THE ROYAL GUNPOWDER PUB, ARTILLERY LANE, EAST LONDON NOVEMBER 11 10:15 A.M.
HARLIE STRONG LIKED HIS CUSTOMERSâYOU DONâT run a pub for twenty-one years if you donât like your customersâbut there was something about the quiet in the morning that pleased him to no end. In the morning, Charlie had the one cigarette he allowed himself daily. He drew on the Silk Cut slowly, listening to the satisfying sizzle of burning paper and tobacco. He could smoke inside when no one else was here. Good mug of tea. Good smoke. Good bacon on his sandwich.
Charlie switched on the television. The television in the Royal Gunpowder went on for only two things: when Liverpool played and Morning with Michael and Alice, the relentlessly cheerful talk show. Charlie liked to watch this as he prepared for the day, particularly the cooking part. They always made something good, and for some reason, this made him enjoy his bacon sandwich even more. Today, they were making a roast chicken. His barman, Sam, came up from the basement with a box of tonic water. He set it on the bar and quietly got on with his work, taking the chairs from their upside-down positions on the tables and setting them upright on the floor. Sam was good to have around in the mornings. He didnât say much, but he was still good company. He was happy to be employed, and it always showed.
âGood-looking chicken, that,â he said to Sam, pointing to the television.
Sam paused his work to look.
âI like mine fried,â Sam said.
âItâll kill you, all that fried food.â
âSays the man eating the bacon sarnie.â
âNothing wrong with bacon,â Charlie said, smiling.
Sam shook his head good-naturedly and continued moving chairs. âThink weâll get more of them Ripper freaks today?â he asked.
âLetâs hope so. God bless the Ripper. We did almost three thousand pounds last night. Speaking of, they do eat a lot of crisps. Get us another box of the plain andââhe sorted through the selection under the barââcheese and onion. And some more nuts while youâre there. They like nuts as well. Nuts for the nutters, eh?â
Without a word, Sam stopped what he was doing and returned to the basement. Charlieâs gaze was fixed on the television and the final, critical stages of the cooking segment. The cooked chicken was produced from the oven, golden brown and lovely. The show moved on to the next segment, talking about some music festival that was going on in London over the weekend. This interested Charlie less than the chicken, but he watched it anyway since he had a cigarette to finish. When he was down to the filter, he stubbed it out and got to work.
He had just started wiping down the blackboard to write the dayâs specials when he heard the sound of breaking glass from below. He opened the basement door.
âSam! What in Godâs nameââ
âCharlie! Get down here!â
âWhatâs the matter?â Charlie yelled back.
Sam did not reply.
Charlie swore under his breath, allowed himself one heavy post-smoke cough, and headed down the stairs. The basement stairs were narrow and steep, and the basement itself was full of things Charlie largely didnât want to deal withâbroken chairs and tables, heavy crates of supplies, racks of glasses ready to replace the ones that were chipped, cracked, or stolen every day.
âSam?â he called.
âIn here!â
Samâs voice was coming from a small room off the main one. Charlie ducked down. The ceiling was lower in this room; it just skimmed his head. Many times he had almost knocked himself senseless on it.
Sam was near the wall, cowering between two shelving units. There were two shattered pint glasses, as well as a roughly drawn X in chalk on the stone floor.
âWhat are you playing at, Sam?â
âI didnât do that,â Sam replied. âThose werenât there a few minutes ago.â
âAre you feeling all right?â
âIâm telling you, those werenât there.â
This was not good, not good at all. The glasses clearly hadnât fallen off a shelfâthey were in the middle of the room. The X was shaky, like the hand that had drawn it could barely hold the chalk. No one looked healthy in the basementâs faintly greenish fluorescent light, but Sam looked particularly bad. The color had drained from his face, and he was quivering and glistening with sweat.
Maybe this had been bound to happen. Charlie had always known the risks, but the risks were part of the agreement. He had gotten sober, and he trusted that others could as well. And you needed to show that trust.