Behind a Closed Door (The Estate, Book 2)

by Mel Sherratt

  Kelly looked out of the large window and surveyed the neighbouring properties. She was in a block of four flats: other than the two blocks above hers in Clarence Avenue, the rest consisted of semi-detached properties, similar to the one she was being forced to leave, but they were nowhere near as tidy. The garden in the house opposite had more rubbish bags there than in her new garden and a soggy, single mattress had been dumped on the path. On the patch of grass in front of a bay window, the shell of an old hatchback balanced precariously on piles of house bricks, the wheels having long ago vacated the body. The windscreen was missing and the number plates had been removed to claim anonymity.

  Kelly tried to calm the fear mounting inside her. She’d spent six nights on her own since Scott had gone. Only now was it beginning to sink in that he wasn’t coming home for a long time – wasn’t coming home to Patrick Street at all, in fact. He’d made sure of that.

  ‘I’ve picked me room, Mummy,’ Emily shouted through, bringing Kelly back to the present with a jolt. ‘Come and find me!’

  ‘My room, Emily. I’ve picked my room.’ Kelly raised a smile as she walked through to the bedroom. ‘I can’t see you,’ she played along with her. ‘Are you hiding from me?’

  Emily giggled as Kelly flung open the cupboard door. In a fit of fun, she grabbed her daughter and began to tickle her.

  As they collapsed into a heap of laughter, Kelly’s nerves began to centre. Maybe it was inevitable that she’d be anxious about moving here, but what choice did she have? She had to live somewhere and here was as good as any place. It had a roof and four walls, much more than some people had, and she already had furniture – well, most of it would fit in.

  It would keep her warm and dry, though, and that’s all that mattered, really. And she would be safe, even on her own – if not entirely happy. Eventually she’d get used to every creak of the floorboards, every bang of the hot water system, without jumping out of bed to investigate the locked door.

  ‘I think we’ll go up into town tomorrow morning, Em, and buy some roll ends of wallpaper. Then in the afternoon we’ll start to pack up your things.’

  ‘I have lots of things, don’t I, Mummy?’

  ‘Yes, you do.’ Despite her reluctance, Kelly would have to ask Jay to lend a hand with some of the bigger items, but she promised herself it would only be this once. She looked around the room again. Number 33 Clarence Avenue, their new home. Well, it would be when she’d finished with it, Kelly resolved.

  ‘Yoo-hoo! Anyone home?’ There was a light rap on the door. ‘Thought I’d come and see for myself as you said you’d be measuring up for curtains.’

  ‘Nanny!’ Emily rushed towards her.

  ‘You call this home?’ Kelly griped as her mum, Jill, came into the room. Their stature and height were the same and, apart from a few grey hairs instead of an all over brown, their resemblance was uncanny. Emily had the Winterton button nose too.

  ‘Clarence Avenue isn’t as bad as everyone makes out,’ Jill tried to reassure her daughter.

  ‘It’ll do, I suppose. Looks pretty rough to me, though.’

  Jill glanced around the bare living room. ‘You can make it nice, love. You seem to have a flair for this kind of thing.’

  ‘It’s going to cost me a fortune to get it half decent,’ Kelly continued, knowing that her mum really meant the inside and not the outside of the property. ‘There’s a stack of decorating to do, and cleaning. Everything needs to be scrubbed again before I’m moving one piece of furniture in. I can’t believe the association let it in this state.’

  ‘Have you thought about what to do for money until Scott gets back from you know where?’

  Kelly was confused. ‘I don’t follow,’ she said.

  ‘Your dad says they’re advertising on the twilight shift at Miles’ factory. Four ‘til eight. It’s a little unsociable but it could work out well for you. I could look after Emily.’

  ‘Yeah, can we, mummy?’ Emily chirped in at the mention of her name. ‘I can stay with Nanny.’

  ‘And you know lots of people there. There’s Pam, for a start.’ Pam was Kelly’s auntie. Her cousin, Estelle, worked at the factory too.

  ‘I’m hardly going to have time to do anything else with all the decorating they’re expecting me to do in this dump.’

  Jill shrugged and walked over to the window. ‘I just think there’s more to you than a stay at home mum.’

  ‘Actually, I was thinking of doing a college course.’

  Jill turned back to her daughter and smiled. ‘I think that’s a great idea. What do you fancy doing?’

  ‘I’m not sure, thought I’d suss it out.’ Kelly back-pedalled slightly. ‘I know that being a mum is the best job in the world but Em will be starting school in September. I don’t know what I’ll do with myself then. Maybe if I start a course while Scott is – erm,’ she looked at her mum again, ‘working away, I could always say I felt the need to fend for myself in case he went to work away again.’

  ‘Maybe if you went to college during the day, you could manage the twilight shift?’ Jill pulled a bag of sweets from her handbag and gave them to Emily. ‘It’s not rocket science and it’s repetitive but you know the money will be good. And it beats scrounging off the social. I’ve always thought better of you than that.’

  Kelly huffed. ‘Knowing my luck, I’d probably be hopeless at it.’

  ‘You won’t know if you don’t try.’

  ‘But what if I’m not good enough?’

  ‘Then you’ll get better with practice. You’re a smart woman, love, and not everyone on this estate needs to play the part of an extra in Shameless. Don’t get dragged down with the rest of them,’ she advised. ‘You can get yourself out of this situation if you really want to.’

  Kelly said nothing. She knew she needed to secure her future but she wouldn’t make her mind up yet. There was so much changing in her life right now. She had all her furniture to pack up, her change of addresses to sort out, and she still had to go and see Scott, which was another thing she kept pushing to the back of her mind.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ‘Please tell me that’s all of it.’ Jay crammed two more boxes into the back of the van he’d borrowed. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m knackered. I think you owe me a beer when we’ve shifted this load.’

  ‘I think I can run to that,’ Kelly answered. For all her misgivings, she wouldn’t have managed today if it wasn’t for Jay and his offer of a van. Her mum and dad had helped her to box up the remainder of their belongings yesterday, keeping Emily with them overnight so Kelly could shift the heavier items without her getting in the way this morning.

  Jay pulled down the roller shutter and secured the padlock. ‘I reckon we’ll have this unpacked at the other end in a couple of hours. Do you want to see if we’ve forgotten anything?’

  Kelly went back into the house and wandered around each room, checking cupboards, pulling out kitchen drawers, but she hadn’t missed anything. Finally, she made one last trip to the living room. She held back tears. Never again would she open her curtains and feast her eyes on old Mrs Shelby across the road at number forty, who’d wave whenever she saw her; be woken up by the boys from number thirty-two coming home from the pub at the weekends; be able to nip in to see Sue, her mum’s friend, at number seventeen to check on how her grandson was doing.

  She had so many memories, good and bad: bringing Emily home from hospital, her first Christmas, her first birthday. Painting the living room walls buttercup yellow for two days until she and Scott couldn’t live with it any longer and had to do it all again in pale lemon; the police knocking on the door every time there had been a robbery or break-in to check for stolen goods. Kelly had lost count of how many times that had happened during their relationship.

  ‘Ready?’ said Jay as he came back inside.

  Kelly turned towards him. ‘It’s not fair,’ she choked back tears. ‘Why should I have to move out because of that thoughtless git? This is my home,
too.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’ll help you in Clarence Avenue. It’ll be like this place in no time – only don’t try and badger me into any wallpapering. I’m crap at it. It always rolls down the wall again, no matter how much paste I put on.’

  Kelly’s lips twitched, thankful that he was trying to make her smile.

  ‘Has Scott called again?’ Jay asked.

  ‘Yeah, last night.’

  ‘And am I taking you to see him?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’

  Jay nodded. ‘I thought you’d say that. But he needs you, Kel. I can’t imagine what it’s like in there but I know he’ll be missing you.’

  The lone tear that had trickled down Kelly’s cheek now headed towards her neck. She wiped it away abruptly. ‘He should’ve thought about that before he did that last job. I told him not to do it.’

  ‘Don’t you think he regrets that now?’

  Kelly had asked herself that more than once over the past fortnight and it was eating her up inside. Had it all been a mistake? Had he been unaware of his actions? She needed to see Scott, ask him why he’d done it – to hear him say he hadn’t realised that he’d put their lives into jeopardy. But it was too raw.

  ‘I’m not ready to forgive him yet. Look what’s happened because of his stupidity.’

  ‘I know. You’ve every right to be upset.’

  Yes, she did have every right to be upset. But Kelly didn’t want Jay to see her like that. Despite her anguish, she held her head up.

  ‘Upset is one thing, but feeling sorry for myself? I’m better than that.’

  Jay flashed a smile. ‘Of course you are, but everyone’s entitled to throw a wobbler every now and then. It’s only natural.’

  Kelly sniffed, knowing that if she stood there much longer, she’d start crying properly. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ she said, trying not to think that, as she walked down the path, it was for the very last time.

  The following week, Josie was in the office, about to start on the massive task of clearing some of her paperwork. There were six people in that morning as she pulled out a bundle of files from her in-tray. Moments earlier, Debbie had finished her stint on the reception counter and was eating an apple while flicking through a pile of messages. A telephone went unanswered as Irene and Sonia argued over who was going to take over from her.

  Where was the office manager when they needed her, Josie thought? Kay Whitehead had been their manager for the last seven years but most of that time had been spent working at their head office in Warbury on special projects – so special that none of her staff ever knew what she was doing. Sometimes the office ran okay without her being there: she was, she insisted, only a phone call away. Sometimes, however, things became a little lax and the staff started to rule the roost.

  ‘Reception okay this morning?’ Josie asked Debbie as she searched out a tenant’s file from the large cabinet by her side.

  Debbie nodded. ‘Gets a bit boring, though, listening to everyone moaning.’

  ‘Do you fancy coming out on the patch with me for a few visits? People will still moan but it’s better than being inside – well, most of the time.’

  Debbie nodded a little more eagerly this time. ‘I’d love to.’

  ‘Great. I’ll sort it out. All you need to wear is trousers and flat boots or shoes. I’ll find you some armour to change…’ Josie grinned at the in-joke regarding their work wear. ‘I’ll find you a coat to wear.’

  ‘Cluck, cluck, cluck, you’re doing it again,’ Ray teased, smirking at Josie as he sat down at his desk.

  Josie stuck out her tongue.

  ‘Whatever you do,’ he shouted down the office to their new recruit, ‘don’t let her tell you the rules of a housing officer. They’ll put you off our job for life.’

  ‘Rules?’ queried Debbie.

  ‘Ignore him,’ Josie soothed her as she frowned at a grinning Ray. ‘I’ll introduce you to them one at a time.’

  When Josie next went out on her own, she spent a pleasant half an hour with Amy and Reece Cartwright. As she left the property she looked up the road. As she’d expected, Kelly Winterton had been hard at work. There was a pile of empty boxes crunched up neatly by the side of the wheelie bin and curtains were hanging in arcs at each of the windows.

  As she drove past, Josie spotted Kelly on the pathway. She was quite a way through cutting back the hedge that separated the path from the small garden. Pleased to see her making an effort already, Josie decided to stop.

  ‘Now that’s what I like to see,’ she said as she walked down the steps towards Kelly.

  Kelly stood up straight and put a hand on the small of her back. ‘It’s bloody killed me to get this far, but I was sick of getting soaked when we moved in.’

  ‘It looks great. And it’s nice to see someone doing something rather than me having to enforce it with a dozen warning letters.’ She was about to ask where Emily was when she appeared behind her mum.

  ‘Hiya, lady,’ Emily smiled a row of milky-white teeth. ‘I’m helping Mummy clear the garden. I’m on litter duty.’

  Kelly and Josie shared a smirk. Emily had numerous cuttings stuck to her red pom-pom hat, and a child’s pink rucksack stuffed with crisp packets, toffee wrappers and the odd shrivelled leaf.

  ‘What a good girl.’ Josie bent down to her level. ‘I think you can come and do my garden when you’ve finished here. You’re doing a wonderful job.’

  ‘Mummy says I have to leave the grown up stuff for her to tidy up,’ Emily pronounced, picking up the rucksack ready to return to her duties.

  ‘Is she always that sweet?’ Josie spoke to Kelly.

  Kelly stopped mid-shear. ‘You should’ve been here last night when she was crying for most of it.’

  ‘Hello, ladies,’ said someone behind them. They both turned to see a small woman. She looked to be in her sixties, with shots of grey running through her dark hair.

  ‘Hello, Dot,’ Josie smiled warmly. Dorothy Simpson had lived in the flat below Kelly since she’d lost her husband to lung cancer. She was the first tenant that Josie had taken on a viewing when she had started working for the association. ‘This is Kelly. She and her daughter have moved in downstairs.’

  ‘Yes, we met briefly earlier, and I like her already.’ Dot smiled at Kelly. ‘Especially if she’s tackling the garden. I’d do it myself, but my arthritis is playing up at the moment.’

  ‘There’s no need,’ Kelly told her. ‘I’ll keep it in order all the time from now on. I can’t stand any kind of mess.’

  Dot beamed even more when she spotted Emily. ‘Hello. Would you like to see if I have any chocolate biscuits left in my tin?’

  Emily shrugged shyly but took hold of Dot’s hand anyway.

  ‘If you ever need a baby-sitter for an odd hour here and there,’ Dot said as she opened her front door, ‘give me a nod. I’d love some company.’

  ‘She seems nice,’ Kelly said, as she continued to shear.

  ‘Yes, Dot’s one of my prize tenants. She’s the chairman of Clarence Avenue Neighbourhood Watch, helps out at the church on Samuel Street. She’s always running errands for people less fortunate than herself, too. I’ve never…’ Josie stopped in mid flow as a black and white collie ran past on the pavement. She put her folder down on top of the low wall. ‘I won’t be a minute.’

  Kelly couldn’t resist going to investigate as Josie shouted Tess at the top of her voice and raced up the path.

  Josie tore after the dog, grabbed for her collar and walked her back the way she had come. She marched Tess down the path and finally managed to tie her up in the garden again. As usual, Mr and Mrs Thomas weren’t in to reprimand. Josie made a mental note to pop in next week when she called to see Amy.

  Kelly had finished the hedge and was bagging up the last of the cuttings when Josie came into view again.

  ‘You certainly have a varied role as a housing officer,’ she grinned as she clocked the red glow of her cheeks.

  ‘She’s a good
dog really, but she’s always escaping. Between you and me, I’ve given up with her owners. I’ve had to tie her up in the back garden. It’s not something I like doing but what else can I do? It’d be a trip with the dog warden if she’s caught wandering the streets again.’ Josie held up muddy palms. ‘Don’t suppose you’d take pity, offer me a cuppa and let me wash my hands?’

  Kelly could hear Scott’s scornful tone as he said ‘absolutely no fucking way’ quite clearly in her mind. But Scott wasn’t here to say it aloud. Loneliness made her nod her head.

  Once Kelly had checked that Emily wasn’t badgering Dot too much, they went upstairs to the flat and into the living room. Josie glanced around. Although the floorboards had still to be covered, it was almost a replica of the room Kelly had left behind in Patrick Street: the large coffee and cream swirl rug, heavy ivory curtains hanging from a thick chrome pole. The settees had been placed in an L-shape on the back walls. Three wooden-framed photographs of Emily hung strategically above the tiled fireplace.

  ‘It looks fantastic,’ Josie enthused, before sitting down on the settee nearest to the window. ‘It must have taken you ages to get rid of the yellow stains.’

  Kelly ran her hand over the door frame nearest to her. ‘Three coats of white gloss. To be exact, it was three coats of one-coat gloss. And if you think this is bright, you should see Emily’s room – Princess Pink.’

  Josie unzipped her folder and pulled out Kelly’s paperwork. ‘Do you mind if I run through this while I’m here?’ she asked when handed a mug. When Kelly didn’t reply, she continued. ‘Did you go and sort out your benefits last week?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘What about your bills? Have you registered the suppliers in your name?’

  Kelly nodded this time. Josie could feel her resistance to the questions.

  ‘That’s good,’ she continued, ‘because if you ever want to get out of here, you’ll need to prove you’ve been a tenant long enough to qualify.’

  ‘I told you I’m capable of surviving on my own,’ Kelly muttered. She turned to stare out of the window.