by Caz Finlay
‘Of course it is,’ Grace said.
Opal nodded again. ‘I know you’re a woman of your word, Grace. But you must understand it’s not every day someone just hands over a gift like this.’
‘I know that, and I would be sceptical in your shoes. But you have my word there are no strings attached. This benefits my family as much as it benefits you.’
Opal stared at Grace, and then at John, who had remained silent throughout the entire meeting. ‘Do you ever speak, John? Or do you just sit there looking fine?’ Opal said as she tilted her head to one side.
John’s face flushed pink and he shifted in his seat. Grace suppressed a smile. ‘He’s my right-hand man,’ she said to save John’s embarrassment. ‘He comes everywhere with me.’
Opal leaned forward and licked her lips. ‘Well, you can certainly come everywhere—’
‘I wondered if you could tell me any more about Nerys, Opal?’ Grace interrupted her before she could finish her sentence and make John even more uncomfortable than he already was.
Opal sat back in her chair. ‘I didn’t know her that well, to be honest. Like I said, she didn’t work here long. She kept herself to herself mostly. But she was a nice girl. The punters loved her, especially the regulars. You know? The ones who come here because they’re lonely and too shy to find a proper girlfriend? She was always good with the real sad cases.’
‘Can you tell me anything about her at all? Did she have any family?’
Opal stared at Grace for a few seconds before shrugging. ‘I haven’t a clue. But Donna, the lady who showed you in here, might. She and Nerys were pretty close. Nerys stayed in touch for a while, until that vile pimp of hers put a stop to it anyway.’
‘Who was her pimp?’
‘Leo Baines. Scum of the frigging earth.’
Grace frowned; she recognised the name but didn’t know why. John leaned towards Grace and said quietly. ‘Porter’s daughter. The twins carved his face up.’
Of course. Paul and Connor had rescued a sixteen-year-old girl from his clutches a few years earlier on her behalf, and they had very helpfully carved the word ‘paedo’ into his forehead while they were at it. Funnily enough, he’d taken to wearing a hat after that.
‘He’s inside now anyway, where he belongs,’ Opal spat.
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah. Got a bit too rough with one of his girls and ended up putting the poor mare in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. He got six years just before Christmas.’
He wasn’t the man responsible for Nerys’s death then, Grace thought. ‘Do you mind if I have a quick chat with Donna before I go?’
Opal chewed her bottom lip as she appeared to consider the request. ‘Okay, but just you. Donna gets a bit twitchy around big blokes like him. You can wait in here with me.’
John looked at Grace and she had to stop herself from bursting out laughing. John Brennan was a huge, intimidating bear of a man, who struck fear into the hearts of even the most hardened criminals. But he was staring at her like a rabbit trapped in the headlights with a look of fear in his eyes.
‘Actually, John, I need you to phone Jake and Connor for me and let them know I need to see them later, if you don’t mind. You can phone them from the car. I won’t be long.’
‘No problem, Boss. I’ll wait in the car,’ John said as he stood up and walked out of the room.
Opal started to laugh. ‘He’s a bit skittish for a big fella, isn’t he?’
‘Oh, behave yourself. You know you terrify him. You terrify most men, Opal,’ Grace said with a smile.
‘Well, I have to keep them in their place, Grace, or they’ll think they can take the piss. You know that better than most.’
‘I do. John is one of the good ones though.’
‘They can all be good ones if you know how to keep them in line,’ Opal said with a flash of her eyebrows. ‘And you, my dear, have a knack for keeping them all in line. I don’t know how you do it. Seriously.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t say all of them. I have my fair share of enemies.’
‘Don’t we all. But nothing you can’t handle. I’m sure there are very few people who would dare to go head to head against the woman who took out Nathan Conlon!’
Grace bristled at the mention of her ex-husband’s name. It was true that she had killed him. She had put a bullet in his chest and watched as he’d choked on his own blood. But that was only because he’d been about to kill her with his bare hands – after he’d already beaten and raped her. After he had subjected her to years of physical, emotional and mental abuse. There was no love lost between Opal and Nathan – she had been one of his many conquests. One of the many women he had used and discarded like yesterday’s newspaper, only to go running back to Grace claiming his undying love. He’d been dead for five years but she was still reminded of him almost constantly. The city and its people had a long memory.
‘So, it’s okay if I have a quick chat with Donna?’ Grace asked as she stood up.
‘Of course, love. But don’t keep her too long, will you? The rooms will need a clean before the afternoon sessions start.’
‘It will only take a few minutes. Thanks, Opal.’
‘No problem. And thank you, Grace. For the paperwork,’ she said as she held the envelope aloft.
Grace stepped into the hallway and walked to the reception to find Donna, who was folding some towels.
‘Hi, Donna,’ Grace said as she approached.
Donna looked up with wide eyes. ‘Hi, Grace,’ she said quietly.
‘Do you have a minute? I need to ask you about someone.’
Donna placed the towels on the nearby table. ‘Of course.’
Grace took a seat on the plastic sofa and it creaked noisily as she sat down. She indicated for Donna to sit beside her. Donna took a seat, smoothing her dress over her knees as she did.
‘Do you remember Nerys Sheehan?’ Grace asked.
‘Yes. She worked here last year for a few months,’ Donna said.
‘Is there anything you can tell me about her? Did she have any family at all?’
‘Why do you want to know? Is she in some kind of trouble?’ Donna asked as she fiddled with the hem of her dress.
Grace swallowed. ‘Nerys was found dead yesterday.’
Donna stared at her. ‘What?’ she said with a gasp. ‘How?’
‘She was murdered.’
Donna’s hand shot to her mouth and tears sprang to her eyes. ‘God. No!’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘Do you know who? What happened?’
‘I don’t know anything yet. But I’d like to find out.’
Donna frowned at her. ‘But why? Did you know her?’
‘No.’ Grace shook her head. ‘I didn’t. But as my sons were connected to this place, I wanted to do a little digging myself, if you know what I mean?’
Donna nodded as a tear rolled down her cheek. ‘I didn’t really know her that well but we used to have a good laugh in between her punters. They loved her, you know. She had a nice way with people.’
‘Why did she stop working here?’
‘Her pimp, Leo, found out she was working here and he started hanging around outside for her and showing up every time she was on shift. Opal’s sons warned him off but by that time I think he had his claws into her again. She started losing weight and turning up looking really rough. He’d obviously got her hooked on crack again and after a few weeks she stopped turning up for her shifts and Opal had to let her go.’
‘Opal mentioned that Leo’s in prison now.’
‘Yes. So I heard.’
‘Were there any of her regulars who stand out at all? Any who might have been obsessed with her? Or had been overly interested in where she’d gone? Or maybe they were just a bit strange.’
‘Lots of our punters are strange. But no one stands out. No one that I think would murder her anyway.’
Grace sat back with a sigh. She wasn’t sure she’d find out any information here. ‘Did she have any family at a
ll that you know of?’
‘No. She grew up in care. No contact with her mum and dad. No relatives that she ever mentioned to me. She seemed to be a bit of a loner, if I’m honest. She didn’t really talk to the girls in here much.’
‘But she did talk to you?’
‘Yes. We’re both big fans of jazz music and we used to listen to some CDs when she was on a break.’
‘Jazz? That’s unusual for someone her age. Where did that come from?’
‘She used to listen to it in the care home she grew up in. Her and her friend used to sneak up to the attic and they found an old record player with a load of jazz records. I think it was a way of escaping the place.’
‘I can understand why she’d want to do that.’
‘Hmm. Me too,’ Donna said and visibly shuddered.
‘Did she stay in touch with this friend?’
‘Not that I know of. She never mentioned his name.’
‘His?’
‘Yeah. It was a boy, but like I said, she never told me his name.’
‘Thanks, Donna. Is there anything else you remember about her at all?’
Donna swallowed and looked around the room.
‘What is it?’ Grace asked.
Donna leaned forward in her seat. ‘She told me once that she had a child. A daughter,’ she whispered.
Grace smiled at Donna and admired the fact she was still being discreet about her friend’s secret, even though there was no real reason to now.
‘A daughter?’
‘She would be about five now, I think. But nobody else knew about her. Nerys was ashamed, I think, that she’d basically left the kid with her dad as soon as she was born. But Nerys was only sixteen when she had her.’
‘Did she ever see her?’
‘I honestly don’t know.’
‘Where is the child?’
‘No idea. She never told me who the father was. She didn’t even tell me her little girl’s name. I don’t think she’d have told me at all except it just slipped out one afternoon when we were talking. I was talking about my own daughter and she said something about her little girl. But she clammed up straightaway, like she’d told me something she shouldn’t have.’
Grace looked at Donna as the tears welled up in the girl’s eyes again. ‘Thanks, Donna. That’s been really helpful,’ she said although she had no idea if it was. She wasn’t sure she’d garnered any information that the police couldn’t have got themselves. Donna would have been unlikely to reveal the information about Nerys’s daughter, but Grace was sure the police could have discovered that information themselves eventually.
Grace walked out of Number 69 and down the street to John’s waiting car. He smiled at her as she slipped into the passenger seat.
‘Did you get what you needed?’ he asked.
‘I have no idea,’ she replied with a shrug. ‘Time will tell, I suppose.’
John put the car into gear and pulled away from the kerb. ‘I’m just happy to be getting away from this place.’
‘Opal scares the shit out of you, doesn’t she?’ Grace said with a laugh.
‘Yeah,’ he said as he started to laugh too.
Chapter Seven
Michael pushed open the door to Cartel Securities and walked down the hallway towards his old office, which was now occupied by Luke Sullivan and Danny Alexander. The door was closed and he almost walked straight in, before remembering that it didn’t belong to him any longer. He stepped back and knocked.
‘Come in,’ he heard Luke shout.
He walked into the room and nodded a greeting to Luke and Danny. He was surprised to see Jake there too, perched on the window ledge. ‘Hello, Son,’ he said to Jake, crossing the room and giving him a brief hug. Michael turned around and noted that Luke was sitting in his old chair. He felt an unexpected pang of something and couldn’t quite work out if it was nostalgia or resentment.
‘You two okay?’ Michael asked, noting Danny’s split lip and the cut over Luke’s left eye.
‘Yeah, course,’ they both replied in unison.
‘Have a seat, Boss. What can we do for you?’ Luke asked.
Michael sat on the unoccupied chair and stretched his legs. ‘I just wanted to check how you were doing, and thank you for last night. You did a good job, lads.’
Luke and Danny both smiled at him. ‘Thanks, Boss,’ Danny said. ‘I think Parnell will think twice about making a move on any of our doors again.’
‘Well, I’d like to hope so, but I wouldn’t count on it. He’ll either back off or come back at us with everything he has. You’ll need to be on your guard.’
‘We will be,’ said Luke.
‘I thought it might be a good idea to take on some extra staff?’ Michael added. ‘It might be worth putting a few extra lads on all of the doors for a while, especially on Sophia’s and The Blue Rooms.’
‘Good idea, we’ll get on it today,’ Luke said and Danny nodded eagerly while Jake started laughing.
‘What’s so funny?’ Michael asked.
‘I told them you wouldn’t let go of this place so easily. You can’t help yourself, can you?’ Jake replied.
‘Fuck off, you cheeky bugger,’ Michael said good naturedly.
‘He’s still the CEO,’ Danny said with a shrug.
‘Oh, stop arse-kissing,’ Jake said as he patted Danny on the back. ‘Anyway, I’ve got to meet Connor in half an hour. See you all later.’
Michael waited until Jake had left until he spoke again. ‘You two have had some trouble with Parnell before, haven’t you?’
‘Yeah, a couple of months before we approached you and Grace with our proposal to merge,’ Luke replied.
‘What happened?’ Michael asked with a frown as he sat back.
Danny and Luke exchanged a glance before Luke replied. ‘We set up Sable Securities with just the two of us and a few bouncers working a couple of local pubs. We started to get a good reputation and it wasn’t long before we started taking on other contracts with some local building sites and quite a few pubs and clubs. We had our share of issues, as you can imagine, with other firms trying to take the piss because we were new and small, but we had a really good bunch of lads and we built up a really good business.’
Michael already knew all of this. He and Grace had done their homework before they’d gone into business with the two of them.
‘Then last year, this new firm turned up at a few of our boozers and tried to force us out. We held our own and sent them packing but they kept coming back so in the end we had to take more decisive action, if you know what I mean?’
‘What did you do?’ Michael asked.
Luke looked at Danny again before he went on. ‘We found out they where they were operating from and we torched the place. Then we kidnapped a couple of them…’
‘Oh? And?’
‘We returned them to their boss,’ Luke stopped and looked at Danny.
‘Slightly worse for wear?’ Danny suggested.
‘That’s when we met Parnell. He went feral when he saw what we’d done to his lads and pulled a gun on us. But for some reason, he didn’t use it. He let us walk away and then everything went quiet for a few months. That’s when we had the idea of approaching you and Grace about you buying us out and keeping us on. We knew that the takeover attempts would just keep on happening but we knew that we had a good set-up and with some backing we could do so much more.’
Michael sat back in his chair.
‘If we’ve brought trouble from Parnell to your door, then we’re sorry,’ Luke said sincerely.
Michael held up his hand to stop Luke from apologising any further. It was unnecessary. ‘The security game is full of trouble. We knew we were taking on your enemies as well as your business. Besides, I pissed Parnell off a long time before you did, lads,’ he said with a grin. ‘He’s been around for a long time. At least he was around a long time ago anyway. He disappeared though and I’m wondering what’s brought him back to these parts.’
‘Oh, yes, we certainly do. Me and Sean both knew him back in the day.’
‘I wondered why Sean tagged along last night,’ Luke said. ‘Couldn’t resist one for old times?’
Michael laughed. Although he had been shocked that Sean had tagged along last night, it had been good to have his big brother at his side again. ‘So, Parnell has an issue with you two as well as some old grudge against me and Sean, and we all know he’s a stupid cunt, so I’d expect that once he’s had time to lick his wounds, he might make another move.’
‘We’ll look into those extra staff today,’ Luke assured him. ‘And we’ll put all of the lads on extra shifts until we get some.’
‘Good,’ Michael said. ‘And I don’t mean to step on any toes here, it’s just a suggestion. I trust the two of you to manage the business as you see fit, but as Jake told you, I can’t help myself from sticking my oar in.’
‘It’s fine. We appreciate your input, don’t we, Dan?’ Luke said.
‘Good. Because I meant what I said before. You two impressed me last night. I knew you could handle yourselves, but you did a great job.’
Luke and Danny couldn’t hide the pride on their faces and it made Michael smile. ‘It makes Grace and me feel better to know that you two are at the helm, and also that Connor and Jake can call on you when they need to.’
‘And they can,’ Danny assured him.
Chapter Eight
Grace sipped her glass of Diet Coke as she sat at a small vinyl-topped table at The Old Bank pub on Stanley Road. It was late afternoon and the place was quiet except for a few men sitting at the bar and dotted around the place, whom she assumed to be the regulars. Suddenly she was filled with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia – the smell of a pub could always do that to her. She had grown up in a pub not too dissimilar to this one. Then she had become the owner of it at the tender age of eighteen when her father passed away. Shortly afterwards she met Nathan Conlon. Despite his best efforts to run the place into the ground, she had made a huge success of it when he’d gone to prison for twelve years. It was the place where she’d first met Pat Carter, and subsequently his sons Michael and Sean. It had broken Grace’s heart to burn her pub to the ground five years earlier in a bid to finally be free of Nathan and break the hold he had over her.