by Mel Sherratt
Frankie nodded, writing the details down.
‘And you got home at just after six?’
‘Yeah. Ruby had cooked pizza for the kids and saved me some. I wasn’t hungry as I’d had something earlier. She was annoyed. She said she wanted to sit down as a family at least one night a week.’
‘You work at the club often?’
‘A few hours here and there. I owe a favour to the club owner,’ Luke was quick to say.
Frankie put down his pen, reading between the lines. ‘Look, if you’re working cash in hand, that’s not great but I’m not here to investigate that. For now I need to know what time you finished work.’
‘Half past five.’ Luke hung his head. ‘I keep seeing him lying on the grass.’ He looked up teary-eyed. ‘It’s all my fault, isn’t it?’
‘Why do you say that?’
Luke was quiet then.
‘Go on,’ Frankie urged.
‘Lily and Tyler were in their room. We heard them arguing, but that’s nothing unusual. Tyler is always making noise and Lily likes to read. He must have slipped out, and before we knew it, he’d—’ He looked away for a moment, running a hand through his hair.
‘And Lily had nothing to do with Tyler’s accident?’
Luke shook his head fervently. ‘It was our fault. Tyler shouldn’t have been able to get outside.’
Frankie waited to see if he would keep on talking but Luke wouldn’t meet his eye as he finished off his coffee.
‘There was a man seen running from Harrison House shortly after the accident,’ Frankie decided to change the subject. ‘Did you see anyone?’
Luke shook his head. ‘Didn’t really see anything after Tyler fell. I just ran to him.’
Frankie closed his notebook. ‘Okay, let’s get you back to your son. I’m sure you have a lot of things to do. I hope Tyler is okay.’
Luke nodded his thanks.
Frankie could see tears in his eyes again. There was no doubt he was worried about his child. But he wondered if the show of emotion was for Tyler, or for himself.
Because he knew Luke was lying. And he was going to find out why.
When Frankie and Luke got back to PICU, Grace was sitting in the corridor.
‘Anything?’ she asked him once Luke had gone to be with his family.
‘Pretty much as I expected.’ Frankie sat down next to her. ‘The kids were in their room, Tyler got out and went over the railing before they could stop him. You?’
‘The same. What about the man seen running away?’
‘He said he didn’t see anyone.’
Grace frowned. ‘Ruby told me she’d seen someone.’
‘Did she say what they looked like?’
‘No. Said she was too far away to see if it was a man or a woman. She didn’t mention it until I did, though.’
‘Maybe he isn’t anything to do with this?’
‘Nevertheless, I’ll get Sam on to CCTV. There should be sightings of him on foot we can look at. Then we start questioning. Someone must have seen something.’
2011
Ruby woke up and turned over in bed. Beside her, Finn was snoring. She moulded herself into his back and ran her hand up and down his leg, then his chest.
‘Wakey, wakey,’ she said. ‘It’s my birthday!’
‘It’s half past eight,’ he muttered.
He had been to work the night before and although she didn’t mind so much, now that he was here, she wanted him awake.
She giggled, continuing to caress his body.
Seventeen today. She remembered her sixteenth, how she had been full of hope and happiness after just meeting Finn, and now look what had happened during the past twelve months. Now she was living with him. Now he was her fella.
She’d managed to keep their relationship from her dad for four months but then she was spotted out in the car with him, when she should have been at Naomi’s house after sixth form had ended for the day. Naomi had got in trouble with her parents for lying. Ruby had been told off by her dad for being with Finn and that was without saying she had stayed over with him once or twice.
But Ruby hadn’t cared – she was in love.
Her dad had grounded her for a month, but she’d snuck out when he’d been at work. Finn always waited for her at the end of the street. Most of the time he could only spare an hour before he went to work anyway, so it was easy to fit in. And once she’d had sex with him, it was all they ever did.
But then it all came to a head with her dad.
‘Where were you last night?’ he asked her one morning.
‘I was with Naomi at her house. We watched a film and had pizza.’
‘I rang Naomi’s parents and you weren’t there. But Naomi was.’
Ruby blushed. She hated lying to him but how else could she go on seeing Finn?
‘So where were you?’ he repeated. ‘Were you with that Ridley?’
‘His name’s Finn, Dad.’
‘Don’t change the subject.’
‘Okay, okay.’ Ruby nodded, knowing there was no point lying any more. They’d already argued twice about him. Her dad said she should finish her education before thinking of boyfriends. ‘Yes, I was with Finn.’
‘I told you not to see him again.’
‘But you haven’t even met him. You don’t know what a nice person he is.’
‘That’s not what I’m hearing.’
‘Then let me bring him home. If you spoke to him, you’d—’
‘I said no, Ruby. I don’t want you seeing him any more and that’s my final word.’
‘I’m nearly seventeen,’ she objected. ‘You can’t tell me what to do.’
‘I can while you live under my roof.’
‘Then I’ll leave.’
‘Oh, don’t be so absurd.’ His temper rose. ‘I want what’s best for you, but can’t you see you’re ruining your life? You could still go to university if you knuckle down now. You could have a good job, a career. I don’t want you throwing everything away.’
‘If that’s your way of saying you care about me, then you’re too late.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I know that you don’t want to come home so you stay at work all the time.’
‘That’s not—’
‘You should be happy for me that I’ve found someone nice to look after me so that you don’t have to. I hardly ever see you and I’m fed up of being on my own. It’s not my fault that I remind you of Mum. I miss her too and—’
‘Don’t you dare speak to me like that!’ Before she could react, he slapped her across the face. ‘Your mum would be turning in her grave. She would have expected more from you.’
Ruby touched her cheek, warmth emanating from where he had hit her. His words stung, coursing through her like shotgun pellets and shock made her well up with tears. He had never as much as laid a finger on her before. If she was brave enough, she would have slapped him too. She held in her tears for as long as she could before running out of the room.
‘Ruby, wait. I’m so sorry,’ he cried behind her, but she had slammed her bedroom door and stayed in there for the rest of the evening.
How could he think she was wasting her life with Finn? They were in love and as soon as she was eighteen, they were going to get married. Who cared about school, and college and getting a job? All she wanted was to have a baby and settle down. Finn was her life. She couldn’t stop seeing him.
She wouldn’t stop seeing him.
Her dad grounded her for two weeks. After that, she tried to be more inventive with her lies, saying she had joined a youth club rather than asking Naomi to cover for her all the time. Stolen hours here and there were actually easier for Finn to fit around his work.
But after another row when she’d been found out again, she’d had enough. She loved Finn so much – her heart belonged to him, and if her dad couldn’t handle that, then she would have to leave.
When she’d turned up at Finn’s flat with a small holdall,
he’d welcomed her with open arms.
‘You must be prepared to be alone a lot while I work,’ he stressed.
But she hadn’t minded – at least it meant she could see him and they didn’t have to sneak around any more. If she was honest, she’d gone along with it to get on her dad’s nerves at first. He thought she’d come running back to him after a couple of nights but she hadn’t. She’d stuck it out. A stubborn streak she’d inherited from him.
In the space of a month, she’d settled in as if she’d always been there. There were a few friends of Finn’s that called now and then that she didn’t much care for, but in the main it was good. Now, she lay next to him, happy and sad in equal measures. There wouldn’t be a card or a present from her dad this year. In the space of twelve months, she had lost the respect of her father, but she was in a relationship with a man that she loved.
She hadn’t told Finn yet that her period was late. They’d been careful, always using contraception, so she wasn’t sure how it had happened. Maybe it was just the stress of the past few months.
She was happy about it though, and she hoped he would be too, when she told him.
FOURTEEN
Seth stood looking over the railing as he waited for Shelley to come home. The police being around so much was pissing him off but he needed to keep his cool. He’d seen both those detectives around too, knew she was a DS and him a rookie detective. He’d nicked Seth a few times when he’d been in uniform, he was certain.
He was keeping a low profile after what had happened last night. But he’d had to do it. He’d had to teach him a lesson and it had been the only way. Luckily he’d managed to escape in time. Now all he hoped was that Leon Steele didn’t hear about it. It had been impulsive, but reckless too.
Seth had been working for the Steele brothers for a while now. There was Eddie who was thirty-nine and Leon who was thirty-seven. They were part of Stoke’s criminal network, one that Seth belonged in but hadn’t quite worked his way up the ladder far enough for his liking. He’d even tried getting in with their niece but that had come to a stop when she’d finished things. He’d been annoyed at the time but then realised it was better not to mix business with pleasure. So he’d slummed it and settled for shagging Shelley instead. It was all she was good for; he supposed she’d be okay until he found something better.
The thing with Shelley was she didn’t mind his upbringing. She hadn’t had it good at home herself so understood when he tried to better himself and it worked out wrong. Take getting involved with his neighbour, Luke. He thought he’d played it clever by lending him some money and then recruiting him to do his own bidding when he couldn’t pay it back, but he’d been more trouble than it was worth. The jobs he’d set up for him were only fetching and carrying as a driver, but he’d complained so much that Seth had taken him off one or two for fear he’d cock up. And that wouldn’t do. He wasn’t going inside again for no one.
Seth had been on the wrong side of the law for as long as he could remember. Now twenty-three, he’d been put into care at the age of five when his mum had overdosed on heroin, his father having disappeared a long time earlier. There was no one else to have him so he’d been shoved in a children’s home. After three foster homes hadn’t worked out, social services seemed to give up on trying to match him to anyone else and he’d become a permanent resident at the home, ruling the newcomers and the old timers who lived there with him.
At the age of thirteen, he’d started boxing at Steele’s Gym. That was where he’d met Leon Steele. Leon had been on the lookout for smart lads like him, he’d said. He’d started to work for him, delivering stuff on his bike – packages, envelopes, phones, even the odd message.
He’d paid him well, looked after him too. Leon was a good person to have on side, and Seth wanted to be an equal to him one day; work alongside him, not for him. But lately, he could sense Leon was losing patience with him. He wondered if it was because he was muscling in on his patch. Well, if he didn’t pay him enough, did he think he was going to work for nothing? He did long enough hours on the doors at Flynn’s. That wasn’t part of his plan to get in with the Steeles. There was work to be done, money to be made. He wanted to gather together enough to set up on his own, so he didn’t have to give Leon a cut of anything. He was old enough and smart enough to do it now. Leon didn’t own him. No one told him what to do any more. His reputation as a mean bastard was second to none, he thought.
So he’d have to get his story right about last night if Leon came calling. And get his money back from Luke. He shouldn’t have involved him in the first place. Why wouldn’t he ever learn?
He looked down when he heard a car door. Shelley had arrived back in a taxi, which meant she’d got some money from somewhere. Seth liked her but wasn’t sure he fully trusted her. She was getting far too big for her boots. Just lately he had caught her watching him, staring at him, as if she had some hidden agenda. She’d better not be playing him. If she wasn’t careful, she’d be in for a beating too. He didn’t care who got the wrath of him.
He took one more drag of his cigarette and threw it to the floor before going back inside.
‘Have you found out anything about that man yet?’ Seth asked the minute Shelley stepped foot inside the flat.
Hi, love, how are you? Want me to make you a cuppa? She sighed. Had he ever been interested in her, or what she had to offer? Or was it all about what she could do for him? Still, two could play at that game.
‘Nothing yet. There was no time when I was alone with her.’
Seth paused. ‘Are you cooking something for lunch?’
‘I bought oatcakes. You want some with cheese?’
‘Yeah, ta.’
She went through to the kitchen, sighing again when she saw the mess he’d left it in. Honestly, it was worse than living with a pig at times. She had been the skivvy at her mum’s house, knowing if she didn’t clean up no one else would, and here she was doing it again. Being with him was harder work than she’d thought.
‘Make us a brew too,’ he shouted in.
She bet he hadn’t moved from the sofa he was lounging on this morning. She wouldn’t want to be as lazy as him, having everyone do things for her. She’d be so bored, even though she didn’t go to work like he did. He didn’t get his hands dirty until at least the afternoon every day. But she supposed he was out until late each night.
She grilled the oatcakes and gazed out of the window while she grated cheese to put on top of them. Through the gap over the concrete railing, she could see there was still police activity outside, which she thought odd given Luke and Ruby’s story of it being an accident. Obviously she knew something had happened, but she wondered now if anyone had seen the man running away. She couldn’t be the only person who saw him, could she?
She added the cheese to the oatcakes and popped them under the grill again. Tea was made once they were ready and she took everything in to Seth on a tray.
‘What are you doing this afternoon?’ she asked as she handed it to him. ‘Do you fancy coming into town with me?’
‘What for?’
‘I don’t know. A look around the shops? A pint in Wetherspoons?’
‘Don’t have time. I need to sort out the boys’ deliveries before I go to work tonight. Got to be careful now the feds are close.’
‘You said you were working this evening, not all afternoon as well.’ She gave out a loud sigh.
‘Change of plans. I can’t turn work down. It’s not the done thing, you know that.’
Did she? Maybe she should find time to go to Flynn’s and see what he was up to. And if it was what Shelley thought it was, then she would rat him out to the Steele brothers. She had to get her debt paid off as soon as possible. She wasn’t going to live from hand to mouth for very much longer. Life may have delivered her a cruel start but she had the power to make the future whatever she wanted it to be.
And really, that didn’t include Seth at all. She had her eye on a bigger fish.
FIFTEEN
Grace arrived at Harrison House with Frankie in an unmarked pool car. It was midday, so most of the residents were up and about.
‘Let’s do the first floor. You take one side of the block and I’ll take the other,’ she told him as they went towards the communal stairs. ‘That way we can see each other if anything kicks off.’
Grace knocked on several doors before she got lucky. A man in his sixties answered from flat 105. He had a face that was in need of a good wash, and half of his breakfast down the front of his stripy jumper; socks on his feet but no slippers.
The smell of cats assaulted her when the door opened and she all but took a step back.
‘Staffordshire Police.’ She flashed her warrant card. ‘I was wondering if you can tell me anything about the incident that took place last—’
‘You’d better come in.’
Not offended by his abruptness, Grace went inside.
‘Are you moving?’ she asked, stepping sideways to get around the mound of cardboard boxes stacked against the wall.
‘No, more’s the pity. Why would you say that?’
‘There’s so much stuff.’
‘It all belongs to me and everything in them is paid for.’ The man picked up a tabby cat that was sitting on top of one of them.
‘I don’t doubt it. I was just thinking it was a fire hazard.’ Grace grimaced, hoping she could get out of here soon. Cat hair, the stench of the animal itself as well as its pee sometimes sent her off on a sneezing fit.
‘Sit down if you like.’
‘I won’t take up too much of your time.’ Grace decided to stand after seeing a thick layer of hair on the cushion. ‘Can you tell me what you saw, Mr …?’
‘Wellington. Derek.’ He sat down. ‘It was before everything kicked off, so I guess around half past six. The news had just finished. I let Charlie out.’ He nodded his head at the cat now in his lap. ‘That’s when I heard the noise. Something was going on in the car park, lots of shouting. It sounded like a fight. But then I heard the woman scream, so I was watching what happened to the little boy.’