Free Black Widow by Jessie Keane Page A

couldn’t go on like this. Waiting powerlessly for that bastard to call again and again; waiting, hoping, and then every time her hopes being dashed and her anxiety increasing. She had, somehow, to reclaim some control.
    Oh sure , she thought with black amusement. And how are you going to do that, smartarse?
    She would concentrate on getting some money together. Work hard at that, and keep strong. Jimmy had rightly said that Max must have a stash somewhere, a secret stash. Maybe more than one. And there were safes at the clubs, weren’t there, for the takings. She had to wait until Friday when he called again. Why not use that time?
    She went out to use a phone box a few streets away. Dolly went with her. They crowded into the little cubicle, out of the rain. Annie dialled Kath and Jimmy’s number. Kath answered.
    ‘Kath—Annie,’ she said shortly. ‘Get hold of Jimmy and tell him to get Tony, Max’s driver. I want Max’s car at Dolly’s place in Limehouse at two o’clock.’
    ‘Who the hell do you think you are, issuing orders?’ demanded Kath.
    Annie felt a cold, clear rage grip her. Fuck it all, didn’t she have enough to contend with, without Kath adding her bit to the mix?
    ‘Kath,’ she said icily. ‘Now you listen, and listen good, ’cos I ain’t about to say this twice. I’m Mrs Max Carter. And you’d better cut out the fucking crap. Max isn’t here but I am, and I’m taking over for him. You’d better not have a problem with that, Kath. You’d better get your arse in gear and pass the word to Jimmy, fast.’
    Annie slammed the phone down, breathing hard.
    ‘That’s her told,’ said Dolly. ‘And about time too, the mouthy cow. Where you off to, then?’
    ‘The Palermo. And the Shalimar, and the Blue Parrot.’
    Dolly nodded.
    Max Carter’s three clubs.
    Now, with Max gone, they belonged to Annie Carter. And so did his manor.

11
    The first thing Vita Byrne saw when she opened the trap door on the disused hen house was a pair of very angry dark green eyes staring up at her.
    Shit!
    She slammed the door shut.
    ‘For fuck’s sake,’ she said to Danny, her brother, who had just come out from the kitchen and was staring at her. ‘You couldn’t have given her enough of that stuff, she’s awake! You fucking idiot.’
    ‘Hey, how do I know how much to use on a kid?’ he demanded. ‘I didn’t want to give her too much, I didn’t want to kill her, now did I?’
    ‘I thought she was going to be drugged up. I thought she was going to be out of it. And now she’s seen my fucking face,’ whined Vita.
    ‘Will you shut up? And will you put your fucking hood on, and why didn’t you have it on in the first place? That way she wouldn’t have seen your stupid face, for God’s sake.’
    ‘Don’t have a go at me,’ said Vita. ‘You got the dose wrong.’
    ‘Look, she’s a kid. I gave her what I thought was enough but not too much ’cos that could have killed her, and that wouldn’t be very clever now, would it? She’s no fucking use to us dead. What I’m saying is, she won’t know you anyway, so will you for the love of God calm down?’
    ‘Yeah, it’s all very well for you to say calm down, but it wasn’t your face she saw, was it?’ yelled Vita, getting good and mad and also a bit panicky.
    Because for sure the little girl had seen her face. She didn’t think Danny was taking that point quite seriously enough.
    ‘She’s a little kid,’ said Danny with a bored tone in his voice. ‘She won’t know your face.’
    ‘Yeah, but Da—’
    ‘Shut up.’ Now Danny was getting mad too. His stupid sister had been about to blurt his name out. A kid might forget a face, but a name might stick in her memory; she might repeat it when she got free— if she got free—and then people would come knocking. All of which was a situation Danny Byrne hoped to avoid.
    ‘Don’t keep telling me to shut up,’ said Vita.
    Everything about this was upsetting her. It was all too much. She