Winner Takes It All (15 page)

‘
Yes. You see
I think it’s time Alex’s little Scouse dream was destroyed. She’s
already invested considerable amounts of money into that hotel and
if it’s burnt to the ground, she’ll have to start again won’t she?
And added to the stress of running Sheridans, it’s all going to
prove too much for our young miss.’

‘
Why do you
hate the Cusacks so much? They look upon you as a family
friend.’

‘
It’s nothing
personal. Christian Cusack is one of the nicest men you could wish
to meet. But his mother destroyed my father’s dreams, just as she
did your grandmother’s. When Bridget Sheridan put the company up
for sale in the early 1970s, my father was on the point of
bankruptcy and borrowed a lot of money from unscrupulous people to
put together a bid for Sheridans. Louisa Cusack beat him to it. By
which time the loan sharks had started to pile interest onto what
he borrowed and he couldn’t pay them back. He felt a failure and he
was scared so he blew his brains out with a shotgun.’

‘
I’m sorry, I
shouldn’t have asked.’

‘
No, you had
every right to. Chris knew nothing about it. He just thought my
father was killed in an armed robbery. But I always vowed one day I
would do all I could to avenge dad.’

‘
I totally
understand and I’ll do all I can to help. I don’t know that many
dodgy people but I’m sure I can find one. I don’t want to hurt
anybody though.’

‘
Oh no, the
fire can be done at night when no one’s there. From what I hear,
there’s not much to it, so it should burn out quite
quickly.’

‘
What are we
paying this person?’

‘
Let’s say a
thousand pounds and a first class ticket to and from Liverpool. As
they’ll be doing it at night, I’m sure we can throw in a stay at a
five star hotel but you must never mention my name.’

‘
Okay, well I
think I have someone in mind. I’ll get onto it now.’

The two men parted and
Tom got out his phone, texting Tara to say a few more friends had
turned up and they were going onto another pub. In reality, he
caught a taxi to take him over to Fulham to visit his tenants. He
hoped Jez was home; he was supposed to be a painter and decorator
but only worked when the money ran out. Most of his day was taken
up sitting around watching TV and smoking massive spliffs. He was
ex-army and it seemed he was making up for the early part of his
life being so regimented by being as big a drop out as
possible.

Tom didn’t feel entirely
happy about this whole arson thing. What if Alex was employing some
sort of nightwatchman to keep an eye on the place? The sensitive
soul that still lived deep within Tom didn’t even like the thought
that maybe a cat had made a bed for itself in there and would be
burnt alive. But he knew he owed his cousin far too much money to
even consider wimping out and had to go along with it.

He arrived home to find
Mo on her way out. In her skimpy denim skirt and cut off jacket,
she looked sexy, but compared to the sheer class and kinkiness of
Sadie, she just looked like any other cheap tart.

‘
Where the
fuck have you been?’ she barked in that Glasgow brogue.

‘
Busy helping
my family,’ he replied. ‘Is Jez in?’

‘
Aye. In the
usual spot.’

What used to be Tom’s
living room smelt of cannabis and a foggy mist filled the air. Jez
was seated on the sofa in a t-shirt and his boxer shorts. The
t-shirt was filthy and his skin didn’t look much cleaner. Not
wanting to contaminate his designer suit, Tom sat some distance
from him.

‘
Come to play
the big landlord have you?’ Jez asked in his soft Geordie accent,
his eyes never leaving
Judge Judy
.

‘
No, I’ve come
to ask a favour of you. Do you still hang around with that psycho
Reg?’

Jez looked at
him.

‘
Reg
Chisholm?’

‘
Yeah.’

‘
From time to
time.’ He returned to the TV. ‘Why?’

‘
I need him to
do me a favour.’

‘
What sort of
favour?’

‘
Arson.’

Jez looked at him once
more.

‘
Who the fuck
are you involved with Tom?’

‘
You don’t
need to know. Is he still a psycho?’

‘
Of course he
is?’

‘
And could he
do with earning a grand?’

‘
Is the Pope a
Catholic?’

‘
Right.
Arrange a meeting with him for me. I need that bonkers squaddie’s
help.’

Nine

Alex could hear her
mobile ringing and convinced herself she was dreaming. It was the
dead of night and yet the ring was quite clear. She opened her eyes
and saw the dark room flashing with light as the phone rang and
rang. Fumbling sleepily, she reached over to the bedside cabinet
and picked it up, wondering why Jack was calling her at half past
two in the morning.

‘
What is it
Jack?’ she yawned.

‘
It’s the
hotel,’ he practically shouted, and she could hear a lot of
background noise. ‘It’s on fire.’

‘
What?’ she
sat up in bed.

‘
We were just
coming back from a party and as I passed it, I noticed smoke coming
from it. The fire brigade have just arrived.’

‘
Oh my God,’
she uttered. ‘How bad does it look?’

‘
The majority
of the smoke seems to be coming from the ground floor. We won’t
know until the fire’s out.’

‘
Okay, well
I’ll be up first thing in the morning.’

Snapping into work mode,
Alex knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep for the rest of the night.
She wasn’t selfish enough to wake Charlotte at this time, so
instead she sent her a text message asking her to cancel all her
meetings for that day or else delegate them. She then thought about
the quickest and easiest way to get up to Liverpool and she knew
that would be by flying; and she knew she had very little option
but to give Robin a ring.

Robin Lancaster had been
Alex’s first boyfriend back when she was fifteen. His father owned
Astley’s bank and although they were only together a year,
Christian and Alison had hoped he’d be the boy to tame their wild
daughter and was possibly even future marriage material. Alex had
found him far too dull and dumped him for a Hells Angel called
Butch. By then however, Robin had been embraced by the Cusacks and
had remained a family friend. Like her grandfather Ben, Robin was
mad about planes and unlike most young boys who can’t wait to learn
to drive, Robin lived for the day he got his pilot’s licence. His
family were so rich, he had a landing strip at the back of their
Buckinghamshire pile and Alex knew even today, he would drop
everything to fly her up to Liverpool. The only problem was Robin
still held a candle for her and if he found out that she’d just
split up with Tim, he might see it as an opportunity to try and get
back with her.

Alex lay awake clutching
her phone and pondering her dilemma. She really wanted to get up to
Liverpool ASAP and so wished it was like back in the old days when
Ben would take her up in his plane and fly her over the Channel and
back. Her poor darling grandpa was far too old to even consider
that now and she was stuck relying on people like Robin. She knew
she had no choice. She just wouldn’t mention the split or that she
was living back in her old home. She’d just drive over to his house
and go from there.

She sent him a text
message, asking him to ring her in the morning. She then put her
phone back down and tried to rest. It was hard to relax knowing her
hotel was on fire. She wished it was nearer so she could go to it
now and the only thing that made her feel better was that Jack was
looking after everything. As she’d discovered the day Christian was
taken ill, he was very good in a crisis and he would no doubt have
everything under control.

Alex wasn’t sure how she
felt about Jack. She was perfectly aware that she was physically
attracted to him – who wouldn’t be? And she also felt a grudging
respect for anyone who came from poor beginnings and made something
of themselves. But that didn’t take away the fact she still felt he
looked on her with contempt; as a silly rich girl playing the
businesswoman and she wasn’t sure she liked that. Even so, just a
tiny part of her felt excited at the thought of seeing him the next
day.

She wondered how much
more trauma she could take. Her life had been coasting along rather
dully until Christian threw down the challenge. Just as she was
beginning to cope with that, he had a stroke and she thought she
was going to lose him. This spurred her on to break up with Tim and
whilst their break up had been quite amicable, it had still been
sad dividing their possessions and shutting the door to eight years
of their lives. Now this - her beloved building up in flames. She
hoped it was salvageable, she’d set such hopes on this place and
she wished she could be there right now to see the
damage.

Despite the odds, Alex
fell back off to sleep and the next time she was awoke, the room
was almost light. Her phone was ringing and without even looking,
she knew it was Robin. She looked at her watch. It was
5.45a.m.

‘
Thanks for
calling Robin,’ she said. ‘I hope the phone didn’t wake you
up.’

‘
No not at
all. You need me to take you to Liverpool?’

‘
Yes. Would
that be at all possible?’

‘
Of course.
You mentioned a hotel burning down.’

‘
Yes, I’ll
explain as we go there. What time can you leave?’

‘
Shall we say
eight o’clock?’

‘
I’ll be
there, thanks Robin.’

‘
Do you want
me to pick you up?’

‘
No, I’ll
drive over. You’re doing enough for me as it is.’

***

They arrived at Liverpool
Airport before nine thirty and Alex hired a car to take her into
town. Robin insisted on accompanying her and how could she refuse
him when he’d shown her such kindness? A part of her wished she
could fall madly in love with him and be done with it. Robin was
such suitable husband material. His father’s family could be traced
back to Royalty and had been friends with the Cusacks for
generations. He wasn’t even ugly; he was quite good looking with
nice brown eyes and spiky dark hair and a sort of noble nose. Most
of all, he was kind and generous and even now would do anything for
her. But he didn’t excite Alex. He was like Tim but without the
brains. When she compared him to Jack with his beaten up nose and
bulging muscles and cheeky smile, poor Robin just paled into
insignificance.

‘
I heard
through Penny Eldridge that you and Tim had split up,’ he suddenly
announced just as Alex spotted the top of the Anglican Cathedral
and realised Liverpool City Centre was close.

‘
News travels
fast,’ was all she said.

‘
Any reason
for the split?’

‘
We’d drifted
apart. Tim spends his life with his head in a book, and I live in
the real world. I’m so snowed under, I can’t think about a
relationship at the moment.’

She hoped Robin would get
the message and she wondered how the hell Penny Eldridge had found
out about the split. She could only guess it had come from Julie.
She was best friends with Alice, Penny’s elder sister. Was any
secret safe in their world?

‘
I often envy
people like Tim,’ Robin sighed, looking out at the scenery. ‘I’ve
been groomed to take over Astley’s from the day I was born. It must
be nice to have the luxury to spend your life studying.’

‘
Yes but it makes you emotionally immature. Do you know he
wouldn’t even come to visit daddy with me because he had to meet
with one of his fellow students to talk about their
project
.’

‘
That is quite
ridiculous, yes. How is your father?’

‘
He’s
improving slowly. He’s down in Layton House with Julie and grandpa.
Tara drops in every day to see him and make sure he’s
okay.’

‘
I’ll have to
drive down and see him.’ He laughed. ‘And Ben of course, your
grandfather is the only person who’s more plane mad than
me!’

‘
He’d like
that. Grandpa always thought very highly of you.’

Alex wished she could
turn back time and not say that. It implied she spoke of Robin
often and she didn’t want to give him any encouragement
whatsoever.

They finally arrived at
Church Street and even through the closed car windows, Alex could
smell the acrid smoke. To her chagrin, tears filled her eyes at the
thought of the building being destroyed. She pulled up and saw
yellow tape had been fixed all around, warning people off and a
fire investigation unit was outside. She got out the car and Robin
followed, and for a moment, all she could do was stand and look up
at the old store. The upper windows appeared to be fine but the
bottom windows were all blown out, black marks streaking up the
walls. Robin stood beside her.

‘
What a mess,’
he said.