‘You bought them out then?’
‘Oh, yeah!’ Her voice was indignant. ‘It was all done legally and above board.’
‘Except Roy had an axe in his hand when you went to negotiate!’
Maura made a little moue with her lips.
‘Well, I think that did help. But I gave them a good price, Mickey. Well above the pitches’ value. The cab ranks are booming, thanks to the cold weather and armfuls of Christmas presents. All in all, life is good. Once we sort the Greek prat out, we’ll be laughing!’
‘Thanks for sorting all that for me, Maws. What’s the SP on the family front?’
She frowned. ‘Not too good actually, Mickey. I had word today that Benny and Garry have been getting lairy in pubs and clubs all over town. Shouting their mouths off about you, me, and anything they can think of.’
‘That don’t sound like our Garry, Maws!’
‘I know, but it’s the truth. They haven’t been working, Mickey. Sammy Goldbaum said he hadn’t seen either of them for days. He’s been running the ranks himself. I think we should give him a drink for that. I thought we could slip him a monkey as a Christmas box.’
Michael slammed his fist on to the desk.
‘All right, do that. Fucking marvellous, ain’t it! A pissing front wheel skid running me businesses, and me own brothers, who get paid a hefty portion, are doing fuck all! Well, I’ve just about had it this time. If they don’t pull their socks up, they’re out on their arses. I can’t afford to have lazy bastards on my team.’
‘I know what you’re saying, Mickey, and I’ll get Geoffrey to have a word with them. By the way, have you heard from any of the boys, today?’
He shook his head. ‘No. Why?’
‘Oh, nothing. It’s just that I haven’t seen hide nor hair of any of them, that’s all.’
She yawned.
‘You get yourself off home, Maws.’
‘I might just do that, Mickey. I’m shattered. Not surprising considering I was woken out of my sleep this morning. Six o’clock this morning, to be precise.’
Michael laughed.
‘I’ll wait here for the bloke from the Met. As you say, we can’t do anything until Dopolis makes a move or we find out more about him. We’ve got to find out exactly what we’re dealing with.’
Maura walked around the desk and kissed his forehead. ‘See you tomorrow, Mickey. Goodnight.’
‘Goodnight, Princess.’
Maura left him and made her way to her car. As she drove home she hoped that Carla would be in when she arrived. She worried about her, especially with Janine having another baby. Though Carla seemed happy enough about the impending birth, Maura was worried that the baby would further push her out of her parents’ life. It was this overshadowing worry that made Maura shelve thoughts of the trouble with Dopolis. She wasn’t to find out for a few days that he was a very dangerous man indeed.
Chapter Sixteen
Benny sat at the kitchen table eating an enormous breakfast. He insisted that his mother made him two eggs, five pieces of bacon, black pudding, mushrooms, and three giant sausages every morning. He ate this with five pieces of toast and washed it down with a whole pot of tea. He wiped the last of the toast around his plate and popped it into his mouth. He sat back in his chair replete, holding his stomach with both hands.
‘That was handsome, Muvver.’
Sarah laughed. He was the last child to live at home and she was dreading the day when he, too, flew the nest.
‘I don’t know where you put it all, Benny.’ She picked up his empty plate and placed it in the sink.
‘I think I’ll have a quick fag and then be on me way. It’s about time I showed my boatrace at the betting office.’ His voice sounded worried. Sarah turned to face him. Benny was her baby. She was aware of all his faults and still she loved him.
‘Michael won’t put up with you skiving off, you know. Or Maura.’ Sarah’s voice was tight when she spoke about her daughter. She could never get used to the fact that Maura ran the businesses with Michael. It bothered her more than she cared to admit. In Sarah’s mind women married and had children. She admitted to herself, grudgingly, that Maura could not do that. But she still felt that no woman should live or work in what was to her a man’s world. The shady life of Soho and hostess clubs was, to her, the lowest in the world, filled with the dregs of humanity.
Benny lit his Benson and Hedges cigarette and finished his cup of tea. He glanced at the old kitchen clock. It was nearly eight-thirty.
‘I’m off then, Muvver. I’ll see you tonight, about sixish.’ He got up from the table and kissed his mother lightly on the cheek. Sarah smiled at him and said what she said to him every day.
‘You be careful now, Benny. And do what our Michael tells you.’
‘I will. See you.’ He went from the house. Sarah carried on with her washing up. She’d had a bad feeling on her since she had got out of bed - like a dragging pain in her side. She wiped her hands and turned on her radio. Jimmy Young would be on soon and she liked him. She began her day’s work. Janine would be around at about ten and they were going to plan the Christmas celebrations.
She now looked on Janine as her daughter and Maura as a distant relative. Sarah would never admit to herself or anyone that she actively disliked Maura these days, it seemed blasphemous somehow. She did not like Carla living with her either. She wished she could get Janine and Carla to become close, but she had resigned herself long ago to the fact that Janine would never like her child. That she could not stand being in the same room as her.
She sighed. Children were a bind really. You loved them but they never seemed to be out of your life. Wherever they were they demanded your time and energy. She consoled herself with the fact that at least there would be a new baby soon. If she waited on the other boys to make her a grandmother she would be disappointed. None of them seemed to want to settle down, Michael for obvious reasons. She knew he had a man living with him. She closed her eyes and shuddered. As for Geoffrey and the rest of the boys - they gravitated from woman to woman. Now here was Janine, in her thirties, having another baby - though she had a sneaking suspicion that if Janine had been able to get rid of this child she would have.
Sarah began to wipe the kitchen table with a damp cloth. She’d better get a move on. She wanted to get the house sorted before Benjamin decided to get out of bed. He was another one. At fifty-nine he was like a man of ninety, shuffling about the house waiting for the Bramley Arms to open. She carried on cleaning, unaware that before the day was out there would be trouble the like of which she had never even dreamed of.
It was eleven o’clock and Michael and Maura were in the small offices above Le Buxom. The glass had been sent back late the night before from West End Central police station. The prints on the glass were not known to them. Whoever it was had no criminal record. Michael and Maura were no nearer to finding out exactly who Dopolis was and what he dealt in than they’d been at the beginning.
‘Well, we’ve had our people out on the street but this Dopolis is an unknown face. I don’t know, Maura. The more I think about what went down in old Wong’s, the more shirty I get.’
The phone rang and Maura answered it. While she took the call Michael lit himself a cigarette. There was something funny about all this and he could not put his finger on it. No one was an unknown quantity. There had to be someone who knew them, or of them. Yet this Dopolis seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
Maura put down the phone and stared at Michael. ‘That bloody Benny has gone on the missing list again. He ain’t turned up for work.’
Michael groaned.
‘What about Garry the boy wonder? ’as he turned up?’
‘Funnily enough, he has. And according to Sammy Goldbaum, he was surprised that Benny hadn’t turned in.’
‘If I know Benny, Maws, he’s got himself a new bird and he can’t keep away. Well, I’m gonna dock the sod’s pay this week. See how far he gets with the women then!’ He
laughed. ‘As much as he annoys me, I have to laugh at him. He’d travel miles for a new conquest. He’s like one of them wolves. He sniffs the air and can smell a bitch on heat from ten miles away.’
‘Sex and food . . . that’s our Benny. His two main occupations. Well, all joking aside, Mickey, he’s got to be taught a lesson this time. He’s twenty-nine, for Christ’s sake, and he follows his dick like a teenager.’ She pointed across the desk at Michael. ‘You’ve got to put the hard word on him. He’ll listen to you.’
‘All right. When he finally turns up. Now, any more business before I shoot off home?’
Maura shook her head. ‘I did the main work yesterday. There’s just the usual today. Where’s Geoffrey, by the way? I ain’t seen him.’
Michael chewed his bottom lip and Maura, seeing this, sat back in her chair. She looked annoyed.
‘Not again!’
‘I’m afraid so, Maws. He thinks that I give you too much of my time. I had another row with him this morning.’
Maura lit herself a cigarette. She was fuming. ‘What’s it this time then?’
‘He thinks you should be doing the cabs, not him.’
Maura pulled on her cigarette and stared at her brother. Geoffrey was beginning to get on her nerves. Although he was brought into everything that they did, was informed of every transaction that was made and was generally thought of as the main brother after Michael, he still kept up a petty coldness towards Maura. He acted as if she was just there to be humoured. At first Maura had accepted this. Now, nearly eight years later, he was getting on her nerves. Geoffrey could not be made to see that she was an asset to the businesses. That she was trying her hardest to make them more or less legal. Whatever she did he poured cold water on it. If she told him to do something, he nodded and smiled and then did exactly the opposite. What Geoffrey did not realise was that Michael was getting fed up with it all as well.
‘Look, Mickey, can’t you have a word with him?’ Her voice was desperate. ‘I understand that he feels put out, but if he would only try and work with me, instead of against me . . . I’ll tell you something now that I was going to keep to myself. He goes through all the files.’
Michael’s eyebrows rose and Maura laughed. ‘Honestly, Mickey. He comes in here in the middle of the night and checks over all that I’ve done.’
Michael grinned. ‘Sometimes I think he’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Still, do me a favour and swallow. I’ve got enough on me plate at the moment, without you two going ten rounds.’
‘You will have a word with him though?’
‘Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.’ He stood up, exasperated. ‘Fucking real, ain’t it? What with him and Benny, it’s a wonder we ever get anything done!
‘Well, I’m off, Princess. Unless there’s anything else?’
‘No, nothing, Mickey.’
‘I’ll be off then. See you.’ He kissed her cheek. Maura watched him pull on his overcoat.
‘See you later then, Mickey.’
She sat at the desk chewing on her pen. Outside the window she could hear the steady hum of traffic. It had been a bitter cold morning, but inside the office it was baking. She slipped off the suede shoes and wriggled her toes. In her plain green suit and white silk blouse, she looked very young and carefree. Like an office clerk. It always amazed people when they met her that she was Maura Ryan. Her name always preceded her, and though they were prepared for her height and magnificent bosom, they were always unprepared for her looks. They soon found, though, that behind her pretty face was an analytical brain that could pick up and dissect whatever was being said to her. She sat for a while thinking about Geoffrey. She had tried so hard to work with him and he would not play along. The jangling of the telephone broke into her thoughts.
‘Hello.’
‘Hello, Maws!’ Margaret’s nasal tones were instantly recognisable.
‘Hello, Marge! I was going to ring you tonight. How’s the kids?’
‘Oh, they’re all right, Maws. Looking forward to Christmas. The twins have got their Nativity play next week, that’s why I was ringing you. They want you to come down and see them both in it. Can you make it?’
‘Tell them it’s a date. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ll bring Carla. She should be on her holidays from college by then. How’s baby Dennis?’
Marge groaned. ‘He’s in his playpen now, but about ten minutes ago he flushed the toilet roll down the loo. Honestly, Maws, he’s worse than the girls ever were. You need eyes in the back of your head!’
Both women laughed.
‘I must see them soon. I really miss them.’
‘Well, don’t come and spoil them. The girls are already too big for their boots.’
Maura’s voice was cynical. ‘Marge, girls can never be too big for their boots - or anyone else’s come to that! Now, have you spotted any more houses?’
‘Funnily enough, I have. Three. Two in Southend and one in Shoebury. They all have knockdown rebuilds on them.’
‘Great. I’ll have a look when I come over to see you.’
‘How’s your house coming along?’
‘It’s finished, Marge. You and Den must come to dinner one night. You’ll love it.’
‘Oh, I bet it’s gorgeous. You’re lucky, Maws.’
Maura went on the defensive. ‘Luck don’t enter into it, Marge. I work bloody hard for what I’ve got.’
Marge’s placating voice came over the line. ‘I know, I know. I didn’t mean it like that and you know it. I meant lucky to have a good job, a nice home, and a lovely bank account! Especially the lovely bank account. Me and Den seem to spend the money before the poor bugger’s even earned it!’ Margaret was laughing.
‘Listen, Marge, I’d swap everything I’ve got for a nice bloke and a couple of kids.’
‘I know that, Maws. I wish you would meet someone.’
‘Oh, Margie, get real, will you? Blokes my age want to settle down, have some babies. I can’t give that to anyone so it’s not worth the aggro. I mean, I can’t see me being allowed to adopt, can you? No, Marge, I accepted that a long time ago. I’ll have to make do with me wheeling and dealing!’
‘Well, you certainly seem to have a flair for it.’
‘Long may it last, Margie! Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll give you a bell and let you know when I’ll be over, all right?’
‘Okey doke. See you.’
She hung up.
Maura lit herself another cigarette. What she wouldn’t give to be Marge! She smiled to herself at the thought of little Dennis and his tricks. He was a case . . .
Geoffrey burst into the office.
‘Where’s Mickey?’
‘He left a while ago. What’s wrong?’
‘We had a call at the cab rank in Manor Park. Some nutty bastard reckons there’s bombs in all the ranks we’ve got. I’ve phoned around and had the places cleared, sent all the drivers home.’
‘You what!’ Maura stubbed her cigarette out. ‘On the strength of one bloody crank call!’
Geoffrey lost his temper.
‘It was a crank all right . . . a crank called Dopolis. Can’t you see this is the start? The prat wants war!’
Maura sat back in her chair, her face a study in disbelief. She stared at Geoffrey blankly for a moment then she shot into action. ‘Get all the boys together at my warehouse in Wapping. Tell them me and Mickey will meet them there.’
Geoffrey stood looking at her. He curled his lip in contempt.
‘I ain’t your fucking messenger boy!’
Maura closed her eyes and said, through gritted teeth, ‘It’s bad enough we have this crisis with a nutty Greek. The last thing we want is to be arguing amongst ourselves. Now will you do as I ask . . . please?’
Geoffrey turned on his heel and stamped from the room. Maura turned her attention to the telephone and dialled Michael’s number.
‘Is that you, Jonny?’
‘Oh, hello, Maura. Mickey’s not . . .’
‘Sh
ut up and listen to me. Mickey will be home at any moment. You tell him that I am on my way over. Do not open the door to anyone except Michael or myself. Do you understand?’
The urgency in her voice communicated itself to him.
‘What’s going on!’ His voice was high and frightened.
Maura slammed the phone down on him. She was in no mood to console that little faggot. She took a deep breath to control her heartbeat which was hammering in her ears, feeling a wave of apprehension wash over her. Slipping her shoes back on, she quickly left the office.
Michael and Maura walked into the club at eleven o’clock. It was a freezing night and a fine covering of snow was glistening in the light from the doorway. A surge of hot air hit them as they entered the club. Gerry Jackson took their damp coats from them.
‘Brass monkey weather, ain’t it?’
Michael nodded. ‘Any news from Benny?’ Everyone else had turned up at the warehouse meeting. Benny was the only exception. No one seemed to know where he was.
Gerry Jackson smiled.
‘If I know your Benny, he’s shacked up with some old bird somewhere!’
‘Maybe, Gerry. Tell Geoff to come straight up when he gets here, OK? And get one of the hostesses out on reception.’ Michael gave Gerry a small green address book. ‘Tell them to try all these numbers. They’ll get a ton if he’s located. All right?’
Gerry took the battered address book. ‘Will do. Shall I have some coffee sent up?’
Maura rubbed her hands together. ‘That’ll be just the thing, Gerry. How’s Anne and the boys?’
He smiled sheepishly. ‘She’s pregnant again.’
‘So I heard. I reckon she’ll be like my mum. She won’t get a girl for years!’
Gerry rolled his eyes at the ceiling.
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