by AJ Adams
I could see Brianne powering up, about to ask what was going on. Before she could say a word, I was laying down the law. “Brianne, Rex is exhausted. He’s having an early night. Can you make sure the i’s are dotted and the t’s crossed for tomorrow?”
“Yes,” she said promptly. “We’re all over it, and Mitch is on his way back from Skegness.”
“Good,” I said instantly. “Okay, Rex. Bedtime. Off you go.”
“But -” he was pale as a ghost yet still arguing.
“No buts. You can’t do any more today.”
“Come, Rex.” Mia took his hand. “I’ll read you a bit of My Little Pony.”
She never got to it, my lamb, because Rex was out before he even got his shirt off. He didn’t stir as I undressed him and tucked him in. Nor did he notice me removing the phone he was permanently welded to and setting it to silent.
Brianne was in the kitchen, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “Lacy, it’s horrible. I’m getting panic calls from the contestants, the suppliers, and the advertisers, all asking if we’re still on for tomorrow. The village is in an uproar. Harding is going about saying Rex is finished. And from the gossip, I think he’s cancelled all our security. If people come and are hurt, we’ll be sued to kingdom come. It’s all gone pear-shaped.”
“It’s business as usual, so answer all those calls and get it sorted,” I said to her.
“But it’s Rex who deals with this kind of thing.”
“You wanted a learning curve, right? Now you’ve got one.”
She gawped at me and then smiled. “Right. Okay. But I need some help and Mitch won’t be back till late.”
“Call Viper, Crush, Wally, Wendy, or whoever you think useful. Do whatever it takes, but get the job done. We want everyone in Bonnington tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Brianne was rolling up her sleeves, ready to take the ball and run with it. “And what are you doing?”
“My job,” I said grimly.
My heart was trying to beat its way out of my throat, but I braced myself and called Ulke. “I know you’ve heard rumours,” I said to her. “I want to tell you exactly what’s been going on.” I told her about Jason and me, gave her a heavily edited description of my coming to Perdition, and ended with, “Rex saved my life, and because of it, his reputation and business are being trashed.”
Ulke was horrified. “I had no idea! Poor Rex! And poor you.”
“Rex thinks the Horde will come to Bonnington tomorrow.”
“It sounds awfully unlikely,” Ulke said doubtfully. “I mean, wouldn’t the police know?”
That’s nice people for you; they have an instinctive trust in the authorities. “I think he’s right and I’m asking you to trust us.” I was steeling myself for rejection. “I know my work isn’t exactly mainstream, but -”
Ulke interrupted me straight away. “Oh, don’t be silly. Who cares what you do?”
“Erm, actually, lots of people.”
“They have no right to judge,” Ulke said crisply.
“But they do judge and they won’t listen to me.” I went for broke. “Ulke, I don’t know how to fix this. How do I get people like the commissioner and Sir William to listen to Rex? And to trust him?”
She thought for a moment and then swung into action. “Okay, if you and Rex say this is going down, I believe you.”
All the breath whooshed out of me. “Thank you.”
“What you want is a show of solidarity and support,” Ulke said. “I’m telling John, and we’ll both call Sir William. Then we’ll phone the Prescotts, the bishop, and the Featherstones and get them to call in, too.” She rattled off a list of names, ending with, “And we’ll be in Bonnington first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Bless you, Ulke. You’re a star.” I was watering by then but feeling better. I’d told Rex his troubles were fixable, but I hadn’t believed it in my heart. With Ulke’s help maybe it was possible.
“Lacy, you call Constance, tell her everything,” Ulke instructed me.
I quailed at the idea. “Me? Call her? Are you sure?”
“Oh my dear,” Ulke sighed. “Lacy, when this is over, I’ll fill you in on the time Constance was caught, on camera, cavorting with not one but two of the Queen’s Guardsmen.”
“What?”
“As for me, well, let’s say there was a fur rug, an ostrich and a very exciting girl who turned out to be an undercover journo.”
That was an eye-opener. “Really? Gosh!”
“I was on the front pages for a week,” Ulke giggled. “And the centrefold as well.”
“I can’t think how I missed it.”
“We all have a past, Lacy, or a present in your case,” Ulke admonished me gently. “Some people will be judgy, but it doesn’t mean you cut yourself off from the world.”
It humbled me. “You’re right. I was a fool.”
“We’ll have a nice long chat tomorrow,” Ulke encouraged me. “But for now: get cracking on mobilising Constance. And when you’re done, warn the village. Maybe one of them can get through to Harding.”
When I put the phone down, my hands were shaking. Had I been wrong, thinking I was a pariah? Had I closed myself off, not giving anyone a chance to get close to me?
Considering the last few weeks, I knew I’d taken plenty of flack. However, there had been more who’d supported me, and it hadn’t just been Rex and the Disciples. Wally, Suzie, and Wendy, as well as Sir William and Ollie, had been sweet right from the start.
Suddenly heartened, I picked up the phone again, “Lady Constance? It’s Lacy here. I know you’ve heard rumours -”
I’ve had some difficult times but that night wasn’t easy for me. Give me a choice between a rope bunny torture shoot and baring my history for public inspection and I’d opt for the rigger every time.
But I went at it with a will, and to my increasing amazement and gratitude, everyone I called was on board. By the time I finally switched off my phone, it was well past two.
If I’d done the job right, the commissioner of police, Sit William, Harding and the other powers that be would be inundated with calls and messages. Hopefully, it would do the trick.
“I should go home,” Brianne yawned, “but I’m too trashed. Mind if I sleep in the easy chair here, Lacy?”
“Yes, I mind very much indeed,” I told her. “Go up and sleep in the blue room like a civilised person.”
That got me a real smile and a hug. “Thank you,” Brianne said. “I didn’t mean it before when I said I was sorry but I am now. Honestly, Lacy, I’m sorry I was such a bitch.”
I hugged her right back. “Forget about it. Friends for real, right?”
When I got upstairs, I was so wired that I thought I’d never sleep. Rex was still out, and as I undressed, I planned to cuddle him for comfort while I worried.
I’d pulled every string I could think of, but I wasn’t sure if it was enough. If it weren’t, and it all went horribly wrong, it wouldn’t just be Miss Bonnington that bombed. Rex had laid out the future, and I didn’t like the sound of it.
“I’m not having it,” I heard myself growl as I wrapped myself around my love. “I’m fed up with buggers like Jason terrorising people. We’re going to fight, and we’ll kick their collective arses.” Trash talking helped and amazingly, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
I woke up in broad daylight, the sun streaming in the windows, and Brianne banging on the door. “Lacy, waken up.” She came barging in, hair all on end and frantic. “Rex went to the village at daybreak, but there’s trouble. We’ve got to get down there.”
Once again I took Rex’s Jaguar. We roared into Bonnington, breaking every traffic law on the way. Finding Rex wasn’t an issue: although it was still bright and early, there was a crowd in the village square, right in front of the cop shop.
Crystal Wave was there, her arm around a rescue donkey wearing a Bonnington Is Best hat, and the Pony Club were next to her, hanging on to donkeys and ponies,
all groomed to glossy perfection.
Next to them, I spotted Amy Finch, Cliff from the fire and rescue department, and to my relief and surprise, Ulke, Lady Constance, and Freddie were there too, shoulder to shoulder with Wally, Suzie, Dot, and Rob.
Ulke hugged me straight away. “John, the Prescotts, the bishop and a dozen others will be here by lunchtime.”
“Ohmigod, really?”
Lady Constance was hugging too. “After your call last night, it was the least we could do.”
“Thank you,” I was totally teary.
“We’re all behind you but none of us could reach Sir William or the commissioner,” Ulke said worriedly. “And I have the feeling that’s going to be a real problem.”
The rest of the crowd hadn’t noticed us getting out of the Jaguar or leaving it parked in the middle of the road; all eyes were on the drama being enacted in front of the steps leading up to the police station.
“Are you out of your frigging mind?” Rex was loud, his voice carrying clearly. “Release them at once!”
“You have no standing here, My Lord,” Harding was snarling too, super sarcastic and puffed up with pride. “Your friends have broken the law, and they must pay for it.”
I got it at once; Harding had arrested the Disciples.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Rex asked exasperatedly. “You invited the Disciples for a security meeting and then chucked them in lockup!”
“They’re dangerous criminals,” Harding asserted. “The ruse helped us avoid trouble.”
“There’s going to be goddamn trouble if you don’t let them out,” Rex snapped.
“I’m warning you, Lord Ravenshurst! Threats against Her Majesty’s constabulary -”
“Oh, belt up, you moron!” Rex was beyond rage. “Can’t you see what’s happening? The Horde are on their way, and we’ve no fucking defences.”
That’s when it hit me. We weren’t just missing the security company teams; the Disciples and the associates weren’t to be seen either. “Where are the others?” I asked Wally. “Where’s Poison and Snake?”
“There were arson attacks on both the Durham and Skegness clubs at dawn,” Wally informed me.
My heart was trying to beat its way out of my ribcage. It was dead clear this was a diversion. With the other Disciples tied up in their own towns, Bonnington was isolated. Worse, thanks to Harding’s ill-timed idiocy, we didn’t even have our own people to defend us.
“Harding, you fucking moron,” Rex snarled. “You’re killing Bonnington!”
Before Harding could holler back, Lady Constance spoke up. “Rex, this isn’t helping. Remember, diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way.”
While we were working out what she meant, Dot was having her say. “I don’t feel safe without the Disciples on duty.”
“Right, we’ve got thousands of visitors coming in,” her husband Rob agreed. “We need the Disciples to keep order.”
“They’re thugs!” Harding said outraged.
“Maybe,” Rob shrugged. “But they do a good job.”
“Yeah, they’re our thugs,” a voice from the crowd said.
Harding pokered up. “They’re under arrest.”
“You can arrest them later,” Rex urged him. “We’ve got trouble coming.”
“Nonsense.”
“Not nonsense. Fact. A hundred bikers were seen travelling on the Lincoln-Bonnington road.”
“So what?”
“It’s the Horde, you idi-” Rex bit his tongue. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that.”
“You’re talking nonsense. I have twenty staff seconded from Lincoln coming in at noon. They will help with crowd control.” Harding was living in a fantasy world.
“By noon Bonnington will be in flames,” Rex urged him. “Pig wants our harbour so he can expand his trafficking operation.”
“Nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense. Pig took over Lincoln by destabilising the status quo and then taking over. He’s doing the same here.”
“That’s true,” Sergeant Henry Fisher spoke up. “You said so yourself, Inspector. You gave us a briefing on it.”
“It worked in Lincoln, and it won’t work here,” Harding maintained.
“Won’t it?” Rex asked coolly. “We had a thriving community, all working together to make Bonnington the best. But from the second you got here, you’ve been sabotaging us.”
“You were ruling this place,” Harding defended himself. “Someone had to take you down a peg or two. I should be in charge here, not you!”
There was a moment’s silence as everyone understood the implications.
“So you said when you first came to Bonnington,” Rex sighed. “You tried to take over on your first day, but I told you that we have our own ways here.”
“You had no right!”
“You’ve sabotaged me from day one. You made life difficult, hassled our friends, and when I called you up on it, you spread rumours saying I’m broke and that I’m going to be arrested.”
“So? You should be!”
“You became so sulky, that you refused to do your job.”
“Did not!”
“When Barrows came after Lacy, you didn’t care.”
“She’s a tart.”
I stepped up smartly, ready to grab Rex. But I needn’t have worried; he was total ice. “You knew Barrows hounded her, threatened her with a beating, declared her dead, ruined her business, and you didn’t lift a finger.”
“We’re short of manpower,” Harding lied.
“It doesn’t take manpower to run a simple background check,” Rex continued. “I asked you to confirm publicly that Lacy was never married to Barrows and had not bankrupted him but you refused - even though you’d already checked the facts for yourself with the national database.”
“I’m not a waiter; I don’t take orders,” Harding snapped.
At that, there was a stone-cold silence.
“Wait a minute,” Dot said. “People were saying the most awful things, and you knew it was all lies? You sat in the Oak Leaf night after night, and you kept quiet?”
“Shame on you!” Ulke scolded.
“Jesus, that’s low,” Wally said with contempt.
“You’re supposed to be a policeman,” Suzie thundered. “How could you?”
“What do you care?” Harding burst out. “You know what she does for a living.”
I mentally steeled myself, expecting rejection. This is where they’d decide I was a tart.
To my surprise, Amy Finch stepped up. “Lacy is a good person.”
“I agree,” Brianne was standing by Amy. “I was awful to her,” she was beetroot red, “I’m too ashamed to say what I did, but Lacy forgave me.”
Talk about turnabouts, right? I was breathless, happiness just bubbling through me.
“Same here!” Amy confessed. “I said some terrible things about Lacy, and behind her back, and she forgave me too.”
“She’s bloody good for Bonnington,” Cliff was stepping up too. “I told her Fire and Rescue needed a helping hand, and she was all over it.”
“And she talked me into helping raise funds for the donkey sanctuary,” Crystal called out.
Harding didn’t say a word, but he was flushed - but whether with embarrassment or rage I couldn’t tell.
Rex was talking quietly, but everyone was mesmerized, “You were so caught up with crossing us up, that you didn’t even stir when Bonnington came under attack.”
“Pooh, a bit of vandalism and fake wine,” Harding shrugged. “Hardly the crimes of the century.”
That was a mistake.
“Now wait a minute, we lost a lot of money,” Dot confronted the copper with outrage. “And it’s because you deliberately sabotaged Rex? From jealousy? Are you insane?”
“He shouldn’t be lording it about,” Harding insisted. “It’s my job to administer Bonnington.”
“You damn fool,” Wally yelled. “Who cares who does the job?
As long as it’s done well.”
“And Rex always puts Bonnington first,” Suzie said furiously.
“He does it to make money,” Harding protested.
“So what?” Cliff cast back at him. “He works damn hard, and his heart is in the right place.”
“His heart,” Harding sneered.
“While you were playing politics, Rex was raising money for the hospital,” Doc Fielding had pitched up and was putting in his two cents. “And we’re not the only charity he supports.”
“We know what Rex does for Bonnington,” Crystal shouted. “What do you do for us, Harding?”
“He issues parking tickets,” a voice at the back of the crowd jeered.
“Arrests our girls,” a fan of the massage centre added.
“Gets our windows broken.”
“Plays bloody mind games instead of doing his fucking job!”
The crowd had heard the facts, judged them and they were bloody angry.
“Why do we have this bastard in our village anyway?”
“Yeah, piss off, Harding! We want Rex!”
“Who bloody doesn’t?” a wag called. “Everyone loves a lord.”
An impromptu wave of cheers went up. The hand gestures were x-rated, but the message was clear, “Rex, in! Harding, out! Rex, in! Harding, out!”
Rex was standing there, mouth open, entirely taken aback. Me, I was in floods. All the events of the last few weeks just washed away. Harding had forced the village to make a choice and Bonnington had made their decision clear.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ulke was smearing her mascara into panda eyes. “They really do love him, don’t they?”
“Right,” Wally was speaking for the village. “So we’re agreed: Harding is out and Rex is taking over.”
“You can’t do this,” Harding spluttered. “I’m in charge.”
“But you’re not doing the job,” Wally said again. “For God’s sake, man. Where are the extra security people? We’re wide open here.”
“And trouble is coming,” Rex said soberly. “We normally have one hundred security staff in Bonnington on an event day. How many do we have now?”
“Twelve,” Henry said helpfully. “Including the Inspector.”