by Martina Cole
Michael was, as always, quiet, they both knew that their new venture was a money-spinner, and they also knew that, since the wedding, they were somehow unable to get back to their original friendship.
Mary was Michael’s heart, at least that was what he had believed, still believed. Since the marriage, however, she was rarely seen out and about. She was also rarely seen in the marital home; if anyone went there she was either in bed or out shopping. He knew she was there though, just not showing her face, and Michael didn’t know how to broach this subject with Danny Boy. After all, Mary was now his wife and, as such, she wasn’t really under Michael’s jurisdiction any more. This bothered him, it was like a lot of things in his life, he knew he should do something about it, but he also knew there was nothing he could do. Unless Mary came to him directly and asked for his intervention, he could only stand back and wait until he knew the score. In his heart though, he was not looking forward to her arriving on his doorstep, Danny Boy was not a man you could reason with. And, if truth be told, personally he would rather not have to. The abortion that had constituted the wedding that had been to blame for his sister’s retirement from public life had been such a public embarrassment, such an awful situation. If he had been on the receiving end of it, he wasn’t sure he would have coped as well as Danny Boy had. That was the bugbear, he knew his friend had been mugged off and the fact he had still allowed Mary access to his home was to his credit in many respects. Any other man would have fucked her off big-time. At least, that was the general consensus anyway, though most of their older contemporaries were already onto a second or third wife of dubious character, and even more dubious morals. Youth being the only real requirement, the brains being used up by the first wife, the main wife. The woman who had stood by them through thick and thin, whose only sin had been to get old, and get old just as the dosh started rolling in. A young bird was a requisite these days, it gave the men in question the illusion of youth, made them feel powerful once more. It was only when they actually left the marital home that they seemed to realise the foolishness of their actions. By then they were well and truly lumbered. Young girls on a regular basis were a pain in the arse. Once the fuck was complete, what was there to keep a man enamoured?
Gordon was still on his shitlist, and the fact that Danny Boy had not attempted to give the boy a reprimand was worrying him enormously. Danny had not asked him about Gordon’s whereabouts, or enquired about his well-earned injuries. He had known deep inside that Danny Boy could not let the boy get away with his actions, knew that he would have to make some kind of stand, not just for his sister, but for them all. For the family and for their reputation, but he had not done a thing. This was what had made Michael so uneasy, and it was this same uneasiness that he sensed that made Danny Boy want to guffaw his head off. The fucker seemed to be enjoying it all, and he knew that Danny was watching him closely to gauge his reactions. Testing their friendship, a friendship that had spanned years, and that they both knew had always been one-sided. He needed Danny Boy much more than Danny Boy needed him. At least that was what he believed anyway. Danny was watching him now, surreptitiously, with a quiet dignity that was as annoying as it was false. Danny Boy knew how to press the buttons required for whatever emotion he was determined to generate in his antagonist. Danny was a fucking looney tune in many respects. He enjoyed other people’s discomfort. He was also the only person that Michael actually cared about, admired. He didn’t want to fall out with him over his own sister or brother. He knew first-hand what a treacherous cunt Gordon could be when the fancy was upon him. And he didn’t want to actually have to do anything about his sister’s situation, unless he absolutely had to. It would have to be a last resort.
Danny Boy was more than aware of his friend’s worry, his friend’s nervousness and shame at what had occurred on his sister’s wedding day.
He knew he was going to have to box clever, Michael and Mary were very close and he appreciated that. However, she was a Cadogan now and the sooner Michael Miles accepted that fact, the better off he would be.
Michael was a cowed man, he was unable to work out the situation, was unsure what role he should actually be playing in this petty drama. All Michael knew was that Danny Boy seemed to be in the right, but he actually felt that his sister had made the biggest mistake of her life. Danny Boy was a bully, and like all professional bullies he knew how to make it seem that everyone else was in the wrong, and that he was in the right. For the first time ever, Michael questioned his best friend’s actions, and questioned his own part in his family’s downfall. For the first time ever, Danny’s anger was turned on him and his, and he knew, deep inside, that he didn’t have the guts to do anything about it. He wasn’t able to take Danny on, no one was, he was a law unto himself. His own cowardice was more than he could bear and, like his sister, it was gnawing away at him like a cancer.
Louie was worried; he had arranged for the pick-up as requested, and he had also paid off his youngest daughter’s boyfriend, who had been good enough to arrange the drop. He was a good kid in a lot of respects, determined to make the best of himself, ensure himself a future of sorts, with his help. The boy was a good-looking young man, and he had arranged with the boy’s father for the boy to meet up with his daughter and fall in love. A love that had personally cost him the national debt. The boy was sensible enough to know a good deal when he saw one, and he had grabbed at it with both hands. But he was a nice lad, and he was willing to marry up if that was what it took to get himself a good job and a good life. Louie felt guilty about that, and he hoped his daughter would never be any the wiser about it all; it was hard for a girl, a good Jewish girl anyway, to meet an appropriate boy these days. That his youngest daughter had met up with, by herself, a fucking bubble and squeak, a Greek, of all things, while at the technical college was bad enough. That the said bubble and squeak had then had the audacity to actually knock on the front door of his home and request her by name, while dressed like a fucking tourist and displaying a set of cheap caps was, in all honesty, a fucking piss-take of Olympian standards in his book. Hence the new young man in her life, and the poor Greek boy’s unlucky accident that entailed not only a car crash but also, thanks to Danny Boy Cadogan, the serious fear that the threat of the loss of his penis could entail. He had backed off then, faster than a bent Filth on a drugs raid, leaving the floor open for a new toss-pot, a new Jewish toss-pot of Louie’s own choosing.
His youngest daughter was the prettiest of them all, and that wasn’t saying much, he knew. So the knowledge of his recent purchase, one that entailed a suitable young man for his baby, would not be celebrated by the daughter that he loved more than the others put together, especially if that fact was to become common knowledge. He was ashamed that the only good looker in his set of puppies, the only one who could have found a man for herself, had to be manipulated like all the others. He had purchased husbands for each of them, and, God knew, the others had needed his help. All he hoped for now, God willing, were some grandchildren, grandchildren he prayed would look like their fathers.
‘You making a cup of tea or what? I have a little bird waiting for me.’
Danny Boy’s voice was harsh as always, and his grin told Louie that he was after something from him. A regular occurrence.
Louie grinned. Like Michael, he was not sure of Danny Boy any more, especially after his latest actions, this blatant womanising for starters, and he didn’t want to know too much about it either. The wedding had made people wary of talking to him too deeply. No one knew what to say to him, or how to react to it. Danny Boy seemed to be oblivious to other people’s uneasiness about what had occurred. In fact, if he didn’t know better Louie would say that the boy was actually enjoying the notoriety of it.
Men like Danny Boy were a one-off anyway, they fucked indiscriminately and they loved in the same way. He was newly married and that was usually enough to guarantee a man’s fidelity. For the first year anyway, but then, after the wedding night, who co
uld say what was right and what was wrong? Some women, as he knew from personal experience, weren’t the most accommodating of people when they had finally acquired a wedding ring. In fact, they often became born-again virgins and that could irk. It made the man in question feel he was being used, and that was generally the case. The marital bed became a battleground and, without realising it, the wives gave their new husbands the green light to hunt out strange. As his mother had always said, if the man doesn’t get it in his own home, he’ll get it in someone else’s. It was the nature of the beast.
So, like everyone else, Louie didn’t say anything at all, that was the easiest option and it guaranteed he didn’t have to hear more than was deemed necessary. Once someone opened their heart to you, it was then expected that you would give an honest opinion on their woes. Some kind of advice, and that was not something he wanted to get involved in. Danny Boy was not someone you advised in matters of the heart. In any matter come to that, he was not stable enough to confide your true thoughts to anyway, he was someone you told nothing more than what you thought they might want to hear. Louie knew that whatever might happen in the future, his opinion of Danny Boy and his new kith and kin would not be something he discussed out loud. He prayed that the boy was not here for advice, yet a little voice was saying quietly in his shell-like that Danny Boy would never lower himself to ask anyone for advice anyway, it just wasn’t in his make-up. And he would never admit to having made a mistake, he was too proud, too arrogant.
As Danny sat on the ancient leather sofa, and looked at his friend’s haunted countenance, he felt a feeling of peace wash over him. He was pleased to be reminded of his old haunts, of his first real earners. It was Louie who had set him on the path to riches all those years ago, and he knew that he was a lucky man because of that. He would never have set him wrong, in fact, he had always made sure that he was well taken care of; Louie was the reason that he was where he was today. He was thankful for his kindness and his trust. It had been his salvation in many respects. He understood that Louie deserved his respect, and he knew inside himself that he was also one of the only people he genuinely cared about. Who he would trust implicitly, no matter what the situation.
‘You all right, Louie?’
Louie grinned, but Danny Boy noticed his lack of vigour, his lack of interest in his surroundings, and wondered what had happened to make his old mate so depressed. So he said, in as friendly a manner as he was capable of, ‘Once again, mate. You all right, Louie?’
He was genuinely interested, his voice full of tenderness and an achingly honest interest, which worried Louie more than anything else.
‘Yeah, mate, ’course, and you?’ Louie sounded a lot more relaxed than he actually was.
Danny Boy grinned once more, and he said with a laugh, ‘I’m on top of the fucking world, mate.’
‘You sure about that, son?’
The words were out before either of them could do anything about it. They hung there, between them, the sheer weight of them making both men regret them immediately. Danny finally nodded, after what seemed to Louie like an age, and then, sighing heavily, he changed the subject with what was obviously a deliberate sneer, an insult of sorts, ‘So, you have another fucking wedding, do you? Handsome girl, your youngest one. Fucking stunning in comparison to the others. So, where is the dirty deed to be done this time, eh?’
Danny Boy seemed genuinely interested as always, even though Louie knew he was more than aware of the situation. Of his trawling for unmarried men in their world so he could place his daughters on to the fields of matrimony and, hopefully, find them fitting mates, young men who he could trust. Men he could give a decent living to, who he could control.
‘I know how much you love them, Lou. I’d do the same, mate, if it was me.’
From anger and sarcasm, he had once more become the loyal friend. It had taken mere seconds. With one of his lightning changes of mood he had salvaged the day, salvaged their friendship and, at the same time, reminded Louie of just how dangerous this young man could be. And there was no two ways about it, he was capable of anything to realise his own ends.
Louie knew that this young man, who he had tried to look after like a son, who he had watched grow up and who he had employed all those years ago, was now a dangerous fuck who even he was wary of. And yet he knew that Danny Boy could be all sweetness and light too, but only because it suited him to be. He was being the big magnanimous mate now, the old friend, and it was just another one of his many personas. Another one of his strange moods. Louie regretted his kindness to this man all those years ago, he knew now that the boy’s own father, Big Danny Cadogan, had blanked him for good reason. But that was in the past, it belonged to a bygone age. So Louie smiled, his ageing skin grey and dry. His faded blue eyes were not able to hide his real feelings and emotions about this young man before him. Danny Boy, he knew, could see his fear and his disgust at how he had eventually turned out. Danny Boy, he knew, relished the fact that he had managed to infiltrate the powers that be through him, and his contacts, and that none of them had understood his strength until it was far too late, himself included.
‘It will be in the usual place for Jewish weddings, Danny. The synagogue . . .’
They both laughed then, Danny Boy knowing that it was Louie’s wife who would insist on that much. Louie was past caring about anything like that where his girls were concerned and everyone knew it. He had weighed out ten grand on each wedding, a precedent his wife had set and which had become the expectation of each of his daughters. Each was determined to outdo the others, not only on the expense of the wedding, but also on what they saw as style. But none of them had any style whatsoever; they were like council house girls on pools winner’s money. It was laughable really, except they were not inclined to find the humour of the situation like everybody else was.
‘Good man, I like the synagogue, it has class, like the Catholic church and, let’s face it, once married there it’s for life, and that’s all the women in your family are interested in, ain’t it?’
Louie nodded his agreement at the truthfulness of his words, wondering if this meeting might turn out better than he had originally anticipated.
Then, sitting forward in his seat, his huge chest straining against the material of his expensive suit Danny Boy said happily, ‘But changing the subject, mate, how much for this yard?’
The question was so unexpected, so unbelievable, that Louie was not sure he had heard him correctly. His old face was stretched in wonderment, showing his shock and his disgust at the question asked of him. ‘I beg your pardon?’
Danny Boy shook his head in mock despair at his old friend. He acted as if this had all been discussed earlier, that he was just waiting on the final decision. That it was a foregone conclusion. His sarcasm was evident now as he said slowly, deliberately, ‘I said, Louie, how much for this lot.’
He opened his arms to encompass his surroundings, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to ask for one of your closest friend’s livelihoods.
He didn’t really ask, Louie realised, in case of a refusal, instead he just demanded what he wanted. There was no room for negotiation, no second chance. No way he would accept a resounding no. He was asking the price, not requesting a negotiation of any sort. He wanted this yard, and he wasn’t about to let that go. Louie knew he was already living on borrowed time. What Danny Boy wanted, Danny Boy got, and he didn’t care who he destroyed in the process.
This was the young man who Louie had taken under his wing all those years ago, who he had been forced to defend many times over the years. And who he now knew had nothing even approaching loyalty in his physical make-up. Who was devoid of anything even remotely resembling deep feelings for another human being, who had, in effect, once been his right-hand man, who he had made sure had been given an in into their world, and who he also knew, had at one point recently, been quite willing to wipe him out permanently. Suddenly, Louie had to accept the fact that this boy was
not worth his time or his effort. Like his daughters, he had been a let-down, only this boy had let him down in a much more spectacular fashion, because he was now determined to take what was Louie’s, what he had spent his whole life building up into a viable business, had spent years accruing, not only the goodwill of his many rivals, but their respect as well. Danny Boy was taking his livelihood, without a thought for where it would leave him, or how it would affect his family. The worst thing of all was that he had brought this viper into his life, he had nurtured him, helped him, and stood by him. For what? So he could walk in here and take what was his without a backward glance? He would take it without a second’s thought as to what he had done for him over the years. He had created a monster, and this monster had taken great pleasure in biting him on the arse. This, he knew, without doubt, was the truth of the matter.
Louie knew he had been a hair’s breadth away from the grave through this young man. He had already felt the full force of his displeasure. He knew, first-hand, how fickle he could be in his pursuit of his own ends. He had even forgiven him that, had tried to justify the boy’s actions. He’d made excuses for him, and he had been wrong. Danny Boy was willing to take whatever he felt he needed to further his career, and he would take it without a backward glance, even from someone who had taken care of him and loved him like a son. Danny Boy, it seemed to him, was, to all intents and purposes, a fucking sociopath, and now, on top of everything else he had acquired over the years, it seemed he now wanted his yard. Wanted it as a child would want a sweetie or a toy from another child. He wasn’t even asking him for it, he was telling him he wanted it, there was a big difference and they both knew that. Danny Boy was a law unto himself all right. He was also flavour of the month with all the big earners, and Louie knew that he would never have the bottle to challenge him over this. He was old, was aware of how fragile he had become over the last few years. He just didn’t have the nerve to go against him; even the friendship that went back to this boy’s childhood wouldn’t cut any ice, he was sure. Danny was not in the market for refusals of any kind, for anyone going against his wishes, standing in the way of what he wanted. Danny Boy expected people to go along with him and, because of his reputation as a fucking mad bastard, people tended to do just that. It was easier for everyone that way. And the men he now dealt with were willing to turn a blind eye where he was concerned because he could guarantee them results. Guarantee them regular money. Serious amounts of money, and that was the bottom line. Danny Boy was now basically a law unto himself, could demand what he wanted and get it without too much fuss. For Louie though, the worst thing was that he knew that Danny Boy was taking his yard off him for no other reason than that he could. Danny, he had noticed many moons before, was a gatherer. He was willing to take what he wanted indiscriminately from anyone and everyone in his immediate orbit.