The Downfall Series Box Set

by Edie Baylis

  Seth sighed. At least Martin and Barry were on shifts watching the house which was one less worry for him to have to deal with. His concern had only increased when an hour ago Jason Miller had arrived. He’d expected it to be awkward due to all the shit with the flowers, but it turned out Miller had a lot more than that to be concerned about. And therefore of course, by proxy, so did he.

  He learnt that last night at the Limelight one of the barmaids had been slashed. Cut to ribbons she was by all accounts. One of her eyeballs had been virtually hanging out and the inside of her mouth had been exposed where the bastard had cut her from her eye down to the corner of her lips.

  Seth felt his anger rise once again in his veins. There was no need for that sort of shit. That poor girl would be disfigured for life. He knew which barmaid it was when Miller described her. Pretty little thing - due to get married next month. He also knew the woman had no knowledge whatsoever about the suppliers. Very few of the staff did.

  The bastard had obviously got his inside knowledge wrong as he was convinced she knew the details about the coke supply and was hiding them, although he obviously knew a certain amount of inside information to be aware no one else was in the area where he was waiting.

  The man had been long gone before the girl was discovered by another barmaid. Miller had said although he knew there had been trouble, he hadn’t been aware it was so serious, or what it was regarding until a long time afterwards. The staff had done the right thing by playing it down to the rest of the punters and had managed to get the girl out of there and to hospital without any customers catching a glimpse of her ruined face. This decision to keep it quiet had been wrongly interpreted by some of the staff, meaning that Miller had also been kept out of the loop until it was too late.

  Seth gritted his teeth. It was when Miller had said the bastard said he’d know who the message was from which had really got his goat. He’d been insinuating that he’d been behind the attack. Christ, someone was really trying to do him up like a kipper. It was obvious, to him at least, that he and Miller were being played off against each other.

  Jason hadn’t bought this theory, dismissing it as fantastical. Seth rolled his shoulders to try and relieve some tension. But was it fantastical? He certainly hadn’t any other ideas as to why these things were occurring to engender suspicion between the two camps.

  What had made Seth’s blood run even colder was when Miller let slip that Jane had been in the club shortly after this incident had occurred. It could have been her the man attacked...

  This whole thing had more than underlined to Seth, if not Jason Miller that they needed to get to the bottom of who was behind this shit. Obviously Seth’s frightening tactics on that Neil Batchelor bloke would definitely have been reported back to whoever was behind it – that was presuming it was connected? Whichever unknown was the organ grinder here was without a doubt serious in their intentions.

  Seth’s head was swimming. There were too many unsavoury things going on and he was unsure which one to deal with first. He’d wanted to get on the case straight away, but couldn’t. He wouldn’t cancel this meeting with Mulligan for anything.

  Knocked from his mental turmoil by his desk phone ringing, Seth quickly picked up the receiver and listened to the voice on the other end. “Yes that’s fine. Send him up.”

  Replacing the phone back onto its cradle, Seth sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. Fuck, he was nervous. Extremely nervous. He stretched his neck to ease the tight muscles. He needed to get this over with and hear what the score was.

  The office door tapped lightly and Steve Lomond was ushered into the room.

  Seth stood up. “Carl Mulligan?” He shook the man’s hand warmly and gestured for him to sit down, studying him as he did so.

  The man looked nothing like what he’d expected – this bloke looked like a thug. The sort that always had his fingers in someone else’s deal. Seth tried to hide the distaste he experienced whilst eyeing the man standing in front of him.

  Apart from his repulsive physical looks, there was an aura radiating from the man which made him feel inexplicably queasy.

  Seth mentally reprimanded himself. Was he judging the guy because he didn’t like the way he looked? How unfair was he being? When all else was said and done, Mulligan may resemble the remains of a pig that had been half-devoured by a hideous tropical disease, but according to Jason Miller he was one of the best private investigators in the field and his services cost a pretty penny, so he’d bypass his unfortunate look.

  Seth forced himself not to show just how over anxious and nervous he was. He’d been trying not to get his hopes up over this, but had still been unable to quite manage it. “A drink Carl?”

  Steve Lomond smiled. It had been relatively easy to concoct this one together. All it had taken was a bit of searching around record offices to locate a kid who had the same birthday as Grace Wright and who also had been put into care. Once he’d got that it had been simple to track down where these people lived.

  The handy guy he knew who was a dab hand at forgery hadn’t had too much of a hard time putting together some legal-looking paperwork, that should, in the face of Seth Wright wanting to see documentary proof of his discovery, hold up to scrutiny.

  Lomond stared at Seth. Looking at the eagerness on this clown’s face, he thought it unlikely he’d be questioning any validity of his findings. After all, Carl Mulligan had an extremely good reputation. He’d already written down a lists of details that should shut the prick up nicely anyhow.

  He slowly passed a piece of paper across the desk to Seth. “Mr Wright, I’m pleased to tell you that we’ve found your daughter,” Lomond grinned.

  TWENTY

  LACEY FELT COMPLETELY DRAINED. She was exhausted beyond comprehension. Forcing herself to prop her body up onto her elbow, she reached over to the small table next to her bed and grabbed the plastic bottle of water. Unscrewing the top with shaking fingers, she took a gulp of the tepid liquid then sank back down on to the pillow.

  Lying on her back, she stared blankly at the magnolia ceiling through her sore eyes. Her lethargy was all-consuming and she felt unable to even summon up enough strength to go downstairs and have something to eat. She wasn’t hungry anyway and certainly hadn’t wanted to talk. In fact, she wasn’t anything. She’d cried all the tears she owned and now there were none left.

  Lacey stared at the daylight coming through the thin curtain hanging at the window and absentmindedly wondered what time it was. The last forty-eight hours were little more than a vacant void and she had very little recollection of anything that had happened. She’d hardly slept – if at all. She couldn’t be sure. She couldn’t be sure she’d been awake either. She’d been existing in a strange limbo – hovering between everything, but being part of nothing. Completely disassociated from reality.

  She’d be the first to acknowledge far too much had pent up over the years and a crash was long overdue. However, reality was gaining focus and she wanted to ensure she grasped hold of it, grateful she’d managed to reach this place before crashing into oblivion.

  Lacey ran her tongue along her teeth. Urgh. They felt disgusting. She would have to brush them today without fail. It was time to join the land of the living.

  After leaving Seth and Jane’s she’d tumbled into a pit of panic when sitting in the café with absolutely nowhere to go. She’d been so angry with herself for ruining the chance she’d been given she’d hardly noticed a girl approach.

  “Looking for somewhere to stay babe?” the girl had asked.

  It hadn’t taken long for a scout for someone like Eliza to hit on her. The initial flood of panic caused her to look around, half-expecting Eliza and Digger to have caught up with her, but this had been quickly replaced by determination.

  She wasn’t sure how she’d summoned up the energy or the power from within herself to manage to manifest this unexpected surge of defiance, but she had. Digger and Eliza had not been there and it would have bee
n all too easy to go with that girl. It would have meant she’d have had a roof over her head and after all, she knew how to play the game. But it had become blindingly apparent, like an epiphany that she would never allow herself to be treated like that again.

  Jane and Seth had showed her it didn’t have to be that way and she wouldn’t screw up twice. Maybe soon – once she’d got herself sorted out, she might pluck up the courage to go and see them and apologise face to face.

  Calmly telling the girl she wasn’t interested, Lacey had walked away from the solace of the café into the night. Repeating that sentence like a mantra she’d blindly wandered around the entire night, fighting off propositions from drunks and junkies who appeared like rats from the sewers and continued to swallow down the panic.

  All she’d had to do was to make it through one night and then she’d be able to try her first port of call. By 8.30 the next morning she had.

  Refusing to be disheartened when the Women’s Refuge said they couldn’t take her, Lacey had however taken their advice. At least one part of it. She hadn’t bothered approaching the council. Because of her age it was likely she’d get taken into the care system and that she could not cope with.

  With her strength and resolve falling fast and the ever-present impending panic level creeping higher and higher with each minute that passed, she’d made the last journey and there she’d found her salvation.

  Pegasus Place was perfect. The large town house had been converted into what could only be described as a bright, colourful and clean hostel for young women. No men were allowed and no one with any ongoing connection to anything unsavoury were either. There was a strict ‘zero drugs’ policy in place and no access to anyone who thought it acceptable to sell themselves. This place was solely for young women who wanted to better their lives and get out of the rut which society had dumped them with.

  Lacey had explained her story – or at least the parts she felt able to tell to the pretty blonde woman in her mid-thirties. She’d been fully expecting to be let down gently, but to her utter surprise, Sylvia had smiled and explained one of their girls had felt ready to move on only that morning and they had an unexpected free bed if she wanted it.

  Bursting into tears of relief, Lacey had been shown to her new room. It was tiny, but clean and it was hers.

  Sylvia had knocked on her door several times to see if she was ok when she hadn’t surfaced, but could quickly see she’d been having a meltdown and understood this was needed before she could pick herself back up.

  Lacey pushed herself up and moved to the edge of the bed. She forced away the tendrils of fear which were still hanging on to her for grim death and taking a deep breath, stood up. She’d take a shower and then go and see what to do next.

  This time would be different.

  “JASON, I’M TELLING YOU it was horribly embarrassing,” Linda continued, her voice grating like nails down a blackboard.

  Jason Miller had desperately tried to feign interest for ages as his wife described the ‘interesting’ things going on in everyone else’s lives in great detail. He hated she assumed he actually wanted to know what her and her mind-numbingly boring friends talked about on their daily lunch dates.

  He could feel his eyes beginning to droop and attempted to concentrate on a tuft of Linda’s left eyebrow which had, without her knowledge, broken free of the weird glue-like substance she slapped on her face every day in the never-ending pursuit of eternal youth. He knew he was zoning out, but was powerless to stop himself. He also knew it was only a matter of time before she noticed.

  Jason realised Linda had suddenly stopped talking and try as he might, had no idea what she’d said for at least the last ten minutes. Judging by the expression in her eyes she’d already worked this out for herself.

  “You’re not even listening are you?” she squawked.

  “Sorry,” Jason muttered. “I was just thinking about something.” Not that he’d be able to tell her that a member of his staff had been disfigured on his premises and he had no idea who had done it, or why. Well, he had his suspicions. Seth bloody Wright. Seth wanted the Limelight – it was obvious and the twat was too stupid to realised he’d been rumbled.

  One thing was for sure and that was this needed to be handled carefully. He had to keep Seth on side until he’d got proof. Make him believe he hadn’t been sussed.

  “Surely nothing can be more important that this? Especially when it involves people you’re involved with?” Linda snapped. “I’m appalled you’re associated with people that like. It will ruin my reputation Jason.”

  “Whoa! Hang on a minute!” Jason said his attention now on his wife. “What on earth are you talking about?” God, he could do without this. What now? Had Sandra McBride’s nails caught in the door or something equally earth-shattering?

  “I can see you’re rolling your eyes at me,” Linda sniped, studying him.

  Jason sighed, aware he probably was and tried to look like he cared.

  “You need to be more aware of what’s going on around you Jason. These sort of things might not bother you, but they damn well bother me!”

  Jason placed his drink down on the table as calmly as he could. “Are you going to enlighten me or what?”

  “I already did, but you weren’t listening like I suspected,” Linda snapped, making a big show of reaching under the restaurant table for her handbag in the pretence she would leave him to sit there on his own. Not that she ever went through with it. She just liked making him think she would.

  “Come on Linda,” Jason said sweetly, grabbing her hand. “I’m sorry. I’ve got a few staff issues in the club at the moment. Now tell me what’s upset you.”

  Placated with his apology, Linda replaced her handbag and leaned forward. “Jane Wright’s had an abortion...”

  “An abortion?” Jason cried in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

  “Keep your voice down!” Linda hissed. “I’ve had it on good authority. Although it’s only a matter of time before it becomes common knowledge, we don’t want the press asking for our opinion about it before we have to do we?” She slugged at her white wine, looking pained. “I didn’t even know she was pregnant. It’s not right. Who’d get rid of their own child? It’s disgusting.”

  “But...” Jason tried to speak, but Linda was on a roll.

  “I’ve heard the press are running a story in tomorrow’s papers. Sandra told me out of courtesy. Her daughter’s husband works for that paper and he told her. They’ve got photos and everything.”

  Jason frowned. “And when was this supposed to have happened? This abortion?”

  “Just over a week ago apparently. Like I said, they’ve got photos.”

  “Photos?”

  “Yes. I saw them. It’s definitely her. Someone was in a clinic the other side of town – you know that posh one? I can’t say who, but they took the photos there. Jane’s waiting to go in to have it done. You can see that from her expression. You should see her face – she looks very worried.”

  Jason couldn’t help himself and started laughing.

  “What on earth’s funny about any of this? It’s not funny! Three of the ladies today asked me how I felt being associated with someone who would do that. The press will want my opinion and...”

  “Not that it’s any of your or your friends’ business as to who chooses to have an abortion or why, as far as I know Jane’s not even pregnant,” Jason said slowly. “And you won’t be giving the press your comment on anything!”

  “Wh.. How do you kn...”

  “Whether she has or hasn’t, it’s not up to you to have an opinion,” Jason interrupted. He rolled his eyes. Did people really have nothing better to do that make this sort of shit up?

  Linda’s eyebrows knitted together accusingly. “It’s been hinted it wasn’t even Seth’s...”

  Jason paled. Was this to do with whoever was trying to stir trouble with those flowers or was it part of Seth’s set up? That would mean it would be pi
nned on him next. Holy shit.

  “And why did you see her last night? I thought you were at the club?” Linda snapped jealously.

  “It was at the club. She popped in...” Jason said dismissively. There was no way he’d tell Linda why Jane had come to see him. She was jealous enough as it was and always had been. Linda was ten years older than him and had been forever paranoid he’d go off with a woman more of his own age. Especially a stunningly beautiful one. Like Jane...

  “I bet you were pleased about that!” Linda sniped, determined to have a dig.

  “So what was the other thing you were worried about?” he asked, trying to deflect her from the subject of Jane. Christ, if she found out about this business with the flowers and the affair accusations he didn’t think she’d ever let him live it down.

  “Jason, you need to stop associating with Seth Wright if this sort of stuff is going around...” Linda said mysteriously, enjoying toying with the information.

  “Oh for God’s sake Linda!” Jason snapped. He really wasn’t in the mood for this today.

  “It’s hardly surprising she wanted rid of a baby if she’s been having an affair. She clearly doesn’t know who the father is.”

  “Linda!” Jason cried. “Be careful with what you’re fucking saying.”

  “As should you!” Linda hissed through gritted teeth. “If it’s true, then your name and mine will be mud by association.”

  Jason stared at her in disbelief for several more seconds. He hadn’t heard anything so ridiculous. Sniffing in contempt, he picked up his glass from the table and quickly downed what remained of his drink. Raising his hand, he summoned the waiter for their bill.

  “What are you doing?” Linda asked. She’d quite fancied a piece of that nice-looking chocolate cake and Jason had said he’d be free all afternoon, so why was he asking for the bill?