THIRTY-SEVEN

Four Months Later

Billie Jo applied her lipstick, brushed her long dark hair and slipped on a little beige jacket. 'Me and DJ are going now, Jamie,' she shouted up the stairs. Jamie came down and kissed the pair of them goodbye.

'Ring me when you wanna come home, babe, and I'll come and get you.'

'OK,' she replied as she closed the front door. Dragging a dawdling DJ by the arm, Billie headed to the flats a few blocks away to knock for her friend Tina.

Tina Perry was a plain, overweight girl with ginger hair and freckles. When Billie first met her, she'd found her quite hard going. All that had changed, though, when DJ had started at a little playgroup called Daffy Ducks.

Tina's little boy Alfie had befriended DJ from the very first day and the boys had since spent hours playing happily together. Billie and Tina had started to talk more and more and had now become quite close. Apparently, Tina had kept herself to herself because the flat she was living in was in fact a safe house.

Tina had been terrorised and nearly left for dead by Alfie's father. She'd only got away from him when she'd testified in court against him raping a schoolgirl. He'd used Tina as an alibi at the time, but Tina had her suspicions, remembered him coming home in a right old state on the evening in question and had gone to the police behind his back. The police had managed to pin four other rapes on him and had been so grateful for their capture, they'd moved Tina from her native Glasgow to a secret address in Essex. Billie was the only person that Tina had told about her not-so-nice past. Billie had then felt comfortable enough to tell her about the shit life she'd had with Danny. Hence the solid bond of friendship between them.

'Sorry I'm late,' Billie said, fondly kissing her friend on the cheek.

Tina linked arms with her and led her towards the main road. It was a nice day and they'd chosen to walk into town. 'Any news of your mum yet, Billie?'

'Nothing. Hazel rang me early this morning and apparently we should know more by the end of today.'

Billie Jo had been dreading the outcome of her mother's imminent court case. The last few months had been a strange time for their relationship, but thanks to Michelle cutting down on her drinking and regularly attending AA meetings, they had, against all the odds, started to build an understanding and act like mother and daughter. Chelle had begged Billie to attend the court hearing with her, but Billie had chosen not to.

Part of her wanted to be there for her mother, but it was the thought of coming face to face with the dead woman's family that Billie couldn't handle. In the end, Hazel had offered to do the honours. Billie was relieved, but felt guilty at the same time.

Danny O'Leary sat in his local and looked at his watch. He's taking the piss, he thought to himself, as he realised that Jimmy the Fish was running over an hour late.

Danny had been summoned to a lunchtime meeting with Jimmy the Fish and he knew deep down he was in shit-street. Deciding to front the whole thing out to save face, Danny glanced at his watch and larged it to the two geezers he was sitting with.

'He's taking the piss, this cunt. One o'clock lunchtime, he told me to meet him and it's now ten past two. I've had no phone call or fuck all from him.' Downing the last out of his bottle of lager, Danny stood up. 'You staying in here a while?' The two fellas he'd been drinking with nodded silently. Both were clever lads and could feel trouble brewing. 'If Jimmy turns up, tell him I waited over an hour and had to go. If he wants me, he can fucking ring me.'

Danny walked out the pub and sped back to his bachelor pad. He'd left Debbie, the silly whore, months ago and was now living rent free in one of Jimmy's properties. He'd had a right result last night when he had enticed home an eighteen-year-old lap dancer and he was licking his lips in anticipation of a repeat performance. Kiki was an out-and-out babe and Danny hadn't been able to believe his luck when she'd made a beeline for him. Six foot tall, as black as coal, with legs up to her armpits, he'd brought her home and shagged her all night.

'I've gotta pop out for a business meeting, I should only be an hour,' he'd told her this morning.

'Can I wait here for you, Danny?' she'd asked.

'Of course you can, babe.' She was so hot he'd have agreed to anything she wanted.

Danny opened his front door and was greeted by silence. 'Kiki, I'm back, babe.' His cock was already jumping to attention at the thought of her. Walking into his living room, he guessed straight away he'd been had over. The place had been turned upside down.

'I don't fucking need this,' he said out loud as he dashed into the bedroom to check for the wonga. He had inconveniently left ten grand of Jimmy the Fish's money in his bedside cabinet. 'Bollocks, the fucking thieving slag,' he said. Taking the wrap out of the inside of his jacket, Danny did a line. He felt fucked. He hadn't had a wink and needed a livener. What was he gonna say to Jimmy?

This was the second time he'd ballsed up in the last month and he knew his days of being Jimmy's right-hand man must now be well and truly numbered. Opening a can of Stella, he downed it in a minute. He had no idea how he was going dig himself out of this one. The only thing he did know for sure was that every bad thing that had happened to him in the last few months was Billie Jo's fault. Lying back on his bed in his drug-induced stupor, Danny could only think of one thing.

Fuck Kiki, that bitch meant nothing. All he could think about was getting his own back on Billie. He'd kept away from her for the last couple of months on the advice of his solicitor. He had a court case coming up in a couple of weeks, to claim visiting rights to see his son. Billie had logged all his threats and abusive phone calls to the police so Danny had taken his brief's advice and kept well and truly clear. He knew where she lived now. He had even sat outside a couple of times and watched her come and go with his child and that cunt Jamie. How he'd stopped himself from getting out of his mate's car, taking his son into his arms and knocking seven colours of shit out of the pair of them, only God knew.

He had been to see his solicitor a couple of weeks ago. 'I need to see my boy. It's doing me head in, I can't wait any longer.'

His brief had given it to him straight: 'You can't go near her, Danny, and if you threaten her again, she's within her rights to have you nicked. If that happens, you've had it. A judge will always stick up for the mother in these cases, I'm afraid.'

Danny pulled the quilt over his head. He was fully clothed but dozed off after a few minutes.

Billie said goodbye to Tina outside the cinema. They'd taken the boys to watch a cartoon film in Romford town centre. Tina had some shopping to do and had to go to the bank. Billie had arranged to meet Brenda for lunch.

Brenda and Billie had kept in regular contact. They met up a couple of times a month so that DJ could see his gran. Jamie wasn't particularly happy about the situation, but Billie was insistent.

'I know she's rough, but she's a nice person deep down, and I'm not denying her seeing her grandson,' she'd told him.

'What if she tells Danny? He is her son at the end of the day,' Jamie had argued.

'She won't,' Billie said confidently. 'I'd trust her with my life.'

Jamie had unenthusiastically agreed and that was that. Billie spent the next couple of hours nearly crying with laughter. Brenda might be as common as muck, but Billie had never met anyone as funny in all her life. As Billie's phone rang, her mood changed instantly. 'All right, Hazel?' she asked nervously.

'Not really, Bill. Your mum got a year. They're taking her to Holloway I think. She was distraught, babe.'

Billie put her mobile back in her bag. All the years she'd hated her mother disappeared.

Billie felt guilty as she sat in the restaurant. 'She won't cope there, Brenda, I know she won't. She's used to Jimmy Choos, Gucci, caviar and champagne, so how the hell is she going to manage in prison?'

Brenda squeezed her hand across the table. 'She'll be all right, you'll see, Bill. I know a lot of women that have been in Holloway and to be honest, it's like a holiday camp in there. It's that easy in there, if it weren't for me bleeding kids I'd have got meself sent there long ago.'

Billie managed a half-smile. 'She won't be able to deal with it, she's not a strong person, my mum.'

Brenda looked at her fondly, thinking what a kind, sweet girl she was and wondering how the fuck she'd ever got herself lumbered with her Danny in the first place. 'Trust me, she'll be fine. You'll be surprised, honestly. If she's got a year, she'll only do six months and I don't mean this nastily, Bill, but it might give her a wake-up call, do her a favour like. From what you've told me, experiencing a bit of the real world won't hurt your mum. It'll do her good, girl.'

Billie watched DJ climb up onto his nan's lap and marvelled at the sight of Brenda's love for him. Bringing Brenda into their lives had brought pleasure to both her and her son.

Pouring the last of the bottle into her glass, Billie thought about what Brenda had said. She hoped more than anything that she was right. Would prison make Michelle a better person? Billie doubted it, but you never know, miracles can and do sometimes happen.