“Yeah. That.” I stare out across the Thames at the bare banks on the far side. They’re like the ones I used to play on, digging for buried treasure, and a way to do that double-checking comes to me. “If you look up each pattern, it’ll be so much easier to find specialist auctions.”
He nods. “That’s easy. I’ll do an image search on each one.”
“Yeah. I guess you coulddo that.”
Dair squints like he sees that I’m holding back, and I probably shouldn’t like how easily he reads me. “Youwouldn’tdo an image search?”
I shake my head, then shrug. “I dunno what’s wrong with the internet these days.” I slide my phone away. “It’s okay for directions and for narrowing down website options. But you can’t always trust the results it gives for visuals.” I get to my feet. “I do know something you could trust. Something my aunt used to identify the china that got washed up below where she lived, but…”
He gets up too. “But?”
“It would mean spending more time with me.”
Dair doesn’t answer. He doesn’t have to.
His smile says a loud and clearyes,no words needed.
8
I only hesitateafter a twenty-minute walk that takes us out of one of the richest parts of London to somewhere very different. We enter a rat run of alleys slicing between postwar high-rise housing. Compared to the gold and silver towers built for bankers and tech bros we left behind at Canary Wharf, my home turf is graffitied. And grim.
It’s ugly. A million miles from Kensington’s townhouses. I guess that’s what Dair sees while a silent audience watches from the walkways above us, sizing up whether he’s here to buy what they’re selling or if he’s worth mugging. Then they see me. Cool stares turn warm, and I lift my chin in return.
Dair sees that too.
“You know them?”
“Those kids? I know their fams.” If he has more questions, the only answer I got is, “This is home, innit.” I won’t deny or downplay it. For every trap house here, there are ten more front doors I could knock on and be offered a cuppa.
I can’t help seeing it through Dair’s eyes. And through the eyes of high-flying Heppel Exes, which I suppose partly answers one of Harry’s questions about me keeping my distance.
I turn that over on the way through more alleys devoid of sunlight, where Dair tells me about his last care-home shift. About accidental puddles he mopped up long after midnight. And about slow dancing with a client who mistook him for her husband. “No two shifts are ever the same.” His laugh echoes, attracting attention.
Shadows shift.
Just like that, my guard rises just like Kev drilled into me, and I shove Dair behind me, ready to do what I once did for Charles.
Thank fuck, I don’t have to scuff my knuckles today—the man who steps out is the de facto lord of this housing-estate manor.
I just look like a hard man. This is the real deal. Last I heard, he was on remand for intent to supply. This afternoon, he’s free to deliver a message.
“Sorry to hear about Stacey, mate.”
I nod. “Thanks.”
“She did my sister a solid. Helped her do a midnight flit with my nephew while I was banged up. Said Stacey wouldn’t take no cash for it.”
“That sounds like her.”
He eyes me. “Was it you who got my sister’s stuff out?” He tilts his head in the direction of the river. “Top floor of a block in the Wintergreen estate. Night-time job right at the end of the summer.”
“Yeah. I remember.” Remember? My poor plates of meat didn’t let me forget for days. “How’s she doing? And your nephew. He was handy that night. The lift was out of order. He helped a lot.”
“Deshaun’s a good kid,” this gang lord says as Dair edges out from behind me to watch, wide-eyed again. “And my sister’s doing better. Her fracture’s all healed now and Deshaun’s back at school. Only got a few months left. Don’t think he wouldhave made it to the finish line if they’d stayed living with that dickhead.” This big, hard man does a little fracturing of his own, and his voice lowers. “I didn’t know what was going on. She never told me or I would have got it sorted. I have now. Paid her ex back.” He inspects his own knuckles. “By the way, I saw your old man while I was away. Paid him back too, for you.” He meets my eyes. “As a thank-you for my sister, yeah?” He surveys me. Surveys Dair too. “You two need anything?”
I’m pretty sure that’s a drug-related offer. I shake my head, and he melts back into the shadows.
Dair lets out a long breath. I don’t expect what he blurts out next.
