The Fenton Saga: Never Say Goodbye / There Was No Body.

by Colin Griffiths

  Bill had finished sending the message.

  ‘You aren’t going nowhere unless I say so.’ he said. Katy sat down next to Wendy, her dream of stardom now faded into the back of her frightened mind. The girls looked at each other, defeat etched on their faces, the dread slowly creeping over them. Bill had locked the flat door with a key, to make sure they wouldn't escape. He got an old rucksack from the bedroom. The girls watched as he filled the rucksack with four bottles of water, a six-pack of Aero’s, some cannabis, a bag of white tablets which neither girl was sure what they were for, but what frightened them most was the hand gun that Bill took from a drawer. He checked the chamber, then also put that into the rucksack which he closed. He took his wallet out of his pocket. He looked inside, over £400 in twenties. Nodding, he put it back in his pocket He looked around the room as if surveying what else he needed to pack. Is he leaving us here? The girls thought. Just as that thought crossed their minds, he turned with a big grin on his face. He took out his knife, showing it to the girls, as if to say this is what you get if you mess about.

  ‘Follow me.’ he said.

  The girls stood and walked slowly towards Bill. He unlocked the door of the flat, opened it and walked into the stairwell. No one heard Mickey stir as they left the flat. The corridor was empty. Even though it was still daytime, it was dark. Most of the light bulbs were out, leaving one just flickering by the stairwell, which made the building seem eerie. It felt like the building was swallowing them up. Wendy thought of the horror films that she and Todd used to stay up late to watch, where the girls would be captured or hunted by the bad man. In those films one always survived. She just hoped it was her. She didn’t want to be a star in this horror film. She wanted to run. Surely running would be better than this, but instead of walking down the stairs they walked up. She could smell the stench of urine, vomit and cannabis. She thought that if the people in the building lived like this, then they really had no chance. Bill seemed happy as he took the girls up. He was whistling as he held the knife. This was going well. He was having fun.

  Chapter 14

  Daniel didn’t recognise the phone number, certainly not one of his contacts. He opened the message and found himself looking at a picture of a pile of grubby, stained clothes on an equally grubby carpet. For a moment he thought it was some joke and the caption would explain all. The photo was in colour and the stains looked a bit like dried blood, but he couldn't be sure. He read the text accompanying the picture, ‘Do you recognise these, Daniel? For a moment he just stood there looking at the picture, the John Smith’s still slowing up his thought process. Then his brain seemed to engage and click into gear. His heart skipped a beat. A thousand emotions went through his head. He immediately thought of Becky, but he knew she was safe at home. Or was she safe?

  It took him less than a minute to run home in a blind panic. He burst into the house. He could hear the radio on in the kitchen, someone singing along to a tune he did not recognise. Within seconds, he burst the kitchen door open causing Becky to scream. This made him feel worse. He looked at his gorgeous wife and hugged her so tightly that Becky thought he was going to crush her. His heart was still racing. For a single moment he had thought the worst. Now she was safe. They were safe.

  She struggled to get free.

  ‘You’re choking me.’ she gasped. ‘I can't breathe.’ He released her. She loved all the hugs and kisses, but this was going over the top.

  ‘What the hell’s up with you?’ she asked, feeling a bit scared now.

  He was shaking and sweating, his eyes looked frightened, as if he had just seen a ghost. For a split second Becky thought he looked like a frightened lost child. They stood there looking at each other, Becky noticing how vulnerable he looked. He was still shaking. She had never seen him like this.

  Daniel struggled with his words.

  ‘I don’t know, babe.’ was all he could say.

  Becky drew him closer, put her arms around him laid her head on his chest.

  ‘You sure you’re okay? You’re frightening me, Daniel.’

  For all the years she had known him, Daniel had never shown fear. Nothing seemed to faze him. He was big, strong and handsome. He was a big hitter in the world of tax avoidance and had powerful contacts. Everyone in Ashbourne Estate knew him and no one would dare cross him. That knowledge made her feel safe. Even when he wasn’t there, he made her feel safe. Now she was scared.

  Daniel regained his composure. He realised he was frightening Becky and that he probably looked stupid. What Becky didn’t know was that he had this inner feeling. His sixth sense had told him something was wrong. Something had gone bad. He had thought his Becky was gone, but here she was, standing in front of him, as beautiful as ever. He felt a fool, but he wasn’t wrong. He kissed her full on the lips and then he showed her his phone.

  Chapter 15

  They only walked up three flights and down the corridor, where Bill opened the second door to the left and nodded for the girls to go in. They did, neither girl seeing any option. There was no other option. The man pointing the way with the knife told them there was nowhere to escape to. They were pushed into the living room of the flat, which was a lot better furnished than the one they had just left. A leather sofa, a nice carpet, a sideboard which appeared to be stocked with drinks, and a modern telly was on, showing Coronation Street. They were met by a black man, six feet two inches. Jezz, who had a smile that lit up his face.

  ‘Yo bro!’ he said to Bill. Bill responded with the high five. ‘Yo Katy,’ Katy did not answer. ‘This the chick then bro, is it?’

  Wendy looked at the guy. She noticed his accent was very English.

  ‘That’s her.’ said Bill.

  ‘I’m going to enjoy looking after this one.’ he said. He grabbed Wendy and kissed her full on the lips. ‘She’s cute.’ Wendy took a half pace back wiping her lips.

  ‘She's not to be touched, Jezz.’ Bill said.

  Jezz nodded, smiled an even bigger smile. ‘No harm in looking though.’ then he laughed.

  Jezz told the two girls to sit on the sofa. They did as they were told. Wendy took Katy’s hand as they sat, not just for reassurance, but she was sure if she was to get out of this mess Katy would be the one to help her. Katy took her hand. They looked at each other and smiled.

  ‘It will be okay,’ Wendy whispered and gripped Katy’s hand, more tightly.

  The two men were talking by the flat door. The girls couldn't hear what was being said. Bill had told Jezz to treat Katy as a hostage, because she could not be trusted. He wasn't sure how long he would be, but to look after the two girls until he got back. He handed Jezz £200. Bill left. Jezz locked the door and pocketed the key.

  ‘Right!’ he shouted. The two girls jumped. He went into the bedroom and came out with some clean clothes that he had got earlier for Wendy. Bill had given him the money to get some clothes. That was all Bill told him. It was a good earner for Jezz. Two pairs of jeans, two jumpers, two sets of underwear and what appeared to be a pair of hiking boots. He chucked the clothes to the girls. Wendy got the boots. He pointed to the shower room.

  ‘Take a shower.’ he said. ‘There’s clean towels in there. Change your clothes. You’re stinking the flat out. I’ll put a pizza in. Sorry, it’s only frozen, but there’s enough for us all. I got a few cans as well, if you fancy one.’ He smiled.

  ‘Put your dirty clothes in the washer. You really are stinking my flat out and I like it nice. Ya know what I mean?’

  The girls looked at each other dumbfounded. Katy had seen Jezz a few times. He had been at Bill’s when she and Mickey visited. She guessed he was one of the heavies who did the collecting, but why was he being so nice?

  ‘Thank you.’ Wendy said, ‘that’s very kind.’

  Jezz flung his hands about as if dismissing it, as if it was the way he always treated people. Truth was Jezz Dwayne was one of life’s true gentleman and a very loyal friend to have. When he did go collecting drug money with Bill, it
used to make Bill smile that Jezz would apologise, before having to use the baseball bat. A gentleman with attitude and if he had a weakness, it was girls.

  The girls went into the shower room, thankful for having a chance to pee. Wendy sat on the toilet, as Katy stripped and ran the shower, testing the water with her hands before getting in. With the sound of the shower running, drowning out their voices it was Katy who spoke first, as she stepped under the shower.

  ‘I'm sorry for getting you involved in this.’

  ‘So am I.’ said Wendy, giving a faint laugh.

  ‘Who's this Jezz?’ she continued, ‘He seems okay.’

  ‘He is.’ Katy said, as she soaped herself, ‘but don't underestimate him. You think Bill is bad, well Jezz is twice as worse. The stories I've heard about him would make you cringe.’

  Wendy thought for a moment. ‘Well, I feel safer with him.’

  ‘I’ll never feel safe with either of them.’ said Katy. ‘If I thought shagging him would get us out, I would.’

  She gave Wendy a stare, as if to say don't judge me. Wendy got up from the loo, and started to get undressed.

  ‘If shagging him would get us out, I’d have a threesome.’ Wendy said, and both girls laughed. The kind of laugh you give when you’re scared to death.

  Whilst they showered and cleaned themselves up, Jezz cooked the pizza and got three cans of lager out of the fridge. Wendy got into the shower. The hot water felt good, as if it were washing away all the bad things she had been through today. She washed her hair with some Lynx. Katy changed into her clothes and sat on the toilet.

  ‘Why did you do this?’ asked Wendy, as she towelled her hair dry.

  Katy sighed. She really needed some pot. It usually made her feel better.

  ‘He lied. He told me that you were his daughter-in-law and that he wasn’t allowed to see you and he just wanted to meet you.’ She rolled her eyes, as if to say what a stupid story she had fallen for. ‘The chloroform was Mickey’s idea. He had stolen some from somewhere or other.’ She wiped a tear from her eye. ‘I just went along with it. It’s what I do.’

  Wendy sat on the edge of the bath, dressing herself. ‘Where’s your parents? Do you work? Surely you don’t have to live like this? Will your work be missing you? Perhaps they'll call.’ She spoke fast, wanting to get all her words out.

  ‘Oh sure, they will be missing me. Katy said sarcastically, I specialise in £10 blow jobs. Come on, let’s get some pizza.’

  Chapter 16

  Becky looked at the phone, puzzled for a moment, then she realised what Daniel must have been thinking. They were both staring at the picture on the phone.

  ‘Did you think they were mine?’ she asked.

  ‘I did.’ His voice was quiet as he whispered.

  ‘Bless you.’ She gave him a hug.

  Both were still looking at the phone, reading the message ‘Do you recognise these, Daniel’

  Becky grabbed the phone from Daniel, used the zoom function to zoom in on the picture.

  ‘They’re not mine, but I know who they belong to.’ she said.

  Todd and Carol were sitting at home, watching the telly. Todd was debating whether to nip out for a pint, or go up to his room and do some writing. Carol was watching Judge Judy, when the front door burst open. They both jumped, Daniel and his wife stood there as if they seen a ghost.

  ‘What’s up?’ asked a concerned Carol.

  Daniel showed Todd his phone, asking him if he recognised the clothes.

  ‘Yes I do. They’re Wendy’s. What the fucks going on?’

  Daniel explained the situation. How he had been walking home when he received the picture message. They phoned Wendy’s mum, who confirmed Wendy wasn't there and that she had been trying to ring her and was just about to ring Todd, when he rang her. They tried Wendy’s phone which went straight to voicemail, Todd left a voice mail. They explained briefly to Wendy’s mum what had happened. Wendy’s mum told them she would be over straight away, after she had phoned the police. They sat there, impatiently waiting.

  Wendy’s mum would be able to confirm whether they were really Wendy’s clothes, and if she did, what then? Daniel asked himself.

  ***

  ‘Have you texted back?’ Sergeant Tracy Bates asked. She was at the station at the time of the call and was about to delegate the call to another officer, until she heard the address, when she promptly took it upon herself. Another chance to see that hunk, Daniel, flashed through her mind. It was usual for two officers to go, so she took a rookie with her, a nineteen year old, David Stuart.

  They were both now standing in Carol’s front room. Carol thought the P. C. looked too young to be a policeman and that he looked young enough to still be at school. ‘Big tits’ as Becky had named Tracy sat on the sofa, between Carol and Wendy’s mum, Helen. Becky was thinking that Tracy was making herself too much at home. She didn’t like her, and most of all, she didn’t like her flashing her big tits at Daniel. Becky sat in the armchair, ashamed of herself for having those thoughts at a time of crisis. The brothers were standing up beside the window, Todd holding the phone with the picture message. The room looked cluttered with people.

  Daniel opened the window. A refreshing cool breeze blew in. Wendy’s mother had confirmed that the picture was of Wendy’s clothes, or at least looked like them. She was sure that Wendy had worn them to work that morning and explained to Sergeant Tracy Bates that Wendy always changed into her work clothes at work.

  ‘I know the place. Lovely food in there.’ Bates said, not really realising how inappropriate her words sounded.

  The rookie cop, Stuart, was standing by the door, taking notes. He was trying to look important, or at least trying to look as if he knew what he was doing.

  ‘No.’ came the blunt reply from Daniel, Tracy Bates looked at Daniel and smiled, showing her sparkling white teeth and the ‘come to bed’ eyes.

  No one seemed to notice this except Becky. She noticed it. Crisis or no crisis, I’ll slap her in the fucking face.

  ‘Are you sure there’s not been some mix up and she's double-booked and just gone out with friends?’ asked Bates. Everyone tried to speak at once, but Bates got the message. She leaned forward, put her hands in her lap. She was shuffling her hands, as though she was nervous. Becky noticed this. Becky noticed everything about ‘big tits.’

  ‘Todd,’ she said, looking at Todd. ‘Do you think she could be meeting someone else and using her mother as an excuse?’

  Everyone in the room seemed flabbergasted by the question and they all challenged the absurdity of it. Todd put his hands to his head, which felt like it was exploding. He could feel a headache coming.

  ‘Shut up!’ he shouted ‘Just go look for her,’ he added.

  ‘And where would I start?’ she asked.

  The question made Becky dislike her more.

  ‘You’re the fucking cop!’ Becky said.

  Sergeant Tracy Bates ignored the comment, but stared at Becky, as if to say. Hey girl, your time will come. The stare made Becky slightly uneasy. She slumped back in her chair, thinking it would be wise if she said no more.

  Helen sat in the chair, a tear coming into her eye ‘Can we just find my daughter?’ she pleaded.

  Tracy Bates asked a few more questions, about Wendy’s list of friends, who she may have seen or been with earlier. She explained that she could not file a missing person’s report until that person had been missing for forty eight hours and pointed out that Wendy was of an age where if she just wanted to disappear for a few days, nobody could stop her. Because of the picture, message and the unusual behaviour, a word that made both brothers angry, she would indeed notify her superiors and in the meantime she would visit the cafe and ask some questions there and ask to view the CCTV.

  She asked Daniel to forward the picture giving him her number. As Daniel punched it into his phone, this exchange infuriated Becky. Tracy’s phone beeped as she received the picture. Tracy continued that she would show the pict
ure to the girls at Wendy’s work to see if indeed they were the clothes she had worn to work. Todd protested that all this was a waste of time and they could do that, whilst she could start looking. Tracy reminded him that no crime had been committed and she was acting above the call of duty and stressed that she would do what she physically could. To try and help them. In the meantime, this was all she could do as all she had was a picture of some grubby clothes.

  At this point Todd wanted to hit Sergeant Bates, but he said nothing. He just wanted her to go. Wendy’s mother began sobbing. Carol got up and comforted her. Tracy moved over to allow Carol to sit beside her.

  ‘Everything will be fine,’ Tracy said, trying to reassure her. This brought a tear to Becky’s eyes. The insensitive bitch she thought.

  The conversation went on for another ten minutes, with the rookie cop trying to keep up with everything in his note pad. As Tracy Bates walked up the path, she was thinking how clever she had been in obtaining Daniel’s number.

  Wendy’s mother had phoned her elderly father, and also her sister who still lived with him. Her mother had passed on long ago with a heart attack. They lived in Marshfield; a picturesque village, about forty five minutes’ drive away.

  ‘They'll be here soon.’ She told Carol, who took her home saying that she would stay until they arrived and if they got any info they would contact her immediately. Helen’s relations had made good time and Carol was back in her living-room shortly after.

  Becky made coffee, still thinking bad thoughts about ‘big tits.’ She dished out the coffee and plonked a packet of custard creams on the table. They remained unopened. No one felt like eating. They sipped their coffee and no one spoke for a good five minutes. They were all trying to take it in. None of them realised that their world was about to be tipped upside down and nothing would ever be the same again.