Get Even (50 page)

Sharon had waved her daughter away eventually and gone to her bedroom where everywhere she looked there was evidence of Ray and their life together. She made it into the en suite just in time to throw up into the toilet, heaving up everything she had eaten and drunk that day. She really did feel as if her heart had been irrevocably broken. How could he have lain with her, played with her sons and laughed and joked with them, all the while knowing that he had taken Lenny away from them? That was the hardest thing for her to understand. How he could have loved those boys. And he did love them, she knew that much. Yet he had beaten their father to death with a crowbar. He had murdered him without even any malice. He had been paid to do it.

She remembered reading about women who had found out that their husbands were rapists or paedophiles and she had always thought: how could these women not know? How could they not know the men they lived with, slept with? But now she understood that it was quite possible to live a lie and not be in the least bit aware of it.

She looked at Ray’s clothes in the wardrobe, at his shirts that she had washed and ironed and hung there ready for him whenever he needed them. She used to worry that she had too much, and that it couldn’t last. That, somehow, everything had to be paid for. Now she knew that it wasn’t fanciful thinking or her Catholic guilt at having so much when others had so little. God, at times, did pay back debts without money.

Now it was Ray’s turn to pay and she hoped he paid out well. She’d had two men in her life, and neither had been what they had seemed. She had been fool enough to fall for them and love them and give them children. So what the fuck did that say about her?

She went downstairs to wait for the phone to ring. When the call came, she listened to the person at the other end without a word before she dressed carefully in jeans, a T-shirt and a cheap jacket. Then, smiling, she got into her car and drove away from her house with a calmness she had not felt for years. In fact, she felt as if she had been released from something that had been dragging her down and would have eventually been the death of her. She was playing The Eagles, ‘Hotel California’, and she felt lighter than ever before. She was in a wonderful mood when she reached her destination.

Ray Donovan turned up at Jack’s yard. It seemed that Elton had come up trumps and brought Barton there to await his punishment. And what a punishment it was going to be. Ray was demented at the thought of his friend with his daughter – his extremely young daughter – who he now felt was sullied and dirty. He would never feel the same about her again. She had been his sunshine, his happiness. Now she was putrid, filthy to him.

He had loved her, given her the world on a fucking plate, and what had the little whore done? She had humiliated
him
, of all people. He was so angry he knew that he would not be responsible for his actions. He had even thought about removing his Kathy from this earth, such was his anger at what she had done to him – Ray Donovan, the man of the fucking hour! How Barton must have laughed at him behind his back, the black fucker must have thought he had got away with it. Well, no one humiliated Ray Donovan and lived to tell the tale.

Inside the office he felt his guts turn to ice water. There was Jack sitting in his usual seat. There was Elton, trussed up like a Christmas turkey. And there was Barton and Reggie with sawn-off shotguns. But the worst thing of all was seeing Sharon – his wife, who he had raised from the gutter after she’d been married to that queer cunt Lenny Scott – sitting there, looking at him with a smile on her face.

Before he could say a word, Reggie said angrily, ‘Been sussed out, mate. How does it feel to be on the receiving end for once?’

Ray knew now that he was beaten. He saw the other men with shotguns covering him, and he knew that he could not get out of this one. So he laughed – his arrogance knew no bounds – and Sharon watched his face as it finally dawned on him that this was it. There was anger and there was resignation, and she felt nothing for his dilemma at all. She laughed gently and it was a pleasant sound in a room full of tension. It also told Ray all he needed to know about his wife and his demise.

‘I gave you the life you fucking dreamed of, Sharon.’

She knew that he really meant what he said and, for a split second, she felt a great sorrow for him. But not for herself. She realised now that he had a completely warped view of the world that he inhabited.

‘I raised you to be my wife. I dragged you out of the gutter. I gave you what you fucking craved. A
real
man. But you got old, darling. You knew it could never really last, surely? No man wants the same dinner every night, love. And, as for you, Jack! I was the best thing that ever happened to you.’

Jack shook his head and said loudly, ‘You are fucking scum, and northern scum at that.’

Ray Donovan found it funny. He knew it was over for him and he was determined to go out with a big fucking bang.

‘I took out the queer who was fucking the arse off Reggie, his so-called best mate, Sharon. I did you and your boys the favour of a fucking
lifetime
.’

He opened his arms wide as if in absolute wonderment and grinned. ‘You were a good wife, darling. Like I said before, the only mistake you ever made was getting old. It was like fucking my mother in the end. You were always a mum, never a lover. But I would have stayed with you. You can’t help getting a bit long in the tooth. I would never have abandoned you. Even though you bred me a fucking whore.’

Reggie knew that it was time to shut Ray up. It was clear that, even on his own deathbed, he was determined to cause as much hurt as possible.

Sharon shook her head in abject disbelief. ‘You never made me feel like Lenny did. You never
really
touched me, Ray. You were a means to an end. As for Reggie, he is closer to me and mine than you could ever be.’

Her lies hurt him, as she knew they would. She had loved him once with all her being and she’d believed that he was the answer to her prayers. Now she hated him with every bone in her body.

‘I want you dead, Ray. I want you gone from my life and my kids’ lives too. Especially my kids’ lives. You really thought you were something else, didn’t you? Something special. You fucked like an amateur, Ray. You were just a pay cheque to me, darling. And now, I’m afraid, you have been sacked.’

Reggie pulled back the barrel of the gun and slipped the cartridges into their place. Then he said pointedly, ‘This one’s for Lenny.’

He took Ray’s legs from under him and, as he hit the floor, pain exploding through his body, Reggie was reloading again. Holding the barrel to Ray’s face, he said, ‘And this one is for Lenny, too. And his kids and his wife for that matter. And for me, as well. Fuck you, Ray Donovan. Fuck you to hell.’

Sharon watched as her husband and the father of her daughter died before her eyes. She could hear the gurgling as he drowned in his own blood. It seemed to her to be a fitting end for the man she loathed with every fibre of her being. She was amazed at how calm and collected she felt. For the first time in years she was free, and she knew that this was a good feeling. One to hang on to for the future. She needed to remember this moment, the death of her daughter’s father, the man she had married with such love and such hope. Would she never learn?

Across the room, Elton groaned – he knew he was next.

Barton grinned at him happily. He had dodged a bullet and he was in a wonderful mood. ‘You backed the wrong fucking horse there, son.’

Then he took Elton out with one shot.

Jack was laughing. Their ears were ringing from the gunshots and they were all relieved that the night was over. Jack stood up and, bending over Ray’s body, he spat on him.

‘Who would have thought I would have outlived you, eh?’

They laughed again.

‘Burn this place down with those two still in it. I have removed everything of value. Fuck them. Let the Old Bill sort it, useless cunts that they are.’

Barton and Reggie did as they were asked and, as they drove away in their separate cars, they knew that it had been a good night’s work. They felt justified at what they had done and they all breathed a very heavy sigh of relief.

When the police came to inform Sharon of her husband’s death, she was very calm. Too calm, they thought, but they didn’t comment. She was very polite and she made them a cup of tea, thanking them for letting her know.

Annie and Kathy, on the other hand, were in bits and Sharon did what was necessary, even though she felt like laughing her head off. For the first time in years she was light of heart, even with everything that had happened. Knowing that Ray was gone was the catalyst she needed to start the healing process. He would never be coming back and for that she would be eternally grateful to Reggie Dornan. He was now her hero, and that in itself was strange, considering the history between them.

That night she slept better than she had in years, and she turned a deaf ear to her daughter’s sobbing. Kathy still had a way to go before Sharon would forgive her for her latest escapade. It occurred to Sharon that she had changed in the last few days; she was harder inside, but she supposed that was to be expected. She didn’t know what the future held, but one thing she did know: Ray was gone for ever and he would not be there to corrupt her sons any more, or invade her life. That alone was worth all the pain and suffering in the world.

But Barton wasn’t getting off with anything either. Sharon rang his wife and told her everything about Kathy and her handsome husband’s affair. Sharon may have lost a friend, but she had also taught her daughter a valuable lesson in life. Never shit on your own doorstep.

Lesley Scott was in a nursing home when she read about Ray Donovan being murdered. She was over the moon with joy. Her prayers had been heard at last. Sharon’s husband was dead – another one murdered. Now she felt she could die in peace. Her prayers had been answered and God had turned His face to her. Her Lenny’s death had been avenged somehow. She felt that all the hurt and the heartache that Sharon had brought to her door had been returned to her three times over. Lesley could now let go and see her family once again.