Schemer (52 page)

‘But she’s gonna know I’m upset. She’s my best friend,’ Dannielle said.

Barry took a deep breath. ‘The best thing you can do to protect the both of us is to say that I looked upon you only as a family friend or something. I know you’re gonna feel a mug, but what else can you say?’

Dannielle looked into Barry’s doleful eyes and forced herself to behave like an adult. She had no idea if she ever wanted to see him again, but one thing she did know was that she did not want to get him into any trouble. ‘OK, I think I’ll tell Mimi that I got a bit drunk, tried to snog you and you pushed me away. Does that sound all right?’

Barry smiled at her. ‘That sounds perfect, darling. Now, I’d best be getting you back because it’s nearly quarter past eleven.’

When Barry swung into the car park, Dannielle couldn’t wait to get out of the Range Rover. ‘Goodnight then, and thanks for the meal,’ she mumbled uncomfortably, as she made a grab for the door handle.

Knowing that this could be the last time he ever saw Dannielle up close, Barry grabbed her by the hand. ‘You are the kindest, prettiest, most wonderful girl I have ever taken out on a date in my life, Danni, and even if we never clap eyes on one another again, I just wanted you to know that.’

Desperate to get away from him, Dannielle snatched her hand away and ran inside the pub.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

After a tearful, sleepless night, Dannielle had a quick shower, got changed into the fresh clothes she had brought with her, then woke Mimi up. ‘I’m gonna make a move now, mate. You don’t mind, do you?’

Mimi sat bolt upright. ‘Why are you going home so early? I thought we were gonna go shopping in Romford and have a bit of lunch out.’

When Dannielle had got back to the pub last night, she had seen Mimi and had immediately burst into uncontrollable tears. Mimi had believed the yarn she had spun about her trying it on with Barry and him rejecting her, so Danni decided to play on that again. ‘I can’t face going shopping, not after what happened last night. I feel such an idiot, I really do. Promise me you’ll never tell anyone I went out with Barry, or that I tried to kiss him? You won’t, will ya?’

Seeing that her friend looked as though she was about to cry again, Mimi stood up and gave her a hug. ‘I know you feel like a div at the moment, but in a couple of weeks’ time we’ll be laughing about this. I didn’t like that Barry one little bit. He scared me, and I’m sure you’d have ended up getting your heart broken by him. He was far too old for you anyway, Dan. An age gap that big would have never worked out in the long run. You’ve had a lucky escape, mate, I know you have, and I swear I will never tell a soul about what happened, OK?’

Pulling away from her friend, Dannielle nodded. ‘Thanks for being such a good mate. I’ll bell you later when I’ve cheered up a bit.’

As Mimi watched Dannielle walk disconsolately down the pathway, Mimi pictured that horrible Barry’s face and thanked God for small mercies.

Marlene and Marge hadn’t had a girlie day out for weeks, so both women were really looking forward to their lunch date. It had been Marge’s idea to go to the Harvester in Chadwell Heath and they had so much gossip to catch up on, Marlene hadn’t cared where they ate.

‘What we having to drink? Wine?’ Marlene asked her pal.

‘Yeah, order a bottle of white,’ Marge replied.

Marlene gave their food and drink order to the waitress, then turned to her mate and grinned. ‘Guess what?’ she said.

‘Dennis has the biggest cock you’ve ever seen?’ Marge replied, crudely.

‘Well yeah, but I’ve already told you that. Guess again?’

‘You’re up the spout?’ Marge said, roaring with laughter.

‘You’re having a laugh, ain’t ya? After the two monsters I gave birth to, I’d rather die than bang out any more. Now, you ready for this?’ Marlene asked.

‘Yep. Fire away.’

‘Dennis spoke about us living together and I said yes! He’s moving his stuff in mine at the weekend.’

‘Good for you, girl. Blinding news! Fuck me, you don’t hang about, do ya? Not even been with him a month, have you?’ Marge asked.

‘Hark who’s talking! You met Frederick in Barbados and moved him in the day after we got back from holiday. Talk about pot calling kettle,’ Marlene reminded her friend.

‘All right, all right. I hold me hands up, I’m a fast worker an’ all. I wonder if you and Dennis will end up getting married quick, like me and Fred did. Wouldn’t it be fab if you did, Mar? I could be bridesmaid, that’s if you can find a dress big enough to bleedin’ fit me. If not you’ll have to buy me a tent,’ Marge said, chuckling at her own wit.

Thanking the waitress for bringing the wine over, Marlene took a large gulp of hers. ‘I know I can trust you and I gotta tell someone. My Barry’s been up to his old tricks again.’

‘Tricks! What tricks?’

Looking around to make sure she was out of earshot of the other diners, Marlene leant forward. ‘He’s committed another murder.’

Unable to stop herself, Marge started to giggle.

‘It ain’t funny, Marge. That’s why I got rid of him quickly out my bleedin’ house. Been staying in a hotel since, he has. There’s no way I could have slept with him there. He might have come in me bedroom and tried to strangle me again in the middle of the poxy night.’

Knowing if she continued to laugh, Marlene would get annoyed, Marge did her utmost to keep a straight face. ‘So, who’s he meant to have done in now?’

‘That girl he’s been with for years, Jolene.’

‘Oh, don’t be daft. Your Barry might be a lot of things, but he ain’t silly enough to murder his own girlfriend. You’re talking out of your arse, Mar.’

‘No I’m not! Took the girl out on his boat to apparently end their relationship and the poor little cow ain’t been seen since. I bet she threatened to grass him up over his dodgy fucking dealings or something and he lost his rag and slung her overboard.’

‘I can’t believe your Barry would do something like that, mate. Perhaps the girl was just devastated over him breaking up with her and she’s disappeared to get her head together,’ Marge said in earnest.

‘Well, that’s what Barry reckons, but I don’t believe him. He swears Jolene’s rung him a couple of times, but she ain’t contacted her parents and her father’s gunning for Barry, by all accounts. The old man’s a scouse villain and he’s already set fire to Barry’s boat. You gotta remember, Marge, this ain’t the first time that something like this has happened. Jake, Wayne, and don’t forget he tried to kill me.’

Feeling a shiver run down her spine, Marge picked up the glass and downed her wine in one. Marge had always liked Barry, thought he was a son to be proud of, and she so wished Marlene hadn’t told her that Jolene story. The reason being, for the first time ever, Marge believed that her pal might be right.

Unfortunately for Dannielle, who just wanted to be left alone, Tyler was indoors when she got home and her little brother was in one of his more irritating moods. ‘Why do you keep asking me questions about last night?’ Danni shouted at him.

‘I’m interested, ’cause you’re my sister. Just tell me what film you and Mimi watched? Then I’ll shut up,’ Tyler asked, watching Dannielle’s expression for signs of guilt.

‘We watched some shitty comedy on Sky and don’t ask me the name of it because it was that bad, we turned it off and put some music on instead,’ Dannielle lied.

‘Why didn’t you go out instead? You could have gone to the pub,’ Tyler said.

‘Because neither of us could be bothered getting ready. Now, will you shut up, Ty? Because you are really doing my brain in.’

As Dannielle bolted up the stairs, Tyler picked the phone up and rang Brad. ‘Are you OK, mate? Sorry I left you last night. My mum said I was out of order.’

When Brad then apologized for punching him and asked if he wanted to go out somewhere, Tyler grinned. ‘Come round here asap. Danni’s home and she was deffo lying about last night. I wanna know what she’s up to, so today we’re gonna be detectives and spy on her properly.’

Brad giggled. Both he and Tyler got a kick out of spying on people. Last year they’d found out where one of their schoolteachers, Mr Douglas, lived and had caught him snogging another man. They had told everybody at school and now the whole of their class referred to him as ‘Gay Boy’. ‘I’ll be round in half hour,’ Brad said.

Hearing her phone beep to notify her she had a text message, Dannielle fully expected it to be Mimi checking that she was OK and was stunned to see the name Bobbi flash up. She hadn’t wanted to store Barry’s real name in her phone in case her mum ever saw it, so had chosen the name Bobbi as it began with a B and she’d also had a girl in her class at school with that name. Her heart started to beat wildly as she read the message:
Hi, babe. I know I said I wouldn’t contact you, but I just wanted to check you were OK? Bx.

Aware of her hands shaking, Danni dropped the phone on the bed. She had lain awake all last night pondering what she should do and she still couldn’t make a decision. Her heart told her that she had to see Barry again, and she would never forgive herself if she didn’t get to hold him in her arms and see how things panned out. Yet, her head told her that if she did start dating him and her mum found out, it would cause absolute mayhem. Dannielle hated the thought of her mum being disappointed or disgusted with her. They had always been so close, and Danni would hate that bond to ever be broken. It also didn’t help that her mum was a complete man-hater and she would probably have disliked any bloke that Danni had met, even if it wasn’t Barry. Reading his text again, Dannielle decided she couldn’t be rude. Barry had treated her to a lovely evening out and his only crime was to be truthful with her at the end of it. Her hands were trembling as she texted him back:
I’m fine thanks x.

Dannielle was horrified as Tyler barged into her room, just as she pressed the send button. ‘What do you want now, Ty?’ she asked, angrily.

‘Just a chat. I’m waiting for Brad to come round and I’m bored. We might hang out over the park today for a bit. What you doing? You going out?’

Dannielle eyed her brother suspiciously. He was never usually that interested in where she had been or what she was doing, so why the sudden curiosity? Surely he didn’t know she had gone out for a meal with Barry. How could he?

‘Who’s that?’ Ty asked, when Dannielle’s phone beeped.

Petrified that the text was from Barry and Tyler might see it, Danni leapt up and physically escorted her brother from her room.

‘What you doing?’ Tyler asked, as Danni bundled him out the door.

‘Getting rid of you, you annoying little shit. Now go away and leave me alone.’ Locking her bedroom door, Dannielle felt the butterfly of all butterflies inside her stomach as she read the text message:
I’ve already moved into my new house. Please pop round and see me, sweetheart. We really need to talk. Bx
.

Dannielle sat on her bed and stared at the mobile phone as though it were a new invention and she’d never seen one before. Barry wasn’t some horny teenager like the boys she had met at school. He was classy, a gentleman, and Danni knew she could trust him not to try it on with her if she went to his house. Hands shaking, Danni picked the phone up and tapped in her reply.

Another person currently looking at her mobile phone as though she had never seen one before was Marlene. Five times Barry had rung her in the past hour and five times she had ignored his calls.

‘Ring him back, mate. If you reckon he never constantly rings you, it must be bloody important, and if you ain’t got your answerphone switched on, he can hardly leave you a message, can he?’ Marge urged her friend.

Marlene poured the remnants out of her and Marge’s second bottle of wine into her near-empty glass. ‘I’m too fucking frightened to, mate. Say he’s been caught and he’s ringing me from the cop shop? I mean you’ve gotta look at this from my perspective, Marge. How are the people of Dagenham – never mind Dennis – gonna react when they find out I gave birth to a mass murderer of a son? I’m bound to get me windows smashed and hounded out of me home. And what if Wayne Jackman’s father decides to get his revenge? Barry ain’t got no bloody kids, has he? So it will probably be me who he comes after. Already murdered his old woman, Lenny has, so please don’t tell me he ain’t capable of slicing me up, ’cause he most certainly is.’

‘Look, I understand why you have concerns over what Barry might and might not have done, but you can’t ignore him, he’s your son! Just ring him back, ’cause I’m dying to know what’s happened.’

Marlene went into actress mode as she picked up the phone. ‘Barry, it’s Mummy. Now, whatever you’ve done, I want you to know I’m here for you. Between us, we can get through this, son.’

Marge stared intently at her friend as her expression went from the Marilyn Monroe pout to one of utter shock. ‘Shit! I can see you’re in a state, mate. If you need to go down to the Old Bill station, you know I’ll come with you. Have they found his girlfriend’s body? Is that what he rang you for?’ she asked, when Marlene ended the call.

Pursing her lips, Marlene grimaced. ‘No, he rang me to find out if he’d left his tan Gucci shoes round my house.’

Unable to stop herself, Marge burst out laughing.

Barry considered himself to be an extremely organized person and, seeing as he had only been back in England for what he would refer to as five minutes, he was certainly pleased with what he had achieved. A beautiful black leather three- and two-piece suite, a top-of-the-range widescreen TV, a stereo system, and a brand-new bed had all been delivered that morning. Not only that, on receiving Dannielle’s text to say she would be round at two p.m., Barry had even managed to find the nearest supermarket and do his first shop.

‘Right, your Sky’s all set up to your TV, mate. We’re off now,’ the plump bald-headed man said to Barry.

Giving the man a score to have a drink with, Barry ran upstairs to get showered and changed. The gaff in Chigwell was three-bedroomed and, apart from the stuff he’d had delivered today, all he’d brought with him was his suitcase. He didn’t care though. As long as he had gas to use his oven, electricity to use his appliances and, most importantly, the girl of his dreams on her way round, what else did he need?