The Cunning

103

"What happened? Is Madison okay?" Janine bombarded Sam with questions when he got back. She had seen him when he had taken the tarp from the shed but he'd brushed her off, telling her he'd explain later. She'd helped Kieran tidy up but even he had kept his mouth shut, telling her he wasn't sure he was allowed to say.

Sam sighed, his arms aching from dragging the body from the boot and heaving Charlie over the bridge with the added weight of sandbags. He crawled into bed, rubbing his eyes with the balls of his hands. Janine perched on the edge, her nails to her teeth, waiting anxiously for answers. Sam pursed his lips, wondering whether or not to tell Janine. He figured she'd only ask Madison the next time they saw each other so there was no harm in informing her where he'd been and what she'd done.

"In the six years I've been here, nothing has ever been this mental," he mumbled. He needed a shower but now he was laying on the bed, he didn't want to move.

"Why was Kieran clearing the party out? Is Madison okay?" Janine repeated.

"Madison's fine," Sam replied. From Jase's description of her reaction, she was more than fine, all things considered. Janine opened her mouth to ask what happened again when Sam added, "She killed Charlie." There was no soft way to put it and the abruptness caught Janine off guard. She knew Madison was capable of more than most women she'd met, but killing someone? That hadn't been on her list of things Madison might do next.

"The one she head-butted?" she asked.

Sam nodded, covering his eyes with his arm. Janine took the hint and turned the bedroom light off.

"But why?" she asked. "How?"

"Jase's switchblade and you can probably take a guess why." Janine laid down beside him, her heart sinking at the images that accompanied Sam's reluctance to say what Charlie had done. He'd always been a red flag client, not one she'd had the misfortune of having to sleep with but she'd heard the stories. She'd heard more than stories, she'd heard him screaming abuse at girls in other rooms during their services. Everyone knew he liked it when they cried and there were few places that turned a blind eye to his cruelty.

"How does Jase feel?" She rolled onto her side, looking up at him in the dark. She could just about make out his outline from the orange glow of the streetlamp shining through the window. Sam wasn't going to tell her about the argument they'd had in the car, it would stay between them. But Jase hadn't been too happy about Sam's suggestion that he should hand her over and cut their losses. Of course, looking back on the conversation, Sam realised it was an unreasonable ask. If Jase had proposed the same idea about Janine, he wouldn't have reacted well either.

"Fucked if I know, you know what he's like. I'm sure he knows that keeping Madison around after everything that's happened isn't very sustainable but he'll have to reach that conclusion in his own time. He won't listen to anyone telling him, even if people are taking the piss left, right and centre."

Janine rubbed her lips together in thought. She was worried about Madison, for Madison. Sam had never been so openly uneasy about Jase and the decisions he made. He had always trusted Jase with his life, but at the moment, everyone seemed to be doubting him. Even Janine wasn't sure he was thinking straight. It had to be taking a toll, with Harvey messing up their plans to get rid of Mitch, then Adam laying into Madison and now this. She couldn't begin to imagine having to make some of the choices Jase was having to make.

They heard him through the walls of Annabelle's old room, not clear enough to decipher what he was getting irate about but from the tone alone it was clear he was on the curb of losing his shit.

"Maybe he'll come to that conclusion sooner rather than later," Sam mumbled.

At half three, the front door opened and closed. Headlights lit up the room before it sunk back into darkness.