Dark Spaces

by Black, Helen

  But it ain’t anyone else is it? It’s Bill.

  ‘Before you say yes or no, Gem, there is one thing for you to know,’ says Feyza.

  Somehow Gem thinks she knows everything she needs to know about fat, ugly, filthy Bill.

  ‘What?’ she asks.

  ‘He not want full service,’ says Feyza. ‘He just likes girl to stand and watch while he give himself hand job.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Who knows?’ Feyza gives one of her cackles. ‘What is it you say? Be grateful for small mercies.’

  What with the nails and the horrible laughing, Feyza could pass for a witch. Even her nose is a bit pointy, Gem notices for the first time.

  ‘So, darling, you do this for me?’ Feyza smiles. ‘Small favour?’

  Gem doesn’t answer.

  ‘One little favour,’ Feyza says. ‘And I don’t ask you anything no more.’

  Lilly and Harry went up the stairs to the courtrooms. They found the entire floor deserted and in darkness. Without any windows it was impossible to see anything but the faintest of shapes looming at them.

  ‘Hang on,’ said Harry.

  Lilly heard a rustling sound and the chink of coins.

  ‘Here we go,’ he said and pointed a thin beam of light in front of them.

  ‘A torch?’ Lilly was gobsmacked.

  ‘It’s on my key ring.’ Harry waved what looked like a pen at her. ‘For emergencies.’

  ‘Quite the little Boy Scout.’

  ‘Dyb, dyb, dyb.’

  Harry cast the torch around the foyer, but it was quite clear that there was no one around. ‘What now?’ he asked.

  Lilly was about to admit that she had no idea when she caught sight of a yellow glow at the far end of the corridor.

  ‘Over there,’ she said, and they made their way as carefully as they could to the source of the light.

  Halfway across, Lilly banged her knee against a bench. ‘Shit.’ The metal gave a clang.

  ‘Okay?’ Harry grabbed her arm. ‘Have you hurt yourself?’

  She rubbed her leg. ‘I’ll live.’

  They went the rest of the way arm in arm, until they were in front of a door, weak light seeping under it.

  ‘The advocates’ room,’ said Lilly and pushed open the door.

  Inside, the room, though not bright, was bathed in the muted glow from the street lamps outside and Kerry Thomson stood next to the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a file next to the glass. Everything, including the prosecutor, had an unhealthy sepia colour, like an old and fading photograph.

  ‘Lilly Valentine,’ said Kerry. ‘Of all the solicitors who would make it to court on a day like today, I’d have put money on you.’

  ‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ said Lilly, though she doubted it was meant as one.

  ‘Let me guess who you’re here for.’ Kerry put a mock puzzled finger to her chin. ‘Is it Mr and Mrs Wright charged with stealing a carton of drinking chocolate and four litres of milk?’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Or is it Chloe Church charged with a nice, juicy murder.’

  Lilly just smiled.

  ‘I don’t know how you do it,’ said Kerry. ‘You seem to have a nose for every decent case in Luton.’

  ‘I could say the same about you,’ said Lilly.

  Kerry nodded at a tottering pile of files on the table in the middle of the room. ‘I just deal with the cases I’m handed.’

  ‘As do I,’ Lilly replied.

  ‘Of course you do.’

  Lilly wanted to defend herself, but what was the point? ‘Shall we crack on?’ she said.

  ‘How can we?’ Kerry asked. ‘We don’t have a magistrate.’

  ‘Not one?’

  Kerry shook her head. ‘We’ve been told to bail everyone.’

  ‘Excellent,’ said Lilly.

  ‘Though obviously not your client.’ Kerry smirked. ‘I’m not going to agree to give your client bail, am I?’

  ‘I don’t see what choice you’ve got,’ said Lilly. ‘The police can’t extend custody now she’s charged and you certainly can’t deny bail.’

  Kerry’s face dropped. ‘She’s on a murder rap.’

  ‘So what?’ Lilly shrugged. ‘You have no authority whatsoever to keep her. If you try to, I’ll bet she’ll sue.’

  ‘That blob of lard? Don’t make me laugh.’

  Lilly narrowed her eyes. Until very recently, Kerry had been a similar size and shape to Chloe. Frankly, she was no supermodel today. Where did she get off being so derogatory? Fortunately, Harry stepped forward before Lilly said something inappropriate in response.

  ‘Chloe is in my care and I can assure you that if Miss Valentine advises me that she has a legal case, then I will pursue it on her behalf.’ His voice was measured, but the threat clear.

  ‘For God’s sake,’ Kerry muttered.

  ‘Is there any rule against getting a magistrate to hear a bail application on the phone?’

  Everyone looked up and found Jack in the doorway, a large torch in his hand. ‘Well is there?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ said Lilly.

  ‘Then why don’t we do that?’ asked Jack. He gave Harry a hard stare. ‘Then there will be no need for petty threats of legal action, will there?’

  ‘Great idea, Jack,’ said Harry and snapped off his key-ring torch.

  Jack found a phone that could take a conference call and plugged it into the landline by the table. While they waited for Kerry to find the magistrate’s number, Lilly and Harry peered out of the window at the world below. Everything had disappeared. The snow had swallowed it all. Light, colour, noise. Everything.

  ‘It’s like the end of the world,’ said Lilly.

  ‘I know exactly what you mean,’ Harry replied.

  From the table where he was now seated, Jack sniffed.

  ‘What?’ Lilly turned on her heels.

  Jack shook his head with a rueful laugh. ‘You always were melodramatic.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said.

  ‘I’m sure.’

  Lilly stared at him, but he busied himself with the phone, pretending to check for a dialling tone. At last, Kerry returned, huffing and puffing, a piece of paper in hand.

  ‘I could only find Andrew Manchester,’ she said.

  Lilly stifled a groan. Another round with the poisonous dwarf. The hits just kept on coming. She watched Kerry dial the number with a sense of diminishing optimism.

  ‘Hello.’ Manchester’s voice croaked out at them. He sounded as if they’d woken him. That should put him in a good mood.

  ‘Mr Manchester.’ Kerry leaned towards the telephone, unnecessarily. ‘Kerry Thomson here from the CPS. I’m sorry to bother you at home, sir.’

  ‘What do you want?’ he asked.

  ‘Well, sir, I’m at court and unfortunately there are no magistrates here,’ she said.

  ‘We bailed everyone for a further week,’ he replied. ‘Didn’t you get the message?’

  ‘Yes, sir, and we have bailed as many defendants as we can, but there is a problem with one of them. The solicitor is threatening to sue unless we have a hearing.’

  ‘What?’

  Lilly raked her cheek with her nails. That was not what she had said. At all.

  ‘I have her here.’ Kerry could barely contain her smile. ‘Perhaps you’d like to speak to her.’

  ‘Indeed I would,’ said Manchester.

  Lilly took a deep breath. ‘Good morning, sir, it’s Lilly Valentine here.’

  ‘Oh, it’s you.’

  Lilly kept her voice as light as she could manage. ‘Indeed it is.’

  ‘What’s this nonsense about suing the court?’

  ‘I’m afraid Miss Thomson is over-egging the pudding there, sir. I simply pointed out that my client cannot be kept in custody without a court order to that effect and if the police or prison service or the prosecution attempt to do so they are entering into very sticky territory.’

  Mr Manchester gave a small hump
h, which Lilly hope meant he took her point. ‘And what is this defendant charged with?’ he asked.

  ‘Murder.’ Kerry’s voice was filled with relish. ‘And a violent one at that.’

  Lilly wondered if a murder could ever be non-violent but guessed now wasn’t the time to ask the question.

  ‘You’ll appreciate that in the circumstances I can’t just let this defendant walk out of court to offend again,’ said Kerry. ‘She’s a dangerous person, sir.’

  ‘You’ll appreciate that in the circumstances I can’t just let the defendant be carted off to prison,’ said Lilly. ‘She’s fifteen years old, sir.’

  Lilly and Kerry glared at one another across the table.

  ‘Well, this is highly irregular, but there seems to be no alternative than to hear this application over the telephone,’ said Manchester.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Lilly.

  ‘Don’t thank me yet, Miss Valentine. It is very far from being conducive to your application, isn’t it now?’ He didn’t wait for Lilly to reply. ‘Miss Thomson, please set out the facts.’

  Kerry reached for the file and flicked it open. Chloe’s mugshot stared up at her and she gave Jack an amused smile. Lilly wanted to knock it off her face and balled her fists under the desk.

  ‘It’s a sad case, sir,’ Kerry told the magistrate. ‘The defendant’s victim was only fifteen years old herself. She was also highly vulnerable and suffering from mental illness.’

  Lilly balled her fists tighter still. It was only days ago that Kerry had been arguing that Lydia was feigning her issues in order to avoid the charges against her.

  ‘The Crown will say that the defendant murdered Lydia Morton-Daley at the Grove Hospital by way of poisoning. Then, not content with having killed her victim, she mutilated her body.’

  ‘What is the weight of evidence against the defendant?’ asked Mr Manchester.

  ‘The knife used was discovered in the defendant’s room and her fingerprints were found on the knife. Fairly conclusive, sir,’ said Kerry. ‘In the circumstances there is no way this prisoner can be allowed out on bail. She is clearly a very dangerous individual.’

  ‘What say you, Miss Valentine?’ asked Manchester.

  ‘Well, sir, I’d first like to point out that apart from the connection to the knife, there is no other evidence whatsoever against my client,’ said Lilly. ‘And she has given an explanation as to why her fingerprints are present.’

  ‘Only after the police discovered them,’ Kerry interjected.

  Lilly ignored her. ‘Second, the description of the victim given by Miss Thomson could adequately describe my client also. A child and highly vulnerable. The suggestion that my client is predatory could not be further from the truth. In fact, having met both girls, I can tell you which of them is the most at risk and it’s not Lydia.’

  ‘That would be because she’s dead,’ said Kerry.

  Lilly splayed her hands on the desk in front of her. ‘Chloe is a very ill girl. She has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act for a number of years, remaining resident at the Grove. All I’m asking is that while this case is ongoing, she remains there. I’m not suggesting she be free to wander around Luton town centre, I’m simply asking that she stay in the secure ward of a mental facility rather than be sent to prison.’

  ‘There is provision for the mentally unstable in custody,’ said Kerry.

  ‘Oh come on,’ said Lilly. ‘We all know that’s not true. Last year there were sixteen attempted suicides at Highpoint and almost all of those women had issues with their mental health. The prison officers do what they can, but they’re fighting a losing battle. The care and, more importantly, the security of a prison simply doesn’t compare to a facility like the Grove. If you don’t believe me you can go directly to the horse’s mouth; I’ve brought the senior psychiatrist here to court.’

  She nudged Harry, who gave a tight smile.

  ‘Good morning, sir.’ Harry’s voice was pure public school. ‘Harry Piper at your disposal. May I reiterate how dreadfully sorry I was to interrupt you the other day.’

  ‘The situation was a difficult one, Doctor Piper,’ said Manchester.

  ‘Indeed it was.’ Harry let Lydia’s death hang in the air.

  ‘You’re a psychiatrist at the Grove?’ Manchester asked.

  ‘For my sins,’ Harry said. ‘I’m the senior clinician and I also have personal responsibility for Chloe.’

  ‘What do you say on the subject of bail, Dr Piper?’

  ‘As Miss Valentine rightly pointed out, what we’re asking for is hardly bail in the strictest sense. Frankly, Chloe will be held securely on the wing, she won’t be free to come and go as she chooses, far from it,’ said Harry. ‘She will however be safe and cared for, which is my priority.’

  Kerry sniffed. ‘What about the other patients? Will they be safe with the defendant in situ?’

  ‘You could say the same of the detainees in prison. Or don’t they count?’ said Harry. ‘At least at the Grove we can keep her behaviour monitored at all times, ensure her medication remains stable. I don’t think anyone can argue that for a girl like Chloe, a high dependency mental unit isn’t the appropriate place.’

  Suddenly the power came on and the overhead strip lights flickered into action. The brightness was overwhelming and Lilly had to shield her eyes with her hands.

  ‘In the circumstances I don’t think I have any choice,’ said Mr Manchester. ‘The defendant must be allowed to return to the Grove.’

  Lilly blinked into the glare, trying to rid black spots from her field of vision. When at last she could see, the first face that came into view was Harry’s.

  ‘You did it,’ he said. ‘You bloody well did it.’

  Chapter Eight

  From: Tinaoliver@lutonsocialservices.org.uk

  To: Selimabegum@lutonsocialservices.org.uk

  Subject: Phoebe, Arianne, Nathalia and Mimi Talbot

  Hi Selima,

  As you know, I visited Karen and Stu Bryson today to try to get them to change their minds about placing the girls back into care.

  To say I found them in a distressed state would be an understatement. Karen in particular is at the end of her tether and Stu is worried she may have a complete breakdown if things carry on as they are.

  The main problem, as we always knew it would be, is Phoebe. We all hoped that in the months following the adoption, her behaviour would settle down, but sadly that isn’t the case. If anything it has got worse. Her destructive outbursts now take place at least once a day and whilst I was at the Brysons’ house I saw one episode in full flow where she threw a cup from one end of the kitchen to the other, narrowly missing Mimi’s head. Stu took her outside into the garden in an attempt to calm her but she was soon banging on the window with such force I was concerned she would put her fists through the glass.

  Karen is terrified she is going to seriously injure one of the other girls or herself. She feels powerless to control the situation and Stu can’t have any more time off work. He is already on a final warning.

  When she was finally quiet enough for me to talk to, Phoebe told me she felt very angry with herself for hurting Karen and Stu, but that she doesn’t believe they really want her living with them. She seems to want to test their commitment to her and is taking it to the very brink.

  During a long discussion with Karen and Stu they were adamant that the adoption of the girls has broken down. However, after much begging on my part, they have agreed to wait another month during which time we can put in place more support. I suggested that we double the number of sessions the girls have in play therapy and that we set up counselling for Phoebe as soon as possible. I know we’ve been down this road before and she was completely resistant, but I think we need to try again, as much for Karen and Stu’s sakes as Phoebe’s.

  Finally, I had to make a concession about Gigi. I know we promised Pat, the guardian, that we would promote contact between the girls and Gigi, but Karen and Stu are convince
d that she is one of the main triggers for Phoebe’s behaviour. They say that whenever Phoebe speaks to or sees her elder sister, she becomes unmanageable.

  I know this is going to break Gigi’s heart, but frankly, I didn’t think I had a leg to stand on. It was either stop contact or lose the entire placement. I should probably have checked with you first, but Karen and Stu were so desperate I felt I had to give them the assurance on the spot.

  Though I’m not looking forward to it, I’ll tell Gigi what’s happened in person. I owe her that much. Then I’ll sort the extra support. After that, I think the best we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope for some improvement.

  If you want to speak to me about this, I’ll be in the office on Thursday.

  Regards

  Tina.

  Lilly threw the directions to Harry’s place into her bag and slid on a pair of heels, trying to ignore David’s pointed look.

  ‘You look nice,’ he said. ‘Hot date?’

  ‘Don’t be daft,’ she replied. ‘I’m meeting Harry to chat about the case.’

  ‘And you need red lipstick for that?’

  ‘Am I not allowed make-up at my age?’ she asked. ‘Maybe I should get a perm and dentures.’

  He didn’t answer but dug into his back pocket, producing the keys to his Range Rover ‘You’d better take these.’ He tossed them to her. ‘The Mini will never make it.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Shall I wait up?’ David asked.

  Lilly just laughed and left him to it.

  When she pulled up outside the address Harry had given to her, she wasn’t surprised to find a smart apartment block with a concierge service.

  ‘I’m here to see Harry Piper,’ Lilly told the man in a grey uniform.

  ‘Fifth floor.’ He gestured to the lift.

  ‘The penthouse suite.’

  The penthouse suite. It had to be, didn’t it?