a decision, and flipped open her mobile.
'Emily? Hi, it's Julie here, how are you doing?'
Julie had a favour to ask of Emily. A favour in return actually.
They had first met a few weeks ago, not long after Julie had started a keep-fit course at her local gym. Emily was of similar age, married, and rather ironically considering she had no kids of her own, ran a children's nursery business. Her husband George was a businessman, (Julie rather got the impression he was more married to his work than he was to Emily, which didn't seem to bother Emily too much).
Julie had been a little puzzled when Emily received a call on her mobile one evening, and began speaking in a language Julie didn't recognise. Clearly, whoever was on the other end was upset, and at first Emily was being sympathetic, but gradually her voice turned harder, until she sounded quite angry. After the call was over, Emily explained that her business also supplied au pairs, and she had been dealing with a Romanian girl who was having problems.
'Some of them are just silly girls, you know, and they get upset at the slightest thing,' she explained, 'Sometimes you have to be a big sister to them, a shoulder to cry on perhaps, and other times you have to play the tough headmistress!'
Attractive and outgoing, Emily would flirt outrageously with the guys at the gym, always knowing the right thing to say or do to have them eating out of her hand. Julie would notice them attempt to pull in their stomachs, and exercise just that little bit harder when Emily wiggled past. And if Julie joined her in the wine bar afterwards, they were never short of admirers queuing up to buy them drinks.
She was slightly shocked, though, when Emily grabbed her arm recently, pulled her aside and told her in a conspirational whisper,
'Anyone asks, you were with me in Dino's wine bar on Tuesday night after the gym. Until about nine thirty.'
Julie arched her eyebrows in surprise,
'Something I should know about? Or someone?'
Emily grinned, tapped the side of her nose with a finger.
'Better you don't know.'
Now it was Emily's turn to repay the favour, something she seemed more than happy to do. Of course she was curious, but Julie stood firm.
'Better you don't know.'
Emily laughed,
'Hah! Got the message babes, don't worry, it'll be our little secret.'
In the Cross Keys public bar, Allan got the drinks in, while Chalky made himself at home at a table next to Rob, a salesman at the local Ford dealership and Jim, a workmate of Allan's.
'How was the meeting, Chalky?'
'Usual crap. If they're not fighting one another, they're covering their own arses.'
Chalky had been a manager at Rutherfords, formerly the biggest factory in the area before being badly hit by the recession, and forced to close down more than a year ago. Now into his mid fifties, he had struggled to find another job, but kept himself occupied with some voluntary work, as well as being a committed member of the local neighbourhood watch scheme, and a familiar face at community meetings. He also ran the Cross Keys football team which included Allan, Rob and Jim.
Rob was always complaining that this season would be his last, that his knees just weren't up to it any more.
'Could hardly walk into work on Monday morning, just getting too old for this lark!' was a familiar cry from him.
Privately, Allan was starting to find himself agreeing with him, although pride would never let him admit it, not while Chalky was running around keeping pace with the younger players like Jim.
'Allan here managed to put the cat among the pigeons though,' said Chalky as the aforementioned arrived at the table with the beers.
'Told everybody that any burglar trying to break into his house could expect to be beaten to a bloody pulp, and no big girl's blouse of a policeman would be able to stop him!'
'Always suspected there was a right nasty side to him.' said Rob, moving his chair away slightly in mock fear.
'Don't listen to that old eejit, I only asked what would happen if I injured someone if I caught them breaking into the house.' said Allan
'They'd probably lock you up and throw away the key!' opined Rob, 'That's how it seems to work nowadays.'
'Aye, and you'll have to sell the house to pay the compensation your poor victim will be claiming! Probably with the full support of the civil liberties brigade.' added Jim
'That's pretty much the message I took from the meeting.' Allan admitted.
'Best thing that could happen, would be one of those neds getting a right good beating, might do something to put them of making some other poor sod's life a misery.' suggested Rob.
'They could do worse than start with that Benny Patterson.' said Jim.
'What's that lowlife been up to now?' asked Chalky
'You probably heard about that fifteen year old lass that was found dead of a drug overdose a few weeks ago, well it was Benny Patterson invited her and a pal to a party, gave them drink and drugs. One rumour is, they were raped, although nothings been said officially. Other folk think they were trying to get them involved in prostitution.'
'Surely not. Fifteen year-old lasses, you're joking!'
'That's what these guys do apparently, they get young girls hooked on drugs, or blackmail them, or whatever it takes, then put them on the street. That Benny Patterson is a bad 'un, When the lasses took ill, he up and left them, didn't call for help or anything, one of them died, the other was in hospital for a couple of days.'
Allan looked puzzled,
'Surely if you know all this, the police will know as well, and they will deal with him?'
'Everybody round our way knows, but nobody will talk because Patterson is friendly with Darren Hill. He's the one supplying the drugs, and he probably takes a cut from anything Benny makes as a pimp, so you squeal on Benny, you know you're going to have the Hill clan after you, and nobody wants to mess with them.'
They all knew what he meant. For as long as they could remember, Gerry Hill had ruled the Craigends area. One of the old style gangsters,Gerry was supposed to have retired, and he and his wife had gone to live near their daughter in Spain, while his sons claimed to be legitimate businessmen. But it was widely believed that George's property empire, and Sammy's car showrooms, taxi and delivery firms were merely fronts for more dubious activities. Even their sister Victoria, married to a Spanish man, and living on the Costa Del Sol, was thought to be involved behind the scenes, moving the family's money abroad, and investing in legitimate business in Europe and elsewhere.
Gerry's youngest son, George, had no children, something many agreed was a small but significant benefit to society. The eldest son, Sammy, was father to Darren, who was regarded as being every bit as nasty as his grandfather had been in his prime. Only the very brave or the
