Respect (Mandasue Heller) (31 page)

As anger replaced the initial shock, she marched into her mum’s room and gritted her teeth when she saw that the bed was empty. Then, a horrible feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach, she turned and rushed into the kitchen.

‘
No
 …
!
’ she cried when she saw that the cupboard beneath the sink was open, and all the bottles of cleaning fluids which had been neatly stored were scattered around the floor. The jar which had contained her savings was lying amongst them, empty, its lid off. She grabbed it and shook it, as if that would make the missing money reappear, and then sank to her knees, wailing, ‘You bitch! You absolute
bitch
!’

‘’S up?’ Leon appeared in the doorway, rubbing at his eyes.

‘Where’s Mum?’ Chantelle asked, pushing herself back up to her feet with the empty jar in her hand.

‘Dunno.’ Leon shrugged. ‘They went out not long after you. She went on a mad one looking for her purse, so I went to my room to listen to music.’

‘Looking for
my
purse, more like,’ Chantelle said angrily. ‘She’s pinched all my money.’

‘Really?’ Leon frowned.

‘Yes, really,’ snapped Chantelle. ‘She must have been planning this for days, the bitch.’

‘Where are you going?’ Leon asked, following her when she marched out into the hall.

‘Tracey’s.’

‘Do you want me to come with you?’

‘No – stay here,’ Chantelle ordered, yanking the door open. ‘I’m going to get my money back before they blow it on drugs and booze, and then I’m going to kill her.’

Tracey’s flat was in darkness when Chantelle got there, but she hammered on the door anyway, and yelled through the letter box, ‘I know you’re in there, and I’m not leaving till I get my money back! I mean it, Mum – you had no right to take it, and you’re not getting away with it!’

As she started rapping on the knocker again, a light went on next door and, seconds later, the door opened and a man’s sleepy head poked out.

‘Oi, pack it in,’ he hissed when he saw her. ‘It’s two in the fuckin’ morning; you’re gonna wake the whole block.’

‘I don’t care,’ Chantelle snarled.

‘Has someone died?’ the man asked. ‘No? Well, fuck off, before I set the missus on you.’

Chantelle was so angry she’d have fought with anyone who tried to tackle her right then. But her conscience kicked in and told her that she was being unreasonable. However furious she might be, it didn’t give her the right to disturb innocent people.

‘I’m sorry for waking you,’ she muttered, backing off.

‘So you should be,’ he spat, giving her a dirty look as she walked past, before slamming his door shut.

Leon was sitting at the kitchen table when Chantelle got home. ‘Did you find her?’ he asked.

She shook her head and slumped down on the chair facing his.

‘Sorry,’ he murmured guiltily.

‘What are
you
apologising for?’ She frowned. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong.’

‘I should have stopped her.’

‘You weren’t to know what she was doing.’

‘No, but I should have sussed she was up to something when she started mooching round in your room the other night. She said she was checking out your clothes in case she wanted to borrow something for the reception, and asked me not to tell you in case you went mad.’

‘Cheeky bitch,’ Chantelle spat. Then, sighing, she rubbed her hands over her face and said, ‘It’s not your fault, so don’t beat yourself up about it. I thought she was acting too nice. I’m so stupid.’

‘No, you’re not,’ Leon blurted out defensively. ‘You’re dead clever.
She
’s the stupid one, and I hate her.’

In the past, Chantelle would have told him not to talk about their mum like that, but she couldn’t do it this time because she felt the same.

‘Well, she’ll have to come back sooner or later, ’cos she’ll need her stuff for the wedding.’

‘If she hasn’t already took it,’ Leon said knowingly. ‘Wouldn’t put it past her.’

Chantelle jumped up when he said this, and rushed back into her mum’s room. She hadn’t even thought to check if anything was missing when she’d gone in there the first time, but it was immediately obvious that most of the stuff they had brought home from Spain with them was gone.

‘You were right,’ she said, traipsing miserably back into the kitchen and sitting down. ‘They’ve done one.’

‘Well, she needn’t think I’m going to her stupid wedding after this,’ Leon declared. ‘And I’m not going to Spain with ’em, neither. I’m stopping here with you. You’re more of a mum to me than she’s ever been.’

Touched by his loyalty, Chantelle gave him a grateful smile. ‘Why don’t you go back to bed?’ she suggested. ‘There’s no point both of us sitting here fretting.’

Leon shook his head. ‘I don’t want to leave you on your own while you’re upset. You might do something daft, like when Mum …’

He trailed off, but Chantelle knew exactly what he’d been about to say, and it saddened her to think that he was scared she might try to kill herself.

‘Don’t be daft.’ She reached across the table and clutched his hand in hers. ‘It’s only money, and I’m angry, not upset. I would never,
ever
do something like that. Mum might come and go, but I would
never
leave you. Do you understand?’

Chin wobbling, Leon nodded and sniffed. Chantelle squeezed his hand. ‘Go on, go back to bed. I’ll be fine. I’m just going to clean up, then I’ll go to bed too. Okay?’

‘I can help, if you want?’ Leon offered.

‘No.’ Chantelle smiled and shook her head. ‘Thanks, but it’ll help clear my head if I do it on my own. Anyway, you hate cleaning.’

‘Yeah, I know.’ Leon shrugged. ‘But you do loads for me, so I should help you, innit?’ He chewed on his lip for a moment now, before adding quietly, ‘Sorry about all that stuff I said, and threatening you with the knife, and that. I wouldn’t have done it really.’

Chantelle was stunned that he’d apologised, but she guessed she had Anton to thank for that. Whatever he’d said, it had obviously had a massive impact on Leon. It remained to be seen if this change in attitude would last, but even if Leon reverted back to being his usual cheeky self she doubted that things would ever be as bad as they had been lately.

‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘I really appreciate that.’ Then, grinning to lift the heavy atmosphere, she said, ‘Now piss off and let me get on with sorting this lot out.’

‘Ah …’ Leon’s eyes lit up when she cursed. ‘You swore. I’m gonna tell.’

Chantelle laughed, and waved him on his way. Then, pushing her sleeves up, she set about cleaning up the mess her thieving mother had left behind.

23

When three days had passed with no sign of her mum and no answer to any of the texts she’d sent or calls she’d tried to make, Chantelle guessed that they wouldn’t be seeing her again in a hurry. And her suspicions were confirmed when she caught Tracey getting off a bus one morning.

‘Before you start, it had nowt to do with me,’ Tracey said, backing away with her hands out in front of her as if she thought Chantelle was about to attack her. ‘I didn’t get any of your money, and I told your mam she was bang out of order for pissing off back to Spain without telling you.’

‘She’s gone back to Spain?’ Chantelle hadn’t expected that. ‘I thought they were supposed to be getting married?’

‘They did,’ Tracey told her. ‘Yesterday, at the registry office. I was a witness,’ she added guiltily. ‘I didn’t want to do it after what she did to you and your Leon, but she didn’t have no one else.’

Chantelle snorted, and shook her head in disgust. Then, shrugging, she said, ‘Oh, well … good luck to her. She’s going to need it.’

‘Are we all right, then?’ Tracey asked hesitantly, wringing her hands together. ‘You’re not gonna keep having a go at me every time you see me?’

‘Wouldn’t waste my breath,’ Chantelle sniped, giving her a dirty look before walking away.

As a shamefaced Tracey scuttled off in search of a drink to settle her nerves, Chantelle shoved her hands deep into her pockets and walked home, her calm expression masking the fury that was twisting her stomach into a tight knot. Her mum had really outdone herself this time, but as pissed-off as Chantelle was about the money she’d lost she was more upset about her mum abandoning Leon again after having geed him up to think she wanted him to share her new life in Spain. Leon swore blind that he hadn’t wanted to go, but Chantelle knew he’d been excited when the subject had initially been raised, and it hurt to think that their mum had sold him out for money. Money she’d probably already spent, knowing her.

The bitch had crossed a million and one lines during Chantelle’s lifetime, but this was the last time she would ever get away with it. Even if she turned up tomorrow begging for forgiveness, she was dead as far as Chantelle was concerned. Leon was her priority now – along, of course, with her job, and Rob. She was just glad her mum hadn’t got her hands on the fifty quid she’d made that night, or she’d have been back at square one: worrying how she was going to feed Leon and keep the electric on. Fortunately, Bill had called with another job the very next morning, so she’d known that they would be okay. But she was never going to allow herself to be put in that position again.

More jobs came in over the following weeks, and Chantelle was relieved when her savings began to grow again. But she was careful to put the money straight into the bank now, wary of leaving it in the flat in case her mum decided to make an unannounced reappearance.

She didn’t like leaving Leon on his own after everything he’d been through, but they needed the money, so it had to be done. It wasn’t so easy to justify leaving him when she went out with Rob, but Leon insisted that he didn’t mind, and she trusted that he meant it when he promised not to go out or answer the door while she was gone.

Before they knew it, the holidays were over, and Chantelle sat Leon down the night before he was due to go back to school to have a talk with him.

‘I’m not going to nag,’ she said. ‘But I need to know that you’re going to behave yourself. You can’t get into any kind of trouble, or we’ll have the social workers sniffing around again in no time.’

‘I know,’ Leon agreed. ‘And I’m not gonna do nothing. I’ll do what the teachers tell me, and if anyone tries to fight with me I’ll walk away.’

Amused by the sincerity in his eyes, Chantelle smiled. ‘As long as you try,’ she said, sure that it wouldn’t be as easy as he thought it was going to be. He’d always been cheeky, but his defiant streak intensified a thousandfold when he got bored, and he wasn’t the best at keeping his mouth shut once he got started.

‘Nah, I mean it,’ he insisted. ‘Anton says I’ll never get anywhere if I don’t do good at school, so I’m gonna do my best this year.’

Chantelle raised an eyebrow in surprise. She didn’t even know that he’d spoken with Anton again since that day when it had blown up with the gun; but she wasn’t about to object, because his words had obviously hit the spot again.

‘Right – you, bed,’ she said, seeing no need to say anything else, because Leon seemed to have got it. ‘Your uniform’s hanging in your wardrobe, so all you have to do is get up when I tell you in the morning, and have a wash.’

‘And brush me teeth,’ Leon reminded her, grinning as he headed to his room.

‘Wow!’ Chantelle laughed. ‘Never thought I’d hear you volunteer to do
that
.’

‘Anton says girls don’t like bad breath,’ Leon informed her. ‘Oh, and can you get me some Lynx next time you go shopping, ’cos they don’t like BO, neither.’

Chantelle shook her head in amazement. She hadn’t seen much of Anton herself lately, so she hadn’t really had a chance to speak to him. But she would stop him next time she saw him and thank him, because she doubted that her brother would be being so agreeable without his intervention.

With everything falling into place at last, the stress began to fall away from Chantelle, and Bill wasn’t slow to notice the change in her.

‘That young man of yours is doing wonders for you,’ she remarked as she drove Chantelle home from a job one night a couple of weeks after Leon had gone back to school. ‘Just remember to give me ample warning when you set a date for the wedding, because it’ll take an age to find a hat for Mitzy.’

Chantelle laughed, but she wasn’t laughing inside. She and Rob were still seeing each other in secret, and she yearned for the day when they could come out into the open, as he kept promising they would. But two enormous obstacles still stood in their way: the first being that Chantelle still hadn’t told Rob the truth about herself. She desperately wanted to, and had tried on a few occasions. But fear of his reaction always made the words stick in her throat, and the longer it went on the harder it became.

The second obstacle was his wife Yvette who, despite knowing that he wanted a divorce, was still flatly refusing to move out of the house. Rob had told Chantelle that they had been having furious arguments about it, and her heart went out to him because she knew how much it was stressing him out. He said he felt like selling the house, even though the market had dropped so steeply since he bought it that he’d end up getting much less than he still owed on it.

‘I’ll be paying it off for years,’ he said one night as they lay entwined in each other’s arms after making love. ‘But it’d be worth it to get rid of her and be with you.’

‘Don’t do anything daft,’ Chantelle urged. ‘She’ll give up eventually.’

‘You reckon?’ He snorted softly. ‘She’s already said she’s going to fleece me, but my solicitor reckons she’ll get a fraction of what she’s after, ’cos I’m the one who earned it while she just sat on her arse spending it.’

‘Well, that’s good, isn’t it?’ Chantelle asked.

‘Yeah, so long as she doesn’t find out about us before it goes to court.’ Rob sighed. ‘If we get landed with a sympathetic judge, and Yvette’s able to prove infidelity, she’ll waltz off with the lot.’

‘Well, she hasn’t got any proof, so you’re all right,’ Chantelle murmured, unable to tell him how she knew that his wife had nothing on him.

‘Yeah, but I can’t take any chances until it’s done and dusted,’ Rob said. ‘That’s why we can’t come out into the open just yet,’ he added, a regretful look on his face as he gazed into her eyes. ‘I hope you understand, and that you’ll wait for me?’