The Girl in the Rug (9 page)

Linda Connelly leaned back in her new chair and surveyed her
new neat, tidy, work station. She adjusted the two framed photographs that she
had brought in with her this morning to put on her desk. One was of her mum and
dad, both wearing silly hats and raising glasses of sangria to the camera,
memories of a family holiday to Spain. Her mum had died from breast cancer a
few months after that holiday…Linda’s eyes grew misty and she shook her head
impatiently…no time for sadness today. She smiled at the other photo which was
of Jeff, her miniature Dachshund wearing a Christmas scarf, Dad had taken that
picture the Christmas before she’d gone on her travels a few years ago. That
Christmas had been one of the last times she’d seen her father, who had been
shot and killed whilst on duty, Dad had been a Detective Sergeant with the
local CID.

Once again Linda forced herself to shake off these sad
memories; today was her first day working on the crime desk of the South East
Gazette. At last she could get her teeth into some real journalism as opposed
to covering local fetes and dog shows. Finally she might be able to make a
difference by investigating the very dregs of society, the dark underbelly that
lurked beneath the quaint cottages and immaculate gardens of Kenley village.
Pimps and drug barons would be shaking in their boots as she exposed…

‘Yo Linda, Tony wants to see ya in his office.’ Linda was
jolted out of her daydream by crime desk photographer, Winston Keen, who flung
himself into the chair opposite her.

‘What now?’ she asked surprised, she hadn’t thought Tony
Harrington, editor and all round sexy dreamboat, even knew her name.

‘No…next week sometime…whatdya reckon,’ Winston replied
shaking his head at her.

Linda didn’t need telling twice, she smoothed down her
skirt, plumped up her hair, stuck out her chest (well you have to make the most
of your opportunities don’t you) and made her way through the press room to the
glass partitioned editor’s office.

The door was open so she walked straight in; Tony was
talking on the phone with his back to the door so she waited while he finished
his conversation.

‘Thanks for that mate, I owe you one,’ he was saying, ‘yeh well
you know me…that’s right always happy to lend a hand ha ha ha…I know two hands
always better…yeh…yeh ha ha ha…depends if she’s wearing knickers…yeh well you
were never as fussy as me were you…ha ha ha…any port hole in a storm
eh?...yeh…yeh…’ He suddenly seemed to be aware that he wasn’t alone in the
office and swivelled his chair round to see Linda standing there looking very
awkward…she smiled and gave a little embarrassed wave.

‘Look mate something’s come up, I’ll call you later…ok, yeh
great…see you,’ he said hastily finishing his call.

Tony just stared at Linda with raised eyebrows obviously
waiting for her to speak.

‘Um…you sent for me,’ Linda began nervously. ‘I’m Linda
Connelly, I’ve just started on crime today…I used to work on features…’

Tony looked confused for a minute and then he seemed to
remember.

‘Oh bloody hell…yeh right I asked Winston to get you didn’t
I,’ he started sorting through some papers in front of him until he found the
one he’d been looking for. He motioned her to sit down, Linda waited patiently
for him to speak.

‘You’re Ted Connelly’s girl aren’t you?’ he eventually asked
resting his elbows on the desk in front of him.

‘Um…yes that’s right,’ Linda answered with a big smile.

‘Yeh…’ he said obviously thinking about it, ‘I was sorry to
hear about his death…he was a good bloke Ted was, and a good source of
information too if I remember rightly…’

Linda bristled ‘What do you mean by that?’ she said sharply,
in defence of her dad.

‘Oh…nothing don’t get me wrong,’ said Tony holding up his
hands. ‘He was as straight as a dye old Ted was, salt of the earth and all
that, but he would always give me the facts with no spin on them…not like that
DCI…what was her name, funny looking woman…Drew that’s it Rebecca Drew. She
liked to play everything down, it was like getting blood out of a stone trying
to get a story from her. No Ted played fair; he knew we had a job to do just
like he did.’

Linda didn’t know what to say to that, so she just nodded
and waited for him to come to the point.

‘Do you still have contact with any of Ted’s old buddy’s on
the force Linda?’ he asked after a moment.

‘Um well I still see Carla occasionally…er that’s DI Right,
she and Dad were partners and DS Mandy Hopkins is a friend of mine so…’ Linda
began.

‘Good…good,’ said Tony leaning back in his chair, ‘that
might be very useful to you, now that you’re on the crime desk. A reporter’s
got to have people he or she can go to for information…and who better than the
people that are dealing with the case.’ He stopped for a moment choosing his
words carefully, ‘I need you to follow up on something that we’ve just got wind
of, body of a little girl’s been found…in a lock up on ‘Buttercup’. There is
going to be a press conference, but maybe you could have a word with this
Carla…see if you can find out anything ahead of the pack so to speak…’

Linda sighed as the penny dropped, no wonder she’d been
promoted to the crime desk so suddenly. Nothing to do with her brilliant scoop
on the seedier side of Kenley Dog shows…Tony had obviously just made the
connection between her and her father.

‘Well I will try, but I’m sure Carla won’t tell me anything
that she wouldn’t tell anyone else…’ she began hesitantly.

‘Oh don’t underestimate yourself Lindsey…’ Tony cut her off,
‘I’m sure you can be very persuasive. Who knows…if you do a good enough job you
may get to stay on the crime desk permanently…oh,’ he said at her shocked
expression, ‘did you not realise this was only a trial position? Oh I’m sure
you’ll do brilliantly, especially with your…what shall we call it…privileged
relationship with the police…I think you may have a long and successful career
on the crime desk…um Lucy,’ he finished once again looking through his
paperwork.

‘Um…thank you sir…oh and it’s Linda by the way,’ she said.

‘What…oh yeh right, whatever,’ he dismissed her by picking
up the phone again.

Linda walked slowly back to her desk, what a total arse! How
could she have ever fancied him, well she’d soon show him that she was a force
to be reckoned with, she would get The Girl in the Rug story from Carla, and
what’s more…if she could just get Carla interested…she was sitting on a story
that would blow that smug bastard’s socks off.

While sorting through her dad’s things after the funeral,
Linda had discovered something that he had been working on just before he was
killed. It was obviously something that he was doing in his spare time, but he
had put a lot of effort into it judging from the reams of papers that she had
found stored in boxes in his second bedroom.

Ted had been convinced that there was a paedophile ring
working in and around the Redbank area, more importantly he was sure that they
were targeting the local care homes and that even some of the people running
the homes were involved. He’d been recording times and dates and the names of
certain men that were visiting the homes regularly and some of the names on his
lists were of very distinguished members of the local community. It was
dynamite Linda knew, but it was also incomplete and as yet substantiated by
only a few bits of very shaky evidence, but Linda was determined to carry on
her dad’s work…hmm all she had to do now was convince Carla to take her
seriously.

It was dusk by the time the car pulled into the long drive
that led up to the front doors of 113 Marshal Street. After leaving the school
Andy had been taken back to the local social security offices where Brenda had
filled in some paperwork and made a few phone calls. Andy sat in a chair next
to her desk in silence; he had refused all offers of refreshment and hadn’t
answered any of the questions that had been thrown at him. The only time he had
spoken was to ask when he could see his mum; he had been told that it wouldn’t
be possible to see her anytime soon…she was ill apparently. Andy knew that that
meant she was drunk and he had told them that he didn’t care that she was
drunk; he still wanted to see her. No…they had said once again, that would not
be possible today…so Andy had shut himself down…he couldn’t control what was
happening to him and he was so very tired. What did it matter where they took
him…Lucy was gone…Mum was gone, what did anything matter anymore.

So it was with faint interest that he looked up at the house
that he would be living in for the foreseeable future. It looked huge to him,
like a mansion…there was a garden to the front, with a big old tree in the
middle of the lawn, someone had slung a rope over one of its branches…it had an
old car tyre hanging from it Andy noticed.

Brenda hurried him up the steps to the big front door.

‘Ooh it’s freezing, come on Andy let’s get inside…have you
got your bag?’

Andy collected his school bag and followed Brenda into the
house.

Inside it felt cosy and warm; lovely cooking smells were
coming from somewhere and Andy’s stomach started to grumble…it felt like days
since he’d eaten.

A tall, thin woman appeared from the depths of the house and
came bustling up to greet them. She had frizzy red hair which she had tied back
with a band, and large red rimmed glasses that made her pale blue eyes seem
overly large. She was wearing a pair of very dirty slippers that slapped on the
floor as she walked Andy noticed.

‘Oh there you are Brenda, you took your time,’ the woman
began in an irritated voice, ‘we were expecting you ages ago.’

‘Oh don’t get me started Barbara; I have had the day from
hell, had to pick this one up from the school, I took Kevin with me…’ she broke
off as she remembered that Andy was standing next to her. ‘But that’s a story
for another time…Andy this is Miss Taylor, she runs this home and will be
looking after you.’

Barbara Taylor turned her attention to the scared little boy
who was almost hiding behind Brenda’s skirt.

‘Hello Andy,’ she began with a tight smile holding out her
hand. ‘Welcome to Marshall Street. There’s no need for you to be scared I’m
going to take care of you, and as long as you are a good boy and you do as
you’re told we should get on fine…ok? she looked at Andy expectantly. Andy
nodded which seemed to satisfy her. ‘There are lots of children here for you to
meet, but I’m guessing you must be hungry by now…am I right?’

Andy nodded again and his tummy rumbled in perfect timing.

Brenda laughed, ‘Definitely hungry I should think,’ she said
to Barbara, ‘and I must say that something smells good, what’s on the menu tonight
Babs?’

‘Well you’re in luck Andy…Lilly’s made one of her curries,’
said Barbara, ‘would you like to see where your room is and then you can come
down for dinner…ok?’

Andy followed her up a very grand staircase and along a
winding landing until she stopped at a door and knocked, there was a faint
‘come in’ from inside the room as she opened the door and they went inside.

The room was of medium size with a small bay window that
overlooked the side of the house, it held two single beds that were placed at
right angles to each other and there was a small chest of drawers next to each
bed. The beds were made up with pristine white sheets and pillows and dark blue
quilts, Andy noticed.

An older boy sat on one of the beds reading; he looked Andy
up and down for a minute without interest and then went back to the book that
he had been reading.

‘Daniel, this is Andy,’ said Miss Taylor to the boy. ‘He’s
going to be in here with you for a while, I know you will take care of him…make
him feel welcome won’t you?’

Daniel just shrugged.

‘Daniel I mean it, he’s new and he’s had a rough day…now I’m
counting on you to show him the ropes ok?’ said Miss Taylor firmly.

‘Yeh yeh ok,’ said Daniel not looking up from his book.

Miss Taylor tutted and turned to Andy, ‘This is where you’ll
sleep Andy and you can put your things in the cupboard next to the bed…’ only
then did she seem to notice that Andy had no “things”. ‘Oh yes I remember
Brenda did tell me, you’ve got no clothes with you have you, bloody hell that’s
all I need this evening,’ she shook her head in annoyance and glared at Andy as
if it was his fault. ‘I’ll have to go through the store cupboard and sort you
out a few things for tomorrow, until we can buy you some new.’ She tutted again
to herself. ‘Well can’t be helped I suppose…right I’ll leave you two boys to
get to know one another…dinner’s in half an hour. Daniel will show you where
everything is ok…good,’ and with that she was gone, leaving Andy alone in the
room with Daniel.

Daniel didn’t move or look up from his book, so Andy went
and sat on the other bed. He needed to pee badly, but he didn’t dare ask this
unapproachable boy where the bathroom was. Soon though the need to pee was so
great that he began to squirm and wriggle where he was sitting.

Daniel seemed to notice then, ‘What’s up,’ he asked
abruptly, ‘you got a twitch or something?’

‘I need to pee,’ whispered Andy.

‘What d’you say…speak up,’ said Daniel impatiently.

‘I need to pee,’ Andy said again a bit louder this time.

‘Well why the hell didn’t you just say so…you some sort of
special needs or something?’ he got up and came over to where Andy was sitting.

‘Well come on then…’ he said grabbing Andy by the arm
pulling him up, he pulled him over to a what Andy had assumed was a cupboard,
opening the door to reveal a small bathroom complete with a toilet, shower and
basin.

‘In there,’ Daniel said pushing him inside gently before
returning to his book.

Once he had relieved himself Andy went back and sat on his
bed. Daniel didn’t say another word to him until a bell rang outside in the
corridor.

‘Dinner,’ was all he said and Andy followed him downstairs.

A couple of hours later and Andy was back in his room alone;
Daniel being older than him didn’t have to go to bed till later, and was down
in the TV room watching a film with a couple of the older kids.

Miss Taylor had handed him a pair of faded blue pyjamas that
didn’t fit properly and had a hole in the crutch and told him to get a good
night’s sleep as tomorrow was a school day, before switching out the light and
closing the door.

Andy lay in his bed, his tears flowed onto his pillow
unchecked until finally he could fight it no longer and he fell into a deep
sleep.