She’s doing someone’s books at her kitchen table.
Aye, that’ll be sorted.
I dinnae touch any of it. I’m not the kind of cunt who paws through a woman’s papers in her own house.
The kettle’s an old plastic thing with a chip in the handle, the coffee isinstant,the fridge mostly empty…milk, a quarter of a stick of butter, two eggs, a wee tub of what looks like leftover pasta. The freezer has a bag of frozen broccoli and a half-eaten tub of ice cream.Christ.These women have been eating fucking nothing.
I fill the kettle and lean against the counter while it heats.
The morning is starting to come in through the windows, and the back garden looks like nobody’s cut it in forever. Tall grass bending in the breeze. A shed at the far end, leaning sideways. An empty bird feeder, hanging from a tree at an angle.
I make a list in my head while I wait for the water to boil.
Locks. Today. Every exterior door, deadbolts on every window on the ground floor, biometrics on the front and back. By sundown at the latest.
Gate. Today. The motor’s fucked and the lock’s a joke.
AC. Today. They’ve been sleeping in a swamp. Triple-rate to whoever can get a unit installed before lunch.
Two lads on the property by noon. Quiet ones. Sitting incars,not making themselves known. Watching gate and approach. Eyes on until the cameras are up.
Cameras by Friday.
The kettle clicks.
I make two cups. Mine black, instant is fine. Hers I leave on the counter beside the milk and the sugar because I dinnae know yet how she takes it, and I want to know. I want to watch her come down the stairs, walk to the counter and make her coffee the way she likes, so I can do it for her every morning for the rest of her life.
I take mine to the window and drink it standing.
I’ll be at the docks by ten. Walk in, plant the flag, let Halo City know the Mad Scot has arrived. Today isannouncementday. But I’m not in the mood for action yet. I’m in the mood for coffee in my woman’s kitchen, and a list of things to fix.
Ray’s men can wait.
Aye. I have their names, their addresses. I know which ones drove away the morning the man died and which ones came back to skim what they could from the wreck. I’ll be having conversations with the lot of them, conversations I am looking forward to… But for now they get to live in the purgatory ofthe Maksimovs are in town and they have not come for me yet.
Enjoy it, cunts.
I take my phone out and ring Kostya.
He picks up on the second ring, sounding like he’s been up since four. Of course he has. The man does nae sleep.
“Boss.” He’s probably already in a car. “You good?”
“Best fucking night of my life. Listen.”
A short laugh on the other end. “Aye.”
“I want the house sorted today. All of it. Locks on every door and window. Biometrics on the front and back. Gate gear replaced. We need a gate that actually fucking closes. AC unitinstalled and working. Two of the lads on the property by noon. Roman and Mish.”
I pause, giving him time to build the list.
“Cameras?”
“By Friday. Not today. Today is locks, gate, AC, men.”
“Anything else?”
“The grass needs cutting. Next week, I dinnae care.”
