Junk - Melvin Burgess [81]
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tar
WHEN YOU WANTA BE MY FRIEND
KNOCK ON MY DOOR
I WON’T OPEN IT
I KNOW
WHAT YOU’RE FOR
I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE FOR
Lurky
I was round at Dev’s place when this friend came round and said, ‘Your place is being done…’
I went straight there. I couldn’t work out why they were doing it then instead of two o’clock in the morning like they usually do, when they know everyone’ll be there. But there it was, the car flashing blue. It was like a dream. I wasn’t scared. I was relieved. Which was funny. I was surprised about being relieved. What it was, of course, was that at last the whole shitty mess was going to end. Only, of course, it didn’t.
I walked up and down a couple of times. Lily and Rob had moved out into their own place a few months ago when the baby was born. I didn’t know if Gemma was in or not but I thought she probably was. I didn’t know what to do. I mean, if the ambulance was for her, there was nothing I could do but I wanted so bad to find out if it was for her. If she was okay or dead or what… And then if she was okay I’d go in and take the rap quite happily, but if she was out it would be the most stupid thing on earth I could do.
The thing is, we had this friend staying – Col – who used to go out with Sally. He’d been away in Amsterdam for about six months and he’d come back and he was kipping on our settee. It could have been him. I just didn’t know. But in the end I had to find out. I couldn’t do nothing. So I went in.
The police were there in the hall. This big one, really big like an extra-size man, and this ordinary-sized one. I say ordinary, but he was a big bugger as well. They grabbed me, one on each arm, as soon as I walked in the door.
‘What do you want, son?’
‘Where’s Gemma?’
‘Never mind Gemma, what are you doing here?’
‘I live here…’ They glanced at one another. ‘Is she all right? Who’s that ambulance for…?’ And I tried to get free and get through to the living-room door, but they just tightened hold of my arms and lifted me off the ground slightly. I might as well have tried to push my way past King Kong.
Of course they didn’t tell me anything… if she was there, how she was, anything. They dragged me to the back of the hall and searched me. All the time I was saying, ‘Where’s Gemma, where’s Gemma?’
‘Never you mind about Gemma,’ they kept saying, like I was a naughty kid.
I said, ‘Anything you’ve found, it’s mine.’
There was a pause.
‘And what might we find, David?’ asked the big one.
‘I live here, anything here is mine.’
‘Do you want to make a statement?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Arrest him first,’ said the other copper.
‘Hang on,’ said the big one. He went through into the front room. He opened and closed the door quick, so’s I couldn’t see what was going on.
‘I just want to know if she’s all right,’ I said.
‘If who’s all right?’ said the copper… as if I hadn’t said Gemma ten times already.
Then the door opened and the big copper came out with a plastic bag. Our stash was in it. Maybe a quarter of an ounce of heroin, plus a little lump of hash.
‘Is this yours, David?’ he asked.
I had a look, it wasn’t just ours in there. Some of it might have been Col’s, but…
‘Yeah, that’s mine, it’s all mine,’ I said.
‘I arrest you under suspicion of being in possession of Class A drugs, and holding Class A drugs for the purpose of sale to person or persons unknown… I must warn you…’
I was half listening. It was awful. I kept glancing at the door where Gemma might be.
One of the coppers wandered off up the hall to have a gab in his walkie talkie. Then the door opened and two ambulancemen came out. They had Col between them. He was in a state, gauching out as they walked him along. I mean, losing consciousness, then coming round. His head kept falling and lifting up as he came round, then going back down.
‘How is he?’ asked the policeman standing guard over me.
‘He’ll live,’ said one of the ambulancemen.