Fighting Back Read online

  The woman sneered. Now I knew where Ming got it from. She took one long look at me. She didn’t look impressed. Then she dragged her gaze back to my mum. ‘Fish supper stealin’?’ She lifted an eyebrow. ‘Any evidence?’

  That was when Ming appeared from one of the rooms behind her. He popped a piece of battered haddock into his mouth and I had a feeling we’d seen the last of the evidence. He waved a friendly hand at me.

  ‘Hi, Kerry. Everythin’ OK?’

  My mouth hung open. Ten minutes ago he’d threatened me with a fate worse than stealing my fish supper if I breathed a word, and here he was acting as if I was his best mate!

  It fooled his mother too. ‘My wee boy,’ she smiled indulgently up the hall to where he stood, ‘my Ming, is supposed to have stole her,’ she stabbed a finger at me, ‘fish and chips. And here he is, only tryin’ to be friendly. As is the way I’ve brought him up. Friendly to a new neighbour.’

  Mum was not going to give up. ‘I demand her fish supper back. I demand compensation.’

  ‘Mum, please.’ I tried to drag her away. She stood her ground.

  ‘Compensation! Compensation!’ Ming’s mother lost her temper now. ‘Don’t you throw your fancy words at me. Away you go. I hope you two aren’t going to cause trouble up here!’

  With that the door was slammed in our faces. Mum stood there for a moment or two. Not sure what to do next. I could see her anger turn to frustration, tears nipping at her eyes. Dad had always handled difficult situations. I had grown up with those words ringing in my ears.

  ‘Dad will handle that.’ Or ‘We’ll leave that to Dad.’

  She had tried to handle this herself, and failed. It was all too much for her. She burst into tears.

  I took her hand and led her back into the house. ‘Come on, Mum. We’ve both had a long day.’

  That night I stood on the balcony listening to Mum sob herself to sleep. She had cried such a lot since Dad had left us. Left us for someone else. Rachel, who was clever and elegant and efficient.

  ‘I love her, Kerry,’ he had told me, trying to make me understand.

  Rachel was everything Mum wasn’t. Was that the attraction, I wondered?

  Now Dad was off in America with Rachel to begin a new life. I bet it was a better one than this.

  It was a crisp, cold night with a navy-blue sky filled with stars. And the view across the river was breathtaking. I had only ever lived in one house, and my bedroom had looked into the back yard. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad place. I tried to convince myself. I could have a telescope out here. Stargaze. Up thirteen flights, I was close enough to them. I might even become a famous astronomer. I peered at a moving bead of light. A UFO? I followed its course across the sky. It was only as it disappeared behind the tower block beside us that I realized I had been watching a plane on its way to Glasgow airport.

  It had been a long day. So much had happened. I thought of Tess Lafferty, and Ming. They were unfriendly, scary. How would I ever get used to it here? How would Mum? A sudden chill breeze made me shiver. I closed the balcony doors and went to bed.

  Chapter Five

  Mum was already up by the time I awoke.

  She was much cheerier, sitting cross-legged on the kitchen floor going through one box after another. ‘I can’t find a thing,’ she said. ‘Except your dad’s picture.’ She smiled. ‘I’ve pinned it up behind my bed.’

  Now I knew why she was in such a good mood. Dad’s picture (several of them) had been used for darts practice for months now, and throwing darts at it always made her feel better. ‘I’m trying to find the food,’ she went on. Towels were scattered everywhere, and books and ornaments. Unfortunately, nothing edible.

  ‘I was almost sure the food was in the book box.’ She sat back on her heels. ‘I’m starving, Kerry.’

  ‘Me too.’

  ‘You’ll have to go down to that little supermarket and get us something.’

  Now I know what they mean by ‘stunned into silence’. I tried to speak but I couldn’t. Me? Go back down into no man’s land? Forget it! I’d rather starve.

  Mum looked at me. ‘We’ll both go,’ she said.

  When we stepped inside the supermarket I felt as if everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at us. The new people. A rather grand-looking Asian was also watching us. Suddenly he beamed a bright, white smile at us and stepped forward. ‘Come in. Come in.’ He beckoned. ‘Come into Ali’s treasure trove.’

  A woman looking through the cakes and biscuits muttered out of the side of her mouth. ‘It’s short for Alistair, by the way. He’s the only Indian in Britain called Alistair McFadyen.’

  I laughed out loud. As much at the idea as at the unexpected friendliness.

  ‘You shut your face, Sadie. I’m a Scot and proud of it.’ He beamed again. ‘Now … what is your pleasure?’

  ‘Well,’ Mum began to explain. ‘We’ve just moved in and … ’

  ‘They’ve moved into 133, Ali,’ Sadie explained for us. ‘Old Billy’s flat.’

  Ali clapped his hands together with remorse for Old Billy. ‘To think he lay dead in that flat for three days – and none of us knew it.’

  ‘Och, it was more like a week,’ Sadie corrected.

  ‘Didn’t matter to Billy, eh, Sadie?’ They both laughed uproariously. Mum and I didn’t. Her face was chalk-white. Now we knew why the flat had been fumigated.

  She pushed me down one of the aisles. ‘We’re moving,’ she said. ‘I’m going to the council this afternoon. Putting us in a house where somebody … ’ She shuddered at the thought.

  The shop’s bell tinkled as a crowd of girls came in. I turned to look and caught my breath. It was Tess Lafferty and her friends. They all moved to the counter where Ali was, surrounding him, badgering him with queries about how much the sweeties were, the cigarettes, and did he have any iced buns?

  All but Tess. She moved stealthily up the aisle towards us. She saw me. No doubt about that. She looked at me and pressed a dirty-nailed finger to her lips. ‘Keep quiet if you know what’s good for you.’

  Who on earth did this girl think she was? Al Capone? And then, as bold as anything, she began slipping bottles of shampoo into her pockets. Mum gasped. Sadie deliberately averted her eyes. I couldn’t. I watched fascinated as she pocketed hairsprays and then conditioners. Then, just as casually, she began to make her way towards the door.

  Ali’s head appeared above the crowd of girls. ‘What’s going on there? Eh? You up to your usual … eh, Lafferty?’

  The girls around him broke into a run, heading for the door too, screaming and yelling, trying to push Tess out in front of them. Not quick enough for Ali. He reached out a long sinuous arm and grabbed her.

  Tess began to struggle wildly. ‘Hey you! What d’ye think I’ve done? Nothing!’ Unfortunately, just then a couple of bottles dropped from beneath her jacket.

  ‘Ha! “Nothing,” she says.’ Ali tightened his grip. ‘This time I got you good.’ He turned to Sadie. ‘You saw her, Sadie, didn’t you?’

  Sadie blinked, confused. I saw her look at Tess. Tess glared back at her, but she didn’t look frightened. It was as if she was threatening Sadie with just that look.

  ‘No, Ali, sorry. I must have been looking the other way. I never saw anything.’

  ‘Aw, Sadie, come on!’ Ali pleaded. Tess tried to struggle free. A bottle of conditioner tumbled to the floor. She smirked. ‘No witnesses … and now no evidence. So let me go.’

  There was something very strange going on here. For some reason Sadie was frightened of this girl. I wondered why.

  ‘Well, I certainly saw it all.’ I looked around for the idiot who had spoken up. Then I realized the idiot was my mum. ‘You need a witness? I’ll be your witness.’

  The girl’s eyes flashed. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘Never you mind,’ Mum said. ‘I saw everything.’

  Ali almost jumped for joy. ‘A witness at last!’

  I was getting a very bad feeling about all
this.

  He turned to me. ‘You go phone the police. There’s a phone in the back.’

  Tess turned her attention to me now. ‘This your mother?’ She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Tell her to shut her mouth. Nobody turns in a Lafferty around here. And if she doesn’t keep her mouth shut, she’ll be sorry. You’ll both be sorry. Oh boy, will you be sorry. See, you obviously don’t know who I am.’

  It was like a threat straight out of a gangster movie. I expected everyone to laugh then. Ali. Sadie. But nobody did.

  Who was Tess Lafferty, and why was everybody so afraid of her?

  Chapter Six

  ‘Well, I think we’ve made a friend there.’ We were back in the flat eating a sumptuous breakfast. Bacon, eggs, potato scones – all courtesy of Ali, grateful for a witness who was prepared to speak out at last.

  ‘And an enemy,’ I retorted, remembering Tess Lafferty’s threat.

  Mum chose not to hear. The morning had brightened for her. She had made a friend in Ali and she had proved her worth to the community. What more could she ask?

  ‘Now as soon as we’ve eaten, we’ll get these boxes unpacked. Is there anything we could watch on television?’

  ‘It’s not working, remember?’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ I could almost hear the words ‘Dad’ll fix it’ getting ready to leapfrog into the conversation. Mum stopped eating and her eyes glazed over. Thinking of him.

  ‘Don’t suppose you could fix it, Kerry? You’re good at that sort of thing.’ She looked at me hopefully.

  ‘Me? I can plug it in and switch it on. That’s it.’

  She shrugged. ‘Oh well, we’ll get a man in.’

  As it was we hardly needed the television fixed, because ten minutes later the house was filled with the theme music from Dallas.

  ‘What on earth is that?’ Mum yelled above the noise.

  ‘Reruns on Sky?’ I suggested.

  Either that or Ming’s mother had invited the Scottish National Orchestra to practise in her living-room.

  ‘I hope she doesn’t think she’s going to keep it as loud as that all the time.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sure it’s just a mistake. Maybe their volume control’s broken.’

  ‘It’s our eardrums that’ll be broken if that keeps up.’

  However, it stayed that way until Dallas finally finished. Luckily, it was an episode Mum hadn’t seen, so she ended up sitting drinking coffee and listening to it.

  ‘Look on the bright side,’ I said to her. ‘We could save electricity this way.’

  It was the afternoon before the police appeared; two of them. One about Mum’s age, the other, young and good-looking. He took off his cap as he came in, and ruffled his blond hair.

  ‘I suppose you’re here about the shoplifting this morning?’ Mum asked.

  The older policeman spoke first, introducing himself as Sergeant Maitland and the gorgeous one as Constable Grant. ‘Yes, Mrs Graham. I believe you saw it all.’

  ‘I did,’ she said. ‘The girl was quite blatant about it. She looked as if she did it all the time.’

  ‘She does,’ he said. He turned a steely gaze on me. And when I say steely, I mean steely. His eyes were hard and grey like gunmetal. ‘You saw this too?’

  ‘Oh, she did.’ Mum answered for me. ‘So that’s two witnesses you’ve got.’

  ‘Why was Sadie so afraid to say anything?’ I asked. ‘She saw it too.’

  He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. ‘The girl’s name is Tess Lafferty. The family is well known, shall we say, in the area. Villains. We’ve always had trouble with them. The father’s already in prison. The mother’s the moneylender up here, Ma Lafferty, as she is commonly known. She has a couple of sons, real bad boys. Everybody’s a little scared of them.’

  ‘Not Kerry and I,’ Mum said. I wished she wouldn’t speak for me.

  ‘She said we’d be sorry,’ I told him.

  He didn’t look surprised by that. ‘Tess Lafferty is used to getting away with things. Her mother usually makes sure she does. Ma Lafferty likes to make people do what she wants them to do.’

  ‘You think we might have trouble from them?’ I asked warily. For the moment, I was having enough trouble with Ming.

  ‘We’ve spoken to them,’ the Sergeant said with a reassuring smile. ‘Warned them to keep away from you. But any trouble … any at all, you let us know immediately.’

  His manner became more relaxed, less official. ‘So you’ve just moved in?’

  ‘Yes,’ Mum began, ‘but we won’t be staying for long! First chance I get of another house, and we’re out!’

  ‘It’s not such a bad place up here. It would be a lot better without the Laffertys, but for the most part the people here are really friendly.’

  ‘Really friendly!’ Mum snapped at him. ‘You must be joking. Kerry even had her fish and chips stolen last night.’

  I winced. Why did she have to bring that up? Sergeant Maitland looked at me. ‘Who did this?’ he asked.

  Mum answered for me again. ‘That boy next door. And then when I went to demand it back … ’

  The Sergeant tried to keep his face straight. ‘To demand the fish supper back?’

  ‘Of course. That mother of his … ’

  ‘Mrs Ramsay. Sandra,’ he explained.

  ‘Ah, on first name terms with the police, is she? Ha! I’m not surprised. Well, she insulted me and she slammed the door in my face. And another thing – that television of hers.’ As if on cue, next door’s television suddenly blared into life, full volume.

  ‘We’ll have a word with her about that,’ PC Grant said.

  ‘Didn’t the last tenant ever complain about it?’ Mum asked.

  Sergeant Maitland smiled. His grey eyes became much warmer when he smiled. ‘Old Billy? He was as deaf as a doorpost.’

  Why did he have to remind her about Old Billy?

  ‘And that’s another thing! He lay dead in here for weeks, and nobody told us. I’m telling you, I won’t be staying here for long.’

  ‘It could be a good place, Mrs Graham. A lot of people want it to be a good place. There are a lot of nice people live here.’

  ‘Well, we haven’t met any of them,’ Mum said. ‘Except for Ali.’

  ‘Is his name really Alistair McFadyen, by the way?’ I directed my question to PC Grant.

  ‘Yes. His father was a Scot and his mother was Indian. He’s a real character, isn’t he?’ His smile was breathtaking.

  ‘We’ll have a word with Sandra about the television, Mrs Graham. And I’m sure Ali appreciated your co-operation.’

  PC Grant flashed his deep blue eyes at us. ‘Nice meeting you,’ he said.

  Chapter Seven

  ‘He was dishy,’ Mum said after we’d seen them off.

  I was shocked. ‘A bit young for you, wasn’t he?’

  Now it was her turn to be shocked. ‘Oh, I don’t know about that! Although I have aged over the last few months. Look at me!’ She grabbed me by the shoulders and frogmarched me to the mirror. Her face was pale and her eyes … well, they had lost a lot of their sparkle. Other than that she looked fine to me. After all, she was just Mum.

  As she prepared tea, I went out to the balcony. I wasn’t alone for long, however. There was washing hanging out on the next balcony, and suddenly from between the Y-fronts and his mother’s massive knickers (either that or there was a tent hanging out to dry) Ming appeared. The lace on the knickers caught on his hair and stuck there. He looked like a creature from another planet. I had to force myself not to laugh.

  ‘My maw’s raging at you. We’ve just had the cops in.’

  ‘We’ve got every right to complain. Your television was blaring.’

  ‘So what? We were here first.’ He said it as if there was some logic in that.

  ‘By the way, is this flying saucer yours?’ I pointed to the satellite dish, sitting on our balcony.

  ‘We get a better reception from it on your balcony.’ He said it as if I had a nerve rese
nting it being there. ‘Anyway,’ he went on, ‘what do you mean, a flying saucer?’

  ‘Sorry, I thought you might have arrived from your home planet in it,’ I said, very sarcastically.

  He looked baffled. ‘You’re daft, do you know that?’ he said. Then he aimed a spit from his balcony. Disgusting.

  ‘What were the cops up at you for?’ he asked at last. ‘You getting arrested or something?’

  I had a feeling Ming knew exactly why they had been here. ‘Let’s just say we’re helping them with their inquiries.’

  He began to laugh. ‘You got a death wish or something?’

  I tried not to ask, but curiosity got the better of me. ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘Do you know who you shopped?’ He hesitated. Maximum effect. ‘Tess Lafferty.’

  ‘So I heard.’

  ‘You don’t know that family yet, but you will. The brothers are really bad news, and that mother of theirs … ’ Hesitation again. He looked suddenly, deadly serious. ‘Ma Lafferty. She’s the worst of the lot.’

  ‘I’ve got a mother as well, you know,’ I reminded him.

  His face flushed with anger. Maybe he was trying to be helpful, and I wasn’t taking him seriously at all. ‘Let them get you!’ he snapped. ‘Then you’ll see how bad they are.’

  ‘The police have told us they’ll protect us.’

  That seemed to amuse him. ‘The cops? Up here? They’re useless. You’re in big trouble, Kerry. You’re going to get out of here even quicker than you thought. Probably thataway … ’ He pointed straight down, thirteen flights.

  Chapter Eight

  We were having tea next evening when the doorbell rang. I was still chewing a piece of crusty bread as I opened the door. A tall, very erect woman was standing there, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore large gold loops in her ears and there was a gypsy look about her. Her skin was taut and shiny and she was smiling.

  It was the most frightening smile I had ever seen in my life.

  ‘You must be Kerry.’ The woman’s smile grew wider, and I saw that her teeth were stained with nicotine. ‘Pretty wee thing. Tess told me you were.’