The Forgotten Child

by D. E. White

  Holly, having mentally prepared for a showdown, was totally floored by the fact Niko was apparently having a cosy chat with her dad. She cleared her throat. ‘Hi, Dad. I thought I’d come round and see you because …’

  The big man smiled. ‘Because Jayden is back.’

  His face was still mottled with red veins, and the whites of his eyes looked yellow, but the stench of booze was gone, and he was standing up straighter than he had for years. She had left a hunched old man, ready to end his days at the bottom of a bottle of White Lightning, and now … Donnie was dressed in a clean rugby shirt and chinos, his expression somewhere between amused and apprehensive.

  Niko opened the door and she stepped inside, biting her lip to stop it trembling. What was going on? Niko didn’t seem bothered that Jay was back. In fact, he was still smiling at her.

  ‘Niko, I’ve got no idea what’s going on with you, but I was kind of hoping for a private chat with my dad,’ Holly told him.

  ‘That’s okay I was just going.’ He shrugged, and punched Donnie’s shoulder in a gesture of affection, before leaning in as though he was going to kiss Holly’s cheek.

  She pulled back. ‘Fuck off, Niko. Don’t you remember what happened last time you tried to kiss me?’

  His eyes flashed, and the darkness returned to his face for a second, but then he laughed. ‘Things have changed, Holly.’

  ‘Been to see your kids recently, have you?’ she prodded.

  ‘Not that it’s anything to do with you, but I’m actually going to see Cath now.’

  ‘Don’t upset her.’ Holly was torn between wanting to protect her friend, and desperation that she needed to get this long overdue talk out the way.

  Donnie led her into the lounge and she noted that everywhere was clean and tidy. The ashtrays were empty, and the bottles that used to clutter the table and sink were gone. She thought some of the furniture was new, and the kitchen lino had been changed for grey tiles. Someone had come into some money.

  ‘What can I do for you, Holly?’

  Holly found she hardly knew where to begin. She hadn’t seen him for ages, hadn’t contacted him for months unless you counted the quick text about Jayden’s son. ‘Why didn’t you come and see me?’

  The big man shrugged. The intelligence had returned to his face, despite the physical scars of alcoholism. ‘I wanted to wait until I was sorted properly again. Lydia knew, but she promised not to say anything until I was sure I could do it.’ His hazel eyes rested on her face. ‘You’re looking good, Holly. How’s Milo doing at school?’

  Holly leant forward eyeballing her dad across his shiny new coffee table. ‘What’s going on, Donnie? You’ve taken fuck-all interest in my life, or your grandson’s for years. In fact, in case you’d forgotten, you were so pissed you tried to hit me when I walked out after the trial. You’ve been a sad old drunkard for years, wasting your life and doing bugger all, and suddenly you’re going to pretend everything’s normal again?’ Her voice rose, and her throat clogged with tears. It seemed at the moment that everything she thought she knew was a lie, and she wasn’t sure how to cope. ‘You think, what, that because Jay is back, we’re going to go back to how we were?’

  Donnie shook his head. ‘Give me some credit, Holly. If you want the truth, I haven’t seen Jayden. He sent me a text to tell me he was coming back a few months ago, and a few others … We got chatting. Before you ask, I haven’t heard from him since the crash, and yes, I already knew he had a son.’

  ‘Jesus! You never told us? The police?’

  He snorted with laughter, which turned into the deep belly laugh she remembered from childhood. ‘You’re joking?’

  ‘Yeah.’ She was quiet for a moment, listening to the rain drumming on the window, inhaling the smell of furniture polish and lingering cigarette smoke. ‘Don’t think I’m not pleased you seem to be off the bottle. I am. It’s just a bit of a shock. Go on, Dad, give it to me straight. Don’t fuck me around. What have you got planned?’

  He lit a cigarette, and smiled, showing stained, yellow teeth. ‘First up, I’m an alcoholic. Always will be. I’ve been to those meetings, and they helped me get sober but I can’t ever touch a drop again. Doctor reckons I’ve done some permanent damage to my insides with all the grog too.’

  Holly opened her mouth to ask, but he held up a large, rough hand, silencing her.

  ‘Lydia was the one who got me to the meetings. She’s been trying for years, been such a help ever since Sian died … Anyway, I didn’t tell her about Jayden getting in contact, but once I got back on my feet I knew I had to sort things out. Your husband was a wanker, Jayden had been driven away by the Balintas, and there were grandsons to think about now.’

  ‘Oh God, I’m getting family business vibes again,’ Holly told him, fidgeting with her phone.

  He grinned, unperturbed. ‘Devril Mancini’s back too. Did you know? I’m sure he’s looked you up by now. He’s a good lad, and because of you he’s more Hughes than Nicholls – whatever his Uncle Marco thinks. So here we have it. A bigger family than I thought, and now I’ve spoken to my contacts, a bigger supply chain than I thought.’

  ‘You know Joey and Gareth want to buy you out? That’s a prime chunk of business you’ve hung on to, Dad. And if you won’t sell, they’ll go to me or Jayden?’ It fell neatly into place. Her dad getting ready to play the big man again, both him and Niko claiming to have hidden funds, the Nicholls getting worried that their reign might be challenged …

  ‘I know.’ He tapped his cigarette ash carefully into the glass dish, and then sat back, watching her. ‘It’s all in place. The shops are sold, so I’ve got a bit to invest in merchandise, but I’ve kept this place, and there’s still money from my old patch. That’s what we’ll concentrate on. Dealing’s how I made it in the first place. I should never have been distracted by the bloody girls. Your mum was right, you know. She told me to stick to what I knew.’

  Holly blinked hard at the mention of her mum, but managed to ignore the comment. ‘Just to get this straight in my head – you want me, Jayden, Dev and Niko to go into business with you? You want us to play drug barons?’

  Her dad stood up, moved over to her side of the room and looked down at her, his eyes bright. ‘I want you to come home, Holly. Move back to the Seaview, where you belong. Your friends and family are here, and we can raise the kids between us, while we build the business. It’s solid.’

  ‘It’s illegal! The whole business ruins lives, kills people, causes families to break up. It’s blood money, Donnie, and you fucking know it. Stop trying to convince yourself it’s all okay.’ She was breathing fast, fists clenched.

  He shrugged again, dismissing the problem. ‘There will always be drugs. Just because I go straight, doesn’t mean anyone else will, so there’s no point. It’s a question of supply and demand, and if the coppers didn’t catch me before, why should they catch us now? I’m offering you a chance to earn a lot of money, get respect, and with my full backing. You can’t say no to that, can you?’

  Chapter 20

  Dazed and furious, Holly walked home through the driving rain. She didn’t even bother to put her coat on, but carried it under one arm, perversely enjoying the fact she was soon soaked and freezing. What the hell was going on? Fucking Donnie was in cloud cuckoo land. How dare he tell her she had no other options.

  Banging the front door on her way in, her phone buzzed and she dropped her sodden coat in a heap, dripping onto the carpet. It was Karen calling. ‘Hallo? Sorry I didn’t get a chance to call you back. Is the boy talking to you yet?’ It still felt so wrong they didn’t even know his name.

  She could hear the exasperation in the other woman’s voice. ‘No. The tests have all come back fine, so there doesn’t seem to be any physical reason for him not to speak.’

  Holly was silent for a moment, digesting this, pushing Donnie from her mind. ‘DI Harper came to see my aunt this morning. He came here, to my house, because she was looking after Milo until I finished wo
rk.’

  ‘Okay. And?’

  ‘And he told her to make sure she contacted him if Jayden tried to get in touch, told her to be extra careful and slightly freaked her out. But she thinks he’s just trying to help. Did you know he was round here?’

  ‘No, I didn’t, but I’m not his keeper. It’s natural he would take an interest in the case because of the history, and natural that although he’s taking a back seat he wants to look out for people like your aunt.’

  Holly still wasn’t sure. It seemed slightly out of kilter to her and she filed the thought away for future reference. She almost said he’d been at the hospital that one time too, but dismissed it before the words came. It was easy to be a bit paranoid when she was this tired. ‘We’re going to the hospital about five. I thought I’d take Milo and see if he can talk to the boy.’

  ‘Good idea. I might be back there myself. I need to get this case moving, so any little detail that Milo might let drop, if he remembers anything, or if the boy will talk to him, I need to grab that chance. DI Harper and I have a meeting with the DCI on Thursday, and they will both want a progress report.’

  Holly thought she understood. The bosses were riding her arse and wanted results. It explained why Karen was being extra nice to her, why she kept dropping around, keeping her updated. It was because she was desperate for a result. ‘Fine, I’ll see you later.’

  ***

  It was raining again as Holly pulled up outside the hospital. After six hours’ sleep, and a bacon sandwich for lunch she was feeling like shit, running on adrenalin and wishing she hadn’t said she would do this. Milo sat in the back, wide-eyed and excited, clearly delighted to be part of the action.

  Holly turned the engine off and glanced back at her son. ‘Are you sure you want to see him?’

  ‘Yeah, of course I do. I want to ask him loads of things.’

  ‘Just be careful, because he may not talk to any of us. And you know that the police officers will probably sit in on our chat?’

  ‘I know, I’m not stupid. But if I ask him lots of questions he might answer them, mightn’t he? Hey, Mum, can we get my cast off today as well?’

  ‘Not yet, you know that. Just a couple more weeks and your leg will be mended.’

  She parked the car and waited whilst Milo hopped out with an ‘I can do it by myself!’ when she tried to help him. The rain had stopped but the sky was leaden with the promise of more and the wind chilled her bones. They walked slowly up the path towards the main entrance.

  Devril was waiting next to the bike stand, his collar hunched up, hood pulled down. Holly stopped, standing in the pouring rain, staring at him. He smiled, and she frowned at him. ‘Milo, this is an old friend of mine, Devril Mancini. Dev, fancy seeing you here. I’m sure I said no journos allowed.’

  Milo studied the man warily, and gave a small smile, but said nothing. Devril grinned at him, then turned back to Holly. ‘Relax, I’m doing family stuff. This is nothing to do with you.’

  ‘Right. Despite the fact I told you what time I was visiting … What are you really doing here?’ Holly pushed a wet strand of hair out of her eyes, peering at him.

  ‘Family. My aunt had a check-up in Outpatients. I’m waiting to give her a lift home.’

  ‘Really? I didn’t know you were so close to Cerys. I thought you never even spoke to her.’

  Dev shrugged. ‘Okay, I’m here because I had an hour to kill and I’m still chasing my story. The news will leak somehow and my colleagues will be chasing after it, so I’m here first. Happy?’

  ‘Not really, but I appreciate you being honest with me,’ Holly told him. Bastard! To think she’d been going to level with him about her chat with Donnie. Not now, he could bloody well find out for himself what was being planned.

  ‘Muuuuum, I’m getting wet!’ A squally shower was soaking them all, and Milo was hopping around waving his crutches.

  ‘Sorry, Milo,’ Holly told him. ‘Dev, we might be ages, so enjoy your chill in the rain, won’t you?’

  ‘I’ve been in worse places,’ he said, pulling his coat collar up. ‘Come over to mine afterwards for a chat. Just give me a call when you’re done.’

  ‘So who is Devil, Mum?’ Milo asked as they pushed carefully through the crowd of walking wounded, visitors and staff, all streaming along the wet concrete, heads bowed, colourful umbrellas bashing the unwary.

  ‘A friend. And it’s Devril not Devil.’

  ‘Devil is a way cooler name. Is he your boyfriend? Dad says—’

  Holly cut him off quickly. ‘No, I don’t have a boyfriend. You’re a smart boy, Milo, and you know things have been a bit weird since the crash, but I’m really proud of you.’

  He nodded, slightly puzzled. ‘Cool … Mum, can I ask you something?’

  They were walking in through the automatic doors now, heading for the main reception desk. Milo scooted along on his crutches.

  ‘You can ask me anything, you know that.’ Oh God, she really hoped it wasn’t going to be an awkward question about Beth and Tom.

  ‘Mum, if someone asked you to keep a secret would you do it?’

  They joined a long queue of patients and families, waiting to be seen at the reception desk. ‘Depends what kind of secret. If it was something bad, I’m not sure I would keep it quiet …’ She kept it light, but her brain was running over possibilities. His little face was deadly serious, and he was looking intently at her, as though this really mattered. ‘Depends who asked me, too … Is it a friend from school?’

  ‘Um … No. I … Oh look, Mum, there’s Steph, that policewoman. And she’s waving at us.’

  Silently cursing, Holly extracted them from the queue and went over to join DS Harlow.

  ‘Is … Is Karen here?’ Holly asked. It was still hard calling them by their given names. She felt uncomfortable, like the barriers were coming down and she didn’t know which side everyone was on. It made them human, she realised, and she didn’t like it. Especially after talking to Donnie. It was like having a foot in both camps.

  Her dad had raised them to hate the police. They were pigs, always picking on the inhabitants of the Seaview, he’d told his kids. And here she was talking to the police, helping with an investigation even, just hours after her dad told he that he wanted her to run a drugs op. No wonder her brain was fried.

  ‘She got called away, but I’ll sit in with you, just in case we get anywhere.’ Steph smiled at Milo, holding the door open for him to hop through.

  They took the elevator to the fifth floor and signed in on the ward. The boy was in a cubicle as usual, and the room was crowded once they had all piled in.

  Jayden’s son was pale, but alert as Holly dumped her bag next to the bed. Milo, who was swinging along on his crutches, studied the other child with interest.

  Sitting up, the boy looked skinny, but wiry and muscled rather than malnourished. There was a hardness in his expression that sleep had hidden, and the vulnerability that had shown in his face when he’d first woken was gone. A child with secrets and perhaps not one accustomed to an easy life? Seeing the two boys together Holly’s heart gave a twist and she bit down hard on her lip. He was just a child. Larissa’s boy. Jayden’s son.

  She sat down carefully on the chair next to his bed, and Milo leant against her, perched on the bed itself. Steph, sitting opposite, scrolled through her iPad. It felt crowded, claustrophobic, and massively awkward. The air was stale and the scent of disinfectant pierced the general mugginess of sweat and urine.

  ‘Hi again.’ She felt stupid but she had to say something. ‘Do you remember I was here when you woke up? I’m Holly and this is Milo, my son …’

  The boy shrugged, and met her eyes briefly, before resuming his careful sweep of the room. He was clearly indicating he had heard her, she thought. But his black gaze was resting on Milo now. She would have said his expression registered interest, but this was quickly shut down into blankness.

  Again, emotions crashed through her. A child shouldn’t be abl
e to look like that, shouldn’t be able to crush his own feelings, his expressions like that. Bizarrely she was reminded of her dad, today, when he asked her to move back to Seaview. His blank expression hadn’t matched up with the brightness in his eyes, the hope in his voice.

  ‘You were in the car after it crashed,’ her son said, leaning forward to rest his hands on the white sheet. ‘Who was the man? Was it your dad?’

  The boy in the bed said nothing, but kept looking at Milo, searching his face. Holly looked helplessly over at Steph, who nodded encouragingly.

  ‘What’s your name?’ Holly asked gently.

  The thin lips parted, he moistened them with his tongue, but then his mouth clamped shut again.

  They sat down, and Holly told her son he could ask any questions he wanted.

  ‘I’m really glad you woke up!’ Milo told him, completely unabashed. ‘Look, I brought you some books to read. Do you like David Walliams?’

  There was no response from the bed, but Milo chattered on, scattering the books he had brought, across the bed, telling the boy about karate and rugby and his school friends. All the time he looked hopefully at the boy’s face, apparently willing him to speak.

  At half past five, DC Marriot entered the room, smiled at them all, and dragged a chair over to Steph’s side of the bed.

  Although Karen looked her usual immaculate self, Holly could see shadows under her eyes, lines under the make-up, despite the brave red lipstick. Clearly there wasn’t any more news on Jayden.

  ‘Did you speak to the doctors earlier?’ Steph asked.

  ‘Yes. They say that there are improvements.’ Her gaze rested on the boy, but his concentration seemed to be focused on Milo.

  Whilst Milo chatted away, Holly moved round and asked quietly if there was any news on the deaths of Alexi and Roman.

  ‘We are still investigating, along with the prison service.’ Karen’s pursed her lips, and added, ‘Alexi had two visitors in the week before his death, and one of them has been untraceable.’