Shafted (46 page)

‘He might come to you for your cooking, Nora,’ Jane sniped. ‘But you’re no use to him in the other department, are you? And I’ll kill that bitch with my bare hands if I have to, because I’m sick of her lording it up in his flat, splashing his money around like the queen bloody bee. I’ve given Dex chance after chance, but if he doesn’t make up his mind once and for all when he gets out I’ll make it up for him and get rid of her.’

‘Oh, behave,’ Molly snorted. ‘If you start scrapping over him, he’ll just sack the pair of you off and find some other tart. He’s probably already got someone lined up waiting, knowing him.’

‘You don’t know your dad like I do,’ Jane said unconcernedly. ‘He’ll be stringing Frosty Knickers along till she’s done what needs doing, then it’ll be “See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya” time.’

‘And you and him will head off into the sunset and live happy ever after?’ Molly sneered. ‘Yeah, right!’

‘You two are giving me a flaming migraine,’ Nora grumbled, wishing she’d thought to pick up her painkillers on the way out. ‘I just want to get home and have a brew, and think this out.’

‘Do you think she’ll tell me dad what we did?’ Molly asked, sounding a bit worried now.

‘Not if she’s got any sense,’ Nora replied. ‘Whatever my Dex is up to, he’s given her a job to do and she ain’t gonna want to admit she screwed it up, is she?’

‘He’ll know soon enough when he sees that picture in the paper,’ Jane reminded them.

‘Weren’t you listening, you thick bitch?’ Nora snapped. ‘That was
his
idea. He already knows.’

‘Yeah, I know that,’ Jane snapped back. ‘I mean, if he’s kept this from us lot for a reason he’ll realise that we know, ’cos we’re bound to have seen it.’

Shaking her head, Nora said, ‘Not necessarily. Not if we don’t mention it. He’ll assume we didn’t recognise her. It didn’t mention her name, did it?’

‘No, I don’t think so.’

‘Well, there you go, then. We all keep schtum, and it’ll be old news by tomorrow. Soon as Dex is ready, he’ll tell us what he’s up to. But till then, I reckon we should back off from the funny one, ’cos I’ve got a feeling we nearly messed it all up back there.’

‘That’s what
I
said,’ Molly piped up indignantly. ‘So how come I got told to button it?’

‘’Cos you’re a kid, and should know better than to interfere when the grown-ups are talking,’ Nora told her, sucking on her cigarette and going into an immediate coughing fit – tutting when she’d eventually recovered, because neither Jane nor Molly had lifted a hand to pat her on the back.

25

‘Jeezus, what happened to
you
?’ Dex asked, peering at Gaynor’s face with concern as she sat down carefully in the chair across the table from him the next day.

‘I got jumped,’ she told him, glancing nervously around to see if anyone was looking at her. Fortunately, nobody was, because they were all too busy chatting to their own loved ones.

‘By who?’ Dex growled, thinking she was going to tell him that it was one of the guys she was dealing to in his absence. If it was, there would be no warnings for the cunt, just instant death as soon as Dex got back to his cell to arrange it over the mobile.

‘One of Larry’s fans,’ Gaynor told him quietly, mentally thanking Molly for giving her a perfectly feasible explanation. ‘I take it you saw yesterday’s paper?’

‘Yeah, but you can’t tell it’s you in the picture. I wouldn’t have recognised you in a million years, and you’re my bird.’

‘Well, someone obviously did. And she wasn’t very pleased about it, as you can see.’

‘Fucking bitch,’ Dex muttered angrily. Then, ‘My mam didn’t recognise you an’ all, did she?’

‘Obviously not, or she’d have probably beaten the girl off to get at me herself,’ Gaynor lied. Pausing then, she tapped her nails on the table top before saying, ‘Can I ask why you’re so desperate for her not to know about this, Dex? I thought you told her everything, so why all the secrecy?’

‘I’ve already told you,’ he replied irritably. ‘’Cos I don’t want them sticking their noses in and messing it up. You know what me mam’s like for gossiping. All she’d have to do is let it slip to that Hilda, and the next thing you know the police will be all over us for setting Logan up. Soon as we’re in the clear with the money, I’ll tell them – if that’s what you want,’ he said then, grinning as he added, ‘Who knows, it might even make them respect you a bit more if they see what you were willing to do to help me get revenge.’

‘Yeah, whatever,’ Gaynor said flatly, knowing full well that there was no way she was ever going to get respect from Dex’s family, no matter what she did. He could fool himself if he liked, but she wouldn’t be letting her guard down any time soon.

Reaching for her hand now, Dex curled his huge fingers around hers and said, ‘Hey, I had a bit of good news this morning. They’ve given me the go-ahead for an appeal, and my brief reckons she could get up to half me original sentence hacked off because of the entrapment shit. And she’s raising the issue of reasonable doubt about the DNA evidence on the rape an’ all, ’cos it could just as easy be our Pat as me. Anyway, take time served off that, and add good behaviour, and she reckons I could be looking to be out in three to four.’

‘Really?’ Gaynor gasped, her eyes lighting up at the prospect. ‘That would be fantastic.’

Wincing as he looked at her, Dex said, ‘Whoa! Don’t smile that much, babe – that lip looks like it might split.’

‘I don’t care,’ Gaynor said happily, the news that he might be back in her arms much sooner than anticipated eclipsing the pain –
and
the suspicions that had been eating away at her. ‘I just want you home, and if it’s that much faster than we thought I can put up with any amount of pain.’

‘Only if the appeal comes off,’ Dex reminded her, not wanting her to get too carried away, because then
he
might get carried away, and it would feel like double shit if his appeal failed.

‘Do you love me?’ Gaynor asked suddenly, holding his gaze across the table.

A flicker of a bemused frown twitching his brow, Dex said, ‘’Course. Why?’

‘Just wanted to hear it,’ Gaynor murmured, relieved because he’d answered without having to think about it. And his eyes hadn’t so much as flickered away from hers, so he’d obviously been telling the truth. Whatever game his slut of an ex was playing, Dex had just told Gaynor everything she needed to know.

‘You all right?’ Dex asked, sensing that she wasn’t quite herself today.

‘Me?’ Gaynor said, still smiling. ‘I’m absolutely fine, thanks. How about you?’

Grunting amusedly, Dex said, ‘Not too bad, considering me missus just got hitched to another bloke. How was the honeymoon, by the way?’

‘Solitary, and filled with thoughts of the man I love,’ she purred, feeling her heart melt as Dex gazed at her with that certain twinkle in his eye.

‘Good job, too.’ He grinned, knowing full well that she was talking about him. Then, ‘So, have you checked the bank accounts yet?’

Jerked out of the misty moment and deposited back in the here and now with a bang, Gaynor frowned.

‘Bloody hell, Dex, I only married him yesterday. And then I got jumped, so it would have been kind of difficult to toddle off to the bank and say oh, excuse me, I want to draw all of my new husband’s money out in one lump sum, please.’

‘Obviously not,’ Dex said, chuckling softly. ‘But you can always check it out on-line, can’t you? See exactly what kind of amounts we’re looking at. There’s a guy in here who used to work for a bank and he reckons it’s dead easy. You can even move all the money out of one account and into another without talking to a single person or filling out a single form. You’ve just got to have all the right numbers and passwords – and Mark can hack into all that shit, so that won’t be a problem. He’ll just need you to pass on the account details.’

‘Are you
crazy
?’ Gaynor said, drawing her head back and squinting at him. ‘There’s no
way
I’d trust Mark with all those details. He’d have the lot out of Larry’s account and into his own before you could blink.’

‘
Larry
’s account?’ Dex repeated, narrowing his eyes.

Mentally kicking herself for slipping up when she’d tried so hard to remember to call him Logan, not Larry, Gaynor dipped her gaze. She was about to apologise when Dex chuckled and said, ‘Don’t you mean
your
account, Mrs Logan? Or should that be
mine
, considering I did all the graft to get it.’

‘Ex
cuse
me?’ Gaynor peered up at him incredulously.

‘Yeah, I know you’ve done your bit an’ all,’ Dex conceded, waving his hand dismissively. ‘But that was nowhere near as hard as what I’ve been doing. I mean, what’s so hard about drinking champagne and getting your leg over? And we all know how much you like your sex, don’t we, babe?’

‘With
you
,’ Gaynor gasped, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. ‘It damn near killed me having to do it with someone I don’t love.’

‘Well, you obviously did the trick for Logan.’ Dex grinned. ‘’Cos he was quick enough to try and nab you for himself, wasn’t he? And, boy, is he gonna
pay
for the privilege.’

Gaynor couldn’t speak – she was too numb. She’d never been entirely comfortable with the thought of stealing Larry’s money, and had had to remind herself constantly that he deserved it in order to carry on doing what she was doing. If she’d had her way, she’d have walked away as soon as they’d got Larry arrested. Job done. But Dex had to keep pushing for one more bite of the cherry, and she really didn’t like the fact that he seemed not to care what she’d been doing with Larry.

So maybe Jane
had
been telling the truth, after all. And maybe that was what her instincts had been trying to tell her since her little visit from the three witches yesterday morning.

Letting Dex natter on about the money for a while, Gaynor waited for a lull in the conversation, then said, ‘I saw your Molly the other day.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ Dex said, looking interested suddenly. ‘Where was that, then? Round at me mam’s? Was she behaving herself, or being a little madam, as per?’

Irritated that he could muster genuine warmth in his eyes for the brat, Gaynor smiled and said, ‘No, she was driving past, actually – with Jane. I’m sure they were in your Patrick’s car, though.’

Saying, ‘Oh, yeah?’ again as if he saw nothing wrong with that, Dex reached for a cigarette.

‘Don’t you think that’s a bit funny?’ Gaynor persisted. ‘That they should let Jane use his car, considering how much they hate her?’

‘She’s family,’ Dex said, shrugging as if it was no big deal.

Inhaling deeply to keep at bay the tears that were stinging the backs of her eyes, Gaynor said, ‘Does she ever come to see you?’

‘Does she fuck,’ Dex lied. Then, ‘Anyhow, shut up about her. I wanna know when you’re gonna get stuck into those accounts, ’cos we need to start shifting it before anyone catches on.’ Smiling evilly now, he cracked his knuckles loudly and said, ‘I’m gonna do that cunt like he did me, then sit back and watch him disintegrate when he realises you’ve cleaned him out – legally.’

Careful not to let him see how hurt and confused she was when the bell rang a few minutes later, Gaynor said goodbye and walked away, almost certain now that Dex
had
been playing her for a fool; that she was just another Jane in his eyes – there to be used as it suited him.

All she had to do was wait two weeks to see if Jane came on Nora’s visit. That would be all the proof she needed.

Sure enough, she got it.

26

‘Who should I say wants to see him?’ the sergeant asked, looking over his desk at Gaynor.

‘Mrs Logan,’ she said, raising her chin a notch as she added, ‘Mrs
Larry
Logan.’

It killed her to use the title, because it wasn’t real, and she resented the fact that she’d had her real dreams of being a wife shattered for ever by a man who had purported to love her. But it was the only guaranteed way of getting the inspector’s attention without having to jump through hoops, because he had apparently been quite friendly with Larry and had been instrumental in bringing Larry into Dex’s life in the first place.

Taking a seat against the wall while she waited for her message to be passed on, she kept her eyes straight ahead as various lowlifes came in and out of the door. There was a time when she’d have felt comfortable among them, but she was no longer a part of that world. That was Dex and Nora and
Jane
’s domain, and they were welcome to it.

After almost ten minutes, a door opened to her left, and an elderly-looking man with thinning red hair and searching brown eyes came out. Looking at her, he said, ‘Mrs Logan?’

Standing up, Gaynor said, ‘Inspector Keeton? Thanks for seeing me. I know this is a bit presumptuous, just turning up like this, but I really need to talk to you about Larry.’

‘I’m sorry, my dear, but I don’t really think there’s any point,’ Keeton said, giving her a regretful smile. ‘I’m in no position to pull strings for him – even if I wanted to, and I’m sure you’ll understand if I say I don’t.’

Glancing around, aware that people might be listening in, Gaynor lowered her voice and said, ‘Could we please go somewhere more private? I’m sure you’ll change your mind when you hear what I’ve got to say.’

Very much doubting that, Keeton gave a little shrug and said, ‘Okay, five minutes.’

Promising not to take too long, Gaynor followed him through the door he’d come out from and into a small office behind the scenes.

Waving her into the visitor’s chair, Keeton strolled behind the desk and heaved himself into his chair. Then, resting his elbows on the desk, he said, ‘So, what have you got to tell me, Mrs Logan?’

Telling him to please call her Gaynor, she took a deep breath and said, ‘Larry’s completely innocent.’

Sighing wearily, Keeton said, ‘I thought I just told you I couldn’t pull strings, Mrs—
Gaynor
. And I’m sorry but I meant it. This case has got nothing to do with me – I actually resent Larry sending you to try and get me involved, based on a fleeting acquaintanceship.’