Blood Secrets_A gripping crime thriller with killer twists

by Dreda Say Mitchell

  When the gang spotted her they abruptly stopped.

  ‘Wotcha Courts,’ Dodgy greeted. ‘Thought you weren’t coming.’ She lifted an eyebrow, ‘Thought I was gonna have to come fetch you for a minute. Believe you me that wouldn’t have been a good look.’

  Courtney worried her bottom lip. The other girl was on the warpath. Courtney scrambled around for something to say. ‘Where’s Mandela?’

  Dodgy’s face came over all soft; she did cherish that dog of hers. ‘He’s stopping indoors with my Nan.’

  ‘I didn’t know you had a Gran.’

  Dodgy’s soft expression deepened. ‘We’ve all got Grans. It’s just mine’s alive and she looks out for me.’ Courtney was about to ask after her parents when the other girl supplied the answer. ‘My old man and girl fucked off years ago. Suppose they didn’t want a kid tagging along for the ride.’

  Those words revealed the little girl inside who hurt like so many other little girls, Courtney being among their number. Her own dad was long gone and she hoped to never clap eyes on the worthless prick again. The thud of his fists against her mum’s skin were sounds that would remain with her for life.

  Dodgy got back into Dodgy mode. ‘Right ladies, time for us to hit that rave.’

  Courtney was puzzled. ‘Party? But we ain’t togged out for a party.’

  Dodgy winked. ‘We are for the type of wing-ding we’re going to.’

  Courtney took the plunge and gave it to her friend straight. ‘See, the thing is Dodge, I ain’t gonna be able to go.’

  In response, Courtney got a stone-cold stare that almost stopped her heartbeat.

  ‘I’ll just pretend my ears never heard that.’

  Courtney shook her head with feeling. ‘I can’t. My mum’s gone out and I’ve gotta take care of my little sis.’ She did feel a bit of a Muppet saying she was obeying her mum to girls who didn’t conform to anyone’s rules. ’I mean, if you had to look after your gran you’d have to stop indoors.’

  Dodgy leaned her head to the side considering Courtney’s statement. ‘You got that right.’ Courtney smiled with relief which soon went down the lav when Dodgy added, ‘But there’s sod all wrong with her which means I’m going off to a blowout with my mates, which includes you.’

  Courtney nervously swallowed, her eyes blinking like crazy. ‘I can’t leave my sister alone.’

  Dodgy took a menacing step closer. ‘Remember that home for girls we met in?’ Courtney didn’t want to do it but she nodded. ‘Remember that day I got into a ruck with that lizard-looking fuck-tart in the common room?’ Another nod, more shaky this time. ‘And I got her by the hair. Now she thought that I was going to bash her brains in, but that wasn’t what I did, was it?’

  Courtney’s mouth went completely dry as she filled in the rest of the story. ‘You took out a pair of scissors and cut off her hair. On her eyebrows.’

  ‘Funny what you can do with a pair of scissors in your hand.’

  Courtney got the message and didn’t bring up the idea of not going again. But she figured out that when they got to the rave, she’d stay for fifteen minutes and then sneak off.

  But when they reached the party less than an hour later, her plan went out the window.

  Courtney stood with the Dodgy Crew, hoods up, on the other side of the road and stared in shock at the long line of excited people queuing up outside a building. Blue, pink and green laser beams slid and swayed over it.

  ‘You’ll need this.’ Dodgy held out a pair of Jackie O style sunglasses.

  Courtney’s hand trembled as she took it. ‘I can’t go in there.’

  ‘Why’s that then? Got homework to do?’

  Strawberry, Blinky and Roach sneered along.

  Courtney’s horrified gaze was transfixed by the name on the building.

  ‘But it’s the Three Sisters Club.’

  Dodgy dished out a dirty look and got sarky. ‘They teach you how to read in posh schools? I really missed out, didn’t I?’

  Her young face turned back to the club. ‘Alright ladies, it’s showtime!’

  23

  ‘Thanks, big time, for turning out for the Three Sisters tonight,’ Dee said with the broadest smile she could muster as she shook the hand of a Posh & Becks wannabe couple. Take That’s ‘Shine’ boomed from the dance floor in the background.

  She and Jen had been giving it the personal touch, meeting and greeting people at the entrance of the club since its doors had opened. If the long, snaking line outside was any indication, it looked like the club had smashed it for pulling in the punters. Dee was cynical enough to know that this might be the case because drinks were priced at a quid for the first hour. But, hey, who gave a monkey’s! As long as the punters made this a night to remember and spread the word.

  She felt like a kid in a sweetie shop. Everywhere she looked was colour, glamour, glitz and wall-to-wall party people.

  ‘OMG Dee,’ Jen squealed almost jumping with joy, ‘I can’t believe it. This is the dog’s bollocks.’ Her voice wavered as she choked up. ‘I want to thank you for putting your trust in me and making me manager. No one’s ever done anything like that before for me.’

  Dee answered affectionately, ‘Stop blabbing, you silly moo. We’re blood family so we’re in it together.’

  ‘Shame ‘bout this blood family member stuck in the cloakroom,’ Tiff bitched behind them.

  After Tiff’s shenanigans the other day behind the bar Dee had made some slight adjustments and put her in charge of the cloakroom instead. Tiff had moaned to high heaven, but Dee had slapped her down so she got it through her loaf she wasn’t putting up with Tiff’s bad girl ways. If she did a bang up job tonight then Dee might see her way to installing her back as MC at the bar.

  ‘Take no notice of Moaner Lisa,’ Dee declared to Jen loud enough for Tiff to get the message.

  She forgot all about her baby sister when a flash, white, stretch Limo rolled up. A wave of excitement rippled through the queuing clubbers as they stood on tiptoes to get a glimpse of the celeb putting in an appearance. A uniformed chauffeur got out and did the honours with the passenger door.

  A slightly embarrassed, giggly Babs took his proffered hand as she tried to get out the back with as much grace as possible. And didn’t her mum look a treat in a stunning, black, sparkling evening dress that Dee had insisted they go shopping at Selfridges for.

  Dee’s pleasure died when she clocked another person get out as well – the original bad penny Flo Miller.

  Flo started posing this way ‘n’ that in her skimpy white dress with cut outs that put more flesh on display than Smithfield’s Meat Market. Dee was not pleased, not one bit. This was meant to be her mum’s big moment and that girl had taken every ray of limelight. You only had to look at the men with their tongues hanging out and the ladies slit-eyed with seething envy to know who had their attention.

  Babs hugged both her girls, dizzy with delight at the crowds in and outside the club. Looked like it was going to be a right, royal knees-up tonight! She was over the moon for Dee. She deserved this after all that had happened with John.

  ‘Got the shock of my life when the limo turned up to pick me up,’ Babs gushed to her eldest.

  ‘Only the best for my ol’ mum.’

  ‘You should’ve seen the faces on The Devil when it turned up.’ She winked. ‘Told ‘em I was off to have fish ‘n’ chips with Prince Philip.’

  Flo reached for Dee’s hands, ‘what a fabulous night, sweetie. I hope the glossies are coming to cover it for their diary sections.’

  Dee shoved her hands behind her back twisting her lips as she looked Flo up and down. ‘Looks like you came ready for your paparazzi shots.’

  Babs quickly took Flo off to the cloakroom to avoid any more words being traded but soon realised her mistake when she saw Tiff manning the counter.

  Flo and Tiff eyes hissed as they sized each other up.

  ‘Will you please play nicely,’ Babs snapped.

  ‘Whatever,’ T
iff replied, her lip curling.

  ‘Of course Babs.’ Flo’s response was full of treacle.

  Babs deposited her coat and turned wanting to separate these two as soon as. She needed this to be the one night she could put the trouble with the gold aside and have a good time. But Flo had other ideas.

  She delicately searched in her Alexander McQueen clutch bag. She gave Tiff that special feral smile she reserved for her and said, ‘Here you go for your troubles.’ She placed fifty pence on the silver tip tray.

  Tiff’s whole face flamed a solid red. She barred her teeth as she leaned forward, almost falling over the counter in her haste to get at her unwanted half-sister.

  ‘You wanna be thankful this chunk of wood’s in the way. Now why don’t you fly off on your downmarket broomstick.’

  ‘I’d rather be on a broom than a human coat hanger.’ Flo blew Tiff a stick-that-in-your-pipe kiss.

  Babs snatched her arm and marched her away. ‘Where’s a girl get a drink in this joint?’

  Tiffany eye-fucked a busty piece who stood all sleek and sexy outside the dance floor door. The woman was her type of girl right down to her electric blue toenails. The hottie fluttered her black, feathered false lashes and Tiff fluttered her own right back. Oh yeah, this sextastic honey was really into her. Dee had warned her to stay put in the cloakroom come hell or high water…but if she didn’t make a move some other lucky sod was gonna snap up her potential shag.

  She got ready to move, but paused when the whispers of people nearby reached her:

  ‘What the hell’s she wearing?’

  ‘Think she’s mistaken this club for Glastonbury?’

  Tiff twisted her head. A small black woman was heading, with purpose, right for the cloakroom. There was so much colour in her clothes that Tiff had to rapidly blink to get her vision straight again. The woman was rigged out in overalls…or was it a Kaftan? And bangles up her arms and outsized earrings dangling from her lobes. Some aging hippie chick, Tiff decided, looking like she was on her way to San Francisco but instead of a flower in her hair she sported a Jamaican flag headscarf. The rigid set of her face stated clearly she wasn’t in the mood for a turn around the dance floor.

  ‘I wanna speak to Babs Miller.’

  Tiff folded her arms. ‘I believe Mrs Miller is a guest – why don’t you go in? I’m sure you’ll find her.’

  The woman put her small fist on the counter. ‘This isn’t hide and seek darlin’. You’ve got a public address system, haven’t you? Call her up on that. Tell her Pearl’s waiting for her in the cloakroom – well, get a move on! I haven’t got all night!’

  Hippie chick Pearl looked like she was about to jump out of her headscarf. Tiff wasn’t good at taking orders, especially from some oldster who should be tucked up in bed sipping her Horlicks.

  ‘I’m gonna need to see your invitation.’

  Pearl kissed her teeth. ‘I ain’t got time for this.’

  She leaned over the counter, pushed Tiff backwards and grabbed the public address Mic. ‘Babsie Miller to the cloakroom. Babsie Miller to the cloakroom. Pearl’s here and she’d like a word.’

  Her words echoed through the club.

  Once she got her footing back together, Tiff scowled and through gritted teeth hotly warned, ‘’Ere, you can’t do that.’

  ‘I just did,’ Pearl smartly threw back.

  It crossed Tiff’s mind to call security but it was only seconds later that her mum came marching through the reception. She zeroed in on Pearl who she eyeballed like a gunslinger who’d just emerged from a saloon.

  ‘Wotcha Pearl. I was hoping you were gonna put in an appearance. Thing is, I want a word too.’

  Pearl nodded in agreement. ‘Then we’re both on the same page.’

  Babs stepped closer. ‘My girl Dee’s got some rooms upstairs off the balcony. Let’s pop up there and have a chat - in private.’

  ‘Suits me.’

  Tiff looked at the two women. She knew Pearl by name. Weren’t these two supposed to be good mates? Now they looked like two boxers at the weigh in for a grudge fight.

  ‘You alright mum?’

  Her mum’s answer was clipped. ‘’Course I’m alright. Why wouldn’t I be?’

  In silence, Pearl and Babs headed off for the stairs that lead to the balcony. Tiff watched them knowing there was trouble in the air.

  No one noticed Flo following at a discreet distance.

  The music stopped, giving Dee her cue. She stepped onto the stage, near the DJ, her dress shimmering as she moved with the grace of a queen. Every eye was on her. This was the life! The real life! John would be made up for her. Moisture misted her eyes. John, babes, wish you were by my side.

  The DJ handed her the Mic. Dee pushed back the memories and addressed the gathering. ‘Is everyone having a good time?’

  A roar of approval and wolf whistles went up from the crowd.

  When they settled back down she said, ‘I want to thank every last one of you, from the bottom of my crooked East End heart,’ she winked, they laughed, ‘for coming out to support the Three Sisters on its first night out on the town. And now it’s time for the icing on our club launch cake.’

  Dee deliberately held back as a wave of electric anticipation swept the ravers. She hadn’t let on about this to anyone, not even Jen and Tiff.

  ‘I give you.’ Dramatically she raised her arm to point to the steel corridor above, everyone following her movement. Upstairs stood a figure cloaked in the dark.

  ‘The man who’s taking the music bizz by storm. Our special guest. Our very own home grown East End lad, Kujuk.’

  A spotlight lit up the newest rap sensation. The clubbers went wild, into a frenzy of disbelief and delight. Lapping up the love, Kujuk dived straight into his act, eating up the Mic with his most popular track. He acted with the style of what his name meant in Turkish – big.

  The place erupted, everyone singing along and rocking away; even the walls seemed to move. The rapper was a busy man but he’d owed Dee and John big time for connecting him to the right people, which had bagged him the gig that had shot him into the big league. That’s what the East End was like; you never forgot the people who gave you a helping hand on your way.

  Ecstatic, Dee danced her way off the stage and around the back. As she moved towards the dance floor a hand grabbed her forearm, making her jump. With a swift move she turned to find someone she didn’t want to see.

  ‘What the backside are you doing here?’

  ‘We need to talk,’ Kieran Scott answered. ‘About our son.’

  With indignation she wrenched her arm out of his hold. ‘There’s no our anything.’ She slapped her fists onto her hips. ‘This is invitation only so you need to keep moving towards the exit before I get security to sling you out.’

  He was rigged out all in black – slim fit Levi’s with matching jacket, polo shirt that bagged out from his waist and trainers. Trainers? Dee did a double take. They were forbidden within the four walls of her club. Why hadn’t the security staff turned his arse away? She’d be having very stiff words with them after this.

  He moved slightly closer to her. Dee held her ground. ‘I want to see Natty.’

  She jabbed her finger at him. ‘His name don’t pass your lips, get me? He’s got sod all to do with you—‘

  ‘Now that’s where you’re wrong—‘

  Mad as hell she poked her finger into his chest. ‘Back. The. Fuck. Off. You agreed to leave us alone. As far as the world’s concerned Nathan is John’s boy.’

  They’d had a one-time booty one-night stand which he thought gave him an in into her life. Think again! Besides, even if she’d wanted to – which she didn’t - the way she’d betrayed John still ate her up with shame.

  A muscle in his cheek ticked with tension. ‘I’m not saying I’ll tell the boy or anyone else any different, right?’ Strong emotion clouded his face. ‘But I need to see him. I never had a dad—‘

  ‘Join the club, none of us did—‘
>
  He waved her words away. ‘I know what you’re gonna say. He’s got a dad and his name’s John. You ever considered how that makes me feel? Knowing my flesh and blood’s out there and I can’t even get near enough to look at his face.’

  Dee was only half listening to him, her attention diverted by the sight of four hooded characters sporting large shades. What the hell! Kieran in trainers and now this? Her security was doing a piss-poor job.

  She gave Kieran her attention again and made short shrift of their convo. ‘Get out of my club. Get out of my life. If I see you within a mile radius of John Black’s son, you’ll rue the day your cock took it into it’s stupid bellend head to sniff at my vee-jay-jay.’

  Dee stomped off, intending to make a beeline for the hooded youths.

  Problem was they had disappeared.

  24

  Flo pressed her ear against the door to the room Babs and her friend had just gone into. She didn’t really think this would have anything to do with the gold, but the Commander had sent her on a mission and that’s what she was going to do. Of course he hadn’t believed a word of what Dee and Jen had told him. His gold gone up in smoke in Kieran Scott’s club? Yeah, and Shergar the racehorse had started the fire! The Commander was the craftiest person she knew. Flo loved him to bits. And would do anything for him. Babs and her brood knew where the gold was stashed. Of course they did.

  Flo earwigged carefully to the conversation…

  Babs and Pearl faced off like a pair of alley cats ready to do some serious damage.

  Babs got straight down to it. ‘Did you have a word with you know who?’

  Pearl snapped back, ‘He can’t help. I told you that was a long shot.’ Her eyes narrowed, her mouth turned ugly. ‘Although he did have one helpful suggestion that I couldn’t really face up to at the time. Perhaps I’ll have to now though - I’m not sure I’ve got any other choice.’