Black Girls and Bad Boys: Stealing Loretta (9 page)

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J
ordan’s nerves never started to jangle
until a couple of hours before a job. That was usually when he turned to his
current woman for a little distraction. Unfortunately, that wasn’t on the cards
the night of the second raid on Loretta’s bank.

In the end he killed the time with a run
down by the canal. He pushed himself hard, trying to empty his mind. It didn’t
work. His body was screaming in protest when he got back to his flat, but his
head was still full of Gina, Bill, Ursino and Loretta. Always Loretta.

He left early and reached Danny’s garage a
good half hour before they were due to meet Bill. There wasn’t all that much to
do, but he was damned if he was going to let Bill get too comfortable.

Plus Danny was the closest thing he had to
a friend in the business. If the night didn’t work out, he wouldn’t see him
again. Even if they were lucky enough to get out with the loot, they’d probably
only have one more job together. And if that went well, Jordan would be leaving
town for good.

Bill turned up ten minutes early. He eyed
the beers they’d nearly finished and raised an eyebrow. “This a private party?”

“Help yourself.” Danny pointed to the
fridge in the corner and Bill got himself a beer. He cracked it open and
perched himself on the edge of the counter. “You ladies ready?”

“Let’s go.” There was no point hanging
around trading insults. They shouldered their bags and walked out into the
night.

***

T
rust Sean to put his finger on the
doorbell and hold it there. Loretta ran to let him in before he broke the damn
thing. “You’re early.” She went back inside to find her shoes.

“You look good.”

“Thanks.” Her wardrobe wasn’t overflowing
with evening wear so she’d had to do some last-minute shopping. The ankle-length
sky-blue dress she’d found was the only thing she’d tried on that she didn’t
hate. “Take a seat.” She pointed through the sitting room door.

“Nice place,” he called after her.

The idea of having a fine glass of Shiraz
to settle her nerves before he arrived had been very tempting, but she’d
decided against it. She dashed upstairs to grab her silver sling-backs and
brought them down to the living room. “Do you want a drink?”

“No. I’m driving.”

“I only meant a tea or coffee.”

“No, I’m fine.”

Considering how low her dress was cut, he
was doing an impressive job of looking her in the eye. It gave her hope the
evening might not be a complete disaster. “I’m nearly ready.” Would Jordan and
the others be getting ready for the bank yet? She hadn’t asked what time they
were going in. The less she knew, the better.

“That’s okay. I still can’t quite believe
you agreed to this.”

She was with him on that one. “Ready?”

He stood up, looking as uncomfortable as
she’d ever seen him. God help her, she began to feel sorry for him. Picking up
her bag, she went over and took his arm. “Will there be dancing at this thing?”

“I don’t know. Probably. Why?”

They walked out to his car. She couldn’t
help thinking of Jordan’s ‘borrowed’ Subaru. “No reason.” Up until then, she’d
planned to spend the evening staying the right side of sober and trying not to
seem too rude. She hadn’t entertained the possibility of having a good time. If
Sean didn’t revert to type, it might be an option.

***

B
ill led Jordan and Danny round the back of
the bank. There were three different security cameras fixed at various points.
Loretta had said that they were mainly used for recording rather than live
observation. That word ‘mainly’ wasn’t too reassuring, but it was all she could
give them. If someone looked at a screen and saw a group of men in balaclavas
it would be more than obvious what was going on. It just meant that they had to
be extra strict about sticking to two minutes once they got inside.

There wasn’t time for subtlety and the
alarms were going to get triggered anyway, so this was their chance to have
some fun. It turned out Bill was actually useful for something – he was no
expert, but he had enough knowledge of explosives to get them through the wall.

Jordan and Danny stood back and let him
work. He knew it was childish, but Jordan found he was hoping Bill would have a
little accident and blow himself to pieces.

No such luck.

The charge blew and a man-size section of
wall crumbled to dust. The noise was pretty impressive, but stopped short of
setting off any car alarms. People would be wondering what had happened, but
most of them wouldn’t make the effort to find out. It was only human nature.

As the dust settled, Jordan took the lead
and ran into the building. It would put Bill’s nose out of joint, but Jordan
was the one with the inside info and the one who’d actually been in there
before.

“Through here.” He waved Bill over and
gestured for Danny to hang back.

Bill went on ahead without a second glance.

“Did she get it done?” Danny asked.

“We’ll soon find out.” He pulled out his
handgun and held it by the barrel. A bludgeon should be good enough if he knew
what he was doing.

***

T
he function room at the Heartland Hotel
had been transformed in preparation for a sleek ball. From floor to ceiling,
everything was draped with corporate green and blue. For Loretta, it was like
walking into a weird alternate-reality version of head office. There were the
same people wearing the same fake smiles.

But not Sean. He was behaving in a way she
hadn’t experienced before. He was being agreeable.

After helping her off with her coat and
putting it in the cloakroom, he offered her his arm. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Just a lemonade, please.” She might risk
something alcoholic later if things got any less mind-bending.

He deposited her at a table and disappeared
over to the bar. She’d hardly had time to say hello to her neighbours when he
strode back and placed her lemonade in front of her.

“Thank you.”

He smiled. The first genuine smile she ever
remembered seeing on his face. It suited him.

“I thought we could sit and catch our
breath before we go and mingle.”

“Good idea.” She’d pictured him off shaking
hands as soon as they arrived. It was a relief to be able to just watch the
room for a while. Not all of the faces were familiar, but there was more than a
sprinkling of the top brass. It was an ideal opportunity to network and raise
her profile, but all she could think about was what might be happening back at
the bank.

***

“W
hat the fuck?”

Jordan caught up with Bill. He was turning
a slow circle in the middle of the safety deposit room. Every single slot in
every single wall was empty – Loretta had been busy. “Where is everything?”

“That’s what I want to know.” Bill whirled
to face him. The balaclava hid his facial expression, but his eyes were two
burning stones of anger. “Your girlfriend stiffed us.”

“What’s that?” Jordan pointed to the far
corner of the room.

“What?” He followed the direction of
Jordan’s finger.

Jordan lifted his gun and cracked him hard
on the back of his head. He went down with a thud, but he was still moving so
Jordan gave him another whack. Bill sighed like he was sinking into a warm
bath, then went still.

“We ready?” Danny asked.

“Yeah. Let’s get well clear before we call
the cops.” Loretta would have the boxes somewhere safe. It was done.

***

L
oretta laughed at the area manager’s
impression of their chairman until tears rolled down her face. Sean handed her
a clean tissue and she dabbed at her cheeks.

“If you’ll excuse us, I think Ms Johnson needs
a top-up.” He guided Loretta away with a practised arm.

“I had no idea he was so funny.”

“See, I told you you were missing out by
not coming to these things. I can tell he likes you. And everyone knows how
hard you work.”

How would everyone know? Unless he’d been
telling them. But that didn’t sound like the sort of thing Sean Thomas would
do.

They shared a smile that suddenly made her
feel uncomfortable. An awkward silence rose up between them.

“So, do you want to dance?”

She looked down at Sean’s outstretched hand
and tried to work out which parallel universe she’d wandered into – accomplice
to a bank robbery and out on a date with her evil boss. Who was turning out to
be not quite so evil after all.

“Come on, you can work off some of that
chocolate soufflé.”

She took his hand and went with him out
onto the dance floor. There was a real band playing instrumental versions of
songs from the charts.

“I don’t know how to do this sort of
dancing,” she said as he drew her into his arms.

“Just follow my lead.”

Sean could dance? He looked into her eyes
and she looked away, embarrassed. He’d been a perfect gentleman all evening.
Even now, he wasn’t holding her too close or trying anything on. They glided
across the floor, keeping the steps simple.

“You’re good.”

“You’d have known that if you’d come out
with me before.” He flashed her a wicked smile that was a lot more like the old
Sean, but it just made her laugh.

Maybe he was right.

The music segued into Beyoncé’s latest and
they carried on dancing.

Now she’d relaxed into his company, there
was something she needed to get off her chest. “You know what you said the
other day? About being too nice?”

“Not really, but go on.”

“You said being nice doesn’t get you what
you want.”

“I’ve learned that the hard way.” A faraway
look came into his eyes and she got the feeling he was remembering something
unpleasant.

“But I don’t agree. I mean, after the
robbery and everything, I thought you might have had a point.”

“Well, they haven’t caught anyone yet, have
they?”

“No. But do you really think they’ve got
what they wanted? Don’t you think it’ll come back to bite them some other way?”

“You mean karma?”

She nodded. Bill was certainly going to pay
for what he’d done. And Jordan wasn’t having the best time at the moment. She
liked to think fate had kept him out of prison because he ultimately wanted to
go straight.

“No. I don’t. I bet they’re sitting on a
Spanish beach somewhere and they’ll never get caught.”

“Okay then, what about tonight? We wouldn’t
be getting on this well if you weren’t being nice.”

He shrugged. They danced in silence for a
while.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yes.” Sean swept her round to the right.
“But I might not answer.”

“I hope you don’t get offended...”

“But...?”

“Why aren’t you like this at work? You’re
always so aggressive at the bank.”

“That’s work.”

“So? You don’t have to be so... unpleasant.”

“You can talk. Tonight must be the most
you’ve ever said to me in one go.”

She opened her mouth to deny it, but then
she started to think. They hadn’t really ever had a proper conversation at the
bank. All their interactions consisted of him giving her mountains of work to
do or harassing her to come out with him, and her failing to walk the line
between polite and stand-offish. “We should start again. Pretend this is the first
time we’ve met.”

He pulled her to a stop. Other couples
danced around them. “Allow me to introduce myself.” He held out his hand. “Sean
Thomas.”

She shook his hand. “Loretta Johnson.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you.” She dared to hope that
their fresh start wouldn’t evaporate over the rest of the weekend. Working for
this Sean would be a lot more pleasant than life with his previous incarnation.

He pulled her back into his arms and they
began to dance again. “Loretta?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I
really like you.”

“I’m sorry too.” It was a shame they’d
wasted so much time misunderstanding each other.

He brought her in closer. The kiss he
landed took her completely by surprise. It was soft and gentle. Not at all what
she’d been expecting. She kissed him back before she had time to realise what
she was doing.

Her lips lingered over his for a second or
two, then she thought of Jordan and pulled away. She shouldn’t be kissing Sean.
She shouldn’t be kissing anybody.

“I’m sorry, Sean. I should go.”

“No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

She moved away. “It’s okay. It’s not your
fault.” Everything was so jumbled. She’d been giving him mixed signals. “I need
to go home.”

“I’ll take you.”

“No.” She put up her hands. “You stay.
You’ve been drinking anyway. I’ll get a taxi.” Hurrying away before he could
say anything more, she got her coat from the cloakroom and ran outside.

There was a whole queue of taxis waiting.
She climbed into the first one and told the driver where to go. Then she pulled
out her phone. Jordan’s number was at the top of her call history. She didn’t
want to be on her own.

And after the stunt she’d pulled at the
bank, he was bound to want to talk.

***

T
his was the part of the plan he’d been the
most worried about. Jordan took out his phone and dialled Ursino’s number.

“Hello?”

“Things didn’t go to plan.”

There was a thick silence on the other end
of the line. “Was the package recovered?”

“Yes. But our mutual friend is out of the
picture.”

“I’ll deal with it. Stay quiet. Stay
clean.” The line went dead.

So that was it. One more job and he should
be home free. So why did he feel like he’d taken his eye off the ball?

He started up the Subaru and drove away
from the kerb. He wouldn’t be able to sleep if he didn’t at least talk to
Loretta and find out where she’d put the take.