J.J. Connolly

Layer Cake

2000. Duckbacks, 2001.

The rose garden's in the middle of the park. I've plotted up on a bench where I can see the comings and goings and waited with the papers. There are hundreds of different types of roses, each with different names, but they all look pretty much the same to me, not being a flower lover. I walked through the China garden and they've got herons standing on one leg, little bridges and lakes, very quaint, amazing really

The narrator feels it's time he got out of the drugs business but has agreed to meet Gene, who has a proposition regarding two million tablets brought in from abroad. Terms are discussed, warnings are given. Subsequently he has to reconnoitre Primrose Hill for an assassination.

Someone standing at the viewing platform, or sitting on one of the benches conveniently placed on the pinnacle, would be at best silhouetted against the sky and at worst wide open, free from any protection. They'd make an ideal target...

Me and the shooter go for a little walk around...He produces a telescopic sight from outa the puffa and starts eyeing-up, walking at the same time, staying close to the brick and wooden perimeter fence, looking over his shoulder to check the windows that look out onto the park. "Here," he says at last, pointing at the floor