Angels 2

As he turned away from the door to face me, his smile faded

I looked behind me to make sure the others were still upstairs and lowered my voice;

“What really happened?”

Adam took my hand and pulled me back into the sitting room. He started getting his stuff together; jacket, cigarettes, lighter, keys. Then he sat down and looked at me;

“Gary ripped off the wrong people and he’s in big trouble. There’s a lot of money involved. They’re looking for him ”

I went to pick up my bag. Then I stopped for a minute;

“Ad I don’t understand - why do Matt and Spider keep bailing him out like this? He’s a total wanker – you know that”

He looked at me blankly;

“He’s their friend”

I sighed. I might have known that would be the answer. They all watched out for each other, and if any of them were in trouble, the others were sure to help – it didn’t matter how dodgy it was. I gave up. There wasn’t any point going on about it

“Ok - what do we have to do?”

“We have to go and pick something up from Simon Taylor. Got everything? Ready to go?”

We started walking down to the tube. Every time a car slowed down near us, I could feel Adam’s body stiffen until it speeded up again. I put my arm through his and squeezed it to try to make him feel better. On the way, I thought about Simon; I didn’t know him very well because he’d been in prison until fairly recently, but from what I’d heard he was quite mad. I remembered Joel telling me he’d got worse after Brixton.

His sisters were around my age – Tash and Rosie – they were normal – but Simon and his brother David were totally fucked up – and their dad was too – he was actually a proper criminal, like someone out of The Sweeney. I hadn’t met him but he was a legend. He owned half of North London and was extremely rich, although not as rich as he thought he was; it was David who was supposed to manage the rents from his properties, only David was putting the money straight up his nose, not in the bank. When his dad found out he would kill him.

It didn’t take long at all to get to Golders Green, and then it was only a short walk to the Taylor’s house. I’d never been there before – it was enormous; set behind big black gates. You had to press a button before they’d open. Simon was waiting for us at the open door, smiling widely – you’d never know from looking at him the things he’d done.

“Alright? Come on – let’s go up”

He went up the stairs two at a time. As we followed I looked at the hideous paintings, and shiny wallpaper, my feet sinking into the deep pile underfoot. It was the ugliest house I’d ever seen. Simon’s bedroom was huge – big enough to have a kind of sitting room at one end, with sofas and a coffee table.

We sat down and Simon excused himself and disappeared into the bathroom. I looked at Adam next to me on the sofa – he was sitting on the very edge, his foot tapping against the floor nervously, as if ready to spring up the minute we’d finished.

“Where are we meeting Matt?”

Adam didn’t seem to hear me the first time; his eyes were fixed on the bathroom door. I gently prodded his arm.

“What? Oh - the Coffee Cup”

It took ages before Simon came out; he came over to us, sniffing, and sat down in the armchair.

“Gary ok is he?” he smiled

“Yeah – seemed ok. Matt says you have something for him?”

I could tell Adam was trying to hide his impatience.

“No time for a spliff first?” He looked at Adam’s face, “No – I guess not”

He went over to his bedside table, unlocked a drawer and took out an envelope and something wrapped in a red slik scarf. He came back to Adam and handed them to him

“Wish them luck from me ok? And don’t worry Ad “ He smiled reassuringly. I found it so hard to picture him doing the things I’d heard; he seemed so jovial.

Once we were out of there, I asked Adam;

“ Is it really true about the Molotov cocktail he threw? The man who lost an arm from it?”

Adam started;

“Fucking hell who told you that?”

“Someone.” I wasn’t going to give T away

He shrugged,

“It’s what they say”

Hampstead, when we got there, was bustling, like it always is on a Saturday. When we went into the café I breathed in the reassuring smell of fresh coffee and it made me feel slightly better. We found a table by the window, and squeezed in next to four middle-aged women wearing too much jewellery and makeup. After ordering, Adam sat still, never taking his eyes off the street. There was only one thing I wanted to talk about;

“What did he give you?”

Adam looked at me

“Money”

“…..and the other thing? In the scarf?”

Adam shook his head, then stopped as we saw a large motorbike pull up outside. We could see from the racing leathers that it was Matt. Adam pushed his chair right back, squashing the carrier bags piled next to the chattering women. He apologised briefly, then turned to me;

“Won’t be a minute – you wait here.”

With that, he was out of the door. I watched him call Matt’s name, and the two disappeared around the back together, into the little side street that went down the side of the café. Soon after, I saw Matt come back again, patting the side of his jacket. He gave me a half wave, and then got back on his bike and sped off. As I watched Matt, Adam slid back into his seat, finished his coffee quickly, and looked at me

“We have to go to Joel’s now. He’ll ring by eight”

“What if he doesn’t?”

I could see a muscle move in the side of his face;

“I have to call mum. “ He looked miserable for a minute, and then he stood up;

“Come on, let’s go”

As we left, to begin the walk down to Joel’s, I began to say something - I had a pretty good idea what had been inside the scarf. Then I looked at Adam and shut my mouth again. It didn’t feel like the right thing to do.