The Take (52 page)

He knew Little Freddie was on the prowl, was still walking around as if nothing had happened. The verdict on his son's death had been misadventure. 'A tragic accident and my heart goes out to his parents and family.' Those had been the stupid old bastard in the coroner's court's exact words.

Jimmy understood on one level Freddie's need to protect his own flesh and blood. He knew Freddie had wanted to make the boy pay but blood, it seemed, really was thicker than water.

But not Jimmy's blood, he had no feeling any more for the man he had adored, the man who he had kept employed for years. He had watched him make his son into the animal he had become and they had all stood back because Freddie was Freddie, and he was a
nutter
and he used his anger and his hate to control everyone around him.

Freddie was feared by some of the hardest men in their world, Freddie was feared as a head case, a nut nut, a Looney Tunes. Freddie had made a point of ensuring his reputation guaranteed him respect, but Jimmy was not scared of him. He hadn't been for a long time, he had seen through him like a pane of glass.

Freddie was just stupid, he barrelled through life and he had been given a pass because he was useful to Ozzy. But Jimmy had Ozzy's respect, it was
him
, James Jackson, who was trusted, who had been chosen to run the different businesses and who was now party to Ozzy's deepest and darkest secrets.

Jimmy had kept Freddie sweet because they were kin, their wives were sisters, he had once looked up to Freddie, he had once been his role model. But he had carried him long enough, Freddie was out, and he was out for good. After today, Freddie was going to get his marching orders and he was not going to give him any kind of warning.

Freddie was about to find out just how much power his younger counterpart actually wielded. Jimmy was determined to bring him to book over his little son's murder. He was not going to let him walk away from this one. By the time he had finished with him, Freddie wouldn't be able to get a job as a doorman, let alone anything else.

Jimmy wanted to wipe him and his boy off the face of the earth. The absolute need for revenge was something he had never experienced until now. It had started with his little Jimmy's death and it had taken him over when the coroner had ruled it an accident.

Knowing Joe had his suspicions made it all slightly more bearable. It wasn't an accident that had taken his child from him, and he knew that when this was all over and the pain had subsided enough for him to function once more, he would make sure that Freddie Jackson Junior would never harm anybody again.

Kimberley was watching her sisters as they chatted together, and feeling left out. She picked up her orange juice and walked out to the garden. It was a cold day but she was well wrapped up.

She loved this place, and she felt the hole that Jimmy Junior had left behind. It was unbelievable that he would not run up the lawn again, or swim in the pool.

She was on the verge of tears once more. He had been a lovely little boy, and Maggie and Jimmy had doted on him. He had everything a child could possibly want and he was dead. It was beyond belief.

Now the crashing silence of a house without a child's presence was overwhelming. It was this that had really driven her out into the garden and towards the summerhouse. It was constructed from old yellow stock bricks that had been reclaimed from one of the other outbuildings, and the windows had been hand-made to ensure it was in keeping with the rest of the house.

She was about to slip through the door when she heard Maggie's voice. Instead of going inside, she stood outside the window and listened.

'I am not going anywhere, Maggie.'

The bully was back in control, and Maggie knew that he was never going to let her be, never going to let her forget what had happened to her. She closed her eyes tightly, hoping against hope that when she opened them again Freddie would have disappeared.

'Go away from me.'

Her voice was low, and he could hear the underlying anger that was bubbling away below the surface of her mind.

'Why don't you just answer me, Maggie?'

Maggie shut her eyes once more, and she listened to the man who had stolen years of her life, stolen her son's early years from her, because of his threats and his hatred and his jealousy. He was still trying to manipulate her, even now. He was still using his hatred to make her miserable, was trying to force his will on her even after today's event. If it wasn't so outrageous it would be laughable.

Maggie had no intention of answering him, she just wanted him to go away. He had followed her out here when she had wanted to be alone, had just wanted to gather her thoughts together.

'He was my son. Admit it. Go on, admit that to me now.'

He was being hurtful now. He wanted her to finally admit that it was his child, to say it to him and Maggie's contempt for him was wiping away his sympathy.

'Will you go away.'

Her voice had regained some of its strength, and was much louder than she had meant it to be.

'Maggie, say it.'

She interrupted him then. 'Oh, fuck off, Freddie. You
raped
me, and now, even on the day of my child's burial, you have to try and make my life miserable. Will you leave me alone now he's
dead
? Can I breathe easy now because the thing you held over my head for all those years has been buried, and you have no power any more. Is this your last attempt at breaking me?'

He was shaking his head at her now.

'Go away, Freddie, before I scream for my husband and tell him what you did to me.'

Kimberley heard a scuffling noise, and she quickly walked behind the summerhouse. After a few seconds she poked her head around the corner, and saw Maggie stumbling over the lawn as she tried to make her way back to the house. Her father was still in the summerhouse, and when he finally emerged about fifteen minutes later she was amazed to see that he was crying.

Jackie was listening to her mother and father talking about when they had been young. This was always the way when they were at funerals or weddings. Any family gathering ended up with her parents telling them all tales of times long past and the things that had happened to long-dead relatives.

She lapped it up. It was so comfortable in Maggie's lovely front room with its deep soft sofas and cream-coloured walls. The girls were ensconced on the largest of the three sofas with her, and she was actually enjoying the evening so much she had forgotten they were all there for a funeral.

Lena was telling the girls about her own grandmother now, how she smoked a pipe and never missed Mass, how her grandfather had battered her nearly every day, and how she had followed him only weeks after his death.

'Silly cow, how could she love someone who gave her a clump on a daily basis? When he finally popped off she should have had a bleeding party!' Rox's voice was annoyed, and they all smiled at her.

Freddie, who was now sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, laughed out loud.

Jimmy was sitting opposite him and he stared at him for long moments as Freddie laughed, that irritating, sarcastic laugh he had.

Seeing Jimmy looking at him, Freddie said in a friendly way, 'By the way, don't worry, Jimmy, I will sort out the takes tomorrow.'

Jimmy knew this was meant to be his chance to take the olive branch, to try to resolve their differences.

He had to be joking.

This was the day of his baby boy's funeral and he was only letting Freddie and his kin inside his home because of Maggie, because Maggie was finding some kind of peace having the girls around. She was sitting with her mother now, holding her hand tightly, and he knew she was looking for comfort and that, like himself, she would not find it.

'Don't bother, it's already sorted.'

Joe heard the exchange and saw the look on Jimmy's face. His sudden angry countenance seemed almost demonic.

He was looking at Freddie with such contempt Joe expected his burly son-in-law to take umbrage, to leap up from the floor and confront Jimmy.

Instead he sat there and took it. But Joe guessed that soon these two men were going to collide, and he knew who his money would be on as the victor.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

'I want him out, Oz, and I want him out sooner rather than later.'

Ozzy nodded, forgetting that Jimmy couldn't see him since they were on the phone. As always, Ozzy liked his young prot�g�'s straight talking and he was pleased that Freddie was being aimed out at last. Personally, he would have seen the back of him years ago.

Since the boy had died he had felt a marked change in Jimmy. He was harder, and he was also easier to nark. This was to be expected, he supposed.

When the news had been broadcast to the wing that poor Jimmy Jackson had lost his son in tragic circumstances, Ozzy had seen the reaction of the men who had children, especially the ones with young families. He had understood Jimmy's grief much better then. Never having had a child himself, he could only imagine what it felt like to lose one.

Jimmy, like many a man before him, was focusing on his work to get through this terrible time. Everything in life was geared around it. It was working in Jimmy's favour, anyway, helped him escape all this grief. Ozzy had watched men in prison dissolve after an event like that.

Maggie, he understood, was not coping with it at all, and he also guessed that Jimmy couldn't even scratch the surface of her grief. How could he? Women were a different species and as they were the ones who grew the children inside them anyway, he assumed they felt the loss far more than the fathers. Though the newspapers and the TV news told him, some women had no feelings for their offspring, and he knew Maggie had not taken to the child at first.

Ozzy sighed inwardly. He was distressed for Jimmy, felt for him, but Ozzy could still see the personal opportunity that his grief was affording him. He was going to overhaul the businesses and he was starting off by getting rid of the dead wood.

'You do it, Jimmy, you have a good old clear out, son. It's long overdue anyway.'

'All right, son?' Freddie slowed the car down to the annoyance of the drivers behind him, and he waved at his son through the open window.

Little Freddie smiled and waved back, and his father tooted the horn of his car as he drove past him and the two friends he was walking to school with.

Freddie smiled. He was all right, there was nothing wrong with that boy. He was highly strung like his old man, that was all. It was temper, and
he
also had a temper, as those who crossed him found out to their detriment. Well, his boy had inherited it from him, so he couldn't be all bad.

His sorrow and shock had completely gone and Jimmy was the new focus of his attention. Jimmy was the bad bastard, and Jimmy had better watch out.

Freddie was weaving in and out of the early-morning traffic and he was cursing and gesturing to all the other, less-capable drivers who had the audacity to be on the road. He was driving to Jimmy's suite of new offices in a purpose-built block in Barking. Jimmy was working from there exclusively now, and they really looked the part.

Freddie was disgusted about them, seeing the use of them as a front as a mug's game, and he told anyone who would listen to him that Jimmy was heading for a fall. Filth raided premises as it was — their homes, their safe houses. Why put yourself in the frame by advertising your existence?

But Jimmy was running legitimate businesses from there, and the other stuff was only ever discussed in the place. Nothing tangible could ever link any of the employees to anything that was not above board and taxable. Jimmy was moving with the times while Freddie was still stuck in a time warp.

Freddie was fuming because he had not heard from Jimmy for a week, and then he'd got a message telling him to come to his office. Well, he was on his way, and he was going to sort it out once and for all. This showdown had been a long time coming. He was more than ready for it, and he was prepared to go to any lengths to see that it happened.

'Maggie's bad, Mum. I am really worried about her.'

Rox was sitting on her mother's bed and trying to get her to drink some tea and eat a piece of toast. The girls took it in turns now to force Jackie to get out of bed and to eat. They were worried about her and her escalating drinking problem.

'She'll be all right, now will you piss off, Rox, and let me sleep!'

Rox sighed. 'Imagine it was one of us, Mum, who had died. How would you feel?'

'At this moment, Rox, I would be over the moon. Now will you sod off and leave me be.'

Kimberley, who was on the landing, listened to her mother and wondered at a woman who had no real feeling for her sister's grief.

Rox tried again. 'Will you sit up, Mum, please, and eat this toast we've made you?'

Jackie was getting really annoyed now. This was becoming a regular thing and at first she had loved it. The attention and the knowledge her girls were looking out for her had been lovely. Now it was getting a bit over the fucking top. They were here every day like a gaggle of bloody witches, and all she wanted to do was have a kip.

Kimberley walked into the bedroom and, pushing Rox out of the way, she grabbed the quilt and dragged it off her half-naked mother.

Jackie went ballistic. She sat up in the bed and screamed in anger, 'What the fuck is it with you lot? Why can't you just leave me alone!'

Rox was trying not to laugh, but then she looked at her mother properly and saw the way she had bloated out again over the last few months and any thought of laughing vanished.

Jackie's legs were a mass of bruises and scratches, because her kidneys were gradually breaking down and causing an itchy rash. Rox and her sisters knew this because they had looked it up on the internet. They knew what was happening to Jackie and they wanted to try to help her help herself, before it was too late. Their mother was a textbook case for a female alcoholic and they wanted to stop her from drinking herself to death.