by Karen Woods
Harpur’s brother was only fifteen when tragedy struck his life. Brady’s best pal was called Callum Quinn and they were inseparable. A cheeky kid he was, always laughing. A loveable rogue some would say. The two of them were always together and many a night Callum would stop over at Brady’s house. In fact Sheila used to say that he needed to start paying rent there, he was there that much. In fairness, Sheila had a lot of time for Callum and even though he was a mouthy sod, he had a good head on him. The two friends were never short of money either and whatever they were up to, they kept it to themselves. Ask no questions, tell no lies. It was Brady’s idea to go swimming in the locks. It was a warm summer’s day and the sun was cracking the flags. The Seven Wonders was a well-known place everybody went to when the weather was good. There were no adults present, no trunks or bikinis, no supervision. The kids there just used to jump in the water in whatever they were wearing, sometimes commando, bare-arsed. Callum had never been a strong swimmer but he could always manage a quick dip in the locks. The other lads used to laugh at him and say he was a wuss because he would never jump from the bridge there. He was terrified of water but only a few knew his weakness. Brady knew of course and offered to teach him to swim properly all the time, but Callum never accepted his offer. He was too cool for that. Brady and Callum kicked their shoes off and they were messing around in the lock; splashing and spraying each other with water. Callum stayed near the side away from any real danger. This was fine until the other local lads came along and started to bomb them both. Andy Morley was their ring leader and he had an evil streak about him. He was a bully and wouldn’t have thought twice about ragging you about for nothing. He was bigger than most of them too, a giant. A man child, the kids nicknamed him. It was funny because he never knew what they called him behind his back. Even his own gang members called him it too.
Andy clocked Callum near the side of the lock and stood over him sneering. “Come over here lads and look at this little prick who’s scared of the water.”
Callum’s dipped his head and gripped onto the side with both hands, teeth chattering together. The others joined in and before long, Callum was a laughing stock. There was no way Brady was having this and he stuck up for his friend. “He’s no chicken, he would take up any challenge you want to put in front of him.”
Andy Morley held his head back and chuckled. He shot his eyes over to the tall bridge to the left of him and pointed at it. “So, why doesn’t he prove it and get his bony arse up there and jump from it?”
Callum swallowed hard, what the hell was going on? Brady shook his head and tried to talk his way out of it. He knew this was a big ask of his mate. “Nar, he’s not doing it. Pick something else. Nobody you know has done that dare before, so stop chatting shit.”
Callum started to climb out of the water and the challenge was accepted. Brady dragged at the back of his jumper and tried to talk him out of it. “Take no notice of the prick, just walk away from him. You have nothing to prove to any of them. They’re all wankers.”
Callum dipped his head and Brady would never ever forget the words his best friend spoke to him on that day. “If I walk away now he will never leave me alone. I’ve got to do this for me. To save face.”
Brady watched Callum walk to the bridge. He was confident and he was sure he could do this jump without any problems. Plus, Brady was there if he ran into trouble and he could help him out. Andy and the others watched Callum as he stood on top of the bridge. “Go on chicken, jump, or has your arse fell out. Jump, jump, jump.” The others joined in now and they were louder than ever. “Chicken, chicken.” Brady looked over at Andy and he was sick to death of this kid. Who did he think he was anyway? He snarled over at him and saw red. Before he knew it he was pummelling his fist into his face, blood splurging all over the place. The others just stood there watching, not one of them tried to break up the fight. Brady dragged Andy up by his neck and booted him right up the arse. “Go on, fuck off and if I see you bullying anyone else you’ll get another bunch of fives from me.”
Andy was wounded, holding his head and wiping the blood gushing from his nose. The gang had a new leader and they were all patting Brady on his back. This was a moment none of the kids from the estate would ever forget. It would go down in history. Andy Morley’s reign of terror was over and there was a new sheriff in town. Brady shot his eyes to the bridge and searched for Callum. He shouted his name more than once. He ran up and down the bank looking for his friend. As he sprinted to the far end he could see Callum’s hand just disappearing underneath the water. Brady jumped in, screaming, panicking, but the current was strong and there was no way he could locate him. Brady came back up for air and screamed for the others to go and get help. Up and down Brady swam but it was no good, his own life was in danger too and he had to head for safety.
Callum was dragged out of the water over an hour later. He was pronounced dead. Of course, a kid never gets over something like that and from that day Brady just sank into a deep depression. He blamed himself, he should have been there, watching out for Callum like he always did. Callum’s family blamed Brady too. He’d had death threats from one of his mate’s brothers and for months he just sat at home, too scared to even go out to the shop. His name was shit on the estate where he lived and no one would give him the time of day anymore. It wasn’t his fault. The inquest even confirmed it as misadventure. There was no charge for murder so why was he being victimised?
Sheila couldn’t get a word out of her son for months and at one point they were scared of what he would do next. He was a loner with no friends and no life. That’s when Brady started to smoke weed. The guy who gave it to him told him it would chill him out, help him sleep, make him forget his problems. And it did for a while but as time went on, the effects didn’t touch him anymore and he needed something stronger. At the age of seventeen Brady was introduced to heroin by a local junkie. He was always searching for a high and couldn’t turn his back on anything new. A few of the other lads tried it too and even to this day a few of them were still tanning the gear. Two of his old friends had died too, drugs overdose the coroner said, but still it never deterred Brady from taking the devil’s drug. None of his family had a clue what he was up to and Sheila just thought he was depressed. It was only when she came into his bedroom one night that she could see exactly what her son was involved in. There was silver foil folded on his bed with dark stains all over it and a rolled tube nearby. Sheila had seen enough TV shows to know exactly what she was dealing with. She was at her wits’ end with her son and in fairness, she took him everywhere possible to get some help.
There were times when Brady was clean but there was always an addict ready to tempt him back into the life he was trying to leave behind. His life was set in stone. There were dark day when crime was the only way to feed the addiction. He had no self-worth. Every day Brady needed to score, to feed his habit, sometimes eighty or ninety pounds worth. He had a raging habit. Robberies, shoplifting, credit card fraud and even trolley dashes out of the local Asda became the norm. The police were always at Sheila’s door. Night and day they would be hammering her front door down looking for Brady. He played on the death of his best friend for years. The reason he needed to take drugs was to blank it out. But it was wearing thin now and nobody believed him anymore. Not even his mother. He was a drug addict by choice, no other reason.
Harpur cracked her knuckles and watched as she spotted a woman leaving the house. That must have been Melanie. Surely Brady wasn’t sleeping with her, she was rotten. A big fat arse, no teeth and dressed like she was a teenager. Mutton dressed as lamb. Melanie had black tights on and high heels, what a trollop she was. Harpur put two and two together and realised this woman must have been on the game. It was the way she was dressed, the way she kept her head down when she walked, shame making her shoulders hunch over. Melanie was over fifty, she was sure, she looked haggard. Harpur sat up straight in her seat, ready to pounce. Should she get out and confront her now or wait u
ntil she was further down the street?.
Melanie was walking away in the distance and she had to make her move soon. Harpur flicked the engine over and pulled out of the darkness. It was now or never. “Excuse me love, can I have a quick word with you.” Melanie squeezed her eyes together and bent her head down trying to get a glimpse of the driver. Was it dibble? She wasn’t sure. She carried on walking and Harpur knew she would have to park up and chase her down the street. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was racing as she ran behind her. “Can I have a word?”
Melanie turned around and it looked like she was going to make a run for it. “Fuck off, no. What do you want anyway? I’m a busy woman.”
“I’m Brady’s sister and I just need to ask you a few things.” Melanie started to walk off and shouted over her shoulder. “You’ll have to walk with me I’ve got no time to talk, I have to be somewhere soon. Time is money love.”
Harpur walked at her side. She digested every little detail about her, she was hanging; old and wrinkled. It was fair to say that this woman had had a hard life, very hard. Her eyes were fierce and you could see she could have ripped your head off if rattled. “You know my brother passed away don’t you?”
Melanie let out a laboured breath and nodded her head. “Yeah I know who he is. Not that I’m arsed anyway. The man was a liberty-taker, a cheeky cunt.”
Harpur was ready to swing for her but she needed to know the answers to her questions first. “Well, that’s your opinion isn’t it. I just want to know what happened before he died. It’s obvious he was involved in something because he would never have done what he did without something bad happening. It must have pushed him over the edge.”
Melanie spat on the floor and wiped her hand across her mouth with a quick movement. “Listen love, I get that you're hurting but I’m the last person you need to be talking to about your brother. It’s none of my business what he was into and I want it to keep like that. Life’s hard enough without people coming round to my house booming my door in.”
“Like who, who are you protecting?”
Melanie stopped walking and turned to face her. “Do yourself a favour love and let it lie. People who talk around here get hurt, so piss off to your pretty little life and put it to bed. Your brother was big enough and daft enough to look after himself and if he strung himself up, it’s nobody’s fault but his own.” Her expression changed and you could see how low this woman was feeling. “I wish I could end it all too but I have a family to take care of. I’ve got to put food on the table each bleeding night so I do what I have to, to make ends meet.”
Harpur was listening, it was a crying shame for her. “Just tell me, a name, anything. Just something to help our family. If you thought anything about him just help me.” Harpur was desperate, pleading with her.
Melanie checked around and made sure nobody had clocked her. “I hated your brother for my own reasons which are none of your business. That was between me and him. He knows what happened and the liberties he took, so there is no need for me to bring it out in the open. You know who calls the shots around here so look closer to home. If anyone knows what happened to your brother, it’s him.”
Harpur was hanging on her every word. “Who, tell me his name. That’s all I need, a name.”
Melanie chewed on her bottom lip and her eyes were wide open. This woman was petrified, scared of even saying his name. She walked a few steps forward and over her shoulder she whispered in a low voice. “Paul Burton.”
Harpur stood frozen. “Just for the record I loved Brady. He was my man, my rock when I was low.”
Melanie rushed away into the shadows. Harpur stood listening to the woman’s heels clip along the pavement. She stamped her feet firmly onto the ground. Her fists curled into two tight balls at the side of her legs and she bit hard onto her bottom lip. “I fucking knew it. I knew that rat had something to do with it.” She ran back to her car and once inside, she locked all the doors behind her. She wasn’t safe around here. This was his patch, where he lurked in the shadows watching everything that was going on. Paul Burton was out of her league. Yes, she could throw insults at him but she knew deep down inside he was dangerous and could have ended her life at the drop of a hat. There were rumours about this guy. Dark, seedy stories about how he treated people who crossed him. He must have had a weak spot though, a jugular. This was her quest now, she needed to catch this prick unaware and bring him down. Her head rested on the steering wheel as her eyes closed slowly. This was a whole new ball game now and she needed a plan, some way of making sure Paul Burton told her everything she needed to know about her brother’s death.
*
All Harpur could hear was the ticking of the clock, tick tock, tick tock. Neil had been in bed when she arrived home and she knew the moment she went upstairs he would want to talk to her regarding the state of their marriage. The sound of the front door slamming shut was heard. Harpur sat up straight and shot her eyes to the living room door. She thought everybody was home. Her heart was pounding inside her chest. Had Paul Burton seen her in the area and now he’d come to her home to make sure she never set foot on his turf again? He wouldn’t thought twice about booming her front door in, putting a gun to her head, terrorising her husband. Slowly, she reached over and grabbed an empty bottle of beer from the table at the side of her. If he wanted trouble she’d give him trouble, she would gouge his eyes out with it, stick it deep into his chest and make sure he never breathed again. The door handle moved slowly down. Harpur stood up and she was prepared to fight, white with fear.
“Bleeding hell Mam, what an earth are you doing with that?” Maddie asked in an anxious voice.
Harpur was trembling, her hands shaking. “I thought you were an intruder. For crying out loud what are you doing here at this time? I thought you were staying with Diane?”
“Mam, I live with Diane but as you know, every now and then I like to come here and stay in my old room. Has it ever crossed your mind that I might miss home sometimes?”
Harpur collapsed back down in her chair and she was still shaking. She always thought it was strange that Maddie had moved in with Diane because she was a home bird, she liked her home comforts, familiarities. “A phone call would have been nice. You know, just to say ‘Mam, I’ll be home later’ or something.”
Maddie took her black leather coat off and hung it on the back of the chair. This girl was all skin and bone. Why on earth wasn’t she looking after herself? Harpur blamed the media, all those photos of stick insect models who were borderline anorexic. Maddie rubbed at her arms, she was freezing. “Where’s my dad, is he in bed?”
Harpur raised her eyes to suggest he was. “I’ve just got in. I think he might be watching television in bed. Don’t be going up there and disturbing him if he’s asleep. What’s up anyway, why do you want him?”
Maddie was edgy, she stretched her arms above her head and yawned. “Nothing really, I just wanted to know where he is?”
Harpur looked at her daughter and knew there was something more to this than she was letting on. If Maddie wanted to see her dad it was usually for money or a lift somewhere. Her daughter had been distant for a while now and after Brady’s death she’d made the decision to go and live with Diane. It was a weird thing to do really when she should have been around people who loved her, but she left anyway. It was likely that she hated how Joanne was living there with Joseph - kids weren’t really her thing, she had no patience for them. Maddie looked tired, her hair tied back in a scruffy bun. Her daughter’s hair always used to be styled; shiny and bouncy.
Harpur lit a fag up and sat chugging hard on it. She could feel Maddie watching her from the other side of the room before she spoke. “Joanne said you and dad are at war, what’s going on this time?”
Harpur sighed and dropped her head low. “Just the usual love, nothing for you to worry about. She’s got a right gob on her anyway. Why’s she telling you without speaking to me first, she’s a right busybody?”
Maddie was alarmed, frustrated. “Because I’m part of this family that’s why. Anyway, our Sam’s home next weekend so hopefully she’ll be finding her own place. She’s been here too long now and she should be sorting stuff out, the scruff.”
Harpur nodded, it was hard having her son’s girlfriend living with her and she wondered if that was one of the main reasons she’d been arguing with Neil. Perhaps they could have had more romantic nights in, talked more, become closer if they were alone. Harpur studied her daughter further, it was strange that she was getting on Joanne’s case, she thought they were good friends. She delved deeper. “What’s up with Joanne being here anyway, you were a big fan of her when she first moved in with us. You two spent loads of time together. ‘The sister you never had’ you said, what happened to that?”
Maddie mumbled something under her breath before she spoke. “Things change Mam and the sooner she’s gone from here the better. Our Sam can do a lot better than her anyway. I don’t trust her, she’s a wrong-un. A dirty sweaty cow.”
“What do you mean by that? If you know something about her don’t beat about the bush, just tell me.”
Maddie kept schtum, whatever she knew she was keeping close to her chest. Harpur had her doubts about this girl too but as of yet, she had no evidence to prove she was right. Maddie kissed the side of her mother’s cheek. “I’m knackered. We can have a catch-up in the morning. Come on, I’ll help turn everything off.”