Shafted

by Unknown

  ‘Yeah, whatever,’ Gaynor said flatly, knowing full well that there was no way she was ever going to get respect from Dex’s family, no matter what she did. He could fool himself if he liked, but she wouldn’t be letting her guard down any time soon.

  Reaching for her hand now, Dex curled his huge fingers around hers and said, ‘Hey, I had a bit of good news this morning. They’ve given me the go-ahead for an appeal, and my brief reckons she could get up to half me original sentence hacked off because of the entrapment shit. And she’s raising the issue of reasonable doubt about the DNA evidence on the rape an’ all, ’cos it could just as easy be our Pat as me. Anyway, take time served off that, and add good behaviour, and she reckons I could be looking to be out in three to four.’

  ‘Really?’ Gaynor gasped, her eyes lighting up at the prospect. ‘That would be fantastic.’

  Wincing as he looked at her, Dex said, ‘Whoa! Don’t smile that much, babe – that lip looks like it might split.’

  ‘I don’t care,’ Gaynor said happily, the news that he might be back in her arms much sooner than anticipated eclipsing the pain – and the suspicions that had been eating away at her. ‘I just want you home, and if it’s that much faster than we thought I can put up with any amount of pain.’

  ‘Only if the appeal comes off,’ Dex reminded her, not wanting her to get too carried away, because then he might get carried away, and it would feel like double shit if his appeal failed.

  ‘Do you love me?’ Gaynor asked suddenly, holding his gaze across the table.

  A flicker of a bemused frown twitching his brow, Dex said, ‘’Course. Why?’

  ‘Just wanted to hear it,’ Gaynor murmured, relieved because he’d answered without having to think about it. And his eyes hadn’t so much as flickered away from hers, so he’d obviously been telling the truth. Whatever game his slut of an ex was playing, Dex had just told Gaynor everything she needed to know.

  ‘You all right?’ Dex asked, sensing that she wasn’t quite herself today.

  ‘Me?’ Gaynor said, still smiling. ‘I’m absolutely fine, thanks. How about you?’

  Grunting amusedly, Dex said, ‘Not too bad, considering me missus just got hitched to another bloke. How was the honeymoon, by the way?’

  ‘Solitary, and filled with thoughts of the man I love,’ she purred, feeling her heart melt as Dex gazed at her with that certain twinkle in his eye.

  ‘Good job, too.’ He grinned, knowing full well that she was talking about him. Then, ‘So, have you checked the bank accounts yet?’

  Jerked out of the misty moment and deposited back in the here and now with a bang, Gaynor frowned.

  ‘Bloody hell, Dex, I only married him yesterday. And then I got jumped, so it would have been kind of difficult to toddle off to the bank and say oh, excuse me, I want to draw all of my new husband’s money out in one lump sum, please.’

  ‘Obviously not,’ Dex said, chuckling softly. ‘But you can always check it out on-line, can’t you? See exactly what kind of amounts we’re looking at. There’s a guy in here who used to work for a bank and he reckons it’s dead easy. You can even move all the money out of one account and into another without talking to a single person or filling out a single form. You’ve just got to have all the right numbers and passwords – and Mark can hack into all that shit, so that won’t be a problem. He’ll just need you to pass on the account details.’

  ‘Are you crazy?’ Gaynor said, drawing her head back and squinting at him. ‘There’s no way I’d trust Mark with all those details. He’d have the lot out of Larry’s account and into his own before you could blink.’

  ‘Larry’s account?’ Dex repeated, narrowing his eyes.

  Mentally kicking herself for slipping up when she’d tried so hard to remember to call him Logan, not Larry, Gaynor dipped her gaze. She was about to apologise when Dex chuckled and said, ‘Don’t you mean your account, Mrs Logan? Or should that be mine, considering I did all the graft to get it.’

  ‘Excuse me?’ Gaynor peered up at him incredulously.

  ‘Yeah, I know you’ve done your bit an’ all,’ Dex conceded, waving his hand dismissively. ‘But that was nowhere near as hard as what I’ve been doing. I mean, what’s so hard about drinking champagne and getting your leg over? And we all know how much you like your sex, don’t we, babe?’

  ‘With you,’ Gaynor gasped, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. ‘It damn near killed me having to do it with someone I don’t love.’

  ‘Well, you obviously did the trick for Logan.’ Dex grinned. ‘’Cos he was quick enough to try and nab you for himself, wasn’t he? And, boy, is he gonna pay for the privilege.’

  Gaynor couldn’t speak – she was too numb. She’d never been entirely comfortable with the thought of stealing Larry’s money, and had had to remind herself constantly that he deserved it in order to carry on doing what she was doing. If she’d had her way, she’d have walked away as soon as they’d got Larry arrested. Job done. But Dex had to keep pushing for one more bite of the cherry, and she really didn’t like the fact that he seemed not to care what she’d been doing with Larry.

  So maybe Jane had been telling the truth, after all. And maybe that was what her instincts had been trying to tell her since her little visit from the three witches yesterday morning.

  Letting Dex natter on about the money for a while, Gaynor waited for a lull in the conversation, then said, ‘I saw your Molly the other day.’

  ‘Oh, yeah?’ Dex said, looking interested suddenly. ‘Where was that, then? Round at me mam’s? Was she behaving herself, or being a little madam, as per?’

  Irritated that he could muster genuine warmth in his eyes for the brat, Gaynor smiled and said, ‘No, she was driving past, actually – with Jane. I’m sure they were in your Patrick’s car, though.’

  Saying, ‘Oh, yeah?’ again as if he saw nothing wrong with that, Dex reached for a cigarette.

  ‘Don’t you think that’s a bit funny?’ Gaynor persisted. ‘That they should let Jane use his car, considering how much they hate her?’

  ‘She’s family,’ Dex said, shrugging as if it was no big deal.

  Inhaling deeply to keep at bay the tears that were stinging the backs of her eyes, Gaynor said, ‘Does she ever come to see you?’

  ‘Does she fuck,’ Dex lied. Then, ‘Anyhow, shut up about her. I wanna know when you’re gonna get stuck into those accounts, ’cos we need to start shifting it before anyone catches on.’ Smiling evilly now, he cracked his knuckles loudly and said, ‘I’m gonna do that cunt like he did me, then sit back and watch him disintegrate when he realises you’ve cleaned him out – legally.’

  Careful not to let him see how hurt and confused she was when the bell rang a few minutes later, Gaynor said goodbye and walked away, almost certain now that Dex had been playing her for a fool; that she was just another Jane in his eyes – there to be used as it suited him.

  All she had to do was wait two weeks to see if Jane came on Nora’s visit. That would be all the proof she needed.

  Sure enough, she got it.

  26

  ‘Who should I say wants to see him?’ the sergeant asked, looking over his desk at Gaynor.

  ‘Mrs Logan,’ she said, raising her chin a notch as she added, ‘Mrs Larry Logan.’

  It killed her to use the title, because it wasn’t real, and she resented the fact that she’d had her real dreams of being a wife shattered for ever by a man who had purported to love her. But it was the only guaranteed way of getting the inspector’s attention without having to jump through hoops, because he had apparently been quite friendly with Larry and had been instrumental in bringing Larry into Dex’s life in the first place.

  Taking a seat against the wall while she waited for her message to be passed on, she kept her eyes straight ahead as various lowlifes came in and out of the door. There was a time when she’d have felt comfortable among them, but she was no longer a part of that world. That was Dex and Nora and Jane’s domain, a
nd they were welcome to it.

  After almost ten minutes, a door opened to her left, and an elderly-looking man with thinning red hair and searching brown eyes came out. Looking at her, he said, ‘Mrs Logan?’

  Standing up, Gaynor said, ‘Inspector Keeton? Thanks for seeing me. I know this is a bit presumptuous, just turning up like this, but I really need to talk to you about Larry.’

  ‘I’m sorry, my dear, but I don’t really think there’s any point,’ Keeton said, giving her a regretful smile. ‘I’m in no position to pull strings for him – even if I wanted to, and I’m sure you’ll understand if I say I don’t.’

  Glancing around, aware that people might be listening in, Gaynor lowered her voice and said, ‘Could we please go somewhere more private? I’m sure you’ll change your mind when you hear what I’ve got to say.’

  Very much doubting that, Keeton gave a little shrug and said, ‘Okay, five minutes.’

  Promising not to take too long, Gaynor followed him through the door he’d come out from and into a small office behind the scenes.

  Waving her into the visitor’s chair, Keeton strolled behind the desk and heaved himself into his chair. Then, resting his elbows on the desk, he said, ‘So, what have you got to tell me, Mrs Logan?’

  Telling him to please call her Gaynor, she took a deep breath and said, ‘Larry’s completely innocent.’

  Sighing wearily, Keeton said, ‘I thought I just told you I couldn’t pull strings, Mrs— Gaynor. And I’m sorry but I meant it. This case has got nothing to do with me – I actually resent Larry sending you to try and get me involved, based on a fleeting acquaintanceship.’

  ‘He knows absolutely nothing about this,’ Gaynor assured him.

  ‘Well, then, I admire your loyalty,’ Keeton said, already beginning to stand up. ‘But you’re still flogging a dead horse.’

  ‘He was set up,’ Gaynor persisted. ‘And I can prove it, because I was involved.’

  Frowning now, Keeton pursed his lips. ‘But you’re his wife.’

  ‘That was part of the set-up,’ Gaynor said, feeling every bit as guilty as she looked when she added, ‘I’m – I was Dex Lewis’s girlfriend.’

  Not speaking for several moments, Keeton cleared his throat and reached into his pocket for his cigarettes. Remembering that he was no longer allowed to smoke on the premises, he put them back, and said, ‘So, can I take it that you’re no longer with Lewis?’

  ‘You can,’ Gaynor murmured, her nostrils flaring ever so slightly as she struggled to keep the tears at bay. She still loved Dex too much to brush off the scorching pain of his betrayal, but there was no use pretending that things could ever go back to how they had been before. Or, rather, how she’d thought they were, because she’d obviously been walking around in blinkers the whole time, believing Dex’s lies and ignoring the glaring truths. And all he’d had to do was tell her that he loved her every now and then, and she’d been putty in his lying, cheating hands.

  But no more. He reckoned he’d shafted Larry, but it had actually been her he’d been shafting all along. And now it was payback time.

  Seeing the pain in Gaynor’s eyes, and sensing that she was finding this really difficult, Keeton said, ‘Shall we start off with an informal chat over coffee? Only I’d like to hear what you’ve got to say before I start any official balls rolling. And, to be honest, I could really do with a fag.’

  Getting two steaming coffees from the canteen, he carried them both out into the yard and led Gaynor to a bench in a quiet corner away from the uniformed officers who were milling about among the cars and vans.

  Handing Gaynor’s coffee to her when she’d sat down, Keeton sat beside her and lit his cigarette, sighing with contentment. Then, turning to her, he said, ‘So, what’s a nice girl like you doing getting yourself hooked up with a thug like Lewis?’

  ‘You tell me,’ Gaynor murmured, holding the vision of Jane tarted up to the nines as she arrived arm in arm with Nora and Molly at the prison that morning firmly at the forefront of her mind. She wanted to keep any sentimental ideas about letting Dex off the hook at bay. She’d started, and now she would finish – him.

  Looking into Keeton’s eyes now, she said, ‘I just need to know if there’s any way you can keep me out of this when I tell you what I know. Because the Lewises are going to come after me with everything they’ve got, and I won’t be safe – not even in prison, if you decide to arrest me for my part.’

  ‘I’m sure we can work something out,’ Keeton replied, sensing that Gaynor was about to give him enough rope to hang Dex Lewis once and for all. ‘This is just an informal chat,’ he reminded her, giving her a very pointed look. ‘So if I were to hear things in passing which lead me to go away and start digging, who’s to say where it came from in the first place, eh?’

  ‘Can you do that?’ Gaynor asked, a note of sheer hope in her voice.

  Smiling, Keeton said, ‘Depends if you’re about to confess to murder, I suppose, ’cos obviously I couldn’t ignore that, could I? But I don’t suppose you are going to confess to anything like that, are you?’

  ‘Definitely not,’ Gaynor told him earnestly. Then, taking a deep breath, ‘Well, not committed by me, anyway . . .’

  EPILOGUE

  Peering over his glasses, the judge raised his gavel and then brought it down with a short, economical clack!

  ‘Case dismissed. You’re free to go, Mr Logan.’

  Gasping loudly, Larry turned and looked up at the spectators’ gallery. Sitting right at the front, her eyes red and swollen, with a tissue clutched tightly in her hand, Georgie nodded, and mouthed, ‘You did it!’

  Wide-eyed with shock and disbelief, Larry spun around when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Seeing it was his solicitor, he grasped his hand and pumped it, saying, ‘Thank you so much, Doug . . . You don’t know what it meant to have you in my corner. I couldn’t have got through it without you and Georgie, I really couldn’t.’

  Telling him that he’d been glad to help, Doug said, ‘There’s a ton of reporters outside. Do you want me to get them to open the back door so that we can slip away?’

  Taking a deep breath, Larry shook his head. ‘No, I’ll have to face them sooner or later. Might as well get it over with.’

  Georgie was waiting in the hall outside the door by the time Larry and Doug came out. Pulling Larry into a warm hug, she said, ‘I’m so pleased for you, darling.’

  ‘Christ, you don’t know how good this feels,’ Larry murmured, holding her tight. ‘Every time you visited me and we had that glass window between us, I just wanted to smash it down and get one of these hugs!’

  ‘Good job you didn’t, or they’d have had a real case against you,’ Georgie chuckled, not even trying to stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

  ‘Ready?’ Doug asked.

  Composing himself, Larry nodded. ‘Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s do it.’

  Cameras flashed like fireworks as soon as Larry stepped out of the court and into the daylight. Taken aback by the sheer number of reporters and photographers, not to mention the TV crews, Larry clutched at Georgie’s hand and whispered, ‘Shit! I hope they realise I was acquitted.’

  ‘How’s it feel to be a free man, Larry?’ one of the reporters called out to him.

  Laughing, Larry raised his face to the sun and said, ‘Better than you could ever know, mate.’

  ‘And how do you feel about Dex Lewis now that you know he did all this for revenge?’ another asked.

  ‘I don’t feel anything,’ Larry lied, smiling to cover the hatred that was still burning away inside him. ‘He’s never going to feel what I’m feeling right now, is he?’

  ‘Did it shock you to hear that he was responsible for four gangland murders?’ one of the TV presenters asked now.‘And that you nearly became his fifth victim when he tried to slice your throat open?’

  ‘Nothing about Dex Lewis could shock me,’ Larry said. ‘I’m just glad it’s all over.’

  ‘Must be a relief t
o know the brother’s been caught and brought back from Amsterdam for sentencing?’

  ‘Yeah, that is pretty good,’ Larry agreed. ‘At least I don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder now that I know where they all are.’

  ‘What about your wife, Larry? How do you feel about her now you know she was Dex Lewis’s girlfriend?’

  Spirits dropping like a stone at the mention of her, Larry turned to Doug and said, ‘Can we go now?’

  Nodding, Doug held up his hands and said, ‘No more questions, gentlemen . . . Mr Logan needs to go home and relax. There’ll be a press conference at the Lowry Hotel in a week, and you’ll all be welcome to come and talk to him there. But for now, we thank you for your support, and say goodbye.’

  Larry inhaled deeply when he walked into his apartment a short time later. The air was stale, but all the old familiar scents lay in wait underneath. Dust motes rose as he moved through into the lounge, settling on him along the way as if to welcome him home.

  ‘Never thought I’d see this place again,’ he said quietly, looking around. ‘Doesn’t look like anybody’s been living here while I’ve been away.’

  ‘Even she couldn’t be that cheeky,’ Georgie muttered disapprovingly, heading into the kitchen with her shopping bag. Emptying milk, coffee and sugar onto the ledge, she filled the kettle and swilled it out, then refilled it and switched it on. ‘Everyone having one?’

  Grinning sheepishly, Larry came up behind her and put his hands on her ample hips. ‘Not for me, babe. I need a real drink.’ Kissing her on the cheek now, he reached past her and pulled the cupboard open, delighted to find his Scotch where he’d left it.

  Rolling her eyes, Georgie smiled fondly and said, ‘Go on, then. But try to make it a small one, because you need to get showered and changed. There’s no way we’re being seen in public with you in this state.’