got what, Tagalong?’
Tagalong sighed. ‘Pay, Kassie, Pastime and No Tin got twenty percent each —’
‘That’s four million.’
‘Indeed,’ Tagalong looked at Angela as if impressed by the swift deployment of her numerical abilities, ‘I must say —’
‘And the remaining twenty percent?’
‘Your humble self,’ Tagalong said with a slight bow, ‘got ten per cent, and the remaining ten per cent went to the remaining warriors of the demi-monde present in the room at the time, but their rewards did not end there, for in return for supporting the successors of Jolly they have gained increased prestige, power, authority and the share of the good life.’
‘So who’s running the show now?’
Tagalong sighed again. ‘This is a matter fraught with implication, innuendo, rivalry, dissent, duplicity, and even a certain —’
‘So they’re all at each other’s throats, is that it?’
‘In a nutshell, Miss Ashton, such a characterisation does not entirely fail to serve as a temporary fleeting ephemeral description of the current circumstances, but I would not place too much reliance on such a primarily visual —’
‘That’s your nutshell? And where’s a squirrel going to hide that?’
Tagalong paused, as if wondering if this was a joke that he should laugh at, then said, ‘They are not yet all at war with each other, Miss Ashton, if this is what you are asking about.’
‘I want the ownership papers of 3/67 Cranston Avenue made over to me,’ Angela said abruptly. ‘I don’t care who does it, or how it’s done, just so long as it’s legal and above board. Jolly owned that apartment, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s mine now.’
‘Well, naturally,’ Tagalong said, ‘I am sure that an appropriate —’
‘I got nothing of that twenty million!’ Angela screeched. ‘Nothing! You make that apartment over to me or I will go to Mr Nicholas Raspero and complain of my treatment at your hands. I will say that you, Tagalong, compromised my virtue in no uncertain manner, and that Pay, Kassie, Pastime and No Tin have all done likewise, and I will seek justice for my mistreatment at your hands, my grave mistreatment which no lady of honour should countenance. I got nothing of that twenty million, nothing, but I will get the apartment I live in. It’s mine, you hear me? There is one question you want to ask yourself, Mr Tagalong Longman: are you going to give me what I want, or are you going to find Mr Nicholas Raspero walking towards you down the street tomorrow? Because otherwise, Mr Tagalong Longman, you can save yourself time and trouble and just jump out of this flying carriage now!’
‘Let us not be hasty!’ Tagalong said placatingly, looking as if he had too many thoughts assaulting his mind all at once to know which way to turn, ‘Naturally, I —’
‘Naturally, you say, “yes”, right now! Let’s hear you, Tagalong! Yes, Miss Ashton, the apartment is yours.’
Tagalong sighed. ‘As it happens, the apartment in which you currently reside, which has the market value of two hundred and thirty thousand strada, is part of the property valuations which comprise part of the aforementioned twenty million strada and as such —’
‘Yes, Miss Ashton, the apartment is yours! Or else!’
Tagalong sighed again. ‘Yes, Miss Ashton, the apartment is yours. I will see to it myself.’
‘Yes, you will,’ Angela said fiercely, ‘or else I will complain to Nicholas — Mr Raspero to you — about my treatment, and believe me, the content and manner of my complaint will bring about results that you will find deeply misfortunate. You see, Tagalong, you and the others have a lot to lose now, don’t you? You’ve gone from being Jolly’s slaves to running the empire yourself. You’re a lot higher now, but that just means that you have a lot further to fall, doesn’t it? Take a look out of the window at the ground below if you don’t understand me. That’s a long way to fall, isn’t it? Now Nicholas might not actually kill you if I complain about my mistreatment at your hands, but he might remove a certain portion of your anatomy as a punishment that fits the crime, so to speak, if I make a certain kind of complaint about you and the same goes for Pay, Kassie, Pastime and No Tin, and you can tell them so. Do you understand me?’
Tagalong winced and shifted about in his seat. He clearly understood her all too well. ‘I assure you —’
‘Your assurances mean nothing, Tagalong, they are as worthless as you are. You have three days, until two o’clock on Sunday, to deliver the ownership papers to 3 of 67 Cranston Avenue made over to me. If I have not received those papers by then, I will go to Nicholas in a flood of tears over my mistreatment at your hands. Is that clear?’
Tagalong nodded. ‘That is very clear, Miss Ashton. It will be done as you insist.’ Angela’s repeated references to Mr Nicholas Raspero by his first name had not escaped his attention, nor had he failed to draw the logical inference to be made from her apparent assurance of his intimate acquaintance.
There was a silence for a while as they flew along, with Angela looking out of the window and Tagalong looking at the drinks cabinet. Angela gave in after a while. ‘Help yourself, Tagalong,’ she said with a gesture to the drinks cabinet.
Tagalong didn’t need telling twice. He poured a stiff whiskey, downed it in one, then poured himself an even larger second glass and sat back to enjoy the ride. Angela was an experienced enough courtesan to wait for when the alcohol had dissolved tension before asking the question that was foremost on her mind, the question that troubled her night and day. When Tagalong leaned back in his chair and stretched his feet forward with a gentle sigh, Angela asked, ‘Why do you think, Tagalong, that Nicholas — Mr Raspero — didn’t take any of Jolly’s money?’
‘What did he say to you about it?’ Tagalong prevaricated.
Angela sighed. ‘What do you think about it, Tagalong?’
Tagalong shrugged. ‘How would I know? Mr Raspero is not like you or me, Miss Ashton. I have no idea. Some kind of principle, probably.’
Angela considered this in silence for a while. Tagalong poured himself a third whiskey, his movements as he poured the golden liquid as careful as if he were slightly inebriated.
‘Principle,’ Angela said scornfully, ‘what’s the good of that, Tagalong?’
‘It’s as good as it can be,’ Tagalong said with a smile, leaning back in his chair and ready now to be witty. ‘And there you have it, if you ever do.’ He laughed and sipped more of his third whiskey.
Angela considered him for a moment. She had never understood Tagalong. ‘So what’s your story, Tagalong? You were a gentleman once, right? You were a man of principle, weren’t you?’
Tagalong shrugged, but he was drunk enough by now to say more than he would have normally. ‘Yes, I was once a gentleman, and I once nearly lost everything and I had only ten thousand strada so I went to the gaming house of The One Wheel. I lost all that and I got a line of credit and then I lost that. I was fifty thousand strada down, Miss Ashton, and I had really lost everything. So I made a deal with the devil, Miss Ashton, his name was Jolly, and I saved what I could. And there you have it.’
‘What
