‘Do you remember me telling you about the sideline I used to have with the prescription drugs? People would message me asking if I was working and I used to drop all kinds of stuff off for them. Well, I found an old mobile that still has hundreds of those messages on it. It’s just been shoved in a drawer, but I was thinking we could contact those numbers and ask them if they need anything…’

‘But Luke, people don’t just want cannabis and that’s all you have to offer at the moment.’

‘That’s why you need to meet my brother Kev. He has contacts, good ones who can get their hands on prescription drugs from real prescription pads. We could make money Alex… what do you think?’ Luke paused, waiting for an answer.

‘What do you need me for? It sounds like you have it all worked out. You go for it, Luke.’ Alex wanted to laugh, but didn’t. Luke reminded him of himself in his younger days. Anything to make the next payday come quicker.

‘Fuck Alex, I thought we were partners but you can be a boring bastard at times. I’ll put that down to your age.’ Luke laughed. ‘I’ve also found a good cocaine supplier too.’

‘So where do I come in?’ asked Alex suspiciously. ‘And who is this supplier you’ve found.’

‘Alex… I’m dead. Do I have to spell it out? We need a cover and someone with a disguised van who can park anywhere at any time is the perfect cover story. And the supplier is this woman from Scotland. I don’t know much about her but it’s good stuff; this woman doesn’t sell shit.’

Alex grinned. ‘A woman from Scotland who deals in drugs. Would her name be Diamond by any chance?’ Alex knew of a woman called Diamond who ran a very good syndicate and didn’t get her hands dirty.

‘I don’t know the details. I’ve never spoke to her. She’s a bit far up the ranks for me.’

Frowning, Alex pondered Luke’s words. The last he had heard, the Diamond woman had married a French man, if it was the same person they were talking about.

‘Do you know of her then?’ Luke asked.

‘I thought everyone had heard of her to be honest. Let me think about it and I’ll call you later.’ Ending the call, Alex couldn’t help feeling excited. It all sounded like another adventure, and he welcomed it. He was already champing at the bit to get out.

Hastily, he changed and ran back down to the bar. ‘I wondered where you were, but then I heard the shower and realised you were making yourself look beautiful.’ Giving him a peck, Maggie smiled.

‘I couldn’t come down here stinking of beer. I needed a shower.’

Just then, Percy waved him over.

‘What can I do for you Percy?’

‘A bloke was around here the other day asking about you,’ Percy whispered. ‘Wanted to know how long you’d been here.’

Alex frowned. ‘Well, I’m sure everyone could fill them in on that news. Any idea who it was?’ Alex’s nonchalance didn’t betray his nervousness. Had someone finally tracked them down?

‘I don’t know, but I’ve never seen him before. Definitely not local and he didn’t give his name.’

‘Two pints here Phyllis please.’ Alex waited for his drinks and steered Percy out the back to the beer garden. ‘Why do I get the feeling that you know more than you’re letting on, Percy?’

Wide eyed, Percy shook his head and took a sip of his free drink. ‘I just thought you might want to know. The guy had a similar accent to yours. Don’t know if you know it, but your foreign accent comes out now and again. But like I said, he just wanted to know how long you’d been here and what we knew about you.’

Suspiciously, Alex spied him. ‘Why would they ask you Percy? Why would any stranger come to these parts and seek you out?’

‘I was just hanging around, I guess. He saw me outside the pub and asked before he left and got in his car. He’d been in the pub, so I presumed he was an old friend of yours.’

‘An old friend looking for me, but who never asked my wife about me? Don’t you find that strange?’

Shrugging, Percy stared at him blankly. ‘I never gave it much thought Alex. Just thought I would let you know. One good turn deserves another, and all that. Anyway, thanks for this,’ Percy said, taking another sip of his drink.

‘Well, if you see him around again Percy mate, let me know. Some people are just born nosey,’ he laughed, going back indoors.

Alex felt unnerved by the conversation. If someone was asking questions about him, it wasn’t the police. It sounded like he had been found, which wasn’t altogether unexpected. It had been just a matter of time.

‘Alex mate, over here. I’ve got something that might interest you.’

Looking over, Alex saw Mark standing with his usual posse surrounding him. He was boasting about one thing or another and at that moment in time, Alex couldn’t be bothered to play along. Suddenly he felt drained after the conversation with Percy and knew he should probably tell Maggie the news.

‘Alex!’ Mark beckoned again loudly and with sunken shoulders, Alex walked over.

‘What’s up?’ He smiled to acknowledge the others.

‘I don’t suppose you want to pop out for a couple of hours on a job tonight, do you? I’m going to have a few more beers with the lads and then we’re going back to mine.’ Mark winked. ‘Pop by for a drink later if you want.’

Amidst his own turmoil, Alex knew exactly what Mark meant. He had obviously got hold of some cocaine from his dealer. It was payday, and every businessman would open their doors knowing people had money in their pockets.

‘So what’s this job you need doing?’

‘Oh, it’s a green card two streets away. He’s had a bang in his car and needs the door respraying. I think it’s due its MOT as well. I’ve changed the bulbs and put in a new oil filter and I said I would drop it off tonight but as you can see’ – Mark waved his pint glass in the air, spilling some on the carpet – ‘I’m busy.’

‘Green card?’ Puzzled, this was one job Alex hadn’t come across before.

‘Yeah, she was a schoolteacher or something in Africa then she only comes back with a husband from the Gambia thirty years younger than herself. If that’s not a green card I don’t know what is. It must be like living with his mother!’

The others who were just as drunk as Mark laughed and carried on with their crude jokes. As Alex was facing the bar, he saw Pauline scowl and Maggie indicating with her thumb to get Mark and his friends out of there as they were disturbing the other customers. As he looked at Mark, he could see he had already sniffed one or two samples of cocaine. His pupils were wide and he was louder than usual.

‘Yeah, look, you get off Mark and have a good night. I’ll pop round for the address later, okay? I’ll just give Maggie a hand here. I don’t know where all these people have come from but it’s manic tonight.’

‘Yeah, yeah we’re going. Later Alex, eh? Don’t forget now.’ Like the Pied Piper, Mark walked towards the doors with his sheep following him.

Alex, walked over to the bar and apologised to Maggie. ‘He’s had one too many. He had a job on tonight; I’ve told him I’ll do it for him. I don’t want him driving like that.’

‘You? Since when were you a mechanic’s apprentice?’

‘I’m just doing a favour for a mate Maggie. He’s pissed! For God’s sake, do you have to reprimand me in front of everyone for just doing a favour for someone?’ No sooner had he snapped at her, he could have bitten his tongue. He knew he was taking out his frustrations on Maggie.

Maggie’s face dropped, and she blushed to her roots, casting sideways glances at the staff, who also looked embarrassed.

‘I’m just a bit rushed off my feet, that’s all. You go about your business.’ As their eyes met over the bar, Alex knew he had hurt her by biting her head off like that. His nerves felt stretched like piano wires and at the moment he was juggling so many balls in the air, he was afraid he would drop one.

18 KEV’S PLACE

It was beginning to get dark, and intrigued by Luke’s constant mentions of his brother Kev, Alex wanted to meet this entrepreneur with contacts everywhere. Strolling over to Mark’s, he could hear the loudness of the singing coming from his house and his heart sank. And on approaching Mark’s house, he could see that Mark and all his friends were as drunk as skunks and as high as kites. It was a mystery to Alex why people needed vices to have a good time. But, like all addictions, people couldn’t stop, be it chocolate, alcohol or cigarettes. Personally, that wasn’t him. He’d dabbled in his younger days, but he had felt awful the following mornings and had decided he needed a clear head in his business and being drugged up to the eyeballs meant you didn’t have the guts to go through with your orders, and needed back-up, or you wasted your well earnt money and kept someone else rich.

Being greeted and hugged by Mark, Alex smiled and looked at this shower of misfits. No wonder Mark’s business was going tits up. And then there was the issue of his wife. Olivia was clingy and hated Mark being out of her sight. She had even cancelled her driving test when she’d realised that Mark wouldn’t need to pick her up any more. She constantly rang him or texted him during the day, telling him what their son George had done. And as Maggie had said on one of the evenings she had been forced to go to one of their parties, ‘I don’t know why she’s worried Alex, I wouldn’t fuck him with yours!’ Even now it made him smile.

Looking up at Mark stood in his shorts and vest, singing away loudly, Alex tried imagining any part of him that wasn’t hairy. His long bushy beard lay on his hairy chest. You could barely see the tattoos through the hairs on his arms, and his beer gut hung over his waistband down to hairy legs. From Maggie’s point of view, he could see what she meant. Only Olivia thought he was an Adonis and her jealousy raised its ugly head on more than a few occasions if she caught some woman looking at him. She had even caused a bit of a stir in the pub when a woman had turned away from the bar to go back to her seat and had accidentally spilt a drink on Mark. Out of courtesy she had offered to buy him one in return but Olivia had seen it as her ‘chatting him up’ and had had to be frogmarched out of the bar by Mark. She had apologised to Maggie the next day for her outburst and Maggie had brushed it off – it wasn’t worth losing their friendship over. And even now, Olivia’s arm was tightly wrapped around Mark’s waist to ward off any interest from other women.

‘Just come for the address Mark and the keys to the van.’ Seeing Mark’s drunken stupor gave Alex an idea. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before.