The Betrayer (39 page)

James was drunk and extremely annoyed. Tommy had been sitting at the same table as Maria for ages now and he felt like the biggest mug ever. His mum, nan, Sandra, Brenda, they’d all been fucking laughing, and he just hoped they weren’t laughing at him.

Freddie had left the wake half an hour ago. ‘Sarah’s got a mask on, I’d better sort it out,’ was his excuse.

James decided to move tables so he had his back to Maria, and he was now sat with a drunken Johnny and his mate Gazza.

‘I know my mum weren’t the best in the world, but I loved her, James, really loved her.’

James nodded. He loved his nephew very much, but tonight Johnny kept repeating himself and it was doing his head in. Normally, he’d try to comfort him, but at this precise moment, he had far too many problems of his own.

Maria was putting on her lipstick when Tommy barged into the ladies and stood against the door.

‘Sprucing yourself up for me, are yer?’ he asked nastily.

Startled, Maria turned to look at him. How the fuck did he have the nerve to follow her in here, in front of a packed pub? ‘What do you want, Tommy? Just fuck off and leave me alone.’

Tommy smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, more of a sarcastic smirk. ‘I’ll tell you what I want, shall I? I wanna know why you blew me out and then married my loser of a bruvver. I wanna know why my big, hard cock wasn’t enough for you, Maria. I’ve wanted you since the moment I set eyes on you, and me and you together, we could have made it big. Why did you do it, Maria? Why?’

As he gabbled on, talking crap, Maria was shocked. She’d always known he was a self-obsessed arsehole, but she’d never realised he was an absolute nut-job. Not knowing what to do for the best, she allowed the alcohol to answer for her.

‘Shut the fuck up, Tommy, and listen to me. See you, you’re nothing to me. You never was and you never will be. Watch my lips. I love your brother, he is everything you are not. Why can’t you just get a life and leave us alone?’

Realising the declaration of his feelings had got him precisely nowhere, Tommy tried another tactic. Grabbing her beautiful, long dark hair, he yanked it towards him.

‘What about the sex, Maria? What about that night we had together? You can’t have forgotten that, I was your first, remember?’

Ignoring the pain he was inflicting upon her, Maria grabbed his shoulder and tried to look him in the eye. ‘The sex was terrible, Tommy, and you were fucking shit in bed. Do you know how many times I’ve regretted that terrible night I spent with you? Well, do you?’

As the toilet door opened, Tommy let go of her hair and ran out. Unable to hide his fury, he pushed past his mum and barged his way out of the pub. High as a kite, he sprinted for what seemed like miles. As he reached a bus stop, he put his hand on his knees to catch his breath. Noticing a poster of Girls Aloud, his fury returned. Maria was a ringer for that Cheryl Cole. Unable to control himself, he lunged at the advertising board.

‘Bitch, whore, slut, slag!’ he screamed, as he punched and kicked it. Losing all sense of reality, he ignored the other four girls and focused solely on Cheryl Cole’s face.

‘See you, Maria. Who do you think you are? Talking to me like a piece of shit. You’re not fit to lick my shoes, you cunt. You think you’re so good with your perfect life and your perfect fuckin’ family. But I’ll have the final say, Maria, you just wait and see. The last laugh will be mine, I promise.’

THIRTY-EIGHT

Over the next seven days, Tommy’s madness reached new heights. As a rule, getting out of his face on drugs blotted out all of the bad stuff, but the sight of James, Maria, Freddie and Sarah playing happy families was eating away at him, like maggots. Apart from Alfie, he had nothing. No bird, no money coming in, no close family, Jack fucking shit. While everybody else’s lives were so wonderfully fucking happy, all he had to thank God for was his best mate being locked up and a poxy cocaine addiction.

With his mood and behaviour at an all-time low, he demanded Alfie go back to his mum’s for the time being.

‘Please, Dad, I don’t wanna live with Mum. Please let me stay with you.’

Tommy refused and made him pack his stuff and leave immediately. He knew he was losing his sanity and he didn’t want his son to witness it. He hadn’t washed, shaved, or changed his clothes for days – all he’d done was drink, smoke and snort.

With Alfie out of the way, he ordered up some crack. He rarely smoked the pipe in front of his boy any more. Snorting coke he could get away with, but inhaling rocks was heavy shit. With his first lug, he shut his eyes and smiled. He felt better now and was ready to make plans. Maria was a trappy cow and he was determined to shut that pretty mouth of hers once and for all.

James sat in the Harvester with Maria and the girls. They often ate at the same restaurant, as it was Tara’s and Lily’s favourite.

‘Can I have some more salad, Daddy?’ asked Lily, thrusting her bowl his way.

Maria and James both burst out laughing. She was only six years old and went through more lettuce than a fucking rabbit. James took her hand and led her back to the salad bar. Lily was a proper Daddy’s girl, whereas Tara was all for Maria. The girls’ personalities were chalk and cheese. Tara was very feminine and loved anything girly, while Lily was the complete opposite. Unlike her sister, she took no interest in dancing, fashion and pretty dolls, and was more into climbing trees and playing football with the boys.

‘Is that enough for yer?’ James said, showing her the bowl.

Studying the contents, she put her hands on her hips. ‘You haven’t put the pink sauce on, Daddy.’

James laughed at the annoyance in her voice. His mum had got her spot-on: ‘I’m telling yer now, James, she’s six going on sixteen. You’ll have your hands full with her; she’s a cowson, you mark my words,’ she told him.

Maria smiled as father and daughter returned to the table. She loved eating out with James and the girls, and her family life was everything that she’d dreamed it would be. James was a great provider, a wonderful dad and she was so bloody happy with him. They’d recently decided to try for another baby; it had been his idea and, even though he hadn’t admitted it, she knew that he was desperate for a boy.

‘I need to go for a pee,’ Lily announced.

Telling Tara to take her sister to the toilet, Maria turned to James.

‘What time you off tonight?’

James sighed. ‘About ten.’

Maria said nothing, but he knew what she was thinking. He hated leaving his family for days at a time, just as much as Maria hated the situation. They’d spoken about his choice of career a lot lately. The money had been fantastic over the years, but they’d both agreed it was probably time for a change.

‘You’re not gonna get away with it forever, James. One of these days your luck’s gonna run out and I’ll be visiting you in prison,’ Maria said.

He’d taken her words on board and had spoken to Freddie about his dilemma. Surprisingly, Freddie felt exactly the same way. ‘Sarah’s been on my case for ages – I’m so glad you said something, I wanted to tell you I’d been having doubts, but I didn’t know how to broach the subject.’

It had been decided that they would have a proper chat about their future on their next trip. Both had money behind them and if they pooled it together, they’d hopefully have enough to set up a decent, legitimate business. With contacts in the building trade, they’d had a vague chat about becoming property developers. Nothing was set in stone yet, but they had some good ideas of how to get things started.

‘I think we should get Christmas out of the way and tell Bobby our decision in the New Year,’ James told Freddie.

Freddie hadn’t said much about the subject since, and James knew the reason why. Telling his uncle wasn’t going to be easy; Bobby Adams was not gonna be a happy bunny.

Over in Stepney, Maureen had problems of her own. ‘Johnny,’ she shouted as she knocked on her grandson’s bedroom door. ‘Dinner’s ready, love. I’ve cooked you your favourite, spag bol.’

Johnny lifted the quilt from over his head. ‘Thanks, Nan, I’ll have it later.’

Not knowing what to say to entice him out of the room, Maureen walked away. She knew that he wouldn’t eat it later – he’d throw it in the bin, like all the rest of the dinners he kept pretending to eat. Not hungry herself, Maureen dished a plate up for Ethel.

‘I’ve done you some dinner, Mum.’

Ethel looked at the tray in horror. ‘I ain’t eating that shit, it looks like a plate of fuckin’ worms.’

Maureen put it on the sofa beside her. The old cow would eat it in a minute, she’d put her house on it.

Face etched with worry, Maureen sat opposite her. It was a week now since Susan’s funeral and Johnny had barely eaten or come out of his bedroom. The job that he usually adored had gone by the wayside as well. It was as though he’d put his whole life on hold.

Seeing Ethel tuck into her plate of worms, Maureen smiled for the first time in days. Ethel might be a cantankerous old fucker, but she had a way of cheering Maureen up. As Ethel wolfed the lot, Maureen took the empty plate away from her.

‘Nice was it? I thought you didn’t like spaghetti bolognaise?’

Ethel eyed her with sarcasm. ‘It was fucking rotten,’ she insisted.

Maureen got a cloth and wiped what she’d dropped off her cardigan. ‘With a mouth as big as yours, I’m surprised you can miss it,’ she said sarcastically.

Ethel playfully walloped her. She loved her Maureen more than anyone in the world, and without her she’d be shunted off to God’s waiting room. She hated them fucking homes. Poor old souls, all sitting there in their own shit and piss, waiting to die.

Maureen poured her a Guinness and sat down next to her. ‘What we gonna do about Johnny, Mum? His boss keeps ringing up and he’s gonna have to go back to work next week. He still won’t come out of his room, I don’t know what else to do to help him.’

Ethel knew exactly what to do. ‘Ring his fucking father; it’s about time he stood up to his responsibilities. ’Ere, give us that phone, I’ll ring the no-good bastard for yer.’

Maureen refused to give Ethel the phone, but thought about her idea. Johnny needed guidance and Royston should bloody well take responsibility for once.

She smiled at Ethel. ‘Do you know what? I think you might be right, Mum. I’ll ring him tomorrow morning – hopefully he’ll be at work then. I don’t wanna ring him while he’s at home with his family; she’s a funny one that Jamaican bird he married.’

Sipping her drink, Ethel had a smug expression plastered across her wise old face. She might no longer be a spring chicken, but she was always fucking right.

Tommy didn’t bother going to bed that night, he was far too excited to be able to sleep. He looked at the clock: 5 a.m., which meant he still had three hours to kill. Opening up the piece of foil, he chipped off another piece of rock and set it up on top of the bottle. Setting it alight, he inhaled deeply through the straw. As he felt the cocaine flow through his body, he lay on the carpet and pictured Maria’s face.

Last night he’d done a bit of spying and he knew that James had gone away. He’d borrowed his mate’s work van and had hidden in the back of it. The windows were blacked out to stave off thieves nicking any tools that may be inside. In other words, you could see out, but couldn’t see in.

Tommy was on cloud nine as he watched his brother load the sleeping bag and all the camping equipment. It was obvious that he was going on a run and, from past experience, Tommy was sure that James would be away for a couple of days at least.

Smiling like the Cheshire Cat, he’d clambered into the front seat and calmly driven away. Once back home, he’d got his thinking cap on. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do to Maria, but obviously he’d have to wait until she’d taken the kids to school and was indoors alone. He wasn’t planning on physically hurting her. He just wanted to frighten the living daylights out of the foul-mouthed whore, or watch her beg in terror for a couple of hours – that would be good enough revenge. At least then she wouldn’t be so fucking cocky in the future. As long as he didn’t lose his temper and mark her, she would have to keep his visit quiet.

There was no way she’d say anything to James. How could she? She’d be far too worried about her sordid past coming back to haunt her.

Pouring himself another large scotch, Tommy smiled to himself. He couldn’t wait to see the look of horror on that pretty little face of hers. Fucking bitch. What goes around comes around.

‘Look at the bloody state of you, Lily. What have you been doing?’

Lily said nothing. She’d been playing outside in the garden, but daren’t admit it, as she was banned from going out there of a morning. Unfortunately, she had fallen into a puddle of mud, hence her mother’s anger.

‘Go upstairs and quickly get changed. Hurry up, else you’ll be late for school.’

Exasperated by her tomboy of a daughter, Maria turned to Tara and smiled. ‘Do you want me to plait your hair while we’re waiting for madam?’

‘Yes please, Mummy.’

Maria was deep in thought as she brushed her daughter’s hair. She loved the girls equally, but wished Lily would be more feminine, like Tara. It would save her an awful lot of washing and ironing, as she was such a dirty little mare.

‘I’m ready, Mum.’

Looking at Lily, both Maria and Tara burst out laughing. She’d changed her school uniform, but still looked like a bundle of shit tied up ugly. With one sock up and one down, one bunchie in and one out, she looked like Orphan Annie.

Maria straightened her out and cuddled her. ‘What am I gonna do with you, eh?’

Lily shook her head. ‘I don’t really know, Mummy.’

Maria saw the girls into the back of the four-wheel drive and checked that their belts were on. Hearing them giggle and chat was her favourite part of the journey. For complete opposites, they got on extremely well together and rarely ever argued. Glancing into her mirror, she smiled as she hit the accelerator.