Back in the Game

by Caz Finlay

  ‘Or it could be the information we’ve been waiting for. Thanks, Steven.’

  ‘I’m happy to help, Grace.’

  Grace ended the call and turned to Sean. ‘Head straight there. I’ll phone the twins to meet us.’

  ‘We should probably wait for them to arrive before we go in. Who knows what we’re going into?’

  ‘I’m not waiting.’

  ‘We could be going into an ambush, Grace. See where the twins are. If they’re miles away, we’ll find someone who’s not.’

  Grace phoned Connor and Paul Carter, who were not far from Long Lane, having just been to see some of their contacts in Kirkby.

  Ten minutes later, Connor and Paul Carter met Grace and Sean at Long Lane industrial estate. One of the warehouses was derelict but had obviously been broken into recently.

  ‘Let me go first,’ Sean said as he edged towards the door.

  ‘Not a chance,’ Grace said as she pushed past him. Her son was in there. She was sure of it and she’d be damned if she’d let anyone stand in her way.

  Chapter 71

  Grace scanned the warehouse for any sign of life. Her eyes were still trying to adjust in the darkness, but the unmistakeable metallic smell of blood flooded her nose and throat. She fought the urge to retch as she desperately scanned the room for Jake or Michael. Sean, Connor and Paul filed in behind her as she heard a noise to her left. She rushed over to find Michael lying on the floor trying to heave himself into a seated position. She reached him quickly and crouched down to look at him. She could barely see his features for blood. He held onto her and she tried to stroke back the hair from his forehead but it was matted with blood. Suddenly, all of their arguing and sniping at each other seemed so petty and meaningless. Any feelings of anger and resentment she’d felt towards him dissolved like sugar in hot tea. All that remained was the love she had always felt for him. Grace blinked back the tears. Michael didn’t need her pity right now. He needed her strength – and so did Jake.

  ‘Michael,’ she whispered, feeling like her heart would break. ‘Where’s Jake?’

  ‘Over there,’ he croaked as he indicated behind him with his head. Sean reached them and took Michael from her arms as she searched for Jake.

  ‘Over here, Grace,’ Connor shouted. He and Paul were sitting on the floor with Jake in their arms, his head lolling backwards between his shoulders, making Grace fear the worst. At that moment she thought she might break down in this dingy, airless room and never get back up again. Running to Jake’s side, she held his face in her hands.

  ‘He’s breathing,’ Paul gasped. ‘Phone an ambulance.’

  With shaking hands, Grace took her mobile phone and dialled 999. Connor took the phone from her as she took his place by Jake. She pulled him to her. He was covered in blood and had injuries all over his body. But he was alive. They were both alive. Grace swore that whoever did this would pay. She would make sure they felt fear and pain like they had never even imagined. As she cradled her son in her arms, Grace was consumed with anguish and anger. It burned through every fibre of her body and made her heart pound so violently she felt it would explode out of her chest. She rocked Jake in her arms and whispered soothing words in his ear. The thought that she might lose him was too much to consider, so she filled her head with thoughts of what she would do to the people who had tried to take him from her.

  ***

  Grace had been sitting beside Jake’s bed in the ICU for twenty-nine hours. She drifted in and out of sleep and resisted the efforts of Sean and Patrick to get her to go home and rest and change her clothes. She would be here when Jake woke up. It had been touch and go when he’d arrived at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. He’d lost so much blood and suffered so much trauma that he’d died twice and they’d had to resuscitate him. But now he was ‘stable’. Critical, but stable. They wouldn’t be able to tell the full extent of the potential damage until he woke up. And there was still every chance he might never wake up.

  Grace held his hand lightly. Some of his fingers had been broken and she didn’t want to cause him any further pain. She willed him to wake up. Surely, if she loved him enough, she could will him back from the brink? But Grace Sumner knew there was no such thing as a happy ending.

  Michael had been moved to a ward. He’d lost blood too, but Jake seemed to have suffered the worst of the attack. They’d both fought back. The doctors had said that was clear from the many defensive wounds they had. The police were eager to speak to them both about their assault. Ironically, if it hadn’t been for the police, both Jake and Michael would probably be dead. It was only the sound of the police helicopter overhead that had caused their attackers to scarper and leave the pair of them for dead. Whichever little dickhead had stolen a car and driven it through the streets of Liverpool like he was playing real-life Grand Theft Auto in the early hours of the morning had done the pair of them a massive favour. Still, Michael had told the police nothing, of course, and Grace wouldn’t either. She would find whoever did this herself.

  ***

  Michael shuffled down the hospital corridor. Every part of him ached, but he had to see her. He’d thought he was a goner when he’d looked up and seen her in that warehouse. She’d appeared like some angel in the darkness and he was sure he must have been dreaming.

  ‘Mr Carter, you really shouldn’t be out of bed,’ a nurse admonished him as he walked past the nurses’ station.

  He glared at her in response and she went back to her paperwork.

  When he finally found the ICU, he saw the police officer sitting outside.

  ‘Ready to talk, Michael?’ she asked.

  ‘I’ve already told you I don’t know who did this,’ he answered.

  ‘Yeah, right. And Elvis is alive and well and working in Primark.’

  ‘How is he?’ he asked, nodding towards Jake’s room.

  ‘The same,’ she replied. ‘Still hasn’t woken up.’

  ‘And his mum?’

  ‘Still hasn’t left his side. I don’t think she’s even been to the toilet.’

  Michael shuffled to the door of the room and peered through the small square window. His heart almost broke when he saw her. Pressing his head against the glass he watched her. She sat so still, her forehead resting against Jake’s forearm. He wished he could make it better for her. He wanted to go in there and put his arms around her and tell her it would all be okay. But he didn’t know that it would. Jake had taken some serious punishment and had appeared to be the main target of the attack. They’d fought back with everything they had, but they’d been ambushed. He and Jake had been gagged, handcuffed and blindfolded, but despite that Michael knew there had been at least six of them, all tooled up.

  Michael didn’t know who it was – yet. They’d all worn masks so even when his blindfold had slipped occasionally, he hadn’t been able to identify any of them, and he hadn’t recognised any voices. They’d barely spoken a word to each other the whole time, which made him think it was someone they’d be able to identify.

  ‘You can go in for a minute if you like,’ the police officer said, obviously taking pity on him.

  ‘No, it’s okay,’ he croaked. ‘I’ll leave them be.’

  Chapter 72

  Grace walked into The Blue Rooms and looked at the sea of assembled faces. They had succeeded in finding Jake and Michael two days earlier, and thankfully the pair of them were going to be okay.

  She had barely slept in those two days and the tiredness was threatening to overwhelm her. But there was something she needed to do first, and that was find out who had tried to murder her son and her daughter’s father. Bobby White would be the obvious candidate, but Grace was sure he would never risk her telling Sol about getting his daughter pregnant. Paul and Connor, who were now standing solemnly by her side, had gone on a violent rampage across Liverpool trying to get answers, but to no avail. Grace knew it was going to take much more than that to find out who had tried to pull off this job. They needed to be smarter than
that.

  She looked across the room at them all. Everyone who worked for her and the Carters – all waiting for her orders. The weight on her shoulders was crushing. She wondered how much longer she could go on living this life.

  ‘I appreciate you all getting here so early. Speak to everyone you know. Rattle some cages. Bang some heads together. Call in as many favours as you can. Do anything you need to but get me some answers.’

  They all nodded and started to file out of the room.

  Grace turned to the twins. ‘Our biggest lead so far is the alarm company. Steven Porter said something suspicious was going on. I think they were helping whoever did this, or at least turning a blind eye. It’s Attak Alarms. They’re based in Wavertree. Pay them a visit and see what you can find out.’

  ‘On it, boss.’

  ‘And, boys,’ she said as they were leaving. ‘Kid gloves today, eh? Let’s leave the bull-in-a-china-shop stuff until we actually find out who did this. The police are already crawling all over this. We need to keep this as quiet as we can.’

  ‘Okay.’ She was reminded of them in their younger days, when she’d constantly had to rein them in.

  ***

  Grace had just got home from the hospital when the twins rang her doorbell. She invited them inside and poured them all a large brandy, while Marcus, who’d been looking after Belle all evening, made himself scarce.

  ‘What did you find out?’ Grace asked.

  ‘The only person on call on Saturday night was Arthur Smith. He didn’t log any problem with the alarm at Porter’s warehouse or mention it to the day staff who took over from him. There’s no record of any fault.’

  ‘So we need to speak to Arthur then.’

  The twins shook their heads. ‘We spoke to his boss, Paddy, and Arthur didn’t turn up for work on Sunday night, or Monday. So Paddy went to his flat and there was no sign of him. No one can get in touch with him on his mobile. Nobody has seen him in his local. He’s disappeared.’

  ‘Does he have any family?’

  Connor shook his head. ‘Only child. Lives alone. No kids.’

  ‘Shit. Either he’s in hiding, or whoever he was working for has made sure he’ll never talk. And what about Paddy? Any chance he’s in on this?’

  ‘No. He seems legit. Loves his job. Has a young family. Thought Arthur was a bit of a weirdo.’

  ‘So, we’re back to square one unless we can find Arthur?’

  ‘Yep,’ Paul said.

  ‘I don’t think Arthur is going to be found, boss,’ Connor said. ‘No one to miss him. No one to officially report him missing. He’s an old drunk with no life, by all accounts. Easier to off him than spend all that time and effort hiding him.’

  ‘You’re probably right. There must be some connection somewhere though. How did anyone know what Arthur did and when he’d be working? Stay on Attak Alarms and find out everything you can about Mr Smith.’

  ‘Will do, boss,’ the twins said before finishing their drinks.

  ‘I’ll catch up with you both tomorrow at the hospital then,’ Grace said before showing them out.

  Chapter 73

  Grace thanked Marcus for the cup of tea as he sat down at Jake’s bedside. It was the first time Marcus had visited Jake since his attack and he’d almost turned grey when he walked into the room and saw Jake’s swollen and broken body. Grace had sent him to get some hot, sweet teas for them all to give him a chance to compose himself.

  Jake had regained consciousness two days earlier, much to Grace’s relief and the doctors’ surprise. All tests indicated that there had been no permanent physical damage. But Grace wondered how long the emotional scars would take to heal – if they ever did.

  ‘Thanks, mate,’ Jake said as Marcus placed his drink on the table next to his bed.

  ‘No problem,’ Marcus said softly.

  ‘Have the police been in again while I was out?’ Grace asked him.

  Jake nodded. ‘They’re coming in again tomorrow too. Just in case I remember anything in the next twenty-four hours.’

  ‘Don’t you remember anything then?’ Marcus asked naively.

  Jake stared at him. ‘Oh, I remember everything,’ he growled.

  Marcus took a sip of his tea and looked over at Grace.

  ‘Can you think of anything else that might help us find them, Jake?’

  He frowned. ‘I think I’ve told you everything, Mum. They hardly spoke so I couldn’t recognise their accents. They definitely knew me though. Well, one of them did.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’

  Jake shrugged. ‘It was the way he kept coming after me. Like it was personal to him. He just wouldn’t let up. Even when the others were taking a breather or were just pushing us around, this fella just wouldn’t stop laying into me. It was him who broke my fingers. I would have sworn it was Bobby White only he was too short.’ Jake winced.

  Grace shook her head. ‘You’ve no idea who it was then?’

  ‘Nope. I’ll know him when I do see him though. When we were in that warehouse, there was so much blood that I managed to slide one of my hands free, and I almost took the fucker’s eye out. I nearly had him. I could feel the back of his eyeball with my thumb, but one of his mates grabbed me and stopped me.’

  From the corner of her eye Grace saw Marcus blanching.

  ‘So we’re looking for a short, one-eyed man?’ Grace tried to lighten the mood for Marcus’s sake. ‘He shouldn’t be hard to find.’

  ‘Well, he wasn’t short. Just not very tall.’

  ‘So a man of medium height with one eye? I’ll get the boys on it.’

  Jake laughed. ‘With that description, they’ll have him by sundown.’

  ‘I’ll have both of his eyeballs sent to you by personal courier, son,’ Grace said, only half-joking.

  ‘Do you need anything else bringing in, Jake?’ Marcus piped up, no doubt trying to change the subject. ‘Anything to read, or I’ve got a portable DVD player if you want to borrow it?’

  ‘No thanks, Marcus. I’ve got everything I need.’

  ‘Come on, Marcus, I’ll drop you back home. I’ve got a meeting to go to in an hour. I’ll be back straight after though,’ Grace said.

  ‘No worries, Mum. I’m not going anywhere.’

  ‘It’s good to see you, Jake,’ Marcus said as he stood. ‘I’d give you a hug but …’

  ‘Don’t worry, mate,’ Jake said with a laugh. ‘I doubt you could get to me with all these wires anyway.’

  After they had said their goodbyes, Grace ushered Marcus out of the room. He stood against the wall for a moment, leaning his head back against the noticeboard. After a few seconds, he let out a long slow breath.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Grace asked him.

  He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect him to look so …’

  ‘Awful?’

  Marcus nodded.

  ‘He looks a damn sight better than he did a few days ago. Come on, I’ll treat you to lunch on the way home.’

  Chapter 74

  The coffee cups almost slipped from Grace’s hands as she rounded the corner and saw Michael walking towards her. His face looked a lot better than the last time she’d seen him two weeks earlier. He was badly bruised, but she could see his features now at least, and was pleased there had been no permanent damage done. Patrick had already told her that Michael was recovering well and would be fine after a few weeks’ rest and recuperation. Still, she felt suddenly guilty that she hadn’t visited him at all while he’d been in hospital. He had a holdall in his hand so she assumed he was either checking himself out or had been discharged. Probably the former, knowing him.

  ‘Hey you.’ He smiled at her.

  ‘Hi,’ she said as she felt a flush creep up her neck. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Oh, you know me, Grace. Tough as an old boot. I’ll be fine.’

  ‘Good. I’m sorry I haven’t got round to visiting you.

  ‘Don’t worry about it. You’ve been with Jake.
How is he doing, by the way?’

  ‘Much better now. He’s going to have to stay in here for a while. He’ll need quite a bit of physio too, but there’s been no real lasting damage.’

  ‘Good. Good,’ Michael said awkwardly.

  ‘Well, I’d better let you get going. You must be eager to get home.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He lifted his bag as if to prove it.

  ‘Belle has missed you.’

  ‘I’ve missed her too. Can I pick her up later?’

  ‘Of course. She’s out with Marcus today, but they should be back by teatime.’

  ‘Okay, thanks.’

  ‘Take care then,’ Grace said as she started to walk away.

  ‘You too. And thanks, by the way. For coming to my rescue, I mean.’

  ‘Anytime. I’d better get back to Jake before his coffee goes cold.’

  ‘Yeah, of course. Bye, Grace.’

  ‘Bye, Michael.’

  Grace’s heart raced as she walked back to Jake’s room. Why did everything between her and Michael have to be so bloody awkward? She wished they could go back to the way they used to be. Being in his company had always been so easy. It had always felt so natural. Now, there was no chance of them being anything more than civil to each other. Michael had made it very clear he wanted nothing more to do with her and she couldn’t blame him after what she’d done. Although, now they could be in the same room without wanting to rip each other’s head off – that was something at least.

  ‘I thought you’d got lost,’ Jake said lightly as she walked into his room. She knew he was feeling better when he started giving lip. It got easier each time she saw him to ignore the bandages and the bruises and swelling.