by Lynda Stacey
She walked back to the window. Griff had gone which probably meant he was somewhere in the house, and she wondered whether to disturb him and let him deal with Charlie. Dealing with the men that didn’t pay was part of his job, especially if he wanted his cut. Men coming up short were normally dealt with swiftly, and everyone knew that Griff could be brutal, which meant that most punters paid up the moment his name was mentioned. Annie looked back at the sleeping Charlie. At least by letting Griff sort him out, he’d see how hard she was trying to earn the money and what she was up against. But then again, she wondered if he actually cared or whether he preferred the option of killing her and getting hold of Lily?
‘What’s wrong, honey?’ Bella asked as Annie stomped down the stairs and walked into the communal lounge. Bella sat with three other girls, all scantily dressed, in full make-up and lounging on the numerous mismatched settees that surrounded the room. All the settees had seen better days; they were threadbare and covered with throws to hide their condition and the one in the far corner, which no one ever sat on, was propped up with a brick under the back corner. ‘It’s a makeshift leg, till I sort it out,’ Griff had said some months before, but he still hadn’t done anything about repairing or replacing it and Annie guessed that he probably never would.
‘Thirty quid short.’ She stamped across to the cabinet, picked up a bottle of whisky and poured herself a large drink. ‘What the hell do I do? I have to pay Griff, he’s already pissed that I owe him so much, and it’s bad enough that I have to screw the old bugger in the first place, without him coming up short on the cash.’ She began opening drawers, rummaging and searching inside and then slamming them to a close.
‘Oh, bejesus, Annie. You haven’t fallen for Charlie’s sock trick, have you?’ Bella laughed as she stood up, pressed her feet into the bright red stilettos, tossed her long bleach blonde hair over her shoulder, batted her long, false eyelashes in Annie’s direction and pulled the see through robe around her voluptuous body in a pointless attempt to shroud herself. Then she sashayed up the stairs, one at a time, and into Annie’s room, where a bare-arsed Charlie still lay on the bed, pretending to sleep.
‘Jesus, Charlie, what you been eating? It stinks in here.’ She pulled back the net curtain, unlatched the window and opened it as wide as she could, allowing the fresh ice-cold air to flood into the room. ‘Come on, old boy, let Bella take a look at those socks of yours.’ She picked up one of his feet. ‘There you go.’
Annie stood back and watched as Bella began carefully tugging at Charlie’s moth eaten socks. They were practically glued to his feet, but she managed to somehow remove them with the tips of her long, false fingernails and one by one she tossed them at the bed.
‘He used to do this at the last place I worked,’ she said as she pulled a wad of money from the sock. ‘He’s got a lot more money than you think, he just knows how to hide it. Don’t you, Charlie?’
Annie shook her head and began counting the notes out onto the bed. ‘He’s done it here before too, comes in short on the money, pretends to be asleep and then sods off when he doesn’t think we’re watching,’ she growled. ‘But what I don’t get is if you have money, Charlie, why the hell don’t you just pay up?’ Annie screwed her face up and picked up a glass from the dressing table, sniffed at its contents, swished it around and drank it down.
‘Yeah, Charlie, and buy some new socks,’ Bella said as she kicked at a condom wrapper from the side of the bed and turned to where Annie stood. ‘And you. It’s time you gave the place a clean, Annie. It’s bloody disgusting, isn’t it?’ She bent down, knelt on the carpet and began throwing the litter at a red plastic bin, which stood in the corner next to the dressing table. ‘There’s no wonder men try to pay you short, my girl, is there?’
‘Thanks for the advice,’ Annie said, ‘but I don’t think the men give a toss, so long as they get laid.’ She kicked at the bed. She didn’t care about the mess, and didn’t pay any attention to the litter, the half empty mugs, the half eaten sandwich that still sat on a plate next to the bed, or the dirty syringe on the sideboard. All she cared about was getting the job done and grabbing the money. ‘Charlie, next time you’re paying up front, or I’ll be calling for Griff. Do you get that?’
Charlie grunted and sat up on the bed. ‘For God’s sake, do you two ever stop bloody moaning? All I ever get from you lot is bloody abuse. Where’s my damned trousers?’ He began shuffling around, picking up his clothes, and pulled a cotton vest over his head.
‘Here you go, Charlie, get them on.’ Annie threw the trousers towards him, quickly followed by the socks, all while watching Bella who still continued to tidy the room, turning her nose up at the grot and grime that covered the floor.
Annie was at least ten years older than nineteen-year-old Bella, yet Bella seemed a lot wiser. She took more care over her appearance, her clothes and her personal hygiene. She showered between each and every client, whereas Annie did not and most days took a quick strip wash by the sink, if that. The last thing she wanted to do was get her hair wet and have to blow dry it on a daily basis. It all took time, time she didn’t want to waste.
She knew she should shower more often. When the men came in off the street she’d watch them carefully as they sat in the communal lounge, and after the normal pleasantries they’d normally chose the girl they preferred. Annie had begun to realise that more than half the punters would choose Bella over the others and the other half would only choose her if all the other girls were busy.
Annie looked down at her own attire. The outfit she wore was probably older than Bella was. She knew she was dirty, she looked like a tramp and she thought for a moment or two, wondering if she were a punter and had the choice, would she choose Bella too? She made a mental note to think about taking a shower before the next man came through the door and she looked up at the clock, trying to work out how much time she had before the evening rush. An hour, two at the most, which meant she’d have time to get out of the house, find a dealer and get a much needed fix to feed her habit.
‘Annie. Go get the bloody vacuum and clean this carpet, it wouldn’t hurt you to sort this place out, would it?’ Bella stood up and held a hand out to Charlie. ‘And you, Charlie, you have been told to bugger off home.’ She pulled him up to his feet, just as he lurched forward with his hands grabbing hold of every part of Bella’s anatomy he could manage. ‘Any more of that, Charlie, and I’ll be charging you for a grope,’ she shouted and moved out of his way.
Charlie turned and laughed, and as slowly as he could, pulled on his coat and then staggered towards the door, with his walking stick in hand. He waved it in the air. ‘I’ll be in next Friday, right before Christmas Eve,’ he smirked. ‘Let’s see if one of you can make this twinkle.’ His hand went to his crotch and the sound of his cackle filled the landing. Both Bella and Annie forced a smile, which quickly turned into a frown the moment Charlie had left the room.
Annie made her way to the cupboard on the landing, pulled out the vacuum cleaner and stamped back across the landing in her bare feet. ‘Bella, I don’t have time for this, I need to get out, find a fix and then I need to find some work.’ She threw the vacuum into the room. ‘Griff’s on my back for money. I owe him thousands and I need to find a way to get some earned.’
‘But you need to clean too.’
Annie shook her head. ‘No, Bella. What I need is to keep him happy, or else.’ Her voice began to tremble at the thought of what Griff had threatened.
‘Hey … or else what?’ Bella grabbed at both of Annie’s hands and pulled her towards the bed. ‘Come here, sit down for a minute. What’s he planning on doing?’
‘Bella, I can’t. I …’ She looked for a way out. ‘I really don’t have time, I’ve told you, I have to work …’ She took a huge inward breath. ‘Jesus, I need a fix.’ Her eyes implored Bella. ‘Do … do you have anything? Because I could really do with something right now and if you do …’ She tried to think of an excuse. ‘… well … it�
��d save me going out, and then I’d have time to clean up a little, wouldn’t I?’
Bella sighed as her hand went up to her hair and pushed it away from her face. ‘Okay, okay, I have some heroin in my room. I’ll get it for you.’ She patted Annie on the knee, stood up and then disappeared momentarily. ‘I hide it, so Griff doesn’t know,’ she said when she returned from her room. She raised an eyebrow. ‘You know how he feels about us being high, I’d hate him to know I was using again.’ She held out a small packet to Annie. ‘Knock yourself out, but you owe me, darling. I want some back when you next go out.’ Annie took the bag as Bella continued, ‘There isn’t much, but it might get you through tonight.’
Annie smiled. It was obvious that Bella had been using and if she didn’t realise that Griff knew everything, she was sadly mistaken. But still, she hurriedly set to work warming the drug, picked up the dirty syringe and drew up the fluid. Once the heroin was injected, she leaned back against the wall with a satisfied sigh. ‘Thanks,’ she eventually said. ‘Now, get out. I need to work. I can’t risk Griff coming in. He’s in the house somewhere, I saw him earlier, with a new girl. If I’m not careful, he’ll be showing her my bloody room.’
‘Come on, Annie, tell me what’s up. Griff is always around the house, you know that. Why are you suddenly worried about him? What did he do to you?’
‘He doesn’t like me sitting idle.’ She went to pick up an old screwed up newspaper, but her hands shook uncontrollably and she ended up sitting on the floor in a heap. ‘He’d be annoyed with me, and I’ve seen him annoyed once too often with the others. He’s a big man, Bella, he can do a lot of damage and it’s not pretty when he starts.’
Bella took Annie’s hand and held onto it. It was a gesture of kindness, of compassion, and for a moment Annie stared down at the hand as a warmth travelled through it. ‘Why does he get annoyed with you, Annie? Did he do this to you?’ Bella moved Annie’s hair away from her face to reveal the bruise that covered her left cheek. ‘Why do you stay, hun? You could leave, find a new patch, set up somewhere else, somewhere away from him.’
Annie began to tremble. It began in her shoulders and travelled down both of her arms. She closed her eyes, unsure as to whether the trembling was from the drugs or the fear. ‘Are you crazy? He’d find me. Besides, I owe him and he wants his money and I have just a week left to pay, which gives me till Christmas Eve, or …’
‘Or what, honey?’ Bella held up her spare hand. ‘What would he do?’
Annie crumbled; she’d never had anyone be kind to her, not since Bastion. Tears began to fall down her face and a continual shaking began to rattle her inside. ‘If … if … if I don’t pay … he wants my child … my little girl, but … how can I give her to him? I don’t know where she is. And I’ll end up having no choice, ’cause how the hell can I earn ten grand in a week?’
Bella stood up and dropped Annie’s hand. ‘Jesus, Annie. You owe him what?’ Bella paced around the room. ‘How the hell did it get to be so much?’
‘Ten grand. I owe him ten grand and every day it increases with the interest. Bella, I’ve got no chance of earning it, not in a week. That’d be two hundred blokes at fifty quid each and that’s if they all want the works. But most don’t, you know that. Most want a twenty quid hand job or the other day, a guy just wanted to sit in the bath for an hour and get covered in custard. I mean, come on, it’s weird. What the hell do you charge for that? Twenty, thirty quid?’
‘Okay. Let me get this right. If you don’t pay Griff, he wants the kid, but isn’t she just a little ’un, a baby? What the hell does he want with her?’ Bella shook her head. ‘Actually, oh bejesus, don’t tell me, he wouldn’t, would he?’
Annie nodded between sobs. ‘She’s gone. Bastion is gone too. I went to the flat yesterday and the neighbours said he went a couple of days ago, right after—’ She was going to add, right after she’d broken in and emptied the place of everything she could sell, but stopped herself at the last moment.
Bella paced up and down for what seemed like forever. ‘So, you’d seriously give him your daughter, hand her over, just like that?’
Annie wiped her eyes on the sheet. ‘What else can I do? He said he’ll kill me if I don’t and then he’ll find her and he’ll kill her too.’
Bella once again sat on the bed. Her hands were clasped together so tightly they had the appearance of wringing out a dishcloth. She looked ashen and for a moment Annie sat back and stared. ‘Is that what … what Griff does to those who owe him money?’
Annie looked through the haze, her mind now swamped with the drugs. She felt far too calm and distant to really care what Bella was saying. ‘Oh, honey, without a doubt he’d either cut you or kill you.’ She laughed. ‘Please tell me you don’t owe him money too? You’re far too pretty for Griff to get hold of.’
Bella nodded, her eyes searching Annie’s. ‘It’s just a couple of grand, nowhere near as much as you. But I do owe him.’ Once again she stood up and began pacing up and down the room. ‘I didn’t cover my rent for a while. My dad, he was ill, and my mum couldn’t cope any more, she needed a break, needed to put him in respite care. I had no bloody choice but to give her the money, Annie. She was at the end of her tether.’
The reality of what Bella had said brought Annie out of her daze. ‘You have to pay him, honey. He can be cruel and you, you really don’t want to see what he’s capable of, do you?’ She paused and turned away. ‘But that means it’s you or me. If one of us gets the punter, the other can’t and, Bella, I’m telling you, for the sake of my baby girl, I need to stop the other girls taking them too, I need them all. Can you make a few calls, you know, drag a few of your old regulars in?’
Bella stared at the floor. ‘Come on, Annie. It’s Christmas. I’ve tried. Nobody’s interested. They’re all off buying their wives expensive gifts of jewellery, chocolates or clothes, which they’ll hand over Christmas morning and pretend they’re the perfect husband when in reality most of them come in here once or twice a month, even the posh ones.’
Annie leaned back against the bed. She watched Bella’s torment, and then her mind went back to what Bella had said earlier about the drugs. They’d been hidden in Bella’s room, somewhere Griff wouldn’t find them, and Annie wondered where they were. There weren’t too many places and she immediately thought of the drawers or the floor. She’d seen false bases in drawers before, but in Annie’s opinion Bella would have used the old floorboard trick. She shook her head, even high on drugs working it out was just far too easy. After all where else would be a big enough space for her to hide both drugs and money? Was she saving the cash, waiting to give it to Griff in one go? After all, the punters chose her. They loved her voluptuous figure, which meant she must be earning it. She smiled. Bella took at least three showers a day and Annie made a mental note to watch her movements. Only then would Annie know how much time she’d have, and how long she could search for a hiding place without being caught. She nodded. It was her or Bella, and if Bella had money, then Annie was intent on stealing it.
Chapter Fourteen
‘Oh, Mr Collymore, I’m so glad you’re back,’ Nomsa said as she moved to the bed and paid a lot more attention to plumping up the pillows than normal. ‘Now, Jess says you’ll be staying for a week or two, so let’s get you all settled in.’ She finally moved away from the bed and to the sideboard where she rearranged a vase of flowers and then turned to watch as Bastion gingerly walked across the room, quickly followed by an overexcited Lily, who held onto his hand as tightly as she could.
‘Daddy, quickly, come and look.’ She let go of his hand and ran ahead to jump onto the bed. ‘This will be your bed,’ she said as she bounced from one bed to the other. ‘And here, in this bed near the window, this is where I sleep. Do you see it, Daddy? It’s a real bed, not a settee and it’s all mine, isn’t it, Nomsa?’
‘It sure is, sugar,’ Nomsa said as Lily jumped down from the bed and skipped across the room to fling open the bathroom door.
‘And in here we have our very own bathroom. Isn’t it beautiful? And look, Daddy, a toilet of our own. Watch how it flushes.’ Her eyes were wide open. ‘Do you see? We don’t have to go down the corridor, or use a bucket, or share with the neighbours.’ She shone with excitement as she buzzed around the room. ‘And the nice lady who comes in every morning, she brings lovely bubble bath and shampoo and really soft toilet rolls. Daddy, feel the toilet rolls.’ She pulled a sheet off the roll and passed it to Bastion who stood, with mouth open, looking around the room.
‘It sure is pretty in here.’ He stood still, barely moving while he took in his immediate surroundings. ‘I think we sure did fall into heaven, Lily, didn’t we?’
‘Now then, Mr Collymore, you’re looking a bit wobbly on your feet. Come and sit yourself down before you fall down,’ Nomsa continued, helping him to an armchair. ‘I’ve changed the bed, and Jess went out and bought you some new pyjamas, slippers and a dressing gown.’ She looked Bastion up and down. ‘I’m sure they’ll fit you just fine. So, when you’re ready, you can get changed into them and jump into your bed. That’s right, you just make yourself all comfy and I’ll be back up in a few minutes with some of my nice French onion soup.’