‘Is that what you want?’ she demanded, her breath pluming out around her head. Scowl deepening when he gave an unconcerned shrug, she said, ‘Right, you’ve had your chance, but you obviously care more about
him
than you do about me, so I’m off. And I’m not coming back.’
Turning on her heel, Leanne stomped down the path towards the pavement. Pausing there, she looked each way along the road in search of a cab. Hissing, ‘
Shit!
’ when she saw that the road was deserted, she closed her eyes. Then, taking a deep breath, she turned and marched back to Terry with her nose in the air and her hand outstretched.
‘Keys.’
Lighting his cigarette, Terry took a slow drag on it. ‘Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that?’
‘I said I want the keys,’ she repeated through clenched teeth. ‘You want me to go, so give me the keys. Unless you’d rather I
walked
home and got myself raped?’
‘Yeah, right,’ Terry snorted. ‘Who’s going to try it on with you when you’ve got a face like that on you?’
‘Just give me the keys.’
‘Can’t.’ He shrugged. ‘The car’s not running right.’
‘Funny how it was fine when you needed it,’ Leanne sniped. Rolling her eyes when he still didn’t move, she gritted her teeth and said, ‘All right,
please
.’
Taking the keys out of his pocket, Terry held them out, saying, ‘See, you
can
act like a grown up when you want to.’
Snatching them from him, Leanne told him to go and fuck himself and walked abruptly away. Hearing his boots scraping against the concrete behind her and thinking that he was coming after her, she started running and didn’t stop until she reached the car. Jumping in, she slammed the locks down and tore out of the parking lot.
Speeding all the way home, she’d just reached the perimeter of the Fitton estate when she spotted a police car ahead. Slamming her foot on the brake, knowing that she could get arrested and the car seized if they pulled her up and found that she didn’t have a licence, she passed it at a more sedate speed, her stare glued to the rear-view mirror in case they decided to follow.
‘Typical,’ Ann snorted, watching the retreating tail lights of the other car in her own rear-view as she pulled up to the kerb outside Kelly Greene’s house. ‘You can hear them tearing about from miles off, but soon as they spot us they’re down to little-old-granny speed in no time.’
Smiling her agreement, Jay gazed up at the house they were about to visit. Catching the blue glow of a TV when the curtains at the front bedroom window twitched, she said, ‘Looks like someone’s up.’
‘Damn,’ Ann muttered, grinning as she unbuckled her seat belt. ‘And I was
so
looking forward to disturbing them.’
Maggie Greene was downstairs and at the front door before they made it up the path. Nipples jutting out from her saggy breasts like downturned coat pegs as the wind invaded the short silky dressing gown she was just about wearing, she folded her arms and demanded to know what they wanted.
‘Your lass,’ Ann told her firmly, letting her know from the off that she needn’t bother pulling any of her usual stunts. ‘She in, is she?’
‘Why, what’s she done now?’ Maggie asked, sounding bored.
‘We believe she was involved in a confrontation with another girl at school yesterday,’ Jay told her. ‘And we need to speak to her about it.’
‘A
confrontation
,’ Maggie repeated, a mocking edge to her voice as she jerked her head at Ann. ‘Christ, where’d you find this one? Down the encyclopaedia shop, or what?’ Grinning nastily now, she took a cigarette out of her pocket and lit it, exhaling the smoke into Jay’s face.
‘Going to go and get her?’ Ann said bluntly. ‘Or do I have to do it myself?’
‘Got a warrant?’ Maggie retorted coolly.
‘Got any witnesses to say you didn’t invite me in?’ Ann shot back.
Taking another lazy pull on her smoke, Maggie lifted her foot and kicked back at the door, yelling, ‘
KELLY!
Get your arse down here!’
‘I’m in
bed
!’ Kelly yelled back.
‘So was I, but I had to get up,’ Maggie snapped. ‘And it’s not even
for
me, it’s for you, so shift it.’
‘What’s for me?’ Kelly demanded grumpily, the sound of her bedroom door being yanked open and slammed back against the wall drifting down to them, followed by angry footsteps on the stairs.
‘These
ladies
would like a word,’ Maggie said, her voice thick with sarcasm as she stepped back into the hall.
Narrowing her eyes when she saw them, Kelly said, ‘What d’y’ want?’
‘Do this inside, shall we?’ Ann said, forcing Kelly to take several steps back as she walked in uninvited.
Jutting her jaw out in irritation as Jay immediately followed suit, Kelly slammed the door and marched past them into the living room.
‘Go on, then,’ she snapped, flopping down onto one of the fur-cushioned armchairs and folding her arms. ‘Tell me what I’m supposed to have done.’
‘We’d like to ask you about an incident at school yesterday afternoon,’ Jay told her, sitting on the facing chair. ‘An alleged fight between yourself and Nicky Day.’
‘What fight?’ Kelly said, the blasé look on her face matching the tone of her voice. ‘I didn’t have no fight.’
‘But you were
intending
to,’ Jay said, fully understanding why a nice, sheltered girl like Sophie Gordon would be so afraid of this girl.
‘Not me,’ Kelly lied. ‘You’ve got the wrong person.’
‘We know you were intending to have a fight with Nicky, and that there are witnesses who could verify that,’ Jay told her coolly. ‘And I’m sure the school’s CCTV system will show you and your friends gathering at the school gates at home time. So, how about we stop playing games and talk about it sensibly?’
Shrugging, Kelly said, ‘Don’t bother me. Anyway, even if I
was
going to have a fight, it’s no one else’s business so long as it’s not on school property.’
‘So, you’re saying the fight was outside school?’
‘No, I’m just saying it’d be no one’s business.’
‘But you did see Nicky yesterday?’
‘
Duh
!’ Kelly pulled a face. ‘Course I
saw
her. We go to the same school.’
‘But you’re denying that you had a fight with her?’
‘Yeah, I am,’ Kelly replied defiantly. ‘Not that I wasn’t
going
to,’ she added, grinning slyly now. ‘But she shit herself and did one before I got the chance.’
‘Language,’ Ann chided, shooting the girl a warning look.
Jumping to her daughter’s defence, Maggie said, ‘Don’t you be coming round here telling my kids how to talk in their own house. You might think you’re something out there, but you’re nowt in here.’ Turning on Jay now, she added, ‘And you can pack in talking to her like that, an’ all. We’ve got rights, you know.’
Ignoring her, Jay kept her focus firmly on Kelly, who had a gloating grin on her face now, obviously loving the fact that her mother was defending her.
‘When you didn’t catch Nicky at the front gates, you went out the back way to catch her – isn’t that right?’
Narrowing her eyes, wondering who had been blabbing details, Kelly said, ‘So what? It’s not illegal.’
‘Did you catch up with her?’ Jay persisted, sure now that this girl
had
been bullying Nicky, and wondering if that was why Nicky had run away – if she’d ever arrived home in the first place. And given that Kelly obviously relished causing trouble, it was entirely possible that she could have physically attacked Nicky, leaving her hurt and unable to get home.
‘This is serious,’ she snapped when Kelly just shrugged. ‘Nicky is missing, and if that’s got anything to do with what happened at school, you need to tell me.’
‘Don’t be blaming me for that,’ Kelly snapped right back. ‘Last I heard the stupid bitch had burned to death in a fire with that mongy brother of hers.’
‘Oh, so, you’ve heard about the fire, but I don’t suppose you’d know anything about how it started, would you?’ Jay said accusingly. Then, ‘Where were you between nine and ten o’clock last night?’
‘Oi, you’d best not be accusing her of having anything to do with that fire,’ Maggie said protectively. ‘She was here with me and her brothers all night. And I’ll fetch them down so they can tell you themselves, if you want?’
Narrowing her eyes, Jay continued to peer at Kelly’s face. This was the first time she’d met her, but there was something really familiar about her . . .
‘So, you’ve been at home all night, have you?’ she asked in a deceptively soft voice when it suddenly came to her.
‘Yeah, that’s right,’ Kelly replied truculently. ‘So?’
‘So, perhaps you could tell me
how
, when I saw you at Terry Day and Leanne Miller’s flat when I called round there earlier?’ Jay said.
‘You’d better bleedin’
not
have been!’ Maggie barked, switching the glare onto her daughter now.
‘I wasn’t!’ Kelly protested, throwing her arm up to protect her face when her mother raised her hand. ‘Honest, Mam! I was in me room.’
‘No, you weren’t,’ Jay said firmly. ‘I saw you.’
‘You bloody little liar!’ Maggie yelled, landing a thudding blow on the side of Kelly’s head. ‘I’ve told you a thousand times to stay away from that pervert. And I don’t want you hanging about with that slag, neither. Didn’t I have enough bother with her when she was after copping off with your dad?’
‘It was me Uncle Aidan she was after, not me dad,’ Kelly protested. ‘Ask our Rob if you don’t believe me.’
Jumping up when Maggie went to lamp Kelly again, Jay stepped nimbly between them and reached for Kelly’s raised hand. Taking it firmly by the wrist, she peered at the knuckles.
‘How did you get these scrapes?’
Tugging her hand free, Kelly stuck it under her arm, muttering, ‘None of your business.’
‘Have you been fighting with Nicky Day?’ Jay demanded. ‘You can either tell me here, or I’ll arrest you and take you down to the station for formal questioning.’
‘All right, I’ll tell you,’ Kelly said, casting a resentful glance at Jay and a nervous one at her mother. ‘If you must know, I did it on my brother.’
‘You what?’ Maggie barked. ‘What have I told you about hitting our Ben, you nasty little cow? He’s only eight!’
‘He winds me up,’ Kelly retorted, wincing when her mother raised her hand again. ‘He’s a cheeky get, ’cos he knows you’ll jump in and protect him no matter what he does. You let him get away with murder.’
‘I’ll bloody murder
you
if you lay one more finger on him,’ her mother warned her.
Feeling a sudden urge to laugh out loud that this girl was actually indignant about another child getting away with murder when
she
quite obviously lived her own life by those same rules, Jay said, ‘You still haven’t answered my question, Kelly . . . Where were you between nine and ten tonight?’
‘Here!’ Kelly and her mother shouted in unison. Then Maggie said, ‘And she was definitely in then, ’cos she come down to watch that film with me . . . that what’s-it-called about the thick fella.’
‘
Rain Man
,’ Kelly said.
‘Yeah, that’s the one,’ Maggie said. ‘
Rain Man
! And it was on ITV if you want to check out what time it started and finished, but she was definitely here then.’ Giving Kelly another fierce glare now, she said, ‘If she snuck out after that, she’s gonna bleedin’ know about it. But that’s our business, not yours, so you can both piss off now, can’t you.’
Standing up, Jay said, ‘We’ll be back, Kelly, because I’m still not satisfied that you’re telling the entire truth about what happened with Nicky at school.’
‘Yeah, well, make sure you’ve got a warrant next time,’ Maggie told her frostily.
‘If need be,’ Jay said tartly, already heading out of the door.
Jumping back into the squad car, she bit her lip and glanced at her watch, saying, ‘Don’t know about you, but I think we should leave the other girls for now and see about organising a search of the land behind the school. It’s just a field back there, isn’t there?’
‘Old railway line and park,’ Ann corrected her. ‘Might as well be a field, though, because no one ever uses it except to dump their old rubbish. It’s way too overgrown for the kids to play on.’
‘Kind of place where an injured girl could lie undiscovered for some time?’ Jay said quietly.
‘I suppose so,’ Ann agreed. Then she added grimly, ‘But I hate to think what state she’ll be in if the rats have been at her. There’s
thousands
of the buggers in there at night, and they’re huge.’
Shuddering at the image, Jay said, ‘Let’s go back to the station and see what we can set up.’
5
Standing at the window beside the drinks machine in the small waiting room, Terry sipped at his coffee and gazed out at the traffic below, mesmerised by the glimmer of headlights dancing across the puddles dotting the road.
It had stopped raining a couple of hours back, and a faint sliver of sunlight was beginning to appear on the horizon. People would be coming in before too long and filling up the chairs behind him. But right now he felt totally alone. Although there might as well have been ten people inside his head, the amount of thoughts that were flying around in there. Mainly concern about Connor, who still hadn’t shown any signs of coming round. And dread about Nicky, who still hadn’t been found. And, in between all that, worry about Leanne, and what he was going to do about this latest mess of theirs.
The nurses had been kind when he’d gone back to the ward after she’d left last night, telling him that he shouldn’t feel bad about the scene she’d made, because relatives often reacted like that in the pressurised atmosphere of the ICU, where concern about loved ones sent emotions soaring. But, while he was grateful for their understanding, it didn’t make him feel any better, because he knew that Leanne couldn’t use that as an excuse for
her
behaviour. She didn’t even like Connor, never mind love him. And she couldn’t stand Nicky, either. But then, Sue hadn’t exactly made it easy for her and the kids to get to know each other, so it wasn’t entirely her fault.