The Downfall Series Box Set

by Edie Baylis

  “See what you’ve done now? Making Anna uncomfortable. Saying all that shit in front of her. What’s wrong with you?” Seth screamed.

  “Nothing’s wrong with me Seth. I’m far too busy trying to avoid having more babies when we don’t even know where one of them is and we barely see the one we do have,” Jane spat, her eyes narrowing. “Hence why I’m going to the bloody appointment.”

  Seth ran his hand through his hair. “While you’re at it why don’t you have a hysterectomy instead of a replacement IUD? That way there’d be no risk of being unfortunate enough to get pregnant again! Maybe you’d like to let me know what you’ve decided afterwards yeah?”

  Picking up her plate Jane launched it across the kitchen, the china exploding into several pieces as it hit the quarry tiled floor. “I might as fucking well Seth being as you seem to have lost interest in getting our daughter back! All you care about is replacing her with more!”

  Seth stood up, his race red with rage. “You know that’s not true. I’ve told you I’ve been doing everything I can possibly do regarding that.”

  “Yeah, of course you have,” Jane bitched.

  Seth sighed and tried to rein in his temper. He didn’t want to get angry. “We’ve been through all of this before and know that’s not how it is.” He stepped around the table. Touching Jane’s arm he attempted to pull her towards him. “Come on, let’s not row. We don’t argue anymore remember?”

  Jane yanked her arm away feeling tears pricking the back of her eyes. “Get off me Seth and leave me alone. Go back to the club will you? You’re always there anyway.”

  Seth scowled, his patience evaporating. He grabbed his car keys. “Fine. I’ll do that.”

  ANNA HAD BEEN GRATEFUL when after Seth had left Jane had entered the sitting room and scooped Toby out of her arms, telling her to go and have a couple of hours break. She’d been glad to get out of the house. In the month she’d worked there she hadn’t ever heard Seth and Jane argue until tonight. It had been more than uncomfortable.

  It was evident Jane resented not having as much time as she’d like with Toby. Maybe she was doing something wrong? She couldn’t think what it might be, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something. Jane had always complimented her on the things she did and the way she was with Toby, but now she was beginning to wonder.

  Anna felt horribly insecure. She really enjoyed working for the Wrights and loved Toby to bits. The thought of being told her services were no longer required filled her with dread.

  Picking up her bag, Anna left the house deciding she’d take a nice walk. It was a pleasant evening and still light, so she’d have a stroll to get some fresh air, sure that everything would resolve itself by the time she returned.

  Anna was already feeling revitalised by the time she reached the bottom of the long gravelled driveway. That was until she saw Tina sitting on the wall at the end of the drive.

  “Hello Anna,” Tina smiled, exposing her yellowing teeth.

  “T-Tina? W-What the hell are you doing here?” Anna glanced back up the driveway in the hope that no one could see her sister from the house. “How did you know I was here?”

  Tina laughed. “It’s not that difficult little sis. Especially when you pose for the press with your well-known employers! It’s common knowledge they live in probably the poshest house this side of the city!”

  Anna grabbed Tina’s elbow and steered her away from the driveway.

  Tina put on a mock-hurt expression. “Aren’t you going to invite me in and introduce me? You’re not ashamed of your big sister are you?”

  Anna swallowed hard. Was she kidding? She took in Tina’s grubby pink hooded top and skin tight low-slung jeans hanging pathetically on her bony hips. She looked every inch the drug-addled mess she was. “You can’t just turn up here and no, I’m not inviting you in. For God’s sake Tina, this is my work.”

  Tina’s eyes narrowed, already finding it difficult to remain pleasant where this conceited bitch who was somehow related to her was concerned. “Still high and mighty I see, dear Anna,” she said sarcastically. “Maybe if you hadn’t ignored the message I sent to you via our darling mother then I wouldn’t have been forced to come and find you.”

  “I haven’t spoken to mum for a while,” Anna lied. “I’ve been busy since starting this new job.”

  Tina scowled, knowing full well Anna was far too nice where their mother was concerned to forget the obligatory weekly phone call or visit. “I need to speak to you. Is there somewhere we can go instead then?” she asked.

  “I haven’t really got time Tina. I’m sorry. There’s been a few problems here tonight, so I should go back in.” Anna had been looking forward to a walk, but would much rather put up with the uncomfortable atmosphere in the house rather than be caught talking to Tina. Christ, if Jane or Seth saw her with someone like this she’d most likely be out of a job, or at the very least have to answer questions that she’d worked very hard to distance herself from.

  Tina was less than convinced. She couldn’t afford to be fobbed off with excuses. Certainly not at the moment. “Well you seemed to be on a mission the way you were walking down the driveway.”

  “Yes, well, I...” Anna faltered, knowing full well Tina didn’t believe her lies. “If you’ve come round to ask for money yo...”

  “I’m in debt,” Tina interrupted. “I’ve got problems – big ones and I need your help. Straight up, I’m begging you. I wouldn’t have come otherwise.” She looked down at the floor, attempting to appear as contrite as possible and hoping her sister would buy it. With effort she forced a lone tear from her eye. “Please Anna?”

  Anna stared at her sister, betting despite all of this spiel it was probably some magnified sob-story in return for a lump of money to fuel her ever-increasing bloody drug habit.

  She scrutinised Tina’s face. “Ok, but I can’t stay long. We can’t hang around here though. Follow me.” Anna grabbed Tina’s arm. “There’s a small park not far from here where we can talk.”

  NINE

  “WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE’S not available?” Digger roared, his face flushing red with rage. “What the fuck do we pay him for if he’s not around when we need him? Tell me that?”

  “Don’t be having a go at me,” Eliza spat, her anger rising. As if this wasn’t bad enough without him having a dig. She’d been over the moon last night when Tina had got back, informing her she’d made contact with her sister and already made inroads, but her good mood had quickly evaporated when she’d arrived at the office this morning to learn Lacey was bleeding and had had some form of accident.

  “He’s out of the country for two days on a conference,” Eliza said. That was all she knew when she’d tried to get hold of Dr Gopal first thing.

  “A likely fucking story,” Digger raged. “More likely the greasy bastard’s holed up with a bunch of tarts somewhere. That’s more his fucking style. Why the hell are we bothering with him?”

  “You know full well why. He doesn’t ask bloody questions does he? It doesn’t change the fact we need to get Lacey seen by someone and quickly.” Eliza could already feel tendrils of fear radiating up her spine with the prospect of her money-making idea going down the pan. If Lacey lost this baby then all her plans would have been for zilch.

  “What sort of fucking accident did the silly cow have?” Digger asked.

  “How should I know?” Eliza screeched. “Fell out of bed or something. She’s got a bruise across her stomach and is bleeding like I said. Does it fucking matter how? What the hell are we going to do?”

  Digger sighed. “She’ll have to go to the hospital.”

  “How can she? You know there’ll be lots of questions and I wouldn’t put it past the sly bitch to drop us in it. She’s not happy with my plans for her as it is.”

  Digger snorted. “She’ll say fuck all. She’ll have to go to hospital if you want to make sure she’s alright.”

  Eliza could feel panic rising and her mind raced as she watched Digge
r pick up the phone and press a button.

  “Aiden?” Digger growled. “Get up here now.”

  “What are you doing? You haven’t got time to talk to Aiden!” Eliza blabbered.

  “Shut the fuck up Eliza and go and get the girl.”

  “SO,” DIGGER SAID SLOWLY and calmly. “You’re Lacey’s boyfriend ok?” Seeing Aiden nod he continued. “You’re also the father of the child and therefore need to act suitably upset. Demand she be scanned and that they do whatever they need to ensure both her and the kid are ok.”

  He looked towards Lacey who perched gingerly on the edge of a chair, her arm wrapped tightly across her stomach and her face grey with pain. “Tell me what happened and what you’re going to tell the hospital.”

  “I-I fell down the stairs whilst going to get a drink in the middle of the night. I felt a bit dizzy and must have slipped,” Lacey lied, her voice monotonous.

  “You stupid bitch!” Eliza screamed. “Don’t you realise how important this is?”

  “I-I thought I would be ok. It didn’t seem too bad. It was only this morning that I began bleeding.” Lacey hoped the joy she’d felt when waking in agony and seeing sheets covered in blood wasn’t showing on her face. It was going to be ok. She knew she had to be losing that freak’s baby.

  “If you’re losing this fucking kid because of your stupidity you’re going to pay. Do you understand?” Eliza spat. Seeing Lacey nod, she grabbed a makeup bag. “Now put your goddamn head up. I need to put some slap on you. Make you look a bit older.”

  Digger scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to Lacey. “These are the details you need to memorise on the way to hospital. Do you think you can at least do that properly?”

  Lacey glanced at the paper which consisted of a name, address and date of birth - none of which were hers. “But what if they check?”

  “What if they do? They’ll find the details tally up completely.”

  “B-But....”

  “But nothing. They belong to a girl two years older than you who used to work for us. As far as everyone else is concerned your name is Sandra, you’re eighteen and live at 10 Portman Street. Now memorise it.” Digger looked up. “That goes for you as well Aiden.”

  “Not a problem,” Aiden said. He didn’t know what was going on, but being as there was two hundred quid in this for him, he didn’t much care. Whatever floated their boat.

  “Right then. Get going the pair of you. Don’t let her out of your sight Aiden,” Eliza snapped. “And remember what we told you Lacey. Fuck this up and you’ll sorely regret it in more ways than you think possible.”

  Digger waited until Aiden had left the room and then turned to Eliza. He could see she was all but hyperventilating with stress and knew this wasn’t the ideal time, but it had to be done.

  “Seth Wright has contacted a private investigator to find Grace again. A bloody top one this time too.”

  Eliza eyes snapped on to his. “You WHAT?” This couldn’t be happening. Not now. She’d already got in contact with Social Services specifying the area she wanted a child from and had put together a massive list of factors required, knowing it would narrow the available choice dramatically. If her plan worked there should only be a handful of children who fitted her very specific requirements and if she was really lucky there might only be one who matched. The right one.

  If the social were alerted that the birth parents were requesting information and digging around then any adoption attempts on the girl would be put on hold until the birth parents request could be dealt with. She couldn’t have that. She wouldn’t. She hadn’t got this far for it not to pull off now.

  Digger put his hand on Eliza’s arm. “Don’t panic. It’s in hand.”

  “What you do mean it’s in hand? How the fuck can it be in hand? Shit Digger, this will ruin everything. We’re this close,” Eliza wailed.

  “I know and like I said, don’t panic. I’ll stop Seth and Jane getting to the investigator,” Digger said calmly.

  “And how do you propose to do that?” Eliza screamed, snatching the piece of paper from Digger’s hand. “Carl Mulligan? Oh Jesus! Even I’ve heard of him. He’s shit hot! Come on – it will take him less than thirty seconds to find Grace he’s that good. Even that one we used found her – admittedly it was difficult, but he still did in the end.”

  Digger smiled. “I told you... It’s in hand.”

  Eliza’s eyes narrowed. “Wait... Either way we need to up our game here. If whatever your plan is doesn’t work then we can still fuck this up. We have to make sure Seth publicly loses his rag or gets copped for something dodgy – anything to make him out as an unfit parent which will screw up any hope in hell he’s got of getting custody of that kid.”

  “Exactly!” Digger grinned. “You worry too much Eliza. There’s always a way around everything.”

  “I’LL BE BACK LATER,” Jane said, glancing out from the small lead-light hall window at the drizzle outside. Pulling her jacket from the coat stand she grabbed her clutch bag from the hall table.

  “Say bye to Mummy, Toby,” Anna said holding Toby against her hip and moving his pudgy little hand in a wave.

  Forcing a smile Jane shut the door behind her unable to even bring herself to cuddle her darling son. The guilt raged as she moved towards her car. What sort of mother was she? She was exhausted. Another sleepless night courtesy of the argument her and Seth had had until God knows when and then that dream had plagued her again throughout the rest of the night. How dare Seth moan about her having her contraception replaced. She wouldn’t even consider having more children until they’d got Grace back.

  The fact the lawyer had said involvement with the wrong side of the law would completely scupper their chances made things worse. If they located Grace and then after all that they couldn’t get her back because of what they did it would finish her. Jane couldn’t think about that possibility.

  Anna let out a slow release of breath hearing the BMW’s engine roar into life and retraced her steps back down the long hallway to the kitchen. She secured Toby in his high chair and walked to the fridge to prepare an afternoon snack for him.

  She fought the urge to sit down at the table and burst out crying. Seth had left without saying a word this morning, so things between him and Jane were obviously still strained.

  Anna hadn’t actually expected things to be any better judging by the slamming doors and raised voices she’d heard well into the early hours of the morning. It had been audible even from the other end of the house and it was an impressively large house.

  It wasn’t like she could sleep anyway. There wasn’t any chance of that. Handing Toby a small plate of carrot sticks to get his teething gums around, Anna gave in to her needs and sat at the table, putting her head in her hands. What on earth was she going to do?

  She knew her sister would go to most ends to try to get more money out of people, but what she was asking would ruin everything and if she didn’t submit to Tina’s demands then she dreaded to think what would happen.

  Anna took a deep intake of breath to try to override the rising panic. She’d rather be giving her sister money any day of the week than what she’d asked for. It put her in a horrible quandary. Ok, so she’d handed over £250 last night, but she’d expected that. That was normal. What she hadn’t expected was to be asked for information about her employers.

  The minute they’d sat on a bench in the park Tina had burst into tears. Clutching onto Anna’s arm she’d sobbed about her massive drug debt. “They said I could pay it off by getting information they need on the Wrights for an old score,” she’d said.

  “Why would you be expected to be able to get this information?” Anna had asked, not fathoming as to why anyone would think Tina could glean such knowledge.

  Tina had then become angry. Her voice had been heavy with hiccupping sobs. The question was would this ploy work? It had to. “It’s you isn’t it Anna? You. You’re the one that’s dumped me in it. It’s always you. They
saw that fucking picture in the paper of you posing with them at that posh bash. Someone recognised you from one of the few times you’ve bothered to see how I am and word got around.”

  Anna hadn’t been sure what to think. It had all sounded rather far-fetched. She frowned. She’d landed such a good position and she didn’t want to betray the Wrights for their kindness by snooping on them. She didn’t like it.

  “I’m sorry Tina, I’m not prepared to do this to save your neck. You chose your way of life and the people you mix with. You’ll have to live with it,” she’d said as sternly as possible.

  Tina had then begun screaming and shouting. Work it, work it... “But it’s only because of you that I’m in this position. If I don’t get the information they need it’ll cause me big problems,” Tina had sobbed, fresh tears rolling down her face. My, she should have been an actress!

  Anna had quickly become annoyed from too many years of listening to her sister’s lies and bullshit. “Sorry Tina, I’m not doing it. Seth and Jane have been nothing but good to me.”

  Tina’s ‘woe-is-me’ act had disappeared as quickly as it had manifested. “Don’t know why you’re even that bothered about them anyway, but you’re leaving me with no choice,” she’d spat, her eyes narrowing. “If you don’t do what I say then I’ll fuck your life up. I’ll personally tell the Wright’s who I am. I’ll turn up every day with drugs for you and do whatever I have to do to ruin your career you bitch! You think the Wrights would want you around their darling son then?”

  Anna’s stomach sunk. She wouldn’t? Sadly she knew full well Tina would have no problem whatsoever following through with her blackmail and threats.

  “And don’t forget Anna – imagine what it would do to Mum? Having her golden child’s name publicly sullied like her sister’s? Or worse still... They could turn on her... You want that on your fucking conscience too do you?” Tina had sneered.