The Family Firm

Chapter 19

1998

Katie Wickers looked at her friend and sighed. Maggie Thomas had grown up nicely over the years. She was tall, thin, and blonde—and she loved to put out, which basically meant she was every man's dream. Katie was constantly reminded of this whenever they left for the club, because every man and his brother hung off her like a stench and they were often cat-called on the street when they were together. In fact, Maggie often encouraged it. She enjoyed the attention, quite unlike Katie.

Maggie had helped Katie dress up, of course, by letting her borrow her clothes and helping her put on a generous helping of make-up, but she never seemed to look as good as her best mate. It didn't really suit her, anyway. She wasn't especially feminine, and felt uncomfortable in the silver sequinned dress she had on that night. It was strapless but she didn't have enough of a bust to hold it up, so she was constantly tugging the thing all around, and it was generally unpleasant to watch.

Maggie, of course, looked fantastic, even though she already had a nine month-old baby. Her long, blonde hair was crimped and styled loosely over her shoulders, and she was wearing a little red number that showed off her pleasantly-long legs. Then again, she would probably look good in a bin bag and so it never really mattered what she wore or how she styled herself.

Katie wasn't really jealous, and she knew that Maggie only liked clubbing with her because she wasn't a threat to her sexually. Actually, it was a good and well-needed distraction. Ever since her mother topped herself six years prior, Katie had slowly begun to decline. She'd only barely managed to scrape by in school and had done nothing with her life since. Her grandmother had taken care of her until she was old enough to move out, and she'd been living in a small flat in Shoreditch ever since.

The only reason she was able to in the first place was because of Junior. He had been nothing but supportive after her mum's death and had gone out of his way to take care of her, especially financially. He gave her enough money to support herself and then some every week. She felt bad taking it, but always did anyway, though their friendship had significantly declined just like everything else had.

The truth was, she felt guilty. If she hadn't been with him that night, fooling around and eating ice creams, then she would have gotten home before her mum slashed her wrists. Or maybe she would have gotten her to A&E in time. But the reality was, she hadn't been, and now her mother was dead.

The guilt was immense as it weighed on her shoulders, and it had severely depressed her, which was why she allowed herself to go out to the club and drink until she blacked out. She needed to just to cope. Or, she had, at first. Now it was just a force of habit, really. She didn't have any other way of living, didn't know it any different by then.

She just didn't understand it, her mum's death. Sara had always been a bit off her trolley but she wasn't suicidal, not as far as she could tell. When she'd come home and found her like that in the bath, the water tinted red from her blood, something didn't feel right, something in the air, something out of place. She couldn't quite name it but that had never settled well with her, and to that day she believed there might have been foul play involved.

But she couldn't focus on that. It had been ruled a suicide, case closed. And so she had to move on and pick up the pieces of her life whether she wanted to or not.

Junior was waiting outside in front of his new jet black Ford Probe when she and Maggie reached the bottom of the steps. Him being there wasn't a surprise; he stopped by from time to time, all the time, just to make sure she was doing all right. She always was.

'Well, you two girls look fancy, inncha.'

Maggie smirked at the compliment and flipped her hair over her shoulder. 'We always do, Junior.' Katie idly wondered if they were shagging. It wouldn't have surprised her.

Junior leaned back smartly and admired them both. 'Where are yous twos headed?'

Katie sighed and fixed her shoes. She was uncomfortable in heels no matter how many times she wore them, and she just wanted to get to the club and get it over with, so to speak. 'Over to the Blue Room. You know where that is?'

'Yeah, I think so,' responded the young gangster, not much of a gangster-in-training those days; she'd heard he was quite the respectable young villain and made quite a handsome wedge off his own back. Where they came from, everyone either became one or married one, she figured. '...You need a ride?'

Katie honestly didn't want to accept one. She was perfectly capable of walking, and being around Junior only reminded her of her mum. But Maggie was none the wiser; all she saw was a handsome Irish fella with a nice car which she was already hopping inside. 'Well, come on, Kate; the club won't wait all night fer us!'