by Jacqui Rose
‘Nico?’
‘Who else?’
23
Sitting on the window bench watching Alfie and Cabhan walk into the garden having a heated discussion, her dad animated and angry, Alice sighed with relief to hear Nico’s voice.
‘I’m so glad you called.’
Nico’s tone was soft and low as he hummed his words. ‘Are you, Alice, are you really? Because I didn’t know if you would be. You see, I thought we had an arrangement. I thought you wanted me to talk to your dad, help him work out his problems.’
Fear rushed through Alice. ‘I do! I do! I’m so worried about him; I’ve never seen him so stressed. He’s trying to hide it but …’
‘Well, you’ve got a funny way of showing it, Alice. We paid you a visit at the motel like you wanted, and guess what, you’d checked out. I hope you’re not playing games with me.’
Taken aback by his harsh tone, Alice shook her head and cupped her mobile in her hands. ‘No, no, I would never do that. I want you to talk to my dad, because I don’t know what to do. He won’t listen to me and he looks really ill. I just can’t talk to him … well, not the way I can talk to you, so I really am glad you called.’
‘You sound upset, Alice.’
‘I am a bit. I was so nervous you wouldn’t phone me.’
Nico smiled to himself, playing with the toothpick in his mouth. ‘Do not fear, for I am with you.’
Alice burst into tears of delight, her emotions overwhelming her. She spoke breathily. ‘That’s from the book of Isaiah! I knew you understood. I knew it. I think you’re the only person who does … Nico, I tried, I really did try to call you, but I couldn’t get through.’
Nico sat on the bed in the cell of one of the other prisoners, watching Chris D’Amato force a gag down the man’s throat to keep him quiet; the man who’d thought it was a good idea to challenge his authority amongst the other prisoners. ‘Alice, you wouldn’t lie to me, would you?’
Alice wiped away her tears, hating the fact that Nico was doubting her. ‘Of course not, Nico! I really did try to call you.’
‘You see, that’s the odd thing, Alice, because my phone’s been working. Other people have managed to get through and look, here I am calling you, getting through to you without a problem.’
Hearing Nico’s disappointment in her, Alice’s mood dropped even further. ‘I’m so sorry, Nico. When we landed, my phone just didn’t seem to work. I know I should’ve called you sooner, maybe I need to ask—’
Spitting out the toothpick and grinding his teeth, Nico cut in, twirling a coin in between his fingers. ‘Landed? What are you talking about, Alice?’
‘We left. Dad and Franny thought it was a good idea to come back to England … I just don’t know what’s going on.’
Staring ahead, Nico’s jaw pulsated, fury rushing through his veins.
‘Nico? Nico, are you still there?’
‘Oh yes, Alice, I’m still here, I’m not going anywhere. Ever … Tell me, Alice, what does the Bible say about keeping secrets?’
Alice frowned nervously, but after a moment she quietly said, ‘For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light … Mark 4, chapter 22.’
Nico spoke firmly, making sure that Alice could feel his displeasure. ‘That’s right, Alice, but you thought it was okay not to tell me something really important. I thought we were friends. I was the one who was going to talk to your dad, arrange his birthday party.’
‘I know.’
‘Alice, there’s not many people I would trust to share my prayers with. I thought that was special. I thought we had a connection. I was stupid to think our belief joins us somehow.’
Panic rushed over her. ‘It was, it does! You’re the only person who understands. You have no idea how great it was to talk to you last week, since Mum and Sister Margaret …’ She trailed off, trying to block the images of the convent from hijacking her thoughts. Then, taking a deep breath, Alice continued, ‘And we are friends, Nico, it wasn’t like how you think it was, I promise.’
‘But how am I supposed to help your dad now? Now that you’re gone.’
‘You could call him.’
Nico slammed down his fist on the thin prison mattress, dust and crumbs jumping from it.
‘You know that won’t work. We already discussed that, didn’t we, Alice?’
Alice nodded her head robotically as Nico added dramatically, ‘I tell you what, Alice, and this is something I wouldn’t normally do for anybody, but I could make a special trip, seeing as it’s you.’
Alice whirled round, hugging the phone. This was just what her dad needed. She knew that she couldn’t help him, so the perfect person would be Nico. ‘Would you? Would you really?’
‘Yes, but no more secrets, not from me. Understand?’
Alice’s heart soared. Nico seemed just to understand. The same way she thought, he thought. Her dad would be so pleased, and maybe he’d see that believing did bring angels. ‘I promise.’
As he spoke, Nico stared at the man in his cell, a saccharine tone oozing out of him. ‘But of course, we can’t tell your dad I’m coming, can we? But that’s not keeping secrets, is it? It’s just doing what’s best. Right, now we’ve got that sorted out, I need you to help me, would you do that?’
Alice sounded surprised. ‘Of course, anything, Nico.’
‘Well, I need to decide something. I can’t quite make my mind up what to do. So, I thought I might flick a coin, but you need to call it out. Heads or tails. Heads, it’s over and tails, it’s just not over now.’
Alice giggled, not understanding, but having fun nevertheless. ‘That’s strange, but I guess I’m going to choose heads, because sometimes it’s nice to have things over with.’
Nico flicked up the coin in the air, letting it drop on the cell floor. He stared at it and a large grin spread across his face. ‘Heads it is, Alice. Just hold the line a minute.’
Putting the phone down, Nico stood up and walked towards the prisoner Chris held in a tight grip. Nico smiled as he leant into the man’s face. ‘Heads it’s over … blame Alice.’
Then, placing the bed sheet in a noose around the man’s neck and throwing the other end up through the bars across the window, Nico, with a surge of strength, yanked at the sheet, tugging the prisoner off the ground.
The man’s eyes bulged and he began to choke, his fingers pulling at the ever-tightening sheet, his legs flapping in panic as he gurgled out a horrifying noise. Nico yawned, waiting for the man to stop moving, and once he did, Nico picked up the phone again.
‘Sorry about that, Alice.’
‘What was that noise?’
Nico stifled a yawn. ‘It was just somebody hanging around.’
‘Alice! You coming down? Lola wants to say hello.’
Hearing Franny call from downstairs, Alice hurriedly said, ‘Nico, I have to go now.’
‘All right, but text me your address.’
‘When will you come?’
‘Just wait and see – the best surprises are when you’re least expecting them.’
24
In the garden, Alfie – having seen Alice take a quick glance out of her bedroom window – led Cabhan to the secluded copse, out of view from the house.
Without warning, he spun around and swung his clenched fist hard into Cabhan’s face.
As Cabhan’s lip bled, Alfie said, ‘Right, now I’ve got that out of me system, maybe we can have a decent conversation. And hopefully, once we have done, we can put our differences aside and concentrate on what the hell we’re going to do about the Russos.’
Fuming, his black skin mottled with angry red blotches, Cabhan reached up to touch his mouth tentatively.
‘You’re lucky I don’t decide to take one of them bits of wood to your head, Alf. The last man who thought he could take a swipe at me ended up in a very sorry state.’
With the sun shining brightly through the trees, Alfie stared at
Cabhan in contempt. ‘Oh, so you’re the hardman now, are you? Shame that wasn’t the case when the Russos came along or when you begged Franny for me money.’
‘There wasn’t any begging. She offered.’
Alfie, tempted to throw another punch at Cabhan, replied, ‘You didn’t have to take it though, did you? But now you have, you owe me two million quid.’
Cabhan Morton burst out into bitter laughter. ‘You’re joking.’
‘No, mate, I’m not. And neither will Vaughn once I’ve told him what happened to his money. He won’t be best pleased. You’re lucky I haven’t called him to tell him that the runt who took our money is tucked up here in the house. So you better sort it before I do make that phone call, because the mood Vaughn was in, well, I don’t think he’ll play as nice as me.’
‘You know I haven’t got that sort of money.’
Alfie lit a cigarette to try to stop his anger bubbling over and took a deep drag. ‘You see, that’s one of the problems right there. If you had no means of paying it back, then why the fuck did you take it in the first place? You know how much I needed that money. That money was for our business, so Vaughn and I could get back on our feet.’
Cabhan stared at Alfie angrily. He didn’t care for Alfie’s tone; in fact, he didn’t care for him at all. Snarling, he said, ‘Yeah, but according to Franny, or rather the messages you left her, you managed to sort out some other money, so you didn’t actually lose your business deal, did you?’
Lurching forward, Alfie grabbed Cabhan’s shirt. ‘That’s not the fucking point. I had to put my neck on the line to get it and the fact is, I’m still out of pocket by two million because you decided to be a pussy and drag Fran into your mess.’
‘What was I supposed to do?’
Alfie stared at Cabhan, not trusting himself to move, because right now he felt like breaking his neck. Yes, Cabhan was right in so far as he and Vaughn had managed to scrape the money they’d needed together to buy Reginald Reynolds’ bookmaker business, but it hadn’t been easy; in fact, it had gone right up to the wire.
Reginald had been Essex kingpin, number-one face and an old trusted friend, who’d got in contact wanting to sell his business – which included not only the best legal pitches at racetracks like Cheltenham and Newmarket, but also the monopoly on the illegal betting market in the East of England. And when Reggie had offered it to Vaughn and him, they’d bitten his hand off, knowing it was a proper touch.
So it was not only the reason they’d been looking for to come back home to Essex after their investments in Spain had all gone bust, but it was also a licence to print money, for him to get back on his feet and reclaim the crown of number-one face. And all for just two million big ones. It’d felt like such an easy deal. Both Vaughn and he had sold up in Spain, getting the money that they needed and knowing Reggie and his family only dealt in cash. It was then decided that Vaughn and he would travel to England first, and Franny, who could stay below the radar, would follow later with the cash on the boat of an old associate of theirs. And that’s where it all went wrong. Shit.
‘Alf? I said, what was I supposed to do?’
Snapping out of his thoughts and now angrier than before, Alfie, who had begun the conversation wanting to put their differences aside so they could concentrate on the Russos, raised his voice, fury coursing through him. ‘You should’ve taken the bullet and it’s a shame you didn’t, because it would’ve saved me the trouble of wanting to do it myself.’
In the prettily decorated kitchen, grateful she’d managed to avoid Alfie so far, Franny poured herself a glass of iced water from the fridge.
‘Hello, darlin’, it’s so good to see you.’
Franny turned to see it was Lola. Pushing their argument on the phone aside, Franny ran up to her and gave her a big hug, feeling a huge wave of relief rushing over her. ‘Lola! Oh my God, it’s so good to see you, too. I’ve really missed you. Listen, about the phone call, I’m sorry, it was just really difficult to explain.’
‘I still don’t know what’s happened, Alfie didn’t say when I saw him this morning, but don’t worry about it now, you can fill me in later, it’s just so good to see you. And you’ll be pleased to know Janine won’t be about for a couple of weeks or so, she’s taken Molly …’
Franny frowned as Lola stopped what she was about to say.
‘Go on, Lola. Who’s Molly?’
Not knowing what Alfie had told her yet, Lola shrugged, playing it as casual as possible.
‘Molly, oh, she’s just a friend’s daughter.’
Franny stared at Lola, hating the fact that her heart was suddenly beating harder. ‘Why are you looking so suspicious?’
Trying to brush it off, but knowing Franny knew her too well, Lola waved her away. ‘Me? Don’t be silly. Why would I look suspicious?’
‘Well, that’s what I want to know. So, come on, tell me who Molly is.’
Swallowing hard and feeling like she was being cross-examined, Lola said, ‘You’ve been hanging around with those men too much. You’ve become hard, Franny. I thought Alfie could be bad.’
A flash of hurt ripped through Franny, but she ignored it as she stared at Lola. ‘Lola! Don’t you see I’m trying to keep it together here? People think they can keep on telling me what a hard cow I am, and that’s fine, but I seriously don’t need that from you as well. So why don’t you just make it that tad easier for me and tell me who the hell Molly is!’
Slumping on the chair, Lola conceded. ‘All right, all right. Molly is Bree’s daughter … Fran, it’s nothing, don’t read anything into it. Surprisingly enough, it was Janine’s idea. She wanted to take her to Florida. Disneyland. Alfie had nothing to do with it. Look, love, Bree and Alfie, well, they haven’t got what you and he have.’
Floored by her words, Franny held onto the kitchen bench, feeling like she’d had yet another slap in the face. ‘So they have got something, then?’
‘Franny, darlin’, I don’t know what to say. I feel terrible for you, but you have been away for a couple of months. What was Alfie supposed to think, to do? I can see how it looks like he’s rushed into it, and maybe it was a bit of a rebound, you know, to make himself feel better. But seriously, Fran, it seemed like you’d just dumped Alfie and run.’
Franny sounded flat. ‘I texted him.’
‘Yeah, to tell him you weren’t coming back, and you’d taken his money! Put yourself in his shoes. He couldn’t understand any of it. He was lost, love.’
Pulling her long chestnut hair up and clipping it into a messy bun, Franny snapped, not showing the pain she felt. ‘Not lost enough that he couldn’t find his way into another woman’s bed.’
Lola’s lined face wrinkled as she tried to appeal to Franny. ‘Don’t be angry with him, he was gutted, and him copping off with Bree, that’s just men’s ways, ain’t it? It’s certainly Alfie’s, he’s always been like that.’
Pouring herself another drink, Franny felt her hurt turn to anger. ‘Jesus, Lola, what century are you living in? I can’t believe you sometimes. Why is it that you always make out that Alfie’s this sweet, innocent boy? You’ve done that for as long as I’ve known you. If he loved me like he said he did, then he would never have set up home with the first woman he came across.’
‘He’s known Bree for a long time,’ Lola said hesitantly before changing her mind. ‘But look, that’s another story for another day, because as things stand, the same can be said of yourself, Fran. Don’t be a hypocrite, darlin’.’
Fuming, Franny looked at Lola in bewilderment. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Well, if you loved Alfie the way you say you do, how could you not tell him what was going on?’
Exasperated, Franny pointed at Lola. ‘Ditto, Lola. Because if you loved me like you say you do, how could you keep the fact that Alfie was playing happy fucking families from me? I’ve only been away for a few weeks!’
‘Just calm down, Fran! We’re going around in circles here. A lot has happened
but no one’s happier to see you back home than me and Alfie. This Bree, she ain’t bad, she ain’t the enemy. Give her a chance.’
Throwing her glass into the sink and hearing it smash into tiny pieces, Franny raised her voice again. ‘So now there’s polygamy in Essex, who’d have thought?’
Munching down on the Smarties Molly had left in a bowl, Lola sank deeper into one of the white leather kitchen chairs and shook her head in despair. ‘It ain’t like that, Fran. I know it’s hard on you, but think of how Bree must feel.’
Red-faced, Franny couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Bree? Bree? Are you being serious?’
‘Yes, because let’s face it, we’re talking about Alfie here. Who knows what he told Bree about you. And like I say, he genuinely thought it was over. So, on paper he hasn’t really done anything wrong. You’re more of a threat to Bree than she is to you.’
With her eyes steely, Franny hissed her words. ‘Listen, I’ve never competed over a man and I’m not going to start now. She’s welcome to him.’
‘That hard head of yours can sometimes be your downfall.’
Before Franny could say anything, the door opened and Bree, dressed casually in jeans and a striped sweater, walked in; though on seeing Franny, she immediately turned to go. Embarrassed, she mumbled her apologies. ‘Sorry, sorry, I didn’t know you were in here.’
‘It’s becoming a bit of a habit with you.’
Bree looked at Franny oddly, noticing properly how beautiful she was, which she had to admit didn’t make her feel particularly better. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Walking into rooms and not knowing anybody’s there. You did the same last night.’
Uncomfortable and not sure if Franny was joking or not, Bree gave a small smile. ‘Yeah, I did, didn’t I. Listen, I’ll leave you to it.’
Franny shook her head, intrigued by how seemingly shy Bree was. She could certainly see how Alfie had fallen for her. She spoke coolly, trying to sound as casual as possible. ‘Don’t go on my account, Bree, I was just leaving. I’ve got a few things to sort out with Cabhan.’