Read Online Dead Money by Ray Banks - Free Book Online

and deal with it once my head was straight. Because I was in no state to be making decisions. I was half-pissed, in shock and shivering like a shitting cat. So if I could postpone the inevitable dirty work until I could find another way out, then that could only be a good thing, right?
    Right. Of course I was right. Baby steps, Alan. Baby steps.
    I got down on my haunches, slid my hands under the dog until its body hit the crook of my arms, then lifted. The dog made a sticky sound and a musty wet stink clawed its way up my nose. I breathed through my mouth as I heaved the bastard thing back to the car. When I leaned over to pop the boot, I felt the dog start to slip from my hands. I threw a knee under the body, propped it up while I knocked the boot open and then boosted it through the first available gap. Once I felt it leave my hands, I reached up and slammed the lid down as hard as I could.
    A dull crunch, and the lid sprang back up.
    I didn't want to look. The smell alone was enough to bubble the booze in my gut. I felt along the lip of the boot until I touched the dog's leg, pushed it back inside and then slammed it shut again. I leaned on the boot, rain dripping off my nose, stared over the roof at the road, the street light shimmering on the tarmac. So wet now I didn't even feel it. I got in the car and fished around for my Regals. Found one that wasn't mush and chucked the rest out the window. I sighed smoke at the windscreen, closed my eyes until I felt myself drift.
    There was me thinking I had it sussed. There was me with plans tonight. Well, man plans and God laughs, right?
    When I put the cigarette in my mouth, I could still smell the dog on my hand.
    Bad luck. Tell me about it. Some faces were like mirrors – soon as you broke 'em, that was seven years of shit. And Beale only broke the Chinese lad's face last week.
    Which meant we had a way to go yet.

9

    I was calmer by the time I got to Salford.
    My problem now was disposal. The area was in a state of arrested development, which meant that there were a load of half-finished yuppie flats all around me, surrounded by wire fence and signs telling me that Big Brother was watching. I wondered what people were likely to nick from a building site that'd been cleared of all its machinery ages ago, but then they'd steal the steam off your piss round here. So I ended up staring through the windscreen wipers and wire mesh at wasteland, trying to work out where to dump the dog. It couldn't stay in the boot. The longer it stayed back there, the deeper the smell would go. It couldn't go over the fence, either. I wasn't strong enough to toss a dead dog over an eight-foot fence on my best day, never mind now.
    In the corner of the dash, my mobile rang. I snatched it up.
    Cath. I thought about turning off the phone. But then I'd have to answer more questions, and I had nothing to hide.
    "Cath, I told you I'd be late, alright?"
    "Where are you?"
    I couldn't think of a lie. "Salford."
    "Why?"
    "Long story. Look, I've had a bit of an accident, okay? I'll be home when I can."
    There was a hint of worry in her voice, but only a hint. "Are you okay?"
    "Yeah, I'm fine. See you when I see you."
    She started to say something, but I hung up and sat looking at the mobile. I scrolled through to Lucy's number. My thumb hovered over the little green telephone.
    Come on, Alan. How much more shit do you need? Leave it for now.
    I turned off the phone and started the engine. First things first. I had to get rid of the dog.
    One of these days, Manchester would be flooded right off the face of the planet, and the only things left would be the council blocks, standing above the waves in a twin tower flicking Vs to the rest of the country. Maybe tonight if this rain kept up – it was relentless, coming down in sheets as I looked for a suitably dark and quiet spot along the canal. I found it just behind a row of terraced houses. A steep concrete slope led down to the water's edge and I pulled up