The Downfall Series Box Set

by Edie Baylis

  Jason Miller had insisted on staying at Jane’s house during Seth’s absence and had been working around the clock to try to locate Digger and Eliza, but to no avail. Time was running out – both with getting Toby back safely off the record, but also with getting their hands on their treacherous ex-friends before the police did.

  Jane stubbed her cigarette out in the ashtray and glanced at the clock. Seth should be back any time now. She’d kept in good contact with the brief and had known before Seth had that there was something in the police evidence that didn’t add up.

  Although Seth’s DNA had matched the hair found on Lacey’s body and the body had been found in the vicinity of one of his lock-ups, it didn’t match the DNA of the semen found in Lacey’s body.

  It had been confirmed by the hostel Lacey was living at that she had not worked as a prostitute since arriving several months ago, but also confirmed that she had no boyfriend.

  The brief had also managed to get the information from the police that the semen matched someone else on their database, of whom they were trying to trace now. They were not at liberty to release the name of this person, but Jane suspected it must be Digger or Aiden Barber.

  Christ, what had happened to Digger to turn him into the monster he’d become?

  Seth wasn’t off the hook entirely. They needed to run a lot more forensic tests to determine whether there were any other traces of his DNA on Lacey’s body or at the scene, but the situation was a thousand times more palatable than it had been this time two days ago.

  Hearing a car draw up outside and the clamouring from the groups of gathered reporters, Jane’s heart leapt, realising it signified Seth’s return. Now they needed to get on the trail of Eliza and Digger.

  Jane’s eyes narrowed. When they found them she’d kill them both with her bare hands.

  “IT APPEARS WE’VE MANAGED to get in just in the nick of time,” Carl Mulligan said, glad he’d finally got hold of Seth.

  “What’s the situation now?” Seth muttered. His head felt like it would burst with everything that was going on. He’d barely been able to catch a breath since being released, but that didn’t matter. There was too much to do to worry about that.

  “Luckily you gave me the power to act on your behalf and I was able to request the information in your absence the moment the warrant was granted,” Mulligan continued. “The adoption’s due to commence in a few days.”

  “A few days?” Seth cried, glancing at Jane who loitered next to him, desperate to find out the updates. “What do I need to do?”

  “Nothing,” Mulligan said. “I’ve already done it. I’ve lodged a counter-claim against the final adoption hearing.”

  “What does that mean?” Seth barked. “Is it sorted or what?”

  “It had been made known to the court and Social Services that the biological parents have contested the adoption.”

  “So it’s finished? Thank fuck for that! When can we get Grace?” Seth asked impatiently.

  “It’s not quite that simple... What happens now is the adoption process will be put on hold whilst it’s investigated.”

  “So it could still go through?” Seth raged, astounded.

  “I’m not saying that. They have to be informed you’re contesting it being as it has got this far down the line without you stepping forward. You’ll then need to prove you’re who you say you are and all the business we discussed before will have to be gone through.” Mulligan sighed.

  He’d known Seth wouldn’t like that. “There has to be reasonable grounds why you don’t want your daughter adopted after being off the scene from the start. You need to prove you’re in an acceptable position to have legal custody granted.”

  “What, so we’ve still got to prove ourselves?” Seth asked. “What about all this latest shit?”

  “Hmm,” Mulligan mused. “It doesn’t help. You need to hope all the charges are dropped. And dropped, not because of lack of evidence, but from a ‘mistake’. Whatever happens do nothing further to flag up the authorities.”

  Seth frowned. He knew what Mulligan was saying between the lines. Don’t go after the people who have done this. How the hell could he not go after Eliza and Digger for what they’d done?

  He raked his fingers through his hair agitatedly. He’d have to ensure nothing pointed back to them. “I don’t suppose you can give me the names of the people who’re trying to adopt my daughter?” Come on. That would make everything so much easier.

  “You know they won’t release that, Mr Wright,” Mulligan sighed. “We’ve already discussed it several times.”

  Seth nodded. “Yeah, I know. Just hoping.”

  The truth was, he supposed even if Mulligan had the information it would take a crowbar in his gob to get him to pass it over, so it was back to the drawing board. They needed to shift on this. Fast.

  “YOU’RE NOT GOING TO believe this!” Eliza screamed. “They’ve only gone and fucking managed it!” She picked up the telephone from the desk and launched it angrily against the wall.

  Digger eyed the smashed handset and the dent in the recently painted wall and scowled. “What are you talking about?” he snapped. He wasn’t in the mood for Eliza’s histrionics this morning.

  Eliza swung around, her large bust following after a slight delay. “What I mean is they’ve somehow found out about our adoption and have contested it.”

  “Who has?”

  “Are you thick or something?” Eliza sneered, a trail of spittle spraying from her mouth as she spoke. “Who do you think? Seth and Jane of course!”

  Digger was astounded. “What? How did that happen? Seth’s banged up.”

  “That’s what I thought too. I need to find out what’s going on,” Eliza snapped, picking up the phone from the floor realising she’d rendered it unusable.

  Sulkily throwing it down, she stomped over to the cabinet and retrieving another phone, hastily plugged it into the wall port.

  “Whoa! How are you going to do that without raising suspicions?” Digger asked. Sometimes Eliza just didn’t think. “Do they know it’s us that put in to adopt?” If that was the case they were in serious shit.

  Eliza stalked back to the desk. “I doubt it. The social worker said our names and whereabouts couldn’t be released by law. Now go away will you? I need to try and find out what’s going on about Seth’s charges.”

  Digger stared out of the window, trying to make sense of it. Needing to find out about Seth’s charges was an understatement wasn’t it? Sod the adoption thing. If Seth had for some unfathomable reason got out, then that could only mean one thing. Someone else was in the frame because there was good enough evidence. No one had a brief that good who could get them out without an extremely compelling argument.

  And it that was the case, how long was it before the police knocked on their door? Steve Lomond had assured him he’d never been pulled for anything which required giving an DNA sample, so it couldn’t be him, so who did that leave? Apart from him and Eliza...

  Silent fingers of fear slowly gripped around Digger’s lungs. He didn’t like the sound of this and wondered if they should seriously contemplate how long to give it before they made plans to disappear?

  “I CAN’T STAY LONG,” Selena said to the man hastily ushering her towards the sitting room where the infamous Seth and Jane Wright were waiting.

  She felt like she was in some kind of weird dream. Nothing seemed real. Five times she’d been out to get supplies for the baby and none of those had been the right one to cut loose and make a dash to see the Wrights.

  This afternoon was different. Eliza and Digger were only what could be described as distracted. Being as she’d shown she could be trusted to go out to get stuff for the kid and return without question there was no suspicion.

  Retrieving the well-concealed CCTV tape from under her bed, she’d casually said, after making sure she’d hidden the three-quarters of the last packet, she was popping out for more nappies.

  Even though she w
as convinced Eliza and Digger could hear her thundering heart or see the CCTV shining a fluorescent beam through her handbag, she’d walked from Elipse unquestioned.

  Selena had known she would be gone longer than usual, but had tried to cut that down by flagging a taxi the moment she’d reached the main road. She hoped the money Eliza had given her would cover the fare to the area she needed to get to. She’d worry about replacing the money and buying the nappies later.

  There had always been the additional chance the Wrights may not have been in but she’d had to risk it. She wouldn’t have another chance like that for some time.

  Selena hadn’t even known the Wright’s actual address, but once in the general vicinity she’d only had to wander around for five minutes before she’d learnt which house was theirs. She’d wasted no time in telling the man on security what her visit was concerning, but even then she’d been surprised at the speed in which she’d been whisked up the driveway and into the house.

  Selena eyed the couple sat opposite her in the large sitting room, their stares fixed directly on her. They were both extremely intimidating.

  “No time for formalities girl. What do you know?” Seth asked abruptly, his hard green eyes drilling into Selena’s.

  “I used to work with Lacey,” Selena said. No going back. “And I know who murdered her...”

  Jane sat forward, her whole body angled like a predator about to pounce. “Talk,” she said quietly, leaving no doubt over the question of authority in her voice.

  “Steve Lomond,” Selena said quickly before she changed her mind about the whole thing.

  Seth frowned. “Who?” He knew most names around here but hadn’t heard that one crop up before in any of their circles.

  “He’s a disgusting bastard!” Selena spat. “He works as the manager and gets free reign of all the girls. He’s a complete toe-rag and everyone hates him. He’s well known for getting off on hurting us.”

  Seth felt his fists clenching. He eyed the young girl in front of him. She looked no more than fifteen. “How old are you?” he asked, almost scared to hear the answer.

  “Sixteen,” Selena answered. “They like me because I look younger.”

  Seth felt sick. “Who are they?” He needed the information as to who was running this sick place.

  Jane watched Selena and could see she was faltering with giving up the information. “Listen, I know you’re nervous, but you’ve done well to come and see us. I can’t stress how important it is that you tell us everything. Lacey was too scared to speak out and look at what happened to her. You need to help us stop these people.” That and get our children back.

  “I know and I shall,” Selena wiped her sweaty palms down her jeans and took a deep breath. “The place is called Elipse.”

  “Elipse?” Seth hadn’t heard of it. Why had he not heard of any of this? “And who runs it?”

  “A couple called Eliza and Digger. Well, I guess that’s not his real name and I don’t know their surnames.” Selena looked worriedly at Jane, hoping that was an acceptable answer. She watched as Seth and Jane exchanged glances. “You know them?”

  “We know of them, yes,” Seth snarled. He knew it. The pair of treacherous bastards. How he was going to enjoy finishing them both. “And where is Elipse?”

  “Here.” Selena pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her jeans pocket and handed it to Seth. “The address is on there.”

  Seth snatched the piece of paper and studied the hastily scrawled writing. Right over the other side of town in a crummy area? Raising his eyebrows, he passed the address to Jane.

  “How do you know Lomond killed Lacey?” Seth questioned scrutinising Selena’s body language.

  “After she ran away to you, they got her back,” Selena hung her head. “I helped - in as much as I located where she was working.” She cleared her throat. “They got her back, but Lomond couldn’t wait. She was his favourite you see and there were ru...”

  “So it was rumoured this Lomond prick killed her?” Seth barked. If all this was based on rumours it wouldn’t be much good.

  “No, I know he killed her!” Selena opened her handbag and fished out a tape. “Lomond couldn’t wait to fuck her even though he’d bust her jaw an...”

  “The bastard!” Jane cried, bile rising in her throat and anger poured through her veins. That poor girl.

  Seth gently touched Jane’s arm. “Let her finish Jane,” he said quietly.

  “The night Lacey got brought back, we were told a room was out of bounds. I didn’t see Lomond kill her, but I overheard them talking. Eliza and Lomond were arguing about it.” Selena cleared her throat. “I got up that night for a drink, you see and saw them moving a body wrapped in sheets from the room Lomond and Lacey had been in. They were taking it to the basement.”

  Seth stared at the tape in Selena’s hand. “And what’s on that?”

  Selena glanced at the tape and passed it to Seth. “That’s the CCTV footage of that night. I stole it.”

  “And it’s on there?” Jane asked, astounded.

  Selena shook her head. “Not the murder, but them moving the body is yes.”

  Seth smiled. “You’ve done really well, Selena. Thank you. Are you happy to talk to the police?”

  Selena’s eyes went wide. “The police? I thought...”

  “I didn’t mean now. At some point – regarding Lomond. I reckon he’ll have a worse time going to jail as a nonce than giving him the easier way out by death at my hands... Eliza and Digger however will be dealt with by us.” His eyes narrowed. “I’m assuming this conversation will remain between us?”

  Selena nodded her head frantically. Like she’d ever speak out against them. They were the good ones. They would remove the bastards and she’d do whatever she could to ensure that happened.

  “If you’d prefer when this tape is handed to the police it can be done anonymously so you never have to be involved? Either way there’ll be no come back on you.”

  Selena breathed a sigh of relief. “I’d much prefer it to be anonymous if you don’t mind?”

  Jane smiled. “No problem. That’s all settled then.”

  Seth glanced at Jane and then back to Selena. “There’s just a couple more things we need to know...”

  Selena didn’t need to wait to hear the question. “I know what you’re going to ask. Yes, they have your son. That’s where I’m supposed to be right now – buying nappies.”

  Jane felt tears fill her eyes. “I-Is he ok?”

  Selena nodded. “He’s fine. Tina’s looking after him.”

  Jane grimaced in horror. “Tina? That junky? Anna’s sister! She’s looking after him?”

  “He’s absolutely fine Mrs Wright, honestly. He’s being well looked after.” There was no doubt about that. The way Tina was caring for the kid had surprised them all.

  “Have you seen another child?” Seth needed to know this too. “A girl? About six?”

  Selena’s eyebrows knitted together. “I saw a kid once a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know who it was, but rumour has it they’re adopting her. Can’t imagine why – they do nothing but shout at the poor kid.”

  Jane’s teeth clenched in rage. The thought of Grace being yelled at by Digger and Eliza in a fucking brothel made her blood boil. Her sadness quickly morphed into rage.

  Sensing Jane’s erratic emotions, Seth knew he needed to bring this to a close. “Thank you Selena. You’ve been more than helpful. Martin will drop you back where you need to get to and we’ll be in touch.”

  Seth got to his feet and walked over to an antique cabinet. Pulling open one of the drawers, he retrieved a mobile phone and charger. “Take this,” he said, handing the phone to Selena.

  “I want you to call me when Eliza and Digger leave for the night. The number to reach me is programmed into this phone. I also need you to fix it so Steve Lomond is otherwise engaged. I need this done as soon as possible and we’ll be on standby.”

  He fixed his steely gaze on the girl. �
�Don’t use this phone for anything other than to receive or make calls to me, unless I tell you otherwise.”

  Selena gingerly got to her feet and took the phone and charger from Seth’s hand, aware that whether she liked it or not she was now entwined in all of this.

  “Remember, not a word eh?” Seth reminded Selena, the glint in his eye that he meant business, clear to see.

  Nodding quickly, Selena hastily followed the large man who was to drop her off out into the hallway.

  FIFTY THREE

  “WHO’S THAT FROM?” DIGGER asked, watching Eliza rip open an envelope and scan the contents of the letter whilst she took a bite from her toast.

  Eliza glared at Digger angrily. “It’s from Social Services. We need to attend an appointment to discuss where we go from here in light of the adoption being contested.”

  “What does that mean?” Digger asked, even though he wasn’t interested. This adoption had seemed like a good idea at the time but it had caused so much extra hassle. Although it would have been the ultimate way to piss the Wrights off, there were several other major issues in play at the moment which he felt needed preference.

  Eliza rolled her eyes at Digger’s obvious lack of knowledge. “It means if we don’t turn up to discuss why the biological parents have appeared out of the woodwork and that we want to fight it in court, then the Wrights automatically win the right to go to court to get legal custody.”

  “Oh for God’s sake, Eliza! How can we possibly fight this?” Digger sighed. “You know as well as I do the minute they find out it’s us then all hell will break loose!”

  “But we’ve come this far,” Eliza whined. “I won’t give it up now. I want that kid!”

  Digger bit back a snotty retort he was itching to voice. Eliza was conveniently blind to the fact that things weren’t going well. He had an extremely strong feeling something was brewing and was close to exploding in their faces and he felt they needed to take that seriously and put things in motion before it was too late.