The Good Life (26 page)

Freddie was reeling. He had told someone, but it had been a person he really trusted.

‘I swear I only told my mum.’

Jenny closed her eyes in dismay. Mary Marks was a lovely woman who lived for her nights at Mecca Bingo in Ilford, but she was also a loud gossip who spent all her time between games chatting with her table of cronies, one of whom was Molly Moran. This was getting worse and worse. She knew Molly cared about her but her loyalty would always be to Cain first. If Molly knew, then Cain would already know too. Her stomach clenched in fear, not just for herself, but for Freddie Marks.

‘What are you, Freddie, eight years old? Telling your mum, one of the biggest fucking gossips in East London, that you’re having an affair! What were you thinking? Cain will fucking
kill
us. I mean it, he will kill us dead.’ She was close to tears at the enormity of what she had done.

As her words sank in, Freddie Marks was only just starting to understand the trouble he was in.

Three days later he was killed in what was reported as a hit and run – only the driver had reversed over him three times to make sure the job had been done properly.

Molly Moran watched Jenny as she walked into the visiting room at Parkhurst. The girl looked beautiful – there was no doubt about it – but there was a nervous edge to her today. Though Molly felt sorry for her, she still stood by her actions in telling her son. If she had forever damaged her relationship with this girl that was something she would just have to live with. Her Cain would always be the first priority, end of story.

When Eileen had accused Molly of getting Freddie murdered, it had been beyond the pale. That bastard had got what was coming to him – no more and no less. Molly had not brought up a fool for a son, and no one was going to get one over on him. Not on her watch.

As she waited in line to get the teas and the biscuits she observed Jenny sitting at the table, forlorn and frightened. She didn’t seem to realise, as Molly did, that Cain could never hurt her. He worshipped his Jenny, and always would. She lingered in the queue so she could see the reaction of her son as he walked into the visiting room. Men could be funny creatures where women and sex were concerned, but he had sworn no harm would come to the mother of his child, and Molly had believed him.

She watched Cain walk over to Jenny and smile briefly before sitting down opposite her. Molly felt immediately relieved that there was no drama at his arrival and brought the teas over to the table before making her excuses. They needed to be left alone to sort out their differences.

‘I’m so sorry, Cain. I was just so disappointed about the wedding . . . I was angry and lonely . . .’

There were tears in Jenny’s eyes and though part of Cain Moran felt the urge to attack her, he restrained himself. He was tortured by the thought of someone else touching her, tasting her. It was so consuming that he couldn’t eat or sleep. But he knew that eventually he would get over this. As his mum had pointed out, Jenny was still a young, vibrant woman. He had to find it in his heart to forgive her, though it was going to be very difficult, and right now he didn’t know if he wanted to kiss her or kill her.

He hated seeing the fear in her eyes, but relished knowing she would now be too frightened to ever contemplate doing the dirty on him again. However forgiving he felt, he wasn’t going to let her off easy though, especially knowing they were being watched by everyone else in the visiting room.

‘So how was he then, Jen? Good, was he? Must have been doing something right all those fucking months.’

Jenny didn’t know what to say – she was so scared of Cain at this moment.

He leaned in and whispered in her ear, ‘Made you scream, did he? Tell you he loved you, did he? Fucking answer me!’

She pushed his head away and looked into his eyes before saying, ‘It was good, Cain, because I was thinking of you. I think he knew that deep down, but he wanted me and I needed to feel wanted – really wanted – by someone.’

The brutal honesty of her answer brought Cain up short. He had expected tears and pleas for forgiveness; he had not expected her to tell him that she had wanted him so much she’d replaced him.

The POs looked on warily. There were never secrets in a prison, and Cain’s bird playing away from home had been a hot topic of conversation for everyone. But if he killed her in the visiting room it would cause untold aggravation for all concerned, and Cain had been put through the indignity of a cavity search before Jenny’s arrival. It was astounding what someone determined enough could ram up their arse.

‘You destroyed me on our wedding morning, Cain. When you used that day to settle old scores and put yourself back into the Life, you ruined everything I had ever wanted. I did what I did out of revenge as well as loneliness and I am heart-sorry. But you have had your revenge too. You had him murdered. And even knowing that, I still love you and want you. I’m frightened of you for the first time ever, Cain, but I still can’t see me loving any other man.’

Jenny dropped her eyes then, and didn’t attempt to wipe away her tears, so Cain wiped them for her. Then he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, kissing her hair and telling her he loved her. The whole visiting room could breathe again, and the POs who had been put on the duty roster for that morning in case Cain Moran had needed subduing were no longer on edge.

Jenny relaxed into Cain’s embrace and, as they hugged, no one mentioned the no touching rule, least of all the Prison Officers.

Eileen Riley was still suffering over Freddie Marks. She wasn’t sure she could ever forgive Molly Moran for bringing the information about his affair with Jenny to Cain’s attention. Eileen had been the catalyst for that relationship, believing it would do her daughter the world of good to have a man in her life for a while. But now he was dead, and everyone knew why.

Guilt was not an emotion she had ever really felt before. Eileen had always been selfish, taking what she wanted without a thought to the consequences. Now, though, she was haunted by that man’s tragic and terrible end and the knowledge that she had been instrumental in his death, even if it had never been her intent. She knew full well what Cain Moran was capable of, but the fact that he might act so quickly had never crossed her mind.

It was her Jenny who had really surprised her. Her lovely kind Jenny had been harder than she’d ever thought possible, shrugging off Freddie’s death and putting her energy into winning back Cain Moran’s love. It really was an eye-opener. She had thought her daughter would have run a mile from Cain Moran after what he’d done, but instead she seemed more in love with him than ever.

Jenny was visiting today for the first time since the incident and, in a strange way, Eileen hoped Cain Moran wouldn’t want to have her daughter back. She was even willing to accept that their lifestyle would change drastically if this was the case. She didn’t like the idea that her lovely Jenny – the kindest girl she knew – could so easily dismiss the death of a man who had loved her. Maybe that was why Jenny and Cain made such a good couple. Perhaps Jenny was more like him than either of them realised. It was certainly food for thought.

Jenny Riley lay on her sofa with a hot whisky and honey and a cigarette, going back over her time with Cain today. She had been terrified when she’d arrived – not of him hurting her, but of him abandoning her. She wished she could feel differently but she loved him and that was that. Even knowing that they had been to blame for Freddie Marks’s demise didn’t make her feel resentment towards the man she loved. It bothered her in some ways that she could never judge him and his actions in normal terms, but hers was a complicated love for a man who, as well as being a violent criminal, was to her also the kindest and most loving person she had ever known.

She had believed deep in her heart that he wouldn’t hurt her – though he might have felt like it – nor would he have got someone else to do it for him. He loved her with every ounce of his being, and this latest episode just proved that to Jenny.

She questioned why she was able to remain unaffected by his actions against Freddie Marks, who was in reality an innocent in this. She felt truly sorry for him – it had been a brutal, vicious end to someone who had only wanted to be with her. But that still didn’t result in her feeling any animosity towards Cain. She had always been aware of just how much he was capable of and so had Freddie Marks.

Her Cain had found it in his heart to forgive her, and that was all that really mattered. Coming so close to losing him had made her realise just how much she needed him. Without him she couldn’t survive, she understood that now. She would never do anything again to make him question her, and vowed to channel her energies into keeping them together. At the end of her visit today he’d asked her to renew their wedding preparations. She was over the moon, and of course she had agreed to make a start as soon as possible. She wanted to belong to him more than ever. And if that meant spending the next fifteen years alone, it was a small price to pay in order to prove her loyalty to him. She wanted to be clean for him again, to be the Jenny he knew and loved.

She regretted her liaison with Freddie Marks so much, not just for the heartache it had caused but because it had given Cain reason to doubt her – something she would never forgive herself for. Well, she had had her moment of madness, and it had come at a terrible price. Now she would work tirelessly to give Cain the life she owed him, the life that she wanted.

He had promised her the Good Life together. It was still a way off, but it was there nonetheless. She would do everything in her power to make sure she was waiting for him to make good on his promise when he got out.

Cain Moran was lying on his bed thinking of Jenny and everything she had said to him in the visiting room. One thing he was sure of with her was that she wouldn’t lie. When she had told him she’d been thinking of him while she was with Freddie Marks he had known immediately it was the truth – that she had been craving
his
affection all the while and not that cunt Marks’s. Every time he thought of him he just wanted to murder him all over again.

Not that his feelings for Jenny were all sweetness and light either at the moment; he still felt hurt and humiliated by her actions. But, as the men on his wing had pointed out, she wasn’t the first to go AWOL during a long stretch and she certainly wouldn’t be the last. She had stood true for ten years and that in itself was a feat. After all, with her looks she wasn’t exactly short of attention.

Cain had to control his emotions. He still loved his Jenny with a vengeance; he would always love her, just as she would always love him. They were meant to be, and he wanted no one else. Once the pain of her betrayal had subsided they would get things back on track. She had learned her lesson, and that was a good thing in itself.

He had asked her to marry him again as a way of proving he was willing to put the past behind them. They had survived so much – Caroline’s bitterness, her vicious attack on Jenny, his long incarceration. They would survive this too, and they would come out stronger than ever. Theirs was an unbreakable bond.

Now Cain had re-established himself and his reputation in the Life, Jenny could be an invaluable asset, helping to relay messages and overseeing certain aspects of the monies collected. She wasn’t a fool, his Jenny. It was just a case of putting her indiscretion to the back of his mind, which he was determined to do. She was still a young woman who needed to love and to feel loved, and it was up to him to ensure that she never felt neglected or lonely again. Marrying her would prove his love, and getting her involved in the new operations would be a way of making her feel part of that side of his life.

He would speak to the Osman brothers about it – and they could keep an eye on her at the same time. He might have decided to forgive her, but that didn’t mean he automatically trusted her again. It was something that would take time, but he was willing to try, and that was the main thing.

Sleep was eluding him once more, and he lay listening to the sounds of the prison as he planned the next stage of his life. This was what most of the men did on a regular basis. It was late at night that you needed to tell yourself this couldn’t go on for ever – that one day you would be on the out and living the Good Life again. It was what kept them going.

Please remember, I still want you
And in case you wonder why
Well, just wake up
Kiss the good life, goodbye

‘The Good Life’

Music by Sacha Distel and lyrics by Jack Reardon

Cain Moran was on his mobile phone in the exercise yard while the other inmates played five-a-side football. He was talking to Hasan Osman and the conversation was getting very heated indeed. In fact, they were practically arguing and that was never a good thing. Over the last few months they had been party to their first big disagreement, and it was slowly festering into a full-blown row. It concerned a northern Face by the name of Jason Biggs – a built, loud-mouthed funny-man with a temper that was legendary if he was thwarted. He had three brothers who worked side by side with him, and they were not to be taken for mugs either.

Jason had made a name for himself over the last few years and now ran much of the drug and prostitution trades in the north of England. There was a lot of money to be made from sex, and there were plenty of girls from Eastern Europe and China needing an earn. In addition, there were many men willing to supply said girls; it was a ruthless and wicked industry, and one that was flourishing thanks to considerable supply and demand. Jason was dealing with the Russians for the girls, and up to now had been getting his drugs from the Osman brothers.

Recently, though, he’d been offered what he thought was a better deal by the Russians, and Ali and Hasan Osman didn’t like it. Now, they were all for taking Jason Biggs out of the game.