by D. E. White
‘Go on.’
‘I never told you because I knew you’d be mad, but that first time Jayden vanished, he kept in touch, just the odd text, and once a phone call. He was mostly checking up on you, because he knew we were together. He said he was worried the Balintas might come after you for the money he owed. But he really fell for Larissa, and when he found out she was pregnant he wanted out of all the drugs mess.’
Holly rubbed a hand across her face. ‘What? Jay didn’t give a fuck about anyone except himself. So you knew where he was all along and didn’t tell us?’
‘No! I didn’t know where he was. I asked, of course, but he never let on. It wasn’t like we were in touch every day. Sometimes it would be months before I got a message.’
‘But you never told me. You knew Lydia was freaking out. And Donnie …’ Holly turned slightly away from him. Secrets and lies again. Just like Tom.
‘There’s more you need to know … You remember when we all got arrested that one time there was a big round-up? The Nicholls’ crew got hauled in over that new club in South Street and we got nicked at the same time.’
‘You said it was just the new DCI cleaning up. Nobody ever actually got charged with anything, did they?’ She was frowning now, trying to force her mind back.
‘Right. But what I didn’t tell you was that DI Harper offered some of us a deal. He said he hadn’t been able to get a grass in the Balinta–Nicholls operation and he wanted an inside source. We both agreed. Me and Jay. Me, because Mason was pushing me towards the clubs, and I knew about the trafficking of underage girls between South Canfield and Westbourne, and Jayden because he was well in the drugs side of the operation. He had all the contacts. You can make a lot of money snitching to the police, and Jay had plans to get out of the Seaview too.’
‘Fuck, so you were a grass? A snitch? You and Jayden?’ Holly couldn’t take it in. ‘For how long?’
‘Me, right up until Larissa’s murder, and Jayden the same. Even when he disappeared with Larissa he was still feeding stuff to the police. Just who lived where, eking out his useful information so that DI Harper kept paying him.’
‘Devril, why the fuck didn’t you tell me any of this after Larissa was killed?’
‘First up, I didn’t know you still thought it was your fault about the message. Like I said, we hardly spoke after that night, did we? You cut me off totally, like you thought it was my fault. I supposed that when nothing came up with the police, or at the trial, you’d figure it out.’ He sighed. ‘The rest, well it was all mixed up with the police stuff. I couldn’t say too much and I was fucking terrified it would come out that I’d been a grass. You know what happens to anyone who messes with the families. That’s partly the reason I went abroad for so long.’ He glanced away, hiding the emotion in his face. ‘I spoke to Bailey’s wife today. Sanita. She called me, and she was in bits but she wants to meet up.’
‘Really? Why? I thought she had gone … What a fucking mess.’ Holly drank her cold coffee, gulping it down, spilling some so it dribbled down her chin. Her brain couldn’t cope with all this, and her heart was torn apart. ‘Dev, I need to find Milo. Right now, I don’t care about all the rest of this.’
‘I know. But I want you to come with and find out why Sanita wants a meet-up. She mentioned you, and she’d seen the news about Milo.’
Holly shook out her long hair, raked it back with frustrated fingers and yanked it into a ponytail. ‘Well, we need to do something, because the police have fuck-all. I’m sure Karen thinks I’m this dodgy bitch from the estate, with a failed marriage and criminal connections and …’
‘Why would she think that?’ Devril moved closer, gently tipping her face upwards with two fingers under her chin. ‘It’s you who thinks that, Holly, and nobody else. You’re doing what we all do, getting by the only way you can. And for your information your ex is a wanker, but I think we’ve already covered that.’ He smiled.
‘Let’s meet Bailey’s wife then.’ Holly felt emotion rising, choking her. Every couple of seconds she checked her phone. The conversation kept her distracted, but that was all. Inside she was still screaming.
‘And then I’m going to visit Gareth.’
‘You can’t! He’ll kill you,’ Holly said, staring at Dev. ‘He must know you’re a journalist now and he knows Bailey was talking to you. You probably won’t even get to talk to him. They’ll just set the boys onto you, and the police will find you in a ditch somewhere or hanging from a tree.’
‘Thanks for that. Give me some credit, Holly. You forget I did a lot of work for Gareth. Not so much Joey, but I was getting kids and gear across the county lines for months before Larissa’s murder. He’s got no idea I was a grass.’
‘You hope. And you don’t know what they got out of Bailey. You’re an idiot, Devril Mancini.’
‘Get your coat, woman, and stop nagging.’ He smiled. It was a proper smile that reminded her of their old joke, but somehow her own face was frozen, her mouth too stiff to respond.
***
They drove out to Panfield, and Dev pulled over by the station car park. ‘She said over by the B&Q warehouse. Look, I think I can see her …’
Holly peered across rows of parked cars, shoving her hands in her pockets, shivering as the icy wind caught her breath. There was a woman standing against the wall, half hidden by the recycling bins.
‘Are you Dev?’ She was slim and blonde, younger than Holly had expected, huddled inside a massive black Puffa jacket. Her eyes were red and she wore no make-up.
He introduced Holly and Bailey’s wife nodded, a flash of sympathy crossing her face as her eyes met Holly’s.
‘I’m really sorry about Bailey,’ Holly said softly.
Sanita glanced sharply to her left as a car started up, backing carefully out of its space. ‘Yeah, he was a good man … He was trying to do the right thing, even though I told him not to try and be a hero. To us that’s what he was …’ She was crying again, fumbling for a tissue.
‘Sanita, I hate to rush you, but why did you want to see me?’ Dev was also watching the car park, eyes darting from the figures walking to and from their vehicles, to a white van that had pulled up a few yards from them, the driver ostensibly having a burger and a cigarette.
‘Bailey didn’t tell me what he was doing at first. About giving you information and that, but when he did, he said that he’d noticed Gareth was being a bit weird around him. Like, following him, checking up on him. It’s normal to check up on the drivers, especially if they’ve got … if they’ve got special cargo in the back. Do you know what I mean?’
‘Yeah.’ Dev was nodding, clearly desperate for her to get to the point.
Holly stood with her back to the wall, constantly checking for any sign that they’d been spotted. The blue wheelie bin lid creaked in the wind, making them all jump. ‘Look, Sanita, Bailey was doing the right thing, and we told the police what was happening, but he never got round to giving Dev the evidence. He was supposed to be doing it this week. Did he give you anything, or tell you anything we could use?’
Sanita dragged a packet of cigarettes from her pocket and lit up, cupping her hand against the wind, and then taking a long drag. ‘The police asked me about it too, and I said I only knew what Bailey had told me, nothing else.’ She pushed a strand of hair back from her face. ‘But he had what he needed. We were ready to go, but that morning Gareth called wanting Bailey to deliver a load in Abbingdean. He said it was a rush job and he needed timber picked up. Bailey didn’t think anything of it. He was his dad, after all …’
‘Did he get to his destination?’
‘Yeah. He called me to say he’d picked up and was going to head back, that he’d be home by sevenish. I told the police all this too. There was nothing to suggest he’d been spooked, apart from that constant worry about Gareth …’
‘They must have killed him, driven him back to the café and then texted Dev,’ Holly said.
‘Thing is, if I give you the stuf
f you need, the Nicholls will go after me. Just now, I’m safe and I can go – me and the kids – and they won’t come looking because they think I don’t know anything.’ Sanita paused. She was clearly terrified. ‘But I heard about your kid, and I thought if Joey could kill his own nephew …’
Holly found herself holding her breath, willing the other woman to go on, but terrified for her if she did.
Sanita chucked her cigarette stub down and ground it out, slowly and deliberately. Her grey eyes were hard, focused, when she looked up. ‘Bailey was brave, and he wanted to do this. I want to be able to tell the kids what he did, what I did, so here, I haven’t got his phone – I dunno what happened to that – but he kept these printouts in a box under the bed. He never put stuff on the computer because he was afraid of someone hacking it. It’s mostly screenshots, and a kind of diary of conversations and events, but I reckon even without the other evidence, it might be enough.’
‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ Holly had eyes on the van driver, who was now reversing slowly towards them.
Sanita shoved a handful of paperwork at Dev. ‘Take it. But give me two hours from now to get away. I’m not going back to my mum’s, I’m taking the kids somewhere nobody will find us.’
Dev took the crumpled papers and put them carefully in his pocket. ‘Good luck.’
She nodded at both of them. ‘Hope you get your kid back.’
The van turned and drove away as Sanita walked quickly down the side of the building, vanishing between the warehouses.
***
Anger was good, and it helped her to keep going, to answer her messages, to do basic tasks like cleaning her teeth, which had suddenly become exhausting. She and Dev had studied the printouts, which were interesting, and certainly mentioned some contacts and routes that Karen Marriot would be very keen to check up on. It proved Bailey had been serious about grassing up the Nicholls’ crew, but Holly was worried that without his testimony or the videos, the Nicholls’ solicitor would pick holes in the evidence. The police could get on and find some decent evidence to tie the brothers to Bailey’s murder.
Holly found herself walking round the house, checking the window and door locks, jumping every time a car went past. Too many enemies haunted her home, and Sanita’s terror had only added to her own fears. When someone hammered on the front door, she picked up Milo’s cricket bat and inched towards the window to check who it was, despite the fact it was broad daylight.
‘Come on, Holly, open the door!’ It was Cath.
‘Sorry, I forgot you were coming. Oh, did you get them done?’
Cath’s arms were full of posters. Milo’s smiling face, one front tooth missing, beamed up at her, and Holly ran straight to the toilet to chuck her guts up.
Cathryn followed her, holding her hair back as she retched, and then fetched a glass of water. ‘Holly, you’re doing great and we’ll get him back. Lydia’s been sorting everyone out. She’s got these posters, and T-shirts done, and she’s coordinating search parties to knock on doors, and everything. Honestly, she’s amazing. Everyone on the Seaview is out looking now, babes, and we’ve got these posters all along the coast now. Tesco and McDonald’s have got them up in the windows, and that big food wholesaler has printed a big fuck-off flag with the poster on and put it up near the main road. I gave some to Donnie on my way over. Bloody hell, he’s changed, hasn’t he? He was yelling at a journalist just like he used to in the old days. What about Tom? He can take some too, can’t he?’
‘Yeah he could put them up at the university. You know he hasn’t been in contact since the night Milo was taken, the bastard.’
‘The police interviewed him though, didn’t they?’ Cath frowned. ‘What about him using? What happens with that?’
‘Dunno. I think it has to be dealt with through social services and our solicitors. He’s getting payback big time now though, especially as Beth has left him.’ She couldn’t help feeling a flash of grim satisfaction at the thought. ‘I’ll drop some in to him on my way out. I’m meeting Dev.’ She decided not to mention that they were going to see Niko, and Gareth.
‘Do you want me to come with you? I can ring Chrissie and get her to pick the twins up.’ Chrissie, Colleen and Cayley were Cath’s trio of efficient elder sisters.
‘I’m okay, thanks. I feel better doing stuff, and Dev’s been helping too. Lydia’s coming over later. She went to see Donnie for an update.’ Holly pulled a face. ‘He’s acting like the perfect dad, and I’m grateful, I really am, but I can’t deal with anything right now except finding Milo. Anyway, I’ll go out later and start handing these to the neighbours before it gets dark.’ Holly smiled weakly at her. ‘You are amazing too, Cath.’
Cathryn hugged her, pulling her close with her skinny arms, kissing the top of her head as though she was one of her kids. ‘Hang on in there, babes, we’ll find him.’
Dev called just after her best friend left. ‘I’m still with the police. This is taking ages. I reckon we should go visiting tomorrow. Holly? Don’t go by yourself, will you? Please …’
Holly thought quickly. Common sense told her that she should wait, but her primal instincts told her to go, to hit someone, to punch her way around the whole town until she found her son. She took a deep breath. ‘Tomorrow is fine. I’ve got some posters of Milo I need to take round the shops and that. What have the police said about the stuff from Bailey?’
‘Can’t really talk now, but DI Harper is in charge of Bailey’s murder case, too.’ Dev’s voice was colourless.
‘Wow. Of all the …’
‘Yeah. I’ll call you when I’m done here but call me anytime if you get any news.’
Holly ended the call, put her phone in her pocket and spent a couple of minutes staring vacantly out of the window. Eventually she squared her shoulders, picked up the flyers and slammed the front door behind her. She pushed her way past the two photographers leaning against their car.
Chapter 32
The darkness made everything worse, and Milo’s face was tattooed on the inside of her eyelids, his imagined pain making her jump in panic. After taking the flyers everywhere she could think of, she’d come home and Lydia had frogmarched her to bed. But rest would not come. Eventually giving up all hope of sleep, Holly went back to the sofa, creeping past the spare room where Lydia was snoring. The photos of Milo she had hung in the hallways stared down at her, and she couldn’t stop herself checking her phone again and again, just in case she had missed a call. There was nothing. Her little boy had just vanished.
She must have dozed on the sofa because the sound of breaking glass sent her leaping to her feet, panicked and confused. Glass shards scattered everywhere, across her face, across the floorboards, and there was another smash.
A dark figure was swinging a baseball bat at her living room windows. She screamed and ran into the hall, slipping on glass shards, colliding with her aunt, who was fumbling for her phone.
‘What’s happening?’ Lydia was yanking a cardigan over her pink satin nightie. ‘Is someone breaking in?’
There were more smashes, and lightly further away, car alarms blaring, and yells from neighbours. Holly got through to the police on the emergency line and told them she had an intruder. Keeping the line open, she pushed her aunt towards the spare room, which looked out onto the back garden. Her heart was thumping wildly, palms sweaty. She ran across and opened the windows. ‘If he tries to get us we can climb out and get through the garden to the woods,’ she told Lydia, who was shaking. ‘Lock the door and push that bookcase against it.’
Together they heaved some furniture against the wooden door, trying to listen for the intruder. Were those footsteps in the hallway, or was it just the noise outside? Someone was banging on the front door but Holly stayed where she was. The tinny voice on her phone was asking if she was okay, and Holly explained they were safe for the moment, ignoring the wetness on her face.
‘Holly, you’re hurt. You’ve got blood all over your cheek,’ her au
nt said sharply, as she snapped the light on. Her black hair was wild and her face pale without its usual thick coating of make-up. The wrinkles around her eyes and mouth were very pronounced, and her hand crept up to clutch at the folds on her cardigan.
Holly reached up and turned the light off, instead using the torch on her phone to check the garden. Her heart was thumping painfully against her ribs.
They waited in the dark, Holly considering whether to make a break for it and take her aunt to safety through the woods. But what if the intruder was in the house, in the kitchen pulling out a knife, hiding in the garden?
Clinging together they sat on the edge of Lydia’s bed, shivering. They could hear distant yells from outside, and finally the welcome blare of sirens.
Holly let out a long breath of relief. She waited until she could hear that the police were actually in her house, searching and calling that it was safe, before she moved the furniture and emerged with Lydia, blinking in the light. ‘I’m fine. We both are.’
Karen was followed by two uniformed officers, who were checking out the damage in her living room. The front door was wide open, fresh white scars in the wood as though it too had been bludgeoned. As she turned away from the curious stares of bystanders, Holly caught sight of her car, smashed and dented by the same baseball bat that had attacked her windows presumably. ‘Jesus, the insurance company are going to do their nut on this one. Two cars in one month.’
‘I’d say that was the least of your worries,’ Karen told her, grimly surveying the glittering shards of glass that covered the room.
‘Come in the kitchen, and I’ll make some tea,’ Lydia said. Her face was grey in the light and she walked slowly, shoulders hunched. Holly watched her worriedly, but she managed a smile. ‘Just a bit of a shock, isn’t it? After everything that’s been happening.’
Steph arrived as Karen was adding three spoonfuls of sugar to her tea. ‘Holly! Are you all right?’
‘We’re okay,’ Holly said. Quickly, she told them what had happened.
