The Reckoning (Carter Brothers), page 17
Dumbfounded, Stacey could only stare at Maria open-mouthed. Her mind was still reeling when Maria got to her feet, signalling the end of her visit.
‘I’ll see myself out,’ Maria said sweetly. At the lounge door, she paused and turned back around. ‘I really do hope that I haven’t upset you.’ She gave a pitying look that cut Stacey to the core. ‘I mean, it must be difficult rattling around in this place all by yourself, and I’m sure that you must get lonely, but Danny isn’t the answer to your prayers, he loves me and he wants to marry me, he even wants us to start trying for a family of our own as soon as we’re married.’ Again, it was another lie; she and Danny had never actively spoken about children other than in passing. In fact, Maria could think of nothing worse; she was far too selfish to consider bringing a life into the world, let alone the sleepless nights she would have to endure.
As the front door softly closed behind Maria, Stacey groaned out loud. The shame of it. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought that Danny could have guessed how she felt about him. She’d never, at least in her mind anyway, given him any indication that she was interested in being anything other than just friends. The fact he wanted children with Maria had stung too. She herself could never have given him another child; her child-rearing days were well and truly over, and as Maria had quite rightly pointed out, she was a grandmother, and before long she would more than likely become a great-grandmother.
A lone tear slipped down Stacey’s cheek; she’d never in all her life felt so embarrassed. There and then, she made the conscious decision to steer clear of Danny, to avoid him at all costs; it was the only way her battered ego could survive the tongue-lashing Maria had dished out.
After leaving the Three Rabbits the previous evening, Danny was still feeling troubled; he was unable to erase from his mind the notion that Gerry Mann had backing, but from who, he had no idea.
Something just didn’t sit right with him, and his gut instinct had never let him down in the past. Why now, after all these years, had Mann decided to act out his revenge? It wasn’t as though he and Moray were still active in the criminal underworld; they weren’t a threat to anyone. In fact, for the past eighteen years, they’d kept their noses clean and had all but disappeared from the life they’d once lived.
An image of Adam Christos sprang to Danny’s mind. Christos had not only been Mann’s best pal, but he’d also been a paedophile, and had more than deserved the retribution that Danny and Moray had meted out. The colour drained from Danny's face and, charging out of the room, he raced up the stairs to his bedroom.
At the bottom of the wardrobe, Danny kept a shoebox. It was here that he kept the deeds to the house, copies of his children’s birth certificates, and any other important paperwork, not to mention a semi-automatic pistol. Emptying the box out on to the bed, he rifled through the papers. In his haste, he was unable to find what he was looking for, and with his heart in his mouth, he started all over again, this time taking his time as he methodically searched through the documents.
Years ago, Matty Payne had worked for Danny and Moray’s former boss Freddie Smith. It was all thanks to Matty that Danny and Moray had been able to successfully break apart a paedophile ring that Freddie had been an active member of. A victim of the abuse himself, Matty had written down a list of names of the perpetrators, and in the months after Freddie’s well-deserved death, both Danny and Moray had paid a visit to those on the list, at least the ones they had been able to identify, anyway – the majority of names had been either aliases or just initials.
Finally locating Matty’s list, Danny carefully unfolded the sheet of paper, his gaze scrutinising each name that had been written. Had he and Moray missed something, and more to the point, had Gerry Mann managed to slip through their fingers?
After a few moments, Danny dropped the sheet of paper back into the shoe box and wearily rubbed at his temples. His suspicions had been wrong – there was nothing there to suggest that Gerry had been a part of the paedophile ring.
As her husband silenced his mobile phone, Sophie Garner raised her eyebrows. It wasn’t like Moray to ignore his best friend and business partner. Usually, he and Danny were as thick as thieves, and as her gaze swivelled to the ceiling, she wondered if her stepson Aaron’s sudden appearance at their house the evening before was anything to do with the change in her husband.
To say that she’d been stunned when Moray had arrived home with Aaron in tow was an understatement. She’d been so shocked, she’d almost fallen off the sofa. Not that she minded; in fact, she’d actively encouraged Moray to make amends with his eldest son, and as far as she was concerned, it was only right that their daughter Tamsin had the chance to get to know both of her brothers.
The sound of heavy footsteps padding down the stairs broke her reverie and, glancing towards her husband, she watched as the muscles across his shoulder blades tensed. Placing her hand on his bicep, she gently massaged the rigid muscle, giving him a reassuring smile as Aaron entered the kitchen.
‘Hello, Aaron.’ Reminded once more of how alike her husband and his son were, Sophie gave a warm smile. ‘Would you like some tea? I’ve not long boiled the kettle.’
Shooting his father a glance, Aaron made a point of taking a seat at the far end of the breakfast table, the distance between them signifying their rocky relationship. ‘Yes, please.’
As she fetched a mug from the overhead cupboard, Sophie glanced over her shoulder. ‘Tamsin was sorry to miss you this morning, but she had to leave early for college, maybe you could meet her tonight?’ Placing the steaming mug on the breakfast bar, she looked across to her husband. ‘We could have a family dinner; you could cook your specialty. Your dad cooks the best spare ribs,’ she said, flashing Aaron a wide smile, ‘he makes this barbecue sauce that’s to die for…’
‘No,’ Moray barked out, his voice loud in the confines of the kitchen.
There was an edge to Moray’s voice that Sophie had never heard before and, as her jaw dropped, she turned to face her husband.
‘Aaron won’t be here tonight,’ Moray quickly explained, reaching out for his wife’s hand by way of an apology. To be perfectly honest, he couldn’t wait to get his son out of the house; as it was, he’d slept with one eye open. Every sudden noise or creak of the floorboards had him sitting bolt upright, his ears straining for any tell-tale signs that Aaron was up and about. After what had gone down at the club, he didn’t trust his son not to finish what he’d started and attempt to slit their throats while they slept.
Confusion swept over Sophie’s face. ‘But what about Tamsin?’ she asked. ‘She’s really keen to see her brother, you know how many times she’s asked to meet him.’
‘Another time, maybe.’ Squeezing her hand, Moray turned to look at his son, his expression hard and his eyes cold. As well as owning the club, Moray owned a number of properties – a one-bedroom flat in Southend, and a three-bedroom house just around the corner from where he and Sophie lived in Leigh-on-Sea. The flat would be perfect for Aaron to hide out in until Moray decided what to do with him. The only thing he knew for certain was that Aaron couldn’t return to his home in Dagenham; it wasn’t safe, not with Danny on the warpath.
‘Oh, well.’ Sophie smiled, in an attempt to lighten the mood. ‘Another time it is, then.’ As she took a sip of her tea, it didn’t fail to escape her notice that the atmosphere between father and son was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.
An hour later, Danny parked his car on the forecourt of the Carters’ scrapyard in Barking. Stepping out of the car, he locked up, and made his way into the office.
Behind the desk, Jimmy looked up as Danny entered. ‘You all right, mate?’ he asked.
Momentarily, Danny paused, and as Jonny shuffled along the sofa, he took a seat and stretched his legs out in front of him. After a few beats, he spoke. ‘Gerry Mann.’
‘What about him?’ Jimmy asked, screwing up his face.
Pausing again, Danny rubbed his hand over the dark stubble covering his jawline. ‘I dunno,’ he said, ‘I’ve just got this feeling that we’re missing something. In here.’ He poked himself in the chest and looked between the two brothers. ‘I can feel it. I mean, why now, why crawl out of the woodwork and cause all of this fucking hag?’
Jimmy raised his eyebrows; he had to admit the exact same thing had crossed his mind too. Why had Gerry waited so long to stir up shit? It wasn’t as though Freddie Smith was even alive, the Christos family had already acted out their revenge, they had murdered Freddie and disposed of his corpse in Epping Forest, so what exactly was Gerry Mann trying to prove? ‘Opportunity, maybe?’ Jimmy volunteered.
‘Opportunity for what?’ Leaning back on the sofa, Danny spread open his arms. ‘Me and Moray have been sitting ducks for years. They knew where to find us; it’s not like we hid ourselves away, is it?’
Jimmy could see Danny’s point, and studying his friend, he jerked his head towards him. ‘How are things with Moray?’ He held up his hands by way of an apology. ‘I don’t mean to pry, mate, but I sensed a bit of an atmosphere between the two of you.’
Danny’s expression clouded over, and his fingers automatically reached into his pocket for his mobile phone. Before making the drive over to Barking, he’d tried calling Moray, and again the phone call had gone unanswered. For all intents and purposes, it appeared that his business partner didn’t want to speak to him, not that he relished the idea of speaking to Moray either, but whether they liked it or not, they still had a business to run, not to mention they still needed to hunt down the wanker who’d gunned Lexi down. Mann may have been behind the attack, but he hadn’t been the shooter, although Danny had a pretty good idea who the culprit was – Aaron – he just hadn’t worked out the intricate details yet, the whys and the hows, but he would, he was like a dog with a bone once he’d set his mind to something. Narrowing his eyes, Danny looked around him. ‘Where’s Stace?’ he asked, changing the subject.
‘She’s not here today,’ Jimmy answered, taking the hint to drop the conversation surrounding Danny and Moray’s falling out.
‘Is she okay?’ Danny asked, concerned. It wasn’t like Stacey to cry off sick. Ever since Tommy’s death, she’d never missed a day’s work at the scrapyard.
‘Yeah, young Thomas said she had a bit of a headache, a migraine or something.’ Jimmy shrugged. ‘She’ll be as right as rain in a couple of days.’
Satisfied, Danny nodded and got to his feet. ‘I’d best shoot off.’ He shook the brothers’ hands, and as he reached the door, he looked over his shoulder. ‘If you hear anything…’
‘You’ll be the first to know,’ Jimmy reassured him.
Smiling his thanks, Danny left the Portakabin.
A few moments later, Jonny followed suit, and as he followed Danny out of the yard, he failed to spot Joey Mann’s black Audi, hot on his tail.
Carlos Christos gave his best mate a sidelong glance. ‘Are you sure about this?’ he asked, for the fifth time in as many minutes.
Joey rolled his eyes. It wasn’t like Carlos to err on the side of caution; in any normal circumstances, Carlos was just as unhinged as he was; they took pleasure from seeing others suffer, it was in their nature, their genes, and one of the many reasons they got along so well. ‘Course I am. Fuck me, if we wait around for my old man to give out orders, we’ll end up waiting forever.’ Reaching over to open the glove box, he nodded towards Jonny Carter’s car up ahead of them. ‘Carter, the prick, has had his fucking day, in fact.’ He pulled out a serrated blade and flashed a wide smile, his eyes twinkling with excitement. ‘Believe me, this day has been a long time coming.’
Eyeing the weapon, Carlos sighed, and as Joey pressed his foot down on the accelerator, he gripped on to the door handle for dear life. All the while, Gerry’s warning rang heavy in his ears; the last thing they needed was for the rest of the Carter family to descend upon them, hellbent on revenge.
Pulling up outside the strip club in Soho that had belonged to his brother Tommy, Jonny Carter didn’t have a care in the world. He had money in abundance, a nice gaff in Elm Park, and a right nice little bird on the go, Chloe. He even fancied settling down, a first for him. Until meeting Chloe, he’d always been of the mindset that marriage was a mug’s game; there were too many women in the world to be tied down to the same woman for the rest of his life, but Chloe was different, she’d swept him off his feet and he couldn’t get enough of her, nor could he get her out of his mind. She also had a cracking little body on her, not to mention a nice, firm pair of tits, which in his eyes could only be an added bonus.
He was in half a mind to leave work for the day and drive straight over to Chloe’s house; he’d much rather spend the day in Chloe’s bed than trail all over London collecting the takings from the various businesses the family owned. And he would have done, too, if it wasn’t for the fact his brother Jimmy had been on his case all morning about pulling his weight. Anyone would think that Jimmy was in charge, the way he carried on, barking out orders, left, right and centre. Fair enough, Jimmy was the eldest now that Tommy was gone, but that didn’t make him the boss.
Climbing out of the car, he locked up, then crossed the busy street. As if on cue, his mobile phone pinged, indicating a new message had come through, and leaning against the wall of the club, Jonny slipped his hand into his jacket pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit up. Just as he’d expected it would be, the message was from Chloe, only it wasn’t a text message she’d sent, but a photo message. Patiently he waited for the image to download and, tilting his head this way and that, he screwed up his face as he tried to make out the grainy image. Moments later, his mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. Naked, Chloe lay back on the bed, one arm behind her head, her full breasts on display, and a wicked grin spread across her face. She’d even written a caption, just in case the image alone wasn’t enough to capture his attention. ‘Miss you.’
There and then, Jonny decided that collecting the takings could wait, and flicking the cigarette butt to the floor, he hastily typed out a reply, telling her that he was on his way and not to even think about leaving the bedroom.
He was so preoccupied that he didn’t see the black Audi grind to a halt just a few feet away from him and it wasn’t until he heard the sound of car doors slamming closed that he eventually tore his eyes away from the phone and looked up. By then, it was far too late, and as Joey Mann advanced towards him, it was the flash of steel clutched in Mann’s fist that Jonny noticed first, the same flash of steel that moments later Mann would thrust towards him.
16
After leaving the scrapyard, Danny had made a quick visit to see his daughter at the hospital, then headed straight for the club he and Moray owned. As he made his way up the stairs that led to the office, a sickly-sweet aroma hit Danny's nostrils, forcing him to an abrupt halt.
He’d recognise the scent anywhere and so he should, seeing as he was the one who’d bought the perfume, and it hadn’t been cheap either, over two hundred nicker he’d forked out for it. Not that the price tag had been the issue, it was the woman wearing it who was the problem – Maria.
Entering the office, Danny took one look at the bridal magazine clutched in Maria’s hands and had to fight the urge not to turn around, retrace his steps, and walk straight back out of the club. What with everything else he had going on, Lexi fighting for her life, the increasingly fraught situation between him and Moray, Aaron’s suspected involvement in the shooting, and not forgetting the fact Gerry Mann seemingly wanted to put him into an early grave, he really wasn’t in the mood for his fiancée’s constant demands, and there were plenty of them. Until recently, he hadn’t realised just how many, nor how much of a strain she put on him, both emotionally and financially.
‘Babe.’ Maria’s voice was sugary sweet as she got to her feet and planted a kiss on Danny’s cheek. ‘I thought that we could plan the wedding?’ she said, waving the magazine under his nose. ‘And, yes, I know you wanted to wait a while, but if we book a last-minute deal, then this time next week, we could be man and wife.’
‘Seriously?’ Danny growled, doing nothing to hide his irritation. ‘Do you honestly think that I want to sit here planning out a wedding when I’m up to my eyeballs in fucking hag? Nothing has changed. Lexi is still recovering, and the bastard who shot her is still out there,’ he said, pointing beyond the office door. ‘Not that you’ve bothered to ask how my daughter is doing or even paid her a visit. She nearly died, Maria. Have you got even the tiniest of inklings how that made me feel? I almost lost my baby.’
Maria forced a pained expression. Why would she want to visit his daughter? She barely even knew the girl, and more to the point, she didn’t want to get to know her. All Logan and Lexi were to her was an irritation, and the fact they had a claim to Danny’s wealth was enough to make her want to scream at the injustice of it all. ‘How is she?’
As far as Danny was concerned, it was a case of too little, too late, and the mere fact that he’d had to even prompt Maria to ask after Lexi grated on his nerves, and only served to reinforce his belief that their relationship had come to an end. If he was being entirely honest with himself, he was sick to the back teeth of her. He’d should never have even entertained the notion of becoming involved with Maria; it wasn’t as though they even shared anything in common, and that was without the glaringly obvious age difference between them. He was too old for her and, as much as he’d convinced himself that age was just a number and all of that old bollocks, deep down, he’d known that something wasn’t right, that they’d wanted different things out of life. He wanted to settle down and watch his children grow older, maybe even become a grandfather one day, whereas she wanted excitement, holidays abroad, fancy restaurants, and designer clothes. ‘She’s getting there – if all goes well, she should be allowed to go home in the next few days.’
