It was childish really, but Josephine knew that she had to follow suit and do what was expected as Michael’s wife-to-be. She already had a level of security because of Michael’s position in the firm as Patrick Costello’s boy wonder. Michael was not going to fuck that up; he’d worked hard to get where he was and he would do whatever was needed to keep himself on the up and up.
This was the game they were both having to play. Josephine had joined a group of women whose husbands’ livelihoods were dependent on the Costello brothers, and that was something none of them, Josephine included, could ever forget.
Chapter Nineteen
Colin Dawes was a man who went out of his way to avoid trouble of any kind. He wasn’t a coward – he could look after himself – but he had never seen the logic of going out and actively looking for trouble. In his experience, it eventually found its way to your door anyway. Now, he was in a quandary as he stood outside Jonny Barber’s office. He had known Jonny since they were little kids and, as big a bastard as Jonny could be, Colin couldn’t stand aside and see him taken out without giving him a heads up of some description. It was only fair.
The problem was, Jonny wasn’t a man who encouraged friendly conversation; he had no time for anyone other than his brothers so approaching him wouldn’t be easy. But Jonny had seen him all right in the not-too-distant past, and that counted for a lot where Colin was concerned. He was a decent man, or at least he tried to be anyway. He knew he had to do the right thing and he owed Jonny Barber.
Colin took a deep breath and pulling himself up to his full height – just over six feet one inch – he rapped loudly on Jonny’s office door, before walking in to face him. He consoled himself with the fact that he was doing what he would want someone to do for him if the need ever arose.
Jonny Barber had never really liked Colin Dawes. He suspected it was because Colin had the knack of being popular by his very nature. Even at school, Colin had managed to make friends with everyone around him. Admittedly, Jonny couldn’t really fault him for that, but he found Colin’s obvious camaraderie with all and sundry very unsettling. He just wasn’t comfortable with people like Colin Dawes; he always felt wrong-footed around him.
Nevertheless, Colin Dawes had worked for the Barbers for a very long time, and Jonny recognised that he owed him a private audience for that reason alone. His loyalty had never once been questioned, he’d never given them cause for any doubt, unlike the majority of the men on the Barbers’ payroll, who Jonny personally wouldn’t trust to look after his mother’s mangy old cat without a written statement of support from the RSPCA. His brother Dicky had played a hand in that. He had picked fights with everyone at some time or another – it wasn’t even personal, it was just his nature. In all honesty, Jonny wasn’t entirely without blame. Just like Dicky, he had never been blessed with a sunny nature, and he had caused his fair share of bad feeling with the people he employed. Thanks to his brother’s natural antagonism towards most of the human race, he had never been in a position to relax his guard and put his trust in the people around him. Dicky could have more fights than Joe Frazier in a twenty-minute timeframe. Dicky had made a career out of alienating everyone on their payroll at one time or another. Now Jonny was worried it might come back to bite them on their arses. His younger brother was basically a fucking moron.
‘All right, Colin? What can I do you for, mate?’ He was trying to be friendly, jovial even. It was hard though. He was still waiting for his brothers to make an appearance.
Colin smiled, trying to look relaxed. He was still a good-looking man, even at his age. Colin had always put his looks down to his aversion to alcoholic beverages of any kind. He had never liked the taste of drink, even as a lad and, seeing the trouble that it could cause, he was very glad about that. Give him a cup of tea any day. Alcohol not only reduced people’s inhibitions – it was also a fuel for bad tempers. It fanned flames that caused serious damage to everyone involved.
He was nervous, and he took a breath to steady himself. ‘Look, Jonny. I don’t want to cause trouble, mate. You know me – I keep out of everything, but I can’t stand by and see you made a mug of.’
Jonny Barber was looking at Colin Dawes as if he had never seen him before in his life. He had not expected anything like this – certainly not such raw honesty. ‘What the fuck are you prattling on about?’