Shafted (39 page)

‘That was fucking bullshit!’ Larry barked when the reporter went off screen and the studio presenter came on in his place.

Flapping her hand to keep him quiet because Craig was talking to her again, Georgie said, ‘Yes, I’ll get on to him right away. But I must say I feel a bit better after seeing that.’ Nodding then, she said, ‘Yes, I will. Soon as I know what’s happening.’

‘What did he say?’ Larry demanded when she disconnected. ‘And what do you mean, you feel better after seeing it? It was fucking awful!’

‘Let’s just try and stay calm,’ Georgie told him, switching the kettle on to make him a strong coffee, because he looked like he could really use one right then.‘I feel better because it was quite obvious that she was lying. The only thing I
am
concerned about is her description of your apartment in the paper. She couldn’t possibly know what it was like unless she’d actually been here, so how do you explain that?’

Dropping his head into his hands, Larry groaned and said, ‘She
has
been here.’

‘You brought her here?’ Georgie said flatly. ‘The night of the telethon?’

Larry nodded guiltily. ‘Yeah, but I was pissed out of my head, and when I woke up I didn’t even know who she was. And then I got that call from you telling me it was all over the papers and I’d been sacked, so I just panicked.’

‘And asked her to lie?’

‘Well, yeah, kind of. Actually, I only asked her not to admit that anything had happened if anyone asked, but then she told me it hadn’t, anyway.’

‘And you didn’t know?’ Georgie asked sceptically.

‘No. I had no idea. I was unconscious.’

‘But you believed her?’

‘Yeah, ’cos I could see it in her eyes how gutted she was. She said she
would
have slept with me if I’d been awake, but I was out of it, so she just undressed me and slept next to me.’

‘Bloody hell,’ Georgie muttered, instinctively believing him but knowing that others might not be so willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. ‘This won’t be good if it gets out.’

‘How the hell am I supposed to keep it quiet now?’ Larry croaked. ‘The stupid bitch is making out like we’re lovers, or something. I’ll have to admit what really happened and hope to God people believe me.’

‘You’ll say nothing for the time being,’ Georgie told him firmly. ‘I’m going to set up a meeting with your solicitor so you can talk it through and find out exactly where we stand.’

‘What about Craig?’ Larry asked, dreading the thought of losing yet another show because of this stupid bitch.

‘He wants you to carry on as normal, because it’ll look worse if you hide away. But he’d rather you didn’t do any interviews until we’ve had a chance to get the solicitors involved, so leave the reporters to me. You just concentrate on your show. And for goodness’ sake, do
not
make contact with the girl.’

‘Oh, yeah,’ Larry muttered sickly. ‘Like I was going to run out and try to find her!’

‘Well, she obviously thought you were going to do exactly that,’ Georgie said, bringing his coffee over to him. ‘Hate to say it, but I almost wish you’d taken her for her stupid birthday dinner. At least you’d have known what she was thinking and could have nipped it in the bud.’

Groaning again, Larry shoved the coffee aside and reached into the cupboard for a bottle of Scotch, aware that his hands were shaking as he poured himself a large glass. This was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. Tania Baxter had already ruined his career once. And now, just because he’d forgotten a stupid promise to take her out for dinner on her birthday, she was trying to destroy him. And he
knew
he hadn’t done anything to her that night, no matter what she was saying now.

Allowing him his drink without nagging, Georgie said, ‘Look, I know you don’t like me talking about this, Larry, but don’t you think it might be time to come out about you and Stephanie? It’s your longest relationship to date, so you’re obviously serious about her. And she’s a beautiful, independent woman, as opposed to a silly girl with a crush, so people would know that you couldn’t possibly have
those
kind of feelings going on.’

Muttering ‘Shit!’ because he hadn’t even thought how all this was going to affect Stephanie, Larry reached for the phone, saying, ‘I’d better warn her before she sees it in the papers. And no, by the way,’ he said then, tapping in the number. ‘I don’t want her involved. In fact, it’s a bloody good job no one knows about her yet, or they’d be harassing her right now.’Tutting when he heard that Stephanie’s phone was switched off again, he said, ‘She must be in a meeting.’

‘Give me her number,’ Georgie said, reaching into her handbag for her own mobile. ‘Craig wants you down at the studio by twelve, and I want to see if Doug can fit you in before that. You might not get a chance to speak to her until tonight, so I’ll keep trying for you.’

‘Okay, but make sure she realises that it’s absolutely not true,’ Larry said. ‘And you’d best tell her not to come round tonight, either. Until I speak to her, actually, because I’ve got a feeling I’m going to have reporters crawling all over the place after this.’

An hour later, and just a couple of miles away from Larry’s apartment, in the visiting hall of Strangeways Prison, Nora Lewis was busy telling Dex all about the latest scandal.

‘Didn’t I always say he looked like a bloody pervert?’ she sneered. Then, tutting loudly when Dex pointed out that, no, she’d actually said quite the opposite, she said, ‘Yeah, well, I didn’t think so
straight
off, obviously, ’cos he was such a bloody convincing liar. But, soon as I knew what he was up to with you, I said it. And I’ve been saying it ever since. And now look.’

Lighting another cigarette now, she surreptitiously shoved the pack across the table, flapping her hand for him to pocket them before the screws spotted him. Taking one, he lit it and shoved the pack back to her, because there was no way he was going to give the screws an excuse to strip-search him.

‘Anyhow, I reckon he needs a damn good kicking,’ Nora went on, with a nasty glint in her eye. ‘And I know you keep telling me he’ll get his comeuppance without me interfering, Derek, but even
you
’ve got to admit he’s long overdue.’

Groaning, ‘Give it a rest, for fuck’s sake,’ Dex glanced at Gaynor, who looked more drained than he’d ever seen her before. Jerking his head at Nora now, he said, ‘Why don’t you go get yourself another brew while me and Gaynor have a chat, Mam?’

Sniffing loudly, because she didn’t see why Gaynor should get preferential treatment when she was still messing Dex around, Nora said, ‘I don’t want another brew, I want to talk to
my son
.’ Emphasising the words to remind Gaynor that Dex was her blood and always would be, she sucked deeply on her cigarette.

Leaning forward, Dex rested his elbows on the table and said, ‘Lay off, Mam. She’s doing nowt to you.’

Snorting softly, Nora muttered, ‘No, but she’s probably doing plenty to
you
behind your back. She’s never at home when any of us try to get hold of her. And she never comes on time when she’s supposed to fetch my keeps round.’

Saying, ‘I know exactly where she is and what she’s doing, ’cos she’s keeping things running for me,’ Dex gave his mother a long, hard stare, letting her know that he meant it when he added, ‘So just lay off, ’cos there’s no one else who could hold it together like she has.’

‘Bollocks,’ Nora spat, furious that he was giving Gaynor credit for running his business in his absence. All she had to do was pick up the gear, weigh it out and drop it off, then go round collecting money. Hardly rocket science. Even their Lyla could do it – at a push.

‘Go and get a tea,’ Dex growled, afraid that he might lose it if she carried on with her sniping. And wouldn’t the screws just love an excuse to haul his arse down the block for a kicking.

Pursing her wrinkled mouth so hard that it almost turned her face inside out, Nora shoved her chair back and stalked over to the small snack bar at the rear of the hall.

Reaching for Gaynor’s hand when she’d gone, Dex said, ‘You all right, babe?’

Nodding even though her eyes were already brimming with tears, Gaynor took a tissue out of her pocket and dabbed at her nose. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to get upset, but she’s been so bloody horrible all morning. I knew I shouldn’t have let you put her on my VO. She doesn’t let
me
come on
her
visits.’

‘She only wanted to see me because it’s the anniversary of me dad’s death,’ Dex reminded her. ‘Don’t worry, you won’t have to bring her again.’

Murmuring,‘Good,’Gaynor gazed into his eyes and bit her lip when her chin began to wobble. ‘God, I hate this.’

Squeezing her hand, Dex said, ‘Me too. But it won’t be for ever, and I’ll make it up to you when I get out.’

‘It’s so
hard
,’ Gaynor sobbed, unable to stop the tears from escaping now. ‘I miss you so much, and every time I see you it gets harder to walk away. And then I’ve got to go home and put up with your mum moaning and quizzing me. And all the other stuff is
killing
me.’

‘I know, babe, and I hate putting it all on you like this,’ Dex said, reaching out to wipe away a tear that was rolling down her cheek. ‘But me mam and our Jimmy would fuck everything up if I left it to them, and I don’t trust no one else but you. You’re doing this for our future. Don’t give up on us now.’

Sighing softly, because she knew that she really was the only one who could do this for him, Gaynor said, ‘I’m only doing it ’cos I love you, so don’t you dare blame me if I mess it up.’

‘You won’t,’ Dex said with certainty. Then, ‘How’s it going, anyway? Any of the guys trying it on?’

‘Felix is getting a bit naughty,’ Gaynor told him. ‘I had to go round to his place twice last week, and I know he was in the first time but he wouldn’t open the door. I waited round the corner the second time and caught him on his way out, but he said he didn’t have the money so I had to give him another week.’

‘Cunt,’ Dex snarled, his nostrils flaring. ‘You should have told him to get to fuck and made him pay.’

‘Er,
how
?’Gaynor asked.‘I’m not you, you know. I can hardly kick the shit out of him for taking the piss.’

‘Christ, Gay, I hope you’re not talking like this in front of them or they’re gonna think you’re a right soft touch. You’re my bird, for fuck’s sake. Front it.’

‘And what if they get nasty?’

‘I’ll kill ’em.’

‘From here?’ Gaynor raised an eyebrow.

Shaking his head irritably, Dex said, ‘Jeezus, Gaynor, why d’y’ have to be such a soft shit? You’re making me wish I’d left fucking Jane in charge. At least she’d have no trouble keeping the cunts in line.’

‘Ex
cuse
me?’ Gaynor said quietly, her eyes narrowing as the blood drained from her face. ‘What the hell has
she
got to do with this? You’d better not be messing round with her behind my back again, Dex, because I’m warning you now, I’ll never forgive you if you are.’

Chuckling softly, Dex said, ‘Chill out, you jealous bitch. ’Course I ain’t messing with her. She’s nowt to me but Molly’s mam. And what would I want with a slag like her when I’ve got you?’

Staring at his hard expression, looking for even the remotest flicker of guilt in his eyes, Gaynor snatched her hand away when he reached for it, hissing, ‘You’d better mean that, Dex.’

‘’Course I do,’ he reassured her, amused that she could get so pissed off with him yet couldn’t tell one of his punters to pay up on time. But she had a point about that, he supposed. So, sighing, he said, ‘All right, I know I can’t expect you to heavy the guys. But when you get out of here, I want you to go back round there and tell Felix from me that if he messes you around again I’ll be sending some visitors round, and he won’t have no kneecaps left at the end of it. Oh, and make sure you remind him that I know where his mam and his baby-mother live, so it could come any time, anywhere.’

Nodding, Gaynor felt a fresh set of tears building up behind her eyes when Dex reached for her hand again and raised it to his lips, saying, ‘I do appreciate what you’re doing for me, babe, and when I get out I’m gonna treat you like a queen. I know I’ve been a bastard in the past, but that’s all gonna change now.’

‘I don’t want
you
to change,’ she told him earnestly, pressing her knees into his under the table. ‘I just want
things
to change. I never want to hear you mention that bitch again. And I’ve had enough of you always being on the run so I don’t know if you’ll be home from one night to the next.’

‘Keep the money turning over, and I won’t have to do anything too strenuous when I get out,’ Dex said. Then, glancing quickly around to make sure that his mother wasn’t on her way back yet, he said, ‘Subject of money: I’ve had an idea how to get a big wedge fast . . .’

Narrowing her eyes as she made her way back to the table a couple of minutes later and saw Dex and Gaynor with their heads close in conversation, Nora deliberately ruined what she took to be a tender moment by plonking herself down in her chair, saying loudly, ‘Even the bloody tea woman’s talking about that pervert. Apparently, that girl was on the news this morning as well as in the paper. Must have missed that when we was on our way here – eh, Gay?’ She gave Gaynor a sharp dig in the ribs with her elbow.

Sitting wearily back in his seat, Dex said, ‘Mam, I know exactly what’s going on out there. We
have
got a telly, you know. And we get the papers every morning, so I don’t need a running commentary every time I see you. It’s bad enough when I call you, ’cos you waste most of me time waffling on about shit.’

‘I like talking to you,’ Nora said, looking hurt by his dismissive tone. ‘And Logan’s got my goat over what he did to you, so excuse
me
if I can’t help but dream about getting the lads together to give him a going-over.’

‘Will you just
leave
it?’ Dex moaned. ‘We both know he’d end up dead if they went steaming in, and then I’d never get my bleedin’ hands on him.’