"I'd put on a skirt meself, mate, but I think my legs are a bit too hairy." Gene scoffed. "Annie knows what she's doing. She's good at undercover work. I don't think she'd be a target, I just want her narrowing down who the next targets might be." Easy enough, right? "Gal pals. Easy stuff. Dance around in a circle and go to the loo together."
Female bonding. "We find out who is targeting the girls and then maybe we can just let them resolve it. The gangs. They can sort their own. Still cleaner than any fucking special division."
"I'm not letting gangsters resolve it. We resolve it or we pass it on. I'm not letting criminals handle crime in our city." He was not giving Barty any of that power. If anyone shut down these people, it would be them or Sam was going over Gene's head to the special division. "I'm not letting those people feel powerful and like they're doing good for this city. It feeds into the wrong sort of mindset."
This city was theirs, not the criminal. "I don't think I should be on this case. Annie can go in without talking to the owner, it's undercover and you just stay out of the club to avoid suspicion. Simple."
"And I think you're being a sissy little coward. I don't want to resolve the case using gangsters and more than you do. But if I send Annie in there and we don't have their cooperation, we're gonna hit that wall. Can't operate without them knowing." It was the same old game, but of course Sam was never up for playing it.
"Best case scenario is you getting him to give us free reign. Then we won't have to work with them, they just have to let us do our job."
He didn't care if it made him soft or a coward or a fairy. Whatever it made him, he didn't care. He just didn't want to give Barty any power, any leverage, any way of being in his life and he hated Gene so deeply for making him having to do that. Moving on and living well was good revenge, sure, but like that would happen for him. He wanted avoidance, not reconciliation. "I bloody hate you."
"Aw. Breaks my heart." Gene held his chest for a moment before rolling his eyes and scoffing. "Tell me a better way and we can consider it. Maybe we can get someone else to talk to your ex for you. You can pass on letters. I do that with my ex-wife, can't be any more bitter than that."
Clearly they had a lot in common there. "At least tell me what you think. Does he know about this happening in his club? Does he bloody work with them?"
"You know, you may be right there." Barty may have completely betrayed him and broke his heart but whatever the fuck was going on between Gene and his wife was wild. Screaming, fighting, waving guns around and constant PA texts. It was an experience he was happy was dying down.
"Nah, Barty wouldn't be involved... I hope. I just find it hard to believe." He didn't know how much Barty was truly lying but he didn't seem the type to go that far. Or, at least, he hoped not. "My gut says no but apparently I have poor judgement with him."
"It's not really the type of shit they do, is it? Drugs, weapons, bribes, that's more like it. Risky business, trafficking. Your gut may be right on that one. If that was their gig, we'd have started having trouble with it way back." And this was new to the city, at least in this form. Gene assumed the established groups wouldn't like it. "If anyone of our local assholes involved, I'd put my money on the gyppos."
Which he knew he wasn't supposed to say, but still.
"They prefer travellers, guv. You can't say that word or HR will be down your back. Roma, travellers, all acceptable but don't say that word or I'll report you myself." He knew that it didn't help that the O'Shea family used it and all but they could, Gene could not. He was certainly not allowing it.
"We can't just go in and interview them because it 'seems' like the travellers would do it. The biggest rings in Britain don't usually come from travellers, they come from either home grown or --" Well, did he want to say Pakistani and risk more slurs? No. "Far flung foreign elements." Safer.
"Still worth looking into, especially if you are pussyfooting around the ex. I know they got at least three sons in the business now, don't they, Jonathan and his two brothers." He knew one of them supposedly wanted out or whatever, but that stuff never stuck. Especially not since he figured Jonathan would want to keep the business in the family.
"Anyway, you tell me what's best to do first. Annie's going in. Do you want to talk to the ex about it? Or shake down the... travellers?"
"I want to do the one that is based on fact and not prejudice. There's evidence of trafficking in the club so we go to the club. We don't just randomly go after the Irish travellers because they seem dodgy." As much as he hated to contact Barty, that was the lesser of two evils. He wondered how best to do it but unfortunately, in person was probably more professional.
"I guess we can go to the club after lunch. They'll be there, that's where they do their business." And it was not an office, like he had told Sam. Lying bastard.
"Good, good. You want to have a few beers for lunch, pick up the old courage?" He was just wondering. "If not, I've got the flask here any time you need it." Sometimes it was a life saver.
"I'll come with you, we can keep it strictly professional. Place is boring anyway, your lover boy has his paperwork in order. Ridiculous. Remember that raid?" It had turned up nothing, presumably because they had gotten a heads up in time, but it had also just been entirely too organised. All on top of their taxes too. Eerie, honestly. "No wonder you were into him."
"I remember the raid, yes." How could he forget raiding his own boyfriend. There was so much pointless anger and hate but all he could do now is push it away and focus on his job. He was good at that, putting feelings into compartments. Besides, he was moving forward. He had a pint with Maya on Wednesday and he was feeling pretty good - apart from the lack of sleep and the interrupt yesterday.
Every time they spoke, it got worse. "I'll be fine. No booze needed. Trust me. I have no issue being professional."
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Female bonding. "We find out who is targeting the girls and then maybe we can just let them resolve it. The gangs. They can sort their own. Still cleaner than any fucking special division."
no subject
This city was theirs, not the criminal. "I don't think I should be on this case. Annie can go in without talking to the owner, it's undercover and you just stay out of the club to avoid suspicion. Simple."
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"Best case scenario is you getting him to give us free reign. Then we won't have to work with them, they just have to let us do our job."
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He didn't care if it made him soft or a coward or a fairy. Whatever it made him, he didn't care. He just didn't want to give Barty any power, any leverage, any way of being in his life and he hated Gene so deeply for making him having to do that. Moving on and living well was good revenge, sure, but like that would happen for him. He wanted avoidance, not reconciliation. "I bloody hate you."
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Clearly they had a lot in common there. "At least tell me what you think. Does he know about this happening in his club? Does he bloody work with them?"
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"Nah, Barty wouldn't be involved... I hope. I just find it hard to believe." He didn't know how much Barty was truly lying but he didn't seem the type to go that far. Or, at least, he hoped not. "My gut says no but apparently I have poor judgement with him."
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Which he knew he wasn't supposed to say, but still.
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"We can't just go in and interview them because it 'seems' like the travellers would do it. The biggest rings in Britain don't usually come from travellers, they come from either home grown or --" Well, did he want to say Pakistani and risk more slurs? No. "Far flung foreign elements." Safer.
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"Anyway, you tell me what's best to do first. Annie's going in. Do you want to talk to the ex about it? Or shake down the... travellers?"
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"I guess we can go to the club after lunch. They'll be there, that's where they do their business." And it was not an office, like he had told Sam. Lying bastard.
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"I'll come with you, we can keep it strictly professional. Place is boring anyway, your lover boy has his paperwork in order. Ridiculous. Remember that raid?" It had turned up nothing, presumably because they had gotten a heads up in time, but it had also just been entirely too organised. All on top of their taxes too. Eerie, honestly. "No wonder you were into him."
Same of the perfectly arranged pens on his desk.
no subject
Every time they spoke, it got worse. "I'll be fine. No booze needed. Trust me. I have no issue being professional."