‘Well, I’d say that was pretty damned scary.’
‘Look, I’ve got to go. Working,’ said Junior, planting a smacker on her cheek. ‘See ya, Layla.’
Then he was gone, surging off into the crowds. She watched him go, springing along on his toes. So bloody self-confident. Whatever Mum had said to him, he clearly hadn’t been listening, or he’d be running for the hills right now.
Layla walked on, crossed the road to the park.
‘Hey! Layla!’ She was searching out a free seat when the female voice halted her. She turned. Four minders in eye-line. And Precious, hurrying along in jeans and a cream ruffled shirt, her hair loose and bouncing around her beautiful face, her luminous grey eyes alight with a smile.
‘Hi, Precious,’ grinned Layla. Precious’s was only the second friendly face she had seen since starting work this morning.
Two of the minders approached, watching Precious, their hands creeping inside their jackets. Layla shook her head hard, and they backed off.
‘Here’s a free one,’ said Precious, and they sat down on a guano-spattered bench under the shade of a tree.
‘Haven’t you brought any lunch?’ asked Layla.
‘God, no. I never eat until six. Got to watch the body.’
‘Don’t be daft, you’re gorgeous. Have one of these, I can’t eat all this.’ Layla split open the cellophane pack and handed Precious half her lunch.
‘Oh, OK. Thanks.’
They ate in companionable silence. Rather, Precious ate and Layla nibbled. Then Precious said: ‘Um, Layla?’
‘Hm?’
‘Are you aware that there are four men watching you?’
Layla sighed. ‘My dad’s men. And Alberto’s.’
‘Oh, that’s good. They’re looking out for you.’
Layla shuddered. ‘I hate it,’ she said.
‘Is this how you always live? Under guard this way?’
‘No. It isn’t. It’s just…’ Layla stopped herself. She was in danger of saying too much. It was so easy to talk to Precious, to confide in her. And she mustn’t. ‘Something’s happened, that’s all. It’s put the family sort of on red alert.’
‘Ah, then I suppose all you can do is loosen up, let them carry on with their job of guarding you, and get on with your life.’
‘Loosen up? How would you feel if someone was after you, someone you didn’t even know, so you had to be surrounded by all these people…?’
Precious stared at Layla. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Me and my big mouth. But, well…’
‘Well what?’
Precious shrugged. ‘You’re Max Carter’s daughter. I thought you’d be used to all this shit.’
‘I’m not.’ Layla felt guilty now. Precious was trying to be friendly, and she had slapped her down quite hard, for the second time. Both times, Precious had hit a nerve.
‘Look, I’m sorry I bit your head off,’ she blurted out. ‘And before, when we spoke about Alberto. Sorry.’
Layla swallowed a bite of sandwich. It was dry. She took a swig of Coke, then set it aside on the bench. She was going to have to start eating properly soon, but right now food just made her gag.
Precious waved a casual hand. ‘Ah, forget it. I do it all the time. Poke and pry. And I shouldn’t. People hate it. And you’ve been stressed to hell, I can see that.’
Stressed? She’d been going out of her mind. She still was.
‘I know you were only trying to help,’ said Layla.
‘That’s true. I was.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Forget it. It was nothing. If I’d known it was such a sore subject, I wouldn’t have opened my fat gob.’
‘Can I ask you something?’ said Layla.
‘Anything. Go on.’
‘About the dancing. It’s naked dancing, have I got that right?’
Precious shrugged. ‘Sometimes. Sometimes it’s a G-string, but mostly it’s nude.’
‘How do you do that? In front of strangers?’
‘Easy.’
‘And what about when – you know – you’ve got the curse?’
‘That’s easy too. Put in a tampon, cut off the string. Sorted.’
Layla was silent for a few moments. ‘You ever been in love with anyone?’ she asked finally.
‘God, yes. Too many to count,’ grinned Precious.
‘Not punters?’
‘Sometimes.’ Precious’s eyes grew distant. Then she turned her head and smiled at Layla. ‘Not often.’
They carried on eating, and shared the Coke. After a while Layla glanced at her watch. ‘Got to get back,’ she sighed, ‘or Etchingham’s going to kill me.’
She stood up, depositing the detritus from their meal into the nearest wastebasket.
‘It’s been nice,’ said Precious. ‘We should do this again.’
‘Yeah. Why not,’ said Layla, feeling a little pang of something, maybe happiness, settle into her gut. Precious had forgiven her, the sun was shining, she was back at work in a world she understood. All was well except… she had killed someone. The glimmer of happiness vanished in a flash.
The shooting filled her dreams, tormenting her nightly. It was there when she woke too. Occasionally, for a blissful moment, something else would distract her, but it was never long before the memory came crashing in on her again. She’d killed Orla Delaney.
As she left Precious and walked towards her office, her minders following, that tiny fragment of happiness fell away. There was danger all around the Carters, and none of them knew where it would come from next – or who was directing it.
She looked ahead, to her office block, to the third-floor window where she worked. It almost looked as though the glass was obscured. She stared, wondering what trick of the light had caused the effect. And then she realized that what she was seeing was smoke behind the glass. There was a fire in her office.
56
Annie was waiting at Ellie’s place when Layla showed up carrying a small cardboard box containing her Filofax, her pens and a few other bits and pieces.
‘What the hell’s going on?’ demanded Annie, stopping her in the upstairs hallway.
Layla looked blankly at her mother. This she didn’t need. Not now. She could see Ellie and Chris rubber-necking along the hall. She pushed past Annie and went into her room, dumping the box on to the bed.
‘I told you to stay put. Not to go wandering the streets. Not to go in to work. I told you.’ Annie followed Layla into the bedroom and closed the door.
‘Well?’ asked Annie.
‘Well what?’ Layla flung her bag aside and slumped down beside her box of possessions.
Annie let out a sharp breath. ‘Layla. We aren’t playing here. This is serious.’
‘I realize that.’
‘So, no more flouting the rules, OK?’
‘No fear of that.’ Layla looked up at her mother, her eyes suddenly bright, her expression brittle.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean I’ve been sacked.’
‘You what?’
‘Yeah. Sacked.’
‘Well… it doesn’t matter. Jobs are ten a penny, you’ll get another when all this blows over. Why’d they sack you?’
‘Blows over?’ Layla let out a sobbing laugh. ‘What are you talking about? I shot someone, Mum. Shot her dead. You nearly died in a car bombing. Someone tried to grab me, and if he’d caught me…’ She stopped, shaking her head. ‘And you talk about when it blows over! How can it?’
Annie took a breath. Somehow or other, Layla was going to have to tough this out, absorb it. She’d always seemed soft, but Annie thought that deep down her daughter had a strong core. Now, she was going to have to prove it.
‘Why’d they sack you?’ Annie repeated, more gently.
‘Because I was smoking in the office.’