by Emma Tallon
‘Yeah, this should do. We’ll need to block up that window.’ He pointed to the small Velux window that was currently the only source of light. ‘I’ll change your security system to one that operates the cameras individually, like in CoCo.’
Anna nodded. ‘Got it.’ That made sense. Their current system meant that all the cameras were operated by one switch. This new system would allow her to turn off the back door and hallway as the product was moved in and out, whilst keeping the others up and running as usual.
‘Then it’s up to you how tight you want the security.’ Standing back upright, Bill turned to face Anna. ‘Either we can just put a decent lock on the door to the main room and then a heavy bookcase in front of this door. That should be enough of a deterrent for anyone trying their luck. Or we can go a step further, have motion sensors with linked nanny-cams on the inside. I’d set it to cover the door rather than the product, so worst case scenario it don’t show nothing incriminating, of course.’
‘Let’s do both,’ Anna replied, her tone resolute. ‘We never know when we may need it again.’
‘OK. I can have it all set up by tomorrow night.’ Bill pulled out his phone to check a message. ‘I’ve got to shoot. Tell Lily no earlier than nine if she comes tomorrow, just to be on the safe side.’
‘Will do. Thanks, Bill.’
They made their way back down the stairs and Anna waved Bill off before re-entering the main lounge with a heavy sigh.
‘Right,’ she said in a curt tone as she reached Josephine. She was seated at a table under the window, looking over the stock take for the bar. ‘Bill will be in and out of the loft over the next day or so, fitting some security. I’ll then be arranging for some products to be kept up there, for Freddie.’
‘What kind of products are we talking?’ Josephine asked.
‘That doesn’t matter,’ Anna replied, dismissively. ‘But this is to be kept quiet, I don’t want the girls or anyone else knowing. I’ll have you updated on who to expect and when.’
She made a mental note to pass future correspondence on the matter through Tanya, after she had overseen the initial delivery. She could have arranged for Tanya to be here for that too, but as much as she wanted distance from Josephine, she was also curious about this Lily person, for whom Freddie seemed to have such a soft spot.
Josephine bit her lip as Anna stood stiffly, staring at the door. She was about to leave, this much was evident; she always ran off as soon as she could these days. Anna pushed the sleeve of her red chiffon blouse back off her wrist to look at her watch, and then released it, absent-mindedly smoothing her black pencil skirt with her hands.
‘Well, I’d better—’
‘Anna,’ Josephine interrupted her. ‘Listen, um, I need to talk to you about something.’
‘Tanya will be around later on, I need to head off,’ Anna responded.
‘It’s not about the Lounge, it’s about the diamonds.’ She sat up taller and a small sparkle momentarily returned to her eye. ‘One of my guys has hit a real jackpot. Almost twice the amount of diamonds we’ve been able to get our hands on before and they’re untraceable, no marks. Must have been conflict diamonds by the sounds of them, which means no heat, no details on any system and nothing to have lasered off. We can charge a premium for them.’
Anna turned her gaze towards Josephine for the first time since entering the room. ‘You know we don’t have Roman set up to do the run any more.’
‘Yes, but I thought you were trying to find someone else?’
‘I was. But I’m not now.’ Anna’s eyes turned cold. ‘Aside from the fact that I’m already up to my ears running everything else, I have no desire to continue this arrangement with you. Not for now, at least.’
Josephine’s jaw opened and shut like a fish as she tried to find an appropriate response. It hadn’t occurred to her that Anna would put a stop to something so lucrative for the both of them.
Anna stepped towards her, her heels tapping sharply on the floorboards as she decided suddenly to address the issue. ‘You keep asking Tanya when things are going to get back to normal again, but you just don’t get it, do you?’ she snapped. ‘You betrayed us, Josephine. I took you in, gave you a home, a job, friendship,’ her voice lowered to a hiss, ‘and yet you lied to my face.’
Josephine felt the tears begin to prickle the back of her eyes and she blinked rapidly. ‘I never meant to—’
‘What you did or did not mean to do is of no consequence,’ Anna interrupted her with a dismissive wave. ‘This world we inhabit…’ She swept her arm out and turned in a circle. ‘This isn’t normal life. It comes with rules – hard rules, that have to be followed if you want to keep breathing.’ She glared at Josephine. ‘And you waltzed around, playing your little game as though this was a fucking school yard.’ She snorted, humourlessly. ‘Pairing off with the enemy. I sent you in there with full knowledge of who Aleksei was and what boundaries he had crossed. And instead of doing your job, you fucked him.’
Josephine flinched and swallowed the hard lump in her throat. It had been so much more than that, and Anna knew it. She wanted to defend herself, defend her broken heart, but the warning light in her head told her that it wasn’t wise. She’d never heard Anna speak like this; so full of raw, vengeful anger.
‘You ran around with the man who had rolled in and started undermining our business on our turf. The man who tried point-blank to kill both Freddie and Paul and who, when he didn’t succeed, then put even bigger plans in place to take them out. Even when you knew he was trying to take us out you still snuck around like some loved-up teenager and lied to our faces – your family’s faces.’
‘But I didn’t, Anna,’ Josephine said with a shaking voice. ‘When I found out what he was going to do—’
‘You still didn’t come to me. You didn’t tell us that Freddie and Paul’s lives were in real, genuine danger. And if I hadn’t followed you there that night and stopped him from choking you to death,’ she spat, ‘he might have actually succeeded in taking us all out.’
Anna paused and took a deep breath, trying to calm the rage within that was so strong she could feel it shaking her body.
Josephine felt a hot tear escape and quickly wiped it away with her hand. ‘I couldn’t come to you, Anna. Not after all of that,’ she said miserably. ‘But you know I went in there to stop him. You know when it came down to it my loyalties were with you.’
Anna stared at Josephine for a few moments with cold eyes. ‘And that,’ she said quietly, ‘is the only reason you’re still here.’
The hardness in her words sent a shiver through Josephine. The memory of Aleksei’s grip around her neck loosening, his body slumping off hers as the bullet ended his life, ran through her head. She’d looked up to find herself staring into the barrel of Anna’s gun, waiting for her to pull the trigger a second time. It had only been Tanya calling Anna’s phone, warning them to get out of the building, that had saved her from the same fate.
‘Do you really hate me this much, Anna?’ Josephine whispered, not bothering to wipe away the tears that now rolled unchecked down her face.
There was a long silence before Anna answered. ‘I don’t hate you, Josephine. I hate what you did. I hate that you lied. And I hate that you fucked up so damn badly.’ She paused then continued, her wrath unabated. ‘I hate that in order to protect you from what you did, I’ve had to lie to Freddie – to everyone. I hate that you put both me and Tanya in that position. If any of this came out, we’d be considered untrustworthy too. Do you even get what that means? We could lose everything, just for covering for you. That’s the reality of this situation now.’ She shook her head. ‘But most of all, Josephine… What I hate the most is that I don’t know how, or if, or when I am ever going to be able to look at you without feeling all this hatred again.’
The calm honesty in Anna’s words as the flare of anger seemed to subside into exhaustion was the undoing of Josephine. She squeezed her eyes shut as the tears ran fa
ster, and bowed her head in shame.
Anna’s heart hurt as she looked at the broken woman in front of her. She wanted to comfort her and punish her, all at the same time. In the end she did neither, quietly turning and walking back out of The Sinners’ Lounge and away from Josephine entirely.
Eight
Mollie huffed as she reached the apartment block where Freddie and Anna now lived with her beloved grandson Ethan. She could never understand what they saw in flat living, in owning an apartment surrounded by other apartments in the city. There was no lovely garden to grow flowers in and no front yard to make nice and be proud of. She just couldn’t understand it. It wasn’t like they didn’t have the money.
Smiling at Ethan as he trotted along beside her, she squeezed his hand lovingly. He was the apple of her eye these days. He reminded her so much of her little Freddie at this age. Though Freddie had had to grow up far too quickly not long after, when his father had died. They’d had nothing to their name and no money coming in. It had been a terrifying time for Mollie, with four children to feed and house. If Freddie hadn’t gone out after school helping out at the markets and on building sites, Mollie wasn’t sure how they would have survived. Ethan would never know that sort of struggle and she thanked the Lord for it almost every time she saw him.
‘Come on then, let’s get you dropped off. Do you know what Anna’s making you for dinner?’ she asked as she entered the code to get into the building.
‘Dunno,’ Ethan answered with a shrug. ‘Maybe shepherd’s pie with the orange potato on top,’ he continued hopefully.
‘Sweet potato,’ Mollie corrected. She had to hand it to Anna, she couldn’t fault her cooking – however hard she tried. ‘Still,’ she said conspiratorially, ‘whatever you get, you know you’ve got Nan’s banana bread for afters, don’t you?’ She patted the little bag she’d packed for him to take home.
‘Aw, yeah!’ Ethan replied in glee. ‘That’s my favourite.’
Mollie smiled smugly as they travelled up in the lift. She’d come to care for Anna greatly over the years and she could give her the praise she deserved on the cooking – so long as she was always her boys’ favourite baker.
Letting herself into the flat with the spare key she had for times such as these when she was dropping Ethan off, she called out to see who was home. Nobody answered.
‘Hmm,’ she muttered with a small frown.
Walking into the kitchen she found the note Anna had left that morning.
Hi Mollie, I should be back but in case I’m not Tanya is in downstairs and will watch Ethan till I get back. Call you later – Anna X
Pursing her lips and raising her eyebrows, Mollie turned back to Ethan. ‘Right, kiddo, get your coat back on, you’re going down to your Auntie Tanya’s.’
‘OK. She’s not cooking my dinner though, is she?’ Ethan asked warily. As opposed to Anna, Tanya was well known for being a terrible cook, though to Ethan’s dismay this never stopped her trying.
‘I don’t know,’ Mollie said, pulling a face. ‘Hopefully not. Come on.’
They walked down the short flight of stairs to the floor below and Mollie knocked twice before trying the handle to Tanya’s front door. It opened immediately and she walked in, Ethan half a step behind her.
‘Tanya, it’s only me— Oh my goodness grief!’ Mollie shrieked as they turned the corner into the lounge. ‘Ethan!’ Grabbing the boy close to her she quickly held her hands over his eyes, as her own bulged in shock.
‘Mollie!’ Tanya cried accusingly, quickly trying to cover herself up and standing up from where she had been draped across the sofa in her sluttiest underwear taking naughty photos of herself. ‘Gordon Bennett, don’t you bloody knock?’ she asked, her cheeks flushing crimson with embarrassment.
Ethan giggled loudly, having seen the situation through a crack in Mollie’s fingers.
‘What on earth are you doing, Tanya Smith?’ Mollie asked, outraged, pulling herself up to full height.
‘Taking naughty photos for her date,’ Ethan responded cheekily.
‘Ethan Tyler! Talk like that again and I’ll wash your mouth out with soap,’ Mollie warned, rounding on him. ‘As I should do to you, young lady,’ she added, turning back to Tanya. ‘Or your dirty mind, one of the two. Taking photos of yourself in your underwear.’ She tutted. ‘Is that what you think nice young women do?’ she admonished.
Tanya let out a long, frustrated breath through her nose and pulled a tight smile as she tied her green silk dressing gown around her tightly. ‘I’m not sure, Mollie,’ she replied, ‘I haven’t asked any of them.’
Mollie gave her a withering look. ‘Well, it certainly wasn’t what young women did in my day. And you didn’t see many of them get to your age unmarried, let me tell you.’
‘That’s probably because they didn’t have camera phones and internet back then, ain’t it, Mollie?’ Tanya replied brightly. ‘Or electricity, or running water, you ancient bat…’ she muttered scathingly as she walked through to the kitchen.
‘What was that?’ Mollie asked sharply.
‘Just saying it’s a shame I didn’t have a mum like you to teach me how to act all proper and that,’ she lied with a broad smile.
Ethan hid his smirk behind his hand. He’d heard what she’d said.
Mollie nodded self-righteously. ‘That ain’t your fault, love,’ she said, with a sympathetic look. ‘You just go and get yourself dressed and I’ll put the kettle on.’
‘Oh, you’re staying for a cuppa?’ Tanya asked, raising her eyebrows.
‘Might as well,’ she replied, shrugging off her jacket.
‘Well,’ Tanya murmured to Ethan as she passed with a roll of her eyes, ‘we’d better both behave for now then, hadn’t we?’
Nine
Freddie walked out through the front door of the club into the bright sunshine and busy street beyond. Lifting his face up to the sky he allowed the warmth to rest on his skin for a moment before turning and walking swiftly down the road. Bypassing an arguing couple and a mother with a pushchair, he dived down a smaller side street and slowed his pace a little as he pondered on his recent conversation with Sarah.
She had called this morning and told him about the car outside the graveyard, after spending the previous day trying to find out who owned it. All her searches had come to a dead end. The plates were fake and she couldn’t find a match for the detailing. It could have been a coincidence, of course, but it wasn’t likely. What were the chances of the same person being outside his club and at the graveyard he had buried his sister in so many miles away? No, whoever it was, they were following him. But why? It wasn’t the police. That much he could work out himself. The police didn’t roll round in jacked-up Range Rovers with blacked-out windows and fake plates for a start.
At the end of the alley Freddie paused for a few moments and checked his watch. Not really looking at the time, he focused as the man in his peripheral vision also paused and half turned, ready to walk back, since there was nowhere to hide in the narrow alleyway. Freddie’s jaw locked in a grim line as his suspicions were confirmed. He carried on in the direction he had been going and disappeared around the corner, backing into the small crevice he knew to be in the wall just beyond.
A few seconds later, the man following him appeared and looked around, trying to figure out where Freddie had gone. Stepping forward, Freddie pushed his pocket knife into the man’s back, hiding it from view with the open sides of his jacket. Immediately the man froze, groaning as he realised he’d been caught.
‘Hello, treacle,’ Freddie hissed into the man’s ear. ‘I suggest you tell me who the fuck you are and why you’re following me, before I decide to carve myself a nice bit of pork.’
‘I ain’t no rozzer,’ the man replied, indignantly. ‘I got more pride than to work as a bloody pig, thank you.’
‘Oh, I’m aware of that,’ Freddie replied, walking the man towards the back of a collection of industrial bins, out of the public eye. ‘I would
n’t be holding a knife to your back if I thought you were filth. I was referring to the fact you look like a squealer. Are you a squealer, when a little pressure gets applied, Mr Whoever-the-fuck-you-are?’ Freddie pushed the knife harder against his back and the man let out a small sound of discomfort. ‘I reckon we might have to find out, if you don’t start talking soon.’
To Freddie’s surprise the man began to chuckle. ‘Christ, you’re more like your old man than I thought you’d be.’
‘You what?’ Freddie asked, his brow furrowing as he pulled the knife away. He roughly turned the other man around, searching his face for any familiarity. ‘Who are you? And what do you know of my dad?’
The other man dusted himself off and straightened his T-shirt. ‘I’m Jim. Jim Martin. I was friends with your dad. Well, before, you know…’
‘I’ve never seen you before, or heard talk of anyone called Jim,’ Freddie replied. ‘And that still don’t answer my question as to why you’ve been following me.’
‘I’m sorry for that,’ Jim said, holding his hands out. ‘I didn’t mean to shit you up, I just wasn’t sure when best to approach you. I know who you are, I know I can’t just walk up to you and expect an audience. I was just trying to find the best opportunity. And as for not knowing me, you wouldn’t. I went down when you were just a kid still. Took the rap for a murder I helped clear up, back in my days working for Big Dom. Could have got out for good behaviour a few years back, but, well,’ he chuckled, ‘I wasn’t that good.’
Freddie studied the man in front of him. Slightly shorter than he was, Jim was still fairly tall but beginning to stoop with age. He had a well-rounded belly, but still seemed strong and agile despite this. Several of the tattoos on his arms looked like inside jobs, which backed up his story. Glancing down the alleyway they’d walked along, Freddie squinted as he pondered what to do.