The Locksmith by Linda Calvey (reading in the dark .TXT) 📕

we’ve just bought in Chigwell. It’s just down the road from ya, and we’d pay you well. I’ve got plans for it. It’ll be an upmarket wine bar eventually and it needs a good manager with experience of workin’ in pubs. I can’t think of a better person.’

Ruby sipped her wine. They’d eaten slowly, talking and laughing round the table, enjoying the freshly cooked Spanish food. A couple of hours had passed but already the cicadas were vibrating softly in the palm trees outside, the gentle breeze drifting through the white floors and walls of the villa. Ruby kept the vases full of white lilies, in tribute to Maureen, who’d loved them. She could smell their sweet scent on the warmth of the late afternoon air. How she missed her friends, even now.

Bobby glanced at Belle, who looked pleased at the idea.

‘All right, I’ll do it. Runnin’ me own pub, that’ll be somethin’. Thanks, Ruby, thanks, Archie.’

Ruby waved away their gratitude. They toasted their success. A new venture. A new life for Bobby. A new start for them all as a family.

The day passed and evening drew in.

‘I’ve got plans to show ya both the local markets tomorrow so I need my beauty sleep,’ Ruby murmured.

Archie followed her up to their room. She sat on their luxurious bed, covered with starched white Egyptian cotton sheets, and watched as he took off his watch, slipped off his shoes and started to unbutton his linen shirt.

‘So, ya didn’t tell him everythin’ then . . .’ He raised an eyebrow at his wife.

‘No, no I didn’t Archie. The less Bobby knows about the pub, the better,’ she demurred.

‘And is that wise?’ Archie leaned over to kiss her neck. She moaned softly and lay back, pulling at his belt.

‘It’s . . . necessary. Belle won’t be happy with him doing any crooked work, but Bobby’s still a proud man. He won’t want a handout, and with his prison record what kind of job would he get? He did ten years for us and I want him to have a good life. We need someone we trust to manage the bar. He doesn’t have to know we’re laundering money through it. The less he knows, the safer he is, and the happier Belle is. No, this way he’s taken care of and protected.

‘Now, let’s not talk business any more . . .’ Ruby began to kiss Archie back, their desire for each other igniting like a flame.

CHAPTER 31

A fly buzzed as it tapped against the huge expanse of glass that looked out onto the glittering ocean. The sky was a blue haze as the heat of the morning melted into midday. Palm trees sat in elegant urns outside the window, and if she craned her neck, Ruby could see her luxurious infinity pool, its blue water stretching out to the heavens from their hilltop position.

Bobby and Belle had returned to England, excited to be running the pub Ruby had acquired. Having them all with her in Spain had been a dream come true, and though they’d had to head back, she knew it would be the first trip of many.

Despite the dangers of this chosen path, sometimes it all still felt like a fairy tale to Ruby – this life with her beautiful things, her plush homes and her husband, who was talking alongside his father with the dangerous stranger sitting across from her in their office.

Archie looked tanned and relaxed, though she could tell he was listening to the man intently as he talked about shipments across the Adriatic Sea. She watched her husband, marvelling at her good fortune in finding a man she desired and respected in equal measure. On his wrist he sported a watch that cost more than her parents would’ve earned in a year.

He was a kind, considerate husband, and a ruthless, dangerous businessman. She’d seen him smile winningly at an associate then weeks or months later, order them to be despatched when it turned out they’d betrayed him or the company. Yet he was always loving to her.

Ruby had taken a couple of years out of the business, bringing up Cathy and George. But once they’d gotten older she’d begun to sit in on meetings, and when she did, all the while she was thinking, I could do a better deal than that, as the men chatted around her.

Lloyd and Archie had always been keen to use Ruby’s talents, but it was a meeting with a particularly charming Spanish mafia tycoon that had cemented her position in the Willson business. She’d listened in, watching the man, knowing he was skirting the important issue of the delivery point for a shipment of coke from Colombia. Afterwards, she told Lloyd and Archie straight, ‘You should’ve asked them to deliver the goods to England, as now you’ve got the problem of shipping it from Spain.’

Both men had looked at her. It had been Lloyd who’d spoken first, ‘Archie, I think it’s time we let your wife in on the negotiations. She’s a sharp thinker.’

Archie had winked at Ruby. ‘Dad, you’ve never met anyone more devious . . .’ which made them all smile.

‘It’s settled, then,’ Lloyd had said, glancing at his Rolex. ‘I’m expected somewhere so I’m off out. Sort Ruby out with an office. She’s officially on board.’

Ruby had missed the adrenaline rush when a deal came off. She’d missed the buzz of staying one step ahead of the criminals they dealt with, always watching for the catch, sussing out their opponents and watching their backs.

The Albanian stranger shifted slightly in his seat, drawing Ruby back to the present.

‘My associates tell me you are looking for a large shipment of goods for the European market. Why should we supply to you when we have others who are interested?’ he said.

Archie smiled. ‘Because, unlike the others, we’ll pay you on time and in full.’

Ruby looked at Saban, the drug baron. He was smiling but it didn’t reach his eyes, which were cold and calculating.

Archie added, ‘And we want