"Just remember... Snitches get stitches, right?"
"Yeah Callum, you don't need to worry about me."
I stare that old bastard right in the eye. His shoe-leather face impassive, wrinkled from too many weekends on that yacht in Costa del Nostra.
These old school gangsters are all the same. Strong stare, firm handshake, a bit of the old 'dog and whistle' rhyming from back in the day. They eat that shit up. Trust is a mugs game, easy to manipulate if you take the time to read the tells.
London's anemic sky infuses her skin. She wraps one hand over the other in a constant dance as I nod.
"Has Denton told you what the score is Gal?"
"Whistle when the Pandas arrive, right?"
"You got it? Whistle loud, like you've spotted a John."
Three
Her eyes shine as she scratches her arms.
Two
"What about...."
One
"the money?"
Clockwork, the mindset of a junkie.
"Don't worry Gal. You'll get your money, after the job."
I lean in toward her stroking her cheek. She hugs herself, a parody of vulnerability. I fucking hate junkies. Never again.
"You twitching then Gal?"
She nods.
Screeching and the smell of burning rubber. Flashing lights. Bitter rain splashes technicolor explosions off the tarmac.
Where was that whistle.
PC plod slams me on the car bonnet. A shoe-leather face eclipses the lights and a hand slams down next to me.
"Everyone has to do some time Dan. Just remember, snitches get stitches."
The end.
This is my entry into @jayna's Micro-fiction contest. This awesome contest challenges you to write a piece of flash fiction to a constrained word count of no more than 250. This forces the writer to edit and consider their story to find that perfect economy of words. It is a great creative exercise for any serious writer which I recommend to everyone, also a lot of fun as well 😉 I decided to stretch myself and go for an exact 250 words, which I managed after a few edits.
London slang terms:
A Panda is a police car & A John is a person who buys the services of a prostitute.
The pictures used in this post are creative commons licence and were sourced from pixabay.com, please follow the links 1 & 2 to credit. If you have enjoyed reading this crime flash fiction, please consider reading my longer series written over a year ago called 'Dirty Old Town'. I didn't finish this series in the end, with just one part left to write life took over. Please let me know if you would like to see a concluding part 5. Thank you.
