A second passed before Lydia realised what had just happened. ‘You’ve got a camera out here?’
He shrugged. ‘I told you I would keep you safe.’
‘And you could keep an eye on me.’
Uncle Charlie nodded, utterly unembarrassed. ‘Naturally.’
Lydia began to run through every conversation she had ever had on the terrace. She had spoken to Jason out here. What had Charlie seen? Her carrying out conversations with nobody? ‘Listening, too?’ She tried to make her voice casual, even while her whole body was vibrating with fury.
He shook his head slightly. ‘That would be an invasion of privacy.’
Lydia widened her eyes, telegraphing disbelief.
‘I don’t lie to you.’ He spread his hands. ‘Lyds. You ask, I answer. It’s not my fault if you never asked the question before.’
‘I’m taking it down,’ she said. ‘While we’re being honest.’
He shrugged and Lydia wondered how many other hidden surveillance devices he had hidden around the flat. ‘I’m asking now. Do you have any other cameras or bugs in this flat?’
‘No,’ Charlie said. His eyes stayed fixed on hers and didn’t flick away.
She was going to tear the place apart. Lydia took a moment to calm herself, to make sure that her voice wouldn’t betray the tension in her body. She unclenched her jaw with an effort of will, helped by sheer stubbornness. Charlie wanted her rattled, on the back foot, and she didn’t want to play his game. ‘What did you want, anyway? I have to warn you, I’m not in the best of moods.’
‘I heard,’ Charlie said. ‘Sorry to hear about your copper.’
‘No, you’re not,’ Lydia said. She wasn’t going to ask how he knew about her and Fleet. Wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
‘No,’ he agreed. ‘It’s for the best.’
‘So, what can I do for you this fine day?’ She rubbed her hands together and blew on her fingers. Partly because she was freezing and partly to try to hurry Charlie along.
‘I thought we should get started,’ Charlie said. He leaned back in the chair, looking completely relaxed. ‘Now you’ve joined the business, I thought I should bring you up to speed. I’m not saying you have to get involved practically,’ he stressed the word. ‘At least not immediately, but there’s general background information you should know to start giving you a feel for the organisation.’
‘Not a good idea,’ Lydia said.
‘How do you figure that?’
‘You have to keep the business details away from me.’
Charlie tilted his head. ‘What aren’t you telling me?’
‘Just that. Keeping me in the dark is for the good of the Family. I’m known to the police, now. Doesn’t make sense to bring me into anything compromising. At least not right away.’
‘I don’t know if you remember our conversation. It was a few days ago. You were in Camberwell nick and I agreed to get you out. You told me you were ‘in’. This doesn’t feel a lot like ‘in’. This feels a lot like evasion. Like going back on your word.’
Lydia flinched. She had been brought up outside the Family Business and protected from most of it but everybody knew that you didn’t go back on your word with Charlie Crow. ‘I know how it sounds,’ she managed, skin prickling with a warning. ‘I wasn’t lying and I’m not going back on my word.’
Charlie was very still. His wool coat was hiding the tattoos on his forearms, but Lydia could imagine them writhing in displeasure. ‘Explain,’ he said, quietly.
‘I’m in,’ she said. ‘But that means you have to listen to me and trust me when I tell you this is in the Family’s best interests.’
‘I’m going to need a little bit more than that,’ Charlie said.
Lydia shook her head. ‘Not now. But I would never do anything to hurt you or anybody in the Family. I’m trying to protect you.’
‘Is this to do with your copper?’ He said, after a long moment of silence.
‘No,’ Lydia said, honestly. Being in Mr Smith’s pocket was nothing to do with Fleet.
He nodded. ‘Right, then.’
‘Are we okay?’
‘For now,’ Charlie said. Then he smiled.
It wasn’t entirely reassuring.
After Charlie had refused to give her his spare key for the flat, refused to tell her how he had obtained the key after she had had the lock replaced when her new door was installed or how he had managed to get through her flat and onto her roof terrace without alerting her, just smiling in an enigmatic way and saying ‘You have your secrets, Lyds, so I’m keeping mine’, Lydia checked her bedroom for cameras and got dressed. She put on her standard work uniform. Jeans and a strappy black vest with a loose t-shirt layered over the top. She added a grey jumper and checked that the radiators were on before sitting at her desk and trying to get her head in the game.
Jason had moved over to the sofa and was instant messaging with his new maths friends like he had been born to it. The sound of his rapid tapping further underlined her lack of activity. Lydia got up and went through the flat, checking for cameras and bugs. She was as thorough as possible and she checked her own surveillance that she had installed on the outside doors downstairs.
Back at her desk, with the activity having removed most of the furious energy Charlie’s visit had raised, Lydia finally felt ready to concentrate. She clicked on her client file folder and was instantly derailed by the buzzing of a phone call on her mobile.
‘I need to see you tomorrow.’
Lydia hadn’t intended to answer the phone to Paul Fox, but curiosity had got the better of her. In the story of the fox and the crow, it was pride, not curiosity, that was the crow’s downfall. But either vice would do the trick, no doubt. She had to remain vigilant. She had thought he was on her side, that they were working together and that when he said he meant her no harm, he truly meant it. That was before. The fury and hurt came flying back, along with the taste of fur in the back of her throat.
‘I don’t think so,’ Lydia said.
‘I have something important to tell you,’ Paul said. ‘Face-to-face.’
‘Whatever it is, you can tell me now. I’m hanging up in one minute, so you had better be quick.’
An exhalation. ‘Little Bird, please.’
Paul Fox saying ‘please’. Wonders would never cease. She opened her mouth to tell him to slink back to his den and die there quietly, when another thought occurred. She had her meeting with Mr Smith on Thursday. While she had no intention of telling spy-guy anything important about any of the Families, her first priority was protecting the Crows. If he really pushed her, having some little pieces of gold about the Fox Family might be handy in a tight spot. She didn’t want to be a rat, but she would do whatever was necessary to protect her family. ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘I’m not crossing the river for you, though. You have to come here.’
‘Not Camberwell,’ Paul said. ‘Neutral ground. How about Potters Fields?’
The park was right next to the Thames, with a view of London Bridge. It was, technically, probably a bit closer to Whitechapel, but Paul would be the one crossing the river, so Lydia felt like it balanced out. She wondered if Uncle Charlie had to think like this all the time and whether he ever got tired of it. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘But it can’t take long. I’m busy.’