Read Online Black Widow by Jessie Keane - Free Book Online Page B

knows nothing about the business. Never has, never will.’
    Annie nodded. This was the way Max had always conducted his business, too. She recognized an echo of truth in Jimmy’s words, because Max’s outlook had been much the same. Keep the wife out of it. Keep her in the dark and feed her shit, then she’d be happy.
    But was that a good idea? thought Annie. Because look what had happened now. She was adrift in an ocean full of sharks, and Max was fucking nowhere to be found. She had no funds to speak of—unless she found some double-quick. Things were bad. Hard to see how they could get any worse, really. But she had to hold on, keep her head, because while there was a chance she could save Layla—however slim that chance undoubtedly was—then she would have to tough it out.
    ‘So how can I help?’ asked Jimmy.
    Annie swallowed. ‘I’m going to need to find or raise some money, Jimmy. I don’t know how much yet.’
    Jimmy nodded. ‘Max would have some stashed somewhere.’
    ‘Yeah, but where?’
    ‘You’ve really no idea?’
    ‘None,’ said Annie.
    ‘Then we’ve got a problem.’
    We.
    Annie felt that we was a small victory. If she had Jimmy Bond onside, she had an important ally. Not a friend. Never a friend. Kath had been dripping her poison into his ear for years, telling him what a cheating bitch Annie was, how she had betrayed her own sister, how her own mother had washed her hands of her. So Jimmy would always regard her with suspicion. But —and it was a big but—she was also Max Carter’s wife.
    Or I claim to be , thought Annie soberly. Jimmy was right—she could be lying about all this, up to and including the marriage and the legitimate child. Fair enough, he doubted her. But he had also said we have a problem, so she was a little reassured. If she truly was Annie Carter and not plain old Annie Bailey, his wife’s slag of a cousin, then Jimmy Bond would at least owe her respect.
    Annie looked at him in the thickening silence.
    ‘All suggestions welcome,’ she said hopefully.
    Jimmy gave a half-smile and stood up. ‘I’ll think it over,’ he said. ‘See what I can come up with.’
    ‘What about the clubs? The Palermo? That was always Max’s favourite. Maybe he’d have some cash there.’
    ‘Maybe,’ Jimmy shrugged.
    ‘Is it still running smooth?’ asked Annie. Not that she cared, but she was trying to get him to communicate with her. It was bloody hard going.
    ‘Yeah. Opens lunchtimes too now.’
    ‘Right.’
    Annie had to bite her lip to keep back her exasperation. We don’t have time to fuck about , is what she longed to say. But she stopped herself. She didn’t want to start out by trying to push Jimmy Bond into a corner. He was a proud man—Max’s best boy—and she had to treat him with respect, too.
    ‘Make it soon,’ was all she allowed herself.
    ‘I will,’ he said, and left.
    She watched him go through the open kitchen doorway, nodding to Dolly as he passed her in the hall and giving the hard man on the door a mocking smile before stepping out on to the path. Ross kicked the door shut behind him.
    ‘Fucking bastard,’ he muttered, then came along the hall to the kitchen and handed Annie a note. ‘For you,’ he said, and went back to his seat by the front door.
    Annie looked at Dolly and opened up the folded sheet of paper. The handwriting was forward sloping and almost painfully neat. The note said: We hope you like your stay, Mrs Carter. Just make it a short one, and there’ll be no trouble.
    It was signed Redmond Delaney.
    Annie pocketed it, her eyes on Ross through the open kitchen doorway. He returned her stare. Dolly, standing between them in the hall, swallowed nervously. And then the telephone started to ring. Annie steeled herself, nerves jangling. The fucking phone had rung a thousand times over the past few days. Always it was clients, or mates of Darren’s or Ellie’s. Una didn’t seem to have any mates, which was no big surprise. But it was