Jail Bird

but he didn’t want to hear that about his own niece. She was better than that – or she fucking well should be.

‘Have Brendan keep an eye out,’ said Si.

Freddy nodded. Maeve came bustling in with the books; she helped Matt out sometimes in the office. Freddy couldn’t stand the stroppy cow, sister-in-law or not. He gave her a curt nod, threw back the last of his malt and went off downstairs.

Jase pushed through the writhing punters and got to the bar and caught sight of Saz. She had that limp dick Richard standing sullenly alongside her. Saz was wearing a brown polka-dotted halter-neck dress that was way up her arse and plunging to show off her boobs. She looked hot, but he wasn’t interested in that. He felt down tonight, and he kept shooting edgy looks at Brendan, who was patrolling the place in DJ and bow tie, patrolling Jase’s place, ordering Jase’s boys around. The boys kept their heads down and just did as he said, their eyes never meeting Jase’s. It was as if he had ceased to exist.

Christ, that made him furious.

Not long ago he had been in charge here. Now Jase was being treated like wallpaper. But all that would change, he knew it would change, the minute he came through for Freddy and did Lily King like he’d promised. Freddy and Si would fall all over him then; they’d be so bloody grateful, he could write his own cheque, have his door back, anything.

If only he could get to the bitch. He frowned. When she wasn’t safely tucked inside The Fort now, she was being squired around by bloody Nick O’Rourke, and he’d already had one near-miss in that department, so how to do it? He was driving himself apeshit, trying to think of a way. And Oli could never know. He’d make sure of that. After he’d offed the old girl, Oli would need a shoulder to cry on, she’d be back on side in no time. But…how? How was he going to get to Lily King?

As the strobes zoomed and flickered and the DJ cranked up Lily Allen’s latest, he looked at Saz standing there jigglingher bits at the bar. He elbowed through the punters and pitched up at her side. She glanced at him, gave him a spaced-out smile. She’d been on the old happy pills, he saw straight away.

‘Hiya, Jase!’ she yelled, and leaned over and gave him a smacker straight on the lips.

‘Hi, Saz,’ returned Jase, trying not to laugh out loud at the expression on Richard’s face as he witnessed the clinch. Jase gave the wuss a look that said, Want to make something of it? and Richard looked away.

Jase tried to catch the barman’s eye. Yeah, he was invisible. He’d become the invisible man in here.

‘How are you, sweetie?’ Saz asked him, sipping her drink.

He leaned in close to her so as to make himself heard. ‘Cool. Don’t usually see you in here.’

‘Wanted a night out,’ said Saz. She cast a disparaging look at her husband. ‘Richie hates it here.’

And you don’t give a shit about that, thought Jase.

He’d never liked Saz. Saz was everything Oli was not – snooty, shallow, a real pain in the rear. If he was Richard, he’d yank her out of here right now and take her home and give her a stiff talking-to.

Saz’s eyes were glassy. ‘Heard Oli and you had a bit of a row.’

‘Yeah. A bit.’ He didn’t want to discuss that with her. He tried again to catch the barman’s eye. Another one ignored him.

‘I heard you’d split,’ said Saz. ‘Jeez, get me another drink, Richard, will you? I’m parched.’

Her loving husband gave her a look that said, You’ve had enough.

‘Look, I can’t stand this bloody racket, I’m going home,’said Richard, giving her a cold stare and Jase a look of blank dislike.

‘Okay. You go. Uncle Si’ll drop me home later.’

Richard looked taken aback. He thought she’d go with him, thought Jase. How little the poor sap knew his own wife.

Richard gave Jase an uneasy glance. Then he looked at Saz.

‘Oh go on, Richie. I’ll be fine.’ She flapped a dismissive hand at him.

He nodded and reluctantly turned away and was suddenly lost in the surging crowds.

‘Let me get that,’ said Jase, what the hell, and he signalled for the barman and was again ignored.

‘I’ll get ’em in,’ said Saz. She held up a hand and the barman was there like lightning. Jase stared at the tosser while she placed the order, voddy and orange for her, a lager for him.

‘Oli and I ain’t really split up,’ he said.

‘Oh?’

‘We had a fight, that’s all.’

The drinks came and Saz fell on the voddy and orange. The E was making her so thirsty.

The barman was turning away when Jase said: ‘Hey.’

The man’s eyes wouldn’t meet Jase’s. Jase saw red. He leaned over and caught the dipstick’s tie and yanked him forward, over the bar, cracking his forehead hard into the man’s nose.

The barman let out a yell and fell back, blood pouring out of his hooter like Niagara Falls. He was staggering, blinking, eyes watering, blood sploshing all down the front of him.

‘Next time you see me, you fucking well serve me, yeah?’ snapped Jase.

The barman weaved unsteadily away. Jase glanced around, feeling buzzed. A couple of the bouncers – his men – were watching him. As he stared back, they looked away. He turned his attention back to Saz.

‘Whew!’ she said with a laugh. ‘Very macho.’

Silly tart.

‘Oli’s stupid,’ said Saz, her eyes playing with Jase’s. ‘You’re gorgeous.’

‘Tell her that, will you?’ The state Saz was in, he could make her drop her drawers if he chose to. Which he didn’t. But while she was here…Jase was thinking busily. He spun out a hopeful line. ‘It’d be nice to surprise her with something,’ he said. ‘Something real special. I may as well tell you, Saz, I want to propose to her.’

‘That’s so romantic,’ sighed Saz with a smile, leaning into Jase, her hand caressing the hard muscles of his forearm.

‘Yeah, I know she’d like that,’ said Jase. ‘But it ain’t possible, is it? The place is in lockdown, I heard.’

‘Oh. Yeah,’ said Saz, shrugging regretfully.

‘It’s a pity, because she’d love it.’

Saz glugged back the last of her drink. ‘Fill me up again, Jase, will you?’

Jesus – at this rate he was going to have to carry her out of here. He reordered for her, not for himself. It was a different barman, and this one didn’t ignore him. Better, he thought.

‘It’d make Oli so happy,’ he went on. ‘But there’s no way, I guess.’

‘Yeah. That’s right.’

Saz was frowning now, peering at Jase. She felt a little sick, to be honest. And suddenly she felt uncertain too,sorry that she’d let Richard go. Richard was sweet, dependable, the best. Either you had the type of man you could rely on, the plodder, the unambitious one, who bored the arse off you most of the time if you were honest but who at least never tried laying the law down, or you had the type who excited you, who wanted to dominate you, who thrilled you but caused you tears and a world of hurt, a lion of a man.

Her dad had been a lion of a man. Named for the lion that had been his star sign. Leo King. She thought of her wedding day, the day when her dad should have walked her down the aisle, but he hadn’t been there.

Saz’s eyes filled with tears.

Uncle Si had stood in, but it wasn’t the same. It had never been the same, ever since…oh shit, ever since that awful night.

‘But I guess it’s out of the question, right? All locked up tight,’ Jase was saying.

‘What?’ Saz asked vaguely.

‘The house. Locked up. That right?’

‘Oh! Locked up, yeah,’ said Saz, and grabbed at the drink the new barman had placed in front of her.

‘Pity,’ said Jase. ‘That’s a terrible pity, don’t you think?’