‘I don’t know your game but I’m watching you, mate,’ Sam said to Nick once Katie was out of hearing distance, and Nick just nodded, smiling slowly.
* * *
‘Why areyou hiding in here, loser?’ Benji said as he sauntered over to the darkest corner of the library, where Goodie was curled up in an armchair. Goodie put down the book she was reading and narrowed her eyes at Benji.
‘How did you get in, kid?’ she asked. ‘You know you’ll get in trouble if the Chamberses find out you broke into the house.’
‘Broke in?’ Benji scoffed. ‘You must be joking. That Nick bloke practically dragged us all up here. We’ve all moved into the “guest wing”. Ha! It’s like a whole other house. Rich people are weird.’
‘What are you talking a –’
‘Oh, by the way he’s looking for you, so are Katie and Sam. They’re so dumb; I knew exactly where you were, all I had to do was ask where the library was.’
‘What are you all doing in this house?’ Goodie asked.
‘We’re spending the weekend.’
‘No you are not,’ she told him, jumping to her feet and stalking across the room. Benji caught her arm as she went past, and she paused to look down at him.
‘What’s with that Nick bloke anyway?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘He looks at you funny and he … he pushed you behind him like he thought he was the boss of you or something.’
‘He’s not the boss of me, Benji,’ Goodie told him, her eyes flashing with anger. ‘You know that, nobody is the boss of me.’
‘And you’re weird too,’ Benji said, regarding Goodie’s stance analytically. ‘You don’t usually get mad like now, and outside you were … well, you were acting all … I dunno, twitchy.’
‘I was nottwitchy,’ Goodie could feel her face heat.
‘And that!’ Benji said, jumping up and down and pointing to her face. ‘You’re all red. You never show any feelings and stuff. It’sweird.’ Goodie puffed out a breath and tried to claw back her aura of lethal calm that she was used to, but for some reason having Katie under the same roof as Nick and his family was making her feel … well … fuck, shewastwitchy.
‘Shut up, squirt, and tell me where they are.’
* * *
‘Nick,for Christ’s sake what’s going on?’ Goodie heard Clive sneer as she made her way down the corridor to the kitchen. ‘Why are you letting staff invite their bloody mates and even worse their mates’ kids to your gaff? You do know that there are three children in that kitchen right now. Three.’ Clive grunted in disgust and Goodie heard him add under his breath: ‘One was bad enough.’
From Nick’s furious expression, and knowing how much he loved his niece, Goodie was pretty sure he’d heard the arsehole as well.
‘Well, Clive,’ he said, his voice so low and dangerous that it actually shocked Goodie – he was always so charming, so laid back. ‘Why don’t you get the fuck out ofmygaffthen, and stay away from my sister.’
‘Calm down, mate,’ Clive laughed a little nervously. ‘Just kidding around; no need to get radgie. You’ve got to admit, it’s weird enough having a little girl provide your protection without her mates and their kids getting in on the act.’
‘Thatlittle girlcould fuck you up without batting an eyelid, you prick,’ Nick told him. ‘Advice: don’t piss her off.’
‘Hello, boys,’ Goodie said, deciding to make her presence known. Benji was standing next to her smirking – that was one of the things she liked about the kid: he knew when to keep his mouth shut, he hadn’t said a word or moved a muscle throughout that whole exchange. It was like she always told him: knowledge is power. She moved to go past them towards the hum of noise from the kitchen, but paused inches away from Clive in order to turn to him, stare him straight in the eye, and bat one of her eyelids before moving away.
Once she made it into the kitchen Goodie sighed as she saw just how settled in Katie and the kids were.
Control was very important to Goodie. She had spent her childhood in possession of so little of it that now she found it almost essential. And in all honesty staying in control of her life was usually a piece of cake. She had nobody to answer to, no ties or responsibilities … nothing. This, she always told herself, was good; it was safe. So what if sometimes she lay awake at night staring into the dark and feeling it invade her consciousness? Darkness and emptiness had been a part of her life for so long she wasn’t sure she could live another way or that she would even want to try.
It was certainly safer this way. Only two people knew her background: Sam, she knew, would never tell anyone; and Natasha … Natasha wanted the truth to stay buried as much as Goodie, maybe more. So yes, control, keeping her secrets, keeping the past buried: these were all very important to Goodie, and she did not like the feeling that it was slipping.
You wouldn’t think that a small, overexcited, ridiculously friendly, touchy-feely woman like Katie would be dangerous to someone like Goodie. But in Katie’s mind Goodie had saved her life three years ago and Katie was not going to forget it. She’d told Goodie: ‘Our way lies together. With the speed of Allah. You have saved my life. Christian. Now I'll stay with you, until I've saved yours. That's my vow.’ True, it was a direct quote fromRobin Hood Prince of Thievesand was delivered in Katie’s attempt at Morgan Freeman’s Arabic accent; but she meant every word.
Not that Katie could actually stay with Goodie, but she did make sure she was in her life any way she could be in various over-familiar and invasive ways, exactly like this current episode. Compounding Katie’s feeling of gratitude towards Goodie, which fuelled her crazy behaviour, Goodie had made the mistake of revealing a little too much about what went down in Colombia with Sam nine years ago. So, not only did Katie believe she owed her life to Goodie, but also that of her husband. The fact that both times Goodie was simply doing her job was totally lost on Katie.
