The Faithless - Martina Cole [31]
His instincts now were telling him the time was right. It worked on paper, admittedly, but paper never allowed for the reactions of the people involved. He was always wary of the reactions to his more outrageous business enterprises. But, where this one was concerned, he would do murder if necessary, because he was determined to see this one through to the very end.
He was a much harder fuck than people realised. But after this next coup – and it was a very audacious and dangerous scam – his real intentions and his real personality would be known to all and sundry. He had bided his time, and this was the moment he had been working towards. If he was honest, he was still a bit nervous about it but, as far as he was concerned, that nervousness was all to the good. It would ensure he didn’t take anything for granted. Didn’t let his guard down. It was when people became too sure of themselves that they tended to make mistakes, and he had no intention of fucking this one up.
‘You all right, Jonny?’
Celeste looked worried, and he forced a smile of nonchalance on to his face.
‘I’m fine, sweetheart, just thinking that’s all.’
Celeste grinned then. ‘You’re always thinking! What’s on your mind, mate?’
He cupped her face in his hand, amazed at the force of the love he felt for this woman. ‘Nothing for you to worry about. Now are you sure you’ll be all right tonight? I won’t be out longer than necessary, I promise.’
‘Stay as long as you want. I’m going round me mum’s anyway – she’s got the kids.’
Jonny grimaced and the look made her grin again.
‘She’s always got the fucking kids!’
Celeste was serious suddenly. ‘Not any more. Be fair, Jonny, she doesn’t have them half as much as she used to.’
It amazed him how this woman – because she was a woman when all was said and done, despite her childishness and her naivety – could still stick up for that sorry excuse of a sister. But, as his old mum always insisted, blood was thicker than water. Bollocks of course, but women seemed to think it was a valid excuse for their family’s treachery and skulduggery. Personally, he thought her sister should be six feet underneath a golf course somewhere. But that was only his opinion and, where her piece of shit of a sister was concerned, his wife was not going to listen to any arguments he might put forward, no matter how valid they may be.
‘I’ll retreat on this occasion, darlin’, because I don’t want to row about it. She ain’t worth rowing about, is she?’
Celeste shook her head, but he knew she was upset.
‘So I’ll see you later then, eh?’ He kissed her and, as always, she responded to his embrace with all her being.
‘I’ll hold you to that!’
When the door shut behind him, Celeste sat down and lit a cigarette from her secret stash. Jonny hated her smoking, but she needed it to calm her nerves. She knew something big was going down tonight, and she feared in her heart that it was something that could go very, very wrong. She trusted Jonny, but she knew he was taking some big risks these days – at least as far as her dad was concerned he was, and her dad wasn’t a spinner. If he was worried, there was something to worry about. Her dad might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he heard anything that was worth anything, and her husband should listen to him now and again. In fact, he ought to understand that he should listen to the truth sometimes even if he wasn’t in the mood for hearing it. She felt personally that it was always worth a quick listen to the local gossip. Nine times out of ten, they knew more than the Filth ever would and even more than the people involved in a scam. Gossip was a serious thing where they came from; it was the forerunner to a serious nicking. If it was known outside their workforce, it was dangerous to everyone involved. It meant that it wasn’t as secret as they all assumed. In fact, it meant it was common knowledge, in the public domain, and that meant that someone in his personal circle had a big mouth and