Free The Know by Martina Cole

nowhere to be seen. Karen Copes spent most afternoons in the local pub with her cronies.
     
    The strange thing was, Jeanette didn’t even enjoy this bit of it, but if it was what it took to keep him, then so be it.
     
    She did what Jasper wanted and she did it willingly.
     
     
Kira and Tommy were now fast friends, and knowing that she had unlimited access to his Barbie collection was the icing on the cake as far as she was concerned. His dad was nice to her as well, though she often felt the atmosphere between him and Tommy. But Joseph Thompson always gave her a kind word and somehow she knew that life was easier for Tommy when she was there.
     
    She went to the flat nearly every night after school just to peek at the dolls. Tommy would spend ages ironing the little outfits; they even had their own tiny hangers. As he watched Kira raptly rearrange the dolls’ wardrobe he could not help but smile.
     
    He made her a glass of orange and fished out a bag of plain crisps as a snack. He knew her likes and dislikes now, which was something else that pleased him.
     
    His father watched them and shook his head.
     
    ‘We’ve got to be careful, Tommy, you know that.’
     
    He nodded.
     
    He really wished his father would stop nagging. As he said himself, it was all in the past. This was a new start for them both.
     
     
Jon Jon heard Paulie before he saw him. Sighing, he finished his drink. Paulie was beside him in a second.
     
    ‘What you doing in here, son?’
     
    Paulie’s voice was friendly yet wary. He knew he wasn’t Jon Jon’s favourite person, but he could live with that. He had known him since he was a kid after all and had always liked him. He remembered when Jon Jon had liked him back, many moons ago. To give old Joanie her due, she had not done a bad job with him.
     
    But word on the street was that he was a good little earner, and Paulie was always after the main chance.
     
    Jon Jon answered him quietly.
     
    ‘Having a drink.’
     
    The sarcasm was not lost on either of them.
     
    ‘You old enough now then?’
     
    Jon Jon smiled despite himself.
     
    ‘In here I am. Have been since I was fourteen.’
     
    Paulie, like Jon Jon, couldn’t resist looking at himself in the mirrored bar. He tidied his hair and said, ‘What you drinking?’
     
    Without waiting for an answer he said to the tall blonde with no bra and a permanent smile, ‘Two large brandies, love.’
     
    He gazed around the bar, clocked every female and rated every man in the place. He waved to one or two men and smiled at most of the women over sixteen and under thirty-five.
     
    ‘So how is Haile Selassie these days then? Alive and well and living in South London?’ He tugged Jon Jon’s dreads as he said it.
     
    ‘Fuck off, Paulie.’
     
    The smile was gone now and Paulie answered in a serious voice: ‘I’ve fucking killed for less and you should know that. But for the sake of your mother, I’ll overlook it.’ He paused before he said, ‘This time anyway.’
     
    It was a warning and Jon Jon knew it. He didn’t answer. Whatever Paulie was or wasn’t, he was classed as a bad man. Not a member of the heavy mob like local legend Big John McClellan, but a hard man nevertheless who could take care of his own interests and Jon Jon knew it would be wise for him to remember that fact.
     
    The jukebox came on and Gareth Gates was singing in the background. The place was buzzing even this early in the day. By six it would be packed. Jon Jon picked up his drink and raised it to Paulie.
     
    ‘Did your mum mention I wanted to see you?’
     
    He shook his head. Paulie knew it was a lie. If he told one of his girls to run naked up Park Lane setting fire to her farts, she would do it.
     
    Jon Jon stared ahead and for a second Paulie felt an urge to slap the boy across the face, give him a humiliating little tap. How dare the kid look down his nose at him? Because that was the message he was getting.
     
    Instead he sipped his