The ambulance arrived a few minutes later and Katya heard the policeman talking to the paramedics as they entered the block and headed towards the stairs.
‘Any idea whose baby it is?’ she heard one of the paramedics ask.
‘Not yet, but it shouldn’t take too long to find out,’ the policeman replied. ‘So, what did you say you were attending? A miscarriage?’
‘Sounds like it,’ the paramedic said, adding grimly, ‘Be a bit of a coincidence if she does lose it. Two babies in one night in the same place.’
‘Ours didn’t die tonight,’ the policeman told her. ‘It’s been there for at least a week, from what we can gather so far. But the autopsy will . . .’
Unable to hear the rest of the sentence as the policeman and paramedics went up the stairs, Katya allowed herself to breathe again. She knew that she should get out of there but her legs were shaking too much.
The phone suddenly started playing music in her hand. Almost dropping it in fright, Katya glanced at the screen and saw that it was a message from ‘Mum’. She felt guilty for having taken it now, not that Chrissie would have been able to reply to the message. Her mother should know what was happening so that she could go to her, but Katya certainly couldn’t tell her.
She slipped the phone into her pocket and eased the maintenance-room door open. She peeped out, relieved to see that the corridor was empty. But, just as she was about to make her move, three more police officers suddenly walked in so she was forced to retreat.
The officers started knocking on doors and Katya heard them speaking to the tenants about the body they had discovered. What seemed like an eternity later, they finished with the ground-floor tenants and made their way up to the next floor. But almost as soon as the police had gone the ambulance crew came back down and Katya heard one of them speaking into her radio, saying that they were on their way in with their patient and to have a crash team ready.
‘What’s happened?’ a man’s voice asked just then.
‘Are you a relative?’ one of the paramedics asked.
‘No, a mate,’ the man said. ‘Is she okay? Where’s Eddie?’
‘Is that the dad?’
‘No, he’s her fella, not her dad. Wasn’t he in? Do you think I should call him?’
‘If you could,’ the paramedic said gratefully. ‘We’re taking her to St Mary’s, and it’d be good if he could get there sooner rather than later.’
They left then, and Katya heard the door clang shut behind them. But the man hadn’t gone, and she heard him muttering, ‘Come on, man, answer your phone, for fuck’s sake.’ Then, tutting, he said, ‘Eddie, it’s Carl. I’ve just seen your missus being carted off in an ambulance. They’re taking her to St Mary’s, and you need to get over there asap. Don’t know what’s wrong, but she was proper out of it, man. Let me know if you need me.’
Katya closed her eyes in despair when she heard a door opening and a woman asking the man if he knew who had been in the ambulance.
‘Eddie’s missus,’ he told her. ‘He’s not at home, so I’ve just left him a message letting him know.’
‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘No idea, ’cos they won’t tell you if you’re not related. But it didn’t look good. If you ask me, I reckon she could have taken an overdose.’
‘No way!’ the woman gasped. ‘Why?’
‘Well, they haven’t been right for a while, have they?’ the man said knowingly. ‘Anyhow, what’s with all the bizzies out there?’
‘They’ve found a dead baby in the brook,’ the woman told him. ‘The police have just been round asking if I know anyone round here with a baby that I haven’t seen for a while.’
‘What, so they think it’s a local?’
‘Seems like it,’ the woman said. ‘Unless this is just what they do to start with: assume it’s close, then widen the search as they need to.’ Lowering her voice now, she said, ‘Have you got anything?’
‘Enough for a spliff,’ the man said. ‘Don’t suppose you’ve seen anything of Mel?’
‘No, why? Has she gone missing?’
‘Yeah, and I can’t get in ’cos I left my keys at my mum’s last night. She went out this morning and I’ve been over there all day waiting for her to come home. Had to give up in the end and walk back.’
‘Poor you,’ the woman chuckled. ‘Fancy a brew?’
‘God, yeah,’ the man groaned. ‘You’re an angel.’
‘Come on, then. You roll, I’ll brew.’
‘Tell you what, you put the kettle on,’ the man said. ‘I’ll just go and check they shut Eddie’s door properly. Can’t risk leaving it if the coppers are about to go up there. Won’t be a minute.’
Katya heard the stairwell door open and shut as the man ran up to the fourth floor, and the woman’s footsteps as she went back into her flat. But she still couldn’t leave the maintenance room because the policemen were still around, both in the block and out there.
Biting her lip, Katya ran her fingertips over the screen of the phone in her pocket. Then, deciding that it was her only hope, she tapped in Joe’s number.
21
Joe was in a pub when the call came, having a laugh with a couple of his old mates and catching up on all the gossip about who’d been doing what since he’d last seen them.
His meeting earlier that afternoon hadn’t been half as daunting as he’d thought it would be. As he’d expected, he had been asked some awkward questions but his answers had obviously been satisfactory. So, with the heat off for the time being, he’d decided to capitalise on the fact that he’d been called back to his old stomping ground by spending the rest of the afternoon mooching around the old haunts before meeting up with the lads.
When the phone rang Joe didn’t hear it immediately because he was listening to a story about another old mate who had sold everything he owned and emigrated to the States, only to get stopped by Customs and sent straight back. Hearing the phone at last, he was laughing as he answered it. But he stopped abruptly when he realised who it was. Concerned when he heard the panic in her voice, he excused himself and went outside to find out what was going on.
‘Where are you?’ he asked when she’d gabbled out a condensed version of the story. ‘Can you get out of there?’
‘No, the police are everywhere,’ Katya told him, crying now because she was just so relieved to hear his calm voice. ‘And people keep coming in and out.’
Mulling it over, Joe knew that it was going to take at least an hour for him to get back. But it wasn’t safe for Katya to stay where she was right now, because the police would no doubt do a search of all the public areas in and around the flats before too long. She obviously couldn’t get into his flat, and there was nobody else that she could go to for refuge until he got there because nobody knew her. But there was one place . . .
‘Look, you’re going to have to get yourself together and do exactly what I tell you,’ he said now. ‘Go back up to the fourth floor—’
‘No!’ Katya gasped. ‘I can’t.’
‘You have to,’ Joe insisted. ‘You’ll be safe, I promise you. Do you trust me?’
‘Yes,’ Katya murmured.
‘Then do as I say,’ Joe told her gently. ‘Go back up, but don’t go to your flat. Go to the one across the landing, the one with the big plant-pot outside. Have you seen it?’
‘I think so.’
‘Right, well, there should be a key in the soil,’ Joe told her, praying that Cheryl hadn’t moved it. ‘Let yourself in and stay there till I get back. I’ll knock three times to let you know it’s me. In fact, no, I’ll ring you back on this number and tell you when I’m outside. Okay?’
‘But won’t somebody be in there?’ Katya asked worriedly.
‘No, the old woman who lives there is in hospital,’ Joe assured her. ‘A friend of mine feeds her cat, but she won’t be going in until tomorrow so there’s no danger of anyone finding you. Just stay quiet and sit tight till I get there. I’ll be as fast as I ca
n. But go now, before someone sees you.’
‘Okay,’ Katya agreed, trusting that he had to know what he was doing.
Going back to his mates, Joe made his excuses and left, promising that he would hook up with them again soon.
But he didn’t realise that while he’d been busy saying his goodbyes, a lad in another group had been watching him. And was still trying to remember where he’d seen his face before.
Eddie had only noticed the missed calls and voicemail on his phone when he had gone to make a call. It was nine o’clock by then and he and Clive had just picked up a couple of birds. They were on their way to a club now, and from there they would go to the casino before eventually heading back to Clive’s place. Letty had gone to Jamaica for a couple of weeks to look after her sick mum, so they were planning on having one of their while-the-cat’s-away parties.
That was why Eddie had been about to make a call, to arrange for his coke man to drop off another couple of grams when they got back to Clive’s. But he made the mistake of listening to his messages first, and what he heard blew their plans apart.
Carl’s message alone wouldn’t have done it but Chrissie’s did. Not because he was concerned about her but because of what she’d said about them being gone. The only them that he could think she would be referring to were his girls. And he doubted she’d meant gone as in gone to work because it was way too early. But if Chrissie had been carted off to hospital, looking as bad as Carl had reckoned, he could only assume that something must have happened and they had escaped.
‘Stop the car,’ he ordered.
‘Why, what’s up?’ Clive asked, frowning.
‘Don’t ask questions, just do as you’re told,’ Eddie barked.
‘Yo, don’t be dissing me like that,’ Clive hissed, flicking his gaze towards the girls on the back seat.
‘Fuck them,’ Eddie said. ‘This is important.’
Picking up on his tone, Clive slammed the brakes on.
‘Out,’ Eddie ordered, jerking his thumb at the girls.
‘What, here?’ one of them protested. ‘We’re not even in proper town yet.’
‘And I haven’t brought any money out,’ the other one chipped in. ‘So how am I supposed to get home?’
Eddie snapped his head around. ‘Do I look like I give a flying fuck?’ he roared. ‘Get the fuck out!’
‘Fuck you,’ one of the girls hissed, sliding towards the door with a look of disgust on her painted face. ‘I knew you were a tosser as soon as I saw you.’
Squealing with fright when Eddie tore his seat belt off and made to open his own door, the girls were out and running in a flash.
Eddie sucked his teeth and told Clive to get moving.
‘Gonna tell me what’s going on?’ Clive asked, wishing Eddie had been gentler with the girls. He’d quite fancied his and had been looking forward to spending the night with her.
‘Chrissie’s in hospital,’ Eddie told him.
‘Aw, sorry, man,’ Clive murmured, guessing from his agitation that Eddie must be really worried about her. ‘Which hospital? Do you want me to take you straight there?’
‘Do I fuck,’ Eddie said sharply. ‘I’m more concerned about the tarts right now. Not sure what’s going on, but it sounds like they might have done one, so I need to get back to find them.’
‘Shit,’ Clive muttered, putting his foot down a little harder. ‘That’s not good, man.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ Eddie agreed, staring out at the street in case any of the whores were walking around.
‘So what time did you get the call?’ Clive asked.
‘How the fuck do I know?’ Eddie snapped. ‘What difference does it make?’
‘Because then you’d know how long they might have been gone,’ Clive told him reasonably. ‘And then you’d have more of an idea how far they could have got.’
Eddie exhaled loudly and pulled his phone back out of his pocket. ‘I see your point,’ he conceded, checking the times of both Chrissie’s and Carl’s messages. They were twenty minutes apart, the first at eight-fifteen. And it was nine-twenty now. ‘It’s been an hour.’
‘That’s not too bad,’ Clive said, turning along the approach to the Grange. Slamming his brakes on when he noticed all the people milling about, he said, ‘What the fuck’s going on here?’
‘Reverse out,’ Eddie ordered when he spotted the police. ‘Now, man!’
Clive did as he was told without argument. Pulling over around the corner, he waited while Eddie rang Carl to find out what was happening.
‘Panic over,’ Eddie said when he’d finished. ‘Pigs are doing house-to-house because someone’s found a dead baby. But they’ve already done my block so we’re safe.’
‘That’s good,’ Clive mused. ‘An hour’s plenty of time. So if the pigs aren’t there for you, chances are the girls haven’t even thought of grassing you up.’
‘Yeah, but the longer they’re gone, the more risk there is that they’ll get picked up,’ Eddie said, checking his watch again.
‘So what do you want to do? Check the flat, then go looking for them?’
‘Nah, Carl checked, and it’s secure,’ Eddie told him. ‘I need to talk to Chrissie and find out exactly what happened, so drop me at the hospital, then you go looking for them. They hardly know you, so they’ll presume you’re a punter. Then you can grab them and get them in the car.’
‘What if I don’t see them?’
‘You will if you look hard enough. They don’t know anywhere but town, so I doubt they’ll stray too far. I’ll get Joe to pick me up after I’ve seen Chrissie, make sure there’s no trace of me in their flat – just in case.’
‘Want me to bring them back there when I find them?’ Clive asked.
‘No, you’ll have to keep them at yours till we can sort out somewhere else,’ Eddie said. Shrugging when Clive gave him a horrified look, he said, ‘What else can we do, man? I can’t risk having them back there till we’ve got all four of them. One can still bring the pigs down on me like a ton of bricks.’
‘I’m not happy about this,’ Clive grumbled, setting off reluctantly.
Chrissie was lying with her back to the door when Eddie walked into her little room at the end of the ward. She’d regained consciousness in the ambulance en route to hospital so the paramedics had been able to prepare her for what was to come by explaining gently that she had lost the baby. After that, nothing that anybody said to her registered as important.
The doctor had told her that he wanted to keep her in for a couple of nights to keep an eye on her. She’d lost a fair bit of blood, he’d said, and he was concerned about the bruise that was developing across her back. He hadn’t come right out and asked if her man was responsible, but Chrissie had known that was what he was thinking. Him and the nurses, with their sympathetic smiles, soft talk and hand patting. Little did they know that, albeit indirectly, it was Eddie’s fault, because if it hadn’t been for him bringing those girls into her life this would never have happened. Which was why, when the nurse had asked if there was anybody she wanted them to contact, she’d given them her mum’s number, not his. She didn’t want to see him yet; she had too much to think about before she could listen to any of his lies. And that was exactly what she would get, she knew, because he was incapable of telling the truth.
She stiffened now when Eddie approached the bed and put his hand on her shoulder.
‘Babe?’ he whispered. ‘You awake?’
Chrissie squeezed her eyes shut, glad that he thought she was asleep.
‘Babe?’ A little louder now. ‘Wake up, we need to talk.’
The door opened behind him, and Linda walked in with two cups of drinking chocolate in her hands. ‘Oh, you made it, did you?’ she said when she saw Eddie. ‘I’m amazed anyone knew where you were. My Chrissie certainly didn’t. But then, it seems she hardly ever does ’cos you’re always taking off and leaving her from what I’ve heard.’
Eddie sighed. He hadn’t so much as
said hello to Linda yet but she was already launching into him as if she was some kind of authority on his and Chrissie’s relationship.
‘So what have you got to say for yourself?’ she demanded.
‘To tell you the truth, I haven’t got a fucking clue what’s going on ’cos I’ve just this minute got here,’ Eddie told her. ‘And she’s asleep, so I haven’t even spoken to her yet.’
‘She’s not asleep,’ Linda sneered. ‘She obviously just doesn’t want to talk to you. What does that tell you?’
‘It tells me that she’s had you pecking her head for the past hour,’ Eddie retorted angrily. ‘So why don’t you just back off and keep your nose out, ’cos it’s got nothing to do with you.’
‘Is that right?’ Linda gave him a smug smile. ‘So how come she asked them to ring me and not you?’
‘’Cos you’ve got her under your fucking thumb,’ Eddie snapped. ‘You’ve got no respect for boundaries, man.’
‘Don’t make me laugh,’ Linda said dismissively. ‘You’re nowt but a big bully, but you don’t scare me. And what you looking at me like that for? This is your fault, this.’
‘What’s my fault?’ Eddie asked. ‘I haven’t got a clue what’s going on.’
‘She’s lost your baby, that’s what,’ Linda informed him. ‘Because you couldn’t keep your flaming hands off her.’
‘What you talking about?’ Eddie frowned. ‘I haven’t seen her all day.’
‘No, but when you did you went to flaming town on her, didn’t you?’ Linda said accusingly. ‘That bruise on her back didn’t come out of thin air. And I know for a fact it wasn’t there before she got home ’cos she was with me all day.’
‘You’re off your head,’ Eddie shot back. ‘I haven’t laid a finger on her.’
‘Yeah, right,’ Linda said disbelievingly. ‘But I’ll tell you this much, you won’t be touching her again. Not so long as I’ve got a breath left in my body.’
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