Bad Catholics by James Green Page B

man came towards Jimmy as he entered the dining room. Immaculately and very expensively dressed, he wore a fawn overcoat like a cloak over his broad shoulders, with a white silk scarf hanging loosely round his neck. He looked like something from the fashion section of a glossy magazine.
    â€˜The boy looks well, though shabby, and the boy hasn’t lost his touch, you retain the old skill, Jimmy.’
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    â€˜You know what I mean.’
    â€˜The barman at The Hind?’
    â€˜The Liffey Lad, Jimmy.’ The big man looked pained. ‘The Liffey Lad, please. It hasn’t been The Hind for years now. No, not the barman, a modest talent could have taken him. No, this place. Who would think of looking for you in a place like this?’
    â€˜Have you been looking for me, Nat?’
    â€˜I let it be known I wanted to say welcome home. Sit down, my boy, sit down and tell me all about yourself.’
    Nat pulled a chair out and sat on the edge of the table.
    â€˜I’ve been all right.’
    â€˜I’m glad, Jimmy. I’m glad of that because, if you remember, we never got to say goodbye last time, did we?’
    â€˜No, Nat, we never said goodbye.’
    â€˜Dead, and never called me mother,’ Nat laughed. ‘What am I to do with the boy?’
    Jimmy sat hunched in the chair.
    â€˜You shouldn’t have come back, it wasn’t a clever move. And you’re only back five minutes when there’s blood on the carpet, my carpet, and then there’s a dead body alongside you, and it all happens in my sphere of influence. I don’t know, what on earth am I to do with you?’
    â€˜Your sphere of influence reaches as far as Paddington now, Nat?’
    â€˜Oh, Paddington is well within my sphere of influence. I’ve never regretted emigrating over the Thames. Going north agreed with me.’
    Jimmy changed the subject.
    â€˜Who was the inspector? He wasn’t here in my day.’
    â€˜New lad, been here eighteen months, two years. He’s
    doing well.’
    â€˜Your man?’
    â€˜No Jimmy, doesn’t take yet, he’s clever. He knows what he’s worth as an inspector and he knows what he will be worth higher up, so he’s staying clean. I respect him for it.’
    â€˜That’s why you waited till they’d gone.’
    â€˜That’s right. No fuss needed.’
    â€˜Is there going to be a fuss?’
    â€˜If I wanted a fuss it would have been Vic and Sammy visiting, not me.’
    â€˜Vic still with you?’
    â€˜Always, Jimmy, always. No one like Vic.’
    â€˜And Sammy?’
    â€˜Since your time Sammy’s the only one who could take Vic and Vic’s the only one who could take Sammy so naturally I put Sammy and Vic together.’
    â€˜What about you? Could you take them?’
    Nat laughed. ‘What a boy! Perhaps I could but I don’t do that kind of work any more. I haven’t come to talk about me, pleasure though it is. I’ve come to tell you what I’m going to do about you.’
    Nat was no longer smiling.
    â€˜I don’t like you, Jimmy. I never got to say goodbye last time, but as I had no good reason to go looking for you when you skipped, I left it alone.’
    Nat stood up.
    â€˜Goodbye, Jimmy. This time I do get to say goodbye.’
    Jimmy’s surprise must have registered.
    â€˜That’s right, I’m going to let you leave.’
    Jimmy put his arms on the table, put his hands together and looked at his thumbs. ‘Urgent, my going?’
    â€˜No, not urgent. You’re not important any more, just not wanted. Take your time, my lad, but let me see you once before you go.’
    Nat adjusted his coat. ‘Why should I see you before I go?’
    â€˜So you can say goodbye to me, and give me a little something before you go.’
    â€˜Do I have something of yours?’
    â€˜Let’s say I have a moral right to