Faith (66 page)

‘Then you are more of a fool than I took you for,’ he said, his lips curling back like a savage dog’s. ‘I’ve got connections everywhere, hen. One call from me and I could wreak havoc in every corner of your life and family. If you’re wise you won’t play poker with me, because I’ve got a good hand.’

Laura put her head in the air and turned to walk to the phone in the hall. But as she put her hand on the receiver, Robbie came up behind her and knocked it out of her hand.

‘I think you’ve forgotten what a nasty bastard I can be,’ he said, pushing her up against the wall and sticking his face up close to hers. ‘So I’ll just have to remind you. I want what’s mine by rights. I got Jackie that farm for a pittance, and she promised me she’d see me right. I don’t call five hundred and a bottle of single malt seeing me right. Not when that place is worth in excess of a hundred and fifty thou.’

‘That’s nothing to do with me,’ Laura said, trying to push him away. His breath stank and the deranged look in his eyes was frightening. ‘You should have taken that up with her when she was alive.’

‘It’s got everything to do with you, now that place has dropped in your lap,’ he spat at her. ‘You influenced Jackie against me, just as you stole my girls from me.’

‘You left us high and dry!’ Laura exclaimed. ‘We had rent to find and kids to feed. And I didn’t steal anyone, the girls who worked for me had never worked for you.’

‘I had it all worked out that Jackie and I would go into business,’ he said, not even acknowledging what she’d just said. ‘I could have got us mobile home sites, tenements in need of repair. But you dripped poison in her ear.’

Laura felt like laughing at that. ‘I did no such thing, and if she turned you down it was because of what you were offering. As if she’d want mobile home sites or tenements! She was no slum landlord. Didn’t you learn anything about her? She liked design, creating something beautiful, she had a soul, Robbie, she wasn’t only in property for the money, it was her passion. If you couldn’t see that you must be stupid.’

She didn’t see the blow coming. One moment he was pushing at her shoulders, the next his fist slammed into her cheek. ‘Don’t you fuckin’ call me stupid,’ he snarled.

Laura realized as her face erupted in pain that he was not bluffing and she was in real danger. If he’d been alone maybe she could have fought him off, but with Andy ready to jump in she had no chance. She glanced round to see where he was. He was leaning against the kitchen doorpost, grinning. He looked the kind who beat women up just for fun.

‘I didn’t mean you were stupid,’ she said to Robbie. ‘You just obviously misunderstood what Jackie was all about. Now let’s go into the sitting room or the kitchen and talk about this calmly.’

‘I don’t want to talk. I want money,’ he said, and he caught hold of her shoulders as if preparing to hit her again if she refused.

Laura’s cheek was throbbing, and she didn’t want to risk a second blow. ‘I haven’t got any,’ she said. ‘I won’t have any either, not until probate goes through, and that could be months, because of the time I’ve spent inside.’

‘Your sister must have some,’ he said with a sly look. ‘A house like this is worth a bomb. She’s bound to know where to lay her hands on some readies, especially when she sees what a razor can do to a face.’

Laura was already scared, but the thought of the two men marking Meggie’s face terrified her. ‘Leave her out of this,’ she said, pushing him away from her. ‘I’ll give you everything I’ve got in my purse, I’ll even go down to the cash machine and draw out some more.’

He hit her again, this time a punch in the ribs which winded her and made her cry out in pain. Lucy began barking from the sitting room.

‘A couple of hundred isn’t enough for me,’ he raged, ‘I need ten thousand.’ He turned towards Andy. ‘Shut that bloody dog up,’ he yelled at him.

It was the word ‘need’ that alerted her to the real reason behind his surprise visit. He was on the run! The police in Edinburgh must have put out a warrant for his arrest. No doubt whoever tipped him off about that would also have had access to court records, to find out her bail address.

But knowing he was wanted by the police put her in an even more vulnerable position. A desperate man didn’t think logically. He wouldn’t stop to consider that hurting her or Meggie would just get him a longer prison sentence, he’d do what any cornered savage animal would do – attack.

‘No one, Robbie, has ten thousand pounds lying around,’ she said, hardly able to get the words out for the pain in her ribs. Andy was just about to go into the sitting room and she was afraid he’d hurt Lucy. ‘I don’t want to see the police catch you. I’ve had a basinful of them myself, so get out of here while you still can. I’ll give you everything I’ve got,’ she said frantically.

Lucy came bounding out of the sitting room wagging her tail and jumping up at Laura’s legs in greeting. ‘Basket, Lucy,’ she said weakly, hoping that for once she would obey. But she didn’t, she turned to Robbie and began jumping up at him. He lifted his foot and kicked her, and squealing with fright she ran for the stairs.

Laura seized Robbie’s moment of distraction to sidle towards the front door and make her escape. She got it open, then screamed as a hand on her shoulder hauled her back in. It was Andy. He grabbed her arm, twisting it up behind her back, making her scream even louder with the pain.

‘Shut it,’ he said in a growl as he frogmarched her back along the hall into the kitchen. Robbie came in too. He picked up her handbag, which she’d left sitting on the vegetable basket, and rifled through it. He found a £10 note in her purse and looked at it contemptuously.

‘Watch her!’ he ordered Andy and began to rummage through the kitchen drawers and cupboards.

Lucy was still barking. Laura thought she was at the top of the stairs, too frightened to come down, and she sincerely hoped she’d stay there because she wouldn’t put it past Robbie to kick her again.

‘There isn’t any more money in the house,’ Laura said, directing her plea at Andy because she felt he was dumber than Robbie. ‘If there was any I’d give it to you. Come with me to the cashpoint – I’ll get you some there.’

Andy’s face brightened. Clearly it didn’t occur to him that he couldn’t stop her darting away from him once they were on a busy main road.

‘Shall I go with her, boss?’ he asked Robbie.

‘Don’t be fuckin’ thick,’ Robbie snarled.

‘I could give you the card and you could go yourself,’ Laura volunteered.

‘Yeah, right!’ Robbie said. ‘As if you could be trusted to give him the right number! I didn’t come down the Clyde on an orange box, you know.’

‘I want you out of here, you want to go, that’s all I see,’ she said. ‘You can’t get more out than two hundred in one day anyway, and I’d gladly give you that for old times’ sake.’

‘Don’t come all the old acid with me,’ he scowled. You always did have more tricks than a sodding magician.’

‘I’m not playing any tricks,’ she pleaded. ‘Don’t you think I’ve been through enough? I was your friend when you needed one most after your wife left you. Have you forgotten that? I could have told the police you knew Jackie and you’d have been pulled in for questioning, but I didn’t. I don’t care what you did with Belle and Charles, or that solicitor. Go now and I won’t tell anyone you’ve been here.’

‘Liar!’ he shouted back at her. ‘You’ve always lied to me and you’re still doing it.’ He came at her like a bulldozer, knocking her back against the kitchen units, and grabbed hold of her neck with both hands and squeezed it. ‘You sent Macgregor round to check me out, you told him that I helped Jackie. He got stuff out of Calder, and now I’m on the run. I should have had you finished off years ago, when you first double-crossed me.’

Laura couldn’t breathe, she could feel her eyes popping out of her head, her legs were trapped by his, and even though she tried to lift her arms to pummel him they wouldn’t seem to move.

‘Come on, boss, let’s go,’ she heard Andy say. ‘I don’t want none of this, it’s too fucking heavy.’

‘You fucking go if you ain’t got the stomach for it,’ Robbie yelled back at him, still squeezing at her neck. ‘You’re just a bloody doughnut anyway.’

‘You’re on yer own then,’ Andy said indignantly. ‘I ain’t the one wiv the Old Bill on me tail.’

Laura could see nothing but Robbie’s face just a few inches from hers, and even that was blurred. But she sensed that Andy was walking away and that she was going to lose consciousness any minute. In one last concerted attempt to defend herself she forced her arms up to grab Robbie, and at the same time brought her knee up sharply into what she hoped was his crotch.

She was on target for he yelled and let go of her, and in that instant she heard the front door slam, Andy had gone. She was still gasping for breath, her eyes were stinging and still blurred, but it was suddenly quiet. Lucy had stopped barking and the only sound was Robbie’s laboured breathing.

Her eyes cleared just as he began to stagger towards her, and she backed away towards the patio doors. She stumbled against something and looking down she saw it was the cast-iron cat they used to hold open the door. She snatched it up and brought it down on his shoulder with all her strength.

His eyes opened wide with surprise and he staggered back a couple of steps, but then he sort of buckled and keeled over and fell flat on his back with a thump.

Although she had wanted to stop him in his tracks, she hadn’t expected it to work. She stood there looking down at him. His eyes were open but they looked vacant, and she didn’t know whether to run or to check if he was still conscious.

Then the doorbell rang.

She thought it was Andy come back to get Robbie. She wanted to get to the phone and call the police, but Robbie could be tricking her and the moment she moved away from him, he might jump up and grab her again.

‘Coo-ee!’

She started at the sound.

‘Coo-ee! Laura! Are you there? I’ve got Lucy. She was out on the road!’

All at once she realized it was Mrs Hernan from next door, and she was calling through the letterbox.

Relief flooded through her. ‘Call the police, Mrs Hernan!’ she yelled back, moving past Robbie so the woman could hear her. ‘I’ve been attacked! The man’s still here and I’ve knocked him out with the doorstop, but he might come round. Please be quick.’

The letterbox slammed shut and she could hear the neighbour rushing away. But as she turned, to her horror Robbie was trying to get to his feet. She screamed and ran at him, pushing him so hard he fell down again. ‘Stay there or I’ll hit you again,’ she shrieked at him and picked up the doorstop, brandishing it warningly.

He was just lying there, looking up at her. Whether this was because he was dazed or planning his next move she didn’t know, but she knew she had to make certain he couldn’t do anything more. Pulling the belt off her jeans, she bent down and rolled him over on to his stomach.

‘Help me,’ he said, his voice strangely feeble.

‘No chance,’ she said, and catching hold of his arms she pulled them together behind his back, slipped the belt like a noose around his wrists and pulled it tight.

With nothing close by to tie his feet together, and afraid he might get free if she went to find something, she sat astride his legs and held the end of the belt tightly so he couldn’t move his arms.

‘You’re hurting my legs,’ he whimpered.

‘Good,’ she said grimly and pressed down harder on them. ‘Now you know what it feels like – you nearly strangled me.’

Her throat hurt and she could barely swallow. She could feel her face swelling and one of her back teeth was loose. But she was determined to hold him down till the police arrived.

He began to struggle and swear at her then, trying to buck beneath her to get her off him, but she held on to the belt even tighter.

‘You’ll pay for this,’ he shouted out. ‘I’ll make you suffer, I’ve got friends who will send those pictures on to the press for me.’

‘Friends!’ she said contemptuously. ‘You don’t know the meaning of the word. I thought I was your friend, I actually saw something nice in you for a while. More fool me!’

It was agonizing waiting. Her head was spinning, her ribs ached, she just wanted to lie down and she knew if he gathered himself to fight her, she wouldn’t be able to hold him. She focused on the kitchen clock. It was five to four when she first looked, but it seemed like an hour before the big hand even reached twelve.

Robbie’s breathing sounded wheezy and the back of his neck had gone an ominous purple colour. ‘Let me go, Laura,’ he pleaded, and his voice was squeaky. ‘I’m sorry I hurt you. I shouldn’t have come here, I know that now. I’ll go, and never come back. I won’t be able to take prison at my age.’

‘No, you won’t,’ she agreed, struggling against a wave of dizziness. ‘You’ll be stuck in there with hundreds of other weasels, just like you. Only they’ll be young and cocky, and they’ll push you around. I almost feel sorry for you. But tell me one thing, Robbie. Why didn’t Calder destroy Jackie’s will?’

She could barely hold the belt now and she couldn’t even see the clock hands clearly.

‘He told me he had,’ Robbie said, his voice growing fainter.

Laura pricked up her ears at a sound in the distance. It sounded like a police siren.

It
was
a police siren – she could hear it gradually coming closer. It wasn’t a minute too soon either, she felt decidedly faint.

‘Charles killed Barney,’ Robbie blurted out. ‘He was the hit-and-run driver. None of this would have happened but for that.’

Laura heard what he said, but the shock of it was too great to respond. There was a kind of roaring sound in her head, the room was spinning, she couldn’t focus any more. Yet she could picture Charles’s face at Barney’s funeral so clearly, just as if he was right in front of her.

Deeply tanned, his teeth dazzling white like the shirt under his dark handmade suit, and tears trickling down his handsome face as he took her hands in his. The vicar had completed the interment, soil and flowers had been dropped on to the coffin and she could hear both Belle and Jackie sobbing.