by Natasha West
But her brother Steve thought that was even funnier. ‘Ha, is that right? Kenny never knew for sure because he emptied his stomach, but he said he felt gippy for days. Power of suggestion, eh?’ He shook his head. ‘Well, now you’re home, I’ll be glad not to deal with that low rent bit of rubbish anymore. Always talking himself up. Couldn’t stand the little dickhead.’
Ryan sniggered. ‘We don’t have to pay him, either. Because we brought you home. That prat couldn’t deliver for Just Eat.’
April looked at her younger brother with contempt. ‘Don’t clap yourself on the back too hard. If I hadn’t had a bang on the head, you’d never have found me either.’
The smile slipped from Ryan’s face. He looked at his mother, angrily. ‘She hasn’t changed.’
Marla looked at April. April stared right back at her, willing herself not to look away. ‘I’m not so sure about that,’ Marla said carefully.
April and Marla looked at each other a moment longer, and April felt sweat run down her back. Eventually, her mother looked down at her cup, took a sip, and said cheerily, ‘Right, boys. This one can’t stay here. We’ll need to shift her. Coppers will be along directly, I’m assuming.’
April perked up at that titbit. ‘Because Sophie would have told them?’
Marla smiled kindly. ‘Yes, love. You kept your promise, and I kept mine. But that means I’m gonna have to do a bit more work from this end. No bother, though, not afraid of a bit of hard work. And it’s never really been a big job staying ahead of the twats in blue. Not one of ‘ems got two brain cells to rub together.’ She pulled a mobile out of her pocket and dialled a number. ‘Carl, I’ll need your lockup. Yes, for that.’
***
Twenty minutes later, April was in a garage, sat on an uncomfortable wooden chair, cuffed to a pipe, a bare swinging bulb the only light source once the shutter went down. The place was around the corner from Jackson Road, and probably off the books, April supposed. If the police were coming, they wouldn’t look here.
Steve was the only one in there with her, Ryan at home with their mother. Steve was on a stool, reading a red top paper. He didn’t look at her. After a few minutes, April couldn’t take anymore. ‘What are we doing here, Steve?’
He kept looking at his paper. ‘How do you mean?’
‘I mean, what are we waiting for?’
He looked up from the paper. ‘We’re waiting for things to get quiet. And then mum wants to have a chat with you.’
April frowned. ‘About what?’
Steve looked down at his paper. ‘That’s between you and her.’
April took a deep breath. ‘Steve.’ He lowered his paper again. ‘You were always my favourite brother,’ April told him. ‘You weren’t like those two. I can’t understand-’
The paper crumpled in Steve’s grip. ‘Don’t even start that shit. You said my name in court. I read the transcript. You said it, and you told them I did this and that.’
April nodded sadly. ‘Because you did.’
Steve chucked the paper down. ‘It doesn’t matter. You gave them mine and Ian’s names, even Mum’s, like we were nothing to you. So don’t start pulling the brother card now, not after you spat on us in public.’
April looked at her brother. ‘You killed Johnny, Ian killed Jane. Did you think I could let that go?’
‘Oh, so now family means something to you? You didn’t give a shit about them two before they died. I don’t know why they mattered so much after that you were willing to betray us.’
‘And that’s why I did it,’ April said. ‘Because you and Ian, Ryan? Mum? You didn’t think it mattered. Well, it mattered to me.’
Steve gave a mirthless chuckle. ‘This is why we never told you about the business. Because we knew you’d fuck it up with all your feelings.’
April inhaled deeply. ‘Then you had me right, Steve. You had me exactly right.’
Steve looked like he might say more, but instead, he clenched his jaw, picked up his paper, and went right back to the sports page. April looked down at the bare floor and hoped that whatever was going to happen would be quick. And that Sophie would learn to move on with her life after she was gone. April could have regretted so much, but she was done with that. If this was it, she was just glad that she and Sophie had gotten the chance to love each other. It had been everything. She could never wish it hadn’t happened, not anymore. Because it was the one thing her family couldn’t take away from her. They wouldn’t know how.
Thirty-One
Jackson Road was a bunch of non-descript former council houses, two up, two down. It looked like any street. But Sophie knew that was a lie. This was no ordinary street. She didn’t dare think what might be going on behind the walls of these houses.
As the car began to pull in at a barricade at one end of the road, Sophie jumped out of the police car before it had properly parked, clambering out awkwardly with her cast. ‘Oi!’ the uniformed officer said, but Sophie didn’t hear her. She’d spotted Barry, standing with a collection of other officers in both plain clothes and uniforms, police cars dotted around them. Barry and the cops were talking back and forth, pointing at number twelve as they spoke. No one looked happy.
‘Barry!’ Sophie said loudly.
Barry spun ‘round to her, and his brow dropped. ‘Sophie. I’m sorry.’
‘What, why? She’s not-’
‘We got a warrant for number twelve, but we searched the place, she’s not in there. Marla was, though. Gave me a load of rubbish about collecting her daughter from the hospital and dropping her off at the train station when she was sure she was OK. Told me they, ‘Mended their rift,’ Barry said with distaste.
Sophie chewed the inside of her mouth. ‘So, what happens now?’
‘Now, we’re waiting for warrants for the rest of the houses, and then we’ll search them all.’
‘How long will that take?’ Sophie demanded.
‘The warrants are on their way. Searching will take a few hours.’
‘A few hours!’ Sophie screeched.
‘We don’t have unlimited manpower,’ Barry explained.
Sophie spun to look at number twelve, frustrated and furious. This was all taking far too long. April could have been anywhere on that street, still alright. But not if they waited for hours. And that was if she was here.
A door opened three houses up from number twelve, number eighteen, and everyone turned to see who it was. It was a woman of about thirty, holding the hand of a boy of about seven. She didn’t look at the police. Her little boy didn’t know the rules, however, and he asked his mother, ‘Mum, what are all these people doing?’ ‘Nothing, just keep moving,’ she said, shuffling quickly down the road with her son.
The police officers turned away, the woman of little interest, probably not a major player, Sophie surmised. But Sophie watched her all the way to the end of the street. The woman looked back only once at the corner, happening to catch Sophie’s eye for a moment. She was quick to turn away.
Sophie turned her attention back to number twelve, April’s childhood home. She wanted to scream and charge the doors, though she knew the only person in there was April’s mum. But she needed to do something.
***
The warrants were in, the troops were assembled, the battering rams were ready. Bang, in they went, house by house. There was yelling and screaming from inside the houses, angry shouts and demands to watch the carpets. Sophie watched the whole thing in a state of extreme agitation, placed in a car to wait in safety. Any moment now, a police officer could escort April from one of the houses.
Only they didn’t. A couple of hours and the last house was searched. Nothing. Sophie jumped out of the car and back to Barry. ‘They didn’t find her, did they?’
Barry rubbed his temples. ‘No. They didn’t.’
‘So what’s next?’ Sophie demanded.
Barry shook his head. ‘I need to think.’
‘You mean you don’t know?’
‘Sophie
, can you just shut up!’ Barry snapped.
‘No, I fucking can’t, and you know why!’ Sophie yelled back.
‘I’m gonna start rounding people up for questioning, and we’ll take it from there, alright!’ Barry shouted. But Sophie was looking past him; something had caught her eye. It was the woman from earlier, the one with the kid. She was walking back down the street, sans child, probably dropped off at school.
Sophie stepped past Barry, who muttered, ‘Where are you going?’ Sophie didn’t answer him. She ran up the street, almost into the woman, who halted in her tracks. ‘Err, excuse me?’ she said.
‘April,’ Sophie said. ‘Where is she?’
‘Fuck are you on about?’ the woman asked.
‘You live on this street; you’re a Gardener, right?’
‘I’m married to one, yeah. Not that it’s any of your business,’ the woman snarked.
‘So you know April?’
‘I remember her,’ the woman admitted hesitantly.
‘Did you like her?’ Sophie asked.
The woman’s eyes flitted back and forth. ‘She was alright, yeah.’
‘What happened between her and her family, you know about all that?’
The woman didn’t answer. Sophie took that as a yes.
‘Well, they got her. She’s here now, somewhere.’
The woman snorted an angry breath through her nostrils. ‘That’s nothing to do with me.’
‘You don’t care if they kill her?’ Sophie asked.
Instead of answering, the woman shoved her over, flat on her back. ‘Ahhhh, watch my arm!’ Sophie yelled, but the woman wasn’t interested in Sophie’s plea, and she jumped on top of her and slapped her around the face. Sophie clutched her stinging cheek, and the woman dragged her back up to her feet to face her, eyeball to eyeball. ‘Don’t think you can come here and tell me my business, alright? I’m a Gardener!’
Sophie was too shocked to react. But Barry and a couple of other officers had seen what was happening and ran over to drag the woman off. She shouted, ‘I’m a Gardener!’ once more as she was hauled back to her house. Sophie stood on the pavement, watching as the woman was shoved through her front door.
Barry appeared in front of Sophie. ‘What the hell is wrong with you! Why can’t you just let me get on with my job?’
Sophie touched her warm cheek. ‘I’m sorry, OK? I’m freaking out!’
Barry dusted her off. ‘OK, enough of this foolishness. We’re doing arrests, so can you just go back to the station and we’ll talk later?’
He turned around and went back to his business, watching various men and woman get pulled out of their houses, including Marla and a young guy with a gold chain around his neck who looked a bit like April, probably a brother, Sophie guessed Ryan. Sophie watched them be escorted into a car. Once inside, Marla looked out of the car, right at Sophie. She gave her a small, secret smile that Sophie didn’t like the look of at all.
***
Some hours later, Sophie sat in Barry’s office, waiting tensely for him, a thing she was sick of doing. The man had never once told her anything she’d ever wanted to hear, and she didn’t see that changing. When he tiredly came into the office, Sophie knew she was right. ‘No one’s saying anything,’ he told her. ‘I’ve got a collection of the shittiest solicitors in the city getting everyone out.’
‘Even Marla?’ Sophie asked, horrified.
‘She was the first one out,’ Barry admitted sheepishly.
Sophie stood from her chair. ‘She’s back on the street?’
‘Possibly,’ Barry said. He seemed older suddenly, haunted. He looked at Sophie with more kindness than she thought he possessed and said, ‘I’ve failed her. And you. I’m sorry.’
Sophie shook her head. ‘We’ve both failed her if we stop now.’
‘There’s nothing more I can do,’ Barry said helplessly. ‘Not inside the law.’
‘And what about outside of it?’ Sophie asked him.
‘What do you want me to do, go ‘round there and start beating people up for information? I’d lose my job.’
‘Is that more important than April?’ Sophie asked him furiously.
‘It’s all I’ve got left,’ Barry said.
Sophie stood. ‘Alright, then. You keep it.’ She walked out of the office.
‘Where are you going?’ Barry called.
‘I need a coffee,’ Sophie lied over her shoulder, walking out into the hall, down the stairs, and right out of the station. She hailed a cab. ‘Jackson Road, please,’ she told the driver.
Thirty-Two
April didn’t know how long she sat in the dusty garage with her sullen brother, hours at least. She couldn’t take the waiting anymore. She was going out of her mind with it.
But then the garage shutter came up, and she didn’t want what came next, either. Her mother slipping in, a knitting bag on her arm, Ryan behind her as ever. ‘Well, what a lot of time I’ve had wasted today!’ Marla said irritably.
April didn’t say anything, just eyed her mother moving around the space as a mouse might eye a cat creeping toward it. This was the moment they’d been waiting for all day. The conversation her mother wanted. And whatever else.
Steve unfolded another chair and put it down, dusting it off before Marla parked herself. Ryan positioned himself in the corner, near the exit. Steve sat back down on his chair, next to his mum. April braced herself.
‘Well…’ her mother said. ‘Let’s get to the nitty-gritty, shall we? Your room’s all ready, so you can move back in today, alright? And we’ll say no more about this nonsense.’
Steve looked at his mother in surprise. ‘What?’
Marla didn’t look at him, only held up a hand. He shut his mouth. But his surprise had nothing on April’s. ‘You want me to… move back in?’
‘Mmm, of course,’ Marla said. ‘I mean, there’d be a few conditions. But I don’t see how you could refuse them, reasonable as they are.’
‘But, but…’ April sputtered.
‘Yes, I think this whole thing has gone on long enough.’
‘But you sent people after me. That horrible Kenny.’
‘To bring you back for a chat.’
‘But he threatened me. You threatened me,’ April said.
‘I just wanted a private conversation without you making a scene in front of those doctors. I didn’t threaten you at all.’
‘You threatened my girlfriend, Sophie.’
‘Yes, well, how else was I going to get you to come back?’ she asked. ‘And as for Kenny, I don’t like the sound of that at all. I told him, unharmed.’
‘Well, he just said alive.’
‘Did he? I’ll be having a word with him, later,’ Marla said darkly.
‘So you don’t want to…?’ April left the word unsaid, but her mother knew what she meant, and she laughed. ‘No, love, of course. I don’t want to at all.’ Then she stopped laughing. ‘So all you have to do is retract your statement about Ian, and then I won’t have to do anything I don’t want to, will I?’
April swallowed. ‘That’s it, then. I get Ian out, and you’ll let me go? This isn’t about me at all, is it? This is about Ian.’
Marla tutted. ‘Now, that’s uncalled for. I care about all my kids. You and Ian. I want to mend this wedge you’ve created. I’m only asking you to do the right thing.’
‘The right thing?’ April repeated in disbelief. ‘Setting Ian free, even if I could...’
‘My solicitor thinks you can, thinks he can knock the whole case over like a house of cards if we can pull out one from the bottom. Your testimony.’
April thought about what her mother was saying. She didn’t know what was true anymore, or if her mother really meant what she was saying. But she had to keep talking. It was, as ever, her only weapon. ‘I wouldn’t want to come home, not here, if that’s what you want.’
Marla raised an eyebrow. ‘Why not?’
‘Too much has happened, Mum,’ April said, nearly
choking on that last word.
Marla sat forward. ‘Exactly! We need you close again. I didn’t keep a good enough eye out last time, didn’t see you getting ideas. I can’t let that happen again.’
The deal offered was getting worse by the minute. Not only was April being asked to get her murderous brother out of prison, but in return, she’d go back to being her mother’s prisoner.