Free More Than Meets the Eye by J. M. Gregson Page B

got stuff for Matt. I can’t take it in there.’ He flicked his head backwards, towards the noise from the private room.
    â€˜Why not?’
    The youth looked shocked by such a question. ‘Too public, ennit?’
    â€˜What do you want with Matt?’
    â€˜Don’t want nuffink. I’m delivering gear.’
    â€˜Gear?’
    Alex looked blank, but the man didn’t believe his bafflement. ‘It’s all paid for. I promised him delivery tonight. You gotta give it him for me.’
    He produced a small package, tightly wrapped in a plastic bag from a supermarket, and thrust it into Fraser’s hand. ‘Ask no questions and you’ll be told no lies.’ He set his finger against the side of his nose in a gesture he had obviously executed many times before. It made him look ridiculous, as if he was guying a much older man.
    Alex broke the tension with a little laugh. The finger on nose gesture reminded him of Fagin; he had seen only the Fagin of
Oliver!
and not Dickens’ older and darker creature of the London stews. Disturbed by this unseemly mirth, the youth flashed his hand from his face to set it on top of the package Fraser held in his hand. ‘You just deliver, or it’ll be the worse for you, mate. Understand?’
    Alex could see the zits on the youth’s forehead, could smell the foulness of his breath. ‘You do your own deliveries, mate. You wait here. I’ll send Matt out to you, if he wants to come.’
    But the man was gone, back into the darkness whence he had come, closing the door behind him with a crash. The noise made Alex realize for the first time that they had spoken in whispers throughout their strange, unsatisfactory exchange. He looked at the small package in its innocent-looking covering. Drugs, probably. That Matt was a young fool. He’d tell him so when he gave him this. He slid it into his pocket and took a last look at the top of the wall and the faint light of the dying day at the top of it.
    It seemed even noisier and hotter in the room where Matt’s brother was having his party. It was too crowded for Alex to get anywhere near Matt, who presently made a drunken speech about the twenty-one-year-old’s life to date amidst much hilarity. Alex, despairing of making contact in a room now very packed, mouthed, ‘I’ve got your package’ at Matt over quickly moving heads, but he wasn’t sure whether Matt had got the message or not amidst the prevailing raucous confusion. He couldn’t hand it over here, in any case. He’d keep the little parcel in the pocket of his jeans until they were safely in the taxi at the end of the evening. He’d give Matt a bollocking for being stupid at the same time.
    Meanwhile, he might as well relax and join in the mirth and the celebration. The party moved towards its conclusion with a number of drunken toasts and ragged cheers. Alex didn’t know most of the people involved, but he raised his glass obediently. It was a reaction encouraged by Matt’s sister, who seemed to have taken a fancy to the fresh-faced young Scot with the fiery hair. She embraced him enthusiastically after each toast. He got the message and roared his approval of these people he did not know, being rewarded by kisses and ever more fierce embraces with each name they toasted.
    He accepted a chaser with his final pint, downing the whisky and beer and wiping his mouth with a flamboyant gesture. Then he wrapped the enthusiastic young female body around himself and the erection hardening beneath his jeans. The Cotswolds seemed now a splendid place, and Cheltenham not so fusty after all. His companion was wrenched away from him with bawdy admonitions by her family. She pressed a scrap of paper with her phone number upon it into his palm as she disappeared with hand held high towards him in a final gesture of affection. He hadn’t even known her name was Lisa until he glanced at the