Get Even by Martina Cole

thought this girl would be a good influence on her son. It seemed she was the opposite, letting him run amok and do what he liked. Lesley was frightened for him; she knew he had made a name for himself and, even if her husband thought that was the best thing that could happen to him, she didn’t. She knew that when people made it to the top of their game, there were ten more people waiting in the wings to take their place. It was the law of the pavement.
    ‘So, if something were to happen to the baby, God forbid, you can’t get in touch with him. Is that what you are telling me?’
    Sharon closed her eyes in distress and nodded. She didn’t tell her she would get in touch with Jack Johnson – this mad old cow was liable to turn up there and read him the Riot Act. Lenny would love that. Jack Johnson wouldn’t be too pleased either, she would imagine.
    Ivy looked at Lesley while the information she had been given sank in. She collapsed on to the nearest chair, and she looked beaten, vulnerable. For a few seconds, Sharon’s heart went out to her.
    ‘Whatever he’s doing, it must be dangerous, if even you don’t know where he is.’
    Sharon put the kettle on again for yet another cup of tea.
    ‘I never know where he is, and I don’t ask, Lesley. It’s a pointless exercise. If he wanted me to know, he would tell me.’
    Her words annoyed her own mother, who said angrily, ‘And you are happy with that, are you? He just waltzes in and out of here at his leisure and you don’t question any of it?’
    Sharon turned to look at her mother and her face was hard as she said slowly, ‘That is exactly how it is, Mum. And, do you know something?’ She was bellowing suddenly at the top of her voice. ‘That suits me down to the fucking ground! Now let it go, for fuck’s sake.’
    Both the older women were shocked into complete silence. This wasn’t the Sharon they knew, the sweet girl who was all for a quiet life. This was a woman grown, who was telling them in no uncertain terms to mind their own business.
    Ivy was the first to find her voice. ‘Well, I never . . . That you could talk to me like that . . .’
    Sharon held up her arm like a traffic officer as she said, in a very determined manner, ‘Well, it is time you all understood that me and Lenny have our own home, a family, and we do not have to answer to anyone. Anyone at all. Am I making myself clear?’
    She lit herself a cigarette and she took a long pull on it before saying evenly, ‘Now, who wants a cup of tea?’
    Ivy and Lesley exchanged glances and Sharon knew that she had made her point. It had needed to be said and her Lenny would back her to the hilt when she told him. She wasn’t a schoolkid any more.

Chapter Forty-One

    Maria Steel was asleep in her suite of rooms when her maid Consuela heard sounds from the master bedroom. She sighed, relieved. If the master was home, then the mistress would be happy the next day. This was a difficult household to work in; they were very volatile people and she was worn out with their antics. She went back to sleep unaware that there were, in fact, two men in her master’s bedroom, and they were robbing the safe.
    Lenny and Reggie were impressed with Steel’s house; it was like something from a Hollywood movie. They had opened the safe easily enough, and were searching through the contents, finding two hundred grand and some good watches. They took the money but left the rest. They weren’t gas-meter bandits, after all. Reggie glanced through the documents in case there was anything interesting, but they were just deeds to the house and paperwork for the cars – nothing worthwhile for them there.
    They left the house as quietly as they entered it, laughing once they were out of danger. It amazed the men that Christopher Steel was so bloody open to attack. Even a fucking amateur could have done him. No one could argue with a shotgun, no matter how fucking hard you might think you were – it was a known fact. He