by Edie Baylis
Eliza frowned. Even she wouldn’t stoop that low – although it would solve the immediate issue... “That’s not going to help is it? I’ll get one of the girls to look after it.” She screwed her nose up. “It’s quite an opportune moment for that to happen to be honest. I think it needs its nappy changing.”
She scowled at Tina. “Make yourself useful, you dumb bitch. Go downstairs and see if any of them are straight enough to cope with looking after a kid for a few hours whilst I work out what to do.”
Quickly scrambling to her feet, Tina avoided Eliza’s eyes and left the room. She’d royally fucked up, but whatever her faults were, she couldn’t see a baby get hurt. That Aiden was a head case for doing this, as was her sister.
“And what have you done with that dickhead?” Eliza spat.
Digger knew full well Eliza was referring to Aiden. He couldn’t quite believe he’d had quite such a spectacular meltdown. “I gave him a bit of a slap to calm him down,” he said. “At the present moment in time he’s chained up in Room Six whilst the rest of his anger drains out of him.”
“I want him gone!” Eliza yelled. “Today, Digger.”
Digger nodded. He couldn’t argue with that. So much for his assurances that Aiden could be trusted. Jesus Christ. He’d lost the plot and was no use to them any longer. He had to go and the sooner the better. The way he was behaving he couldn’t be trusted by anyone’s standards. He was a Grade A liability. He’d have to kill him.
Eliza fixed her gaze on Digger, reading his mind. “You can’t offload him. You’ve got to promise me you won’t, however much you want to.” They couldn’t risk any more heat brought to their doorstep. Not with being on the cusp of getting the Wright’s beloved daughter next week.
She hadn’t got this far to lose everything at the last hurdle. No way! They’d got away with everything else by the looks of it – bunging an extra risk on top just wasn’t worth it.
Digger frowned. “Hang on a minute. Are you mad? What happens if he feels the need to discuss what he knows?”
“Make sure he doesn’t. Aiden’s lost it. Lost it big time. I doubt whether he’s even capable of reading from a fucking kids book, let alone cope with having a serious conversation with anyone that could plausibly cause us a problem.” She shook her head. “Dump him back in his old life and put the fear of God into him. It’s the least riskiest option. That way it doesn’t give any more leads to trail anything untoward back to us.”
She smiled. “After all this stuff’s wrapped up with the girl next week then if you want to offload him, do it - I couldn’t care less, but not before.” Her eyes narrowed. “As for the baby – we’ll take care of him for now and once we’ve got custody of the girl, we’ll go down the blackmail route.”
Digger nodded in acceptance, hoping Eliza’s theory would work. “At least Aiden’s given us an additional option.”
“Oh yeah, great! He’s done real well...” Eliza quipped sarcastically. “Still, that’s how it is and this is what has to happen now. Promise me?”
Digger sighed. “Yep, ok I promise you. And don’t worry. I’ll make sure he gets the message loud and clear.”
“Shall I send Selena down the shop to buy some nappies and stuff?” Tina said, gingerly sticking her head around the office door.
“You what?” Eliza screeched. “You know none of the girls are allowed out! You really are stupid aren’t you?” Christ! Did they not have enough problems?
“All the girls are blotto apart from Selena. I was going to take Toby off your hands and then get Selena to get the nappies so he can be changed. Otherwise you’ll have to keep him with you whilst I go to the shops.”
Eliza glanced down at the grizzling child and caught another whiff of the steadily increasing pong emanating from him. “Oh, just take the kid and send Selena out for the stuff!”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a five pound note. “Here! And tell her I want the fucking change!” Let them get on with it. She couldn’t deal with it anymore. She had too much on her plate.
Quickly taking the money, Tina nodded and lifted Toby from Eliza’s arms. “Come on sweetheart. Let’s get you sorted out shall we?”
Eliza watched Tina play mother to the little brat and gratefully breathed in a lungful of non-sewage scented air. That was the reason she’d never wanted kids - non-stop hassle and the constant smell of shit.
When Tina closed the door, Eliza turned to Digger irritably. “Now hurry up and get rid of that fucking liability back where he belongs. You go with them too Steve,” she barked. She needed to be on her own.
“PLEASE MAKE THIS QUICK,” Maggie snapped as Jennie perched uncomfortably on the edge of the sofa, aware for some reason today was obviously not the best day to be paying house calls.
She tried not to stare at the sumptuous furnishings of the room, aware it would be extremely rude, but nevertheless she found it impossible to ignore the multitude of beautiful things.
“Thank you Maggie,” Jane cut in. She was only trying to help, but it was making things harder than they were already. It was plain to see the girl in front of them was nervous. “So Jennie,” she smiled. “What is it that you need to tell me?”
“I-I’m not after money or anything,” Jennie said quickly, watching Maggie roll her eyes, obviously presuming the only reason she was here was because of that. “No really, I don’t. I came around before, but chickened out. Maybe if I hadn’t perhaps I could have stopped Lacey from being...”
Jennie’s face crumpled as the sad truth that her friend was dead crashed into her mind once again. She quickly pulled herself together. Now was not the time to appear pathetic. “Sorry. I’m sorry.” She frantically wiped at her cheeks.
“That’s ok,” Jane said kindly. “Don’t worry. But if you know something, you must tell us. It might be more important than you realise.”
Jane was desperately trying to stop her impatience from overtaking her and was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate. All she could think of was Toby and whether he was ok. The prospect of what could be happening kept flashing into her mind with vivid and disturbing clarity, which was difficult to ignore.
“I met Lacey at Pegasus Place,” Jennie began.
“Pegasus Place?” Jane asked. “What’s that?”
“It’s a hostel for young women. No men allowed!” Jennie managed a weak smile. “We got on really well from the start. I’ve never really had a proper friend before and...” Realising she was rambling, Jennie reined herself in. “I got Lacey a job at a bookshop - she liked it there. Anyway, we didn’t talk much about our past but...”
“What did Lacey tell you?” Jane pushed. She didn’t have time for this girl’s life story.
“Not a lot. She said she’d been forced into prostitution and that was about it.”
Jane nodded. “Did she say where?”
Jennie frowned. “No. No she didn’t. She said nothing apart from that.”
“So what happened?”
“She didn’t come back from work one night. We’d fallen out and I was angry with her, but...” Jennie choked back another sob. “I felt like it was all my fault because of what happened and what I said to the other girls. I thought she’d run away.”
Jane frowned. “Why did you fall out?”
Jennie’s face crumpled. “That’s just it. I was awful! I believed this other girl and I should have believed Lacey. I know now she was telling the truth.”
When Jane said nothing, Jennie continued. “A girl started talking to me in a café when I was having a drink before work – I work in the evenings as a cleaner,” she explained. “The girl showed me a picture of Lacey. Said she was her cousin’s friend and that she’d run away. Made out she’d come from a posh family and would lose her scholarship at Sacred Hearts if she didn’t return home in time.”
“Sacred Hearts? That’s the private college isn’t it?” Maggie asked.
“I can tell you now that absolutely none of that is true,” Jane said bluntly.
/> Jennie stared at her chewed fingernails. “I know, but I believed it at the time. I thought she’d lied about her background and I accused her of being a fake and a liar. I-I told all the other girls and they all turned their backs on her. It’s all my fault!” She began openly sobbing.
“It’s not your fault Jennie, but what made you realise she was telling the truth?” Jane asked, passing the girl a tissue.
Jennie wiped her eyes. “I saw the girl from the café again. The one who’d asked the questions about Lacey. She was with some other girls and they were going down an alley. The alley where that dodgy quack deals with all the prostitutes.”
Jane raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t heard of this dodgy doctor, but didn’t doubt there was one. “And that’s when you realised Lacey had been telling the truth?”
Jennie nodded. “Yes. That girl must have been one of the prostitutes who’d worked with Lacey.”
Jane’s hackles rose. “And you’re sure she didn’t mention who she worked for?”
Jennie shook her head firmly. “I’m sure. She was tight-lipped about the whole thing. I think that’s why it was easy to believe she’d been making it up.”
“I don’t suppose there was a man with this group of girls was there?” Jane asked. “Young – in his twenties, tall, blond hair?”
“No. No one like that,” Jennie said, then remembered the huge man she’d seen who had given her the creeps. “I did see a man but he didn’t look like that.”
Jane moved to the edge of the sofa. “What did he look like?”
Jennie frowned. “Difficult to describe. Big. Tall. Scary-looking. They were all quite far away.”
Jane felt deflated. That description could match a thousand and one people in their circles. “Oh well. Never mind. Did she mention anyone called Aiden at all?” she pressed. Surely Lacey must have mentioned him?
“Sorry, no she didn’t,” Jennie said sadly. “I’d remember if she had.”
“And no one else?”
“No. I’m sorry.” Jennie put her head in her hands. “Oh I knew I’d be no use!”
“Don’t think like that. What you’ve said is useful,” Jane said kindly. Well it was. Just not clear cut unfortunately.
“The only other thing was one night when we’d had a few pints, she started rambling,” Jennie smiled, remembering that night with fondness. God she’d felt rough the next day!
“What was said?”
“Oh nothing of any use. It was mainly gibberish. We were both quite drunk. It’s the only time she really mentioned the prostitution thing and she was banging on about hating digging! I never worked it out!” Jennie laughed.
Jane laughed, then her face fell. “What do you mean ‘digging’?”
“I have no idea. She was talking rubbish. We were both a few sheets to the wind!”
“Digging...” Jane frowned, a tiny spark igniting in the back of her mind. She glanced at Maggie. It couldn’t be could it? Digging? DIGGER?
FORTY NINE
SETH COULD BARELY KEEP himself from twitching with nervous anticipation as he sat in the van with Jason Miller. The minute he’d received the call from Miller to say he’d got Barber’s address, he’d been off like a shot. Leaving Martin watching the house where he’d left Jane with Maggie, he’d raced to the Limelight.
Once Seth had arrived, Jason had broken the news he’d already paid the address a visit, but there had been no answer and he believed Barber may have already done a flit.
Giving his trust back to his instinct, Seth had pushed that they should revisit. His gut was telling him Barber hadn’t yet done a runner and that he’d be there. Miller had thought this was a waste of time and instead, they needed to scout the list of locations he’d collected the last time he’d been trying to reach Aiden Barber, but Seth had held his ground.
Seth glanced out of the van window. Even if Barber wasn’t there, which he felt in his bones he would be, then they could at least gain access to see if any clues had been left as to his, or Toby’s whereabouts.
Seth raked his fingers through his thick hair. He’d got Dan with him and Miller had Tom in the back. Between them they’d be able to locate this wanker surely?
Seth glanced at Dan irritably. “Get a move on will you?” he hissed through clenched teeth. He needed to stop this. He needed to stop all of it.
AIDEN HAD PULLED HIMSELF together sufficiently enough to act. He needed to do something rapidly otherwise his chance to get any money was ruined. He couldn’t quite believe the moment his brain had chosen to have a belated meltdown was at the vital point where he’d held the leverage in his own arms. Now the kid was in the control of Eliza and Digger, meaning they could reap the rewards of any blackmail and claim what he’d worked for without putting in any effort. Again.
He knew his bridges were well and truly burnt whichever way he looked at it. He had no choice now. He wouldn’t be welcome back at Elipse and would never be party to any advancement which he’d worked so hard for. It was surely also only a matter of time before Seth Wright caught up with him.
Whilst he’d still had possession of the fucking kid, he had a bargaining chip, but now he no longer had that there was nothing.
Quickly pushing himself up from his bed and out of his stupor, he bent down to retrieve a holdall. Yanking open a drawer, he grabbed a handful of underwear, along with other various items of clothing and shoved them haphazardly into the bag. Where was his passport? Where the fuck was the bloody passport?
Blindly he upturned anything which could possibly be housing the important document. Fuck. Where was it? Quickly. Think, think, THINK!
Aiden glanced at his watch. He had to clear this place and fast. Dropping to his knees, he pushed the striped rug to one side and gripped at the raised edge of the loose floorboard. Systematically prising it in the way that ensured easy leverage, he lifted the specific board and delved his hand into the exposed hole, retrieving a shoebox.
Grabbing the wads of notes he’d accumulated over the many drug deals he’d had with the girls at Eclipse, he calculated at a rough estimate he’d got around twenty grand. Not an immense amount, but certainly enough to warrant his passage out of here and to find somewhere to start again where no fucker could find him.
But first he needed to locate his bloody passport.
Frantically Aiden tipped out the contents of the rest of his drawers, mindlessly swiping through the mess in the hope of spotting it, but still found nothing.
Oh it was no use. He couldn’t spend any more time on this. He had to go.
He’d got enough cash to get another fake passport put together anyhow and could sort that out the minute he found a base to settle for a few days.
With no time to spare, Aiden hastily crammed the over-spilling items down in his holdall enough to close the zip. He lurched towards the door, just as it was kicked open in his face.
SHELL-SHOCKED WOULD BE the only way Jane could describe how she felt. She stared at Maggie, hoping that by some miracle she’d have an epiphany and suggest something that would make all of this alright.
“Is it even feasible?” Maggie asked. She’d been gobsmacked after Jennie had left and Jane had suggested perhaps Digger and Eliza were somehow behind all this. This was based on the reference Jennie had referred to. Personally, Maggie thought Jane was clutching at straws.
“I really don’t know.” Jane got up and walked to the cabinet where she poured two glasses of vodka. Passing one to Maggie, she sat back on the sofa and raised the drink to her mouth with shaking hands.
The minute Jennie had left, she’d phoned both the Glint and the Limelight to get hold of Seth, but he’d already left. She had no choice now but to let him go off with Miller for what they needed to do and wait until he got back.
Jane didn’t know what to think. Her brain felt like it had been fried. Until now it hadn’t crossed her mind that Digger and Eliza could be behind this. They hadn’t even fathomed in any list of possible contenders. Maybe that was where the pro
blem had lay all along.
Too much concentration and emphasis had been placed on every other possible scenario and perpetrator that none of them had considered this a possibility. Why would they have? Wasn’t that done and dusted? At least that’s what they’d believed.
Maggie frowned. “Don’t you think it’s a bit unlikely? No one’s heard of them for years! Surely if they were back on the scene, wouldn’t Seth have heard about it?”
Jane sank her teeth into her bottom lip, finding the pain slightly relieved the crushing confusion and stress. “It depends what they’re doing. Just because they weren’t on the scene here doesn’t mean they haven’t been working on things elsewhere.”
“But surely they wouldn’t be so stupid to pull something like this off? Not after what Seth and Phil did to Digger? Wasn’t the proviso that they wouldn’t be further harmed, providing they stayed away?”
Jane nodded. “It was, but I think we’ve all underestimated their hatred for us. Seth should have kept tabs on them for longer.”
“But they did it all to themselves!” Maggie reasoned.
Jane scowled. “I know that, but was Eliza ever logical? She’s also a lot cleverer that you think.”
“But Digger was obsessed with you. Why would he want to hurt you?”
“He was quite happy to see me locked up and my daughter taken off me rather than being honest, remember?” Jane spat. “Whatever the reasoning, it’s still a possibility as far as I’m concerned.”
Everyone had been so hell bent on blaming each other and presuming it was a vendetta to do with the club for so long, it hadn’t crossed anyone’s mind that it could be personal.
She was trying to contain the rising panic that if her wild theory was correct, then Digger and Eliza had her son and were adopting her daughter.
“And you think they’re behind this prostitute thing too? With the young girls?” Maggie cried. “They wouldn’t! They couldn’t do that!”
“I think Eliza would do anything if she stood to benefit. Have you forgotten she sold herself to that foul rapist, Carter?”