Blood Rush (Lilly Valentine)

by Black, Helen

  ‘A lot of foster placements break down,’ said Lilly.

  ‘It was more than that.’ Annabelle’s expression was pained. ‘He seemed to want to destroy everything around him, to take pleasure in it. He’s the only child I’ve ever been frightened of.’

  Annabelle’s words struck a chord. Wasn’t that what Miriam had said about Chika?

  ‘In the end he broke me and I didn’t foster again,’ said Annabelle. ‘Then I met Tanisha.’

  ‘What does this have to do with Chika’s death?’

  Annabelle put up a hand, begging for patience. ‘Since he left, Daniel has raised his game. He’s a big man these days. Drugs, guns, money-lending, you name it. He has a lot of power, Lilly.’

  Lilly nodded. Whoever controlled the streets, controlled the people.

  ‘And that’s why I went to him,’ said Annabelle.

  ‘Went to him for what?’

  ‘For help.’ Annabelle put her face in her hands, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. ‘I knew he ran a lot of the gangs on the estates, so I asked him to intervene.’

  Lilly couldn’t hide her shock. ‘You wanted him to interfere with a witness?’

  ‘I just thought he could speak to Chika. I was sure she was making the whole thing up out of spite anyway,’ said Annabelle.

  The temptation to chastise was hot on Lilly’s tongue, but she stopped herself. Something told her that Annabelle’s story was about to get worse.

  ‘It was foolish to ask Daniel for a favour. I should have remembered that he’s not the sort of person to do the right thing,’ said Annabelle. ‘With someone like that, you have to fight fire with fire.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘I threatened him.’

  Annabelle sat very upright in her chair, every inch the proper country lady, with her sensible clothes and clean nails. Not a woman who had just admitted to threatening a dangerous gangster.

  ‘I told him that if he wouldn’t help I would go to the police, that I would tell them exactly what he had done.’

  Lilly pressed harder into the table to support herself. Men like the one Annabelle had described didn’t take threats lightly. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘He said he’d consider my offer.’ She let out a laugh. ‘Those were his actual words. Then one day when I was shopping, his car pulled up and he told me we were going for a little drive.’

  She looked up at Lilly and even now her eyes were filled with fear. ‘Daniel is a very bad person.’

  ‘Did he hurt you?’ Lilly asked.

  Annabelle shook her head. ‘He didn’t need to. He told me about the last person who had tried to persuade him to do something he didn’t want to do. That the man’s wife had been found in a canal and no one ever did work out why all her toenails were missing.’

  Lilly’s throat constricted.

  ‘When I heard the knife had been found, I knew it was him,’ said Annabelle. ‘I crossed a line and this is my punishment.’

  Lilly’s head whirled. None of it made any sense.

  ‘The knife has Tanisha’s prints all over it.’

  Annabelle pointed to the block on the work surface. Lilly had seen her client take a knife from it and cut an apple. Now, one was missing.

  ‘Anyone could have sneaked in and stolen it,’ said Annabelle.

  It seemed unlikely. And yet this was such a big house, a thief could have got in undetected.

  ‘Someone like Daniel would certainly know enough people capable of it,’ said Annabelle.

  ‘What I still don’t understand,’ Lilly said, ‘is why you even thought you could intimidate him. I’m sure the fact that he’s a crook won’t come as any surprise to the police, they just can’t pin anything on him. They never can.’

  ‘But that’s the point, Lilly, I can pin something on him. I have cast-iron proof that he had sex with an underage girl.’

  ‘Proof?’

  Annabelle’s face was dour. ‘He’s the father of Tanisha’s baby.’

  Trick and Jamie are hiding under the slide where they first struck up their friendship. They huddle together, counting the money for the third time. The blood on the third roll makes Jamie tremble. He refuses to think about JC’s head and how it split open like the shell of a boiled egg to reveal the white inside.

  ‘This is it,’ Trick whispers. ‘This is what I’ve been waiting for. We can go anywhere we want. Paris, maybe, or Las Vegas. I’ve always wanted to go there. See Elvis and that.’

  Jamie doesn’t point out that Elvis died a long time ago. Or that they don’t have passports. Or that a thousand pounds won’t be enough for the plane tickets.

  Trick lays his head on Jamie’s shoulder. ‘Where would you like to go?’

  ‘I don’t mind.’ Jamie can feel tears sting his eyes.

  ‘As long as we’re together,’ Trick’s voice drifts away. ‘That’s all that matters.’

  Solomon Street is shut off by police cars at either end. The feds buzz around like flies, their radios humming and crackling. Demi is in her school uniform, her smile wide.

  ‘What’s happened?’ she calls out to one of them.

  He looks her up and down before deciding she’s a harmless kid.

  ‘Someone’s been attacked,’ he says.

  Demi opens her eyes as if she’s shocked. ‘Killed?’ The copper doesn’t answer. ‘Did you catch who did it?’ asks Demi.

  ‘No,’ says the copper, ‘but don’t you worry, miss, we will.’

  ‘Yeah right.’ Another girl has arrived to rubberneck, her eyes hooded, her mini-skirt revealing a rash over her thighs.

  ‘On your way,’ the copper hisses at her. ‘There’s nothing for your sort here, now.’

  She makes a face at him and moves off. Demi moves with her.

  ‘Were you in there, then?’ Demi asks. ‘When JC got bumped?’

  The girl eyes Demi with suspicion. ‘What do you know about it?’

  ‘I know I’ve got a bag of glass in my pocket with your name on it if you tell me what went down.’

  The girl scratches her thigh, picking at the edges of a scab with her nail. She holds out her hand and Demi drops the wrap without making contact. She’s seen impetigo before and knows it’s catching.

  ‘Two of ’em, both white,’ the girl tells Demi. ‘Pair of queers.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I seen ’em, with their hands all over each other.’

  ‘Do you know what they’re called?’

  The girl shakes her head and looks over Demi’s shoulder, already bored with the conversation, desperate to use the gear.

  ‘I seen one of ’em around, you know, here and on the estate.’ She wrinkles her nose. ‘Proper habit he’s got.’

  Demi almost laughs. Yet, if she’s learned one lesson in recent times, it’s that no one sees themselves as they really are.

  ‘The other one’s new. Some posh bastard slumming it.’

  ‘Do you know where they went?’ Demi asks.

  ‘No idea,’ the girl is already scurrying away, ‘but I doubt they’ve gone far.’

  Annabelle brought Jack into the kitchen.

  ‘Tanisha’s not here,’ said Lilly.

  ‘Fuck it,’ Jack punched his thigh.

  ‘I think you should listen to what Annabelle has to say,’ said Lilly.

  Reluctantly, Jack rested his hands on the back of a chair. He clearly had no intention of sitting.

  Annabelle relayed the same account and Lilly watched Jack’s reaction throughout. Nothing in his face gave him away. He just listened in silence until Annabelle finished.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said, and turned to leave.

  Lilly waved Annabelle to remain where she was, and went after him. At the door, she grabbed his arm.

  ‘I know it sounds unlikely,’ she said.

  ‘It’s a pile of shite and you know it,’ he replied.

  ‘Maybe or maybe not,’ Lilly still held his arm, ‘but think about it for a second. If Tanisha has gone to find this man, she could be in d
anger.’

  He didn’t respond, but he didn’t move. Lilly took her opportunity.

  ‘If he thinks there’s any chance that Tanisha or Annabelle would get the police involved he might decide to do away with the evidence.’

  ‘I’m not convinced,’ he said.

  ‘You don’t need to be,’ Lilly replied. ‘You want to find her as much as I do. If we keep her safe into the bargain, I’ll be happy.’

  He hesitated, then nodded and went back through to the kitchen.

  ‘What’s this mystery murderer’s full name?’

  ‘Daniel Kanio,’ said Annabelle.

  ‘Address?’

  Annabelle shook her head.

  ‘What about his car?’ Lilly asked. ‘You said he picked you up in a car.’

  Annabelle fluttered her hands helplessly. ‘I don’t know. Black, I think.’

  Jack groaned and Lilly knew she would lose him if she couldn’t get something more concrete.

  ‘Was it the guy I saw you with?’ she asked. ‘I was on the porch and you didn’t see me at first. You got out of a black car and said he owed you.’

  ‘Yes, that was Daniel.’

  Lilly turned to Jack. ‘Black Merc, private reg, DK … something.’

  Jack pinched his brow and pulled out his phone. ‘DK 639?’

  ‘That’s it,’ Lilly squealed.

  ‘I’ll see what I can find out.’ He pointed to Annabelle and Lilly in turn. ‘You two stay here, and if Tanisha gets in contact, call me immediately.’

  * * *

  Demi trudges through the Clayhill, asking every user she comes across if they know anything. The name Trick comes up a few times, but no one knows where he is. If they’ve got any sense, this pair of jokers will be long gone. Then again, junkies aren’t well known for their common sense, are they?

  That’s something Gran always says Demi has. Or used to.

  When she gets to the edge of Clayhill, where Hightown begins, she knows she should go back. She may not be an official member of the CBD, but she’s known. If Yo Yo’s crew catch her slipping into their area, they won’t stop to ask for her credentials. She looks skyward, at the Nike trainers hanging from the telephone wire. A warning that anyone with common sense should heed, but Demi pushes on until she finds what she’s looking for. Sorry Gran.

  An ordinary gate. To an ordinary swing park.

  She pushes it open and goes inside. The place is deserted, no children playing and laughing. A prickle of recognition stings her. This is where it all began. This is where Malaya was attacked.

  She imagines the scene. Chika, fit and fast, searching for somewhere to hide. Malaya, fat and clumsy, being tackled to the ground. She makes her way to the slide, where a dark patch tells its ugly tale.

  ‘Why the fuck didn’t you just do like Gran told you, Malaya?’ Demi demands. ‘Why didn’t you just go to school and stay out of trouble?’

  Something stirs. A snuffle from under the slide. A dog? Demi peers into the cubby-hole. Two figures, completely out of it, wrapped in one another’s arms, blood spattered across their jeans.

  Demi pulls out her phone and calls Rocky.

  ‘Tell Danny I think I just found them.’

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘No address, no phone number, no nothing.’

  Carla Chapman smiled up from her computer. ‘Sorry, Jack, but this guy’s completely off the radar. Even the car’s registered to some woman in Ilford who died three years ago.’

  ‘Dammit,’ Jack snapped and instantly regretted it as Carla’s face fell. She was a good kid, eager to help. She’d make a good copper too, if grumpy sods like him didn’t put her off.

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said. ‘It was always going to be a long shot with this one. That’s precisely how he stays untouchable.’

  Her face brightened. ‘And a Doctor Cheney’s been trying to get you.’

  Jack wondered why Cheney hadn’t called his mobile. He pulled it out and discovered the battery had finally died.

  ‘He said he’ll be incommunicado for the next hour, something about a new piece of art,’ she told him. ‘But that you might be interested to know that he found someone else’s DNA on the knife.’

  Jack’s chest contracted. Surely Annabelle’s cock and bull story couldn’t be true. But if it was, what did that mean for Tanisha? Nothing good, that was for sure. He checked his watch. It would take twenty minutes for him to get to Cheney. Twenty minutes he didn’t want to waste, but right now he didn’t have an alternative.

  ‘Can I borrow your phone, Carla?’ Jack asked.

  She smiled and handed it over.

  ‘I owe you a drink,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll hold you to that.’

  Lilly rolled a five-pence piece between her forefinger and thumb, letting it catch the glare from the spotlight above her head. She wasn’t good at waiting. When her mobile rang, she rushed to answer it, gratefully.

  At first, the caller didn’t speak and all Lilly could hear was passing traffic in the background.

  ‘Who is this?’

  ‘It’s me.’ Tanisha’s voice was small. ‘I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.’

  ‘Tanisha,’ Lilly exclaimed.

  Annabelle gasped and her hands flew to her face.

  ‘Tanisha where are you?’ Lilly asked. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘I’m …’ Tanisha paused, obviously struggling with the word fine. ‘I’ve got to sort some things out. I just wanted to like, apologize, for all the shit I’ve put you through.’

  ‘Never mind about that Tanisha, just tell me where you are.’

  ‘I can’t do that, Lilly.’

  ‘I know this is all very frightening,’ Lilly jumped to her feet, ‘but you’ve got to let me come and get you. Under no circumstances should you go to see the father of your child.’

  ‘How do you know about Danny?’

  Lilly glanced at Annabelle. ‘That doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that you keep yourself safe.’

  Lilly was about to explain why Daniel Kanio was the last person Tanisha should trust right now, but the line was already dead. She screwed her eyes shut, knowing there was no point in pressing the reply button. Tanisha had said what she’d had to say and the conversation was over.

  Her mind was running in double time, fast forwarding past the possibility that Kanio had dispatched Chika like an annoying wasp, to the point where he might hurt a pregnant girl who got in his way.

  ‘Annabelle,’ she spoke slowly, ‘you need to think very carefully about where Daniel took you in his car.’

  Annabelle’s cheeks reddened and her mouth began to twitch.

  Lilly held up a warning finger. ‘I said carefully.’

  Annabelle nodded and gulped down her haste. She took three breaths to steady herself.

  ‘I could probably show you.’

  Jack had been very clear that they should stay put. But Lilly wasn’t any better at taking orders than she was at waiting.

  When Jamie wakes up he can only open one eye. The other feels wet and heavy. He tries to wipe it, but his hand won’t move. It’s numb and caught in an odd position behind his back. Never mind. He’ll go back to sleep. He’s so very exhausted.

  Then he hears the squealing. High pitched and annoying. It whistles in his ear and around his brain like one of those old-fashioned kettles. Or an animal. He once watched a documentary about an organic pig farmer. It was meant to show you that his ‘girls’ had led a happy life, rolling around in their own shit and eating acorns. But the sound of their screaming when the farmer cut their throats put Jamie off ham for ever.

  The noise gets so loud Jamie is forced to look.

  Suddenly, he is thrust back into the present. He knows exactly where he is and why he can’t move his arms.

  Trick is lying at the other end of the room, his hands and feet bound with wire. The black guy who picked them up in the park is standing above him, the weird eye, lifeless and white, staring down. He’s calm and still,
and seems almost puzzled at Trick writhing around at his feet. He examines the cigarette in his hand and blows on the lit end until it glows a deep red.

  ‘No, please, no.’ Trick tries to roll away.

  Jamie can see three or four angry burns on his face, each a perfect circle. He wants to say something to help but knows there is nothing to say. His few days of freedom are over and he and Trick are going to die here, in this airless place.

  The guy crouches down and holds the ember millimetres from Trick’s cheek.

  ‘Please,’ Trick screams, ‘you’ve got your money back. It’s all there. We didn’t spend any of it.’

  The guy shakes his head. ‘This isn’t about the money. Do you really think I give a fuck about a poxy grand?’

  ‘What then?’ Tears are pouring down Trick’s face. ‘What do you want?’

  Poor Trick. He doesn’t get it. The guy doesn’t want anything. They’ve taken from him and now they have to pay. Simple cause and effect.

  Behind him, Jamie hears a groan of disgust. He finds the schoolgirl in her uniform, squatting against the wall, playing with her tie, her mouth a repulsed scowl. He’d forgotten she was there. When he woke up in the park she was standing over him, a mixture of sadness and confusion on her face. She wore the same expression when the guy with the freaky eye kicked him in the face. What will she do when it’s Jamie’s turn to be an ashtray?

  At last, the guy is forced to take a break when another man enters the room.

  ‘Boss,’ the second man says, ‘there’s someone here for you. Says it’s important.’

  ‘Who?’

  The second man glances at the schoolgirl. ‘Tanisha.’

  ‘What does she want?’ The schoolgirl looks up from her tie.

  Both men glare at her and walk out of the room.

  Trick is whispering to himself, his body convulsing.

  ‘Trick,’ Jamie calls out his name. He has nothing useful to say, just wants Trick to know he’s there. That he’s not alone.