Michael Ch. 06

"My pleasure, Lady. My pleasure."

****

The room was spartan but clean. The noise from the traffic outside a reassuring backdrop. Megan poured the wine into plastic cups. She was going to need a lot of wine.

Amanda reached for a cup and sat back in the only chair. Megan lay on the bed. The light outside was closing in; the scene had the air of a counselling session or a confessional.

"Ask me a question." Megan took a gulp of wine.

"You really just a flower shop girl?" Amanda kept it light.

"No. I was also a live-in sex slave, first to your parents, then to the Reverend Harriet Mead. We became quite close. I also worked as a prostitute. Your mother pimped me. I also had to preform sex acts on her." Megan's voice was matter of fact.

Amanda drained her wine. Like Megan, she was going to need a lot of wine.

****

Michelle straddled the woman lying naked and strapped to the bed. The baton she had beaten Mark with was rammed inside the woman's pussy. Connie had come twice on it already. Michelle was considering offering it to her as a memento.

"So Connie, this being fun?"

Connie nodded, smiling broadly, her fleshy body marked and bruised. Old wounds. Michelle bent down and teased Connie's nipple with her teeth. She had learned Connie was 36, on the game part-time and lived with Mark. Highlight of her life so far was watching Mark getting a beat down earlier.

"What are you going to do to me now?" giggled Connie.

"A little role playing. You will lie there, make no sound, no movement while I do things to you. Grope you, insert things in your pussy, up your arse, lick you. I'll write on you, obscene things, piss on you. Yet you will make no response. Okay?"

"Like I'm dead or something?"

"Yeah, like you're dead."

"Okay. You'll pay me for this bit as well right?"

"Yes, Connie, I will pay you. Us whores have to stick together."

"You been on the game?"

"On and off." Back when I thought I was daring! Young girls doing dumb things. Except, I still do dumb things. Michelle smiled at this, then her expression clouded. I miss Shan. It may have been dumb, but it was fun.

"You okay?" asked Connie.

"Sorry just reminiscing. So you know what I expect, just one last thing." Michelle went to the closet. "I want you to come in wearing this blue dress."

****

"It's difficult to explain to outsiders," Megan was on her third cup. "To me, to us, it all seemed quite normal. Michelle had this trick of convincing you that everything was fine, that it was what you wanted, enjoy it even. Hell, I did enjoy a lot of it. She had this knack of tapping into your psyche, like finding the key to unlock what's inside and encouraging it to come out. I was in thrall to Michelle, but genuinely loved her, wanted to serve her, we all did. Fucking weird I know."

"Not entirely, it was a bit like that with us and Michael. I ended up in a fighting match with five other girls in skimpy outfits in front of a lot of cheering men. Thing is it all seemed perfectly normal. I know its not quite the same--"

"No! No! It is the same!" Megan sat up, her face animated. "You experienced it, just a little, but you did experience it! That was me for years. It was like I was in a haze. I was vaguely aware of the criminal stuff, but the extent shocked me. I had no idea. I worked in the flower shop, did some whoring now and then and went home to the Reverend Mead. Increasingly you were there and of course along came Amy." Megan shifted uncomfortably.

"That was your relationship with Benjy, he not mind your other work?"

"No." Megan lapsed into silence.

"What?"

"The Benjy stuff was all made up. I did hook up with him early on, but that fizzled out. He was around for a while, came to work for Kax, mainly door work on the clubs. Kax ran most of the doors in the area not just Titchester."

"So, he's not Amy's father." Amanda had an uneasy feeling where this was going.

"No. You're not dumb, Amanda. You can guess who Amy's father is." Megan kept her gaze fixed on a spot on the wall.

"You mean?"

"Yes. Amy is really your half-sister. You share the same dad."

****

Michelle stared at the ceiling, the wheezing snores of Connie beside her. The drugs had calmed the woman, Michelle knew she had been too aggressive in their play earlier.

Picking up her phone, she messaged Max. Time to get to work.

"You going?" A voice mumbled as Michelle pulled on her pants and boots.

"Yeah, babe. Fun time is over." She leaned over to kiss Connie.

"Is it because I freaked out earlier? I didn't mean to, I couldn't breathe--"

"It's okay, I went a bit too far. Sexy lass like you can drive a woman crazy!"

Connie giggled.

"I've left cash on the side, plus the rest of the pills. Don't go mad okay?"

"Will I see you again?"

No. "Maybe. You get into trouble, just leave a message on the internet board I showed you."

"Okay, thanks for a fun time and being nice to me."

Michelle watched as the woman drifted off. Her phone pinged. Pulling on her jacket, she went down to meet Max.

****

"Michelle couldn't have another child, well, she could, but it placed a strain on her mentally. I didn't know that at the time, or that she was having serious mental health issues, but her behaviour was becoming more unpredictable and violent, which with her crew was how she established a grip on the town and then pretty much most of the South. They were known as The Depot, even franchised out to other gangs, including London."

Amanda was still digesting the Amy news. "The fuck, Megan?"

"Look, it was Michelle's idea. Knock me up. A sibling or two for you."

"And you just went along with it? Amy is going to go nuclear over you lying to her, to us."

"Yeah, well. I'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Thing is, me and Kax got really close. I was always nice to him, whereas Michelle could be hard at times and it was getting more difficult, their relationship."

"What do you mean 'hard'?"

"Just that. Even I started to be wary. There was an undercurrent of fear with my sister. Linda, her mother, was immune to it, Kax to a certain extent, but Michelle had all these mad ideas, and needed to control everything. You couldn't do anything without getting the Depot's consent. You want to open a bar, then you need to pay, otherwise no permits, no one to fit out the bar, no one to supply the bar. But pay up and there will be no trouble either."

Megan paused to refill her cup, then sloshed some into Amanda's. "A lot of this I learnt afterwards. Didn't you watch the documentary?"

Amanda shook her head. "Couldn't."

"I did, it filled in a lot of gaps for me. Anyway, Michelle and Kax fell out over Boost."

"Boost? What the fuck?" Amanda stopped, recalling Mead talking about Boost.

"Michelle was pumping a lot of cash into developing Boost energy drink. She had access to a distillery and bottling plant, something to do with Mead's family. She got Mead to get licences in Europe, plus overseas bottling and manufacturing plants, marketing, consumer tests. The lot. Cost millions."

"Boost is huge. Here, Europe and Far East."

"Not just the energy drink, you get all sorts of soft drinks now. Michelle owns it. Mead buried her ownership overseas but she owns it, or did. It went public so no idea how it's structured now."

"And Dad didn't want to know?"

"Thought it was a mad gamble, always bitching about the money Michelle was funnelling into it. Everyone thought it was insane, but no one was going to tell Michelle that. Once Michelle had an idea in her head, there was no budging her.

"Dad thought he was losing control?" It was a statement dressed as a question.

"Yeah, no one could talk to her in the end, not Kax. Not even Linda."

"So you provided him with comfort and an ear to bitch into."

Megan nodded.

"Did you love him? Dad?"

Megan sighed. "I was hopelessly in love with him. And I thought he was in love with me. He was meant to meet up with us in London, but he never showed. Next, I hear he's done a runner, Michelle is arrested, half the local police force are suspended and an outside force is running the investigation."

They were enveloped in darkness. It was comforting.

"And then I met Richard. Thankfully, he has supported, loved and cared for me without question. I owe him everything," continued Megan.

"Richard is one of the best," Amanda responded, raising her cup. "To Richard."

"One thing we can agree on."

"How did you get the London flower shops?"

"They were in my name. Tax reasons. I had no idea but I wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth, so me and Richard made them work. Pretty sure your father made it possible. Michelle was hostile to the flower shops for some reason."

"Something to fall back on if it all went to shit?"

"Possibly. It was getting bad, conflict with London based outfits. In the end, Michelle had only one response to problems. Violence. Even if it didn't make sense."

"Is she mad?" asked Amanda quietly.

"I don't know. In a way I guess she is. I know she got treatment inside, probably saved her life, but I suspect it's only quieted her down, she still has mad ideas. Her own odd way of looking at things. As you found out."

"Yeah, still, you have to admire the audacity of it all, I guess."

"You're rationalising it, Amanda. Trust me, it's what I did for years. It's what everyone does."

Amanda climbed onto the bed and lay beside Megan. "I guess so. Question is. What do I do now?"

"Fuck knows." Megan gulped down the last of the wine.

****

They were grouped around a small table. Michelle eyed the four men waiting for her, before settling on the older of the quartet. Taking his cue, he summarised their findings.

Michelle was silent as she absorbed Meisner's report. "It checks out then?"

"It checks out, Lady. Anton Vay has been using us for years, Hull and Immingham are the main hubs we transit through. Bad weather caused a delay, the wrong staff ended up on watch, one of them got bored and lucky, and the shipment was stumbled on. Not all of it, the broker split it up--an excess of caution which was fortunate for us."

"How much am I on the hook for?"

"Around £15million."

"Around?"

"Street value, Anton insists that is what it is worth, and his backers still want their share. It checks out. We've gone through everyone involved, no one is playing games, it's a valid claim. Hargreaves is in the next room if you want to speak to him."

"Bring him through."

"H is sound." Max whispered in her ear.

Michelle didn't acknowledge the intervention, eyeing the thin man in his forties that Meisner shepherded in. Hargreaves's face had a slight pallor with a neat mustache.

"This has been very unfortunate, Lady, I cannot stress enough that Anton has been an excellent client over the years." Hargreaves spread his arms in supplication.

"The commission seems low?"

"3 points. For a frequent user of our service, and a relatively straightforward drop--"

"Not that straightforward if I am out 15 fucking million."

"Undone by happenstance and bad luck. There is always risk--"

"Yeah, yeah. Spare me the sales pitch. The adjusters have ruled the claim valid, and you followed protocol."

"Thank you, Lady. Anton has been most stressed by this."

"He getting grief from his backers?"

"Yes. They want their money, they are unsympathetic to his situation."

"My heart fucking bleeds." Michelle picked up the satellite phone and handed it to Hargreaves. "Tell Anton his claim is approved. He'll have the money less our commission in 24 hours. Tell him that his Turkish backers can go fuck themselves for being impatient cunts. I'll leave it to him whether he passes the message along, otherwise, Meisner can do it. We investigate thoroughly, no exceptions."

"Thank you, Lady and I stress I will do everything to ensure there is no repeat of this. It does mean that Immingham is closed to us for the time being, I have made arrangements for alternative routes."

Michelle nodded. "One last thing, make sure word is passed that the claim was paid. When we underwrite a shipment, we honour that guarantee. I want to see an increase in business on the back of this. Same goes for all brokers."

"Of course, Lady." Hargreaves punched in a number on the phone and withdrew to a corner.

"Settle you bill with Harold, and thanks to you and your team." Michelle addressed Meisner.

"Will do. Went better than Marseille, even if it has cost you," he grinned.

"Shit happens. Besides, it pays to shell out every now and then. Makes us look honest and trustworthy."

Meisner laughed.