The Faithless - Martina Cole [77]
Jonny had made many enemies on his way up the criminal ladder, and it was these people who were only too glad to see him reap what he had sown. The wives whispered about a man who could treat his wife so, a man who could happily cuckold someone who worked for him. Jimmy was now remembered as a paragon. People said that it was no wonder he had been a drunk and a cokehead with a wife like Cynthia, and her up to all sorts with her sister’s husband, the man who employed him and paid his wages. That her children were now in care was the most scandalising thing of all. The boy, it was rumoured, was not all the ticket; he had killed a neighbour’s cat, cut its throat of all things! The girl was supposedly a nice little thing. Now that she was in a home, some of the women speculated that Cynthia hadn’t liked the competition from her daughter. The girl was a beauty and that hard-faced bitch had unloaded her like she did everyone who got in her way, her husband included. Some even hinted that it was planned, that finding them like that on the kitchen table had been deliberate.
It didn’t take long for Jonny Parker’s carefully garnered reputation as a good guy to be forgotten. He was now definitely deemed to have become too big for his boots or, as some of the cruder men said, he thought his shit didn’t stink, and that could only cause him problems in his various enterprises.
It had shocked him as well that many of the Eastern Europeans he worked with, especially the Russians, saw what he had done as something akin to genocide. They were actively cold-shouldering him, and that was a worry in itself.
Yes, he had had an affair. So what? It wasn’t his finest hour, even he admitted that, but the backlash had been astronomical. Jimmy Tailor killing himself had really sealed his fate, and he felt the weight of his guilt pressing down on him more and more each day.
Now he had the added torture of seeing Celeste, who he loved, really cared about, become, through his machinations, a shadow of her former self.
He wondered at times how the fuck he had allowed this to happen. But he knew the answer as well as the next man. He had always taken what he wanted, that was the trouble, and where that had once been seen as a strength, now it was a weakness. All he could do now was try and live it down. It was harsh and it was not going to be easy, but that was what he had to do. He had to get up and go to work as usual, look his critics in the eye and earn back his reputation little by little.
Celeste was still staring at him as he said slowly, smiling crookedly, ‘I’m sorry, love. I’m so very sorry.’
She put her hand out and laid it on top of his. ‘I know.’
He lowered his head and fought back the urge to cry.
Chapter Sixty-Five
Derek Greene was happy, but then he was a man with a happy disposition. He had a lovely family, a nice life, and he had a shrewd head on his rather large shoulders. Today he was happier than ever. Today was the day he finally came into his own, and he couldn’t wait for the fireworks to start. It had been a long haul, but he was content enough to wait a few more days to get his bonus. And what a bonus.
Jonny Parker was champing at the bit, and that was exactly where Derek wanted him. Considering the man’s troubles, he was conducting his business with his usual acumen and Derek had to admire that, even if he did think Jonny needed a moral compass for his dinner now and again to remind him what was acceptable behaviour and what wasn’t. But that was then and this was now.
‘You look happy, Del Boy.’
He grinned at his wife. ‘That’s because I am, my princess.’
She looked at him shrewdly; they had been together since they were thirteen and she knew him better than he knew himself. ‘What you up to?’ She was suspicious now; her biggest fear was that he would