Schemer (46 page)

Turning her attentions back to her evening with Dennis, Marlene grinned with expectation as she pictured his handsome face. Dennis was ten years younger than herself, six feet two; as black as coal and as fit as a butcher’s dog. They had been introduced by Marge’s other half, Frederick, and had hit it off almost immediately. Many years ago, when she and Marge had flown off to Barbados on holiday, they had joked that they would both find themselves husbands. Marge had. She had met Frederick, but he hadn’t lived in the Caribbean. He was over there on holiday visiting family. He lived in bloody Tooting. Marlene poured herself a drink and sat down to touch up the varnish on her false nails. It had been nearly a year since she had last had sex with a man, and Marlene had a very strong feeling that tonight was the night she would finally end her long celibacy.

While waiting for her dysfunctional son to show his innocent-looking face, Stephanie and Pam chatted about most things bar the weather. Linda was at the forefront of their conversation, and when Pam blurted out the concerns she had over her sister and nephew’s welfare, Stephanie came up with a suggestion. ‘Why don’t you ask Lin and David to move in with you? Obviously, Lin’s probably only drinking again because she’s grieving for Keith. She must be lonely. I hate that estate in Barking where she lives. It’s such a shithole, and it can’t be much fun for her and David being cooped up in a flat on their own there.’

Pam paused before answering. Aidan had moved in with his father on a permanent basis just under a year ago. Jason now had his own council flat up at the Fiddlers in Dagenham and, because it was only a ten-minute walk from where Aidan worked, that had been her grandson’s excuse for moving out. Pam had been gutted at the time to lose the boy she had all but brought up single-handedly, but Aidan was all grown-up now and Pam could understand why living with his gran wasn’t such a cool option for him any more. ‘I don’t know, Steph. You know what Lin’s like, she’ll probably bite me head off if I as much as suggest her moving in. Not only that, I’m too old and set in me ways now to be having young kids in the house again. I’ve already done my fair share of bringing up nippers, don’t you think?’

‘Lin hasn’t got to give her flat up, Mum. The social pay all her rent for her, so she can just stay with you until she gets her head together again. David’s a good boy. I’d swap him for Tyler tomorrow if I could,’ Stephanie said, half jokingly, half serious.

Pam mulled over her daughter’s suggestion. When Keith had first passed away, Linda and David had stayed with her for over a fortnight and Pam had thoroughly enjoyed looking after them both. She had been born to be a mother hen. But, even though she now enjoyed having the house to herself at times, unless Cathy popped in of an evening, Pam did find it a bit boring. ‘OK, I’ll bell Lin tomorrow and put the idea to her. At least it’ll save me worrying about her if she stops with me for a bit. I shall watch her like a bleedin’ hawk … ’Ere, you know what I forgot to tell ya.’

‘What?’

‘The old slapper has just had new windows put in over the road. Lairy Mary told Cathy that the house belongs to Barry now. Mary reckons Barry bought it for Marlene to live in.’

The mention of Barry’s name made Steph feel rather queasy. The thought of him always sent shivers of terror down her spine. ‘Didn’t Dannielle look beautiful when she went out, Mum?’ Steph said, changing the subject completely.

‘She looked like a model, bless her little heart. Ain’t she got herself a boyfriend yet? With her looks, she must have ’em queuing up.’

Stephanie chuckled. Dannielle had plenty of boy mates, who Steph could tell were besotted by her daughter. Thankfully, Dannielle didn’t seem that interested in them. ‘I want to be a successful businesswoman like you, Mum. One day I would love to settle down and have kids, but not until I’m at least thirty. Anyway, the boys at my school are so childish, I would much prefer to meet an older man, someone who’s already successful and has their own business. I don’t see why I should have to scrimp and save if I don’t have to in life,’ was Dannielle’s take on matters. Stephanie was thrilled by her daughter’s maturity. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about Danni getting pregnant young, like she bloody well had, and if her daughter ended up with a rich man five or ten years older than her, who was Steph to judge after the mistakes she had made? ‘No, Mum. Danni is far more clued-up than me and Angie ever were,’ Steph replied, honestly.

‘Did the kids mention Wayne’s birthday yesterday, love?’ Pam asked.

‘I took ’em both for a meal, like I do every year on Wayne’s birthday. We only went for a pizza, and to be honest they barely mentioned him. Tyler doesn’t remember him at all and I think Danni’s memories of Wayne have faded as well. I made them say a little prayer for him as I always do on these special occasions, but that was about it really. To be honest, I rarely think of Wayne myself now. He’s been missing so long, I don’t see the point of keep going over old ground. The only thing I do wish is that the police would find his body so that we could give him a proper funeral. It would be nice for the kids to have a grave where they could visit him and lay flowers and stuff, especially now they’re older.’

‘But, you don’t even know if he’s actually dead,’ Pam reminded her daughter.

Thinking of Barry’s evil face, Steph gave a solemn half-smile. ‘Oh, Wayne’s dead all right, Mum. I just know he is.’

Tyler Jackman said goodbye to his pal, Brad, and dawdled towards home. He could picture the scenario now. Either his mum and sister would be sitting on the sofa waiting for him, faces like thunder. Or, even more likely, his mum and his nan. Tyler didn’t deem himself to be a bad person. He had a vicious temper, he knew that, but if he saw an old lady struggling with her shopping bags, he would offer to help her. His mum had always drummed it into him how important it was to respect his elders, therefore he did. What Tyler couldn’t bring himself to respect was anybody who tried mugging off him, his friends, or his family. Since moving to secondary school, Tyler had got himself a reputation as being the hardest boy in his year. It was a reputation that had certainly made him popular with both sexes. Boys were desperate to be his pal and girls were desperate to become his bird. Tyler enjoyed his new-found popularity. As a youngster, his learning difficulties hadn’t enabled him to make friends or socialize in the way that the other kids had. Therefore, he’d been picked on and had few friends.

Spotting an empty beer can, Tyler kicked it along the street as though he were playing with a football. James Woodcock had spoken to him like he was a piece of shit in front of all his friends the other day, and Tyler had no regrets over the way he had dealt with the matter. Woody had grovelled, screamed and cried like a baby when Tyler had pointed his knife at him. Walking into his mother’s driveway, Tyler hid his flick knife in the bush where he always hid anything he didn’t want his mother to find. Whether it be items he’d nicked from local shops to sell on, porn magazines, or even the odd can of lager, he would stash it in his secret hidey-hole. Creeping up to the front door, Tyler got his key out. As he put it in the lock, he heard the exact words he had been fully expecting to hear.

‘Tyler! Get your arse in here now, you little bastard.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Tyler Jackman got out of bed and stretched his lithe young body. Tyler had light blond hair which he wore short and spiky. His eyes were the colour of a deep blue sea and his mum had told him recently that, facially, he was the spitting image of how his dad had looked when he was at school. Hearing a knock on his bedroom door, Tyler made a grab for his Nike tracksuit bottoms. ‘Hang on a sec, I ain’t dressed yet,’ he shouted out. Last night’s telling-off had gone pretty much as expected for Tyler. His mum and nan had given him a real stern talking-to, which had ended up with him being grounded for the foreseeable future.

Thinking it was his mother at the door about to give him another earful, Tyler opened it cautiously. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ he said to his sister.

Dannielle was extremely close to Tyler. For brother and sister they got on very well. ‘So, what happened, Ty?’ Dannielle asked, plonking herself on the edge of his bed.

Tyler explained truthfully about his original altercation with James Woodcock. ‘Honestly, sis, he was laughing at me and all sorts. He really mugged me off in front of me mates and I had to show him who was boss. I had no intention of using the knife on him, honest I didn’t, but the look on his face was priceless when he saw it. Crying like a baby, the prick was. He won’t be larging it with me again, I’m telling ya.’

Some of Tyler’s expressions and foul use of language shocked Dannielle at times. Most of the lads in Loughton were reasonably well-to-do and spoke quite nicely, but Tyler didn’t. He sounded like a little gangster. Her mum blamed herself for that, as they had lived on a council estate for a large chunk of Tyler’s life, before they’d had enough money to move into the nice house they now lived in. It wasn’t her mum’s fault, Dannielle knew that. After her dad had disappeared into thin air, their money had run out; being rehomed by the council had been the only road her mum could go down. Putting an arm around Tyler’s shoulders, Dannielle smiled at him. ‘What we gonna do with you, eh Ty?’

‘I tell you what you can do for me, sis. Have a word with Mum for me, will ya? I tried to explain that James ain’t the nice, shy boy she seems to think he is, but Nan was chirping in and neither of ’em would listen to me properly. Just tell Mum what I’ve told you, Danni, otherwise she’ll make me stay in forever more. I hate being stuck indoors, you know I do.’

‘I’ll smooth things out with Mum for you, on one condition.’

‘What?’

‘That you promise me you will never carry a knife about with you again. It’s so dangerous and you don’t want to end up in some borstal somewhere, do you? I don’t know if you know this story, but our grandad, our dad’s dad, stabbed our nan and ended up doing life in prison.’

Tyler’s eyes opened like organ stops. This was the first time he had ever heard of this story. ‘What, did our grandad kill our nan, then?’

‘Yes, and Mum said he then spent most of his life in prison. Now, will you promise me that you won’t carry a knife around again with you?’

Tyler immediately nodded. ‘I told Mum I’d already thrown the knife away, but I haven’t really. I will though, I promise. I don’t want to get into bad trouble. I’m too young to go to prison, Danni.’

Ruffling her brother’s hair, Dannielle stood up. The story she had told Tyler was all true. She had wanted to shock him into seeing sense, and seemingly she had. As his big sister, Dannielle felt that it was her duty to keep Tyler on the straight and narrow and, hopefully, for the time being, she might have succeeded.

Pam had been expecting nothing less than a barrage of abuse when she rang up Lin and suggested that she and David might move in with her for a while. Instead, all she got was a sweet, seven-word answer. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind, sis?’

When Pam had given up work, Stephanie had insisted she had Sky TV installed. Pam had flatly refused, saying it was a waste of bloody money, but when Steph had surprised her with it on her birthday, saying she was footing the monthly bills, Pam had got hooked on it almost immediately. She loved
The Jerry Springer Show
and often watched back-to-back episodes for hours on end, but Pam knew that losing herself in other people’s problems was no substitute for dealing with her own. About to change the quilt cover in the room that Lin would be sleeping in, Pam darted into her own bedroom to answer the phone.

‘Look out the window,’ Cathy said, excitedly.

Thankful that Stephanie had recently bought her one of them cordless phones in case of emergencies, Pam did exactly what Cathy had asked. ‘Oh, my giddy aunt,’ she exclaimed, as she watched Marlene and the big black man virtually having sex in the middle of the street.

Cathy laughed. ‘What time your Lin and David arriving?’

‘Late afternoon,’ Pam replied, her face pressed to the window. Marlene was waving frantically in her direction and, not wanting to make herself look a fool, Pam opened the bedroom window. ‘Do you want me for something?’

‘I was gonna ask you the same thing,’ Marlene yelled.

‘Whatever do you mean?’

‘I mean why are you and that nosy old bat next door both staring at me out the fucking window? Ain’t you got lives of your own?’

‘Who you calling an old bat? You fucking old slapper,’ Cathy shouted, opening her window as well.

Absolutely incensed by the brass neck of Marlene, Pam didn’t even notice Angela get out of her car.

‘For your information, my mother has a wonderful life of her own. She has daughters who think the world of her, and three grandchildren who absolutely idolize her. I wonder if the same can be said for you, Marlene. Hardly mother and grandmother of the year, are you now?’ Angela said sarcastically.

When Marlene began screaming abuse at her daughter, Pam ran down the stairs to get Angela inside the house. Pam didn’t know what had shocked her the most, Angela sticking up for her, or her daughter having the front to slag off Marlene’s parenting skills when she had been the mother from hell herself. ‘Get in here now, Ange. She ain’t worth it,’ Pam hollered, as her daughter started to march across the road to have a face-to-face altercation with Marlene.

Angela immediately came to her senses and changed direction. She had a pretty face and didn’t fancy having it damaged in a Dagenham street brawl. ‘You’re right, Mum. She isn’t worth it,’ she shouted.

‘Fucking old slapper,’ Cathy added, before shutting her window.

‘So, what you doing here?’ Pam asked coldly as she shut the front door. Aidan saw more of Angela now than he did of her and, even though Pam was pleased for her grandson, after bringing the boy up almost single-handedly, she found his closeness to Angela a bitter pill to swallow.

‘Well, that’s a nice greeting, isn’t it?’

Pam stood with her hands defensively on her hips. Angela rarely visited her, so she must want something. ‘Come on then, spit it out. What you after?’