The Graft Read Online Free PDF Page B

they respected that.
     
    ’All right, Tam?’
     
    This from Melanie Darby. She was second fiddle to Tammy and actually a nice person. Out of them all it was Melanie she would call the closest to her. Melanie’s husband Ray was into all sorts and no one asked her about any of it.
     
    Tammy sat down and sighed dramatically.
     
    ‘It’s been a nightmare, girls.’
     
    Fiona Thomson pushed a glass of champagne into her hand. Tammy noticed it was a very expensive label and realised she was paying for this lunch. Nick would go mad but she would cross that bridge when she came to it. Some of her girls’ lunches came to nearly a grand and even though they were well heeled it sent Nick off the deep end; he was mean in some respects.
     
    But he didn’t understand, she had a front to keep up and giving expensive lunches was part of that front. Ordering expensive wine gave Tammy a buzz, and she loved the looks on her friends’ faces when they realised what it was all costing. They were the elite of their crowd and she was the queen. And being queen didn’t come cheap, whatever her husband thought.
     
    She was just finishing her tale of woe when Fiona said gently, ‘So they ain’t going to do Nick then?’
     
    Tammy placed her glass of champagne on the table and gave her a look that would have floored most women. Fiona, though, was made of sterner stuff than most.
     
    ‘I beg your pardon?’
     
    ‘Look, Tams, all I am saying is, my old man said Nick could get done for manslaughter . . .’
     
    Tammy, however, was one glass of champagne away from fighting her and it showed. The other women all tried to shut Fiona up with looks and waves of their hands.
     
    ’And your old man would know all about that, wouldn’t he? Being a bank robber and all that.’
     
    Fiona laughed.
     
    ‘It’s hardly a secret, Tams. He done his time, love, so yeah, he would know what he’s talking about. And he said that if Nick had any brains he should get himself a good brief.’
     
    ‘My Nick’s got brains, love, he knows the score. So tell your old man not to worry about him, all right? If he had any sense he’d worry about himself, love, or that’s what my Nick says anyway.’
     
    This statement was loaded and Fiona sighed.
     
    ‘Whatever you say, Tams. I was just saying, that’s all.’
     
    ‘Yeah, well, don’t. My Nick was only defending his family. That ponce had a fucking loaded gun. You remember that, won’t you, when you’re gossiping about it? He wasn’t holding up his local Tesco’s, like some I could mention.’
     
    All the women fell quiet now. Tammy had gone too far and she knew it. She waved over the waiter and ordered two more bottles of champagne. At nearly four hundred quid a pop it was one of her most expensive lunches yet. But Tammy, who’d been on the verge of leaving before this contretemps, was now going to sit it out to the death.
     
    Her husband had his faults and they were legion, but she was fucked if Fiona was going to get the better of her. Or, more to the point, hers.
     
    She smiled nastily as she said, ‘Better get on the phone, Fiona. See if your mum can pick up the kids. After all, you don’t have a nanny, do you, and time’s moving on.’
     
    Fiona grinned happily. Nothing fazed her, which was another thing that annoyed the life out of Tammy.
     
    ‘It’s half-term, ain’t it? They’re in Spain with me mother-in-law. ’
     
    The knives were well and truly out now and the other women sat back to enjoy the spectacle.
     
    They were not disappointed.
     
     
Nick was at the police station with his golfing buddy, DI Rudde. The two men had been acquaintances for years. Now they were almost bosom pals, though they didn’t let that on to anyone else, another unwritten law.
     
    ‘So what’s the score, Peter?’
     
    Rudde sighed.
     
    ‘You’re home and dry, more or less. I’ve said I do not feel there are any reasonable grounds for a prosecution against you. Sonny Boy was a