The Family. Kay Brellend

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      SIX

      ‘You’re a sight for sore eyes, gel.’

      Nellie Tucker swung round and looked the fellow up and down. He was standing in the gutter and Nellie thought that was where he deserved to be. She couldn’t blame all her rotten luck on him, but neither had he ever been good for her. If she hadn’t already heard on the grapevine that Jimmy Wild was back, she’d have struggled to recognise him, despite the fact they’d lived together on and off for over three years. Her eyes lingered on his craggy, caved-in cheek.

      ‘You look a bit worse fer wear,’ she remarked spitefully before walking on.

      Jimmy’s mouth narrowed as she blatantly cold-shouldered him. Though he hadn’t seen her in over a decade, he’d been confident of soft-soaping Nellie just like he’d always done in the past. He needed to get some information from the cow, so couldn’t let her slip away just yet. It had taken him several months to find her; she kept moving around London and was liable to turn up anywhere she could hook up with a ponce who’d put a roof over her head. By lucky chance he’d spotted her emerging from a tobacconist’s in her old stamping ground near Finsbury Park.

      He slouched behind her, hands in his pockets and a roll-up dangling from his mouth. A jaundiced eye assessed her plump rump and thick waist. She was dressed in cheap clothes and shoes that accentuated the fact she’d lost her shapely legs and her figure. Once she’d been a stunning blonde who’d pulled in a good few bob per punter, keeping them both in good times. Now she looked to be a brassy old bag who’d be lucky to get a couple of clients at chucking-out time.

      ‘Piss off, Jimmy. Ain’t got nuthin’ to say to you no more,’ she threw over her shoulder, aware he was following her. She lit a cigarette from the pack she’d just bought and sent the smoke from her first drag back at him too.

      ‘Just thought you’d like to have a drink with me fer old time’s sake,’ Jimmy suggested softly. ‘We was good together, you ’n’ me. Thought about you a lot, y’know, gel, while we been apart.’

      Nellie swung about and cocked her head so coarse blonde curls dangled over a stout shoulder. She had known handsome, strong fellows who had gone to war and come back looking as though they’d aged twenty years. Jimmy Wild had been handsome – his dark good looks had been what attracted her to him. He’d been strong too – there had been many occasions when she’d experienced first-hand the power behind one of his punches. Now he looked spindly of limb and bloated of belly, and she wouldn’t have bet on him being able to battle his way out of a paper bag. As far as she knew, his physical disintegration had nothing to do with fighting for king and country. But she was curious to find out where he’d gone after his sudden disappearance and what he’d got up to. After all, she’d been threatened with a prison sentence for aiding and abetting in his murder. ‘Gonna take me fer a drink, are you?’ she jeered. ‘Who’s paying? Me?’ She started to cross the road, but at a leisurely pace that lured him to follow.

      ‘You think I got no money?’ Jimmy asked softly, walking by her side now. ‘You don’t know about my eldest boy then.’ With deliberate nonchalance he pulled from his pocket a couple of bank notes he’d been putting by for the rent. He was a month in arrears, and old man Keane was already cutting up rough about it. Edie had refused to lay out any more for rent from her wages as a char. Faye was more inclined to buy her brothers stuff than bother keeping a roof over their heads. Last week the selfish little cow had bought Michael a pair of boots off Billy the totter and a few vests for the little ’un.

      Nellie slanted a look at the pound notes and gave him a sly smile. Like most people who’d spent time in Campbell Bunk, she took an interest in those who’d risen above the squalor and disadvantage of their background and made something of themselves. She knew Rob Wild was getting rich. She also knew he hated his father – and her. She’d caused trouble between Jimmy and his late wife, but had shrugged off the guilt. Jimmy Wild would be a wrong ’un wherever he was and whoever he was with. But … she turned her head away to conceal the calculating glint in her eyes … she was between pimps, in need of some money, and definitely in need of a drink.

      ‘So, how’s life been treating you, gel?’ Jimmy took a swallow from his glass of ale and set the tankard back on the table.

      ‘Better’n you, by the looks of things,’ Nellie returned drily before emptying her glass of gin and orange in a couple of gulps.

      Jimmy bit back a scathing response to her insult. She obviously didn’t have a mirror about the place where she kipped. ‘You always was a fine looker, Nel,’ he said gamely. ‘Had some good times ’cos of it, as I recall.’