by Mel Sherratt
‘My mum’s not well. She suffers from bronchial asthma and is riddled with arthritis. Her hands are the worst. Her fingers are twisted and they won’t go back to normal now. She sleeps downstairs in the living room so she doesn’t have to tackle the stairs. I help her out as much as I can. I do all her meals, I clean the house, I do the shopping, that kind of thing, and she has carers come in twice a day to help with personal stuff. If we didn’t have those women she’d have to go in a home, and I can’t let that happen.’
Kelly sighed. ‘So that’s why you don’t go to work. But I thought –’
Jay shook his head. ‘That’s why I have to leave in a rush sometimes. I’m a carer too. That’s why I had to go this afternoon, to check if she’s okay. I don’t like to be away for too long. And that’s the reason why I still live at home. My dad died when I was fifteen. Mum’s sixty-eight this year and most of her life she’s lived in fear of my brothers. It’s better for her – for both of us, really – when they’re away.’
Kelly’s brow furrowed. ‘So why hang around with Scott? I always thought you looked out for him.’
‘He tricked me into helping him out one night. It was ages ago – I know he’d only recently met you. He’d arranged to do over a cash and carry. A guy who worked there told him where the money was kept and what time to hit the place – for a cut, of course. Nobody does something for nothing around here. Anyway, it wasn’t a big place so there had hardly been any security on the site. Scott rang, asking if I’d pick him up from Daniel Street in twenty minutes.
‘I was waiting for him on the road outside. I thought he’d been in the Black Horse around the corner to get an early start.’ Jay pointed to his half empty glass. ‘As you know, I’m not a big drinker, so I was everyone’s taxi. I didn’t mind so much, I suppose. I got there, with time to spare. Good old Jay, always reliable. A few minutes later, Scott walked out of the place as calm as anything. He said he wanted to go home first to get changed. On the way back, I worked out what had happened. I flipped and swung for him but Scott threatened to tell my mum that I was involved.’ Jay looked on in anguish. ‘Call me what you like, but I couldn’t let that happen. I didn’t want her to think that I was turning out to be like my brothers. It would have killed her.’
Kelly finally realised what had been troubling her for ages, the reason why everything hadn’t slotted into place.
‘He blackmailed you!’
Jay shrugged. ‘Emotionally, I suppose. Scott said he’d tell my mum I was into everything, the same as Stevie and Michael. I didn’t want her to find out I’d been a stupid prick. She felt safe with me. I’d never lie to my mum, so if she’d asked me about it, I’d have told her the truth.’
‘But she would have believed you’d been conned!’ said Kelly.
‘Probably, but I couldn’t chance it. I love my mum, I feel responsible for her. Lynsey doesn’t go to see her unless she wants something. I’m all she has.’
‘Why didn’t you just deck him one and have done with it?’
‘Stevie and Michael have always looked out for Scott. He’d do anything they asked him. Oh, he thinks he’s one of the boys, but you should hear what they say about him when he’s not there. They call him their ‘lackey lad’, ‘the fetch-and-carrier’. So I thought I’d be better off if I stuck with him. I know Stevie and Michael look out for me but there’s a fine line to tread between keeping them happy and showing my true feelings.’
‘So that’s why every time I’ve mentioned her, you’ve never opened up?’
‘Don’t be daft, that’s because I’m a bloke.’
Jay’s attempt at a joke was feeble. All at once, shame washed over Kelly. She remembered when Scott had first been sent to prison and Jay had been there for her. She’d thought that he lived off benefits and handouts from lucrative jobs his brothers carried out, even though he told her he couldn’t stand what they did. But why would she think any different? Jay was Scott’s friend, his partner in crime, surely?
It wasn’t until Kelly started to spend more time with him that things hadn’t tallied. What was it Josie had said to her – never judge a book by its cover? How could she have done that to Jay?
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I put Scott up on a pedestal, settled for the life he had in mind. I had a roof over my head, a beautiful baby girl, someone to be around. Until I had to move from Patrick Street, I had stability. But he changed.’ Kelly thought better of telling Jay how Scott had lashed out at her when he’d come back for his money. ‘I don’t like him that much now. I certainly don’t feel safe with him anymore.’
They sat in silence as Adele sang of love and hurt and happiness and moving on.
‘When Scott was here, I was silently screaming at you to carry on punching his lights out,’ Kelly admitted.
Jay gave Kelly’s toes a squeeze. ‘I wish you’d yelled it out.’
‘What exactly did you hear going around the estate?’
‘Nothing,’ sniggered Jay. ‘But he looked worried about something or other, didn’t he?’
Kelly smiled and shuffled along to him. Jay’s eyes were telling her all she needed to know, but all the same she needed to hear it.
‘Did you really mean all those things you said about me?’
Jay kissed Kelly’s forehead, a light yet tender flutter of his lips. ‘Do you know what, Kel? I think we’ve had enough surprises for tonight.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
‘Push me higher, mummy. I’m going to fly!’
Emily had been on the swings for several minutes now. Kelly wanted to talk to her about Scott but her plan had gone wrong. For starters, the hot weather at the weekend had brought everyone out. There were kids everywhere: all six swings were full, both seesaws were in use and there were numerous kids hanging upside down on the monkey-bar frame.
Because it took her so long to get onto the swings, she decided to let Emily stay until she’d had enough. Then she would sit her down and explain things. Once Jay had left the other night, Kelly had stayed up late, trying to get her life into some sort of order. It hurt her deeply that Scott had been sleeping with someone else but it hurt her even more to think that because of it, she’d missed her chance with Jay. Jay Kirkwell was worth a million Scott Johnstones – why had she been the last to see that?
However, the most important thing for her at the moment was to reassure Emily. Kelly could only guess at how traumatic this had been for her daughter. She was only four-years-old after all, no matter how grown up she pretended to be.
Kelly pushed Emily a little higher, enjoying listening to her screams of joy. When do children start to gain their inhibitions? She wondered, was it life that took over and made things rough, got in the way of the good times, making every pleasurable memory disappear in a puff of smoke with one dreadful act?
Kelly didn’t find the words to tell Emily while she played in the sandpit for ten minutes; while she skipped all the way home holding onto her hand; while they made jam sandwiches for lunch. In the end, Emily brought up the subject for her.
‘Mummy, is Daddy ever coming back to live here?’ she asked, spreading the gooey mess across a slice of bread.
‘Would you be upset if he wasn’t?’ said Kelly.
Emily raised her head and frowned as if deep in thought. ‘No, I like it better when there’s just you and me.’
‘That’s good, monster, because Daddy’s never coming back to live with us.’
‘Where will Daddy live now?’
‘He’s staying with a friend of his. But don’t you worry, you’ll be able to see him whenever you like.’
Emily’s bottom lip started to tremble. ‘You won’t send me to live with him, will you?’
Kelly shook her head. ‘Of course I won’t!’
‘Not even when I’m naughty?’
Kelly bent to Emily’s level and drew her tiny body into the comfort of her arms. If she squeezed a little hard, Emily didn’t protest.
‘Mummy and Daddy don’t love each
other anymore, Em, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t love you. You’ll still be able to see Daddy, but you’ll always come home to me.’
‘I like it when Jay comes to see us, Mummy,’ Emily seemed to be through with the subject of her father. ‘You do too, don’t you?’
Kelly swallowed. ‘Yeah, monster, I do.’
‘Jay won’t stop coming to see us, will he?’
Kelly squeezed her tight again and let out a huge sigh. ‘Now that I don’t know the answer to.’
Josie had worried about finding Matson’s phone number stored on Debbie’s mobile all weekend. She’d gone over and over the details until, unable to sleep on Saturday evening, she’d got up and began to write things out. She couldn’t make her mind up whether it was circumstantial evidence or the real deal. Each time she came up with the same scenario: she wasn’t being stupid. She needed to speak to Andy.
As soon as she got to work on Monday morning she called him. He was there within half an hour. She led him into an interview cubicle and they sat down across the table from each other. She handed him the list of addresses that she felt suspicious about and told him everything she had found out regarding Debbie.
‘This doesn’t look good,’ Andy said with a shake of his head.
‘I’m right, aren’t I?’
Andy scanned over the paperwork again. He sighed loudly before shaking his head. ‘But Debbie?’
‘I was fooled, too.’ Josie lowered her eyes briefly in embarrassment. ‘She’s such a devious cow. I’m struggling to look at her at the moment, never mind speak to her. All the people they’ve hurt. I want to slap her.’
‘You need to stay calm for now. Keep this to yourself and I’ll do a bit of digging, see if we can link it all up. We haven’t got a scrap of evidence from any of the burglaries, nor any fingerprints or sightings.’
Josie decided to tell him what she had been thinking about at the weekend. ‘I’m not sure if this will work, but maybe we could set something up. If it is down to Matson, we’ve never known where he’s going to strike next, until now. I have a bungalow that’s come empty over in Ryan place. It’s quiet there. How about I set it up as if someone has moved in and give Debbie clues when I’m in the office?’
Andy gnawed on his bottom lip. ‘Go on,’ he said.
‘You know how we have a few weeks to collar tenants if they don’t move in right away?’
‘Because they claim benefits and then sometimes don’t move in at all?’
‘Yeah, or they use the address to apply for loans, white-goods and the likes – no matter how much we’ve pre-checked them beforehand.’
Andy nodded.
‘I could say something to Debbie like, ‘I’ve just called to see Mrs Marley but she hasn’t moved in yet. I’ll have to get in touch with her daughter. She hasn’t put curtains up and there’s a bloody TV and a microwave all still boxed up. She’s asking for trouble with all these burglaries lately.’ Something like that – what do you reckon?’
‘Don’t mention the burglaries because it might be too obvious,’ Andy suggested. ‘Say that she’s asking for trouble or something similar.’
‘Right,’ said Josie. ‘Then if Debbie tells Philip, it will be over to you then. Would your lot be able to set up some sort of surveillance? Catch them in the act?’
‘Yeah, it’s worth a shot. I’ll speak to my sergeant. It would be great to clear up this case. People are so frightened on the estate.’
Josie gave him a half smile, glad she had finally got the weight off her shoulders. ‘So you don’t think I’m mad, then?’ she asked.
Andy shook his head. ‘Sadly, I don’t. Though I do think you should become a police community support officer. With your mind, we’d solve far more crimes.’
Josie smiled properly this time, even though she hadn’t thought of how to solve her own problems yet. ‘Not for me, Andy,’ she told him. ‘I like to stop the crimes on the estate before they happen.’
But as Andy stood up to go, Josie thought of something else.
‘Oh, God, you don’t think he could have had anything to do with Edie Rutter’s murder, do you?’
Andy sighed. ‘It’s highly likely, given what you’ve just told me.’
‘But you don’t have evidence from that either.’
‘Not yet.’ Andy shook his head. ‘But leave that with me.’
As Andy left, Josie shuddered at the thought of Debbie being involved in all this – because if she was and Josie hadn’t reacted quickly enough, not only would she have Edie’s death on her conscience but, she realised, she could have stopped the rest of the burglaries and assaults on the estate too.
Even though the transformation of The Workshop wouldn’t take many weeks to complete as most of the layout of the building would remain unchanged, fascinated by the on-going makeover, Josie took it upon herself to visit the site every day. Since she’d had a word with the project manager from the local authority and found out he was up to his ears with other work, Josie had volunteered to oversee most things. Every now and then he’d ring in to check on something, but other than that, it had been pretty much left up to her. It felt like her project now, and she’d had more input because of it – a fact that she loved. She decided to invite Kelly around to see how things were progressing.
‘You’ll need to wear this,’ Josie handed her a yellow hard-hat before they set foot inside the building.
Kelly gazed around in awe, shocked by the amount of work that had been done already. Now that the wall had been removed in the reception area and the metal sheeting taken down from the windows, it was easier to picture a bright and airy reception area. The stained burgundy carpet had gone and there were three men plastering the walls, ready for decoration. In the main corridor, workmen walked its length and breadth, carrying all sorts of tools and accessories.
Kelly beamed at Josie. ‘It’s amazing,’ she said. ‘It looks much bigger than before.’
Josie nodded. ‘It’s really coming on but I’ve spent so much time here that I’ve hardly been into the office. Lord knows how much work will have piled up on my desk. Still, do you know what? I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Can I get you a coffee for a change?’
Kelly rummaged inside her bag and pulled out a thermos flask and a packet of biscuits. ‘I bought some, just in case.’
They made room for two little ones in the makeshift kitchen.
‘So what do you think?’ Josie asked, as she dunked a digestive into her drink. ‘Are you pleased so far?’
Kelly nodded enthusiastically. ‘But I’m still worried that I won’t be up to doing it.’
‘You’ll be okay,’ said Josie. ‘And I’m sure your business grant will be approved.’
‘How many applications have you had so far?’
‘Fourteen at the last count.’
Kelly clapped her hands eagerly. ‘Great! That means fourteen possibilities for me to work my charms on, too.’
Josie smiled. ‘It’s good to see you excited. So come on then, tell me what’s been happening with you lately. It seems ages since I saw you. Last week flew by.’
Kelly explained the falling out between Scott and Jay and about Jay’s mum and the predicament he found himself in.
Josie was flabbergasted. ‘It goes to show, doesn’t it? Gut feelings can be right. I always thought more of Jay. There was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.’
Kelly thought back to the conversation. ‘It shocked me too at first but once I knew, everything started to make sense. Is there any way you can help them out?’
Josie nodded. ‘The hardest part will be persuading Mrs Kirkwell to accept it. People are so proud. But the trick I use is to suggest a solution, plant a seed – I usually hear a ton of excuses – and then I wait for the idea to sink in. Sometimes it takes a matter of hours, sometimes days, but it always comes out in my favour.’ Josie waved a hand around the room. ‘I did the same with you about this place.’
Kelly laughed at her audacity. Josie wa
s a mastermind: she had come round to her way of thinking eventually.
‘If you ever need a favour you know where I am,’ she volunteered.
‘Now that you mention it, I’ve put you down as a member of the task and finish group to get this place right from the very beginning.’ Josie rushed for her mobile as it vibrated across the worktop. ‘There’s a meeting to attend, once a week for the next month, until we open. You’re the perfect person to put forward an idea for a crèche or after school club. It’d be great for clients and unit holders alike. Hello, Josie Mellor speaking.’
Kelly smiled as Josie moved away to take the call. Josie was so full of confidence at the moment. She seemed happy, more positive. Surely it couldn’t only be a haircut and a change of environment. Although she was working in dusty, messy rooms, Josie was dressed in new clothes. She wore black tailored trousers and a fitted blouse, the jacket to the suit draped carefully over the back of her chair. Kelly had also spotted a pair of heels in the corner by the window. Josie had her work boots on now but she must have brought them here to change into whenever necessary.
Josie, however, wasn’t looking happy when she disconnected the call. Momentarily, she gazed out of the tiny window to her right. It overlooked a brick wall, something she thought she might hit again and again over the coming days.
‘Bad news?’ Kelly questioned, noticing her distress.
‘Just another nasty phone call from my bloody husband. He’s now threatening to move back into my house until he gets half of everything – half of everything, idiot. I don’t know where he got that notion from.’
‘But…’ Kelly was confused, ‘it’s your house, isn’t it?’
Josie nodded.
‘So he can’t do that!’
‘He’s intent on fighting me for every penny. Stewart’s really tight where money is concerned. He’s told me he’s willing to pay a solicitor to get what is rightly his, so I know he’s serious.’
‘But what about his mother?’ Kelly had to bring the subject up now.
‘His mother died a few years ago. I’m sure I’ve told you that already.’