‘Why don’t you go back to your flat?’
Tiffany shook her head.
‘I can get done for neglect, see. They can nick me.’
She started to cry.
‘I don’t know what happened. I’ve never had that before on the crack, you know. Never passed out for all that time. Now my little girl is in care and I ain’t sure what to do. I ain’t been to work for ages either so I don’t even know if I still have a job. It’s all a fucking mess.’
Lionel had heard similar stories all his life but he was moved by this little blonde girl and her sad tale.
‘What about the baby’s father? Can’t you go to him for help?’
Tiffany had not mentioned Patrick because his reputation always preceded him and the boy might have heard of him. But she was desperate for company, frightened of being on her own.
‘He’s no good.’
‘Haven’t you anyone at all to go and get help from?’
She remembered Jason and his family. They would help her.
‘Me brother, he was adopted by this couple but I was allowed to keep in touch. We were close like, you know. They would help me but I’m so ashamed.’
She was also frightened they would want her to stop taking drugs and she liked the feeling drugs gave her. Liked being able to forget her life and everything that had happened to her. Wanted the feeling of well-being the crack gave her.
She couldn’t cope with all her problems without the drug and had convinced herself that she had to keep on with this life until she was capable of coping with the old one. It sounded good to her, and even though at heart she knew all she was doing was giving herself permission to dump her child she was deluded enough to think that it would not be for long.
She just wanted drugs and the feeling they gave her. She was an addict and she knew it, but she didn’t care.
She opened her jacket and looked for the money she had stolen from Patrick. As she started to panic Lionel gave her the notes he had taken.
‘I had to take it or they’d have rolled you by now and disappeared. If you’re going to squat with addicts you have to learn to live like them, mate. They’d nick your shoes to get the money for a fix, remember that.’
She stared into his face. He was good-looking in a rough and ready way: shaved head, skinhead-type clothes and a good solid body. He had a nice smile.
‘Thank you.’
‘Go back to your flat, Tiffany, or to your brother’s. You’ll have to when this lot goes anyway, so go sooner rather than later. I’ll come with you, if you want. Sort it out about your baby before it’s too late.’
She was wavering, he could see that, and it pleased him. Then Rosie, with her fat legs and loud voice, burst into the room and he knew she was lost to him.
‘Look what Dr Rosie has got!’
She held up a small plastic bag of heroin.
‘Put a smile on all our faces, this will.’
As she prepared the drug Lionel went out and got a McDonald’s for himself and Tiffany. He also got her a large shake. He would put a bit of food into her belly and wait his turn. He liked her and the fact she had her own flat and was capable of leading a normal life at times made her even more appealing.
Rosie would need to get back to her boyfriend at some point so he would do what he was good at: wait. Then, when the time was right, he would try again.
If nothing else he might get a bit of her dough, make his life a bit easier. She might even have a tap of it. Someone who could guarantee a few quid at a time. Two grand was serious money and should be treated with respect.
If she got that much once, who was to say she couldn’t get it again? You had to look at things from all angles and try and get whatever you could from life.
He had learned that many, many years before.
Chapter Fifteen
Patrick was looking all over for Tiffany. She had left the wardrobe door open and consequently he now knew she had taken money. It wasn’t the money itself that bothered him, but that it would give her access to other people which was just what he had been trying to avoid.
He had spent so much time and energy isolating her so that he could do what he always did with his women, make them totally dependent on him. The kid was gone and that should have been the finish of her. Now she would get out of her brains without him controlling what she took. She had a couple of grand, enough to get herself and the whole world high. Supposing she overdosed as well? All that time and effort for nothing.
He was angry. He had already lost a girl to an overdose today, and another one had had the gall to up and leave to get married. She had gone off with a fucking punter and left him with the rent on her flat and all her bills. He had the room rented again but it was the principle of the thing. She had bested him and that he would never forgive.
He didn’t understand what was happening in the world any more. It was as if, for some reason, everyone was out to annoy him. Well, when he got his hands on Tiffany he was going to break open her fucking face for her. He was going soft in his old age, that’s what was wrong with him, and the girls were taking advantage.
Now Tiffany, in whom he had a personal interest, was taking the piss. She was robbing him and he was going to take it out on her hide when he got his hands on her. And he would find her, he was determined on that.
Within twenty minutes he was at Maxie James’s house. Maxie was in bed with his wife. Patrick gave her a ton and told her to get herself something to eat and drink and come back in a few hours. One look at his face and she did as he requested. Patrick was known as a mean fuck by everyone and she often wondered why Maxie kept up an association with him.
Maxie, who was also pissed off, was quite aware that now was not the time to say anything about it. Patrick had the manic look that meant he was after aggravation big time. In this mood he would argue with his own fingernails.
‘What’s the prob?’
Patrick was definitely not in the mood for his friend’s street talk at this particular moment in time.
‘What is it with you and the way you talk?’ he bellowed. ‘Why can’t you talk fucking normal? “What’s the prob?” What kind of fucking expression is that?’
Maxie stared at him and swallowed deeply. He was getting fed up with Patrick, a lot of people were. Who the hell did he think he was?
‘Listen, Patrick, I don’t know who the fuck has rattled your cage but you come here and get me out of my bed, where I was fucking the arse off me wife, and then give me a hard time. So I have to ask, what is your fucking problem?’
Patrick debated whether to kick his friend’s head in or leave it for the moment because he had more pressing things on his mind. Maxie was a mate, probably the only real mate he had. He was more than aware of the fact that people were avoiding him these days. He was getting too big for everyone; no one knew how to handle him any more.
So he smiled - the smile that had got him whatever he wanted when he was a kid. It made him look innocent and trustworthy, and he turned it off and on when he needed to make people feel secure.
‘Tiffany has gone and I have to find her.’
Maxie ran his fingers through his dreadlocks.
‘What the fuck is the big deal with her, Pat? She’s just a slag, why all this interest?’
He frowned.
‘She is the mother of my child, remember.’
Maxie blew air out of his mouth noisily to denigrate Patrick’s words.
‘Lots of women have your kids and you still put them on the game. I thought you’d get the kid taken care of as usual and then have her in the palm of your hand.’
Patrick started laughing.
‘Skin up, Maxie, I need to chill out. She’s only fucking robbed me, ain’t she? The bitch is stronger than I thought and she’s rebelling. That’s all it can be.’
His voice was almost jocular.
Maxie started to roll a joint.
‘Let her go, Pat, she ain’t a bad kid. You have enough girls, why d
o you want Tiffany so much?’
Patrick thought about what his friend had said. He thought seriously and hard.
‘To be honest, Maxie, I don’t know. I enjoy making women into what I want them to be. When I first met Tiff and realised who she was, I got a buzz, you know. I had fucked the mother and now I could have the daughter. It’s a fantasy, ain’t it? Lots of men get off on it. So I went for it and enjoyed it. She is my son’s sister as well, don’t forget. It just appealed to me. And she is a good-looking girl. Not a patch on her mother, though. Marie was a hard horse to tame, I can tell you.’
He took the joint and puffed on it deeply. It was good grass as he’d known it would be.
‘I thought Tiffany would be a doddle but she is stronger than I thought. So much stronger that in a way I admire her spunk. But I have to break her now, I have to break her once and for all.’
Maxie looked at his friend in awe.
‘You are one weird fuck, Pat, do you know that?’
They both started to laugh.
‘Leave her be. She was happy enough with the kid, and a good mother and all. Just leave her alone, let her go.’
Patrick’s eyes narrowed as he looked hard at his friend.
‘What’s the matter, Max, you want to go there then?’
‘Of course not, you dick! Don’t start all that. I just think she’s a nice kid. Leave her be. You’re too big for all that crap.’
‘You just don’t get it, do you, Max? I enjoy it. It gives me a buzz every time I break in a bitch and she starts to earn for me. The money is nothing to seeing them brought low – all women are basically fucking whores. Some do it for life with one geezer but that’s still for money, ain’t it? Housekeeping or whatever you want to call it, they still get kept, don’t they, taken on holiday, whatever. Then they have kids and the poor bloke they snared is fucked for life. Well, not me, mate. I dump my kids like I dump my women. No one has any claim on me.’
Maxie drew deeply on the joint and finished it.
‘This calls for a pipe, Pat. I can’t believe I’m hearing all this. She’s just one little bird, what’s the big deal?’
Patrick put his head in his hands and sighed deeply.
‘I have to trounce Tiff now, don’t I? If I don’t it will be all over the pavement before the week is out and we’ll have more girls thinking they can do what the fuck they like. So I will rip her fucking heart out and laugh while I do it. She thinks she’s on a roll. Well, she ain’t. I want a crew out looking for her and I want her by the morning.’
Maxie was astounded and it showed.
‘You are joking?’
Patrick shook his head.
‘You want me to get the boys mobilised for an errant bird, is that what you’re saying?’
Patrick nodded.
‘Tell them if they don’t find her I will personally beat all their fucking brains in, and that, Maxie, is a promise.’
‘You sure you ain’t in love, Pat?’
Patrick laughed loudly.
‘I’m in love all right, Maxie, have been for years, but it’s with meself! I even shout out me own name when I’m coming!’
Patrick was sure she would be traced so he relaxed. But he promised himself that when he finally got his hands on Tiffany he would teach her a lesson she would never forget. Taking his hard-earned money and trying to run away, who did the whore think she was?
When his fist came into contact with her smooth-skinned face she would finally realise who was the boss in this relationship. He was looking forward to it.
Marie had put everything on disk once more and tallied the overseas accounts. Though the scrap business was lucrative it did not take Einstein to realise that the money spent by Alan, and the money he earned, were two completely different sums. After seeing Mikey Devlin in the office she knew that some sort of skulduggery was afoot, and guessed it would be drugs or guns. Maybe both. They were the real money spinners, she had listened to enough women talking in nick to know that.
She was worried, not just for Alan who was a kind man and had given her the opportunity to be employed but also for herself. She could not risk getting involved even on a peripheral basis with drugs, or any other illegal enterprise, as she was on licence and would stay on it until she was dead. Her whole life could be jeopardised through his shady dealings and she could not take that chance.
There was already too much going on for her with her kids and her family. She needed to be able to think and it was getting harder by the day. Every second was filled with thoughts of how to sort everything out, and every second told her it was useless, that she could do nothing because she had to keep such a low profile. Patrick Connor was the problem, she knew. He had taken any chance of a decent life from her and from her daughter. History repeating itself. Now her mother was on her conscience too.
She was hurting and Marie couldn’t even go and see how she was because Louise had no interest in her. Would just want her away, as far away as was humanly possible. She remembered her mother yelling at her once that she wished she would die so she would not have to listen to any more tales about her and what she had done. Now Marie could understand her point of view. Hearing about her own daughter’s downfall had broken her, so Christ knows how Louise must have felt all those years ago. And the same man who had brought her low was now doing the same thing to her daughter, her little Tiffany, whom she wished with all her heart was just a regular young girl with a regular life.
She needed somehow to frighten off Patrick Connor, make him leave her child alone. But how? She knew she had to do it but wasn’t sure how the fuck she could achieve her aim.
In her heart Marie acknowledged that she had been planning to do something drastic since the time she had been to her daughter’s flat and seen the state of her. It was trying to work out what that had been the problem. She was willing to go away again, this time for ever if it gave her child the opportunity to make something better of herself. Without Pat, the girl would stand at least a chance in life. With him hanging round her neck, she was finished. Marie knew that better than anyone.
She heard a noise and turned to see Mikey Devlin in the doorway. He smiled at her, wired as usual, and Marie stared back at him for long seconds before she spoke.
‘Can I help you?’
She had a good voice, deep and husky.
Mikey grabbed the crotch of his trousers lewdly and answered, ‘Oh, yes darling, there is something you can do.’
Marie stared at him, the same dead-eyed look she had perfected in prison, and retreated into silence. Once again it was her salvation.
Mikey was uncomfortable.
She sat there on the typing chair staring him out, her face completely expressionless and her eyes telling him she had no interest in him whatsoever, that he was nothing to her but a nuisance. For the first time in years he felt embarrassed.
Women usually wanted him. He knew it was chiefly because of who he was and what he did. He accepted that and used them as and when the fancy took him. They were a type, and they were a type he was used to. They wanted a bit of gear, a few quid, a good night out and the glory of spending a few nights on his arm. It was a good deal. He got laid and they got a bit of kudos.
Some were only kids, but grown-up enough to fill a short, low-cut dress. Others were grown women with a good mouth and the nous to bring him off and make him laugh. He was used to a different reaction altogether from the one he was getting from this good-looking, cold-hearted, murdering bitch before him.
He was high as a kite and now he felt malicious. He would bring her down, get a reaction.
‘Murdered any of your mates lately?’
He was grinning at her, daring her to answer him.
She smirked back at him and it made her look very sexy.
‘No. Have you?’
Her answer threw him as she knew it would. He floundered.
‘Very fucking funny!’
She shrugged and carried on staring at him. He soon realised she
would not speak unless spoken to. For the first time in years he was uncomfortable with a female and the knowledge amazed him. She was actually making him feel nervous!
‘You done a lump, love, and I respect that . . .’
She interrupted him, saying scathingly, ‘Fucking right I done a lump, and to be honest I did it well. I kept me head down and me trap shut. If you ever get a double life I hope you can cope as well. I dealt with the scum of the earth in there. I was A-cat and I done every maximum prison in the country and learned how to take care of myself. So I resent someone like you, who has never done a bit of bird in your life, talking to me like I am a cunt.’
It worked as she knew it would. He was a hard nut, but one who had never had to smell a real prison, let alone sleep in one. The nearest he’d got was a night in the cells for a D and D. She knew that in his world the fact she had done a lump would bring her the respect she wanted, and she was going to use that to her advantage because this man could be the saviour she was looking for. If she played him right she might just be able to use him to get her daughter a decent chance in life.
Mikey stared at her for long moments and she knew he was battling it out with himself whether to smack her one for her front or afford her the respect he would give a male lag.
‘You got a big trap, lady,’ he said finally.
She laughed.
‘And you have a big ego. If your cock is half the size you’d be worth a fuck on the strength of that alone.’
Her words were so outspoken that he started to laugh. No one had challenged him like that in years. She was the first person to give him grief since he could remember.
She laughed with him, the tension in the cabin evaporating in seconds.
He saluted her.
‘I apologise. You have the creds and I have to give you the respect due. Come and have a drink with me. Friendly, that’s all. Just as friends.’
She picked up her bag and grinned.
‘If you are very, very good you can buy me a sandwich too.’
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