Read Online Something Hidden by Kerry Wilkinson - Free Book Online Page B

sending Joe sprawling to the ground face-first in a flurry of swearing. Andrew was on his feet too slowly to prevent him falling but did manage to stop Joe from reaching
onto the top of the scorching oven to haul himself up.
    Joe continued muttering obscenities under his breath as Andrew helped him into a sitting position, lighting the cigarette for him and switching off the heat.
    ‘Do you want me to buy you a lighter, Joe? Or some matches?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘You’re going to burn the flat down.’
    ‘Bah.’
    ‘Come on – I know you care. There are babies living downstairs – I heard them on the way up. It’s not just you that lives here, there are families.’
    Joe didn’t move from the floor, resting his head against the filthy oven door. He reached up and tried to open the drawer under the sink. Andrew did it for him, finding five boxes of
matches and at least a dozen lighters inside. He passed a lighter down to Joe, who pocketed it, slumping lower against the oven.
    ‘Joe.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Kal Evans. What did you tell the police?’
    ‘Nuffin’.’
    ‘You must’ve told them something.’
    ‘They already knew – well, thought they did.’
    ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘They showed me Kal’s picture and asked if I knew him. I said no but they knew I did – they knew everything.’
    ‘What’s everything?’
    Puff, puff, puff. Joe was two-thirds of the way through the cigarette already. ‘It’s different now.’
    It was like they were having two separate conversations.
    ‘
What’s
different?’
    Joe slammed his free hand onto the floor, not wincing, despite the fleshy clunk. ‘He’s a bad man.’
    ‘You said that.’
    ‘He’d bring around bags of . . . stuff . . . give us some for free, then others would come around to pick things up and leave us money.’
    Andrew could feel his brain grinding, trying to find the answer. ‘He’d give you drugs to pass on to his street dealers?’
    A shrug.
    ‘Then the dealers would bring back the profits for you to hand over to Kal?’
    A bigger shrug this time but also something close to a small nod. In a weird sort of way it made sense for all sides. Kal and the dealers were never seen together and their homeless handlers got
a bit on the side.
    ‘Was Luke involved?’ Andrew asked.
    ‘No.’
    ‘But you were?’
    ‘The police knew me and Luke hung around together, so assumed he knew Kal.’
    ‘Did he?’
    ‘He didn’t want anything to do with it but he’d cover for me.’
    Andrew picked up the fallen chair and reached down, helping Joe up until he was sitting at the table again, slurping the final breath of the cigarette before dropping it onto the saucer. Andrew
sat opposite him.
    ‘How do you mean, cover?’ Andrew asked.
    ‘Some of Kal’s lot liked to have fun.’
    Andrew thought about the definition of fun. ‘They’d get violent?’ he asked.
    ‘Not with Luke around. He was a bigger guy, plus he only liked to drink, none of the other stuff.’
    ‘So he wasn’t on drugs and he didn’t go along with anything Kal Evans had you doing?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Did you tell that to the police?’
    Joe began scratching at his ear, sending a flurry of dried skin flakes tumbling to the floor.
    ‘Joe?’ Andrew pushed.
    ‘What?’
    ‘The police.’
    ‘They’d already made their mind up – I knew Kal, so Luke did too, even though Luke would be off doing other things.’
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘He was getting help for his . . . y’know . . .’
    ‘Tell me,’ Andrew said.
    ‘The SPT, PST, PTD, something like that.’
    ‘Who was helping him?’
    ‘Dunno. He never wanted to say any more than that.’
    Andrew took a breath, trying to unpick the last few minutes of conversation. ‘Just to be sure, then. You’re saying that Luke wasn’t on drugs, didn’t owe Kal Evans any
money, and wouldn’t have done anything for him.’
    Another shrug. ‘Right.’
    ‘Would you tell that to the police now?’
    Joe shook his head slowly. It took him a