Dark

  I follow them in and as soon as they land in the foyer, Bernie and a man in casual clothes come out of the infirmary. I leave them to approach the paramedics and make my way to reception. There’s no sign of Donna, but I think she’s on leave for a few days, vaguely remember her telling me on Saturday night. Marci gives me a sorrowful look.

  ‘It’s the young lad that arrived at teatime last night, Peter. His condition’s worsened, the Doctor wants him admitted.’

  ‘Where’s Justin?’ I ask urgently.

  ‘Still with him, he’s terrified, doesn’t want to go.’

  I nod and thank her, turning and making my way to the admin office. I need to leave Justin alone to do his job, he’ll come and speak to me as soon as he’s managed to persuade this poor soul to go to Hospital. I wonder what his issues are, medically at least. Marci said that he was terrified and something dark and worrying flickers in the back of my mind. That’s the second petrified soul we’ve had through the doors in a week.

  Pushing my way into the office I see Diane’s grinning face. She gets up and gives me a hug, wittering away about nothing in particular as she makes her way over to the kitchen to make me a brew.

  I sit at my desk, waking up my Mac and as soon as Di has put a cup of coffee in front of me, the door to the admin office flies open and Justin comes in. He looks wiped, his eyes a faded blue with exhaustion and I remember he’s only had two hours sleep. He gives me a wan smile.

  ‘Glad you’re here. Can you spare me ten?’

  I nod immediately, picking up my coffee and following him into his office. I close the door and sink down onto one of the chairs at his small round table and he takes a seat next to me. I hold out my coffee to him and he takes it gratefully, drinking a third of it before handing it back. He sighs and rakes his hand through his hair.

  ‘He’s in a bad way, Pearl. He’s been beaten, four of his teeth have been knocked out and he’s got a broken arm.’ Justin’s eyes darken now. ‘He also has…. internal injuries,’ he says painfully and I swallow hard. Jesus Christ, the poor kid. My eyes meet Justin’s suddenly and they lock, as if caught by dry ice. We’re both thinking the same thing.

  ‘Do you think he’s been subjected to similar to Sophia?’

  ‘Possibly, Pearl. He’s petrified, he’s been sedated twice, but each time he comes round, he freaks out. Doctor Taylor is considering making an application to Section him, he’s a real danger to himself at the moment.’

  ‘Has he said anything?’

  ‘No, nothing apart from his first name.’ Justin shakes his head. ‘He’s too traumatised and he needs urgent medical attention. He’s not fit to be telling anyone anything at the moment, but I’ve got a nasty feeling this is linked.’ He gives me a long look. ‘Are you going to see Sophia again this afternoon?’

  I drain the rest of my coffee. ‘Yeah. I’m going to put a little pressure on her this time, Justin, I’m certain that she knows more than she’s letting on.’

  Justin opens his mouth to speak when the phone on his desk shrills. Getting to his feet, he walks over, snagging the receiver and listening. His face darkens, a strange smile tugging at the corners of his lips and his eyes gleam for just a moment.

  ‘Excellent. I’ve been expecting him,’ he says coolly. ‘I’ll be out in a moment, thanks.’

  He replaces the receiver and gives me a long look. ‘Seems as though Tony Powell has finally sprouted some balls and has come looking for his wife,’ he says, his voice cold. ‘Let’s go and disabuse him of the notion that he’s going to succeed, shall we?’

  He grins at me suddenly. Nothing fazes Justin, he takes everything in his long stride and it’s impossible not to feel safe with this man around. He opens the door for me and I hurry through it, Diane’s face looking up from her monitor as she sees the determined expressions on our faces.

  ‘Powell has just rocked up, Di,’ says Justin. ‘I’m just going to throw the little twerp out.’

  Diane shoots to her feet. ‘This, I want to see,’ she says gleefully and the three of us hurry out of the admin office and towards the cavernous reception are of The Guardian. Diane and I are flanking Justin and as we approach reception, my eyes appraise the two men standing in front of it.

  Powell looks different today. He’s just as scruffy, although whatever was on his lip the last time I saw him has spread further across his face, but it’s his attitude that’s done a complete one eighty. He’s not angry today, he’s cocky, posturing and as he sees us approach, his eyes lock with Justin’s.

  He smirks, pivoting and making his way slowly away from reception as we approach him. Running a hand through his thin greasy hair, I see a gleam from the lobe of his right ear where an earring dangles, a silver flash of lightning.

  I take a good look at the man with him. He’s big – huge in fact – dressed in a clean but worn black suit with a shining bald head. Around mid-forties, I reckon, he has a neutral expression on his face at the moment, his ham-hock hands hanging loosely at his side. I wonder who he is – what his connection is to Powell? He doesn’t look like a friend but judging by the size of him, he’s come at Powell’s behest. I smother a grin. The little prick really is stupider than he looks if that’s the case.

  Powell shoves his hands into the pockets of his dirty jeans. He’s thrumming with something, off his face. Probably coke judging by the crafty, over-confident glint in his eye. He gives Justin a twisted smile, revealing several missing teeth, a yellow furred tongue sliding out to lick his cracked lips and my belly hitches.

  ‘We meet again, you overgrown prick,’ Powell starts and Justin folds his arms. He looks bored.

  ‘Really? That seriously the best you can do?’ Jus shakes his head at the little runt in front of him pityingly. ‘If you’ve come here today expecting my answer to be any different from the last time I saw your ugly face, Tony, then you’re shit out of luck.’

  Powell’s eyes widen at Justin’s use of his name, and I see his face flush as his brain processes the words. Is that fear I see in the little rat’s eyes? Yes, I reckon it is and he seems to puff himself up in front of us like an aggressive bullfrog, his glazed eyes bulging.

  ‘As I told you the last time I was here, I’ve come for my wife and this time I’m not leaving without her,’ he barks, Justin giving him a wide smile.

  ‘That right? Well, you’ve had a wasted journey I’m afraid mate – because she’s not here.’

  ‘You’re lying!’ Powell spits.

  ‘Wrong, but even if I were, and she were in this building somewhere, you wouldn’t have a prayer of getting your hands on her, you little bastard.’

  Justin’s words are low, ground out between his teeth and I can feel the aggression in him grind up another gear. Always so adept at controlling his feelings, he’s struggling here. He knows what this shrunken freak in front of him put the woman he married through, and that all he cares about is snatching her back for more of the same has ignited Justin’s temper badly. I stroke his shoulder, to remind him that I’m here and he can draw some strength from me.

  The hulk with Powell suddenly seems to shake himself into life, as he steps forward. He gives Justin a cool look.

  ‘Mate – this has nothing to do with you, alright? It’s a domestic situation, so just tell the man where his wife is, would you, and we’ll be out of your hair.’

  His voice is calm, measured, almost friendly, but his black eyes are locked hard with Justin and I can see the menace in them. Justin folds his arms, spreading his legs as he gazes back at the bloke clearly.

  ‘It’s everything to do with me, when a terrified and badly abused woman flies through the door to my building, mate. I’ve said it to him and now, I’ll say to you – get the fuck out of here and do not come back. Am I making myself clear?’

  Touching Justin lightly on the arm I take a step forward now and Powell shifts his burning glare onto me. He’s more my height for a start, but I’m still bigger than him, at a delicate size eight. Constant substance abuse mea
ns that he hardly eats and he looks like shit. A sharp kick would floor him and he’d better not push it, not unless he wants to end up on his arse.

  I don’t give a shit about the goon he’s brought with him. They’re on The Guardian’s premises and if either of them kick off physically, Justin’s staff are well within their rights to defend themselves and the property, throw them out and call the Police.

  As if summoned by my thoughts, four of our guards seem to appear from nowhere, approaching us in two pairs and flanking the group that we make standing in reception. They’re not too close, but they’re close enough to be able to intervene within a second or two if the situation goes to shit.

  I look Powell clearly in the eye. ‘Listen to me carefully, Tony, use your little brain. You will never see Sophia again and if you keep turning up here, then she’ll make a formal statement to the Police in respect of what you’ve done to her. Am I making myself clear?’

  There’s not a sound from anyone, you could hear a pin drop for a moment as Powell’s eyes widen with shock at my words, his cockiness suddenly fleeing and he takes a faltering step back.

  ‘Do you want to go to Prison, Tony?’ I twist a smirk at him. ‘Sure you’ve thought this through? You wouldn’t last five minutes in Walton Nick, you little shithead. If you were really lucky, you might end up as someone’s bitch.’

  Justin barks a laugh as I cock a brow. ‘Sunk in yet, has it? Take your performing chimp and fuck off. If you come here again, Powell, then the Police will be called, do you understand?’

  Powell finally looks up at his companion, as if seeking some assistance as to how respond to me. He evidently wasn’t expecting this at all, in his coked up state, so sure of the fact that we’d shit ourselves at his suited gorilla and hand his poor beaten and broken wife over to him immediately. He really is thick as shit, either that or his pea brain’s completed addled through drink and drugs. I finally see desperation in his dull eyes as he snarls at me.

  ‘You don’t know who you’re messing with!’ he spits, swinging wild eyes to Justin and I just shake my head.

  ‘Do I look like I give the slightest fuck, mate?’ Justin asks him mildly. ‘You don’t scare me, and neither do the wankers that you’re involved in. My colleague’s right, Powell. You show your ugly face here one more time and I’ll have you arrested. Now fuck off.’

  Justin burns him with a look, raising his eyebrows and as our security start to move, to act on Justin’s orders, Powell finally sags in defeat. I half expect another mouthful of expletives as he leaves but he evidently can’t find either the energy or the intelligence and shooting us one more dark look, he slopes off with his heavy in tow.

  We stand, watching as they leave, followed by Darrell and Clive. As the doors close behind them and the guards return to reception, we walk over. Justin pins everyone with a look.

  ‘That still might not be the last we see of him. Marci – cascade an email to everyone, will you, to say that if he arrives again, the Police are to be called immediately. No engagement.’ He looks at the guards now. ‘If he persists in trying to get in, use reasonable force to keep him out until the Police get here, alright?’

  Nods all round, everyone’s on the same page and Diane and I turn, wandering back over to the corridor and the admin office. She throws me a look as she holds the door open for me.

  ‘Christ, Pearl. I don’t ever want to get on the wrong side of you!’ she says, making her way over to her desk and plopping down into her chair. I shoot her a look. She doesn’t know the half of it and I chew my lip as I sit in my own chair. I dither for a moment, not sure whether to regale Diane with the fact that I smacked Carter’s cousin in the face and broke her nose but I quickly decide against it. The fewer people who know the better and although I’m confident that Diane would understand completely why I did it, it would also mean talking about it again, and I don’t want to. I want to forget it ever happened, the guilt is still chewing at me.

  ‘I’m a pussycat, Di,’ I say lightly, ‘unless you piss me off, of course…!’

  She grins at me as her phone starts to ring and she picks it up. I yawn, opening Outlook and groaning at the amount of unread emails. It’s not even mid-morning but for some reason I feel as though I’ve done a full day’s graft. Fishing my phone out of my bag, I wake it up, but there’s no new text or missed call. I fleet with disappointment for a second, but then push the phone away. I’m not texting him again, he’s trying to work, even though he deserves it after the sensual outpouring I had this morning.

  Justin comes in and perches on Ellen’s empty desk in front of me. He gives me a slow smile, hiking a brow.

  ‘Do you think he’s got the message?’

  ‘Oh, he got it alright, Jus, but something tells me that he won’t act on it.’

  He chews his lip for a moment. ‘Mmm. What can he possibly hope to achieve though? We both made it clear that if he shows up again, he’ll get nicked.’

  ‘It’s his desperation that’s worrying me, Justin. It just makes it even more important for me to try and squeeze something out of Sophia this afternoon,’ I say, just as my own landline starts to shrill at me. Justin gets up and wanders over to his office as I pick up the receiver.

  ‘Pearl, it’s Shona,’ a voice says immediately, no preamble or greeting, but that’s Shona. However, there’s also a thread of something in those few words that I don’t like and I sit forward in my chair.

  ‘Everything okay?’ I ask. ‘I’m due to come and see her in a few hours.’

  ‘That’s why I’m calling, love. I’ve had to ring the Doctor and he’s given her a sedative. Her anxiety has been worsening badly for the last couple of days, I had to talk her down from leaving last night.’

  Shit.

  This just cements my belief that she’s hiding something. I’m not sure whether she wants to leave because she doesn’t want Justin and I to prise it out of her or of the prospect of those responsible from getting their hands on her again, but either way, she’s clearly regressed from the progress she’s made over the last few days. This isn’t good and I pick up a paperclip, twisting it out of shape in my fingers, thinking.

  ‘Has she said anything?’

  ‘No, not really. Only that she’s not safe here and she needs to leave. She has nowhere to go, she’d be running in blind panic, and if I’m honest Pearl, I’d be fearful of her considering something like suicide if she were to be alone right now.’

  I grind my teeth. ‘Everything quiet there? Nothing that could possibly have put the wind up her like this? Anyone hanging around outside?’

  ‘Nothing, Pearl. I’ve got John here with me now, Justin upped the security and he spends a lot of time in the front garden, weeding and pottering about. There’s been nothing of concern, I have no idea where this terror has come from again, but it’s very real to her.’

  Diane comes over for my empty mug, raising an eyebrow as she picks it up and I nod gratefully at her.

  ‘Okay. Do me a favour, Shona – when the sleeper wears off, call me, would you? I want to persuade her to stay at least until I can come and speak to her.’ She’ll be dead to the world until maybe even tomorrow morning now, but whatever time she wakes I’ll expect a call, even if it’s 3:00am.

  ‘I will,’ Shona promises and I thank her, ending the call. I stare blankly into space for a few moments, thinking, before getting to my feet and making my way over to Justin’s office. He’s staring at his Mac, but he smiles when he sees me. I give him a tepid one in return, perching on the chair in front of his desk. I regale him with the telephone conversation I’ve just had and his face falls.

  ‘Shit. The last thing we need is her legging it, she won’t last twenty four hours,’ he says worriedly and I nod.

  ‘I know. We need to get her out of Liverpool as soon as possible, she’s obviously terrified because Powell is so near.’

  It’s not Powell she’s terrified of but she knows if he gets his hands on her, she’s as good as dead anyway.


  Justin steeples his fingers. ‘I need to speak to Dan, he’s pulling some strings, but I’m not sure how far off he is making the final arrangements. He has a property in Portsmouth, but he said that his last tenants left it a bit of a state and it needs some work.’ He stands. ‘When are you going to see her?’

  ‘Tomorrow morning, Jus,’ I say, also getting to my feet and turning towards the door. ‘I was going to try and put some pressure on her, but I don’t know if I can now she’s regressed to fragile again. I don’t want to tip her over the edge.’

  ‘Just do your best, Pearl,’ Justin says fondly and I grin as I make my way back to my desk. Diane has put a fresh brew down for me, but she’s not in the office and I sip it gratefully, finally starting to read my outstanding emails, deleting, flagging and responding as I go.

  Lunchtime rolls around and Diane nips to the kitchen to get us all a sandwich, but I’m still working as I eat mine. I need the distraction, if I sit scrolling through my phone, I’m going to be tempted to send an inappropriate text or two.

  Why are they inappropriate? He’s your boyfriend and you’ve not spoken now for hours.

  True. But he has lectures this afternoon and he can’t sit there with his phone pinging every thirty seconds. Opening Google on my Mac finally, I browse eBay for five minutes as I finish my butty, ordering a lovely sheepskin saddlecloth for Nelson.

  Stretching finally and gathering my empty plate and mug, I get up to put them in the small dishwasher. Diane has nipped out to do a bit of shopping and Justin is in a counselling session with one of the residents. It’s quiet and I yawn again as I look at my watch. I sometimes feel a bit flat early afternoons, just after I’ve eaten, a little sluggish and I pour myself a glass of cold water, sipping it as I make my way around to my desk again. My head turns to the admin office door as it opens, but the welcoming smile slides from my face when Aaron walks through it.

  I try not to glare at him. The bloke works at The Guardian, he has every right to poke his head around the door, looking for Justin or Dillon, and I’m wrong to assume that he’s come searching me out. I just look at him impassively, my face completely neutral, at least until he states his business and he takes a step forward, the door closing quietly behind him. He gives me a tiny smile, raking a hand nervously through his hair. Still he doesn’t speak.