Dark Spaces

by Black, Helen

  ‘Then there is no reason for the police to have access to them.’

  ‘Probably not, and I’ll argue that tomorrow,’ said Lilly. ‘But, to be honest, even if they win, these notes won’t help their case. There’s nothing suspicious in there.’

  Chapter Twelve

  Prisoner Location Enquiry Form

  Your full name:

  Phoebe Talbot

  Your date of birth:

  08/04/1998

  Address line 1:

  Hampton House, Locksford Way.

  Address line 2:

  Clayhill Estate

  Town/city:

  Luton

  Postcode:

  LU2 4TY

  Telephone number:

  01582 86222

  Email address:

  hamptonhouse@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

  Reason for enquiry:

  I wish to find my sister who I have not been allowed to see for two years

  Full name of person you wish to contact:

  Gigi Talbot

  His/her date of birth:

  Sometime in 1988

  Lilly arrived at court early. It was quiet but at least the electricity was on.

  She headed straight for the advocates’ room where Kerry had already commandeered the table, spreading her papers around her.

  ‘Nice to see you again, Lilly.’ Kerry’s voice dripped with sarcasm. ‘No doubt you’ve got a set of medical notes for me.’

  ‘Nice try,’ said Lilly. ‘But you’ll have to get a court order if you want them.’

  ‘That’s what we’re here for.’

  Kerry bent her head and went back to her files, as if she had nothing more to say to Lilly. Bloody rude cow.

  ‘Actually, that’s not all I’m here for,’ she said.

  Kerry left her finger on the document she was reading so she wouldn’t lose her place and looked up.

  ‘I wanted your opinion on the list of suspects,’ said Lilly.

  Kerry sighed and glanced at the word her finger was marking as if it were far more important than anything Lilly might have to say. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lilly.’

  ‘That’s strange,’ said Lilly. ‘Two days ago I sent an email to Officer McNally listing the people who had access to my client’s room at the Grove. I assumed that those people would have been tested forensically by now to find out which one raped her.’

  ‘First I’ve heard of it,’ said Kerry.

  ‘Very odd,’ said Lilly. ‘I advised him to pass it on to you as a matter of urgency. After all, you’re going to look pretty stupid when I tell the judge that I want the matter set down for committal because there’s no case to answer.’

  ‘No case to answer? Your client’s fingerprints were on the knife.’

  Lilly opened her palms. ‘What choice do I have, Kerry? You know our defence is that the same person who raped Chloe also murdered Lydia, and I’ve provided you with a list of suspects. If the police refuse to investigate then what am I to do?’

  ‘You can’t expect us to launch some expensive operation on the whim of one of your client’s wild fantasies.’

  Lilly folded her arms. ‘Chloe’s rape was very real according to Dr Hicks. She took the usual samples. All you have to do is scrape the inside of two mouths to see who matches.’

  ‘Two?’

  ‘Two. You try telling the judge why you didn’t bother and see how far you get.’

  ‘And what if none of them match?’

  ‘Then I’m a twat and your case just got a hell of a lot stronger.’

  Harry was sat in the waiting area outside court, flicking through a copy of HELLO!, the heel of one foot resting on the knee of the other.

  ‘I didn’t guess celebrity gossip was your thing,’ she said.

  He laughed and put the magazine down on the seat next to him. ‘Doesn’t everyone need to know Jennifer Aniston’s top tips for thick, shiny hair?’

  Thinking of her own unruly mop, Lilly thought she probably did need to know those tips.

  ‘I’ve already put a right royal rocket up the prosecution’s arse about the list of suspects,’ she replied.

  Harry’s face fell.

  ‘I know you can’t bear the idea that one of those people is guilty,’ she said, ‘But we have to know. For Chloe’s sake.’

  ‘You’re right of course.’

  Kerry and Jack approached. Kerry was hugging a fat file to her chest and Jack slouched next to her. He didn’t acknowledge Lilly but threw a scowl at Harry.

  ‘We’re popular,’ Harry whispered in Lilly’s ear.

  ‘Like Russell Brand in a convent.’

  Jack’s face darkened further at the sight of Lilly and Harry laughing. He needed to grow up.

  ‘You give me the medical notes and we’ll do the forensics,’ said Kerry.

  Lilly processed the offer. The notes weren’t a problem and the court might well order their release in any event. ‘When?’ she asked.

  ‘Straight after the hearing,’ said Kerry. ‘Jack will go with your man to the hospital and get it done.’

  Jack worried the carpet tiles with the toe of his boot. Clearly he wasn’t happy with the proposals. Clearly he had been given no choice.

  ‘Fine,’ said Lilly.

  When Kerry and Jack were out of earshot, Harry grabbed her arm. ‘I thought you were going to fight them about the notes.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Harry.’ She put a hand over his. ‘There’s absolutely nothing in those notes that can hurt Chloe.’

  Harry’s face remained unconvinced and he dug his fingers further into her flesh.

  ‘Trust me, Harry,’ she told him.

  The pressure he was applying was almost starting to hurt when he let go.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Of course I trust you.’

  Kate was right. Lilly and Piper were having it away.

  Jesus, how had he not seen it before? So bloody cosy. Like giggling kids. They’d probably set up the whole thing about the notes between them. Piper could easily have got his patient’s permission, but Jack would bet his arse that Lilly had advised him not to, knowing full well that Jack would nick him. Then they could sue and ruin him. Get him out of the way.

  Not bloody likely.

  ‘Are you listening to me, Jack?’ Kerry barked.

  ‘Sorry,’ he muttered.

  ‘Why the hell didn’t you send me the list?’ she asked.

  ‘It wasn’t a priority.’

  ‘Where Lilly Valentine is concerned everything is top priority,’ said Kerry. ‘You do not want to give her the upper hand. Ever.’

  Jack nodded and followed the prosecutor into court. Lilly had already taken her place at the front, joking with the clerk as if she were in the pub. Then she turned and waved at her client, and the girl waved back. All smiles like she didn’t have a care in the world. There was no way on God’s green earth that the kid was innocent.

  ‘My rule of thumb, is not to trust her,’ Kerry hissed. ‘She always has an agenda and she always has a plan.’

  Jack knew fine well that Lilly had a plan. It was to replace him with bloody Piper. Well, she had better watch out because now he had a plan of his own.

  When the hearing was over, Lilly gave Chloe a thumbs-up. She seemed much brighter today. Perhaps just getting away from the Grove cheered her up. That place would depress Jedward.

  Whatever the reason, it was heartening to see signs of life in her client.

  In stark contrast were Jack and Harry, who both had a face like a slapped arse. God knows what was wrong with Jack these days. He was beyond weird. At least Harry had good reason to feel sad. He’d been forced into breaching patient confidentiality, which he didn’t take lightly, and he was about to find out which one of his most trusted colleagues was a rapist. Not to mention the recent death of a patient.

  ‘It’ll be all right, Harry,’ she told him. ‘You go back to the Grove and oversee Jack. I’ll bob down to the cells and speak to Chloe.’

 
; She watched him leave, resignation weighting his shoulders. Poor man. Could anything else go wrong for him?

  ‘Put your tongue away, woman,’ Jack snapped.

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘You’re making a show of yourself.’

  Lilly narrowed her eyes. ‘There’s only one of us here doing that.’

  He shook his head in disgust and walked away. What the hell was all that about? Lilly decided she didn’t have the time or the energy to care and headed down to the cells.

  ‘Hello, Lilly,’ said Chloe, tucking into a plate of mince and mashed potatoes. ‘They brought me lunch.’

  ‘So I see.’

  ‘I wonder if there’ll be any pudding.’

  Lilly sat on the bed next to her client and smiled. ‘You seem a lot more relaxed.’

  ‘I am.’

  Lilly watched Chloe chase the last spoonful of grey meat around the plate.

  ‘Can we talk?’ Lilly asked.

  Chloe shrugged and smacked her lips.

  ‘Tell me about Lydia,’ said Lilly.

  ‘She was my friend,’ said Chloe.

  ‘How close were you?’

  Chloe smiled. ‘She always said we’d already met in a previous life.’

  ‘When she told you she was going to blow the whistle on the abuse did you believe her?’

  ‘Oh yeah.’ Chloe nodded vigorously. ‘She couldn’t deal with it at all.’

  ‘I’m sure you both found it hard,’ said Lilly.

  ‘It was worse for Lydia though.’

  ‘Why?’

  The cell door opened and the guard stepped in with a bowl of Swiss roll and custard. Chloe’s face lit up.

  ‘Why was it worse for Lydia?’ Lilly repeated.

  ‘She’d been raped before.’

  Chloe shovelled in almost half the bowlful, yellow custard collecting at either side of her mouth.

  ‘It really screwed her up, you see.’ She took another huge spoonful. ‘Because it was her dad that did it.’

  Gem checks the time on her phone. She’s proper late for work and Feyza has texted her twice already.

  She tries calling Mum again, but it goes straight to voicemail. Probably run out of charge. Mum ain’t good at remembering to plug in her mobile at night.

  Thing is, she’s got no way of even guessing when Mum will come back. When she goes on the missing list like this it can be hours or days. And there ain’t no way of telling where she’s at.

  Tyler starts coughing. He’s woke up full of some horrible bug. Both his cheeks are bright red. There’s no way Gem can leave him. Not even cuddled up on the settee in a pile of blankets.

  Her phone goes again. Another text from Feyza: ‘Where the fuck are you?’

  She opens her arms and smiles at Tyler. ‘Come on, mate.’

  Normally he would jump at her like one of them baby monkeys you see on the telly, but today he just lets her pick him up, then lays his head on her shoulder. She pushes his hair off his face. It feels wet from where he’s been sweating.

  ‘I’m taking you out,’ she tells him.

  ‘Park?’

  ‘Not right now, mate,’ she says. ‘Maybe later.’

  He don’t argue the toss, just gives another cough that sounds full of snot.

  She pulls his coat off the peg by the front door. It don’t really fit him no more and she has to fight to do up the zip. She’ll get him a new one soon. He can’t go through the rest of the winter without a coat that fits him, can he?

  Once they’re outside, Gem realizes she’s going to have to carry him. It’s hard in the snow, though, and he’s heavy these days. She remembers the day he was born and how little he was. Mum had him in a cot at the side of her hospital bed and one of the nurses let Gem pick him up and hold him. His funny, baby fingers grabbed hers and she was surprised by how strong he was.

  ‘Going to be a bruiser that one,’ the nurse said.

  She were right as well. He weighs a bleeding ton.

  When they get to the house, she kisses his cheek. ‘Listen to me, Tyler, you’ve got to be a good boy in here, all right? You’ve got to sit nicely and not make a fuss. Okay?’

  He nods into her shoulder.

  ‘I’ll get you a drink and a bag of crisps,’ she says. ‘Then you can close your eyes and have a lovely sleep.’

  He nods again. Maybe it ain’t a bad thing that he’s under the weather. At least this way he won’t race round causing a riot.

  When she gets inside, the other girls all start making a fuss of him, asking him his name and that. But when Feyza sees him, she’s got a face on her like thunder.

  ‘What time you call this?’

  ‘Sorry,’ Gem mumbles. ‘My mum went out.’

  ‘And what he doing here?’ She points at Tyler.

  ‘I told you. My mum went out.’

  ‘You think he can stay here?’

  ‘I can’t leave him on his own,’ says Gem.

  Feyza shakes her head. ‘For fuck’s sake. Do you think this is nursery?’

  ‘Oh come on, Feyza.’ Misty steps forward. ‘He’s not going to do any harm, is he?’

  ‘You stay out of this,’ says Feyza.

  ‘He can sit in the kitchen.’ Misty pats Tyler’s cheek. ‘You’ll be quiet, won’t you, big boy?’

  Tyler buries his head into Gem’s neck. She can feel hot snot on her skin.

  ‘Look at him,’ Misty says. ‘You won’t know he’s here.’

  ‘And what will clients think, eh?’ Feyza gives one of her laughs.

  ‘You really think that lot give a fuck?’ says Misty.

  ‘Oh fine. Whatever.’ Feyza walks away. ‘But if he give me one problem, he must go.’

  ‘Don’t mind the nasty old witch,’ Misty whispers to Tyler. ‘We’ll look after you.’ She copies one of Feyza’s laughs and that makes him look up and smile.

  ‘Witchy,’ he says.

  ‘That’s right.’ Misty takes Tyler, pops him down on one of the chairs in the kitchen and nods at Gem. ‘You get yourself ready. Bill is due here in ten.’

  Lilly pulled up outside the Morton-Daleys’ place. A large detached house with electric gates. There was only one car in the drive, which she hoped meant the husband was out at work.

  She trudged over to the keypad and pressed the buzzer.

  ‘Yes?’ The voice was unmistakably that of Lydia’s mother.

  ‘Mrs Morton-Daley, it’s Lilly Valentine.’ Lilly bent to the intercom. ‘I represented Lydia if you remember?’

  ‘What do you want?’

  Lilly recalled Mrs Morton-Daley’s anger in Harry’s office. It clearly hadn’t subsided. In the circumstances why should it?

  ‘I wonder if I can talk to you about Chloe Church?’ Lilly asked.

  ‘What’s there to say? She killed Lydia. End of story.’

  ‘The thing is,’ said Lilly, ‘I don’t think she did kill Lydia.’

  Laughter burst from the speaker into the cold air. ‘So you’re Chloe’s solicitor now?’ Mrs Morton-Daley shrieked. ‘You lost one client so you quickly replaced her with another. Ah, well, we all need to earn a crust, don’t we?’

  ‘It isn’t like that,’ said Lilly.

  ‘I’ll bet,’ said Mrs Morton-Daley. ‘God, you people make me sick. Goodbye.’

  A long mournful tone streamed towards Lilly. Then silence. The conversation was at an end.

  Lilly headed back to the car. What had she expected? She patted her pockets for the keys and cursed her lack of realism. She should have known there was no way the dead girl’s mother would want to speak to the lawyer of the murder suspect.

  She unlocked the car and was about to get in when a creaking sound came from behind her. Lilly turned and saw the electric gates open. Beyond them, Mrs Morton-Daley stood in her doorway, pulling a black cardigan around her.

  ‘You’d better come in,’ she called to Lilly and disappeared inside the house.

  Lilly trotted across the drive. Now all she needed to work out was how t
o bring up the allegation that this woman’s husband had raped her daughter.

  ‘Tea? Coffee?’ asked Mrs Morton-Daley. ‘Or something stronger?’

  Before Lilly could answer, the other woman opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of white wine.

  ‘It’s a bit early, even for me,’ said Lilly.

  Mrs Morton-Daley shrugged and filled her own glass to the brim.

  The kitchen was a work of art. Stainless-steel cupboards and vast Perspex work surfaces. In the centre was an island constructed of grey brick. It put Lilly’s higgledy-piggledy kitchen to shame, yet she got the sense that her own brought more joy.

  ‘Sit.’ Mrs Morton-Daley pointed to a high stool at the island.

  Lilly lifted herself onto it. It was every bit as uncomfortable as it looked. Mrs Morton-Daley leaned against the fridge, glass in hand, eyeing Lilly.

  ‘So what makes you think Chloe didn’t do it?’ she asked.

  ‘A lot of things. She just isn’t a violent person,’ Lilly replied. ‘And she loved Lydia. Apart from doctors and nurses, Lydia was the only person in Chloe’s life. She has no family or friends.’

  Mrs Morton-Daley took a gulp of wine. ‘She’s ill and people who are ill do unpredictable things. I should know.’

  ‘That’s true, but Chloe’s illness leads her to be frightened and anxious,’ said Lilly. ‘She’s never attacked anyone before.’

  ‘Then get the doctors to say so.’ Mrs Morton-Daley’s glass was already half empty. ‘It’s got nothing to do with me.’

  ‘I just wondered if you could tell me anything about Lydia? What sort of girl was she?’

  Mrs Morton-Daley drained her glass and reached into the fridge for a refill. ‘I’ll tell you what sort of girl she was, Miss Valentine.’ She raised her drink in salute. ‘She was a fucking nightmare.’

  Lilly almost laughed. When someone died, those left behind generally fell into platitudes. Mrs Morton-Daley’s honesty was rare and raw.

  ‘She drank, she smoked, she slept around.’ The woman’s lips glistened with moisture. ‘She stole anything that wasn’t nailed down.’

  ‘What do you think was at the root of it all?’ Lilly asked.