Sweeteners by Jennie Hart - for a week of crime writing from Hightown Writers

Delaney’s survival depended on ‘sweeteners’, not the high intensity saccharine type, more the inducement type, offered to clients to persuade them to fall in to line

He dealt in cheap lets, initially cheap that is; a bed-sit here, a two bed flat there, real –estate he acquired by fair means or foul. And they were mostly foul.

Delaney had several dubious enterprises and another was as a money lender. He scoured the country for vulnerable people, down on their heels and desperate for cash to save their homes or jobs or relationships. He enticed the gullible with the offer of an immediate loan with no questions asked; no reference required but at ridiculous interest rates that the unfortunate fool could never pay back. Delaney’s ploy was to threaten eviction by his heavy brigade or alternatively, to offer to buy the property at a rock-bottom low price, and then rent it back at a reasonable rent.

This was where Delaney’s further sweetener kicked in. His incentive for his client was his guarantee to temporarily re-house, carry out all repairs, install a new bathroom and decorate and lay new carpet throughout. This was always a botch-up job, fittings off the back of a lorry, paint on top of rot and carpet at ten pence a metre or somewhere near.

Usually his clients were so frightened of the alternative to not paying up if they didn’t sell up, that they agreed, and as promised, eventually moved back in.

Delaney knew what he was doing. Once the tenant had settled, Delaney would regularly raise the rent until the poor victim couldn’t pay and would receive a court order. Soon he was out on the street with only the clothes he was wearing. Sometimes it was a she because women got into desperate straits too.

But things can backfire. Along his life’s path, Delaney made a number of enemies. Cartwright in particular had more business acumen than Delaney was ever likely to have. Cartwright was also a money lender, and when Delaney became greedy in his acquisition of property, he would turn to Cartwright. And Cartwright wasn’t cheap either.

Another weakness of Delaney’s was gambling and having a flutter was finally his downfall. After one lucrative purchase and a later eviction, the temptation of a bet on The National was too much. The stakes were high so he placed a massive bet and lost. He gambled on the hope of winning and paying off Cartwright.

Cartwright wasn’t happy when Delaney begged for more time. Cartwright never offered any sweeteners because he wasn’t that kind of person and, he wasn’t very sweet either.

Nor was the end of Delaney; Delaney’s body was disposed of in the sugar beet extraction plant in the mechanical slicing machine. He was not a pretty sight and as you might expect, a lot less sweet than the sugar beet!