Hard Girls (21 page)

Kate answered her front door, expecting it to be Annie who she assumed had forgotten her keys. She was not expecting Jennifer James.

‘Hello! What can I do for you at this time of night?’ Kate could hear the surprise in her own voice and it annoyed her. Jennifer followed her into the warmth of the house, and Kate wondered what she could possibly want that would bring her to her home. Kate wasn’t sure she was happy about it, given the circumstances of their association. But for a few wonderful seconds, she had thought that maybe Patrick had sent her round. Deep down she knew that she was fooling herself - that didn’t stop her wanting it to be true though.

As they walked into the kitchen Kate was suddenly aware of how shabby the place looked, it was old-fashioned and in need of a lick of paint. She was embarrassed because she didn’t want Jennifer seeing her living like this. But then she thought, how utterly vacuous that she would let something like that bother her.

Opening the fridge, Kate took out a bottle of white wine and pouring two glasses said archly, ‘So, what’s all this in aid of ? Have you something of interest for me?’

Jennifer sat at the breakfast bar and lighting a cigarette and accepting the wine she said sadly, ‘I wish I did have something for you, Kate, but this isn’t to do with the girls, this is personal.’

Kate felt her heart miss a beat at the words and, once more, her hopes were raised. Perhaps Patrick had sent Jennifer round as an emissary, a go-between. Though why he would ask Jennifer to broker a meeting between them, she didn’t know. If she was honest, she didn’t care either. She missed Pat like she had never missed anyone before in her life.

‘Then why are you here?’

Kate sat opposite Jennifer, and waited for her to start speaking. Her heart was racing with the sheer want inside her; to know Pat wanted to see her was like hearing she had finally been given her life back. The life she missed with every fibre of her being.

‘I don’t know how to start, Kate. You’re the only person who can help me out. I have been involved in a scam with Peter, a scam that directly involves Patrick. Des has been on the skim, and now he is trying to lay the blame at our door. Now young Danny has got wind of it all, via Des, and he’s causing all good enoughche still couldny sorts of fucking aggro. I suppose I’ve come here to ask your advice on how best to deal with it. Personally, I think Danny is a good kid, but he also looks out for his own ends. It would suit him to get Des off the firm, and Peter as well. He wants to be the fucking dog’s gonads.’

Kate held her hand up then. ‘You can’t tell me anything dodgy, Jennifer, remember that. Especially if it concerns Patrick.’

Jennifer smiled then. ‘Oh, Patrick ain’t done nothing wrong, it’s me and Peter who was skimming the girls. What worries me is that Desmond, the two-faced fucker, has not only been skimming Patrick, it turns out he is also responsible for the girls getting access to cocaine. Now, Kate, you know that it’s a drug of choice for millions of people, but you also know, as well as I do, that in my game it often comes with the territory. Desmond saw the gap in the market and he decided to fill it. So, along with all his other fucking cons, he is earning off that as well. I’ve been asking around and it looks to me like this is all being done in Patrick’s name. After all, he has the rep needed to ensure good gear and quiet distribution. However, I don’t think Danny has sussed this out, I only found out because I heard a bit of chat off one or two of the girls and put two and two together. Now, my dilemma, if you like, is this: who do you think I should talk to about it? Should I go to Patrick, or should I talk to Danny Boy?’

Kate was shocked at Jennifer’s revelations. One thing she did know, Patrick would not want his name anywhere near a drug deal. Not just because the prison sentences were fucking astronomical, but because he was well past the need for that kind of money. She felt fear grip her heart now, knowing that Pat was being dragged unaware into something like this. Her instinct to warn him, to protect him, was overwhelming.

‘I’m scared, Kate. This is serious shit, and all I signed on for was the skimming. Greed is a really destructive emotion, and I admit I am greedy. What I ain’t, though, is fucking stupid. I’m worried that if we ain’t careful, then Des is going to sell us all down the river, and that includes Patrick.’

Kate could hear the genuine fear in Jennifer’s voice and knew that she had to be very worried if she was asking
her
advice.

‘I never saw Des as being violent. He’s always been a money man, a legal eagle, Pat always called him.’

‘If he’s as involved as I think he is, then he’s dealing with some seriously heavy people, and he’s only had access to them because of Pat. All Des has to say is that Patrick wants to tuck them up, or hint that he is not happy and thinks he’s being shortchanged to see them come back at him with all guns blazing. Only Patrick won’t be aware of any of that, will he? He’ll be in the fucking dark about it all and, as much as I don’t want to get involved, he’s always done right by me, and I certainly don’t want to be in the middle of a gang war.’

‘What do you mean, a gang war? How would this turn into a gang war?’

Jennifer sighed heavily before saying quietly, ‘The people supplying the coke are the O’Learys. Now, you and I know they are not people who would bother with pennies and halfpennies. I could be wrong, Kate, but I think Des isn’t just supplying the girls, he’s opened it up to the general public. He’s supplying it all in Patrick’s name, with Patrick’s money, and it’s the money trail that the Filth follow, isn’t it for him.’ft sexual b d? Des has carte blanche with Patrick’s money, doesn’t he? And now we have Danny Boy in the mix. Des ain’t going to wait around for him to open his fucking gob, is he?’

Kate was in complete and utter shock. If Jennifer was telling the truth, and there was no reason why she wouldn’t, then this was a very serious matter for all of them. Especially Patrick. Kate knew Desmond well enough to know that he would make sure he was nowhere to be found in any investigation. In fact, that was why Patrick thought so highly of him, he always said Des could write a contract or broker a deal and, by the time the tax man finally worked it out, they would all be in their graves.

But the tax man and the O’Learys were two completely different entities. For a start, the tax man wasn’t liable to have you shot for having them over. The O’Learys, on the other hand, would feel honour-bound to see that that happened. Not just for the retribution they would insist upon, but also as a warning to anyone else who might harbour such disloyal thoughts. Kate knew that whilst Terry was the charmer, the front man, Michael O’Leary, would shoot his own family if he thought they’d had him over for a five-pound note. He was a man who did not see the relevance of any kind of communication after what he perceived as a direct affront to him personally. Whether that was by an insult, a slight, or the removal of a serious wad of his money, it was all the same as far as he was concerned. Whenever Michael O’Leary was miffed, he reacted in the same way. Michael would retaliate with a violence that was not only disproportionate, but also guaranteed to ensure that anyone who heard about it would be very loath to bring such a punishment down on themselves. It was this knowledge that would make Des frightened enough to serve up not only Patrick, but anyone else he thought might add to his own downfall. No wonder Des had been so quick to get her out of the house, her curious nature must have worried him. For all his sorry-sounding excuses, he must have been over the moon at her leaving Patrick like she had.

‘Jesus Christ, Jennifer, are you sure about all this?’

‘Why the fuck do you think I came here? I think that they’ve got a personal agenda, and I also think that they are off their fucking heads. Patrick is bad enough if you cross him, but the O’Learys are in a different league. I’ll be honest, I want to help Patrick, but I am also frightened for meself now. And, let’s face it, Peter won’t swallow what’s been going on, not with his name being bandied about.

‘I’m scared, Kate. Des, Peter, Danny and Patrick are all going to collide and I don’t know who I should be talking to. Des is the bad seed, I’ve known that for a while, and I hold me hand up to it. But all this latest shit is frightening the fucking life out of me.

‘The trouble is, Kate, Patrick believes his reputation is enough to stop this kind of fucking problem. What he doesn’t realise is that it’s a
different
world now. He has been out of it for too long. He has his creds, but he doesn’t understand how much has changed since he retired. Fucking youngsters who, in the past, would have to work for years to get themselves a decent stake and a foot in the door can now do it overnight. All they need is the money for a flight to Colombia and a few decent contacts when they arrive. A jewellery heist these days is collateral for a drug deal or an arms deal. Twenty-year-old Russians come over here with a bad attitude and enough guns for sale to equip a small army. I’ve been approached many times by traffickers asking me if I want girls and, believe me, I ain’t proud of my job, but I never forced anyone into it yet, and I ain their nearest and dearest to her serial killery’t going to start now. It’s a new world now, and a fucking scary one, Kate. Take that chief of yours, he’s in all this up to his fucking eyebrows. He makes sure we are left alone. He also makes sure that the O’Learys get some warning if there’s a chance they might be in line for a tug. Even the Serious Crime Squad are part and parcel of it all. They give the O’Learys a fucking swerve, and who can blame them? I mean, would you put your family in danger for a collar, especially when it’s easier to take the poke on offer and give them the chance of a better life? Money, that’s what makes this country go round, money. And plenty of it. I have girls who work for me with degrees, girls who, twenty years ago, wouldn’t dream of doing this kind of job. I have girls in the clubs who are from well-to-do families and pole dance because they seem to believe that it gives them some kind of fucking sexual freedom. Silly fucking bitches they are, but that’s what I’m trying to say to you. We are dinosaurs, Kate, fucking dinosaurs. Anyone over thirty now is over the hill apparently. I feel that I’m out of my depth, not just with the way the games have changed, but also with the people I’m inadvertently mixed up wiling { displ

Chapter Eleven

‘Are you all right, Kate? You look awful.’

‘Oh do I? Well, thanks, Annie, for pointing that out to me. I really appreciate it.’

Annie knew when she wasn’t wanted and took the opportunity to go upstairs for a shower. Kate looked troubled. She had a feeling it was to do with Patrick and she knew that if Kate wanted to discuss it, which she very much doubted, she would do so in her own time.

In the kitchen, Kate closed her eyes tightly, she felt sick with a hangover that was making her head pound, and her hands shake. She had carried on drinking after Jennifer left, and she had finished the remainder of the brandy alone. Without it, she knew she wouldn’t sleep.

She kept seeing Patrick with Eve, kept imagining them together sexually. She knew3"> 
 
 

enwhoBr eventually that she couldn’t compete with Eve in any way. Not in any way that mattered, he was looking for something new, something different. That much was evident. If Patrick had already replaced her it was clear to Kate that she was old news, and it was not something she felt ready to deal with just yet. It was still too soon, too raw for her to take on board. God knew, he had every right to be annoyed with her, but she had never thought for a second that he would have replaced her in his life so quickly. Especially with a woman so beautiful, someone who had the added advantage of being related to his surrogate son, which was exactly what Danny Foster was to him. She understood that now, he was the son he had never had, would never have had with her anyway. He might get better luck with Eve though, might get himself a whole new family when he should be having grandchildren. Pat wouldn’t use Danny’s sister for sex, he would have too much respect for Danny to do anything like that.

It was bad enough that he was being tucked up by Desmond, and she knew she would have to get to the bottom of that, if for no other reason than her own natural inquisitiveness. Kate was also interested in what else he was involved in. This was big, and she had a feeling that Patrick wasn’t as savvy as he made out. He had softened over the years and that had made him vulnerable, not that he would believe that, he still thought he was the big Kahuna. Funny how men never thought they were out of the loop, not until it was too late anyway.

On top of all that, she now knew the O’Learys were on the case, so she understood the seriousness of Pat’s predicament. They were like the Brady Bunch with machetes, not that Patrick would see that. He loved them and so he should, he had been mates with them for years. Or at least he had been. Desmond ought to be shitting it by now. He was about to get fucking scalped, and that was putting it mildly.

Patrick might have mellowed over the years, but he was not a man who would allow anyone to get the better of him. Especially not someone he had placed his trust in. Kate knew Pat better than anyone, much better than the young girl he had taken up with.