Maura's Game (32 page)

It was a veiled threat and Danielle was reminded of exactly who she was dealing with here: Maura, with her perfect make-up and hair, with her nice clothes and shoes, who had always been good for a laugh or a few quid, was suddenly Maura Ryan and she was looking out for her family now because this heavily pregnant young woman could put them all away. And then Danielle saw that Jamie had dragged them into shit much deeper than she had first thought.

As long as you played Maura Ryan’s game she would look after you, but threaten her or her family and you better watch your step.

“Don’t come the poor old fucking moaner with me, Danny. You will get your comp and I won’t lose a wink of sleep over Jamie. In fact, everyone thinks I’m a fool for even offering you any comp at all. He fucked us up, love, fucked us up big time. So take my advice and remember another old saying: don’t bite the fucking hand that feeds you.”

Danielle was upset and Maura felt a moment’s sorrow for her, but she had to play the hard nut, it was the only way to guarantee that this girl kept her trap shut. At the end of the day that was the most important thing of all.

Benny was once more in the frame with his trademark gluing. In her heart of hearts she could murder the little fucker for bringing all this to their door but it was done and all she could do now was try and contain the damage. If that meant terrifying this poor girl before her then so be it.

Danielle knew the score the same as they all did. She was out of order and Maura had to teach her a little lesson before she ran her mouth off without thinking and inadvertently let the cat out of the bag about her husband’s demise. And, as Maura consoled herself, the lesson was better coming from her rather than Garry or, God forbid, Benny.

So she played up her hard angle and though she had gained an enemy and lost a friend, could sleep easy in her bed knowing Danielle would be too scared ever to voice her opinions on what had happened to her husband.

“Drink your tea, Danielle, and I’ll show you the pictures of the house. It’s got four bedrooms so you’ll have a lot more space for the kids. It’s got a loft room as well that could be a bedroom. It’s up to you really.”

Danielle’s hand was shaking as she took the proffered photographs and Maura felt a stab of guilt once more. She grasped the girl’s hand and said gently, “I am doing what I can for you, and it’s more than most people would be doing in my position.”

Danielle pulled her hand away as quickly as she dared. Plastering a smile on her face, she said bravely, “I know, Maura, and I really appreciate it. You know that. I’m just a bit upset, that’s all.”

Maura closed her eyes in distress. She could see the hatred and fear in Danielle’s eyes as if she had spoken about them out loud. When she left a few moments later she sat in her car and watched the goings on around her. Young mums picking kids up from play school music blaring out of flats and cars. Kids running around still in nappies, their faces filthy and their eyes already full of cunning and streetwise intelligence. The smell of urine in the lobbies of the flats, the used needles that covered the sparse grassy area outside each block, the rusted cars and the abject poverty were all astounding. She wondered how the new government still let people live like this while preaching about morals and sex education.

Her mother had said many years ago that people make slums, not houses. But that wasn’t true. This was the last stop for most of these people, and it was all they had ever known. Yet she knew that as bad as this place was, Danielle would rather be here with Jamie, a philandering ponce and liar, for the rest of her life than ensconced in a nice little place with her kids well provided for with no man beside her.

She drove away a little while later, but she was heavy inside. Even Carla’s betrayal had not hurt her as much as the hatred in Danielle Hicks’s eyes. Maura had finally seen herself as others saw her and she didn’t like the picture she had seen, didn’t like it at all.

Sighing, she wondered where it was all going to end. Would Vic kill her? It was the first time she had asked herself that question, but she was not surprised to realise that she didn’t really care if he did. She was past caring about anything now except the boys, the family. Though, Heaven knew, that was no way for anyone to live.

Carol was looking through the wardrobes for old clothes to give to her mum for the charity shop she worked in two days a week. She was humming as she opened boxes and studied shoes and bags, trying on clothes to see if they still fitted her expanding waistline. She was so happy with her life now that she was pregnant. It was what Benny had needed, a child to centre him, to make him grow up. Even his scary moods had not been so frequent since she had confirmed it.

So she was a happy and contented girl as she looked through her stuff and decided what she wanted and, more importantly, didn’t want.

She could hear the cleaner, Debbie, hoovering away downstairs and a little while later she brought Carol a nice cup of tea and a few biscuits. They gossiped for a while, and then she went back to sorting through the cupboards. She was absolutely content as she enjoyed her day. Never in her life had she been so happy, had so much money and respect.

Finishing her wardrobe, she decided to start on Benny’s. He was pretty good about sending stuff to her mother for the charity shop and would always give money to charities that came begging on the knocker so she had no qualms about sorting through his cupboards. She would make a pile of stuff and anything he wanted to keep he could put back later after he had looked through it.

It was a hot day and the air conditioning made her life so much easier as she pulled open drawers and sorted through the racks of clothes. Grabbing the chair from the dressing table, she climbed up and opened the cupboards at the top of the wardrobes. She began pulling out her own boxes first, and then she started to pull out all of his.

She placed all the boxes on the floor and went to make herself another cup of tea. Debbie was still there, so Carol made her one too and had a laugh before taking her own tea back up to the bedroom to resume her good works. She opened the boxes one by one, and then she noticed a funny smell. She wrinkled up her nose and traced the smell to the top of the wardrobes, in the large cupboard over Benny’s suit rail.

It seemed to be coming from a cream-coloured hatbox that he had tucked away at the back of the cupboard. Climbing on the chair once more, she leant in and gradually pulled the box towards her. It was heavier than the others and this intrigued her. A little voice was telling her to leave well alone but she was curious now and also worried that something had got inside the box and died. Perhaps they had mice? She placed the box on the floor and knelt in front of it. It was sealed with duct tape around the edges and she was suddenly unsure if she wanted to know what was in there. The smell was stronger now it was nearer to her.

She started pulling the duct tape off and, holding her breath, opened the box up. Staring up at her was a human head, its milky eyes glazed and its mouth set in a grimace. It was in the advanced stages of decomposition.

Her screams of abject terror and disgust brought her cleaner running, an act she was to regret for the rest of her life. Soon her screams were added to Carol’s and the neighbours called the police.

It took them twenty minutes to get into the house, and it was a whole day before they finally left it.

Benny didn’t visit Carol in hospital or enquire about the threatened miscarriage and that told her all she needed to know.

Chapter Seventeen

“A what!”

Garry’s voice was so full of incredulity that it made Maura want to laugh. She was sensible enough to know this was just nervous laughter, but the urge to shriek and scream with it was hard to suppress. This was so outrageous she wondered if it was really happening. It was, of course, she knew that much. She just wished it wasn’t true.

“A head, a fucking severed head that he was keeping in his wardrobe. Don’t ask me what for, Garry, I really have no fucking idea and I don’t want to know why he was keeping it either.”

Her brother was shaking his head in consternation.

“That is one fucking nutter.”

Maura laughed and said sarcastically, “No? I never would have worked that one out for me self “So what’s the score?”

“Well, apart from poor old Carol’s screaming that brought the cleaner, the neighbours and eventually the filth, Benny is still at large. But they will come for him now.”

Garry thought for a few moments before saying seriously, “Can’t we say someone planted the head there?”

“Who shall we say planted it, Gal? Alan fucking Titchmarsh?”

He started to laugh.

“Whose head is it anyway?”

Maura shrugged.

“I dread to think. You know Benny, could be anyone’s.”

Garry laughed once more.

“I can’t believe we are having this conversation, can you?”

Maura shook her head.

“It’s not funny really, Garry, is it?”

“Depends whose head it is, don’t it?” He was smiling again, but it was a bemused smile this time.

“Where is he, Maura?”

“Safe enough for the moment.”

“Was it Tommy’s head, do you think, Maws? Perhaps he was going to give it to you for Christmas or something. You know what a fucking Loony Tunes he is.”

Maura shook her head and laughed at the absurdity of what he was saying even though with Benny it was completely feasible.

“It was in an advanced state of decomposition, so no, it wasn’t Tommy. More’s the pity.”

Garry shook his head in wonderment.

“He is fucking Radio Rental that boy. I despair of him, I really do. Does Muvver know about it yet?”

Maura shrugged.

“It hit the early-evening news on the telly so I assume she has an inkling. I ain’t heard anything from her, though.”

“I’ll drive over and see how she is, eh?”

“Lee’s probably there by now, I’ll come with you.”

As they were getting in the car Garry started to laugh again. There were two plain-clothes policemen outside and he shouted to them merrily, “My nephew has given a whole new meaning to the expression giving head, hasn’t he?”

He roared at his own wit.

“Leave it out, Garry, for fuck’s sake.”

Maura was annoyed now; this was almost too absurd to take seriously though she knew they would have to. The two young coppers were terrified and it showed.

“Leave them alone, Gal, they’re hardly out of nappies.” She got in the car and carried on talking.

“They think he’s a serial killer apparently, or so they said on the news. He’s keeping trophies, a shrink said. You can always rely on ITV to make the most of it, can’t you? The house is being torn apart as we speak so let’s hope there ain’t nothing else there to incriminate him or us. Maybe they’ll find a whole herd of heads!”

Garry shrugged.

“Don’t matter either way, we own the Old Bill looking into it.”

“Do we, Gal?”

He could hear the surprise in her voice and grinned.

“Put it this way, Maws, we fucking do now. I’ll find out who’s on it and we’ll take it from there. Might do the boy good, though, a sojourn in nick. Might fucking teach him a lesson. Shall I get him put on remand?”

Maura sighed once more; she could follow his logic.

“We’ll see, eh?”

He started up the car and waved to the two plain-clothes, one of whom waved back nervously. As they drove away it occurred to Maura that one good thing to come out of all this was that their enemies would realise just what they were dealing with. She wanted to see Vic so badly and end this shit. It was all getting out of hand now, and she was tired of it all.

“Get him on remand, Gal. You’re right, it might do the little fucker good.”

Her brother grinned, his face shining with glee.

“My thoughts entirely, Maura. See how he likes grown-up bird.”

“Talking of birds, I’ll have to go and see Carol as well.”

Garry yawned, bored now.

“Rather you than me, girl. She is a prat. This is all her fucking fault, she should have left well alone. Typical fucking woman, got to stick her oar in where it ain’t wanted.”

“Be fair, Garry, she couldn’t have known.”

“That ain’t the point, is it? It’s her who’s put the finger on us all, ain’t it? Can you even imagine the shit this is going to cause? I hope he takes her fucking head off next.”

Maura didn’t answer him and they drove to Notting Hill in silence. She wouldn’t want to be Carol at this moment for all the tea in China, she knew that much. Benny was no doubt blaming her as well. He was like her brothers, good at putting the blame elsewhere. It was what they all did to a different degree. She couldn’t help wondering why he had kept the head for so long. Did he take it out and admire it? The thought made her feel sick inside but she wouldn’t put it past him. She wouldn’t put anything past him now.

Sarah and Carla sat together in the kitchen and sipped tea as they tried to come to terms with what Benny had done this time. Lee sat on the stairs and answered the phone, which seemed to be ringing off the hook. They were all in a daze.

When Roy came in Lee smiled at him but his brother ignored him, walking straight into the kitchen.

“All right, Mum. Maura here yet?”

He was warning his daughter and they all knew it.

Sarah shook her head slowly.

“He’s as mad as a March hare, isn’t he?” she said.

Roy nodded.

“So it would seem, Muwer. I’ve spoken to him he seems to think it’s hilarious.”

Sarah tutted under her breath.

“How’s Carol? The shock must have been terrible.”

“In hospital. They rushed her to the Special Baby Unit at Basildon. It don’t sound too good.” He wiped a hand over his face in a gesture of anger and hopelessness.

“I could fucking murder him. Janine always said he wasn’t right in the head and she should have known. She was a fucking nut-nut and all.”

Sarah was amazed at his words. Since her death he had seemed to put his wife on a pedestal. Now he was once more acting as if she was the origin of all their ills.