The Blue Notes Read Online Free Page A

in the army had also taught him that there were some people that couldn’t be reasoned with, and that it didn’t pay to even try. Not ever. So he’d carry on getting his little bit of retaliation in first, and if Young’s lads came round some time, then he’d be ready for them. Both of the lads he’d recruited had been regular customers of Young’s drug pushers when Davey had first found them, and now that they were both clean and healthy he had no doubt that they were loyal, and more than willing to mix it if needs be. And Dai Young had to be one of two things. Either he was a paper tiger, a straw man, or he was a proper fanatic. A true believer. But Hood had come across that type before, back in the military, and he was pretty sure that he’d learned how to deal with them too.

Easter Monday, April 6th
    Dai Young’s office, Carlisle, 12.10pm
     
     
    Dai was enjoying being in the office without his staff. Some of the lads called them the stiffs, but he just thought of them as civilians. There were five of them, one man and four women, and they were responsible for running all of the legitimate operations. They knew nothing about his other interests, or rather they knew nothing more than that it would be deeply unwise to steal so much as a paperclip from work. They were all intelligent people, plenty clever enough to know that there was a reason why they were being paid twenty percent more than the going rate for their roles, and also that it would not be sensible to try to find out what that reason was. They seemed like nice, normal folk, and he’d pretty much forgotten what those were like. Sometimes he sat in his office and just listened to the feed from the hidden microphone in the ceiling of the open office beyond. Their talk of children, holidays and extensions, both built and yet to be constructed, was strangely soothing. Like getting a glimpse into a world where everything was beige, and soft, and deadly, deadly dull.
     
    He’d trained himself to become a different person when he walked in through that office door, as he did on most working days. It was how he imagined a normal boss would be, and although the staff seemed to go a bit quieter than he expected when he arrived they seemed friendly enough. One or two even shared a joke occasionally, and when they did he did his level best to laugh. But today was different, because it was a bank holiday. Which meant that only the bad guys had come in to work.
     
    Jonny Adams was his first caller of the day. He liked Jonny, partly because he was a local lad, but mainly because he frightened pretty much everyone except Dai himself. And that made him useful. So Young found himself smiling as he watched the younger man walk from the main door towards his office. He made all the furniture look too small, somehow, and Jonny had to bend his head, as if in respectful genuflection, to get through Young’s door.
    ‘Sorry to come in so early, Dai.’
    ‘I keep punter’s hours these days, son. I’m in here at nine sharp, five days a week. You should try it. See how the other half lives. It’s like eating that bran breakfast cereal. It tastes like shit at the time, but you feel better for it afterwards.’
    ‘If you say so, boss.’
    ‘So what can I do for you? You look like a bloke who’s come with good news.’
     
    Adams looked worried now, and Young always liked to see that too.
    ‘Do I, boss? Well, it’s not exactly good news. More of a heads up, you might say. You know Harry Watkins?’
    ‘The haulier? Not personally, but I know of him, aye. A weak, greedy bloke, just like the rest of them.’
    ‘He’s been robbed.’
    ‘Diesel again?’
    ‘Aye.’
    ‘And he was under our protection, right?’
    ‘Aye.’
    ‘So what are we doing about it?’
     
    Adams looked confused now. He’d expected that Dai would have told him what to do next already. That’s how it usually worked, anyway.
    ‘I don’t know, boss. He’s not asking for owt from us, like. I