The Downfall Series Box Set

by Edie Baylis

  For God’s sake. Lomond couldn’t help himself could he the stupid, STUPID bastard.

  Eliza felt her blood pressure surging at an alarming rate. “Are you going to explain what the fuck you were thinking of or what?” she screamed, making everyone else jump out of their skins in the previous silence of the room.

  Steve Lomond glared at Eliza. “Just one of those things,” he muttered dismissively. “It’ll resolve itself.” Not that he would admit it, but he was gutted. He’d been looking forward to having that tasty bit of skirt to himself for the foreseeable future.

  “One of those things?” Eliza screeched. “You fucking kill a girl because you can’t control yourself, you moronic bastard and it’s one of those things?”

  Lomond hefted himself up from the chair angrily. “Now wait a minute you plastic bitch, you...”

  “FOR GOD’S SAKE!” Digger roared. “I’ve had enough of this! Are you going to bitch and moan all fucking night? It’s irrelevant how, why or who. We have a problem. A big one and we need to work out what the hell we’re going to do about it.”

  He ground his cigarette out in the ashtray. “I don’t know about you two, but I don’t fancy going down for a long stretch over this!”

  Eliza, shocked into silence, stared at Digger. He was right. She still wanted to rip Lomond’s dick off for putting her in this position, but it would have to wait.

  She glanced at him evilly for several seconds before turning away. Leaning back in her chair, she folded her arms across her chest to make out she felt in control of the situation. Realistically it would have been better described that she felt up to her neck in quicksand. Quicksand that was gradually sucking her under...

  “Ok - the situation as you know is dire. We have the body of a young girl concealed in our cellar, which will be discovered sooner rather than later from the fucking smell alone!” Eliza inspected her fingernails, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “The other point to note is that it’s quite obvious death was from strangulation and...” Eliza didn’t even attempt to hide the smile that crept across her face when she turned towards Lomond. “...anything on her body will belong to you.” If anyone was going down for this it would be him.

  Eliza’s bravado was fake. She knew if any investigation got near it would only be a matter of time before the past came to light – including the kidnap. She felt sweat creeping along the back of her neck as the finality of their situation sank in. Being tugged for this would totally blow their adoption to the moon and back.

  “I’m not taking the rap for this!” Lomond boomed. “If you’d delivered when you should have then I wouldn’t have been forced to take matter into my own hands.”

  Digger’s mouth set into a hard line as a glimmer of an idea began to form in his mind. Maybe there was a way that none of them would be held accountable which would be the icing on the cake.

  “I suggest you determine the location of one of Wright’s lock-ups Lomond. He’s bound to still have some,” Digger grinned. “We’ll dump the fucking tart’s body at one of those and then none of us need to worry.”

  THIRTY SIX

  SETH HAD RECEIVED A call from Dan twenty minutes ago to say he’d got hold of Alan Barber and they’d be at the Glint shortly.

  Leaning back in his chair, he cracked his knuckles and frowned. He’d been hoping to get to this Alan bloke long before now, but two long days had passed before the opportunity had arisen. After all it wasn’t like he could expect any help from Jason Miller.

  He wanted to be at home. He always wanted to be with Jane and Toby, but the need to be close to them today was all consuming. He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but this morning he’d received another letter.

  Seth pulled the crumpled piece of paper from his trouser pocket and hesitated slightly before opening it. The contents had made him feel ill enough the first time around.

  We realise your concentration is slipping because you’re on edge, but it will be some comfort to know your daughter will be very happy with us.

  Also, being as your au pair is clearly too upset about her Mother to properly look after your son, it leaves the way nicely open doesn’t it?

  Your entire family will soon be ours and you are done.

  Fighting the urge to shred the letter into tiny pieces, Seth shoved it back in his pocket. There was no arguing with that. This was the first mention of his daughter and he had no clue whether whoever this was, had her or whether these words were purely to instil utter fear, but it had certainly achieved that.

  Whoever was sending these letters knew things that weren’t public knowledge. Very few people knew about their daughter and no one, as far as he was aware - apart from the police, knew what had befallen Anna’s mother.

  So was the writer connected to the perpetrator, or was it the killer?

  Seth racked his brain for who knew about Grace. There was close friends, Mulligan and Miller – and of course whoever was impersonating Mulligan...

  His body thrummed with dread. There was no mistaking the warning. This was no veiled threat. It was blatant. They were coming for his son and when he found out who was behind this he would rip them to shreds – very slowly and very painfully.

  ALAN BARBER COULDN’T help but feel unnerved. He risked a sideways glance at the man driving the car.

  The minute someone had stepped from the shadows when Alan had got out of his car for the second shift of the day, he’d known something was afoot.

  The man who’d introduced himself as Dan, had been polite, although firm in his request and Alan had immediately realised there was little point attempting to resist a request to meet with Seth Wright. To do so would have invariably brought him trouble. Well – more than what he found himself in at this present moment in time.

  He shifted slightly in the car seat, not having the faintest clue what they could want with him. He wasn’t privy to anything which could be of interest to the likes of Seth Wright.

  He was aware things went on at the clubs. Name a club where it didn’t? But he wasn’t party to inside information and neither did he want to be. He kept his nose out of that side of things and that was the way he liked it.

  However, he was tuned in to the atmosphere at the club that had changed considerably over the last couple of months. Only being blind and deaf would have escaped that.

  There had been high levels of suspicion even between his colleagues ever since Billie-Jo’s attack. No one liked to think it was one of their own who could have done it, but it had to have been one of them. Either that or a psycho stranger had been wandering around invisibly amongst them all. He wasn’t sure which was worse.

  This knowledge had upset the general equilibrium. Gone were the good-natured chats, jokes and associating out of hours. Instead everyone eyed each other with ill-concealed distrust and it was horrible. It had become so uncomfortable Alan had even begun to think of leaving.

  When Miller had publicly pulled the club’s association with Seth Wright and the Glint, it had opened up even more speculation. Rumours had been circulating for a while about the Wrights, but since all that business in the paper and then Miller taking a step back, it had only put more fuel on the fire. There must have been substance to the hearsay and rumours.

  Alan stuck his finger into the neck of his collar, hoping to loosen it. It was feeling exceptionally tight. If word got out he’d been seen at the Glint, then he too would become a target for finger pointing.

  “Here we are!” Dan said, as the car came to a sudden and abrupt halt outside the side entrance of the Glint.

  Alan swallowed nervously. He hadn’t noticed how quickly they’d crossed town. Taking a deep breath, he reluctantly got out of the car.

  JENNIE WEARILY TRUDGED down the road and glanced at her watch. She’d still got half a mile to go before she reached Hadley’s for her evening shift and would be late if she wasn’t careful.

  As much as she didn’t like to admit it, she’d really missed Lacey’s company since they�
��d fallen out. It had been strange not having the easy camaraderie that she’d experienced with the girl from day one.

  Jennie had been thinking about making things up with her and thought perhaps she’d been too hasty jumping to conclusions, or at least not giving the girl a chance to explain. That was until Lacey had done a runner.

  Two days ago she’d gone to work and hadn’t come back. Sylvia had opened her room, but none of her belongings were missing. Not even a toothbrush or a change of clothes. Alarm bells had begun to ring.

  Sylvia had been less concerned. “Jennie, don’t worry. You say you two had a falling out? I’m not going to ask what it was about and it doesn’t really matter, but I will say I had noticed that as well as from you, Lacey was getting blanked by all the other girls too...”

  Jennie had hung her head guiltily. It was true she’d made sure the other girls had been informed of Lacey’s lies. Was this all her fault?

  Sylvia had put her hand on Jennie’s shoulder. “Listen, it’s extremely unlikely anything dreadful has happened. I’ve been doing this a long time and lots of girls who haven’t had the best start in life find when something – even something relatively small – causes problems, they go off the deep end.” She smiled kindly. “They return after a day or so after a bit of time out.”

  Jennie hadn’t been convinced and it must have showed on her face.

  “When she returns I suggest you make up your differences. You obviously care a lot about her and so therefore whatever caused you to fall out can’t be that important can it?”

  Jennie had slowly nodded her head, acknowledging that Sylvia had been right.

  “Good!” Sylvia had exclaimed. “If Lacey hasn’t returned by tomorrow night, then I’ll think about phoning the police to report her missing, but I can only repeat I’ve never known a girl not to return.”

  What Sylvia had said had put Jennie’s mind at ease to a certain extent, but not completely. There was still something which hadn’t seemed right.

  She continued miserably down the road, scornfully watching a large car pull up at the side of the road outside THAT alley. Word had it there was a place down there with a dodgy quack who dealt with prostitutes – sorting out their contraception, STI checks and abortions. Rumour said his fee was freebies from the girls. Her nose wrinkled up in distaste. Bloody men. All out for one thing...

  A man got out of the car who resembled a monster. From this distance he resembled the epitome of a psycho in the films. She watched six girls pile out the back of the large saloon who were then shepherded down the alley. Her blood ran cold when her eyes fell onto the final girl in the group. It was THAT girl - the one from the café.

  Remaining motionless, Jennie squinted against the late-afternoon sun as the girls disappeared from view. A horrible sinking feeling enveloped her. Lacey hadn’t been lying about a thing. She hadn’t done a runner. Something bad had happened. She was sure of it.

  Deciding going to work was nowhere near as important as updating Sylvia with what she’d discovered, Jennie turned on her heels and ran as fast as she could back to Pegasus Place.

  THIRTY SEVEN

  JANE SIGHED AS, WITH some effort she pushed herself up from the armchair and irritably put her notebook down on the coffee table. She’d only just got Toby off to sleep and had used this rare spare time to jot down some ideas she’d had about the Glint.

  She was losing her patience with Anna. There was something niggling at the back of her mind about the girl. Despite a great start, things were going off track. She couldn’t afford to have someone around that was showing signs of being untrustworthy.

  Jane moved towards the door. For a start, why the hell was she paying Anna all this money if she wasn’t around when she needed her. Like to answer the door or look after Toby?

  Jane glanced at the front door, an unfamiliar pang of nervousness washing over her. It was late, so who would be knocking at this time? Unwilling to admit that the threats and weird business had unnerved her more than she cared to acknowledge, Jane reprimanded herself. Martin or Barry were watching the house again, so anything untoward would have been taken care of.

  Jane yanked open the door, finding Martin standing on the doorstep, his hand firmly on the shoulder of a unkempt woman.

  “Sorry to disturb you Mrs Wright,” Martin said. “This ‘lady’ has asked to speak with Anna.”

  “Anna?” Jane couldn’t hide the incredulity from her voice as her eyes ran over the woman’s lank greasy hair and sunken eyes. She always prided herself on not being judgemental, but she’d failed miserably in this instance. What on earth did this woman want with Anna?

  “I’m really sorry to bother you. I didn’t know what else to do. I’ve got no other means of contacting Anna,” Tina said, trying her best to put on a voice which hid the traces of the heroin she’d smoked earlier.

  Jane raised an eyebrow. “Could I ask what you want to speak to Anna about? She’s working.”

  Tina watched Jane as she spoke. The stuck up bitch, standing here all snotty-like, the jumped up cow. Quickly remembering herself, Tina applied the look of a desperately sad person to her drug-ravaged face. “Anna’s my sister, Mrs Wright,” she said, enjoying the look of shock briefly washing over Jane Wright’s face. How she’d love to smash her fist into that perfectly pretty mug.

  Quickly dragging her composure together, Jane opened the door wide. “Please, come in.” She glanced at Martin frowning questioningly from behind and nodded her approval. She could hardly turn the woman away.

  “Sit, down, erm... I didn’t catch your name?” Jane said, whilst Martin followed them into the house.

  “Tina. I’m Tina,” the woman said, sitting down in her grubby tracksuit.

  “Ok Tina, I’ll go and get Anna,” Jane said, walking from the room. Tina? Didn’t Lacey tell Seth the woman who’d groomed her was called Tina? Her hackles began to rise and suspicion welled.

  ALAN HADN’T KNOWN WHAT to expect when he’d followed Dan to Seth Wright’s office on the top floor of the Glint. He still didn’t understand why his presence was required.

  All that had happened since taking a seat was to be intensely scrutinised in silence by Seth’s infamous green stare. And it was utterly unnerving.

  Although Alan had seen the man on countless occasions, he’d never seen him close up before and Seth Wright had never ever uttered a word to him, or even glanced in his direction before, so why would he bother to acknowledge him now? There was no reason – he was a mere grunt.

  Even Jason Miller barely knew his name and he’d worked for him for years. Now for some reason he’d fallen onto the radar of Seth Wright and that was definitely not on his ‘to do’ list.

  Without making it obvious, Alan had stolen a few surreptitious glances at Seth. The man emitted an intense persona without even speaking. His physical strength was clear due to his build and his heavily-muscled forearms - on show courtesy of his rolled-up sleeves, but the mental force was suffocating. The vibe and magnetism radiating from him was something Alan didn’t think he’d ever experienced.

  Seth frowned and his dark eyebrows knitted together in concentration. He half-recognised this guy... “Have we spoken before Alan?” he asked, resting his forearms lightly on the paperwork littering the top of his desk.

  “N-No Sir,” Alan stuttered, momentarily flummoxed when the silence was unexpectedly broken. “I don’t think so. I-I mean, I’ve seen you on many occasions, but never had the pleasure of speaking with you.” Christ, he was grovelling and simpering like a twat.

  Seth nodded dismissively, recognition still jangling somewhere in the recesses of his mind. “A social occasion perhaps?”

  Alan frowned, doubting very much that he would have ever been invited to a gathering hosted by Seth and Jane Wright or any of the people who would have them on their esteemed guest list. Unless...

  “Actually there may have been one event – Linda Miller’s birthday? Mr Miller invited all of his long-serving staff,” Alan gibbered, tr
ying to justify why the likes of him had been invited.

  Seth rubbed his fingers lightly over his beard without moving his gaze from Alan. That may have been it, therefore this guy could be a feasibility. “So, I take it you know my son’s au pair?”

  “Your son’s au pair?” Alan spluttered. “N-No. I don’t th...”

  “You met at Miller’s party? Is that how you know her?” Seth interrupted once more.

  Alan was unsure how to answer. It hadn’t escaped his notice Seth’s tone of voice had taken on a definitive snarl. “I-I’ve never met her Sir. I-I mean I’ve seen photographs in the paper, but I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting her personally.” Was that the right thing to say?

  “Are you sure about that Alan?” Seth hissed, leaning forward and watching the man visibly shrink before his very eyes.

  Alan swallowed nervously. “I-I’m sure. I’ve never spoken with or met your au pair.” He had no idea what this woman had got to do with anything, but was damned if he was going to ask.

  Seth scrutinised Alan’s nervous body language. From instinct he felt the guy was telling the truth, but he fitted the description of who Anna had been seen with. And of course Martin had put forward his name as a possibility....

  “Ok, let’s try this...” Seth smiled. A smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Do you know who has met my au pair if you haven’t? Either that night or since.”

  Alan didn’t know where to look. He didn’t want to look into Seth’s eyes in case he got turned into stone, but neither did he want to not look at him because that came over like he’d got something to hide. Oh God. This was awful. He didn’t have a clue who Seth Wright’s au pair had met! Why would he?

  Seth rose from his chair and casually pulled open the middle drawer in his filing cabinet, ensuring Alan Barber got a good view of the hand guns he kept there for occasions such as these, as well as the camera, which he pulled out flamboyantly.