Running scared, p.23
Running Scared, page 23
Leaving a message asking him to ring her when he was on his way home, she walked into the kitchen and poured a large glass of wine before heading upstairs. Running a bath and pouring in some of her favourite scented oil, she went into the bedroom to get undressed. The police had pulled the contents out of every drawer, and she muttered a curse under her breath as she scooped up a pile of her bras and panties off the floor and dropped them onto the bed. As she turned to get more, something struck her as odd, and she pursed her swollen lips as she tried to figure out what it was. A sickly feeling washed over her when it came to her that, apart from a couple of pairs of Ryan’s boxers and a few pairs of socks, the underwear was all hers. Rushing to the wardrobe, the feeling of dread intensified when she saw that his sports bag was gone, along with most of his jeans and T-shirts.
Jumping when her phone started to ring on the bedside table, she dived across the bed and grabbed it.
‘Where the fuck have you been?’ her dad barked when she answered. ‘I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day.’
‘Sorry, I was at the salon so my phone was off.’
‘Where’s that fucking husband of yours? Put him on.’
‘He’s not here,’ Nicole said miserably. ‘I just got home and some of his stuff is missing. I think he might have left me, Dad. What am I gonna do?’
‘Quit whingeing for starters, and tell me what you know about Theo Walker,’ Danny snapped. ‘And I’d better not find out you knew about them and didn’t tell me, or I’ll—’
‘What you shouting at me for?’ Nicole cut in. ‘And who the hell’s Theo Walker?’
‘Your fucking father-in-law, that’s who,’ spat Danny. ‘The one Ryan was with last night who gave him the alibi that got him released.’
‘What?’ Nicole was confused. ‘But his dad’s locked up in Jamaica, so how could he have been with him? And his name’s Delroy, not Theo.’
‘No it ain’t, he’s been lying from the off,’ said Danny. ‘Our Adam always said he only got with you to get to me, and he was fuckin’ right.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Nicole frowned.
‘He’s ripped me off,’ Danny said angrily. ‘I checked the accounts after Faye rang me, and they’re all empty. And I’ll bet my life it was him who had away with those shipments that went missing, an’ all.’
‘He wouldn’t do that,’ Nicole insisted, refusing to believe that Ryan would rip off her dad, because that meant he’d ripped her off too. ‘It could be a glitch at the bank, for all you know. At least give him a chance to explain before you start gunning for him.’
‘Too late,’ spat Danny. ‘And you’d best get your head out of the clouds, ’cos if we don’t get that money back, we’re fucked. And by fucked, I mean the house’ll be getting sold, and the motors, and all them expensive bags and shoes you and your mam are obsessed with.’
Horrified by the thought of losing her lovely things, Nicole jumped up when she heard the front door opening down below. ‘Dad I’ve got to go,’ she said. ‘I, er, left the bath running and I think it’s overflowing.’
‘Well, you’d best get it sorted before we get back, or your mam’ll go apeshit,’ said Danny. ‘And make sure our room’s ready.’
‘Why? When are you coming?’ Nicole asked as she rushed out onto the landing.
‘We’ll be there in about half an hour by my reckoning,’ Danny replied.
‘What?’ Her mouth fell open. ‘You are joking?’
‘No I ain’t. We just got off the plane, so I’ll see you in a bit.’
Muttering, ‘Shit!’ when the line went dead, Nicole raced down the stairs, yelling, ‘Ryan, my dad’s gonna be here in half an hour and he’s going to kill you, so you need to—’
She abruptly stopped speaking when she entered the kitchen and saw her brother leaning back against the counter with a glass of whisky in his hand and a sly smile on his lips.
‘Surprise,’ he drawled, raising the glass to her.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.
‘Dad rang and said they’re on their way home, so I thought it’d be nice if we were both here to welcome them,’ said Adam. ‘Not sure it’ll be a happy reunion once Mum clocks the state of this place, though,’ he added, looking pointedly at the mess.
‘The police did it,’ Nicole said, making a half-hearted effort to pick up some of the stuff off the floor.
‘Mum would have had it cleaned up the minute they left, like she used to all those times we got raided back in the day,’ Adam reminded her.
‘I’ve got bigger things to worry about than fucking cleaning,’ Nicole yelled, hurling a tea towel at him. ‘Ryan’s gone, and Dad wants to kill him!’
‘And so he should, seeing as the cunt’s had away with every fucking penny we’ve got.’
‘No he hasn’t! He wouldn’t do that to me.’
‘You ain’t stupid so quit acting it,’ Adam said. Tutting when she let out a howl and buried her face in her hands, he walked over and put his arms around her, saying, ‘I know me and you haven’t always got on, but you’re my little sister and I’ve been trying to warn you about him for years. You couldn’t see it ’cos you’re not a bloke, but I could tell he wasn’t really into you from the start. And you know who his old man is, don’t you?’
‘Delroy King,’ Nicole sniffed, pulling away from him and grabbing a piece of kitchen roll to blow her nose.
‘No, it’s Theo Walker – the bloke who got sent down for murdering that copper when we were kids,’ Adam told her. ‘Remember that?’
‘Vaguely.’
‘Yeah, well, what you won’t know is him and Dad used to be best mates. They were working together and had started to make a load of money, then he tried to cut Dad out and frame him for the shooting. Only it backfired on him, ’cos he got caught red-handed with the gun before he could plant it on Dad.’
‘Even if that’s true, it’s got nothing to do with Ryan.’
‘You don’t think it’s a coincidence that he got with you a few years after Theo went down?’ Adam asked. ‘He knew exactly who you were, and he used you to get in with Dad.’
‘If that was all he wanted, he wouldn’t have married me and stayed with me this long.’
‘He’s been playing you like a fiddle from the off,’ Adam sneered. ‘And he played Lexi, an’ all.’
‘Do not mention that bitch in my house,’ Nicole spat.
‘I know you hate her, but this is all his doing,’ Adam went on. ‘I don’t know how, but it was him who persuaded her to try to get me done for rape. It all fell into place when I saw him leaving hers the other day when you sent me round there.’
‘He was there?’ Nicole’s face fell. ‘You told me you hadn’t seen him.’
‘I said that to protect you,’ Adam lied, reaching for the bottle of whisky to pour another shot. ‘But it’s not like she’s the first.’
‘What?’
‘Ah . . .’ Adam gave a fake-remorseful grimace. ‘Soz. I assumed you and him had the same shit going on as Mum and Dad. All that the man can fuck whoever he wants so long as she ain’t family shizz.’
‘Who else has he been with?’ Nicole demanded, her eyes now blazing.
‘Don’t shoot the messenger,’ Adam said, holding up his hands. ‘But you know how you always have a go at me for making him come to the club to drop off my money? Well, let’s just say he’s the one who set that up. And once he was in, he had a habit of staying till the end – know what I mean?’
‘You’re lying,’ Nicole hissed, glaring at him as she sank onto a chair. ‘He’d never go near one of those skanky bitches. Why would he when he’s got me?’
‘Don’t ask me.’ Adam shrugged. ‘But those bitches let men do shit their wives would never let ’em do.’
‘I’ve never stopped Ryan doing anything,’ Nicole argued. ‘We’ve got a great sex life.’
‘Whoa!’ Adam screwed up his face. ‘T M I, Sis, T M fuckin’ I. Anyway, I’m only telling you this so you’ll stop fantasizing about your perfect marriage, ’cos it’s a sham – like him. If Dad had put me in charge in the first place, none of this would have happened,’ he went on self-righteously. ‘But now he knows what a mistake that was, we’ll get the company back on track in no time – you watch.’
‘I don’t see how, if Ryan’s stolen all the money,’ Nicole muttered.
‘Don’t you worry your little head about that,’ Adam said, winking at her. ‘I’ve got big plans. And now that idiot’s out of the way, Dad’s bound to give me the go-ahead to start putting them into action.’
Nicole narrowed her eyes when she saw his smug grin. ‘It was you, wasn’t it?’ she said. ‘You shifted all the money into another account when you got in there today, didn’t you?’
‘What’s this?’ Danny asked, walking in before Adam could answer and dropping the holdall he was carrying onto the table.
Almost jumping out of her skin because she hadn’t heard him come in, Nicole turned to him, and pointed at Adam, saying, ‘He did it, Dad. He moved the money out of the accounts so you’d blame Ryan.’
‘Fuck off,’ Adam snapped, quickly pouring a whisky for his dad. ‘I’d never rip my own family off. What d’you take me for?’
‘I’m not saying you were going to keep it,’ Nicole argued. ‘But Ryan’s been running things for years and nothing’s ever gone missing, and the minute you go in, the accounts get emptied. Bit of a coincidence, don’t you think?’
‘Don’t be blaming your brother to get that fucker off the hook,’ Danny barked.
‘Come on, Dad, it’s obvious,’ Nicole persisted. ‘He’s always hated Ryan, and this is his way of getting rid of him and getting back in with you.’
‘Too right I hate him,’ Adam said. ‘He’s a parasite and he’s been leeching off us for years – and I got pushed out of my own family because of him. He’s the one who made Lexi tell the police that bullshit story about me trying to rape her, an’ all. He was obviously fucking her the whole time – and still is!’
‘No he isn’t!’ Nicole cried.
‘So why did you tell me they were having an affair and beg me to go round to her place to see if he was there?’ Adam shot back. ‘Which he was, by the way,’ he went on, speaking to his father now. ‘And I’ve got the pictures on my phone to—’
‘NICOOOOOLE . . .!’ Rachel’s furious screech echoed around the hallway, silencing Adam and making even Danny wince. Then, marching into the kitchen, she glared at Nicole. ‘What the fuck have you done to my house?’
36
Exhausted, concerned about her friends, and worried that she might have dropped Ryan in it when she’d mentioned him after the police had asked for the names of any recent visitors to the house, Lexi gave Billy a wan smile when he handed a cup of tea to her. He’d invited her into his room after arriving home from the police station to find her house taped off, and she felt guilty for the way she had dismissed him on sight as someone to be avoided on her first day there. There weren’t many people who would have leapt into action the way he had last night; not only putting himself in danger by chasing the man who’d broken into her house, but also potentially saving Six’s life. And then he’d paid for a cab home and had told her that she could stay at his place for as long as she needed to – all above and beyond anything she could have hoped for, considering she was a virtual stranger to him.
‘Mind if I smoke?’ Billy asked, holding up the spliff he’d just rolled. ‘I’ll go outside if it’s gonna bother you.’
‘Don’t be daft,’ Lexi said. ‘If my head wasn’t so mashed already, I’d probably have a bit with you.’
‘Serious?’ He gave a questioning grin.
‘Why do you look so surprised?’ she asked.
‘’Cos you’re posh, like,’ he said.
‘Oh my God, you’ve got to be joking,’ Lexi laughed. ‘I grew up on the Kingston and I’ve lived hand to mouth my entire life. Didn’t you hear what my friend said back at the station?’
‘To be honest, her lips were distracting me too much to pay any mind to what she was saying,’ Billy snorted. ‘What’s with birds who do that shit to themselves?’
‘Don’t ask me.’ Lexi shrugged. ‘She was stunning when we were younger, so I’ve got no idea why she went down that road. Actually, no, that’s not true,’ she corrected herself. ‘Her mum was the Botox queen of Manchester, so I guess it was obvious she’d follow suit.’
‘Give me a natural girl any day,’ Billy said, shaking his head as he lit his spliff and opened the window. ‘Shit,’ he muttered, quickly closing it again when he leaned out and saw one of the coppers outside Lexi’s house look up. ‘I forgot them fuckers was out there.’
‘Just sit down and smoke it,’ Lexi said. ‘I honestly don’t mind.’
Doing as she’d said, Billy flopped onto his shabby sofa and took a drag. Squinting at her as he exhaled the smoke, he said, ‘I hope you don’t think I’m being nosy – and tell me to mind me own if you don’t want to answer – but what did the blow-up doll mean about you ending up in the same place as your mam?’
Grip tightening on her cup, Lexi took a deep breath, before saying, ‘My mum was murdered by my stepdad when I was fifteen.’
‘Shit, I’m sorry,’ Billy said. ‘No wonder you looked like you wanted to kill her. What a fuckin’ troll for throwin’ that in your face. That’s low, man.’
‘Nothing she says could surprise me anymore,’ Lexi murmured, sipping her tea.
Billy took another drag on his smoke. Then, noticing her eyes starting to droop, he said, ‘Why don’t you lie down for a bit, love? I need to nip out, so you’ll have the place to yourself. And I usually kip on the sofa, so you’re welcome to the bed.’
‘Are you sure?’ Lexi asked, concerned that she might be putting him out. ‘I don’t mind taking the sofa.’
‘I’m positive,’ he said, getting up and pulling his jacket on. ‘And if you want owt to eat, my stuff’s on the top shelf of the fridge. Help yourself.’
‘Thanks,’ Lexi said gratefully. ‘I’ll pay you back when this is over.’
‘Like fuck you will,’ he snorted. ‘Mates don’t do shit to get shit.’
‘You’re a good man.’ She smiled.
‘You’re not so bad yourself, kidda,’ he said with a wink.
Finishing her tea when he’d gone, Lexi looked around as she made her way over to the bed. The room was an absolute mess of empty food cartons and beer cans; the walls were covered in dark posters of punk and heavy metal bands, and a Union Jack flag was tacked to the top of the window in place of curtains. It smelled pretty bad, too, and the cheap air freshener Billy had sprayed around the place when they first came in had only added a weird chemical smell to the stale air. But she didn’t care about any of that; she was just grateful not to be out on the street.
Over on the Riverside estate, Nicole had finished cleaning – under orders from her mother, who was in the foulest mood ever – and had just carted her stuff and what was left of Ryan’s into her old room. Chucking it down on the floor, she threw herself onto the bed and screamed into the pillow. This was supposed to be her house now, but her mum had told her in no uncertain terms that it had only ever been on loan to her. The bitch had also gone off her head about all the changes Nicole had made, raging about the furniture she’d replaced, and making out like her old grandma-style decor had been better than the classy paper Nicole had chosen.
Nicole had never hated anyone as much as she hated her mother right then, and she cursed God under her breath for allowing their plane to land safely instead of crashing into the sea. Sitting up, fresh tears welled in her eyes when her gaze landed on the brochures she’d picked up from the estate agent, detailing the plush city-centre apartments she had planned on viewing with Ryan. She had been so excited at the prospect of moving up in the world, but now Ryan had gone missing, and her dad had called his old mates together to hunt him down, her dreams were in tatters.
Gritting her teeth when she heard her name being called, Nicole tossed the brochures aside and stomped down the stairs. Her dad was sitting at the head of the kitchen table, as if he’d never been away, with her mum on his right and Adam on his left, while the three men from his original crew – who all looked like ancient boxers to her, with their scarred faces, beady eyes and tattooed hands – were sitting side by side opposite them.
‘What?’ She stopped in the doorway and folded her arms.
‘Get that look off your face before I slap it off,’ her mother warned. ‘And sit down.’
Flouncing over to the table, arms still folded, Nicole flopped down onto a vacant chair next to one of the bruisers, whose name she vaguely remembered was Mash, short for Machete.
‘Put the password in,’ Danny said, shoving a laptop across the table to her.
Glancing at the screen and seeing that it was open on the Lloyds online banking page, she said, ‘I don’t know your password. You never gave it to me.’
‘Not mine, yours,’ said Danny.
‘Why?’ Nicole frowned. ‘That’s mine and Ryan’s personal account. You can’t just help yourselves to our money ’cos you’ve lost yours. That’s not fair.’
‘Whatever you’ve got in there it came from us, so quit being cagey and do as you’re fucking told,’ Rachel ordered, slapping her hand down hard on the tabletop.
‘I’m not being cagey,’ Nicole muttered, tears of humiliation smarting her eyes when the men all stared at her. ‘But I don’t want everyone seeing what we’ve got.’
‘We ain’t gonna take your fucking money,’ Danny assured her. ‘We just want to see if he’s used any of his cards since he’s been gone, so we know where he’s been.’
As Nicole reluctantly tapped in the password, Danny’s phone started ringing, and all eyes turned on him when he said, ‘Well?’ Hanging up after a few seconds, he said, ‘Theo Walker’s place has been cleared out.’
