by Kerry Kaya
It had been a happy home once, but now there was nothing, just an eerie silence. It was almost as if the life had been sucked out of it the day her husband had died.
She flicked the switch for the coffee percolator to brew, and just as quickly switched it back off. What she needed was to get out of the house. She needed some air, and what she needed even more than that, was something to occupy her mind. Maybe she needed a hobby? She pondered this for a moment, wishing for the first time in her life that she’d had a career, just like some of her old school mates did. The truth was, she’d been content staying at home, content being a homemaker.
She began to pace the kitchen. She may not have a career, but she did have businesses. Tommy’s businesses. She looped her handbag strap over her shoulder and searched around for her car keys. It was about time she put her life in order, about time she actually had a life, other than being just a wife and mother.
A smile crept across her face, the first semi-genuine smile she had given in weeks. Yes, she fancied herself as a business woman. She stopped beside the mirror in the hallway, took out her lipstick and spread across a generous layer of red stain. She rubbed her lips together, fluffed out her hair, and sprayed over herself a light mist of her favourite floral perfume. Yes, she was more than just a wife and mother, she was Stacey Carter, and she was going to take back what was rightfully hers.
* * *
“So …” Sat behind the desk at the scrapyard, Jimmy spoke. “… Me and Jonny, we took a look at this place over the weekend, and there’s a lot of dough in there.” He lifted his eyebrows to emphasise his point. “Problem is, there’s also a lot of security.”
“So what’s the plan?” All ears, Gary sat forward in his seat.
Having wracked his brain for a solution to the problem, Jimmy could only come up with one answer. They would have to steam in with maximum brute force. “We go in, we smash down those cameras, take what we can, and have it away on our toes within minutes.”
The brothers nodded their heads.
“As usual, Jonny will be waiting with the car for our getaway.”
Gary held up his hand. “I fancy being the driver for this job.”
“Yeah, but that’s my job,” Jonny interrupted. “I always drive.” He turned toward Jimmy. “Tell him, will you?”
Gary argued his case. “When Mad Dog retired, it was me who took over as driver. So I wanna drive.”
“Yeah, but …,” Jonny protested.
Jimmy held up his hand to quieten them down. “He’s right,” he said. “He did take over from Mad Dog.”
Shaking his head, Jonny kicked out his legs, sulking. “Tommy would have let me drive,” he muttered underneath his breath.
“And unless it’s escaped your notice…,” Gary growled, “… Tommy ain’t here anymore.” He looked across at the two boys, as if to apologise for his bluntness and held out his arms. “Seeing as Jimmy’s in charge, and he’s agreed to it, I’m driving, end of.”
Jonny continued to sulk.
“Think of it as a promotion,” Gary smirked.
It was just enough to make Jonny see red and he tore across the office. His heavy fist connected with the side of Gary’s jaw as he rained down blows upon him.
“Enough,” Jimmy roared. He leapt to his feet and dragged his two brothers apart. “I feel like we’re in the fucking playground. We’re not school kids, for fuck’s sake.” He pushed Jonny across the room and then stabbed his finger in Gary’s direction, warning him to keep his mouth closed. “Enough,” he repeated. He gave them both a cold stare and then returned to his seat. “It’s already decided. Gary is driving, and you …,” he said pointing to Jonny, “… are on the job.”
Sitting back in his seat, Gary crossed his arms over his chest. It took all of his strength to keep the sly grin from his face.
“Right then. Now that that’s settled, I’ll go and see Danny McKay later on this week and sort out the guns. Gary, you can sort out the car. And Sonny, can I leave you to sort out the disguises?”
Sonny nodded his head.
“Good.” Jimmy allowed himself to smile. “Now we’re starting to get somewhere.”
* * *
“I fucking hate him.” Jonny screwed up his face as he walked across the scrapyard forecourt with Mitchell beside him. “You know, Tommy would have let me drive.”
Mitchell shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t fond of Gary, himself. He couldn’t be trusted and there was always an underlying hint of craziness about him. Despite this, at the end of the day, he was still his brother. “Jimmy’s in charge now, bruv. What he says, goes, so there’s no point in arguing, is there?”
“Yeah, well, I still think it’s wrong.” He kicked a stone from underneath his shoe and continued to complain. He felt Mitchell nudge him in the ribs and looked up. “What?” he asked.
Having parked her car outside on the street, Stacey walked through the gates toward them.
“You all right, Stace?” Mitchell’s voice was loud. “Does Jimmy know that you’re coming here today?”
Stacey arched her eyebrows and glanced toward the office. “I didn’t know I needed an appointment?” Her voice was loaded with sarcasm.
“Nah, of course you don’t.” Shamefaced, he looked down at the floor. They waited for her to pass them by and Jonny hissed in his ear. “What’s she doing here?”
Mitchell shrugged his shoulders. “I dunno, and I ain’t waiting around to find out. Come on.”
As fast as they could, the two brothers left the scrapyard.
* * *
Glancing up, Jimmy did a double. “Fuck it,” he groaned. He rubbed his hand over his face and turned toward his two nephews. “Your mum is here.”
Jake paled at the very thought.
“Just let me do the talking.” Jimmy sighed. Reluctantly, he stood up from his seat, walked across to the door, pulled it open, and plastered a wide grin across his face. “You okay, Stace?”
Stacey gritted her teeth. “I wish people would stop asking me that question.”
“Sorry.” He moved aside to allow her entry to the office. He watched her body stiffen at seeing both of her sons, and waited for her to erupt with fury. The very least, he expected was for her to scream and shout. There was nothing but a stony silence.
“Let me explain, Stace. Tommy would have wanted Jake here.”
Stacey held up her hand, cutting him off. “I don’t need an explanation from you, thank you.” She looked around the room, took in the faces staring back at her, and placed her handbag on the leather sofa. Her voice was calm and steady as she spoke. “I expect you’re wondering why I am here?”
“Well, I have to be honest, that very question had crossed my mind, Stace.” Jimmy rubbed at his temples, not quite looking her in the eyes.
Stacey smiled. She looked around the office, noting how dated, and unkempt it looked. Her eyes fell upon the tasteless posters of topless models, their large bare breasts on full display. They would have to go, she thought to herself.
“Well,” she said, with a dramatic air. “Seeing as the businesses belonged to Tommy, my husband …” She took a seat and crossed one shapely leg over the other. “… You are now looking at your new boss.”
Leaning back on the sofa, she took her cigarettes and lighter from her handbag. Lighting her cigarette, she took a moment of satisfaction to see their mouths drop open. Taking a short puff, she blew a thin blue stream of smoke up into the air, all the while, waiting for world war three to erupt.
Chapter 17
Snapping his mouth closed, Jimmy let out a nervous laugh. “It doesn’t work like that, Stace.”
“What doesn’t?” Stacey sat forward in the seat. “The businesses did belong to Tommy, didn’t they?”
“Well, yeah.” He took his time in answering. “It’s just not the place for …”
“For a woman?” Stacey finished off his sentence.
“Well, yeah.” He hadn’t wanted to be so blunt, but she wasn’t making
it easy for him. “Tommy wouldn’t want you working here.”
“Tommy is dead.” There was a steely glint in her eyes.
Looking across at his brothers and two nephews, Jimmy changed tact. “This isn’t the place for you, Stace.”
“No, I quite like it here.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek, as if thinking it over. “Admittedly, it needs a woman’s touch to bring it up to standard. Nothing that a lick of paint, and some new furniture won’t fix.”
“Mum,” Jake began. Even he could see this was madness.
Stacey gave her youngest son a cold stare and her tone was harsh. “Don’t you ‘Mum,’ me,” she said, wagging her finger at him. “I’ll swallow that you work here, even though I specifically said that I didn’t want you to, but from now on, it will be under my direction. Are we clear on that?”
Jake looked to his uncles for help. He couldn’t, for the life of him, understand what had got into his mum. Was she having some kind of a breakdown?
“You’ve no right to be here.” Never one to have much patience, Gary’s voice was loud. “So get your coat and fuck off.”
“I beg your pardon?” Stacey’s mouth dropped open as she turned in her seat. Never before had her brother-in-law spoken to her in such a manner. Tommy would never have allowed it. She looked Gary up and down, an expression of contempt spread across her face. “I don’t think you’ve quite grasped what I said. The businesses belonged to Tommy, and as his wife, they now belong to me.”
Throwing his arms up into the air, Jimmy rounded on her. “I’m not being funny, Stace, but what the fuck do you know about debt-collecting?”
She remained silent.
“How about running the strip clubs, or betting shops? What do you know about obtaining a license, eh?”
“I’ll admit, I don’t know anything about them, but I’ll learn.”
“You’re fucking deluded.” Gary rose to his feet. “Get her out of here, will yer?” he asked Jimmy.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Stacey pursed her lips. She made no attempt to move.
“Fuck this, I’m off.” Gary stormed out of the office, with his brothers following closely behind him. Standing on the forecourt, he stabbed his finger forward. “You need to get her out of there.”
Jimmy nodded his head. He knew he had to get her out. The problem was, he didn’t know how. Leaving his brothers on the forecourt, he marched back inside the office and stood beside the open doorway, staring at her.
Defiant, Stacey tilted her chin in the air. They weren’t going to get rid of her that easily.
“Okay, if that’s how you want it.” He strode across the office, threw open the first of the filing cabinets, and pulled out a stack of paperwork. He thumped the documents onto the desk and moved across to the second filing cabinet, doing the same.
“That’s the books for this place, the accounts, the paperwork for those cars out there. And then there’s the bookies, the strip clubs. I’ll tell Mad Dog and Lillian to expect you over the next few days so you can sort out the books, shall I?”
Stacey swallowed deeply and remained silent. She looked to the paperwork and then back to Jimmy. Of course he was right. She had no idea how to run a business.
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
Stacey nodded her head.
“Right then, in that case they’re all yours, darling.” With those parting words, he left the office.
Stacey stared at the paperwork, then turned to look out of the window, watching as the brothers left the scrapyard. She didn’t even know how to lock the place up, let alone balance the books.
* * *
“She won’t stay for long.”
The brothers were in the Short Blue public house, on Thames View Estate, Barking, just a five-minute walk away from the scrapyard, drowning their sorrows.
“How do you know that?” Gary gulped at his brandy, quenching his sudden thirst. “The bitch didn’t look like she was going to budge to me.”
“Because I know she won’t,” Jimmy answered, as he signalled to the barman for a second round of drinks. “Besides, I’ll get Mum to go and have a word with her.
“And if she doesn’t listen?”
Jimmy gave a shrug of his shoulders. “She’s right, you know. Tommy didn’t make a will. Everything belongs to her now.”
Gary screwed up his face. It was the last thing he wanted to hear. He’d wrongly assumed that the businesses would automatically go to the two boys. “So what do we do now?” he spat.
“Make her see sense. Hope and pray she will allow the boys to takeover. It’s all we can do, bruv.”
“Yeah, well, for her sake, let’s hope that she listens.”
It was a veiled threat, and duly noted by Jimmy.
* * *
Sitting at the desk with the paperwork in front of her, Stacey was trying her hardest to get her head around how the business worked. So far, she couldn’t make head, nor tail of it. She sighed, closed the ledger, and wearily leaned back in the chair.
“If I hadn’t have seen it with my own eyes, I’d have never believed it.”
Stacey looked up. She hadn’t heard her mother-in-law enter the office.
“What are you doing here, Stace? This is no place for a woman. Jimmy called me; he’s concerned.”
“I bet he is.” Stacey gave a bitter laugh. “You know, they’ve got my Jake working here as well now, don’t you?”
Janet nodded her head. She walked across the office and eased her body down onto the leather tub chair. “From what I’ve heard, he wanted to work here. He wanted to do it for his dad,” she answered, placing her handbag on the floor beside her. “And is it such a bad thing? They all earn good money; they all have good lifestyles.”
“Do they?” Stacey’s mouth fell open; she could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Tell that to my Tommy. Look what working here did for him, and you want my Liam and my Jake to follow in those footsteps, do you?”
“That’s unfair.”
“Is it?” She knew that she was going too far, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Not content with burying one son, you want to put your own grandsons into early graves, too.”
Tears sprang to Janet’s eyes. “Of course I bleeding well don’t, you know that. I love those two boys. What’s got into you?”
“This family,” Stacey spat. “It’s poisonous. I’m starting to think that Frank was right all along. They’re wrong uns, the whole bloody lot of them.”
Janet gasped. “Stacey,” she chastised. “Tommy would be bloody ashamed of you.” Her words had the desired affect and tears welled up in her daughter-in-law’s eyes. “What’s this all about, eh?”
“I gave up everything for him, Tommy,” she spat. “The chance of a career, a life of my own, and for what? What have I got to show for it, eh? Oh, I’ve got a nice home, nice car, but I don’t have a husband, do I? I don’t have my daughter around me, and as for my sons …” She let out a strangled sob. “I just want to keep my boys safe. I can’t lose them to this world, too. I can’t take that risk. Their heads have been turned. They think the sun shines out of Jimmy’s arse. They follow him around like lost puppies.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I have to be here at all times. I have to keep them safe. Don’t you understand? If I’m here, then nothing will happen to them.”
Rushing forward, Janet pulled her daughter-in-law into her arms. “This is the grief talking.”
“No,” Stacey cried. “It’s more than that. Much more. I have to be here.”
“Okay, darling,” Janet soothed. She held onto the younger woman, unsure of how she could help her. Should she call for her mother? Call a doctor? Or maybe it would be best to leave her be, and let her believe she was running the businesses? “It’s going to be all right, Stace.”
Too choked up to speak, Stacey shook her head. She’d lost everything, and nothing was ever going to be all right again. Why couldn’t they understand that?
“I think …,” Janet said c
autiously, “… we’ll get the doctor to come in and have a little look at you.”
“No.” Stacey shook her head.
“Let’s just get the doctor to come in, and then we can talk about you taking over the businesses, okay, darling?” She began to lead her daughter-in-law out of the office. “It’s for the best, Stace.”
* * *
Jimmy switched off the call and placed his mobile phone down onto the bar top. “I told you that Mum would talk some sense into her.”
“So, she’s fucked off then?”
“Mum’s taking her home. She’s gonna get the doctor to go in and see her.”
“About fucking time. She ain’t right in the head.”
Jimmy swallowed down a retort. Gary was a fine one to talk about not being right in the head. He gulped down his brandy and collected his jacket. “I’m gonna shoot off, bruv. I’ll lock up the scrapyard and then head off home.”
Gary nodded his head and stared into space. Stacey’s little antics had him worried. Once he had taken care of his brothers and nephews, he would need to find a way of getting rid of her, too. The last thing he needed was for his sister-in-law to have any kind of claim to the businesses.
* * *
Danny McKay was in his office suite above Ritzy’s nightclub when he saw Jimmy walk into view on the CCTV monitor. He rose from his chair and made his way out to the foyer in time to watch the younger man stride across the empty dancefloor.
“All right, pal,” he shouted out.
