The Price Of Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page B

plenty.’
    ‘And she’s no regrets … you know … about a career?’
    ‘Not in the way you’d expect, no. The kids were a handful, and I think that surprised her, but we’ve got the nanny now, and the horses, and that seems to have done the trick. Most days she’s like a pig in shit, can’t get enough of all that country air. She might be a bit arsey tonight, but that’ll pass.’
    ‘And you?’
    ‘I earn the money.’
    ‘I meant liking the countryside.’
    ‘It’s fine. Buy that amount of land and no one really bothers you.’
    Winter nodded. He felt like a taxi fare in the back. No harm in that.
    ‘You’re in the City, right?’
    ‘Canary Wharf. But it’s the same thing.’
    ‘Investment banking?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Like it?’
    ‘Love it. Most days.’
    ‘American firm?’
    ‘Yes.’ He nodded, his eyes still on the road. ‘Tell me something … a guy like you, given what you’ve done with most of your life, all this must be pretty strange, musn’t it?’
    ‘All what exactly?’
    ‘Coming in with Mackenzie. Turning your back on the rest of it.’
    ‘It wasn’t me who turned my back. They sacked me.’
    ‘Sure, but we’re talking a driving offence, aren’t we?’
    ‘I was three times over the limit. The people I worked for didn’t even give me a hearing. Sometimes I think they were just waiting for the right excuse.’
    ‘You sound bitter.’
    ‘I am. Or I was. But you learn pretty fast that there’s no percentage in all that bitterness bollocks. You’ve got to get on with it. You’ve got to get up in the morning. You’ve got to earn a living, for fuck’s sake. If you want the truth, Stuart, I now regard it as a career decision. Why? Because there comes a time in your life when you know you’re due for a change.’
    ‘Yes but …’ He frowned, struggling to find the right word. ‘ Change? Is that all it is? You’re telling me you spend years and years trying to put the likes of Esme’s dad away and then suddenly, bang, you’re working for him? That’s just a bit of a change ?’
    Winter took his time answering. Finally he said the two jobs weren’t as wildly different, as totally incompatible, as most people might think. The best thief-takers could have made equally blinding careers as quality criminals. You needed focus. You needed cunning. You needed to dream up all kinds of ways of getting people into the deepest shit. Above all, you needed not to care about the human consequences of the job you did.
    ‘What you were really after,’ he said, ‘was a decent war record. You need to be putting blokes away on a regular basis. I took lots of scalps, hundreds of the fuckers. And you know how? By making friends with these people. You do that in pubs, in low-life caffs, in holding cells, and then - when the time is right - in interview. By then, if you know what you’re about, these people think you’re their best mate. Most of them are seriously fucked up. Either that or they’re plain inadequate. They like you. They trust you. They’re absolutely fucking positive you’ve got their very best interests at heart. And you know what you do next? You put an extra big smile on your face. And then you screw them.’
    ‘You make it sound like acting.’
    ‘That’s right. You play a part. It is acting. And the better you are, the more blokes you pot. I’ve done it most of my life. I’m an expert. Believe me.’
    ‘I do.’ Stuart fell silent for a moment. Then he glanced up at the mirror again. ‘Have you had this conversation with my father-in-law?’
    ‘Bazza, you mean?’ Winter met the eyes in the rear-view mirror, then lay back against the seat, staring up at the vanity light, letting the question settle in his aching head. ‘Yeah, several times. But you know what it is with Bazza? The bloke just never fucking listens.’
    ‘Should he?’
    ‘I’m not with you.’
    ‘ Should he listen? Should he understand what a great actor you are? I mean let’s not piss