Shafted (41 page)

Nora would usually tear a strip off her for being so cheeky, but she let it go this time. Grinning, she said, ‘Hear that, son? They pulled it off, no trouble. You wanna speak to them?’

Flipping the cap off the bottle, Jane grabbed the phone before Molly could get it and said,‘Hiya, babe, were you missing me?’ Turning her back now, she giggled and whispered, ‘Yeah, me too. And I told you I’d pull it off. I’ve never let you down, have I?’ Tutting softly when he reminded her that she’d let him down plenty of times, she said, ‘Yeah, but I’m making up for it now. Anyway, I’ll love you and leave you, darlin’, ’cos our little girl wants to talk to you.’ Blowing him a noisy kiss, she handed the phone to Molly, giving her an
I-told-you-so
smile.

Plonking herself down in a chair, she winked at Nora and said, ‘Coming together now, eh, Ma?’

‘No thanks to that dozy mare Gaynor,’ Nora grumbled, checking her watch. ‘She’s supposed to be fetching some money round, but she’s late, as per.’

‘Want me to drive round to the flat and get it off her?’ Jane offered, determined to make herself indispensable.

Saying, ‘Ta, but you’d best not or his lordship might kick off,’ Nora took her cigarettes out of her pinny pocket and tossed one to Jane – a sure sign that she was thawing, at long last.

Finishing the call now, Molly put the phone down and turned to her mother and grandmother with a sneer on her face. ‘He says to tell you thanks for coming with me,’ she told Jane, pissed off with her for making a show of shoving herself back into the family. Then, to her nan, ‘And he says you’re to tell the other one to fetch an extra five ton for
her
.’ She jerked her chin towards her mother. ‘Only you’re not to tell her who it’s for.’

Hurt that her own daughter didn’t seem to want her to be a part of the Lewis side of the family, Jane’s eyes glinted with something indefinable as she swigged her beer straight from the bottle. But who gave a toss what
they
thought? Molly, Nora, Patrick, Jimmy, Jason – they could all go to hell if they thought she wasn’t worthy of Dex’s love. And as for Gaynor, that bitch better live it up while she could ’cos her reign was coming to an end – if Jane had anything to do with it.

19

Tania felt like a prisoner in her own flat during the week after the women had attacked her. She was terrified of them coming back with their rapist friends and killing her, and furious with herself for getting into this position in the first place. If she’d only had a little patience, fate would surely have brought Larry to her door sooner or later. But no . . . she’d had to go wading in like a bull in a crystal factory, trying to force his hand. And now look what had happened.

Two police officers had turned up the morning after to talk to her about the under-age sex claims in the paper, and for a moment Tania had contemplated telling them about the women and begging them to put her into witness protection, or something. But she’d bottled out in the end, because she was terrified that the women would find out that she’d grassed them up. Anyway, she’d known from the way they were talking to her that the officers already didn’t believe a word she said, so why would they help her if she came out with something that sounded as preposterous as that?

Too scared to ask for protection, but unable to lie and say that she
had
slept with Larry when she was fifteen because the women had warned her not to until the end of the week, she’d ended up telling the police that she’d made the whole thing up. But then she’d had the worry of wondering what they would do to her when she completely contradicted herself in the papers a week later, claiming that she
had
slept with Larry when she’d been under age, after all. They would probably lock her up for perverting the course of justice – and lock Larry up for rape.

Already in a complete state about all of that, it almost tipped Tania right over the edge when she got the letter from Larry’s solicitor midway through the week, telling her that she would be sued if she spread any more lies about him, and that she wasn’t to try to contact him ever again. She totally didn’t understand how he could be so cold after everything she’d been through for him. And she wouldn’t have minded, but she hadn’t even done the
worst
bit of damage yet, so he had absolutely no reason to be so horrible.

But if Tania was hurt that Larry had set his solicitor on her like that, and frustrated that she couldn’t get to him to explain how it had all gone so wrong, she was absolutely furious that there had been moments during the last few days when she’d actually considered killing herself to protect him and it was so obvious now that he didn’t give a toss about her. He still hadn’t admitted that she had slept in his flat that night, or apologised for leaving her to take all the flak. He’d just had his solicitor send her a nasty letter threatening to sue her – the bastard!

Screwing up the insulting letter, she’d tossed it into the bin and had spent the rest of the week veering between regret that it had turned out like this and anger that Larry had hung her out to dry again. But Tania’s overriding emotion was fear of what the women would do to her if she didn’t do what they wanted.

Which proved to be justified, she soon discovered, when an unwelcome visitor broke into her flat on the night before she was due to go to the papers with her latest story.

Sleeping fitfully, Tania was shocked awake by someone shaking her shoulder. Opening her eyes with difficulty only to find that it was still pitch dark, she thought she must have been dreaming. She was just drifting off again when she got a stinging slap across the face.

Eyes wide now, she was barely able to breathe as she peered up at the shadowy form standing over her.

‘You listening?’ a man’s voice growled, his tone every bit as dark as his face, which was covered by a scarf. Grunting ‘Better had be’when Tania nodded, he leaned right over her, saying, ‘You remember what you’ve got to do tomorrow, right? And you know what’s gonna happen if you fuck it up?’

Nodding again, Tania squealed with terror when he lowered his face so close to hers that she could feel the heat of his breath through the scarf.

Telling her to button it before he shoved his dick in her gob to shut her up, the man said, ‘After you’ve done what you’ve been told, you’re gonna forget any of this ever happened, ’cos we’ll be watching, and if we hear one word about you being forced to lie, you’re dead. And we’ll find you – no matter where you are. Got that?’

Tears streaming down her cheeks now, Tania nodded again.

‘Right,’ the man said. ‘There’s been a change of script. You’re still gonna say what you was always gonna say, but now you’ve got some new shit to add to it. So listen up, ’cos you need to get this dead right . . .’

Unable to go back to sleep after the man had gone, Tania turned all the lights on and checked all the windows and the door to see how he’d got in. More scared than ever when she found no visible signs of a break-in, she bolted the front door and wedged her floor brush between it and the wall, terrified that they had somehow got hold of a key.

Keeping the TV on for the comforting sound of voices for the last few hours before dawn, she was a nervous wreck by the time she went to the phone box and called Sam Brady, asking him to come round immediately, because she had something really important to tell him.

Surprised to hear from Tania again, because he hadn’t expected to after her reaction to his last story, Sam said, ‘You
are
joking, right? You’ve already denied half of what you told me last time, so what’s the point?’

‘I lied to the news people,’ Tania told him, sounding desperate as she added, ‘but I wasn’t lying to you, Sam, I swear it. And now I need to tell you what
really
happened with me and Larry.’

‘I’m not sure I can be bothered,’ Sam said wearily. ‘You’re a nice girl, Tania, but you’ve got yourself so hung up on this bloke, I don’t think even
you
know what’s what any more.’

‘I
do
,’ Tania insisted, terrified that the women and their friends would kill her if she couldn’t get Sam to listen to her. ‘Look, I know you think I’m messing about ’cos I keep changing my story, but it’s really important that you listen to me now.’

‘Why?’ Sam asked, thinking she’d better have a really good reason for him to even
think
about getting involved again. He’d already been questioned by the police, and had voluntarily relinquished the Dictaphone recording of his last interview with her for their inquiries. He wasn’t concerned about that, because he knew he’d done nothing for which he could be prosecuted or sued. He’d merely reported what he’d been told, and any judge would be sure to say that he’d acted on a reasonable assumption of truth. But he couldn’t risk his reputation by doing yet another piece if she was going to deny it again.

‘I can’t explain over the phone,’ Tania told him now. ‘But I need to tell you something I haven’t told anyone else. It’ll prove that I really did sleep with Larry, and there’s no way he’ll be able to deny it.
Please
, Sam – you’ve got to come.’

Intrigued, despite his instincts telling him that he was already perilously close to losing his credibility because of her constantly changing story, Sam agreed to come straight round. The whole thing was getting a bit twisted, even for him, and he wasn’t holding out any hope of getting anything spectacularly new or usable from Tania now. But she’d said she had definite proof this time, so he’d have been an idiot not even to check it out. Still, he thought, it had better be really convincing, or there was no way he’d be committing a single word to paper this time.

Stopping off on the way to buy tea bags, milk, biscuits and cigarettes, Sam handed them to Tania when she opened her door. Frowning when he saw how pale she was, and how outright scared she looked as she nervously scanned the corridor behind him, he said,‘Are you all right, sweetheart?’

Nodding quickly, she flapped her hand at him to hurry up and come in, then bolted the door and put the brush back in place.

Really worried now, Sam followed her into her musty-smelling living room and peered at her, saying, ‘You’re
not
all right, are you? I thought you sounded odd on the phone, but you look terrible. And what’s with barricading yourself in?’

Looking on the verge of tears now, Tania shrugged, and said, ‘I’m just nervous in case they come back.’

‘Who?’ Sam asked, his frown deepening when he noticed how badly she was shaking. Taking the groceries off her, he said, ‘Right, sit down and have a fag while I make the tea. Then you can tell me what’s really going on here.’

Already lighting her second cigarette by the time Sam came back with two cups of tea and handed one to her, Tania drew her knees up to her chest and peered over them at him like a frightened child.

‘So, who are you trying to avoid?’ Sam asked, cutting straight to the chase.

‘I don’t know them,’ Tania admitted. ‘But there were two of them, and they broke in last night while I was in bed.’

‘Oh, Jeezus,’ Sam muttered. ‘Are you all right? Did they do anything to you?’

Shaking her head, Tania said, ‘No, they just threatened me.’ Pausing now, she inhaled shakily. ‘They said if I didn’t stop telling people about me and Larry they were going to kill me.’

‘Are you sure?’ Sam peered at her, wondering if this was yet another lie to add to her growing catalogue.

‘Honest,’ Tania murmured, biting her lip now as the tears started to trickle down her cheeks. ‘It started when I got a letter from his solicitor a few days ago, saying he was going to sue me if I did any more interviews and telling me not to try and contact him again.’

‘Have you still got it?’

Nodding, Tania got up and went to fetch it out of the bin.

Uncrumpling it, Sam read it, then shrugged, and said, ‘Good news is it’s only a letter of intent, to scare you into behaving yourself. I’d keep well away if I was you, though,’ he advised her. ‘’Cos it’d be pretty easy for them to get a restraining order after all the exposure you’ve had recently from claiming to be in a relationship with him when he’s obviously denying it.’

‘But he’s the liar, not me,’Tania said plaintively.

Feeling sorry for her, because she’d obviously taken a huge knock by seeing it in black and white how little she meant to her hero, Sam said, ‘Did those men really break in, Tania, or are you just saying it to get back at Larry for rejecting you? I’d understand if that’s what this is all about, sweetheart, and I promise I won’t write a thing about it. But I’d rather help you through this than go through a load of bullshit again.’

‘It’s true,’ she told him earnestly. ‘And I
want
you to write about it. I want everyone to know what he’s really like. I used to think he was fantastic, but now I know he was just using me, and I want him stopped before he does it to anyone else. Please, Sam – you’ve got to help me.’

Still sure that she was just a hurt little girl seeking revenge, Sam nodded. He reached into his pocket for his Dictaphone, saying, ‘Okay, here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tape what you say and take it home and listen to it. And if I think you’ve got anything significant on him, I’ll write about it. But I’m telling you now, there’s no mileage in another “he loved and left me” story. You said you had proof, and that’s where we’d best start.’

Nodding, Tania waited until he’d switched the recorder on. Then she said, ‘Larry’s got a birthmark on his . . .’ Pausing, she dipped her gaze before murmuring,‘On his thingy. It’s right underneath, and you can’t see it unless it’s – well, you know.’

Guessing that she meant it was only visible when he was erect, Sam felt his interest stepping up a notch. Pretty good evidence of intimacy, if it was true.

‘That’s my proof that I really did sleep with him,’Tania went on, lighting another cigarette and sucking on it hard. ‘Because it’s there and he can’t get rid of it to say it never was. And now I’ll tell you about the
other
stuff.’