The Club (32 page)

And they were right, because Jenna had come into this believing that she could just pick up where her dad had left off, with nothing to qualify her other than her belief that if James Lorde could do it from scratch so could she. But she’d been so wrong, and she knew that now. There was obviously some sort of secret formula, and you either had the recipe or you didn’t. And she quite patently didn’t.

But if she’d thought that what had happened so far was bad, worse was yet to come.

Leaving her office late one Saturday afternoon, having spent the day fretting over the appalling accounts books, Jenna waved goodbye to Fabian and Bubba who were doing something with the speaker system down on the club floor. Letting herself out of the back door, she locked it and walked across the yard to open the gate.

It was already fairly dark out, but not quite enough for the security lights to come on when she stepped into their path. Unlocking the gate, she pushed it open, then went to get into her car to reverse it out. But just as she reached for the car door’s handle, four figures darted in from the dark alleyway and surrounded her.

It happened so fast that Jenna was too shocked to scream – which was probably a good thing, she quickly realised when she saw the men, because they would no doubt have silenced her in an instant. Anyway, there was nobody in the club to hear her, except Fabian and Bubba, and there was no way they could handle these guys on their own, so they were better off not knowing. She just hoped the infra-red CCTV cameras were picking it up, so at least she’d have something for the police to work on when it was over.

Trying her damnedest to stay calm and collected now, she said, ‘I don’t have a lot of money on me, but my purse is in my bag. Take it.’

Laughing, one of the men brought his face down close to hers. His breath warm on her cheek, he said, ‘I don’t want your money, sexy.’

Terrified that she was going to be raped, Jenna held his gaze, determined to remember his face. ‘What
do
you want, then?’ she asked shakily.

‘To make your acquaintance,’ he replied, his voice lightly mocking now. ‘This is just a friendly
pre
-visit, so to speak – to let you know that we can get to you, any
time
, any
where
. You’ve been having a lot of trouble lately, and I think it’s time we stopped fucking about and got us a little system going. Understand?’ Smiling when she nodded, his eyes glittered like jet in the scant light. ‘Good girl, Jenna. Because it winds me up like fuck having to say the same thing twice, so things should be nice and easy next time we meet, eh?’

Jenna’s heart felt like a shard of ice had fallen through it. He knew her name!

‘For the record,’ he went on, stroking a finger down her cheek now. ‘If I hear that you’ve been talking to the police, we’ll be paying you another little visit – at that nice little apartment of yours. Ten Clifton Quay House, yeah?’ Smiling again as he watched the information sink in, he added, ‘Nice plants you got for the balcony last week, by the way. And the new kettle’s pretty funky, too.’

Jenna was barely breathing now. They knew her name, where she lived,
and
that she’d bought new plants and a kettle. They must have been watching her. Or,
worse
– been inside her apartment. But how? It was alarmed, and the doors were manned by security, and there were CCTV cameras in all the corridors.

‘Bye for now, sexy,’ the man said now. ‘And don’t forget – no police, or you and me are gonna have
real
problems.’

Turning from her abruptly then, he and his friends walked out the way they’d come.

Holding her breath until she was sure they’d gone, Jenna rushed to the gate and relocked it, then ran to the back door, her heart beating furiously in her chest as she scrabbled to get the key into the lock.

‘That you, Jenna?’ Fabian asked, coming through from the bar with a glass of brandy in his hand when he heard the back door slam shut. Seeing the panicked look on her face, he put the glass down on the table and rushed to her.

‘What’s happened? Are you all right?’

‘Some m-men,’ she stuttered. ‘They came in when I opened the gate and p-pushed me into the corner.’

‘What did they do to you?’ Fabian asked, his eyes full of concern as he took her arm and led her to a chair. ‘Did they touch you?’

Shaking her head, Jenna sat down. ‘Not really.’

Frowning, Fabian went to the back door.

‘Don’t!’ she yelped, thinking that he was going to open it and go looking for the men. ‘There were four of them.’

Tugging the bolts across, he said, ‘Don’t worry – I wasn’t being a hero. I just wanted to make sure they couldn’t get in if they came back.’ Reaching for his glass now, he handed it to her. ‘Take it,’ he insisted when she shook her head. ‘You need it. You’re shaking like a leaf.’

Thanking him, Jenna sipped the drink and exhaled nervously when the liquid burned a soothing path down her throat.

‘Tell me what happened,’ Fabian said, pulling a chair up beside hers and reaching for her hand. ‘What did they look like?’

‘Quite big,’ she said, squinting as she tried to recall the details. ‘They were wearing dark clothes, but three of them had their hoods up so I couldn’t really see them. They were white, though, I think. And the main one had short black hair, and brown eyes.’

‘Are you sure? It is dark outside.’

‘I’m sure. He had a gold hoop earring in his right ear, with a little thing hanging off it – like a boxing glove, or something. And a thick gold neck-chain with a dog on it.’

‘Well, that’s good. The police should be able to do something with—’

‘No!’ Jenna glanced up, her eyes filled with fear. ‘No police.’

Patting her hand to calm her down, Fabian said, ‘I know you’ve had a shock, Jenna, but we can’t just leave this or they’ll think they’ve got away with it and come back.’

‘They
are
coming back,’ she murmured, sliding her hand free. ‘They said they’d be seeing me soon.’

‘Why? Are they after money?’

‘No, I offered them my purse, but they didn’t want it.’

‘I don’t get it,’ Fabian muttered. ‘If it wasn’t a mugging, and they didn’t touch you, what
did
they want?’

‘I don’t know,’ Jenna admitted quietly. ‘But they said they’d be coming back to get a system going, or something. I’m not quite sure. Then they said they’d come to my apartment if I talked to the police.’

Bubba had come in while they were talking. Hearing this, he came over and straddled a chair. ‘Sorry, but I couldn’t help overhearing, and if you want my advice you’ll keep zipped about this until you know what they’re after, ’cos the Babs won’t be able to do nothing but have a word, and that’s just gonna piss them off.’

‘Babs?’ Jenna repeated confusedly.

‘Babylon,’ Bubba said. Then, seeing that she was still none the wiser: ‘
Five-O
?’

‘Police,’ Fabian explained.

‘Yeah, them,’ Bubba said. ‘They could really fuck it up if you send them after these blokes when they haven’t really done anything. And you can’t be doing with that – not if they know where your pad is.’

‘Are you sure they know where you live?’ Fabian chipped in. ‘They might just have been saying that to frighten you.’

Taking another sip of the brandy, Jenna said, ‘They knew I’d got a new kettle. How would they have known about it unless they’d seen it?’

‘Did they actually describe it?’ Fabian asked, raising an eyebrow. When she shook her head, he smiled reassuringly. ‘There you go, then. We had a fair bit of publicity after we opened, don’t forget, so most of Manchester probably knows you moved back to take over your dad’s club. It wouldn’t be too hard to figure out that you’d have bought yourself a new
kettle
, would it?’

Looking up at him, annoyed by his patronising tone, Jenna said, ‘So how did they know about the new plants I bought for my balcony last week, then? That’s pretty specific, don’t you think?’

‘They must be watching you,’ Bubba said immediately, echoing the conclusion that Jenna had already reached. ‘And if they are, it ain’t worth trying to second-guess them.’

‘So what’s she supposed to do?’ Fabian argued, irritated that Bubba was contradicting him when he was trying to get Jenna to calm down. ‘They’re obviously trying it on, seeing if she’s scared enough to do what they say. They’re probably watching from somewhere right now, waiting to see if she’s called the police. If they see a squad car pull up, we’ll probably never see them again. But when they don’t, they’ll know they’ve got to her, and they’ll keep coming back.’

‘They’ll come back either way,’ Bubba said, shrugging as he added, ‘that’s how these guys work.’ Looking at Jenna now, he said, ‘What was that you said about getting a system going?’

‘I don’t know,’ Jenna murmured, trying to remember. ‘I think he said he’d heard I’d been having trouble, and it was time to stop fucking about and get us a system going.’

‘Protection,’ Bubba declared. ‘They’ve obviously been behind all the shit that’s been happening, and now they’re going to charge you to make it stop.’

‘If that’s true, there’s not enough to pay them,’ Jenna said wearily. ‘The takings are so low that I was just considering closing down to cut my losses.’

‘You’re not serious?’ Fabian gasped. ‘You can’t do that. This place has been going for years. It’s an institution in Manchester.’

‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ Jenna snapped, guilt making her defensive. ‘I don’t
want
to close, I just can’t see a lot of choice. We’ve lost so many customers recently it isn’t even funny. And you can play spot-the-celebrity these days.’

‘Look, let’s just calm down and talk this over,’ Fabian said, desperate to find a solution. This was his club as much as it was hers. He’d been running it when her father was around, and he’d carried on when Jenna got here. It had been a little more of a challenge to manipulate her as easily as he had James Lorde, but he’d managed, and he liked Zenith just how it was. If she were to close down now, he’d have to find a job somewhere else, and he didn’t want to have to go through the hassle.

Sighing, Jenna shook her head. ‘I don’t want to talk right now, Fabian. I appreciate the concern, but I’m just too tired. I just want to go home and get my head down for a couple of hours, or I’ll never make it through tonight.’

‘Why not take tonight off?’ Bubba suggested. ‘I’m sure everyone will pull together and keep it running smooth. You need a break.’

‘I can’t,’ Jenna said, her eyes dark with worry. ‘I’d only be wondering what was happening here while I was away. What if those men come back and threaten anyone else? Or hurt someone, even.’

‘We’ll deal with it,’ Fabian said, agreeing with Bubba that Jenna was better off at home.

‘I can’t,’ she said again, more firmly this time. ‘It’d probably be even worse at home. I need to be here.’

‘Well, you know we’ve got your back,’ Bubba said. ‘Anything happens, we’re right in there.’

‘Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that,’ Jenna said standing up. Anyway I’d better go, or I’ll have no time to get ready.’

‘Want us to walk you through the yard?’ Fabian offered.

Shaking her head, Jenna said, ‘No. I’ll get a taxi out front.’

‘What about when you get home? Are you going to be all right going in?’

‘Yeah, I’ll get the security guard to come in with me. Stop worrying, I’ll be fine.’

‘Ballsy lady,’ Bubba commented when she walked out.

‘Mmm,’ Fabian murmured. ‘Let’s just hope she doesn’t try to handle this on her own, or it could get a whole lot worse.’

Going home, Jenna did exactly what she’d said she would and got the guard to come into the apartment with her. She had him check every room, window and door – under the pretext of being concerned about an ex-boyfriend breaking in – thanked him and gave him a ten-pound tip, asking him to let her know if he saw any suspicious men hanging around.

Then, closing all the curtains and blinds, she turned on every light and took a shower. Feeling a little less tense after that, she poured herself a glass of juice and carried it into the bedroom, locking the door behind her. All she wanted to do was throw her hand in and run away. But she was shackled to the club now, up to her eyes in loan and mortgage repayments, and she couldn’t afford to even
contemplate
giving it up with all that hanging over her.

Sighing, Jenna sat down heavily on the bed.

Is this it?
she thought, looking around.
Am I going to spend the rest of my life locking myself into rooms, too scared to drive my own car home, having to ask a stranger to check out my apartment before I dare to go in?

‘No, I am
not
,’ she said out loud, slamming the glass down on the bedside table and reaching for her handbag.

She might not be able to deal with this alone, but she knew one person who might be able to help.

Taking the number out of her bag, Jenna reached for the phone.

‘Hello, Tony? Sorry to disturb you, but I think I need to see you . . .’

14

‘Right, first things first,’ Tony said, sitting forward with his elbows on his knees. ‘You go back to work tonight as if nothing’s happened.’

Frowning, Jenna plucked at the corner of a cushion. It was an hour since she’d called Tony, and he had arrived a short time ago with Eddie, and – for some strange reason – Leonard. Sitting with them in her apartment now, Jenna felt awkward, because it was the first time she’d had visitors since moving in, and they were all so big that they made her usually spacious lounge seem small and claustrophobic.

‘I don’t think I can do that,’ she said now. ‘What if they come back?’

‘Believe me, they won’t,’ Tony told her with absolute certainty.

‘How can you be so sure?’ she asked, sincerely doubting it.

‘Because I know how these guys work,’ Tony said, his voice calm, his eyes reassuring. ‘I will personally guarantee that you won’t be bothered again.’