Denise Mina - Slip of the Knife

There he was, Rat Shoes, standing fifteen feet away from him, leaning on the close mouth, tipping his head back to drain a can of Coke as he watched the street. Callum could see his own bedroom window, the curtain pulled up at the corner where he had kept watch over the street all night.

A man walked past on the other side of the road and Rat Shoes followed him with his eyes. Callum used his toes to slip his shoes off his feet, leaving them where they fell. His stockinged feet absorbed the bitter chill from the concrete beneath him. It was cold here, damp; the sun hadn’t touched here.

He took a step forward, testing, seeing how alert the guy was. Luckily the guy was looking out into a bright street and Callum was coming from the shadows. He took another step and then another but still Rat Shoes looked out into the road, shaking his can of Coke to see if it was finished, finding a small splash and tipping his head back again.

Callum was three feet behind him and the guy didn’t know. He had a ponytail, glasses, he was taller than Callum and his clothes looked expensive, a nice red-checked jacket open to a red T-shirt, baggy jeans, rat shoes.

In prison, in the first prison he ever went to, the opportunities for fighting were kept to an absolute minimum. No one was allowed to be alone with anyone else for any length of time. All the cells were single cells, because the inmates were all so young the authorities didn’t want them sharing, in case they’d fuck each other or kill each other or get gay or something, he didn’t know. But fights broke out just the same, people fell out, met guys from rival gangs. It all went on just the same but everything, from the shouting of abuse to the physical fighting, had to happen in tiny slivers. Sudden wars were won while queuing for food. A wee guy died once in a three-minute library call. They had to develop techniques for it. They called it “a sudden.” A sudden war, a sudden marking of a young man’s face, a sudden rape, a sudden kill.

Callum brought his hands together, making a fist of them, and raised them over the guy’s head. He opened his mouth to take a silent deep breath and brought his fists down.

A sudden punch carried all his weight onto Steven Curren’s temple, swinging back so that the force made him fall into the dark of the close, swinging sideways so that his head ricocheted backwards on a diagonal, smashing off the close wall and leaving a trail of blood as he slid to the floor.

Callum put his hands under Steven’s arms and dragged him back so that his feet weren’t trailing out into the street. He reached into his jacket and took his wallet, not because he wanted it, just to cover himself, and backed off down the dark passageway.

He skipped across the yard, grabbing his own shoes, keeping in the dark, and stopped when he got to the close he had come in through. He ripped the Velcro open on the wallet and took out the notes, twenty quid, leaving the rest in place and dumping it in the dark.

As he stepped out of the close into the sunshine he felt elated. Fingering the notes in his pocket, he made his way back to Sean’s house, slipping back in the front door he had left open and taking his place on the corner of the bed. He lifted the edge of the curtain, smiling, panting as he looked out to the bright street.

Three children wearing their school uniforms and eating sweeties came up to the dark close and found him. They stood staring down at him, prodded him with a foot while one of them ran across the road. A woman came and then the police. Steven Curren stirred and stood up, holding his head where he had hit it on the close wall. He felt for his wallet. Behind Callum, out in the hall, the door opened to the flat and the house was suddenly flooded with the cries and calls of children.

Callum stood up, looking for a sense of satisfaction inside himself. He didn’t feel it. He fingered the notes again and felt stupid, sorry for the three kids who’d found the guy in the close, sorry that they’d seen the blood on the wall.

He went out to see his family.

A shadow fell over Paddy’s desk and she looked up, expecting to see the Monkey.

The officers who had been at Kevin’s flat yesterday were standing at her elbow.

“Miss Meehan, you’ll come with us.”

“Oh, hello!” She jolted to her feet. “Hello!”

They were very annoyed. The old one grabbed her arm, squeezing tighter than he needed to, his lip curling as he yanked her away from her desk. Instinctively she pulled her arm back. “Calm down, I’m coming with you. I’m pleased to see you.”

“Like fuck,” muttered the young one, yanking her free arm up behind her back with needless force. But they weren’t worried she’d run again, they were just annoyed that she ran the first time.

Two sports guys stepped forward, gentlemen to their bones. “Oi, leave the lady alone.”

“This is nothing to do with you.” The younger one was very angry and she guessed that they’d been given an earful by their superiors for letting her slip their grasp.

The sports reporters were usually fairly mellow, but they were fond of a fight. Whether she liked it or not, Paddy was part of their gang and an insult to one was an insult to all. They took a police officer each and stood in front of them. “Get your fucking hands off her.”

Paddy raised her voice to a volume she usually reserved for warning Pete about fire and oncoming cars: “STOP. RIGHT. NOW.”

The few people in the newsroom who weren’t watching stopped still and stared. Bunty appeared at the door of his office. A copyboy looked in from the stairwell.

“These officers and I are going to leave now, without incident. Am I making myself abundantly clear?”

The sports boys nodded dumbly. The police officers almost apologized. Even Bunty looked as if he’d been caught stealing apples. She’d yet to meet a man who was immune to her angry-mum voice.

Paddy picked up the cuttings envelopes, putting them in her bag. She stood up and smiled at the sports guys. “Thank you.”

Flanked by the police officers, she swept through the newsroom to the doors feeling very important, carrying every pair of eyes in the room with her. Inadvertently, the officers pushed a door each, holding them open for her like footmen. She turned back to the room and spoke to Bunty.

“I’m going to be a wee bit late with that copy. Sorry.”

As the door swung shut behind her, the newsroom erupted into an excited round of applause. Everyone loved a renegade.

The policemen took the stairs in single file, one before her, one behind. She felt rather grand, knowing she’d be on the front page tomorrow and the copy would cast her in a favorable light.

The illusion of glamour lasted until they got outside, when the officers took an arm each and shoved her roughly towards the squad car at the curb. Someone must have called down to the Press Bar because a photographer came flying out, loading a fresh roll of film into his camera and snapping away at them.

She looked up and found the population of the newsroom lined up at the window, waving to her, grinning down as if she was heading off on a royal tour.

The rest of the Press Bar emptied into the road. Journalists and editors, hangers-on and specialists all lined the street, still clutching their pints and cigarettes, toasting her and cheering.

She grinned back at them, then stopped abruptly.

The young man looked sheepish, standing behind the gathering crowd as if he had been caught out, keeping his head down, hoping not to be seen. His jacket was open but she could see the black collar and the silver zip of his tracksuit and the neck of his Celtic top underneath.