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Friendless Lane Page 13


  ‘Could she be in the toilets?’ Lilly asked the WPC.

  ‘I suppose so.’

  ‘Well could you check?’

  The WPC looked put out. ‘She’s wasting a lot of time with all this.’

  ‘She’s fourteen, for God’s sake.’

  Lilly charged from the incident room, along the corridor to the reception area. A young man was at the desk, spinning a coin. When he saw her, he snatched it up, tried pocketing it, but there was a ping as it hit the floor.

  ‘Has a girl come through? About this high.’ Lilly put a flat hand at her shoulder. ‘About fourteen.’

  ‘Pale kid?’ he asked.

  ‘That’s her,’ said Lilly.

  The young man nodded. ‘She left about five minutes ago. She was pretty upset.’

  Lilly shot outside. Velvet had seemed so calm. Unnaturally so. It had clearly all been a front and Lilly should have spotted it. The kid was traumatized. How could she not be?

  She checked in both directions. Left went up towards the church, right went into town. Any kid would surely head for the shops. She belted along the pavement, scanning the passers-by. There was a man on a mobility scooter coming towards her, taking up all the space. In the basket at the front was a scruffy terrier barking at anyone it didn’t like the look of. Lilly sidestepped into the road to let them pass. The dog snarled at her, and, from behind, a taxi beeped its horn.

  At the traffic lights, a group of young women were waiting to cross. They all had pushchairs and were admiring a tattoo at the base of the spine of one woman: two hands clasped in friendship, the ink work surprisingly intricate.

  ‘Have you seen a girl come along here?’ Lilly asked. ‘About fourteen years old, wearing a black puffa.’

  The women stared at her as if she were speaking Swahili.

  ‘Very pale,’ Lilly said.

  The woman with the tattoo pulled her hoodie down, the material taut against her pregnant belly. The knees of her leggings were wrinkled and bulging.

  ‘Is that the one that were crying?’ she asked.

  ‘Very likely,’ said Lilly.

  ‘She’s over there.’ The woman swivelled her buggy and body to face the opposite side of the crossroads. ‘Outside Aldi.’

  Lilly screwed up her eyes. There she was. Standing at the kerbside, speaking into her phone.

  ‘Velvet,’ Lilly yelled.

  The girl looked up. She seemed frightened at the sight of Lilly’s approach.

  ‘Wait there,’ Lilly shouted across the two lanes of traffic.

  A car pulled up next to Velvet. The girl hesitated. Looked once again at Lilly. Don’t do it, Lilly thought. Don’t you bloody dare get in that car. Velvet opened the door and climbed in. The car sped away.

  [#]

  ‘How much longer?’ Some skinny geezer in a dirty Plan B T-shirt banged on the reception window. It stayed stubbornly and resolutely shut. ‘I’ve been here all morning.’

  Kelsey could tell he was clucking. He was bending and stretching his knees, rubbing his stomach. Dead giveaway.

  ‘You should be seen in the next ten minutes or so,’ said the receptionist from behind her Perspex barrier.

  He groaned and doubled over. ‘You said that before. You keep saying the same thing.’

  Kelsey sighed. She weren’t feeling too clever herself as it happened. This morning’s hit was fading fast. She hadn’t dared take a big one, just enough to keep her on a level. But for how much longer she didn’t know.

  ‘You’re supposed to help people like me.’ He was shouting now. ‘See that?’ He tapped the sign on the wall. ‘Substance Abuse Team. We come to you for help, can’t you understand that?’

  Kelsey knew what he was getting at. It did seem stupid that if you had a bunch of junkies who didn’t want to be junkies no more, that you’d keep them hanging round for what? Three hours?

  ‘It ain’t her fault,’ she said.

  ‘I know.’ He squatted on the floor, hugging his knees. ‘But I’m dying here. I didn’t bring nothing with me in case they checked, like.’

  Kelsey nodded. She’d faced the same dilemma and decided not to bring her stash. Without it she felt weird. Almost naked. But she didn’t know if they’d search her and kick her out before she’d got started. She was determined to make this work.

  ‘Maybe it’s some sort of test,’ she suggested. ‘To see who’s gonna just leg it.’

  ‘Me,’ he said. ‘I’m gonna leg it if I don’t get something for these cramps.’

  A buzzer sounded and they both looked up as the door lock released and a man the size of Jabba the Hutt stepped into the room. He was bald, wore silver-rimmed glasses and had a ginger beard that brushed his chest.

  ‘Carlo Cutler.’ His voice were properly loud. ‘Come in, Carlo Cutler, your time is up.’

  The skinny geezer struggled to his feet and shivered. There was the sound of a long, wet fart and the air filled with the smell of rotting bowels.

  ‘Shit,’ he said.

  ‘Literally,’ boomed Jabba.

  [#]

  While Carlo cleaned himself up, Kelsey took his turn in Jabba’s office, her legs tucked under the chair. He asked question after question, his voice like a foghorn.

  How much did she use? No, honestly, how much?

  How many times had she tried to get clean? No, honestly, how many times?

  He wrote all her answers down in a big red book, underlining things here and there.

  ‘When did you first start dabbling?’ he asked.

  ‘Not sure exactly,’ Kelsey replied. ‘Sixteen, maybe. I were still in care, so yeah, sixteen.’

  ‘Did you know a lot of users during your childhood?’

  Kelsey laughed. ‘Well there was my mum for one.’

  ‘Did she introduce you to drugs?’

  ‘God, no. If she knew the mess I’d got myself into, she’d turn in her grave.’

  ‘Overdose?’ Jabba asked, stroking his beard into a point.

  ‘Nah.’

  Funny how, after all these untold years, she still hated to explain what had happened. She almost wished Mum had died with a needle in her arm. At least it would have been quick. The gear going into her veins, then bam, nothing. Worse ways to go.

  ‘So tell me about your motivation,’ Jabba asked. ‘Why is this time going to be different from all the other times?’

  ‘A friend of mine died,’ answered Kelsey. ‘It ain’t like we were mates going way back, but she were way too young. She reminded me of myself all them years ago, trying to look after her little brother, making a fuck-up of it all.’

  ‘And it’s made you think about things?’

  ‘Yeah. Like when you’re using, you’re either stoned or thinking about getting stoned, do you know what I mean?’

  ‘It’s a full-time occupation being an addict,’ said Jabba.

  ‘With overtime.’ Kelsey laughed. ‘But when Gem died, I kind of just forced myself to stop and have a think. It weren’t very nice as it goes, all that stuff swilling round in my head.’

  ‘And what did you come up with?’

  ‘That I can’t just keep trying to make everything better with a rock or a pill.’ Kelsey picked the black resin from under her nails. ‘It don’t work no more.’

  ‘And how do you envisage your life without drugs?’ asked Jabba.

  Kelsey brightened. This was something she had thought about. While she’d spent years trying not to think about Mum and prison and the punters and all the other shit, there was one thing she could concentrate on properly.

  ‘My sisters,’ she said. ‘I wanna see my sisters. They’re in care and I ain’t seen ’em in a long time. Fact is, they ain’t gonna let me see ’em while I’m using.’

  ‘Well that’s a positive goal,’ said Jabba.

  ‘I’ve already got a solicitor and everything,’ said Kelsey. ‘She’s made an application and that’s why I need to do this now. I’ve got to get on with it.’

  Jabba smiled and closed the big r
ed book. ‘Thank you, Kelsey, that’s it for today.’

  ‘So what happens now?’

  ‘I need to speak to my colleagues about whether you’re a good candidate for rehab.’

  ‘I’m telling you I am,’ said Kelsey. ‘I want this.’

  ‘And I agree with you,’ said Jabba. ‘I’ll certainly be recommending you for a placement.’ He flapped a fat hand to calm her excitement. ‘In the meantime, we’ll have to apply for funding and you need to start a reduction programme.’ He took off his glasses and his eyes were like little black beads in the folds of his face. ‘Seriously, Kelsey, the more you reduce, the easier rehab will be. I know it’s tempting to go in there steaming, but trust me, that will make for one hell of a rattle.’

  If it weren’t for the minging beard, Kelsey might have kissed him.

  [#]

  Lilly trudged back to the station with a heavy heart. At the entrance, Julia was peering up and down the street aimlessly, first one way, then the other.

  She caught sight of Lilly. ‘Did you find her?’

  ‘She got into a car,’ Lilly replied.

  ‘Whoever this man is,’ Julia said, ‘I think he’s going to kill my daughter. One way or another, it’s going to end with her dead in a ditch.’

  Lilly led her back inside and headed for the canteen, where she bought hot mugs of tea and chocolate chip muffins. She placed a mug and a muffin in front of Julia, who ignored them. The woman was thin, but Lilly could now see just how thin. It was as if her very flesh and bones were chewed away by worry.

  Eventually the WPC from the rape suite joined them and Lilly filled her in. Julia pushed the tea and muffin towards her.

  ‘Please have mine,’ she said. ‘I haven’t touched them.’

  The police officer introduced herself as Hannah and opened the cellophane around the muffin.

  ‘The man who picked her up is preventing her from reporting this,’ said Lilly.

  Hannah took a bite. ‘Is there any evidence of that?’

  ‘Doesn’t the fact that Velvet ran away to meet him speak for itself?’

  ‘Not really. Did you see the driver do anything? Did he drag her into the car?’

  ‘No,’ Lilly replied.

  ‘So she got into it of her own free will.’

  ‘Maybe he threatened her,’ said Lilly.

  ‘Did you see him threaten her?’

  Lilly shook her head.

  ‘You?’ Hannah asked Julia.

  ‘No,’ Julia replied.

  Hannah took another bite, crumbs falling on to the table. ‘So it could be that this guy is her boyfriend.’

  ‘Boyfriends can still threaten their girlfriends,’ said Lilly.

  ‘True,’ said Hannah. ‘But Velvet hasn’t made a complaint, has she?’

  ‘I’ve made a complaint,’ said Julia.

  ‘You’re not a victim,’ said Hannah.

  ‘Aren’t I?’

  Hannah’s face softened slightly. ‘If Velvet changes her mind, I’m here.’ She stood to leave, taking what was left of the muffin with her.

  ‘Why won’t they do something?’ Julia asked.

  ‘They don’t have any evidence that a crime has been committed,’ said Lilly. ‘We don’t know who raped Velvet or who is threatening her.’

  Julia shook her head. ‘So we just give up? Let them do what they like?’

  Lilly thought about the previous night, when Kelsey had got cold feet. She could have given up then. She could have let Gem’s death become just another unsolved murder. But she hadn’t.

  ‘I’ll tell you what we’re going to do,’ she told Julia. ‘We’re going to gather our own evidence.’

  [#]

  The Blythe house was even colder when they returned. There was a damp patch on the ceiling in the hall.

  ‘Endless bloody rain,’ said Julia.

  ‘You need a roofer,’ said Lilly.

  ‘I’ll put it on the list.’

  Lilly followed Julia into the kitchen. Once there, it was as if Julia had no idea what she intended to do or why she’d come in. She leaned against the sink, her hands gripping the rim so tightly her knuckles were white. Lilly wondered if it was taking all her strength not to allow herself to fall in and be drained away.

  ‘Drink?’ she prompted.

  ‘Sorry.’ Julia bustled to the kettle. ‘Where are my manners?’

  ‘I was thinking that you really need one,’ said Lilly. ‘And something to eat.’

  Julia winced. ‘I can’t swallow.’

  ‘That’s anxiety.’ Gently Lilly took the kettle from her and filled it. ‘Your throat closes and your stomach knots, but you have to fight it. You have to stay strong.’

  Julia seemed bewildered, so Lilly opened the cupboards searching for cups and tea bags. Everything seemed clean but bare. In the fridge, looking for milk, she found only half a pint, a tub of Flora, three tomatoes and a packet of value ham. Quite a contrast to her own kitchen, overflowing with food and wine as if she were expecting the court of Henry the Eighth to descend at any time.

  ‘It didn’t used to be like this,’ said Julia. ‘We didn’t used to be like this.’

  Lilly poured boiling water over the tea bags.

  ‘We used to live in a nice house full of nice things,’ Julia said. ‘Then Simon lost his job.’ She shrugged. ‘We lost everything.’

  ‘It’s been rough these last few years,’ Lilly replied. ‘The recession hit hard.’

  ‘The idiotic thing is that I always thought we were the sort of family who would weather any storm.’ Julia gave a hollow laugh. ‘How arrogant was I?’

  Lilly fished out the tea bags and propelled them into a pedal bin. She spooned in sugar and handed a cup to Julia, who waved it away.

  ‘Take it.’ Lilly’s tone brooked no argument. ‘Have you got any biscuits?’

  Julia shook her head.

  ‘Never fear.’ Lilly fished an emergency Caramac from her handbag, unwrapped it and broke it into two. She handed half to Julia. ‘Eat.’

  Julia brought the square of pale chocolate to her lips and wrinkled her nose.

  ‘Get it down you,’ Lilly told her. ‘Dunk it in the tea if you have to.’

  Julia gave a smile as thin as the chocolate, but ate it none the less. Afterwards, she took a long sip of the sweetened tea.

  ‘Now let’s sit down,’ said Lilly.

  They moved into the room where Lilly had met Velvet that morning. The sleeping bag was still on the sofa. Julia sat next to it, smoothing it with her palm. Lilly took the chair once more.

  ‘What line of work is Simon in?’ she asked.

  ‘He’s an accountant, or he was. After the crash, his firm went under.’ Julia gazed out of the window, just as Velvet had done. ‘We assumed he’d find another job, so we carried on as normal.’

  ‘But he didn’t?’

  Julia shook her head. ‘By the time we cottoned on, our debts were huge. Mortgage arrears, credit card bills, school fees.’ She sighed. ‘Simon couldn’t bear it. Being successful was part of who he was; then one day he wasn’t.’

  Lilly imagined the family already crippled by redundancy suddenly facing a child they couldn’t control. They weren’t exactly rich in Casa Valentine, but there was usually enough with a bit of creative accounting; and it wasn’t as if Sam was never a challenge, but at heart he was a good kid.

  ‘What did he do?’ Lilly asked.

  ‘He said he was going away to look for work,’ said Julia. ‘But we both knew he wouldn’t be back. Velvet couldn’t take it in, of course. She asked about him constantly; then, when she had to move schools, she found it difficult to settle. Such big classes, so many children; there was never any time or space for Velvet and her funny little ways.’

  ‘How did she cope?’ asked Lilly.

  ‘She didn’t,’ Julia replied. ‘She became more and more miserable. In places like that you have to be tough to survive. Velvet’s the opposite, more a Labrador puppy than a Rottweiler. She didn’t know what to do
or how to dress, and she’s not the quickest learner.’ She gave a rueful smile. ‘It got to the point when she was refusing to go in.’

  A lorry thundered past, making Lilly jump. It seemed perilously close to the house and the window frame rattled. Julia didn’t appear to notice.

  ‘When she finally made some friends, I was over the moon,’ she said.

  ‘I’ll bet.’

  Julia wagged a finger. ‘I should have been paying closer attention. I should have noticed how much she was changing, but I was just so pleased that she was starting to fit in.’ She turned the finger on herself and tapped her temple. ‘I should have worked it out earlier.’

  ‘Worked what out?’ Lilly asked.

  ‘These people weren’t her friends; they just wanted to get their claws into her,’ she replied. ‘When I finally realized what was going on, they’d already turned her against me.’

  She buried her face in her hands but she didn’t sob. It was as if she was too exhausted even for that.

  ‘I think if you’ve got any hope of getting Velvet away from them, you have to know who they are,’ said Lilly.

  ‘She won’t tell me,’ Julia replied. ‘She’s so secretive, it’s like she’s part of a cult. The only name she’s ever mentioned is Leah, and I’m pretty sure she’s from school, not the person in the car.’

  ‘That’s a start,’ said Lilly. ‘We can ask the school for her full name.’

  ‘They won’t tell you anything. I’ve been in so many times.’

  Lilly smiled. ‘Believe me, when you turn up with a solicitor threatening them with a court case, they’ll give you their inside leg measurement.’

  Julia smiled in spite of herself.

  ‘As for the car, there’s one surefire way to find out who owns it,’ said Lilly. ‘The registration number.’

  ‘What? You can just ask the DVLA?’

  ‘Nope, you need the police to request the information,’ said Lilly.

  ‘Will they do that?’ Julia asked. ‘Without a statement from Velvet?’

  Lilly gave a small wink. ‘Let’s just say that the major crime unit owes me a favour.’

  [#]

  Imagine, if you can, a world where the people in it act according to your will, and you look on, as if it were a film or a computer game.

  Sometimes – no, often – that’s exactly how I feel.