Schemer

by Kimberley Chambers

  ‘He killed your father, Dannielle. Murdered him on his stag night, the wicked fucking schemer,’ Stephanie said, thankful that the penny had finally started to drop.

  Barry started to laugh again. He hated Stephanie so much, he wanted to milk this situation for all it was worth before he delivered the final blow.

  Annoyed that her boyfriend was finding her dad’s death so funny, Dannielle walked over to her mum and gave her a big hug.

  ‘It’s OK, Danni. I knew you’d see sense in the end. We’re going home soon, darling,’ Stephanie said, soothingly.

  Barry leapt off the sofa. It was time to shove Stephanie’s words and dumb accusations right down her bitter, twisted throat. Barry walked over to the other sofa, put his hand underneath one of the cushions and produced an envelope. ‘’Ere you go, sweetheart. All the answers about what happened to your loving, doting fiancé are in there. As for calling me wicked and a schemer, I think you’ll find that good old Wayne wins that contest hands down. He’s the schemer, Steph, not me, girl. Have a butcher’s inside the envelope, go on,’ Barry urged her.

  The envelope had Spanish writing on the outside, and when Stephanie put her hand inside, she pulled out another envelope which she knew contained photographs. Her heart was beating like a drum. She didn’t know what to expect.

  ‘I’d sit down if I was you,’ Barry said cockily, as he put an arm around Dannielle’s shoulders and kissed her on the top of the head.

  ‘No! It can’t be him. It must be somebody who looks like him,’ Stephanie stammered in disbelief when she looked at the first photograph.

  Angela stared over her sister’s shoulder. ‘Fucking hell, Steph. It is him!’

  ‘It is who?’ Danni asked anxiously.

  ‘Your dad,’ Barry replied bluntly.

  When Stephanie looked at the next photo, she sank to her knees in shock. Wayne was standing next to a big boat, looking as happy as Larry. He looked tanned and much older than when she had last seen him, but there was no mistaking it was him.

  Stephanie could barely breathe. ‘How could he do it to me? How could he?’ she croaked.

  ‘Unfuckingbelievable! What a no-good, evil bastard,’ Angela spat, as she snatched the photo out of her sister’s hand to take a closer look. There was no mistaking it was Wayne in the photo. His smarmy grin stood out like a beacon.

  Barry couldn’t help but smirk as the stunned, open-mouthed Stephanie started to sift through the rest of the photographs. While living in Fuengirola, he had heard through the Spanish grapevine that Wayne was alive and well and larging it in Alicante, so he had hired a private investigator to find out the truth. He had been well chuffed to find out that the rumours were true, as he’d had a strong hunch that he might one day use the evidence to his advantage. Falling in love with Dannielle hadn’t been planned, it was coincidence, but even if he had never met the love of his life, Barry would still have made sure that Steph found out about her beloved Wayne one day. After the way she had treated him, she deserved to not only be hurt, but to also know the truth. Now, as he watched Stephanie’s tearful face flicking through the thirty or so photographs, Barry knew she had finally got her just deserts. One day, he would also make sure that Wayne Jackman got his as well.

  When Steph threw the photos onto the sofa, Dannielle grabbed them. ‘I can’t believe my dad did this to us. Why would he pretend to go missing? And why would he abandon me and Tyler?’ she sobbed.

  ‘Because he was a no-good fucking arsehole,’ Angela replied, holding Stephanie in her arms.

  ‘If your mother would like to look through the rest of the photos, she will learn exactly why your dad decided to do a runner,’ Barry said to Dannielle. He knew he was being a bit callous, but he just couldn’t help himself.

  ‘You’re really fucking enjoying this, aren’t you?’ Angela asked Barry, as Stephanie snatched the photos back off Dannielle.

  ‘No, I’m not actually. But I do want to spend the rest of my life with Dannielle, so the quicker all this shit is out the way, the better,’ Barry replied. He knew what was coming next, and he couldn’t wait to see the look of utter disbelief on Stephanie’s sour face when she finally learned why Wayne had left her.

  ‘Fucking paedo,’ Angela mumbled.

  ‘No, no, no, no, noooo,’ Stephanie screamed, collapsing to her knees again.

  ‘What is it, Mum? Who is that woman?’ Dannielle asked, picking up the photo her mum had been holding.

  Angela leant over her niece’s shoulder and couldn’t believe her eyes. There was no mistaking that auburn hair and mysterious grin. The woman and Wayne were sitting together like love’s young dream, sipping cocktails on a boat. ‘Oh my God, Steph! I’m so, so sorry for you,’ Angela said, crouching down next to her devastated sister.

  Howling like a severely wounded animal, Stephanie clung to Angela like a leech.

  ‘Everything will be OK, Steph. I know I’ve never been there for you in the past, but I’m here for you now. I’m your sister, I love you, and together we’ll get through this, I promise.’

  Suddenly aware of the devastation his bombshell had caused, Barry hung his head in shame. He wasn’t a bad person, yet for years he had harboured a hatred and grudge against Steph for something that had happened when they were no more than kids. ‘I’m sorry, Steph. I’m sorry about Wayne and about the way you’ve found out,’ he mumbled, trying to make amends.

  ‘Drop dead, you evil bastard,’ Angela spat, as she tried to help her crestfallen sister stand up.

  ‘Who is the woman in the photo? Will someone fucking tell me who she is?’ Dannielle screamed.

  Knowing that he could now finally forget the past, Barry grabbed hold of his future and held her close to his chest. ‘The woman in those photos was your mum’s best friend at school and for many years afterwards. Her name is Tammy.’

  Epilogue

  Tammy Andrews swam up to the boat and screamed as loudly as she could as the engine started up. ‘Wayne, please don’t leave me here. I’m pregnant,’ she yelled in vain. She desperately tried to claw her way up the side of the boat, but it was a fruitless idea. She was wet, the boat was slippery, and there was nothing to grab hold of to yank herself back onboard.

  What had she done to deserve this? she thought to herself as the boat started to pull away from her. Then she remembered exactly what she had done to deserve it. She had betrayed her best friend in the worst possible way known to womankind. Perhaps this was God’s way of paying her back.

  Tammy had never intended on falling in love with Wayne Jackman. It had just happened, and their six-month affair had been extremely intense before they had finally run away together. There never had been any boyfriend called Richard. It had all been Wayne’s idea for her to make up that story; the ‘Richard’ who Tammy had introduced to her family and friends had actually been a chap from a London escort agency whose real name was Toby. Toby hadn’t been aware of the whole set-up. On Wayne’s advice, Tammy had told him that she needed to pretend to her family and friends that she was moving to Spain with him, because she was actually a lesbian and was moving there with her girlfriend, Susan. Tammy had explained to Toby that she was desperate to keep her sexuality a secret, which is why she had hired him to play the role of Richard. Tammy had hated not being able to tell her mum, dad and sister the truth. She had loved Wayne so much that she had wanted to scream it from the rooftops. But how could she when she had stolen her man from her best friend and he was on the missing list, presumed dead?

  Tammy began to sob as the boat began to disappear out of sight. All she had ever wanted was for Wayne to love her, and to have his baby, and after two miscarriages, she finally thought her dream of being a mother was about to come true. Losing two babies had made Tammy feel like a failure at the time, which is why she had decided not to tell Wayne about this pregnancy until she had got past the dreaded twelve-week mark. She had told her mum and sister the news over the phone, just because she’d had to tell someone. They obviously thought that
Richard was the proud father-to-be. The same imaginary Richard, who never came with her when she visited them in England because he was too busy working. Many a time, her parents and sister had asked to visit her in Spain, and Tammy had had to fob them off with lie after lie. She’d hated doing that, but what choice did she have?

  Tammy had never felt so scared in all her life as she stared at the loneliness of the ocean. She was an extremely strong swimmer, had won numerous awards in the sport as a child, but Wayne had obviously chosen his moment to literally dump her. She was miles and miles away from the shore and there were no other vessels in sight. About to give up, Tammy thought about the life growing inside her. She couldn’t just admit defeat; she had to fight for the sake of her baby. Absolutely petrified, Tammy saw a dot in the distance and guessed it was probably a boat of some kind. Hope renewed, she started to swim towards it as though her life depended on it. And for the first time ever, it actually did.

  Wayne Jackman felt a mixture of guilt and relief as he headed back towards the coastline. He hadn’t been in love with Tammy for some time now, but he certainly hadn’t hated her either. Ending her life hadn’t been Wayne’s preferred method of ending their relationship, but due to their unusual circumstances, it was the only answer.

  Deciding to have one last reminisce before he blocked Tammy out of his mind forever, Wayne thought back to when they had first got together. He had loved Tammy back then. He must have really loved her to abandon Stephanie and his two young children in the callous way that he had. Like many relationships that begin at such a young age, Wayne had begun to get itchy feet with Steph by the time he was twenty-one. Being tied down with one kid at such a young age was bad enough, but then Steph fell pregnant with Tyler. That was roughly the time when Wayne’s wandering eye went into overdrive. First he had a few one-night stands, and then a three-month affair with an older woman who trained at his gym, but it was all just a bit of meaningless fun. Wayne’s feelings for Tammy were different, though. He had loved her company and had watched her change over the years from a plain schoolgirl into a ravishning beauty. Wayne had always looked forward to the nights that Tammy visited Steph. He loved hearing about her high-flying career and her social life up town, and he and Tammy would sit up for hours drinking champagne after Stephanie had gone to bed. It was on one of these evenings that they shared their very first kiss and from that moment it was all systems go. The sexual tension between them had been simmering for quite a long time, and when they finally made love in a hotel room up town, the magical experience almost blew Wayne’s mind.

  From that day onwards, Wayne couldn’t get enough of Tammy. As their affair deepened, so did Tammy’s guilt. She hated betraying her best friend, so told Wayne he had to make his choice. Wayne chose Tammy and with the help of his father, dreamed up the plan for his disappearance. Everything from that moment on was organized meticulously. Firstly, there was the massive fall-out with his dad. That had been staged just before his father had left for Spain to find them all somewhere to live. Then, there was the build-up to the wedding. Wayne had felt extremely guilty watching Stephanie’s excitement as their wedding day neared, but his feelings for Tammy somehow outweighed his guilt. Wayne also felt incredibly bad about leaving his children, especially Dannielle. Tyler had only been a toddler at the time and, even though Wayne didn’t like to admit it, the boy’s temper tantrums and overall behaviour had driven him to the edge of destruction.

  Apart from his father and his grandparents, the only other person in the know was his cousin, Billy Jackman. Wayne hadn’t known how his cousin Billy would react, as he was a father himself, but Wayne had needed to receive regular updates on his kids, so he had taken the chance and explained the situation. Billy had understood and had been brilliant over the years. He had sent photos and relayed any snippets of information he heard, and that’s how Wayne had watched and heard about his children growing up. In return for his cousin’s loyalty, Billy and his family had loads of free holidays at Wayne’s expense. They never stayed with him and Tammy, though, as Billy’s wife was kept in the dark about the set-up.

  Obviously, Wayne could not use his real name when he moved abroad and it had been Wayne’s dad who had sorted out his false indentity. His dad had met a fraudster in prison who had a contact inside the passport office, and Wayne was given new documentation in the name of Warren Fisher. Tammy had hated his new surname and Wayne could remember her joking that she could never marry him now as she would hate being called Mrs Fisher. The hardest part of the actual plot itself was the build-up to his stag night. Wayne had already sold his business and transferred the money abroad; then he’d had to play the destitute pauper role, which he had hated. He’d even got sick of hearing himself ramble on to the lads at the gym and then Barry, Danno, Potter and Cooksie about how bloody skint he was. But it had had to be done; it was part of the plan. The idea was that the Old Bill would think that Wayne was so up to his eyeballs in debt that, rather than tell his beautiful bride about his financial dilemma, he had decided to end his own life instead. That had been why he had gone to see his GP. He’d even discussed his make-believe black thoughts with his doctor and got given antidepressants.

  Barry turning up out of the blue was not part of the plan, but once Wayne learned that his old pal was back in England, he thought he would use him as another pawn in his game. That’s when Tammy had played her part. Wayne ordered her to try and convince Steph that Barry Franklin was responsible for his disappearance. Even though he was leaving, Wayne didn’t want Barry getting his feet under the table; he had hoped Steph would become suspicious of him and banish him from her life. It hadn’t quite worked out that way, though, as Barry and Steph were still as thick as thieves when Tammy followed him out to Spain six weeks later. Wayne hated that thought, but never admitted it to Tammy.

  The night of his actual disappearance went without a hitch. Wayne had taken his sports bag with him to the hotel and had left it packed with vital pieces of information. The antidepressants, brochures of beauty salons, and the pawnbroker’s receipt were all left for the Old Bill to find, along with some clothes. Wayne had also gone to the club where Angela worked on purpose, as he wanted to spin her the tale about how awful he felt because he couldn’t afford to buy Steph the beauty salon he had promised her as a wedding present. He’d then left the club alone at midnight and met Tammy, who had driven him straight to the airport. From that moment on, he was no longer Wayne Jackman, he was Warren Fisher.

  Wondering if Tammy was dead yet, Wayne turned the engine off and lit up a cigarette. It was time to stop thinking about the past now and concentrate on the future. Holding the cigarette between his recently bleached teeth, Wayne took his beloved photographs out of his pocket and stared at them. Stephanie looked absolutely stunning in them, and Wayne was really impressed she was now a successful businesswoman. Flicking through the photos, Wayne stared at Tyler and grinned. His son looked uncannily like he had at the same age; just the way he was standing with his hands in his pockets in his trendy Adidas tracksuit told Wayne that he was not the backward boy he’d once thought his son would turn out to be. Putting the photo to the bottom of the pile, Wayne stared at his beautiful daughter. Dannielle was a young woman now and that worried Wayne immensely. She reminded him so much of Steph when she was younger, but Danni was much more glamorous in appearance and looked striking enough to be a top model. Wayne sighed. His daughter was ripe pickings for some flash Harry, but instead of being there to protect her, like most dads would be, he’d wasted ten years of watching her grow up by sunning himself in poxy Spain. He had heard recently that Danni had been spotted out and about with some old geezer – over his dead body was he going to continue larging it in Spain while his daughter chucked her life away. The thought of some old bloke mauling his little girl made Wayne feel physically sick and he couldn’t expect Steph to deal with shit like that. It was his duty as a father to sort it.

  Restarting the engine of his boat, Wayne made a pact to himself
. As soon as he moored and got back to his apartment, he was going to book a flight to England. Now Tammy was out of the picture, there was nothing stopping him from sorting the mess out he’d created for himself and his family. Reuniting with them was not going to be an easy task, but he had his story well prepared. Wayne smirked. If anyone could pull such a story off, then he could. After all, he was the schemer of all schemers.

  Read on for an extract from Kimberley’s next book

  The Trap

  Coming January 2013

  If you trap the moment before it’s ripe,

  The tears of repentance you certainly wipe;

  But if once you let the ripe moment go,

  You can never wipe off the tears of woe.

  William Blake

  Prologue

  1965

  Unable to make himself heard above Sandie Shaw belting out ‘Long Live Love’, Donald Walker made his way over to the Wurlitzer jukebox and turned the volume down.

  ‘Don’t do that! You know I like Sandie,’ Mary Walker said, as though she knew the singer personally.

  ‘There’s somebody knocking at the door,’ Donald informed his wife.

  Mary walked over to the door and unbolted it. She was greeted by a sturdy-looking woman in a dark grey overcoat. Mary guessed she was probably in her mid-fifties, but it was hard to be sure because of the curlers and hairnet on her head. ‘Hello. Can I help you?’ Mary asked, politely.

  ‘No, but I can help you,’ the woman replied, barging her way past Mary and into the premises.