Fatal Read online

  Franny stared at Cabhan, wanting to say so much but not being able to find the right words. She had been brought up by her father and Cabhan after her mother had killed herself when she was just a baby. And against all odds, Patrick and Cabhan had raised her in a household not only full of love and warmth, but also one where weakness wasn’t an option and personal emotions were often seen as the enemy.

  Her father, a number-one face and successful businessman, had expected her to follow in his footsteps, and she had. Wanting to please him, always looking for his approval because she had loved him so much. But it had also been hard trying to live up to his expectations whilst at the same time wanting to find her own way. It didn’t help that her own moral compass didn’t always tally with her father’s.

  How far he would go and what he would do to get and stay on top of his game was further than she had wanted to go. Violence and murder were not things she had wanted to be part of, yet they surrounded her as far back as she could remember. So, to cope, she had done what she had been taught to do: put up an emotional wall, feel as little as she could and not let her emotions be her guide. And, up to a point, living that way had served her well, allowing her to run her father’s business empire and still sleep at night. But it had come at a price. She had learnt to suppress her emotions so much that at times it was hard to show how she really felt, how she did love, how she did get afraid, how she did feel pain as much as the next person, and so it often felt like she was in a very lonely place.

  Kicking the pine cones on the ground and feeling her temper, mixed with the hurt that she was usually able to keep under control, rush through her body, Franny spat out her words. ‘I care. I care. You hear me, Cab? Why the hell else do you think I was in that store? You think it made me feel good that I was holding a gun up to that old man? Well, do you? Because you know me and that’s not what I’m about. Never did I think I’d do something as sickening as that, but I did, and I did it for Alice and I did it for you. After all, none of this, none of it is about me. The Russos weren’t after me before, but they are now. Alfie didn’t hate me before, but he does now. So, don’t you fucking dare say I’m cold when I did all this because I love you and I love Alice.’

  Too stressed to allow himself to be drawn in by Franny’s emotional speech, Cabhan was unusually brutal. ‘Don’t kid yourself, Fran, you’re as hard as they come. Like a fucking iron bar. And I’m not saying that you don’t love us, I know you do, but don’t forget it was me and your dad who brought you up. Taught you everything you know, taught you how to stand on your own two feet, stand up to any face or gangster out there. Your dad taught you to be the best, and in the world we’re in you don’t become the best without having balls of fucking steel, and you, Franny Doyle, come with two pairs.’

  Hurt, but now managing to hold her emotions in, Franny spoke in a voice like ice. ‘Maybe you’re right, Cab, maybe I am just cold, but it’s a good job I am, because otherwise we wouldn’t have this.’

  Out of her hooded grey top’s oversized pockets, Franny pulled three large bundles of fifty-dollar bills and threw them at Cabhan, who bent to pick them up.

  Puzzled, he looked at Franny. ‘You got this from the store?’

  Franny’s tone dripped with sarcasm. ‘That’s right, Cab, you taught me well, so whatever it is you think of me, whatever cold bitch you think I am, at least now we have enough money so we can all go home.’

  Back in the car, Franny once again pushed down her emotions as she took a deep breath and pressed send, rereading her text as it sent:

  Alfie, I know you’re probably angry with me, but like I said b4, I had something I needed to do that I couldn’t tell you about. But I want to explain now. But I’m going to come and do it face-to-face. I’ll be home next week or so … And Alfie, I love you. I hope you can forgive me. F x

  Part Two

  PRESENT DAY

  20

  It was over a week since Franny, Cabhan and Alice had headed towards Missoula airport, and Franny had never been so pleased to see the white sign welcoming her to Essex; nor had she been this pleased to feel the light summer rain on her face. The one thing she wasn’t so pleased about was catching a glimpse of Janine’s mansion looming in front of her, because it meant only one thing. It was the moment of truth.

  Sitting in the car as dusk closed in, putting off the inevitable, Franny stared at the house, imagining and wondering what Alfie was doing inside. She’d left Cabhan and Alice at her friend’s house; she knew she needed to sort this out on her own.

  For the past few weeks she hadn’t let herself think of him, only about the money she’d taken and how eventually she was going to explain it. All she’d been focused on, had to be focused on, was Cabhan and Alice. But now as she sat outside, minutes before she was about to come face-to-face with him again, she finally allowed herself to admit how much she’d missed him, how much her heart had ached for him. How much she loved him.

  Puffing her cheeks out, Franny exhaled hard, trying to calm her nerves and ignore her fear that there was a strong possibility Alfie just wouldn’t forgive her. Although she hadn’t spoken to Lola again, she had received a voice message from her. She’d only been able to understand half of it, partly because of the bad signal but mostly from Lola being so inconsolable it was hard to hear what she was saying. There was one sentence she had heard clearly from the message: ‘Alfie, he’s so angry, he says he wants to kill you.’

  With her stomach in knots, Franny stepped out of the car, walked towards the gates and tapped in the security number. It’d been a while since they’d seen each other properly. Before Alfie had left Spain to come back to Essex, he hadn’t seen her for about a month whilst he and Vaughn worked on getting the money together to buy into their new business. Then when they had met up, it’d only been for less than five minutes, when he’d handed the two million pounds over to her. The two million she’d given to the Russo brothers.

  Counting down from ten, Franny knocked on the wooden door, Lola’s warning ringing in her ears. Waiting and listening.

  A few minutes later, the door was swung wide open.

  ‘Alfie, it’s good to see you. Can we talk?’ Franny said calmly as she pointed her gun straight at him. ‘You’re looking well, by the way. Aren’t you going to invite me in? I know you weren’t expecting me, but I did send you a text.’

  Alfie Jennings stared at Franny, his thoughts racing, his heart thumping, before he glanced at the gun in shock and disbelief, a look of bemusement on his handsome, chiselled face. His voice dripped with bitterness. ‘So first you steal my money and then you turn up on the doorstep with a gun halfway up me nose. Welcome home, Fran, you really are your father’s daughter, ain’t you?’

  ‘Leave my dad out of it, Alfie. I’m here to talk. Explain.’

  ‘Talk, with that thing in my face? Are you having a laugh?’

  ‘No, far from it. I thought I might need it, I know what you can be like.’

  Alfie shook his head as he growled out his words. ‘So, are you planning on using it then?’

  Franny held Alfie’s stare, her beautiful eyes hard and steely. ‘If I have to. I’ve heard your messages, Alf – they weren’t very nice – and I also understand from …’ Franny suddenly stopped; something told her it probably wouldn’t be the wisest move to tell Alfie Lola had been in touch warning her against him.

  Alfie narrowed his eyes suspiciously. ‘Understand what?’

  Franny tried to sound casual. ‘Nothing … I … I just understand you, that’s all. So, let’s just call this a precaution.’

  Hissing at her, Alfie said, ‘You really are a cold cow, ain’t you?’

  Franny took a deep breath. All she really wanted to do was tell Alfie she loved him, tell him that she’d missed him and it’d hurt so much them being apart, but she didn’t know how to. She just didn’t know how to say it, so instead she did what she knew – she looked at him coolly and spoke in a firm, detached way. ‘I understand you’re upset, Alf, and I�
�m sorry.’

  Giving a dark half-smile, Alfie raised his voice to the roof. ‘Upset, upset? No, darlin’, I’m not upset. Shall I tell you what upset is? Upset is when I bang my toe on the side of the bath, or when I realise I’ve got a flat tyre on my new car. What I am is fucking murderous that the person I loved, trusted, made off with two million quid. The money for our future. The only money I had in the world. So therefore, you cheeky fucking cow, I think what you need to do is pass me that gun so I can point it at the right person.’

  ‘Alfie, this is difficult for both of us.’

  Exasperated, Alfie threw his arms in the air. ‘There you go again. The ice queen cometh. You’re talking like somehow you’re the hard done one. Well, I’m sorry, Fran, it was you who ripped me off, not the other way round, and without even an explanation. Face it, darlin’, you don’t give a shit about anything, let alone me and you.’

  She could feel the tightness burning in her chest. She wanted to scream that being with him was one of the most important things in her life. She wanted him to sweep her up in his arms and forgive her, telling her they’d spend the rest of their lives together, but it always came down to the same problem: she just didn’t know how to access that part of her. So again, unable to do anything else, she answered matter-of-factly.

  ‘I didn’t rip you off.’

  Alfie tipped his head to one side, his tone sarcastic. ‘Really? Are you sure about that? So then I take it you’ve brought my money back.’

  Slowly, Franny shook her head, the sadness inside her making her feel like she were drowning in it. The strange thing was, looking at him now, she felt further away from him than she had ever done before. ‘No. But I’ve brought Alice and Cabhan.’

  The laughter that came from Alfie was harsh and hostile. ‘What is this, your version of Jack and the fucking Beanstalk? I give you two million quid and all you bring me back is them? Jesus Christ, why don’t you just give me the beans and cut to the fucking chase? Or are you going to tell me it’s too late, because the giant ogre’s already coming after us?’

  Ruefully, Franny said, ‘If only that’s all it was.’

  ‘What are you talking about now?’

  ‘I took your money because of the Russos.’

  Alfie’s face blanched. ‘Jesus Christ, Fran.’

  ‘They were going to kill Cabhan and they came after Alice, too.’

  Alfie sounded shocked as he pulled the door open wider. ‘You should’ve told me. Look, for Christ’s sake, just put that gun down and come inside. I need to hear this.’

  Half an hour later, Franny sat tensely on the big green Chesterfield in the lounge, waiting as she had done for the past few minutes for Alfie’s response to the story. But instead of talking, Alfie paced in silence, lighting up a cigarette and dragging on it deeply.

  Giving up that Alfie was ever going to speak first, Franny said, ‘So, you can see that I didn’t have any other choice.’

  Alfie leapt towards Franny, his face inches away from hers as fury seeped out of him.

  ‘You had so many other choices, but the problem was you thought you could just go in with your magic wand, like you always do, and hey presto, everyone’s happy again. But it don’t fucking work like that, Fran, and it certainly doesn’t work like that with the Russo family. What possessed you? How could you think going to see Nico in prison would do anything apart from giving him a boner? He plays games with people’s lives, you know that. He’s a psycho and he’s got those two crazy brothers swimming around like sharks looking for blood.’

  ‘I had to help Cabhan.’

  In frustration, Alfie threw his cigarette in the fireplace, grabbed hold of Franny’s top and shook her hard. ‘No, you didn’t, Fran! No, you didn’t! I told you, and I told him, that if he went to work for the Russo brothers he’s on his own. He knew that, but he still went to work for them and now look. I knew this would happen. This is what I was afraid of.’

  Pushing Alfie’s hands off her and smoothing down her grey marl top, Franny stood up angrily. ‘There was no way any of us could’ve known that Ally was going to get killed in a car crash.’

  ‘No, you’re right, but if it wasn’t that, it would’ve been something else. You knew as well as I do, the Russos were never going to let him come home without some sort of retribution, and guess what? You’ve just gone and made it all worse.’

  ‘How do you make that out?’

  ‘You ran. You ran and hid and Nico’s favourite game is hide-and-seek.’

  Frustrated, Franny looked at Alfie in bewilderment. ‘You expected us to stay?’

  ‘No, not you. You should’ve left Cabhan to it. You should’ve allowed him to take the hit.’

  It was Franny’s turn to hiss through her teeth. ‘Have you any idea what you’re saying?’

  Hardly able to contain his fury, tension behind Alfie’s eyes began to make them throb with pain. ‘I know exactly what I’m saying, and I mean it. This business ain’t for the faint-hearted and there’s got to be sacrifices. Cabhan knows that. He shouldn’t have accepted your help. He should’ve just taken the consequences.’

  ‘And Alice? What about her?’

  ‘He should’ve sent her over here a long time ago, but now? Now you’re bringing the Devil to our door, asking me to let Alice and Cabhan stay here. It’s a death wish.’

  Not sounding as confident as she did before, Franny replied, ‘They’ve got nowhere else to go. They’re family and we stick together, no matter how tough. Besides, it’ll be fine … for now, anyway. Especially if we lie low. Don’t look like that. I’m telling you, Alfie, it’ll be okay.’

  Slowly and precisely, Alfie said, ‘Will. It. Fuck! When have you ever known Nico to give up?’

  Not being able to hold Alfie’s glare, Franny shrugged as she turned away. ‘They don’t know where we are.’

  Enraged at Franny’s seemingly casual response, Alfie grabbed hold of her face and turned it towards him gently. ‘But for how long though, Fran? For how long? They know Cabhan is in touch with you, they know you have a base here – come off it. This is a game for Nico, and he will seek you out and then there will be blood.’

  ‘Alfie, look, can I talk to you? I need to tell you something. I’ve been putting it off too long, I …’

  Bree Dwyer, full of determination, walked through the door as she spoke, but on seeing Franny and Alfie she trailed off, her long blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders. As she turned to Alfie, her green eyes twinkled warmly despite her obvious confusion.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t know you were with anyone. I’m Bree.’

  Franny looked quizzically at Alfie, then back to Bree. ‘Hello, Bree, I’m Franny.’ Turning to Alfie, she added, ‘Care to explain?’

  To which Alfie, with a tight smile, simply said, ‘It’s complicated.’

  Franny nodded as the truth hit her, unable to say anything as waves of nausea rushed over her. The room seemed like it were spinning and a sudden pain in her stomach stabbed at her like a cramp. If she could just get to the door then she’d be all right, and from there if she could just make her way to her bedroom, she’d be fine. But suddenly the door seemed so far away, the room so wide, and as she took a step towards it, her legs began to give way, trembling as she went.

  ‘Franny!’

  She couldn’t turn around. She just couldn’t turn around. Just head for the door. That’s all she needed to do, head for the door. Nearly there. Nearly there.

  ‘Franny!’

  Alfie’s voice sounded again, cutting right through her as she walked through the door and along the corridor, swaying and holding onto the wall as she went. Stumbling up the stairs, she felt like she were in a trance.

  She stared at the guest bedroom door for a moment before slowly pushing it open and stepping inside. Franny immediately felt a rush of emotions hit her like a sledgehammer, taking the breath out of her as she gasped for air. In agony, she wrapped her arms around her middle, collapsing to the floor. And in the darkness, with tears s
treaming down her face, Franny Doyle curled up into a tight ball, the pain sweeping through her body as if she’d been in a car crash.

  21

  ‘It’s complicated.’ Alfie played over the words in his head like they were on repeat. Who the hell said that? But then what was he supposed to say? Because it was complicated. And as much as it seemed strange, in the shock of Franny turning up he’d forgotten all about Bree. And now his head was wrecked. How was he to explain? He couldn’t even explain to himself. No wonder Franny had just got up without another word and gone to one of the spare guest rooms, if that was the only explanation he could come up with.

  But she’d be all right, he was sure of it. She was a hard cow when she wanted to be and anyway, how much could she really care? After all, look at what she had done to him – that was much worse, wasn’t it? Taking two million pounds and disappearing into thin air without as much as a by-your-leave, that was worse than what he’d done. Though the look on Franny’s face hadn’t said that. Hurt. That was what he’d seen … She’d looked ill … No, no way, he wasn’t going to let himself think like that or feel guilty. Fuck it. She had wronged him. He didn’t know if she was coming back. He didn’t know she hadn’t just done a runner with some Spanish bloke … Or maybe he did. Maybe underneath he knew she wasn’t really like that … Shit. He couldn’t think clearly and now he had more explaining to do.

  ‘Listen, Bree, I know you said you want to talk to me, but I need to tell you this—’

  ‘Alf—’

  ‘No, let me say this first, otherwise I may never say it. Look, maybe I wasn’t as straight with you as I should’ve been, you know, about how long me and her have been separated, and maybe I haven’t told you everything I should’ve done about Franny and the way I feel. I dunno. Don’t get me wrong, I never lied to you, not really, but I thought it was over. I thought Franny wasn’t coming back.’