“Suppose not.”
“No, because that would bring us all down to her level. I doubt we’ll ever see her or her spawn again.”
Jez wasn’t so sure about that. He’d seen the way Alex had glared back at them. That boy was a chip off the old block.
“It looked like someone gave her a good going over anyway,” said Mark, relieved that he could finally lower the rifle.
“That was me,” said Rachel.
Ryan took her hand and kissed her.
Mick wondered if he could sneak out while they were all distracted but the big redheaded guy was keeping a close eye on him. He swallowed hard when Ryan Law’s gaze settled on him. “Who the hell is that?”
“His name’s Mick,” said Jez. “He used to work for Katia. He says he’d like to work for us.”
“You own Liverpool now,” said Mick. “You’re going to need a negotiator between yourselves and what’s left of Clayton’s men for a smooth takeover. I can help with that.”
“Hmmm, he might have a point,” said Jez. “Alright Mick, you get to keep your life but one wrong move and you’ll end up like him,” he said, pointing to Hayden’s corpse.
“I’m not going to try anything. I just want to make money. Hayden and Katia were the ones obsessed with revenge.”
“Then you’re in the right place,” said Jez, stuffing the gun into his jeans. “Making money is what we’re good at.”
“Great,” he grinned, stroking the charms around his neck. They’d served him very well.
“Are we going back to Manchester now?” said Shane.
Jez’s eyes met his brother’s. “Not just yet. We’ve one more stop to make.”
Estelle gazed out of the window at the street below, sucking on a cigarette, enjoying watching the world go by. She loved city life, the bustle and noise. It made her feel alive.
But the sight of the traffic and the people scurrying about below like ants wasn’t cheering her like it normally did. Cold dread had settled in her gut. Her instinct was finely honed, it was why she’d survived so long. She looked to the two men in sharp suits guarding her door, Clayton’s men.
“I want to go out for a walk,” she announced.
They both shook their heads, placing themselves before the door so she couldn’t leave.
“The boss says you’re not to go anywhere until he calls,” said one of the men.
“For Christ’s sake, I’m not a prisoner, I’m on his side. I only want some fresh air.”
“Sorry.”
She sighed and decided to change tactics, flashing them a lascivious smile. “How about if you do me a favour I do you one?”
“You’re old enough to be my gran.”
“You cheeky little bastard,” she snarled before breaking into a hacking cough, both men curling their lips with disgust. “Trust me to get a couple of fucking nufters as guards.”
“We’re not gay. We just like them younger, hotter and not coughing their lungs up.”
She took a drag on the cigarette, blowing a stream of smoke into their faces. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“Probably gonorrhoea.”
“I’ll skelp your arse you lairy sod if you give me any more shit. Who’s that?” she added when there was a knock at the door.
The one who’d given her all the lip peered through the peephole. “It’s just Mick. Don’t shite your frillies.”
He opened the door and both men recoiled when Mick walked in with a gun in his hand, followed by Estelle’s sons and her daughter-in-law.
“Oh shit,” she cried.
“Clayton and his brother are dead,” Mick told the two men. “You can get onboard with the new order or you can join them.”
“We’ll get onboard,” said one of the men, his friend frantically nodding. “As long as we get a good earn we’re good.”
Jez and Ryan pinned the two men up against the wall, relieving them of their weapons while Rachel stared at Estelle.
Estelle took in her cut, bruised hands and wondered which poor sod she’d battered. She swallowed hard, tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth with fear. She turned and ran, not knowing where she was going but knowing she needed to get out of there because her children weren’t about to give her any more chances.
Rachel raced after her, caught her before she could slam the bedroom door shut in her face and punched her so hard she knocked her out.
Ryan and Jez caught up with them, gazing impassively at their unconscious mother.
“Let’s get her in the van,” said Jez. “We’re going back to Manchester.”
Jules was feeling much better, to the extent that she was sat in a chair by Mikey’s bedside holding his hand. Mikey was sat up for the first time in days, chatting, although his voice was still quite weak.
“This has been a really shit honeymoon,” he said.
“I’m not arguing with you there.”
“I’d planned on us spending a lot of time in bed but not like this.”
“Soon babe. You’re well on the road to recovery now.”
He touched her face. “You saved my life in the ambulance.”
“And you saved my life at the barn and in this very room too. What?” she added when he chuckled.
“Taylor’s face when you leapt on his back was hilarious.”
“I was trying to pull his head off but it didn’t work.”
They both looked round when the door opened, breaking into delighted smiles when Ryan, Rachel and Jez walked in.
“Thank Christ,” said Jules, getting up to embrace them one by one.
“You’re looking much better,” Rachel said to Mikey, bending over to kiss his cheek.
“Fighting an insane copper will do that to you.” His eyes widened as he recalled what Superintendent Benton had done to Rachel. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise. I’m glad it had a positive effect.”
“So, is it done?” said Jules.
Ryan nodded. “The danger has passed.”
“Thank God for that. I’m just sorry I missed out on all the action.”
“There is still one loose end,” he continued.
The gravity in his voice caused her smile to drop. “What?”
“Estelle.”
“Don’t tell me she was in on it?” she said, her eyes jumping between her brothers.
They nodded.
“The fucking slag,” she snarled. “She was in France.”
“She’s a devious old cow,” said Jez. “We learnt most of our tricks from her.”
“I’ll kill her,” she yelled, charging for the door.
Ryan caught her and held her, being careful not to touch her wound. She buried her face in his shoulder, clinging onto him. “When is she going to stop hurting us?”
“There’s only one way to ensure she doesn’t do it again.”
She looked up at him with surprise. “You really mean it?”
He nodded. “I should have done it years ago. If I had it might not have come to this.”
“Don’t blame yourself. It’s all on her.” Jules looked to Jez. “Do you agree?”
He nodded. Jules thought how harder and older her younger brother suddenly looked. Recent events had changed him.
“Are you up to it?” said Ryan.
“Now?” she replied.
“The sooner the better.”
She released Ryan and walked over to Mikey. “Will you be okay if…”
He took her hand. “Course I will. I know you need to do this.”
She kissed him. “Won’t be long.” Jules turned to her brothers. “Let’s get it over with then.”
CHAPTER 47
Estelle was woken by cool air washing over her face. She squinted as light streamed into her eyes, three faces peering down at her. Her vision came back into focus and she released a throaty chuckle.
“Well look at that. My loving children all together.”
“Mummy dearest,” said Jules. “You’ve been a grade A bitch,
as always.”
The sight of her daughter’s right arm in a sling made her feel better. “If you’re going to start whinging about how hard done by you are I’m going to need a ciggie first.” When they made no move to assist she glared at them. “You going to get me out or what?”
Ryan and Jez hauled her out between them and removed her bindings.
“Finally,” she said, taking a packet of cigarettes and a lighter out of her jeans’ pocket and sparking up. “Ah, that’s better,” she said, blowing out a satisfied stream of smoke. She noticed Rachel standing by a black car with a big redheaded man and a tall, slender dark-haired woman as well as two men she knew worked for them. “You going to get her to beat me up then?” she said, nodding in Rachel’s direction.
“No Estelle,” began Ryan. “We’ve got something else in mind.”
“Like what?”
Ryan glanced at his siblings, who nodded. He looked back at his mother. “This is the end of the line for you.”
She snorted, puffing smoke out of her nostrils. “You going to kill me? Yeah, right. You’ve never had the guts to do that you pathetic, snivelling little boy.”
Ryan sighed and shook his head, although for once his mother’s bile didn’t affect him like it usually did.
“Oh shut it Estelle,” snapped Jez. “You really are fucking stupid, aren’t you?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t talk to me like that boy. You might think you’re the big man now but you’re not too old to be put over my knee.”
Her eyes widened, the cigarette falling from her hand when he grabbed her by the front of the shirt and dragged her towards him. Jez had always been the gentlest of her sons when growing up, the quietest and most anxious to please her. The hard-faced, cold-eyed man before her was a stranger.
“You’re not even sorry are you, you fucking witch,” he snarled in her face. “You plotted to kill your own children and grandchildren and you have the fucking brass neck to stand there shouting the odds, treating us like we’re shit, as usual. You evil old cunt,” he bellowed in her face.
Estelle went silent, staring back at him in astonishment. Even the birds in the trees stopped singing.
“I wish I’d caught up with you at the Slattery homestead,” continued Jez, shaking with rage, eyes wild and bloodshot. “I wish I’d put a bullet through your fucking brain then you wouldn’t have been able to come back and cause more havoc.” He shoved her, sending her stumbling backwards into the long grass and she only just managed to keep her balance.
“But you didn’t because you couldn’t do it.” She smiled back at them triumphantly. “Despite all your big words you’ve never been able to hurt me and you never will.”
Jules grabbed a chunk of her hair and yanked her head back. “But I could. Fucking happily.”
“With one arm?” grimaced Estelle as she felt strands being torn from her head.
With a grunt of annoyance Jules pushed her away.
“See,” grinned Estelle. “So, how much?”
“What do you mean, how much?” said Ryan.
“How much are you going to give me to disappear again? I won’t go for less than fifty grand.”
“What?” exclaimed Jules.
“It’s a fair price. That sort of cash is nothing to the likes of you.”
“We’re not giving you any cash,” said Ryan. “This really is it.”
“You won’t kill me Ryan. You can’t. Weak and useless, as always.”
“You’re right Estelle, I’m not going to do it. Neither is Jules or Jez. Not that we lack the courage or drive, more because we don’t want your death tainting us as your life has.” He indicated Damon with a sweep of the hand. “He however has no such compunction.”
Panic gripped Estelle when she saw the gun the big redheaded man held. “No,” she said, furiously shaking her head.
“As I said,” sighed Ryan. “End of the line.”
She threw herself at Jez, gripping onto the front of his t-shirt. “Jez, my good boy, my baby. You won’t let them hurt Mummy, will you?”
He tore her hands off him. “Don’t fucking touch me. You didn’t care that they tried to kill my kids, my nieces and nephews. They shot your own daughter and her husband. They killed Battler and Grant,” he yelled. “I fucking hate you.”
“Don’t even think of looking to me for help,” said Jules when Estelle’s pleading eyes were turned on her. “If I had my way I’d kill you myself but for the sake of my brothers I won’t. You see, we actually love each other but you wouldn’t understand that.”
“Wait,” Raven told Damon, handing him a gun with a silencer on the end. “Use this instead. They won’t want to remember the sound of the shot.”
He nodded and took it off her, handing her the pistol he already held, Raven glad he was being serious, recognising the gravity of the situation. Rachel nodded Raven her thanks.
Estelle glanced towards the redheaded man who was making his way towards her, the gun he held looking enormous. She stumbled towards Ryan, falling at his feet, clutching at his jeans, gazing up at him with frightened, tear-filled eyes. “No, you don’t really mean it, do you? It’s like the time you threatened to bury me alive. You’re just trying to scare me into leaving. Well it’s worked good and proper. I’ll go away for real this time, you’ll never see me again. Promise.”
“We’ve given you that opportunity so many times Estelle,” he said, voice gentle. “But you always come back and each time you return you’re more vicious. Putting us in danger is one thing but our children are something else. The only way to keep them safe is to make sure you never come back again.”
“Send me to Australia, I’ll go to the other side of the fucking world,” she cried, tears rolling down her face, dragging mascara and eyeliner with them, staining her cheeks. “This time I’ll stay away, I swear. Just don’t kill me. Please Ryan.”
Hope swelled inside her when he helped her to her feet.
“My boy,” she said, touching his face. “My beautiful, strong, clever boy.”
His smile was gentle. “I wish I could believe you meant that.”
Ryan nodded at Damon, who took Estelle by the arm and dragged her towards the trees.
“No,” she screamed. “Don’t do this Ryan, please. I swear I’ll be good. I won’t ever hurt you again. No.”
Jules glanced at Ryan, afraid he’d change his mind. She had no worries about Jez on that score but she’d never been sure her older brother would be able to go through with it. From his resigned expression she realised he’d finally come to terms with removing their toxic mother once and for all.
She flung off the annoying sling, placed herself between her brothers and took their hands as they watched Damon propel Estelle towards the woods. She was struggling so much he holstered the gun in his jeans, wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her backwards, clamping a hand down over her mouth to stifle her screams, which were still audible as they vanished into the trees.
“No, please don’t,” they heard her continue to wail. “No…”
The scream was abruptly cut silent. There was a moment of absolute stillness, during which the air felt to get thicker and hotter. Jules felt her hands squeezed momentarily before her brothers’ grips relaxed. The air cooled and the birdsong started up again.
“Thank fuck for that,” muttered Jez.
Ryan sighed, body relaxing.
Jules hugged Jez with her good arm, who clung onto her while Rachel hurried to her husband, enfolding him in her arms.
“Are you okay?” she whispered in his ear.
“Fine,” he replied. He hesitated before adding, “the pain inside has finally gone.”
Rachel’s heart went out to him and she squeezed him tighter.
Ryan kissed her and took her hands. “I have to see.”
“Are you sure you want that memory?”
“Not particularly but if I don’t I won’t believe she’s really gone.”
Rachel didn’t want him to loo
k, she knew the memory would haunt him.
“How about if I take a look instead?” said Jules.
Ryan looked to Rachel and saw the pleading in her eyes. “Yes, thank you Jules.”
She nodded and ambled into the woods alone, her brothers watching. She found Estelle already in the hole that had been prepared earlier, her ugly blond hair spattered with blood and brain tissue, a neat hole in her forehead, eyes wide and staring up at the sky. It was the first time Jules had ever known her to be silent, although she could count the number of times they’d interacted on the fingers of one hand.
Hawking at the back of her throat she spat into the grave, the globule landing on Estelle’s thin track-marked arm.
“Goodbye Mummy Dearest,” she said. “Finally you’re where you belong.”
She nodded at Damon, who had patiently waited for her to finish, leaning on the shovel. He nodded back and as she headed out of the woods he started filling in the grave.
“She’s gone,” she told her brothers. “She won’t be hurting us again.”
Ryan squeezed her hand gratefully while Jez wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Finally we can get back to Manchester,” said Jez as they strode back to the van. He stopped by Raven. “Thanks for all your help. You’ve been awesome.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“If you ever want a job…”
She shook her head. “I appreciate the offer but I’m strictly self employed. I could never take orders from anyone.”
“Shame. What about your brother?”
“He feels the same way. We like our freedom too much. If you’re worried about someone giving me a contract on you, don’t be. If anyone suggested such a thing I’d kill them then come and tell you.”
He hadn’t expected such a straightforward reply but he appreciated it. “Thank you Raven. Are you headed home now?”
“Yes, as soon as Damon’s finished in there.”
Rachel looked anxiously at Ryan, fearing seeing regret in his eyes but on the contrary, he looked relaxed.
“Damn shame,” said Jez. “You’re fucking good.”
“Sorry, I’m a free spirit but if I ever change my mind I’ll let you know. Are you headed home too?”
Carnage Page 41