Maps of Hell

‘My little girl, getting married,’ gloated Connie.

Kath and Annie stepped in behind Ruthie and the vicar, and then the Wedding March sounded loud and clear from inside the church.

Annie followed her sister up the aisle to join Max at the altar. Her throat was closed and she was choking with hatred and misery. She saw Max there looking impossibly handsome and his brother Jonjo as best man standing by his side. She saw the expression in Max’s eyes as he looked back and saw Ruthie.

He’d never looked at her like that.

The bastard.

But at least she’d had her revenge for the way he’d so casually dismissed her. Ruthie knew. There was no going back from that.

Ruthie knew.

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They sat outside in the car and looked at the shop. They were Max’s boys, and they were following orders. One of his most trusted lieutenants had told them to do the shop late on the Saturday afternoon when the information was that there would be upward of three thousand quid in the till.

They knew that they were on the Delaney patch. They knew the shop-owner was paying protection to the Delaneys, and this had caused them some concern.

‘Just do the fucking job, leave the thinking to those that can,’ came the orders when they questioned this action.

There were four of them, all of them handy but still worried. If the Carters were looking to take a pop at the Delaney manor, there was going to be seven kinds of shit flying about, and they weren’t happy.

Some things were set in stone. The Richardsons and the Frasers had the South, the Regans the West, the Nashes had The Angel, the Delaneys held Battersea – and a small pocket in Limehouse down by the docks, often disputed over – the Krays had Bethnal Green and the Carters had Bow. You never argued with that. But the boys were loyal, and there was a bonus in it for them. When they had asked what their cut was to be, the answer had come swiftly back from Jonjo Carter.

‘Take the fucking lot. Piss it all up against a wall if you want to, just take it.’

Which was very unusual. The Carters were notoriously keen on taking their pound of flesh. The boys took this to mean that this job was intended as an insult to the Delaneys, a message to say, look you cunts, we can take you any time you like, no worries.

They were worried all right. There had been rumours that Tory Delaney was out of circulation, maybe ill, maybe God knew what.

But orders were orders, and Max Carter was the guvnor. He knew what he was doing, and he didn’t like people questioning his judgement.

‘Right then, here we go,’ said the driver when the last of the punters departed at five to five, then one of Max’s boys pulled on his mask and gloves and ran into the shop.

The owner was there, mopping up after the day’s trading. He froze like a deer in headlights, which was good. The till was one of those big heavy efforts, but Max’s boy was tasty and could lift it easily, he’d already taken care to look it over.

He leaned over and grabbed the thing.

Or he tried to.

‘Shit!’

It was screwed down.

The shop owner started gabbling away in a foreign language. Christ knows what he was saying. Fuck you, probably. The man started slapping at Max’s boy with the wet mop. It was a bit funny but Max’s boy was getting steamed up.

Two of the others had seen there was a problem and came running in to help, while the driver stayed put. The mop attack and the slopping of water all over the place and the shouting was getting worse and worse. Then the shop-owner chucked the remains of the bucket of water over the lot of them and suddenly they were skidding and sliding all over the fucking place. Then he reached for the phone.

One of the boys yanked the cord out of the wall and gave him a cautionary slap.

Another went back out to the car and grabbed a pickaxe from the boot. With it he demolished the counter and then they had it away with the till, no problem.

They took the till, with bits of broken counter clinging to it, outside and got it into the car. They piled back in and the driver gunned away. They pulled off their masks and gloves and roared with laughter in the aftermath of the excitement. They were drenched to the skin.

‘Jesus, it was like being slapped in the face with a cod,’ said one, trying to dry himself on a rag from the dashboard. ‘Good job Jonjo wasn’t there, he’d have wrung his fucking neck.’

Two of them were in the back with the till.

They opened it.

Plenty of notes.

They sat back, smiling.

‘That’s what I call a good day’s work,’ said one.

‘Yeah,’ agreed his companion.

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Ruthie was very quiet, thought Max.

He knew she was never one to gabble on, but this was quiet even by her standards. Because there was heavy business going on they had to forgo a foreign honeymoon, but he knew she would be impressed with his Surrey place and he took her straight there after the reception, his Jag rattling with tin cans until he stopped round the corner and took them off.

During the rest of the drive she was silent. Then they got home to Surrey and she was still too quiet. Maybe she was just overawed.

She was mistress of this grand manor house now, she would live among the fancy furnishings and crystal chandeliers and would step on to deep-pile carpets when she emerged from her bath or from the big bed they would share tonight.

There were grounds instead of gardens, huge stretches of green to do as they liked with. There were garages and outbuildings. There was an annexe, for Christ’s sake. It was a far cry from the East End, a very long way away from what she was used to.

That was it, he thought. She was probably just overcome with it all. Max could see that she was tired, and suggested they go straight up. It was after two in the morning. It had been an exhausting day for them both.

He opened a bottle of the best champagne that had been laid out ready by the bed. His housekeeper Miss Arnott had turned back the sheets, stoked up the fire, made everything comfortable for the newlyweds. His mum would have done it had she been here and, as always when he thought of Queenie, he felt the wrench of grief at her loss and the gut-deep anger at those who had taken her from him.

He poured the bubbly while Ruthie hovered uncertainly by the bed. She looked almost pretty today in her going-away suit of soft cream wool. Her hair, always her best feature, was swept up in an elegant chignon, throwing the clean lines of her face into sharper focus.

‘You look lovely today,’ he said, pouring the champagne into expensive crystal flutes and holding one out to her.

Poor kid, she looked more lost than lovely. But there were three things that never failed with women. Talk to them gently, tell them they look good even if they didn’t, please them sexually.

Ruthie came around the bed and took the glass and drank from it.

‘Hungry?’ he asked. ‘I’ll get something sent up.’

She shook her head and gulped down more champagne.

‘Steady with that,’ said Max with a smile. ‘It goes to your head.’