The Know (42 page)

‘Let’s get you back to London. We’ve plenty of time to cook a story up. You hungry?’

Joanie shook her head.

‘I could do with a drink though.’

Marie laughed.

‘Couldn’t we all!’

 
Jesmond was on the spot and he knew it but fought his corner bravely. If Bernard had not been there he would not even have bothered to answer Jon Jon’s charges. Would have taken him out of the ball game without a second’s thought. But he was in the spotlight now and had to come out of this looking like an innocent man.

‘I have never been involved in anything like that and I resent you coming steaming in here shouting the odds in front of a friend.’

‘Rumours are sometimes true, Jesmond.’

It was Bernard talking now. It was almost as if he and Jon Jon had rehearsed this.

Jesmond stood up painfully to his full intimidating height and said loudly, determined to front this out, ‘What is this, eh? So what if I cater now and again for the gymslip crew? They ain’t really kids I use, they’re girls who look young for their age, that’s all. I mean, coming from you, Jon Jon, it’s a bit rich considering we’re in the same fucking business. You telling me you ain’t got any schoolies knocking about your parlours?’

Jon Jon was aware of what he was trying to do and said as much.

‘Don’t try and change the subject. I am well up on you and what you are capable of. Our parlours have grown-ups in them, you know that, or are you trying to bring Paulie down to your level? And what about your little parties, eh, where the star guest is a child? I know all about them.’

Bernard Lee looked stunned. This was obviously news to him.

‘What you on about, Jon Jon?’

He flicked his dreads in Jesmond’s direction.

‘Ask him.’

Bernard and Jesmond stared each other out. Jesmond finally shrugged as if bored.

‘Don’t know what he’s talking about.’

He was the man again now, had regained his equilibrium.

‘You can’t come in here and shout your fucking mouth off without some kind of back up, and I don’t mean your heavy friends. I mean without proof, and there ain’t any proof because I ain’t done fuck all.’

He looked out of the corner of his eye at Bernard, the man he was really trying to convince of his innocence.

‘That’s not what I heard,’ growled Jon Jon.

‘Who told you then?’

Jesmond held out his arms in supplication.

‘Come on, that’s the least you can do. Put your fucking money where your mouth is, boy. I am guilty of a lot of things but fucking noncing ain’t one of them.’

‘All I need to know is, did you ever have any dealings with Tommy Thompson or his father?’

‘Did I fuck! Are you trying to wind me up or what?’

He was emphatic now, his fear of Bernard being replaced by real anger. Who the fuck did Jon Jon Brewer think he was - Big John? And more to the point, where had he got this information?

‘Listen to me, you might be Paulie Martin’s brown-eyed boy but that don’t give you the right to come here and disrespect me. Now I am telling you, you are barking up the wrong mango tree, my son, so until you can prove my involvement in anything you had better get the fuck away from me and mine.’

The last bit was for Bernard’s benefit and he knew it.

‘Come on, Jes, surely you can do better than that?’

Jon Jon studied the two men covertly. There was an undercurrent here that he couldn’t quite fathom. Jesmond was clearly panicking now.

‘You would trounce me on the say-so of this little cunt, Bernard, after all the years we’ve done business together?’

He nodded.

‘’Course I would - if I found out you were a nonce.’

He grinned.

‘I’d remove your dreadlocks myself with a pair of pliers and that would just be for starters, Sonny Jim.’

Bernard’s biggest fear was of being tarred with the same brush. People would assume he was involved because he and Jesmond had worked closely together for so long, and he wasn’t having that. Bernard had his standards and any fiddling about with kids deserved the death sentence in his book, whether it was inside or outside the law.

Jesmond was cornered and he knew it, but he wasn’t giving up anything he didn’t have to.

‘Does Paulie know you’re here, Jon Jon?’

‘That’s irrelevant, Jesmond. Stop trying to change the fucking subject.’

‘I tell you what, you go and talk to him about all this, right, then come back and see me after that.’

‘He’s having a laugh!’ Jon Jon looked at Bernard as he said incredulously, ‘He is having a laugh, ain’t he?’

Bernard replied seriously, ‘I ain’t laughing and neither are you! Now who have you got outside with you?’

‘Big Earl, a couple of the others. Why?’

‘Bring them in, we can have a party.’

Jesmond could not believe what he was hearing.

‘You wouldn’t fucking dare!’

‘Well, either you tell us what we want to know or we’ll force it out of you. Won’t we, Jon Jon?’

Jesmond was being threatened for the first time in his life. Even as a schoolboy he had been much too big to diss. Now it seemed that like all bullies he had finally met his match. All he could do was hope to salvage something from this situation.

‘You won’t like what you’ll hear, Jon Jon, I warn you.’

He shrugged nonchalantly even though his heart was racing inside his chest.

‘I’m a big boy, I’m sure I’ll cope.’

Jesmond shook his head.

‘I wouldn’t be too certain of that.’

 
Lorna smiled widely when she saw Jeanette at her front door once more. She was one of the girls now and Lorna treated her as such.

‘Come on in, mate.’

Jeanette remembered to take a deep breath as she walked inside. Once you got into the lounge the smell wasn’t too bad but with the toilet being in the hallway alongside the bathroom, the smell was stronger here.

‘So how did you get on then?’

The place was empty of people for once, and it felt strange. Jeanette stared around her as if for the first time. In the cold light of day it looked even worse than usual.

The small kitchen had a black bin bag lying on the worktop by the sink. It was moving of its own accord, maggots breeding inside, and Jeanette felt the bile rise up in her throat.

‘Pippy wouldn’t have me, blew me out. Did you say anything to him?’

‘He what?’

Lorna could not believe what she was hearing. Did this mean he wanted his ton back? Only the hundred quid was long gone, smack and fags had seen to that.

She was starting to panic.

‘Look, Jeanette, stop worrying. I can talk him round, it’s only because of fucking Jon Jon. I’ll talk to him again. It’ll be cool, you’ll see.’

Jeanette grinned.

‘I’m glad, to be honest.’

Lorna stared at her as if she was mad.

‘Looking at you now, looking at this place, I realise this could have been my life. I’m bad enough as it is, all the trouble I cause, but I tell you something, girl, whatever I may be I will
never
be as bad as you are. You’re fucking scum, and them babies deserve better than this.
I
deserve better than this.’

The insults finally penetrated Lorna’s brain. She drew herself up to her full height as she said, ‘Well, fuck off then.’

Jeanette grinned.

‘I will, Lorna, don’t you worry. I just felt the urge to tell you a few home truths first.’

She walked out of the maisonette and through the lobby. As she walked out of the front door she saw Jasper standing waiting for her.

‘What did you have to tell Lorna?’

She shrugged.

‘Just a message, that’s all. Will you walk me to my mum’s? I want to give the flat a good clean for her. She went off in a bit of a hurry yesterday. I thought I’d sort it out for her.’

‘’Course I will.’

‘Shall we go out later, Jasper? See a film or something? ’

‘Are we cool again, Jeanette?’

She grabbed his arm and smiled at him.

‘I suppose we are.’

 
Paulie was signing his gold away in his solicitor’s office. Even though it galled him to give Sylvia anything, he knew he was doing the right thing. It was the lesser of two evils, so he took a deep breath and wrote his name.

His brief, a middle-aged Scot much taken with Versace suits and tattoos, was clever enough to specialise in clients like Paulie Martin. Danny McBane could hide money from anyone, even his clients though that was not something he advertised. If it ever went pear-shaped he could retire with the click of one button - such was his mindset and the reason he got on so well with the men he did business with. He had no morals and no scruples plus a healthy disregard for the people he dealt with. This, coupled with his aggressive personality, made him the perfect choice to represent Paulie and his porn empire.

There was nothing he didn’t know about Paulie Martin, something else he had never bothered to advertise.

He made a point of finding out as much as possible about all his clients. If they were going down at any point, he was not going with them. Not if he could help it anyway. He had a family and two girlfriends to support.

‘Women are cunts, Danny. When I first met Sylvia she was existing on a pittance with that mad fucking mother of hers. Fucking State hand-outs! Now she’s walking away with my hard-earned cash, two houses and a grin larger than the Cheshire Cat’s.’ Paulie gulped his brandy before saying, ‘Should have got her topped.’

It was said quietly and vehemently. He clearly meant it.

‘Cheaper certainly, but by the time you’d sorted out childcare round the clock . . .’

Danny’s mock-serious tone made Paulie smile.

‘Cost you more in the long run. By the way, I’ve put in an extra clause. Once the girls are seventeen you pay for their horses, etc. at your discretion.’

‘What good will that do?’

‘It’s a bargaining point - you may need it by then. That lot think more of their nags than they do of you. It makes no real odds, but if they kick off you have a trump card.’

Paulie was grinning now.

‘Never a truer word spoken. If anyone needs a trump card now, it’s me.’

‘What made you marry her, Paulie? I never saw the attraction myself.’

He shrugged.

‘I thought she was upmarket, and I suppose she was in comparison to me and my old woman. Sylvia had a way about her of looking down her nose at everyone. I liked that about her, though fuck knows why. She looked down her conk at me too in the end. But then, I think she had always seen me as being beneath her. Fucking hell, I hardly ever saw her beneath
me
! And when she was she never moved. I used to take her pulse while we were on the job in case she was dead.’

They laughed together.

‘More sexual activity in a morgue than round my house, I can tell you.’

‘You don’t mean that, Paulie. Though my wife never liked her either, said she was cold.’

‘She was right. Colder than a witch’s tit, that’s Sylvia.’

Danny smiled.

‘Well, you’ll be a free agent soon, back on the marriage market.’

‘Never again. I will be a bachelor boy from now on.’

‘You’ll get caught again, we all do. Best laid plans and all that. By the way, how’s Joanie these days?’

Paulie shrugged.

‘Not too good to be honest. Any news?’

Danny shook his head, his thick red hair and rugged appearance making him look like a country vet rather than a solicitor.

‘Nothing. But we’re keeping our options open. Baxter’s being a cunt but what’s new there?’

‘Jon Jon’s on his way to Sheffield today. He got a touch before us, but he doesn’t realise how much I know so bear that in mind.’

‘I will. Good kid, Jon Jon, you picked well there.’

‘I wonder at times, though this new club will be an earner.’

‘Does he know about you?’

Paulie shook his head.

‘He don’t know the half of it.’

‘Will you tell him?’

‘I doubt it.’

Paulie stood up, annoyed with the way this conversation was going now.

‘I’d best be off.’

Danny didn’t get up, just smiled lazily. It never did any harm to remind people exactly how much you knew about them. It kept them on their toes.

 
Baxter watched Joanie as she pulled her case from the taxi. He had her bang to rights now, and found he was actually sorry about that.

As she paid the driver he saw her daughter Jeanette run out of the flats and straight into her mother’s arms. He watched Joanie hug her tightly, kiss her head and hold her face between her hands as she spoke to her. He saw Jeanette pick up her mother’s bag and carry it inside.

‘Are we going in, sir?’