The Drop

you should start trusting me again.’
    ‘I’m listening.’
    ‘It’s not enough.’ I said.
    ‘What isn’t?’
    ‘The money,’ and I made sure I looked him right in the eye when I said this, ‘the amount that’s gone missing wouldn’t be worth the risk for crossing you. Let’s put aside for one minute the fact I’ve known you since I was a nipper, let’s ignore the years of loyal service shall we? We both know that right now that doesn’t mean much. Someone has ripped you off and it could be anybody, including me. If I was you, I wouldn’t trust me either. Maybe I’ve got money worries you don’t know about, debts or perhaps I just want a bigger house. Maybe my bird’s been bending my ear about it.’
    ‘Go on,’ we were staring each other out at this point.
    ‘Or look at it another way. What if I’m just too ambitious? You’ve said no to a couple of my ideas this year so perhaps I think you’re slipping and I could do a better job than you as the boss. Suppose I can’t be bothered to wait till you retire to someplace hot and I want you out of my way.’
    ‘Fuck me,’ he told me with something like astonishment, ‘you tell it straight don’t you?’
    ‘Don’t kid me you haven’t had those thoughts in the last few days.’
    ‘Maybe I have.’
    ‘Course you have. You’re trying to work out who’s brave enough or stupid enough to move against you by stealing the Drop, but my point is, the Drop isn’t large enough for me to chuck in a good screw with your firm. Think about it, if I was going to rip you off, it would have to be big, really big. We both know I’m a clever cunt and I wouldn’t want to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life waiting for Finney to turn up and put me in the ground. For that, it would have to be millions and I would never be able to sleep easy at night if I left you breathing.’
    ‘Jesus,’ he said, clearly shocked by my lack of tact but I could see he understood my point.
    ‘If I was working with Cartwright I’d have had to split the Drop and there’d be fuck all left for either of us, so let’s assume that’s why I topped him. If I wasn’t working with him I’d have to kill him anyway, but we both know I’m no killer and I can prove I was in Thailand when he was last seen, so I must have paid someone and the same logic applies. I’m not going to give the job to a couple of crack-heads and watch them balls it up, so it would have to be a professional and they aren’t cheap. Same problem, I’m a young man, I’d be on the run and I’d have sod all left to retire on.’
    ‘Fair enough,’ he said. The sweat was pouring down Bobby’s face and I could feel drops of it sliding down my torso. They had the heat up high in the steam room today.
    ‘Besides, you know I could earn the same money in two good years with you so why would I jeopardise that? You taught me to pay top men well enough so they don’t even think about betraying you.’
    Bobby looked at me for a long while without saying anything. Then he looked away, like he was thinking. In my fevered state I was starting to wonder if I’d gone too far and he was going to suddenly lose it and smash my head in on the floor tiles.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ he said finally.
    I wasn’t expecting that.
    ‘Come again?’
    ‘For not trusting you.’
    I let this sink in for a bit then said, ‘you shouldn’t trust me,’ and he looked me right in the eye, ‘you shouldn’t trust anyone Bobby, not right now.’
    ‘You’re right Davey,’ he said, ‘but you are the only one who ever tells me that, which is why I do trust you.’
    He was looking straight at me again in that unflinching way he had of sizing people up, ‘you can forget tomorrow’s deadline.’
    I nodded gratefully. I felt the pressure visibly lift until he jabbed his finger at me and said, ‘but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. That money was still your responsibility and Cartwright was one of your boys, so it’s still your neck…’
    He didn’t have to finish.
    ‘Course,’ I said, ‘I’m all over it, believe me.’
    ‘Good, you should be,’ he didn’t look much happier now that he’d stopped suspecting me of personally ripping him off. I guess he had the same problem; someone had done it and we still didn’t know who, ‘and I’ve got a job for you.’ He finished.
    ‘What kind of job?’ I didn’t know why but I was suddenly worried he was going to ask me to kill somebody to prove my