The Truth Will Out

by Karen J Mossman

  Kelly then hit the concrete floor hard, feeling like she was going to explode. The pain was excruciating. Before she could think about it, a blue trainer came flying towards her chest. Sue was angrily ranting, but everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The shock was imploding inside her. Another blow reached her stomach, winding her and making her cough and gasp bile. She almost choked on it as another kick landed hard against her side. Her face was wet and sticky as the blows continued.

  The pain came in waves, rolling in again and again until she was numb. She cried out as the shoe pulled back and smashed into her mouth. She was going to die.

  Eventually, everything stopped and went quiet. The sound of the traffic ceased. No more blows were delivered.

  Slowly, Kelly opened her eyes. She could hardly see, the swelling almost blinding her. One eye was blurry, the other not much better. Something trickled down her head, moving in a congealed mass. It pooled around her face and moved upwards as it flooded around her head. It trickled into her nose and mouth, making her splutter. As she tried to cough, it felt like someone was trying to sever her head from her body. Gurgling, Kelly was drowning in her own blood.

  Her automatic reflexes kicked in; coughing, she moved her head so she was looking up. Her heart beat rapidly as the blood trickled into her ears, tormenting her into crying out again. Feeling confused and frightened, Kelly was unsure of where she was, and what she was doing there. Where had all this pain come from?

  It was like she was staring out through a tunnel, a pinprick of life, and she couldn’t understand what was covering her eyes.

  Her body wouldn’t move, her arms stayed where they were, even though she couldn’t feel where that was. Her legs were completely useless, and the pain wrapped itself around her like barbed wire. She was alone and dying and never thought it would end like this.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Sarah and Kelly

  I knew I couldn’t stay here. My mind was full of memories of my other life. I was going to fight for Sarah because I didn’t like Kelly. She let herself be used and was afraid of saying no. I suppose she did love Johnny once, back in the beginning. Maybe she just loved his money. God! I was so fickle!

  When Johnny first hit me, it was such a shock. Pete rescuing me was the turning point. Deep down, I knew I had to get out and stay out. I just didn’t expect it to happen the way it did.

  I suffered a stroke as a result of the attack. It affected my speech, and I found it difficult to walk. I was in a rehabilitation centre for twelve months, learning everything again. I also learned to hate myself. I was depressed, who wouldn’t be? I used to stare at my lopsided face in the mirror. I’d smack it in disgust. Strangely, they said I stimulated the nerves. Hell of a way to do it. Now, you can hardly tell. I can, but no one else seems to notice.

  I remember Johnny coming to see me as I lay helpless in bed. I’ll never forget the look on his face. He liked pretty things. He stood and stared at me. The first thing he said was, who the fuck did this? Not how are you, darling, K, I love you darling, K. He didn’t touch me either, he briefly patted my hand, but gave me no comfort.

  Pete came after Johnny. He looked upset, not angry. He came straight to me and scooped his arm gently around my shoulder and brought me to him. We weren’t usually tactile with each other.

  “Oh my God, Kelly.” He kissed my head above my ear. Pete with his gruff and heavy-handed manner was making me feel loved, and that made me cry.

  I blubbered all over his suit shoulder and he didn’t seem to care. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but couldn’t even do that. He just got a tissue, wiped it off and took another and wiped my face gently with it. He even managed to smile.

  “Just remember,” he said, “You’re strong and you can get over this. It may take a while, but so what? Just get better, Kelly. Do you know who did it?”

  I nodded.

  “Find a way to tell us. Johnny’s going crazy, and everybody is looking for someone to pay.”

  Eventually, I found a way to tell them and the police who it was. Luckily for Sue, the police got to her first.

  When I had been at the centre for a few months, the administrator came to me. That was strange in itself. She told me I had visitors and I was to come with her. Anyone who visited me generally came directly to my room. So I knew something was going on.

  “Would you like to go in a wheelchair, or walk?” Tina, the administrator, asked.

  “Why? Where are we going?” My voice still sounded like I had been drinking.

  “To the offices at the other end of the corridor,” she said.

  I reached for my walking stick. “I need the practice.”

  Following her, I watched her heels click along the floor. Her calves were firm and a well-tailored dress hung to her knees. She was elegant in the way she carried herself.

  That used to be me.

  Now I wore nothing but flat shoes and shuffled as I walked. I’d recently graduated from crutches, and it was still an effort. My physiotherapist’s instructions were to stand tall and not lean on my stick. Tina made walking look easy.

  She turned to me and smiled, obviously checking to see I was still with her.

  I used to be attractive until I started dribbling.

  I was tired by the time I got there. I should have had a wheelchair after all. Tina opened the door and a man and woman stood up to greet me.

  “Kelly Burns?” The woman asked as I nodded, looking warily at them.

  “I’m Detective Inspector Katherine Wright from the Serious Crime Squad and this is Detective Sergeant Barry Nook. Please take a seat won’t you?”

  I sat down, staring at them, feeling nervous. I wondered if this was to do with Sue or Johnny. They said serious crime and I wondered which of the two was serious enough for them to come here.

  “I’ll cut straight to point,” Inspector Wright said, opening a file on her lap. “We know that Johnny Hatton runs a loan company and that you are involved in that.”

  “Well, not really,” I said quickly.

  “We’re not here to accuse you of anything,” Nook said.

  “He also owns a transport business,” she continued, “where we know he brings in drugs.”

  “I don’t know anything about that either.”

  “Kelly, just listen to what we have to say,” DI Wright said in a patient voice. “We also know he smuggles in people and drugs from abroad. Nook?”

  I looked at them as if I was shocked. Part of me was, but the other knew about it. I’d turned a blind eye because I didn’t like it and pretended not to know what they were really talking about. In fact, I just buried my head in the sand. If I didn’t know about it, it wasn’t happening.

  “He recruits local children to help him sell drugs, and he traffics people, making them work for him. We’ve raided a couple of the houses they’re using for brothels, but we can’t get enough evidence to take him down. We have to stop him making people’s lives a misery.”

  My heart was in my mouth as I absorbed what they were saying. I had no idea about the brothels and kids. How could I have not known? I put my finger tips to my forehead and squeezed my eyes shut. Johnny, Johnny, what have you been doing?

  Money, said a little voice in my head. It’s all for money. What kind of fool did that make me? Money doesn’t make people happy. God! I certainly wasn’t.

  “What do you want?” I asked looking up.

  “We want Johnny Hatton, Pete Smith, and the rest. We want to a put a stop to them and put them away.”

  I felt nauseous.

  “Why’ve you come to me?” But I already knew.

  “Because,” said Nook. “We want you to help us.”

  I laughed, “What makes you think I would?” I wasn’t going to make this easy for them. I needed thinking time and knew whatever it was, I would do in the end. This was perhaps the out I had been waiting for.

  “Because,” DI Wright picked up again. “We’re giving you a chance to do the right thing, K
elly. We know your involvement and luckily for you, you haven’t committed any major crimes. But you can help us bring them down.”

  I took a deep breath and looked over their shoulders at the supposedly tranquil painting on the wall. It looked as if someone had painted it by numbers, but even so, it made me think of the retreat and how I’d missed my yoga. I locked eyes with Wright.

  “Why? Why would I help you? Johnny is my boyfriend, Pete’s my friend.”

  “We’re going to bring Hatton down anyway,” Nook said. “And anyone else we can take down with him.”

  “You haven’t answered my question. Why would I help you?”

  “Because we can offer you a new life.”

  “What makes you think I want one?” I was getting annoyed. Hadn’t I been through enough? What I meant was, I was scared.

  “We’ve been doing some investigating and know all about you, Kelly. We think you want out, anyway.”

  I stared at them. “How could you possibly know that?”

  “Well,” carried on Nook. “We’ve spoken to Mr and Mrs Castley, for one.” They owned the retreat.

  “Jesus! You had no right.”

  “We do. We have every right, and you have a right to live without fear of being beaten up.”

  I was embarrassed. I wasn’t sure if they were referring to Sue and my shame about the dress, or the fact that I let myself get knocked around by Johnny.

  “You’d have to testify in court. Help us put them all away. We really want Hatton. He is the main target,” said Wright.

  Nook continued, “In return, we’ll put you in witness protection. You could have a new life, Kelly. Away from all this.”

  “I couldn’t,” I said. How could I spill the beans on Johnny? “He’d kill me.”

  “We’d protect you. There’s no way he’d be able to locate you,” said Nook. “Think about it and we’ll come back in a few days.”

  The trial lasted eight months. For eight months, I lived under protection. I was moved about and guarded 24/7. I couldn’t look at Johnny as I gave evidence, but I knew he was staring right at me. The only time I was brave enough to look at him was when I told them how he first hit me. I suppose I wanted to make a point. His face remained impassive, and I couldn’t help thinking how handsome he looked sitting there. He never let his standards drop. He always arrived dressed in a suit, playing the game till the end.

  He was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years. I was given a new life in Manchester.

  I loved my new life, it was peaceful, and my yoga classes kept me balanced. I loved where I lived, and Abby was the best friend I ever had.

  This time, I was going to fight for what I had. Johnny was not going to control me again.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Sarah

  It almost felt unfair to be in the hospital again. But here I was.

  Ryan had gone off to have the number checked and do whatever it is coppers do. I was looking forward to Abby’s visit later.

  The door to my room opened and a man wearing a blue motorcycle helmet came in. He was carrying a bunch of flowers.

  “Delivery for Sarah.”

  “Oh, thanks,” I said, looking at the red roses wrapped in cellophane and paper.

  He laid them on my bed. The visor on his helmet was up and there was something about the way he looked at me. Something about his eyes. I had seen them before. He turned quickly and left. As I watched him disappear down the corridor, I felt a little perturbed.

  Reaching over, I picked up the roses. They seemed heavier than they should be. I pulled back the paper and immediately saw something long and thin amongst the stalks. I ripped it open and a large dead rat fell out. It had been cut right down the underbelly. All its guts spilled out on the bed - red and shiny.

  I screamed, leapt up, and started hyperventilating. The blood and guts slowly slid down the bed covers leaving long strings oozing to the floor.

  Screaming like a banshee, I slammed myself into the corner of the room, covering my head with my hands.

  Then everything went black.

  I fainted again. When I came around, I was in a wheelchair being moved rather quickly to another room.

  “We’ve called the police,” Janet, the nurse who had been looking after me, said. “Keep your head down, it will keep you from feeling dizzy.”

  I was taken into the lift, down to another floor, and wheeled along a corridor. This was getting crazy. I was scared.

  Once inside, Janet filled a glass with water and told me to sip it. She sorted out my bed as I tried to keep calm, even though I was shaking as if I was cold.

  “I’ve got a terrible headache,” I told her.

  “I’ll give you something for it in a moment, let me just make this comfortable for you. You’ve had a nasty shock; it would have scared me, that one. How awful. Who would do that?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, miserably. Johnny could reach out from prison. People would still do his bidding. He’d never have forgiven me for what I did.

  I couldn’t see it being any of the others and Pete, well hopefully, he was the only one who got away. I had no idea what happened to him.

  Janet helped me to bed, took my temperature, and placed a cuff on my arm to take my blood pressure.

  Pete had been so angry. I’d never seen him like that, at least never aimed at me.

  “You’ve done what?” He roared, as I told him when he came to visit me at the rehabilitation centre. I was much better by then and could speak coherently.

  “Pete, I’m sorry. I have to get out. Johnny just, just...” I nervously tried to explain it to him.

  “Jesus fucking Christ!” He ran his hands through his hair and stalked around the room. He was silent for a moment and then continued yelling, “I thought you loved him! Jesus, I don’t get this! If you wanted out, why the fuck didn’t you come to me? We could have worked something out.”

  “It couldn’t last. You know that. Sooner or later, he was going to get caught. They were already investigating him. Pete! He’s trafficking people!”

  “Don’t tell me you didn’t know what was going on,” he said, turning to face me.

  I stood my ground, well, sat my ground, as I was in the chair. “I didn’t, well not really. Look, Pete, I’m giving you a chance here.”

  I tried to make him see that I was doing the right thing for him. I wasn’t just dropping him in it. I couldn’t do that.

  “That’s good of you, Kelly, I’m so glad we’re friends and can trust each other.”

  “Oh don’t be like that, I know it’s a shock. If we weren’t friends, I wouldn’t be warning you, would I?”

  “Thanks,” he said. “Bloody great, very thoughtful.” He opened the door and stormed out.

  “Pete...” I got up from the chair and saw him striding off down the corridor. And that was it. That was the last time I saw him.

  Now, sitting on my bed, I couldn’t help wondering if he had found me and decided I needed to be taught a lesson. Friends didn’t do that to each other, did they?

  I had to do what I did, and it always meant giving Pete an out. At least he took it, but surely he wouldn’t track me down this way? He wouldn’t hold a grudge, I said trying to convince myself.

  The police arrived and took a description of the man who gave me the flowers. What could I tell them? A bike helmet?

  Later, Janet told me they were swarming all over the floors looking for him. He was probably long gone, on his bike and into the wind as they say. I got up and went over to the bedroom window and stared out. I actually had a view this time. It was over the front of the hospital. Yes, there were several police cars parked outside, and I could see them milling around in their dark uniforms like mice hunting for food.

  All this fuss for me. I ought to be flattered they were looking out for me, but I didn’t want this. Damn it, where the hell was Ryan?

  He finally arrived and looked at me with worried eyes, as if he really cared. I hoped he did. I couldn’t deny my
feelings for him anymore.

  I was sitting up in bed by then, my headache easing after medication. I was hugging my knees with my head resting on them and wishing it would all go away when he walked in.

  The policeman standing outside my door didn’t stop me from feeling vulnerable, and I was so glad Ryan was finally here.

  I wasn’t ready to die yet. I know a dead rat couldn’t technically kill me, but I might have died of fright or fainted, knocking my head on something hard. So I could end up killing myself, anyway.

  “How do you feel?” Ryan asked, his eyes scrutinising me closely. He was wearing a pale blue shirt under his bomber jacket and it picked up the flecks of his eyes. Jeez, why did I have to meet someone like him when I wasn’t my best? Most of all why did he have to be a policeman?

  “Life is a barrel of laughs, isn’t it, Inspector?” He stood at the end of my bed, staring at me in that thoughtful way of his.

  “Well, I wouldn’t call it that, exactly. How do you feel?” He asked again.

  “Like shit,” I said. “How do you think?”

  “Just as I expected, then.” He almost grinned, and I couldn’t help but smile. I was glad he was here.

  “I don’t suppose you found a blue helmeted cycle guy hanging around anywhere did you?”

  “No.” He came around and sat down on the bed beside me. “We’ve sent the rat off to be analysed.”

  I looked surprised. “Fun day for someone in your department, then.”

  “Be serious for once, Sarah. This is dangerous for you, right? You shouldn’t treat it lightly.”

  “Oh, I can assure you I’m not. I’m trying to keep myself sane and need to get out of here quickly.”

  “Well, we agree on that. I don’t want you here, and I’m arranging a safe house.”

  “A Safe House? I’ve seen those in films and particularly remember the bit where the smoke alarm goes off and everyone has to evacuate. Or the killer knocks on the door posing as someone else... what?”

  He was shaking his head, almost laughing. “You’re an idiot!”