EPISODE ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE
Dave walked Mary away
from the court, his arms about her. She
was numb with shock. Ronnie had been
given an 18 month prison sentence, which meant he would probably be out in a year.
As they past a pub, Mary stopped suddenly.
‘I think I could do with a large drink,’ she said.
Dave nodded gravely. ‘This one looks
seedy enough. Probably be the usual late
afternoon winos. Sure you wouldn’t
prefer to look for somewhere more salubrious?’
Mary shook her head emphatically. ‘I
don’t care where we go. Let’s just have
a drink.’
Dave was right. The pub had an air of
neglect about it, and a stale smell of beer, sweat and smoke. And the few customers drinking had obviously
been there most of the day and their voices were over loud.
Dave bought Mary a large brandy and Coke, himself a pint of bitter, and they
found a corner well away from the noisiest customers. Mary took a large swallow of her drink, then
shook her head as if she couldn’t quite believe what she had been through.
‘He’ll be out in a year, Dave. What the
hell am I going to do?’
Dave shrugged. ‘It was a light
sentence. But then, it was a first
offence. And it didn’t go down too well
when they discovered you’d deliberately set him up like that.’
She slammed her glass onto the table.
‘What was I supposed to do?’
‘I know, I know. I’m just saying that they seemed a bit – how shall I put it? –
a bit angry that you seemed to be taking the law into your own hands.’
‘But the police were useless, you know that.’
Dave bit his lip before speaking. ‘I’m
sorry, sweetheart, I’m going to have to say this. It didn’t help, you lying like that about him
threatening to kill us all. His lawyer
really jumped on that.’
‘But the point is,’ Mary said, her voice rising in anger, ‘he’s quite capable
of doing that. He scares me. He really does. I saw the evil smile he gave
me in court, and he knew it was freaking me out. As soon as he gets out of jail it’ll be ten
times worse. Because now he’ll want
revenge. What the hell are we going to
do?’
There was a long pause while Dave thought about this. He pursed his lips and his brow furrowed into
a thoughtful frown.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ he announced, waiting for her to prompt him into
continuing.
‘What about?’
‘I get most of my work up north. It’s
where I’m from. Why don’t we disappear
to somewhere in Yorkshire, the outskirts of Leeds, say. For what
I can sell the house in Tunbridge Wells, we can probably get much better up
there.’
‘You don’t think Ronnie’ll find us?’
‘Why should he? I mean, let’s face it,
because you were still living in the same town when he came back from America, you were probably quite easy to find. But if we move
away completely, how’s he going to find us?
We could be anywhere in the British Isles. He’d have no way of knowing.’
Suddenly there was a spark in Mary as the gloom lifted In spite of her doubt, there was now the
excitement of a fresh start, a new horizon for which to aim. She knew she had to investigate her feelings
slowly, work out all the pros and cons.
‘What about my mother?’ was her first concern.
‘And it’ll be an upheaval for Simon and Thomas.’
‘It’s not as if we’re going to the ends of the earth. She can come and visit, and vice versa. And as for an upheaval for the lads, you know
what kids are like: some of them love a
great big change in their lives. To them
it’ll be an adventure.’
Mary placed a hand on his leg and squeezed, snuggling close to him on the bench
seat. ‘Oh, Dave,’ she said, ‘you’d
really do that, sell the house and everything? Move away – just for me.’
He grinned at her. ‘No. Not for you.
For us.’
*
‘Can I help you, sir?’ the young woman with red hair asked Ted as he slid into
the seat by the desk opposite her. A
pristine desk, smooth and paper free, hygienic and dust free, but
characterless.
‘I wish to open an account.’
She smiled at him reassuringly. ‘Do you
have an account anywhere else?’ she asked.
Ted hesitated. ‘Well, yes, I have a
joint account with my wife. But now I’d
like to open one of my own.’
The young woman stared at him, keeping her expression deliberately impassive,
waiting for him to continue. Ted shifted
in his seat and it made a creaking noise.
‘There’s nothing wrong with me having my own account is there?’
The young woman shook her head slowly and frowned. ‘Of course not. But...’
Ted leaned forward and fixed her with a desperate look. ‘But?’ he questioned.
‘Nothing wrong at all,’ she said hurriedly.
Ted felt it was time to be impressive.
‘I’d like to open an account and deposit this cheque.’
He took the folded cheque out of his pocket and pushed it across the desk
towards her. It was his moment of triumph.
He’d had the cheque sent to Donald’s address and they had celebrated
with champagne when it arrived. Even
now, two days later, he was still on a high.
He watched carefully as the young
woman’s eyes widened slightly as she saw the amount, although she was doing her
best not to show anything in her expression.
She eased her chair away from the desk and stood up.
‘I’ll just go and see if the manager’s free.
I won’t keep you a minute if you don’t mind waiting.’
Ted smiled confidently. It was amazing
how such a sum of money could boost your confidence.
‘Of course not,’ he said, relaxing back into his chair. His smile widened as he began to fantasise
about the life that lay in store for him.
His own secret, and very healthy, bank account. That was one in the eye for Marjorie. Except she would never know about it.
IN EPISODE 126
Mike confronts his wife and her friends.