ASBO: A Novel of Extreme Terror(15)

Dom nodded and stepped backwards as if to yield to Frankie’s authority. Sometimes the respect his brother gained so easily from people left Davie in awe. It wasn’t a skill-set he himself had at all, or was ever likely to have. Frankie was the strong one. Frankie was the one that people would always follow.

Even if it’s straight to a prison cell.

Dom and Jordan went back inside to deliver their threat. Frankie pulled his brother aside and the two of them started walking. “You got to chill out, little bro,” he said. “I know you’re just trying to watch my back, but things are sound, man. I ain’t going nowhere, you get me?”

Davie let out a sigh and kicked at a loose pebble on the ground. It hit the curb before scuttling into a drain. “I just want you to be careful. Things were hard while you were gone. You know, with mum and everything.”

“Let that drunken bitch rot. I’m looking after you again now and this time it’s for good. I learned a lot while I was banged up; stuff about how to keep the pigs off your back while bringing in the big dollar.”

“By selling drugs?”

Frankie stopped and looked at Davie. His expression was one of understanding and it reminded Davie of how kind-hearted his brother used to be – when they were both much younger. It seemed like an age ago now.

“Yes, by selling drugs,” Frankie said matter-of-factly. “You and I are going to live the good life. Get ourselves out of the shit we grew up in. I got it all covered, little bro.”

“If you go down for dealing, you go down hard.”

Frankie put his arm around Davie and pushed him back into walking. “Enough, man. Just chill out about it and leave the worrying to me. Got other things to be getting on with for now.”

“Like what?” Davie asked.

Frankie clapped his hands together and put on a big smile, stretching the scar across his lip. “We’re going to go and have ourselves some fun.”

Davie smiled back, but secretly his empty stomach was churning anxiously. Davie was beginning to not like his big brother’s idea of fun.





Chapter Five


At twelve-o-clock Andrew entered the chip shop and looked for Charlie. To his relief, she was there, standing alone behind the counter as she had been the previous evening. As always, she smiled at him as he entered, but this time there was something apprehensive about her expression.

“Hey,” Andrew said to her. “Working again?”

The girl nodded. “Need the money. Saving for my sister’s hen party in Magaluf.”

“Nice,” said Andrew, thinking he couldn’t imagine anywhere worse for a holiday.

“What can I get you?”

“Nothing actually. I’m here to see you.”

Charlie looked worried, her mind perhaps jumping to conclusions.

Andrew put his hands up to reassure her that he wasn’t after her number or anything else as inappropriate or weird. “I just wanted to ask you a question, that’s all. Nothing big.”

She relaxed a little, her shoulders lowering. “You want to ask about Frankie, don’t you?”

Andrew nodded.

“He came in here last night, right before closing. Ordered fish and chips just like you did. I thought it was a coincidence.”

“It wasn’t,” said Andrew.

Charlie leant forward on the counter and let out a sigh. “I really don’t want to get involved. I told you to be careful.”

Andrew stepped forward. “I know you did, because you’re a nice, caring person. I need you to keep being that way, because this animal is endangering my family.”

Charlie looked up from the counter and made eye-contact with him. Her eyes were blue and seemed to shimmer with sadness. “What do you want to know?”

Andrew scratched at his head. “I don’t know really. How do you know Frankie?”

“Went to school with him.”

“And?”

Charlie shrugged. “And he was a nightmare. Beating other kids up, vandalising anything he could get his hands on, stealing, drinking, shagging. You name it and Frankie Walker did it. Eventually he went down for something or other. Assault I think.”

“He went to a young offender’s home?”

“Yeah, he was only a kid at the time.”

Andrew laughed. “That’s all he is now. They should have kept him locked up.”

“I agree.”