to think of some way to gauge what the son, Liam, had said to his dad. A lot might depend on it. But it might be a bit delicate, she was gonna have to be subtle. But it wasn’t really her forte. So she just went for it. ‘So, Pete… what did Liam say? If you don’t mind me asking.’
Everyone tensed. Pete paused, beer to his lips. ‘You really wanna know?’
‘Of course she does,’ Gina jumped in. ‘We all do.’
Everyone nodded. Luckily, Pete thought it was simply concern for him rather than everybody trying to glean if the kid had made a case for letting them all out. He seemed touched by their care. ‘Well, I’m sure you can guess a lot of it. Predictable shit. He loves me and all that.’
‘Does he?’ Leanne asked, a bit too sceptically.
Pete blinked. ‘Yeah. He said so.’
‘Did you say it back?’
Pete shrugged. ‘He knows. Anyway, then he said he wanted me to put the gun down and come out. But I told him what would happen, that they’d…’ He made a gun shape with his hand - the hand that wasn’t actually holding a real gun - and aimed it at his head. ‘And then he said that fucking copper promised she wouldn’t shoot me. She’d obviously fed him all that before we even talked.’
‘But if she promised Liam, maybe it’s true,’ Ashley tried.
‘You think she cares about keeping promises to kids that their dads won’t get their brains blown out? Does she fuck.’
‘So you don’t believe him?’
‘He’s a puppet. He might not know it, but he is. No, that bitch can do what she said and get me my plane and my money.’
Ashley internalised a sigh. Liam had tried, but it was no good. Pete was clinging to his fantasy and clinging hard. Ashley had to try and pick up where Liam left off though. ‘But you do realise… if you get on that plane, you might never see Liam again.’
Pete frowned. ‘He can come visit me.’
‘I don’t know if he’ll be allowed. I mean, they know where you’ll be going, the pilot can tell them. They might ban him from visiting your new country.’
‘Can they do that?’ Pete asked, frowning.
Ashley wasn’t sure, but she ran with it. ‘Pete, come on. I mean, even if this all goes off without a hitch, they won’t just forget about you. They’ll have to see you punished somehow. Even if it’s only making sure your son never sees you again.’
Pete took a chug of his beer. ‘He never got to see me when I was in prison, anyway,’ he said, trying to sound careless. ‘Wouldn’t be no different if I go in for this.’
Ashley felt a weak spot open up. ‘You could do it better this time. You could ask him to see you every week, good, regular, quality time. You’d know him, see how he grows up. You haven’t run out of chances, Pete. Not yet. But if you go ahead with your plan, this could be it for you and your son. For the rest of your life. The best you’d get is seeing his social media, maybe see a few photos a year. Is that enough?’
Pete’s frown deepened. ‘But he doesn’t like social media. He’s not on anything.’
That was an unexpected gift. ‘Then that’s even worse,’ Ashley told him. ‘You’d never know anything. You’d never know what job he gets when he grows up, whether he has a family. Nothing. You might as well be dead as far as Liam’s concerned.’
‘Don’t say that,’ Pete said, an edge of threat in his voice.
But Ashley had an in. And just like she always did, she had to go for it. She knew she was taking a chance. A very large one. But she could get him. Get to his heart, if there was any of it left. ‘Pete, I’m just being honest. You carry your plan out, everyone you know and care about in this country will be locked off from you. Forever.’
‘Shut it, would you!’ Pete snapped.
‘Truth hurts,’ Ashley said, betting everything.
Pete raised his gun, pointing it directly at Ashley’s forehead, mere inches away. She froze. ‘I told you to shut up,’ Pete said, his voice dripping with quiet fury.
Ashley decided to simply do as she was told now. She’d gotten too comfy in the situation, gotten cocky. She’d made exactly the same mistake she’d warned Leanne about. She’d overplayed her hand.
‘Pete,’ Gina said quickly. ‘It’s alright. You don’t have to do anything