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Da
“Oh grow up man! Surely you of all people must be aware that all money’s filth. Our city, the one you’re so passionate about, was built on tobacco and slavery. And now, your college is built on heroin. Just like the National Health Service is built through taxes imposed on smokers with lung cancer and drinkers with liver disease, not to mention the oil guzzling, kid killing car drivers for whom, as you never ceased banging on about, half of Glasgow was demolished to provide a motorway. It’s the great paradox of life Da
Da
“Anyway, I have to be up early so I’ll bid you adieu.”
The sound of Bob making his way upstairs to spend the night in Da
CHAPTER: 15
The morning after Bob’s revelation, Judith woke to loud arguing. Ru
Remembering that Da
Bearsden is an affluent, residential suburb on the northwest outskirts of the city, containing a significant number of million pound mansions along its leafy avenues. The Fitzgerald’s home, however, was a more modest affair — a whitewashed bungalow, beyond a low, granite stoned boundary wall and a small rectangle of lawn. The family had escaped here from the council tenements of Maryhill back in the nineteen-seventies, thanks to Mr. Fitzgerald’s earnings as a welder on the North Sea oil rigs. In accordance with her new middle class status — achieved by working class means — Mrs. Fitzgerald had sent her only child to Glasgow Academy, the city’s oldest public school, in the West End. Mixing among the real middle classes hadn’t come naturally to Bob though, and, despite achieving decent exam results, he’d grown into a self-absorbed teenager. But for meeting Da
Unfortunately, there was no sign of Bob’s car when they pulled up outside the bungalow, and Ryan’s frantic banging on the front door didn’t even get a response. While he investigated the back of the property, Judith stayed in the minibus, trying to elicit more information from Da
“Da
“I don’t know!” he yelled back, at his wits end.
On Ryan’s return, Judith drove aimlessly, suppressed tears of frustration twinkling in her eyes. She’d only gone about a mile, when she suddenly spotted a grey Datsun parked up ahead, outside a black, iron security gate. Either side of the gate was an eight-foot high, brick boundary wall overhung by sycamore trees, with CCTV cameras peeping out from steel poles among the foliage. Judith and Ryan jumped out the minibus, but before the former could press the buzzer on the intercom in the wall, Da
“What the hell are you doing woman? This is Rex McLeod’s place.”
“And? You’re quick enough to condemn others for not standing up to the capitalists. Well, here’s your opportunity to show us all how it’s done…oh, I’m sorry, I forgot, you’d rather paint his portrait wouldn’t you?”
Just then, the intercom crackled and a whining, nasal, Glaswegian voice seeped out.
“Tut. Tut. Tut. Is that you causing a song and dance outside my property Da
“Aye Rex, it is.”
“Ha, ha, ha,” McLeod had a surprisingly genial laugh. “You and your pals had best come on in.”
The gate slid open with a humming noise, revealing a white, eight-bedroom mansion, set back beyond a small field of manicured front lawn. Across this bowling green, five barking Dobermans came bounding, before a middle aged blonde woman in a peppermint green, velvet jogging suit appeared, calling them back. Rex McLeod’s wife, Janine had heavily lined sun-bed orange skin and lank, peroxide hair, but she conveyed the arrogance of an aristocratic supermodel, surveying her visitors with disdain. In a dry, boozy voice she directed them to an oak panelled lounge where three men stood around a large granite-stone fireplace, drinking whisky beneath one of Da
“So what can I do for you then folks?” the gangster asked, mockingly.
Da
“As it happens, we’ve intruded upon you quite by accident. It’s Mr Fitzgerald we need to speak with.” He turned to face Bob. “Could I have a quick word in private please?”
Bob smiled slyly. “There’s no need for that. Nothing you’re going to say will shock anybody here.”
“Ok. In that case…err…how can I put this? Ryan here has lost a very important disc. You wouldn’t happen to know where that might…”
“Just give us our things back you rat!” Judith exploded.
At this moment McLeod stepped forward, placing a pacifying hand on her forearm.
“It’s me you need to talk with about the disc darling. I own it now.”
“Rex,” Da
McLeod turned to face Da