The Cleaner

He filled up his glass again, this time with more ice, and sat back down. The bedroom overlooked the front of the house. He looked out onto the street and, beyond that, the looming mass of Blissett House. A group of young boys had gathered at the junction of the road, the glowing red tips of their cigarettes and joints flaring as they inhaled.

Milton felt restless. He went over and took his gun from beneath the pillow, slipped out the magazine and pumped the single round onto the bed. He tested the spring of the magazine and of the breech and drew a quick bead on various objects round the room. His aim was off, just a little, but detectable nonetheless. It was the tiny tremor in his hand. He had noticed it in France and it seemed to be getting worse. He snapped the magazine back. He pumped a round into the breech, put up the safety, and replaced the gun under the pillow.

He watched the kids outside for another five minutes, the sound of their raucous laughter carrying all the way back to the open window. Then, tired, he closed the curtains, finished undressing, and went to bed.

14

Elijah watched the Vietnamese hassling the shoppers as they came out of Tesco. They were in the car park, far enough away from the entrance to go u

“You ready, younger?” said Pops.

“Yeah,” Elijah said. “Ready.”

“Off you go, then.”

He did exactly as Pops had instructed him. One of the Vietnamese women was distracted by Little Mark, who pretended to be interested in her DVDs. She kept her money in a small shoulder bag that she allowed to hang loosely across her arm. Elijah ran up to her and, her attention diverted, he yanked on the bag as hard as he could. Her arm straightened as he tugged the bag down, her fingers catching it. A second, harder tug broke her grip and he was away. He sprinted back again, the other boys following after him in close formation. The two men started in pursuit, vaulting the wall that separated the car park from the pavement and the bus stop beyond, but it did not take long for them to abandon the chase. They were outnumbered and being led into unfriendly territory. They knew that the money was not worth the risk.

They boys ran down Morning Lane, whooping and hollering, eventually taking a sharp left along the cycle path that ran underneath the East London Line. They sprinted up the shallow incline on the other side of the tu

Pops held up his fist and Elijah bumped it with his. He beamed with pride. He knew he ought to keep his cool, hide away the excitement and happiness that he felt, but he could not help it. He did not care how foolish it made him look.

“How much you get?”

Elijah took the notes from his pocket and fa

“Not bad.” Pops reached across and took the notes. He counted out fifty and gave it back to Elijah. “Go on, younger, put that towards some new Jordans. You done good.”

Little Mark went into the minimart nearby and returned with a large bottle of cider and a bagful of chocolate. The cider was passed around, each boy taking a long swig of it. Elijah joined in when the plastic bottle reached him, the sickly sweet liquid tasting good as he tipped it down his throat.

“What did you get?” Kidz asked.

Little Mark opened the bag and emptied out the contents. He laid the bars out on the wall. “Twix, KitKat, Mars, Yorkie.”

“Too pikey.”

“Maltesers. Milky Way.”

“Too gay.”

“Got them for you, i

Pops tossed the chocolate around and they devoured it.

“I gotta jet,” Pops said eventually, folding the wad of notes and sliding them into his pocket. “My woman wants to see me. I’ll see you boys tomorrow, aight?”

“Hold up,” Little Mark said. “I’m going your way.”

“Me, too,” Kidz said.

Elijah was left with Pinky. He wanted to go with the others but Pinky got up and stretched. “Come on,” he said. “I’ll walk back with you.”

They set off together, making their way through the Estate and cutting across a scrubby patch of grass. Pinky was a little older, and a little taller, than Elijah. His face was sharply featured, with a hook nose and prominent cheekbones. He was normally boisterous and brash, full of spiteful remarks, yet now he was quiet and brooding. Elijah quickly felt uncomfortable and wondered if there was a way he could disentangle himself without causing offence. They made their way through the Estate to a children’s playground. The surface was soft and springy beneath their trainers but the equipment had all been vandalised. The swings had been looped over the frames so that they hung high up, uselessly, and the roundabout had been pulled from its fixings. Vials of crack were crushed underfoot, shards that glittered like diamonds amid the dog mess, discarded newspaper and fast food wrappers.

“Let’s sit down here for a minute,” Pinky said, pointing to a bench at the edge of the playground. “Something I want to talk to you about.”

Elijah’s nerves settled like a fist in his stomach. “I got to get back to my Mums,” he said.

“You don’t want a quick smoke?” Pinky reached into his jacket and gri

Elijah did as he was told and sat.

Pinky was quiet as he held the cigarette paper open on his lap and tipped a line of marijuana along the fold. He rolled the joint with dexterous fingers, sealed it and put it to his lips. He put flame to the end and sucked down greedily. He did not give the joint to Elijah.

“You quietened down now, little man,” he said.

“Yeah?” Elijah said, uncertainly.

“You don’t get wa

“What do you mean?”

“That big smile you had on your face back then. Like you’d won the fucking lottery. Robbing those nips ain’t nothing. Rolling that train weren’t, either. You ain’t done shit yet.”

Elijah was ready to fire back some lip but he saw the look in the boy’s face and decided against it. He knew banter, and this was something different; hostility sparked in his dark eyes and he could see it would take very little for the sparks to catch and grow into something worse.

“You don’t know me, do you?”

“What you mean?”

“You don’t know who I am.”

“Course I do.”

“So?”

“You’re Pinky,” he said with sudden uncertainty.

“That’s right. But you don’t know me, do you? Not really know me.”

“I guess not.”

“You know my brother? Dwayne? You heard of him?”

“No.”

The joint had gone out. Pinky lit it again. “Let me tell you a story. Five years ago, my brother was in the LFB, like me. They called him High Top. Your brother, Jules, he was in, too. The two of them was close, close as you can be, looked out for each other, same way that we look out for each other, i