CHERUB: Brigands M.C. - Robert Muchamore Page 0,75
shaking his curly locks. ‘Gimme a second.’
Lauren realised that a biker associate like Nigel talking about money and cars might be an interesting lead. Unfortunately Anna interrupted them.
‘Hey, Nigel,’ she said sweetly.
‘Piss off, Anna,’ Nigel snapped. ‘I already told you, I’m not lending you money.’
‘Come on,’ Anna begged. ‘I’m so broke.’
Nigel looked at Lauren. ‘You’ve got half your shirt buttons undone,’ he smiled. ‘You’ll have a bunch of pervs ogling you.’
Anna thumped her brother on the arm as Lauren sheepishly did her buttons up. ‘Nigel, if you don’t lend me twenty quid, I’m gonna tell Mum where you keep your stash and that you’re skipping school tomorrow to deliver something very naughty with Curly there.’
Nigel scowled at his sister. ‘How’d you know about that?’
Anna grinned. ‘Well, if you take a message on the pad beside the telephone and write with a biro, you can read every word on the next sheet.’
‘Oh shit,’ Nigel gasped. ‘Please tell me you tore that off before Mum saw it.’
Anna smiled. ‘Of course I did,’ she said. ‘Because brothers and sisters help one another out when they need each other, don’t they?’
Nigel reluctantly pulled his wallet from the back of his jeans and handed Anna two ten-pound notes.
‘Can I keep it?’ Anna asked.
‘I’ve gotta go, Nige,’ Julian said, as he backed away.
‘No you don’t, you slippery eel,’ Nigel said, grabbing Julian by the arm. ‘I’m not bullshitting, Julian. If you go back on what you promised I’m in the shit, and if you do, I’m selling your debt to Dirty Dave. See what happens if you don’t pay him what you owe.’
Lauren was intrigued by Julian and Nigel’s mysterious and illegal activity, but Anna only cared about the money. ‘Can I keep it?’ she repeated, giving her sweetest little sister smile.
‘Keep it,’ Nigel groaned. ‘And Lauren, I won’t be in school tomorrow. Can you tell James to get me the homework sheets from my maths class tomorrow morning?’
‘Sure,’ Lauren nodded.
‘Oh I do love shaking down my big brothers,’ Anna grinned.
‘Fine, I’ll do it,’ Julian hissed at Nigel. ‘Just let go of me, you dick.’
Lauren was struggling to work out what Nigel and Julian were up to and she pumped Anna for info as they headed upstairs to meet up with the boys.
‘What’s your brother doing tomorrow?’ Lauren asked.
‘Dunno exactly,’ Anna shrugged. ‘All I know is that some Brigand wants him to deliver something in Bristol. Julian was supposed to take him in his car, but he welched at the last minute.’
Asking too many direct questions might seem suspicious, so Lauren tried a different tack. ‘What if your brother ends up in prison or something?’
‘He probably will,’ Anna said matter of factly, before cracking a smile. ‘Which means I can have the big bedroom.’
Lauren laughed. ‘You’re cruel! But seriously? Is he into a lot of shit?’
‘He might be,’ Anna said, as they reached the top of the stairs. ‘Probably deeper than my older brother Will, truth told. And yes I do get scared, but I can’t run my brother’s life and what’s the point worrying about things you can’t control?’
The information was too fresh for Lauren to have worked out all the consequences, but she needed to tell Chloe as soon as possible.
‘Back in a second,’ Lauren said, as she saw James standing in the crêperie. ‘I’ll go tell my brother about that worksheet thing before I forget.’
Martin was outside clearing tables, so Lauren explained as much as she could while James cooked a pair of chocolate orange and pineapple crêpes and only charged her for one.
‘The car is what makes it interesting,’ James said. ‘Nigel’s a small-time drug dealer and you don’t need a car to deliver a few bags of cannabis.’
‘I’m going back over to try getting more info out of Anna,’ Lauren said, as she grabbed the two hot crêpes in their cardboard trays. ‘Can you disappear for a few minutes and go phone Chloe?’
‘I’ve got Noelene trying to bite a chunk out of my arse, but I’ll try,’ James said.
*
James phoned Chloe from the seclusion of Marina Heights’ disabled bathroom. She sounded positive about the information and said she’d call Ross Johnson and let him know what they’d decided to do. Ten minutes before his shift in the crêperie ended, Chloe called and said she was waiting in the car park.
‘Eww,’ Chloe said, as James climbed into the Range Rover beside her and closed the door. ‘You can smell that pancake batter on your clothes.’