Page 43 of The Impossible Fortune

‘Me either,’ Kendrick tells her.

‘Shall we get you back home?’ says Ron. ‘Maybe have a hot chocolate?’

‘Umm, a hot chocolate at one o’clock in the morning?’ says Kendrick. ‘Are we allowed to?’

DCI Varma realizes that this question has been directed at her, and nods her assent.

‘We shall see you in the morning, Ron,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Bright and early.’

Of course they will, thinks Ron. He holds Kendrick’s other hand, and he and Pauline walk him back to the flat, away from the gang.

So Kendrick was scared by the loud noise? That’s new. Suzi still hasn’t resurfaced. Jason’s going to take Kendrick back on Sunday. Why can’t Suzi come and get him herself?

Kendrick tugs at his hand. ‘Have you ever been in a war, Grandad?’

‘Miners’ strike 1974,’ says Ron.

Kendrick nods. ‘Why did the miners strike though?’

Ron feels his chest fill. ‘Let me tell you a few things about late-stage capitalism, Kenny.’

‘Yessss!’ says Kendrick.

SATURDAY

22

You’d be forgiven for thinking that all is well with the world.

The sun is shining and the birds are singing as Ron and Bogdan sit in floral garden chairs on the patio of one of the most prolific Ecstasy dealers in British criminal history.

‘And are you single?’ asks Davey Noakes as his butler brings out three bottles of beer on a tray. Ron can’t help but notice that there is also a gun on the tray.

‘Me?’ asks Ron. ‘No, I’m sorry. And I’m straight.’

‘No one’s really straight,’ says Davey. ‘Not deep down.’

‘I think I might be,’ says Ron, and gives an apologetic shrug.

‘Probably best for you,’ says Davey. ‘Saves you a lot of trouble in the long run. I’d ask you out, you’d feel you had to say yes –’

‘Or you’d kill me,’ says Ron, looking at the gun, taking a beer and nodding his thanks to the butler.

‘Or I’d kill you,’ says Davey, handing a bottle to Bogdan.

‘Cheers,’ says Bogdan.

‘I’d play with you for a couple of weeks,’ says Davey. ‘Then I’d get bored, and I’d blame you, and I’d probably get someone to run you down in a car. Not kill you but give you something to remember me by. They say dating’s changed, but some things stay the same.’

‘I’m not single either,’ says Bogdan.

‘I know that, you big prince,’ says Davey, taking his bottle and the gun from the tray. The butler retreats. ‘You go out with that police officer, don’t you? Opposites attract, eh? You told her who you’re visiting today?’

‘I said I had business with Ron,’ says Bogdan. ‘I don’t have to tell her everything, I’m my own man.’

Ron laughs at this.

‘So when the two of you turn up in a canal with bullets in your skulls,’ says Davey, ‘she won’t come knocking for Ravey Davey? Good to know.’