by Laura Ziepe
Luckily it didn’t take Kelly long to find Gary’s house because she recognised his Porsche outside. She parked her car a few houses along so she wasn’t spotted by him. Kelly wasn’t even sure what she was doing or what exactly she was trying to achieve by visiting Gary’s house. She just had a bad feeling about him, like she always did, though this time it was more serious. Maybe she would overhear an important conversation? Or perhaps she would see him laughing and joking with this Alfie creature about how they’d pulled the wool over her poor Billy’s eyes?
Wishing she hadn’t worn her five-inch black patent Prada heels, because they made a clip-clop sound when she walked, Kelly slowly made her way to Gary’s house, walking as carefully as possible. The blinds were shut in the front window, meaning no one would see her approaching and Kelly quietly opened the side gate and made her way round the side of the house, heart pounding violently in her chest. What if they saw her? she panicked as she silently closed the gate behind her. Kelly ducked down low, bending her legs as she passed a window at the side of his house. She could hear voices and stayed deadly still to see if she could hear what they were saying. It was no good, she couldn’t hear a thing. Kelly stood up and peeked through the window as inconspicuously as possible, ducking low. She gasped as she spotted Gary sitting in the lounge with his feet up watching television. There was a woman opposite him, but she could only see the back of her head. They had a bottle of wine open and Kelly felt the anger rise inside her as once again she watched Gary laugh. He looked as though he literally didn’t have a care in the world; the complete opposite to poor Billy. Kelly was certain Gary had something to do with the demise of the company; she would bet every pair of her Jimmy Choos on it. She took a photo on her iPhone and congratulated herself when it came out perfectly clear of Gary, mid-laugh. Maybe this will change Billy’s mind, Kelly hoped, as she tried to take a few more. The only problem was this didn’t prove anything, she realised as she made her way round the back of his house into the garden. She needed to hear what he was saying in case it was something important. It was really dark outside now and Kelly tried to be careful as she crept along with her back against the wall. She shakily knelt down by the back door, where she could hear their voices much more clearly because there was a window open. Kelly realised after a few seconds that she was trying to be so quiet she was forgetting to breathe and let out a huge gasp. Gary was only a few feet away and it amused her that he had no idea she was there.
‘I agree that Mexico would be nice or how about Dubai? You’ve always recommended it, haven’t you? I could just book a nice five-star hotel for a few weeks and relax. Sounds heavenly,’ Kelly heard Gary say, much to her surprise.
Kelly was disgusted. How could he be booking a holiday if he’d lost all his money? Kelly felt more certain than anything that she was right; Gary had been involved in the scam.
‘Yes, your father and I loved Dubai when we went. Expensive, but a beautiful place if you can afford it,’ the woman answered, who Kelly now realised was Gary’s mum.
As Kelly tried to move even closer to the back door, her heel got caught in one of the paving stones and as she panicked and yanked it out, she fell to the side and knocked over a tin watering can, which she’d been unable to see in the dark. There was an almighty crash and Kelly lay there, frozen to the spot, her heartbeat reminding her of the sound of banging drums.
‘Shit,’ she muttered under her breath, trying to get up. Her ankle was twisted and sore. ‘Shit.’
‘What on earth was that?’ she heard Gary’s mum cry out.
Before Kelly could get to her feet and run, Gary and his mum had opened the back door and were standing there staring at her, their mouths popped open in astonishment.
‘Who is that?’ Gary demanded in a steely voice. Kelly turned round slightly. ‘Kelly? Is that you?’ Gary questioned, his eyes wide open in confusion and shock.
Kelly stood up finally, brushing her knees and hands, which were covered in gravel. She was hoping the baseball cap would have disguised her, but clearly there was no such luck. She had never felt so embarrassed in her life and had no idea what to say. She could feel her face burning in shame and was hoping it was too dark outside for them to see.
‘Do you know her?’ Gary’s mum asked, looking at her son in puzzlement.
‘Yes, I do. Kelly, will you please answer and tell me what you’re doing in my back garden at ten-thirty at night?’ Gary asked her in a no-nonsense tone.
Kelly gave a nervous giggle trying to come up with a valid excuse as to why she would be creeping around his back garden. Her voice was light and breezy as she spoke. ‘Alright Gal? I didn’t realise you lived here. I was just playing ball with my friend and it came into this garden so I came to look for it,’ she explained as she noticed a football near the fence. ‘Oh there is it!’ Kelly beamed, tottering in her Prada heels towards the ball, ‘panic over!’
‘Kelly, that’s my football,’ Gary asserted firmly, his eyes glinting with suspicion.
Now what do I say? Kelly asked herself, dropping the ball as though it had scalded her. ‘Oh really? It looks just like the one we were playing with. Maybe it went over the other garden instead,’ Kelly suggested, pointing to the garden to the left, ‘I best go and find it.’
‘Where is this friend of yours anyway? You came from this garden did you say?’ Gary asked pointing to the right, as he frowned.
‘Yes that’s right. My friend … my friend Lucy lives there,’ Kelly lied.
‘Well, where is Lucy now then? There is no one in that garden. Besides, I’ve lived here for over a year and I’ve never even met a girl called Lucy next door,’ Gary said with a wary look in his eye, clearly not believing a word Kelly said.
‘She must have gone in. I’ll call her if you like. Lucy!’ Kelly called into the garden, praying no one came out of the house and asked what the hell she was on about. ‘Lucy!’ she hissed, ‘I still haven’t got the ball back!’
Gary huffed. ‘That’s quite enough, Kelly, you’ll wake people up. I have my mum round for tea this evening and this is a rather inconvenient time to be honest. You’d better just head back over to your friend’s house,’ Gary commanded, with a stern look on his face.
‘No probs, sorry to bother you, Gary,’ Kelly replied, feeling like a reprimanded child. ‘Sorry to hear about the company too by the way,’ she added.
Gary’s face was emotionless. ‘Mmm, thanks.’
Kelly looked at him and then realised he was waiting for her to go over the garden. Damn, she thought, he’s really going to make me go over there. Say the people next door catch me? This night had gone horribly wrong. ‘I’ll just be heading back to Lucy’s then,’ Kelly smiled tightly.
‘Hey, don’t I know you?’ Gary’s mum asked as Kelly made her way over to the fence, wondering how she was going to climb over it in her huge heels.
Kelly turned around, her eyes squinting in the dark, trying to look at her face. There was something about her which Kelly recognised. Yes, maybe they had met before?
Gary gave an awkward laugh. ‘Don’t be so ridiculous, Mum, you’ve never met Kelly before. Now go inside before your mug of tea gets cold.’
Kelly shrugged and Gary’s mum made her way back inside the house.
‘Bye,’ Kelly called as she fell into next door’s garden and landed in a shrub.
‘Bye,’ Gary said in a flat voice before taking one last glance at her and then walking away.
This was a complete and utter disaster. Kelly held on to the fence as she managed to pick herself up again. The bush had scratched her arm, her ankle was painful and her beautiful new Prada shoes had thick mud on the heels. Not only that, but now she was stuck in someone’s garden. Kelly crept along to the house and heaved a loud sigh when she noticed that there wasn’t a side gate, meaning she had to climb over into the next garden along. She looked at the fence with dread; this one looked even higher than the last!
Three gardens later Kelly had found a way back to th
e road but she felt worse than ever. A dog had barked in the last one and Kelly had literally run for her life! The dog definitely sounded bigger than Lord McButterpants and Princess Cupcake, judging by its ferocious bark. At least she had heard Gary talking about jetting off to sunny Dubai; it showed her that he wasn’t one bit bothered about his company. Or maybe he wants to book a holiday to get away from it all? a voice inside her head told her. Maybe he’s stressed and needs a break? That would be understandable. Perhaps she just had this whole thing wrong and it wasn’t Gary at all? She hoped he didn’t tell Billy about finding her in his garden, what on earth would she tell him? Firstly, Billy knew all her friends and she had never mentioned anyone called Lucy, and secondly, he would know she was lying as soon as Gary mentioned the word football. She hated football with a passion unless it meant gazing at Ronaldo’s legs for ninety minutes. Billy had tried to explain the offside rule to her about five times and she still had no idea what it was.
Kelly climbed into the driver’s seat of her car and thought for a moment. She had successfully solved the case with Chloe and Adele, but there was nothing else she could do about Gary except hope that she had been wrong. Perhaps Alfie would be arrested soon and then Billy could get back to normal and concentrate on starting again, the poor thing. Kelly hoped so more than anything.
CHAPTER 17
A few days later Lisa was walking home from Grange Hill tube station, relieved the shoot she’d been working on had finished early for once. Wrapping up before six was almost unheard of and most shoots went over by hours. Lisa opened the door and frowned, hearing that the television was on. Had Nicola left it on this morning? She hadn’t worked on the shoot with her today and had stayed in the office. It was unlikely she’d be home this early, Lisa thought in confusion. She walked through to the lounge and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Charlie sprawled out on the sofa, beaming from ear to ear when he noticed her baffled expression.
‘Oh hi, Lisa. Hope you don’t mind me being here, but Nicola gave me the spare key and I was just waiting for her to get back from work,’ he said, looking amused by her obvious discomfort.
Lisa tried her best to appear offhand by giving a little shrug and flicking her hair over her shoulders, her voice cool as she replied, ‘Oh that’s okay. I have work to do so I’ll keep out of your way and go to my room so I can concentrate.’ She could tell from his expression that he didn’t believe her, but she didn’t care. Spending time alone with Charlie was the worst thing Lisa could possibly think of. She had avoided him since he sent the creepy text message and feeling too embarrassed to bring it up, she just wanted to forget it ever happened by keeping well out of his way.
‘I’ve made you dinner,’ Charlie said finally, touching his bottom lip with his index finger. ‘I’ve made a Thai green curry for all of us. Nicola said it was your favourite.’ Charlie looked up at Lisa, his burning gaze on her.
‘That’s nice of you,’ Lisa murmured as she began to walk away. ‘I’ll eat when Nicola gets home.’
‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ Charlie asked hopefully just as Lisa reached the kitchen to get a drink, making her jump. He had followed Lisa and was now standing by the kitchen door, gazing at her.
‘I’m really quite busy,’ Lisa replied hastily, feeling a bit claustrophobic that he was blocking the exit by standing there.
‘Just one drink?’ Charlie begged, his voice soft and gentle as though he meant no harm. ‘I’d like to get to know Nicola’s friend better, that’s all. I don’t bite,’ he said with a short laugh, watching Lisa closely with his intense, dark eyes.
Lisa felt flustered as she downed a glass of water. She needed to get away from Charlie, and fast. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? His presence was unnerving. ‘Honestly, I really must get on.’
Charlie walked towards Lisa and she felt as though her heart was in her mouth. As he drew nearer, Lisa took a step back. He stood in front of her, smirking, his eyes fixed on her lips, his brow arched. ‘Lisa,’ he said in a husky voice. ‘You know there is something between us. Stop trying to deny it.’
Lisa was frozen to the spot, the panic inside her rising and her cheeks burning red. Inside she was screaming for him to leave her alone but nothing would come out. Suddenly Charlie stepped forward, his lips pressing hard against hers, his desire bursting out as he kissed her eagerly. Lisa tried to pull away but his hands gripped the back of her head, pulling her face as close to his as physically possible. As Lisa managed to push him off forcefully, she heard a loud cry.
‘Oh my God!’ Nicola screamed, bursting into tears and running away.
‘Nicola!’ Lisa shouted breathlessly, shoving Charlie out of the way. Nicola was sitting on the sofa sobbing, her head in her hands and Lisa ran over and touched her gently on the shoulder. ‘Nicola, it isn’t what it looks like. He just kissed me. I tried to get him off; I tried to push him …’
‘Just leave me alone, the pair of you!’ Nicola shouted, running from the flat in floods of tears.
Charlie stood there watching Nicola leave, appearing totally unfazed by what had just happened.
‘Get the hell out of here now and don’t come back!’ Lisa glowered at him with a menacing expression. If Charlie had ruined her relationship with Nicola, Lisa would be devastated. ‘There is something wrong with you! Nicola is my friend who you’re dating, might I remind you, and you’ve just forced yourself upon me!’
Charlie gave a slight shrug, but Lisa could tell he was surprised by her sudden outburst and grabbed his jacket quickly.
‘Get out, you lunatic!’ Lisa screamed at him again, wanting him gone. She slammed the door behind him, feeling the hot tears forming in her eyes. What if Lisa thought she was kissing him back? How long had she been standing there? She would probably never want to speak to her again, let alone live with her! Lisa was so angry with herself for not confronting Charlie sooner about his behaviour she could scream. Maybe it wouldn’t have happened if she had? She thought she’d made it so clear she wasn’t interested. Lisa called Nicola on her mobile but there was no answer – and who could blame her if she thought Lisa was trying to steal her boyfriend?
Lisa stood up with a heavy heart and made her way over to the freezer to get the one thing that comforted her when she was feeling down; strawberry cheesecake Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Damn you Charlie, she thought as the ice cream melted like heaven in her mouth, not only was he causing havoc with her friendship, but now her waistline too.
*
Kelly was half asleep when she heard her phone ringing. She reached across the side of her bed and answered to a phone number she didn’t recognise.
‘Hello,’ she said in a croaky voice. She cleared her throat and sat up.
‘Hi there, is that Kelly?’ came the gruff reply. ‘Sorry if I’ve just woken you up.’
Kelly frowned, not having a clue who she was speaking to. ‘Who is it?’
‘It’s Derek, the security man. You wanted to watch the CCTV footage outside the flats?’
‘Oh yes, that’s right,’ Kelly replied, feeling the excitement bubble in her stomach. Did he have the video ready?
‘I’ve got the footage from the night in question, so if you want to come to the offices this morning, you can have a look. Do you have a pen handy so I can give you our address?’
Kelly jumped up and hunted through her drawers to write the address down. She could only find a red lipstick, so ended up jotting the address down with that on a copy of Now magazine she found. Forty minutes later, she was showered and ready with a full face of make-up, wearing a tight lemon Alice and Olivia summer dress and pretty jewelled sandals from Reiss. She would have to tell Jade she wouldn’t be in the office until this afternoon, she decided, as she picked out a pair of shades seeing as it was a nice day. She hadn’t yet told her the news about Chloe and couldn’t wait to tell her that she had been right. She dialled Jade’s number.
‘Hi Kel,’ Jade answered.
‘Hi, babe. I’m really sorry, but
I won’t be in this morning,’ she told her, trying to come up with a good excuse.
‘Why not?’ Jade sounded a bit put out. ‘We have five new orders and we need bikinis made. We need to send them out as quickly as possible so we’re providing a good service. Besides, we’re written about in Reveal magazine this week and I just know it’s going to be manic.’
Even though where Kelly was really going was actually for the benefit of her friend, she still felt guilty leaving her for the morning when it was going to be busy. ‘Babe, I’ll get there as soon as I can, I promise. It’s my teeth,’ she lied, ‘they’ve been aching all night and I need to go to the dentist because I’m in a lot of pain.’
Jade sighed heavily. ‘Very well. But don’t even think of eating any of the Haribo sweets in the office like you usually do then; not now your teeth are hurting.’
Damn, Kelly thought, why did I say teeth? She loved Haribos more than anything and Jade always put them in bowls round the office, which Kelly ended up eating all day. Oh well, hopefully she could come clean if she found anything important out. ‘Okay, babe, see you as soon as I can.’
‘See you soon,’ Jade replied before hanging up.
Kelly climbed into her Mini, re-touched her lips with Dior lip gloss for good luck and punched the postcode of the address the man had given her into her sat-nav.
Kelly arrived at the small building fifteen minutes later and pressed the buzzer, before she was let in by Derek.
Derek smiled at her sympathetically as she walked into the room. ‘Let’s hope your boyfriend hasn’t done anything wrong, eh?’
Kelly gave a half-smile, her voice soft and gentle. ‘I hope so, I really do,’ she said, going along with him.
‘Okay, so we’ll fast forward until you see him,’ the man said as he picked up the remote control. ‘What time do you want to start from?’