‘Doubt it. On the advice of their solicitor it’s more likely to be “no comment”. I’ll give CPS a call and see what they’ll go along with in respect of charging them. Probably death by dangerous driving is as much as we can hope for, which is better than nothing. But we’ll push for murder, or manslaughter at the very least.’
‘You must be feeling generous,’ Taylor said, teasingly.
‘Why?’ he said, eyeing her quizzically.
‘Day after tomorrow is Bank Holiday Monday, remember? Everybody will be on double time,’ she said with a smile.
‘Good God, woman, it’s a good job you reminded me. Headquarters would crucify me.’
‘Ah, but the team would love you,’ she said, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she leant towards him.
‘Make it Tuesday. Early start, you sort out the arrest teams,’ he said as he dismissed her. She turned to leave. ‘Oh, and arrange for them to be taken to separate nicks. I want distance between those two once and for all. If Danny Denton’s the driver, then he’s the man in control.’
‘Billy Greenwood might grab a lifeline from us if it’s offered,’ she said as she stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder at him.
‘And Greenwood might turn out to be the driving force of the pair?’ he said, frowning.
‘I’ll speak to Stevenson again and get the samples off him that you want,’ she said.
‘Do it here, at the nick. Invite him in. I’ll sit in with you. Let’s see what vibes we get from him. It’s about time I met him.’
‘It’d be nice to find out what makes certain men tick,’ she said, looking at him quizzically.
Dylan looked to his computer screen. ‘Try getting him in today and see if the financial unit’s got anything to tell us about him before you do. The more ammunition we have the better,’ he grunted.
Dylan watched her walk out into the CID office. She turned, looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, just like Jen did. He felt guilty, he’d never once looked at another woman since he’d met Jen and there was nothing special about Taylor Spiers, she wasn’t his type. What the hell was he thinking of?
He picked up his phone. He needed to speak to Jen. ‘We’ve just got a breakthrough on the mowing down of the old lady and her dog,’ he said excitedly.
‘That’s brilliant,’ Jen said. She never asked him who the suspect was or what the breakthrough entailed, she knew if she asked he would tell her, but if she didn’t know then she couldn’t accidentally mention anything to anyone else.
‘It means an early start on Tuesday but I’m told the day after tomorrow is Bank Holiday, so how you fixed for a lie-in?’
‘Sounds wonderful. I’m shattered,’ she said with a sigh as she rubbed her bulging stomach.
‘I’ll try to get a flyer today, love. See you soon.’ He whispered into the phone, ‘I love you.’
‘Me too,’ she said, hanging up. Jen smiled to herself as she put the phone down and carried on reading her baby book. At this stage of your baby’s development, she read, you are probably feeling pretty tired and cumbersome. You may be feeling anxious or irritable and have mood swings. Well, at least she was normal. You may also feel a heavy dragging feeling in your pelvis, as the weight of your baby bears down. You may be experiencing vivid and unsettling dreams, which is your mind’s way of adapting to an approaching life change. Her eyes closed slowly and she drifted off to sleep.
It was only since Dylan had met Jen that he had started to think he would rather be elsewhere than at work. He picked up his phone and, on impulse, rang the pensions department to see what his finances would be like if he decided to retire. He had an idea, but the figures he was given were better than he thought.
Taking a moment to himself, he sat back in the worn old leather chair that he’d refused to have replaced by Avril Summerfield-Preston when she refurbished the offices. He scanned the walls of his office and took time to read the long list of detected murders and other crimes he had dealt with in the past two years, along with the array of commendations for outstanding work.
The phone rang, bringing him back to the present. ‘Boss, I’ve arranged for Stevenson to come in tonight at seven. It’s the best I could do. Is that okay?’
‘I suppose so. I’ll let Jen know I’m gonna be late,’ he sighed. Taylor Spiers could see him over the screen of her computer. She winked at him as she put down the phone. Did she never give up?
Jen’s phone bleeped and it woke her. Startled and sleepy, she read the message. ‘Another night alone, Max,’ she groaned as she reached out to stroke his head. She flopped dramatically back on the cushions. ‘Flaming work,’ she mumbled, switching on the TV with the remote control.
Max settled on her handbag like a brindled suitcase – to be sure if she went out he wouldn’t be forgotten. She picked up the newspaper but couldn’t concentrate long enough to read it. She was tired and thirsty. She stood up and waddled to the kitchen to draw a glass of water from the tap. Making her way back to the settee, she threw a cushion down first to support her bump, then laid on her side to try and get comfortable. Within minutes she felt three large kicks from her baby.
‘Oi, Buttons,’ she said, stroking her stomach and grinning to herself. ‘Hormones,’ she said out loud as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away with a tissue. Dylan was getting back into a routine of early starts and late nights and she was frightened he would make himself ill yet again.
‘Aw, hurry home, Jack,’ she said, and Max barked as if he agreed. She was never surer he understood everything she said as she stroked his strong, soft head to quieten him.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Pam could not keep the tears from her eyes. She had fallen in love with the wrong kind of boy. How could she have been so stupid? She had turned a deaf ear to anyone who had badmouthed him. She’d truly thought he liked her.
The realisation that neither of the boys had worn any form of contraception made her blood run cold. What if…?
‘Oh God, no,’ she moaned as her hand moved to her stomach and she felt it contract. She started to shake uncontrollably.
‘Come on,’ Danny yelled. ‘Move, otherwise we’ll leave ya.’
Perhaps she would be better off left alone.
‘If you don’t move I’ll give you some more of this,’ Billy smirked, pulling his zip down. He rubbed his crotch, suggestively.
‘No,’ she said, sobbing, reaching for her clothes. Billy kicked them away just as her fingers touched the cloth.
‘Let her have ’em, Billy. We need to get going,’ said Danny, sounding bored.
She felt stupid, dirty and ashamed as well as in pain. Again, she reached out for her clothes, trying desperately to hide her nakedness with her free arm. Danny’s phone clicked. She glared up at him.
‘Just a couple of pictures of you crawling naked in the grass, in case you decide to tell anyone about our picnic,’ he said, clicking the camera on the phone once again.
Her fingers were numb as she fumbled with the fastening on her bra.
‘Shall I help you with that?’ Billy said laughing.
‘Don’t… you dare touch me,’ she said, staring angrily at him. ‘Keep away!’
Billy looked as though he was going to hit her.
‘Leave her be, Billy. She’s not worth it. Let her scream all she wants. Nobody can hear her here.’
Silently, she followed them back to the car. As they neared their vehicle she saw an elderly man walking his dog in the distance.
Danny turned to her as if reading her thoughts. ‘Don’t even think about it unless you want us to kill him,’ he said, flicking open a knife.
She froze. Danny sounded serious and she now knew only too well what they were capable of. If they attacked him, what else would they do to her? They had her picture. Who’d believe that she wasn’t involved? The man walked closer.
‘She’ll let you and the dog have a go for a tenner, mister,’ Billy shouted loudly.
The man put his
head down and ambled on.
Pam looked ashamedly at the grass beneath her feet as she walked on. The man shouted his dog to heel and when she looked his way he had turned and had begun walking in the opposite direction. Who could blame him?
Pam sat in the back of the car that was now strewn with cast-off food cartons and drink cans. She stared at the mess as if seeing it for the first time. She could taste vomit and smell alcohol and the stale cigarette smoke upon her. Hurting, she moaned. Quietly she closed her eyes and as she did so she was lulled by the motion of the car, which gave her a little comfort.
‘I suppose you expect us to drop you off at home?’ Danny said.
She nodded weakly, glancing up for one moment to see the eyes peering back at her from the car’s rear-view mirror. They looked like a stranger’s now.
‘You’ll be okay when you calm down. Remember what we said, say nothing and you’ll be okay,’ he said in a gentler tone.
Was this really the Danny she had fallen head over heels for?
‘Yeah. Cross us and we’ll show everybody your tits on the internet,’ Billy said. ‘Mind you, they’re not bad,’ he said.
Pam’s lips were swollen and she could taste blood in her mouth. The journey home seemed to take forever but eventually she could see the familiar buildings on her street out of the window. The car came to an abrupt halt. Billy got out and opened the door. Reaching into the back, he grabbed Pam’s arm and unceremoniously bundled her out onto the pavement.
‘Remember, say anything and there’ll be trouble,’ Danny called after her. He revved the engine ferociously three times. She stood at the gate looking dishevelled and forlorn. Danny drove off at speed, sounding the horn for everyone in the street to hear. It spurred Pam into action. She ran into the house and locked the door behind her.
Pam held her breath and listened. Her mum and dad were still at work and she exhaled a sigh of relief. She ran straight upstairs and into the bathroom where she stripped off all her clothes. Feeling uncomfortable with her nakedness she grabbed her dressing gown and hurriedly set the shower running. Slowly she turned and caught her reflection in the mirror. Not only was her mouth red and bruised but there was a great welt on her arm. ‘Oh God,’ she said, gasping as she put her hand up to the tender flesh of her breasts that bore red, angry teeth marks.
She climbed into the shower and reached for the loofah. Scrubbing her skin until it felt sore, the feeling of nausea suddenly took over as she saw the river of dried blood on the inside of her thigh. She slid down the shower cubicle and sat down, letting the water pelt down on her body like hailstones.
Suddenly, she twitched as if she had been falling into a semi-conscious sleep. The side of her face was squashed against the shower cubicle door. How long had she been there? The bathroom was full of steam. Fighting to stay lucid, she managed to push the door open and claw herself up with the aid of the towel rail. She turned off the water. Wincing, she buffed herself dry with a big, soft towel. She wrapped a turban around her head and grabbed her toothbrush to brush her teeth until her gums bled. She swilled her mouth with cap after cap of mouthwash that burned, but it felt good.
As soon as she was dry she felt dirty again: dirty, used and stupid. She sobbed and sat in the corner of the bathroom on its cold tiled floor. She had no concept of time but slowly she gathered her clothes from the floor and, screwing them up, she threw them into the bin. She put on her Disney tracksuit and curled up on her bed. Her eyes closed, she cried, hugging herself until she drifted to sleep.
‘Pam. I’m home. Where are you darling?’ Pam’s mum’s voice intruded into her dream and before she had fully woken her mum was through the bedroom door and at her side.
‘What on earth?’ she said, seeing her little girl’s form curled up in a ball under the duvet. ‘You ill? Did they send you home from school? You should have called me,’ she said, stroking the top of her daughter’s head. Her hand wandered under the covers to her brow where she let it linger to see if it was hot.
She sat beside Pam on the bed like she used to when she was little and reached out to cradle her in her arms. Pam couldn’t look at her. ‘What on earth has happened to your face?’ she said, holding Pam’s face by the chin and turning it this way and that. Pam’s face screwed up and, crying hysterically, she held her mother tightly.
‘Mum,’ she whimpered.
‘Darling, look at me. Has someone hurt you? I need to know.’
Being held close quietened Pam but she didn’t speak. Stephanie stroked her daughter’s head soothingly.
‘I know some of my jewellery and money’s gone missing. You’ve been bullied, haven’t you?’ she said, lifting Pam’s face to look at her.
‘Oh, sweetheart, we can sort it, don’t worry,’ Stephanie said. ‘I’m not cross with you.’
Stephanie pulled away slightly to get a look at Pam’s face once again but Pam clung to her mum’s jumper as if her life depended on it.
‘You’re safe now, baby, you’re safe. I told your dad there was something wrong. You were so … so quiet when we went to France. Tell Mummy what it is,’ Stephanie coaxed.
‘I’ve been raped, Mum.’
‘What?’ Stephanie yelled, as her heart stopped and she gasped for air.
Chapter Thirty
‘She’s never thirteen with tits like that,’ Billy said, looking at Pam’s image on the phone.
‘Nah, she were making it up so we wouldn’t do her,’ Danny said as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
‘Do you think she’ll blag?’
‘She can please herself, Billy. As far as I’m concerned, she was up for it. She was the one who gave us the come on. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it, right? And she told us she was sixteen, didn’t she?’ Danny said.
Billy looked confused. ‘No, she told us she was thirteen.’
‘She didn’t, she told us she was sixteen,’ Danny said, nodding his head and winking at his friend. Danny tutted. ‘If you had a brain you’d be friggin’ dangerous, man,’ he laughed.
‘She’s fit though, in’t she?’ Billy said, still studying her pictures.
‘Delete the one where you can see her bawling,’ said Danny.
‘Oh, yeah, smart. Are we still gonna see if we can see that copper’s daughter? I’m in the mood now.’ Billy gave Danny a cheesy grin.
‘Once you get the taste there’s no stopping you is there? Why not? I’m just worried that you might be becoming a bit of a cradle-snatcher, though,’ Danny scoffed.
Danny pulled up outside the school entrance. Within minutes Billy had spotted Sara Whitworth running out of the gates and he signalled to Danny. Her run soon slowed to a walk. When she was far enough up the road not to suspect them following her, Danny swung the car out of the lay-by and did a three-point turn in the road. Slowly and quietly the car crept close to the kerb behind her. At the very same point as the day before, she crossed the road towards the green and they knew she would walk towards the swings. Danny steered the car past her and laid on its horn. Sara didn’t give the car driver the satisfaction of a look as she put her nose in the air and walked on. Danny expertly steered the car at speed on the road leading to the children’s playground.
‘Drop me off at the car park near the picnic area,’ said Billy.
‘What you got in mind?’ asked Danny. Billy put his finger to his nose. ‘That’s for me to know and you to find out,’ he said.
‘Moron,’ said Danny.
Sara walked across the grass, swinging her schoolbag in the air. It was a lovely day and she tipped her face to the sky to catch the warm afternoon sun. Being stuck in a classroom all day wasn’t her idea of fun; she’d much rather be outside.
Billy squatted in the bushes, sniggering to himself. Seeing her pass, he leapt up and grabbed her round the waist. Before she could scream he had his hand over her mouth.
‘Tell your dad I’m repaying a debt. Tell him he doesn’t bully me or my mate and get away with it, right?’
&n
bsp; Sara gasped for air.
‘Keep looking behind ya’, cos next time I plan to rape you,’ he growled, rubbing his hand down her stomach towards her crotch. ‘Go, run – as fast as you can to daddy,’ Billy said menacingly as he released her from his grip. With a sinister laugh, he put a firm hand to her back and pushed her away from him.
At first, she shuffled a few steps, and then, when she knew she was free, she ran like the wind – or at least as fast as her wobbly legs would carry her. Billy turned, ducked back into the bushes and out the other side. Looking both ways, to make sure there was no one around, he ran quickly and jumped into the waiting black Subaru.
‘Go, go, go, Danny,’ he yelled at the top of his voice. ‘Maybe Daddy might think twice about kneeing people in the bollocks now, eh?’ he smirked, relaxing back in the passenger seat with a sigh of satisfaction.
His friend shook his head. ‘Thanks for that, mate,’ he said, throwing Billy an endearing look.
‘Wassock,’ he replied.
‘Fancy a McDonald’s?’ Danny asked, grinning.
‘Yeah, think I deserve a Big Mac.’
‘We’ll be on CCTV there. Good alibi, mate,’ said Danny.
‘You think of everything don’t you?’ Billy grinned.
It was reasonably quiet at McDonald’s and they got served straight away.
‘I think I’m in love,’ Billy cooed, as he threw his tray of food on a table. There was a young man sitting at a nearby table, tightly holding a bunch of flowers.
‘What’s your fucking problem, nobhead?’ Billy asked. The man stuck a middle finger in the air and resumed drinking his Coke through a straw.
‘Weirdo,’ Danny said, screwing up his nose.
‘I’m gonna have the fucking twat,’ said Billy. ‘Nobody does that to us and gets away with it, right, Danny?’ Billy rose from his chair and its legs scraped nosily on the tiled floor. The young man stared at Billy with deep-set dark eyes that were partly hidden under his woollen hat.
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