Chapter Twenty-Two: Even More Lies

Stephen had remained overnight at the police station. He rang his mother to let her know and that he was giving no comment. He just requested a lawyer and refused to speak until then. He didn't even think about the CCTV when he messed up with the factory, he was thinking in anger and his mind was skewed again. Audrey knew Carla wasn't going to drop the charges on her own intuition. Which is why she ordered a taxi to the street. Audrey had a look around for Carla but found she wasn't at the factory or the pub. She was at the flat with Ryan and that's why she was there on this particular late morning. Ryan telling her to just let her in as he excused himself and shut himself away in his bedroom. Carla buzzed her in reluctantly, Audrey came up the stairs slowly but surely. She came in and sat herself down on the couch...

"I know what this is about and I think it's a disgrace that he's made you come over here. Knowing you have no car or anything" Carla began as she was on the defensive straight away.

"He didn't send me, Carla. I'm here on my own accord...I haven't lost my faculties you know"

"You haven't but he has" Carla responded with her arms firmly crossed.

Audrey just giving a slight tut in response. Carla was quite a difficult woman to get along with, Audrey has never really liked her. Not after the way she treated Maria for years and the way she even treated her granddaughter Sarah sometimes. This was just another thing. The old woman however had to keep her composure despite the ill feelings.

"Please don't talk about my son like that, Carla. You and I both know this feud you got going on has been a two-way street for a long time. Now I'm not here to defend what he did last night but he's a mess. He needs help and he won't get that in a police station" Audrey nervously began.

"I won't argue that he needs help. He needs proper help because there's something wrong up there"

"You want to punish him. I understand but this isn't the way. He's waiting for a phone call to get a manager's job. Please drop the charges, let him have a chance. He won't bother you again"

"Too right he won't. And I don't care about his manager's job...He could be waiting to become Prime Minister for all I care. I'm not dropping any charges" Carla insisted with a scoff.

"You can be very heartless sometimes, Carla"

"Well I have to be otherwise I'll get walked all over. Look, I'm sorry Audrey about this. Truly I am but your son is a scumbag. Okay? He's an absolute scumbag"

"I need him. Please drop the charges...I need somebody in my house to help look after it. I promise you that he won't do anything like this again. I just need him so much. I can't do it on my own" Audrey insisted as she tried to get on her weak side, even wiping away a tear.

"Nobody needs him...You got Gail and so much family around you. You don't need him"

"Yes I do. He's my son...Please, Carla. Don't do this to me...I know he's done wrong but he's having a nervous breakdown. He lost his dad recently, his dad was attacked in a burglary gone wrong. And he just lost it. He had a moment of madness, that's all"

"He's had many moments of madness. I'm really sorry, Audrey. The last thing I want to do is cause trouble for you but he's been goading me for weeks. He tried to ruin me-"

"Only because he needed money for his wife Gabrielle. She's been controlling him for years and years. She was abusive and now he's on his own, lost and confused. He's still got scars from that marriage" Audrey blurted out.

Saying the first lie that came to her mind and she was disgusted with herself. Though this was a lie that people already knew. It was the first thing that popped into her head as she tried to garner some sympathy. She knew Carla wasn't going to drop the charges for nothing.

"What?" Carla asked in confusion.

"Yeah. That's why he's been like that with you...He was desperate. She threatened him to take more money. Gabrielle was always the one pulling the strings. He's been having a hard time with her. All the money he earned went directly to her"

"Carrie never mentioned that"

"That's because Carrie doesn't know. He's a man, Carla. He doesn't want people thinking he's weak enough to get abused by his wife. He put on a front you see with you. So you wouldn't see"

"I'm sorry to hear that but that still doesn't mean he might not do something like this again. And I can't afford another bad morning"

"He won't. You scared him enough...He won't risk the police again"

"Okay. Well don't try this next time. I won't listen next time" Carla replied much to her relief as she agreed.

...

"He's unbelievable...Maybe Max isn't the only one in the family who needs an electronic tag. We should ask if Stephen can have one too" David spoke up as Sarah informed them of what he did.

"Just stop it, David. I had enough problems lately. Carla has said she's dropping the charges anyway" Sarah responded while hunched up on the couch chair.

"That's nice for him"

"Gran asked her to and we have to respect that"

"Respect? What does this family know about respect? And you can't go acting all holier than thou nowadays, can you? You know you're suppose to keep your knickers on when you're around other blokes?" David asked with more sarcasm.

Sarah giving him a sudden hit on his head as she got up. Gail tutting as she came in, feeling she stepped back in time to twenty years ago. David chucking a pillow in her general direction as she sat back down. She chucked it back just as hard and didn't miss.

"Will you all grow up please!" Gail scolded as she sat herself down besides David.

"Yeah alright. I just think it's hypocritical that me and Max are the only ones in this family who got any punishment. Meanwhile gran is begging for the golden calf to get let go and Sarah is playing the victim again" David spoke up.

His sister giving a loud defeated gasp. Though she gave no verbal argument as she didn't have the strength. Gail was really struggling with this, Nick being the only member who was impartial as he tried to call a truce between everybody. Though this was difficult to do. There was a major part of her that wanted to call in reinforcements. David had the same idea as he remained sitting there in silence with his head resting against his hand.

"I just want us all to stop causing trouble. I can only deal with one thing at a time" Gail spoke up softly.

"Yeah I know mum. And I'm sorry for bringing you into my mess...I'm willing to call a truce with everybody. I regret so much" Sarah admitted.

"I'm not calling a truce. I'm ignoring them and banning them from this house. That's how it works until gran sends Stephen packing. I'm not giving that man an inch after what he's done. I never want to see him again" David reconfirmed.

"I don't either but I'm not ignoring gran" Sarah told him in a sad tone of voice.

Sarah was so close to ringing Bethany last night. Though she changed her mind as she didn't want her daughter to worry too. Little did she know that David had a similar near-miss except he almost rang Martin. All three of them wanted help from a family member.

"I nearly rang dad last night. But I felt stupid for even thinking it...It's just that he knows the history and I want him" David confessed.

"I nearly rang Bethany" Sarah chimed in with a few tears falling down.

"Martin would only gloat but I do understand. You could still ring Bethany however. The amount of times I was tempted to ring you and beg for you to come back when you were in Milan was endless. You can ring her, Sarah" Gail assured her.

"Harry would love to see her"

"Why don't you ring her and ask for a quick trip up? Adam will probably appreciate the break to be honest. Just stay with your daughter for a few days" Gail suggested to her.

Sarah nodding as she took her mother's advice. Making her way outside to the back garden with her mobile.

...

It had been hours since Stephen was let go. Audrey didn't expect him back straight away but it has been hours. It was late afternoon and he still wasn't back or hasn't called. The truth was he had been roaming the streets of Manchester aimlessly, thinking about everything and that included the twenty grand he needed but couldn't get hold of. That would have been peanuts to him a decade ago but now he can barely get it in his grasp. He kept hanging outside cash machines and saw many people getting out cards. He was seconds away every single time to go over and try to take it with force but a little voice in his head told him it was stupid or it was too cruel a target. He thus found himself back at Carrie's, his one link to the past that he wishes he could return back to.

"What happened to you and Elaine? Why are you back here with nothing?" Carrie questioned in deep confusion as he sat in her back garden in the warm weather.

"I don't know. I couldn't stand her...I applied for a few manager jobs but none of them fill me with much hope. I'm sixy-five and I've got nothing, I worked for forty odd years and I may as well be back to being out of school" Stephen spoke with a sad scoff.

"You always knew the business game could lead up to this"

"Not in my prime though. No, when I was in my twenties. I thought I was king of the world you know. I thought by sixty-five, I'd be married with a beautiful wife with three sucessful children. But no, I'm broke with no wife and no children. Living with my mother"

"And there's no way you can at least get a good retirement plan?"

"No. I burned my bridges I'm afraid...I trashed Carla's factory last night. She rang the cops and I got put in a cell overnight. My mom had to bail me out, can you believe it? It's pathetic"

"Well I'm not going to lie and say it sounds great. I wouldn't go putting it in your resume or anything but listen, when I went for a manager role. I thought I would hate it but it wasn't that bad. Just stay focused on that and don't go trashing people's factories"

"It's not even good shops though, Carrie. It's a charity shop, some clothes shop in the city centre or a vape store"

"Stephen. You know you got a good enough job history...Could you not find anything better?"

"Not really"

"Poor thing, aren't you? If only you had a time machine but that's not going to happen" Carrie spoke softly.

Stephen leaned in for a kiss but found himself swiftly rejected. Carrie wasn't ever going there! She didn't want to then and certainly not now. He felt suddenly ashamed as he just muttered something about being sorry before quickly departing. He heard Carrie giving a very loud sigh as he slammed the door behind himself, walking until he was out of sight behind a brick wall.

...

"Where have you been? I rang the police station and they told me you left hours ago. I was worried" Audrey told Stephen as he finally returned home at around 7pm at night.

"I'm sorry, mom. I went round to see Carrie for a bit and then I ended up walking back. Thanks for what you did, I don't deserve you to still be helping me. I won't be that stupid again" Stephen insisted.

"Well I'm still your mother no matter. I'll always try and help...Which is why I decided to give you back some money in your bank account. Call it the money you should have got from me prior to us reconnecting again. I don't really care, you have twenty grand"

"Are you serious?" Stephen asked but it wasn't said in an appreciative tone of voice. Audrey stepped back on hearing that tone.

"Yeah. I mean...It's okay if you don't want it. I don't want you thinking you're a charity case or something. Call it a late birthday present" Audrey nervously replied.

"Wait a moment, mom. You saw me losing my mind for at least a month or perhaps it was longer. And you're just sitting on twenty grand? You got money, that wasn't any secret to us. But you said you couldn't get lots without releasing the equity from this house. Unless you have done this?"

"Where did you think I got the money for your plane tickets from?"

"You have released equity?"

"Yeah but I thought it through. I still got the salon and the barbers, there's enough money in both of those for the future"

"For the rest of the family! Not for me...I have even less now. Thank you but at least I get a measly twenty grand. The rest you can enjoy between the rest of you while I invest in something that might not even work. Just wonderful but it's fine, mom. Because you thought it through!" Stephen yelled.

His mother looked generally startled by his outburst. He watched as she went as quick as she could up the stairs. He heard her retreat into her bedroom, shut it and then lock it. Stephen was beyond fed up now as he kicked the side-table which made a framed photograph of Lewis Archer fall down onto the floor. He stepped on it because he knew that would hurt her feelings.

...

TBC