Stranger Child

by Rachel Abbott

  Natasha pushed herself off the bed. She felt numb. She was sorry about Ollie. She didn’t want anything to happen to him, but if the police found him because of her, Rory or Finn would come and get her.

  She used all her strength to push the chest of drawers out of the way and let Becky in.

  ‘What’s happened?’

  Becky walked over and sat on the bed, patting the cover by her side. She was pleased and more than a little surprised when Natasha sat down.

  ‘You know how important this is, don’t you?’ Becky asked, turning to Natasha and clasping the girl’s hands in her own. ‘You mustn’t tell anybody what we know – you do understand, don’t you?’

  Did they think she was an idiot?

  ‘Tom says you mentioned somebody called Julie. What do you know about Julie?’

  Natasha’s mouth went dry. She had never met Julie, but she knew all about her – what she did and how she managed her girls.

  Natasha shook her head. She really didn’t want this to be happening.

  ‘Come on, Tasha. Ollie needs your help. You need to decide whose side you’re on. I know this is hard. You’re terrified of Rory Slater and the rest of that lot, and so you should be. But we can’t protect you unless we can trust you. You’re one of them, or you’re not. Which is it going to be?’

  Natasha felt the last of her resistance drain away. She was tired. She had spent her life being scared – scared of doing something wrong at home; scared of being caught nicking stuff; scared of being Shelley Slater when she knew she was Tasha Joseph. Now her biggest fear was of Finn coming to get her.

  They thought they understood, but they didn’t. They didn’t know it all, and when they did they would understand why she’d done it – but there was no place for her here, or anywhere else. She had no idea what to do, but it suddenly felt easiest if she just gave them what they wanted. She had no idea what was going to happen to her, but the one thing she did know was that since he had gone, she had missed Ollie. Missed him calling her name and trying to hug her leg; missed just knowing he was there. She wanted him to be safe. And the only way she could make sure was by helping them – the pigs – her father – all the people she had been taught to hate. But Ollie was innocent. Perhaps he was the only one who was, but it was Ollie she was fighting for now.

  ‘I don’t know where Julie lives,’ she said quietly. ‘If that’s what you’re hoping for, I really don’t know. She’s got two houses, though. I heard Rory saying that to Donna. She has girls working for her – some on the streets, the young ones like me at one of the houses. Not the one she lives in. I don’t know nothing else.’

  Becky looked disappointed, but gave her hand a squeeze.

  ‘Okay, but if you think of anything, let me know. Do you want to come downstairs?’

  Natasha shook her head and Becky turned back towards the top of the stairs.

  There was something else that Natasha knew – something that might help. She was in it up to her neck now. What difference did it make?

  ‘Becky – Julie has a burger van. It’s where Rory picks the skunk up from.’ She felt a tiny prick of something like pride when Becky turned and flashed her a huge smile.

  ‘That’s great, Tasha. Brilliant. Well done. Come with me. We’ll speak to Tom now, and he might want to ask you another couple of things. Okay?’

  At that moment David came racing upstairs brandishing Natasha’s phone. It was ringing. Without a word, he thrust it into Natasha’s hand and she felt instantly sick. She didn’t want to speak to anybody. Not now, not ever. But she had to.

  ‘Hello,’ she whispered, looking from David to Becky as she listened. She hung up the phone without another word and turned to Becky, ignoring her father. She knew if she spoke her voice would crack and break, and she swallowed hard, trying to stop it. What Rory had asked couldn’t be done, and she – Natasha – would get the blame for not telling him. She might as well be dead.

  ‘What, Tasha?’ Becky was asking, and Natasha realised it wasn’t for the first time.

  ‘It’s all going down tonight after all. They want to speak to David in ten minutes – but they want Emma there too.’

  *

  Tom was just debating whether to begin the reverse swap when his radio beeped.

  ‘Becky? What’s up?’

  She quickly filled Tom in on everything that Natasha had told her, including the content of the call from Rory Slater.

  ‘Good work,’ Tom said. ‘If Natasha’s right and Julie is the woman with the burger van, I’m fairly certain Paul Green from Titan told me that one of the gang’s enforcers has a wife who runs a burger van. It sounds as if it’s not the only thing she does. I’ll get hold of Titan and ask if they have an address for Julie’s husband, Finn McGuinness. Then I’ll get a covert team out there. We need to know for sure that the baby’s there before we go charging in.’

  Tom walked quickly back into the sitting room. Emma leaped up from her seat, clearly identifying from Tom’s urgent tone that something was happening.

  ‘We don’t have time to get Emma back in the house before the call comes through. Becky – you’re going to have to coach David. He’s going to have to tell them that Emma is being sick. He has to insist that they tell him what has to be done and he’ll write it down.’

  Emma was standing right by Tom, looking as if she wanted to rip the radio from his hands and shout, ‘What? Tell me!’ Tom lifted his hand and grasped her shoulder.

  ‘You need to tell him to put the phone on speaker. He can make the excuse that he needs his hands free so he can write down their instructions. You leave your radio open – mute any incoming calls, and remember not to make a sound or the bug in the kitchen will pick you up – but I want to hear what they’re asking for.’

  Tom ended the call and immediately consulted his contacts to get Paul Green’s mobile number.

  Emma’s face was a mix of hope and fear, but he didn’t have time to explain everything to her yet.

  The Titan officer answered the phone immediately.

  ‘Tom – are things hotting up at your end?’

  ‘They are – and for you to know that, I can only assume the same is happening at yours. We need you to give us an address for Finn McGuinness – can you get somebody to radio it through to Inspector Robinson, please?’ Tom hung on while Paul passed on the instruction. ‘What’s the score with you, then?’

  ‘Our CHIS has said it’s going to happen tonight, but he’s still unable to tell us exactly what “it” is.’

  ‘What’s your informant’s role in this, then?’

  ‘I can’t say at the moment. Sorry – you know how it is. I may be able to tell you more later, though.’

  ‘Okay, we’re waiting here hopefully with an open line to listen to their demands. I’ll get back to you the minute we know more.’

  Tom hung up the phone, and was about to bring an anxious Emma up to date when his radio signalled a call from Becky.

  Nobody spoke, but they could hear a phone ringing in the background. Then a voice.

  ‘This is David Joseph. What do you want, and where the hell is my son?’

  47

  Emma was rooted to the spot. What was going on? Tom hadn’t had a moment to speak to her since he had come back into the room, but he kept giving her tense nods which she thought were probably supposed to be reassuring, but they weren’t. She couldn’t interrupt him, though, because he had switched up the volume on his radio and she could hear David talking.

  ‘Tell me what I’ve got to do. Let’s get this over with, so I can get my family back.’ David’s voice was thick with tension.

  There was silence for a moment, then he spoke again.

  ‘You’ve no right to say that to me. You want my help, don’t you?’

  Emma saw a puzzled frown on Tom’s face.

  ‘No, she’s not here. She’s being sick, if you must know. She can’t keep anything down – not even water. You tell me, and I’ll tell her.’

  T
here was a pause.

  ‘No, I will not get her. You’ll have to tell me.’ David said, somehow managing to put several days of pent-up rage into the word ‘not’. ‘Just tell me what I’ve got to do.’

  Silence. Emma wondered if he had overplayed his hand. Why hadn’t he put the bloody phone on speaker?

  ‘Can we not do this? I’ve told you – I’ll do as you ask. I’ll do anything to get my son back.’

  There was a longer silence.

  ‘You know that’s not true,’ David said quietly.

  Then the silence stretched and stretched. The call must have been over.

  Tom switched his radio off.

  ‘Becky will call me from the other room in a moment. I don’t understand exactly what went on there, but there’s some other good news. I don’t want to get your hopes up yet, but we think we know where Julie lives. We need to be certain Ollie’s there before we blow our cover and go charging in, but if we’re right, we could have him back very soon.

  *

  Tom’s radio crackled. ‘Yes, Becky – what the hell happened? Why didn’t he put his phone on speaker?’

  Tom was frustrated with David Joseph. It would have been so much better if they could have heard both sides of the conversation.

  ‘He says he forgot, I’m afraid, Tom. I kept signalling him, but he ignored me.’

  ‘Did you ask him what they said? Some of his answers seemed a bit off.’ Tom had started to march backwards and forwards.

  ‘He said they want both David and Emma to be by the phone again in one hour for final instructions. I tried to go through the questions word for word, but David seemed really stressed and I didn’t want to push him too much.’

  ‘Okay. Have the armed response team been in touch? They’re in position?’ he paused. ‘Excellent. You know what to do. Take the Range Rover, as if you’re going to fill it up. You know where and when. See you in about fifteen minutes. Well done, Becky.’

  Emma’s white face appeared ghostlike in the lamplight of the sitting room, the shadows around her eyes jet black, and Tom felt a pang of guilt. She must be desperate to know what was happening.

  ‘They’re calling back in an hour and they want you there. What you need to understand is that we’ve been unable to get any support into the house for you, so whatever they send David off to do, you’re going to be left in the house on your own with Natasha. You’ll be exposed, and I don’t like it.’

  ‘Let’s just do what they’re asking. Please Tom. You said you know where Ollie is – can’t you get him back now and then it won’t matter who’s where, will it?’

  ‘We’ve got a team checking out the information about Ollie. But it might take some time. You can’t barge into a house full of gang members, Emma, and if he’s not there we’ll have blown it. Look, this is what’s going to happen.’

  Tom quickly laid out the plan to get Emma back into the house.

  ‘You can talk me through your notes on the way, and I’ll tell you how to keep safe when you’re on your own. But you must do what I suggest, Emma. These men don’t play nicely.

  *

  Neither Tom nor Emma spoke for a few moments as the car sped away from his home. Emma was sitting up straight in the car, leaning slightly forwards as if she were willing him to go faster.

  They were about to meet up with an officer who was bringing a radio and had arranged to meet Becky at a petrol station about ten minutes from Emma’s home. They would swap jackets in the ladies again, in case Becky had been followed. It was still raining, so they had the perfect excuse to hide under hoods.

  ‘Why do you think they want me there, Tom?’

  ‘I don’t know. It’s pointless speculating. They probably want confirmation that everything’s the way they’re expecting it to be.’

  To keep Emma’s mind active and prevent her from thinking through all the possible scenarios, Tom asked her to read the notes she had written, prompting her for more information as she spoke. He only expressed an opinion once.

  ‘Christ, that poor kid,’ he said when Emma described how Natasha had been thrown in The Pit until she accepted that she was Shelley Slater.

  Tom saw the lights of the petrol station up ahead.

  ‘As soon as you get home, make sure your mobile is fully charged – the Australian one you’ve been using. Switch it to silent, vibration off, and leave it turned off completely unless you need it. Give it to David when he goes to do whatever it is that they want. We can’t give him a wire – it’s the first thing they would check. Same with the phone, but if he does have to meet them, tell him to switch the phone off and hide it in the car.’

  He felt Emma shudder at the thought. He needed to make her understand, though.

  ‘In the meantime, remember to put your phone on speaker if you call me. I’ll be able to hear every word. I’ll mute my end so they can’t hear me. GPS is switched on so we can track whoever has the phone. They don’t know about your Australian phone, so they can’t track you, but we can. David should take it with him when he goes to do whatever they ask, but he has to be very careful about when he uses it. If he has to meet with the gang for any reason, it must be switched off. They’ll have signal detectors, so make sure he understands that.’

  Tom quickly gave Emma instructions how to use the radio, which she could keep with her in the house.

  ‘This is your lifeline, Emma. Once David has left, lock yourself and Natasha in an upstairs room – put something heavy behind the door. If you hear anything that concerns you, press that red button. It will put you straight through to the support team, and they’ll be less than three minutes away, so don’t worry.’

  Tom pulled into the petrol station forecourt and got out to walk Emma into the shop. Her movements felt jerky, and Tom casually draped his arm around her shoulders, trying to pass some of his strength through to her. At the back of the shop, Emma made her way towards the toilets and disappeared from view. Tom bought a magazine and some mints and walked back to his car, looking at his watch – for all the world like a man wishing his wife would hurry up.

  There was one call he had to make.

  ‘Philippa, it’s Tom.’

  ‘Tom – how’s it going? DI Robinson has updated me on the news about Ollie. Where are you now?’

  Tom told her what the gang had demanded.

  ‘Bloody hell, Tom – the family’s a bit exposed’

  Tom gazed at the empty forecourt and at the fine drizzle that hadn’t stopped for hours. He knew leaving them in the house was a risk, but if Emma did exactly what he had told her, they should be fine. If he pulled them all out and tried to open negotiations with the gang, he didn’t think they would ever see little Ollie Joseph again.

  ‘Keep me informed, Tom. I don’t like it, but I can see you had little choice.’

  48

  Natasha sat on the edge of her bed, legs dangling just above the floor and hands jammed under her thighs to stop them trembling. Becky had gone and Emma was coming back – coming to discover what the gang had planned for them all. She was alone in the house with David for the first time since she had taken Ollie.

  One thought had been forcing itself into her mind, however hard she had tried to keep it at bay. What would have happened if I hadn’t taken Ollie? What if she had disobeyed them?

  It was a stupid thought. They would have sent Finn to get her. The only way she could have stayed was if the whole family had gone into hiding, and Natasha didn’t believe England was a big enough country to hide from the likes of Finn McGuinness.

  There was somebody else who had to take some of the blame, though.

  David.

  This was her chance – a chance to get him to explain while they were the only two people in the house. She was scared to know the truth; maybe Rory had lied to her all these years and she had hated David for nothing, but she had to know. She pushed herself off the bed and made her way quietly down the stairs, hands gripped into fists straight by her side.

  Her father
was in the sitting room, standing with his back to the door, arms on the mantelpiece, leaning forwards with his head bent. Natasha silently stood behind him, struggling to find the courage to speak. She must have made a sound, because David spun round.

  ‘Goodness, Tasha – you scared the life out of me. What are you doing just standing there? Come and sit down.’

  Natasha didn’t move. David frowned.

  ‘I’m not getting the silent treatment again, am I? Surely we’re past that by now?’

  ‘I need to ask you something, David.’

  ‘Ask me anything you like, but come and sit down.’

  Natasha didn’t move.

  ‘I want to know why you did it.’

  ‘Why I did what?’

  ‘You know what.’

  ‘Tasha, darling, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  She swallowed a lump in her throat, finding it hard to say the words out loud.

  ‘Was it because you didn’t love me? Or didn’t you love Mummy? Which was it?’

  David couldn’t meet her eyes.

  She didn’t really need to ask anything else. His face told the story.

  All she wanted to know was why.

  *

  Everything had gone to plan at the petrol station. Becky had handed over the keys and they had exchanged tops. Emma had rushed back out, wiping her face with tissues and letting her hood fall back. If they were watching, they could see her face. She had filled the car, paid the bill and was now on her way home. She had no idea what the next few hours would bring, but with every cell in her body she hoped they would bring Ollie back to her.

  She felt safe on the main road, but as soon as she turned into the lanes, she was struck by how vulnerable she was. The windscreen wipers swung rhythmically backwards and forwards, and the headlights reflected back the tiny shards of silver light from the thin rain. She turned a bend and was on a straight stretch. Nothing ahead.

  Suddenly a blinding light flashed into her eyes – a reflection from the rear-view mirror. There was a car behind her.