Black Widow (11 page)

‘It’s started,’ said Jimmy Bond.

Annie sat at the kitchen table next day and looked up at him as he stood leaning over her, gloved fists on the table. She had the nightclub books spread out before her and she’d been deep in thought jotting down figures when Ross had reluctantly let Jimmy in. Depressing thoughts like, strippers probably
do
pay better than class acts. Black thoughts like, my child is missing and my husband is dead. Killing thoughts like,
why am I bothering with this?
Despairing thoughts like, where the fuck did Max keep his money?

‘What’s started?’ she asked him wearily. ‘And when’s that bloody locksmith showing up, are you on that?’

She had to get that safe open. Had to know what was inside.

Half a million?

She knew she couldn’t get that lucky.

‘Yeah, I’m on it, I told you. There was trouble down Lolly’s billiard hall last night. Someone kept our boys busy out the front while they trashed the place.’

Annie’s attention sharpened. ‘Anyone hurt?’

‘One of the regulars got brain damage—he’s in a fucking coma. Couple of others hospitalized. And Lolly’s hitting the roof. Asking why did he pay protection to the Carters when they didn’t actually
protect
him.’

Annie sat back. ‘The Delaneys?’

Jimmy sat down, exhaling sharply. He glanced sideways at the closed kitchen door and lowered his voice a notch.

‘Fucking sure,’ he said. ‘Word on the street is that Jonjo and Max are long gone, so they’re chancing their arm, trying to muscle in.’

‘Where were our boys?’

‘They jumped them first when they were out front.’

Oh Jesus
, thought Annie. She threw down the pencil and rubbed her eyes.

‘Get some of the boys round there,’ she said. ‘Make good any repairs. Replace anything broken. Double up on security for the foreseeable future. Apologize to Lolly, but don’t make a big thing of it.’

‘He was talking about a discount,’ said Jimmy.

‘He’s having a laugh,’ said Annie. ‘That’s not open to discussion. Make sure he understands that. Make sure he knows that this was a one-off. It won’t happen again.’

Jimmy nodded. He didn’t look happy, but at least he was agreeing with her and that was a fucking miracle.

‘You look like shit,’ said Jimmy.

‘I’ve had better times,’ said Annie. She looked at him. ‘I went to see Kath yesterday.’

‘She told me,’ said Jimmy.

‘Not exactly a warm welcome, I have to say.’

‘Were you expecting one?’

I was expecting some respect at least.’ Annie’s voice was sharper.

‘For what? Kath still thinks you’re the cow that stole her own sister’s husband. She has family loyalties, you can’t blame her for that.’

‘I’m
family,’ Annie reminded him.

‘Not to Kath.’

‘You can’t steal a grown man, Jimmy,’ said Annie.

‘Some women can,’ said Jimmy reflectively. ‘They creep right in and make off with the silver right under your nose. Ruthie never stood a chance against you, and you knew it.’

Annie’s cheeks burned. ‘I’m not proud of that,’ she said.

‘No? Only you seem pretty bloody full of yourself, coming back here and giving orders. You’re fucking shameless.’

‘I’m doing what I have to do.’
And how dare he talk to her like this?

‘Yeah? Well that don’t include going round to mine and laying the law down to Kath.’

‘The place is a tip,’ said Annie angrily. ‘The kids are filthy. Kath looks like a bag lady. Can you honestly say you’re happy with a setup like that?’

A muscle was working in Jimmy’s jaw. ‘That’s my business,’ he said, ‘not yours. I don’t want you going round there, clear?’

Annie drew a breath. ‘I was extending the hand of friendship,’ she said more calmly.

‘Well, you’re lucky she didn’t bite the fucker off.’

‘I want Ruthie’s number,’ said Annie. ‘Kath’s got it. So you can get it too.’

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ said Jimmy, standing up.

‘Have a word with her, Jimmy. I’m serious.’

‘I
said
, I’ll see what I can do.’

‘Good.’ Annie picked up the pencil again as Jimmy approached the closed door into the hall. ‘And Jimmy?’

‘What?’ He paused.

‘Hit two of the Delaney halls.’ Annie pulled the books back toward her. She didn’t look up. ‘Hit them hard.’

‘He fancies you,’ said Dolly, strolling into the kitchen when Jimmy was gone.

‘What?’ Annie looked up blankly.

‘That Jimmy Bond. Fancies you rotten.’

‘Doll, you’re going mad.’

‘I’m
telling
you.’ Dolly put the kettle on and spooned tea into the pot. Then she turned and looked at Annie. ‘Trust your Aunt Dolly, she knows what’s what. Actually he’s quite tasty.’

‘I couldn’t be less interested, Dolly,’ said Annie, scribbling away again. Then she paused. ‘You know, I bet he’s got a girl tucked away somewhere. He’s a creature of habit, Jimmy Bond. He wouldn’t play around, exactly. He’d have one woman in a flat somewhere, nice and discreet, well out of Kath’s way.’

‘He’d rather have you, out of Kath’s way.’ Dolly poured the boiling water into the teapot. ‘Don’t
pay any attention to all that macho bullshit posturing. You’re tough and that’s winding him up, but it’s also turning him on.’

‘Well he isn’t
going
to have me, out of Kath’s way. I told you, I’m not interested.’

‘Max Carter would be a hard act to follow, that’s for sure,’ said Dolly, putting two mugs, milk, sugar, and teapot on to a small tray and bringing it over to the table.

She sat down and looked at Annie squarely. ‘And you’ve got to be careful, in your position,’ she said.

Annie put down the pencil and looked at Dolly.

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning you’re like the Virgin Queen. You got to be above all that. Above reproach. Spotless and aloof. Can’t be seen to be mixing with the
hoi polloi
, now can one?’

Annie almost smiled as Dolly put on a posh voice for that last bit.

‘Only you’ve got a bit of a position to consider, ain’t that so?’ Dolly stirred the pot thoughtfully.

Annie watched the movement, heard the noise. A little like the noise she kept hearing over the phone. Familiar, but forgotten…or was it? Somewhere at the back of her mind, a horrible suspicion was starting to form.

‘If someone got close to you,’ continued Dolly, ‘they’d…well, they’d sort of be in charge then,
wouldn’t they? The Queen’s consort. The manor’s wide open—but for you standing there like the prize in a coconut shy. No Max or Jonjo in the way, just you. A woman. And you know how these men rate women. And if you got involved with someone—someone like Jimmy Bond, for instance…’

‘Who’s married to my cousin, with two kids,’ Annie reminded her.

‘Like he’d give a shit. You’d be really tempting to a man like Jimmy Bond. From what you say, his wife’s turned into her granny as soon as she’s got him up the aisle—and I wish I had a sodding quid for every time I’ve seen
that
happen—and you’re all that’s left of the Carter clan and you’re a looker into the bargain. Wish I had those legs…’ Dolly sighed as she considered her own shapely but short pins. ‘Let’s face it, when God handed out legs, I was behind the frigging door.’

‘Is this going somewhere?’ asked Annie politely, quietly fuming at Dolly’s lack of tact. What did she care about men? She was Max’s wife.

No
, she thought painfully.
Max’s widow.

With the thought came the horrible pain of it again.

‘Yeah, it is.’ Dolly poured the tea. She flicked a glance at Annie and her eyes were serious now. ‘Just watch your step, okay?’

‘Meaning what?’

‘Meaning watch yourself with him. He’d be on you like a shot given half the chance, and I don’t think you want to open up
that
can of worms.’

Annie splashed milk into her mug. ‘I don’t want to open up any can of worms at all, Doll,’ she told her friend sadly. ‘I don’t want another man. Why the hell would I? The only man I ever loved is dead. Anyone else would be second best.’

Next day they were sitting around the kitchen table again, Annie and Dolly and Darren and Ellie—no Una, she was upstairs with a punter. All mates together, just like the old days.

Only nothing’s like the old days
, thought Annie.
My husband’s dead. My kid’s gone. My life’s in bits. Everything’s tainted.
She was looking through the morning paper, turning the pages, not really taking any of it in. Nixon was attacking the communists in Cambodia, someone had tried to assassinate Makarios in Greece, John Wayne had won Best Actor at the Oscars for
True Grit.
None of it meant a damned thing to her. Ellie was spilling toast crumbs over the table as she devoured her breakfast, and Dolly was looking at Ellie as a mother would look at a difficult child.

Annie had questioned Dolly about Ellie’s surprise return to the fold, and Dolly had said: ‘I felt sorry
for the silly tart, all right? I know she’s a bit two-faced…’

‘A
bit?
’

‘But don’t everyone deserve a second chance in life?’

So here they all were, together again.

‘When I was on the game I wouldn’t kiss a client,’ Dolly was telling Ellie, who was apparently having problems in that direction. ‘If he looked like Elvis and fucked like a weasel, I still wouldn’t kiss him. Kissing’s too intimate. But occasionally a punter insists. And if it’s a choice between throwing a screaming fit and exchanging one small kiss, then I always went for the kiss—even though I didn’t want to.’

Ellie screwed up her pudgy face.

‘Yeah, but a lot of my clients are
old.
Let me tell you, there’s no bigger turnoff than kissing an old man with rattling dentures and bad breath.’

They all shuddered.

‘Then don’t do it,’ shrugged Darren. ‘Explain beforehand—nicely—that mouth-to-mouth is off-limits, anything else is fair game. Although I don’t see it myself. If you’re prepared to give some ugly old fart a blow job, why draw the line at a kiss?’

Annie looked at Ellie, who was diving into the biscuit tin again. Annie glanced at Dolly, whose expression said it all. They’d both seen
this before with seasoned brasses, and they both knew what it meant.

The fact was, boffing strangers all day and half the night required a variety of coping mechanisms. Quite a few prostitutes took a bath or shower after every client, and that was okay, personal hygiene was always a good thing. Rules were rules. The punters might come in here drunk, disorderly, smelly, but the troops had to be fragrant to a fault.

Which was
fine
, up to a point. But Ellie had reached that point—in fact she had passed it about a mile back down the road.

‘Caught her in the loo scrubbing herself
down there,’
Dolly had confided to Annie earlier in the day. ‘With a flaming nailbrush. And she’s had the bleach bottle out after she’s washed, scouring the sink and the bath. How long before she starts thinking it’s a good idea to use the bleach to clean herself off? I’m telling you, she’s not right.’

It was the beginning of the end of tarting for Ellie, and they both knew it.

‘That’s why she’s getting so bloody fat,’ Dolly had told Annie. ‘Can’t cope with it all any more. Comfort eating.’

Annie almost envied Ellie that. She couldn’t comfort eat. She could barely eat at all. Just waking up every day was a renewal of the pain she was suffering. She’d lost the love of her life, lost him forever. And maybe Layla too, who could say?
Dolly kept forcing toast and egg down her, but she felt sick every single day, creased up with anxiety and a feeling of utter helplessness. She was in the hands of the kidnappers, totally. She had no power over what happened next, hard as she found that to accept.

‘Maybe you should take a break, Ellie love,’ suggested Dolly. ‘A couple of weeks down Southend would do you the world of good.’

But Ellie was looking mulish. ‘I’ll think about it,’ she said.

From above them came the sound of someone letting out little yelps of either pain or delight.

‘Jesus, I really think Una enjoys her job too much,’ said Darren, staring up at the ceiling.

And there’s poor Ellie, not enjoying it at all
, thought Annie.

‘Something’s come for you,’ said Ross, poking his head around the kitchen door and looking coldly at Annie. She wasn’t on his Christmas card list, that was for sure, and his expression whenever he looked at her said so loud and clear. But for as long as Redmond Delaney said it was okay for her to be here, he’d just have to swallow it.

‘For me?’ Annie repeated stupidly. But no one would send her anything. ‘Can’t be.’

Ross was holding out a small white box, four inches by four, a couple of inches deep.

‘It was on the doorstep.’ Ross shrugged. ‘It wasn’t
posted, but I didn’t see anyone leave it there. Just stepped outside for a fag and there it was. Look, it’s got your name on it.’

Everyone in the kitchen was silent and still. Ross was right. In block capitals on top of the box was written ANNIE CARTER.

Enjoy the gift.

Annie jumped to her feet and barged past Ross and out into the hallway. She flung open the front door, ran down the path and stood gasping in the street, looking left and right. Didn’t know who or what she was looking for, but someone had brought the box here, had placed it right on the doorstep while they were all inside, unaware. But she could see nothing suspicious. Just people, walking the dog, pushing prams, parking cars, the odd one or two looking at her, at this dark-haired woman all dressed in black, with distress and madness written all over her face.

Nothing.

Annie took a shaky breath and went back inside. Ross had returned to his chair by the door. She walked straight past him and into the kitchen, shutting the door behind her. Dolly, Ellie, and Darren were still there, and there was the little white box in the middle of the table. They looked at it, then at her.

Annie felt her head begin to pound. Her hands started to shake.

Enjoy the gift.

Oh Jesus God.

She sat back down. Looked at her friends. Looked at the box.

‘What the fuck is it?’ asked Dolly.

Annie couldn’t work enough spit into her mouth to answer. She stared at the box. ANNIE CARTER.

‘Well, open it,’ said Ellie.

Annie took a breath. So simple.
Open it.
Easy enough, but for the moment she felt too scared to even touch the thing.

Dig deep
, she thought.
Got to dig deep.

Annie reached out in the dead silence of the kitchen and touched the thick cardboard. She grasped the lid; it wasn’t stuck down. It was nice and easy to open.

‘Go on for fuck’s sake,’ said Darren, clutching both hands to his chest.

Annie removed the lid.

Inside, on a bed of cotton wool, was a child’s finger.