The Business (45 page)

 

‘You all right, mate?’

Kenny was grinning, and his huge, toothy smile just made him look even more sinister than usual. He was a natural Face, had criminal written all over him. He had an inborn love and understanding of skulduggery that would stand him in good stead throughout his life. He loved a scam but, more to the point, he
understood
a scam, and he had no qualms about perpetrating the said scam for his own ends. He was a natural-born villain and he had unconsciously known that from a very early age. He was not even sixteen but he already looked much older.

Basil grinned back at him. He liked the kid, he was a really big fucker. All biceps and bad man attitude. He had the natural ability to make people aware of him that was essential in their business. Just one glance told you he was not frightened of anything or, for that matter, anyone. It was a rare gift and, if nurtured, it really could be an asset to anyone who wanted to use it. Kenny had the rare gift of making people around him uneasy, even when he was being nice, being genuine. But Kenny Dooley was also possessed of real personality, he had it in abundance, he had a really nice way about him. He was also a right little tearaway when the need arose, and he would soon be ripe enough to enter the world of real villainy. He would embrace it, he would enjoy it and, more to the point, he would be bloody good at it. Basil wanted to harness that power before Bailey or Hannon got a look in.

‘I am really feeling great, son, and yourself ?’ He was smiling once more at Kenny’s complete and utter front. The boy was like a fucking giant magnet, he attracted people to him. He was a real personality when he wanted to be. Though bipolar was probably the correct diagnosis for his lightning changes of mood, and his natural proficiency for violent retribution. But as far as Basil was concerned, why look a gift horse in the mouth, when said gift horse could become a good earner if reined in and trained properly? Plus, he liked the kid, always had, he possessed an overabundance of charm. What was there not to like?

‘Personally, I am well kicking, Bas, me old china plate, and I am in the market for some information. Information I understand that only you can provide.’

Basil was sitting behind his desk. He always wore expensive bespoke suits, hand-made shoes and outrageously noticeable silk ties. He made sure he not only looked the part of the influential businessman, but that he lived it. After all, in many ways that is exactly what he was; he was a businessman, and he was successful. It was about how you perceived it, how you perceived yourself. Basil understood that how you were seen by your contemporaries was of paramount importance in his game. If you looked like you had a few quid, you would be treated like you had a few quid. That meant no one would bother him with deals that would only garner him with pennies and halfpennies, he would only be accosted if there was a real earn to be had. If it was considered to be worth his while. In their world that was all people really understood.

Even the Filth were wary of someone who was in receipt of the amount of money he was. Who could buy the best legal team available to them should the need arise, and who could guarantee a good drink, if necessary, for all concerned as and when it might be expected. He bought off a lot of people and, consequently, that meant he owned a lot of people.

Kenny was, as always, easy in Basil’s company, he felt quite happy about asking him anything he felt he needed to know.

Basil knew that he was the nearest this boy would ever get to a father figure, and he liked that. Unlike his own kids, Basil actually
liked
this one, was interested in what he had to say. Kenny Boy asked sensible questions, and was genuinely interested in the answers. He listened to the advice given with a quiet respect and a shrewd intuition that meant he took the lesson on board within moments of hearing it.

‘Fire away, mate, what do you want to know?’

Kenny was sitting opposite the man he now knew had hammered the fuck out of his mother, and he was not really sure how he felt about that. He gravitated from gratitude for him taking revenge on her to anger, because at the end of the day, she was still his old woman. He was not really sure how he was supposed to react to it. So, without any preamble, he said loudly, ‘I have heard about me mum, and she interests me. I want to be properly introduced to her, and I think you should be the person to do it.’

Basil made sure that he did not let any kind of expression creep over his face. He was not pleased at the boy’s request, he knew that Imelda would eat him up and spit him out without any qualms whatsoever. He had also told Imelda that she was to keep away from her kids, and she had been as amenable to his request as was physically possible, largely because seeing them was the last thing she wanted anyway. Her kids were practically non-existent as far as she was concerned. If she did think about them, which he doubted, it was not along the lines of a family reunion, he knew that much anyway.

Now though, here was Kenny Boy asking for a fucking personal introduction to a woman who was toxic. Who would see that as some kind of personal interference in her life. She would also enjoy the fact that he had warned her off already and would now be seen as backtracking.

‘Why me? Why ask me to do it?’

Kenny grinned then and, opening his arms out wide in a gesture of friendliness, he said sarcastically and with barely concealed anger, ‘Well, from what I gather,
Bas
, you are the only man she listens to. I want to meet me
mother
, Basil, and believe me when I say that if you fuck me about I will not be a happy bunny.’

Basil was suddenly unimpressed with Kenny’s attitude, and he was not averse to letting his feelings about the boy’s request show. He pointed his finger at him, trying to keep a lid on his temper. ‘You would fucking dare to talk to me like this? You lairy little fucker.’

Basil was out of his seat now, his anger was such that he was more than willing to give this boy a lesson that he would not forget in a hurry. He was still a kid, and kids needed to be disciplined.

Kenny also knew that for all his bulk he was not yet in the same league as Basil. Kenny saw the way the man stood over him, saw that he had the determination needed to wipe out any kind of opposition. He also knew that this bravado of his would be filed away for future reference, and that he had been a mug to give it large where Basil was concerned. He was always willing to learn important lessons and, unlike most young men, he was also willing to take the said lessons on board. He was doing that just now, his temper was always going to be his downfall and he had to learn to contain it. He had to learn to use it constructively, and not let it get the better of him.

He had only turned on Basil because he was embarrassed at wanting to see his mother in the first place. He had known that his request would not be welcomed. He knew that his mother was not someone who most people saw as worth getting to know. He knew Basil had given her the face full of Mars Bars she still carried. The scars were really livid, but he had made a point of finding out about her anyway, years before all this. He had never felt the urge to see her though, not until now.

He saw how angry Basil was, and he was sorry for his arrogance. Basil was not a man you crossed lightly, and he was also the only man who had ever given him the time of day in his own right. Kenny felt the shame wash over him, Basil had always been there for him and he knew that loyalty was more important than anything else. Even if Basil’s
was
tinged with guilt.

‘I am sorry, Basil, I can’t believe I just mugged you off. But I have been watching me mum, and knowing how everyone hates her, I didn’t know how to bring the subject up without us having a tear-up of some description. I know I was out of order, and I sincerely apologise. But she is
still
my fucking mum, no matter what people say about her, true or otherwise, and I want to see her for meself. I want to know her. Surely you can understand that?’

Basil did understand, that was the trouble. He sat back down, forcing his face once more into a neutral expression. He saw that Kenny Boy was on the verge of tears and knew that he would have felt the same way if he had been in the same position.

People were always interested in where they came from, at least,
who
they had evolved from anyway. That seemed to be something most people yearned for. It was why adopted children looked for parents who had given them away and didn’t appreciate the people who had taken them in and brought them up like their own. Strange how
they
never felt the urge to tell the kids involved that they felt no real care for them, wished they had been their real flesh and blood and not some other fucker’s cast-off, who would now be hunted down and treated like visiting royalty. Life was a joke really.

Basil was sorry for the boy, sorry for his extreme youth and his adolescent belief that he would find out something about his mother that would make him happy. No chance.

He knew that Imelda would fuck this boy up, and she would laugh while she was doing it. Her big, handsome son would appeal to her for a
while
, would make her feel like a valid person for a
while
. She would hold him up as a yardstick, use him to make herself feel better, look better. She would then devour him without a thought, and this boy would probably let her. He was ripe for her kind of manipulation.

Basil wasn’t without feelings and he understood the boy’s need to feel he belonged somewhere, knew that his initial contact with the woman who had brought him into the world would be exciting, would be of importance to him and his self-esteem. But, unlike Kenny, he also knew that at some point that same woman would
lose
her interest in him. One day she would not be able to fire up the enthusiasm for his company that he would demand as his right. Basil knew that eventually Imelda would destroy Kenny, just as she destroyed everyone else around her when they got too close. Probably when he started to suss her out.

But, on the other hand, the boy had apologised to him and Basil knew that the lad needed to find out about Imelda first-hand. Otherwise he would never understand how dangerous she actually was. If he saw through her now, as a young man, it could make it easier for him in the future. Sooner rather than later seemed like a good idea. After all, no one had ever wanted Imelda in their life for any real length of time. She saw to that herself.

‘I assume you want me to keep this quiet?’

Kenny nodded. He really was a big lad and yet, for all his size, Basil knew that his mother would still chip away at him until he finally had to admit that she was no good. He only hoped that he was right, and it
would
be sooner rather than later.

‘If you want to meet her I can arrange it. But I warn you now, Kenny, one day you will regret it. She is poison, she lives for skag, nothing else. Remember that she did not even offer to help pay for you and your sister’s food or clothing. She is a dog, she’s been in more hotel rooms than the Gideon Bible. She has no real care for anyone or anything. She’ll fuck you up, believe me, I know that better than anyone. I know what she is capable of better than anyone. So, when she finally fucks you over, boy, and she will, promise me you will walk away and chalk it all up to experience?’

Kenny nodded. He didn’t really trust himself to answer the man who he knew was only looking out for him. Who was only telling him the truth of the situation.

Basil looked long and hard at the young man, at his arrogant face and his nervous demeanour and, smiling sarcastically, he said with a real insight that Kenny had not expected from him, ‘You’ve already seen her, haven’t you? But you didn’t have the fucking guts to talk to her? You were frightened you’d get an even worse reaction than your sister?’

Basil waited patiently for a reply, a retort of some kind that would give the boy an out if needed. Nothing happened though.

‘You think that if I introduce you to her, she’ll be forced to recognise you. That that way she can’t blank you, deliberately or otherwise. You fucking idiot, she will not care about anything that is relevant to you and her. All she’ll care about it how she can use you. It’s what she does.’

Kenny didn’t answer him, he had a feeling that what Basil was saying to him was true. But that aside, he still needed to know where he had come from, and he needed to know what his mother was really like. First-hand, not just what he had been told about her.

His sister remembered her, he did not. Now and again he felt a fleeting memory of her wash over him. A sound, a word could conjure up images he had long buried.

He remembered her smell though, but even that was not something he could truly rely on. He did not know if he had ever really known her, or if he had made her up. His whole life he had wanted to meet her, and Jordanna seeing her had just forced home to him how long he had been without her. After all, she was his mother, she had carried him inside her. She obviously had no care for him or his sister and, even though he knew that, he still wanted to meet her. Until he understood her, how the fuck could he ever understand himself ?

‘Will you do what I’m asking or not? I don’t want a fucking big drama about it. I just want to see the woman who birthed me.’

Basil laughed then, a real belly laugh. ‘There’s an old saying, you know, be careful what you ask for, you might just get it.’

 

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, what do you want now? Are you stalking me or what?’

Basil looked into Imelda’s eyes and, as always, he was sorry that he had never seen any kind of emotion in them. She was like a basilisk, all she saw was how things could be turned in her direction, could be made to work for her somehow. There was never any kind of care, or even real interest in them.

If, as someone had once said, the eyes were the window to the soul, then Imelda Dooley’s eyes showed that there was nothing even remotely resembling a soul inside her body. She looked, but she did not see. It was impressive, she had fooled so many people over the years, and she would continue to do so for as long as she lived, he was sure.