Vixen

19

It took a time for Roberts and Brant to get the address for Jimmy Cross. They put his name in the computer and Brant said:

‘Bingo.’

Jimmy’s previous was burglary, petty theft and a little light mugging. He’d done time with his brother, Ray. Roberts made a note of where Ray lived, turned to Brant and summarised:

‘Jimmy hasn’t been too long in the luggage biz and only recently moved to the bedsit in Kennington. Seems he’s not the brightest tool in the box.’

Brant continued to read the files, added:

‘Now, Ray, he’s a whole different deal. We’re talking career criminal and he seems to be a wide boy. Jimmy follows the lead set by Ray.’

Roberts got some tea, handed a cup to Brant who asked:

‘What, no Club Milks?’

‘Don’t you have a hangover?’

Brant drank the tea noisily, lit a cig, said:

‘Hangover? Naw, I take precautions. Jeez, I could murder a Club Milk. What you do is get a wedge of that chocolate, pop it in your mouth, slurp in the tea, sugared of course, then add the layer of nicotine.’

Roberts wanted to know how to prevent a hangover. Who doesn’t? But he was so taken with Brant’s description of how to enjoy a Club Milk, he let it slide. He could only hope Brant was kidding. Yet, in their years together, he’d seen him pour scotch on curry, add milk to Baileys and once, memorably, coat chips with brown and red sauce together.

Go figure.

He shuddered, put it from his mind and asked:

‘You think we should tool up?’

Brant, never usually averse to weapons, shook his head.

‘Not Jimmy. Let’s see him then we can decide if we need hardware for the brother.’

They went to get a vehicle from the car-pool.

When they saw it, Roberts sighed, asked:

‘Why is it always a bloody Volvo?’

Brant, getting behind the wheel, answered:

‘Could be worse, McDonald could be driving us.’

The said PC McDonald had been watching them, eavesdropping on their talk, heard them agree to visit Jimmy. When they’d gone, he booted up the computer, downloaded the file and decided he’d go after Ray.