by Kitty Neale
‘In that case,’ Derek said, ‘I’ve got a suggestion. Why don’t we make this a regular thing? You baby-sit for us once a week and we’ll do the same for you.’
‘Oh yes, that’s sounds like a smashing idea.’
Derek was pleased with himself. When they had lived with Pearl’s mother in Winchester, she had been a readymade baby sitter and they’d enjoyed nights out. Since moving to Battersea they’d been mostly cooped up indoors night after night, but now that was all set to change.
What Derek couldn’t have known was that dark forces were gathering – and that the changes on the horizon were going to bring horror and heartache.
Chapter Forty-Two
‘When did you say that dealer is coming to take the rest of the furniture?’ Adrianna asked Kevin on Tuesday evening.
‘On Thursday.’
‘Good, as soon as he’s loaded it up, we can leave.’
‘Yeah, but for now, give us a cuddle,’ Kevin said, pulling her playfully onto the sofa.
She pushed him away, saying seriously, ‘Kevin, don’t you feel a bit bad about your mother coming back to an empty house?’
‘Not really. She’s completely lost it and I reckon it’ll be ages before they let her out. Even then I doubt she’ll be able to look after herself so I can’t see her living here. Anyway, as you’ve found out, it isn’t her place, or mine. It’s John’s, though he won’t inherit it until he’s eighteen.’
‘Why haven’t you told him?’
‘He’ll find out soon enough. My dad put his affairs in the hands of a solicitor and once they’ve identified his body, as far as I’m concerned, he can sort the will out. The funeral too.’
‘Aren’t you going to tell John that we’re leaving?’
‘No, I’m not. The fire service may have found remains at Vince’s house, but like my dad’s, I haven’t heard if they’ve been identified. Until they are, we won’t know whether Vince got out or not and I don’t want to leave a trail that could lead him to us.’
‘Yeah, good thinking,’ Lucy said.
Kevin continued, ‘Now that the telephone has been cut off, John won’t be able to ring me even if he wants to.’
‘You don’t seem a bit interested in your kid,’ Adrianna mused.
‘If I wasn’t leaving the country I’d have made an effort to get to know him, but there’s no point now,’ he said as he crooked his finger. ‘Now come here, you.’
Adrianna relented enough to allow Kevin a cuddle, but that was all and when he began to nibble her ear, she pulled away, saying sharply, ‘I’m not in the mood.’
‘Come on, Adrianna,’ he said, his tone insistent.
Something snapped inside her and she sprang to her feet. ‘I said no!’ she yelled, then began to pace the floor. ‘I’m sick of this. I can’t stand any more.’
‘Bloody hell, what’s brought this on?’
‘You’re no better than Vince, treating me like your property and keeping me a virtual prisoner. I couldn’t get away from him, and now I can’t get away from you.’
‘You’re not a prisoner. If you want to leave, there’s nothing to stop you.’
‘You know I can’t go anywhere without money, but as you’re holding it all, you know I’ve got to stay,’ she said angrily.
‘It’s my money, Adrianna.’
‘Yes, go on, rub it in; let me know you’ve got the upper hand and that I’ve got to dance to your tune. What you don’t seem to realise is that this relationship means nothing if I’m forced to stay with you.’
Kevin jumped to his feet and grabbing his jacket he pulled out a wallet from the inside pocket. ‘Here, I won’t hide it any more. If it means that much, you hold on to it. All I ask is that you don’t go until we leave together.’
Unable to believe it, she took the wallet. ‘I wouldn’t leave without you,’ she said, yet knew that if she wasn’t still worried about Vince, she’d be off like a shot. For now though, Kevin offered a bit of protection, and anyway there would be a bit more cash coming in from the sale of his mother’s furniture on Thursday.
In Battersea, Lucy was curled up beside Eddie on her sofa. He was pleased about the baby sitting arrangements and was planning where to take her on their night out.
‘How about the flicks?’ he asked.
‘I’m not sure there’s anything showing that I want to see.’
‘Dancing?’
‘No, thanks,’ Lucy said. ‘I haven’t been for years and haven’t a clue how to do the latest dances.’
‘Me neither, though I can do a pretty good smooch.’
‘Had a lot of practice, have you?’
‘Jealous, are you?’ he asked, grinning.
‘No, I am not,’ Lucy insisted.
‘Well if you are, there’s no need and I hope you realise that now.’
A small voice interrupted her reply. ‘Mum, my head hurts.’
‘Does it, darling? Come here and let me feel your fore head.’
Clive trotted over, but instead of remaining on his feet, he scrambled between them. When Lucy checked, he didn’t feel hot. ‘I don’t think you’ve got a fever.’
‘Can I stay up for a while?’ Clive wheedled.
‘Sweetheart, it’s way past your bedtime.’
‘Please, Mummy.’
‘No, Clive, you’ve got school in the morning.’
‘Come on, soldier,’ Eddie said as he stood up. ‘Let’s get you off to bed and I’ll read you a story.’
Clive trotted off without protest now, and Lucy had to smile. After his initial sulks and the endless vying for her attention, Clive now accepted Eddie and couldn’t spend enough time with him. It made her realise how much her son must have missed having a man in his life, and Eddie was so good with him.
As for herself, she had never expected to find a man who could replace Paul, but her feelings for Eddie were growing stronger and stronger. They were so different: Paul had been quiet, loving but introvert, whereas you could hardly say that about Eddie. Yes, he was loving, but he was mostly boisterous and joking, rather like a big happy kid most of the time. It was probably why Clive had grown so fond of him, the two of them romping around, or pretending to be cowboys with mock guns.
‘He’s gone out like a light,’ Eddie said when he returned.
‘He likes you.’
‘He’s a good kid and I like him too.’
‘Eddie, you know I said I’d like a long engagement?’
‘Yes, I remember.’
‘Can a girl change her mind?’
His eyes popped with astonishment. ‘What? You want to get married?’
‘Not right now, but maybe next year, perhaps in the spring.’
‘I don’t know,’ he said, straight-faced, as he stroked his chin in thought. ‘This is rather sudden and I’ll have to give your proposal some consideration.’
‘Is that a fact?’ Lucy said. ‘Well don’t take too long to think about it ’cos I might change my mind.’
‘In that case, let me see. I suppose if you insist on making an honest man out of me, I can hardly say no.’
‘You daft sod,’ she said, smiling. ‘Anyone would think I was twisting your arm.’
Eddie grinned as he held out his wrists. ‘I’m happy to put the shackles on, and next spring it is.’
Lucy was then pulled to her feet and into his arms which soon led to more. As Eddie swept her up to carry her into the bedroom, Lucy found that she was finally able to let go of Paul. She would always hold him in her heart, but this time when Eddie made love to her she was able to give herself to him completely. Their lovemaking took on a new dimension and when they finally reached a climax, there were tears in her eyes.
When Eddie saw them, he looked worried. ‘Lucy, what is it? Are you all right?’
The words were whispered, but as she said them, Lucy knew with all her heart that they were true. ‘I … I love you, Eddie. Don’t worry. They’re just tears of happiness, that’s all.’
She saw how his eyes lit up as he
gathered her into his arms again. ‘I love you too, Lucy. I always have and I always will.’
For a moment she felt a tremor of fear. Everything she had loved seemed to have been taken away from her. First her parents, then Paul, but no, she was being silly. She still had Clive, and now she had Eddie too.
It was going to be all right, of course it was. Sighing, Lucy relaxed into Eddie’s arms.
Chapter Forty-Three
He preferred the darkness. No one could see his face in the dark. It was two o’clock in the early hours of Wednesday morning as he went over the plan in his mind again. There was only Derek Lewis to worry about, but as he hadn’t been in a boxing ring for years, he was sure to have gone soft.
He nodded to the man by his side, and in minutes the rear door was efficiently and quietly forced open, both then pulling black balaclavas over their faces. His was too memorable to take risks.
He was the first to step inside and with stiff, gloved fingers he turned on a small torch that emitted a thin ray of light. There were no words exchanged, only their soft footfalls breaking the silence as they went upstairs to the bedroom where he knew they’d be sleeping. His informant had been a good one, and the layout of the flat was imprinted on his mind.
He paused with his hand on the doorknob to check that the other man was ready and receiving a nod he gently pushed it open to step inside. Even with the dim light of the torch it was swift, Derek subdued with a whack on his head before he even woke up. ‘Good work,’ the man told his accomplice and then ordered, ‘Now tie him up.’
He switched on a bedside light, and exchanged the small torch in his hand for a gun that had a silencer attached. Pearl Lewis’s eyelids fluttered and he pointed the gun at her face. ‘Wake up, sleepyhead.’
Her eyes suddenly opened, cloudy with confusion, but then they widened in fear. She opened her mouth to scream, but he clamped a hand over her lips, hissing menacingly, ‘If you utter a sound, I’ll kill you. Do you understand?’
She nodded, and as he removed his hand her head turned swiftly. She gasped, but as she was seeing her husband being trussed up like a chicken, he allowed that small sound. ‘Don’t worry. As long as you cooperate he’ll be fine.’
‘Wh … what do you want?’
‘Kevin Dolby.’
‘He … he isn’t here.’
‘I know that, but I think you know where I can find him,’ he said, but then there was a loud thump.
‘Shit! He came round a bit quick and I wasn’t expecting that.’
He saw that Derek Lewis had somehow rolled onto the floor and anger surged. ‘You idiot!’ he shouted at the man who was with him. It was the first time he’d used this bloke and it would be the last. ‘Put him out again!’
There was a satisfying crunch as the cosh landed, but with the sound Pearl Lewis screamed. She jumped out of bed, but the man grabbed her arm, digging his fingers cruelly into her flesh as he pressed the muzzle of the gun hard into her cheek. ‘Now tell me where Kevin Dolby is or next time your old man will get a bullet.’
‘He … he’s staying at his mother’s house.’
‘Is Adrianna still with him?’
‘Ye … yes, I think so.’
‘Address,’ he snapped and when there wasn’t an immediate response he dragged her to the other side of the bed. Derek Lewis was on the floor, out cold, and he pointed the gun at him. ‘I’ll give you to the count of three. One …. Two …’
‘No, no,’ she cried. ‘I’ll tell you.’
He listened as she stuttered it out, making a mental calculation of how long it would take him to get there, but then out of the corner of his eye he saw a movement in the doorway. He swung round to see a young lad, eyes wide with shock, yet he was so like Kevin Dolby that his guts clenched with hate.
‘Dolby’s spawn,’ he spat as he aimed the gun, about to pull the trigger when with a cry of anguish the woman swung round in front of him. As the bullet struck, her eyes rounded as though in disbelief, then she dropped to the floor.
‘Silly cow,’ he said; then issued instructions as the lad rushed towards his mother. ‘Grab the boy and tie him up, the woman too if she ain’t dead, and tape all their mouths. There’s another one to put out of action, an idiot I’m told. I’ll deal with her.’
Twenty minutes later, the car drove away and feeling stifled in the balaclava, Vincent Chase wrenched it off. Then he removed his gloves to reveal hideously scarred fingers and hands, which he knew matched his face. The doctors had offered plastic surgery, but Vince wasn’t going under the knife until he’d sorted out Dolby.
At first, when Adrianna had gone missing, he’d thought she had torched his place, but then one of his narks had told him that a bloke returning home after a burglary and watchful for other vehicles on the road, had seen her in a car with Kevin Dolby, heading out of London.
Vince’d been stuck in hospital, unable to do anything himself to find them, growing angrier by the day when his informants came up with nothing. It was only when his mind was clear of painkilling drugs that he’d remembered Kevin’s ex-wife and son, and now they had proved as useful as he’d hoped.
‘Head for Southsea,’ Vince ordered. Now that he knew where Dolby and Adrianna were holed up, he intended to make sure the pair of them suffered the same fate. They would experience the same searing agony as he had when their flesh burned and melted – but unlike him, they wouldn’t walk out of the flames alive.
Adrianna had been thrilled when she’d put Kevin’s wallet into her handbag. The money had given her a strange sense of power that had been reflected in their lovemaking. Kevin had been surprised when she’d taken the initiative, straddling him, yet as it was the first time that she hadn’t felt used, she’d found it liberating.
After a night of passion, they had fallen into an exhausted sleep, but Adrianna’s was disturbed by a nightmare and she was groaning. The smell of smoke was choking her, the nightmare so real that she woke up in a panic. She sat bolt upright in bed, perspiration soaking her body, trying to shake off her feeling of terror, but then found herself in a waking nightmare. The smoke was real! The room was full of it. Panicking, she jumped out of bed to run to the bedroom door. She opened it, but to her horror saw a wall of fire that was almost upon them and quickly slammed it shut.
‘Kevin! Kevin! Wake up.’
‘Wh … what?’ he mumbled sleepily.
‘Fire!’ she screamed, and hearing the crackle of flames licking at the door she knew that the window was their only means of escape. She frantically grabbed her handbag and flung it open, shouting, ‘Kevin! We’ve got to get out. The house is on fire!’
At last he responded, coughing as he dived out of bed to run to the door, unheeding as she yelled at him not to open it. As he flung it back the wall of flames burst into the room and engulfed Kevin in seconds, his whole body ablaze and his screams of agony horrific to hear.
In a blind panic, Adrianna scrambled onto the window ledge and jumped, landing with a jolt that knocked the breath out of her body. For a while she lay unmoving, sure she had broken something, but then as windows burst, showering glass, she managed to crawl away from danger.
Yet even then Adrianna didn’t feel safe and her heart thumped with fear. She was sure it wasn’t an accidental fire; that somehow Vince had survived, found them, and this was his revenge.
Vince wanted her dead, Kevin dead, and if he knew she had got out, he’d come after her.
Frantic, Adrianna hooked her handbag over her head and with it dangling in front of her she began to crawl again, passing rose bushes with thorns that tore at her skin and nightdress as she made for the shelter of the woods.
Only a small fence stood in her way now, and Adrianna scrambled over it, in the woods at last. Some way in, and behind a tree, she tentatively stood up. She was shivering with shock, sore, scratched and bruised, but otherwise unhurt. The horrific image of Kevin engulfed in flames flashed into her mind, and her stomach lurched. That had nearly been her – and she wasn’t
safe yet.
Fear drove Adrianna on and with bare feet she began to walk as fast as she could through the pitch-black woods, almost screaming out when a tree suddenly loomed up in front of her. Somehow she had to carry on, to stay out of sight and avoid any roads in case Vince saw her. All she had was her handbag, but with Kevin’s wallet inside, there was money, enough to get her out of the country she hoped.
The soles of her feet were in agony, and almost at the end of her tether, it was only Adrianna’s thoughts and plans that gave her the strength to carry on.
A new life beckoned, far away from Vince, and Adrianna stumbled towards it.
Chapter Forty-Four
Disorientated when he came round, Derek groaned against the agonising pain in his muscles. He tried to move, but his wrists were tied behind his back and his ankles were bound too. Something was stuck over his mouth and he worked his jaws futilely in an attempt to remove it.
He heard a strange noise, but when he lifted his head his eyes closed against the pain. That sound again – it was coming from behind him and with a supreme effort he rolled over.
Derek’s mind screamed out against the sight that met his eyes. Pearl was on the floor, bound, and her nightdress was covered in blood, so much blood!
John was trussed up beside her and the strange noises were coming from him as he tried to talk through the tape over his mouth. The boy’s eyes were rounded in panic, his face wet with tears as he began to fight unsuccessfully to free himself from the bindings. Derek tried too, but his frantic efforts were as useless as John’s.
Derek rolled again and made it to Pearl’s side, but seeing how deathly white she looked, a cry of sheer agony that couldn’t find release through the tape over his mouth sounded like the bellow of a bull.
His head swam, he felt sick, dizzy, and moments later Derek returned to a dark void, unaware that John was now gripped in the terror of claustrophobia. He’d been crying; his nose so stuffed up that he felt he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to rip the tape from his mouth, but with his arms tied behind his back it was impossible and his eyes were wild with fear as he desperately sought air.