The Front (29 page)

       
‘All right, Mal,’ she simpered. ‘Whatever you say.’

       
Suzie watched this with amusement. She knew exactly what Elaine was thinking, but she wasn’t worried. Mal obviously didn’t like her very much, and it looked like he didn’t trust her either. Well, good! But that didn’t mean he was forgiven.

Ged and Sam arrived a couple of hours later. Suzie let them in, then sat back to watch what would happen when they found out Elaine knew everything.

       
Mal and Lee were nervous, and tried their damnedest to control Elaine. But it wasn’t long before she blew the gaff. She just couldn’t help herself. Desperate to prove that she was part of the ‘gang’ now, she plonked herself next to Ged and nudged him.

       
‘Here, what you gonna do with all your dosh, then?’

       
‘What you talking about?’ he asked, casting a dark glance at Mal.

       
‘Elaine, button it!’ said Lee, going white in the face.

       
Turning her back on Lee, Elaine went on coyly, ‘You know – the dosh from Pasha’s? I bet you were dead brave when them bullets went off. I would’ve been shitting myself, but I bet you didn’t, ’cos you’re well hard, aren’t you?’ She reached up and stroked Ged’s arm. ‘Dead muscly and all.’

       
Ged went ballistic. ‘What the fuck did you tell her for?’ he demanded, shoving Elaine out of the way to glare at Mal and Lee. ‘You might as well have sent a signed fucking confession to the pigs as tell this cheap little slag! I don’t fucking believe you!’

       
‘Oh, God . . . oh, shit!’ Sam muttered over and over, gripped by an awful, absolute certainty that it was now only a matter of time before they were hauled in and charged with murder.

       
‘What’s wrong?’ Elaine spluttered. ‘What have I done?’

       
‘You get the fuck away from me!’ Ged bellowed into her face. He jumped up and began to pace the floor. ‘Oh, shit! I can’t fucking believe this is happening! How could you, Mal? I knew that fucking ponce had no sense, but
you
? How could you tell this – this little slag our business?’

       
Elaine burst into tears and ran to Suzie like a hurt child seeking the comforting arms of its mother. Suzie sat impassively, allowing Elaine to think she was comforting her as she patted her shoulder. Elaine would have been chilled to the core by the cold look in Suzie’s eyes.

       
‘Right,’ Ged said at last. ‘Kitchen – now!’

       
Silently, the men trooped into the kitchen. Ged slammed the door shut behind them.

       
‘What’s he going to do?’ Elaine asked fearfully as their hushed, angry voices rose and fell behind the door.

       
‘They’ll be talking it through,’ Suzie said. ‘Ged’s sensible. He won’t do anything.’

       
‘I wouldn’t tell anyone, you know?’ Elaine said.

       
Suzie looked at her and said quietly, ‘I hope not.’

       
A few minutes later, Mal came out and motioned Suzie into the bedroom.

       
‘Look, take Elaine to town for a bit, will you?’ he said, taking a wad of money from his pocket with shaking hands.

       
‘What’s going on?’ she asked.

       
‘The shit’s hitting the fan,’ he told her. ‘Ged and Sam are really pissed!’

       
‘Can’t say I blame them,’ she said quietly. ‘It wasn’t one of your brightest ideas, was it?’

       
Mal frowned. ‘You’re not helping.’

When the girls had left, the men came back into the living room to thrash it out. Ged was still furious.

       
‘You’ve totally blown it, you know that, don’t you?’ he said to Mal and Lee, who sat before him like a couple of schoolboys waiting to be caned. ‘You couldn’t be trusted for one lousy night! You don’t know this slag from Eve, but you had to go and open your fucking stupid gobs!’

       
‘It was him,’ Mal said, pointing at Lee. ‘He was flashing his money at her, and she wanted to know where he got it!’

       
‘It wasn’t my fault!’ Lee protested. ‘You made me get me dosh out to pay you for the fucking coke!’

       
‘I never told you to fucking tell her!’ Mal yelled.

       
‘You fucking did, you cunt!’ Lee yelled back. ‘You said, “Go on, then!” ’

       
‘Shut the fuck up!’ Ged shouted. ‘As far as I’m concerned, you’re both to fucking blame! Now, what we gonna do to sort it out?’

       
Mal and Lee looked down guiltily.

       
‘We’ve got to minimize the risk of her telling anyone else,’ Sam said quietly.

       
‘Yeah, right!’ Mal sneered. ‘Minimize the fucking risk? What’s that supposed to mean when it’s at home?’

       
‘Don’t start with me,’ Sam told him icily. ‘ ’Cos the mood I’m in right now, Mal, you’ll be lucky if I don’t break every bone in your fucking body!’

       
Again, Mal looked down. He wasn’t brave enough to take Sam and Ged on when they were this mad. Apart from which, he knew they were right. He and Lee should never have told anyone what they’d done – least of all a tart like Elaine.

       
‘What we supposed to do?’ Lee asked.

       
‘We have to make sure she can’t tell anyone,’ Sam said. ‘That’s your job, Lee.’

       
‘How am I supposed to do that?’

       
‘By never letting her out of your sight,’ said Ged.

       
‘What if she wants to go somewhere without me?’

       
‘You don’t let her,’ Ged said, adding bitterly: ‘I’m sure Mal will give you lessons in keeping her in line!’

       
Mal folded his arms and averted his eyes.

       
‘Not only do you not let her out of your sight,’ Sam went on, ‘you also make sure she doesn’t get to speak to anyone on her own.’

       
Lee groaned. ‘How? I can’t exactly stop her using the phone, can I?’

       
‘No,’ said Ged. ‘But you can monitor what she says.’

       
‘I don’t think you understand what a threat she is,’ Sam went on grimly. ‘And not just to you – to me and Ged as well. Not to mention Wendy and the kids. Fuck knows what she’s gonna say when she finds out what you’ve done.’

       
‘Aw, shit,’ Lee muttered, sinking further down. Wendy would have his balls for this. He’d blown any chance he might have had of getting into her knickers now.

       
‘What about you two?’ Mal asked. ‘It ain’t just us who’ll have to keep an eye on her.’

       
‘I don’t see why the fuck we should do anything!’ Ged yelled. ‘It wasn’t us who couldn’t keep quiet. If I had my way, I’d never have to look at the bitch again!’

       
‘She already knows you can’t stand her,’ Lee said grumpily. ‘What if she gets funny with you? She might take it into her head to drop youse in it.’

       
Ged glared at him. ‘I’ll hold you personally responsible if she does.’

       
Sam frowned. ‘What if she does, Ged?’

       
Ged considered the possibilities and came up with the only solution he could find. ‘Much as I hate the idea, I suppose we’ll just have to keep her sweet, won’t we?’

       
‘We’ll be all right if we stick together on this,’ Mal said, looking at Ged contritely.

       
Ged shook his head, saying darkly, ‘I don’t even want to talk to you right now, Mal. I’m going home to chill out. And you’d better sort her out before I get back, or there’ll be trouble.

       
‘Come on, Sam,’ he said then. ‘Drop me at mine before you go for Wendy.’

       
Without another word, they left.

       
‘Fucking hell!’ Lee spluttered when the front door slammed shut behind them. ‘They went a bit overboard, didn’t they?’

       
Mal looked at him hard. ‘They were right. You should never have told her.’

       
‘Get out of it, you cunt!’ Lee laughed. ‘They’ve gone now, you can stop blaming me.’

       
Mal raised an eyebrow. ‘I
am
blaming you, mate. If she drops us in it, it won’t just be them holding you responsible.’

‘So what are we going to do?’ Sam asked as he pulled away from the car park.

       
Ged shrugged. ‘Keep a close eye on them, and hope to God they can keep that little bitch under control.’

       
Sam shook his head. ‘I can’t believe they did it. It’s like giving a child a machine gun and lining yourself up to be shot! She’s dangerous.’

       
‘I know,’ Ged muttered darkly. ‘And all it’ll take is one argument with Lee, and that’ll be it. She’ll blow our lives apart.’

       
‘Well, they can’t be trusted,’ Sam said. ‘So one of us is going to have to go round every day to keep tabs on them. And we’ll have to keep each other up to date.’

       
‘Yeah,’ Ged agreed glumly. ‘Not that I fancy setting eyes on either of them ever again!’

       
‘You reckon we should do them in?’ Sam asked, half jokingly.

       
Ged snorted softly. ‘Don’t think the thought hasn’t crossed my mind!’

       
Pulling up outside Ged’s flat, Sam smiled weakly. ‘I don’t think I’d better tell Wendy just yet.’

       
‘I wouldn’t if I was you,’ Ged said. ‘Anyway, it isn’t fair to land something like this on her right now. Give her time to get home and settled first, eh?’

       
‘I was thinking of days rather than hours,’ Sam said.

       
‘Don’t leave it too long,’ Ged warned. ‘Best she’s prepared if worse comes to worst.’

       
They exchanged a gloomy look, then Ged got out. Sam waved and pulled away. He was dreading Wendy’s reaction to this latest cock-up. What a day this had turned out to be!

A few miles away in Marie’s flat in Wythenshawe, Linda went to bed thinking much the same thing.

       
She’d been totally confused when she opened her eyes that morning to find herself in a strange bed in an unfamiliar room. She’d had no idea where she was, and couldn’t remember how she’d got there. In fact, she couldn’t remember anything between going to see Simeon and waking up.

       
She’d been on the verge of crying with the fear and frustration of it all when, suddenly, a light had begun to shimmer in the midst of the void. Jake! He must have brought her here. He’d taken her down the stairs from Simeon’s flat to the car, then . . . then what? Nothing.

       
As if that wasn’t frightening enough, she’d been further petrified when the door opened and a strange woman came in with a cup of tea. Having no idea who Marie was, she’d assumed she must be connected to Jake in some way and had asked if she was his mum.

       
Marie had laughed. ‘Good God, girl! Do I look that bleedin’ old? Jake’s mum, indeed! No, love – I’m definitely not his mum! I’m Marie – a friend of Simeon’s. Now drink your tea and get up so we can have a chat, eh?’

       
Marie had done her level best to make Linda feel comfortable, and it had worked. She’d soon loosened up, and by the time they went to town for the clothes The Man wanted her to get, she was chattering away as if she and Marie were old friends.

       
They’d arrived back at Marie’s flat at seven, and soon after she’d begun to get her first inkling of what Marie was to mean to her.

       
‘You’re gonna knock them blokes for six,’ Marie had said as Linda paraded around the living room, modelling the clothes with girlish delight. ‘With them dresses and your hair up like that, they won’t be able to resist you.’

       
‘Blokes?’ Linda had asked, puzzled.

       
Marie had nodded. ‘Yeah, they’ll be queuing up for you. And I reckon you’ll get a fair few wanting to take you regular. Sim won’t half be pleased if you make good for him.’

       
‘What are you talking about?’ Linda had demanded, afraid now.

       
Looking at her hard, Marie had said, ‘You don’t know, do you?’ Linda had shaken her head, and Marie had muttered, ‘Oh, well, I guess it’s only fair to tell you  . . .’

       
Although she hadn’t fully understood at first, it had gradually dawned on Linda that she’d been sent to Marie to be trained as a whore. She’d cried then, hurt to the bone that Simeon would do such an awful thing to her. But Marie had explained his ways, and somehow managed to convince her that he wasn’t such a bad guy.

       
But it wasn’t Marie’s praise of The Man that finally piqued Linda’s interest. It was the idea of men paying her that much money to do what she’d already been doing with Simeon, Jake – and quite a few before them. And as Marie said – she herself had been doing it for years, and she’d never come to any harm. She had her own flat, and never had to scrape to pay the bills. A healthy bank account to see her right in her old age. And she was free to choose whether or not she wanted to work – which was more than most people could say!

       
Marie had missed her forte – she could have been a first-rate recruitment officer. By bedtime, Linda had not only agreed to give it a go but was actually excited about it, and was even pressing Marie to show her the ropes as soon as possible.