by Jacqui Rose
Jodie looked at the large white-faced clock on the wall, watching the second hand go round, and as she watched it she knew she had to; wanted to, finish what she’d started.
With a quick close of the eyes before she made her move, Jodie took a large step backwards, determined to get out of the room as quickly as possible. One more step took her to the large empty room, and even though she was still as quiet as she could be, she picked up her pace.
Once outside and in the corridor, Jodie began to run. Back along the hallway, past the rubbish and needles, taking the stairs three at a time. She skidded round the corridor to the second- floor landing, did a quick check behind her and made her way along to the far end to a black door.
She began to look through the bunch of keys in her hand. Her fingers fumbled as she hurried to find the right one; many a time she’d had to use them when Mr Lee had asked her to store things in the room, but now under pressure all the keys looked the same to Jodie. She tried the large silver one but it didn’t fit. Then the next one, a smaller version of the first. She was sure it was this one, but again the key didn’t fit. She refused to panic as she continued listening out for evidence of anyone stirring.
Her fingers continued to jumble through the keys and Jodie was aware of the rattle which sounded and echoed around the hall. Her hand was shaking so much she could hardly manage to fit the key in the lock. She turned it and immediately she heard a click. The door was unlocked.
Exhaling to steady herself, Jodie pushed open the door.
52
Chloe-Jane turned, startled by the light and by whoever it was entering the room. Terror and panic took hold of her, her eyes wide with fear. She screamed, but the gag cutting into her stopped the noise from sounding out. She pulled on her restraints, feeling them dig into her wrists. Instinctively, she wriggled her body in a frantic, hopeless attempt to get away from her tormentor. And then she heard it.
‘Chloe!… Chloe-Jane, it’s Jodie.’
Chloe stopped moving, and stared as more light broke into the room. What did she want? Why was she here? The questions shot through Chloe’s mind as she felt her hands being untied.
‘Chloe, I’m going to get you out of here, but you can’t make a sound.’
Jodie pulled the gag off Chloe, but she didn’t say anything. She only stared at her. How could she trust Jodie now? Was this some kind of game? Would Mr Lee be waiting outside the door?
Jodie untied Chloe’s last restraint on her foot. ‘Chloe, come on. We’ve got to go.’ But Chloe didn’t move; there was no way she was going with Jodie, no way. Wherever she wanted to take her, she suspected it would be somewhere worse, if that was even possible.
‘Please, Chloe … What you doing? You’ve got to go … Now!’ Jodie crouched down and pleaded with Chloe-Jane but she sat huddled up in the corner, not moving; barely blinking. Jodie tried again, desperate to persuade her friend to move.
‘If you stay here, you’ll get caught, Chloe … They’ll come, and then there’s nothing I can do. Do you understand what I’m saying, Chloe?’
Again, Chloe chose to stay silent but this time, Jodie jumped up. ‘Stay there, Chloe … Just stay there.’
Jodie ran out of the room, turning left to where the other door was. She hurriedly went through the keys, occasionally checking behind her. It took four attempts until she found the right one to open the large grey door.
Flinging it open, Jodie stepped inside, then ran across the room and crouched down.
‘I’m Jodie, Mr Jennings, I’m here to get you out. Chloe-Jane’s in the next room, but she’s in shock, and she’s refusing to leave. We have to hurry …’
Jodie used the penknife in her pocket to untie Alfie’s ropes. He, like Chloe-Jane, was almost in too much of a state of shock to move and needed help from Jodie to scramble up.
‘Where is she? Where’s Chloe-Jane?’
Without answering, Jodie led Alfie out into the corridor and into the room where Chloe-Jane was. She hung back by the door, watching to make sure no one was coming.
Alfie crouched down to Chloe, taking her face in his hands.
‘Hello darlin’.
Chloe-Jane could only manage a weak smile, but her face lit up as she looked at her Uncle Alfie.
‘Now, you need to listen to what I’m saying … Jodie here is going to help us to get out.’
Chloe’s voice was small. ‘We can’t trust her.’
Alfie stroked Chloe’s hair. ‘We can, darlin’. And if we can’t what have we got to lose? And anyway, I’m here. Ain’t no one going to hurt you when I’m around.’
‘I … I … I don’t know.’
‘Well, I do. And what about that holiday I’m going to take you on, hey? If we don’t move our backsides, ain’t no one going anywhere. And perhaps, your friend here can come with us … can’t you babe?’ Alfie turned to Jodie who smiled, but there was sadness in her eyes. He turned back to Chloe, continuing to soothe her. ‘So come on sweetheart, let’s go whilst we still have the chance.’
‘Please, you’ve got to hurry.’ Jodie spoke to both Alfie and Chloe.
‘Okay, babe we’re coming; ain’t we Chloe-Jane?’
Chloe-Jane nodded, getting up slowly. She walked to the door, stopping by the side of Jodie. For a moment she didn’t say anything, then she took her hand and smiled, holding her friend’s gaze. ‘Thank you, Jodie.’
Jodie didn’t reply, unable to trust herself to hold back the tears, instead she looked at Alfie.
‘Follow me, but you have to be real quiet. We’ll go to the main entrance to get out, it’s the quickest way but it’s also past some of the girls’ rooms.’
Alfie nodded, leading Chloe out of the room with him as Jodie went on ahead. At the end of the corridor, Jodie signalled for them to stop.
‘Wait, let me check there’s no one there.’ She crept out to the main stairwell, looking up and down the stairs, making sure there was no sight of Mr Lee or any of the girls.
‘It’s fine. Let’s go.’ Jodie waved her hand, leading them down the stairs, quietly, quickly, on alert to any possible danger. She waited for Alfie and Chloe – who were slightly behind – to catch up, and taking Chloe-Jane’s hand, she guided her down the last flight of stairs.
‘We’re nearly there, Chloe, we’re nearly there.’ Chloe squeezed Jodie’s hand, seeing the main entrance door in front of her now.
Jodie didn’t need to fumble through the keys, she knew which one it was. She’d watched Mr Lee on many occasions. Taking the largest silver key, Jodie could feel her heart begin to beat faster as she turned the lock. It clicked. Open. Open to freedom.
‘Go!… Go on!’ Jodie pulled the door wide, and as Alfie and Chloe began to run through the door, she pulled something out of her pocket and shoved it into Chloe’s hand.
Chloe stared at Jodie, alarm embodying her whole being. ‘Aren’t you coming?’
‘Yes … Yes, but give me a minute. I’ll follow you … Go on! Go on!’
Chloe-Jane looked bewildered. ‘Jodie!… You’ve got to come.’
‘I am … I am, but you need to go, I’ll wait to make sure no one’s coming. I know what I’m doing.’
‘But …’
Alfie grabbed Chloe-Jane, and began to pull her. ‘Come on.’
‘Go Chloe, I’ll be right behind you.’ She turned to Alfie. ‘The best way is to go back round the building, down the alleyway and keep following it until you get to the main road.’
Alfie nodded pulling Chloe-Jane with him. The next moment, the two of them began to run.
Jodie watched them disappear. She whispered the words to herself and smiled. ‘Goodbye Chloe-Jane … Goodbye.’
Closing the door, Jodie slowly walked up the stairs. Not worrying now whether anyone saw her, or anyone heard her. She had done what was needed to do, she had made sure her friend was safe, and now there was only one more thing left to do. And she was ready.
53
‘Where is she?… Where’s Jodie?’ Chloe-Jan
e cried hysterically as the cab driver drove them back to Soho.
Alfie looked out of the window. ‘I don’t think she’s coming, babe.’
‘What do you mean?… She said she would … She said she was coming. We’ve got to go back. We’ve got to go back!’
‘Chloe, are you crazy? We can’t go back, we only just got away with our lives. If we waited for her any longer … well …’ Alfie trailed off, unable to say anything reassuring.
Chloe shook her head, and then she remembered Jodie had shoved something in her hand. It was ridiculous but in the chaos, she’d just pushed it in her pocket and hadn’t thought about it. She pulled it out. It was a letter. Pink, with her name written neatly on the envelope.
Quickly she ripped it open.
Dear Chloe-Jane,
By the time you read this, I imagine you’ll be back at home. Home … wow! That’s a nice thought Chloe, to think of you back where you belong; with your family. I know how important they are to you but I also know how lucky they are to have you, like I was lucky to have you as my friend. Don’t forget that Chloe. Don’t let nobody tell you that you ain’t special. You’re the best friend I ever had and being with you made me happy. And I ain’t been happy for a long time, until you came along of course. Chloe, please forgive me for letting you down. I should never have picked you but I knew I would like you straight away. And although the reasons for picking you were for the wrong reasons I’m glad I did, otherwise I would never have got to know you. I’m sorry for everything Chloe, but most of all I’m sorry that I won’t be able to see you again. I know you’ll be alright and I know you would have wanted me to come with you, but it ain’t where I belong. But I’m okay, you made it okay for me. Promise me you won’t forget me and please don’t be sad Chloe-Jane, ’cos you and me have been sad too long. I love you.
Jodie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ps. Don’t let that Uncle of yours be a knob.
54
Knowing that Chloe-Jane was going to be okay made Jodie feel much better. And now here she was, sitting at the window of her favourite room at the top of Mr Lee’s building after she’d managed to open the door with the set of keys she’d got hold of.
From there she could see all of the rooftops, all of the cars and people below, unaware she was there watching them as they went about their business. Many a night she’d slunk up to this spot, doing nothing but sitting and thinking, then Mr Lee had discovered her there sometime last year and he’d kept it locked from that time on. This was the first time she’d been there since.
Jodie sighed, a calm peace resting on her young shoulders.
She locked the door, then pulled a chair to the middle of the room and climbed onto it. She lifted her jumper up, making it easier for her to pull the belt from the loops of her jeans. With the belt in her hand, Jodie calmly threw it over the exposed metal beam before making a noose with it.
She placed her head in the noose then adjusted the belt to sit under her jaw, resting just on her neck. She closed her eyes for a moment, at peace for the first time in her life. Opening them again, Jodie took one last glance around the room and without another thought, she stepped off the chair. It was finally over.
55
‘Please, Franny; please,’ Chloe-Jane begged both Franny and Lola as she sat up in bed.
‘No, love. It ain’t sensible.’ Lola looked at Alfie, who’d washed and changed but still looked in a bad way. He hadn’t said much when he’d rung the bell and stumbled in with Chloe. He’d asked to see Franny who’d she’d called straight away and who’d come without hesitation.
As for Chloe, she hadn’t said anything either. She and Franny had run the girl a bath and helped her to get washed, and that’s when they’d seen the cuts and bruises on her back.
‘What’s that, love? What happened?’ Lola had stared, open-mouthed in horror as she saw Chloe’s back.
‘Nothing; it ain’t anything.’
Franny had then taken Chloe’s hand and urged her to talk, insisting that she tell them what had happened. It’d taken over half an hour to persuade her to say anything, and then she had simply said:
‘They did it … They did.’
‘Who honey, who are they?’ Franny had pushed some more, but Chloe had said nothing else – until now that was, but none of them were any the wiser of how and what had happened to her.
Alfie interrupted, realising that Chloe was desperately worried about Jodie. ‘Sweetheart, it ain’t a question of just being able to go and get her. She had her chance to come and for whatever reason she decided not to. It was her choice.’
Chloe-Jane shook her head. ‘No, Uncle Alfie, you don’t understand, she wasn’t happy there. The only reason she was with Mr Lee was because she had nowhere else to go. The stuff we had to do …’
Chloe stopped and looked round the room, all eyes on her. Franny walked over to the bed, sitting down on it gently.
‘What stuff, Chloe?’
‘I dunno.’
Franny took her hand and urged her on. ‘You do know, Chloe. Whatever it is, you can tell us. You won’t be in trouble.’
Chloe chewed on her lip. She wanted to tell them what had happened to her, she really did. But what if she told them and they didn’t want her around them anymore?
‘I don’t know … I …’
Alfie decided to take control. He marched over to the bed and sat down, staring in Chloe-Jane’s eyes. ‘I haven’t said thank you yet, darlin’ … Truth is, I’m not quite sure how. Me words ain’t good enough and they ain’t big enough but if you put your hand on me heart you might be able to feel it bursting. Look, feel … Can you feel it, Chloe?’ Alfie took her hand and placed it on his chest. ‘You risked your life for me. You did that, Chloe. You found me in that basement and you promised to come back for me with help, and when you couldn’t find any, then you still came back regardless. Do you realise how brave you were, babe? You took on them bastards like you was bleedin’ Wolverine, and there’s no way I can really pay you back for what you did.’
‘No, but make sure you make him try, he can start by getting that tidy little pink Chanel handbag up in the window of Selfridges.’ Lola cackled, smiling at them both.
Alfie continued, winking at Lola, and trying not to catch Franny’s eye. He was too ashamed of himself. ‘She’s right, Chloe, I will try, and I haven’t forgotten about that holiday I said I’d take you on. I’m a man of me word … Okay, sometimes that hasn’t always been the case, but I’m going to look after you and that don’t just include designer gear, it includes making sure you’re alright. And that means not letting you keep secrets. Fuck knows, Chloe, they’ll come back and bite you in the end; just look at what’s happened to me. So go on, darlin’, tell us, whatever it is.’
Chloe looked round at them all, then took a deep breath before saying, ‘It was sex stuff. Bad stuff. Like for the internet.’
Alfie clenched his fists. ‘Go on, Chloe, carry on.’
‘I thought it would be the usual, you know, the stuff you get with normal punters.’
‘What do you mean?’
Chloe glanced at Alfie. She put her head down. ‘You know – when I was working the street, it was just the normal stuff like blow jobs, full sex and anal sex.’
Franny gasped, but she quickly put her hand over her mouth not to make Chloe think she was judging her. How could she have missed it? It was so obvious now that Chloe was saying it. She should’ve spotted it a mile away, and Franny was ashamed to think it, but maybe the reason she didn’t see it was she’d wanted to bury her head in the sand and not have to deal with anyone else’s problems.
‘So when Jodie asked me to …’
Alfie interrupted, his voice loud. ‘Jodie asked you. I knew that little tramp would’ve had something to do with it.’
‘Please Uncle Alfie, it wasn’t like that. Jodie was my friend. She was as caught up in it as me.’
‘But if she hadn’t got you involved in the first place, Clo.’
&nb
sp; Chloe looked at her uncle, desperate for him to see what she was trying to say to him. ‘It wasn’t as simple as that. And don’t forget, she was the one who got us out of there. Without her, we’d be dead.’
Alfie didn’t say anything else as the words resonated.
‘Anyway, Mr Lee didn’t want the guys to have sex with me, he wanted them to hurt me.’
Lola shook her head, she’d seen a lot in her time; after all she’d been on the game herself but it had never been any of that kinky stuff and when anyone had come along wanting to do all that sado shit, she’d run a mile. ‘The sick fuck, you want to string him up, Alfie.’
Franny spoke, trying not to let her voice quiver. ‘And is that what made all the marks on your back, Chloe?’
Chloe nodded. ‘Yeah, the geezer did it when we streamed live on the internet.’
Lola chipped in again. ‘And people pay for this stuff? They want to be locked up. I’ve said it once and I’m sure I’ll say it again but that bleedin’ internet has brought them crawling out of the woodwork in their droves. And as for that Mr Lee …’
Chloe’s voiced raised. ‘Exactly Lola, and that’s why we have to go back and get Jodie. It ain’t safe for her, especially as he’ll know that it was her who let us out.’
Franny looked at Alfie, it was the first time she’d spoken to him. ‘She’s right, Alfie. We can’t leave a young girl there. It ain’t right.’
Alfie thought for a minute or two. It was all a mess and he knew now he was the cause, and he also knew he wasn’t going to make any more excuses when it came to taking responsibility for it all. As much as this Jodie sounded like she’d been the one to encourage Chloe-Jane to get involved with Mr Lee, he wasn’t going to turn his back on her. As Chloe had said, not everything was as simple as it seemed.