CRUEL SECRETS Page 27

Eddie ignored him and looked at the terrified expression on Gareth’s face. He laughed. “So, tell me, Gareth, are these two idiots taking fifty per cent of your earnings for protection? ’Cos, that’s another fucking liberty. See, when I ran the insurance scheme, I was fair, weren’t I, boys?” He cast a backward glance, indicating to his men behind him.

  “See, Gareth, I made sure no one fucked with my businesses, but I took ten per cent. Now that’s a huge difference and I just don’t get it. I mean, Gareth, these two clowns ain’t done a good job here, have they? Look around you. I’m here. I could quite easily blow your brains out, if I wanted to. Ya can’t really call that protection, now can ya?”

  Freddie laughed out loud. “Really, ol’ man, listen. Do yaself a favour, take ya old cronies with ya and leave, before I take ya fucking face off.”

  Instantly, there was a loud popping sound. Cyril, the oldest in the firm, had taken offence to the words ‘old cronies’. Pulling his gun from his waistband, he shot Freddie in the ankle. It caused him to holler and sit heavily on the floor and grip the gaping hole.

  Eddie slowly turned and rolled his eyes at Cyril.

  “Oh dear, I think you have pissed me mate off! Cyril, no more shooting until I say so.” He didn’t shout; his voice remained calm and collected.

  Frankie stood stiffly, afraid now that the next bullet would have his name on it.

  “All right, what do you want?”

  Slowly and deliberately, Eddie walked to within an inch of Frankie, staring with his evil green eyes. Swiftly, he pulled out his own gun and shoved it under Frankie’s nose. “It’s not a case of what do I want, cocky cunt, it’s more a case of what is mine.” He looked around the pub and back at Frankie, who was now sweating. Eddie grinned; he liked to see a man encased in fear.

  “I think it’s fair to say that Gareth will be doing business with me from now on. Ain’t that right, Gareth?” He glanced at the publican, who nodded back. “Yeah, see, so the question really is what do you want?”

  He removed his gun and tapped Frankie’s cheek.

  “Well, I suppose we could make a deal,” replied Frankie.

  “Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Right, you give your brother a hand and we will take our business outside. I think Gareth over there wants to get off home,” stated Eddie.

  Naïvely, the brothers agreed to talk outside. Freddie was white, having lost a lot of blood, and he was now in need of urgent medical attention. And Frankie was terrified, if they didn’t do as they were told, he would get shot himself. Freddie struggled to get to his feet, his ankle now smashed to pieces. But Cyril helped him – it was only fair.

  Toni stayed behind, ensuring Gareth didn’t do anything stupid.

  “They were taking the piss, though, Gareth. I mean fifty per cent. What was you thinking, babe?” she said, as she stroked his cheek.

  A sucker for pretty women, Gareth had taken Toni on as barmaid; despite a few dainty scars, she ticked all the boxes in the looks department, with a neat arse and a sexy smile. He liked a confident woman and Toni was that all right. He hadn’t asked for a curriculum vitae or a reference, and so he was totally unaware she was straight out of prison.

  “Yeah, I guess they were. So that Eddie guy is your brother, I assume?”

  Toni smiled. “Yeah, he will look after the pub and do a better job, trust me. He ain’t greedy, either. He will only want ten per cent. Ya need people like him on your side.”

  For a man who never drank, he poured himself a double brandy. It was still a shock. He had never seen anyone get shot before.

  “Now then, Gareth, I am going to clean up that mess and then me and you can have a little quiet time on our own,” she winked.

  Gareth blushed and turned away, trying to hide the bulge from his aroused cock inside his light grey trousers, to the amusement of Toni.

  Outside, the men bundled the two brothers into the back of two separate cars. The brothers knew then they were not going to discuss business – they were effectively dead men walking.

  Cyril had a brother called Howie. Howie ‘the pig’ he was called, on account that he had a pig farm. The beasts were huge, thirty in total, but they were always hungry. He usually fed them twice a day, and if they missed a feed, they would turn on each other. Howie hadn’t fed them for two days, so now they were vicious and would eat anything, bones and all.

  Eagerly, and out of fascination, Eddie went along to make sure everything went to plan. The long lane leading to the farm was difficult to see in the pitch-black night but Cyril led the way. He knew the roads like the back of his hand. There were no lights following them so they were safe.

  Frankie pleaded for his life, but Freddie was out cold; the bullet wound had almost caused him to bleed out. The firm though had foreseen the likely results of their work tonight. They had decided to use stolen cars which would be burnt out after they had completed their task, leaving no evidence for the filth.

  With his pitchfork and a nasty sneer across his face, Howie appeared. Eddie wanted to laugh out loud. Howie was nothing like Cyril; he was dressed in old combat trousers and a holey top and his face was red and rugged. He was chewing a stick, and when he grinned, Eddie could see his teeth were black. He shuddered: Howie was like a character from a horror movie.

  “Me pigs are starving. I’ve put them in the metal pig pen. The way they are carrying on, they would break through me wooden one. I hope those men ’ave got some meat on ’em.”

  Eddie swallowed hard; perhaps he wouldn’t watch after all. Shooting a man dead and seeing his eyes removed was one thing but watching him get eaten alive was quite another.

  Wasting no time, Eddie belted Frankie around the head, knocking him clean out, and then he removed his and his brother’s clothes and wristwatches. With a few swings, they threw the unconscious brothers up and over, into the pen. Eddie looked away; the smell from the pigs, and the thought of what they would do to these villains, made him sick. Cyril and Howie, however, just leaned over the gate and laughed; they were veterans in the disposal business. Then they heard a few screams, but the snorting and grunting drowned out the dying brothers’ cries.

  Back in business now, Eddie had the protection racket under his wing, just as he had done twelve years before. He should have been content, as the money was rolling in, and he was on top again. Maddox was still on his payroll, and so Eddie was given a wide birth, most of the time.

  *

  “So, Tommy, you don’t let her out of your sight. I wanna know everything. That means where she goes, even who she is fucking. Got it?”

  Tommy nodded. He had been present that night, and even though the incident was three years ago, he still couldn’t get the images out of his head of the Bristol brothers being gnawed at by those brick-teethed pigs. He knew Eddie was evil, but what he had witnessed was something on a whole other level of brutality. “No worries, Eddie,” he replied. He sincerely meant that: he didn’t want to be the main course for Howie’s pigs.

  *

  Kelly hopped out of the black taxi and walked around to the side to pay the driver. Just behind the vehicle was a blue Mercedes; she only noticed it because she had a keen eye for a good car. The taxi driver watched her walk across the road; he was admiring her figure, as was the man in the blue Mercedes.

  As she put the key in the door, she held her breath in excitement; her new look would shock them, as it had done her. She heard talking coming from the lounge and instantly recognised the voice; her aunt Bet had arrived. She dropped her bags in the hallway and rushed in to greet her. Betty was sitting with Lippy and enjoying tea and a slice of her friend’s towered cream cake. Both women were astonished at the sight of Kelly and it left them speechless.

  Kelly turned a full circle. “Well, do you like my new look?”

  Betty shuffled to get up; her back was better but she still struggled. With her arms outstretched, she held on to Kelly, kissing her cheek. “Oh, my babe, just look at yer, a proper stunner, ain’t she, Lippy?”
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br />   Lippy was emotional and her eyes were moist. “Ahh, chil’, ya look like a princess.”

  After the trial, Lippy and Betty had become close friends and would often meet up for a coffee and a chat. They would go and visit Kelly once a month together. Betty had learned about Kelly’s life on the run and felt guilty that her niece had not gone to her for help. In fact, she felt guilty for so many reasons and particularly holding back the truth until the girl was sixteen. She could have fulfilled her promise to tell Kelly, but prison visits were not the right place.

  It was time now though.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The truth

  Lippy knew that Betty and Kelly needed time alone and made her excuses to go out. Kelly looked at her aunt and gave her an empathetic smile.

  “So, Aunt Bet, it’s time you stopped feeling guilty. I told you that if it wasn’t for you, all those years looking out for me, the best way you could, I would have probably taken me own life. I know you took an oath. So, it doesn’t matter anymore. I know who Eddie is and what he did, so …” She stopped when she saw the tears in her aunt’s eyes.

  “What, Aunt Bet, what’s the matter?”

  Betty turned to Kelly and cupped her face. “My babe, there’s a lot more you don’t know, and I think it’s about time you knew the truth. It’s only fair and right.”

  Kelly felt cold shivers up her spine. She searched her aunt’s face for answers and watched as her cheerful look turned to one of deep sadness. Betty looked as though she was in pain and had in a New York minute aged twenty years.

  “Aunt Bet, what is it? Tell me, nothing is that bad.”

  “Ahh, my girl, I think you’re gonna hate me.”

  Kelly put her arm around Betty’s shoulders and said, “I could never hate you, never.”

  As Betty looked at the floor, and lowered her eyes, it was hard to reveal the truth after so long, knowing that the secret was a cruel one. “Are you ready to hear this, Kel?”

  With wide eyes and a deliberate nod, Kelly said, “Yes, go on.”

  *

  Betty took a deep breath and then proceeded to tell the story.

  When Maureen married Eddie, they were in love, deeply in love. Eddie was proud of Maureen and enjoyed her company. She was a good-looking woman and he was handsome, there was no denying it. The big houses and flash holidays were a lifestyle they both relished. Maureen knew that, as time went on, she wasn’t enough in the bedroom to satisfy his appetite. She also knew he was getting his oats elsewhere; it was nothing serious, just the odd soppy tart who put it out. She could handle that, as long as he still came home to her. Somehow, she managed to put those notions to the back of her mind and closed her ears to the gossip. Then, she hit him with the idea of a family. At first, he wasn’t keen, but after she persisted, he agreed. That’s when the trouble started. Maureen had tried for six months to become pregnant until the doctors told her she was infertile.

  At about this time, Eddie was nosing around Naomi, Jack Macfarlane’s daughter. He had thought nothing of fucking the nineteen-year-old; it would be his sick way of revenge before he eventually killed her father.

  Naomi was infatuated with Eddie and ergo an easy target. She followed him around, pleading to spend any spare time she had with him. She was a good-looking kid too. But that was just it, she was a kid. Eddie enjoyed the sex and spent a lot of time renting hotel rooms. Then Maureen dropped the bombshell she was barren. He seemed okay about this at first, but strangely, and no one knew why, he flipped. He suddenly wanted a child and made it clear to Maureen that by hook or by crook he would have a baby. Maureen was in a right state; she thought he was going to leave her and find himself another woman. No one knew at the time though he had just found out that Naomi was pregnant. He never told Maureen about the kid or who she was; he just told her that some old tart was going to have their baby, like a surrogate mother. Maureen was told to shut her mouth and not to ask too many questions. She agreed – what other option did she have?

  Then, one day, he came home with this baby, new born, barely a day old. He placed the baby in Maureen’s arms and told her to love the child like her own. It wasn’t long after when the police fished Jack and Mickey out of the Thames.

  At first, Maureen was over the moon and went out purchasing all the pretty things; she treated the child like a dolly. Then she got depressed: the child had been forced upon her and furthermore they weren’t a content family where Eddie would be happy at home, relaxing with his feet up in front of the telly or playing with the baby. And she wasn’t maternal at all but kept up the pretence in front of Eddie. Well, she had to.

  Almost four years passed and Maureen found out who the mother was, when Eddie got drunk; she was so hurt. It wasn’t any old whore, it was Naomi, and Maureen knew her. She was often over at Jack’s house. Eddie had known the girl from the age of five years old. No one would have ever dreamed he would have been messing with her – his so-called best friend’s daughter.

  Eddie’s hatred for Jack’s so-called treachery led to payback, and so even though it was a year after the diamond heist, he planned their death and carried it out with precision. He had even cut out their eyes – a sick, evil deed. Maureen went insane when she discovered the truth about the mother of the baby, and so she grassed him to the police for the murders. She never mentioned the child though. So, Eddie then went away for twelve years. She’d had the last laugh because she had something that ultimately belonged to him.

  Kelly’s face was drained; her skin was pale and her eyes looked grey. What? This was sick. She stared into space for a few seconds, her mind rapidly processing the chain of events. Betty waited for her to say something. She had always known this news would be a shock.

  “I am so sorry, Kelly, really I am. I wish I’d told you years ago, but I couldn’t. I daren’t because my Billy was Eddie’s baby too and I never wanted him to know. I didn’t want Eddie to get his filthy hands on him.” Her words were like firing bullets.

  “What! Billy was my brother?”

  Betty looked afraid. She had just opened the biggest can of worms.

  “Did you have an affair with Eddie too?” Her voice was harsh.

  Betty shook her head defiantly; she wasn’t ashamed. “No, babe, he got me paralytic and fucking helped himself.”

  Kelly threw her hands to her mouth and put her arms out to hug Betty. They held on to each other, rocking to and fro, with tears streaming, each distraught for the other. Betty was racked with guilt, knowing that Kelly would be hurting. The sordid secrets were now out and she would have to find a way to help this admirable young woman get over it. Kelly sniffed back the tears and then stroked Betty’s face.

  “Did he hurt you, Aunt Bet?” Her voice was full of compassion. Betty looked into Kelly’s eyes and wondered what on earth she was thinking – the sweetness of the child. But Kelly was more concerned about her aunt’s feelings than her own, despite hearing such earth-shattering news.

  “No, not for that reason, but in every other way he hurt me. He destroyed your mother and she hated you for it. So, Kelly, I detest that man more than I hate anyone.”

  “Yeah, he is one nasty bastard … do you know what happened to me real mum?”

  Betty shook her head. “Nah, babe, I don’t. She disappeared off the face of the earth. Do you want to find her then, Kel?”

  “No. She is obviously another victim of Eddie Raven. Seeing my face will probably haunt her, poor woman.”

  There was a long silence, as Kelly went over again what she had just heard. It was as if Betty was talking about someone else. Yet it was her; she was the baby handed to a nutcase to bring up. She was the child who was brought up for selfish reasons. No one really wanted her, except Betty.

  *

  That night brought with it the day’s tribulations: it was predictable as it was unwelcome. Kelly tossed and turned, going over vivid images of her life: the beatings by her own mother, a lost teenager handing over a baby, her aunt being raped,
and, of course, Eddie, the cruel, sadistic monster. She thought of Billy; she had loved him like a brother too. They were close as youngsters, but he was taken too soon by a childhood heart defect, after he had collapsed on the football pitch. She remembered her aunt being beside herself with grief, and she herself feeling so helpless. Then she considered Betty and her heartache; it was extraordinary because actually she wasn’t even her real aunt. The only person who was real was Eddie, her fucking father.

  Drenched in sorrow and guilt, she rested against the headboard. There was no point in upsetting herself; she was who she was and that was that. Her future would be down to her own doing from now on. She turned on the light and peeled back the carpet to reveal the floorboards. The short board closest to the wall was loose. She lifted it up and pulled from the hole the bunny: it was her comforter as a child.

  She recalled vividly the day Maureen tried to take it away and her father’s words then. They never made sense until now. She had dropped the bunny on the floor where it landed in some ice cream she had just spilled. Maureen picked up the toy and held it with her finger and thumb. She had ignored her cries, heading towards the bin. Maureen placed her foot on the pedal and the lid popped up. Just as she was about to drop the toy inside, Eddie hollered, “Don’t you fucking dare! It’s her comfort toy, from her mother. Never, ever, fucking throw that away! Do you understand me?”

  That look of hate and jealousy on Maureen’s face as her father snatched the bunny away now evoked powerful memories and emotions. He had wiped the toy over and handed it back and said, “There you go, my baby, you look after that, always.”

  Kelly did: she never let it out of her sight.

  She held the bunny and stroked its head; her poor mother had given her that toy and it was the only one she had really cherished. She wondered what her mother would look like. Was she clever, or talented … was she even alive?

  She sat on the edge of her bed and allowed the tears to flow. Legend knocked her hand, as he sensed she was hurting. Just then, there was a tap on her bedroom door. She wiped her tear-stained face and said, “Come in.”