LITMIR.BIZ

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never once asked if Ricky was with him. With one swift movement, he dropped the phone into the jug of water and laughed.

      Ricky, with a straw in his mouth, sucking on a smoothie, looked up and smiled. ‘Was that Mummy?’

      Mike would have denied it, but he’d gone past pretending Jackie was kind at heart. Even as young as Ricky was, he knew she wasn’t a good mother.

      Shortly afterwards, his other phone – his business one – rang. It was Eric. ‘All right, Mike. All done and delivered.’

      Mike smiled. That will teach the dirty fuckers.

      * * *

      It wasn’t until early the next morning that the phone rang again. This time, he didn’t smile; instead, he flared his nostrils and took a deep breath. ‘Are you fucking sure, Eric? How do you know it was the Harmans?’

      Eric was pacing the floor. Maybe they’d gone too far this time; after all, they knew very little about the firm.

      ‘Mikey, what are we gonna do? Staffie loved that dog. I mean who does that, kills a dog, eh?’

      Mike chewed the inside of his mouth. ‘Eric, it ain’t about the bleedin’ dog, you fucking muppet, it’s a statement. They’re throwing down the gauntlet after what we did to Travis.’

      Eric felt uneasy. The description of the dog’s dismembered body was horrific, but then, so was Travis by the time they’d finished with him. Mike had used Travis’s own phone to take the photos of the aftermath and returned it to the man’s car. He’d then texted Harry Harman from Travis’s phone saying, photo evidence in my car. After he removed his prints from the phone, he left.

      ‘I don’t fucking like it, Mikey. I mean, what’s next, and, more to the point, who’s next?’

      Mike was livid. ‘Now, you listen to me, ya great pussy. Get a grip. I’ll smash the fucking life out of each and every one of those cunts, if they so much as hurt a hair on anyone’s head. Call a meeting at mine. We need to make a plan. I ain’t taking this lying down.’

      Eric felt sick. ‘All right. See you in an hour.’

      * * *

      Ricky was up early and trying to put his school uniform on, while Jackie was still in bed. The sight of his little boy engulfed in innocence, with his hair sticking up and his shoes on the wrong feet, melted Mike’s heart. Then he had a sudden sickening thought and shuddered. ‘You ain’t going to school today, buddy. You’re going on a trip with Mummy.’

      Ricky looked up and smiled. ‘Are you coming, Daddy?’

      Mike picked him up and hugged him. ‘Not right away, my boy. In a few days, I’ll join you.’

      The sweet smile adorning Ricky’s face drooped, and Mike almost sensed the fear. But, right now, his son was safer with Jackie than … he shuddered to think.

      ‘Jack, get ya arse down ’ere, now!’ he screamed up the stairs.

      Jackie had gone to bed with a splitting headache and her face red raw from the sun. She could hear him shouting and tried to focus, but it was all a blur. She felt an uncomfortable throbbing covering her chest and her cheeks, and the banging in her head was relentless; it was a reminder that she’d fallen asleep in the garden. She sat upright and winced with the various pains. Then, she heard him call her again.

      ‘All right, I’m coming!’ she screamed back. She wasn’t in the mood to drive Ricky to school. For one thing, she looked an absolute mess, and for another, all she wanted was to go back to sleep. After grabbing her satin robe from the end of the bed, she wrapped it around herself and slowly descended the stairs. With every step, she felt dizzy and had to hold the banister to stop herself from being sick on the spot.

      Mike was staring at her in disgust. ‘Fucking state of you. Jesus, you look like someone’s dug you up from a grave.’

      ‘Bollocks, Mike.’ She gave him a death glare. ‘What’s all the screaming about, anyway?’

      ‘Listen, Jackie, and I mean fucking listen.’ He was narrow-eyed and deadly serious.

      Jackie stopped in her tracks. ‘What’s going on?’

      ‘Get ya bags packed. You and Ricky are off to Spain. I want you to go to the airport and wait for the next flight. And tell no one where you’re going.’

      She rubbed her eyes and tried to straighten her hair. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked again.

      Mike didn’t have time to discuss business – not that he would anyway – but, now, time was of the essence. He needed his son out of the country.

      ‘Jackie, for once in your life, shut the fuck up, get the bags packed, and just go, will ya? I’ll join you when I can.’

      ‘Well, you’ll have to give me a few hours. I need to go to the hairdressers and the—’

      Before she could finish, he aggressively snatched her arm and pulled her close. ‘You’ll get those bags packed and be ready to get on the road in fifteen minutes!’

      She knew then she couldn’t push him any further. Something serious was going down.

      ‘All right. Get off me. ’Ave you booked a flight?’ Her pitch was high and sarcastic.

      Mike let go of her and snarled, ‘You’re one useless bitch. Just go to the airport and book the next flight, and if there ain’t any today, then stay in a hotel until there is one! You’ve got the credit cards. Now, use your poxy pea-sized brain and get your arse into gear.’ His deep voice, his spiteful tone, and the urgency of the situation were enough to clear her head in an instant. Without another word, she left the room and headed upstairs.

      Unbelievably, Jackie was out of the house with their bags in record time. But he was disappointed by how roughly she bundled Ricky into the back of her white Range Rover. Her shoving Ricky the way she did raised his anger. He wanted to drag her by her extensions and ram her face into the wall. But he couldn’t get caught up in yet another domestic; he needed his son away from here and soon. The thought of speaking to any woman like that, let alone hitting them, was just not part of his make-up. He always treated women with decency and respect and never in his life had he raised his hands to one – until the day before yesterday with Jackie. But there was no love left between them. The only reason he kept her around was because she was Ricky’s mother, or she would have been gone years ago.

      * * *

      A black Mercedes pulled up on the drive and out crawled Eric, looking the worse for wear; his designer stubble was hardly Calvin Klein, more scarecrow, and his wide light-blue eyes looked dark and sunken. Mike spotted right away that his brother was sweating from fear, a thin layer of greasy mist cladding his face. He had aged overnight.

      ‘Jesus, Mikey, that poor dog. Those Harmans are absolute animals!’ he said, as he paced the floor, running his hands through his hair.

      ‘Eric, listen. I won’t let no fucker lay a hand on you. Now, calm down.’

      Eric looked up through his long dark lashes, and for a second, Mike felt sorry for him. ‘I’ve sent Ricky to Spain with Jackie, to keep them out of the way. Now, what about your Tracey? Maybe she should join them?’

      ‘You must be joking. Jackie only nearly scalped my bird, all ’cos she thought Tracey had her eye on you. No disrespect, Mikey, but Jackie was out of order.’

      Mike put his arm around Eric’s shoulders. ‘Listen, it’s gonna be all right. And I know what ya mean about Jackie. She’s a cunt. Trouble is though, Eric, right now, she’s my cunt, and I still have to look out for her. Mark my words, though. Once this shit is over, if she doesn’t buck up her ideas, she’s gone for good.’

      Eric’s ears pricked up. ‘What? Are ya gonna dump her?’

      ‘Yeah. She’s pushed me to backhanding her, and that ain’t me.’ He sighed heavily. ‘I don’t love

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