Maura's Game

by Cole, Martina

  ‘It’s me, Liz. Let me in, love.’

  ‘Is that you, Tommy?’

  ‘Open the fucking door, will you, Lizzie?’

  The door opened and he walked into her flat. It was a long time since he had been inside the place but it felt the same as it always had. He shut the door, looking out first in case he had been followed or spotted.

  ‘So it’s true then?’

  He looked at her and held his arms wide in denial.

  ‘What you on about?’

  She sighed and, turning from him, went back into the little lounge and lay on the sofa. He followed her. The room was warm and cosy as it had always been. But it was untidy. She had never before had even one thing out of place in her home, it was one of the traits he had always liked about her. Still, he reminded himself, smack heads were not the tidiest of people.

  He settled himself on the floor. She was listening to a Pink Floyd album, Dark Side of the Moon, and he strained to hear the guitar riff in one of the tracks.

  ‘Turn it up, Lizzie, that’s a good track.’

  She shook her head.

  ‘I can’t.’

  He laughed.

  ‘What you on about?’

  He was trying to humour her; he wanted to stay until the morning if possible. She sighed and wiped her hands across her sweating face.

  ‘Me head’s aching, I jacked up a while ago and I feel like shit. But I like the sound when it’s on low, it makes me relax. Reminds me of when my Tommy boy was in his bedroom. He would play his music low and I would hear it through the wall.’

  He heard once more the desolation in her voice and didn’t know what to say to her. Lizzie, however, didn’t seem to expect an answer.

  Like most heroin addicts she was happy just to lie there quietly and go into herself.

  ‘Make a cuppa, Tommy. Do something useful seeing as how you’re here.’

  He went out to the small and cluttered kitchen and put the kettle on. He got the mugs ready as he waited for the kettle to boil and looked around him sadly. It was like a tip. He had to wash up the mugs, they were rotten, and found a scourer under the sink to clean them with. The work surface itself was stained with tea and coffee and God knew what else. But he didn’t say anything. He would talk to her in the morning. Try and make her see sense.

  He took the teas back into the lounge but she was asleep. He was glad, he didn’t know what to say to her anyway. He sat on the floor once more and sipped his tea. The album ended and he kept quiet in the ensuing silence. He could hear music coming from other flats and the sound of a dog barking on one of the balconies. He had forgotten just how noisy these places were, and knew how lucky he had been to be able to buy a nice big detached place with a few acres and a country outlook.

  Suddenly she spoke to him and her voice, after the quiet, made him jump.

  ‘What brings you here, Tommy? Aggravation?’

  He was startled at her observation but denied it immediately.

  ‘Don’t be so silly. It was seeing you tonight at Black George’s. I didn’t realise how badly you were feeling about Tommy B.’

  She opened one eye and looked at him quizzically.

  ‘That’s a first, Tommy Rifkind, you even noticing anything about a woman that wasn’t to do with nakedness, tits or sex in any other form.’

  He closed his dark eyes and stifled the retort that had sprung to his lips; he couldn’t afford to fall out with this woman. Not until the morning anyway.

  ‘Don’t be silly, Lizzie, I loved you.’

  ‘Yeah, ’course you did, Tommy. Like you loved your wife and your kids. Did you even know you had a new grand-daughter?’

  He was surprised and she laughed at the expression on his face.

  ‘Tommy’s girlfriend gave birth after he died. Sweet little thing she is – the baby, I mean, not the girlfriend. That child, Leanna, is your worst nightmare, Tommy. You see, she’s black.’

  He was stunned and through her drug-induced torpor she saw him swallowing deeply.

  ‘Don’t worry, Tommy, we don’t want anything from you. The mother’s family has been great actually. Her mum and dad are really nice people and they’re letting her live with them and helping her as best they can. Family, see. Nothing like it, Tommy, and your family is nothing like a family, so hey, there you go.’

  He sat on the floor and let her talk. It was easier with Lizzie to let her have her say.

  ‘Did you know Gina came here? After Tommy B’s death?’

  She had his undivided attention now and smiled to see it.

  ‘Nice woman, Gina. She was too fucking good for you, I can see that now. Even I was too good for you, Tommy Rifkind. I nearly died when I saw her on the step, but she said she’d come to offer her condolences and meant it. She came a few times more before she died. We talked, resolved a lot of things. I told her how bad I felt about our affair and she just smiled. Said that you were that type of man, needed new people all the time to keep your sense of self-worth. She said once people got close to you they found out what a shallow ponce you really were. Look at what you did to me. Our child was dead and I knew you didn’t care either way. Because, you see, I knew you let him carry the can even though you were up to your neck in the plot against those southern wankers all along. Tommy B knew as well. He knew what you were and still he worshipped you all his life. That betrayal of your own boy was the worst thing you ever did.’

  Tommy had his head in his hands now.

  His Gina had actually come here and said those things about him? But that was the type of thing she would do, he knew. Try and make amends. He couldn’t even bear to think about what he’d done to Tommy B.

  ‘You’ve got it all wrong, Lizzie . . .’

  She pulled herself up on to her elbows and screwed up her face as she shouted at him.

  ‘Oh, fuck off, Tommy! Your bullshit doesn’t wash with me any more. The day our boy died I started to hate you, and I will always hate you. I wasted my whole fucking life on you, can’t you understand that? Don’t you realise what you did to me and my son?’

  She could see utter confusion on the face of the man she had loved once with every ounce of her being. She had never spoken to him like this before, always striving to please him, hoping to lure him back. Well, never again. Her mobile rang and she answered it, saying a curt ‘OK’ before turning it off.

  ‘Who was that?’ Tommy was trying to change the subject and they both knew it. ‘Bit late to be getting phone calls, isn’t it?’

  He was feeling uneasy, and seeing the way she was looking at him understood in nanoseconds what had happened.

  ‘How does it feel, Tommy?’ she taunted him.

  He was shaking his head in utter disbelief.

  ‘You wouldn’t . . .’

  She was laughing now.

  ‘Wouldn’t I? Fucking try me, boy. There’s a price on your head, Tommy Rifkind, and that price is going to take my grand-daughter as far away from this place as she can go.’

  He was standing now, unable to look at her and see the triumph on her face. He went to the window and peered out between the curtains. His heart sank as he saw who was standing out there.

  ‘You cunt, Lizzie.’

  He stood over her, fists raised, and she put her arms up to protect herself from the blows she knew were coming. But he didn’t have time to punish her. Lizzie was still laughing manically as she heard the flat’s front door opening. She’d left it unlocked in readiness. Tommy was frantically trying to open the balcony door, but it had been painted over many years ago and had never worked since.

  He turned and saw Abul and two of the Ryans’ heavies standing in the room, and almost smiled.

  ‘Here you are, all present and correct.’

  Lizzie’s voice was stronger than he had ever heard it before, even with the skag rocketing through her veins. Jonas was standing behind the heavies and Tommy saw the half-smile on the boy’s cadaverous face.

  ‘Come on, Tommy, we have a plane to catch.�
� Abul smiled at Lizzie and added pleasantly, ‘Someone will bring what you are due in a few days, OK?’

  She nodded happily.

  Tommy spat in her face as he passed her.

  ‘You treacherous whore!’

  Lizzie laughed. ‘Takes one to know one, Tommy.’ She followed them from the little flat and shouted at the top of her voice, ‘Think of me, won’t you? Think of me and my boy when you die, you piece of shit!’

  Abul smiled at Tommy and said straight-faced, ‘Have you upset the nice lady by any chance?’

  Tommy looked at him in disdain and didn’t answer.

  ‘Upsetting women seems to be your forte, doesn’t it, Mr Rifkind?’

  ‘Get fucked, you black bastard.’

  Abul grinned.

  ‘Takes one to know one, as the nice lady just pointed out.’

  His two henchmen laughed.

  Tommy was beyond speech. He didn’t say another word all the way to the private airstrip. He didn’t know the blokes with Abul and for now it was best to keep his own counsel.

  Chapter Twenty

  Sarah and Leonie were still in the kitchen chatting like old friends and Maura smiled at them as she came out to get another bowl of ice for the drinks. They were both tired but determined to make the most of their first meeting. Maura knew that for her mother, having a new member of the family to fuss over and tell stories to was an unexpected bonus.

  Jack still had no idea Leonie was in the house and that suited them all, especially Leonie.

  ‘OK, girls? There’s a spare room if you feel tired, Leonie.’

  She shook her pretty head and grinned.

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘You’re flying,’ Maura nearly answered, but didn’t. No wonder Garry liked her; she was the archetypal Garry bird, and Maura was even more surprised to find that she also liked her very much.

  ‘Shall I make more sandwiches, Maws?’

  Maura shook her head and smiled.

  ‘There’s still plenty of grub in there, Mum, and we’re getting to the nub of the evening, if you see what I mean. Thanks anyway, they were lovely.’

  Sarah thought that Maura looked drawn but didn’t say anything. She knew her daughter had a lot on her mind at the moment and once more set her own fears aside. She was back in the heart of her family and enjoying every second of it. In fact, Sarah had not been so happy in years.

  This was what she had missed: being with her children, being a part of their lives. If a little voice inside was calling her a hypocrite for this after all she’d said and done she was ignoring it now. She felt needed and she felt wanted and that was all that mattered when you were nearly ninety and ready for the long sleep.

  Sarah made another of her famous pots of tea and settled down to have a good gossip with the lovely little girl her Garry had brought to meet his mother. Leonie was young enough to be his daughter, grand-daughter even, but Sarah swallowed that. Leonie was a girl and girls could have babies – and that was what the world was all about, wasn’t it?

  Jack and Billy sat together in Maura’s large dining room. The table was littered with food and bottles, and the French doors open wide to combat the cigarette smoke. Jack had already built himself a few lines to get himself through the night and the atmosphere at the moment was friendly if wary.

  Garry was on his best behaviour and for that fact Maura was grateful. Even Roy and Lee seemed relaxed.

  Jack Stern watched proceedings with a wary eye and finally asked the big question.

  ‘So what’s going to happen with me coke?’

  He snorted a line immediately afterwards and Garry said in jocular fashion, ‘We only took it to stop you snorting the profits!’

  Even Jack had to smile at that one.

  ‘Very funny, Garry, but it don’t answer my question, does it?’

  Maura heard seriousness in his voice. It sobered up all the other occupants of the room. Billy Mills closed his eyes in disgust. He was supposed to be negotiating about the drugs and Jack had just fucked it all up with his impatience.

  ‘What about Vic Joliff? Shouldn’t we deal with the main business first?’

  Garry sounded friendly still, but it was obvious he was getting pissed off with the whole thing.

  ‘I honestly have no idea where Vic is. I mean, I hear from him obviously but he don’t tell me nothing like that.’

  Roy picked up a ham sandwich and bit into it before saying quietly, ‘You are one lying cunt, Jack Stern.’

  Jack was out of his seat in a second, shouting: ‘Oi, you, hold up there! What the fuck gives you the right to say that to me, Roy?’

  Garry picked up a small handgun. Waving it in Jack’s general direction, he said merrily, ‘Well, this does for a start.’

  Maura gestured all the men back into their seats.

  ‘No childish displays if you don’t mind, guys. Just sit the fuck down and let’s sort this once and for all.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Roy has a point, Jack. You are dealing with Vic on this shipment, we all know that . . .’

  She held her hand up as he tried to interrupt her. Her voice full of barely suppressed irritation, she pointed a finger at him and said: ‘Vic got you that coke, don’t bother lying about it. Don’t ever make the mistake of treating me or mine like cunts, all right? It’s a bigger shipment than we allow other outfits to handle. Strictly speaking you should be cutting us in but let’s leave that for now. We’re trying to get to Vic and other grievances are being put on the back burner for a while.’

  She looked around the room before she made her next announcement.

  ‘Tommy Rifkind is as of now on his way here. He’s being flown from Liverpool to a nearby farm so we can guarantee we’re going to get to the bottom of it all tonight. Abul will bring him straight here.’

  They were all watching Jack’s reaction closely, even Billy Mills. Jack, as they all remarked later, took the news surprisingly well. That was what let him down if only he’d realised it.

  Maura continued in the same clear voice: ‘Kenny Smith is on his way over as we speak. He saw Vic again, gave me a message from him. Maybe he’s our best way in to the lunatic, but first we have to find Vic and you’re going to help us.’

  Jack had never felt so exposed in all his life. He knew he had the eyes of everyone in the room on him.

  ‘I can’t do it, Maura, you know that.’

  She stared at him, her clear-eyed gaze never wavering.

  ‘I ain’t a fucking grass. Vic is me mate and me partner . . .’

  He was starting to panic, they could hear it in his voice. Still no one said anything and the silence was deafening as he looked around the table.

  ‘You killed my Tony, man.’

  Jack was indignant.

  ‘I fucking well did not . . .’

  Tony Dooley Senior shook his head sadly.

  ‘You knew about Tommy, and you were in deep with Vic. You are the reason my boy Tony is dead.’

  His other sons all nodded at their father’s words.

  Billy Mills watched in abject terror as he realised what was actually going down in this room.

  Jack shook his head in disgust, the coke taking over and disrupting his thinking. He was paranoid and he was upset. He was also loose-lipped and even as he spoke he knew he was burying himself.

  ‘So much for a fucking friendly meet! You can always trust the Ryans to do the fucking dirty on you. Vic was right, you are a load of has-beens. He’ll chew you up and spit you out.’

  Garry was laughing gently at his words. He looked around the room. ‘I told you he was a fucking waste of space, didn’t I? He wants to have his cake and eat it. Or should that be coke? Thought he could swan in here, do a deal for it then waltz off without us even suspecting a thing about him. Just how stupid can a man get? This wasn’t a one off, Jack. We know you and we know Vic. This was just a toe in the water, wasn’t it? Vic Joliff wants what’s ours and he won’t rest till he gets it.’

  Jack stood up, his anger boiling
over.

  ‘Bollocks. I ain’t sitting here listening to this.’

  He signalled to his minder Jerry Sinclair. But Jerry stayed put and Jack shook his head sadly.

  ‘Bought you and all, have they?’

  Jerry shrugged nonchalantly. He didn’t give a toss what happened to Jack, that much was evident.

  ‘So much for fucking loyalty.’

  ‘You never paid me enough for loyalty, Jack.’

  All the men round the table laughed at the words. Jack was gutted and it came through in his voice and the fearful expression that was slowly settling over his face.

  ‘Want another drink while we wait for Tommy to arrive, Jack?’

  Roy’s voice was sarcastic but he nodded anyway. Jack knew he was finished; inside himself he knew this was the end. He’d already done enough to justify them nutting him. If they spoke to Tommy and found out how far back it went there was no chance of a quick merciful shot to the head. Short of a miracle he was a dead man. He swallowed the drink straight down. He had a feeling he was going to need as much alcohol as he could get. He’d need something to dull the pain once this lot went off.

  He snorted another line and pushed the small mirror towards Garry who shook his head.

  ‘Thanks to you, Jack, I’ve got plenty of me own, mate.’

  Everyone laughed again. Except, of course, Jack Stern.

  Benny was woken up by the cell door opening. He put up a hand to shield his eyes from the blinding light now flooding into the room. He saw a young man with ultra-fashionable clothes and a buzz cut walk into the cell. The door was immediately closed again and Benny felt anger building inside him. He was not sharing a cell. He was most definitely not sharing his space with anyone else.

  The young man was obviously drunk and had recently been involved in a fight. Benny decided he had been on the losing end by the state of him.

  The boy yawned and said sleepily, ‘All right, mate?’

  Benny stared at him as if he had never seen another human being before in his life. This type was actually talking to him as if they were friends or something. He swallowed down the retort that had come to his lips.