‘But when you left, Kate was alive and kicking?’
‘And vocal with it. Embarrassing, really. Lord alone know what she was on though she said she hadn’t taken anything. Maybe she hadn’t, but she was half off her rocker, if you ask me, screeching about how she was going to get Jake to come back and fetch her which, from what I’d seen, was about as likely as me winning the lottery. Frankly, I wanted out. It was getting late and chilly. The party was over. People were drifting away, making arrangements to go in one another’s cars, that sort of thing. So we left.’
‘Who did? You and Wilf, Big Scotty and Jess?’
‘Nah. I said. Jess stayed. She said she was going to borrow some jeans from the bedroom for Wilf so he didn’t get pneumonia, and she’d see him home and then find her own way back. She’s done it before. So we left her there.’ She shifted in her seat. ‘I wish we hadn’t, now.’
‘But the party was still going on?’
‘Maybe four or five people. Six, max. We could hear them, see them through the windows. The music was still blaring out, though Clay told us earlier that the police had been round asking for it to be turned down. When we left we didn’t go back into the house but walked round the side to the road at the front. We couldn’t use Wilf’s car. We left it there. He fetched it the following afternoon when he’d recovered somewhat. We hadn’t enough money to get everyone home to their own places but we phoned for a cab, which took us to Wilf’s digs, where he passed out on the floor, but we checked his partner was up and willing to look after him. Then I took the night bus out to Perivale and Big Scotty walked back to Acton ’cos we was out of cash by that time. And, well, that was it.’
‘So you left Jess there? With Kate.’
A nod. ‘Jess was fussing over Clay. We’ve told her before, she’s got too much maternal instinct, and she laughs, but there it is: she’s a sucker for a lad with spaniel eyes, know what I mean?’
They knew what she meant.
Ellie said, ‘I’m confused. Angelica says there was a fight, which is why Clay gave her his stash. But you didn’t see anything like that?’
Gina shook her head.
‘Can we ask Jess what happened after you left?’
Gina put a sparkly mobile phone on the table. ‘Now there’s a thing. Jess and I, we’d half planned to meet up at my place, yesterday, Sunday, and have a takeaway. She didn’t come and there was no reply when I rang her. I thought she’d be at work today and we’d have a laugh over what happened at the party, with Clay in the pond and all, but she never turned up. The boss was mad. I did text her, asked her what was up, ’cos it’s difficult being short-handed and she’s a mean barista, she really is.’
Gina turned her phone on, looked at messages and shook her head. ‘Still nothing. I mean, she used to have these migraines but not so much lately, and if she’s ill she always tells me so I can cover for her. We’ve been friends for ever. Real friends. Not pretend. I was thinking maybe I’d go over to her place later this evening, and then Raff said he’d like me to meet you, Mrs Quicke, so here I am, and he’s promised to drop me over to Jess’s later.’
Ellie heard a noise in the hall and went to see what was happening. There was Madam Angelica, with two suitcases and a shoulder bag, trying to open the front door.
‘Are you leaving us, Angelica?’
Angelica jumped, not having heard Ellie approach. ‘I’m not staying where I’m not wanted. I’ll send for the rest of my things.’ As Angelica opened the door, Ellie caught sight of a taxi in the driveway. And then the door closed.
Rafael came up behind Ellie. ‘Did you lend her any money, Mrs Quicke?’
‘No. How is she going to pay for the taxi and, come to think of it, how did she call one if you’ve got her mobile? And where is she intending to go?’
‘Where’s your handbag?’
Ellie looked around. She’d left it on the shelf, hadn’t she? Yes, there it was. Gaping open. Her purse was open, too. Emptied of notes and coins.
Ellie felt very much like crying. ‘She’s cleaned me out!’
Rafael put an arm around her. She relished the warmth and the support he was offering. It was almost as good as having Thomas there to rely on. Especially since she didn’t think Rafael was accustomed to showing affection that way.
Rafael said, ‘Did she take your credit cards as well?’
Ellie investigated. ‘Yes, she has. But she won’t be able to use them without the pin number.’
Rafael had long ago taken Ellie’s measure. ‘You wrote the numbers down somewhere, in case you forgot?’
‘Well, actually, yes. But only as telephone numbers in the address section of my diary. My diary’s still here, thank goodness.’
‘You’d better report the cards stolen. Even if she can’t use them herself, she can sell them on to someone who can clone them or break your code.’
Ellie scrabbled in her bag again. To her great relief, she found that Angelica hadn’t taken her bunch of keys. ‘My husband uses a security firm who offer to cancel everything after one phone call to them. They gave us these tags to put on our key rings so that if we lose them somewhere the finder can put them into the nearest post box and they come winging back to us. It’s brilliant. Once, when we were on holiday, Thomas lost his keys and didn’t even know it, and when we got back home his keys were sitting in the mail box here, waiting for him.’
‘But,’ said Rafael, ‘Angelica still has a key to this house?’
‘Yes,’ said Ellie, dialling the security firm, ‘but I can shoot the bolts top and bottom to stop her getting back in. I don’t really want to have to change the locks.’
‘Nevertheless, Mrs Quicke,’ said Susan, who had followed them into the hall, ‘it would be safer to do so.’
Long-legged Gina also appeared, to tap Rafael on his arm. ‘If you’re ready, I really ought to be going. I’m dead worried about Jess.’
Rafael looked at his watch. ‘Try her again. Give me a minute to sort something.’
Gina went back to her phone, texting away at a rate of knots.
Ellie reported her loss to the security firm, who assured her they were on it. She put the phone down and hesitated.
Rafael interrupted another of his soft-voiced phone calls to prompt her. ‘You are going to report this to the police?’
‘I suppose. I can’t think why I’m so reluctant to do so. Is it because I feel such a fool for taking her in? I mean, I left my handbag here in the hall where anyone could pick it up. Well, I suppose I can stand a spot of ribbing. I was foolish to trust her. You’re right. I must report it. I think you dial one-oh-one for non-urgent calls to the police.’
As she did so, she noticed Susan climb the stairs and disappear down the corridor. By the time Ellie had finished her call, Susan had returned.
‘Angelica’s taken her make-up and a lot of her clothes. Shall I check she didn’t find the stuff she bought this morning? You asked me to put it in Thomas’s room at the end of the corridor. And she heard us arrange that, didn’t she?’
Susan almost ran down the corridor, opened the door into the library and gave a little scream.
Ellie closed her eyes. ‘She took all the stuff she bought this morning?’
Susan returned, looking hot and bothered. ‘I’ll kill her. She’s pulled most of her new clothes out of the bags and left such a mess.’
Gina had been trying to get her friend on her phone, without success. ‘Look, I’m sorry to bother you but I’m really worried about Jess. Can we go now?’
Rafael took his phone from his ear. ‘In a minute, Gina. Mrs Quicke, can you think where Angelica has gone?’
‘I can’t think straight. Perhaps to Timmy Lee, or to anyone else who can be fooled by a pretty face?’
‘She’s left a lot of unanswered questions. Susan, will you stay with Mrs Quicke while I take Gina on to Jess’s place?’
Gina, her phone to her ear, gave a little cry. ‘She’s picked up! At last! Jess, are you all right? I’ve been
so worried about you … What? What was that?’ She listened, biting her lip. ‘But, Jess …! No, I do understand why you’re upset. But surely, if you explain to the police …? Oh. No, I see that … but what are you going to do? And where are you now?’ Gina listened, her eyes on Ellie and now on Rafael. She said to Jess, ‘Hold on a mo.’
Gina took her phone from her ear to say, ‘That stupid git Clay has really dumped her in it. He’s disappeared and his boss is going mental, trying to find him. He went round to Jess’s place and wrecked it, telling her to produce him and she can’t. She’s sitting in the ladies’ loo at Ealing Broadway station, scared to leave.’
Ellie said, ‘Tell her to go to the police.’
Gina shook her head. ‘He knows where her parents and little sister live. She says he’ll do them a damage if she doesn’t produce Clay, and she doesn’t know, she really doesn’t!’
Rafael said, ‘I don’t like the sound of that. You remember what he did to that family in Southall, in the corner shop? The son was pushing drugs but didn’t hand over the proceeds one day, and then … ugh! Blood everywhere. The last I heard, the mother’s still in hospital and no one will give evidence against Milos.’
Ellie said, ‘We have to do something. Tell Jess to get into a taxi outside the station and come here.’
Silence while three pairs of eyes checked that Ellie knew what she was doing.
Rafael said, ‘If he finds out that you are harbouring Jess …?’
Ellie shook her head. ‘He knows the police are coming round to interview me some time today or tomorrow. He won’t risk it.’
‘Brave words, Mrs Quicke,’ said Rafael, ‘but he only has to wait till they’ve been and gone and then he can move in on you. Remember, he’s no respecter of women.’
Ellie felt a pang of fear but stiffened her backbone. ‘All the more reason to stand up to him. He can’t be allowed to go around hurting other people. That’s wrong.’
‘Yes,’ said Gina, ‘but who’s going to stand up to him? I can’t.’
‘I can,’ said Ellie. ‘Tell your friend Jess to come here and we’ll see what we can do. After all, Milos won’t touch us until after the police leave, so we’ve got twenty-four hours. Right?’
‘Hold on,’ said Rafael, back on his own phone.
Gina was also back on her phone. ‘Take a taxi from outside the station. If you haven’t enough money, I’ll pay when you get here. The address?’ And she looked to Ellie with a question in her eyes.
‘Hold on!’ said Rafael.
Ellie gave the address.
Susan had been quiet all this while, but now said, ‘Mrs Quicke, I think you’re right about standing up to bullies, but Rafael’s also right and this lot are trouble. When is Thomas due back? He ought to be told what’s happening.’
‘I’ll tell him right away.’ Ellie sat down and dialled Thomas’s mobile number … which went to voicemail. Which meant he’d switched off. Which meant there was trouble at his end. Which meant he couldn’t be summoned back to help them.
Rafael pocketed his phone. He leaned back against the wall, folded his arms and closed his eyes. ‘I’ve survived to be twenty-eight years of age because I don’t take risks. I distance myself from the really bad boys. I respect their territory and they leave me alone. What have I done to deserve this?’
Susan laughed, a soft sound of pure amusement.
He opened his eyes and glared at her. ‘You can laugh!’
She said, ‘Your bad-boy image is slipping, Rafael. You’ve finally come down off the fence and joined the great majority. Welcome to the real world.’
Rafael said, ‘How about if I make a run for it? Disown the lot of you. Pretend I was never here. Because I am not, repeat not, the type to help old ladies over the road.’
‘No,’ said Susan, ‘you’re a pussy cat pretending to be a tiger.’
Rafael blushed to his hairline. ‘You’re thinking of someone else.’
Susan patted him on the arm. ‘You may have studied me but I’ve also studied you. You put on this cynical air to hide a soft heart, and you have been known to charge minimum interest in cases of real hardship. Mind you, your reputation with women is probably well deserved but we won’t talk about that, will we?’
Ellie said, ‘I think I can hear Jess’s taxi. Can anyone lend me some money to pay for it?’
Rafael said, ‘You stay indoors, Mrs Quicke. I’ll pay and bring the girl in.’
Which he did.
Jess was almost as stunning as Gina, but very white-skinned, with long black hair, green eyes and nasty bruises on her jaw and her wrists. She was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans and boots, all rather the worse for wear. She hobbled into the house, in evident pain.
Gina flew to her friend’s side. ‘He beat you up?’
‘Arnica?’ said Ellie. ‘And hot, sweet tea.’
‘Hospital?’ queried Susan.
‘No hospital,’ said Jess, subsiding with a wince on to the hall chair. ‘Nothing’s broken. He’s too clever for that. And no police. He said not, and I’m not risking it. Painkillers and tea sounds wonderful. He took every penny I had. While he was going through my purse I ran out of the flat without thinking about keys and such. Now I daren’t go back.’
Ellie said, ‘If you can manage to walk down to the kitchen, we’ll get you comfortable and then you can tell us all about it.’
Gina helped her friend to stand. With an arm thrown across her shoulder, Gina got Jess into the kitchen and sat her down on the big old chair at the end of the long table. Susan made and distributed tea and aspirins.
Ellie found the arnica and applied it. She also folded some ice cubes into a clean tea towel and gave it to Jess to hold against her bruised face.
Rafael walked about, talking into his phone in a low voice.
‘Now, Jess,’ said Ellie, ‘can you tell us how you came to be in this state? Gina told us you and Big Scotty and Wilf went to the party at Angelica’s. Gina and Big Scotty left with Wilf, who was unwell, leaving you to look after Clay, who’d been dumped in the pond, right?’
Jess’s eyes showed that she’d been bruised more than superficially. ‘That’s right. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that I got mixed up with … I mean, when I woke up yesterday morning … and now I can’t go back to my room, or my job. I don’t know what to do.’
Ellie was comforting. ‘We’ll think of something. You can stay here tonight …’ Fingers crossed … had she got a spare bed, because the mattress in the room Lesley had slept in couldn’t be used again, could it? ‘So what happened?’
Jess pushed her long hair back. Tears glimmered in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. A brave girl. ‘I rent a room in a flat. There are four of us but two are away on holiday and the third goes out really early for a run before she goes off to work. Someone rang the bell and I thought it was my mate who’d been out jogging forgetting her key again, so I opened it. There were two of them. Milos I recognized because Clay pointed him out to me once. And another man I’d not seen before. Big man. East Ender? Shaved head and muscles. Sticky-out ears.’
‘What did Milos do?’
TWELVE
Monday, after supper
‘What did he do? He pushed me right back, hit me here and here …’ She indicated her jaw and her ribs. ‘He picked me up, I was screaming but he didn’t care. He threw me right across the room, and I fell on to the little table by the telly … and then he kicked the telly … Oh, Gawd! The crash as it fell over!’
‘Didn’t anyone hear the noise?’
‘We’re over the butcher’s shop in the Avenue. It’s a big flat, well built. Who would hear? I can’t think what my flatmates are going to say when they see the mess. I ran out, without my keys or anything. And now I can’t go back.’
‘What did Milos want?’
‘He wanted Clay. I told him I didn’t know. I told him, but he wouldn’t listen. He said that no scumbag cheats him and gets away with it, that there was nowhere for him to hid
e in the whole world. He said that I should give him up or he’d mark me! I was terrified. He trod on my hand, and he said I wouldn’t be able to work, ever again if … Look!’ The back of her hand was badly bruised. ‘What am I going to do?’
‘So where is Clay?’
‘I don’t know! Honest to God, I don’t!’
‘You stayed behind with him at the party when the others left.’
‘I thought I could help Clay, for old time’s sake. You know? Stupid me. I mean, he really has gone downhill, pushing drugs! I’ve never, ever! And he knows how I feel. But I was sorry for him, having been dumped in the pond. Big Scotty ought not to have done that. It was dissing him. It was understandable that Clay was upset. I mean, in a way … yes, I did giggle a bit, and then he was upset about that, too. Said I was taking their side, which I wasn’t, not really.’
‘You said you’d fetch him some jeans from the house? The party was still in full swing?’
‘Yes, I did go inside. Things were calming down. Someone shouted out that the cops said they’d be around again if we didn’t cool it, so people were drifting away, you know, you don’t need aggro with the cops, do you? There was four or five people in the main room, dancing but really slow, like. The telly had been turned down low, but they’d got some music going on. It was loud, but smoochy stuff. I could see there was a bit of a mess in the big room and the kitchen and I could hear someone puking in the bathroom, but it wasn’t my job to clear it up, was it?
‘One of the men thrust a bottle in my face, said to drink up. Drunk as a skunk. It’s disgusting when men get like that. He wanted to feel me up … ugh! So I pushed him off and went through into the big bedroom, and there was a couple on the bed … No, nobody I knew, I didn’t know none of those people that was still there. I was looking for some jeans for Clay, and no one took any notice of me going through the drawers. I found some that I thought might fit Clay and I took them out to the garden, and tried to get him to change. I told him he must pull himself together and come away with me in case the cops came back. We could have walked back, easy, but he wouldn’t. I don’t know if he’d had some of his own pills, but he was, like, fighting mad, and talking a blue streak. I tried to pull him away but he wouldn’t have it.’
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