by Jacqui Rose
Star sighed and looked at Teddy. He was a funny-looking man. He reminded her of the man in the movie that her dad had let her watch and shouldn’t have done. When her mum had come in she’d gone mad, and both Star and her dad had been in the doghouse. Sometimes her mum wasn’t any fun at all, especially now. Since she’d come back from Marbella, all her mum had done was cry. And all Claudia had done was try to stop her mum crying, then, when she couldn’t, she started to cry herself.
Star pondered on this for a moment. Maybe her mum was missing her dad. She knew she was. Last night when Claudia had put her to bed, she’d had to bite down hard on her pillow to stop herself from crying. Crying was for babies. Star never cried. Well, almost never.
‘So, tell me about your dad, Star.’
Star looked at Teddy quizzically. ‘Me dad?’ She didn’t want to talk about him. It made her feel sad.
‘Yes, what does he like? What does he like to do?’
Star shrugged. It was a funny question. She didn’t really like to be asked questions. Not like this anyway. Her teacher at school did the same. Always trying to find out what her mum and dad did. Not that Star really knew.
Walking out of her room, closely followed by Teddy, Star went to get a drink from the kitchen. She answered matter-of-factly, ‘Dunno. He likes the horses and he likes cars. That’s about it really.’
Teddy leaned against the sink and squinted at Star. ‘Yes, but what does he really like?’
Star looked puzzled. She had no idea what he was talking about and she was getting bored. She always felt bored when she was hungry. Claudia was taking too long to get back from the shops. She was always so slow.
‘What I mean is, where does he like to go? There must be some special place he likes to visit?’
‘Dunno.’
Teddy snapped, irritated by Star’s disinterest. ‘Oh come on now, Star. You’re telling me your dad doesn’t have some special place he likes to go to and get away from it all?’
Star didn’t like the feeling this conversation was giving her. The man was cross with her and she didn’t know why.
As if reading her thoughts, Teddy changed tack. He smiled, then whispered softly. ‘I’m not being cross, I just want to know his special place because I want to give him a surprise. It’s his birthday soon, isn’t it? And I want to do something really special for him. Will you help me?’
Star chewed on her lip. This was more like it. This was something exciting and something that would make her dad happy. Her dad liked birthdays as much as she did and if this man, Teddy, was going to do something special for him, then Star would do all she could to help.
‘Spain. He’s there now.’
Teddy gripped his fists. Stupid kid. He spoke, desperately trying to keep his cool. ‘I know he’s in Spain, darlin’. But I’m talking about somewhere here in England.’
Star paused, her face beginning to light up. ‘Well there is somewhere. I dunno where exactly but he has a big house he likes to go to so he can get away from it. You know, from me mum chewing his ear off. It’s somewhere in the countryside. Me mum don’t like the countryside.’
‘Where though? I need to know where.’
Star shrugged again and took a sip of her lemonade.
‘Dunno.’
This kid was driving him crazy. ‘Well, do you think you can find out for me, Star?’
‘You mean ask me dad?’
‘Yes, but don’t tell him that I want to know. That would spoil the surprise wouldn’t it?’
‘Yeah, but I can’t ask me dad, ’cos he’s not answering his phone at the moment. Don’t think he wants to talk to us.’ Star looked down. She felt tears come into her eyes and furiously wiped them away.
‘What about your mum? Would she know?’
‘Yep, I guess.’
‘But do you think you can find out today?’
‘Maybe.’
Star’s laid-back manner irritated Teddy. His voice showed it. ‘Look, Star, if you don’t want him to have a nice birthday then fine, I won’t bother.’
Star’s eyes pleaded with Teddy. ‘No. No, I want him to. Maybe then me mum and him will stop fighting.’
Teddy slyly looked at Star. ‘Are they arguing?’
Star wasn’t sure if she’d said too much, but it felt good to tell someone about her parents. She hated it when her mum was cross with her dad. ‘Yeah, a bit.’
‘What are they fighting about?’
Star’s walls came down again. She decided she didn’t want to say anything else, so quickly changed the subject. ‘So I should keep it a secret about his birthday?’
‘Yes. It’s our secret, Star, and nobody else’s. You understand that?’
‘What about me mum? I think she’d like to do something for him.’
Teddy raised his voice. ‘No. You don’t tell anyone. Understand?’
Star nodded enthusiastically as Teddy continued to talk.
‘Do you know how to use a phone, Star?’
Star looked in horror at Teddy as if he’d just dropped out of the sky. ‘Yeah of course. I got me own iPhone.’
‘This is my private number, Star. When you find out where the place in the countryside is, I want you to call me. But like I say, you can’t tell anyone and you need to find out today. At the latest, tomorrow. Can I trust you?’
Star’s eyes gleamed. ‘Yes.’
‘Are you sure, Star? Cross your heart?’
Star winked at Teddy, proudly showing him she remembered which side her heart was on this time. ‘Cross my heart.’
29
Milo Burkov cracked his knuckles as he rested his feet on the table, carefully avoiding the loaded machine guns lying next to his feet. He was smarting from the audacity of the man across the table from him.
Teddy watched Milo watching him. It was good to be in such control. Everything was going better than he ever thought it would; finally, people were starting to eat out of his hand.
Milo, however, had already had enough of Teddy. ‘My friend. You like to walk the tightrope of life I see.’
Teddy pulled a face. Metaphors were as bad as childish gibberish. He had no patience whatsoever for them. ‘Let’s cut to the chase, Milo.’
Milo raised his eyebrows. He laughed loudly, heartily, looking round at his men, who followed his lead. The last time he’d seen this worm of a man he’d been scrambling about on the floor looking for sanctuary from his fists and now, suddenly, he had the balls of twenty men. ‘Teddy. You want me to cut to the chase. What chase? There is no chase. As far as I recall we left it with you doing some groundwork. Since then a lot of things have changed. You never answering your phone, for one. I’ve been calling you for three days now and this is the first time I see or hear of you. It makes me nervous when a man does a disappearing act on me. I like my men to be visible, Detective.’
Teddy gave a supercilious smile. ‘Oh don’t worry about that. I was sorting stuff out.’
Milo couldn’t stand it any longer. He banged his fist on the table but stared in amazement as Teddy did nothing. Milo nodded to his men. They ran forward, dragging Teddy off his chair. Milo walked round casually – still surprised to see Teddy wasn’t showing as much fear as he should be – then drew his fist back and hit him in the stomach. Teddy bent forward, saliva running out of his mouth as he tried to catch his breath.
Milo lifted Teddy’s head, holding his hair to do so. He stared into his face and spoke, contempt in his voice. ‘Don’t play games with me, Mr Davies. I don’t like it. I don’t like an arrogant man who brings nothing but an empty plate to the table.’
Teddy began to splutter, but still he was grinning. ‘Empty plate? I don’t think so. You want Del, right? Well, I can give you him.’
Milo quickly gestured to his men to sit Teddy back down on the chair. He poured a drink of water then passed it to Teddy. Propping himself on the table, Milo cracked his knuckles, waiting patiently for Teddy to finish.
‘You were saying, Detective?’
> ‘I can deliver Del to you.’
‘And what’s in it for you? Although it’s not really hard to guess.’
‘I want him dead just as much as you do.’
‘No, Detective. I think you might have the edge on me there.’
‘I can give you Del, but I want to run the show.’
Milo laughed scornfully. ‘You? You really expect me to let you be in charge?’
Teddy looked at Milo as if it was the most natural thing in the world. ‘Yes.’
‘And why would I let you do that?’
‘Because when it comes to Del Williams, I won’t make any mistakes.’
‘So let’s just say I go along with this crazy idea. What would you want from me?
‘I’d need you and your men to turn up when I say and where I say – as well as do as I say.’
Milo blinked a couple of times, bursting into laughter at the little man with brass balls dressed in a brown mac in front of him. He looked round the room at his men. Twenty strong, fully armed Russian ex-military soldiers. Trained killers. Yet the pale-faced, sinewy man in front of him, sitting nonchalantly without a trace of fear, wanted to run the show. Well, why not? He liked men with courage; though Milo knew well enough there was only a fine line between courage and foolishness. But if that’s what Teddy wanted and he could deliver, then it’d be worth it.
‘Detective, you have a deal.’ Milo walked round to the far side of the room and opened the black briefcase lying on the side. He pulled out a packet and threw it to Teddy, whose eyes gleamed.
‘Half a kilo of the finest uncut cocaine. Deliver Del to us and there’ll be plenty more where that came from.’
Teddy got up from the chair, the pain in his stomach almost forgotten. He tucked the cocaine into his oversized pocket, almost skipping out of the room. As he got to the door, Milo’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
‘But Detective. Don’t deliver, and you, along with the enigmatic Mr Williams, will be a dead man walking.’
‘Hello doll. You got something to tell me?’ Del Williams sat in the large comfortable chair in Bunny’s flat, the warm summer breeze coming in from the open window.
He’d been back in London for a couple of days now, but it was the first time he’d put his head above water. He had to be careful. He hadn’t heard anything from the Russians, which wasn’t a good sign.
Apart from that though, he desperately wanted some answers from Bunny, so he’d headed over to her flat.
Del stared at Bunny, refusing to acknowledge how beautiful she looked. Taken aback, Bunny stared at Del, refusing to acknowledge how good it was to see him.
‘What do you want, Del? Make this quick, babe. I’ve got clients to see.’
It was a lie. Since the man the other night – Teddy, she thought his name was – she hadn’t worked. She couldn’t. After he’d left Bunny had been physically sick, at first putting it down to the pregnancy, but then quickly realising it was more than that.
The thought of strange men touching her made Bunny feel ill and the sickness went to the depths of her stomach, faded distant memories coming in and out of her mind. She didn’t know what she was going to do. She had to work but something seemed to have finally snapped inside her.
Bunny spoke again, pushing the lie some more. She needed him to go. It was too painful to see him. ‘Del, please. They’ll be here soon.’
Del bristled, then took his anger and jealousy out on the handmade coffee table, which he’d never liked, kicking it hard across the room. His tone was harsh. ‘I said, do you have something to tell me?’
Bunny’s face paled. She had no idea how he’d found out about the pregnancy. ‘How … how did you know?’
Del could hardly contain his anger. She wasn’t even trying to hide the fact she’d slept with Teddy.
‘I got a phone call.’
Claudia. Bunny couldn’t believe it. She’d promised she was going to keep out of it but within days she’d gone behind her back and called Del.
Bunny looked up at Del. She could see he was beside himself with rage. She hadn’t considered what he’d do when he finally found out about the pregnancy, but she certainly hadn’t expected him to react like this. Though now she knew his true feelings it told her everything.
‘I didn’t want you to find out. Not like this anyway.’
‘Like this? It wouldn’t have mattered if you’d said it with fucking flowers, Bun.’
‘If I’d thought you’d take it so badly …’
‘What, Bun? What?’
Bunny shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t know what to say. This was the first time she’d seen him since Marbella and the way he was behaving cut deeply. She spoke, attempting to keep a lid on her emotions. ‘You couldn’t have called me?’
‘Called you? Do you know the shit I’ve been dealing with? Everything’s fucked up, Bun. I’ve got the fucking Russians out for me, not to mention Edith giving me the usual. And on top of all that, I’ve got you and all this crap.’
It was Bunny who raised her voice next. ‘This “crap”? Is that what you call it? You have some bleedin’ front.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes you, Del.’
Del stood up, red-faced, and stormed towards Bunny in fury. ‘You can’t even say sorry. Not that sorry would frigging cop it but it would be something, Bun. You could at least try.’
‘Sorry? You want me to apologise to you? I’ve done nothing wrong, Del, so don’t make me feel like I have. If anyone should be sorry it should be you.’
Del grabbed hold of Bunny’s shoulders as an image of Teddy writhing on top of her came into his mind. He shook her, desperately searching for answers. ‘Why? Why Bunny? Just tell me why.’
Bunny felt the tears run down her face. Her heart was breaking. The disgust she saw on Del’s face was like a shooting pain through her. She knew they’d parted on bad terms in Marbella but she’d secretly hoped they may have been able to rebuild things. Talk, like they usually did. And even if the future was as she suspected it would be, her on her own, she thought at least Del would accept this baby as he’d accepted Star.
‘It was an accident but I don’t regret it. I’m happy it happened, Del.’
Something in Del seemed to flip and to Bunny’s dismay he started to smash up the place. She watched in horror as he threw the silver-framed photo of them at the mirror. Smashed shards of glass flew everywhere. Del continued his rampage, kicking furniture and anything in his way. The lamp. The table. The large floor vase. Picking up a chair, he threw it, not caring where it landed. The leg of the chair hit the window, shattering it into frosted glass. He paused for a moment to spit words at her. ‘Happy? Do you want to kill me, Bun? Do you want to rip out me frigging heart?’
‘Why can’t you be happy about it?’
‘Now I know you’re taking the piss. You don’t give a crap. You’re a fucking ice queen, Bun. You’ve won, doll. You can have it. No woman is ever going to make me cry. I’m gone. I’m out of here, babe. I won’t bother you again. I’ll leave you to your whoring.’
‘Dad?’ Star stood at the door. She couldn’t stop the tears rolling down her face. But she had to. Tears were for babies, but her dad wasn’t a baby; he was the toughest guy she knew. But her dad was crying. Big splashing tears rolling down his face.
‘Dad?’
Del looked at Star. ‘Hello baby.’ He looked around the room, seeing the destruction he’d caused. Embarrassed, he glanced at his daughter again as he began to head for the door. ‘I’ll see you soon, tiger. Be good.’
‘Dad, don’t go.’ Star ran after her dad, she tugged on his clothes but he didn’t turn round.
‘Dad!’ Star stopped as the front door closed in her face. She took several rapid deep breaths as her tears fought to escape. She had to make it better. She had to get her dad to be happy again.
Running frantically into her bedroom, Star knelt down by her chest of drawers. She put her hand underneath it and scrambled around for a moment before
pulling out a homemade box covered in shells. It was her secret box. Opening it, Star gazed at all the trinkets she’d collected, touching them gently, each one a memory.
Underneath the multi-coloured broken necklace she’d found in the park, Star found what she was looking for. It was a card. The card the man had given her. And written on it was a phone number that she hoped would make everything better and bring her dad back home. Tapping the numbers into her iPhone, Star waited for Teddy Davies to answer.
30
Julian Millwood leant across the counter in the betting shop in Chapel Market. ‘I want my fucking money back, pal.’
The shop assistant answered confidently, knowing that the partition divide would protect him. ‘You know I can’t do that, pal. Maybe next time you shouldn’t put your readies on a three-legged horse.’
Julian scowled, hatred filling his eyes. He clenched his fist, smashing it down on the counter, and marched out into the throng of Chapel Market.
Fuck. Out of the eight grand Alan had given him, he only had just over a grand left. Fleetingly, he thought about going to Alan to get some more. But as quickly as the thought seemed like a good idea it just as swiftly turned into a bad one. Firstly, he doubted he could get anything else out of the tight-fisted cocksucker. Secondly, even if he did, how much would it actually be? Another couple of grand at the most. What he needed was real money and as Julian passed a group of children crossing Penton Street dressed in their red and grey school uniforms, it hit home. There was only one way to get it. He needed to start making some calls.
31
Teddy Davies was like a pig in a trough. He’d given up lining the quiver up half an hour ago, deciding instead just to stick his nose in the bag. Two days had passed since he’d received the phone call from Star. Now all he had to do was wait, and waiting with a bag of quiver and a couple of ounces of skunk was the only way to go. Life was certainly turning out to be sweet.