The Know (12 page)

Jeanette was devastated that her own brother would make her sound like nothing.

‘You bastard, Jon Jon! You’d do that to me?’

The hurt in her voice didn’t affect him one iota.

‘A fucking bullyboy. Look at him, Jen. Take a good fucking look at what you’re throwing your life away on. He ain’t even stuck up for you, girl! His life is talking shit and toy-fighting with the police. Get a grip before I murder over you - and I will, girl. I will cut this cunt into pieces before he uses you again. A bullyboy and a Turkish girl? He’s laughing at you, him and all his mates, you stupid prat!’

Jeanette was mortified in case Jon Jon was telling the truth. She looked at Jasper and her heart sank. He couldn’t even meet her eyes.

Jon Jon laughed.

‘Fucking bullyboy! Go on, touch my sister again, I dare you.’

He grinned nastily.

‘You smoke black weed, listen to reggae, and
still
you want to punch our heads in - you stupid sick fuck!’

Then he proceeded to give Jasper the biggest hiding he had ever had in his life and, without all his friends as back up, Jasper covered his head and took it. There was nothing else he could do. He knew in a one to one Jon Jon would always be the victor.

The beating was quick, brutal and humiliating. Afterwards Jon Jon dragged Jeanette away and she cried like she had never cried before.

Jasper lay on the ground, feeling he had actually got off lightly. He had expected Jon Jon to use the knife at any moment and the fear had been suffocating. He was in dire pain, felt as if his body was on fire, and knew his face would be unrecognisable by the morning. But he was alive.

In the darkness he lit a cigarette and felt the sting of tears. He was alive and completely humiliated.

Joanie lay in bed with Paulie and still couldn’t believe he was actually beside her once more. The sex had been all she had remembered: he was the only man she had ever really enjoyed the act with, and she knew that would never change. The feel of him asleep on her breasts was so familiar, it felt like the last few years of neglect had never been.

She was holding him to her gently, savouring his deep snoring and making the most of the time he would allot her because she knew that this was a one off.

In the dimness she could make out his face. It still had the power to move her. She loved him so much; had once actually harboured dreams of being with him full-time. Had seen herself as his girl, of course, not his wife - she was not completely delusional. But still perhaps his number one bird. His main squeeze.

She smiled at the thought now. Once it had seemed possible, anything had. There was something she wanted to tell him but now, after all these years, she wondered if she should. It might make him stay around, see more of her, but it could also make him walk away from her for good.

But no. She had missed her chance years ago. She had to accept that, just take what she could from this man asleep beside her. Savour whatever crumbs he threw her way. Her trouble was she knew her own worth down to the last insult.

She hugged him to her once more and kissed the soft skin of his forehead, grateful for this time because in truth she had never thought to feel him this close ever again. She heard the kids come in, and heard their respective doors shut. Now she could try and sleep herself.

It was funny, but even though the kids lived their own lives and she was useless in her efforts to help them any more, she still couldn’t sleep until they were all in. Safe and sound. That was how she liked to think of them, tucked up in their little beds. Safe and sound. And so was she tonight, safe in the arms of the man she had loved since she’d first clapped eyes on him all those years ago.

She savoured every memory of them together, enjoying the bittersweet recollections even though some of them made her want to cry.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she slept.

Chapter Six

Karen Copes was still shouting when the hospital staff asked her to leave at five-thirty in the morning. She had been creating since they had reached the A & E unit, and her shouting, swearing and crying was wearing a bit thin now. She had so far threatened two nurses, a doctor and the hospital receptionist with physical harm. Even though everything possible was being done for her son, she didn’t feel they were bothering enough. Finally it was decided she had to go and Karen declared she was not going without a fight.

The fact that it was her own son who had requested her removal only made her more angry. Her foul language could be heard all over the unit. It took three doctors, a security guard, and eventually her own son’s wrath to finally remove her from the premises.

She only went home because she needed to get a drink inside her, even though she would never admit that out loud. Her drinking was getting to such a level even she was noticing it. Mornings were the worst; trying to get a quick snifter in when she was being watched like a hawk was difficult. She still argued that she was only a social drinker, but that argument was sounding hollow even to herself.

Now, with Jasper’s injuries, she was convinced no one could say a bad word about her having a few drinks to take the edge off her concern for him. But she was still disgruntled about being made to leave. It rankled that her own son wanted nothing to do with her, and she was shrewd enough to know that he would have that calf-eyed child there before he would have her.

Still, now that her son had started the great fight, wouldn’t she enjoy seeing it through to the finish? It never occurred to her that Jasper might have died, that he was now grievously ill after his body had taken a serious battering. She was more interested in the implications of it all. The fact that it had happened and now there’d be repercussions. In her heart of hearts she even felt he was being a bit of a nancy over it all, though she would never have said that. Once her son was back on his feet it would all be resolved. So he was pissing blood? Big deal! Been there, done that! Anyone would think he was the first person to get a good hiding. They had it too easy these days, that was the problem.

The mini-cab driver had to open the windows of the car because Karen smelled like a brewer’s dray. She didn’t take offence. She needed the fresh air herself.

 
Jasper was relieved to see the back of his mother, she was such a pain. He asked his sister Junie to phone Jeanette on her mobile and tell her what was happening; he also instructed her not to tell anyone else what had occurred. He knew that if this became common knowledge it would cause a small-scale war on their respective estates. The trouble was, he wasn’t up to anything, let alone the kind of aggravation this would cause. It was worse for him because he knew he would have done the same in Jon Jon’s shoes. This had been on the cards for a long time, but his own total capitulation had been a shock to him.

As he lay in bed he was a frightened boy inside, and this knowledge was harder to bear than anything.

Even the knowledge that Jeanette’s father was a Turk didn’t change the way he felt about her and that in itself was a surprise. Perhaps inside himself it was something he had always known. She looked foreign, and that was against everything he had been brought up to value. His mother had brought them up to hate everyone who wasn’t English. She had made them feel that they were automatically top dogs because of their heritage.

But now he wasn’t so sure. Apart from his friends in the ICF who had jobs, all his other so-called mates were on the jam roll and that was not the most enviable place to be. But who actually wanted to work for a living? Well, Jon Jon did by all accounts, worked his arse off, and whatever Jasper thought about him he’d had the edge last night because of that. In Jon Jon’s line of work you had to be hard to survive.

But still he cared for Jeanette, and so did Jon Jon - that much had been proved to him last night. And he had to allow for that. He would have felt the same about things if his sister Junie had taken up with the likes of Jon Jon.

For once in his life Jasper Copes was starting to see someone else’s point of view and the novelty was doing his head in.

 
Joanie caught a glimpse of herself in the bedroom mirror and knew she had seen better days than this one. Her eye was swollen and bruised, but at least her nose looked OK so that was something anyway.

She could hear Kira laughing in the kitchen with Paulie, his deep tones penetrating the walls. She knew he was laughing too.

Joanie lay in bed savouring the moment. She only wished the room had been tidier. She knew his own home was kept spotlessly clean and envied his wife with the means to have a cleaner and a gardener. She most envied her for having a garden, a luxury none of Joanie’s children had ever known. Some people just didn’t know they were born.

Jon Jon came into the room with a mug of strong sweet tea and two Paracetamols. Joanie smiled her thanks, and allowed him to scrutinise her face.

‘Fucking piece of shit he is! He’ll think twice before he raises his hand to a woman again.’

Joanie didn’t answer him but clasped his hand and squeezed it gently.

‘You’re a good boy, Jon Jon.’

And he was, to her. He loved her and she felt that love, as he had felt her love all his life. It was what had given him the confidence that buoyed him up every day. He sat down on the bed and sighed.

‘Paulie is cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Like old times, eh?’

She nodded happily.

He smiled at her gently.

‘Are you OK with me backtracking like I did and going to work for him?’

She smiled.

‘’Course I am. At least he’ll see you all right. If you’re going to use the street to make money, son, you’d better make sure you’re with someone who will watch your back. In all honesty, Jon Jon, I’m glad.’

She had put his mind at rest and they both knew it. There was so much between them that remained unspoken that sometimes they felt almost shy with one another. But the time would come when they would talk, and then they would resolve it all.

Just not while Paulie was in the flat; not until they could each concentrate on what the other was saying.

But Jon Jon knew he should warn her somehow about what might happen next. He was amazed his collar hadn’t been felt already. Jasper was a shitter and shitters phoned Old Bill.

But his mother looked so happy, he didn’t have the heart to ruin that. So he smiled and chatted and waited for the knock on the door. He didn’t do a runner because he knew if Jasper grassed there would be literally nowhere
to
run. In his mind’s eye he saw Paulie waving the filth on the night before. When Jon Jon had taken out McArthur, he’d hoped his newfound employer would have enough clout to smooth things over. But Jasper was another thing.

He took a mug of tea in to Jeanette and was not surprised to find her bedroom empty. For the first time in his life he was truly frightened of what she might get involved in.

Like Jasper, he didn’t want his sister to make the mistake of her life.

 
Kira went to school full of bacon, eggs and bonhomie. Happiness shone from her face.

Tommy watched her from his balcony and she waved merrily at him.

He realised then that he loved her. Seeing her was like a drug to him. The more he was in her company, the lonelier he felt when she wasn’t around.

He watched her until she was out of sight then, sighing, went back inside to wait the day out until he could see and talk to her again.

He looked at the photograph of her he kept on the windowsill in the kitchen. Kira was laughing, it was a lovely picture. Picking it up, he caressed her face with a pudgy finger.

His father looked at him, but he didn’t say anything.

 
On a tour of the massage parlours, Paulie explained what he wanted Jon Jon to do. Paulie’s current number one, Earl Jones, had to be given the hard word. In a tactful way, of course. He’d say he wanted Earl to take on wider responsibilities, learn other aspects of the businesses - or at least that was how he would describe things to him anyway. In reality Paulie just wanted him as a heavy and nothing else. Earl was a great lad but hardly the sharpest knife in the drawer. It was only his loyalty to Paulie that was keeping him employed. Jon Jon was a much better deal as a deputy. At least he could count without taking his socks off. He also had an innate cunning. The fact that he had always liked the boy Paulie didn’t admit to himself. If you analysed things too much it could do your head in; he had learned that lesson at an early age.

‘You have to learn the parlours’ locations and pick the money up for me as and when I ask for it. I have never had a routine. Once you do you’re fucked. Remember that, Jon Jon. Even with a rep you still get the little gangs who want easy money, so to stop the theft and the fucking embarrassment of getting robbed by a crowd of fucking ice creams, you never give anyone an insight into what you do. Right?’

Jon Jon nodded but his head was up his arse, as Paulie observed to himself. He said nastily, ‘Am I fucking boring you or something? Here I am, giving you the benefit of my considerable wisdom and experience, and you sit there like a taxidermist’s latest conquest.’

Jon Jon wiped a hand over his face and answered him truthfully, ‘I nearly killed someone again last night.’