A Gangster's Grip: The Riverhill Trilogy: Book 2

by Heather Burnside

  “To the Buckthorn Crew,” echoed the other members.

  -------------------

  Wednesday 1st May 1991 - evening

  Rita didn’t feel like having sex; she rarely did lately. It wasn’t that she didn’t want a baby, or that she’d gone off Yansis; she just had too many other things to think about. Since her hospital visit, she’d been filling in her temperature chart every day and, according to the pattern, she was ovulating. Yansis had been studying the chart too, so he knew it was the right time.

  It was only nine o’clock, but they were having an early night. Yansis was so keen to make the most of the opportunity that she didn’t have the heart to put it off any longer. By the time she started undressing, he was already in bed waiting, reminding her of an eager puppy. ‘All I need now is for him to wag his tail, droop his tongue and pant,’ she thought. A vision of Leroy’s dog flooded her mind, and she tensed.

  “What is wrong, Rita? You need to relax. I keep telling you not to worry, this is our special time.”

  “I know. Sorry, Yansis.”

  Rita didn’t elaborate, knowing that Yansis wouldn’t want her going over the same problems at this particular moment. Instead she shook her head, as if trying to free her mind from the torment.

  She climbed in bed beside Yansis and tried to respond to his gentle coaxing, yielding to his delicate kisses. All of a sudden, Rita heard the shrill ringing of the telephone in the downstairs hallway, and she sprang apart from him.

  “For God’s sake, Rita! It is only the telephone. Just relax.”

  He tried to continue but Rita sat up in bed, feeling on edge.

  “Rita, what is wrong? It is only the phone.”

  “I know, it just made me jump.”

  She was tempted to light a cigarette but sensed Yansis waiting patiently, so she lay back down beside him. Just as he was about to resume, there was a knock on the bedroom door, and Rita sprang up once more, pulling the sheets around her naked breasts.

  “Rita, it’s me,” Julie called from the other side of the door. “I’ve got your Jenny on the phone.”

  “Just a minute,” Rita shouted back.

  Intuition told her that Jenny wasn’t ringing with good news at nine o’clock at night, and she leapt out of bed and put on her dressing gown.

  “She sounds upset,” Julie said, when Rita met her on the upstairs landing.

  Rita raced down the stairs and picked up the receiver, which was dangling from the end of the phone’s cord.

  “Jenny? What’s wrong?”

  It was difficult to decipher most of her words. Jenny’s speech was hurried and came spilling out of her, but Rita caught the words ‘Leroy’ and ‘drugs’.

  “Try to stay calm, I’ll be right there. Ten minutes, tops.”

  Her brave words belied the way she was feeling. She slammed down the phone, shouting up the stairs before the phone had even settled in its cradle, “Yansis, we need to go, now! Something’s happened.”

  While she was still speaking, she turned towards the stairs, about to go and get dressed. Yansis was already there, fully clothed.

  “I am ready when you are, Rita.”

  -------------------

  Wednesday 1st May 1991 – late evening

  Despite Rita’s concerns, she was still mindful of the dog, and was relieved that it didn’t appear to be home when she arrived at Jenny’s. Although she had been expecting the worst, Rita was nevertheless shocked at the sight of Jenny. Her face was covered in blotches, her eyes red rimmed and swimming with tears.

  “OK, I’m here now,” Rita said, stroking Jenny’s back until she felt her becoming calmer. “Let’s sit down. Yansis can make us a cuppa, and then you can tell me all about it.”

  She looked beseechingly at Yansis over Jenny’s shoulder, and he responded by heading for the kitchen.

  “What is it; what’s upset you?” asked Rita.

  “It’s best if I show you.”

  Jenny led Rita upstairs to an unused bedroom with a built-in wardrobe. Rita was full of dread as Jenny led her towards the wardrobe and opened the door. It seemed empty; at least, the bulk of it was. Jenny pulled up a chair and prompted Rita to stand on it and take a look.

  The wardrobe had a shelf set at about 180cms high, which allowed for a recess at the top, approximately 30cms in height and the full depth of the wardrobe. Its height meant that anything at the back of the shelf would be out of view. Tentatively, Rita stepped on the chair, careful not to fall with her high heels. She could see an old blanket covering something set back in the recess.

  “Pull the blanket back,” said Jenny. “Be careful though.”

  Rita did as instructed.

  “Oh my God! It’s like a bleedin’ junkie’s paradise.”

  Tucked at the back of the recess, and obscured from view, was an assortment of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia; pills, powders, syringes, cigarette papers and various other equipment that Rita didn’t even recognise.

  “Jesus, this lot must be worth a fortune!”

  “Never mind that, Rita. What’s it doing in my house?” Jenny wept. “If the police come here, I could be arrested. I could end up in prison, for God’s sake! How could he do that to me?”

  “Surely you knew he was dealing drugs?”

  Jenny glanced at Rita, failing to meet her eyes, “Yes … I had an idea,” she admitted. “But I didn’t expect him to store them here. Just wait till I see him! He can clear off out of my house and take his drugs with him. There’s no way I’m gonna risk going to prison. How would I cope with all them murderers and rock-hard lesbo’s?”

  Although Jenny spoke in the heat of the moment, and her words had no real substance, Rita still thought it best to warn her, “Now hang on a minute, Jenny. Don’t do anything hasty. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.” Rita was running her hands through her hair again.

  With all the drama taking place, Rita didn’t realise that Yansis had followed them upstairs, until he spoke.

  “Rita is right, Jenny. I think Leroy is a very dangerous man. You need to be careful not to upset him. He might be violent for all we know.”

  The look on Jenny’s face, and the way she flinched, told Rita more than any words.

  “Has he hit you?” she asked.

  “Not really, well, sort of … He had his hand round my throat once, but he wasn’t trying to strangle me or anything. It was just like a warning.”

  “Really?” asked Rita, the anger evident through the tight creases around her temple. “What else has been going on? You might as well tell us everything now, Jenny. If you want us to help you then there’s no point keeping me in the dark. I want to know exactly what the bloody hell’s been going on.”

  Jenny took a deep breath. “Let me put everything back first so he won’t know it’s been disturbed, then we’ll go back downstairs.”

  Once Jenny had started, it seemed like she couldn’t stop.

  “Right, I’ll start with Winston. He’s been working for Leroy since he was 14. He lived on the same estate as him in Moss Side, and Leroy used to recruit younger lads into the Buckthorn Crew. If Leroy hadn’t have recruited him, one of the others would have done. Besides, it was what all the lads did round there, and he didn’t think he had any other choice. He saw all the older lads with loads of money, flash gear and cars, and he wanted some of what they had. So he went for it, but he didn’t know what was involved. Now he hates it, and he’d love to get away.”

  “Well I can kind of understand him being taken in when he was just a kid, but he’s not a kid anymore. So what’s he doing still working for Leroy? Why doesn’t he leave the gang and try and get a job?”

  “Rita, you really haven’t got a clue, have you? He’s been in and out of detention centres and prison since he was a kid. Who’s gonna give him a job with his record? Not to mention the fact that he hasn’t got any qualifications or experience.”

  “But aren’t there schemes to help lads that have been in trouble? Couldn’t h
e get on a scheme and leave the gang? Then you and him could move somewhere else and get away from Leroy.”

  “Don’t you think we’d have done that if it was that easy? Those sort of schemes are few and far between. Besides, you don’t think Leroy would let us walk off into the sunset together and live happily ever after, do you?”

  It was a rhetorical question and, after a brief pause, Jenny continued unburdening herself. “Winston’s been telling me some bad stuff about Leroy, but I don’t know what to believe. When I first met him, I knew he had a reputation as a hard man, and I knew he smoked dope and dealt in dodgy goods, but that’s all I knew. I thought I could handle that, but not the rest, especially not what Winston’s been telling me.”

  “Go on.”

  “Some of the lads in the Buckthorn Crew say they saw him kill someone … more than one. I didn’t know whether to believe it; you know what these rumours are like. There was one in prison, apparently. They say he didn’t do that one, but he ordered it and he was there when it happened. There was a gang of them, and they got away with it. Some bloke who had killed a guy that worked for Leroy.”

  Then Jenny gave the name of the man who was killed in prison. As soon as she heard the name, Rita ran to the bathroom. Her reaction was automatic, and she stayed there for some time, retching, until she had emptied her stomach. When she had finished, she straightened up and stood with her knees slightly bent and her hand propped against the wall to steady herself for a few moments. She took a few deep breaths to regain her equilibrium, before rinsing her mouth and swilling her face under the cold water tap.

  “Are you OK, Rita?” asked Yansis who had followed her into the bathroom.

  “A bit better now, thanks love. It was just a bit of a shock, that’s all,” she said, wiping her face with a towel.

  “You mean these rumours that Leroy is a killer? It might not be true, Rita.”

  “I think it is, Yansis. That’s why it was such a shock … Do you remember Julie’s friend, Amanda, the one that died a few years ago, when me and Julie were suspected of killing her?”

  “How could I forget, Rita?”

  “Well, do you remember that guy that got killed in prison?”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “That’s who Jenny was just talking about. They never found out who did it.”

  She didn’t like the reaction on Yansis’s face. The fear in his eyes was clear, and she hated doing this to him.

  “Yansis, you shouldn’t have brought me here tonight; I should have got a taxi. I don’t like involving you in all this. It isn’t fair.”

  “Nonsense, Rita,” he said, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Your problem is my problem, and we will face it together.”

  Rita stifled a nervous giggle at his melodramatic response, but she appreciated his support, “Thanks, Yansis. Let’s get back to Jenny. She’ll be wondering what we’re up to.”

  When Rita had heard Jenny relate the rumours about Leroy being a killer, she had written them off in the same way as Yansis. It was just an abstract theory, something nebulous that she didn’t regard with any real belief. But when Jenny linked the rumours to an actual event, the murder of someone she was familiar with, then they took on a new meaning. It was now something tangible and more than a theory. Possibility became probability. The shock of this realisation had rocked Rita. As well as being a big time drug dealer, in all likelihood, Leroy was a murderer. And he was living with her sister.

  Rita decided to be as frank with Jenny as Jenny had been with her, so she explained the situation regarding the killing in prison. Jenny hadn’t made the connection, and she was almost as shocked as Rita. The problem was, there was a part of Jenny that still wouldn’t accept it. Even though she had admitted how much Leroy had changed towards her, she still didn’t seem ready to come to terms with the possibility that the man she had once loved could be a murderer.

  “I’m sorry but we need to go back to Julie’s now,” said Rita. “Are you sure you’ll be OK here?”

  “Yeah. Don’t worry, Rita. He wouldn’t harm me, not while I’m carrying his baby. I’m more worried about having all those bloody drugs in my house.”

  “I hate to leave you, but I might be able to come up with a way out of all this. I want to get you away from Leroy as soon as possible. I need to talk to Yansis on our own first, though, so leave it with me.”

  As they said goodbye, Jenny held on tightly, the tears threatening to flow again. Rita found it difficult to prise herself away from her younger sister, but she knew that she had to. “Bye for now. Try to be brave, and I’ll get back to you tomorrow, I promise.”

  She kissed Jenny on the cheek and walked to the car with Yansis.

  Chapter 18

  Thursday 2nd May 1991 - morning

  Rita didn’t mention her idea in front of Jenny the previous evening, because it would have put Yansis in a difficult position. With both Rita and Jenny present, he would have felt obliged to agree to her plan. As it was, she felt bad enough for asking him. For it to work, she wouldn’t just need Yansis’s co-operation, but that of his parents and his family and friends too.

  Yansis had been a darling and had agreed straightaway, even though she had asked him repeatedly whether he was sure it was what he wanted. She could tell he was nervous about it, but he understood her need to protect her sister. Yansis needed to check that his parents were happy with the situation, though, so she waited while he made the call. Luckily they were in agreement, and Rita was relieved. Once Julie was out of earshot, she rang Jenny to tell her the news.

  “Jenny, it’s me. How are you? Good … Is Leroy there? Good. Right, here’s the plan I was telling you about last night … I’ve had a word with Yansis and he’s agreed for you and Winston to come and live in Greece after you’ve had the baby. Winston can work in the restaurant, and you can help out too once the baby’s old enough.”

  “Rita, I don’t know what to say … that’s really good of you, but, but, I don’t think it would work.”

  “Why not?”

  “Leroy would come looking for us. He wouldn’t stand for it; he’d want the baby.”

  “Well, we’ll have to make sure he doesn’t know where you are then.”

  “He’ll know alright. My dad will tell him, for one thing. My mam and dad know your address in Greece. He’ll soon get it out of them; they’re frightened of him.”

  “We’ll find a way round it, Jenny. You don’t have to come out at the same time as us. We can stagger it a bit, and you can stay in a different area till the heat dies down. Yansis has got a massive family and loads of friends. Someone will put you up; they’re all lovely people. We’ve already told his mam and dad so they’ll be expecting you.”

  “What about my mam and dad? What do we tell them?”

  “That’s the only snag. We can’t tell them, Jenny; it’s too risky. You know as well as I do that my dad would tell Leroy straightaway.”

  “You mean, just disappear without telling them?”

  “Yeah, it’s the only way, Jenny. We can’t afford to tell anyone. I’m not even telling Julie and Vinny, because it would put them at risk if Leroy came asking questions. He doesn’t know where they live, anyway, and neither do mam and dad, so hopefully they’ll be alright. Still, we can’t afford to take any chances. Vinny knows lads that live on the estate, and you never know if he might let something slip. It’s not that I don’t trust them, but the more people that know in Manchester, the more of a chance there is of Leroy finding out.”

  Rita could hear Jenny sigh down the phone before she replied.

  “Rita, it’s really good of you and Yansis. I just wish there was another way, though; I can’t stand the thought of how my mam’s gonna feel when she realises I’ve gone missing.”

  Rita prepared herself for another emotional outpouring from Jenny, but instead she could tell that her sister was becoming resigned to the idea as she added, “I suppose I should say thank you.”

  “It’s alright, Jen
ny. That’s what sisters are for, to help each other out when they’ve got problems, but you’d better not let me down, the pair of you. Winston will have to work for a living and I don’t want him getting into any trouble. If he does it’ll backfire on me, and I’ll bleedin’ kill him if he does anything to harm any of Yansis’s family.”

  “Winston wouldn’t do that, Rita, I promise. He’s a worker. He just needs a chance, that’s all.”

  “Alright, well I’m trusting you on this, so don’t let me down, and I want Winston’s word for that as well. I’m probably being a complete mug, but I believe you when you say Winston’s a good lad deep down, so I’m giving you both this chance.”

  “You’re not a mug, Rita. I’ll tell him; he’ll be fine, honest. Thanks so much for helping us out.”

  “Right, well in the meantime, be careful. You’ve got over two months yet till the baby’s born, so you’ll have to make sure you don’t do anything to upset Leroy. Are you sure you’ll be alright with him?”

  “Yeah, honest; he wouldn’t touch me. He wants this baby too much, so he’d be frightened of harming it.”

  “Well, I’ll have to take your word for it. Just act normal and, for God’s sake, don’t let him find out what you and Winston are up to!”

  “I’ll be careful, I promise.”

  “Oh and, Jenny, Yansis’s parents don’t know the full facts. They think your boyfriend is in hiding because he testified against somebody in court about a bank robbery. There’s no need for them to know the truth. It would frighten the living daylights out of them, so you and Winston will have to keep to the story. We’ll rehearse it all before we go over there, OK?”

  “Yeah, fine … Thanks again, Rita; you’re a life saver.”

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  Sunday 5th May 1991 - afternoon

  When Leroy walked through the door with Winston, Jenny’s first impulse was to run to Winston and throw her arms around him. She knew she couldn’t though. Rita’s words of a few days ago flashed back into her mind, ‘Be careful … don’t do anything to upset Leroy … for God’s sake, don’t let him find out what you and Winston are up to!’