by Faye Parker
It didn’t take long for me to find out she’d been playing me to get to the money but before I was able to confront her and break everything off, she disappeared. Initially, I didn’t try to contact her, thinking she’d beat me to making the break. I had believed she’d left in the hopes of making a clean break. But when she didn’t come back for her personal things - even her purse - I knew something was wrong.
Denver swore that his prostitution business was not involved in any way, but frankly, the girl was not smart enough to be able to disappear without a trace; especially without her phone, cards or any money from her bank accounts. When she turned up six months later, badly decomposed and face down in the river, it didn't take a genius to realize she'd been killed. The Post Mortem confirmed she was eleven weeks pregnant at the time. From the estimated time of death compared with when she disappeared, the baby could never have been mine.
I’d eventually found my peace with that.
Toxicology reports also said she must have overdosed and fallen in. I didn’t buy the “accidental overdose” for a second, she never took drugs in the short time we were together. The Kindred Sons would have reported finding her and never given her drugs, so the only other place she could have got them was from Denver’s scumbag dealers. Her stance had been firmly anti-drugs, so taking them of her own free, while knowing she would have been pregnant was very suspicious to me.
With no proof, I was forbidden to reap any revenge for her death. Cassie was not the woman for me, but she didn’t deserve how things had ended for her.
I imagined Ellie and the possibility of her being pregnant in the future. I even allowed myself to think about how it might feel if it was my child inside her. I unclenched my fists and made my way back to my car.
The agreement between the Kindred Sons and the Doyle’s can go to fuck if there is any possibility that Ellie could get harmed too.
Chapter Thirteen
Ellie
Louise arrived to work at the same time as I did, exactly ten minutes early. We hadn’t chatted much lately so agreed we’d go out for lunch today. Burritos… my guilty pleasure.
I must have thought about the Chester file all night, and no matter how I reasoned, I knew to give the file to Denver was wrong but I was doing it for all the right reasons.
Ryan's parole hearing was in a few weeks. I needed to do whatever it took to make sure that I could be the big sister he needed when he got released. I prayed to God that he would get parole; it would kill him if he was refused again. This time, he had a responsible sister who could provide a roof over his head and a safe bed to sleep in.
Sure, finding a job after prison was difficult, but he was clean now. I’d find a way to support us both until he could get on his feet.
The burrito sat heavy on my stomach all afternoon, until four thirty when I decided to just get on with it. Carrying the Chester file and a second empty file deliberately, I went into Mildred’s office.
My heart thumped in my chest and I swore I could actually hear it in my ears. I was convinced that each person who walked by was going to come in and catch me, so I locked the door. Even the pictures of Mildred’s kids around her desk were watching me with suspicion.
Getting the Chester file was simple; it was under C… Duh. I grabbed the empty file I'd brought and stuffed the Chester file's contents inside. The file was too big to photocopy, at least in one go. Maybe I'd find a way to photocopy sections and a time. But that added to the risk too.
It wasn’t looking like I was going to be able to take a copy of the file.
You’re doing this for Ryan, the voice in my head reasoned, it’s only his welfare that matters. Do what Denver wants and you won’t get caught.
Quickly, I did the only thing left to do: lock the cabinets and leave, pretending that none of this ever happened and that I wasn’t breaking the law or giving in to a blackmailer. Back at my desk, I stuffed the file into the extra-large handbag I’d brought today. If anyone was to ask, I’d simply say I was going to catch up on some training paperwork tonight for my probation interview next week.
The probation interview that would have Mildred and Denver.
By hometime, I was keen to get out with my forbidden cargo. My heart sank as Louise was waiting around on the ground floor. I don't want to lie to her again.
“Have you seen the rain?!” she said, as I looked out the full-length windows to what looked like a typhoon. Someone’s pink umbrella flew past all by itself.
“C’mon, I’ll give you a lift home… I can’t have you getting pneumonia on my conscience.” With heavy feet, I followed her to the staff parking area, thankful that it was covered. I jumped into her car after the indicators flashed. I nursed my handbag, wrapping my arms around it to hide my decision. I just hoped it wasn’t something I’d live to regret.
We chatted lightly as she slowly made her way through the rush hour traffic. When we finally arrived near my apartment block, I thanked her for what must have been the twentieth time and went to rush out of the car. In my haste to find my keys, the bag flew open and the folder came into view. “Jesus, you doing homework now? I didn’t think Mildred was that bad?” Louise joked.
My face fell, “Um, well, no. I’ve got my probation meeting next week, so I wanna be ready.” I lied… badly.
Louise reached for the file before I had a chance to grab it. “Well, I can help with that! Why didn’t you just say?!”
“Wait!” I pleaded. Her smile dropped as soon as she opened the file.
“Are you fucking serious? What the hell are you doing, Ellie!” she snarled at me, rage radiating out of every pore.
She shook her head and watched out of the window, unable to look in my direction.
“Two fucking years undercover, two years of fucking mundane working and watching for you to come in for a few weeks and put the whole thing in jeopardy!”
Angry tears spilled from her eyes as she turned back at me.
“Have you any fucking idea what carnage you could create with this file - how many lives depend on the contents of this… I mean, did you even look in it?”
Two years? Doing… what? Working and watching?
The woman beside me was not the girl I’d made friends with on my first day at work.
I could barely speak, so it came out as a whisper. “Who are you?”
Chapter Fourteen
Ellie
I gathered my things and got out of the car, fuck the folder - Louise can keep it now. I made a dash in the rain to get inside and was joined by Louise as I slid my key into my front door. She must have slipped past the main front door before it closed shut behind me.
Her voice was firm but low, “We need to talk.”
I opened my door and she pushed past me.
“What the hell are you doing?” My gut screamed at me that something bad was going to happen.
“I thought we were friends,” she started. “I can’t believe you were going to give this to Denver and say nothing to me. I thought you trusted me?”
A fine sentiment for someone who just said something about two years’ work. “Undercover? Fine way to trust me? I mean, what the fuck, Louise?”
She was already on the phone. “Yeah, I need you to come over… Ellie’s house… yeah, I texted it to you… No, he’s not here… They’re not outside either… I’m fine… see you in five.”
“Sit down.” She spat the words at me. Even though I was in my own flat, I obeyed the command, for that’s what it was. I watched in stunned silence as she filled my kettle, put it on to boil and gathered three mugs.
A loud knock came to my door before the tea was even made. Louise went to my door and answered it.
I heard low murmurs in the hallway before a man’s voice. “Chester?!”
Oh no. I recognized that voice.
I stood up as I met him.
“Jesus, Louise! Why did you bring Daniel here?” I looked from one to the other: angry, confused and feeling outnumbered in my own home
.
The baseball bat I kept for protection was hidden under my bed, and they were blocking my way to it.
“This isn’t an excuse for you to phone him of all people.”
“Sit down," Louise said, frostily.
"Here." she handed me a steaming mug.
“What have you told her?” Daniel spoke directly to Louise, the authority in his voice made me shake.
They were both ignoring me while in my home.
Louise paced, jaw clenching. “Nothing. I’ve not said anything, but she needs to know. That file would have sent over thirty families to their deaths.”
"What?!" I said incredulously. That's not what it was about… Denver was blackmailing a few sleazy businessmen who kept dirty little sex secrets from their wives.
Daniel raked his hands over his still-sore looking face.
“Fuck it, you’re right. She needs to know.”
He turned to look at me, eyes piercing me so intensely I thought he could see into my soul and read all the secrets I ever held. “Have you heard of the Kindred Sons?”
“Aye, your family’s involved… you’re an Armstrong.”
Shit.
I tried to backtrack.
“I mean, that’s what I’ve heard.”
I can’t let him know I came from around here as a kid.
“Well, you’ve done your homework.” Louise quipped. “Any idea who the Doyle’s are?”
“Heard they’re a rival gang. You said as much to me yourself.”
I was going to stick to minimal talking, surely that would be my safest strategy right now.
“No shit, well Denver’s one of them, and the file you were about to give has the list of all the families that get support money from the Kindred Sons for their fallen.”
My mouth must have gaped open because I remember closing it and swallowing. The implications of what I was going to do hit me like a steam train.
Daniel continued, “That file keeps a record of who and when all support payments are made. With those details, the Doyle’s would have paid a little visit to every single family and…” he didn’t need to make the gun shape with his hands… I already knew where he was going.
Louise finally sat down. “How’d you get involved in all this?” I asked. She’d told me she grew up nowhere near here. She definitely didn’t have a local accent either, so I’d believed her without question.
Daniel answered for her. “Her father, my uncle, was a Kindred Son. He fell many years ago. We protect our own.”
"I'm sorry." I knew what it was like to grow up without a father.
My eyes flashed back to her with shame as that revelation sank in fully.
"Oh my god, I didn't realize you were related - after me teasing you about him being your boyfriend!" Embarrassment flamed up my cheeks.
She was calming down but hadn’t forgiven me. “My mum’s on that list, you know. You would have been handing Denver the bullet to shoot her.”
Daniel was quick to defuse Louise. “Look, she didn’t know what was in the file… but this puts us at an advantage.” We both looked at him in confusion.
“He’s expecting you to deliver a file.” He looked at me and then around the room, eyes searching for the next part of his idea. “I can put together a nice little list for him… you’ll give that to him.”
“Thank fuck you were there Louise,” he said, his tone softening, “Uncle Steven would be proud of you.”
The affection between them was clear now; I saw it for what it was… a family connection. The look he gave her took me back to watching my Grandma look at Ryan and me.
Was it wrong for me to feel so relieved?
Chapter Fifteen
Ellie
Louise wrapped her hands around her mug as if the heat brought her comfort. "Most of the Kindred Son's business accounts are handled through Sawyer's. I do a fair bit of them - including working on the Chester file." She breathed deeply.
"Mildred thinks is a pensions contract for a logistics firm and Denver doesn't realize my connection."
She gave me a lopsided smile. “He thinks he’s been blackmailing me about it for about a year and a half now, but the info I’ve been feeding him is all false - leading them on goose chases and letting the Doyle’s think we’re not as… comfortable… as we really are.”
“He didn’t…” I felt the pit of my stomach lurch. I was taller, heavier, and probably stronger than her. If she had been in the kitchen rather than me, I doubted she’d have been strong enough to get away.
“No, no.” She said reassuringly.
“He did try to sweet talk me at the start, but I already knew enough about him to keep under that particular radar.
That was something, at least.
“Mum was pregnant with me when dad was shot.” She said, her expression blank as if recounting facts that had not torn her world apart.
“He died about six weeks before I was born, so he saw my ultrasound pictures, and I have seen photos of him, but that's what we were to each other - photos."
She pulled up some images on her phone: the first of a smiling couple, the woman looking particularly like her, the man’s hand gently touching the woman’s pregnant belly; the second, of the same man standing beside another man that I assumed to be Daniel’s dad; then a picture of two young children.
“That’s mum and dad, see, she’s about 6 months pregnant with me there. This next one is our dads - Daniel’s and mine - they were brothers; that last one is Daniel and me… you were ten there, I would have been, what? Six?”
“Aye, that was Manchester, Mum always took me over there for the summer," Daniel confirmed.
“Without the Kindred Sons and their protection, my mum would have been penniless and more than likely killed. They protected her when we were most vulnerable. I’ve committed to do whatever I can to keep bastards like the Doyle’s from getting anywhere near ours. Blood and Loyalty.”
“Blood and Loyalty.” Daniel automatically echoed.
A grim smile crossed her face. “The bastard that killed my father is dead, but his son is very much alive. I can only hope to be there when that changes.”
After his fling with one of the Armstrong’s - something I wasn't about to tell - my dad had left and was never seen again.
As for mum, when Social Services threatened to take Ryan and me, Grandma stepped in as guardian, being awarded it easily with her grandparent status. That and the fact it meant there were two fewer kids for social services to try to re-home when there was already a willing family member to shoulder the responsibility.
Mum managed to drink herself into an early grave a couple of years later. The only ones who were my blood and where my loyalty lay were Grandma and Ryan. In truth, I felt jealous of what Daniel and Louise had. A family, somewhere they belonged that protected its own. Blood and Loyalty.
I could have said I wouldn’t hand over any file, but how could I not help them protect their families? This was what I needed to do for mine: blood and loyalty.
I went to business: “Denver has said that I’m to meet with a guy called Barry in Flanagan's, but he hasn’t given me a day or time yet. How soon can you get me the fake file?”
Both of them seemed to breathe for the first time. Although how they would have imagined I could have done anything other than deliver a fake file after hearing the truth was beyond me.
I wasn’t exactly in a position to not do what they'd asked. Since I'd almost unwittingly provided Denver with Louise's mother's information which would have likely seen him discover her true identity, I definitely did not have other options, nor would I have taken them.
“I’ll have it with you by tomorrow morning before you leave for work.” Daniel stood and stretched.
“Obviously, you won’t tell anyone about this - or anything we’ve discussed. I have your mobile number. Make sure to answer when I call you.”
“You have a lot to think about,” Louise said as she hugged me, “I don’t believe you’re
in any danger right now since Denver doesn't know you know about the Kindred Sons. He'll want to leave you alone right now as he'll be thinking you're getting the file for him."
She stopped at the door before leaving. "He won't want to spook you. You'll be safe tonight."
"If you feel in any danger call Louise. Immediately. Stay on the line with her until she comes round. Keep talking about what you see, hear or smell. Worst case, that can help us find you more quickly if needs be."
The way he said it made me suddenly feel very vulnerable. He must have picked up on it and he placed his hands on my shoulders.
"You're part of us now; we'll protect you, but know this: I cannot protect you if you squeal. I will find you though, and am honor bound to bring you back to the Kindred Sons for trial."
I shivered under the weight of his words and the feel of his hands on me. Electric fizzled despite the obvious threat he’d given me. I couldn’t tear my eyes from his.
"By the way, Louise couldn't be further from my type…" he shook his head, laughing at some unknown joke, "Secret Boyfriend… as if anyone would dare hide me."
“I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Make sure you’re up. Wouldn’t want to walk in on you still sleeping.”
The wicked glint in his eyes made me wonder exactly what time he would return in the morning.
To my shame, I didn’t want him to leave.
Chapter Sixteen
Daniel
I’d made my excuses about phone calls and watched as Louise pulled away from Ellie’s flat. Da needed to know, but I could do that from anywhere. This was the only spot where I could keep an eye on Elle and batter anyone who went anywhere near her.