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<title>12</title>
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<h1>12</h1>
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<p>Tam walked straight in through the front door of the dairy and slapped the papers down on Jim McGuire’s desk.</p>
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<p> Everything was speeding up, moving in a blur, and now they had too few days to do too many things. Marjory Burns had
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done her job and intercepted the outgoing mail at Aitkenbar and Jed had kept his ear to the ground in the dairy. He
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phoned Jack from the call box round the corner.</p>
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<p>"They're coming on Tuesday."</p>
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<p>"Too soon. That just gives us two days."</p>
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<p>"How are we going to do this?"</p>
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<p>Jack paused. "I'll have to think of something quick."</p>
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<p>"Andy Kerr's going to be away tomorrow. We might get a chance then."</p>
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<p>It was only two days since he'd come back down from Skye, butt-sore from the long ride. Kate had passed him in the
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street and taken a second glance and then walked on, and instead of going round to his mother's house, he had passed
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straight to Sandy's. He'd already gone through all this with his uncle and didn't feel like making up any more
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stories. Now the big Fruehauf dairy tankers were going back to the dealer and the window of opportunity was closing.
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He called Tam and sent him round to Donna Bryce for a new identity.</p>
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<p>The red hair and beard looked ridiculous to anybody who knew him, and just about everybody did, but with a pair of
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aviator sunglasses it changed Tam's appearance just enough. So long as nobody examined him too closely, they might
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get away with it. Jack hooked out an old flying jacket and pulled on a couple of sweaters to bulk him out and by the
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time they got to the dairy he was drenched in sweat, from the heat and from the tension. Everybody here had known
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him for years and he had to stay out of sight as much as he could. Jed had the spare mobile and he managed to sneak
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away from the delivery bay and get into Jim McGuire's office when Jim was out organising the next day's deliveries.
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All he had to do was steal his reading glasses and hope for the best. He waited at the end of the corridor when Tam
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went inside.</p>
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<p>Tam carried it off almost perfectly.</p>
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<p>"You have to wait and see Mr Kerr." Jim searched around the top of the desk for his glasses. "He'll be back
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tomorrow."</p>
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<p>"No can do, my man." Tam's east coast accent was atrocious. He had found an old seventies car-coat and put on a
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battered trilby hat from Oxfam and looked a total mess, but it was enough to get past the manager.</p>
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<p>"There it is. Date stamped and all."</p>
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<p>"I'll have to call the boss."</p>
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<p>"You do that." Tam half-turned and when McGuire called to Jessie in the front office for Andy Kerr's mobile number,
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he gave Jed a thumb's up.<em> </em>Jessie called out the digits and the manager dialled. Jed bent down and hooked
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the little electrical field generator on to the phone cable in the hallway. Tam could hear the sudden burst of
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crackle in the receiver. Jim jerked it away from his ear and looked at it as if it was a snake.</p>
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<p>"Damn thing, half deafened me." He hung up. "Must be in a tunnel."</p>
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<p>"Aye, well. Here you are. I have to get a signature."</p>
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<p>The documents would probably have passed a perfunctory scrutiny in any case, but Jack had not been prepared to take
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that chance. Jim called to Jessie again and got her to bring in the file and he opened it on the desk, leaning
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forward to peer at the text.</p>
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<p>"Damn and blast. Jessie, have you seen my specs?"</p>
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<p>"It's just a standard repo agreement," Tam put in. "Mr Kerr knows all about it, y'ken? It's all fixed. I can leave it
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with you, but they trucks have to go today, like."</p>
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<p>Jim hesitated, wondering what to do.</p>
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<p>"Bugger it," he finally said. A day wouldn't make any difference. He signed the sheet and Tam made a production of
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peeling a back copy away. Jim stuck it in the file.</p>
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<p>"You got the keys?" After Jed's night foray they already had spares, just in case this whole thing went wrong and
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they had to come back at midnight, but he had to go through the motions.</p>
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<p>"On the board. They're marked with the numbers."</p>
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<p>"Aye, right." Tam reached for them, snatched and got himself out of there. Jed stayed at the back door, making sure
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no-one was about, then motioned them forward. Jack sneaked in, got in the cab and started up the big diesel. Jim
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McGuire watched as the silver tankers pulled out, with Jack taking the lead, as Tam had never driven anything that
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size before. Jed ducked back in and palmed the static gadget and by the time he got back to the bottling hall, the
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big shutter doors were closed again and the tankers were gone.</p>
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<p>They got to the burgh boundary and Jack slowed to a crawl near the Drymains roundabout and took a side track that led
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down by the old castle access road that was banked on either side by the tall walls that used to hem in the
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shipyards. They stopped here and Donny pulled up in Willie McIver's van.</p>
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<p>They began hauling the blue tarpaulins out from the back. The rest of the boys worked quickly, dragging the tarps
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over the big silver cylinders and tying them onto the stanchions, while Tam used the electric drill to screw on the
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fake plates. The whole operation took fifteen minutes and then they were off again. They headed out past Drymains
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towards Barloan Harbour, then took a left up to the old Overburn estate grounds and when they reached the height,
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they had a tricky turn up to the big forestry commission spruce plantation. Donny opened the gate and the tankers
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eased through, taking the forest track for half a mile and then backing into an even narrower track. Tam only killed
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one spruce sapling and that was good going for him.</p>
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<p>"You better hope there isn't a forest fire," Donny said.</p>
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<p>"We'll chance it for two days," Jack assured him.</p>
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<p>The next day, the police were swarming all over the dairy, and Andy Kerr was really in the thick of it. Of all the
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crazy things they did that summer, that was the one that gave Jack Lorne the most guilt.</p>
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<p>But if they were going to do everything he planned, they had to have Andy's big tankers.</p>
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<p>It hadn't been hard to figure out what Sproat had been up to with Kerr Thomson on the night Tam and Ed fixed the
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pipes in Aitkenbar Distillery. The three of them had sat round the kitchen table late in the afternoon when
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everybody else was out, and they'd gone through what the pair of them had seen. Jack had questioned them closely and
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had modified his plan just a little, realising Sproat would fall heavily for the chance of some extra cash and
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knowing he had made himself vulnerable. The following day he was back on the web again and set up yet another
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company, digging in to the dwindling petty cash. Once again he got a re-direct on the mail and made sure Margery
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Burns was well briefed. She was a demanding woman, but so well placed that her importance was strategic, and Jack
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decided that all was fair in love, war and business, and just so long as Jed and Kate never found out, well he could
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handle it. He hoped.</p>
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<p> The faxes came in from Aitkenbar in the next few days and Jack took two calls direct from Sproat, calls that were
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diverted from the land-line to his mobile, and Sproat never knew the difference, especially when Margery Burns was
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handling the link.</p>
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<p> "Michael, good to speak to you again. I think we can accommodate that request."</p>
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<p> Jack punched the air, then held his hand up for total silence, Tam and Ed held still. </p>
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<p>"That's terrific. My people will be well pleased at that. How soon do you want to get this done, for I know time's
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pressing for us both."</p>
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<p>"You come down here on Wednesday and I think we can do business. Maybe we could take in a quick nine holes if the
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weather holds."</p>
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<p>"Sure, that would be fine. Maybe we can make it interesting, Alistair. Perhaps a pound a hole."</p>
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<p>"I'm sure we can do better than that Michael."</p>
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<p>Jack hung up. "He's going for it. He'll probably go for more, greedy little reptile."</p>
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<p>Tam looked at Jack's new hair colour. "You look just like your Dad, God rest him."</p>
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<p>"I know. That's why I'm scared to go home. It would freak my mother. You, on the other hand, look like a child
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molester. You think maybe you could take that daft beard off?"</p>
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<p>Jed got a dose of the jitters because the following day the agent came down from the dealership to collect the
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tankers and found them gone. At almost a hundred grand each, the theft was a very big deal in a small town like
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this. Chief Inspector Angus Baxter handled this one personally and he took it personally too. He had Andy Kerr in
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for a full day of querstions, and Jim McGuire for longer than that, dragging them through the details.</p>
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<p>"It's clearly a fake," Baxter said. He had that slow island way with him, speaking the way DJ from Dunvegan did, as
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if he was translating from the Gaelic into English every time he opened his mouth. That made him sound slow, but he
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was sharp as a tack. "It's a forgery." He pronounced it <em>four-cherry</em>.</p>
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<p>"I know that," Kerr said. "Unless Carson Convoy are at it."</p>
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<p>"Do you think they are?"</p>
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<p>Andy shook his head. "I don't know what to think. All I know is I was waiting for them to come down and take the damn
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things back and now they're gone."</p>
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<p>"And who else knew?"</p>
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<p>"Everybody knew. It wasn't any big secret they were going. I don't think anybody knew when, though. I had to lay off
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some people and the tankers were too big an oncost."</p>
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<p>"Yes, I understand you have had cash flow problems. And these tankers, they'd be worth a lot of money?"</p>
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<p>"Nearly a quarter of a mil.....what do you mean?" Andy's face was getting greyer by the minute. "Are you suggesting I
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had anything to do with this."</p>
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<p>"I'm never <em>suchesting</em> anything at all," Baxter said. "I'm chust inquiring."</p>
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<p>Jim McGuire had it just as bad.</p>
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<p>"And where were your glasses then?"</p>
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<p>"On my desk."</p>
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<p>"And you couldn't find them when you signed this <em>fourcherry</em>?"</p>
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<p>"No, I couldn't. This chap with a Newcastle accent showed me the thing and said it was all okay. How was I to
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know?"</p>
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<p>It went on like that all day, with the rep from Carson Convoy relaying the details back to his head office and the
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messages coming back that Andy Kerr was in the deepest shit imaginable and he'd better have a good lawyer. The whole
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thing just spiralled down to a real mess.</p>
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<p>"I feel really rotten about this," Jed said. "I mean, he's done his level best and we've gone and landed him well in
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the shit."</p>
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<p>Jack felt the same way, and he'd always known he would. That had been the difficult part, knowing the cost and still
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going ahead with it.</p>
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<p>"We'll make it up to him," he said, hoping he was right.</p>
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<p>"How? Visit him in the Bar-L? He looks as if he's been hit by a truck. I really don't know if I can do this to
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him."</p>
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<p>Jack rounded on him. "Sure Jed. You want to pull out now? Maybe go talk to Baxter. What are you going to say?"</p>
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<p>"I only said..."</p>
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<p>"Only losing your nerve. Come on Jed. You back out now and we're all in the shit along with Andy with absolutely
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nothing to show for it. We all go down for stealing the trucks that were going back to the dealers and we haven't
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even had a chance yet."</p>
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<p>He breathed out through pursed lips, as if he was letting off pressure. <em>Casualties of war. You keep them to a
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minimum. </em>He clapped his hands to Jed's shoulders. The others watched silently. </p>
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<p>"Come on man. You have to hold on. I told you could lose your shirt, but not if I can help it. And as for Andy, well
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the business is going down the stank anyway, so if it comes sooner, then it makes hardly a splash, does it? If I can
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help him, I will, but we have to get this thing done first. You have to trust me, right? It'll all come good."</p>
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<p>Jed bit his lip. There was no bad in him. Everybody waited. They all felt guilt for Andy Kerr.</p>
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<p>"Aye, sure," he finally said, head down. Jack felt a wrench in his belly. It was another hurdle he didn't need.
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Another burden.</p>
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<p>They were back in Gillespie's boat down at the sandy point where the river joined the Clyde. The first meeting was
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only weeks past, and it seemed a whole lot further away than that. Tam had got rid of the hair and the beard, but
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Jack was still wearing the grey and keeping out of sight. </p>
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<p>Margery Burns had been determined to find out what was really going on, when she brought him the news.</p>
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<p>"You're face is melting," she had hissed at him, taking him completely by surprise and his heart seemed to leap up
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and lodge under his chin. "Into the bathroom, quick!"</p>
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<p>She dumped the coffee, grabbed him by the elbow and hustled him into the ladies toilet round the corner from Sproat's
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office.</p>
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<p>"What a mess," she hissed again. "Was that you on Thursday?"</p>
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<p>He nodded, trying to peer over her shoulder past the tampon machine. She leaned in.</p>
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<p>"Just what are you up to, Mr fake-face Lorne?"</p>
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<p>"No time," he managed to get out.</p>
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<p>"Plenty of time. He's just taken a call from Trading Estates, those mall developers. He's never less than twenty
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minutes. This is more than just a union thing, isn't it."</p>
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<p>He managed to see himself in the mirror. A piece of latex was peeling away from his nose, like flaking skin. <em>Jesus,
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I don't need this</em>, he thought.</p>
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<p>"And it's not just the Charter protest either. You have me intercepting phone calls and outgoing mail and then you
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turn up in a disguise like Val Kilmer in The Saint."</p>
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<p>She reached up and smoothed the latex a little, leaning in close. "Tell you what though, you suit the distinguished
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look."</p>
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<p>Margery reached down to her bag and rummaged inside. "Here," She brought out a small sticking plaster. "It's the best
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I can think of, unless you want to tell him you've got leprosy."</p>
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<p>"Thanks Marge, you're a lifesaver."</p>
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<p>"And you can dispense with that phoney accent with me. You sound like a thick Ulster oaf. Like my dear and very
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soon-to-be-<em>ex</em>-husband."</p>
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<p>"Is it working?"</p>
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<p>"Passable," she said. "But tonight you're coming round to my place and you're going to tell me everything."</p>
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<p>"What about Jed?"</p>
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<p>"Don't you worry about Gerard," she said. "What's for him won't go past him, and after being stuck with that
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dead-head of mine for twenty five years, I'm wasting no time. Life's for living. He can enjoy it while he lasts. And
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so, young Mr Lorne, can you."</p>
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<p>His heart was slowing down. She had him by the shorts and there was no getting round it. He wondered if she'd have
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the bottle to know it all. It was bad enough bringing his uncle into it, but a woman? This woman? </p>
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<p>"You're playing golf today?"</p>
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<p>He nodded.</p>
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<p>"Right. He hooks, so you'll get him on the ninth, thirteenth and fifteenth at least. And he cheats, so you can take a
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few extra balls in your pocket, for he certainly will. And he's under a lot of pressure from these Charter people
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who want the place listed, so take him for plenty."</p>
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<p>She leant in even closer and nipped his bottom lip in a slow, sensuous, woman's bite and when she pulled back she was
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wearing the most mischievous grin he had ever seen on a human, with the possible exception of Uncle Sandy. Maybe he
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should fix the two of them up.She drew a hand down underneath his jacket.</p>
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<p>"Just don't lose all your balls," she said. The quick squeeze almost doubled him up.</p>
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<p>Sproat cheated shamelessly. It amazed Jack that he thought nobody noticed him, but then again, Jack told himself, if
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Marge hadn't mentioned, maybe he never would have picked it up. He was a bad-tempered player and Jack could see why
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he hooked the ball. He was all tight and tense on the left side, lowering his shoulder just on the strike. Jack took
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a fiver on the three holes Margery had said and another four in succession. By the time they got to the thirteenth,
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he was twenty notes up and Sproat was fuming, but that's the way he wanted it. He needed Sproat to get reckless.</p>
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<p> "What if we double it for the final three," the other man said. He reminded Jack of the snooty members in pringle
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jumpers and Ben Sherman polos who had chased them on that blistering savannah day. "Give me a chance to win
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back."</p>
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<p>"Sure," Jack said, easily, putting on the accent now he was sure it was working, hoping the latex wouldn't peel
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further. "Whatever you think."</p>
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<p>He deliberately sliced the tee shot out into the swamp and ignored the shouted offers from the three mud boys.</p>
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<p>"Good that we could get this thing moving. My clients are delighted. Not at your tax though. Eighty percent? That's a
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huge amount."</p>
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<p>Sproat hit well down the middle. "It's killing us. That's why we're better off in the designer drinks market. It's
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expanding when everything else is tightening up, takes less alcohol, and doesn't need to age for half a
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century."</p>
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<p>"Eighty percent tax. It's like prohibition. You look at America, what it was like back in the twenties. And Sweden,
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that's even worse, you know. You wouldn't believe what they're paying for in spirits. It's got so bad they've
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developed this new home brew yeast that gives them twenty percent alcohol. It keeps them comatose through the dark
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winter nights. Instant hibernation."</p>
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<p>"Each to their own," Sproat said. "The Customs and Excise, it's always been a law unto itself. The Scotch Whisky
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Association has been banging its head on the front door of Downing Street for decades, but they're farting against
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thunder."</p>
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<p>Jack laughed at the mix of metaphor. Sproat just didn't realise that.</p>
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<p>"Just think the profits you could make if you could push some untaxed onto the continent. Eighty percent! It would be
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like a windfall would it not?"</p>
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<p>Sproat nodded. Jack let it sink in. The other man lined up to the ball and was just on the backswing when Jack looked
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away.</p>
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<p>"Here, while we're talking I know some folk who might be interested in taking that wee distillery on Skye right off
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your hands."</p>
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<p>Sproat hooked so far into the marsh that he had to drop another ball.</p>
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<p>The meeting had to be set up as a matter of urgency. Margery Burns slipped the note into his pocket when she helped
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him on with his jacket.</p>
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<p>"Face still intact," she whispered. Sproat looked up but she had turned away again. Jack took a glance at her legs
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and thought she really still had it for a woman of her age. Just as well, he told himself. Sproat caught the glance
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and smirked.</p>
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<p>"I could maybe fix you up."</p>
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<p>"Very nice thought, Alistair, but I've taken forty quid and I feel bad enough already." Jack grinned. If she knew
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Sproat had said that, she'd personally strangle the little prick with one of her expensive sheer stockings.</p>
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<p>She met him that night, after he and Sproat had chewed a few things over and got close to the heads of agreement.
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When he'd heard there was interest in the Dunvegan distillery, Sproat's tongue had almost been hanging out, and that
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had been enough to chivvy him into the first deal. He was in the bag. Mike had already printed out the contract on
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his computer system. Apart from the numbers, it was word for word identical to the blanks Margery had managed to get
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from the files. All Sproat could see were dollar signs.</p>
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<p>Here on Gillespie's dry-landed boat they listened while he ran through the plan.</p>
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<p>"Just as well we got those trucks," he said. "The decant has been switched again."</p>
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<p>He didn't tell them that the change in timing was because Sproat thought he was clearing out one of the storage sheds
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and wanted to get this out the way as quickly as possible. The rules of business still applied and the less people
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knew, the less they could tell. And the fewer people who did know, the fewer you had to trust.</p>
|
||
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<p>"To when?"</p>
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<p>"Wednesday."</p>
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<p>"Nobody told us," Ed said. "Are you sure?"</p>
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||
<p>"Got it from as near the horse's mouth to smell the breath." Nobody knew about his deal.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jed gave him an odd look. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"So now we have to get things moving. I need another ton from everybody, no cheques, no plastic and no IOU's. Just
|
||
cash."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"What for?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Diesel for a start. These tankers don't run on air. We have to hire a pump, so get a good Dewalt one Ed, something
|
||
that can do five thousand gallons an hour, and that's minimum. See what they've got and how heavy. Try Harcourt
|
||
Plant and if they haven't got what we need, we'll borrow one from Direct Works."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"The council don't hire plant," Tam said. "They're as tight as crab's arses."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I said borrow from them," Jack said. "Big Shug Cannon will get us anything we want for two bottles of hooch. If it
|
||
comes down to it, we'll use drain pumps."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Everybody agreed with that, so there was no problem either way, but they had to move fast.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Any problems?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>There was a silent pause. Neil looked at Donny and gave him a go-ahead sign, trying to make it look as if he hadn't,
|
||
but Jack caught it. It was all so close now that everything seemed picked out in a strange clarity, the edges
|
||
sharply defined, the colours clear and separate, as if all senses were up and working at max. He felt completely
|
||
alive.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"What's up Donzo?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Donny's face tried to match his hair. He squirmed a bit and shuffled like a schoolboy trying to sneak his first
|
||
kiss.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"It's them fish you wanted."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Yeah? You told me you'd got hundreds of them."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Sure, I did."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Good, they cost me fifty. That's our venture capital. A big investment."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"And then they died," Donny admitted and his face turned pure scarlet. "I had them in a tank, but it must have got
|
||
too hot in the sun, so they all cooked. I only discovered it today."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"That's okay. We don't need them alive."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"No, you don't understand. They <em>cooked</em>, man. I've got a tankful of mush, know what I mean? It's like
|
||
stickleback chowder and it smells to high heaven. It would make you puke."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Great," Tam said. He looked at Jack. "What the hell did you need fish for?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack didn't even respond to that. He rounded on Donny.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Well, I paid fifty and I want fish. Just go and get some more."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"My wee brother's gone to scout camp," Donny said helplessly.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I don't care if you have to go down the burn and hook them out with your teeth. But if we don't have a decoy,
|
||
everybody will know what's happened once we move. Just make sure you get them, right? That's your job, and we don't
|
||
have time."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I might need some more dough."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack looked at Ed. "Give him a bullseye from the kitty." Ed opened the tin and flicked out the two tens and a five.
|
||
Donny took it sheepishly.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack breathed out. "Anybody else?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>This time Neil did the sand-dancing. It was hot in the boat and he had big damp patches under his armpits.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Okay Neil man, you got the floor. Hit me now."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Listen Jake, I did my best, honest."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You only had to feed the birds Neil, what's the but?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"They think I'm their mother, that's the but. I did like you said and it worked just like clockwork. I've got them
|
||
coming right round the back of Aitkenbar. But now if I get inside half a mile of the place they go berserk. You were
|
||
right about the popcorn, they're hooked on the stuff. But they go totally crazy for it. And they follow me all over
|
||
the place, but the noise would wake the dead, man."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack put his head in his hands, elbows on the little formica table. Sunlight streamed in the brass porthole and he
|
||
felt a little bubble of hysteria build up. All of a sudden it just burst out and a fit of uncontrollable giggles
|
||
shook him.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Jesus," he gasped when he could finally get a breath. "Donny screws the fish, and geese fancy Neil. What the hell
|
||
are we doing?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Ed let him go until the laughter finally subsided.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"And then there's these rottweillers," he said. "They've brought in new security guards."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack sat back, clamping down on the laughter.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Dogs now? We'll just have to get a gun and shoot them."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Shoot them? Jesus Jake, are you crazy?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He held his hands up. "Probably, bringing you shmucks in on anything. Christ, you can't even catch a few fish and
|
||
feed a few geese? Right. Okay. We'll do it Chaucer's way again."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"What way is that?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Tam, don't you ever read anything without a staple in its belly? You ever read Canterbury Tales?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Listen to the mental milkman!"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You have to learn, chance fights ever on the side of the prudent."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Okay, who said that one?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Euripides.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You rippa dese pants," Neil came in. "I kicka your balls."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> "Jeez. I'm chief whip to a bunch of ignoramuses. Okay, forget the culture, just stick to the plan."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Sandy was blunt about it.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"It's far too complex," he said. "The best plans are really simple."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"This has to be complex if we're going to get away with it</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You're taking on too much. Listen Jack, you've got six of you involved in it, and that's six places for a tin can to
|
||
leak like a sieve."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Eight now," he said. "Including yourself."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Who's the other one?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You don't want to know."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"It's not that nice artist girl, is it? Pretty one with red hair and all the brains?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack shook his head. "No. She's well out of it."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I wish I was too. It's okay brewing a bit of beer and making that fancy woman's stuff for the club nights. But hell
|
||
and shite, Jack, this is in a different league."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You're not <em>in</em> this. Not this part of it anyway. You tell Willie we'll give him a ton for the van for one
|
||
night. Any comeback and he says it's been nicked. And all we have to do is put on the dog for Sproat, and that's
|
||
legit anyway. He's got his tongue hanging out and he's not thinking straight."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Just you make sure you don't get too smart, my boy. Big Angus Baxter's all over the town like a coat of cheap paint,
|
||
and he's nobody's mug. Your mother would kill you."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"So don't tell her."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You think I'd cut my own throat?" His uncle grinned at him, but there was concern in it. Jack caught sight of them
|
||
both in the hallway mirror and, with the grey still in his hair, he was astonished at how similar they were. Margery
|
||
Burns was right. It did make him look distinguished. For a fleeting moment he wondered if he should keep it this
|
||
way.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Kate had been round at the house on the pretext of asking for Jack's help in the next Starlight production, but
|
||
nobody was fooled.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> "I haven't seen him for days," Alice Lorne said. She poured them a cup of tea. "You know what he's like sometimes.
|
||
Just goes off on his own for a while. He's got a few plans."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I know," Kate said. "He told me. I said I thought it was a complete waste of time."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"What was that, love?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Going out on the North Sea on a supply boat. It's just manual labour with no future."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Out on a boat? He never told me anything about that. It would surprise me though, for our Jack, he gets awfully
|
||
seasick, always has since he was small. Are you sure that's what he told you?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> She asked Jed and Neil when she met them in the street, stopped at the traffic lights on River Street in the souped
|
||
up Skoda that Jed was still working on for the stock racing. It sounded like a hog with a sore throat and looked
|
||
like it was held together with string and duct tape. They were about to pull away when she climbed in the back and
|
||
leant on the roll-bar,</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> "Where are you guys off to?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>They were heading down to Gillespie's boat for the meet. Neil and Jed exchanged fast glances and she caught that
|
||
right away.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"A big secret then, is it? Just for the boys?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"No!" They both replied at once.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Oh really. And of course I believe you. Anybody seen Jack?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>They looked at each other again.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Haven't you?" Neil asked.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Now would I be asking if I had?" She leaned forward between them. "What's going on, boys? I hear Jack got a neat
|
||
haircut, and a wee birdie tells me he's gone and had it coloured."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Who told you that?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>She laughed out loud, hanging on to the roll-bar. They were transparent to her.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"More secrets? I think I've stumbled into the masons."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"No, honest, Kate. I haven't seen him for days. He's got a job on a boat somewhere."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"And he hasn't told his mother?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"It's just a try-out," Jed put in too quickly. "To see if he likes it."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>She sat back, thinking. Jed slowed down at the bridge, hoping she'd take the hint, worried in case Jack came round
|
||
the corner.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"You sure he's not getting all tarted up for a couple of Swedish bimbettes?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Come on Kate. That was just a one night," Jed said.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"And he never put a hand on them," Neil interjected quickly. "Honest."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"So he's gone to sea, has he?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Far as we know," Tam said, trying to keep his face straight. They dropped her at the corner and she was still none
|
||
the wiser. But later in the afternoon she met Michael, and he was no match for her at all.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Gus Ferguson was also looking for Jack Lorne. He'd put the word around the Corrieside boys, who would always exchange
|
||
a tip for a bottle of Buckfast wine, but in the past couple of days, nobody had seen him or heard a thing.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>The Irish connection had him beat, and he'd even made a couple of tentative inquiries up the city, just in case. You
|
||
never knew, with all these nutters out of the Maze and lots of time on their hands and here on the Clydeside, the
|
||
sectarian thing was still in the blood. You never knew who was related to who back in the old country. Wiggy Foley
|
||
had hit it on the head when he said he didn't know whether Lorne was a Tim or a Prod and at the end of the day
|
||
Ferguson still didn't know either. He'd found out Lorne's father had been Catholic, and his mother protestant, so he
|
||
was a half-caste in these parts. He could jump any way at all.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Guns: They put a different slant on things. Cullen and Foley, they were never the most reliable at the best of times,
|
||
solid muscle from ear to ear, and generally handy enough for a bit of shoving and shaking, although in recent days
|
||
he'd had to revise his estimate of their worth. Who knows what had happened in Whitehead's scrap yard. Somebody had
|
||
pulled a gun and almost singed Wiggy's ear, and that changed the situation. So far he hadn't heard the story
|
||
repeated on the jungle drums, and that was a good thing, because it meant he still had some face, but it would
|
||
eventually get out and he'd have to take some swift action to put that right, once he'd found out who and what he
|
||
was up against.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Lorne, on the other hand, seemed to have done a runner. Nobody had seen him anywhere and that could be a plus
|
||
depending on how you looked at it. Maybe Seggs and Wiggy had given him a tanking, despite the evidence to the
|
||
contrary, and maybe Lorne had buzzed off to lick his wounds. It could be that, but Ferguson didn't think so. Maybe
|
||
he was just lying low. He certainly had no team to back him up, not in this town.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>But who was that masked man? It wasn't the Lone Ranger and it wasn't Batman either, Ferguson told himself. And the
|
||
stranger spoke with an Irish accent.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Which part of Ireland? North or South? Belfast or Dublin? No-one knew.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>What Ferguson did not know was that he had passed Jack twice in the past two days, and once was on the golf course.
|
||
Alistair Sproat had waved him through when his ball had disappeared into the scrub and had given him the nod. The
|
||
big fellow with him had tipped his cap, but he'd been wearing mirror sunglasses and Ferguson couldn't tell where
|
||
he'd been looking.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>The second time was when he was collecting personally from that mouth Watson's aunt Jean Bailey, standing on the
|
||
front doorstep to let all the neighbours know. She was a thin woman with hair dyed the colour she was sure she
|
||
remembered having some years back and it made her look like a Swan Vesta match. No matter what he'd said to Watson,
|
||
there was no chance in hell he'd put it to this skanky bitch.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Haven't seen your Donny in a while."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Me neither," she said, keeping her voice flat. She needed the dough week on week, just like the pawnshop, so she
|
||
wouldn't offend him if she could help it. Times were hard.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"That's a shame. I was hoping we could have a chat."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I thought yon Cullen already spoke to him."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Don't you worry, Ginger. It's not him I'm looking for. But I hear he's in with a bad crowd. Somebody should just
|
||
point him in the right direction, maybe give him good advice."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Oh yes. You?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Has to come from somebody, Jean. You let him know it could be worth his while. And I tell you what, honey. I'll make
|
||
it worth your while too. I never forget a favour, know what I'm saying?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Okay. I'll let him know then."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He squeezed her just above the hip, one handed, like he was copping a quick feel.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Good. See you next week then and see what we've got."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He drove away in the Jag, through Drymains and close to where Lorne had turned up to see the boys off. He slowed down
|
||
when he passed the Lorne house, just in case, and speeded up again, round the corner and along the straight. At the
|
||
far side of Drymains, close to where it gets to Gooselade, he passed Sandy Bruce's house. The old man was in the
|
||
front garden, talking to some other fellow. The man turned, saw him and kept on turning as if nothing had happened,
|
||
but Ferguson was long in the tooth and he had eyes on the back of his head. He knew he had been clocked.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Was that the Irishman? He had to find out.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Margery Burns followed the note up with the call and he dropped in just after he and Ed sneaked back in to Tim
|
||
Farmer's to pick up the mail. There was more behind the door this time and fortunately, no nonsense in front of it
|
||
and no police around. They were probably all out looking for the two tankers.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Just what are you up to, Jack Lorne?" It was the third time she'd asked it, and about the tenth time he'd heard
|
||
it.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>She was standing behind him, as he sat at the kitchen table, hands on his shoulders, squeezing them gently and trying
|
||
to be seductive, but it just helped ease the tension out of his shoulders. </p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Just trying to give Sproat a taste of his own."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Sure you are. But it's got nothing to do with the closure, that's for sure, nor the unions. They've accepted the
|
||
deal, damned weaklings."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Best you don't know."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"So you're up to something illegal."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"I wouldn't say that," he lied.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Then it's got something to do with that stack of barrels of three-year-old you're trying to con out of Sproat."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"How did you know about...?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Don't be daft. I'm the original eyes and ears. Knowledge is power, that's what you say, isn't it?" She chuckled.
|
||
"So, are you going to let me in on it?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Honest Marge, it really isn't a good idea. You can always say you never knew a thing."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Oh, I'll say that anyway, don't worry your head about that. But so far I've snaffled the outgoing mail you wanted,
|
||
and I've diverted phone calls, and I've looked up some paperwork I shouldn't, so I'm in it, whatever <em>it</em> is,
|
||
no matter what. And I'm thinking I'd better know what to do when whatever it is that I'm not supposed to know about
|
||
takes place and various solid things hit the air conditioning."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He closed his eyes, enjoying the back rub, but thinking about Kate and Jed and feeling guilty. She ploughed into the
|
||
silence.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Now, remember you wanted me to clock somebody out. Eddie Kane, wasn't it? And he got sent home the next day, first
|
||
thing in the morning just after I clocked him in again."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Jack stiffened and she slapped the back of his head, almost motherly. "Sit still. I don't do this for everybody, you
|
||
know."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>She chuckled again. "So he got sent home an hour after I clocked him into the building. What I'm wondering is, where
|
||
was he all night? And if I put two and two together, I'd say he was inside Aitkenbar all night."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>God, she was sharp as cut glass. Jack wouldn't want to be her soon-to-be-ex by the time she was finished with
|
||
him.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Then I'd be wondering <em>what </em>he was doing all night," she said, still kneading, enjoying this now. So was he.
|
||
He had to admire her. "I know what <em>you </em> were doing for some of it."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He couldn't strangle the sudden smile.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"So here we have you trying to look like Al Pacino." She bent forward and pecked his cheek. "But a whole lot better
|
||
looking than that scrawny wee Italian. You get anxious when I tell you the next decant has been put on hold. You get
|
||
me to clock your friend in and out."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>She paused. She had him. "Am I getting anywhere?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Maybe." If she could work it out this far, maybe anybody else could.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"So now I'm wondering, should I tell you that the decant date has been shifted again?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>He froze.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>"Gotcha."</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>There was nothing for it but to bring her in.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Sometime later, when it was almost dark, she leaned over and cupped the back of his head, pulling him a little
|
||
closer.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> "You think I can get a BMW roadster out of this operation, young man?"</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>She chuckled mirthfully in the shadows.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</body>
|
||
</html>
|