Chapter 28

 

The Italian restaurant April met Rachel and Joey in was crowded. Joey had organised the evening to celebrate her fictitious birthday she’d let slip. That had given them an excuse to go out.

They took their seats in a booth and the waiter handed them a menu each, “Can I get you any drinks while you’re looking at the menu?” he asked.

“That’d be great,” Joey replied. “What can I get you girls? Do you fancy a beer, or how about a bottle of Prosecco?”

“Oooo, yes please,” Rachel smiled enthusiastically. “A bit of bubbly to get the party started.”

It was hardly a bloke’s drink and April hated it.

“Do you drink, Prosecco?” she asked Joey.

“Nah, but you girls can share a bottle.” He turned to the waiter, “A bottle of Prosecco and a pint of lager, please.”

“Certainly, sir.”

As soon as the waiter was out of earshot, April whispered, “It’ll be outrageously expensive in here.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Joey dismissed, “I’m buying.”

“No, you’re not,” April told him, “we’ll split the bill.”

He frowned, “You’re not paying for a meal on your birthday.”

She pulled a pleading face at Rachel, but she shook her head, “Don’t look at me. I’m happy to pay, but Joey says he wants to, and as he earns twice as much as we do,” she smiled cheekily at him, “I for one am happy to let him.”

April smiled affectionately at them both. No point in arguing, she knew when she was beaten. In her line of work, she didn’t meet people like Rachel and Joey, not often anyway. There were her work colleagues, but on the whole her interactions were with people breaking the law, or subtly dodging it. It was refreshing to be in the company of decent folk.

“Okay, okay,” she put her hands up playfully surrendering, “I give in. Thank you, Joey, that is very generous of you. You must allow me to reciprocate when it’s your birthday.”

“Aw, that’s nice then,” Rachel turned to Joey, “when’s your birthday?”

“Sixth of November, if you’ll still be around then?” he asked.

April pulled a face, “Probably not. I’ll have to see.”

“You’re not going yet though are you?” Rachel asked with a wary expression.

“No, course not. I have to do at least three months for my parole, and then I’ll see what I’m going to do. I definitely want to move on and get a job where nobody knows about my past, though.”

“What did you do anyway?” Rachel asked. “You know . . .” she left the sentence unfinished. Her face had awkward written all over it, as if she knew she shouldn’t have asked.

“It’s okay,” April reassured, “we can talk about it,” but the waiter appeared and halted the conversation.

He placed their drinks on the table and took his notepad from his pocket. “What can I get you?”

They’d not even looked at the menu.

“Shall I just get us a couple of large pizzas to share and a bowl of salad?” Joey asked.

They both nodded in agreement and let him order two different types with an abundance of toppings.

As the waiter left, Joey reached for the ice bucket and poured two glasses of fizz and handed her and Rachel one each.

“Here’s to us,” Joey raised his pint, “good friends.”

They all clinked glasses and repeated the toast.

“Go on, Gemma,” Rachel prompted, “you were telling us about what you did.”

April crumpled her face with a pained expression, “I stole some money. I’m really sorry I did now, but that’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have done it.”

She had their full attention and by their silence she was forced to add to the story.

“I worked in the finance department in an accountant’s office. One of the girls suggested I applied for an in-house scholarship to study and become a qualified accountant, which sounded fabulous as they actually paid you to go to college one day a week. I couldn’t have afforded to study full-time, so this was a great way to learn on the job. So, I applied, and to my amazement, I was accepted.”

They were eagerly taking it all in as she paused. “God, this is so boring . . .”

“No, it isn’t,” Rachel encouraged, “tell us the rest.”

She took an exaggerated breath in. “I was given a mentor, one of the senior staff at the practice who took me under his wing. I had to wait a few months until the course started but he was there to help me prepare. I used to spend a few hours each day with him going over relevant stuff. Stupidly, I fell in love with him and,” she added a wounded look to her face, as if remembering was difficult, “I became a puppet doing everything he suggested. Eventually, he persuaded me to steal some money from the firm.” She rolled her eyes, “For both of us . . . the company could afford it . . . they wouldn’t miss it. He skilfully showed me the way to systematically steal small amounts of money so it wouldn’t be missed. Working in finance helped as it gave me access to the company’s money.”

“How much did you steal?” Rachel asked.

April knew the cover story so well so could have embellished the narrative further, but Joey bailed her out.

“Hey,” he interjected, “aren’t we supposed to be celebrating your birthday, not looking back on the past?”

“Too right,” April went for a relieved expression, “enough of that. I’m just pleased the gallery has given me a chance to redeem myself with the cleaning job, otherwise,” she smiled kindly at them both, “I wouldn’t have met you two.”

Joey lifted his beer, “I’ll drink to that,” and they clinked glasses again.

“Tell us about Mr Rider’s house,” Rachel said, “what’s that like. Is it a mansion?”

“It’s a big place, that’s for sure.”

“Has it got a pool? You always imagine the rich to have a pool?”

“No, there isn’t a pool. He’s got a huge Jacuzzi though.”

“God imagine that after a long day,” Rachel sighed. “Fancy just being able to come home from work, strip off, and jump in your own Jacuzzi. I tell you, next time, I’m coming back as a billionaire or something.”

“You’ll have to keep buying a lottery ticket,” Joey said, topping their glasses up with more Prosecco, “and you might get something in this life-time. You’d have plenty of money for a flash house with a Jacuzzi then.”

“Yeah, but knowing my luck, the night I won, there’d be about twenty other people with the same numbers and I’d end up with a measly hundred grand or something stupid like that.”

They laughed together at Rachel. April would miss them both when the job was over. She wasn’t stupid enough to become attached to anyone while she was undercover, but these two were the salt of the earth.

“How about another toast,” Rachel said. “Hey, we’ll need another bottle if we carry on like this.”

Joey nodded, “We’ll get another one when the waiter comes.”

“My toast this time,” Rachel said and lifted her glass. “To my two besties. I hope one day our lives will be full of money. Oh, and happy birthday, Gemma.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Joey smiled and raised his glass, “Here’s to us all having plenty of money. And happy birthday, Gemma.”

All three clinked together as the waiter arrived with their food.

 

The Italian was a good choice and Rachel entertained them with stories about internet dating and some of the choice blokes she’d had dates with.

“What about you, Joey,” April said putting her knife and fork together, “have you ever tried internet dating?”

“Nope. Call me old-fashioned, but I like to see what I’m getting. I wouldn’t be interested in a blind date. I’d be worried what the hell might turn up.”

Joey wouldn’t need to meet women on the internet. He was too good-looking to struggle for a date.

“Oh, you’d get plenty of weirdos, I promise you.” Rachel rolled her eyes, “They always turn up ten years older than their photos, and ten stone heavier,” she giggled. “And you definitely need to half and quarter what they say on their profile.”

April needed to get to the bar and get a drink, so she could put the laxatives in Rachel’s.

“Anyone fancy a nightcap? I’m buying.”

“I thought we’d already had that discussion,” Joey frowned, “and we agreed I’m paying.”

“We have. But I want to get us one drink at least. Come on, one for the road. What do you fancy?”

He breathed in deeply, “Okay, another beer will do me.”

“What about you, Rachel?”

“Er, I don’t know. What you having?”

“I might have a Tia Maria and Coke. Do you fancy one?”

“Go on then, that sounds nice.”

April stood up and Rachel frowned, “You don’t have to go to the bar, the waiter will bring them?”

“I know, but they’ll go on the bill and Mr Generous will end up paying. I want to buy us all a drink. I’ll be back in a minute.”