Black Widow

by Jessie Keane

  ‘You’re only jealous…because you didn’t get the…chance to do it,’ whispered Darren, and started coughing again. He closed his eyes.

  ‘Shh,’ said Dolly soothingly.

  Darren’s blue eyes opened. They looked around vaguely, as if he couldn’t see too well. They fastened on Annie’s face.

  ‘There is something,’ he mumbled.

  ‘Name it,’ said Annie. ‘Anything.’

  Darren told her. Annie nodded, and tried to smile at him. ‘It’s done,’ she assured him.

  ‘And so am I, my darlings…’ sighed Darren, closing his eyes again.

  ‘You’re such a fucking drama queen,’ cried Aretha.

  ‘Yeah, that’s me…’ He coughed again, wincing with pain. ‘Oh…fuck…’

  ‘Shh,’ said Dolly, her face fraught as she smoothed his brow with her hand, giving him whatever comfort she could.

  Darren stopped coughing, his breath wheezing out, all the tension seeming to drain out of him.

  He didn’t breathe in.

  They watched him. Nothing.

  Annie put her hand to his neck. There was no pulse.

  Darren was gone.

  78

  Tony took the girls back to Limehouse an hour later. They were all subdued. After Constantine made a couple of quick telephone calls he left with Annie and Layla, leaving two of his men to stay there and see to the clearing-up of the kidnappers and to make arrangements for Darren. They would take him to a hospital and leave him there. Nothing else they could do for him right now.

  ‘Go careful with him,’ Annie told him.

  Constantine’s other heavy drove him and Annie and Layla round to Harley Street where a private doctor was waiting to check Layla out.

  Annie stayed with Layla while the doctor gave her a thorough examination, assisted by a friendly, professional nurse. They checked over the stump on her hand and replaced the dressings, declaring that it was healing and would cause her no trouble.

  Yeah, except she’s going to be one finger short for the rest of her life, thought Annie angrily.

  They also checked her to be sure that she had not been physically or sexually assaulted, something Annie protested against at first, but she knew it had to be done. To Annie’s great relief, Layla was fine. Completely fine. It was Annie who physically shook and felt nauseous and bit her lip throughout the examination, while Layla chatted brightly to the nurse and seemed to be suffering no ill effects whatsoever.

  ‘The problems might manifest themselves later,’ said the doctor to Annie, when it was all—thank God—over.

  ‘Meaning?’ Annie asked, anxiety flooding through her like a poisonous stream.

  ‘Children sometimes bury things,’ he said. ‘Painful things. And sometimes these things come out later. Physically she is fine, but mentally there may be scars.’

  Annie listened as Layla wittered on to the nurse, seemingly completely okay. But maybe damaged.

  Please don’t let that be the case, she prayed. You’ve brought her home to me, now let that be the end of it.

  Then they checked Annie herself. There was bad bruising over her ribs, and on her legs, but she was tough; she’d survive, she’d heal.

  Constantine was in the waiting room. He stood up when she emerged and Layla dashed straight over to him, smiling. Annie hung back a little, more cautious than her daughter. But didn’t they say kids always knew who was basically good and who was bad?

  Constantine was a mobster. Annie had no illusions about that. But also…also he had moved heaven and earth to help her. Layla already liked him. And she had to confess, if only to herself, that she liked him too.

  She liked the way he squatted down to Layla’s level and chatted easily to her about how nice the doctor was, and that the nurse was a lovely lady, not as nice as her mummy, but really lovely.

  ‘Well, your mummy’s a very special lady,’ he told her gravely.

  ‘Yeah, she is. My daddy’s nice too.’

  Constantine’s eyes met Annie’s over Layla’s head.

  Jesus, how was she supposed to break news like that to Layla? wondered Annie hopelessly. How could she possibly tell a girl who was not quite four years old that her father was dead?

  ‘It’ll all work out,’ Constantine told her when she stood there looking troubled. It was as if he’d read her mind.

  Constantine stood up, swinging Layla up into his arms. She laughed at the speed of it, and clung on to him as if she’d always known him, as if none of this nightmare had even happened.

  Children bury things, Annie recalled the doctor’s words. Problems can come out later.

  ‘Will it all work out? Really?’ Annie fretted, wondering if, after all this, Layla could stand to hear that Max was gone.

  ‘Sure it will,’ he told her positively. ‘The worst is over. Where to now?’

  Annie told him where she wanted to go next. ‘But if you’re busy, I can call Tony…’ she said awkwardly.

  ‘I’m not busy,’ he said, and a look passed between them over Layla’s head. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

  79

  Half an hour later Annie was standing on Jeanette’s doorstep. The door had been mended. When the blonde opened it in a grubby bathrobe, looking bedraggled, her face formed into a scowl at the sight of Annie.

  ‘Oh, it’s you.’

  ‘Yeah. Thanks for the warm welcome.’

  If Jeanette had known the state her family were in right now, the welcome would have been even less effusive.

  ‘What, you’re not going to bust my door off its hinges this time?’ Jeanette demanded irritably. From back in the house there came a wail. ‘Oh for fuck’s sake.’ Jeanette closed her eyes as if trying to hold on to the last shreds of her sanity.

  Jimmy Junior came toddling out from the kitchen. He looked grubby too. His clothes were dirty and his face was streaked with snot.

  ‘Will you for God’s sake stop making all this bloody noise,’ Jeanette yelled at him.

  Annie saw the little boy’s grin fade as he shrank back, startled. ‘Don’t yell at him like that,’ she said.

  Jimmy Junior’s eyes met her and he held out his arms. ‘Choc,’ he said. ‘Choc!’

  Annie gave a wry smile. ‘Nothing wrong with your memory, is there, little Jim?’ She walked past Jeanette and went to the little boy. ‘Want to go and get some more chocolate with your Auntie Annie?’

  ‘Yeah!’ Jimmy Junior looked delighted.

  From the kitchen came a longer, louder wail. The baby was crying, shrieking its head off.

  Probably hungry. Or hadn’t had her nappy changed in a month of Sundays…Annie stalked grimly in there and the smell hit her like a punch in the nose. The baby was lying there in its cot, wet through, bawling its poor little head off.

  ‘Jeanette,’ Annie called back over her shoulder, ‘when exactly did you last change her?’

  ‘Look, I’m not good with kids,’ said Jeanette, hustling into the kitchen behind her and glaring at Annie as if she was in the wrong. ‘I’ve never been good with them, okay? They’re messy at both ends and noisy in the middle. I didn’t ask to be playing bloody surrogate mummy to these two, so don’t give me any hassle, okay?’

  ‘Where’s Jimmy?’ asked Annie over little Mo’s screaming. Jimmy Junior had fastened himself firmly to her leg and seemed disinclined to let go.

  ‘As if I fucking know,’ snapped Jeanette.

  ‘Meaning?’ Annie snapped right back.

  ‘Meaning I ain’t seen him all week. Meaning he’s buggered off somewhere, Christ knows where, and left me in the shit, really in the shit, trying to cope with these two brats of his.’

  Annie smoothed a hand over Jimmy Junior’s silky head. ‘Hey, Jim,’ she said.

  He looked up at her.

  ‘Got someone for you to meet outside. Someone you’re going to really love.’

  He was staring at her, smiling.

  ‘Your cousin Layla,’ said Annie.

  Years later she would remember that mo
ment, when she had told Jimmy Junior he had a cousin, and that he was going to love her. She would also remember the look on Jeanette’s face, the way the colour drained from it, the expression of guilty surprise.

  ‘She out?’ Jimmy Junior pointed with one chubby finger towards the door.

  ‘She’s outside, yeah. And she really, really wants to meet you.’

  Annie picked up the baby from the cot, took Jimmy Junior’s hand and took them both to the door. Constantine’s man was there. He silently took the grizzling baby and the small boy from her, and went off down the path to the car.

  Annie went back into the kitchen.

  ‘Hey, don’t get any ideas,’ said Jeanette, rallying bravely, trying to keep her voice level while her eyes, darting frantically and settling on nothing, gave her away. ‘I don’t want you getting all pally with those kids, Jimmy wouldn’t like it.’

  ‘Jimmy’s long gone, ain’t that sunk in yet?’ Annie stared at her. Shit, she really was dense. ‘No, I guess not. These kids are my family. They’re going back to their mother, right now.’

  ‘Hey, you can’t just walk in here and take them,’ said Jeanette hotly.

  Annie stuck her hands in her pockets to keep them from throttling Jeanette.

  ‘I just did. You want to make something of it?’ she asked, pushing the anger down. Had to stay calm, rational, even though a killing rage was gripping her. This bitch, this treacherous little cow, was trying to face her down.

  Jeanette looked at Annie’s face. She shrugged nervously.

  ‘Hey, I should care,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want the damned kids in the first place. But Jimmy’ll be back soon, and then there’ll be trouble.’

  Now Annie almost felt sorry for her. Almost, but not quite. It was obvious that Jimmy had realized the whole thing was going tits-up. And he’d fucked off without even bothering to tell Jeanette the news.

  ‘Your family been in touch?’ Annie asked her.

  ‘What?’ Jeanette was pale now; she looked slightly sick.

  ‘You know, the family. Danny. Vita. Una. They been in touch with you recently?’

  Jeanette shrugged, trying to play it cool. ‘Oh! Nah, I hardly ever see them. We’re not close.’

  Annie nodded slowly, her eyes acute on Jeanette’s face.

  ‘Well, that’s good,’ she said at last. ‘Cos I think that Danny and Vita might not be in touch again for…oh…a very, very long time. I guess it must have been quite convenient, having Una right there on the spot to keep an eye on me.’

  Jeanette said nothing. Her eyes on Annie’s were suddenly full of fear.

  ‘Did you do it for the money, Jeanette?’ asked Annie. ‘Every successful hit needs an insider, did you know that? I bet you did. And you were the insider on this one.’

  ‘Hey, wait—’

  ‘Yes, you were. You met Vita in Palma the day before the hit. Did a little girly shopping. Bought some shoes. Bounced a cheque. Had lunch. Oh yeah—and told her the perfect time to strike.’

  ‘I didn’t…how could…?’

  ‘How could I know about that? Friends in high places, Jeanette. And low ones too. And think about it. Why did they knock me out while it was all going down, but not you? Why would they do that?’

  Jeanette was silent. Her eyes dropped away and she swallowed.

  ‘What, nothing to say?’ prompted Annie.

  Jeanette’s eyes met Annie’s. Jeanette’s were sick with terror now.

  ‘None of it was my idea,’ she said.

  Annie nodded.

  ‘Oh, good. That makes me feel a whole lot better about things. About…oh, about having my husband and his brother murdered. And my friends murdered. And my child snatched and mutilated.’

  Jeanette’s eyes were desperate now.

  ‘Look, it was nothing to do with me. Danny and Jimmy cooked up the whole idea; they roped in Phil to help, and Vee’s good with kids so she went along too. I didn’t want anything to do with it.’ Her eyes fastened again on Annie’s face. ‘What have you done with them?’ she asked, her voice trembling.

  ‘Me?’ Her eyes were cold as they rested on Jeanette. ‘I’ve done nothing, Jeanette. I’ve done nothing and I’ve seen nobody. Some friends got my child back for me. That’s all I know.’

  Jeanette blinked and suddenly her eyes filled with tears. ‘What have you done with them?’ she shrieked.

  Annie’s eyes remained on Jeanette. She saw the girl’s pain, and she relished it.

  ‘Yeah, it hurts, don’t it?’ she said softly. ‘It hurts to have people you love torn from you. I can see you appreciate that now, Jeanette. It’s just a fucking pity you didn’t think of that before you and Jimmy fucking Bond and your crooked family started in on all this.’

  Jeanette was shaking her head, tears streaming down her face. ‘I don’t know anything,’ she insisted weakly.

  ‘Sure you don’t,’ said Annie. Her voice hardened. ‘You were the insider, Jeanette. You knew when was the best time to strike, and you told them. The day before it happened, you borrowed Rufio’s car and went into Palma on your own. You didn’t tell anyone you were going until after you were back. You were afraid I might want to go in with you, weren’t you? You didn’t want me tagging along, because you were going to meet up with your bloody sister and check that everything was in place for the hit the next day, tell them it was good to go. Isn’t that how it was?’

  Jeanette shook her head wildly.

  ‘Good old Jeanette, always the innocent,’ said Annie with a sour smile. ‘And Jimmy was in on it too,’ said Annie. ‘My number one man, Jimmy. Max’s number one man. Only that wasn’t quite good enough for him, was it? He wanted to have it all.’

  Jeanette’s face crumpled and suddenly she looked years older. ‘I thought we really had something good going, me and him…’

  ‘Oh? Like you had with Jonjo?’

  ‘I’m not sorry about Jonjo,’ she said, her expression fearful but surly. ‘He knocked me about. He was nasty to me.’

  And Jimmy would have been just the same, given time, thought Annie.

  ‘A bullet through the brain’s a bit of an extreme punishment for that, wouldn’t you say?’ Annie looked at the woman in disgust. ‘Come off it, Jeanette. Jimmy’s no better than Jonjo, in fact he’s a fucking sight worse. Say what you like about Jonjo, but at least he was always loyal. But not Jimmy. Oh no. He wanted the Carter manor for himself. I suppose you all met in the pub for a pint and started talking, saying about how much money Max and Jonjo had made over the years, and maybe thinking that you didn’t have the fucking rent money, let alone money to spare for fancy villas in sunny Spain, and everyone got a touch resentful, is that how it started? And once it started, I suppose it was easy to see how everything could fall into place. Working as a team, you could all have what you craved. Danny and Vita and this Phil character could have money to burn. You could have money, plus Jimmy. And Jimmy could have money, and more important the manor could be his and his alone, once Max and Jonjo were history.’

  Jeanette said nothing. Her silence was more telling than all her previous protestations of innocence.

  ‘But it’s all gone wrong, hasn’t it?’ Annie shook her head sadly. ‘Such a good plan and such a bad result. Deary deary me. No money. No manor. No fuck-all, in fact. Jimmy’s legged it while he’s still got legs to do it with. Really smart move, but it won’t do him any good because I’ll find him. I swear to God I’ll find him. And as for your brother and your sisters…well, it don’t look good. It looks sort of fatal, Jeanette, if you want the truth. And that just leaves little you. Which is pretty fitting, don’t you think, since it just started with little you. What, did you just happen to get the stripping job at the club and meet Jonjo there? Or did you get the stripping job there because you knew you could wheedle your way into his bed? Poor old Jonjo and his weakness for blondes. Looks like it’s a weakness that finally killed him.’

  Jeanette was hugging herself and shaking now.

  ‘Look, I didn’t
set him up. He came on to me, I just went out with him, that’s all.’

  ‘Until you met Jimmy and he started whispering in your ear about how he could take over the manor, get the Carters out of the way and make a good bit of money out of them in the process?’

  ‘I didn’t do nothing wrong,’ insisted Jeanette.

  ‘No, sure you didn’t. You know, it puzzled me why your brother Danny—the kidnapper—knew no one would pay to get me back. That’s what he said when I offered to exchange me for Layla. How could he have known that? Let me guess. Jimmy told you. And you told Vita and Vita told Danny. You told them when we were at our most vulnerable. All you did was give them the key to the door, Jeanette. You went into Palma the day before the hit, you met up with your family and you said, tomorrow’s the day, go for it. You know, you should get a fucking Oscar for the performance you gave in the villa after the hit. Straight up, you should. You even made as if to phone the Guardia Civil—and congratulations on that, it made your act look really good—because you knew I’d stop you going through with it.’

  ‘I didn’t do nothing,’ said Jeanette, more weakly this time.

  ‘No? You wrecked my life, Jeanette. You wrecked it, stamped on it, ground it into the dust. My husband died. My brother-in-law died. My friends died too. And your hoodlum fucking family took my baby girl and hurt her while I was left tearing my hair out, trying any way I knew how to get the money to pay them for her safe return. All the while not knowing whether I would ever get her back. No, you didn’t do a damned thing wrong, Jeanette. You’re a sodding saint, that’s what you are.’

  ‘What…what are you going to do to me?’ whispered Jeanette, white-faced.

  ‘Me? You know, I’ve thought about that. Dreamed about it, even. About what I would do to the people who caused all this when I caught up with them. And now I have. I’ve caught up with you, Jeanette. I’ve got you in my sights, right now.’

  Jeanette gulped. ‘But I—’

  Annie lifted a finger, silencing her. ‘I’ve got just one last question, Jeanette,’ she said.

  ‘Wh-what?’ Jeanette was pale and sweating.