A Shot In The Night (John Harper Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

would
have flashed my badge and told them to piss off and to be honest I nearly did
that anyway but decided against it.  I instead but on my best impression of
scared ad answered, “I-i-i-i don’t want any trouble, guys.”
    Neither
man looked like they could start shaving and I began rounding down their ages
the more I looked at them.  The shorter of the two, an oily looking olive
skinned teenager with black bogbrush consistency to his hair spoke first, “What
you doin’ down there?  You some sort of nonce?”
    “Yeah,
you some sort of kiddy fiddler?” his sidekick continued.  This one was a good
three inches taller than my own six foot two stature and was carrying a bit of
extra weight.  He had a baseball cap on and a hood over that, which cast a
shadow over his very pale features.
    “No,
I’m a journalist,” I replied as demurely as possible.
    “If
you’re a journo, what doing over here?  You should be over at Antwhiler Street
where Brad and Stevie bought it last night,” the larger one questioned.  He had
a good point but I had a good answer.
    “I’m
doing some research on the first shooting.  Trying to get the full story since
I don’t think it has been reported properly.”
    “Damn
right; those papers print outright lies.  Not that you get one of them in the
newsies around here, we don’t buy the scum,” the shorter one said with a strong
vehemence in his voice.
    I
knew all too well that some shops refused to stock a certain newspaper in
Liverpool after allegations that were proven to be complete fabrication by lazy
and inept police officers and journalists at the Hillsborough football
disaster.  So I nodded and answered, “I don’t work for them, I work freelance
and someone I know at a rather famous magazine wants a story on the gangs of
Liverpool.  Since I live close by and they were offering good money I thought
I’d come down and do a piece.”
    The
two of them looked at each other and I realised that maybe I was being too
subtle with them, especially since I wasn’t willing to give up any names.  I
decided to carry on, to try and convince them of my lie, “I was going to go to
Toxteth or Croxteth and speak to one of the dangerous gangs but since there had
been a shooting around here I thought I would come here first.”
    “What
do you mean dangerous gangs?  The Warriors are harder than anyone,” the shorter
one asked bitterly.
    “Yeah,
we’re just as deadly as the Nogsy or Crocky lot.  Just look at the news, you
don’t see them dropping any bodies do ya?  We’re the lot you need to speak to,”
Tall Boy proudly exclaimed.
    “So
you’re saying that you two are in the Elsworth Warriors?” I continued my
questioning in the role of journalist.
    They
looked at each other but turned to me, Shorty deciding it best to speak for the
two of them, “Could be.”
    I
hid a smile at their excellent subterfuge, “Well gentlemen, would you mind
giving me a statement or two.”
    “We
aint givin’ you ah names mate, no way,” Tall Boy quickly stated putting his
hand up.
    “No,
you don’t to give your names just a few details on what life is like on the
streets and what happened here.”
    Once
again they looked at each other and this time the taller one answered, “And
what’s in it for us?”
    “You
would gain my eternal gratitude and put the Elsworth Warriors on the map of
course,” neither one budged at that so I sweetened the deal, “and how about
fifty quid and a cut of any royalties I get from reprints.”

Chapter Nine
    The
two gang members haggled their way to forty pounds each; which I begrudgingly
paid because I didn’t really want to get beaten up for money and I could always
bill it to expenses.  To that end they took a strange delight in signing a
receipt for me and surprisingly not writing down lewd or ridiculous names.  In
fact the delicate and much pained way in which they wrote led me to the
conclusions that the names may have been real and the education