Friendless Lane Read online

  ‘With the police?’

  The woman shook her head. ‘No. It might be easier if she was.’ Tears welled again and the woman let out a sob. ‘At least then they’d have to do something.’ She covered her mouth with the tissue and wept.

  ‘Why don’t we take this one step at a time?’ Lilly grabbed a notebook. ‘What’s your daughter’s name?’

  ‘Velvet,’ said the woman. ‘Velvet Blythe.’

  ‘What a beautiful name,’ said Lilly, and the woman smiled through her tears. ‘How old is she?’

  ‘Fourteen.’

  ‘And you’re her mother?’

  ‘Yes,’ said the woman. ‘Julia Blythe.’

  ‘Okay, Julia. You say Velvet’s in trouble?’ Lilly kept her voice soft.

  ‘Yes, I think so,’ said Julia. ‘I mean, I don’t really know what’s going on, and that’s the problem. God, I must sound pathetic.’

  She leaned forward and Lilly caught the smell of her breath, strong mouthwash and something else behind it. Had she been drinking? Lilly couldn’t call it.

  ‘Don’t be daft,’ she replied.

  ‘Waltzing in off the streets and bawling in your reception.’

  Lilly smiled. ‘People don’t generally come to see me when everything’s going according to plan,’ she said. ‘Nature of the job.’ She paused to let Julia gather her thoughts. ‘Now why don’t you tell me what you do know, and maybe we can work out what you don’t?’

  The woman blew her nose and sat up straight as if to bolster herself. ‘Right. A few months ago Velvet’s behaviour started to change and she became very secretive and moody. I mean, I know that’s common in teenagers.’

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Lilly. ‘I’ve got one myself.’

  ‘I’ve been through it before with Velvet’s older sister, but this was different,’ said Julia.

  ‘In what way?’

  Julia took a breath and exhaled through her nose. Lilly did the same thing when she was nervous in court.

  ‘She started going out all the time and refused to tell me where,’ she said. ‘She’d come back late, smelling of alcohol. I tried to ground her but she’d just take off. One evening I thought she was in her room, but when I went in to say good night, she’d got out through her window.’ Her eyes widened at the memory. ‘I called the police, but by the time they arrived, she was home, so they wouldn’t do anything.’

  Julia’s hands were now in her lap, the tissue in a ball in one of her palms. She stared at it as if the answer might be hidden in its folds.

  ‘Another time, I followed her. I didn’t want to do it; I mean, no one wants to sneak around and spy on their daughter, do they? But I just needed to know what was going on.’

  ‘And what was going on?’ Lilly asked.

  ‘At the end of the road, Velvet got into a car.’ Julia sighed. ‘A black BMW. I couldn’t see the driver properly but it looked like a man.’

  ‘Boyfriend?’

  ‘That’s what the police said when I called them again. They said that unless I could prove that they were having sex, there was no reason to be involved. Frankly, they weren’t interested.’

  ‘They told you that?’

  ‘As good as,’ Julia replied. ‘Didn’t even bother coming over to speak to her.’ She pulled out a sheet of paper from her pocket and handed it to Lilly. ‘This is the reference number they gave. I don’t know what they expected me to do with it.’

  ‘Have you spoken to Velvet about all this directly?’

  ‘A thousand times,’ Julia said.

  ‘And what does she say?’

  ‘Nothing mostly,’ Julia replied. ‘Or she screams that she wishes I were dead. I don’t know which is worse, to be honest.’

  The poor woman’s head drooped as if she were so exhausted that her neck muscles could no longer hold it up. Over the years, Lilly had seen a lot of clients in this state. Ground down and diluted until they were transparent.

  ‘Have you tried social services?’ she asked.

  Julia nodded.

  ‘No joy?’

  ‘They pretty much repeated what the police had said, word for word. I think they must have it printed on a card or something.’ Julia gave a rueful smile. ‘I tried to explain to them that this isn’t just some teenage crush. Velvet isn’t like other girls her age, for a start.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’ Lilly asked.

  ‘She has special needs,’ said Julia. ‘Nothing you can see from the outside. She looks like any other normal fourteen-year-old girl.’

  Lilly swallowed. An uncomfortable feeling gurgled in her stomach.

  ‘But her brain doesn’t operate in quite the same way as the rest of us,’ said Julia. ‘She doesn’t assess situations well and she’s naive.’

  The feeling in Lilly’s stomach rose in a finger of nausea. She tried to gulp it back down.

  ‘You see, girls like Velvet are vulnerable to men who might try to take advantage,’ said Julia.

  Lilly concentrated on her breathing and fanned her face with her hand. Suddenly she felt hot. The police were right: there was no evidence of any crime. And she couldn’t make them investigate. Sweat prickled in her armpits and she had to slip off her jacket.

  She stood up. Why couldn’t she stop picturing Alice? She was being ridiculous. There was nothing she could do to help Julia. As if she sensed what Lilly was about to say, Julia stood up too.

  ‘I didn’t know where else to turn,’ she said.

  Lilly excused herself and slipped into the kitchen. She ran the tap and scooped a handful of water into her mouth. Then another. She shouldn’t take this case. It wouldn’t help anyone.

  She headed back into reception, where Julia was already at the door.

  ‘Sorry to have bothered you,’ she mumbled.

  ‘It’s fine,’ Lilly replied. ‘Sit back down and we’ll work out what to do.’

  Chapter 4

  You don’t like the party.

  You don’t like the noise. You don’t like the smoke. Most of all you don’t like that place.

  It all started off well. You got out of the house no problem and Raz was parked at the end of the street.

  ‘You look well nice,’ he said.

  That made you smile. You’d spent ages deciding what to wear and in the end you’d gone for a denim skater skirt with braces attached. Your blouse is black and lacy, a bit see-through. You worried it might be a bit slaggy but you didn’t want to look like a kid either.

  Raz leant across you and opened the glove compartment. A bottle of tequila rolled out.

  ‘Let’s get this party started,’ he sang. ‘Let’s get this party started.’

  You laughed. Mum, Dad, the teachers at school, they all treat you like you’re some little girl. Like you need to be told what to do, what to say and what to think. Not Raz. He’s so cool. He’s the same way with you as he is with everyone else. He says that age is just a number. How brilliant is that?

  You unscrewed the tequila and took a swig, then passed it to Raz.

  He took the bottle in his left hand, steering the car with his right. ‘I can’t wait to show you off to all my mates,’ he said. ‘They’re gonna be well jel of my girl.’

  You laughed again and Raz kept making you laugh all the way until he pulled off the main road. Then you stopped laughing.

  ‘What are we doing here?’ you asked.

  ‘I told you,’ he said. ‘My mate’s having a party.’

  ‘Here?’

  The car slowed and you heard the tyres crunch on the track.

  ‘What’re you worrying about, babe?’

  You didn’t want to sound stupid, but your heart was beating fast. ‘It’s just that the last time I was here …’

  Raz put his finger out and pressed it against your mouth. ‘Shhhh. Am I gonna let anything bad happen?’

  You shook your head. Raz always looks out for you.

  He smiled and kissed you. ‘If you don’t wanna come in, I don’t mind. I mean, I’ll look bad in front
of all my mates, but I ain’t bothered about that, understand?’

  Suddenly the door swung open and music flooded out. Then Leah came out, dancing and waving.

  ‘It’s fine,’ you told Raz and took another gulp of tequila.

  Now, you’re feeling a bit sick and Leah’s disappeared upstairs with some bloke. Raz’s mates are okay, but some of them are properly pushy. There’s one called Cal who keeps dancing way too close and touching your bum. He’s grinning at you but it’s not even funny. So you push him away.

  ‘What’s wrong with you, bitch?’ he shouts.

  ‘There’s nothing wrong with me,’ you tell him. ‘I just don’t like getting felt up by some lech.’

  Then you feel someone dragging you away by your arm. It’s Raz and he pulls you across the room to the kitchen.

  He pushes you against the wall, his hand still holding you tightly.

  ‘Ow,’ you say.

  He doesn’t let go. ‘Why are you speaking to my friend like that?’

  ‘That hurts.’ You try to prise his fingers away, but he just digs them in harder. ‘Stop it, Raz, you’re really hurting me.’

  ‘I’m telling you now,’ he says. ‘If you want to disrespect my mates then you ain’t got no business being with me.’

  You can feel your eyes filling with tears. Your arm’s really hurting and now Raz is going to chuck you.

  ‘Do you understand me?’ He shakes you and your head bangs against the wall. ‘Do you understand what I’m saying?’

  You’re crying now. You can feel the tears running down your cheeks. You feel like you might throw up.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ you tell him.

  He lets go of your arm and you rub it. ‘Cal’s just having a bit of a laugh,’ he says. ‘You’re a good-looking girl and he’s having a bit of a flirt. Ain’t the end of the world, is it?’ He wipes your face with his hand. ‘Cheer up, this is meant to be a party.’ He hands you a bottle of something. ‘Have another drink.’

  You already feel like you might puke, but you don’t want to annoy him again. This is how parties are meant to be. Loads of booze and weed, people having a good time. You’ve made a show of yourself.

  ‘Now go and say sorry to Cal,’ Raz tells you. ‘Make it up to him.’

  [#]

  Lilly arrived back at the cottage and kicked off her shoes.

  ‘It’s me,’ she called out.

  No reply was the instant answer.

  ‘Sam,’ she shouted. ‘I’m home.’

  Nothing.

  She went upstairs and opened the door to his room. He was sitting cross-legged on the bed in his boxer shorts, his laptop balanced on his knees, headphones plugged in. She waved to gain his attention and he removed one ear bud.

  ‘Hey, Mum.’

  ‘Tell me you got dressed at some point today.’

  ‘I got dressed at some point today,’ he deadpanned.

  ‘Sam.’

  ‘Do you want the truth or something beautiful?’

  Lilly sighed. ‘I suppose it’s too much to hope that you’re watching something vaguely educational?’

  Sam turned his laptop towards her. On the screen was a dissected eyeball.

  ‘Christ on a bike.’

  ‘Biology revision.’

  ‘I’ll make dinner,’ said Lilly and backed out of the room.

  ‘By the way,’ Sam put his ear bud back in, ‘I had soup for lunch.’

  Lilly reddened. She’d forgotten to check up on him, just as he had predicted. Damn.

  Downstairs in the kitchen, she opened the fridge, peered inside and pulled out a pack of king prawns, a jar of red Thai paste and a bunch of fresh coriander. After a cold day that she’d spent damp and uncomfortable, she needed some heat.

  She was pouring oil into a pan when the bell rang and she heard Jack letting himself in. He was bringing Alice home from nursery.

  ‘Something smells good,’ said Jack.

  Lilly leaned over and kissed her daughter’s head.

  ‘Noooooooo,’ said Alice.

  ‘Oh shut your cakehole,’ Lilly replied.

  ‘Your mother is a harsh woman,’ Jack told Alice. ‘This you will learn, young Padawan.’

  Lilly slapped two teaspoons of the paste into the sizzling oil, opened a can of coconut milk and poured it over the frying paste. The scent of somewhere far away hit the air. A place with long lazy days and sultry nights. Lilly looked up at the kitchen window, being battered by wind and rain, and sighed.

  ‘Do you want to stay for dinner?’ she asked.

  ‘If there’s enough going,’ Jack replied.

  Lilly raised an eyebrow. When did she ever cook meagre portions?

  ‘So how was your day?’ he asked.

  ‘I made an application for Kelsey to see her sisters,’ Lilly told him.

  It was Jack’s turn to raise an eyebrow. ‘Good luck with that.’

  Lilly laughed and added fish sauce. Then she extracted some sweet potatoes from a vegetable tray in a low cupboard. Something in there smelled earthy. No doubt there were stray carrots on the turn. She ought to clean it out.

  ‘And Gregor Stone turned up out of the blue.’ She peeled a sweet potato and cut the flesh into cubes. ‘All very mysterious. He was asking if I knew what was happening in Gem’s case.’

  Jack frowned. ‘Is that all he wanted?’

  ‘Apparently so.’ She dropped the little orange squares into the pan and turned down the heat. ‘I don’t know why he felt the need to come over in person.’

  ‘Don’t you?’

  Lilly turned to Jack, puzzled. ‘No.’

  ‘Lilly, sometimes you’re a corker.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Never mind.’

  She flicked on the oven and slid in six naan breads.

  ‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘Anything exciting happen?’

  ‘Ah well now.’ Jack put Alice in her high chair and bent to rummage in the cupboard for bowls. ‘Jesus Christ, something’s rotten in here.’

  ‘Decaying bodies,’ said Lilly and nudged the cupboard door shut with her foot, then nodded to the shelf above the cooker.

  Jack reached down four white bowls with green lotus flowers around the rim. They’d been a wedding gift from David’s cousin Harriet. A set of eight with matching plates. The plates were no more, having been smashed in a crockery avalanche. David had told her not to stack them so high, that they were an accident waiting to happen. She’d never liked the damn plates anyway. Who needed to put a bowl on a plate? It just doubled the washing-up.

  ‘I had the pleasure of the company of the Chief Superintendent,’ said Jack.

  ‘I bet that was a joy.’

  ‘He sends his best wishes.’

  Lilly laughed. ‘I’m sure he did.’

  ‘He was particularly pleased to hear that Gem’s killers might be involved in some sort of grooming gang.’

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘Shit indeed,’ said Jack. ‘And Asian to boot.’

  Lilly’s eyes widened. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘DNA.’ Jack put the bowls on the table. ‘No match on the database but we can prove ethnic origin and the fact that at least two of them are related.’

  Lilly didn’t reply. They both knew the implications. Not long ago, Lilly had represented a boy accused of the honour killing of his sister. The case had gone ballistic and the police had made a hash of it in the full glare of the media spotlight.

  When the curry was ready, Lilly poured it into the bowls and snipped over generous amounts of coriander.

  ‘Sam,’ she yelled. ‘Dinner’s on the table.’

  Of course he didn’t answer. Bloody headphones. She’d gone to the door to drag him bodily downstairs when something struck her and she turned back to Jack.

  ‘When I first spoke to Kelsey about Gem’s disappearance, she mentioned some Asian men coming into the club.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Yeah, Kelsey thought they were dodgy and warned Gem to steer cle
ar.’

  She recalled Kelsey calling them Pakis, and how that had made her squirm.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ said Jack. ‘Do you have Kelsey’s mobile number to hand?’

  Lilly nodded. ‘Yep. But let’s eat first.’

  [#]

  The curry was a gorgeous alchemy of fire and sweetness and Jack wolfed it down.

  He made a bit of small talk with Sam about the Premier League, but the kid was almost monosyllabic these days. Had Jack been like that at his age? His mum always said he had verbal diarrhoea, so probably not.

  When he’d mopped up the last drop of sauce with his second naan bread, Jack asked Lilly for Kelsey’s number. Christ, if she could identify the men in question, and Jack could match up their DNA, it would be a done deal. An early arrest would shut even the Chief Super’s big gob. Even if the suspects were an inconvenient colour.

  ‘I’ll call her from my phone,’ said Lilly. ‘If she doesn’t recognize the number, she won’t answer.’

  ‘Fair point.’

  He watched Lilly go into her contacts file with a growing sense of excitement. He felt hot, and it wasn’t just down to the chilli in the curry.

  ‘Hey Kelsey,’ said Lilly. ‘It’s me.’

  She paused for a second and knitted her brow. ‘Kelsey?’ She put her hand over the mouthpiece and spoke to Jack. ‘I think it’s her but I can’t make head or tail of what she’s saying.’ She removed her hand. ‘Kelsey? Is everything okay?’

  She shook her head and handed the phone to Jack.

  ‘Kelsey?’ he said. ‘It’s Jack here.’

  At the other end he could hear a low groan.

  ‘Kelsey, what’s wrong?’ he asked.

  There was the groan again. Like a low musical note.

  ‘Jack.’ The voice at the other end finally spoke. ‘Jack.’ It was her. Definitely her. The voice was thick and distorted, but it was Kelsey all right. ‘Jack.’

  The line went dead.

  ‘Shit.’ Jack pressed redial. The phone went straight to voicemail. ‘Shit.’

  His mind raced. Could Kelsey have been attacked by a punter? Could the men who killed Gem have got hold of her? It seemed unlikely, but he knew you could never rely on what was likely.

  ‘I’m going over there,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ said Lilly.

  ‘No you bloody well will not.’