Double Cross (30 page)

Hello, Callie Rose.

I . . .

Today I . . .

I have nothing to say.

As I walked down the hospital steps, my whole body felt
as if it was made of lead. I'd sat with Callie for over thirty
minutes – and I couldn't think of anything to say. What
was happening to me that I couldn't find anything to say
to her? I pulled my T-shirt rapidly back and forth away
from my sweaty chest. The sky was white-grey and the air
was really humid and sticky. This damned weather was
really getting to me. Time to head back home. My letters
were posted and I'd managed to visit Callie again without
getting caught. Mum must've set off for work by now, and
as for Jessica . . . ? Well, I'd barely seen her recently. We'd
been avoiding each other. But Jess wasn't uppermost in
my mind. I had other matters to attend to. First a shower,
then phone Rebecca to ask her for a date. I hadn't
heard from her in a while and I needed to know where I
stood now that her brother had banned us from being
together.

Why couldn't I speak to Callie?

Head bent, I was lost in my own thoughts as I left the
hospital grounds, so they saw me before I saw them. I only
knew I had company when they appeared in front of me.
Three sets of feet belonging to three morons – Lucas,
Drew and Aaron. After a cursory glance at them, I tried to
walk round them. I just wanted to be left alone. Drew
deliberately stepped in front of me.

Godsake . . . I wasn't in the mood for this, I really
wasn't.

'Hello, Durbrain.' Drew smiled.

That nickname was so old and tired it needed a walking
stick. Was that really the best he could come up with? I
tried to step past him, but he moved to block me again.
OK, now he was officially pissing me off.

'Callie's not here to protect you,' Drew taunted.

I smiled faintly. He just didn't get it.

'Are you satisfied now?' Lucas asked, moving to stand
directly in front of me.

My eyes narrowed. What was he on about? I took a
half-step back so I could keep Drew and Aaron in sight as
well.

'Thanks to you and your fellow blankers, Callie is in
hospital,' said Lucas. 'I warned her that she'd end up
getting hurt or worse hanging around you.'

'She could do better than you at the local pig farm.
You're just about the same colour as a pig, aren't you.'
Aaron turned to his mates, a stupid grin plastered over his
face. He really thought he'd said something profound.

Lucas, however, never took his eyes off me. 'I told her
not to trust you, that you were no good. And when she
regains consciousness, she'll realize I was right all along
and dump you like the steaming pile of dog—'

My fists shot out. Both of them hit their target – Lucas's
stomach, followed by his face when he doubled over. He
dropped like a stone. Aaron charged at me. I sidestepped
him, then stuck out my foot to trip him. He hit the
pavement like a felled tree. Not that he stayed there long.
For a guy with such a big build he was surprisingly agile.

'Blanker, you'll pay for that,' Aaron hissed at me.

He came at me, arms up, fists clenched. So I kicked him
where it'd do me the most good. This time he went down
and stayed down. By which time Lucas was back on his
feet, though holding his nose, which was bleeding. Aaron
was still rolling on the ground.

'Who's next?' I asked quietly.

No one spoke. I stepped over Aaron and continued on
my way. Maybe now Drew would realize it was never me
Callie was protecting, even if he – and Callie – had
thought otherwise.

Once I got home, I sat on my bed, rubbing my forehead
with the palm of my left hand, trying to ease away the
headache that was lurking behind my eyes. It was not the
time for my phone to ring. I glanced down at the screen,
checking the caller's ID, but it said 'Private'. At least it
wasn't McAuley bothering me. I could guess who this was.
Did I really want to speak to him? I had no choice. Even
so, I let it ring seven or eight times before I answered.

'Hello?'

'I thought you weren't going to answer,' Owen Dowd
said at once. 'It's far too late to have second thoughts.'

'No second thoughts. No third ones. I was in the bathroom
washing my hands, that's all.'

'Did you do as we agreed?'

I sighed inwardly. This man certainly didn't believe in
pleasantries.

'Yes, I did. And I made sure the letter was addressed to
your brother as we discussed earlier.'

'Good. Excellent. Leave the rest to me.'

I had every intention of doing just that.

'Is there anything else you want to tell me?' Owen
asked.

Like what?

'I don't think so,' I replied. 'It's all working out the way
you wanted.'

'That doesn't mean that either of us can get complacent.'

'No, Mr Dowd.'

'You're sure there's nothing else you want to tell me?'
he said.

'Nothing, sir.'

The existence and destination of my second letter, I
intended to keep to myself. Or was this his subtle way of
telling me that he already knew what I was up to? But he
couldn't know anything about the second letter. I'd been
very careful. Owen Dowd only knew about the first
shipment. Unless I'd overlooked something . . .

Tobey, calm down,
I told myself.
He's just fishing.

I decided not to rise to his bait.

'What other information did you find?'

'Nothing of use. Lots of complaining letters to the tax
office, I think. Oh, and Byron Sweet's bank account
details. He's one of McAuley's minions. But there was no
password information in the file or even how much
money he has in the bank. It was just . . . just . . .'

And that's when it occurred to me. Ideas flowed one
after the other like the tide coming in.

'I know a way we can use Byron's bank account to our
advantage,' I said, trying to dampen down my excitement
in case Owen didn't go for my plan.

'I'm listening,' he said.

'It will require quite a lot of money,' I warned.

'Doesn't it always?' he replied sourly.

So I told him what I had in mind. There was a significant
pause when I'd finished.

'I'll think about it,' he said at last.

I released the breath I didn't even realize I'd been
holding.

'Anything else?' he asked.

'When will I be paid?'

'Once I have what I want, you'll get your money.'

'I'll look forward to it,' I replied.

'You're going to be a very rich man, Tobey.'

'Yes, sir.'

'I'll send you a banker's cheque as we agreed. Don't
spend it all at once!' Owen rang off, his laughter ringing
in my ears.

It was lucky for both of us that he couldn't see my
expression as I disconnected the call. Just listening to him
made me want to go down to the kitchen and scrub out
my ear with the saucepan scourer.

Rich people were so predictable. They reckoned
everyone wanted money, that everyone had their price.
And for rich people there was no such thing as 'rich
enough' – at least not for people like the Dowds and
McAuley. Too much was never enough. That was why I
was going to succeed and they were going to fail. And
there wasn't enough money on the planet to stop me now.

The whole of Meadowview was buzzing. McAuley's latest
shipment had been hijacked by 'persons unknown'. The
news was that, en route to its destination, a home shopping
delivery van supposedly filled with food had been
intercepted and relieved of all its contents. There was an
awful lot of speculation as to what those contents might
be. Some said drugs. Some said smuggled immigrants
brought in as cheap labour. Some said dodgy electronic
gear. All said illegal. None said food. The job was sweet
(apparently), 'cause it wasn't as if McAuley could go
bleating to the police about his lost merchandise. And the
best thing of all was that everyone was having a really
good laugh at his expense.

That, if nothing else, was enough to put McAuley on
the warpath. He had to be asking himself some hard questions
by now. Like how had the Dowds known about his
shipment – for who else would have the brass nerve to
take what belonged to McAuley? How did they know the
route? Even I didn't know the answer to that question. I
didn't have that information, so how did the Dowds get
it? There was no way McAuley could let the hijacking of
his goods stand. If he did, every minor-league, two-apenny
thug would try their luck against him. So once the
laughter ceased, the whole of Meadowview would be
holding their breath to see how McAuley would retaliate.
He was going to declare war on the Dowds over this. Still,
that wasn't my problem, at least not yet. I had a more
pressing dilemma.

Like, did McAuley suspect me of any involvement
in this? Well, I was still breathing and walking around
on two working legs, so I guessed not. But surely it
was only a matter of time . . . ? I'd tried to be careful and
cover my tracks, but now was not the time to get
complacent. If McAuley suspected me of being involved
in the loss of his merchandise, then it would only be
a matter of time before I got the Ross Resnick
treatment.

Mum had the evening off, Jessica wasn't off to a party or
to one of her friends' houses and I no longer had a job, so
for once we all ate together. Mum made us spaghetti
bolognese and we had a small bowl filled with grated
cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top of it if we wanted. Mum
reckoned she wasn't going to buy stinky cheese (as she
called any cheese that originated in another country), just
so she could sprinkle some on spag bol the once a fortnight
we had it. We sat around the tiny table in one corner
of our living room. Mum's eyes were trained on the TV
in the opposite corner as she watched the early evening
news. My eyes never left my sister. And it was getting on
her nerves.

'What?' she silently mouthed at me, venom darting
from her eyes and mouth.

'Are you OK?' I mouthed back.

Jessica glared at me and concentrated on her food.
'Mum, is there any orange juice?' she asked.

Mum turned back to the table. 'Didn't I put any out?'
There were three non-matching glasses but no juice
carton present. 'I'll just go and get some,' she said. She
stood up and headed for the kitchen.

'Where's the rest of my stuff ?' Jessica barely waited for
Mum to leave the room before she started.

'What stuff ?'

'Tobey, don't muck about. Where's my stuff ?'

'I don't know what you're talking about?' I popped a
forkful of spaghetti into my mouth.

'Tobey, I'm warning you.'

'Have you told Mum yet?' I asked.

Jessica drew back slightly. 'Not yet, but I will.'

'When?'

'When I'm ready.'

'You'll never be ready,' I said. 'If you don't tell her by
this weekend, I will. I mean it, Jessica. You've had long
enough.'

'Tobey, give me back my stuff. I need it.' Jessica's voice
was half plea, half demand.

'Is this the same stuff that you only use occasionally and
that you can handle?' I asked.

'I don't need a lecture from you,' said Jessica. 'Just give
it back.'

'Can't do that,' I replied. 'I flushed it down the loo.'

She stared at me, then glared at me. Without warning,
she launched herself across the table, knocking the glasses
and her plate flying. My chair tipped backwards and I
almost ended up on the floor. Jessica was on her feet
and trying to pummel all bloody hell out of my body.
All I could do was try to protect myself from her feet,
hands and knees. I didn't want to hurt her by seriously
trying to defend myself. Mum came running into the
room and tried to separate us, but Jessica was like a
wild animal. She was ready to knock Mum over just to get
to me.

Mum grabbed my sister's arms and shook her violently.
'Jessica, what the hell is the matter with you? What's
going on?'

'He . . . He . . .' The wild stare left Jessica's eyes and
she slowly returned to normal, her breathing slowing
down.

'Jessica?' Mum frowned. 'D'you want to tell me what's
going on?'

'Yeah, Jessica. Why don't you do that?' I said, getting
to my feet. I touched a tentative finger to my mouth. I
was right. My lip was bleeding. Godsake! Jessica scowled
at me like she hated me, which at that moment she
probably did.

'I'm waiting, and this had better be good,' said Mum.
'Which one of you is going to tell me what this was all
about?'

Silence.

'Tobey has started working for McAuley, delivering
drugs,' Jessica said viciously. 'He's a drug dealer.'

Huh? I stared at Jessica like I'd never seen her before.
I had to hand it to my sister. I hadn't seen that one
coming. At all.

'Mum, that's not true,' I protested.

'It is true, Mum. Ask anyone around here,' Jess insisted.
'Ask Dan.'

Mum looked so shocked, my heart sank. She was
already three-quarters of the way towards believing my
sister.

'Is that why McAuley spoke to you at the police
station?' asked Mum. 'Why the police arrested you?'

'The police didn't find a thing on me, Mum. You
know they didn't,' I said. 'I'm not a drug dealer. Jessica's
lying.'

'Why would your sister say something so outrageous?'
asked Mum.

I looked at Jessica. She scowled at me, totally defiant.
We both knew that if I now told Mum what Jess had been
up to, Mum would never believe me. She'd think I was
just trying to get my own back.

'Tobey, are you mixed up in drug dealing in any manner,
shape or form?' asked Mum. 'And I want the truth.'

One package. One frickin' package with drugs inside.
That's all I'd delivered. That didn't exactly make me a
drugs baron. But it didn't make my hands squeaky clean
either. Suppose something had happened to Jess? What if
the first package I'd delivered to Adam Eisner had
contained smack and she had overdosed on the stuff I'd
ferried across Meadowview? How did I know that
someone else out there hadn't, no matter what drug was
in the package? I looked from Jessica to Mum, unable to
say a word.

Mum burst into tears.

I don't know who was more shocked, me or my
sister.

'Tobey, I've shown you how that stuff destroys lives.'
Mum was so disappointed in me, her words came out
choked and full of sorrow. 'After all my warnings, all the
things I've told you about drugs? How could you?'

I tried to put my arm around Mum, but she shrugged
me off and headed out of the room. She went upstairs, her
steps slow, almost like she had to drag herself upward. I
listened as she closed her bedroom door. Silence
surrounded me like fingers pointing. I turned to my sister.
All this because she didn't want Mum to know that she
needed help. Jessica actually looked ashamed of herself,
but so what?

'OK, Jess. You know what? You win,' I said. 'But do
me a favour? When you move on to injecting junk instead
of inhaling it, do it somewhere where Mum and I won't
find you if . . . when it goes wrong.'

I went into the hall, grabbed my jacket and headed out
of the door. At that moment, I needed to be as far away
from my sister as I could get.