by Unknown
‘Ashley is my business, not yours.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong, Dee,’ I shook my head. ‘We’re all fond of her and I’m not letting you fob me off any longer.’ I started walking up the stairs leaving her behind. ‘I’ll catch up with you shortly.’
I stripped and showered. I had endured enough of Dee’s self-indulgence. I didn’t know if it was a reaction against what we’d faced earlier, but I’d had enough and wanted answers. Whether she liked it, or not.
Someone had to stand up for Ashley. Leo was obviously more concerned with Dee’s feelings than hers. I didn’t understand how he hadn’t noticed the little girl’s frailty.
Dressed in an old cotton sundress, I sat down at my dressing table and began brushing my hair. Catching my reflection in the mirror, it dawned on me how frightened I still looked. The reality that Henri had only just found us in time chilled me. I tried to push away the image of Katie standing alone by the window with Mum, wondering when I’d return. My little girl could have been an orphan before she was five years old, and it would have been my fault for making the decision to run after Dee. Damn Dee for her selfishness.
I cursed the day I’d bumped into Leo. Ever since that morning, my family’s lives had been dictated to by his sister’s moods. I pulled my hair back, twisting it up into a French pleat and attached a hairclip to hold it in place. I braced myself for the onslaught.
‘Dee?’ I called, barely able to contain my rage. ‘You’ve got ten minutes to get yourself down to the kitchen.’
* * *
I checked my watch. It was early evening and I wasn’t going to spend one more night under the same roof as these people without giving them a few home truths. I checked on Katie and Ashley who were playing quietly in Katie’s room before going downstairs to pour myself a glass of rosé. I carried it out to the garden. The hot breeze cooled the dry air a little, so at least it wasn’t as humid as it had been for the past few weeks.
I walked over to the garden gate and pulled it open, glancing in the direction of Henri’s farm and then over to the wood. The fire engines were still dowsing the area and the air smelt of burnt foliage and smoke. Thankfully the wind direction had changed. We could rest easy, for now at least.
I leant against the wooden frame, staring over towards the farm and took a sip of the cool drink. I’d been furious with Henri for investigating Mum, but after him risking his life for me I didn’t think I had the right to criticise him about anything. In fact, I owed him. I was just contemplating inviting him over for Mum to answer a few of his – and to be honest, my own –questions, when I spotted Leo out of the corner of my eye. He was coming towards me.
‘Hi, how’s it going?’ He seemed a little awkward, which I’m sure I would be too, if I’d disappeared like he had.
‘Where the hell did you get to?’ I asked, bewildered by his disappearance. ‘I thought you’d gone to find your sister and Ashley. Instead you came back here while Henri and I risked our lives for them.’
He frowned. ‘I did look for her, but I don’t know my way around like you do.’ It was a feeble excuse and we both knew it. ‘I assumed Dee had seen the smoke, come to her senses and returned here.’
I was still furious with him, but what he said made some sense. ‘I’m fed up of keeping my mouth shut. I’m about to speak to Dee about the way she’s behaving.’
‘I think she’s suffered enough today.’
I moved away from the gate and glared at him. ‘I think I probably know better than you what she’s gone through today. I was happy for you both to stay here, but I’m tired of her constant disruption to Mum and Katie.’ I shrugged. ‘Ashley can stay here until Dee is settled somewhere, but I’m not going to put up with her unsettling this household any longer.’
I noticed Dee moving past the coloured glass in the upstairs hall window. Good, she was on her way down. Perhaps now I could resolve this mess.
‘Please, Sera,’ Leo lowered his voice. ‘You don’t know what wounds you’ll open if you push for her to tell you things.’
‘It’s too late for that.’ But I wavered for a second.
He shook his head. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
I was sick of these underhand threats. They’d held me back from speaking out for too long. After this afternoon I was determined to drag this house back to some semblance of normality.
* * *
Dee looked at us from the open back door before descending the steps and joining us. I noticed her hair was still wet. Maybe she was also ready to finally resolve things, too?
‘Shall we go and sit over there,’ I suggested, gesturing towards the garden furniture.
Dee nodded. She accompanied me, but not before I spotted her ignoring a pointed look from Leo.
‘Right,’ I said, when we were all seated. Leo folded his arms across his chest, tapping one of his feet on the grass.
‘Go on then,’ Dee said. ‘Let’s get this over with.’
‘Leo explained about the dreadful time you suffered at the hands of your ex,’ I admitted.
‘That’s considerate of him,’ she said, giving him a sideways glance. ‘Go on.’
I raised an eyebrow, not certain why she was suddenly in a hurry to speak to me. ‘I sympathise with you, Dee. We were good friends once and I care about you.’
I thought about how ballsy she had always been. The one to encourage me to do things we both knew our mothers would frown upon. Pinching sweets from the nearby newsagent’s, creeping out of our rooms to meet at the back of the chippie and generally making our lives more fun. I hoped we could find a way to get back to some sort of comfortable friendship.
She smirked and shook her head. ‘Do you care for me like you would a sister?’
Her question threw me. I didn’t know what she was going on about. I went to answer, but before I could, Mum interrupted.
‘Stop this now,’ she shouted as she rushed to join us. She looked flustered and glared at Dee. ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’
‘Why? Because I know your secret and your precious daughter doesn’t?’
I glanced at Mum, confused, but she was too busy staring at Dee to notice.
‘Haven’t you caused enough chaos today?’ Mum bent down, her face almost nose to nose with Dee’s. ‘If anyone is going to tell Sera, I will, not you.’
I gazed at the two of them, like two lionesses fighting for seniority. A sense of dread crept up from my gut.
‘What are you both talking about?’ I asked, aware the tables were about to be turned on me. ‘What secret?’
Dee smiled. ‘The secret your mother’s been determined to keep from you all these years.’ She sneered. ‘Do you want to know what it is?’
Chapter Twenty-Eight
1990 – Scotland
Mimi
Where was Hazel? Knowing it was unlikely that she would have gone off somewhere in the early hours of the morning by herself, I went to step into my jeans. Then, remembering where I was, I put on the green cocktail dress. I ran a brush through my hair and checked my face. I hadn’t bothered to remove my make-up and spat on a tissue, rubbing it under my eyes to make my face passable. I pushed my feet into the satin shoes that matched my dress and left the room to look for her. I told myself there was probably a perfectly rational reason for her to go for a wander around the enormous house at nearly three in the morning. There didn’t seem to be anyone about, which was a relief.
Walking along the corridor, trying to shift the heavy feeling pressing down on me, it dawned on me that I had little choice but to go to Vinnie’s room to look for her. I was nervous, but couldn’t turn my back on her now I knew how dangerous he could be. I walked quietly towards his bedroom, stopped outside, and leaned my head closer to the door and listened. Voices came from inside. If I’d have stood here listening to him in his bedroom with someone else a few hours earlier, I would have been hysterical with jealousy. Now I was just frightened. I heard a muffled cry and recognised it as Hazel’s
voice. She was pleading with him and sounded terrified.
My heart raced, and I took a deep breath to try and control my rising panic. I placed my hand on the door handle and slowly turned it, relieved, yet horrified, when it twisted and the door opened. Pushing it ajar, I could hear her cries more clearly now.
‘Please, Vinnie, I couldn’t do it,’ she cried, her swollen lips distorting her voice. ‘He’s disgusting.’
Her pleading was lost on him. I bent my head to look around the door and peered inside. He was crouched over her. Her nightie had been torn from her shoulders and now barely concealed her bruised body. She was too busy shielding her face to notice me. Her right eye was swollen shut and her thighs grazed and bruised. Vinnie knelt between her legs.
How could I have thought myself in love with this monster?
Holding her down with one hand around her neck, he bent his arm back. ‘You’re a fucking bitch,’ he hissed, saliva spraying through his gritted teeth. ‘Your childish behaviour has embarrassed him and he’s called off our deal.’
‘I didn’t mean to upset him,’ she sobbed, trying to protect her face.
‘So, why overreact and claw at his sodding face then? He wants us out by the morning and it’s all your fault.’ He clenched his fist, getting ready to strike her again.
Desperate to stop him, I glanced around the room and spotted a heavy glass ashtray. I grabbed it, lifting it high. He turned to face me, shock at what I was about to do registering on his features. I knew how much stronger than us he was and that I had one chance to make this count. Squealing in revulsion, I slammed the heavy object as hard as I could against his temple, watching in dazed horror as it split his skin, shattering into pieces onto the carpet.
He stared at me, momentarily stunned. Then, closing his eyes, he dropped like a slaughtered bull onto the carpet next to Hazel. She pressed her hands over her mouth to stifle her screams. Shocked by what I’d just done, I bent down to lift his leg off her and helped her to stand.
‘You killed him,’ Hazel whispered.
My heart pounded painfully. I let go of the remains of the ashtray still in my hand, and shivered. ‘What do we do now?’ I asked, swallowing a wave of nausea. ‘We can’t leave him here. They’ll come for us.’
‘You saved my life, Mimi,’ she panted. ‘But did you have to hit him so hard?’ Hazel continued, trembling.
‘What? You’d rather I make him angry by tapping his head?’ I tried not to panic. ‘He’d have killed us.’ I pointed at Hazel. ‘He’s already battered you.’
Vinnie’s warm blood oozed across the rug reaching my feet and making them sticky. I stepped back.
Hazel grabbed Vinnie’s dressing gown from the chair and pulled it over her ripped nightdress. Tying the cord belt, she took hold of my shoulders. ‘We have to get rid of him.’
What did she just say? I stared at Vinnie, humiliated to realise how easily his movie star looks had distracted me from his dark personality. ‘How? Where?’
Hazel’s hands shook, and I wished we could go back twenty-four hours.
‘Get a towel,’ Hazel said. ‘Put it around his head before he really starts to bleed.’
I glanced at a large glass shard embedded in Vinnie’s skull, relieved to note it was stemming the blood flow.
‘Quickly,’ Hazel said. ‘We’ll need to get rid of this rug. We don’t want blood seeping through to the carpet. We don’t have time to clean this place.’
My legs trembled, as I walked to the bathroom to find a towel. A terrifying thought occurred to me as I carried it to Hazel to wrap around Vinnie’s head. ‘If he’s bleeding, doesn’t that mean he’s still alive?’
‘Only just, by the look of him.’ Hazel retched as she lifted his head. ‘Help me.’
We struggled to wrap the towel around Vinnie’s head. Once done, Hazel sat back on her haunches. ‘That will have to do for now.’ She raked her hands through her messy hair. ‘I’m going to get dressed, wait here.’
‘You can’t leave me alone,’ I said, horrified at the prospect of being left with him.
‘If someone comes, answer the door, just don’t open it.’ Hazel grimaced as she pulled a handkerchief out of his dressing gown pocket. ‘If they think he’s in here with you, they’ll be too scared to insist on coming in. Make some excuse,’ she hesitated. ‘Say he’s in the bathroom.’ Hazel winced as she walked to the door. ‘You’d better wash his blood off your shoes.’
I did as she said. I couldn’t stop crying as the red water ran from my feet and down the sides of the sink. Spotting one of Vinnie’s ties, it dawned on me that if we were going to make him disappear, then we needed to make it look as if he’d left of his own volition.
We needed to hide his things. Vinnie was too proud of his personal effects to leave them behind. I ran across the room, tiptoeing around his body. I pulled his suitcase from where he’d left it next to the wardrobe. Wrenching his bespoke suits from hangers, I threw them and his underwear from the drawers untidily into the case.
Hurrying into the bathroom, I opened his leather wash bag. I held it above the sink and brushed my shaking arm across the glass shelf, sweeping his toothpaste, aftershave and razor into the bag. Then, taking his toothbrush from the glass, I dropped that in. I pushed away a mental replay of what I had done to him, and hurriedly zipped up the bag, before throwing it into the case.
I scanned the room for anything I might have missed. ‘Wallet,’ I whispered, remembering the brown leather wallet he always had crammed with notes and ready to hand to tip someone lavishly. Though I was now sure it was more to show others how successful he was, than generosity. I pulled open the bedside drawer, retrieving his wallet and a pair of gold cufflinks.
The light reflected off his heavy gold watch. Taking a deep breath, I unclasped it, cringing at the touch of his flesh as I removed it from his wrist. ‘Damn,’ I groaned, aware that I also needed to pull off his pinkie ring. It was a bit of a struggle and I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to complete the grim task. The heavy gold chain around his neck was all that remained for me to take from his body.
Finally, exhausted and sweating, I pushed the last vestiges of Vinnie’s possessions into a side pocket in the case.
The door opened. I froze until I spotted Hazel’s hair.
‘What are you doing?’ Hazel frowned, spotting the open case. I explained hurriedly. ‘Good thinking. Make sure we’ve got everything. Is his wallet in there?’ I nodded. ‘Because we’re going to need money. It’s our only way of getting out of Scotland.’
My trembling hands made it difficult to close the catches on Vinnie’s case. ‘I’ll take this to our room,’ I whispered to Hazel, desperate to get away.
* * *
After checking that there was no one else in the hallway, I crept to our bedroom. I couldn’t bear the thought of returning to Vinnie’s room, but knew I had no choice. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and got going.
‘Do you think it’d be safe for us to return to London?’ I wondered, not ready to leave the city I had fallen in love with. ‘Everyone at the club knows we came here with Vinnie and his mates. Won’t they ask us questions if we go back without him?’
Hazel considered. ‘I suppose they will. We need to get rid of him before we think about running away. Help me roll him onto his back,’ she said. ‘That’s it. Now lift his arm over your shoulder and I’ll do the same.’ We groaned with the strain. ‘It’s going to be an effort, but I’ve done this a few times with my brothers when they’re drunk. I’m sure we can manage to get him out of here if we’re determined.’
He was heavier than I expected. The effort of carrying him in the warm night air was exhausting.
‘Where are we going?’ I asked, as it dawned on me that we hadn’t discussed the next step of our plan.
‘This way.’
We dragged him along, his head flopping between our bodies. Too late, I wished I had thought to change out of my heels.
‘There’s a back staircase,’ Ha
zel said, nodding in the direction. I noticed that despite our struggle to move him, Hazel’s voice appeared stronger. ‘I checked it when I went to change,’ she said. ‘It’s late so hopefully we won’t be disturbed out here.’
We hoisted him up a little further onto our shoulders.
‘Shit, he’s heavy,’ Hazel whispered, her voice strained with the effort.
‘Where exactly are we going?’ I asked as we rounded a corner at the end of the corridor.
Hazel gestured to a service lift. ‘There are some woods out the back.’
Once down on the ground floor, we manoeuvred Vinnie outside.
Hazel stopped abruptly. ‘Shh.’
‘What?’
‘I heard someone.’
We waited. When there was no further sound, we moved away from the doorway.
‘I’m scared,’ I admitted, pushing aside the thought of someone discovering us with the body. I wasn’t sure I could go through with this.
‘Shut up,’ Hazel whispered. ‘You were the one who smashed him over the head, remember?’
The idea that this was my fault frightened me. I choked back tears. I didn’t want to end up spending the rest of my life in prison. ‘I was trying to stop him killing you.’
‘I know.’ Hazel’s voice softened. ‘But you were the one who killed him, not me. I’m trying to help you hide his body. Now let’s get a move on. The sooner we do this the sooner we can get far away from this place.’
After almost dropping him, we eventually reached the wooded area. I was grateful for the denseness of the thick leaves overhead. They diminished the pearl whiteness of the moonlight and gave us much needed cover.
A revolting thought occurred to me. ‘We need to strip him and dump his clothes.’