Twenty-four hours. That was all she had left to serve in Kirktonhill. Needless to say, it was the slowest day of her life, but all she kept thinking about was getting out, seeing Jake. She’d missed him a lot, more than she’d thought she would. She’d learned to live with his absence but that didn’t mean she could do it again. Roxanne vowed never to allow herself to get into a situation that would land her back in a place like Kirktonhill. Well, not one that would leave her open to getting caught.
It had been a godsend that Jake was able to pay off the prison officers. It was thanks to his cash and their discretion that Roxanne basically got to do what she wanted, when she wanted, even inside. Having her own mobile phone in her cell so that she could contact Jake regularly had proved most helpful. She still had a hand in things, and Jake still consulted her on business decisions. Not that she didn’t trust him. He’d never given her cause to think badly of him. Ever since she’d been put away, Jake had continued to bring in the business, generate their income and he’d done a good job. Now that her release was just hours away, Roxanne couldn’t help but feel a ball of anxiety settle in the depths of her stomach. What was life as a free woman going to be like? She’d been locked up for ten years. To most people that wasn’t very long but to someone who’d become institutionalised, it may as well have equated to a hundred years. The only reason she knew half the stuff that went on was because she’d had her mobile; her only link to the outside world, a tiny phone. Her daily routine was going to change, but Roxanne was sure that her body clock would remain the same. Lights out at ten, lights on at six. She’d have to try to reprogramme herself, so that she could fit back into life as Roxanne McPhail, gangster, not prisoner.
Her new friendship with Arabella was partly what had kept her going for the last stretch of her sentence, and it had been painful to watch her come and go so quickly. They’d been in touch via text message since she’d been released and it made Roxanne smile to think that their friendship could last on the outside. Arabella was a good girl. A little messed up to say the least, but reliable, trustworthy. She’d done time for something that wasn’t really her fault; Roxanne could see that in her the minute she’d walked through the door. There really wasn’t a bad bone in her body.
The phone in her hand began to vibrate and Roxanne glanced down at it. It was Jake. He’d be calling to arrange to collect her tomorrow. Relishing the thought of having her freedom again, Roxanne smiled.
‘Oi, McPhail. Make it a quick one, eh? I’m due on my break,’ the male prison officer said. He was standing at the door to her cell with his back to her. Normally that kind of attitude would stir up an anger in her belly. She wanted to comment that he must be feeling annoyed that as of tomorrow, his ‘bonus’ would stop. But she chose to keep quiet. She would not start any shit. Not today.
Pressing the accept call button, Roxanne raised the phone to her ear. ‘Jake?’
‘How you doing, babe? Your last day dragging?’ Jake asked.
Roxanne shook her head. ‘It’s not bad. So, you picking me up tomorrow?’
There was a pause and Roxanne instantly felt uneasy. Jake was never quiet, never left a question unanswered.
‘Jake?’
‘Aye, of course I’m picking you up.’
‘What’s wrong?’
Jake sighed on the other end of the line and Roxanne felt the unease begin to rise in her stomach.
‘Nothing’s wrong, so to speak. We just didn’t seem to make as much cash on the operation as we thought.’
Roxanne sat down on the chair next to her bed. ‘Why not, Jake?’
‘Some of the security tags burst.’
She nodded, knowing full well what that meant. ‘How much merch was lost?’
‘About eighty percent.’ She listened as Jake sucked air in through his teeth. ‘But don’t worry, it was a one-off and things are fine, business-wise. You have nothing to be concerned about. There’s been a development, an old business associate of mine down south has been in touch and he’s offered us a business opportunity.’
‘What kind of opportunity?’
‘He wants to speak to you face to face. So when I pick you up tomorrow, we’ll be going to meet him.’
‘Who is this guy?’ Roxanne asked. She didn’t like these kinds of things being thrown at her out of the blue.
‘His name is Cole Woods,’ Jake said, sounding hesitant. It was as if he knew she wasn’t going to like this.
‘Cole Woods, as in thee Cole Woods? The biggest supplier of drugs from London?’ Roxanne closed her eyes momentarily. ‘Are you fucking insane, Jake? That guy is a nut job. Have you heard the stories circulating about him?’
‘Was the biggest. He left to go to Spain, and has only just come back.’
Roxanne raised a brow. ‘Even so, he’s still a nutter.’
‘Oh come on, Rox, people probably called you the same thing when you went away. Every gangster from here to the moon has a story or two floating around about them. And the reason those stories began is because he was dividing his time between living and working in London and abroad. Folk were saying that he was laying low overseas. It’s all just bullshit,’ Jake said.
‘You hope,’ Roxanne replied.
‘Look, he’s no more a saint than us and the rest of our connections here in the city, Rox. We’re just meeting him to discuss things. It’s not like I’ve signed anything.’
Roxanne sighed heavily. If Jake was in front of her, face to face right now, she was sure she’d knock him out. Cole Woods wasn’t someone she wanted to get mixed up with, not unless she knew the exact scope of the business arrangement. And definitely not until she was the one in charge. It was a good thing that she was getting out the next day. As much as she loved and trusted Jake, she wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle this quite as efficiently as she would. Jake was the man you wanted in charge of the shoplifting operations. This new business opportunity could be anything from selling weed to being hired to shoot someone where Woods was concerned.
‘Jake, why would you contact him of all people?’
‘I didn’t. He phoned me. If he didn’t think he could put good business our way then he wouldn’t have bothered to contact me at all.’
‘Oh so he’s our guardian fucking angel now?’ Roxanne hissed, although she heard a slight hesitation in his tone.
‘Rox, just chill out, eh? I’m just focusing on seeing you tomorrow. Anything after that can get dealt with at the time.’
Hanging up, Roxanne stuffed the phone back into her pocket and wished she could turn the clocks forward by one day so she could get out of here and see what Woods had to offer them. She wasn’t scared of Cole by any means; she knew she would be able to handle him, especially on her patch. However, Cole was good at manipulating a situation to suit his own needs. Roxanne wasn’t in the mood to be manipulated. She’d spent the last ten years stuck in Kirktonhill, allowing Jake to run things in her absence. She didn’t want Cole Woods to step on her toes the second she got out.
‘Enjoy your last day of luxury living, Rox,’ the officer standing by the door said with a sarcastic grin.
Smiling in return, Roxanne thought about what she might be faced with when she got out. The thought turned her stomach. Was she truly ready to get back into that life of crime, the life that she’d fallen into after she’d come back from the disaster that was Spain? She didn’t know how else to live her life, how else to be. She couldn’t exactly go legit, not now after all this time. Not now she and Jake had money behind them. There was no such thing as wealth when you worked a minimum wage job. Who in their right mind would give someone like her a job after her time at Kirktonhill? No one, that’s who and she would need something to keep money rolling in. What they had already wouldn’t last forever if they kept spending but not replacing.
It didn’t matter what reservations Roxanne had, she had no choice. The only thing she was sure of was that this time around, she would get people to do the dirty work for her. No more stamping on bodies to get them to pay up. If she was to be certain never to end up behind bars again, then she would have to keep her name out of the mud. They’d have to take on more people to do the deals. All Roxanne wanted was to stay out of prison and get on with her life. As tough as she was, she couldn’t go back to prison. She may be free again tomorrow, but she only knew this life. It was like an addiction; once you started you couldn’t stop. But Roxanne knew how to stay out of prison now. Don’t get caught.