and had a great view, if you liked views of Newcastle. Maria and Jasmine seemed impressed, which was the intention. Andy thought of it as ‘buttering up’ – keeping them docile. He would have taken them straight to Silver Birches but neither Jason nor Vasily – Tommy’s henchmen – had been available to process them and the place was ‘in lockdown’, Tommy said.
‘One night only,’ he warned as the girls explored. That was a song, wasn’t it? From something he’d seen with Rhoda in London. They’d had a weekend away, done all the tourist things, the London Eye, an open-top bus, a West End show – a musical. Rhoda knew London better than Andy did and he had felt a bit like a hick up from the provinces, fumbling with his Oyster card and walking around with his eyes glued to Google Maps on his phone. Still, over all they’d had a good time and the weekend had reminded Andy that most of the time he quite enjoyed being married to Rhoda, although whether Rhoda felt the same way towards him was uncertain.
They’d left the Seashell in the hands of Wendy Ives. It was out of season and there was only one booking. They could have saved the money they paid her and put Lottie in charge for all the work that was involved. That was before the split with Vince, and Wendy was already having an affair with that bloke who was on the lifeboats. Rhoda suspected that Wendy had wanted to babysit the hotel so she could have somewhere to go with her new man while her old man stayed home and walked the dog and looked like a bit of a tit for not knowing. He knew now, all right. Wendy was taking Vince to the cleaners.
Wendy had come on to Andy once when she was drunk – well, they were both drunk, but he wouldn’t have dared even if he’d wanted to, which he didn’t. Rhoda was more than enough woman for him. Literally. A quarter of Rhoda would have been enough for any man. Besides which, she would kill him if she ever found out that he’d been unfaithful to her. Torture him first, probably. That was the least of his worries. He had a much bigger secret he was keeping from her, a secret that was getting bigger and more cumbersome every day.
‘Mr Andy?’
‘Yes, Jasmine, love?’ He was able to tell the difference between them now. He’d surprised himself by managing to learn their names – something he usually had difficulty with.
‘We stay here tonight?’
‘Yes, love. One night only though.’ (Dreamgirls – that was what the show was called.) ‘First thing tomorrow we’ll go to Silver Birches. They’re getting your room ready for you.’
He was exhausted. He’d taken them shopping in Primark, not that they needed new clothes, those suitcases were stuffed, but he’d steered them towards some skimpy sequinned stuff that attracted them like magpies. They’d taken endless selfies. Tried to get him to pose with them. No way, he laughed, pulling away from them. He wasn’t going on anyone’s Facebook page, but nonetheless it was good that they did post a photo, then everyone back home could see they were alive and well and safely arrived in Britain and having a great time. They weren’t bar girls, they worked in a garment factory in Manila and they were coming here to be care workers. British care homes were full of Filipinos because British people couldn’t take care of anything, least of all their own families.
They’d shopped in Sainsbury’s and he’d helped the girls choose stuff for their tea. Ready-meals – there was a microwave in the Quayside flat. They ate all kinds of crap where they came from – chicken feet and fried insects and God knows what. They were excited by the supermarket. Easily excited, both of them.
His phone rang. Stephen Mellors. Aka Mark Price. ‘Steve?’
‘All still okay with Bumbum and Bambi?’
‘Mr Price,’ Andy mouthed to the girls, indicating the phone. They smiled and nodded. ‘Jasmine and Maria?’ he said to Steve. ‘Yeah. Good. I’m just settling them in for the night.’ The girls had put the TV on and were watching Pointless. They seemed hypnotized, although surely they couldn’t understand a word of what was going on. ‘We’ve had a good day, eh, girls?’ Andy said, raising his voice and giving them a thumbs-up and a big grin. They giggled and gave him exaggerated thumbs-up back. It was criminally easy