Anne Bennett 3-Book Collection: A Sister’s Promise, A Daughter’s Secret, A Mother’s Spirit. Anne Bennett
Читать онлайн книгу.
And I want every penny back from the money I paid you this evening.’
‘I haven’t got it,’ Ray said. ‘I mean, not all of it. I spent some at the casino. I had a bit of bad luck.’
‘That is not my problem.’
‘You have to give me time.’
‘I have to give you nothing,’ Collingsworth snarled.
‘I was going to sell Molly on to Vera,’ Ray said. ‘I would have some cash then all right.’
‘Well, now you will have to think of another way to earn enough to pay me back,’ Collingsworth said. ‘And remember, I am not a patient man.’
‘I can’t pay you what I haven’t got.’
‘You are not listening to me, Morris, and I don’t like that,’ Collingsworth snarled. ‘You pay me what you owe or I turn you over to my heavies and then you will be lucky if you ever work again.’
He let this sink in, then went on, ‘There is a way around this, because if you kill the girl, and in a way that can never be traced back to me, the debt will be cancelled.’
Ray gasped. Outside the door, Will, who was eavesdropping, felt his blood turn to ice.
‘I haven’t ever killed anyone, Edwin, never,’ Ray said. ‘Or even come anywhere near it.’
‘So?’
‘What if I make a mess of it?’
‘Then I suggest that you get on a slow boat to China,’ Collingsworth said with a sardonic smile. ‘Because wherever you try running to, I will seek you out and hunt you down, and make you wish that you had never been born. I do hope that I have made myself clear?’
Will melted away from the door as Ray opened it. He went out into the street, his senses reeling. He could barely believe that he had just heard two men discussing killing a young girl with so little feeling. He had never listened in to what went on behind Collingsworth’s door before, preferring to keep well out of the man’s business, and he wished to God he hadn’t listened that day either, but finding his boss the way he had had made him curious.
And now he had heard they intended to kill a young girl and in cold blood for the simple reason that she had objected to Collingsworth shagging her. He could hardly blame her, for the man had surely been at the back of the queue when good looks were dished out. He was also a nasty piece of work and likely old enough to be her grandfather. No wonder the poor girl had fought like a tiger. The whole thing was obscene, grotesque.
All the way back to the flat, Ray was raging. He wanted to tear Molly limb from limb. Over three weeks he had kept her and fed her and cared for her, waiting for Collingsworth to return from wherever he had been, knowing he would pay well for a virgin. And then when Collingsworth had taken his pleasure, Ray would sell the girl on to Vera and pick up a wad of money to keep him until the next girl chanced along.
All he had asked Molly to do was toe the line, to repay the way he had looked after her so well, but she had screwed up every bloody thing. And yet the thought of what he had to do to prevent Collingsworth’s heavies reducing him to pulp frightened the life out of him. He wasn’t averse to giving a girl a good hiding if she stepped out of line, but killing – that was a different league altogether and not one he was keen on joining either.
Christ, whatever way you looked at it, it was a bloody mess and it was all Molly’s fault.
Molly felt a flood of relief when she heard Ray come in, confident that he would know what to do. She looked up as he entered the kitchen and watched him survey her face. Molly had never seen such a look in Ray’s eyes before, though she recognised that it was not sympathy or pity for the mess Collingsworth had made of her. Even so, she was unprepared for what he said.
‘Well, I just hope that you are bloody proud of yourself.’
Molly was totally confused. ‘Ray, I …’
Ray dragged her to her feet by the neck of her nightdress, and with his face inches from hers, he ground out, ‘I told you to be nice, didn’t I?’ He gave Molly a shake. ‘Didn’t I?’
‘Yes, but, Ray, I tried, but he wanted to go with me, you know. He tried to make me … well, you know.’
‘Well, of course he did, you silly cow. That is what he came for,’ Ray snarled at her, throwing her from him with such force she had to catch hold of the table she fell against to steady herself.
She was hardly aware of this, however, because she could scarcely believe the words that Ray had flung at her. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I mean, my dear, stupid bitch, that Collingsworth wanted a virgin and I had one that he paid dearly for.’
‘I can’t believe that I am hearing this,’ Molly said, aghast. ‘You know that I wouldn’t do anything like that. Surely to God you didn’t expect …’
‘But I did,’ Ray said wearily. ‘Fool that I was, I did. I told you to be very nice and I asked you if you knew what I meant and you said yes.’
‘I didn’t mean …’ Molly began through the tears seeping from her eyes.
‘I told you to do whatever he wanted, didn’t I?’
‘Yes, but …’
‘And what did you do, but bugger all except near kill the man.’
‘Is he … is he all right?’
‘Yeah, no thanks to you,’ Ray said. ‘I suppose I don’t have to tell you that you are not his favourite person at the moment. In fact if you were before him this minute he would kill you with his bare hands and I wouldn’t do a thing to stop him.’
Molly shuddered in sudden fear of this man for the first time. ‘Don’t say things like that.’
‘Even if they are true?’
‘But they are not. Normal people don’t go on like this.’
‘Collingsworth isn’t normal. Even on your limited acquaintance you must have been aware of that.’
‘I don’t know a thing about that man, nor do I want to,’ Molly said. ‘But I thought I knew you, that you cared.’
Ray gave a humourless laugh and his eyes glittered with dislike. ‘Cared?’ he said sardonically. ‘Cared for you, my dear? Wrong again, I am afraid. To me you were just a commodity, something to sell to make money from. I wouldn’t touch you with a bargepole.’
Molly was shaken by Ray’s words and she felt cold and lost inside. ‘And I thought that you were just being a gentleman,’ she said sadly.
Ray shook his head. There was no danger in telling her now. He didn’t intend to leave her alive long enough to pass it on to anyone. ‘No, I am not a gentleman, my dear. I prefer gentlemen.’ He laughed at the confusion in her eyes and went on, ‘To have sex with, I prefer men. Or to be more specific, boys, and the younger the better.’
Molly was so appalled that her lips retracted from her mouth in an expression of total contempt.
‘Don’t you sodding well look at me like that, you bloody excuse for a woman,’ he yelled at her. Then his punch knocked her to the ground and the kick rendered her unconscious.
Ray hauled her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. He could finish her off he thought, put a pillow over her head now, and it would all be over. He actually picked up the pillow, but couldn’t bring himself to do it and he put it down again. He needed Charlie, because he would have no qualms about finishing her off when he knew what she had done, and he’d have some idea where to hide the body too.
He checked his watch. He wouldn’t find Charlie at home at this time, though he had no idea where he would be either. He probably would not be home till the morning. Ray yawned suddenly, worn out with the events of the evening, and decided