Dirty Game

on a par with Annie for their looks and their elegance. So that was how he knew she was at it again.

Doing bad things.

It was awkward.

‘You all right here, Billy lad?’ asked Eric, coming to gather up his glass. ‘Want another in there?’

‘No, thank you,’ said Billy.

Poor bastard, thought Eric, taking Billy’s empty glass back to the bar. Daft as a brush, sitting there staring into space with his mouth open. But no one gave Billy any real aggro. Everyone knew he was on Max Carter’s payroll and that Redmond Delaney had said hands off, and you didn’t piss around with that lot.

Billy mulled it all over. It was a knotty problem. Which was the trouble with knowing so much, he’d found. If you knew a lot, you tended to worry over it all. So he was worried about the Pat business because he thought Annie was involved. And he was worried about her doing nasty things all over again. And he was worried about the job Max was planning, because it was big, and things might go wrong.

Oh, he had lots to think about. He had to work out what he thought about it all, because he had trouble getting it all straight in his head sometimes. It was the medication, it made him feel muddled. But he’d take his time and think it all through. Then, and only then, he would decide what he had to do.

50

Annie was still in bed one winter morning when she got a call from Dolly.

‘I’m coming over to see you at ten. I’m bringing Ellie.’

Annie sat up, the tension in Dolly’s voice triggering her instantly into a state of alert.

‘What’s up?’ she asked.

‘Not on the phone,’ said Dolly, and hung up.

Annie stared at the humming receiver. Her heart was thumping. She got up, showered, dressed, fixed herself some tea and toast then stalked around the empty apartment. Another party tomorrow. She’d been thinking of ideas to perk up the business still more, jotting down notes. It was all she had to concentrate on.

Dolly arrived bang on ten, Ellie trailing pale-faced behind her. Ellie had lost weight, Annie noticed – and it didn’t suit her.

‘Come in,’ said Annie, taking their coats. ‘Tea?’

‘We need something a fucking sight stronger than that,’ said Dolly, sprawling out on one of the Chesterfields and looking around her in amazement. ‘You’ve got this place well nice, Annie, you’ve made some changes.’

She noticed that Dolly had a piece of chewing gum stuffed into her missing tooth – the tooth that had been knocked out the night Pat Delaney died. Annie felt almost amused by this. You could take the girl out of Limehouse, but you couldn’t take Limehouse out of the girl. Dolly was terrified of dentists. Any medical procedure filled her with horror. Annie was sure this was because of the abortion she had endured in her youth.

‘Take a seat, Ellie,’ said Annie.

Ellie didn’t look right, she thought. And she was far too quiet.

Annie went and poured three brandies. She brought them back and put them on the big coffee table between the two Chesterfield sofas. Ellie grabbed hers with a shaking hand and chucked it back in one.

‘Ellie’s being a bit silly,’ said Dolly, watching the girl.

‘I’m not being silly,’ said Ellie flatly.

‘Yes you are,’ snapped Dolly. She looked at Annie. ‘She’s talking about going to the Bill and confessing.’

Annie’s mouth dropped open.

‘Look, this has been tormenting me for months now. We killed him,’ said Ellie defensively. ‘I killed him. I can’t go on like this. I’m jumping at everything and anything. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. Chris is suspicious.’

‘Chris is getting suspicious because you’re acting like a cat on hot bricks,’ said Dolly. ‘Chris knows nothing. If you cool it, he’ll settle down.’

‘But I’ll still know I killed him.’

Annie took a breath. She could sympathize with Ellie’s plight. The flashbacks had gone now, but for some time after that awful night she too had been like Ellie – in a right fucking state.

‘Look, Ellie,’ said Annie. ‘We all know what happened that night and it wasn’t our fault. Pat was out of control. He was going to hurt us. We had to get in first, that was all.’

‘That’s all.’ Ellie laughed loudly. ‘We killed him. We didn’t just rap him over the knuckles and tell him not to be a bad boy any more. We slit his fucking throat.’

Dolly gave Annie a look that said: ‘You see?’

‘We all know what we did,’ said Annie. ‘We did what we had to do to survive.’

‘The Delaneys suspect something,’ said Ellie.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Annie.

‘They keep saying when did I last see Pat, have I heard anything about Pat, where is Pat …’

‘They’re just fishing,’ said Dolly.

‘They know,’ said Ellie.

‘They know nothing,’ said Annie firmly.

‘I’m telling you, they know we did it,’ shouted Ellie, jumping to her feet. ‘What does it take to make you two see that? We have to go to the police, they’ll protect us!’

Annie stood up, hauled her arm back and gave Ellie a hefty slap across the face. Ellie recoiled and nearly fell. Annie grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard.

‘Listen to me, you daft little bint,’ snarled Annie. ‘Go to the police? Are you off your head? Do that and the police will be the least of your troubles. Do you seriously think that when you’re banged up inside for murder the Delaneys won’t be able to reach you? An eye for an eye, that’s their motto. They’ve got contacts everywhere. They’ll get to you even if you are behind bars. You’ll be found hanging in your cell, so sad, just suicide, these lags commit suicide all the time – or you’ll somehow miraculously get hold of some razor blades and slit your wrists. Tragic! Do you think anyone will care whether or not it was suicide or if someone helped you on your way?’

Ellie was crying now. The side of her face where Annie had delivered the slap was glowing red. She was staring at Annie with shocked, wounded eyes. Annie felt bad, but she had to harden her heart. Ellie was hysterical and she was going to get them all done for at this rate. She had to be told.

‘But what are we going to do?’ Ellie wailed.

Annie’s grip on Ellie’s shoulders relaxed.

‘What we are going to do is nothing,’ she said. ‘We’re going to sit tight and let the whole thing die down. There was no great affection between Redmond and Pat, everyone knows that. Redmond might look around for his brother, but he won’t look too hard or for too long.’

‘I don’t know,’ moaned Ellie.

Annie’s eyes met Dolly’s over Ellie’s head. This was worrying. They couldn’t have Ellie rattling around like this, threatening all their lives.

‘Sit down, Ellie,’ said Annie, and Ellie thumped back on to the Chesterfield beside Dolly. Dolly put a motherly arm around the younger girl and patted her shoulder.

Annie sat down opposite. She’d made a decision. She knew what to say.

‘You don’t know that Dolly and I met Celia at my mum’s funeral, do you Ellie?’

That got her attention. ‘Celia?’ Ellie stopped dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. ‘Is she … Jesus, did you really? Is she all right?’

Dolly was silent, watching Annie. She had an idea where this was headed, and she was going to let Annie get on with it. It might even work.

‘No, Ellie. She wasn’t all right at all.’

‘What … ?’ Ellie glanced feverishly between Annie and Dolly. ‘What do you mean? Is she okay?’