Then there was a movement behind him and a screaming Ellie jumped on to his back. Annie saw the kitchen knife in her small hand, saw it come arcing round. It opened up Pat’s throat from ear to ear. Blood sprayed, soaking Annie, sluicing over the bed.
Pat collapsed, taking Ellie with him. The hot metallic stench of blood filled the room. Annie felt herself starting to gag on the smell. He rolled. Ellie jumped aside, throwing the knife down with a cry of disgust. Pat lay on his back, gurgling. Then more blood came out of his mouth and his eyes went blank; they stared up at the ceiling and saw nothing.
There was a sudden, shocking silence.
They had killed Pat Delaney.
And now the Delaneys would kill them.
Annie’s eyes caught Dolly’s. She saw the panic she felt reflected there. Dolly knew the score. You didn’t fuck with a member of the family firm you paid your dues to and then walk away from it. Pat might not have finished them, but his family would.
For a long while nobody moved. They were too exhausted from the fight, too fearful of what was to come. Ellie was sobbing gently. She crawled away from Pat’s body, and one of the cuffed hands twitched. Ellie started to shriek. Dolly scrabbled over to her, grabbed her and held on tight.
‘It’s all right, he’s dead,’ she said, her voice muffled by her swelling mouth. ‘It’s just a twitch, just the life leaving the body, he’s not going to hurt anyone any more.’
Ellie’s shrieks softened to tears.
Annie looked over at Aretha. She was drenched with sweat, but she looked okay. Darren had pulled himself up into a chair and was sitting with his head in his hands. Annie’s eyes drifted on and met Dolly’s again.
‘We’re finished,’ said Dolly.
Annie didn’t say a word.
* * *
‘We’ll have to get out of here,’ said Annie.
Dolly looked around at the wrecked room in growing panic. Her face was a picture of fear and sickness. This place had become her castle, her stronghold against the outside world. To leave it would be unbearable. She shook her head.
‘I’m not leaving here,’ she said.
‘We have to, Doll,’ said Annie. ‘The Delaneys are going to want our blood for this.’
‘I’m not leaving,’ repeated Dolly.
‘Dolly.’ Annie’s voice was desperate now. ‘We have no choice.’
‘Yes we do. We could get rid of the body.’
Annie snapped at this. ‘For fuck’s sake, Dolly, see sense. We couldn’t even lift him. He’s too bloody big for us to move. You know it, I know it.’
Dolly moved her eyes to the Irishman lying at her feet.
‘Jesus, it stinks in here,’ moaned Aretha.
She stood up and tottered off to the bathroom. They heard her retching. Annie had thought Aretha was tough, but this scene of carnage was too much even for her.
‘What are we going to do?’ moaned Darren. ‘Chris could come back at any minute. He won’t stand for this. He’ll tell Redmond Delaney. We’ll be fucked.’
‘Ellie,’ said Annie.
Ellie turned a tearstained face to her.
‘You’re going to have to keep Chris busy. Get yourself cleaned up. Go and wait for him in the hall, and when he comes back take him into the front room. Close the door. He likes you, he’ll take the bait. Make sure he does.’
‘I can’t,’ whined Ellie. She knew what was expected of her. If Chris wanted sex, she had to provide it. But after all this, she felt too shattered to take on anyone.
‘Just do as you’re bloody-well told, will you!’ shouted Annie. ‘Get going.
Ellie got to her feet like a weary old woman and staggered from the room. Dolly looked at Annie.
‘There is something else we can do,’ she said. ‘We don’t have to leave.’
‘
‘
‘No. I can’t.’
‘You have to. He’ll know what to do. He’ll send the boys round and they’ll take care of this mess.’
Fuck it. The more she tried to extract herself from involvement with Max, the more she seemed to get sucked in. She felt like she was struggling in quicksand, sinking deeper by the minute. She knew what Dolly said made perfect sense. Max would help her. She knew he would help her. And this was his type of territory. He would know how to deal with this; she didn’t.
Into her mind came Pat’s words when he had threatened Aretha. He’d implied that he’d been responsible for what happened to Celia. So did that mean Max hadn’t done it? But Celia had been told it was a present from Max.
Annie clutched at her aching head. What did it matter, anyway? They were all violent bastards, intent on maiming any poor fucker who got in their way. She was best off out of it, and maybe she had always known deep down that she would have to let Max go if she was ever to stand a chance of getting Ruthie back.
‘
Darren and Aretha nodded tiredly.
‘I don’t want to phone him,’ said Annie. Her mind was spinning. The cuts on her hands and legs were starting to hurt. She felt sick.
‘Do it,’ said Dolly. ‘Or I’ll do it for you.’
44
In the early hours of the following morning, Billy stood in the shadows opposite the Limehouse parlour and watched as Gary Tooley and Steven Taylor carried something wrapped in a tarpaulin out to a car. They bundled the thing inside, shut the doors quietly, and were away.
Max’s boys.
Billy often liked to walk in the early hours. The streets were quiet, he blended into the darkness, became one with the night. You saw all sorts when you were out late. He walked, and walked, because he slept badly. He was on medication for his nerves, and that seemed to affect his sleep. So he walked. Often he ended up in the street in Limehouse, looking up at the house where his beautiful Annie lived.
He knew which room was hers. He’d worked it out. The one on the left at the front. He stood there sometimes and gazed up at that dark oblong, knowing that beyond it she slept. It was comforting to be nearby. His mum didn’t care where he got to in the night. She had a boyfriend, he had to call the man Uncle Ted, but he wasn’t his uncle really. His mum was busy with Uncle Ted during the night-times. It was better to be out, to walk, rather than lay there awake listening to them making those animal noises through the wall.
But his quiet stroll tonight had been different. Wearing his mac and deerstalker, clutching his briefcase as he
