[lost-lover]

CHAPTER 2

For all my control over my emotions, I was fighting a long lost battle not to smile at the headline of the newspaper I was holding. MOB BOSS FOUND DEAD IN CAR PARK. Andy Ritcher, head of the most notorious crime syndacate in London, perhaps the whole of the UK, met his untimely demise in the late hours of the evening and was found dead in the early hours of the morning with two gunshot wounds to his chest. No luck had been had finding his killer. Andy's two son's were both in prison, serving time at Her Majesty's pleasure, and were requesting day releases to attend their father's funeral - both requests were likely to be rejected. Damn shame really. That meant no family reunion for me. Of course, my big brothers finding out that the old man was dead by my hand might put a downer on the occasion.
I notice the paper hasn't mentioned me. Maybe I should write in and complain? Nah, if they'd mention me I'd be out of the country by now. Andy kept his daughter a secret, and I kept my mother's maiden name. Not for my protection, nothing so noble. The **** thought having a daughter was a sign of weakness. Despite having a wife and a mistress. Huh, there's logic for you. Are men really supposed to be the smarter sex? Anyway, Dad thought that my role in life was that of domestic goddess and doormat to all the males in my life, and smile and look pretty while I did it. The only good he thought to get from me was to have me partner one of his associates to help secure his postion as king of England's underworld. My brothers saw my point of veiw but did nothing to help me, not wanting to risk losing Dad's favouritism. Cowards. Unsurprisingly he didn't take to kindly to my, shall we say, uncooperative attitude. I generally questioned his every word and that of his associates, as well as flirting with the lackeys to p**s off their bosses and weaken Dad's connections.
Eventually we lost contact. I took on a good job, all legal but under a fake name, the majority of my business, under my real name, is not exactly on the up-and-up. I grew in my own field of crime and Dad saw the power a woman could have. Me and my brothers grew close again, for a time. Reality intervened and I estranged myself from the family again, Dad and me never made up. He shunned me and last night I showed him just how stupid that was. his little girl had more guts than his two sons, his precious heirs.
I gave up fighting it and let the smile grow over my face until it hurt the muscles in my face.
"How can you be smiling when you're reading about such a tragedy, sweetheart?" Leo plopped down onto the bench next to me.
I assumed an expression of somber regret. "This better?"
"Sure, anyone but me could hardly tell you'd rather be doing backflips." He grinned. "I'm disgusted by your attitude."
I grinned back, glad to be taking a break from my emotional mask which was usually hitched across my face. "You're disgusted that you missed it."
"That too." He said.
The wind whipped through the desserted park and I shivered.
"Let's get somewhere warm and you can buy me breakfast. You owe me from last time." Said Leo, jumping up.
"Thought I owed you a dinner?" I said, trying to remember our record.
"You do. But I can't be asked to wait 10 hours for a free meal. Besides, I left my wallet in the hotel." He grinned sheepishly. "Where'd good to eat in this town?"
"I've been living off crossiant for breakfast and room service for dinner for the past 3 weeks, I'm not the best person to ask." I laughed.
"You don't want to know what I've been living on." He warned. "Come on, we'll find somewhere, anything'll taste good at this hour."
"Doubt it." i muttered as we set off.
Leo and I don't live in this town. We're Oxford natives, but both work in London. Well, I work in London legitimetly, but most of our nderworld connections also stick to the capital. For the last 3 weeks we've been running survaillance on Andy. I've been following him and Leo got a job at his favourite strip club. Andy's favourite, I don't know what Leo thought of it. It's a mark of how little attention Andy had paid me that he failed to realise his new bartender was his daughter's best friend. If he'd paid me more attention he may still be alive. Maybe karma does work after all. Anyway, our geography of this town is painfully limited, so now we're playing catch-up.
We decide to enter the first cafe we see, mainly because we're feeling lazy and extremely cold and hungry. Only one other table is occupied. I iunderstand why when our food arrives. There's more grease on this plate than I've had in the past year, and my sausages taste like cardboard. Judging from Leo's expression he's reconsidering his opinion about his food from the past few weeks. We've reached an unspoken agreement not to discuss Andy here, namely because the untimely (that's a matter of opnion) demise of a crime lord hardly makes for an innocent breakfast discussion. As is our nature, we've both tuned into the conversation from the only other occupied table; we have an automatic habit to look for potential marks even when we're off the job - a side effect to a criminal lifestyle.
It seems in this area murder makes for a good conversation, our neighbours are discussing my father's death with lots of enthuiasm. Sparing a glance at them, I see a couple in their late 20s. The woman is twice the size of the man and looks like she eats here everday, her forehead looks like a dot-to-dot puzzle, and her face looks like a bulldogs. Her companion is a ratty man with a complexion that would rival any teenager going through puberty and hair greasier than my plate. A match made in heaven, I think.
"Should have left him to the police." Says the woman. The man nods, I get the feeling he's too afraid to argue, or he just doesn't want to give her an excuse to spray him with half-chewed food again. Ick. "He deserved life in a cell."
Leo looks eager to join in. I am too, but don't want to risk looking too eager, we both have alibis, but I still don't want the police throwing their radar on us - mine's at risk thanks to the Balding Oldie from the strip joint.
sadly, Leo's already talking. "Life in a cell? Why did he deserve to live?" He says.
The woman's eyes nearly pop out of her head. I think she's shocked someone would question her. "Why?" She shrieks, he face-fat wobbling. "He needed to face what he did. A few years in prison would have made him feel some remorse."
I snort. I can't help it, I have to say something, my mask's off today. "Our prison's are like hotels. Besides, a guy like that wouldn't feel remorse. More likely he'd feel mad about getting caught." I say.
Bulldog lady stares at me. "What would you know about a man like this?" She says.
Well he's my dad, and I'm his killer. I shrug. "Well, nothing about him personally." Leo's mobile goes off, I spare him a glance - from his face I can tell it's important. I decide to finish up this conversation with Miss Bulldog so I can see what it's about. "But mob bosses don't get to be bosses by feeling remorseful."
"They still feel t, but they just hide it." Pipes up Rat Man.
I grin. "Are you a mob boss?"
"Are you?" He counters. Bulldog grins.
No, just the third hier to the mob's kingdom. "No, but I know mob bosses can't afford emotions. They see it as weakness."
Rat Man is about to answer when Leo grabs my arm and pulls me outside. Shame, I was enjoying that argument.
"We got a problem Cassy." He says, his face ashen.
"You only call me Cassy when you're real nervous Lee." I say, giving him the name I use when I get nervous.
"Well I got I good reason. Barney, the bouncer I bribed to get rid of your pervert friend? He just called. Mr Perv went to the feds. Your abili's been blown out the water."