by Mel Sherratt
She’d had a restless night as she worried that Eddie would find out about her plan, but he hadn’t questioned where Seth’s money had gone. Now she was on her way out of Stoke, leaving her troubled past behind her.
The wind blew her hair as it flashed through the open ends of the station, making her feel alive. It was her time to shine now. She had a train booked to Manchester and from there to the airport. She was heading off to Spain for a few months. Magaluf to be precise. She had never been overseas before and was looking forward to it. It would be quiet at the beginning of March but the weather would be warming up soon. After that, who knew where she would go? Because she definitely wasn’t coming back to Stoke.
For the past few days, she’d been trying to decide on her new name. Her passport would say who she was but that wouldn’t stop her once she was at the resort. The favourite choice so far was Arabella. She liked how posh it sounded, how different it was. As Arabella, she could be someone new. With money in her pocket, she wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to make something of her life. For now, she was hoping to find work in a bar for the summer season. It sounded a good way to find some friends. Given what she’d had to do to make ends meet so far, she was looking forward to it. This was her chance to start again. Thieving the money was the last illegal thing she was ever going to do.
The train pulled into the platform and she walked towards the carriage. On board, she wriggled across a double seat to sit by the window. With a huge sigh, she sat back as the train pulled away, taking her out of Stoke-on-Trent forever.
Caleb heard the school bell go and sighed with relief. He still hated double maths with a passion but at least he was back at school with his friends. He’d been given a reprieve with Seth Forrester. He couldn’t touch him now he was in prison.
Ever since Seth had been remanded, Caleb knew he would be rid of him for a long time. He would probably be a grown man capable of holding his own once Seth was out of prison. He never thought he would be a swot but after the lucky escape he’d had, he’d decided to study hard at school and make his mum proud. He was determined to make something of his life now; he didn’t want to turn out like Seth.
After his visit in hospital from Forrester, he hadn’t known what to do, nor how he would get out of the mess. When Seth had been arrested, he’d burst into tears and told his mum everything. She had listened, and not judged. She’d been shocked at his antics, glad that he had told her, but angry all the same.
Out of guilt, he’d shown her the money. She had taken it from him, counted it out and then given it back to him. She’d told him to put it towards a new pushbike to replace the one that had been wrecked in the hit and run; said he had to save the rest himself. She said what he’d done was wrong, but that she trusted him to learn a lesson from it. She was all right, his mum.
All he wished now was that he wouldn’t get a call from Eddie or Leon Steele, hoping to take over where Seth had left off. It was so far, so good though. He wasn’t sure they knew about him, as he was one of Seth’s boys, but even so, he still worried about it.
‘Are you coming out tonight, Caleb?’ his friend Shaun asked him. ‘We could go to The Hive.’ The Hive was a leisure complex on the outskirts of Hanley, with a cinema and several restaurants. ‘Hang around, see who we can spot.’
‘You mean you want to see Sharon Parker?’ He grinned, knowing his friend had a crush on one of the girls working in Pizza Express.
‘Well …’ Shaun laughed. ‘That as well. Are you up for it? I can scrape enough together to buy a meal between us.’
‘I think this one is on me.’
‘Cool!’
Caleb grinned at his friend. This is what he should be doing when he was fourteen. Hanging out with his friends and chasing the girls. That was much more fun.
FIFTY-FIVE
Grace finished work that evening at six p.m. She was glad to be back to her usual working hours after the Harrison House incidents. She decided to call at the supermarket to get steak, salad and a bottle of something nice. Simon had been on a course in Birmingham that day and had called from the train to say he’d be home at seven. Some downtime, just the two of them, would be perfect.
They’d had Teagan to stay all weekend. Teagan had insisted on it, saying that she had missed her Grace time. It still astounded Grace how well they got on now. At one time, Teagan would barely look at her, let alone hold a conversation with her. Not that Grace would ever complain. She loved Teagan as much as if she were her own daughter.
She pulled up at traffic lights to turn right. Behind her she spotted a flash of light. Then she saw it again. Glancing through her rear-view mirror, she tried to focus. Someone was trying to get her attention.
She turned around and clocked it was a black Land Rover. The lights flashed once more. She sat upright so she could see the number plate better.
Eddie. He must have been waiting for her.
With a sigh, she moved forwards as the lights turned to green, knowing he would follow her.
She pulled into the car park at Tesco, driving around to the spillover area which was a bit further away from the store. She sat for a moment as Eddie parked up next to her. She was damned if she was going to get out and go to him. But then she realised she didn’t want him in her car either. And as she didn’t know what he wanted, she was best talking to him where she might not be seen. The car park was mostly full, the supermarket open twenty-four hours and to her mind never empty.
She got out, flicked the lock on her car and swapped one seat for another. Stepping up into the Land Rover, the luxury hit her immediately. The vehicle was top of the range and no detail had been spared.
Eddie put the interior light on, the tinted windows giving them no exposure. It was just the two of them.
‘What do you want?’ she broke the silence that followed.
‘To see my half-sister. That’s okay, isn’t it?’
‘No, it isn’t.’
She heard him chuckle and tutted.
He held up his hands in mock surrender. ‘Actually I have something for you.’
She turned to glance at him. Their resemblance was more uncanny close to. The eyes, the curve of the lips, the cock of the head. That was all she shared with the father who had made her – and his – life hell. Eddie reminded her of him so much, the younger George Steele who had made her terrified to make a noise or move a muscle for fear of what he might do.
Eddie handed a bag to her. It was a clear plastic carrier. Inside it was a white T-shirt, red liquid dotted over it.
Grace took it from him. Realising it could be blood, she left it in its wrapping.
‘It belonged to Seth Forrester,’ he said. ‘If you have it tested, I believe you’ll find the blood is Milo Benton’s. I said Forrester had something to do with the assault in the car park of Harrison House.’
‘We had no evidence, no witnesses and Benton wouldn’t tell us anything at first.’
‘Well, this implies he was at the crime scene.’
‘Doesn’t necessarily implicate him in the crime though.’ Grace didn’t want to say that Milo had finally told them it was Seth for fear of repercussions for the lad. ‘He could have been helping Benton to get up after he found him beaten on the ground. It could have been transferred that way easily.’
‘But Seth didn’t tell you that, did he? He said he didn’t know anything about the fight.’
Grace was about to speak again. How would he know that unless Seth had been boasting about hurting Milo?
‘Is that what he told you?’ she asked.
‘It’s possible.’
His answer was non-committal but it was good to have the T-shirt. Yet, even with that and the fact Seth had lied about his whereabouts, the crimes he was charged with afterwards were far more serious. Still, every case had to be solved.
‘How did you get it?’ she wanted to know. ‘More to the point, why did you withhold it?’
‘I only had it given to me last night.’
‘Would I lie to you?’
‘Yes.’
His laughter was loud, jovial, the sort you wanted to join in. But she knew there was more to this. She waited for him to enlighten her.
‘Shelley Machin gave it to me. She came to see me last night, unsure what to do with it. After that she told me she was leaving the city.’
‘You exploited her.’
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘You used her to get information for you, just like you did with Clara Emery.’
‘That’s not exploitation.’
‘Well, what would you call it?’ She glared at him.
‘If you must know I offered her a bit of money to tide her over.’ He looked ahead for a moment. ‘I think she’d been working for Leon too. You know what he’s like. I saw what happened to those girls.’
‘Are you saying he’s up to his old tricks again?’
He shrugged, non-committedly. ‘Now that Seth is no longer around, Leon would have her doing something unsavoury. You might want to keep an eye on him.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Let’s just say that I wanted to get Shelley out of harm’s way. Hopefully she’s gone and won’t come back.’
Grace said nothing. She looked out of the window. A woman was struggling to push a loaded trolley and hang on to her child’s hand at the same time. The car across from them pulled away. Grace wanted to leave too. She placed a hand on the door.
‘Think of me what you will but I did her a favour,’ Eddie added. ‘She’s better off out of it.’
‘Now that I do agree with.’ Grace pointed to the bag. ‘Thanks for this. I’ll deal with it accordingly.’ She wasn’t sure what could be done about it now though. It couldn’t be used as evidence as it had been taken by Shelley and not by the police with a search warrant. But it could be used to back up Milo Benton’s statement that they had finally got out of him.
Outside in the cold night air, Grace stood and watched Eddie drive away. He hadn’t needed to deliver that T-shirt to her. He’d wanted an excuse to see her. Was he still trying to get her on his payroll? Be an informant for the family? Well, she wasn’t playing their game. Eddie and Leon could be in this together for all she knew.
Yet she couldn’t just turn a blind eye when they used women to do their dirty work. Used anyone to do their dirty work, actually. It wasn’t on.
She would find some way of stopping them eventually.
AUTHOR NOTE
To all my fellow Stokies, my apologies if you don’t gel with any of the Stoke references that I’ve changed throughout the book. Obviously, writing about local things such as the Sentinel and Hanley Police Station would make it a little too close to home, and I wasn’t comfortable leaving everything authentic. So, I took a leaf out of Arnold Bennett’s ‘book’ and changed some things slightly. However, there were no oatcakes harmed in the process.
A LETTER FROM MEL
First of all, I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Liar Liar. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing about Grace and her team and I hope you enjoyed spending time with them as much as I did.
If you did enjoy Liar Liar, I would be forever grateful if you would leave a review on Amazon. I’d love to hear what you think, and it can also help other readers discover one of my books for the first time.
Many thanks to anyone who has emailed me, messaged me, chatted to me on Facebook or Twitter and told me how much they have enjoyed reading my books. I’ve been genuinely blown away with all kinds of niceness and support from you all.
You can sign up to my newsletter and join my readers group on my website www.MelSherratt.co.uk or you can keep in touch on Twitter @writermels and Facebook at MelSherrattauthor.
Thanks, Mel
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I can hardly believe that Liar Liar is my fourteenth crime novel – it feels like it was only yesterday when I was tentatively publishing my first in 2011 and hoping that one or two people might like it.
Thanks must go first to my fabulous agent, Madeleine Milburn, and her ever growing team. Thank you for coffee, cake, Pimm’s, pick-me-ups and everything else that looking after me as an author entails. Thanks to Team Avon – editor extraordinaire Helen Huthwaite, Oli, Sabah, Anna, Hannah, Dom and Ellie.
Particular thanks must also go to the close trio of friends I am very lucky to have – Alison Niebiezczanski, Caroline Mitchell and Talli Roland. I’d also like to thank Martin Tideswell, Editor of the Sentinel and SOTLive, for his cheerleading, friendship and support.
I want to say a huge thank you to anyone who has read my books, sent me emails, messages, engaged with me on social media or come to see me at various events over the country. Without you behind me, this wouldn’t be half as much fun. I love what I do and hope you continue to enjoy my books. Likewise, my thanks go out to all the wonderful book bloggers and enthusiasts who have read my stories and taken the time out of their busy lives to write such amazing reviews. I am grateful to all of you.
And then, my Chris. Without your support, I know I wouldn’t have got this far. Love you to bits, fella.
Loved Liar Liar? Then why not get back to where it all started with book one of the DS Grace Allendale series …
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Can they catch the killer before another young woman dies?
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About the Author
Mel Sherratt is the author of fourteen crime novels, all of which have become bestsellers. For the past four years, she has been named as one of her home town of Stoke-on-Trent’s top 100 influential people. She regularly appears at festivals and speaks at writing conferences throughout the UK, and pens a column for her local newspaper, the Sentinel, as well as feature articles for other newspapers and magazines. She lives in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, with her husband and terrier, Dexter.
The Grace Allendale Series:
Hush Hush
Tick Tock
About the Publisher
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