“I believe you Lil,” she said sadly.
“I didn’t know that mental bitch would kill Dillon either. When that happened I got scared. I knew I was in deep but I didn’t know how to get out. So many times I thought about confessing to you but then things got even worse and I couldn’t. I thought you might kill me.”
Faith was shocked. “I would never do that to you.”
“But he could,” she said, gesturing to Vance. She looked back at Faith. “You wouldn’t have been able to do it personally but you could have given the order. I knew you had that in you.”
“You’re wrong Lil because that’s not what I’m going to do. You’re going to pack up and leave and never come back. If we see you in this town again then you’ll end up in the sea.” A tear slid down her cheek as she made this pronouncement. “So please stay away. Don’t force me to do that.”
Lil nodded sadly and gestured to the bar. “You remember when we worked together behind here? There was no one we couldn’t take on.”
“Yeah, I remember,” she said with a fond smile. “They were good times.”
“The bugger of it all is I don’t know how it went so wrong. Actually, that’s a lie. I do know. It was fucking credit cards and bank loans and the next thing I knew I was drowning in debt. I like the high life too much – champagne, designer clothes and shoes.” She chuckled humourlessly. “It’s only now I realise how pointless all that shit is.” She produced a bottle of white wine from the fridge. “One last drink, for old time’s sake?”
Faith nodded.
Lil poured and pushed a glass across the bar Faith. “Vance?” she said.
“No thanks, I’m driving.”
“Fair enough.” She looked to Caleb. “I’m sorry sweetheart,” she told him. “I’ve hurt you, haven’t I?”
“No,” he retorted, his eyes telling a different story.
She reached across the bar to pat his face. “I’m very fond of you Caleb, I always will be. You were one of my favourites.”
“Just one in a long line, eh Lil?” he scowled.
“Usually I’d have one night with a man and then drop them but I went back to you again and again, you were so good.”
“For God’s sake, you never did get it, did you? It was never just about sex for me. I love you.”
“I know,” she said gently. “And you shouldn’t. I could never return it.”
Faith felt awful for him but there was nothing that could be done to soften the blow. He had to see the truth for himself.
“I’ll wait in the car,” he told his siblings before looking back at Lil. “Have a nice life,” he snapped before stalking to the door, unlocking it and kicking it open before vanishing into the night.
“We’re offering you a way out of your money troubles,” Faith told Lil when he’d gone. “You don’t deserve it but I want you to know that we’re not doing it for you. We’re doing it for us.”
“What do you mean?”
“We want to buy the pub.”
They dropped a sullen, silent Caleb off at his flat before heading back to their own apartment block, which they felt much safer about doing now that Ben and his crew were gone.
“Poor Caleb,” said Faith as she and Vance walked into her flat. She’d bought a new place and, as she was so keen to move out, she’d already packed up all her stuff and was due to move the next morning, not that she had much to pack. Her life filled a few cardboard boxes. “He had his heart broken for the first time.”
“He set himself up for a fall with that woman,” replied Vance, taking a can of lager out of the fridge. “She was always going to break his heart. I just didn’t think it would happen like that.”
“She was my only friend,” said Faith sadly. “Other than you lot and Matthew. I can’t believe what she did.”
“Like she said, she found herself in a situation that got out of control. I think we can all sympathise with that.”
“I wasn’t expecting to hear that from you. I thought you’d be raging.”
“I was at first but confronting her about it was just sad.”
“You’re right, it was,” she sighed. “And we’ve got to tackle the Fairweathers yet. They were in on it with Mickey.”
“Let’s put that off until tomorrow. We need a break, plus Caleb won’t be in the right head space and he needs to have all his faculties about him for tackling that pair.”
“Good point.”
“Do you want a drink?”
“I’m gagging for a glass of wine. There’s an open bottle in the fridge. I’m just going for a quick shower.”
“Okay.”
While Vance headed into the kitchen, she padded through the flat towards the bathroom. The doorbell rang, making her frown. She wasn’t expecting anyone.
Faith peered through the spyhole and cried out with surprise when the door was kicked open and whacked into her, knocking her back against the hallway wall.
“Gordon,” she exclaimed loudly enough for Vance to hear when a huge figure waddled in. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Keep your voice down,” replied Gordon, kicking the door shut.
When he raised his arm, a gun in his hand, Faith thought she was dead. But he didn’t fire.
“Mum wants a word with you,” he added.
“Couldn’t she have just phoned? Why did you have to bust into my flat?”
“Because she wants to talk to you about Harry Paisley and she thought you wouldn’t come.”
“Why? I’ve already gone over that with Flo. I was nothing to do with it.”
“Tell that to Mum,” he said, standing aside to allow a second figure to enter.
Flo shuffled in
