CHERUB: Brigands M.C. - Robert Muchamore Page 0,102
complained, as he slammed his door. ‘Quite a workout.’
‘I’m sorry you got dragged into this,’ Nigel said, getting in next to Julian. ‘I reek from inside that hold. I’m gonna stink out your car.’
‘Smoke?’ Julian asked.
Nigel laughed. ‘I need something to take the edge off. I hope I never see that bastard Woodhead again.’
Julian’s hands trembled with a mix of fear and exhaustion as he put two cigarettes in his mouth and lit them both before passing one to Nigel.
‘At least you made a grand,’ Nigel said.
‘Take your half if you want,’ Julian replied, with his voice croaky from the smoke.
‘It’s your money, Julian. Paul would have had my legs smashed if you hadn’t come through and done this for me.’
Julian grunted. ‘You did save me from drowning when I fell off that rope swing.’
‘I forgot that,’ Nigel said. ‘How old were we? Eight or nine?’
‘I don’t want dirty money,’ Julian said. ‘I’ll pay my debts, but making money off guns is bad karma. I’ll stick it in a charity box. African babies, or blind pandas or some shit.’
‘Sweeeet,’ Nigel laughed, as Julian started his engine.
Julian pulled away from the empty seafront. Chloe thought about following them back to Salcombe, but she couldn’t see anything useful coming out of it and decided to stick around for a while, just in case Riggs went back to the boat, or McEwen called asking for backup.
‘This is some heavy shit,’ Julian sighed, as he drove up a cobbled lane heading for the road back to Salcombe. ‘I mean, when you think about it a grand seems like a lot for a night’s work. But what if we’d been busted gun running?’
‘Oh yeah,’ Nigel smiled. ‘That’s prison time for sure. But we’re out of it now and we wore gloves the whole time, so there’s no prints on those boxes.’
Julian burst out laughing as he made a left turn. ‘Man, you really stink of fish. You’re gonna have to burn those clothes.’
36. COPS
Joe answered the door to a policewoman, while her male colleague walked back to the gate to speak with a group of the older kids who were waiting for a taxi. The policewoman realised that Joe was shaken up.
‘Can I step inside?’ she asked cheerfully. ‘We had a call from a young girl inside the house. She seemed a bit worried about what was going on.’
The police weren’t strangers to the Führer’s house, but he didn’t leave anything incriminating in his home and Joe had instructions to be polite and allow the police to search if they asked to.
‘Not much happened,’ Joe explained, as the policewoman walked down the hallway past peanut shells and crumpled cans. ‘There was a rumble and a couple of windows got broken.’
The officer nodded as she walked into the kitchen and acknowledged the girls leaning on the cabinets. ‘Are you all OK?’
The girls looked sheepish as Joe wondered which one had called the police.
‘Well,’ the officer sighed, ‘if it’s any consolation I’ve seen house parties resulting in much bigger messes than this. But it’s a warning to you all the same. If you have an unsupervised party, make sure you only invite people you know and trust. Or better still, don’t have one at all.’
The friendly lecture took Lauren back to primary school when the local beat constable turned up to teach her class road safety. The young male officer who came through the front door wasn’t as friendly.
‘Got a lad up there with a busted nose,’ he told his colleague stiffly. ‘I’ve radioed for an ambulance and told him to wait. I don’t suppose any of you lot saw what happened?’
Dante shrank back behind Anna, suspecting that it was the guy whose head he’d slammed in the window.
The female officer took Joe back into the hall and spoke quietly. ‘I think I know your mum, don’t I?’
‘You might do,’ Joe nodded. ‘She’s on the neighbourhood watch.’
‘I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when she gets home,’ the officer smiled. ‘I think it’s best if I ask everyone to go home, don’t you?’
Joe was embarrassed at the way the policewoman was mothering him, but was also relieved to have some of the responsibility taken away.
‘Listen up everyone,’ the policewoman said, as she clapped her hands. ‘I think it’s time you all went home. So call your parents or make whatever arrangements you have to. And while you’re waiting, perhaps you can help your friend Joe to pick up as much mess as you can.’