Just My Luck(25)

‘How do you mean?’

‘They were dumping us, as friends. At least that’s what it felt like.’

‘Let’s stick to the facts, should we? Rather than feelings.’

Double Barrel 1 is a smug toad. I remind myself I can buy and sell his butt now, and it’s some comfort. Still, I do as he asks. The outcome of this meeting will determine just how many times I can buy and sell his butt. I need to cooperate. They need to hear my story and they need to believe it.





13


Lexi


‘Fred was talking about, oh something or other, I don’t remember, his car engine? Tyre pressure? It wasn’t interesting, then Jake interrupted to announce we weren’t lottery winners. Like he does pretty much every week. But that week, his interruption created an odd mood. The air was sort of heavy. I guess no one likes to be reminded that they’ve lost at anything, even if there was never any real expectation of winning.’ I shrug. Who knows? People are strange. ‘I broke the silence by reminding everyone it was time to chip in to the kitty again. I collect a fiver off each couple every few weeks. As each game cost two pounds, the kitty lasts a little while.’

‘And does everyone always pay in advance?’ asks Ms Walsh.

‘Sometimes I forget to ask for the money, I just buy the tickets anyway. I’d done that for the preceding two weeks as it happened. It’s just a few quid. I only mentioned the money for something to say. But then Patrick demanded, “Why are we even doing the lottery?” His face was flushed, his voice booming. “What’s the bloody point?” he asked. He sounded angry. I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t just reaching for his wallet and casually handing over the cash. I guess it was the drink. I don’t want to be mean about this, but facts are facts. Patrick had downed two cocktails and polished off a bottle of red before I’d even served the main. By this point of the evening he was drinking whisky straight. It was a bottle that my mother had bought Jake for his birthday.’ I look at Gillian and Ms Walsh. ‘I was wondering if maybe Patrick is misremembering things because of the amount he had to drink. I want to think the best of him, you know.’

Gillian squeezes my arm again, my lawyer nods and asks, ‘In your estimation, did Mr Pearson drink more than usual that evening?’

‘Yes, I think he did. Not an unprecedented amount, we’ve all seen each other quite the worse for wear at some point or other over the years, but yes, thinking about it, he probably did drink more than usual. Fred too, actually. But he’s such an easy-going drunk. Just sort of dozes off in his chair.’

‘And Patrick isn’t an easy drunk?’ probes Ms Walsh.

‘He gets a bit narky with alcohol.’ I pause and then admit, ‘Or even without it. We’ve all got used to his short temper. His belligerence. Jake and I have privately wondered if perhaps Patrick is a tad stretched.’

‘Stretched? Do you mean at work? Workload? Financially?’

‘Possibly both. I don’t know for a fact. It’s just rumour at the school gate.’

‘Can you elaborate?’

‘I am reluctant to speculate. When I first heard the whispers, I dismissed them. It is hard to imagine. Patrick and Carla have always been financially successful. Big house, two family holidays a year. Patrick has his fingers in many pies, he talks about his investments a lot. Jennifer and Fred are comfortable too, although they talk about money less. Fred insists his job is dreary and rarely mentions it beyond saying his boss is a wanker. Until our numbers came up. We simply got by.’

‘What happened next?’

‘We all started to talk about what we would spend our money on if we won. Just joking about, you know. That’s when Patrick turned quite nasty.’

‘Nasty?’

‘He shouted, “Will you cut the crap. All this talk about lottery wins is doing my head in.” The more I think about it, the more I believe maybe he does have money issues and that’s why he’s making this stuff up. I almost feel sorry for him.’ I stare right at Double Barrel 1. ‘You need to know, even if the money was split three ways, that’s an enormous amount to us. We wouldn’t keep it from them if they were due it. But I’m not a pushover. I’m not going to cough up the cash after the way they insulted Jake.’

‘Insulted him?’ asked Ms Walsh.

‘Patrick said the lottery was common, that it was for losers.’ I glance apologetically at Gillian and Mick Hutch. ‘He wouldn’t let it go. He said he only had ever done it to humour Jake. He was quite patronising. Quite personal. Going on about Jake liking a flutter, as though Jake was some gambling addict. He kept coming back to the common thing. He was behaving like a real snob. Going on about people on benefits, “doleys” he called them, and he compared doing the lottery with taking your shirt off in public or having a tattoo.’

‘Well, none of those are criminal offences,’ commented Gillian, tartly. She has a tattoo on her wrist, a small bird.

‘I know that. Jake has a tattoo. It was clear what Patrick was saying. He was saying we are common. I tried to reason with him. I pointed out that the school’s Parents Association run a raffle every term. It’s the same thing. I challenged him on why he’d suddenly had a change of heart, after all those years.’

‘Yes, the exact question I was going to ask,’ challenged Double Barrel 2. ‘It doesn’t make sense.’