knees said, ‘I’ll go to the cops.’
Mick hunkered down beside him, said, ‘That would be very silly. Where would Kate get a new face, eh? You have a little think about it.’
Mick stood up, patted Mart’s head, said, ‘I think coffee break’s over.’
‘There’s no such thing as unconditional love. You just find a person with the same set of conditions as yourself.’ (Mark Kennedy)
Falls wasn’t sure what to wear. She had been through her wardrobe, rejected it all. He’d said, ‘Let’s have a drink, see how we go?’
Out loud she said, ‘Meaning, if I don’t bore the arse offa him, we’ll move to level two.’ And instantly chided herself.
If she was to get out of the mire, she’d need to change her attitude. Decided to go down-home-folks, pulled on tight worn 501’s and a UCLA sweatshirt. Pair of red baseball shoes and she was Miss Selfridge.