Gangster Girl

by Dreda Say Mitchell

  ‘Is this something to do with your dad?’

  ‘No, of course it isn’t.’ Her denial was quick. Much too quick.

  His hard gaze roamed over her, but he didn’t challenge her. Instead he said, ‘We need to get out of here to tell Mrs King the good news and the bad.’

  ‘What’s she doing back here?’ was Billy’s first question as he stepped inside Stella’s office.

  He stared daggers at Jo-Jo as she sat with her feet curled under her on a chair, next to the TV, which was on low.

  Stella knew that the relationship between Billy and her daughter had always been like two cats scrapping in the night. She leant forward in her chair. ‘I’ve had a change of heart, I’m an old softie at heart, Billy, you know that. A right puddin’,’ was her simple response.

  ‘You haven’t told her about . . . ?’

  ‘She knows the lot, she’s family.’

  Billy swung his furious gaze onto Jo-Jo. ‘I don’t trust her. She’s—’

  ‘Fuck off granddad,’ Jo-Jo spat.

  Stella stood up and slammed her fists against the desk. The phone rattled as the desk shook. ‘I know you don’t like each other and that’s just how it is. But until we’ve done this robbery we play happy families. Get it? I want you –’ she pointed at Jo-Jo, ‘to keep the filth off your tongue. And you –’ her finger flicked to Billy, ‘need to understand that whatever happens she’ll always be my daughter. You know what Stevie liked about you? You never asked any questions. So let’s keep it that way.’

  Billy’s face looked humble as he heard the name of his former boss. Stevie King had been the only one willing to give him a job after leaving prison and for that Billy had been on his side one hundred per cent.

  ‘We need to chat,’ Billy looked over at Jo-Jo. ‘Privately.’

  Jo-Jo shrugged her shoulders as she uncurled her legs. ‘Don’t worry, I know when I’m not wanted.’ She moved across the room and stopped when she reached Billy. ‘You know what you need? One of mum’s girls to suck you off and lighten your attitude.’

  Stella shook her head as she watched her daughter leave. Having Jo-Jo back in the fold wasn’t going to be easy. Jo-Jo opened the door. But instead of stepping out she stepped abruptly back. ‘What’s that?’

  Stella gazed at what Jo-Jo was looking at. The writing on the bright yellow door. She’d got someone in yesterday to change the writing from Calam and Stella to:

  Daisy and Stella

  ‘What’s her name doing on the door?’ Jo-Jo stared daggers at the writing.

  ‘Shut the door on your way out,’ Stella answered impatiently.

  The door slammed.

  Stella re-took her seat. Billy sat opposite her. ‘I’ve checked out the girl. After Frankie died, she was taken in by a woman called Jackie Jarvis. I’m sure you heard the rumours like the other people at the time saying that this Jackie woman was behind Frankie’s death, which makes no sense to me because he drew up legal documents saying she was to look after his kid if he ever died. Daisy’s got a boyfriend, a Jerome McMillan, who’s a well-known lawyer and comes from an upmarket family. Can’t find a speck of dirt on her.’ He shook his head. ‘She’s a respectable and upstanding member of the community. Not someone anyone’s gonna think is Stella King’s daughter.’ He half turned his face away from her. ‘Plus someone told me she did a young lad a good turn the other day in court. Got him off a serious assault charge.’

  He carried on talking but Stella’s eyes were glued to the TV, which showed a news report about the ongoing class-action trial brought by adults who’d once lived in a care home. The lawyer representing the adults was talking. His name was written along the bottom of the news report. Jerome McMillan.

  ‘That her bit of posh?’ Stella asked Billy, pointing at the screen.

  He turned to face the TV screen. ‘It’s the right name and the right description. Floppy-haired rich kid who fancies himself as the attorney general one day.’

  The news item changed to show the female newsreader reporting about the announcement of the new police commissioner of the Metropolitan police on Thursday at a gala dinner at City Hall, which sat on the banks of the Thames near Tower Bridge. A large photo of a serious looking Barbara Benton, in uniform and all her stripes, was in the background.

  Suddenly Stella swiped the remote control off the desk and snapped the TV off.

  ‘I know I’m meant to be a man who don’t ask questions, but how come you never kept tabs on Daisy as she was growing up?’

  Stella was silent for a while, then said, ‘If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about your past is when you walk away you should never look back. And that’s how it had to be for me and Daisy.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘Besides, she was better off without me being anywhere near her life. What about Tommy’s new man?’

  Billy whistled. ‘If you were looking for a new member of the crew you couldn’t have chosen better. Grew up on the Stafford Cripps Estate in Whitechapel. Sounds like he was in and out of trouble before he finished wearing nappies. His dad did a bunk when he was four and his mum died when he was nine. His sister and granny bought him up. No one’s quite sure what he did when he was nineteen but he was certainly running hot. That’s when he disappeared, some say to Jamaica to get away from the heat. Reappeared in this fair city two and half years ago and went down almost as soon as he stepped off the plane for an eighteen-month stretch, which he did in Belmarsh.’

  He stopped looking at Stella’s face. Finally she spoke. ‘You trust him?’

  ‘Only person I ever trusted was Stevie.’ He could see the hurt look on her face that he hadn’t included her as well. ‘You can’t trust no one, Stella. Even your own flesh and blood.’

  Before he could say anything else the door opened. Daisy and Ricky entered the room. ‘Mrs King, you got a computer?’ Ricky asked.

  They all watched the moving images, which were a bit hazy, on the computer screen. Daisy had hooked up her phone to the computer using a USB cable that Molly the receptionist downstairs had provided. The image of the reception area spanned on the screen.

  ‘Here and here,’ Ricky pointed at the screen, ‘are the security cameras. You can’t see them on the screen but there are two more near the door.’ His finger moved right as the images changed. ‘That’s the guard who is always posted at the entrance. As you can see most of the guards are young and fit and carry comms.’

  ‘You see any weapons?’ Billy asked.

  ‘No.’ Ricky looked at him. Then swiftly turned back to the screen. ‘The other side of the reception leads to a room where most of the bank’s business takes place.’

  ‘He’s right,’ Daisy chipped in. ‘That’s where I was taken to talk about Charlie’s box the first time I went to the bank.’

  ‘Anything else we need to know about it?’ Stella asked.

  ‘No.’ Daisy shrugged. ‘It just seems to be where they do most of the paperwork.’

  They were silent for a while, all absorbed by the action on the screen. The image suddenly became lopsided. Stella turned to Daisy and said, ‘Hmm, thing is, Daze, I’d stick to defending Joe Public in court if I was you, you’re no Quentin Tarantino, dear.’

  They all smiled, relieving some of the pent-up tension. Ricky started moving through the images again. ‘This is the floor that leads to the manager, Mr Abdul Miah’s office. See right there.’ His voice jumped as his finger moved to the top right-hand corner. ‘Two more cameras. But you’ll notice now . . .’ He strung his words out as they waited for the image to change. ‘Inside Miah’s office there are no cameras.’

  The camera panned around capturing the bookshelves lined with files; the large single window; the desk, which had the usual telephone, ruffled paperwork and in-tray. The on-screen imaged wobbled as the camera moved into a close up of the framed photograph of a woman in her thirties wearing a beautiful red head scarf, with a black beaded fringe and two children, a girl and a boy. The boy was about eight years old and the girl several years younger.<
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  They carried on watching, their interest becoming more intense as the film showed the foot of the stairs leading to the basement corridor. Ricky’s voice piped back on. ‘There’s a guard posted at the top of the stairs. The deposit boxes are kept in a vault in the basement. As you’ll see there are three locked doors to get through before you reach the deposit boxes.’

  They watched for two minutes as the camera took them along the narrow corridor. ‘And this,’ Ricky again pointed out, ‘is the room that takes you to the vault. Seems there’s a security guard posted outside the door, but the room is private and has no cameras.’

  They watched the images inside the room. Ricky eased back up onto his chair. ‘And that’s all folks.’

  A dissatisfied Stella looked back at him. ‘What about inside the vault?’

  Daisy and Ricky looked at each other. They knew that Stella was going to be pissed at this one. Daisy delivered the news. ‘He wouldn’t let us in. Bank employees only, for security reasons.’

  Tommy spoke for the first time and as usual his words only made a tense situation worse. ‘I’d have got in there, no problem.’

  ‘And how would have you done that?’ Daisy threw back. ‘Used that legendary Tommy King charm?’

  Tommy’s hands balled into fists. ‘You’ll see some of my charm soon enough if you keep rubbing me up the wrong way.’

  ‘Tommy . . .’ his mother warned.

  He tightened his lips together, but everyone could plainly see that the words he couldn’t say were flipping around his mind.

  ‘What about the security system?’ Billy asked.

  Daisy and Ricky once again looked at each other. They’d agreed not to tell the others about the police because it might cause more tension than it was worth. Daisy was the first to look away. ‘It’s got an alarm system that’s hooked up to both the local nick and the bank’s own private security firm.’

  ‘That ain’t good,’ Tommy blew out, flopping back in his seat. ‘Unless one of us is a security expert how the fuck are we meant to get in?’

  ‘Plus we’d need Harry Houdini to get through all those locks in the basement. Mind you, doing a bank is never an easy thing,’ Billy added.

  Daisy caught Billy’s eyes. He quickly looked away. The tension inside the room grew tight as everyone threw themselves back into their own thoughts.

  ‘We ain’t got no alternative now, Mum,’ Tommy said shattering the silence. ‘We’re gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way. The way Dad would’ve done it.’ Every eye turned to him as he carried on. ‘We go in there mob-handed and do the “hit the decks, mutherfuckers” routine and get them to take us to the stash downstairs.’ He looked scornfully at Daisy and Ricky. ‘All this hidden camera malarkey from James Bond and his girlfriend here, I mean, give me a break . . .’

  Stella calmly looked at him. ‘Shut. Up.’ She turned to Daisy. ‘Play the section back inside the manager’s office.’

  Daisy leant over the desk and rewound the footage. Pressed play. As everyone again turned their attention back to the screen Stella asked, ‘What did you say the name of the manager was again?’

  Ricky responded. ‘Abdul Miah. In his late forties. Pretty cool and confident customer.’

  ‘Pause it,’ Stella told Daisy.

  Daisy froze the image on the screen.

  ‘That’s how we’re gonna do it.’

  They all looked at the screen. An image of Miah’s desk.

  ‘I don’t get it,’ Tommy said confused.

  ‘We’ll take his family hostage, of course.’

  They all twisted around and looked back at the screen. But not at his desk. But at the framed picture of a smiling woman and her two children.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Daisy shot to her feet. She wanted out of this madhouse now. ‘No way, they’re just kids, we’re not kidnapping kids.’

  Stella smiled. ‘Good point. Kids are difficult to shoot when they’re running around.’

  Daisy shook her head vehemently. ‘I don’t want any part of this . . .’

  ‘You’re already in too deep.’ Stella stood up and walked around the desk towards her. She stopped in front of Daisy. ‘You had your chance to give me those papers and return to that upstanding, Lady Muck life of yours. But no, you had to play the big I Am. Well here you are and let me tell you this much, my girl.’ Stella moved her neck forward and got deep into Daisy’s face. ‘The only way you’re leaving here is in a pine box that’s only going one place: six feet under.’

  Daisy swallowed convulsively at the thought of her death. At the thought of what Stella might do to Miah’s family. ‘You won’t hurt them?’

  Stella stepped back and addressed everyone in the room. ‘We’re not animals, are we? But we need to make this Miah geezer understand that if he doesn’t play ball his family will pay the price. Ricky and Daisy, tomorrow I want you two to be outside the bank just before it shuts and follow him. Find out where he lives.’

  Before anyone could speak, Daisy’s phone, still attached to the computer started to ring.

  Everyone froze. She looked at Stella. The other woman gave her the nod. Daisy reached for the phone.

  ‘Hello.’

  The blood drained back from her face as she recognised the voice. She listened and nodded. ‘Fine. I’ll be there.’

  She clicked off and looked worriedly at the others.

  Stella asked the question. ‘Who was that?’

  ‘Charlie’s wife. She said that his will has been read.’ She swallowed watching Stella’s face with worried eyes. ‘She wants to see me tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Daisy?’

  Daisy barely heard her name called after her as she made her way to her temporary home on the floor below. Her nerves crackled like dynamite ready to explode. How could her life have come to this? Bank robberies? Hostage taking? What next – murder?

  ‘Daisy?’

  This time she heard, and turned around to find a smiling Jo-Jo approaching her. Instantly she froze. She hadn’t liked Stella’s daughter – she wasn’t going to call her sister, no way – the first time she’d seen her and didn’t like her much more now.

  Jo-Jo stopped in front of her, letting her smile broaden as her purple fringe flopped onto her forehead. ‘We haven’t really introduced ourselves to each other. I’m—’

  ‘Yeah I know,’ Daisy butted in. ‘Jo-Jo, my kid sister. No disrespect but I’m not doing the huggy thing right now.’

  The smile fell from the smaller woman’s face, making her look like a child that had just grazed its knee. ‘I’m sorry about what happened when we first met. I don’t usually behave like that, it’s just me and Mum have got a few things to iron out.’ She pushed a sheepish grin on her face and stuck her tiny hand out. ‘No hard feelings. Let’s be mates.’

  Before Daisy could reply a door at the bottom of the steps flew open. Two woman spilt out. Half naked, going at it like their tongues were inside a boxing ring.

  ‘You’re just jealous of my talents,’ one spat at the other.

  The other ran her eyes up and down the other contemptuously. ‘Well, I ain’t jealous of your tits.’

  That was it. The women lunged for each other. Jo-Jo shouted out, ‘Oi, ladies.’ They both stopped and looked up at her. ‘You know the rules. No rowing inside the house. You wouldn’t want me to tell Mum now would you?’

  At the mention of Stella both women gazed at Jo-Jo with fear. They took themselves back inside the room and slammed the door. Daisy could only stare with her mouth wide open.

  Jo-Jo turned back to Daisy. ‘See we all fall out sometimes. But in the end we make up again.’ She stuck her hand out once again. Daisy studied it for a moment, not sure what to do. Reluctantly she took the offered sign of peace. As soon as she touched Jo-Jo’s hand, the other woman tightened her grip on Daisy’s hand and pulled her close. She whispered, ‘Anytime you want out of this shit you just let me know. It ain’t easy sleeping at night knowing you’re gonna wake up the next mor
ning and traumatise a mum and her little kids.’

  She let go of Daisy’s hand and started to skip, whistling down the stairs. Suddenly Tommy burst from his mother’s office, pushed past Daisy and shouted at his younger sister. ‘I want a word with you.’ He grabbed her by the arm and dragged a protesting Jo-Jo down the stairs.

  What a total madhouse, Daisy thought. She shivered as she thought about the other woman’s words. She did want out of this shit and yeah, it weren’t going to be easy putting her head down on a pillow at night knowing what she had to do. Her nerves were shot to hell. She dug into her bag hunting her bottle of pills. She hoped she might get to see her dad. But before she got there she felt a presence beside her. She turned swiftly to find a tense Billy standing next to her. She was reminded instantly of her description of him being like a mountain the first time she’d seen him. And the first time she’d met him hadn’t been in Stella’s brothel. She straightened. Looked him in the eye. This time he maintained eye contact with her, unlike the other times he’d looked at her inside the brothel.

  ‘Miss Sullivan.’

  ‘Mr Doyle.’

  ‘I believe it’s time for me to honour that favour I promised you in court.’

  Tommy had taken his sister outside and in a rage, shoved Jo-Jo into the brothel’s hard brick wall at the back of the building.

  The traffic buzzed in the foreground as the summer air kicked around them.

  He pointed his long finger into her face. ‘You fucking well had better not have told Mum what I said to you.’

  She settled her innocent eyes on him. ‘Course I didn’t. What do you take me for?’

  His finger remained in her face. ‘Then how did you manage to worm your way back into her good graces?’

  ‘She gave me a bell, didn’t she?’ Jo-Jo flicked her eyes away from him. ‘Said she was sorry and wanted me to come back.’

  He grabbed the front of her top and slammed her once more into the wall. ‘You were doing alright till then. Mum said sorry? Yeah and Beckham plays snooker.’