Rival

by Jacqui Rose

  ‘This is a fucking wind-up,’ Franny growled as she stormed into the apartment.

  ‘Well, it’s awkward, I’ll say that, hey Franny, hey Carter,’ Vaughn said as he winked at them and it certainly didn’t go unnoticed by Alfie who inwardly seethed with jealousy.

  Franny spun and looked at Vaughn, pointing her finger at him. ‘This ain’t funny, and as for you, Alfie? What the fuck? You haven’t returned one phone call. You’ve ghosted me and you didn’t even have the decency to let me know that you weren’t in Spain.’

  ‘I was in Spain.’

  Livid, Franny yelled, ‘Oh for fuck’s sake you know what I mean. And as for you, Carter, is this your idea of a sick fucking joke?’

  ‘Of course not, I just knew that if I didn’t do it like this, you probably wouldn’t come. I know you’re all pissed off with one another.’

  ‘With good reason,’ Vaughn interjected.

  ‘Okay, with good reason, but not reason enough not to work together. We all want the same thing. Get Wan and Harry off the street. Harry is the easy one.’

  ‘Oh no, Harry’s the dead one,’ Alfie said.

  ‘I don’t want to hear that, remember? I’m a police officer.’

  ‘How could we forget?’ Franny snarled, feeling betrayed.

  Alfie, feeling just as betrayed but for other reasons, glared at Carter. ‘He’s got a hit on Franny’s head.’

  ‘What? Harry has?’ Franny said, shocked. She turned to Vaughn, ‘This is cos of you.’

  ‘Me? Not me, darlin’, so I’d stop the accusations if I were you.’

  ‘Don’t talk to her like that,’ Alfie said. ‘She has got a point.’

  With his temper at boiling point, Vaughn stepped towards Alfie. ‘Don’t play the fucking hero. What is it with you lot that you think this woman needs any help from you? And anyway, it’s a bit late to play fucking Superman now. You’ve been in Spain topping up your tan and by the looks of things, topping up your nostrils with that shit again.’

  ‘Fuck me, it’s like old times, ain’t it? Vaughn the do-gooder, aka the cunt,’ Alfie replied. ‘But if you must know, I ain’t been in Spain … Franny, I ain’t, well not for a while. I heard you were in trouble and I came back to make sure you’re all right. From a distance that is. In the shadows, but I wasn’t far away, I would’ve been there if you needed me.’

  Franny’s eyes suddenly welled with tears but she turned away, hating the thought of anyone seeing her cry. ‘I needed you, Alfie. I just didn’t know how to say it,’ she whispered but her whisper was too quiet for Alfie to hear.

  ‘What?’ he said.

  She turned back around and smiled a huge, fake smile. ‘I just said, cheers for that.’

  He frowned at her, slightly disappointed in her reply, and he glanced at Carter who, unlike Alfie, had noticed Franny’s tears. ‘Well, point is,’ Alfie said, resuming the conversation, ‘Sasha came to see Rachel – she really thinks a lot of you, Franny – but she told us amongst other things that Wan’s ordered Harry to kill you.’

  ‘You see that’s what happens when you trust a snake,’ Vaughn said.

  Franny nodded. ‘You’re right, but what was I supposed to do? I’d known you for so long, Vaughn, so I didn’t suspect you’d fuck me over like you did.’

  Vaughn’s face was red with rage. ‘I ain’t talking about me, and you know damn well I ain’t.’

  Franny winked at him. ‘Sorry, my bad.’

  ‘If you don’t get that bitch out of my face, I will kill her,’ Vaughn hollered as he stepped towards her but as he did, Alfie stepped in front of her.

  ‘You need to kill me first.’

  ‘And here I thought you’d never ask,’ Vaughn said.

  ‘Stop! This will not get us anywhere! Have you forgotten this isn’t about any of you?’ Carter raged. ‘This is about Wan and this is about Milly who no one has seen. So I am going to pull rank here, because unfortunately for you lot, as you keep reminding me, I am the Old Bill, which gives me the power to arrest you all and I have enough shit on all of you to put you away. So, if you don’t want me to do that, you shut the fuck up and help me work out how we are going to bring Wan down.’

  53

  Franny came out of the bathroom to be greeted by Alfie standing there, tall and handsome, his jet-black hair as usual falling over his forehead and his dazzling blue eyes focused on her.

  ‘Hey,’ he said.

  ‘Hey yourself.’

  ‘Fran … it’s good to see you and I’m sorry, I’m sorry I never got in contact. It just seemed too complicated. You know after you got out of prison, all the stuff with Vaughn and Wan, it got messy. Everyone was setting everyone up. I just needed to get out. I needed to get away from everything and that meant you too. And I know there’s a fuck of a lot of things to sort out, but there’s always things to sort out when it comes to me and you. Look, I want to put everything behind us, not just for now to get Wan off the streets, but to move forward. And like I say, I’m sorry for not contacting you sooner.’

  ‘Well you’re here now, ain’t you?’ she said tightly and coolly before turning away.

  ‘Stop, Fran! Fuck, just stop with the Ben and Jerry act – you don’t need to be so frigging ice cold.’

  She sighed wishing he would just take her into his arms, and then she shrugged as she always did when things felt difficult. ‘I am who I am, Alf.’

  He spoke quietly as he touched her face. ‘I missed you. Tell me you missed me too … For fuck’s sake, Fran, just say it! Cos I may be who I am, but Christ almighty, I need to hear stuff like that as well.’

  ‘Maybe you shouldn’t be so needy, then.’

  He laughed bitterly but the next moment he leant in for a kiss, long and sensual. He drew away, his gaze wandering over her face. ‘You really are a cold bitch, Franny Doyle, but I can’t help loving you … and underneath that hard exterior of yours, I know you love me too even if you don’t say it … Look, we can talk later, but why don’t we go and see what Morse has to say. Oh and, Fran, you know the other night, I saw you and him, you know Carter, going into your house and … I know it ain’t—’

  ‘Ain’t any of your business?’ Franny replied, to which Alfie slammed his fist against the wall and hissed at her. ‘You’re my woman, Fran, and that’s the end of it. There ain’t anyone else I want and I know it’s the same for you. I love you, girl, and I just want to know, if … if … if, you know …’

  ‘If I just had a chat and a coffee with him?’

  Alfie’s face lit up. ‘That’s what I thought. Fuck me, my head was wrecked, I was thinking all sorts, but then I said, no, not with Carter. She wouldn’t do that; it’s just a coffee and a chat.’

  Franny smiled as she walked back into the lounge. ‘Yeah, just a coffee and a chat, just like you and Rachel have …’

  With Alfie furiously ruminating and standing in the corner unable to say anything from the jealousy that was running through his blood, and unable to even look in Carter’s direction, Franny sat on the couch next to Rachel with Vaughn and Carter on the large luxury sofa opposite her, the view of Tower Bridge behind her.

  She turned to Rachel, who she’d known during Rachel’s days as a high-class prostitute when she’d worked for one of her friends. In truth, they’d never been close. They’d only known each other to nod a hello, but she’d always been sweet and polite.

  The fact that Alfie was sleeping with her for money, well, Franny certainly wasn’t going to let it bother her, because if she did, she knew it would hurt too much and having her heart hurt was something she was terrified of. So, she’d just put it down to a business transaction and when and if she got back together properly with Alfie, there’d be no more hookers and no more Carters, it would be just him and her. And that was something she liked the thought of. That was something she could feel. She smiled at Rachel. ‘I’m so sorry to hear about Louise. Sasha was obviously a good friend of hers. In the diary I gave Carter, you can tell how much she thought of her.’


  Rachel smiled back and took Franny’s hands in hers. ‘Thank you, Franny, that means a lot. I just hope between us we can help Carter get Wan off the street.’

  She nodded. ‘Problem is, like me and Vaughn said earlier, it’s not safe for the girls to testify and most of them probably won’t anyway.’

  ‘And even if they did, it’s their word against his. Wan’s clever. He’s hardly got his hands dirty, or rather, he doesn’t get them dirty in public,’ Vaughn added.

  Carter, having sat in silence so far but feeling Alfie’s hostile gaze from the other side of the room, nodded. ‘And from what the diary says and what you’ve told us Sasha said, it points more towards the fact that it was Wan who provided Louise but it was Harry and his friends who killed her, probably not intentionally, but not caring one way or another if he did. Rough sex parties with vulnerable girls they’ve drugged.’

  Rachel looked pained. ‘But they’re underage a lot of them. That ain’t right. A court wouldn’t think that was too clever. What about using that?’

  Looking genuinely sympathetic, Carter shook his head. ‘I’ve spoken to my colleagues about this several times but it’s always the same answer. A good barrister will say they didn’t tell him their age, he didn’t know. It’s not going to put him away. That’s why we haven’t been able to get him on that, and if you look at the girls they do look like they’re in their twenties even though most of them are teenagers.’

  Rachel’s eyes filled with tears. ‘This is crazy.’

  ‘I know,’ Carter said. ‘I’ve had many sleepless nights over this and you all know me, you’ve all known me for a long time and hopefully I’ve been honest and fair in this job. I have tried against all odds to be impartial and never abuse my position and I’ve respected the law. But now I’m angry, I’m angry with a system that protects the likes of Wan and Harry but lets young girls suffer. I’m failing them, but I’m in a corner and I don’t know what to do. I haven’t the power to bring Wan down, but you have … You guys have. Together. Working as one, you can do things that I can’t, so I’m falling on my sword and I’m begging you to help, to help me help them. Now I don’t want to know what you’ll do, so in a minute I’m going to get up and walk out of here because I can’t know. But what I can do is be here if you need me on the other end of the phone and once whatever is done is done, I will do everything to protect you, to make sure that any indication that you’re involved, any evidence that points your way will not see the light of day … You have my word.’

  With Carter gone, much to the relief of Alfie, the four of them sat on the couch deep in thought.

  ‘Harry’s easy.’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Franny said matter-of-factly.

  ‘I wouldn’t mind meself,’ Alfie said.

  Vaughn looked at them both. ‘Me too, I mean we all want a bite of that cherry, don’t we? We can even draw straws who pops him,’ Vaughn said.

  ‘Big problem is Wan. We can’t have the Triads after us. Jesus Christ, we’ll all be face down in a ditch.’

  ‘It would be worth it,’ Franny said with a shrug.

  ‘Yeah, but we don’t want that. Alfie’s got his daughter to think of and, well, now I’ve got Milly to think of.’ He glanced at Alfie, adding, ‘I’ll fill you in later on it.’

  ‘Then what we going to do?’ Franny wondered out loud.

  ‘We need to get him off the street for a long time without getting those girls involved for all the reasons we’ve talked about, and we need to do it without Wan and his men thinking it’s us.’

  ‘Yeah obviously, but you ain’t stating what we need to do, you’re just stating what needs to be done,’ Alfie countered.

  ‘I might have an idea,’ Vaughn replied.

  Before they could ask Vaughn what it was, Franny’s phone went off. Seeing the number, she frowned and answered it.

  ‘Hi, honey, you all right … What? Ellie, calm down! Sweetheart, calm down, what’s the matter … what? No … No … Oh my God … Look, just tell me where you are. I’ll come now. Don’t move … Hold on, sweetheart, I’m coming.’ Franny put the phone down, her face pale as she swayed and held on to the side of the couch. She looked at the others and in barely a whisper she said, ‘That was Ellie. She’s just told me … that Sasha’s dead.’

  54

  That evening, Vaughn stood and smiled at Tia. ‘How’s Tammy?’

  ‘Not good and they say she’s lost the baby.’

  Vaughn hugged her, kissing the top of her head. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Thank you. It’s good to see you … How’s Milly?’

  Vaughn looked at Tia, not quite knowing what to say.

  ‘Vaughn, how’s Milly? Is everything all right … Vaughn, what’s happened?’

  In the whitewashed corridor of UCH, Vaughn opened his mouth to say something but he couldn’t find the words.

  ‘There’s something wrong, isn’t there? For God’s sake, Vaughn, just tell me!’ Her voice echoed around the corridor.

  ‘Tia, I don’t want you to panic, but we can’t find her.’

  ‘What? What do you mean?’

  ‘She’s not at her bedsit … and we’re worried. We’re worried Wan might be behind it.’

  ‘Wan! No, please tell me you’ve got that wrong.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Tia.’

  ‘Maybe … maybe she’s gone to the laundrette. Did you think of that? Did you think of that, Vaughn?’ Tia yelled as tears rolled down her face.

  ‘Yes we did.’

  ‘You keep saying we. Who the hell is we?’

  ‘Franny, Alfie, Detective Carter.’

  Tia covered her face. ‘I don’t understand.’

  He grabbed her and pulled her hands away from her face. ‘Tia, look at me baby, look at me. I haven’t got the time to tell you everything, not now, but you need to trust me. You trust me, don’t you?’

  Through her tears she nodded.

  ‘Well I promise you, Tia, I will bring Milly back to you … to us.’ He paused, hoping against hope the same fate hadn’t befallen Milly as it had Sasha and although he didn’t know the details, he knew now, without doubt, Milly was in big trouble.

  ‘I have to go,’ Vaughn continued.

  ‘No, you can’t. You can’t just go like this. Look, I’ll come with you.’

  ‘Sweetheart, you need to stay here with Tammy; don’t leave the hospital, you hear me? And if they chuck you out up here, go down to Casualty; just do not leave the building. I need to know you’re safe. Will you do that for me?’

  Again Tia nodded without saying anything.

  ‘I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I’m going to be under the radar for a couple of days maybe, and I’ll bring Milly back home.’

  ‘How can you be so sure? How can you know for certain?’

  He kissed her again, knowing that he was far from sure. ‘I love you, just remember that, and I am sorry for ever letting you go.’

  He turned to walk away but she held on to him, her whole body shaking. ‘Vaughn, please, please be careful. I don’t want to lose you again. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’

  He smiled and pulled her into an embrace, kissing her as if his life depended on it. ‘I’ll be back soon, and when I do come back, I ain’t ever going to leave your side again.’

  Alfie and Franny sat in Alfie’s Range Rover, parked in Chalton Street just behind St Pancras Station, with Ellie crying hysterically. So far all that had happened was they’d picked her up. They couldn’t get anything out of her.

  Franny held her close, hugging her and rocking her gently as Alfie sat in the front.

  ‘Ellie, just breathe, darlin’, just breathe. What happened?’ Franny said quietly.

  ‘I can’t tell you … I can’t tell you. You’ll hate me …’

  ‘I’d never hate you, darlin’.’

  Red-eyed and hyperventilating, Ellie nodded. ‘You would! You would! And I swear, I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was just angry.’

  �
��What didn’t you mean to happen?’ Franny asked gently.

  ‘That Wan would kill her.’

  Franny looked at Alfie who raised his eyebrows but said nothing even though he could see the pain in Franny’s eyes.

  ‘Ellie, you’ve lost me. I don’t understand. How do you know he killed her? Are you sure?’

  ‘Yeah … cos I was there … He made me watch … He said if I talked, then the same would happen to me … I thought he loved me, but he can’t, can he? Not if he says that.’

  Franny hugged the younger girl and closed her eyes as she took her jacket off to wrap around Ellie who was shaking. The guilt she felt for being any part of it, she could almost taste. ‘Can you start from the beginning, so I can understand properly?’

  Sniffing and wiping her nose, Ellie nodded. ‘I was angry with Sasha cos she kept going around saying she was Wan’s girlfriend and she wasn’t. I was. And that’s why I hated her so much – she kept saying it to wind me up.’

  ‘Ellie, it wasn’t her fault. Wan told her that. That’s why she said it. She wasn’t saying it to be nasty. I heard him myself. So she was only repeating what he said.’

  Ellie’s face crumpled again. ‘Then that makes it worse, that just makes it worse,’ she screamed, breaking down once more.

  ‘It’s okay … Ellie, nothing – and you need to listen to this – nothing is your fault. You hear me? Ellie, I said do you hear me?’

  ‘It is though, because I told Wan that Sasha was talking about him to you. I told him that she was trying to get him into trouble but I only said that because I was mad with her. I didn’t know what he’d do. But me and Wan, well we drove around with one of his cousins and then we saw her walking along Kingsway. He pulled over and offered her a lift but the minute she got in the car Wan’s cousin gagged her. Anyway, we drove to this warehouse. I don’t even know where it was, but then he made Sasha get out and you could see she was so scared. I begged him not to hurt her but he started strangling her, he was so angry, like he kept shouting at her, saying that she’d betrayed him. Her face went all purple and red and she was fighting him, trying to make him stop but he was too strong … I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, Franny. I’m sorry!’ Ellie’s whole body was racked with sobs as she screamed and cried hysterically as Franny held her.