Pinstripes (22 page)

“
Well, this was your idea,” Ella said.

“
I know, and I’ve done all the work so far. Oh, God, I’m not going to argue. What we do next is think about what we’ve gone through this afternoon, then we meet tomorrow and every day until this is over. Same time, same place. It won’t happen overnight. We need to put a lot of thought into it. I want to make sure that each of these worms gets what they deserve. And that is, no job and no reputation. We’ll tear them to shreds. I think it’s better if we deal with them one at a time and we start with Isabelle. When we meet tomorrow we go over ideas of how we can get her. Are we all agreed on this?”

“
Yes,” Virginia said. She was feeing stronger.

“
Fine.” Ella was really pissed off. Clara’s bossiness annoyed her, as did Virginia’s timidity. However, she knew that they had to do this.

“
Let’s have a drink to celebrate.” Clara clapped her hands together.

“
I’m driving,” Ella and Virginia said in unison.

“
Well, one won’t hurt,” Clara said, and went to get the wine.

While she was gone, Ella and Virginia exchanged glances. They didn
’t speak. Clara returned with three glasses and a bottle of chilled white wine. She filled each glass.

“
Here’s to revenge.” She held up her glass. The others clinked glasses unenthusiastically.

“
Christ, you really are being very boring about this. Can’t you see that we are going to do to them what they did to us? Can’t you see how important this is?” Clara was stroppy.

“
Clara, this isn’t one of your public-school japes. This is real life,” Ella said.

“
Yes, well, real life isn’t great for any of us at the moment. Before tomorrow try to raise a little enthusiasm. Virginia, perhaps you could borrow a voice before you come back.” Virginia turned red.

“
Leave her alone, Clara, we’re still upset about our jobs,” Ella said.

“
Yes, and so am I. I know you think I’m some silly rich bitch who slept her way into a job, but once I got there I loved it – well, recently I did – and I worked hard. Ella, we’re not so different, you know. You lied your way in too.”

“
I know. But I didn’t
whore
myself.” Ella was losing her cool.

“
Christ, you’re so above that, aren’t you? It didn’t involve sex because you probably couldn’t be appealing enough for long enough for anyone to want to sleep with someone as cold as you.”

“
You fucking bitch.”

‘”
Takes one to know one,” Clara said.

“
Will you two stop arguing? We’re all supposed to be on the same side.” Virginia was almost shouting. Ella and Clara looked at each other. Then they laughed.

“
She’s found her voice,” Clara said, and Virginia laughed too, because it was better than arguing.

By the time Ella and Virginia left, they had reverted to the cool, civil tones with which they had started. Clara knew she would have to lead them: they were both so docile.

Ella knew she would never like Clara or Virginia for opposite reasons: Clara too pushy, Virginia too quiet.

Virginia didn
’t know who scared her most: pushy Clara or cold Ella. She shivered and hoped that everything would be all right.

***

Ella drove to the restaurant. Although Jackie was working, the Friday-night rush hadn’t started and they sat down together to have coffee. Ella filled her in on the meeting, Clara’s irritating manner, the news about Johnny – she even told her about Liam wanting to talk to her.

“
Bloody hell! What a couple of days. So, are you going to go through with it?”

“
I don’t know. Clara bosses us around and always sounds condescending. I know I shouldn’t judge anyone after the way I got my job, but she slept with the boss. Things are always easy for people like her. She’s great looking, she’s got a lovely flat, which I expect was bought for her. She doesn’t look like she ever suffered in her life. And she treats this whole thing like an adventure from Enid Blyton. ‘The Terrible Three Go to Get Revenge’. Although I’m angry about what happened to me and I’d like to kill Johnny, I know this isn’t a game. And Virginia, well, she’s just such a loser. Won’t say a word, although she got angry with us in the end. I feel sorry for her, but she’s so painful to be around. She goes pink every time you talk to her. I guess she’s insecure. God, I should be nice to her to make her feel better, but she has this sulky expression on her face the whole time. It makes you want to slap her.”

“
Ella, you’ve got to go through with it,” Jackie said suddenly.

“
Why?” Ella asked.

“
You’ll find out. First, these people you told me about deserve to get done and if you don’t do it they’ll probably go on ruining people’s lives, and second, those girls sound like they’re really messed up. If you don’t help them they’ll probably screw it up. You’re calm, you’re intelligent, and you’re probably the one with the most brains.”

“
I’m doing this for the good of the public and so the other two don’t fuck up?”

“
Basically yes.” Jackie laughed.

“
I’ve got to go back tomorrow. God knows how we’re going to do this. Oh, and can you believe these plans are being masterminded on pieces of kitchen roll?” They both laughed.

“
Ella, do you want to stay with me for a few days?”

“
Yes, please.” Ella knew she didn’t want to be alone. She went home to pack up a few things then drove to Jackie’s house. She let herself in and started to think of ways to get Isabelle Holland for Virginia.

***

Virginia drove home. She should have known they wouldn’t like her and the only comfort she took from this was that they didn’t seem to like each other either. And, of course, she didn’t like them.

She got home and
lay on her bed. She was fed up with people treating her like she was worthless. She knew one thing: she would see this thing through. She would get her own back on Isabelle. She had to. She would do it for all the times when her parents had tutted their disappointment at her, for all the times Isabelle had shouted at her, for all the friends who had left her, and for all those who didn’t even want to know her. She would do something that would make her proud of herself. She would stand up for herself.

She sat down and thought about all the things she could do to get back at Isabelle. She thought long and hard. As she went to sleep, she was dreaming of revenge.

***

Clara had another couple of glasses of wine when the others left. She really didn
’t know what she had done to deserve being mixed up with those two, but she guessed this was all part of her punishment. Ella the cold bitch; Virginia the nobody. She would follow it through, though, because she had nothing else to do.

She had a line of coke to calm herself and looked over the notes. She had no idea how they were going to do this, and she hoped that one of the two deadheads came up with something. They had to. They just
had
to.

She decided to change before Matt, her coke-bearing friend, arrived. She had dated him before she went to work at SFH, when she was seeing several men at the same time. He was cute, charming and had a huge crush on her. He wasn
’t exactly a cocaine fiend, but he used it and he had agreed to supply it to her. He was Clara’s age, which she considered too young for her. Matt was one of the many men Clara called when she wanted a night out. It had never been a proper relationship.

He was tall and clean-cut with dark hair, the type of boy her parents would love for her. He came from the right family, he had good manners, he was rich, and he had his own career in advertising. He wasn
’t a playboy. He was an ordinary boy. Far too ordinary for Clara.

He turned up smelling of aftershave. A nice smell. He gave Clara the cocaine and told her she didn
’t have to pay. It was a gift.

“
Can you get me this regularly, darling?” she asked.

“Sure,
but I don’t use much. I hope you don’t either.”

Clara sighed. She hoped he wasn
’t going to be a bore. “No, of course not. I have a couple of friends who I get it for too, but my supplier fucked up and I don’t want to deal with him anymore. You must have loads of suppliers – you do work in advertising, after all.”

“
Yes, I do, but not everyone’s a coke user. Anyway, it’s just a recreational drug. I normally only take it at weekends.” Matt smiled, and Clara knew he
was
going to be a bore.

“
So, how have you been?” she asked.

“
Fine. It’s good to see you, though.”

“
Come on, let’s have a couple of lines and then I’ll take you out,” Clara said, unwrapping the paper and lining up the cocaine.

“
It’s a deal.”

***

The next morning Matt kissed Clara tenderly. “I’ll call you. We’ll go out next week.”

“
I’ll look forward to it. I don’t suppose you can bring me more cocaine then?” Clara kissed him hard.

“
Are you sure you don’t have a habit?” he asked suspiciously.

“
No, I told you, I need to give some away. I just use a bit. I think you saw that for yourself last night.”

‘
”True, honey, you’re like me. We just need a little bit for relaxation.” He said goodbye and left.

“Some
people need to relax more than others,” Clara said to herself, as she went back to sleep, mentally striking Matt off her Christmas-card list.

Chapter Seventeen

By four that afternoon, Clara had washed, dressed, been to lunch with her brother and had two lines of cocaine. Then she panicked about Matt. Trust her ex-boyfriend to have turned into a square. She knew she didn’t want a relationship with him, she’d always known that. What she needed was her own dealer, and Matt was not going to give her the number of his. She was back to square one and she was angry that she had no supplier, and that Matt had suggested she was an addict. Clara was not an addict: she was just going through a very trying period in her life. Matt did not understand.

She picked up her address book and looked through it. In frustration, she ripped out most of its pages. Then she spotted Josh Lambert
’s address and phone numbers. Her heart flipped. Josh was an old family friend with whom she had practically grown up. She had loved him since she was a little girl. He had succumbed to ‘the charm’ when she was older, but their relationship had not lasted. “Needs must,” she said to herself, and dialled his work number.

Her heart flipped again when Josh answered. He sounded so pleased to hear from her. She said she needed a favour and they arranged to meet the following Monday. Josh was the only man who had rejected Clara, although he had stopped telephoning
her rather than dumping her directly. She didn’t know if Josh still took cocaine, although he had when they were together, and she knew he had a friend who was a dealer. He was her best chance. When she hung up she was calmer.

***

The bell rang. Clara opened the door to Virginia.

“
You are punctual,” she said.

“
Yes.” Virginia, blushed. Clara ushered her in. She had put a bottle of water and three glasses on the dining-table. Virginia handed her a package.

“
What’s this?” Clara asked.

“
A notebook,” Virginia answered.

Clara laughed.
“Are you always this organised?”

“
Yes,” Virginia admitted.

“
Right. So, will the delightful Ella be honouring us with her presence today?”

“
I think so,” Virginia answered.

Clara took out the new notebook and copied her kitchen-towel notes into it.
“I’ll call it our mission book,” she announced. Virginia nodded, and felt like a fool.

Shortly afterwards Ella turned up.

“Sorry I’m late. I took the tube but I didn’t know how slow the fucking thing was.” She walked past Clara, sat down and poured a glass of water, ignoring Virginia.

“
Virginia, can we call you Ginnie?” Clara asked.

“
Why?” Virginia hated the name Ginnie.

“So
you can sound like one of her jolly-hockey-sticks friends,” Ella said sourly.

“
No, it’s just that I have a problem with the name Virginia. It sounds like Vagina.” There was silence.

Virginia blushed yet again and Ella tried not to laugh.
“It’s my name, and I hate Ginnie,” she said.

“
Fine. I’m really glad we had that discussion, can we get on with it.” Ella cut in.

“
Who has any ideas, then? Vir-gin-ia?” Clara asked. Virginia shook her head. “Neither have I. Ella?”

“Shit
, this is ridiculous. I mean, what are we really doing here? So, we put itching powder down Isabelle’s back, we write a letter to Tim’s wife telling her what a cheating scumbag he is and we get Liam to put Superglue on Johnny’s chair. What the hell are we going to achieve?” Ella had spent all night thinking and she’d got nowhere.

“
No, Ella, that is not what we’re going to do. Shit, this is far more serious than itching powder,” Clara said.

“
Right. But that’s the only idea I came up with. I knew this revenge stuff was stupid when we started.”

“
Christ, Ella, I thought you were with us. Look, I don’t know what
you
really think but this is what I think. It took three people to destroy our careers. Those three people have to pay, and we are going to make them pay by destroying
their
careers. There are three of us, Ella, we’ve joined forces and we can do this, we really can. But you have to start taking it more seriously and you need to stop being such a fucking pain in the arse.”

“
Fine,” Ella said.

“
What?”

“
You’re right. I’m just frustrated. I have no idea how we even start.”

“
Neither have I, but that doesn’t mean we give up. Not yet.”

“
No. OK, Clara, count me in.”

“
At long last”

“
I might have an idea.” Virginia’s voice was barely audible.

“
Well, then, speak up, for God’s sake,” Clara snapped.

“
It’s really about money, I think. The thing that motivates her most of all. I don’t know how, but I think perhaps we could set her up to lose money.” She was as red as Clara’s lipstick, but at least she had said it.

“
Like insider trading,” Ella said suddenly. Virginia nodded.

“
What’s insider trading?” Clara asked.

“
It’s where you get information about a company, a takeover or something like that, and you buy into a company on the basis of that information. Of course, the information isn’t public so you get it before everyone else. It goes on a lot.”

“
Is it legal?” Clara asked.

“
No, of course it’s not fucking legal. Christ, Clara, are you sure you worked in the City?”

“
Yes, but I was still learning. OK, so we set her up with an insider trading deal. But I don’t understand how we can do that without breaking the law.”

“
Neither do I,” Virginia admitted.

“
Well, it’s a start. What we have is the outline. We set Isabelle up so she buys shares in a company because she thinks it will go up. But, really, it’s going to go down. Right?”

“
Right.” Virginia felt quite excited.

“
Perhaps she could have sex with a guy who owns a company and he tells her – you know pillow-talk that something’s going to happen.” Clara offered.

“
Clara, why does it always have to come down to sex with you?” Ella asked.

“This
is the first time I’ve mentioned sex,” Clara defended herself.

“
You got sacked because of sex, remember?”

“
OK, but I like sex. I’m quite good at it. Do you like sex, Vir-gin-ia?”

Virginia was beacon red.

“I bet you’ve never had sex, have you?” Clara taunted.

“
Clara, leave it. It’s none of your fucking business,” Ella cut in.

“Do
you like sex, Ella?” Clara asked.

“
As I said, it’s none of your fucking business. Are we going to do this or not?” Ella was increasingly losing her patience and Virginia was crying.

“
What is it?” Ella asked her, not quite able to get concern into her voice.

“
You’re being so horrible and I don’t think I can do this.” Virginia jumped up, grabbed her coat and fled the flat.

Clara and Ella looked at each other.

“Look what you did!” Ella shouted.

“
Oh, God. She needs to loosen up,” Clara moaned.

“
But why did you have to upset her like that? Christ, Clara, just because she’s not a loudmouth like you or confident enough to hold her own like me doesn’t mean you have the right to treat her like shit.”

“
But you don’t like her any more than I do.”

“
I don’t like either of you. But if we’re going to go through with this – and don’t forget you’re the one who is insistent that we do – then we have to try to get along. That means you don’t tease her in that condescending way of yours and you behave like an adult.”

“
Oh, I’ll behave like you, shall I? I’ll just be cold and calm and I won’t try to have any sort of conversation with either of you.”

“
Clara, you can have a conversation when you learn how to have one. You’re just a spoilt brat.”

“
I’m not. You don’t know anything about me.” Clara was shouting now.

“
No, and I don’t want to either. So leave her alone, leave me alone, and we’ll get on fine. Otherwise, we leave it here. Is that what you want? You want Tim to get away with it? Because when I arrived today I was ready to walk, and although I think we should take our revenge, I still can.”

“She
brought a notebook,” Clara said.

“
Have you got her address handy?” Ella asked.

“
Yes, it’s here. Somewhere in Maida Vale.”

“
You better call a cab. We’re going to apologise.” Ella was firm.

Clara looked stricken.
“Fine, if I have to. But tell me, do you think she’s a virgin?”

“
Of course she’s a fucking virgin, but that’s just another reason for you to leave her alone.” Ella wished she had never walked into that damn pub.

***

Virginia drove herself home. When she got there, she cried some more. Why was Clara so mean? Why did she have to do this? Why was she in this position? She lay on the bed and cried hard. Her life was a mess.

***

In the cab Ella ignored all Clara’s attempts at conversation, so Clara gave up. The cab took for ever to get through the traffic to Maida Vale. When they reached their destination, Clara spoke. “OK. Here goes. I’ll say sorry, then we can get back to the plan.”

They rang the door buzzer and Virginia
’s snivelling voice came over the intercom. “Hello?”

“
Hello, Virginia, it’s us,” Ella said.

“
Come in.”

When they stood in the hall, neither of them knew what to do: there were several doors, the wallpaper was peeling, the carpet worn. Clara had never seen a place like this; Ella hadn
’t been to one in a long while.

“
What number?” Ella asked.

“
Six.”

Ella started to climb the stairs with Clara hot on her heels. They reached the door and knocked. Within seconds, Virginia answered. When Ella saw her, with bright red eyes and in her old-fashioned jeans, her first thought was to leave. Clara would have been right behind her.

“Come in,” Virginia muttered. Before they could change their minds they were propelled into the bedsit. Clara tried to hide her horror. The room was a rat-hole, small, poky and badly decorated. It was nothing like she was used to. She didn’t think anyone apart from refugees had to live like this.

They stood awkwardly as Virginia cowered on the bed.
“What do you want?” she asked, between sobs.

Ella nudged Clara.
“I’m sorry,” Clara said lamely.

“
For what?” Virginia said.

“
I didn’t mean to be nasty. I just didn’t think.” Clara looked at Ella; Ella rolled her eyes.

“
You were mean.” Virginia sniffed.

“
I know. I just apologised, didn’t I? I had no reason to be nasty to you.” Clara could not help but feel pissed off. She didn’t intend to be such a bitch, she just hadn’t thought before she spoke. But Virginia was so wet she wanted to shake her into action. She was being cruel to be kind.

“
OK,” Virginia said, and blew her nose.

“So
, I’m forgiven?” Clara wanted to get the hell out of there. This room made her feel claustrophobic. She wished she had taken another line of coke before she left.

“
Yes,” Virginia said.

“So
can we go?” Clara asked.

“
Go where?” Virginia asked.

“
Back to mine, headquarters. We were getting somewhere before I started ... well, you know ... and I think we should get back to that lovely notebook you brought round.” Clara smiled.

“
Are you taking the mickey again?” Virginia asked.

Clara threw her hands in the air.
“I just can’t win, can I?”

Virginia wanted to drive round but they persuaded her to get a taxi with them. Clara said that as she was the one who had caused the argument she would pay. Ella promised she would drop Virginia home when she got a taxi back to Camden. Since they were being almost nice to her, Virginia didn
’t like to argue. She began to feel silly as they drove back to Clara’s. She shouldn’t have stormed out, but Clara had been so horrible and she had felt so out of her depth, so unsophisticated, so alone. She wondered for the millionth time why she was doing this, but something was telling her she had to see it through to the end.