Faces by Martina Cole Read Free Book Online Page B

had, they would never have been able to hold their heads up again. It was tantamount to grassing, and the fact that the police had not come to investigate, even though the facts were common knowledge to all and sundry, spoke volumes as well.
    Even the Cadogans’ parish priest, Father Donovan, a huge surly man who saw his flock’s daily fight for survival as a personal affront, had made a point of visiting two or three times a day. His presence had been appreciated by Danny as well as his mother. It had given them the seal of approval, said they were the injured party and that brought a lot of people round to their way of thinking, seeing as the Murrays were Irish Catholics as well.
    But Danny was unable to relax, wondering constantly when the Murrays were going to arrive and exact some kind of revenge. He wouldn’t leave his mother and the kids alone, and when he was at work he made sure they were safe and surrounded by people. That was the easy bit. The hard bit was the waiting and, after two months, he knew that the time was near for a visit, and he accepted the inevitable.
    His father was still on the missing list, and Danny found his hatred and distaste for the man growing by the day. He was a big lad, but since working for Louie he had developed muscles that had not been there before. He was broadening by the day, his shoulders and chest had become more pronounced, and his hands were rough and calloused. He knew he looked much older than his years, and he made a point of dressing up. While his peers were wearing cheesecloth shirts and baggy flares, he dressed in shirts and tailored trousers. He was already looking like a gangster, and he knew it was a style that suited him. His build and his natural swagger were suddenly a familiar sight in Bethnal Green, and the eyes that never seemed to show any emotion made the girls swoon at his approach. He was a local hero, and he milked it for what it was worth. He knew that when the Murrays finally surfaced he would need all the help he could get, and he made a point of cultivating anyone he thought might be an ally. His natural cunning was all he had going for him, and he was lucky enough to have it in abundance.
     
    Angelica was still trying to locate her husband, and so far it had been a fruitless and frustrating two months. No one seemed to have seen or heard anything about him. To all intents and purposes he had dropped off the face of the earth. But she knew him better than anyone, and she was convinced he was shacked up with one of his birds, waiting it out, letting his family take the heat for him. Angelica had always known he was not the most trustworthy of men, but this latest stunt was out of order - even for him.
    She knew her daughter had been badly affected by that night. Annie had always been excitable, but the Murrays’ visit had unleashed a nervousness that was apparent to anyone within five minutes of being in her company. She was unable to sit still, and her chatter was constant and without any kind of structure. She could have three conversations at once, and her nervous laugh was enough to bring tears to her mother’s eyes. A daddy’s girl, she was the only person in his orbit he actually seemed to genuinely care about, and she believed her father was the greatest thing since the ascension into heaven of our Lord himself. It was painful to watch Annuncia pine for her father, and even harder for Angelica to stop herself giving the child the facts of life before she was ready to hear them. One day, Angelica knew, she would work him out all by herself; she didn’t need it spelled out for her - no matter how tempting her mother found it. The Murrays were enough for her young daughter to worry about, and worry about them she did.
    And what kind of men were the Murrays? Who in their right minds terrorised women and children? And anyway, what would their revenge be now, seeing they had come off the worst in their initial encounter with the Cadogans? It was