Goodnight Lady (83 page)

The grey-haired man said sadly, ‘No joke, mate. You’ve been tumbled. Get your coat and let’s have this over with.’

Five minutes later Harry Limmington was sitting in the back of a panda car on his way to Barkingside police station.

 

Briony kissed Marla and Letitia goodbye. As she walked along the landing she was hugged by Belinda who said gruffly, ‘Don’t forget us lot now, will you?’

Briony laughed out loud. ‘As if I could.’ She followed Tracy off A wing, and as the door was locked behind her, sighed with relief.

She was leaving the place, and the thought gave her a thrill. Soon she would be outside in the filthy London air and she’d breathe it in gratefully. Soon she would be with her family, and with Tommy, her Tommy. Then she could put all this in the past.

Twenty minutes later she was dressed, had signed for her belongings and stepped outside Holloway to a blaze of photographers and newsmen. She felt an arm on hers and turned to see Bernadette.

‘Come on, Bri, we’ve a car here for you. Let’s get you home, girl. Marcus is picking up Tommy.’

They pushed their way to a waiting Rolls-Royce and, slamming the door behind them, Briony began the journey back to her family.

‘How you feeling, Bri?’

‘Great, Bernie, really great. I tell you something, I have never been so pleased to see anyone in my life before! Now all I want is a bath to get the smell of that rathole off me.’

Bernadette laughed.

‘The whole family is waiting at home for you.’

Briony grinned.

‘I had a feeling they might be.’

 

Briony walked into Bernadette’s house to see Cissy crying, her mother drinking, and Kerry and Liselle popping champagne corks. Jonathan had flown over for her homecoming. As she kissed his cheek, and felt the family envelop her in their love, she knew, finally and irrevocably that she had indeed come home.

Mariah came out of the drawing room to greet her and the two women hugged.

‘Welcome home, Bri. We beat the fuckers! I told you we would, didn’t I?’

‘We did that. Mariah. Now I want a large brandy and a nice fag. Then I want to have a bath and wash me hair!’

Mariah poured her a brandy in a large balloon glass.

‘Cheers, everyone.’ Briony drank the burning spirit straight back. Then, sitting in a chair, she grinned.

‘By Christ, it’s nice to be home.’ Her voice broke then and everyone stood in amazement as she cried her eyes out. Molly finally went to her daughter and cuddled her.

‘Come on now, darling. Once we get your man out, Daniel, we’ll all be together again.’

Briony was saved from answering as Marcus and Tommy came through the front door.

Briony was swept up into Tommy’s arms and kissed hard on the mouth.

‘I’ve missed you, Bri. Oh, but I’ve missed you, girl!’

Then, in excitement and happiness, the homecoming party started in earnest.

 

Briony and Tommy lay in bed together, the aftermath of energetic lovemaking leaving them both warm and pleasantly tired.

‘Oh, Tommy, I’ve dreamt of this. Being with you again. I really thought me and you were going to go down and they would throw away the key.’

Tommy pulled her closer to him.

‘I’ll tell you something, Briony, I was shitting meself. But Mariah came up trumps. She put pressure on the right people. She knew who would be the most vulnerable, and the most helpful.’

‘You know, Tommy, I never thought Harry Limmington would have stooped to doctoring a statement. I always had him down as straight as a die. I know it sounds crazy, but him being bent, it’s upset me!’

Tommy laughed low.

‘I don’t believe you, Briony! He was after putting us away for the rest of our natural and you’re upset because he’s a little bent! I hope he gets ten years, the ugly ponce!’

She snuggled into his arms.

‘I never want to go inside again, Tommy. I think I’ll retire now.’

He laughed again, louder this time. ‘I’ll believe that when I see it.’

‘Believe it, Tommy Lane. I’m too old to be banged up!’

Tommy looked down into her green eyes. ‘You’ll never be old to me, Bri. You’ll always be the girl in the blue velvet dress.’

Briony kissed him again. ‘You’re an old bullshitter, Tommy Lane, but I love you.’

‘And I love you, Briony, more than you know.’

They were quiet for a while, just enjoying each other’s presence, then Tommy said: ‘What are we going to do about Daniel?’

Briony took a deep breath.

‘What can we do? There’s no way we can nobble for him, is there? It’s too big. Me and you were on charges so old they were practically entered in the Domesday Book! But Danny boy, they’ve got him bang to rights. He committed a grisly murder in a packed pub. He went too far, Tommy. He went over the top. For all we ever done, we never enjoyed any of it. To me and you it was always a means to an end. But Danny and Boysie, God love them, they enjoyed the killing. Especially Daniel.

‘They made the cardinal mistake. They really thought they were above the law. We both tried to tell them over the years, and this is the upshot. I have no intention of lifting a finger to get Daniel out. I’ll get him a brief and that’s that.’

Tommy stroked the erratic red hair he loved so much and said truthfully, ‘I’m glad.’

She sighed.

‘Are you? I’m not. I wonder what my Eileen would have thought of the way those two boys turned out? She entrusted them to me and I ruined them. I made the mistake I’ve always made. I loved them too much.’

Tommy pulled her to him and held her close.

‘You can never love anyone too much, Bri.’

But she didn’t answer him.

 

Briony opened the front door herself. It was early afternoon and everyone had eaten lunch. The doorbell rang as she was coming out of her kitchen with a large tin of cakes freshly baked that morning by Cissy for Tommy, who still ate as often as possible. Briony put the cake tin on the hall table and opened the door with a smile on her face, expecting it to be one of the bevy of reporters camped outside her house. She sent them out tea at intervals and they always thanked her politely.

She opened the door and the smile froze on her face.

‘Hello. I hope I’m not intruding?’

Briony felt a wave of heat wash over her body as the rich voice spoke to her. She stood stock still, her eyes boring into those of her son.

‘Benedict?’ It was a question.

The two stood looking at one another for long moments before Tommy came bowling into the entrance hall. One look at the man at the door told him everything. He saw the same green eyes, the same heart-shaped face, the same finely boned features. Even the man’s hair had a red tint.

‘Benedict? Bloody hell, Bri, he’s like the spit out of your mouth!’

Tommy’s incredulous voice broke the tension. Benedict felt himself being pulled over the threshold and into the warmth of his mother’s home.

Briony stared at her son from head to toe. She had to crane her neck to look up into his face, he was so tall. As big as Tommy. The two men shook hands, Tommy grabbing her son as if frightened Benedict was going to run away.

‘This is indeed a pleasure. I’ll go inside and keep everyone contained.’ He laughed. ‘I expect you two would like to see one another for a while in private?’

Benedict smiled as the big jovial man went back into the dining room and left them alone.

‘Come through to the drawing room, Benedict. We can talk there.’

He followed her. She looked amazingly youthful from behind. She had the same easy carriage that his own daughter had, along with the deep red hair and green eyes.

Inside the drawing room, Briony turned to face him.

‘I hope you’ve come in friendship, Benedict.’

She looked so small standing there, hands clasped in front of her like a schoolgirl, her brilliant eyes lowered. He felt as if someone had pushed a knife into his chest, so great was the pain. Then over her shoulder he saw a photograph of himself in a heavy silver frame. His childish face was smiling. The photograph was faded with age.

‘Sally took me to have that photograph taken, I can remember it as if it was yesterday. I realise now she worked for you as well as my family.’

Briony licked her dry lips.

‘I knew everything there was to know about you, Benedict, I got it all from her. Second hand, of course, but you’ll never know how much it meant to me. I never forgot you. Not a day has gone by but you’ve been in my mind. You have to believe that.’

‘It’s funny, but I do believe you. I know you loved me dearly. I’m sorry for the way I acted before...’ His voice faltered. ‘It was finding out the way I did.’

Briony dismissed it with a wave of one jewelled hand.

‘What can I do for you, Benedict?’

He smiled crookedly and shrugged his shoulders. Taking all his courage into his hands, he said, ‘You can start by filling me in on your life. Then, if you want, I’ll tell you about my wife Fen, and my children Henry and Natalie. Your grandchildren.’

Briony felt as if her chest was burning, so intense was the moment.

Of one mind they stepped towards one another and then Briony felt herself being pulled into the arms of her son, her flesh and blood. She could smell his aftershave, and a mingled scent of leather and tobacco. For the first time ever she was being held by her son, her big handsome son whom she had thought hated her, had been disgusted by her. It was a homecoming for both of them.

‘Oh, my son, my son. I’ve waited so long for this. A lifetime.’ Her words were thick with emotion and for long minutes they held one another, the only sound the deep steady ticking of the long case clock in the corner of the room.

Eventually Briony pulled her face from his coat. Smiling, she looked up into the face that mirrored her own.

‘Why? What made you come to me after all that’s happened in the last few weeks?’

Benedict smiled.

‘Because, Mother, you’re my blood, as silly as that may sound. You’re my mother. My reason for being. Your blood runs through my veins and the veins of my children.’ He grinned. ‘Do I sound pompous?’

Briony shook her head, unable to talk for the sheer enormity of what was happening to her.

‘I knew it that day. I had known about you for so long, but I couldn’t admit it to myself. Then my wife, dear Fen, pointed out to me what I had known myself all along. You are me, and I am you really. I wanted to come back that day and say I was sorry. I was paying you back for the hurt I was feeling over my father’s will. Over finding it all out like that. So cold-bloodedly. I can’t ever tell you how sorry I am.’

Briony grasped his hand and held it to her cheek.

‘You’re here now, Ben, that’s enough for me.’

‘I tried to help you. I put pressure on more than a few of my friends and colleagues.’

This statement pleased her enormously. She looked at him again, as if frightened he was going to disappear as quickly as he had come.

‘Thank you, Benedict. Thank you.’

As they stood there Molly burst into the room, her aged eyes still piercingly sharp.

‘What’s going on here then?’ Her voice was loud, distrustful.

Briony smiled. ‘Benedict, I’d like you to meet your maternal grandmother.’

She went to her mother and, taking her arm, walked her to Benedict and said proudly: ‘Mum, this is my son, Benedict Dumas.’

Molly smiled crookedly and said, ‘I’ve got eyes in me head. You look like two peas in a bleeding pod! Come here, son, give your old granny a kiss.’

Benedict kissed her on her papery cheek, feeling her frailness as he embraced her. Then the room seemed to be full of people. He was surrounded by his family, all smiling and looking at him curiously. He saw Bernadette and Kerry; saw his own children in these women, in their jawlines, in the movement of their head.

Yes, indeed, this was his real family. He held on to his grandmother and his mother, relishing the contact with people who were a part of him.

This was his family. Whether he liked it or not, this was the stock he came from. Then they were all touching him, wanting to get to know this big son of Briony’s, this extension to their large close-knit family. He was accepted immediately and at face value, something he had never experienced before in his life.

With all her troubles of the last weeks, with all her heartache over Boysie and Daniel, Briony still felt as if she led a charmed life.

The one thing she had wanted all her life, above everything, had now come about. After over fifty years of trouble, strife and heartbreak, when every family gathering had been bitter-sweet because one crucial person was always absent, always missing, the mainstay of her life was here now.

Benedict was in the fold.

Her son had come home to her.

 

Briony sat opposite Daniel in Wandsworth Prison. He was sitting with his legs crossed, his handsome face dour. She was listening intently to what he had to say.

‘Then, once I’m out, I’m going to go after the fucking lot of them. I’m going to tear the East End apart if needs be, but I’ll find them all. Every last one of them.’

Briony sighed softly. It was always the same.

‘As for that cunt Limmington, I heard he just got a slapped wrist. Well, I’ll fucking pay that slag out and all for my Boysie. You see if I don’t.

‘And did you see that ponce on Friday, did you? Telling the court how I pushed the knife into Mitchell’s mouth. I know that shite, I know his name and address. I’ll torture him and his fucking kids. I’ll torture his kids in front of him...’

Briony held up her hand.

‘Enough! For Christ’s sake, Daniel, that’s enough! You know the old saying, don’t you? “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.” You made a big mistake. You thought you could do what you wanted. Well, you can’t. I’ve got you McQuiddan and he’s good, but you’re going down, Danny boy. You’d best get used to that fact.’