‘I’m going to kill you, Rachel Bradley,’ Stacey yelled. ‘I’m going to rip your fucking heart out.’
‘Yeah right! When you’re strong enough!’ Rachel bent over and leaned on a wall as she caught her breath for a moment. When she looked again, Stacey was running at them. She turned quickly and ran, bumping into Ruth up ahead in her haste.
‘Sorry!’ she said, but didn’t stop.
Further in front, Claire had made it and was halfway up the path to the house. But Stacey had caught up quicker than they’d anticipated. As Rachel got to the gate, she felt herself being yanked back by the hood of her jacket.
‘Claire!’ She held out her hand to her sister in front.
Claire saw the knife still in Stacey’s hand and screamed. ‘No! Leave her alone!’
Stacey plunged the knife into Rachel’s back.
Although Claire could hear herself screaming, time seemed to stand still. She watched helplessly as Stacey thrust the blade into Rachel’s back again and again.
Rachel dropped to her knees on the path.
‘Leave her alone!’ Claire jumped on Stacey but she lashed out with a fist. Losing her footing, she fell down the path, landing with a thump against the gate.
Stacey glowered at her. ‘You’ll be nothing without her,’ she said. Then she plunged the knife into Rachel’s chest.
‘Rachel!’ screamed Claire.
Ruth saw the girl grab hold of Rachel and pull her back by her hood. Bloody typical, she thought: the Bradley twins were up to no good again. She continued on her way until she heard Claire scream. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up when she saw the girl had a knife. Without a thought for her own safety, she ran over.
‘Stop her!’ Claire screamed to Ruth.
Stacey stepped away, for a moment standing with a bewildered look on her face. Then she threw down the knife, pushed past Ruth and ran onto the street.
Ruth watched her go, for a moment wondering if she was dreaming. But Claire’s screams were real; there was blood all over her hands.
Hearing Rachel gasping for breath, she knelt beside her on the damp path.
Rachel’s head lolled to one side.
‘Rachel!’ sobbed Claire. ‘Oh, God, she’s going to die, isn’t she?’
Ruth didn’t want to think about that. ‘Go and get your mum.’ As Claire ran into the house, she took off her coat and, ignoring the cold weather, removed her jumper. She pressed it to Rachel’s chest. Rachel groaned, causing Ruth to burst into tears. She could see whatever she did would be hopeless. Blood was covering Rachel at an alarming rate: the knife must have cut through a major artery.
Claire came running out of the house moments later. ‘There’s no one in!’ She got out her mobile. ‘Do something. DO SOMETHING.’
Ruth knew there wasn’t time for an ambulance.
‘Go and get Caren,’ she said. When Claire didn’t move, she shouted. ‘Claire! Fetch Caren. NOW!’
Gina sat down at the table. Apart from the faint smell of paint in the air, the room was fairly void of any reference to the burglary. The conversation she’d overheard with Sam Harvey spoke of all the rooms being trashed. They must have been busy to get it painted so quickly.
‘Did they make a lot of mess?’ Gina wanted to know.
‘Did they ever! They went into every room. Paint tipped over the rug, aerosol paint sprayed everywhere, food chucked out of the fridge. They even emptied our wardrobes and threw the clothes out of the bloody window! It was pure vandalism; it’s going to take forever to put right. I cried for –’
‘Caren!’ Claire burst into the kitchen through the back door. ‘You have to come – Mum!’
‘Claire! What’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
Claire pointed to the door. ‘Rachel – she’s been stabbed. Outside.’
They all ran out of the kitchen and across the road. Gina saw three girls outside her gate. As she got nearer, she spotted Ruth, Rachel’s legs to her side. Nearer still, she saw her cradling Rachel in her arms.
‘Rachel!’ Gina pushed Ruth out of the way and took her place. Rachel’s arm flopped around as she pressed her body to her chest. ‘Stay with me, Rachel. Stay with me.’ She looked back to the street. ‘Where’s the ambulance?’ she screamed.’ Where’s the fucking ambulance!’
‘I rang for it as soon as I saw what happened,’ Ashley told her, openly crying. ‘I saw what happened. Oh, God, she isn’t going to die, is she?’
Gina ignored her, turning on Ruth who sat on her knees beside her. ‘You had no right to touch her!’
Ruth shivered. She stared down at her hands, her body, her jeans; they were covered in Rachel’s blood.
Caren tried to take control. ‘Claire, where’s your dad?’ She turned to John who had followed them across. ‘John, go and look!’
‘He’s not in the house,’ Claire sobbed. ‘Mum, do something!’
‘I don’t know what to do!’ Gina cried.
‘Mum,’ Rachel spluttered, her voice barely audible.
Gina stroked her hair. ‘I’m here for you, baby,’ she said. ‘I’m here for you. You’re safe now.’
Caren sat down beside Rachel. She took off her jumper and gave it to Gina. Gina removed Ruth’s top, soaked through to dripping, and pressed that one to Rachel’s chest.
Rachel groaned.
‘I’m sorry,’ Gina told her over and over. ‘I’m sorry.’
A scarlet bubble appeared at the corner of Rachel’s mouth.
‘The ambulance is on its way,’ Gina told her. ‘You hang on in there.’
Blood began to trickle from her mouth. Rachel coughed and more appeared. She coughed again.
‘Mum!’ screamed Claire. ‘Do something. She’s dying!’
‘No, she’s not,’ said Gina. She stroked her daughter’s forehead. ‘Now you listen to me, Rachel Bradley. We’re made of strong stuff. You’re not going to die, do you hear? Don’t you fucking dare!’
But Rachel didn’t hear anything. She didn’t see anything either. Life slipped away from her. Her arm flopped to the floor.
‘NO!’ cried Gina. ‘No!’ Tears poured down her face as she held Rachel to her.
‘Rachel!’ Claire dropped to her knees next to them.
Caren’s hand covered her mouth; her blood ran cold. She looked back to see John standing by the side of the three girls who had come into the garden. Ruth sat in shock a few feet away. By now, a few neighbours had come out too.
Gina looked at Ruth with so much hate. ‘You let her die, you bitch,’ she yelled. ‘Not content to steal my husband, you let my daughter die!’
‘But I –’ Ruth tried to explain.
‘I hate you. This is your fault. You let her die!’
Claire grabbed her sister’s hand. ‘Rachel, wake up. Rachel!’
Caren gently pulled Claire away and hugged her, hoping to comfort her, knowing that Gina needed to hold Rachel for the moment. And then, amidst the chaos and the sound of an ambulance in the distance, silence fell on Stanley Avenue. Gina rocked Rachel in her arms. Caren hugged Claire. Ruth sat on the garden, holding her hands in the air, staring at the blood. John stood in shock, three teenage girls crying by his side.
‘She’s not dead,’ Claire sobbed. ‘She can’t be. I was talking to her just… She can’t be dead.’
Caren let her ramble on. She wondered how Claire was going to fare without her twin. Gina was going to have a tough time as her mother, but Claire was the other half of Rachel.
‘Where will your dad be?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know.’ Claire stared at Rachel, fresh tears falling fast. ‘She’s dead, isn’t she?’
‘Let’s wait until the paramedics look at her,’ Caren replied. ‘Look, they’re here now.’
‘I’m going to try Dad’s phone again.’
‘He’s probably shagging his latest conquest somewhere,’ Gina said, never taking her eyes from Rachel, wiping the hair from her forehead.
The ambulance drew up
, the sirens dropping off as it parked up. ‘Excuse me, love,’ said the paramedic as he sat down next to Rachel.
‘There’s no point,’ Gina said. ‘She’s dead.’ She slapped his hand as he reached to check Rachel’s pulse. ‘Don’t you fucking touch her!’
‘Mum, let him help.’ Claire dropped to her knees beside them. ‘He needs to look.’
Gina looked at Claire and gasped. Then she held out her hand. ‘Rachel,’ she smiled.
‘No, I’m Claire!’ She moved away, horrified.
The paramedics took over and Gina looked around her. This was a dream. She was going to wake up in a moment. There was Claire sitting beside her and there was Rachel, lying… lying... Gina stared at Rachel before turning to Claire. Oh, there she was.
‘Rachel,’ she whispered.
‘It’s me, Mum, Claire.’ She pointed at the lifeless body of her sister, paramedics all over her. ‘That’s Rachel.’
Gina frowned. She looked at Rachel, and then back at Claire. ‘Rachel,’ she whispered. ‘Rachel.’
‘No.’ Claire shook her head vehemently and then she ran.
‘Claire!’ As she ran past, Caren grabbed for her arm but Claire thumped out at her.
‘Leave me alone,’ she cried. ‘I don’t want to be here.’
Once the police arrived, everyone was moved from the garden as a murder investigation got underway. Barbara had been asleep until she’d heard the sirens but she rushed across. She stayed surprisingly calm after she’d learned that her granddaughter had been murdered, realising that as a mother, Gina needed her help. She needed her strength. The police said it would be some time before they would be let back into their property so she took them all across to her house.
Although John had gone home, Caren had stayed with Gina, not really wanting to be there but feeling the need too. She was worried about Claire; she’d been gone a couple of hours now.
She was worried about Ruth too. Ruth had gone into a stupor since Rachel’s death. After the police had arrived and taken their details, Caren had walked her home. All she’d repeated was ‘I couldn’t save her.’ And no matter how many times, she’d reiterated that it wasn’t her fault, Ruth had continued, changing to ‘I should have saved her.’
Caren had cried with her as she’d made cups of tea. Once she thought Ruth was going to bed, she’d gone back to Barbara’s. It had seemed eerie seeing the white tent and the hustle and bustle outside Gina’s house. There was a small crowd, several vehicles and lots of police around. She’d been told someone would need to question her soon. She wished there was more that she could tell them. What a dreadful chain of events. It was such a young age to die.
She’d been at Barbara’s house for no more than five minutes when Pete burst into the kitchen. He rushed over to Gina.
‘They just told me. She… is she… no… she can’t –’
‘Where were you, you bastard?’ Gina’s legs gave way as she slumped into his arms. ‘I called you and called you and...’
‘I’m sorry,’ he sobbed, holding on to her tightly. ‘I didn’t know what had happened. I’m sorry.’
‘Mr Bradley,’ said PC Andy Baxter. ‘If I could–’
‘That bitch Stacey Hunter stabbed her,’ said Gina, the words she spoke making her cry again. ‘She was home, Pete. She was running up the path but she pulled her back by her hood.’
‘But she’s just a kid! They’re both kids.’
‘Kids have weapons too, unfortunately,’ said Andy.
‘Rachel didn’t have a knife, did she?’
Gina gasped. ‘Did she? Did she have a knife?’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Andy. ‘We’ll know more later.’
Pete wiped at his eyes. ‘Did you see what happened?’
‘No, I wasn’t there.’
Pete looked at Caren who was standing in the doorway. ‘Were you there?’
‘No, Gina was over at mine.’ When Pete frowned, she explained. ‘Gina offered to help me with the mess we’d been left in because of the break-in. I suppose when Claire didn’t find anyone here, she ran across to get me.’
‘You didn’t hear anything before that?’
‘Sorry, no.’
‘No one heard them fighting?’
‘She did – that fucking Ruth Millington,’ Gina cried out. ‘It’s all her fault. She was the first person to get to Rachel. She should have stopped the bleeding.’
‘There was too much,’ said Caren.
‘Blood everywhere.’ Barbara shook her head from side to side before breaking down.
Gina glared at Pete. ‘You should have been here.’
Pete wiped his eye with the back of his hand. ‘I’m sorry, Gina.’
‘She was too badly injured to survive.’ Andy rested a hand on Pete’s shoulder. ‘I’ll leave you for a moment and then I’ll need to take a statement from you.’
Noticing how sad he looked, Caren followed him into the kitchen. She closed the living room door and sat down at the table.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked him. ‘I didn’t think this sort of thing would upset you.’
Andy sat down next to her. ‘Every case is different but it’s terrible if you know someone personally. I knew all the Bradleys.’ He laughed half-heartedly. ‘Who doesn’t know the Bradleys? But Rachel was a child; just sixteen.’
‘It’s Claire I’m worried about,’ said Caren. ‘She’s going to be so lost without her sister.’
Andy nodded. ‘This isn’t going to be an easy case. The witnesses are all teenagers. They’ll be frightened of Stacey Hunter and her family.’
‘Claire saw it all, though.’
‘Yes, we’ll gather what forensic evidence we can from Rachel’s body, as well as the knife that Stacey dropped, and the garden area.’
‘It’s a terrible thing to happen. It’s going to hit the family hard.’
‘It’s going to hit the estate too. Another murder to bring us down; remind people how shit it is on the Mitchell Estate.’
‘It isn’t all that bad,’ said Caren.
Andy raised his eyebrows questioningly.
‘It isn’t!’ Caren shook her head. ‘I remember when I had to move back, I cursed the day I set foot in Stanley Avenue. But slowly the people around here, they got under my skin. They made me into a better person – and I wanted to help them.’
Andy listened as Caren continued.
‘Rachel and Claire were trouble but did anyone give them a chance because of who they were? They always had the Bradley reputation to live up to. Maybe I could have won them around; maybe I couldn’t. Or maybe it was them that won me around, I don’t know. But I changed – I accepted what I have. And…’ Caren’s voice held a shake, ‘until today I thought that no one could take that away from me.’
From behind them came a voice.
‘Caren?’
Caren looked up to see Claire. She tried desperately to hide her shock as she saw the innocent face staring back at her. It was literally like seeing a ghost of Rachel, a terrible reminder of what had happened.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ Claire said, her tears falling again. ‘I don’t know –’
The living room door opened. ‘Claire!’ said Pete.
Claire ran into her Dad’s embrace. ‘She’s dead, Dad,’ she cried. ‘What am I going to do?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Pete as he hugged her close. ‘I don’t know.’
Two doors away, Ruth sat on her sofa, one hand wrapped around the near-empty bottle of vodka, the other turning a craft knife over and over.
She staggered into the hall, knocking into the doorframe as she did. She cursed loudly, rubbing at her arm, but she managed to negotiate the stairs, even if she did have to crawl up the last two steps.
She threw herself face down on her bed. The room had long ago started to spin. But when she closed her eyes all she could see was blood. Rachel’s blood; lots of it. Thick, dark blood, the worst kind. She pecked at the scar on her arm. She needed to see her own bloo
d instead, to take the pain away.
‘Argh!’ Ruth screamed. ‘It’s so unfair!’ She plunged the craft knife into the open wound, tearing at her skin.
Then just as suddenly, she stopped.
It had made her realise how much pain Rachel must have been in when the blade of the knife went into and through her vital organs.
Ruth threw the craft knife down to the floor. ‘I should have saved her,’ she cried. ‘I should have saved her!’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Gina spent the next few days in a haze. Half of Rachel’s school turned out to see where she had died, along with lots of local people. Bunches of flowers lay in front of the garden wall, stretching from their gate and halfway to next door’s driveway. Teddy bears, small and large had been left, a T-shirt with dozens of messages written on it in blue biro. An odd photograph; an odd candle. Gina had been across to look at them a few times, finding comfort in some of the words of tribute. Other times, she couldn’t bear to look at them.
Everyone was saying what a lovely girl Rachel had been – well liked and great fun. What a bunch of liars, Gina had wanted to shout. It was always the same; someone taken down in their prime and no one having a bad word to say about them. Well, not in public anyway – behind closed doors, she knew what everyone would be saying, what they were thinking.
They hadn’t been allowed home yet. They’d been over to get a few belongings but until the forensics had finished their job, they’d had to stay at her mum’s house. From the window of the spare room where she and Pete were sleeping, Gina gazed down onto the avenue, watching two council workers picking litter up from the pavement. One of them stooped to read a card. He leaned on his brush and then beckoned his colleague over. They read the words together, and then with a shake of their heads, continued on their way.
Gina wiped away tears pouring down her face. Once Rachel’s body was released to the coroner, they were planning on giving her a great send off. She’d asked Claire what she thought Rachel would like to wear; each of them had also chosen something to put into the coffin. Claire wanted to give Rachel her favourite baseball cap but knew that Rachel would prefer her hair to be spiked up and styled. She’d also asked Caren if she could do her make up. Caren had looked relieved when Gina stepped in before she’d had time to answer and said that it would be the undertaker’s job.
Fighting for Survival (The Estate, Book 3) Page 24