Arab couple walked into the Sports Bar‚ the wife was covered from head to toe in a Burka. In a heartbeat‚ the tension in the room become palpable and the din died down for a millisecond and then started up again.
‘Poor bastards‚’ I said. ‘Do you reckon they ever get used to that?’
Idris didn’t seem to hear me. The food arrived‚ a Full English Breakfast‚ minus the scum. I tucked straight into it.
‘Jay?’ Idris said‚ ignoring his food.
‘Yeah‚’ I said‚ with a mouthful of hash brown.
‘Look‚ I don’t want to freak you out.’
‘Well‚ don’t then.’
I smiled. He smiled. But only briefly before his expression turned to dour again.
‘I’m serious‚ Jay.’
I looked at my meal longingly‚ and then hesitantly I put down my knife and fork. I took a sip of my orange juice and placed my glass down on the table.
‘What’s bothering you?’
‘I think they’re coming for you‚’ Idris said‚ rubbing his forehead.
‘Why do you say that?’ I asked‚ as controlled as I could‚ when everything in me wanted to scream a thousand questions.
‘It’s just something that happened at work.’
‘Like what?’
‘My chief had me in her office.’
‘Oh‚ did she now?’
‘She showed me some photos of us together in your car‚’ he said‚ rightly ignoring my childish remark.
‘In my Beemer?’
‘No‚ your Nova.’
‘So?’ I said‚ trying to remember anything untoward that had happened in my Nova that would have cause to be flagged.
‘You were doing a deal.’
‘Yeah‚ I remember that. A few weeks back‚ yeah?’ I said‚ and then realisation hit me. ‘And you were in the car with me?’ Idris nodded. ‘Oh‚ shit! Did you get fucked? Is that what this is about?’
‘Yeah‚ I did‚ but—’
‘God. I’m sorry‚ man. I didn’t fucking know. How much trouble are you in? Can they prove that it was a deal? I could have been passing anything.’
‘No‚ Jay‚ shut up for a second. This isn’t about me getting the hairdryer.’ Idris leaned in and lowered his voice. ‘It’s about them watching you.’
‘What do you mean watching me? I haven’t done anything wrong! Nothing that warrants surveillance‚ anyway.’
‘I know that‚ Jay. If they were going to arrest you for your nickel-and-dime bullshit dealing they would have pulled you over‚ searched your car and hauled your ass down the station. This is something else.’
I looked down at my food. It didn’t look too appetising anymore. ‘Idris‚’ I said‚ tentatively. ‘The attack on the mosque. Last Friday. Do you remember?’
‘Yeah‚ course.’
‘Do you remember I told you about that meeting at Ali’s?’
‘Yeah‚’ Idris said‚ his eyes narrowed‚ as he tried to follow my thought process.
‘Do you remember—’
‘Can you stop saying that‚ for Gods sake‚ I’m not fucking senile‚’ Idris said‚ loud enough for a few patrons to crane their heads in our direction. ‘Go on.’ He lowered his voice. ‘You were in Ali’s. So? What happened?’
‘I ended up with Parvez and Khan.’
‘Khan?’ Idris said‚ rubbing his face again. ‘What the hell were you thinking?’
‘Alright‚ calm down‚ man. You’re getting loud again.’
Idris sat back in his chair and crossed him arms and motioned for me to carry on. ‘We got into a dust up with some white boys in Staines. I tooled one of them… Pretty fucking badly. But he was alright… I think‚’ I said‚ sheepishly. ‘Do you reckon that’s what it’s about?’
‘No… I don’t know… It could be.’
‘Yeah‚ well‚ thanks for clearing that up‚ Detective.’
‘Look. What do we know for a fact? They’ve been watching you for at least a few weeks‚ right?’
‘So they can’t be after me because of the fight. That only happened last week.’
I cracked my knuckles. A nervous trait which hadn’t been evident in a very long time.
‘Unless…. Unless…’ Idris said.
‘What? Unless what?’
‘Unless they were waiting for you to screw up.’
We decided to take the bus home rather than fork out for another minicab. We sat up on the top deck‚ right at the very back. Me at one window‚ Idris at the far other. A big gap between us‚ just like we did a thousand times back in the day on the way to school. That back seat belonged to us‚ and even though there was a huge gap between us‚ everyone knew better than to occupy it.
This felt like that‚ but at the same time it didn’t.
My stop arrived first. We made rushed plans to see each other soon‚ to shoot some pool‚ but I think somehow we both knew that would never happen. It felt very much like the next time we saw each other everything would have changed.
As I put the key in the front door of my empty house I heard a car pull up behind me. I turned to face a silver Ford Mondeo haphazardly parked halfway across my drive‚ inches from my Nova. I’d already lost one car recently; I wasn’t about to lose my fucking Nova too. I glared through the windscreen‚ ready to give the driver a piece of my mind‚ but first I wanted to get a good look just in case he was bigger than me. There were two of them‚ both white‚ one male and one female‚ and they were releasing their seatbelts‚ eyeballs fixed on me. I instinctively knew who they were‚ even before the second car pulled up directly behind them. This car was a white Vauxhall Astra with blue lights attached to the roof and the word POLICE written back to front on the bonnet.
The hairs at the back of my neck stood to attention and I broke into a cold sweat. Four doors opened in tandem as the couple from the first car stepped out‚ and two uniforms got out of the police car and stood behind them. They stood in the middle of my driveway watching me carefully to see if I would make
