Pulling into the drive, all Terry could think about was having a couple of whiskys while Annie massaged his shoulders in the bath. What a fucking night. He hadn’t expected all of what had unfolded to happen. All he’d wanted was to snuff out the little prick who was screwing him over, who’d turned out to be a pervert too. Instead, he had become involved in a family feud. But then again nothing about that damned estate surprised him. In fact, it seemed worse now than it had when he had lived and worked there as a kid. Or maybe now that he was an adult and seeing it from an older perspective he just thought it was worse. Either way, Mainhill was a means to an end and there was no way he was going to allow some wee bastard to fuck that up for him. He’d had it all thought out in his head how he’d kill Galzo, but then Lee suddenly exploded into a rage and murdered the lad right in front of them.
Terry had been surprised that Lee had been capable but it had also shown him the potential that lay ahead of Lee. Galzo was dead in seconds and Lee had acted as though he’d just killed a spider. Unfazed and calm.
Annie’s car was in the driveway and he sighed with relief when he saw it as he opened the front door. Calling out to her as he kicked off his shoes, Terry headed straight for the drinks cabinet and pulled out his favourite bottle.
‘Annie?’ he called again. ‘You in?’
Placing the bottle down on the counter, Terry climbed the stairs towards their bedroom, expecting to find her in the shower or the bath waiting for him. Entering the bedroom, he noticed how Annie’s side of the built in wardrobes were lying open. Some of her clothes were gone. And her shoes. On closer inspection, the suitcase that had been sitting on the top shelf of the wardrobe was also gone.
‘Awe, you fucking haven’t,’ Terry said to the empty bedroom. Making his way through to the office space, where he’d first taken Annie after meeting her in one of his pubs, he glanced at the wall where his safe was located. ‘Annie, please tell me you fucking haven’t.’
Terry roared in anger and pulling back the frame which covered the safe, he punched in the code and opened the heavy-set door. It took Terry a few seconds to process what stared back at him. Nothing but an empty space. There had been ten grand in sacks sitting inside that safe earlier that morning – money that Annie had put in there herself, along with cash collections Terry and Richie had made themselves. All of it equating to twenty grand.
‘Annie! What the fuck have you done?’
Rage building in the pit of his stomach and rising quickly to his chest, Terry slammed the safe door shut so hard the whole room shuddered.
Pulling out his phone, he tried calling Annie. As it began to ring, a vibration came from the other side of the room. Glancing over at the sofa in the far corner, he saw it. Annie’s phone was perched on the arm, glowing out at him as his name came up on the screen. Throwing it across the room, Terry ended the call and dialled Richie. After four or five rings, he picked up.
‘What’s up mate?’
‘Is Annie at yours?’ Terry asked, the anger making him breathless.
‘No, why would she be?’
‘Fuck!’ he screamed, dropping his hand to the side of his body before using the other to open and then slam the safe door shut again. He wanted to pull the thing from the wall cavity and chuck it through the window. Placing the phone at his ear once more, he could hear Richie asking what was wrong.
‘It’s Annie. She’s fucked me over.’
‘What do you mean?’ Richie asked, suspicion in his tone.
‘She’s gone, Richie. Taken twenty grand of my fucking money with her.’
‘Couldn’t she have just gone to deposit the cash?’ Richie suggested.
‘Naw, mate she’s packed her stuff. I’ve tried phoning her but she’s left her phone here. She’s done a fucking bunk. I can’t believe this.’
Spinning around to face the window, Terry launched his phone against the table and the screen smashed, tiny pieces of glass splintering off and landing on the thick carpet.
How could she do this? Why would she do this?
Moving along the hall and back towards the bedroom, Terry stood in the middle of the floor at a loss as to what to do. She’d left him, stolen his money. But hadn’t taken the car. It was obvious why. She’d have known he’d be able to track the location of the car, so she’d left it behind for anonymity.
Glancing down at Annie’s bedside table, staring back at him, was absolute confirmation that Annie had well and truly screwed him over. She’d taken off the engagement ring and left it behind. All twenty grand’s worth of diamonds stared up at him, with a handwritten note next to it.
I’m sorry to do this to you Terry. It’s nothing to do with us. I just have to go. A x
Scrunching up the note and throwing it down next to the ring, Terry went downstairs and lifted the bottle of whisky he’d taken out. Opening it, he took a large gulp straight from the bottle. Then another. And another.
Why had she decided to go now? They’d only just discussed their future, how she wanted to branch off with her own business within the organisation. They’d just got engaged and discussed getting married.
Maybe Terry’s luck with women had run out? Maybe they were all just like Kora. Unreliable, untrustworthy bitches.
Shaking his head, Terry felt the unrelenting shame creep over him that he could have been so stupid to make the same mistake twice. The twenty grand Annie had stolen may as well have had Frankie Conway’s face on each note. Giving Annie the safe combination was the single most stupid thing he’d done.