The Downfall Series Box Set

by Edie Baylis

  Maggie grimaced. She hadn’t forgotten anything. She was just horrified this could be even plausible.

  “All I know is if they’re responsible for this, then they’re dead...” Jane muttered. She knocked the contents of her drink down in one. “Either way we don’t know where they are and that’s the bit which scares me.”

  She put her head in her hands, feeling panic threatening to engulf her. “I need to find out where they are. Christ, if only I’d kept hold of Anna. Her boyfriend must be working for Eliza and Digger!”

  Maggie’s mouth formed into a perfect ‘O’ as the implication sank in. “So everything’s been pre-determined and set up from the start?”

  Jane nodded. “I think so yes. Jesus Christ, Maggie, what the fuck am I going to do?”

  Maggie stared at Jane despondently. She had no idea. No idea at all.

  “I need to find Seth. If he’s located Anna’s boyfriend, then he’ll have tortured the whereabouts as to who he’s working for and where they’re based out of him.”

  Maggie seemed less than convinced but didn’t want to voice this. Jane’s hope very much depended on whether Seth had lost his temper before or after he’d extracted the information. “Or we find Anna in the meantime?”

  Jane’s eyes narrowed. “Oh believe me, I’ll be catching up with her the first chance I get.” There was no way she’d be letting what that little bitch had done go on any level.

  AIDEN SQUINTED WHEN strip lights came into focus above him as he lay on a concrete floor. He attempted to reach out, but his hands were tightly secured behind his back. He tried to clear his head from its foggy confusion, dimly aware the last thing he recalled was being about to leave his flat.

  Suddenly a shape loomed over him.

  “Back with us are you?” Seth said, squatting down on his haunches. “Start talking...”

  Aiden suppressed a giggle. So Seth Wright had caught up with him had he? Not that he was surprised. It was ok. He knew he was finished, but he’d still get the last one over on this cunt. They wouldn’t get any information out of him. Never.

  “Cat got your tongue?” Seth yelled, booting Aiden squarely in the ribs.

  Despite the searing pain, Aiden refused to let it show on his face. He wouldn’t give the wanker the satisfaction. It was the only way he could piss Seth Wright off now and he was determined to use the ever-present simmering rage about what this tosspot had done to Alan to fuel it and keep it burning.

  Seth sensed he’d have problems with this one the moment he’d seen the trace of a smile appear across his face when he’d regained consciousness. Most normal people would have been confused and frightened, but Aiden Barber wasn’t. He’d seemed to relish what was going to happen to him.

  He frowned. It was worrying, but it certainly wouldn’t impede him getting the required information from the bastard.

  Seth studied the man lying on the floor. The likeness to his brother was uncanny. The only difference, apart from the tattoo of the swallow on his neck, was the determination and defiance evident in this brother’s eyes.

  Seth grinned. No matter. He’d play his game for a while being as it seemed to float his boat. The only thing he had to ensure was that he didn’t allow this prick to make him to lose his temper, otherwise it would all be over and he’d be getting no information.

  Seth felt secure over this because Jason and Dan had assured him they’d pull him from his rage should he happen to slip into it. That way he could remain focused.

  However, the lack of response he was getting from the man who had made his life a misery for the last few months was grating. “Barber, you’d best start talking. For a start, tell me where my son is,” Seth snarled, his teeth clenching.

  A sly grin spread across Aiden’s face. “What makes you think that’s anything to do with me?”

  “Oh, let’s see... Perhaps because you took him? Perhaps because you’ve been identified so many times I’ve lost count? Perhaps because you’ve been fucking around for months? You’ve been in my house, screwed my au pair, been threatening my wife,” Seth’s voice was rising dangerously. “You’ve slashed up a barmaid and, oh yes, you’re involved with some sort of pervy prostitution ring!”

  Aiden laughed. It hadn’t taken long for the great Seth Wright to start losing his rag. This would be fun. “Right! Well what a well-organised firm you must have! For me to be ID’d so many times and yet I’ve been still allowed to get away with it all. For so long as well? Yeah, you must be real good,” he smirked. “You must be over the fucking moon about your combined ability?”

  Seth’s face twisted into a snarl as he slammed his fist into Aiden’s face. It was taking all of his power not to pummel the cunt into the concrete. “Think you’re fucking funny do you? Think you’re clever? Tell me where my son is!”

  Aiden spat a front tooth out onto the floor and glanced at it dismissively. “Tell me why I should? So you can get him back?” He laughed loudly. “I don’t think so... I hope your son dies slowly and I hope you suffer immeasurably as a result you bastard! You killed my fucking brother, so you will pay!”

  Seeing red, Seth laid into Aiden with his fists, each punch connecting with a stomach-churning crack. “You piece of shit,” he seethed.

  Watching Aiden Barber’s face rapidly turning into pulp, but still managing to display the obnoxious smirk, Jason Miller hastily grabbed Seth’s arms. “Remember Seth, we expected this. Don’t rise to it,” he hissed quietly. “Just cool it.”

  “Oh yeah,” Aiden mumbled, the broken mess of his mouth making it difficult to speak coherently. “You need to be kept in line don’t you? Especially what with you going round killing young girls because you fucked them behind your wife’s back.”

  Seth’s face contorted into a manic grimace as he lurched towards Aiden once more, knowing he was referring to Lacey Garner. He was all but admitting he was behind that too.

  “Hear this, Seth Wright,” Aiden continued. He’d do anything in his power to ensure he finished this bloke’s mental state once and for all. This man killed his brother. “You’ll go down for that murder Mr Wright. Oh yes you will and your son can be sold on without any hindrance. Likewise with the adoption. As we speak, your daughter’s being primed to be the star attraction for men who like little girls. I bet even you’d be tempted if you saw her. Very attractive piece she is. We all know you like them young.”

  Red mist descended like a curtain in Seth’s mind. He was selling his son and planning on prostituting his six-year old daughter? He’d KILL him, the fucking wanker! “Where the fuck are my children?” he screamed, knowing he was about to blow and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop himself.

  Aiden laughed heartily once more. There was time to get a couple more in perhaps? “I’ll never tell you that! I want you to fucking suffer!”

  “You FREAK!” Seth screamed, throwing himself on top of Aiden Barber.

  Before any of the others had even chance to react, Seth had whipped out a screwdriver and slammed it hard into Aiden’s ear. It was all over in seconds. Over far too quickly.

  Pulling the dripping screwdriver out from the man’s brain, Seth continued frenziedly stabbing him countless times over Aiden’s face, chest and stomach.

  By the time he’d been wrestled off the corpse by the other men, they all knew there was nothing to say and that their chance of getting any information had gone - along with the ability to locate either of Seth’s children.

  FIFTY

  JANE LOOKED BETWEEN Seth, Jason and Dan in undisguised panic. “You must have got the location from that bastard already, so why are you still standing here?” she screamed. “Get around to wherever he said Eliza and Digger are based and get Toby!”

  Quickly recounting what Jennie had said, Jane quickly realised that by the blind rage on Seth’s face he also thought it was feasible, but something was wrong. She got the distinct feeling what she’d said was new information judging by the way the men kept glancing at each other.

&nbs
p; “Just because you didn’t get their names, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t even matter if I’m wrong and it’s not them! Just get yourselves round to wherever that bastard said he worked.”

  Jason cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Things didn’t quite work out as we’d hoped...”

  Desolation sank deep in the pit of Jane’s stomach and her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me he’d done a flit before you got there? He can’t have – you’ve been too long!”

  Jason Miller glanced at Seth. Let him tell his wife the news. He didn’t want to be the one to break it.

  Seth stepped towards Jane. “He was there Jane, but the things he was saying... He wouldn’t talk and I lost it...” He knew she was going to go berserk. He hadn’t meant to lose his rag, but the bastard wasn’t talking. Yes, he could have tortured him for ever, but it wouldn’t have done any good. When he’d said Grace would be used as a child prostitute... That he, her own father, would have a go... That was what had done it.

  “You what?” Jane screeched, hardly able to believe what she’d heard. She jumped her feet with her fists clenched tightly. “You stupid, stupid bastard!” Pummelling her fists against Seth’s chest, she felt the rage, pure unadulterated panic and despair merge into one.

  Jason stepped forward. “It’s unfortunate, but I was there and Barber wouldn’t talk.”

  Jane swung towards Jason, her eyes flashing. “Why didn’t you stop him? You said you’d control him! Why the fuck didn’t you stop him?” she raged.

  “No one could have stopped me Jane,” Seth said quietly. “You didn’t hear what he said.”

  “I don’t give a shit what he said! Finding out who he works for was far more important than your fucking ego!”

  “Well if your theory’s right, we now know who that is,” Jason said, hoping to bring the situation down.

  “Yes, but not where they are!” Jane spat. Pushing herself away from Seth she slumped down onto the sofa and angrily pushed her hair off her face. “So now what?”

  “Find Anna,” Maggie murmured, cringing when everyone turned to look at her. “She can’t have gone too far. She must still be around somewhere.”

  Seth looked at Jason and then Dan. “Let’s get on it.”

  The men were walking down the hallway when the front door was smashed down. Officers dressed in riot gear stormed into the house. “POLICE!”

  Barely two seconds passed before Seth was surrounded and taken to the floor. Despite his fierce protests and struggles, he was no match for twelve men.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Seth yelled as he was handcuffed, then dragged him to his feet. “I haven’t got time for this!”

  “Seth Wright, I’m arresting you on the suspicion of the murder and rape of Lacey Garner. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?”

  There were several seconds of stunned silence before anyone moved or spoke.

  “What? Seth?” Jane said, her face paler than pale.

  Seth looked at Jane pleadingly. “I haven’t done this Jane. It’s a set up.”

  Jane nodded. They’d been half-expecting this, but murder and rape? Jesus Christ! “This is ridiculous! He hasn’t done this,” she spat.

  “That as maybe Mrs Wright, but your husband’s DNA has been matched with hair found on the body,” an officer stated clearly.

  Seth paled. How the fuck could his hair be on the body? He hadn’t been near the girl. He hadn’t murdered her and certainly hadn’t raped her.

  Jason Miller stepped forward. “Surely there must have been some mistake?”

  “Aside from the DNA, it was hardly a secret there were rumours about Mr Wright’s affair with a younger girl,” an officer declared smugly.

  “You’ve got to be joking! Your defence is some shite that was printed in the local rag?” Seth raged.

  “Well, DNA is another matter,” the officer replied. “You can argue your case in court, Sir. Now you need to accompany us to the station.”

  “But you can’t take him!” Jane cried. How the hell could this be happening? Now of all times?

  “I’m afraid we have to Mrs Wright,” the officer said, dragging a resisting Seth towards the door.

  “Go with them Seth,” Jason said. “We’ll get this sorted. I’ll call the lawyer. Don’t worry about things here. I’m on it, ok?”

  Jane slowly sank to the floor in shock whilst Seth was escorted from the house.

  “YOU NEED TO CALM YOURSELF down,” Jason Miller said sternly and placed his hands on Jane’s shoulders to try and stop her from pacing around the sitting room. He glanced at Maggie pleadingly for support. “The lawyer’s on the way to the station as we speak. You heard me on the phone. We’ll get this sorted.”

  “Jason’s right, Jane. Seth will be fine. The lawyer will deal with it. We all know Seth hasn’t done this. He’ll be out before you know it,” Maggie said, watching Jane’s eyes dart frantically around the room in panic.

  “So you say, but they’ve got evidence on him, so what about that?” Jane cried. “They reckon they’ve got hair and have matched it with records on the database.” There could be no mistake with that and Lacey had been raped? Had they evidence of that too?

  As much as she didn’t want to admit it, the thought crossed her mind as to whether there could be any grains of truth in it before she just as quickly dismissed it. Whatever Seth was, she knew he’d never in a million years do something like that.

  Jason and Maggie were right. She needed to pull herself together. She wasn’t helping anyone like this. She wasn’t helping Seth and she certainly wasn’t helping Grace or Toby. The kids were the priority.

  Taking a deep breath, Jane looked squarely at Jason. “I suggest we find Anna.”

  Jason frowned. “I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t know the first thing about the girl, so I wouldn’t know where to start. Do you have any idea where she could have gone? She wasn’t at Aiden Barber’s place.”

  Jane concentrated hard. In a way it was doing her good to channel her speeding mind on something other than what could be befalling her children at the hands of Eliza and Digger.

  “She’s unlikely to have gone to her sister’s,” Jane muttered. “They didn’t get on as far as I know and they had a huge falling out after the mother died. On top of that, the sister – Tina whatever her name is, is also involved from what I’ve managed to piece together.”

  Jason whistled loudly. “They sure as hell had this all worked out didn’t they?”

  “Is there any chance the girl could have gone to her mother’s?” Dan asked. He’d been keeping a low profile since he’d got here. He’d sat to one side letting everyone vent what they needed to. He’d never been much good in situations such as these. “I mean, I know you said the mother’s dead, but if it was recent, then the house could still be empty and not sold.”

  Jane pursed her lips. “You might have something there Dan.”

  Jason Miller nodded. “I agree. It’s worth checking out. What’s the address?”

  “I’ve no idea. I don’t know whether I ever had it,” Jane said despondently. Every time it felt like she was getting somewhere, she hit a dead end. Panic resurfaced. She’d lost her kids and now Seth was gone too...

  “The electoral role?” Maggie suggested quickly, seeing Jane’s clarity wavering.

  “Ah wait,” Jane cried. “Anna’s job application form! She may have entered her mother as her next of kin, which means the address should be there. I’ll go and look.”

  Jane raced from the room up to the study to locate the paperwork.

  STEVE LOMOND SCOWLED watching Tina smile at the infant in her arms and tried not to stare at her saggy boobs visible through her dirty vest top.

  Despite his reluctance to look at Tina’s chest, his eyes insisted on involuntarily moving back there out of morbid curiosity, purely
because they were so hideous. God, she made him feel sick, the junkie whore - sitting there playing Mary-Bloody-Poppins.

  This last few weeks had completely done his head in. Everything had gone wrong and he wasn’t enjoying himself much these days. Since that unfortunate incident with Lacey, things had taken a nose dive.

  As well as not having his favourite girl on tap any longer, everything else had slid south too – including Tina’s tits, he thought bitchily.

  Even though he was reluctant to, he had to acknowledge this general decline had stemmed partly because of him. It had never been his plan to bump Lacey off. Why would he have wanted to do that? She’d been the one thing he’d really enjoyed about this dump and now that was gone.

  He’d thought it had been bad enough that she’d gone AWOL in the first place, but to then get her back, only for her to cark it was the ultimate piss-take. In fact if he didn’t know better, he’d have said she’d done it on purpose just to spite him.

  Even Digger and Eliza had treated him like an irritating stubborn stain since then. It had been so much more preferable when he’d had leverage. They’d been eating out of his hand and doing everything he’d asked, but not any longer.

  Still there wasn’t much he could do about it now. He’d have to put up with it and hope things got better once all this disruption had settled down. Either that or make the decision to move on. Lomond sighed loudly. At least no one was suspicious of him being linked to the girl, so that was one thing.

  Against his will his eyes moved of their own accord back to Tina’s low-cut top. Christ, she really was a horror...

  “What are you looking at?” Tina snapped, glaring at Lomond. She was happy keeping the little boy entertained and giving him his bottle. Well, she would have been if that revolting fat pervert opposite wasn’t staring at her like a piece of meat. Fucking sicko. He made her skin crawl.

  “I’m certainly not looking at you!” Lomond growled, even more annoyed that Tina presumed he was looking at her in that way. In her bloody dreams!