“What do you mean?”
“Well I didn’t hear you coming up with an alternative. So now things are getting on top, you’re just going to say that it was a shit idea. Save your breath Mick, please, that type of shit-talk isn’t helpful.” Rachel was slowing her pace a little and Mick was finding it a bit easier to keep up with his partner as they left the estate and turned onto the main road.
“I don’t know what is going to happen now that Britney is involved. But it’s pretty obvious, we’re going to be seeing that copper again. Question is, will the story stand up?”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“Because it’s the police, they’re not fucking stupid Mick.”
“Well, number one, yeah, they don’t have a body.”
“Oh shit, yeah, that was another thing Britney said, she was asking where we put the body.”
“You didn’t tell her did you?” asked Mick, seemingly oblivious to the magnitude of what his partner was saying to him, that their fifteen year old daughter was asking where they had put the body. Adrenaline had taken over both of Mick and Rachel, and their minds were just set on the present moment, on trying to figure out what was going to happen next. Rachel pointed out a bus shelter a little further along the road. “Let’s stop there for five minutes.”
The couple sat in silence for a few moments, both going over things in their minds. Eventually, Rachel stood, walked all around the bus stop to see if anybody was coming, checking the bushes just behind. When she was satisfied that they had privacy, Rachel sat back down next to Mick.
“I had an idea, today, when we were all talking at Suzanne’s.”
“What?”
“The answer to our biggest fucking headache in all this!” Rachel started laughing, though it was quite clear that there was little humour involved. It was a sarcastic, bitter laugh. She took her cigarette packet out of her pocket and lit one up.
“You’re talking in riddles love. What are you going on about?”
“I’m going to kill Tania. I’m going to make it look like that fat bastard Kev did it.”
Rachel’s comment was met with silence. Mick just sat there playing with the sole of his trainer. A minute passed.
“Did you not hear what I just said?”
“Yeah, I did. I’m just trying to work a few things out.”
“Like what?”
“Like, how the fuck did we get here, me and you, expecting a visit from police over a murder that we’re both involved in, and now you’re planning another fucking murder? I thought this was meant to be a great new start for us lot. A new challenge.”
“Well, it’s not gone our way has it? Eh? Like every thing else we ever try and do, it goes tits up. Except in our case, it goes even worse than tits up. But what are we going to do? Just fucking give up? Just kill ourselves and say life’s not fair? Or are we going to fight back? Like we always do. Come on Mick, me and you. We’re the best – we can do anything. We can sort this out.” Rachel started crying as she came to the end of her rant. Her voice gave away the fact that she didn’t believe in herself, or in what she was saying. She threw the cigarette dimp on the pavement and kicked it away.
In normal circumstances, this would be the natural time for Mick to step forward and take the pressure off. But he was spent. He had nothing to say, no hope to offer. Britney had been spot on earlier, when she’d shouted in his face that he was weak. He was, and he felt it too. For the first time in his life, Mick felt completely useless. He wanted to put an arm around Rachel’s shoulders, but he couldn’t.
“We’re fucked love. No two ways about it.”
Chapter 29
“Right love, you just try and calm down, right, and get yourself off to bed. I’ll sort this. Leave it to me. I love you, you do know that don’t you?”
“Course I do Gran. Thanks.” Britney gave her grandmother a strong, hard cuddle. It felt like a massive burden had been lifted today, and the release of the pressure felt great. The secret that had been weighing Britney down for over a month was now finally out in the open. The secret that would flash-back in the middle of a joke at school, or when she was chilling out on Facebook, or while she was talking to her friends on the bus. Since it happened, the flashbacks had been happening pretty much none-stop.
The flashback of her mum smashing Graham round the head. The flashback of her mum sitting, collapsed and terrified at the front door. The flashback of her mum and dad and those retarded neighbours trying to fit the body in the back of the dead man’s own car. The flashback of her mum’s sad, scared, stressed-out face every day since it had happened.
Today had been a big day for Britney. She’d told her parents about it, and that had helped a bit. But now that she had told the entire story from start to finish to her gran, she felt that the biggest part of her troubles were gone. She was still agonising about the thought of her parents getting sent to jail, and the family being broken up – but that didn’t seem so strangling and heavy and suffocating right now. It felt weird. She felt free, for the time being anyway.
“Right, get off me now love, you’re hurting my ribs!” Maureen let go of her granddaughter and Britney’s intense grip released.
“Night Gran, and thanks.”
“It’s alright darling. I’m so proud of you for telling me. You’ve shown what a big grown up girl you are. Go on, off to bed, and I’ll see you in the morning, I’ll take you to Subway for breakfast.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, now go on, off you pop love.”
Maureen looked up at the wall-clock in the kitchen of her small flat on the Gameshawe council estate. It was half past midnight, and she felt exhausted, both physically and emotionally. The information that Britney had given her tonight was beyond anything she could have ever imagined. Rachel killed a man, and her and Mick have disposed the body. Now the police are asking awkward questions. It was completely and utterly unbelievable.
Maureen had only one thing on her mind, and that was going over to Rachel’s and finding out what the hell was going on. Finding out if any of this was even true. It was just so unlikely, even though it had come from her own granddaughter’s mouth.
Maureen sat down and lit a ciggy in the front room. She finished the last of the tea that was in the pot in front of the gas fire. She really felt like she wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. Her eyes were dry, she felt emotionally constipated, desperate to go, but there was nothing happening. As she put her cigarette to her lips, she realised that her hand was shaking violently.
“Bloody hell Rachel,” she whispered. “Why haven’t you come to me about this?” Maureen stared at her living room wall, and the pictures of Rachel, and the rest of the family through the years. “Why, love?”
Maureen sat there for another twenty minutes before creeping through to the spare bedroom to check on Britney. She was sound asleep, and her face looked soft and care-free. Maureen wanted to give her granddaughter a kiss on the forehead but worried that it might disturb her. She quietly turned the lamp off at Britney’s bedside and crept out of the room, leaving the door open slightly so it wasn’t completely dark. Maureen tip-toed all around the flat, switching off the kettle and toaster sockets at the wall, unplugging the television and turning off the lamps. She left the landing light on, in case Britney woke up.
It was just before one o’ clock in the morning when Maureen quietly pulled her flat door closed, walked down the four flights of stairs and got into her car.
*****
Ding dong
“Who’s that?” Rachel looked across at Mick. He checked the time on his phone.
“It’s half one nearly!” said Mick. Neither of them wanted to go to the door. Britney had a key, and anyway, the door wasn’t locked, so both parents knew it wasn’t their daughter. It could only be bad news, they were both agreed on that, without saying a word.
“That’ll be the fucking police.” Said Mick.
Maureen appeared at the front room window, clas
ping her hands at the side of her face so she could see in.
“Fuckin’ell it’s me mam!”
“Fuck’s sake! I thought it was a fucking police raid then, Rach. What’s your mam up to?”
Rachel had jumped up off the settee and was over by the front door. Maureen burst in as soon as it was opened, marching past her daughter and straight into the front room, where Mick was still sitting, and looking very confused.
“Mum, what’s up? You alright?” Rachel was following her mother into the room when Maureen began speaking. Her words made Rachel sit down, as the stress and panic hit her bowels, and her legs felt like they could just give way right there.
“Don’t say another word. Britney is safe, she’s tucked up in bed at mine. I’ll go back there in a minute. But before I go, I just want to know… is it true?”
Rachel nodded and Mick looked down at the floor.
“Good. I didn’t want you to start any of that “is what true?” bull-crap with me. Okay. So it’s true. That’s quite something.” Maureen sat down on the chair opposite her daughter and son-in-law. She blew out very loudly and looked down at her hands for a minute.
“Okay, okay, I just wanted to know if it was true. I knew Britney was telling the truth, but it was… it’s pretty unbelievable! I can’t believe it. But, anyway, not to worry.” Maureen stood up and went over to the window. Rachel and Mick didn’t look at her. They just kept their gaze focused on the floor. Maureen took in a big, long breath. Rachel was about to speak, but her mother cut in before her.
“I just don’t know why you haven’t spoken to me about this.” At this point, for the first time, the emotions caught up with Maureen, and she felt her voice wobbling and a hot, angry tear burnt her eye. “You should have… I could…”
Maureen walked over to the settee and sat inbetween Rachel and Mick. They both put their arms around her, and all three had a good cry, huddled together. They stayed like that for a good five minutes, crying and sniffing and wiping snot and tears and whispering “sorry” and “I love you’s.” Eventually, all three of them were cried out.
Maureen stood, and grabbed a packet of hankies from her hand-bag. She handed the tissues out and they all felt stupid, wiping and blowing and rubbing their sadness away.
“Right. I’m going home, to check on our Britney. We’ll sort summat, don’t worry. It’s going to be alright. Now, if you get taken in before I see you’s again, take it for granted that I’ll take the kids on, there’s no question about that, right?”
Maureen’s statement set Rachel off crying again.
“Shut up – don’t get me going again, love. Right, seeya’s. Love ya’s.” Maureen’s voice quivered again, as she said it, as she headed quickly for the front door.
Chapter 30
FRIDAY MORNING
Rachel looked terrible.
“God, mum, you look like shit.” Said Liam as he pulled his breakfast out of the toaster.
“Thanks a lot, son.”
“Are you ill or summat?” he asked as he began to spread margarine on his toast.
“I’ve just got a lot of stuff going on, love. I’ll be fine.”
“Well I hope so mum, because you look like Michael Jackson’s corpse.” Rachel couldn’t help but smile at Liam’s stupid comment. She tapped him lightly round the back of the head.
“Little shit.”
“Is it because of our Britney stressing you out?”
“No, no mate, is it heck. We’ve had a bit of a row, that’s all, she’s at that funny age.”
“Has she run off?”
“Nah, she’s at your gran’s. It’ll all be sorted soon. Don’t worry, you’re just like me, you, a right worrier. It’s shite being a worrier son, so try not to let things get in your head, right?” Rachel tried to give her eldest a cuddle, but it was awkward as his main concern was trying to avoid dripping margarine on his mum, the floor or his clean school shirt.
“Love ya,” said Rachel as he pulled away.
“Give over mum, I’m gonna be late.” Liam managed to wriggle away from his mother and grabbed his bag off the kitchen island. “In a bit.” He said as he headed out to the door.
“I said, I love ya,” said Rachel.
“Love you too mum, see ya tonight.”
Liam left for school and within a few minutes, Mick arrived home from dropping Shania at her primary school.
“God, you look like shit Rach.”
“I’ve not slept. Couldn’t. I even took some of your sleeping tablets. I just couldn’t get off.”
“Me neither.” Mick checked there was water in the kettle before turning it on.
“God, you’re such a fucking blatant liar Michael Crossley! Shame on you!”
“What?” Mick looked shocked.
“You’ve been snoring like a bastard for the last five hours man!”
“Have I bollocks! Do you want a brew?”
“Nah, Liam’s made me one. I feel really weird now, knowing that my mum knows. It’s like, I don’t know, it’s as though it feels a bit better somehow, you know, now that she knows. Do you know what I mean?”
Mick was spinning the teaspoon around in his fingers, waiting for the kettle to boil. He looked quite happy, considering the daunting circumstances.
“Everything is going to be alright, I’ve got it sussed.” Mick threw a tea-bag into his BEST DAD mug and splashed the hot water over it as soon as the kettle clicked off.
“What do you mean?” asked Rachel, her sunken, black ringed eyes came alive suddenly. She looked desperate to hear what Mick had to say.
“I’m going to go down the police station. I’m going to tell them I did it.”
“What the fuck…”
“Rach, just shut up a minute. Let me tell you. I’m going to get five years tops, I’ll be out in three. It’ll cut everyone else out of the picture. It’s the best way.” Mick started stirring his tea-bag around in the cup.
“Mick...”
Mick placed his finger over his lip and stared kindly at Rachel. “It came to me, last night, walking back from the chippy. You saying that you’re going to kill Tania. Our Britney saying I’m a nobody, that I’m a girl. It all just started plopping into place. Then your mam saying that about looking after the kids if we get sent down. It broke my heart that Rach. But, it’s come to me now, what to do. It’s time for me to man up. So, that’s what’s happening, right?” Mick put the hot, steaming tea-bag on top of a plate that was waiting to be washed up and poured his milk into the cup steadily, but his hands were shaking noticeably.
Rachel looked at her partner of the past eighteen years, they’d been together since they were at school together. She couldn’t remember a moment that she hadn’t loved him with all of her heart. But this announcement filled her heart with even more love for the man. Tears fell freely from her eyes.
“Fuck off,” she said to the tears as she wiped them. “Where do they all come from?” she asked as she snorted up loudly. “You’d have thought that I’d have no tears left the amount of crying I’ve done, since…”
“So, what do you think? I want to move quickly love, if this copper is getting close to finding out what’s happening, we need to get in there, wrong foot them, totally bamboozle them.”
“Eh, wait Mick, fucking slow down babe. You’re not asking me if you’re getting a Chinese or a pizza. Slow down! We need to talk about it!” Rachel hadn’t meant to raise her voice, but her temper and her emotions got the better of her. What had sounded like a perfect solution a few minutes earlier, now filled her with panic.
“Right, tell you what. Tell me which is better. You and me, and Suzanne getting sent down. Or just me?”
“Well…”
“It’s a no-brainer, so stop trying to negotiate on it love. It solves everything, right? I say to the police that I seen him beating Suzanne up, I ran over there, smashed his fucking head in, Suzanne was lay on the floor, out cold. I took his body, put it in his car. And I’ll plead manslaughter. I’l
l say I fucking panicked, I was pissed. It gets everyone off the hook. It’s so fucking simple Rach, I can’t believe we never came up with this before.”
Rachel was staring at the kitchen clock as Mick talked. It did make perfect sense. It was a great idea, and she was impressed at just how much thought he’d put into it. He had a lot of confidence in his voice as he talked, and it gave a little bit of confidence to Rachel for the first time in ages.
“Our Britney is right love. Fucking hell, I’ve been walking around in a sulk for weeks, feeling sorry for myself. This is perfect. You know it is. It’ll get that Tania bastard of all our backs as well.”
“Will it though?” Rachel’s tears had stopped for now. She took a cigarette out of the packet and lit it, without taking her eyes from Mick who was stood by the sink with his brew in his hand. BEST DAD was all Rachel could see when he took a sip.
“What, if I go down to the police and confess?” Mick looked slightly confused. He hadn’t envisaged any problems with this at all.
“She could just say that its bullshit Mick. It is bullshit.” Rachel sucked hard on her cigarette and flicked her ash.
“What the fuck would she gain from that Rach? At the moment, she reckons she’s getting half of the price of that house. The thick bastard hasn’t even worked out that the owner is a dead body. How the hell can the owner put the house up for sale? God, she’s a proper knob her. Thick as a bucket of shit.”
“Alright, alright Mick. We know all this. What I’m asking you is how can you cut her out?”
“Simple. The first she’s going to know about this, is when it comes on Granada fuckin’ Reports that I’ve been arrested and charged, and I’ll be banged up until it comes to court. Why would she go running down to the police station to say, “hang on, that’s not how it was,” and get herself implicated in it? Besides, right, even if she did do that, because she’s a dud, the body’s not going to have any DNA on it now, and there’s jack shit evidence over the road, as you know. I’ve even put a new carpet in. I’ll make all that a part of the story. I’ll tell them that when I left, with Graham rolled up in the carpet, Suzanne was knocked out.”
Neighbours From Hell : DCI Miller 2: The gripping Manchester thriller with a killer twist Page 22