Faith - Lesley Pearse [230]
‘You always did have too much to say for yerself,’ he retorted. ‘I haven’t come here to chew the cud with you. I want money, or I’ll start sending those pictures out.’
‘Send them,’ she bluffed. ‘I don’t care, and you’re an old man now, Robbie. You don’t frighten me.’
‘Then you are more of a fool than I took you for,’ he said, his lips curling back like a savage dog’s. ‘I’ve got connections everywhere, hen. One call from me and I could wreak havoc in every corner of your life and family. If you’re wise you won’t play poker with me, because I’ve got a good hand.’
Laura put her head in the air and turned to walk to the phone in the hall. But as she put her hand on the receiver, Robbie came up behind her and knocked it out of her hand.
‘I think you’ve forgotten what a nasty bastard I can be,’ he said, pushing her up against the wall and sticking his face up close to hers. ‘So I’ll just have to remind you. I want what’s mine by rights. I got Jackie that farm for a pittance, and she promised me she’d see me right. I don’t call five hundred and a bottle of single malt seeing me right. Not when that place is worth in excess of a hundred and fifty thou.’
‘That’s nothing to do with me,’ Laura said, trying to push him away. His breath stank and the deranged look in his eyes was frightening. ‘You should have taken that up with her when she was alive.’
‘It’s got everything to do with you, now that place has dropped in your lap,’ he spat at her. ‘You influenced Jackie against me, just as you stole my girls from me.’
‘You left us high and dry!’ Laura exclaimed. ‘We had rent to find and kids to feed. And I didn’t steal anyone, the girls who worked for me had never worked for you.’
‘I had it all worked out that Jackie and I would go into business,’ he said, not even acknowledging what she’d just said. ‘I could have got us mobile home sites, tenements in need of repair. But you dripped poison in her ear.’
Laura felt like laughing at that. ‘I did no such thing, and if she turned you down it was because of what you were offering. As if she’d want mobile home sites or tenements! She was no slum landlord. Didn’t you learn anything about her? She liked design, creating something beautiful, she had a soul, Robbie, she wasn’t only in property for the money, it was her passion. If you couldn’t see that you must be stupid.’
She didn’t see the blow coming. One moment he was pushing at her shoulders, the next his fist slammed into her cheek. ‘Don’t you fuckin’ call me stupid,’ he snarled.
Laura realized as her face erupted in pain that he was not bluffing and she was in real danger. If he’d been alone maybe she could have fought him off, but with Andy ready to jump in she had no chance. She glanced round to see where he was. He was leaning against the kitchen doorpost, grinning. He looked the kind who beat women up just for fun.
‘I didn’t mean you were stupid,’ she said to Robbie. ‘You just obviously misunderstood what Jackie was all about. Now let’s go into the sitting room or the kitchen and talk about this calmly.’
‘I don’t want to talk. I want money,’ he said, and he caught hold of her shoulders as if preparing to hit her again if she refused.
Laura’s cheek was throbbing, and she didn’t want to risk a second blow. ‘I haven’t got any,’ she said. ‘I won’t have any either, not until probate goes through, and that could be months, because of the time I’ve spent inside.’
‘Your sister must have some,’ he said with a sly look. ‘A house like this is worth a bomb. She’s bound to know where to lay her hands on some readies, especially when she sees what a razor can do to a face.’
Laura was already scared, but the thought of the two men marking Meggie’s face terrified her. ‘Leave her out of this,’ she said, pushing him away from her. ‘I’ll give you everything I’ve got in my purse, I’ll even go down to the cash machine and draw out some more.’
He hit her again, this time a punch in the ribs