Somewhere to Hide (The Estate, Book 1)

by Mel Sherratt

  ‘Have you heard off Cathy lately?’ Josie asked. Despite being warned by her, she was determined to get to the bottom of what had happened between the two of them.

  ‘No.’

  Matt stepped up onto a low stool and then handed a box down to Josie. She took it from him and put it on the floor. She looked up at him, willing him to continue but he remained silent. She decided to move things along.

  ‘What went on between the two of you?’ she asked bluntly. ‘I thought you were getting on really well.’

  ‘We were.’ Matt handed her another box.

  ‘And?’ Josie said impatiently as he handed her another.

  ‘And nothing.’

  Josie sighed. ‘Quit messing around, Matt. We sleep with someone and move on to the next conquest when we’re sixteen, not our age.’

  ‘I never did that!’ Matt sounded appalled.

  ‘No?’

  ‘NO!’

  ‘That’s what Cathy thinks.’

  ‘Does she?’ Matt ran his hand over his chin.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Josie questioned gently. ‘One minute you’re whistling all day, can’t wait for your date with Cathy. You sleep with her –’

  ‘She told you that too?’

  ‘Yes. She said she had a great time and couldn’t wait to see you again. In the meantime, you go off sick, beaten up by some useless cretin, and you and Cathy are no more.’

  Matt sighed. ‘It’s – it’s complicated.’

  ‘I must admit, I can’t understand why you haven’t contacted her to see how she was after Liz was attacked.’

  ‘I have! I’ve sent dozens of text messages. I even called a few times, right after it had happened, but her phone either rang out or it was disconnected after a few rings.’

  Josie suddenly thought of something. ‘This man who attacked you. You didn’t get a look at him at all?’

  ‘No, I didn’t.’

  ‘What about his build? His hair? Even his shoes?’

  Matt shook his head. ‘I curled up in a ball. The bastard kicked the shit out of me.’

  Josie frowned. ‘Do you think it could have been Kevin McIntyre that attacked you?’

  ‘Kevin McIntyre?’ Matt paused. ‘You mean he thought I’d been seeing Liz and was warning me off her?’

  ‘What do you mean, warning you off?’

  ‘The guy who beat me up. He told me to stay away from her.’

  ‘But he didn’t know that Liz had moved out then so he could have been on the watch for her. Can you recall any tone to his voice? Any accent?’

  Matt tried to remember. He shook his head.

  ‘Anything else that he said?’

  ‘He said, “Don’t come back or I’ll be the death of her.” Fuck.’ Matt froze. ‘I could have stopped Liz being attacked, couldn’t I?’

  Josie shook her head. ‘No one could have stopped that from happening. You mustn’t blame yourself.’

  ‘But if I had reported the attack, perhaps the police would have checked up with him!’ Matt stepped back onto the floor. ‘It was my fault!’

  ‘No, it wasn’t!’

  ‘I thought he’d hurt Cathy, if I didn’t stay away. You don’t know how much it’s pained me, not being able to see her. I wanted to, so badly. But the way he hammered into me, I was scared he’d beat her too. And, maybe I was naïve in believing him but I don’t know the estate like you do, nor its tenants. I didn’t want anything to happen to her. What a wimp I’ve been.’ He caught his breath while he looked at his watch. ‘I’m going round to see her. Right now, if it’s okay with you?’

  ‘No,’ said Josie. ‘It isn’t. She has too much to think about at the moment.’ She paused. ‘But she needs someone like you. More than she will ever know. More than she’ll ever admit. You just need to convince her of that.’

  Matt nodded fervently. ‘You don’t think it’s too late?’

  ‘I don’t know. Give her time, yeah?’

  While Chloe stayed with Cathy, each day Liz became just that little bit better. She was moved from intensive care to a routine ward shortly after she’d been admitted, where she recuperated well. Finally ten days after the attack, she was on the mend and told she would be discharged shortly. That afternoon, she was sitting by the side of her bed when Cathy arrived to visit.

  ‘Hello, you.’ Cathy smiled, pleased to see her up and about. ‘How are you feeling today?’

  ‘I’m feeling good,’ said Liz. ‘I had a better night’s sleep and I’m hoping to go home the day after tomorrow.’

  ‘Really? Oh, that’s great news!’ Then Cathy’s smile dropped. ‘Are you sure you want to go back to the flat? You can always come and stay with me for a while, until you find your feet again.’

  Liz shook her head slightly. ‘I could stay with you but I want to get back. I –’

  Cathy gave Liz’s hand a quick squeeze. ‘You don’t have to explain anything to me. Although I’m always here to listen whenever you need me.’

  Liz’s silence told Cathy not to pursue the matter. But it was after they’d settled down to their usual routine of vending machine coffee and afternoon TV that Liz started to talk.

  ‘I ran out to the garden for ten seconds and left the back door unlocked,’ she said quietly. ‘Stupid, stupid! I can’t believe I did it.’

  ‘But you weren’t to know he’d climbed over the gate.’ Cathy pulled her chair closer.

  ‘He must have been waiting for me behind the bin stores. One minute I was changing into a clean T-shirt – I’d spilt orange juice down the one I was wearing – the next minute I turned around and – and he was there in front of me. Well, I went into panic mode. Before I knew it, I was up against the wall and he’d cornered me. All I could think of was that the iron was on and if he reached over and grabbed it…’ Liz shuddered, tears spilling out of her eyes. ‘He had a knife anyway. He covered it up and made me walk out to his car.’

  ‘Why didn’t anyone help you?’

  ‘There was no one around – and to the outside world, he was just a man walking down the path with his wife. I hardly know anyone, anyway. Luckily for me, Jackie from next door noticed my distress.’

  Cathy sat quietly while Liz cried for a moment. She half thought she wouldn’t be able to tell her any more for that day so was surprised when she spoke again.

  ‘He drove me across to Finlay Place. He made me get out of the car and took hold of my hand, squeezing it so hard that my fingers went numb. All the time he was hurling abuse at me, shouting at me, saying I shouldn’t have left and that what he was about to do was all my fault. All I kept thinking was that if I didn’t antagonise him, he’d let me go. He tucked the knife in his pocket and covered it with his jumper. Then he marched me across the playing fields. As we were walking up the path, I realised there was no one around to shout out to so I decided to make a run for it. If I could get back to one of the houses behind me, maybe I could get away. So I shook off his hand and ran. But he caught me.’

  Liz’s sob was enough to tear a hole in Cathy’s heart.

  ‘I – I thought he was going to kill me,’ she cried, clinging on to Cathy’s arm. ‘He stabbed me with the knife and I dropped to the floor. He kept on hitting me. I tried to crawl away but he kicked me in the back. It was a rage I hadn’t seen in him before. He grabbed my arm and turned me to face him. I thought I was a goner.’

  By this time, Cathy was crying openly too. She held Liz close to her as she finally broke down.

  ‘I said one word that stopped him, Cath. I shouted out Chloe’s name.’

  ‘You were so brave,’ Cathy whispered into her hair.

  She was too. Cathy couldn’t begin to imagine how she would have reacted in that situation. Everyone thought she was strong because she could stick up for herself and the women she looked after but, in reality, she would have gone to pieces if she’d had to put up with what Liz had gone through.

  Liz pulled away then and they sat in silence with their own thoughts. Shortly after, Cathy looked over
to see she was asleep. She left the ward quietly, deep in thought, only to find Matt sitting on a chair outside in the corridor. The awkward look on his face matched her discomfort at the sight of him; a few yellow-green bruises were all he had left to suggest he’d recently been attacked.

  ‘Can we talk?’ he asked.

  ‘No, I don’t think so,’ she told him sharply. ‘I think it’s a little too late for that.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  A porter wheeled a bed past with an elderly patient lying in it, a nurse carrying his belongings. A man with his leg in plaster to the knee hobbled past on crutches. A male cleaner mopped a floor. Visitors coming and going: staff in varying uniforms walking up and down. Everyone around them was oblivious to Cathy’s personal trauma.

  ‘You have some nerve,’ she told Matt. She made to move past him but he touched her arm.

  ‘Please! Let me explain.’

  ‘Do you think you can say anything to take away the hurt and humiliation you caused because you thought of me as nothing but your latest conquest?’

  Matt looked uncomfortable. ‘Josie told me that you thought that.’

  Cathy glared at him. ‘I might have known. Pray tell me, what lies did you tell her?’

  ‘She made me realise how stupid I’d been but I did have my reasons.’ He pointed to a row of empty chairs. ‘Give me five minutes to explain. Please?’

  The look that he gave her could have melted her heart had she been in the right frame of mind.

  ‘Five minutes,’ she told him.

  Ten minutes later, Cathy’s head was in turmoil after he’d told her Josie’s opinion about things.

  ‘But why didn’t you stand up for yourself?’ she questioned

  Matt bowed his head before raising his eyes to meet hers. ‘I admit that he got to me. I’ve never been a fighter and I was terrified when he said he’d hurt you. Yet since I’ve had that conversation with Josie, I can’t get it out of my head that it was that man, Kevin, who thought I was after his wife. I could have prevented Liz’s attack.’

  Cathy instinctively touched his hand. ‘You mustn’t blame yourself for his actions,’ she told him. ‘He would have done that anyway. He wasn’t of sound mind.’

  ‘But I should have done something to protect her.’

  ‘Actually I think I could have done something too.’ Cathy told him about the notes that had been pushed through her letterbox. ‘I should have shown them to her,’ she said afterwards.

  ‘Most people would have done the same in your position.’

  ‘I doubt that very much.’

  Matt smiled shyly. ‘Maybe neither of us should blame each other and realise that Kevin McIntyre would have got to Liz regardless.’

  ‘That’s what Josie said. But it doesn’t make me feel any better.’

  ‘I think we should listen to her.’

  Cathy paused for a moment while she looked into Matt’s eyes. Honest, earnest eyes that were telling her so much more than what he was saying. Matt had kept away from her because he feared for her safety as well as his own. He’d taken a right old beating, had been scared enough to think that whoever attacked him would do her harm. He might not be as hard as Rich Mason but he cared for her all the same.

  She kept her eyes trained on his as a porter wheeled a young boy in a wheelchair past them. ‘Would it help if I said I was sorry?’ she asked.

  Matt shrugged like a petulant child.

  Cathy knew that he sensed victory and shrugged her shoulders too. ‘That’s that, then.’ She stood up but he pulled her down again.

  ‘Of course it would help.’ He grinned. ‘I think it would help more if you said that you were willing to try again. And then much more if you kissed me too.’

  ‘Don’t push your luck, matey.’ She sighed loudly. ‘Let’s hope this is the last time anything happens for a while.’

  ‘Hospitals and funerals; suicides and attacks. You get the lot, don’t you?’

  ‘What, me in particular?’ said Cathy, knowing full well what he meant.

  ‘Actually, yes!’ Matt smiled.

  ‘Well, let’s hope things calm down for a while.’

  ‘At your house?’ Matt scoffed jokingly. ‘Things will never be quiet with your lot.’

  Becky had been out shopping in preparation for Austin’s birthday in the morning. Luckily, she had managed to save up a few pounds from the pocket money Cathy gave to her for completing chores around the house.

  By four thirty, she’d bought him a striped shirt and a cheap CD player with rechargeable batteries. She was fed up with sitting in silence in the pub and if they were going to celebrate properly, they’d need some music. She bought a couple of CDs, chocolates and nibbles, a bottle of fizzy wine and two bottles of vodka.

  By five thirty she was in her room, rolling out wrapping paper on her bedroom floor. Of the presents she’d got, she hoped he’d like the shirt best. Maybe she could get him to put it on tonight rather than save it until tomorrow.

  She broke a strip of tape with her teeth and fastened down one corner of the paper. But when she pulled again, the roll came to an end.

  ‘Shit!’ She rushed downstairs to search through the drawers. Cathy must have some more somewhere.

  ‘What are you after?’ Jess asked as she walked in.

  ‘Sellotape,’ Becky cried. ‘I’ve used the last of the roll I found this morning. And I can’t find any more.’

  ‘What do you need it for?’

  ‘To wrap up presents.’ She kept her back towards Jess as she continued to rummage. ‘It’s Austin’s birthday tomorrow. He’s twenty-one so I’m making a special effort. I want everything to be perfect.’

  ‘He doesn’t act like he’s that old,’ Jess taunted.

  Becky turned her head to stare at her. ‘Don’t start that again.’

  ‘You’re all alone in that pub. No one can hear you scream.’

  ‘I’m not that scared of him. He’s just a lot more streetwise than Danny Bradley. I suppose you could say he’s more of a man.’

  ‘We all knew Danny’s background though, didn’t we? He’s been raised on the estate, part of the scratty Bradley family. He was bound to do something stupid sooner or later. That’s why he murdered that security guard. It was in his genes.’

  ‘I know exactly what’s in Austin’s jeans.’ Becky giggled this time.

  Jess laughed too. Then her expression became serious. ‘All I’m saying is be careful, Becks. You’ve only known him for a few months. To be honest, I’ve never felt safe with him. And I can’t understand why he won’t tell you anything about his past.’

  ‘But that’s where you’re wrong,’ Becky said triumphantly. ‘He’s been telling me about his parents. His mum gave him up for adoption. He’s never known who his father is. He’s not sure if he has any other family because he hasn’t wanted to find any of them. Doesn’t that tell you that he needs to settle down with someone who loves him?’

  ‘You mean you, don’t you?’

  Becky nodded. ‘He makes me feel special. He’s fantastic at sex. I’ve nearly passed out some times, he – well, he always thinks of me. Not like Danny Bradley. He’s all mouth when it comes to –’ Suddenly she stopped.

  ‘You cheap slag!’ Jess cried out when she realised what she was about to say. She grabbed hold of Becky’s hair and tried to punch her face.

  But Becky fought back. Her first punch landed on the side of Jess’s face.

  ‘You told me that Danny never screwed you!’ Jess slapped Becky. ‘You lying bitch!’

  ‘Girls!’ said Cathy as she walked into the room. She threw down her bag and keys. ‘GIRLS! Stop! I could hear the both of you the minute I got out of my car.’

  Jess swung for Becky again but Becky lashed out with her feet. She caught Jess on the shin. Jess let go of her then.

  ‘Ow! I’ll bloody kill –’

  ‘I said break it up!’ Cathy pushed herself between the two of them. ‘Right now.’

  Jess pointed at Beck
y. ‘She started it,’ she accused.

  ‘I did not,’ said Becky, trying to catch her breath. ‘It was you. You grabbed my hair.’

  ‘Only because –’

  ‘Girls!’ said Cathy. ‘You’re supposed to be friends!’

  ‘Friends don’t shag each other’s boyfriends, do they, Becky?’ Jess pushed past Cathy and ran upstairs to her room.

  Cathy stared at Becky. ‘Care to tell me what’s been going on?’

  Becky shrugged her shoulders, her reddening cheeks giving away her embarrassment. ‘Do you have any more tape, Cathy? This roll has finished.’

  Back in her room, her head and cheek stinging, Becky wrapped Austin’s remaining presents. Then she preened and perfected herself while ignoring Jess’s taunts every time she walked past outside her room. Stuff her, she thought. She’ll come round eventually.

  At seven, in eager anticipation, she raced out of the door and down to the end of the street where she could see Austin waiting for her. They drove straight to the White Lion.

  ‘Mmmmm!’ Becky stretched out on the mattress half an hour later. Every nerve in her body had just been set on fire. The smile on her face had grown to full capacity. ‘You certainly know how to make me feel like a woman.’

  ‘I thought I’d give you something to remember me by.’ Austin lit a cigarette.

  Becky sighed. ‘You’re talking in riddles again. I’ll never be able to work you out, will I?’

  ‘It will all become clear soon.’

  ‘Maybe the birthday boy would like some more loving first?’

  Afterwards, Austin swigged back more vodka. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and burped loudly.

  ‘Two more hours,’ he said.

  ‘Until your birthday?’

  ‘Until I can unleash my plan.’

  ‘What plan?’

  Austin flopped down beside her, ignoring her question. ‘Let’s get wasted.’

  Cathy was catching up with EastEnders when Jess appeared in the doorway.

  ‘Can I talk to you?’ she asked.