Sharp Edge

by Marianne Delacourt

  Bon Ames reached into his cut pocket and brought a little black USB. ‘This will help.’

  I took the memory stick and fingered it.

  ‘We didn’t want to risk the drug squad pulling you over outside the clubhouse and frisking you.’

  ‘Gee thanks.’

  He opened the car door and hauled his bulk out. ‘Not a problem.’

  8

  I had just enough time to go home and change my jeans and t-shirt for a dress and sandals to keep my appointment with Nick’s mother. Eireen Tozzi didn’t understand the term ‘casual wear’.

  Cass was in the flat, reading cookbooks my mother had loaned her. Weird how she and Joanna had found a common interest. More than once I’d found them huddled over the Barefoot Contessa Foolproof at JoBob’s kitchen table.

  ‘Hey!’ I said.

  ‘Hey.’ She looked up at me from an old hardcover of the Golden Circle Cookbook. ‘You didn’t come home last night.’

  ‘I got caught doing surveillance on a job for Garth. You didn’t call me back.’

  She shrugged.

  ‘I thought you had work today?’ I asked.

  She shut the book. And I suddenly noticed that her eyes were swollen and red. ‘There was a thing at the deli.’

  ‘What thing?’

  She stared at the ceiling. ‘My mum turned up this morning. She was shouting and stuff … so they sent me home.’

  ‘Your mum?’

  ‘The original crazy fucking bitch.’

  ‘Cass!’ It was an automatic reprimand. ‘Don’t talk about her like that.’

  She screwed up her face. I hadn’t seen that look for a while, and I didn’t like its reappearance.

  ‘It’s true! She accused me of stealing money from her last week. How could I? I haven’t been home since the day she kicked me out. She’s so fucking paranoid. It was probably one of her junkie boyfriends.’

  ‘Cass!’ I squatted down beside her and touched her arm. ‘Listen—’

  She flinched so violently I withdrew. ‘What’s wrong?’

  She looked away. From this close I could feel her trembling.

  I grabbed her wrist and slid up the loose sleeve of her top. There were fresh scratch marks all down her upper arm.

  ‘Your mum did this?’

  She shrugged. Then nodded. ‘Like I said, she’s crazy. I should have just smacked her.’

  I took her chin and moved it so she had to look at me. ‘But you didn’t and I’m proud of you. Nothing to be gained from doing that.’

  She blinked and I could see the tears coming.

  ‘But I promise you, I won’t let her ever hurt you again,’ I finished.

  Saying that to her, cracked her resolve. The tears couldn’t be stopped then. They wracked her body and she sobbed in my arms until she was spent.

  My heart twisted up while I patted her back. I’d never known the full story of the night Cass had left home. We’d met briefly while I was doing surveillance out her way. She’d been perfecting her delinquency style, hanging out with a bunch of bored teens at the railway station. She helped me out, getting closer to a suspect than I could and reporting back. On the spur of the moment, I gave her my designer rip-off handbag as thanks.

  She was clearly the one with the brains in her group of friends, which she proved by finding my house a week later and asking me to take her in after she’d had a monumental fight with her mum (dad MIA and sister in jail on drug offences). She’d arrived at Lilac Street wearing black torn tights, black worn make-up, a baggy black dress, and clutching the handbag.

  ‘Listen. I’ve got to go visit Mother Tozzi now. Come with me. Safety in numbers. The woman’s a terrier.’

  She sat up and ground her fists to her eyes to dry them. ‘Nick’s mum? Can you wait while I shower and change?’

  ‘Sure. Make it quick though. I’ll be upstairs raiding the fridge for us. Wear pastel.’

  She gave me a watery grin. ‘Can I borrow something?’

  I gave her the thumbs up. ‘Back in ten to collect you,’ I said.

  I left her rifling through my clothes and scooted up past the swimming pool to the back door of my parents’ house. It was open as usual and my mother, Joanna, had her head in a cupboard, cleaning it.

  ‘Is that you, Bob?’ she called.

  ‘Mum you really should snip the back latch. You never know who could walk in,’ I chided her.

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous darling,’ she said, emerging red-faced, clutching a large casserole dish. ‘This is Euccy Grove. I know everyone five streets in each direction. Besides, I have you and Cass out there to protect me.’

  ‘Speaking of Cass, Mum, I need to talk to you.’

  ‘Oh?’ She put the spray and wipe down on the kitchen breakfast counter and came around to the table. ‘Sit.’

  I slumped down into the chair.

  ‘Why is your shirt all wet,’ Joanna asked, sitting opposite me, smoothing out the tablecloth.

  I bit my lip. ‘Cass’s mother paid her a visit at the deli this morning. Caused a scene. Scratched her up. The Marios sent Cass home afterwards.’

  ‘What do you mean “scratched her up”?’

  ‘Her arms are all scratched. Fingernails I guess.’

  Joanna’s smooth, well creamed and beautifully aged face crinkled into a look of horror. ‘She hurt her?’

  I nodded. ‘And accused her of stealing. I think we might have to do something about it.’

  Joanna thumped the table scaring the hell out of me. Her aura—normally a steady turquoise—began to bubble like a hot spring.

  ‘How dare she?! I will not tolerate this. Youth Services must be informed. The police! She must not be allowed to go there and treat Cassandra so poorly. My goodness if I’d been there—’

  ‘Mum!’ I said loudly, interrupting her outburst. ‘I agree and I’ve assured Cass we won’t let it happen again. But anger won’t help her. She’s got enough of her own.’

  Joanna shut her mouth abruptly. ‘Of course, dear. That’s very sensible of you. What shall we do?’

  My heart skipped a beat. My mother had just asked for my advice?

  ‘Ummm … umm … well I’ll take her out with me now and get her mind off it. Perhaps you could go and see the owners. See if you can talk them down on firing her. As soon as I have a moment, I’ll call the Department for Protection, see if I can find out where they stand on keeping her mother away from her.’

  ‘Hmmmm … yes dear. That’s a good idea.’

  I could see Joanna’s mind ticking over on something. But I didn’t have the energy to go there right now. I still had Eireen to survive and the day already felt like it was a week long.

  ‘Fine. Let’s talk about it again when we know where we’re at with the deli.’

  Joanna leaned across and patted my hand. ‘You’re a kind girl, Tara.’

  I swear I nearly fainted. In my twenty-seven years on this earth, my mother had never called me a ‘kind girl’. ‘Flakey’, yes. ‘Scatterbrained’, yes. ‘Ungrateful’, yes. But KIND GIRL? Was she sick? I surreptitiously checked her aura. No. As bright as ever. No tell-tale white patches of disease.

  I got up and walked over to the fridge. Time to leave before anything else weird happened. A girl can only handle so much! ‘Mind if I do a food raid?’

  ‘Not at all, dear. Take what you need. There’s half a pavlova left from dinner last night. It needs eating.’

  My jaw fully dropped. But I grabbed the pav and headed for the flat before I woke up from this incredible dream.

  * * *

  Cass was showered and dressed in a pale lemon dress of mine that was a little too long and just scraped the top of her Doc Martens. The coupling of light lemon crepe and badass, dusty leather came off quite well, but I didn’t know what Eireen would think. Whatever the case, if Eireen Tozzi’s attention was drawn by Cass’s wardrobe choices, then it would be ‘off’ me.

  We walked the long way around the block to Tozzi’s mum’s mansion.

&n
bsp; ‘How are you feeling?’ I asked Cass.

  ‘Alright.’ She shrugged. ‘You know what’s weird? I was pleased to see her at first.’

  ‘She’s your mum,’ I said. ‘We love our mums, even if we don’t always like them.’

  She shot me a sideways glance. ‘Love?’

  ‘What did she want?’

  Another shrug. ‘She said my sister wanted me to visit her in the pen. But I think she just wanted to find me.’

  ‘Well she’s seen you now. That’ll be the end of it.’

  Cass bit her lip and broke off some jasmine vine as we turned into Eireen’s driveway. She twirled it in her fingers then began breaking it into little pieces. ‘Maybe.’

  I linked my arm through hers. ‘Let’s concentrate on surviving this, eh?’

  ‘What’s she like?’ asked Cass.

  ‘Scariest person I’ve ever met.’

  ‘Seriously.’

  I nodded. ‘You wait.’

  We crunched down the white-pebbled driveway to the highly lacquered front door. For the first time, I noticed a little crest of arms above the peephole. Maybe it was new? A lion and a bear intertwined. How apt!

  A pale, skinny woman wearing a white blouse with black trousers answered the door.

  ‘Tara Sharp to see Eireen.’

  She raised a weary eyebrow that swept over Cass’s Doc Martens and face piercings. ‘And this is…?’

  ‘My friend, Cassandra Loft.’

  The eyebrow arched a little higher. ‘I’m Mrs Brandon. Follow me.’

  She led us down the familiar corridor, past the sitting room, dining room, anteroom, and finally into the sunroom. Eireen sat swamped by her floral armchair; her tiny feet encased in high black pumps, up on a footstool. Her hair looked like a stiff bird’s nest made of snap frozen black electrical wire. Her eyeliner was applied in dramatic thick lines around her eyes, as though she was ready for battle.

  ‘Tara, come here and kiss me.’

  I bent over the small woman and pecked the smooth cheek. How hard to credit Nick’s enormous frame was created in this petite body. ‘Hello Eireen. Are you well?’

  ‘These damn ankles of mine won’t stop swelling. The doctor tells me no more heels Eireen. I tell him to “bury me in my Louboutins”.’

  ‘Heels aren’t much good to you if you can’t walk,’ I countered.

  She gave me a little push. ‘Stand back, girl. Who is this you’ve brought with you?’

  I stepped back obediently. ‘This is my … friend, Cassandra. She shares a flat with me.’

  Eireen gave her a sharp-eyed appraisal that finished irrevocably on her shoes. ‘What in heaven’s name are those things?’

  I opened my mouth to defend Cass but she jumped in ahead of me. ‘They’re called Doc Martens and they’re chic but comfortable. Air cushioned soles. Made in Britain. Would you like to try them on?’

  Eireen pursed her lips. I expected her to say something belittling but she floored me by sliding off the chair, flicking off a pump and presenting her foot.

  Cass promptly sat on her butt on the marble floor, unlaced and slipped off her left shoe. She offered it to the elderly lady. It was too large but the expression on Eireen’s face as she felt the spring in the cushioned soles was enough to make me look away and bite my cheeks.

  After a moment of standing in the Doc, she promptly slipped the shoe off, sat down again and rang the little bell on her side table.

  Mrs Brandon appeared carrying a decanter and three small, stemmed glasses.

  ‘Aaaah,’ said Eireen licking her lips. ‘Here, Brandon.’ She patted the side table.

  ‘Will there be anything else ma’am?’ said Mrs Brandon with a hint of weariness.

  ‘Order a pair of Doctor Marty’s for me,’ she said pointing at Cass’s feet.

  ‘Ma’am?’

  ‘You know my size Brandon. Call Betts and have them delivered straight away.’

  Mrs Brandon blinked at Cass, who was holding the tried-on shoe in her hand. ‘These ones?’

  ‘Yes. Yes. Now get on with it.’

  Brandon’s expression was worthy of a billboard, but Eireen didn’t notice. ‘You. Pour the sherry,’ she said to me.

  I went from biting the inside of my cheeks to chewing my lips as I tipped the amber liquid into two glasses. ‘Cass is only seventeen Eireen. None for her.’

  ‘Nonsense,’ said the tiny woman. ‘I drank Chianti every night when I was fourteen. I insist.’

  I hesitated. ‘Look, I really thin—’

  ‘It’s alright Tara,’ Cass interjected. ‘I’ve drunk a lot worse than Mrs T’s sherry.’

  Eireen’s head swivelled between us and she gave a chuckle. ‘Mrs T, I like that. Bring this girl to visit me again.’

  I swallowed and chewed harder on my lip as I poured a third drink with less in it.

  Eireen made an unintelligible toast as we held our glasses up, and promptly polished hers off. She gave a small ladylike burp then pointed to one end of the sunroom. ‘Now you go in there shoe girl. I will speak with Joanna’s daughter alone.’

  Cass grinned at me and nodded then sauntered through the door into what I knew was the library.

  Damn. So much for my plans of not being alone with Tartar Tozzi.

  ‘Come here.’ She directed me to her footstool, moving her feet a fraction to make room.

  I swigged some sherry and poured her and me another before I complied.

  ‘What can I do for you Eireen?’

  I knew I sounded terse, but nerves were getting the better of me.

  ‘My son tells me he is in love with you.’

  I choked on the liquid in my mouth and coughed it up into my hand.

  She waited and watched me while I tried to regain some composure. Then she went in for the kill. ‘I tell him, he is married, and must make it work. He tells me he has tried, but she is a bad girl. She does bad things. So, as a mother who loves her son must do, I tell him, “get rid of her”.’

  I raised an eyebrow and held my breath.

  ‘The skinny one, I mean. He must get rid of the skinny one to make way for you. Two women I will not tolerate. Capisce?’

  ‘Capish,’ I managed to gasp out.

  ‘Now you tell me what you intend for my son? You be a bad girl and I speak to your mother. My Nicky has already had bad.’

  ‘I’m… I’m…’ I tried to think of something but my mind had emptied into a gaping void.

  Eireen didn’t let up though. ‘Good stock you come from—better than the skinny one, but you dress like a boy sometimes and you are so big. Too big for a girl.’

  ‘I-I…’

  ‘You want children? You must want children too, or I tell my Nicky you are no good. I am older now. I must see my grandchildren.’

  ‘Eireen! That’s none of your business!’ As soon as the words were out, I wanted to take them back.

  La Tozzi placed her glass carefully on the side table and drew her cardigan around her. Her expression set into so indomitably imposing that I wanted to crawl under the couch. ‘You will have children with my son! Yes!?’

  I licked my lips several times. ‘If … if you say so.’ It came out in the lamest of lame whispers.

  ‘Good. We understand ourselves.’ She picked up her sherry and gargled it down. ‘Shoe girl come back,’ she called out.

  Cass reappeared, her eyes bright and wet like she’d been laughing hard enough to cry. I glared at her but she wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  ‘Now, it is time I watch my programmes. You go, but you come another time. Bring shoe girl.’

  I stood up on slightly shaky legs. ‘Eireen,’ I ventured. ‘This conversation will stay between us won’t it?’

  ‘Tch,’ she said and waved me off, as she reached for the TV remote.

  I gritted my teeth and turned to leave. ‘Come on,’ I said to Cass, ‘best get out of here before I commit a crime of passion.’

  9

  The walk home was a reversal of fortune. Cass spoke soothing
ly to me as I stomped along feeling angry and put upon.

  ‘Don’t sweat it,’ she said. ‘She didn’t say you had to have kids right away.’

  I shot her a filthy look. ‘Is that supposed to help?’

  Cass’s cheeks were flushed holding in her laughter. Seeing that didn’t help my mood.

  I accelerated to my fastest walking pace until she had to jog to stay with my longer strides. She was puffing hard by the time I strode down the driveway past the birds.

  Joanna was standing there feeding Brains an almond.

  ‘Hello girls,’ she said. ‘I’m glad you’re back.’

  I was in no mood to chat and planned to walk on by, but the odd tone to her voice made me pull up and turn around. ‘Mum?’

  ‘Mrs Sharp?’ asked Cass, picking up on the same thing.

  Joanna slowly, gently leaned her head against the cage. Her aura was shredding little bits of blue from the edges.

  ‘MUM! What is it?!’

  ‘Your Aunt Liv, Tara. She’s had some kind of … episode. Her heart… We need to go straight to the hospital.’

  Aunt Liv is my family. I mean, of course she is, she’s my aunt, but Liv has a very special part in my heart. She’d embraced my idiosyncrasies when my mother could not and had a totally egalitarian view of the world that I adored—the socialist socialite with more than a little bohemian barmy to make her perfect company. I LOVED Liv with my heart and soul.

  ‘Of course,’ I said. ‘I’ll drive us. Where’s Dad?’

  ‘He’s playing golf. I’ve left him messages but he never checks his phone.’ Joanna staggered a little, like she might faint.

  Cass grabbed her arm. ‘I’ll come and sit with your mum in the back seat.’

  I nodded. ‘Thanks.’

  Together we walked Joanna back up the driveway and sat her in the back of Mona. Cass scrambled in alongside her.

  ‘Tara, the house is unlocked, and I need my purse, and leave your father a note, and—’

  ‘It’s OK Mum, I’ve got it,’ I said and raced across the lawn to the front door. I grabbed Mum’s purse off the sideboard then stopped and pulled out my phone and rang Wal.