Broken

by Martina Cole

He looked down at the body of the young woman they knew was Sharon Pallister. Her eyes were staring up at them sightlessly. A milk whiteness seemed to have taken over her whole body. Her lips were a dark blue and the stab wounds in her throat looked like something from a slasher film.

  He wondered why he wasn’t retching as usual. It finally occurred to him that he was a veteran at last. They all talked about when they had finally become hardened and he’d secretly believed it would never happen to him. Last winter when they’d broken down a door and found the decomposed body of an old-age pensioner he’d had to have a week off work with pretend ’flu. But now he could stomach it, could take it without flinching.

  It had taken him ten years.

  ‘You are still under caution - remember that, Natasha.’

  The girl was sweating profusely now. She had thought her last run with them would have it finished. She was determined not to say a word and she knew that providing she kept to her story there was nothing they could do.

  They had woken her up from a well-deserved nap and she was still feeling groggy. To cap it all, Jenny and Kate had kept repeating the same questions over and over again. It was finally getting to her.

  ‘So, once more. Is Suzy the bird you supposedly gave the kids to? Only we think she is behind it all. Kerry Alston hasn’t got the brains to do it on her own; she’s like you - thick, stupid, needs someone to lead her by the hand. They knew what they were doing. Probably laughing up their sleeves at you. You gave them babies away cheap if you only knew it.’

  Natasha listened to Kate in distress. ‘I really don’t know what you mean about Suzy. She’s me mate.’ Her arrogance was gone now, worn down by their constant questioning.

  ‘Do you know Sharon Pallister?’ Kate asked.

  Natasha shrugged. ‘I know her face, yeah. I don’t really know her as such, why?’

  ‘She was found murdered in her flat today. Her little boy is missing. I wonder if we can tie you into this lot as well, only she was seen talking to you last week by a neighbour.’

  The news devastated Natasha. ‘I want a brief please.’ She was green-gilled with fear.

  Kate softened her voice. ‘You’ll get one, don’t worry. Now is there anything you want to tell me about Trevor Pallister? He’s in some of the photos with your kids, isn’t he? In glorious Technicolor. Also, the little boy murdered recently, who was found on the tip - he’s in the photos too. I mean, it seems to me that there are an awful lot of kids you know about that we need to know about, if that is simple enough for you to take on board. It all points back to you, Tash. Now Suzy has in effect walked, it looks like it’s all down to you, doesn’t it?’

  ‘I mean it, Burrows, I want a brief.’

  ‘You will have one when we see fit to let you have one,’ Jenny said impatiently. ‘Now answer our fucking questions! A child is on the missing list and we need to know where he is. He might be dead, then again he might not. But I have a feeling that wherever he is, you know more about it than we do. Now then, what were you talking about to Sharon last week?’

  Natasha licked her cracked lips. ‘Can I have a fag?’

  Jenny looked at Kate who nodded. They watched the girl light it, saw her trembling hands and heard her nervous cough. They knew they were rattling her.

  ‘She did the same as I did - borrowed her kid out.

  Trevor is three and he’s loud, so they were getting fed up with him. He’s quite an aggressive little boy and the playschool had told her that he was going to be excluded for his bad behaviour. That’s what we were talking about, I take oath. Plus I’ve just had a baby and she was asking me about that. The usual women’s things.’

  ‘Usual women’s things?’ Kate jeered. ‘What kind of woman gives her kids - oh, sorry, borrows her kids - to paedophiles? Talking of babies, aren’t you wondering where your newborn is?’

  Natasha shrugged.

  ‘He’s all right, Robert will make sure of that. He’s good, is Batey. All the girls love him. Poofy though he is, he’s a real kid-lover and tries to help when he can.’

  ‘You’ve changed your tune. He’s not too happy with you, is he?’

  Tash shook her head. ‘Nah, he goes like that sometimes. Honest, though, he’ll see me kids all right. He always does.’

  The girl’s careless acceptance of her children’s plight appalled Kate.

  ‘In fact, I want him here while I talk. I am under supervision and can request a social worker if I feel I don’t understand the questions,’ said Tash craftily.

  Kate shook her head and laughed.

  ‘You really are a piece of work, do you know that? You’re looking at fifteen years and still you can find it in your heart to have a joke. I admire you for that. Don’t you admire her, Jenny?’

  Jenny nodded and laughed as well. ‘I’d have thought you’d have been trying to help yourself, not putting yourself further and further in the shit. But then, you’re not exactly the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, are you?’

  She held up one hand and counted off on her stubby fingers.

  ‘One, we have evidence that you spoke to a woman who was later murdered. Two, we know through David Reilly that you were aware that his father was interfering with your children and other people’s. Three, you admit that you knew Sharon’s son Trevor was being borrowed, for want of a better word, to the same people. And four, you also knew that Suzy was the brains of the whole operation. On top of all that, Billy Reilly is in hospital and everyone round your flats knows why so we’ll have loads more statements putting your face in the frame, and yet still you sit there like you haven’t a worry in the world.’

  There was a knock at the door and Golding popped his head round.

  ‘May I see you, ma’am?’

  Kate nodded. As she walked from the room she heard Jenny asking Natasha solicitously if she would like a cold drink. She smiled. Jenny was going to start tripping the prisoner up - not before bloody time.

  In her office she raised an eyebrow at Golding.

  ‘Is it true, ma’am? That we can’t question Suzy Harrington?’

  ‘According to my superior, yes.’

  Golding smiled. ‘Suppose I was to find out where that order came from - would it help?’

  ‘It would. Can you?’

  He took out a photocopied sheet of paper and placed it on her desk.

  ‘This is a list of the calls Ratchette has taken today.

  From what his secretary says, he was OK until early this afternoon when he took a quick call from the Home Office. I’m guessing that this was the one that gave him the bad news.’

  ‘How did you get this?’ Kate asked. She had to hand it to him - it was good work.

  He held up his hands and said, ‘A policeman never divulges his sources.’

  They shared a laugh together and Kate found herself pleased that she had Golding on the team. He had amazed her in the last week and yet she had never liked him before and had thought he did not like her.

  ‘How’s Mr Kelly, ma’am?’

  She shrugged. ‘He has had the clot removed and now we all just have to wait.’

  Golding put a hand over hers and said kindly, ‘Well, we’re all rooting for him, ma’am.’

  This solicitude, especially coming from Dave Golding, was nearly her undoing. Sniffing loudly, she turned away and looked out of the window.

  She had put Patrick out of her mind all day. Now, such was the intensity of her emotion, he could have been in the room with her. When she composed herself and turned back to Golding, she saw the office was empty.

  She sighed heavily and picked up the sheet of paper he had left on her desk, looking through the names.

  Wondering once more at the kindness people could show when you least expected it.

  Chapter Twenty

  Evelyn was tired out. Her eyes felt as if they had been sprayed with hot sand. She was trying not to nod off in the chair by Patrick’s bed but it was difficult. The room was so hot it induced sleepiness within minutes
of sitting down.

  Violet and Grace had left, both happier than she had seen them for days. In fact, everyone seemed more relaxed, even the nurses.

  Patrick’s hand moved gently, his fingers half clenching, and she smiled to herself even though she knew it was reflex rather than deliberate movement. Everything seemed to indicate that the worst of it was over and Patrick was on the mend. She hoped against hope that was the case.

  Kate was due later and Evelyn would be pleased to tell her that everyone seemed optimistic. In a way it was for the good that her daughter was so busy. However demanding her work was, if it took her mind off the plight of the man lying in his hospital bed then Evelyn was grateful for it.

  In fact, she hoped Kate was detained for a long, long while, until something happened with Patrick. Something good.

  As she rubbed her eyes and adjusted her skirt to make herself more comfortable, a man walked into the room. He was big and heavy-set with long thick black hair and a handsome autocratic face.

  He glanced at her briefly, smiling as if he knew her, before walking to the bed.

  Inside, an alarm bell was ringing, telling Evelyn that this man could be trouble. But his relaxed attitude belied that and she found herself politely smiling back at him.

  ‘How did you get in, son?’

  He seemed surprised that she should address him - perhaps that she should dare to. Turning towards her, he looked her over from head to foot and Evelyn received the distinct impression, though his expression never changed, that he found her almost beneath his notice. She felt her hackles rise.

  ‘You have to speak to the ward sister before you can come in here,’ she said sternly.

  He just stared at her so in a softer voice she said, ‘Do you know Patrick? Only I can’t remember seeing you before.’

  He held out a large well-manicured hand and a smile transformed his face as he said heartily, ‘You are Patrick’s mother?’

  He had the same accent as the men who had searched Kate’s house. She looked at the door to see if Everton was sitting guard outside as usual but he was gone.

  Evelyn laughed nervously. ‘Jasus, no. I’m a sort of ex-mother-in-law. ’

  She saw the confusion on his face and flapped a hand at him. ‘Take no notice of me. Me mouth runs away like a drunk with a Giro!’

  He was still smiling, but she noticed he didn’t offer his name in return.

  ‘I am Evelyn, Kate’s mother,’ she explained. ‘Kate is Patrick’s girlfriend, or partner as they say these days. Though meself I thought you only had partners in a business. Then, I suppose a lot of marriages are businesses these days, eh?’

  He nodded, looking perplexed, and then glanced back at Patrick. Evelyn watched as he stared down intently at the figure in the bed.

  ‘He is much better now?’

  She nodded. ‘Well, he seems over the worst but we have to wait and see how he reacts to the operation. He had a blood clot removed from his brain, you see. He’s having another CT scan in the morning, if he doesn’t come out of his coma, and they’ll know more then.’

  The visitor was silent as he contemplated the man on the bed. He looked at all the tubes and the drips, eyes lingering on the catheter bag that hung down by the bedside. The sight made him avert his eyes as if he had been burned.

  ‘But he seems to be doing well? They think he will regain his strength?’

  Once more Evelyn shrugged. ‘He’s like all of us, son. In the hands of God Himself. Only He can decide our fate in the end.’

  He nodded agreement then, bowing slightly, he said courteously, ‘Thank you for the information. If he awakes tell him his Russian friend visited him.’

  He went to walk from the room and Evelyn pulled his arm gently. ‘Shall I give him a name, son?’

  He shook his head and bowed once more. Jasus but he was attractive, she found herself thinking.

  ‘He will understand my message.’

  Evelyn watched as every nurse, male or female, followed his progress from the ward. She herself stood and stared until he passed through the large double doors. Then she glanced at the bed.

  Whoever that was, he was almost certainly on a par with Patrick Kelly. She could tell just by looking at him that he was not a man to cross; she felt that unlike Patrick, the visitor’s natural authority wasn’t tempered by an innate kindness. In fact, for all his courtesy to her she’d known instinctively that he would have slit her throat without a second’s pause if she had somehow got in his way.

  Evelyn was thoughtful as she sat down and waited for something to happen - disconcerted without fully understanding why. When Everton wandered back to his chair outside the door, she wondered if she should mention the man’s visit. But she had a feeling he already knew about it. Though why she thought this she didn’t have a clue.

  Patrick had been gunned down in the street in broad daylight, yet Kate had not mentioned whether anyone was to be arrested for it, or if they had any idea who had done it. In fact, the more Evelyn thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

  With hindsight she wondered if her daughter knew who had shot him. And if so, why had she done nothing about it?

  Curious now, Evelyn settled herself back in her chair. She would get to the bottom of it all, let no one be in any doubt of that. Kate owed her a few explanations and once she thought the time was right her mother was going to insist on hearing each and every one of them.

  Suzy was a busy girl. In fact, she hadn’t had two minutes to herself since leaving the police station. Aware that she might be followed, she made her way cautiously to London where she went to see her old friend and confidant Lucas Browning.

  Once inside his flat she finally relaxed.

  He was sympathetic about her arrest and laughed with glee when she told him about her speedy release.

  ‘Good,’ he beamed. ‘I told you I had friends in high places, didn’t I?’

  Suzy was smiling like a Cheshire cat, so pleased with herself she was practically preening. In fact, for the first time in her life, she felt indestructible. It was a heady feeling. She had always known they enjoyed a level of protection, but the fact that it extended so far and in the face of such serious charges amazed and excited her. She was literally untouchable and she gloried in it.

  ‘So who did you use to get me a tug out of there?’

  Lucas shook his head reprovingly. ‘Never you fucking mind. You’ll mouth it all over the place if I tell you.’

  She grinned. ‘Really? Do I know them then?’

  He laughed loudly at that, throwing his head back and wheezing, ‘Everyone bleeding well knows him!’ Lucas wiped at his streaming eyes. ‘At least, anyone who’s anyone knows him. But for all that he’s a touch and I’m grateful for that.’

  ‘Ain’t we all!’

  They both celebrated their good fortune. Then Lucas remarked in a low voice, ‘I heard about Sharon Pallister. One of yours, wasn’t she?’

  Suzy wasn’t laughing now. In fact she was annoyed. ‘How did you know that?’

  He smirked. ‘I get to know everything, Suze - remember? That’s what gives me the edge.’

  ‘Well, fuck you and your edge! I have no idea who topped her. I reckon she might have been on the rough trade a bit, I wouldn’t put it past her. She was always after money. Honest, she’d be at me daily to try and earn a bit more and, I mean, I pay well, Lucas. You have to for what I expect for my clients. But it was never enough for Sharon, yet she weren’t on drugs, I’d take oath on that. No bloke that I knew of either so it was a bit of a mystery. Now she’s brown bread no one will ever know the score, I suppose.’

  ‘Is all your stuff safe? I mean, they might still seize it. We can’t stop them doing that.’

  ‘Don’t worry. It’s well hidden,’ she teased him. ‘Right under their noses, in fact.’ Then she laughed uproariously again. ‘One of me clients is Old Bill. He keeps it locked in the evidence room for me. He can make it appear or disappear. Whatever I want, he does. For a price, of course
.’

  ‘If only they knew . . .’

  She lit a cigarette and coughed herself red in the face.

  ‘I must give these fuckers up, Luke. They’ll be the death of me.’

  ‘Have you any idea where Sharon’s little boy is?’

  Suzy looked at him askance and said nastily, ‘What is this? The fucking third degree?’

  Lucas sighed as if she was boring him. ‘I just want to know, is the boy off with anyone you deal with?’

  Suzy sighed dramatically. Her voice was heavy with annoyance as she said, ‘Not that I know of and that’s the God’s honest truth. Sharon was a weirdo even by our standards. She was up for anything. Christ knows where the kid is.’

  She puffed on her cigarette and thought for a few seconds. ‘Whoever killed her stabbed her over and over. They was well upset. I can only assume they took the bleeding kid. Little fucker he was and all. Mouthy little git! All noise and aggression. But, like his mother, he would do anything for a chunky Mars bar and a can of Coke.’

  Lucas relaxed back in his chair.

  ‘I think it’s strange, that’s all. I’ve been thinking . . . I mean, all the girls who’ve been nicked have worked for you over the last year or so, right?’

  She nodded, frowning now.

  ‘All the women were from your estate basically or nearby. Yet you, it seems, have no idea who could have started off all this crap - which, I might add, brought the Filth to your door. I didn’t realise just how deep it was till you asked me to come in with you and I agreed to do some merchandising. But I did a little digging on me own - as I said earlier, I like to know what’s going on - and I found out that you were less than honest with me, weren’t you? Only you let me think that everything was hunkydory when it fucking well wasn’t. You must have known the Filth would start sniffing round at some point.’

  Suzy was getting annoyed and swallowed her temper with difficulty.

  ‘Have I ever got you a capture yet?’

  He didn’t answer her, just stared at her lazily.

  ‘Well, you fat bastard, have I?’

  ‘That ain’t the point, Suze, and you know it. I certainly don’t want one, thank you very much. Now I got you out the shit today, but if this keeps on and child abduction or murder comes into it, I can’t guarantee you my continued assistance. It’d be out of my hands. The papers are all over this like a fucking cheap suit, and my contact is getting worried. He did us a right favour then he finds out that the girl he put a word in for, put his neck on the line for, is maybe not just into noncing, a pastime he rather enjoys himself, but is also a contender for the big M. And of some kids, if you don’t mind. Kids, incidentally, who are caught up in a big abuse enquiry. So, Suzy love, you tell me all you know and you tell me now, dear heart, before I get upset. If I have put meself out to distribute videos and pictures of dead kids I’ll break your fucking neck.’