Get Even (7 page)

Ivy Conway was fit to be tied and her daughter was already sick of listening to her.

‘He apparently crippled a man, nearly blinded him. It is all over the pavement.’

Sharon Scott sighed. Lenny had explained everything to her, as he had guessed she would hear about it eventually. He had shown her the ten grand cash and said that it was just a means to an end, that Billy Mason had had Jack over and it was a lesson needed. It had all sounded very reasonable the way that Lenny explained it. At least that is what she chose to tell herself anyway, even if there was a bit of her that found it very frightening. But it was her husband’s business not hers, and the sooner her mother realised that, the better for everyone.

She turned on Ivy and shouted, ‘Oh, give it a rest! It’s his fucking job. If you want to keep coming round, Mum, my advice to you is to keep your opinions to yourself. Lenny is my husband. I love him, and I will not hear a bad word about him, OK?’

Ivy Conway was so shocked she actually stepped away from her daughter.

‘I mean it, Mum. He is trying to give us a good life. You know as well as I do that he works for Jack Johnson, and that means he will never be a choirboy.’

Ivy Conway looked at her beautiful daughter and realised that she had lost her. Her beautiful baby was as caught up in Lenny Scott’s world as he was. She also knew that no good could come from it; everyone had to pay the price for their sins one day. Sharon looked into her mum’s eyes as she said seriously, ‘I mean it, Mum. Lenny is my family now. I will
not
have a word said against him.’

Lenny Scott’s standing in his community had only grown since the incident with Billy Mason. He felt himself how everyone he came into contact with treated him with respect. But Lenny, being Lenny, didn’t let it go to his head and that too was noticed and appreciated. He still gave people their due, and that was something the men in his world really
did
respect. Too many had made enemies when they had gained their reputations. It was a pleasure when a person remembered that good manners cost fuck-all, and it went a long way.

Lenny was at the betting office picking up his wife, and Isaac was all smiles as he invited him into the office for a chat. Lenny was only too pleased to accommodate the old man – he had been very good to his Sharon.

‘You know I am selling up?’

Lenny nodded. ‘Yeah, Sharon said. Nice little earner. I wouldn’t mind it myself.’

Isaac grinned. ‘Good. Because it’s yours, son.’

Lenny looked bewildered. ‘Sorry?’

Isaac grinned again, and he was genuinely pleased as he said, ‘It is a gift, from Jack Johnson. It will be all yours by the end of the month.’

‘Fucking hell!’

Isaac laughed delightedly as he said, ‘I hope they do, son. I ain’t had much fucking luck up here.’

Big Lenny Scott was made up for his son. He was so young and he already had the world by its balls. Big Lenny was as proud as punch. Lesley, on the other hand, was, as usual, the prophet of doom.

‘I can’t believe it, Dad, it’s all in my name. It’s mine – well, mine and Sharon’s, obviously. She will run it, you know, do the day-to-day. It’s a fucking right little earner. I reckon we will be able to start looking at houses within the year.’

Lesley looked at this son of hers who she loved with all her heart, and feared that she’d lost him to the Life. ‘So, you get this betting office for nearly killing a man, is that it?’

Lenny looked at his mother and said quietly, ‘Yeah, Mum, that’s about the strength of it. But do you know what? I am going to tell you what Sharon told her mum. Keep your fucking nose out. I don’t live here any more. I’m a grown man with a family and I will earn for my wife and my kid in any way I can.’

He looked at his father, pleased to see that he was of the same mind. Nevertheless, Big Lenny chastised him. ‘No need to swear at your mother, son. But I admit you are in the right. I admire you. You’re a big lump with a quick brain. A lethal combination in our game. I’m made up for you.’

Lenny grinned. ‘This is just the start, Dad. I really love my job, you know. Jack Johnson’s so good to me. I trust him. He’s a good man, a decent man.’

As Lesley watched her husband and son talking, she realised that her boy was as far gone from her as if he had been struck dead. That he could talk to her like that! Her husband was acting like he was the Christ Child, and everyone was treating her as if she was visiting royalty. She was devastated. Her handsome son had had the brains to go to university, and he had thrown it all away. Now he was a thug, no more and no less. And a vicious thug at that.

He had crippled a man and he had not even had the excuse of the drink. Keith had been because of alcohol – she had made herself believe that. But this last one she couldn’t justify to herself, however hard she tried.

She watched as her son talked about his plans, and she wondered at a future that was based on violence. Never in her life had she felt so low, so disgusted with her family. Even Sharon, who had turned a blind eye to what Lenny had become. It was as if Lesley had never really known her son. Her dreams were dead, and all she had now was the promise of a grandchild to give her any hope for the future.

Ivy was delighted with things. After her initial shock at the Billy Mason incident, she had done what Sharon had asked and accepted the situation. If she was honest, it was mainly because Ivy was enjoying her newfound celebrity as Sharon Scott’s mother. She loved the way people who had never given her the time of day before broke their necks to ask how she was and how her daughter was. It was heady stuff.

Sharon was on her time now, and she looked amazing. She still had a tiny bump and loads of energy. She was training up a girl to manage the shop while she was off with the baby, but she was saying how she would be in and out, keeping her eye on ‘the business’, as she called it. It was a dream come true in many respects. Just eighteen and she had a lucrative career and the world at her feet.

Ivy would always have her reservations about Lenny Scott but, in fairness to him, he had the makings of a good provider. He was a nice lad and he loved her girl – that was evident.

‘I can’t believe it, Mum. And Isaac, bless him, kept it quiet. He is made up for me and my Lenny. Reckons I can run the place with my eyes closed. Said I was a natural because I can work out the bets in me head. But, honestly, once you get the knack, it’s easy as pie.’

Ivy looked at her husband and they laughed together for once. It was good to see their girl so animated and so happy.

‘You got a fucking good one there, girl, but I don’t need to tell you that.’

Del Conway had asked around and he knew that young Lenny wasn’t putting it about; he had nothing but a good rep in every way. For all the boy’s grandiose notions, if he hurt his girl, Del would shoot the fucker dead – that was a given. His daughter was his flesh and blood, and no one would ever make a cunt out of her, no matter who they were. The hardest fuck in the world couldn’t argue with a gun. He genuinely liked young Lenny and, as long as taking care of Del’s baby girl was his main agenda, they would get along like a proverbial house on fire.

‘We can start looking at houses now, because we have a legitimate earn, like. It is so exciting.’

‘I bet. Lenny has really made his mark, Sharon. Honestly, everyone is talking about how well he’s doing.’

Sharon preened. She was so proud of her husband. ‘I better get home – he likes his dinner ready, does my Lenny! Tonight I am doing him liver and bacon, his favourite.’

Ivy nodded. ‘Liver is good for the baby, darling, plenty of iron.’

Sharon was amazed to hear that. ‘Really? Oh my God. I love it! Wait till I tell my Lenny.’

She left her mum and dad and they both watched her with love in their eyes.

‘Well, Del, I will hold me hand up. I was wrong about that lad.’

Derek Conway hugged his wife to him, as he said seriously, ‘Time will tell, Ivy. Time will tell.’

Jack Johnson had made the decision to give Lenny Scott the job of overseer. The boy was good with numbers, and he was good with people, given his knack for treating everyone with the utmost respect. He was being given the chance of a lifetime – it was unheard of in this business. He was big, he was handsome and he was liked, even by the punters. That was a bonus. Lenny Scott could charm the money out of people. He was so nice he could make the usual rabble feel bad about trying to give him a swerve. Jack Johnson had big plans for this boy. He had known he was worth something and he had been proved right.

Not one person had felt the urge to retaliate about Billy Mason, which spoke volumes. He was liked, was old Billy, but he wasn’t respected. He had mugged off too many people for that to ever happen.

Now Jack had this lad who he could mould, who he could teach his craft to. He knew he had a one-off in young Lenny Scott. He was that rarity: hard as fucking nails when he needed to be, but a regular John in his everyday life. Men like Lenny were few and far between, thank fucking God! The world was his oyster, and Jack envied him the life he had ahead of him. But he knew Lenny admired him, respected him, and was grateful to him. It meant the world that Lenny Scott revered him – it showed him the boy’s loyalty, and it also made him feel good about himself. Jack Johnson liked that he was seen as a man of stature, not just by the general populace – the majority of them were prize cunts – but by someone like young Lenny; it meant a lot.

The phone rang and he picked it up quickly. It was Lenny Scott apologising for not being able to make the meet. His wife was in labour and he was at the hospital.

Jack laughed loudly as he said, ‘That’s exactly where you should be, boy. I wish you luck.’

Truth be told, he appreciated that the boy put his family first. It said a lot about him, about his priorities and about his decency. Jack hoped the baby was a boy; he understood that was what Lenny wanted. He deserved a son – he was a man who would appreciate a male child.