Gangsters Wives

by Lee Martin

  ‘I don’t.’

  ‘So why?’ he pressed.

  ‘Now it’s your turn to mind your own business.’

  ‘No, Kate. This is important. I mean it.’

  ‘Wait a minute. You told him you were in the building trade.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘Because he let it slip.’

  ‘And that’s why you followed him?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Tell me Kate.’

  ‘Are you undercover?’

  Ali just pulled a face.

  ‘Christ, you’re going to do that job with him.’

  ‘What job?’

  ‘Don’t play innocent Ali. The job that needs two JCBs. That job.’

  ‘What do you know about it?’

  ‘Just about everything.’

  ‘You shouldn’t.’

  ‘Maybe. But I do. When is it?’

  ‘So you don’t know everything.’

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I’ll grass you up Ali.’

  ‘And take the consequences?’ he said.

  ‘Whatever.’

  ‘I don’t believe you.’

  ‘Then I’ll get somebody else to do it.’

  ‘And I could grass you, us, up.’

  ‘And take the consequences?’ Kate said back to him, echoing Ali’s words.

  ‘Touché.’

  ‘So tell me.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Soon, obviously.’

  Ali’s expression said nothing.

  ‘It must be soon.’

  ‘Why do you want to know anyway?’

  ‘So it’s true.’

  ‘Tell me Kate.’ Ali said again, gently.

  ‘Because we’re going to rip them off.’

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘Rob the robbers.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Us girls.’

  ‘Which girls?’

  ‘Eddie’s wife, Joe’s wife, Connie’s wife and me.’

  Ali laughed. ‘You’re going to take four of the most dangerous men in London’s money? You must be having a laugh.’

  ‘Three men. Eddie’s in prison remember. You were there. You know as well as I do. For all you know they might’ve seen you.’

  ‘I made sure they didn’t. Only you. Anyway, we all look the same, us Asians. They haven’t got a clue. I was booted and suited that day. Now I’m a greasy Paki in a leather jacket, who can get hold of some buckshee heavy machinery. Bent as a nine-bob note, me. Your old man put out the word. And I heard about it. Went to my guv’nors and they agreed that I should do the business. Simple.’

  ‘And you’re going to get them nicked.’

  ‘That’s the plan. But now you know…’

  ‘Then help us. We could go away together. There’d be enough money to last us the rest of our lives. You want to be with me. You’ve told me enough times.’

  ‘An interesting idea Kate. But how do I know I can trust you?’

  ‘You don’t.’

  He smiled. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘Just say I agree. How do you intend to carry out this audacious plan?’

  ‘You first. Will you do it?’

  Ali sat back and sipped at his drink. He was becoming less and less in love with the job every day. The racism, the e-mails calling him a dirty little wog stealing white men’s jobs. ‘I’ll think about it,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time. It won’t be for weeks. Trust me.’

  ‘I suppose I have to,’ said Kate.

  ‘Now, I’m off today. Fancy going somewhere quiet?’

  ‘If you do.’

  ‘Always.’

  36

  After she left Ali, Kate called Sadie. She wasn’t looking forward to telling her what was going on, but it was the only way. ‘What’s up love?’ asked Sadie. ‘You got something for me?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You sound rotten. You coming down with something?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘So tell me.’

  ‘Not on the phone. We have to meet.’

  ‘Sounds important.’ There was a note of excitement in Sadie’s voice.

  ‘It is.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘Soon as.’

  ‘Today?’

  ‘No. Robbo’ll get the hump. Tomorrow morning?’

  ‘Sure. Where?’

  ‘Bluewater.’

  ‘Sounds OK. What time?’

  ‘About eleven.’

  ‘OK by me. Look I’ll ring you when I’m there, and we’ll find somewhere quiet.’

  Somewhere quiet was a coffee shop on the first floor mezzanine. Kate was already there when Sadie phoned. ‘I’m just parking up,’ she said.

  Kate gave her directions and ordered more coffee, and within a few minutes Sadie joined her. ‘Go on then,’ said Sadie when she was settled. ‘What’s the problem?’

  ‘You’re not going to believe this.’

  ‘Try me.’

  Kate was close to tears as she told Sadie about seeing Ali with Robbo, and their subsequent meeting. ‘He’s what?’ said Sadie.

  ‘He’s going in as a builder. He can get those dump trucks.’

  ‘And he’s a Paki.’

  ‘Don’t Sade.’

  ‘Christ on a bicycle. I don’t believe this.’

  ‘Believe it.’

  ‘And you told him about the plan?’

  ‘It was the only way.’

  ‘And he’s going to help us get the cash?’

  ‘So he said. When I had his cock in my mouth.’

  ‘Fuckers will say anything for a blow job.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Did you believe him?’

  Kate shrugged.’

  ‘And you had a shag?’

  ‘Two. But he’s not the same as he was. He’s gone all nasty. Like he’s in control now.’

  ‘That’s men for you. Fuck me Kate, you are a one.’

  ‘So what do we do?’

  ‘It’s obvious. We use him, like he’s used you. And then we stitch him up too.’

  ‘You reckon?’

  ‘I know my love. Now you’re going to have to box clever. Get everything out of him that you can. OK?’

  ‘I will.’

  ‘And for Christ’s sake be careful.’

  ‘I’ll do that too.’

  * * *

  Meanwhile Ali was busy trying to convince his boss that he had to obtain two JCB earth moving machines. And it wasn’t easy.

  ‘What the hell do they need them for?’ demanded DCI John Loomis, from behind his desk at Scotland Yard. He was an old school type of copper, more Regan than Morse. More seventies pop than grand opera.

  ‘Well, I don’t think they’re going to be digging a swimming pool,’ replied Ali. ‘It’s a blag.’

  ‘Of course it’s a bloody blag. But what? The top layer of the M4?’

  ‘If it was just one I’d say ATMs. But these blokes are serious villains. It’s a tin can of some kind. They like doing cash in transit. Don’t forget the mail van.’

  ‘As if I could. Bastards. But two. Christ, do you know how much these things cost?’

  ‘I’ve Googled them.’

  ‘You bloody well would. Are we going to get them back?’

  Ali crossed his fingers behind his back. ‘Sure Guv. I guarantee it.’ In a pig’s ear’ole, he thought. But tough. The Met could afford it. They had money to burn. Always paying out for some mistake or another. Fuck ‘em. ‘And I’ll need a low loader,’ he added.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Well I can drive one. I know how. But not two.’

  ‘How the hell do you know how to drive one?’

  ‘Gap year. I worked building sites.’

  Loomis gave him the sort of look that said he didn’t approve of things like gap years, but he relented. ‘Oh shit,’ he said. ‘We’ll have to hire the fucking things I suppose. What about my budget?’

  Sod your budget, thought Ali. I hope I won�
��t be around to sign the chit.

  ‘Go ahead then,’ said Loomis. ‘But take it easy for Christ’s sake.’

  37

  And, then, when it seemed things couldn’t get any more complicated for her, Kate got a phone call from her eldest brother, Ben. ‘Dad’s ill,’ he said.

  ‘Something serious I hope.’

  ‘Don’t make jokes.’

  ‘That’s no joke,’ she said. ‘I mean it.’

  ‘He’s dying.’

  ‘Break out the party hats.’

  ‘Don’t be like that, Katie.’

  ‘What should I be like?’

  ‘He’s asking for you,’ said Ben.

  ‘Tough titty.’

  ‘He’s changed, sis.’

  ‘Into a frog?’

  ‘Whatever you feel about him Kate, he’s still your dad.’

  ‘He gave up that job years ago.’

  ‘You haven’t seen him darlin’.’

  ‘And I don’t want to.’

  ‘How long’s it been?’

  ‘Not long enough.’ Four years to be precise, she thought. And she wished it had been longer.

  ‘Katie, please. He’s at the house. He discharged himself from hospital and went home.’

  ‘With that bimbo?’

  ‘No. She fucked off when he was first diagnosed.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Cirrhosis of the liver.’

  ‘Painful?’

  ‘Very.’

  ‘Good fucking job,’ said Kate, harshly.

  ‘You don’t mean that.’

  ‘Yes I do. Remember the way he was with mum, and me. I suppose you don’t. You boys were all right. He worshipped you.’

  ‘And you. And mum.’

  ‘He had a funny way of showing it. The thick end of his fist, as I remember.’

  ‘We did what we could. He laid into us too.’

  ‘And what did you do? Fucked off as soon as you turned 18. Left us with him.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. And I’m sorry, sis. But he has changed. He’s got religion.’

  ‘Now you are taking the piss. Johnny Wade on his knees in front of God. That I would like to see.’

  ‘Come and see him then. He hasn’t got long.’

  She hesitated.

  ‘He’s your blood,’ Ben pressed. ‘Come on love, do the right thing.’

  ‘OK, Ben. I give in. When?’

  ‘Soon as. He’s going fast. You won’t recognise him.’

  ‘Tomorrow?’

  ‘Good girl.’

  She hung up and poured herself a stiff drink. She was all alone again as usual, and she sat down and thought about the past, and the present, and wondered what the future would bring. Nothing good, she thought. The way things were going.

  She told Robbo what Ben had said, and he asked her if she wanted company.

  ‘No. I’m better off on my own.’

  ‘Well, give him my best,’ he said. ‘I always got on with the old man.’

  ‘You didn’t have to live with him.’

  ‘That’s true. Anyway, I’ve got things to do myself.’

  I just bet you have, she thought.

  The next morning she got up early, leaving Robbo in bed, showered and dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, had a sparse breakfast which she couldn’t eat, her stomach tied up in knots at the thought of seeing her father after such a long time. Around ten she got into her car and drove to the old house in Plaistow where she’d known such sorrow, and where she’d watched her mother dying.

  Nothing much had changed there. It was a big place for the area, a corner property hidden by high walls and hedges. As she parked outside and walked up the front path she noticed that the flower beds that had been Dolly’s pride and joy, blooming with bright fragrant flowers, were now unkempt and choked with weeds.

  She knocked on the front door and Ben opened it. ‘Hello darlin’,’ he said. ‘Long time.’ He went to embrace her, but she backed off. ‘Like I said, not long enough,’ she said. She hadn’t seen Ben for years either.

  ‘Be like that then.’

  ‘What did you expect? Hearts and flowers?’

  ‘You’ve grown hard Katie.’

  ‘I had good teachers.’

  ‘Listen,’ he said as they stood in the hall. ‘We did what we could. The boys and me. But we had our own lives. You were just a kid.’

  ‘Old enough to know what was going on with mum.’

  ‘I’m sorry about that. But you know what she was like. She wouldn’t hear a word against him.’

  ‘She was stupid.’

  ‘Don’t talk about mum like that.’

  She ignored his comment. ‘Where is he?’ she asked.

  ‘In bed. You want some tea?’

  ‘If you like. Anybody else here?’

  ‘No. We take it in turns. We’ve all got work and kids. You’ve never seen my youngest. I’ve got a photo.’

  He pulled out his wallet and showed Kate a photo of a pretty little girl in a party frock. ‘Her second birthday,’ he said. ‘You could’ve come.’

  ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘But I didn’t. Now, how about that tea?’

  38

  Ben made a pot in the kitchen. Kate remembered being a young girl, sitting on the wooden chair in the corner whilst Dolly cooked and poured out her troubles to her. The kitchen hadn’t changed much either. Just a bit more used. Like us all, thought Kate.

  She sat at the table as Ben poured her a cup then heard a knocking on the ceiling above. ‘He’s awake,’ said Ben. ‘I’ll take him up a cuppa, and tell him you’re here.’

  He poured a third cup and went upstairs. He was gone for ten minutes, and Kate drank the bitter brew. It reminded her of the bitter times when she’d lived at home, and the fact that Ben had never been able to make a decent cuppa to save his life. She smoked a cigarette to calm her shaking hands and stubbed it out in her saucer.

  When Ben returned, he said. ‘He’s going to have a wash and shave, and take his meds. He’s glad you’re here.’

  ‘I’m not.’

  ‘Leave it out sis. Just for now. You don’t know what he’s like these days.’

  ‘Oh yes I do.’

  Ben shook his head, but said nothing.

  Just like old times, Kate washed up her cup, dropping the cigarette butt into the rubbish bin. Old habits die hard, she thought. If you left crocks lying around when she lived here she got the sharp edge of Johnny’s tongue, and sometimes worse.

  Eventually there was more hammering on the ceiling, and Ben said. ‘He’s ready. He wants to see you on his own.’

  Lucky me, thought Kate, but she didn’t bother to say it.

  She went out of the kitchen and climbed the familiar stairs to the first floor. Johnny and Dolly had shared the master bedroom, and she pushed open the door and looked inside. It was gloomy there, the curtains drawn, and smelled like a hospital. Sharp, with an overlying stink of bodily corruption, and Kate almost gagged. ‘Is that you Katie?’ asked a familiar but weakened voice from the bed.

  ‘It’s me.’

  ‘Come in girl.’

  ‘Haven’t you got a light in here?’

  ‘It’s not pretty.’

  ‘Just put the light on Dad, I’ll break my neck otherwise.’

  She heard a fumble, then a dim bulb in the bedside lamp came on. Johnny Wade was propped up in bed by two pillows. His face was the colour of urine, and his eyes were like a pair of fried eggs in a face so gaunt she hardly recognised him. His once black hair was grey and thin and his hands on the covers shook uncontrollably. He saw the shock on her face and said. ‘Told you.’

  She looked around the familiar room now transformed into a hospital ward with an oxygen tank, a stand for a drip, a Zimmer frame, a TV mounted on brackets, and a table covered in pill boxes. ‘Christ, Dad,’ she said. ‘It’s like Casualty in here.’

  ‘Ain’t it just. Come close, let me see you.’

  Kate did as she was bid and he peered at her closely. ‘Christ. Just l
ike your mother. Where you been girl? I’ve missed you.’

  Kate almost laughed. ‘Yeah, that’s right Dad. You’ve had nobody to knock about.’

  ‘That’s not me any more. Come closer. Sit down.’

  Kate went to his bedside and perched on the edge of the mattress. Johnny reached out a trembling hand. After a moment she took it. All the strength seemed to have gone out of him and it was like holding an old glove full of fish bones. Suddenly Kate was no longer frightened. She was the strong one now, and she could have broken his wrist like a breadstick.

  ‘How long have you got Dad?’ she asked.

  ‘Not long love. Not long at all.’

  ‘So what am I supposed to do?’ Kate spat out.

  ‘A bit of sympathy wouldn’t hurt.’

  ‘Like what you gave me and Mum. And the boys, for that matter.’

  ‘I did my best. I fed and clothed the lot of you.’

  ‘Out of what?’

  ‘The same as your old man now. Don’t get all righteous with me.’

  ‘I hear that’s what you’ve got,’ she said. ‘Religion, isn’t it?’

  For the first time she noticed a beaded rosary around his left wrist. ‘Come on Dad, what’s all that?’

  ‘I was confirmed a Catholic.’

  ‘Were you?’

  ‘Did my stint as an altar boy until the priest started to fiddle with me. I gave him a smack and never went back to church.’

  ‘Until now.’

  ‘I need it. Listen Katie. Forget what’s been between us. I need to talk.’

  ‘To confess?’

  ‘I done that already. The priest comes every few days.’

  ‘But doesn’t fiddle about I assume.’

  ‘I’m a bit old and ugly for that these days.’ He laughed. A dreadful sound that turned into a fit of coughing, and he put the oxygen mask over his face. ‘Yeah. But I do need to confess to you. I know I treated you and Dolly bad. But we never expected you to come along, and when you did…’

  ‘I wasn’t wanted,’ Kate finished for him.

  ‘You were a jewel. We all loved you. But you went off the straight and narrow.’

  ‘What the bloody hell do you know about the straight and narrow for Christ’s sakes? All I did was because of you.’

  ‘The same old Kate,’ he said. ‘Always got the hump.’

  ‘So what’s the confession Dad? Smacking me and Mum around? I know all about that already.’

  He was suddenly serious. ‘No love. Worse than that.’ He hesitated. ‘Listen. I know I’ve been a bad man all my life. Despicable. But now I’m going to meet my maker and I need to make recompense.’