‘Nobody died.’
‘Screw you. Next time I’ll take the bus,’ Janet said, still furious.
Rachel blew out, winded, got to her feet, dizzy now and her calf muscles cramping. ‘How’s the car?’ she said.
‘Buggered. They’ll want a proper look at everything.’ Janet gestured to the patrols. The collision would have to be investigated. The cars examined. They would both be breathalysed – standard practice in any collision involving an officer. Rachel was sure she’d be clear.
‘I know. Need my bag, though,’ Rachel said. ‘Watch him, will you.’
‘You really don’t give a shit, do you?’ Janet said. Rachel didn’t reply. ‘Where’d you learn to run like that, anyroad?’
Langley. Always running away from something, away from aggro, trouble, away from Dad, or running after Dom.
‘Lads,’ Janet called to the uniforms, told them to take Kasim to the station and get him settled.
Rachel got her bag and went to see what everyone was goggling at, all clustered round the front of the taxi. Torches out, Janet with them. Rachel was shivering, sweat chilling her skin, the rain finding its way down the back of her neck.
‘Look at this,’ someone said as Rachel reached them. They moved aside to allow her access to the driver’s door. A uniform trained his torch on the open glove compartment. Rachel saw the pile of baggies, each containing light brown powder. Street heroin. Brilliant! ‘A nice little earner,’ she said to Janet. ‘The dispatcher reckoned Lisa was a regular. Maybe it wasn’t just the lift home she wanted.’ She grinned.
Janet still had her sour face on. Christ! There was no pleasing some people.
JANET SET THE alarm for half five. Ade groaning as it woke him too. The bedroom was cold, the heating didn’t come on for another hour. Once she was downstairs, she made porridge and a mug of tea. She wanted toast, but there were only a few slices of bread left. Barely enough for the girls’ sandwiches. In fact, if they wanted toast, too, Ade would have go out to the corner shop for another loaf. Janet didn’t want him accusing her of taking bread out of the mouths of their babes.
Still dark, and the rain of the night before had frozen leaving ice on her windscreen. Janet scraped it off, letting the car heater run to warm up the inside. In theory. Something dicky with the thermostat and never time to get it seen to, so it was like driving a fridge freezer to work. She drove slowly, wise to the patches of black ice on the road. Still smarting as she recalled Rachel’s antics behind the wheel and her cavalier attitude.
