Shielding his face from the late afternoon sunshine, he spied a young man sitting at a folding table on a balcony two floors up.
Jake waved.
The young man stood up. ‘I was just wondering if you’re locked out?’
‘Yes, er … I am.’
‘Oh dear. Hold on, I’ll buzz you up.’
Jake smiled to himself. What a stroke of good luck. He hadn’t wanted to randomly buzz one of the flats because he’d imagined that unless he was known to the flat owner, they’d be suspicious and wouldn’t buzz him in.
The young man appeared a second later without buzzing him in. He leaned over the railing. ‘What flat number did you say you lived in?’
Jake frowned. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.
‘Sorry to be a pain, but I don’t recognise you.’
Jake was getting irritated. He didn’t have time for this. Since when did everyone know everyone else in a block of flats? He imagined most people nowadays barely knew their next-door neighbours.
As if he’d read Jake’s mind, the man said, ‘We’re a friendly lot. Even when you don’t know everyone, you see the same faces in and out of your block.’
Jake realised he’d been caught out. ‘Well, the thing is, I don’t actually live here. I’ve come to see a friend.’
‘Oh, all right. Who’s the friend?’
Jake sighed. He wasn’t exactly a friend, but he did know him. Well that wasn’t exactly true. He knew of him. Jake gave him the name, along with the flat number, and what this so-called friend used to do for living. He stopped short of giving a description. He couldn’t do that. He’d never met the man in person, although he knew his age, or thereabouts.
‘Ah, yeah. I know him.’
Jake looked at the young man and prayed he wasn’t going to ask him something about the occupant of the flat that would raise suspicions. He just hoped he was in. It was something that had only occurred to him now he was here. Once again, Jake realised he wasn’t really thinking straight.
‘Come for the game?’
Jake almost put his foot in it when he’d nearly said,what game?‘Oh, yeah – sure.’ he said. ‘Looking forward to it.’ He made a show of looking at his watch. ‘The thing is I’m late, so I’d really appreciate if you could—’
‘Why don’t you just ring the buzzer. He’ll let you in.’
Oh, no he won’t, thought Jake. Not with this. He thought of the case containing the gun in his coat pocket.
He smiled tightly. He quickly thought of an excuse. Lying through his teeth, he said, ‘Look, I don’t want to interrupt the game.’
‘But you’ll interrupt it when you bang on the door.’
Jake rubbed his forehead. This was getting really tiresome. ‘Look, he’s not expecting me to turn up, so I wanted it to be a surprise.’ Jake winced. That was, in actual fact, completely true.
The young man grinned. ‘One sec. I’ll buzz you in.’
Jake was by now so convinced the young man wouldn’t let him in that he stood rooted to the spot for a moment before launching himself at the door just before the buzzer died.
He headed up the stairs and stood outside apartment number six on the third floor. He had the impulse just to ram the door in, but resisted; he didn’t want some interfering neighbour calling the police before he made his move. Jake felt in his pocket for the gun and then knocked once on the apartment door.
The door opened.
‘I’ve got more money than I know what to do with in my bank account,’ said Jake, holding up a wad of cash, as much as he’d been able to withdraw from several different bank accounts, using an ATM which he’d spotted on the way in the taxi.
‘And there’s plenty more where that came from.’ He could get more, a lot more, but that would mean a visit to his bank in person. He hadn’t had time for that. But if emptying his bank accounts wasn’t enough to get Natty back, then he’d just have to go to William Ross. But he didn’t want to play that trump card just yet.
Jake glared at the old man. He was smaller and thinner than Jake had expected, but Jake wasn’t fooled by his timid exterior. He remained on his guard because if Aubrey had taught him anything, it was that appearances can be deceptive.