Dirty Dealings

by Gillian Godden

  CHAPTER 35

  MYSTERY SOLVED

  ‘It was me.’ Katie’s calm matter-of-fact voice shocked him.

  Angry at Katie’s interference, he looked at her and shook his head. ‘No, Katie. This is one time that you’re not going to stand up for her and be her alibi. Tell me the truth, Scarlet. There is no family here to hear you.’ He looked at Scarlet and paused. He wanted to hear her say the words.

  ‘It was me, Dad. I killed Sharon. Scarlet doesn’t know anything about it.’ Katie looked him squarely in the face. This time he knew she wasn’t bluffing. Stunned, he just stared at her. This couldn’t be true.

  ‘You? You killed Sharon? How? Why?’ Words tumbled out of his mouth. He hadn’t been prepared for this. Katie was always the quiet peacemaker. She wasn’t a killer. Christopher stepped forward and took Katie’s hand.

  ‘You’re going to tell him, then? It’s for the best, Katie. We’re starting a new life. Let’s not start it with skeletons in the closet.’

  ‘You knew? You knew what she had done?’ Tony was amazed. His legs felt weak and he needed to sit down. All of this was hard to take in. He could have taken Scarlet sticking out her chin in that stubborn way of hers and admitting it, but this had totally taken the wind out of his sails.

  ‘Come and sit down in that quiet corner, Mr Lambrianu,’ said Christopher. ‘Scarlet, go and fetch your dad a coffee. We all need to talk.’

  Tony’s hands felt clammy. His breathing had become erratic and he could hardly draw breath as he stared at them. His chest felt crushed and the room was spinning. He was close to a panic attack.

  Christopher saw a discarded brown paper bag from a takeaway in one of the bins. Quickly, he grabbed it. ‘Breathe into this, Tony. Very slowly, in and out. Come on, you can do it.’ He held it to Tony’s mouth and waited for him to follow his instructions; Tony began to breathe into the bag.

  ‘Is everything okay? Does he need one of the paramedics?’ asked one of the airport staff, noticing that Tony was in a state.

  ‘No, everything is fine. Just the thought of flying.’ Katie laughed it off and waited for them to leave.

  Scarlet put the coffee by Tony’s side and the three of them waited until his breathing returned to some form of normality.

  ‘Are you feeling a little better now, Dad?’ Concerned, Katie sat at the side of him and put her arm around his shoulder.

  He nodded. ‘Tell me, Katie. Was it really you?’ He was still breathless, but he also knew time wasn’t on his side. Their aeroplane would be leaving soon.

  ‘Yes, Dad. It was me. I’m surprised it’s taken you so long to work it out. I couldn’t tell you before. I am not sure I wanted to tell you at all. There was nothing anyone could do. What did you think? It was Miss Scarlet, in the broom cupboard, with a candlestick? No, Dad, it’s not Cluedo. It was cold, calculating Katie, in the alleyway, with a gun. How long have you known?’

  Tony was horrified at the easy way his daughter shrugged and joked about it. ‘Not long. Tell me why? Why did you leave Jake there, dying on the ground? After everything he had done for you, you turned your back on him and left him to die.’ Tears started to roll down his face. He couldn’t believe his own daughter could leave Jake like that without a care in the world. Jake had been a second father to her.

  ‘Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? It’s all very long-winded but I’ll try to keep it short.’ Katie was very matter-of-fact about it all, which only seemed to add insult to injury as far as Tony was concerned. ‘We have an hour before our flight and Christopher is right, let’s clear the air. We both need the truth.’ Katie took a deep breath, then began. ‘I thought I had seen Sharon and her bloke a few weeks before Sharon and Jake’s meeting. I wasn’t sure and so I drove past the place a few times and I discovered I was right. She looked haggard. A real mess. The old boarding house they were staying in said one thing and one thing only; they were broke. Everyone thought she was out of the country ... even Jack. I was going to tell you, but then Jack said that Sharon had been in touch and wanted to meet Jake. Although pensive, Jack was also hopeful. He thought maybe, just maybe, Sharon wanted to mend their marriage.’

  Tony sat there in stunned silence. He couldn’t believe his ears. Well, he had wanted to know the truth and here it was. Even Scarlet sat there silent and open-mouthed, listening to her sister’s confession.

  ‘Funnily enough, it was Jack who told me where they were meeting. I found that strange. Why didn’t she want to meet at the house? Or just turn up at the club? We know you wouldn’t have been pleased, but you would have let Jake hear her out.’ Katie waited for her father’s response. She knew as hard as he was, he wouldn’t spoil Jake’s happiness. Tony shrugged his shoulders and waited for her to carry on. He was still dumbstruck but thankfully his breathing was becoming more normal.

  ‘I know that restaurant, Dad. I have done the accounts for them. It’s one of the few restaurants that has two entrances. It’s an “L” shape, possibly because of where they have built on to it. I followed them. I knew Jake had to kill Sharon, but to be honest, I didn’t think he would be able to go through with it.’

  Tony raised his eyebrows in shock. ‘How the hell do you know that? What makes you think Jake was going to kill her?’

  ‘I thought we weren’t playing games, Dad? You wanted the truth and here it is,’ Katie snapped. This was no time to lay blame or be coy. Her father either wanted to hear it or he didn’t. ‘If that is the case you had better leave.’ She stood up and picked up her bag.

  ‘No, wait. Sit down.’ Tony nodded. ‘You’re right, I’m sorry. Carry on.’

  ‘Well, then.’ She sat down again. ‘I was going to go in the back door when I saw some of the staff through a side entrance. It’s where they take deliveries and it’s also where the staff take their breaks and have a fag. I still had my black suit on that I wear for work, so I took off the jacket and walked through the staff entrance. They all wear black skirts and white shirts. Let’s be honest, Dad, no one looks at the waitresses. How many restaurants have you been in where you could describe the waitress who served you?’ She half laughed. It was true. They served you all night, but they were invisible.

  ‘Jake saw me. He probably thought you had sent me to keep an eye on him. He maybe even thought it was Scarlet. That was when I noticed Sharon’s boyfriend sitting in a corner. I recognised him because I had seen them many times. Jake also saw him. Then Jake and Sharon decided to go for a walk. Sharon’s boyfriend left out the back. It was all very weird, but all very well thought out. They had planned it perfectly. Even where she led Jake to that maze near the South Bank. Each turn takes you to a different Tube station.’

  ‘Why didn’t you warn him, Katie? Why didn’t you save him?’ Tony could feel the tears brimming again. Surely she could have saved him.

  Letting out a huge sigh, Katie waited and looked at all their faces. ‘That is the sixty-million-dollar question, Dad. I took a wrong turn but, thankfully, I fell upon that boyfriend of hers hiding in a side alley, watching them. I could hear voices as I walked slowly down the alleyway, but then nothing. My gun had a silencer on it. It was in my bag.’

  Tony was about to interrupt, but Katie stopped him. ‘Well, how else do you think I shot her? I shot her boyfriend and watched him fall to the ground. When I walked further up to the end of the alley, Jake was already lying on the ground. Sharon still had her gun in her hand. He was dead, Dad. Not dying. He was dead. It was point blank range. Dead.’ Katie emphasised the words. She didn’t want her father thinking that Jake was still alive when she left, that she would leave him there on his own to die.

  ‘Sharon was pretty shocked when she saw me.’ Katie smiled. ‘It was pretty obvious that if she had lost her nerve or there had been a struggle her boyfriend was going to finish the job. That bitch mocked me and said I didn’t have the guts, so I showed her point blank that I did and shot her, twice. One was for Jake and the other one was for my family. I am Lambrianu. I have your blood runn
ing through my veins. Whatever else we have, we have family loyalty.’ Katie felt justified in her actions.

  ‘Where did you get the gun from?’ Tony’s sadness turned to intrigue.

  ‘You look, Dad, but you don’t see. You’re the best dad in the world and I love you. But not once have you ever asked how Christopher and I met.’

  Looking up and turning his head from one to the other, a frown furrowed Tony’s brow. He had checked up on Christopher. He came from a good family. They weren’t short of money and he had a good job. What more was there to know?

  Katie smiled and let out a little laugh. ‘You were so busy protecting us you never asked the obvious questions, you silly thing.’ She nudged him playfully with her elbow and saw a faint smile cross his face. ‘Christopher and I met at Don Carlos’s wedding anniversary party in Italy. Then we met up again in England. Christopher is Don Carlos’s great-nephew!’

  Tony’s jaw dropped. This was beyond believable. So, the penny dropped at last. That explained how Don Carlos knew so much about what was going on.

  ‘No one has deceived you, Dad, it was just best left. Christopher sorted out all of your accounts with the vineyard and got it back for you, exactly where it belonged, with Lambrianus. He has sorted out Dominic in business to make it easier for you to accept him as a son-in-law for Scarlet. Don Carlos got me the gun. He didn’t think Jake would kill Sharon. Not out of cowardice, but out of guilt. He felt there was no way he could live with the guilt of killing Jack’s mother, whatever she had done. That is who she was. His son’s mother. Sooner or later Jake would have confessed or, worse still …’ Katie paused. Dare she say it? ‘He might have killed himself, Dad. Don’t you find it strange that he had arranged his funeral in advance? He knew he was going to die, one way or another. Tears rolled down Katie’s face and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. ‘She threatened my family, Dad. You thought you were going to prison for the rest of your life. You were going to leave Mum and that would have killed her. Our whole family would have been in tatters because of Sharon. No. I wasn’t going to let that happen. If she wanted to run off with a younger man, then she could go with our blessing. She could fuck off! But not at our expense.’

  ‘How do you know about that? Me going to prison, I mean?’ Then Tony looked up at Christopher. ‘Ah, I see, Don Carlos’s spy told you.’ Tony’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

  ‘No, Dad. You did. You were in Adam’s bedroom one night, telling Mum all about it. You were afraid and upset. Sharon had destroyed her own family. I was damned sure she wasn’t going to ruin mine.’

  Tony thought back to the night when he had confessed everything to Francesca. ‘I knew there was someone on the staircase,’ he said.

  ‘You were right, Dad. I had got up and, dare I say it,’ she smiled, trying to hide her embarrassment, ‘I was going to Christopher’s room.’ She held her hands up to this confession. This was too much information for her father’s ears, but she carried on. ‘The air vent on the landing outside of Adam’s room was open. I could hear you through it. I knew you wouldn’t be doing anything naughty with Mum in Adam’s room and then I heard you mention Sharon and so I stopped and listened. I heard everything. My strong, powerful Dad’s world was crumbling. Everything he had fought for and risked his life for was now going to come to an abrupt end, because Sharon couldn’t keep her knickers up and wanted to impress her new man. I decided there and then that if I could help, I would. I told Christopher and he found out the rest. Well, what can I say, Dad? You know everything now.’ She looked towards Scarlet who was still speechless.

  ‘Oh, there is just one thing more,’ Katie said, as though it was an afterthought. ‘I went to the boarding house where they were staying. The front door key was in Sharon’s coat pocket. The room was a pigsty, but there were letters on the table so I opened them. She had written letters to the police. She was in with them and possibly hoping for some reward. If not that, she was fingering you and my family as killers. She had made her own insurance policy in case things went wrong and hoped the police would find them. What a bitch! I cleared the place out and shredded all the letters. There would be nothing of any value to the police. The landlady didn’t pay any attention to me as I walked down the stairs, all she saw was the back of a blonde woman. Thankfully, Sharon was blonde. No questions asked.’ Katie threw her hands up in the air. She took a sip of her father’s coffee and sighed. She had always expected to tell him, but not at an airport! ‘That is the short version. Think what you like of me, but remember. I am like you. I will do anything to keep my family safe.’ She waited for his scolding and his rantings, but none came. He looked quite himself now.

  Although he had found it all hard to take in, he accepted it. Katie had done what he would have done in the circumstances. He didn’t want to know the finer details, like how she knew what room they were in. She obviously had sorted all of that out. More to the point, she had saved them, and possibly even Jake. He didn’t want to admit it, but even he had wondered if Jake could have gone through the rest of his life knowing what he had done. Could he have ever looked Jack in the eyes again? And he had arranged his own funeral. Time to let sleeping dogs lie. He had his answers, there was no more to say. Ralph seemed to know Katie better than he did. Little things that Ralph had said came back to him. How Katie was the force behind Scarlet and that she had a darker side. Well, he was right, wasn’t he!

  They were all woken from their shock by the announcement from the airport that it was time for Katie and Christopher to board their aeroplane. Reaching out, he hugged her and held her tightly. There was nothing more to say.

  Shaking Christopher’s hand, he said, ‘You look after her. Do you hear me?’ He added a warm, friendly smile to the warning. He knew Christopher would look after her.

  ‘Look after them, you mean. Yes, I will, Mr Lambrianu. We’re going home and we will make you proud.’

  ‘Them?’ Now Tony was confused.

  Reaching out and taking her father’s hand, then laying it on her stomach, Katie laughed. ‘Yes, Dad, I am taking Antonias home. Where he has always belonged. Like I said, you look but you don’t see. Bye, Dad.’ Kissing him on the cheek, she started to walk away.

  ‘Katie! Does your mother know about the baby?’

  ‘Of course she does. Why do you think we brought the wedding forward?’ With that, Katie and Christopher disappeared through the check-in to start their new lives together, leaving Tony and Scarlet standing there with their arms around each other’s waists.

  ‘How come no one ever tells me what is fucking going on in this family?’ Tony was feeling quite himself now. And, funnily enough, he felt a strange calmness inside of him. ‘Are you pregnant as well? God knows, you do everything else together.’

  Scarlet laughed out loud. ‘Good God, no. Anyway, I think you have had enough shocks for one day, don’t you, Papa? Oh, by the way, thanks for the accusation. Is that what you think of me?’ Raising her eyebrows, she looked at him playfully.

  ‘Sorry, Scarlet. But if anyone was going to commit murder, I would have put money on you. Come on, we have a club to run.’

  CHAPTER 36

  THE BITTER END

  ‘Happy anniversary, Fran. I hope stingy is taking you somewhere nice tonight.’

  ‘Julie, your compliments are like a double-edged sword. Yes, he is, actually. We’re going for dinner at that new Italian restaurant. And before you ask, I have my dress and everything sorted out to make it a lovely anniversary.’ Exchanging glances with Elle, Francesca knew only too well that Julie would want to poke her nose in.

  ‘Ralph’s Parkinson’s getting worse. It’s been five years now. He is so full of pills he rattles when he walks! His age is against him, Fran. Now he is terrified he is going to end up like his mother. We hardly mention it.’

  ‘His mother?’ Julie had told Francesca it was genetic but she hadn’t disclosed anything else. The thought of Ralph having a mother had never crossed her mind.

  ‘Yes,
course, his mother. You know, the woman that helped him see daylight,’ Julie snapped. She was tired. Although Ralph had carried on as normal these past few years and things were okay, Julie was tired of keeping a brave face on things. Nothing was going to get any better. If anything, it was going to get much worse, and both she and Ralph knew that.

  ‘What happened to Ralph’s mother? He never mentions her. I know she is dead, but what happened?’

  Francesca and Elle sat in their normal seats in the kitchen, the coffee pot on the table, and listened to Julie pour her heart out.

  ‘She had it, but back in the days when they didn’t know much about it. Eventually, she got dementia. You do start forgetting things and that is what Ralph has started doing. His mum’s developed into Alzheimer’s. He put her in the biggest, most expensive care home there was, but she didn’t know the difference. It could have been a cardboard box. Eventually, she didn’t even know who he was. Poor bastard, it broke his heart. Every week he went to see her and she showed no recognition of who he was. In the end I felt it was best for both of them if he stopped going.’

  Fran and Elle shared a glance.

  ‘Oh, he didn’t give up on her or anything,’ Julie said, seeing it. She stressed the fact that Ralph had done his very best, but there was nothing else he could do. He stayed in constant touch with the carers and sometimes he would pop in, but she never acknowledged him.

  ‘It frightens him, Fran. He doesn’t want to end up like that.’ Julie’s worried, stressed face surprised Francesca and Elle. She was letting her mask slide. She burst into tears. ‘I don’t know how to help him. The doctors say he could go on for years, but the very thought frightens him. Who would have thought it? Ralph Gold is terrified!’ Julie tried to smile, but she couldn’t. She was mentally exhausted.