Born Bad (32 page)

Thankful that Harry was suddenly intercepted by another customer, Judy hurried towards the exit.

Harry saw her, and quickly excused himself from the customer. ‘Wait! Judy!’

Already on his way back inside, Phil heard someone call Judy’s name and hurried to see
who it was. As he came in through the door, Judy crossed his path. ‘Let’s go!’ She tried to sound calm, but she was in a state of panic. ‘The sofas are all the same,’ she gabbled. ‘Cheap and nasty. We’d best go elsewhere, or stick with the one we’ve got for now.’

Suspicious, he grabbed her by the shoulders. ‘Just now, I heard a man call your name. Who was it, eh?’

‘It was the salesman – he saw
me looking at the sofas. You know what they’re like … they won’t let you escape if they can help it.’ She managed a nervous little laugh. ‘You were right anyway, Phil. We really don’t need a new sofa.’

‘LIAR!’ Incensed, he blocked her way. ‘I’ve never known a salesman who would call out like that, and how does he know you by your first name? Something’s not right here.’

‘Listen to me, Phil.
You’re imagining things.’

He gave her a spiteful shove towards the car. ‘In the car –
now
!’ When she still hesitated, he leered at her. ‘Unless you want trouble?’

Hoping that if she got into the car, he would go with her, Judy nodded, ‘All right! Let’s go home. We should never have come here.’ Then realising his intention to go back inside the store, she was panic-stricken. ‘Phil! Leave it!’

His words echoed back to her. ‘I’ve told you! Stay where you are!’

Inside the store, Harry was quizzing Kathleen, who was using every ploy possible to waylay him, to keep him from following Judy outside. ‘You’ve got it wrong,’ she insisted. ‘That was a young woman I met in the doctor’s surgery last week … she was just asking after my health.’

She was not in the habit of lying, but she dreaded
the outcome if Phil and Harry ever crossed swords. When they were young there had been a healthy rivalry between them. Now the stakes were
higher, and if Harry should see those badly-disguised bruises on Judy’s face, he would want to know who was responsible. Kathleen though, had her own suspicions.

Her attention was caught by the man now entering the store. Thickset, with a hostile manner about
him, she suspected it could be Phil Saunders. There was a certain familiarity about him.

To her horror, he stood for a minute, hands on hips, his black eyes scouring the room. At one point, he actually glanced at her and Harry … then at the child, and now again at Harry.

For a moment Kathleen held her breath, but then to her great relief, he turned away. It seemed he had not recognised either
her or Harry – probably because Harry had his back to him. She was immensely grateful for that.

Saunders might have left at that point, had it not been for Amy’s shrill voice, which carried the length of the showroom. ‘Harry! Have you a minute?’ He was so intent on questioning Kathleen, that she called him twice. ‘
Harry!
’

That was when Phil Saunders’ entire body seemed to expand. Stretching
himself to his full height, he looked at Amy, then he followed her gaze until his attention was brought first to Kathleen, and then to the man she was talking to.

At first he wasn’t sure, but then he smiled. ‘My God! Harry Blake, of all people.’ The smile slid away as he followed Harry back to the counter.

Because of the boy, Kathleen kept her distance for the moment; her lips muttering a prayer
that commonsense would prevail and there would be no bitter confrontation.

Aware that Judy had come back inside, she waved her over. ‘Don’t interfere,’ she warned. ‘Let them talk. There are things they need to get off their chest and I suppose now is as good a time as any.’

Judy was paranoid. ‘You don’t know what he’s like. Phil has been known to carry a knife, and he’s not afraid to use it!’

When she made to run forward, Kathleen held her back. ‘Harry is no fool,’ she informed Judy. ‘Sure, he’s been through the war and is well able to take care of himself.’ Though right now, she too was afraid of the outcome between these two old rivals.

Harry recognised Phil instantly; the same shock of hair, the same piercing, hostile gaze, and the swagger that identified him now, as it did then.
Arrogant as ever, Phil Saunders had not changed over the years.

Thrusting himself between Harry and Amy, Saunders addressed
Harry in a hard voice. ‘Well, well! I never thought to see you again, not after you ran off with your tail between your legs.’

Realising that the other man was merely goading him, Harry asked, ‘What d’you want, Saunders?’

Phil stared at him, his face twisted with loathing.
‘I think you and me had best have a little word. Just so there won’t be any misunderstandings.’

‘I’ve got no wish to talk with you,’ Harry informed him coldly. ‘I think you’d better go.’

Saunders persisted. ‘We can talk here, or we can talk in private. I don’t much care one way or the other.’

‘I don’t think you heard me right. I said, I think you had better go.’

‘Make me!’

Surprised by Phil
Saunders’ sudden arrival, Harry suspected that for obvious reasons, Kathleen had deliberately misled him, and that the woman he had seen really
was
Judy.

He now glanced at Kathleen and, sensing real trouble, he made a subtle, sideways gesture with his head. Kathleen nodded. Taking Judy and Tom along she left the store.

Satisfied, Harry returned his attention to Saunders. ‘The same old Phil –
ready to fight the world,’ he said. ‘Go on, then. Say what you’ve come to say, then get out.’ Most of the customers had come and gone, and though there was a couple still browsing, they were far enough away not to hear the heated exchange between Harry and Saunders.

Addressing Amy, Harry asked, ‘Amy, I wonder if you could please see to the customers?’

‘Sure.’ Aware of the tension, she did not
need asking twice.

‘Huh. Quite the big boss-man, aren’t we, eh?’ When Saunders prodded his finger into Harry’s chest, Harry caught hold of his hand and gripped it so tight that Saunders could neither open his fist nor escape the other man’s iron-fast grip. ‘Bastard! Let go … damn you!’

Harry had something to say first. ‘It seems to me there are things on your mind that you want to share. Things
from the past, maybe?’

‘How right you are, Blake.’ Pulling hard to release his hand from Harry’s grip, Phil warned, ‘You’d best watch your back, because I’m on to you.’

Harry shook his head. ‘Like I said … always ready to fight the world. Well, you listen to me, Saunders. I’m sure neither of us
needs trouble, so unless you intend being difficult, I suggest you say what’s on your mind. After
that, you can make yourself scarce.’

Releasing Saunders, he remained alert, knowing from old that this man was dangerously unpredictable. Many times in the past, he and Saunders had clashed, and each time the latter had backed off. But he was older now, and judging by his current mood, much more aggressive; he obviously had old scores to settle.

Discreetly rubbing the life back into his numbed
hand, Saunders launched straight into the attack. ‘I want to know what’s going on here!’ he demanded. ‘And don’t try telling me there’s nothing because I know damned well there is. Why else was Judy so insistent on coming here, pretending to want a new sofa, and not being too keen on having me along?’

Harry shrugged. ‘It seems to me you’ll have to answer that one yourself.’

‘She knew
you
were
here, that’s why. You forget, Blake, I’m nobody’s fool. Admit it … you and she are up to something!’

‘You always were a distrustful devil.’ When it now seemed that Saunders was about to argue, Harry pre-empted him. ‘For your information, I have not spoken to Judy since the day I left, and you know how many years ago that is.’

He gave a quiet smile. ‘So! You actually believe that Judy would cheat
on you, do you? That sounds to me like you’re not too sure of your woman. You and Judy are together, so she obviously loves you. Or does she?’

Incensed by Harry’s cynical remarks, Saunders took a step forward, his manic eyes boring into Harry’s face. ‘As far as me and Judy are concerned, you are history! You’re no threat to me or my marriage, and I don’t know why I ever imagined you could be.’

Suppressing the instinct to knock him off his feet, Harry would not be drawn. ‘Right, is that it then?’

Enraged by Harry’s controlled manner, Saunders thrust his face close. ‘You lost! D’you hear me, Blake?
You lost!
Judy is mine now! She is
my
wife, and she loves
me
, and remember this: I’ll kill any man who tries to take her from me.’ He paused, staring at Harry,

Harry got his message all right.
‘The trouble with you, Saunders,’ he pointed out, ‘is that you can’t let go of the past. You can’t believe that Judy chose me over you, and it still riles you to think about it.’

‘Oh, you’d like to think so, wouldn’t you, eh?’ Raring to fight but cautioned by Harry’s strong build and that quiet controlled manner, Saunders was so fired up, he appeared to be hopping on
the spot. ‘You’re wrong,
Blake, and you know it. Look how your ridiculous little fling came to nothing in the end. Judy didn’t want you … she wanted me. ME – PHIL SAUNDERS! A better man than you will ever be. I would never desert her, but you did. And that’s just fine by me, ’cause your loss was my gain, so to speak.’

Saunders continued to gloat. ‘I expect you’re sorry now though.’ He attacked Harry where it hurt most.
‘It’s plain to me that you obviously don’t understand women. They’re a strange breed. Where we men can use ’em and chuck ’em and not think twice about it, a woman is different. She has feelings for a man; deep, strong feelings that make her want to be with him night and day.’

‘Is that so?’ Harry was determined not to let the other man see how he was beginning to rile him.

‘Well, you wouldn’t
know, would you?’ Saunders believed he now had the upper hand. ‘I do, because I know how Judy feels about me. So there it is.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Either a woman has feelings for you, or she doesn’t, and Judy decided I was the one she wanted. Unfortunately, where you were concerned, Judy never really had any feelings at all.’

He gave a hideous grin. ‘After all, with you gone, she didn’t
waste much time before she picked up with me.’

Harry let that bitter comment wash over him. Aware that Amy was returning, he addressed Saunders in a calm and quiet manner. ‘You’ve had your say. Now get out.’

As he turned away, Saunders grabbed him by the arm. ‘I’m not done yet, matey.’

Harry looked at Saunders, then glanced at the heavy hand across his arm. ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’
he said meaningfully.

Seeing a certain gleam in Harry’s eye, Saunders swiftly moved away. ‘You listen to me, Blake, and listen good,’ he growled. ‘If I find out you’ve been anywhere near my wife, I swear I’ll have you good and proper. You won’t know where or when, but I’ll be there, and I will have you.’

Harry stared him out. ‘I hear you, Saunders,’ he acknowledged. ‘So now that you’ve got that
off your chest, you can make yourself scarce, either under your own steam, or with a bit of help. Which way will it be?’

The other man stood for a moment, his face contorted with rage and his fists tight by his side. He wanted Harry dead and buried. He wanted him off the scene altogether. But there was time enough, he thought cunningly. Time, and opportunity enough.

For now, Phil Saunders had
one more card up his sleeve.

Lowering his voice almost to a whisper, he confided in Harry, ‘Don’t think I don’t know the real reason why you ran out on her. Judy told me. She tells me everything. That’s why she’ll tell me what’s been going on between the two of you.’

He giggled like a maniac. ‘Oh yes, she’ll tell me all right, don’t you worry about that.’

With his last, sly comment, Saunders
turned round and hurried away before Harry could question him further.

Saunders thought he had been very clever. Tell a man you know his secret and he’ll worry that you really do know something! he thought triumphantly and congratulated himself on having the last laugh over his old enemy.

Cut to the heart, Harry watched him go, all manner of questions racing through his shattered mind.

Did
Judy actually tell Phil that Harry left because she had deceived him and was with child and that regardless of his love for her, their relationship was irretrievably damaged by that deception?

If Judy had confided all that, had she also told him about the abortion? And if he knew that, why hadn’t Saunders made more of it? Why had he let it go so easily, when he could have goaded Harry far more
viciously than he had done so far?

Harry suspected Saunders was merely fishing with his throwaway comment. Or was he holding back, to keep the information for another time?

In spite of his misgivings, and because the alternative was too awful to consider, Harry made himself believe that Judy would never have told Saunders what had really happened between the two of them.

‘Sick in the head,’
he concluded. ‘That’s what he is.’

Outside in the car, Judy saw her husband striding towards her, and her heart sank; she prepared herself for the worst.

When he climbed into the car she was astonished to see that he was actually grinning to himself. ‘That’s unsettled him,’ he boasted. ‘That’s got him wondering what I know that he doesn’t.’

In the blink of an eye his mood changed and the darkness
was on him again. Turning slowly, he looked at Judy, his eyes boring into hers. ‘So, my pretty.’ His voice had that meanness she had come to fear. ‘What have you been up to?’

Judy shook her head. ‘Nothing. Why do you say that?’

‘You and Blake,’ he said. ‘The two of you laughing at me behind my back.’

‘NO!’

‘That’s why you wanted to come here. That’s why you didn’t want me along, because you’ve
been meeting up. He’s had you, hasn’t he?’

‘NO! I would never do that.’

‘Why not? You did it before. When I offered you everything, you chose him.’