Maura's Game

  As she walked into the hospital she checked over in her mind that she had all Maura needed.

  In her private room at the Nuffield in Brentwood, Maura was watching Sky News and fuming as the presenter referred to her as ‘Maura Ryan, East End businesswoman’. She was originally from Notting Hill, and she now lived in Essex. The least they could do was get it right. She switched the TV off and stood up as her niece walked into the room.

  ‘Rubbish! It’s all rubbish! They don’t know me . . . they don’t know anything about me.’

  Carla rolled her eyes and said jokily, ‘Thank God.’ Maura laughed with her.

  ‘I didn’t think I had a laugh in me, to be honest.’

  Carla put her arms around her aunt and hugged her tightly.

  ‘I am so sorry, Maws, so very, very sorry. Terry was a good bloke.’

  It was the first time she had directly mentioned anything about what had happened. Maura hugged her back as if she was frightened to let her go.

  ‘Are you sure you’re OK to come home with me?’

  Maura swallowed down the tears.

  ‘You bet. I am back, Carla, and I will hunt the scum who killed Terry into the ground. And when I get my hands on them . . .’

  ‘And I’m right beside you, remember that.’

  Maura smiled shakily.

  ‘I appreciate you saying that, Carla. It means a lot to me. But you just concentrate on Joey, OK?’

  Suddenly the door burst open and Marge Dawson stomped into the room.

  ‘Bleeding cheek! That black git on the door wasn’t going to let me in!’

  Tony Dooley’s eldest son, Tony Junior, stood behind Marge, a surprised expression on his handsome face. The Dooleys were a well-known family of minders. Tony Senior had looked after Maura for years before handing the job over to one of his boys.

  ‘Sorry, Maura, she was very insistent.’

  ‘Right and all, you cheeky little fucker!’

  Marge was incensed and it showed.

  ‘I knew her before you were even born, mate, and you tell your father he should have beaten some manners into you by now, young man.’

  Tony Dooley Junior shook his head in disbelief and shut the door gently as he left the room. He was six foot six inches and built like the proverbial brick shithouse. To see her tiny friend Marge shouting at him made Maura really start to laugh. It was just what she needed. The three women all began roaring. Marge’s distinctive guffaw made Maura laugh harder. Her eyes were watering and she could feel the snot running from her nose. As she grabbed a tissue she felt the enormity of what had happened to Terry bearing down on her. The simple act of laughing had unleashed every trapped emotion and she started to cry. Tears became heart-wrenching sobs and as she sank down into the chair by the window, both Carla and Marge patted her back, murmuring endearments to her.

  It was what she needed, Marge and Carla tacitly agreed.

  ‘You cry it out, girl. Get it off your chest.’

  As she cried she saw Terry smiling at her for the last time. It was so wrong, so very wrong. It was she who should have died and then she would not have to face a life lived without him.

  Maura cried for what seemed an age and then when she quietened Marge ordered a large pot of strong tea.

  ‘Get that down your throat, girl, and we can get you packed and home, eh?’

  Maura nodded.

  ‘Thanks. I don’t know what I would do without you both.’

  Marge had not aged well; she looked much older than her forty-four years. She was still overweight with a bad perm and a bad home dye job. Her make-up was still startling to the uninitiated and she complained about her feet constantly. But Maura loved her with a passion only thinly disguised by the offhand way they talked to each other. They had been friends since kids and had shared each other’s grief and happiness over the years.

  With both Carla and Marge beside her, for a few minutes Maura could forget the danger that threatened her and get her thoughts in order.

  Terry was dead because of her and that knowledge was hard to bear. If only they had never argued. That last bitter exchange was the hardest thing of all to remember. He had loved her, she knew that, and she had loved him. Always had, always would, it was as simple as that.

  But her lifestyle had come between them. In her heart of hearts she’d felt only half-alive during the years spent with Terry, and that was harder than anything to admit to herself. Only when she wore the mantle of Maura Ryan, dangerous lady, did she feel truly herself, tingle with anticipation at the start of each new day. She knew she was not cut out to be a housewife; her only chance at motherhood had been ruined in a dingy flat with the abortion of her child. Her child and Terry’s.

  She knew deep inside she had never forgiven him for abandoning her then, in favour of his job. His precious police career. But it didn’t stop her from loving him, even while she resented him. Now she had to bury him. Or what was left of him anyway.

  Marge and Carla packed for her and talked to one another with their eyes. When Maura went to the bathroom to wash her face, Marge whispered to Carla, ‘One or other of us needs to stay with her at all times.’

  Carla nodded.

  ‘I’ve never seen her like this before.’

  Marge shrugged. ‘I have. When Michael died. There’s been too much death in her life.’

  Carla didn’t answer her. She didn’t know what to say.

  Maura walked from the bathroom with full make-up and a smile plastered on her face. ‘Come on then, girls, let’s get home, eh?’

  Carla watched her aunt acting as if nothing had happened. She was putting it all out of her head as usual and wouldn’t allow herself to grieve properly.

  But trouble was on the way, Carla was sure of it.

  In more ways than one.

  Benny, Garry and Roy met Lee at a lock-up in Camden. As they closed the door behind them Benny checked the road to see if anyone outside was watching them.

  ‘Who moved the car out?’ Garry said.

  Benny answered.

  ‘Abul. He’s taken it for a jaunt.’

  Garry grinned. He loved his nephew Benny, they were of similar temperament.

  ‘Good boy. Now, there’s a few interesting bits under here. A couple of Armalites. A rocket launcher. The spades are in the corner, you’d better get digging! ’

  Lee laughed.

  ‘What are you going to do then?’

  Garry shrugged.

  ‘Get the teas, of course. I’ll let you work up a sweat first, naturally.’

  ‘Naturally!’

  Benny, always hands on, started to dig with a vengeance. The others watched him for a while, marvelling at the strength of him.

  ‘How’s Maura?’ Garry’s voice was low.

  Roy sighed.

  ‘Not good. Reminds me of how she was after Micky went. She’s bottling it all up as usual.’

  ‘Fucking good riddance to bad rubbish if you ask me. That Petherick was a ponce. For a shrewd bird she was blinded there.’

  ‘Ain’t we all where lovers are concerned?’

  Garry laughed.

  ‘Not me. I never met anyone I cared about. Wanted to fuck, maybe take out now and again, but people who get too close can own you. They make you stupid, make you do stupid things.’

  Lee knew Garry meant him and Sheila and he reacted angrily.

  ‘Not everyone is just after what they can get, Gal. Not all women are slags.’

  Garry raised his eyebrows in an expression of disbelief.

  ‘They are. Show them a few quid, a big cock and a nice motor, and they’re yours. Look at Joliff’s old woman, a slag of the first water.’

  ‘Not any more, Uncle Garry.’

  ‘Not so much of the ‘‘Uncle’’ if you don’t mind, young Benny. Garry will do.’

  ‘We’re blamed for that, and you know what it means, don’t you?’ Roy sounded worried.

  Garry nodded, irritated by his brother’s reaction.

  ‘It means
we have to strike first, that’s what it means. So hurry up and dig, boys. Let battle commence.’

  ‘Maura wants us all to go to her flat over the club at lunchtime.’

  Roy still sounded unsure and Benny picked up on that fact.

  ‘Do you think she’s up to all this?’ He gestured with the spade into the hole.

  Garry laughed and Lee joined in.

  ‘Maura would shoot you if you annoyed her enough, boy, remember that. She’ll bounce back. She is the only woman I know who thinks like a bloke. She also has the ability to suppress her feelings. She’ll be all right, I guarantee it.’

  Benny nodded, satisfied. But Roy kept his own counsel. He would wait and see. Although they were all pleased Terry was out of the picture, Maura certainly wasn’t. She had thought the sun shone out of Petherick’s arse and nothing any of them said was going to change that fact. This had started out as Maura giving him a hand to sort out a few bits and pieces. Now it was a full-scale war. Watching Benny acting like an extra in The Godfather could have been amusing if it hadn’t all been so deadly serious.

  Lana Smith was small and plump with melon-shaped breasts that not only defied gravity, they actually made her look fatter – if that was possible. Since her baby had been born a few months previously she had piled on the weight.

  As she stepped out of her car to go into her local tanning salon she saw a slightly-built, curly-haired man smiling at her. Never one to be backward at coming forward she noted his brown eyes and cocky smile in a nanosecond. She noticed the knife a few beats later.

  It entered her stomach and ripped up through to her breastbone, leaving a gaping hole. As she stumbled off the kerb she felt the wetness of her blood as it pumped out of her body. The man was already driving away and the wing of his car clipped her shoulder, knocking her back on the pavement with a heavy thud.

  Her new baby Alicia slept contentedly in her car seat until the wail of the ambulances and police cars woke her and then she screamed endlessly, her little face red with anger and exertion.

  Maura listened in amazement as she was told of the deaths of two of the south east’s most hardened criminals’ women. She screwed up her eyes in disbelief.

  ‘Why would anyone think we would kill them? They’re wives, birds, civilians. What the fuck would hurting them gain us? They both had kids, for fuck’s sake.’

  Benny shrugged.

  ‘To gain us aggravation if we’re put in the frame.’

  Maura rolled her eyes to the ceiling in annoyance.

  ‘Fucking hell, Benny, that never even occurred to me. Give him a fucking paper hat!’

  The words stung and Benny as usual was on his dignity.

  ‘No need to be sarcastic, Maura . . .’

  She interrupted him.

  ‘Shut the fuck up, Benny. This is not the time or place for you and your fucking stupid little boy act, OK? This is serious grown-up shit. Lana’s old man Kenny could pick you up and squeeze you to death in the middle of Romford Market and not one person would admit to seeing a thing. He is heavy, and he is serious, and we have to sort this out soon else all the Armalites in the world won’t keep Smithy off our doorstep.’

  Maura’s words sobered everybody. Even Garry agreed they had a problem.

  ‘That is one heavy duty bastard, and now he has a motherless child to add to his annoyance. We’d better arrange a meet as soon as possible.’

  Benny was still sceptical. He blew breath from his mouth noisily in a final act of defiance.

  ‘Fuck him, we ain’t done nothing.’

  Garry turned on his nephew and said slowly, ‘Kenny Smith is one of the only people I am wary of. Now that should tell you to treat him with respect. He’s a decent bloke until he gets upset – and then he’s a fucking maniac. He’s the guy everyone uses as a go-between for trouble. That’s what he does. He’s respected and liked, and he’s the man we were going to call on to liaise between us and Joliff. Only now we’re on his top ten shit list, at number one, we’ll have to find someone else to do the dirty work for us.’

  Maura rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands, a sure sign she was upset.

  ‘We have to find out who’s putting our faces in the frame. Maybe Kenny can still help us with that, if I try the softly-softly approach. Garry, Roy and Lee – I want you with me for back-up but let me talk to him on me own.’

  Garry nodded. Benny was more than aware he was out of the equation but didn’t make a direct protest.

  ‘So what do I do while you lot are gallivanting around tonight then?’

  Maura looked at him and said seriously, ‘You make yourself busy, of course, Benny. You carry on routing out all our minor personnel and you put the fear of Christ up them. See what you can find out. But don’t glue anyone’s eyes shut, please. It’s very bad for business.’

  Benny was clearly thrilled at the opportunity for further violence and Maura watched him with distaste.

  He was so like her brother Michael, in looks and temperament. But unlike the eldest Ryan who had had an exemplary business sense, Benny as far as Maura could see was strictly a bullyboy. Like Michael, he would explode into violent rages and now she wanted to tap into that part of him and use it for her own ends. If anyone knew anything they would be most likely to tell Benny Ryan. She loved him but found his wildness hard to deal with, especially when they had so much else to worry them. She knew he was offended by her reaction to him and didn’t care. She had no intention of nursing him through this. He had to learn to deal with life, as they all had. She knew his father agreed with her way of thinking and that was all she cared about.

  ‘I have been in touch with a few faces around town to see if I can get the SP on the latest killing, Maura. I’ll let you know what I hear.’

  Garry let Lee speak then asked her: ‘What about the filth, what have they had to say about Terry?’

  Maura had expected the question and had also expected it from Garry. None of the others would have had the front to ask her outright. The tension in the room was almost unbearable as she answered him.

  ‘I’ve batted them off so far. I’ll have a meet with our pal Caldwell obviously before I can even begin to think about talking to anyone else.’

  Garry nodded, satisfied.

  ‘Well, he was one of their own so they’ll be as interested as we are, won’t they?’

  Benny’s voice was dismissive and Maura felt an urge to throttle her nephew until he passed out. Instead she said coldly, ‘Do you know something, Benny? One of these days that trap of yours is going to get you into all kinds of trouble, starting with me. Whatever you thought of Terry Petherick, and frankly I don’t give a toss what that was, he was part of this family through me and me only. I am warning you, Benny . . .’ she looked slowly around the room ‘. . . I am warning you all, any personal feelings you may have had about him get left at the door. We have to work together on this and I do not want to have to explain myself to you, the filth or anyone else. Do you understand what I’m saying here?’

  Her blue eyes were as cold as flint and her perfectly made-up face was hard. For the first time ever Benny saw his aunt as all her brothers saw her and it unnerved him. He knew that in this mood she would order his disappearance without a second’s hesitation if it would make her quest easier. Far from finding this scary he admired her for it. Fear was the key in their business and she was one of the few women who knew how to use it.

  That she was under immense pressure never occurred to him. That she was trying to keep them together, show a united front to the criminal fraternity, never occurred to him either. He was still too young and too immature to see what was really going on. It would be his downfall if he wasn’t careful. He had never been in the middle of a gang war before and Maura knew he was going to be properly blooded before the week was out. She would watch him and help if necessary, but she had no intention of baby-sitting him today. He had to be put in his place sooner rather than later, that much she knew for sure.

  One da
y her nephew’s mouth and attitude were going to get him into trouble big time and he had to be made aware of that fact.

  All the men in the room were staring at Benny and he felt uncomfortable. He also realised he was going to have to watch himself. Even his father didn’t come to his defence against Marvellous Maura.

  He had never before seen her in this mode and now, as far as he was concerned, everything he had heard about her was true. He felt proud to be a part of this family and to know deep inside that he was just like them. It made him feel he belonged. Made him feel good about himself.

  Benny smiled, one of his big heart-warming smiles that drew men and women alike to him. And as Maura looked at her nephew she saw her brother Michael, the first man she had loved, smiling back at her.

  Benny grinned around the room and said roguishly, ‘That put me in me fucking place, didn’t it?’

  Maura couldn’t resist him then. Hugging him tight, she said seriously, ‘You are one cocky little fucker.’

  Garry yawned noisily and remarked to no one in particular, ‘You can say that again, Maws. Now then, let’s get this show on the road. We’re going to have Smithy seeing sense before it’s dark.’

  Roy watched his son as he blinded Maura with that smile of his. Inside he was worried. Benny was a loose cannon and Roy knew he was going to have to keep a steely eye on him so he didn’t balls everything up with his temper and youthful arrogance.

  He didn’t want to admit that his own son scared him, but he did. Benny frightened the life out of him. Like his uncle before him he was as mad as a hatter, and like his uncle he would not be controlled for long.

  Kenny Smith looked at his baby daughter sleeping in her cot and swallowed down the ball of tears bunched in the back of his throat. His scarred face twisted with grief, making him look even uglier. His mother Eileen, an East End harridan with permed hair and a cigarette permanently dangling from her lip, patted his arm.

  ‘Unbelievable, son. Bloody unbelievable.’

  He clutched her hand tightly.