The Formidable

18

"What now?" Sam asked Jase in the kitchen. The girls were talking about Mia and babies in the living room. Jase looked at the kitchen door and Sam pushed it shut.

"Fuck knows. I know it was the guy she works with that's been keeping tabs, so we have him."

"What's his name?"

"Greg," Jase replied. Whether it was his real name, he couldn't be sure.

"Do we know anything about him?" Sam questioned. Jase shook his head, he'd put out the feelers for anyone that knew any Gregs this side of the river, but none of the ones returned were their Greg.

"Nothing, I don't even know where to begin," he admitted. Sam chewed his lip, it was unlike Jase not to have a plan. He suspected finding out he had a kid clouded Jase's usually sharp mind and took the reins for a moment.

"You need to find out if he's still turning up to work. If he is then he doesn't know we know," Sam said.

Jase shook his head. "He watched me pick Madison up, I looked directly at him." Sam sat opposite Jase who leaned forward, his elbows on the table and fingers in his hair. "This is fucked," Jase sighed.

"Just because he saw you, doesn't mean he knows. You need to find out for certain if it's him feeding information back and not someone else."

Jase considered this. Sure, Greg had seen him, but did he know who Jase was? Or was he genuinely ensuring Madison got to the car safely? He was starting to question whether Greg was a lead or wishful thinking. Because if it wasn't him, they still didn't know anything.

"Okay, we'll check if he's still turning up to work. But if he isn't the one keeping tabs on Mads, we're back to square one," Jase said.

"Then we've neither lost nor gained. On the brightside, at least she's safe here."

"For how long?" Jase replied, sitting back. "With a kid as well man, fuck."

Sam pressed his lips together, he didn't have the qualifications to advise Jase on anything when it came to kids. "Relax. Getting frustrated isn't going to help," he said.

Jase puffed his cheeks, looking up at the clock on the wall. It was half nine. He needed to go to the club, to keep up appearances if for nothing else. This was instilled in him since he'd first come to the house, no matter what went wrong, keep calm and carry on as normal. Don't let anyone know your feathers are ruffled.

Once he was showered and dressed in a dry-cleaned navy suit, one of three he kept in the house, Jase stood in the living room door, buttoning his cuffs.

"I'm going to the club for a bit to keep on top of things. Does she need anything while I'm out?" he asked Madison, referring to Mia.

"You're going to the club with everything that's happening?" Janine asked, bouncing Mia on her lap.

Jase reached up to check his collar was folded all the way around. "The last thing I want is for people to start talking about me not turning up to work, especially with her around again," he nodded in Madison's direction. "Talk is cheap, but not to people that have nothing better to do. With the girls out of the house and everything on hold, I'd like to maintain some semblance of normality."

Madison knew where he was coming from. It was gossip that caused them so much aggro during her last stint at the house, pretending everything was fine wouldn't hurt. They didn't want people to pick up on the drama and choose sides, like Adam. This needed to be dealt with behind closed doors, in the smallest circle possible. As Janine had once said, if you look weak, you look easy.

"Just get her some snacks, cheese strings, yoghurts, strawberries, anything," Madison replied in answer to his question.

"Does she need nappies or milk?" he asked.