Part 1
"You leave June out of this!" Jim cried as he grabbed hold of Mark Davies, the notorious loan shark who worked out of the Coal Lane Estate. One of Mark's heavies pulled him off Mark, and threw him to the ground, before proceeding to kick him twice in the stomach.
"And don't even think of telling those pig friends of yours, or they might just have to find out about that favour you did for me last month. Understand?"
"Yes, yes." Jim replied, as he felt Mark's boot strike a blow to his ribs.
"Good boy, 5pm then." Mark and his thugs then left, leaving Jim alone, curled up in a ball on his living room carpet. He felt a lone tear run down his face. He angrily wiped it away, before slowly, and painfully getting to his feet. Now was not a time for feeling sorry for himself. He had got himself into this mess, and now it was up to him to sort it out. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to June because of his own stupidity, he had to come up with a plan and fast.
He considered running away, but where would he go? He also knew that if he did, he would have to tell June the truth, and he wasn't quite sure how she would take it. He would probably lose her for good, and he was fairly sure that she wouldn't be prepared to run away; he was petrified of what Davies might do to her as a result. Jim realised that he had no choice but to raise the money himself, and he didn't have a lot of options left. He knew that he had no chance of getting a legitimate loan for that kind of cash, that was why he had gone to Davies in the first place. He didn't know anyone with that kind of cash to spare, and he had sold everything of value that he had already. He picked up the newspaper which lay on the coffee table, and flicked through to the form guide page. Jim felt physically sick, as he realised that his only option to raise the money, was through the method which had got himself into this mess in the first place.
Jim shut his eyes as he rode the number 128 bus towards Brixton. He knew far too many people in the Sun Hill area, to be able to go about his business without something getting back to June. He sighed as he placed his hand in his pocket, and felt at the ring which would be his stake money. Even when his problem had been at it's worse, and he was losing hundreds of pounds a week, he never dreamt of taking anything of June's, although he had been severely tempted on more than one occasion. But he kept telling himself that he was doing this for her not him. He hated himself so much that he didn't care what happened to himself anymore, all that mattered to him was that she would be all right. Jim knew how much this ring meant to her, it had been in her family for generations, and he was determined to get it back for her once this was all over. All that he needed was for luck to be on his side for once.
If only he hadn't gone on that Casino obbo with Honey and Cameron he thought to himself. If only he hadn't won big that night, perhaps he wouldn't be in the mess he found himself in today. But that was his job, and other people in his position would have known when to stop. The woman he loved dearly had agreed to marry him, and for the first time in his life he had the chance to be truly happy. But that wasn't enough, he wanted desperately to be able to give her everything that she had ever wanted. He wanted to look after her, take care of her after everything that she had been through. It was too late for him to clime the career ladder, and those early wins had given him the funds to be able to achieve his goal. The look on June's face when he presented her with the tickets for a late honeymoon trip to Barbados, kept him going when things started to go wrong, and he had got himself deeper and deeper into debt as a result.
Jim screwed up the betting slip into a ball and threw it into the bin. Sights on Gold had not lived up to it's name. It had finished third, if only he had gone each way! It's not as if the horse had much of a chance of winning anyway, it had been only fifth favourite. He just wanted to reach his target as quickly as possible, and at 20-1 it looked tasty. Time had it when he would never have chosen a horse because of it's name, but when the favourites he had backed started to lose, he decided that he would be better off backing at longer odds. He scanned the list of races, and checked how much money he had left, five hundred pounds. As he did so his phone stared to ring. He pulled the phone out of his pocket, and looked at the display, it was June. He switched it off. He knew that she would be angry that he had done that, but right now that was the least of his problems. She would want to know where he was, and it was not as if he could pretend that he was at work, as that was where she would be right now.
"That's odd," June thought to herself as she realised that Jim had turned his phone off on her. Just then Honey knocked on the Sergeants office, and poked her head round the door.
"Can I have a word please Sarge?"
"Yes of course, what is it?"
"Well it's a bit delicate," Honey replied, before closing the door behind her.
"Is anything wrong?" June asked as she removed her glasses, and gave the younger woman her full attention.
"Well it's about Jim."
"Is he all right?"
"As far as I know. It's just that a couple of months ago I leant him some money, two hundred pounds. And I don't want to cause any trouble between the two of you, but I really could do with it back. I'm behind with my rent you see, I think that I might have gone a little OTT on nights out lately!"
"He's probably just forgot," June replied, hiding her anger that he had gone to Honey again rather than to her, his wife.
"Well I have reminded him a few times. He promises me faithfully that he will bring it tomorrow each time, but tomorrow never seems to come."
"Yes well don't worry Honey, I will go to a cash point at lunch and get you the money, I promise."
"Thanks Sarge, I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate."
"No that's OK Honey, it's your money after all."
"Insufficient funds" the machine said for the third time, how could that possibly be June thought to herself? They had only just got paid last week, surely it was some kind of mistake? June checked her watch, she still had time to get to the bank, and sort this "mistake" out.
"I'm sorry Mrs Carver, I've double checked, that account is over one hundred pounds over the overdraft limit, I couldn't possibly let you have any more money."
"But that can't be right, we only got paid last week! Over four grand between us, where on earth has that gone to?"
"Yes on the 23rd I see. But various direct debits have gone out since then, and there was a fairly large withdrawal made on the 25th."
"How much?"
"Two thousand pound, I take it you didn't know about that."
"No I did not!" June exclaimed, the look on her face betraying her shock.
June took a couple of paracetamols, before sipping a glass of water. She had a raging headache, as the days events played over and over in her mind. She had lied to Gina and managed to go home early sick. She couldn't concentrate on her work, and she was really hating having to avoid Honey. She told herself not to panic, she was sure that there had to be a simple answer to all of this. Perhaps Jim had opened a new account, and had forgotten to tell her. But where was he and why wasn't he answering his phone? He had been so moody lately, and they hadn't had sex for weeks. But perhaps this was how it was going to be from now on, after all she was hardly an old hand at this marriage business. Perhaps he had gone off her, perhaps he was going to leave her? After all he would hardly be the first to grow impatient with her insecurity, and her inability to give one hundred per cent to a relationship. Maybe that's where he was, perhaps he had left her? She raced up the stairs to check the wardrobe, almost tripping in her haste.
To her relief everything was as it had been this morning, so she lay down on her bed both relieved, and angry with herself for not trusting him. But as she played over in her mind conversations that they had had over the past few weeks, she realised that there must me something going on. They had hardly spoken lately, and when they did it had often ended in a fight. He was very defensive when she asked him where he had been, perhaps he was seeing someone else? Surely not, they had only just got married. Or worse still perhaps he was ill, and he didn't know how to tell her. Not able to bare the suspense any longer she got up, and pulled his winter coat off the back of the bedroom door. She searched through the pockets, looking for any sign of a clue which would explain his odd behaviour, but she found nothing. Just then the door bell rung, and throwing the coat onto the bed, she went down stairs to answer it.
June saw Gina's face through the glass door, what did she want? She opened the door, as panic leapt through her veins.
"Ma'am what are you doing here? Is Jim all right?"
"Can I come in?"
"Oh my God, what is it? He's hurt isn't he, he is all right? Tell me?" June demanded.
"Don't worry June he's fine, well physically anyway."
"Well?"
"There's no easy way of saying this, but the Brixton Police have arrested him on suspicion of burglary."
"You can't be serious, not Jim. There's obviously been some kind of mistake."
"I don't think so, apparently he was caught red handed inside someone's house. There's something else as well."
"What?"
"Apparently he was pissed."
TO BE CONTINUED.....