The Family Firm

Chapter 60

'Melissa,' the gangster responded, extending the bouquet. 'For you, love.'

Exhaling her nervousness in a short, trembling breath, she took the offered flowers and sniffed them, smiling at him in gratitude. 'That's very kind of you, Mr Evans.'

They had known each other for years now. Everyone in the planning committee knew Freddie Evans, and why wouldn't they? He owned a fair number of the businesses in Barking and Dagenham, and over the past few years had extended his wares into South London. She had heard plenty of stories about him, that he was a gangster, a criminal, but he had a very good relationship with everyone in the DCB. His kindness knew no bounds, and he was always ready to lend a hand in whatever one might have needed. In fact, it was with a little money sent Melissa's way that she was able to pay for her and Bernie's holiday in Algiers.

They all accepted bribes. She wasn't sure Freddie left them much choice.

He stepped aside and pulled open the rear door. 'Take a drive with me, eh Councillor?'

Melissa eyed the leather interior of the vehicle before her eyes nervously darted back to the bulky man stood ahead of her. Well this certainly was no carriage ride, was it. She could only imagine what he wanted with her, but she knew she hadn't the luxury to resist. So, with slight hesitation, she slid inside the back of the sleek black car and held her bouquet of flowers so tightly that she crushed the stems with her fingers.

It was only then that she noticed there was another man with them, a driver of some sort just as bulky as Fred, but with a more angular face. From the over-head mirror she could see his eyes were focused straight ahead, his features still as stone.

Freddie slid into the passenger's side and only a moment or so after the car pulled away from the kerb and began gliding effortlessly down the road. For a while, there was only that quiet, soothing hum from the car, but Melissa could barely hear it over the pounding of her heart. If he meant to intimidate her, it was bloody well working.

Fred's gravelly cockney was slow and precise as he spoke, startling the councillor. 'Would you happen to know a certain Vasilis Papakostas?'

Melissa's blood ran cold. How did he know about Vasilis? And moreover, what did he want with him? Too many thoughts to make proper sense out of swam in her head, so many that she hardly noticed she hadn't responded, until the sound of Fred's leather jacket squeaking as he peered over his shoulder to look at her broke her from her reverie. 'That was a rhetorical question, actually. I do know that you know him. In fact, I know you know him quite intimately.'

The councillor's heart was beating a tattoo against the back of her ribcage. 'What do you want?'

The gangster sniffed and turned back around so that he was facing the windscreen, wiping his heavily-ringed fingers across his strong jaw. 'Y'know, as a businessman, I quite like what I do. I never did do well in school. But maths, that's what I was good at. I like numbers, and honestly I like making money, is what it comes down to.

'What I don't like, is when people start playing on me pitch. And I've come to understand that your relationship with the bubble and squeak has given him some . . . allowances.'

Melissa forgot herself a moment and knitted her thin brows. 'Vasilis isn't using me, if that's what you're implying. I . . . support him, yeah, but he don't got some sorta ulterior motive or summink. He's a good man.'

Fred turned around once more to stare at her blankly a few moments before sniffing again and gesturing to the spot beside her. 'Take a butcher's.'

Melissa's eyes glanced towards the seat. Sitting on the leather was a blank white C4 envelope. Hesitantly, she glanced towards Freddie, almost as if to ask permission, and he nodded at her, urging her to take it. So, as if she were carefully defusing a bomb, she grabbed the large envelope and gently opened it.

Inside were a number of photos. Pulling them out, she saw very distinctly Vasilis exiting some sort of nightclub, bathed in purple light. The pictures were a bit grainy but his image was unmistakable. That's what made it so difficult when the next one revealed him in the arms of another man.

The councillor felt sick as she looked through the photos, each more incriminating than the last, while Freddie went on: 'Queer as a nine bob note. I suspect once he got all the permissions he needed he'd toss you away like yesterday's rubbish.'

Melissa was nauseous with embarrassment. How could she have been so foolish? To be deceived like this, lied to by her own lover. It was far crueller than anything her husband had ever done to her. Far crueller indeed.

She was close to tears as she dropped the pictures back into the envelope, unable to look at them any longer. Freddie didn't even seem to notice, prattling on nonchalantly as if he were talking about the weather. 'I reckon he won't be needing any more of your "approval", yeah?'

He tapped the door twice, a signal for the driver to pull the car up against the kerb once again. Once they were stopped, the councillor didn't need to be told to get out, and she did so. That bloody car was suffocating.

The passenger's window rolled down, and Freddie called after her. 'See you at the next meeting, love!'

Melissa ignored him as she hobbled down the pavement, fighting back tears. It was only after she heard the car drive off that she finally let them fall.