Friendless Lane Read online

  Alvri collapsed.

  [#]

  Lilly sat in the back of the ambulance, watching Phil Cheney seal off the house.

  She gave him a wave, but winced as another burst of pain and heat shot through her arm.

  ‘You have to keep still,’ the paramedic told her.

  She nodded and let him bandage her.

  ‘Do I need stitches?’ she asked.

  ‘Nope, but you do need a tetanus jab,’ he replied.

  Jack ambled over, a steaming polystyrene cup in his hand. He handed it to Lilly.

  ‘You, on the other hand, do need stitches,’ said the paramedic, pointing at Jack’s thick lip.

  ‘I thought a scar might suit me,’ said Jack. ‘Tough guy image.’

  Cheney arrived at his side. ‘You’re just scared of needles.’ He looked at Lilly. ‘Did you know he once fainted when I was getting a piercing?’

  Lilly laughed and instantly regretted the sudden movement.

  ‘Can you reach in my bag for my phone?’ she asked Jack. ‘I need to call Sam. He must be wondering what the hell is going on.’

  Jack peered into her bag and wrinkled his nose. ‘Is it safe to put my hand in there?’

  She rolled her eyes and watched him dial the number. After a few seconds he nodded and held the phone to Lilly’s ear.

  ‘S’up?’ Sam asked.

  Lilly considered another lecture on phone etiquette.

  ‘Everything all right, love?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he answered. ‘I’m making tea and Kelsey’s trying to get Alice into bed.’

  Lilly snorted.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Sam.

  [#]

  Kelsey narrowed her eyes at Alice and Alice narrowed her eyes back.

  ‘Ha,’ said Kelsey. ‘They all think you’re backward, but you ain’t.’

  ‘Noooooooooo.’

  ‘You know exactly what you’re doing, miss.’

  Alice didn’t answer. She just stared.

  Kelsey groaned. She could kill for a rock. Or a bag of brown. Sometimes when she had a good spike, she felt like she couldn’t move. That was a nice feeling. Like being wrapped up in swaddling clothes, all warm and safe. The stuff in Bury Park hadn’t been too bad in the end.

  She remembered going over there. The flat. A woman with hands twice the size they were meant to be.

  Loretta. Her name had been Loretta. Which Kelsey thought was a pretty name for someone like that. To be fair, Loretta herself might have been pretty back in the day. Before she started on the gear.

  Kelsey remembered the rain. How Loretta had suggested they go down to the bins and shoot up. Kelsey wasn’t one for doing things like that. She preferred the privacy of her own flat, but it would have taken her at least an hour to get home, and it was pissing with rain.

  They’d gone down together. Found a corner amongst the shitty nappies and empty cans.

  Kelsey had smoked her rock, while Loretta tried to find a vein in between her fingers, digging and poking and groaning.

  ‘Why don’t you do your bleedin’ groin or somewhere?’ Kelsey had asked.

  Loretta had nodded and undone her jeans, then prodded around some more. Maybe her groin was in the same state as her hands. Kelsey had crack in her system now and couldn’t have cared less.

  Instead, she’d talked and talked and talked. Telling Loretta how she was going into rehab and getting access to her sisters. At some point Loretta must have got the needle in, ’cos she was gouching, the works still poking out of her zip.

  Kelsey shivered at the thought. What was she doing here, playing happy families? Who was she trying to kid? She should just leave ’em to it. Get back to where she belonged.

  ‘Nooooooooooooooo.’

  Kelsey snapped back to the room and the little girl eyeing her up, a frown on her face that Lilly would be proud of.

  ‘Fine, I’ll stay,’ said Kelsey. ‘But you go to bleedin’ sleep.’

  [#]

  Lilly woke with a searing pain in her arm.

  She swallowed a couple of the painkillers, flicked on the kettle and lobbed a tea bag into a mug. Then she sipped tea as she watched the sun rise.

  ‘You ain’t a pretty sight this morning,’ said Kelsey as she sidled into the room.

  ‘Then we make a pair,’ said Lilly.

  She poked her head in the fridge. It smelled uncannily fresh, the shelves ordered. She found a pack of bacon and pulled it out.

  ‘I got my place at rehab,’ said Kelsey.

  ‘That’s good news.’ Lilly opened the pack and laid six pink rashers under the grill. ‘When do you go?’

  ‘Friday.’

  Lilly nodded and went to the bread bin. The loaf was a little stale, so the bread would need to be toasted.

  ‘Thing is …’ Kelsey began.

  So here it was.

  Every junkie Lilly had ever met – and she had met far too many – had talked about getting clean. They meant it too. But when it came to putting away the pipe and the needle for good, more often than not they backed out. She could understand it in a way. When something was a huge part of your life, it was almost impossible to just cast it aside. Hadn’t she herself threatened to stop her legal aid work a million times? Take cases that paid more, that were less hassle?

  ‘Look, if you don’t go, there will be no chance of you seeing your sisters,’ she said. ‘None at all. Probably not ever. The choice is yours.’

  It was a bald statement, no jam or icing, but it needed to be said. If Kelsey made the wrong choice, she would have to live with the consequences and she wouldn’t be able to blame anyone or anything else.

  ‘I’m scared, Lilly.’

  ‘I know.’

  Lilly’s mobile rang. Who would be calling at this time?

  ‘Hello, Lilly.’

  She’d recognize Gregor Stone’s honeyed voice anywhere.

  ‘Hi,’ she said. ‘What can I do for you at this ungodly hour?’

  ‘I hear you found Velvet Blythe,’ said Gregor.

  ‘News travels fast.’

  ‘How is she?’

  ‘She survived,’ said Lilly. ‘Just.’

  ‘The guy they arrested also killed Gemma Glass, if I understand correctly?’

  ‘And a police officer too,’ said Lilly. ‘He’ll go down for the rest of his life.’

  ‘Well that’s something,’ said Gregor. ‘And did you ever locate Gemma’s mother?’

  Lilly wondered again why this guy was so obsessed with that.

  ‘No, I haven’t heard from her,’ said Lilly. ‘What exactly is it that you want to talk to her about?’

  ‘Oh, nothing.’ He coughed as if he were hiding his embarrassment. ‘I guess I’m just trying to picture what you might tell her. As a lawyer.’

  As a lawyer? What sort of remark was that?

  Suddenly it dawned on Lilly. How had she been so dense? All along, the big concern of Gregor Stone, director of Children’s Services, hadn’t actually been the welfare of the children in the care of his department. No. He’d been worried that Mrs Glass might sue them.

  Christ on a bike. What a twat.

  ‘Well, as a lawyer, I might advise her of a number of alternatives,’ she said, hoping the ambiguity of her meaning was killing him. ‘Obviously there are several scenarios that could pan out.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ he gulped. ‘In the meantime, if there is anything I can do to help you with—’

  ‘Actually there is,’ said Lilly.

  ‘I am at your service, Miss Valentine.’

  Lilly smiled and looked over at Kelsey. ‘I’ve made an application on behalf of one of my clients, and I wonder if you could give it your personal attention. Her name is Kelsey Brand.’

  [#]

  Despite the fact that he hadn’t been to bed and that his face looked like he’d had an argument with a steamroller, Jack couldn’t stop grinning.

  The forensics matched.

  Cheney had called him first thing. Razwan Alvri’s DNA had been found
on the body of Gemma Glass. In addition, Lauren Stringer’s blood was found on some of his clothes. Whichever way you looked at it, Alvri was going down for double murder. Then there was the case of Velvet Blythe and Leah Hill. That would take time to unpick, but there were definite charges to bring. There was no way Alvri would give up any of the other men involved, but Mujbi might.

  Jack’s phone rang.

  ‘Hey, Lilly.’

  ‘Hey, Jack.’

  ‘I got him.’

  ‘Course you did.’

  They both laughed.

  ‘Look,’ said Lilly. ‘Do you want to come round tonight? I’ll cook something nice, get a bottle of wine?’

  ‘Sounds great.’ And it did.

  ‘Listen,’ she said. ‘Last night, when I was in Friendless Lane, you said you couldn’t lose me.’

  ‘I meant it.’ And he did.

  ‘Good,’ she said.

  He was still grinning as he parked his car outside the Rowntree.

  [#]

  I sit opposite Alerdice, humming cheerfully. The same bar of the same song, again and again and again. It’s driving her crazy, of course, and she tries to ignore it by straightening the books on her shelf, keeping them in line with military precision.

  At last the door opens and Jack walks in.

  Alerdice gasps.

  I can understand. His face is a mess of cuts and bruises.

  ‘Crikey, Jack,’ I say. ‘Trouble at mill?’

  He laughs. Though he’s clearly taken a real beating and his clothes are in an even worse state than the last time he came, he’s in a good place. I can’t help but laugh back. His moods always were contagious.

  I mean, I’m not what you’d call highly empathetic. I don’t do that thing where I yawn because someone else does. But with Jack, it’s different. It’s as though we’re connected.

  ‘Just another day in paradise,’ he says.

  We both laugh at that.

  ‘Why don’t you sit down,’ Alerdice suggests.

  ‘Okay.’

  Alerdice is expecting him to sit in the chair next to her, but instead he sits next to me. I almost clap my hands. Her face is a picture.

  ‘Now you’ll recall that on the last occasion you were here, we were talking about Kate’s allegations about your relationship.’

  Allegations? I ask you. The woman has been watching too many cop shows.

  ‘Aye, well, the thing is—’

  Jack is interrupted by the door flying open. Jenny is standing there, eyes wild.

  ‘We’re busy right now, Jenny.’ Alerdice uses the shrink voice that she thinks is soothing. ‘Perhaps you could come and see me later.’

  ‘No,’ says Jenny and strides in.

  Alerdice stands up, but Jenny just slams the door shut behind her. Oh Jen-Jen, you really are on good form.

  ‘If you don’t leave right now, I’ll have to call security,’ says Alerdice.

  Ooooh.

  ‘The birds have spoken,’ says Jenny.

  Indeed they have. We’ve checked and double-checked, Jen-Jen and I, and we’re pretty sure what they’ve got to say.

  Jenny pulls out the shank.

  I believe that’s the right term. A home-made prison knife. Of course, we’re not actually in prison, but I’m being metaphorical here.

  It’s amazing what you can find in the bag of a drug-addled night security guard. Pens, paperclips, scissors, plasters. Everything needed for a good old-fashioned prison shank.

  Alerdice lets out a scream and reaches for the panic button.

  ‘Don’t,’ Jen-Jen tells her.

  Jack gives Alerdice a warning look. He doesn’t want to panic Jen-Jen. Who knows what a crazy person might do when they’re frightened?

  ‘Jenny, is it?’ he asks.

  Jen-Jen nods.

  ‘Why don’t you tell us what’s bothering you?’

  ‘The birds have told me that someone wants to hurt Kate,’ she says. ‘I won’t let that happen.’

  Jack puts up both his hands to show he means no harm. ‘I’m sure you’re a very good friend to Kate.’

  ‘I try,’ says Jen-Jen.

  And it’s true. She tries very, very hard. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a loyal companion. And loyalty is very important, don’t you think?

  ‘I don’t think Dr Alerdice means to hurt Kate,’ says Jack. ‘Do you, Dr Alerdice?’

  Alerdice shakes her head until it might fall off.

  ‘See,’ says Jack. ‘Now why don’t you put the knife down?’

  Jen-Jen looks puzzled as she tries to process his words.

  ‘Because it’s not Dr Alerdice that wants to hurt her.’ She turns to me. ‘Isn’t that right, Kate?’

  I lean in and whisper. ‘That’s right, Jen-Jen.’

  Too late Jack works out her meaning. The knife is already in his chest.

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13