by D. E. White
With each day that passed she felt hope fading, and although she tried to fight the thoughts away, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was better not to know, than to have a body …
History was repeating itself in a way she had never imagined.
Chapter 36
The wind had whipped the frost into ice sculptures the next morning, but by lunchtime the air was warmer and the clouds heavy with rain. Holly, staring at Milo’s wall, forgot about lunch until her phone rang. The number wasn’t familiar and she answered cautiously, fully expecting another journalist.
‘Hey, Holly! It’s Noah. I hope you don’t mind but I got your number off Rubes.’
‘Oh. No of course not … Are you okay?’
‘Yeah great. Look this is a bit weird but … Rubes told me to just ring and tell you, but I think I need to see you.’
‘Noah?’ He sounded nervous, even a bit scared.
‘So everyone knows that your son is missing and I got this call earlier … You know I said my dad owned a building firm?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, he does a bit of gambling and that on the side, and he’s got shares in a few other businesses that aren’t exactly legal.’ Noah took a deep breath. ‘It’s not something I’m proud of and I’ve been trying to get him to go straight for years. The thing is, he knows some dodgy people, and …’
‘Noah! Do you know something about Milo?’
‘I think I might, but you can’t tell the police. Come and meet me in the car park behind Ruby’s flat, and we can talk in my van. I’m really scared, Holly, but I can’t let this go when there’s a kid missing. I’ve got a phone with all sorts of shit on it. It’s got a photo of your kid.’
Jesus! Holly thought fast. Noah, of all people, to come up with something. Did she trust him? Should she risk it? ‘How did you get the phone? Actually, Noah let me speak to Ruby. Is she with you?’
‘Yeah, she’s right here.’ There was a muffled conversation as the phone was passed over.
‘Holly, I think Noah might really have something, but this man who gave him the information is terrified of being caught, and Noah is really freaked out too. The phone has got loads of texts, and photos, but some are definitely of Milo. He’s okay, Holly, he’s alive.’ Ruby’s voice was quick and anxious.
‘Whose phone is it?’ Holly said.
More muffled conversation. ‘He says it was stolen off a bloke called Joey Nicholls. Holly. Look we are so freaked by this, so just be really careful, and we’ll meet you round the back of my flat. Seriously, this bloke told Noah he’ll get us in the shit if we tell the police, and he said to only tell you, and he said he’d be watching.’
‘Who is this bloke – the one who stole the phone – and why did he give it to Noah?’
‘Don’t know, but he just said this is what we have to do to get Milo back safe. He said he saw the pictures on Joey’s phone and he saw the photos of Milo on the TV.’
‘All right, I’m coming.’ Holly grabbed her coat. ‘I’ll be there in about ten minutes.’
Her fingers hovered over her contacts as she jogged through the housing estates, heading north, but she found herself calling Dev instead of Karen.
‘Hi, Holly, you all right?’
She told him, breathlessly, words tumbling over one another, giving him Ruby’s address.
‘Sounds like a set-up to me. I’m at home so I can be with you in five?’
‘No! I mean do come, but not to meet me. Can you just follow me and then if it doesn’t look right call the police? If this is a chance to get Milo back …’
‘Really? Holly, just wait for me and we can go together.’
‘Please, Dev, this could be my chance to get Milo back and I can’t blow it.’
‘Okay. Try and slow down a bit and I’ll get there just before you if I run.’
‘Don’t let him see you, Dev!’
‘Be careful, for fuck’s sake, girl.’ His voice was rough with worry.
***
There was no sign of Dev as she made her way round the back of the block of flats, walking past a couple of parked vans, and skirting the garages. The weather was shit. Icy rain was pelting down now, and this part of town was rundown and desolate. Every muscle in her body was tense with fear and hope.
She heard Noah calling as she got to the wire fence, and he was standing by a white van next to the derelict playground. She walked over, treading carefully, wary, but unable to see how this could be a trap. Noah was tall and muscular, but although she was out of shape, she figured she could probably take him in a fight. Her bare fingers closed in fists. ‘Why have you parked over here? Does Joey have Milo? Where’s Ruby?’
‘She’s keeping a watch from the flat. Seriously, she’s going to ring the police if anything goes wrong. I’m really sorry to freak you out, Holly, but I’m really scared myself. Look, can we sit in the van so nobody can see us and I’ll show you the phone?’ He did look terrified. All traces of his usual charm and cheek were gone and his cheeks were pale. He slid the side door open, looking quickly around.
Wary, Holly stuck her head in, blinking at the sudden darkness. But instead the van had what looked like sleeping bags, and on the floor she could see a body, face down sprawled in the dirt, one shoe off.
Something poked hard in her side, and her whole body was cramping, muscles spasming. She couldn’t move, doubling over, falling. Her insides were being ripped apart. She was paralysed, trying to breathe but she couldn’t take a breath. Terror took over, and she felt arms around her, gasping as something antiseptic and minty engulfed her nose and mouth. A gag, her heavy, rag doll limbs being tied. Her brain was fogging, heart pounding the way it did when she was very drunk. Holly tried to scream but her voice came out tinny and miles away. Everything was echoing and the rushing in her ears intensified, blackness swirling around her.
Chapter 37
‘Hi, Holly, join the party.’ Noah was sitting on a dusty chair, opposite her, waiting, watching. But he wasn’t Noah; his whole demeanour had changed. The laughter had gone from his eyes, and his body was tense. In his right hand he casually held a gun.
The blackness swirled and she raised her head. She was lying on a concrete floor. She blinked hard, taking in her surroundings. A derelict warehouse, covered in dirt and graffiti. The air was sour and dusty, but she tasted salt on her lips. Rain spattered onto her upturned face, waking her properly, ‘Where’s Milo?’ Nausea made her drop her head back to the ground.
‘He’s fine. He and Ethan are having a little party of their own. You don’t think I’d hurt a kid, do you?’ He shook his head. ‘I thought you knew me better than that.’
‘Ethan?’ She wriggled her numb hands, and discovered they were tied at the wrists. Her ankles were also tightly bound, and she fought down a surge of panic. How could she rescue Milo if she’d let herself get caught?
‘Jayden’s kid.’
This was crazy. ‘How do you know about Jayden? I don’t understand why you’ve brought me here, but if you let me and Milo go, I won’t say anything until you’ve got away,’ she said. Dev had said he would follow her, but had he got there in time? Her body felt odd, limp and pathetic, and her brain refused to work. Of course he would have done. She would have to trust he knew where she was, had called the police, because her phone had disappeared from her pocket. ‘Tell me where Milo is.’
It was a feeble ploy and of course Noah just smiled pityingly. ‘It isn’t just you here, Holly, I’ve found some other partygoers. They aren’t very lively at the moment, but I think they’ll warm up.’
Far above, the skeleton of the highest level could be seen, open to the elements where some storm had torn a sizable hole in the corrugated asbestos roof, exposing metal beams, one of which hung, swinging dangerously, by what looked like a cluster of wires.
There was a kind of office area on this floor, and the wooden floorboards were relatively intact. An old desk and table, sheaves of yellow paperwork and a rotting red sofa were shov
ed at one end. On the other side were two more mattresses, in better condition than the sofa, blankets and a scrumpled McDonald’s bag.
‘Here’s one of them.’ Noah kicked Cathryn’s body out from behind a stack of mouldering packing cases, and Holly bit back a scream.
But Cath seemed to be breathing, if comatose. Her wrists and ankles were bound with the same cable ties as Holly’s and she had a gag taped over her mouth.
Bewildered, heart pounding with terror, Holly watched as Noah crossed the room, lanky and confident, and pulled away a dusty curtain. She’d assumed it hid more packing cases, but instead it concealed a kind of metal cage. It was some kind of goods lift for transporting materials to the different floors. The pulleys and mechanisms of the cage were up in the damaged roof area, but the cage door was padlocked shut, suspended a few inches above the floor.
The place stank of stale urine, filth and sweat, and every so often an icy breath of wind would sweep through the place, making the roof rattle.
But Holly was staring, unable to believe she wasn’t dreaming. There were no goods wedged into the cage now. Instead it contained two men, tightly bound and gagged. They were squashed together, knees against their chests, with barely three feet between them. One of the men was Niko. The other …
‘Jayden?’ Holly’s voice didn’t seem to belong to her. She seemed to be floating above the scene, surely dreaming. But he was there. Older, greyer if it was possible, with dried blood on his face, and dirt smeared across his bare arms, her brother sat like a trapped animal.
Noah reached carefully though the bars and ripped the gaffer tape gags away. ‘Now you can talk to me, boys. Look who’s joined the party!’
‘What the fuck is going on?’ Holly got in first. ‘Jayden, what’s going on? Where’s Milo, and your kid?’
Noah narrowed his eyes as Niko let forth a stream of expletives, but he let him run on until the other man ran out of breath. A thin line of saliva ran down the corner of Niko’s mouth, dripping onto his bare chest. His bottom half was covered in a grubby tracksuit bottoms and he looked as though he’d been hauled out of bed.
‘Holly,’ Jayden said. His voice was cracking with emotion. ‘Holly, you need to get Ethan and … and Milo.’
‘Did you take Milo?’ His eyes met hers, pleading. For a second there was nobody else in the room, until she drew a breath and addressed Noah. ‘Is this about drugs? Or do Niko and Jayden owe you money or something?’
Noah shook his head. ‘You really don’t get it, do you?’
‘We don’t, so why the fuck don’t you tell us, you arsehole?’ Niko said. He was struggling furiously, clearly not realising it was futile, with his bonds, whilst Jayden sat still, watching, waiting.
‘Don’t do this, Noah. It isn’t worth it.’ Jayden spoke to Noah now, but his eyes were on Holly.
‘You should be pleased. You’ve spent years planning this moment, telling me how you wanted to see Niko beg for his life before you put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
Niko’s eyes bulged with fear, but this time he spluttered out a few words. ‘Why do you want to kill me, Jay? You stole my money, so it should be the other way around!’
Jayden spoke quietly. ‘Larissa.’ He licked cracked lips and cleared his throat. ‘This is about Larissa, all of it.’
‘It was Alexi and Roman who killed her!’ He turned to Noah. ‘Fuck me, did you have them killed? You did, didn’t you? Both of you?’ Never the sharpest, Niko seemed to be slowly realising he wasn’t going to get out the warehouse alive.
‘You found out where Jayden was. He owed you money, sure, and he’d screwed you over, but you’re a nasty little shit, and you knew exactly what your arsehole brothers would do when they found him. That was your idea of revenge. You’re pathetic,’ Noah said.
Holly swallowed hard. The same night she had passed the message to Dev, the one he had never passed to Niko. Thank God he hadn’t. But how was she involved?
‘I didn’t know they were going to kill her!’ Niko’s voice was a whine now. ‘I honestly didn’t. I wanted the money and I was pissed because I’d lost a load of customers when Jay fucked off, but that’s as far as it went.’
He even managed to sound genuine, and it was the same story he had told the police, had told in court. His eyes fell on Cath’s body as he spoke though, and Holly couldn’t help feeling a twinge of respect that he was still protecting her.
‘I don’t understand where you come in,’ Holly said to Noah. ‘What does any of this matter to you? Did you take Milo? Where is he?’ She was trying to get her head around this and failing.
He smiled at her. ‘I can’t believe you haven’t figured it out yet.’
Holly looked over at her brother and he shrugged, but he was staring at her. She tried to smile at him but found she couldn’t. The shock was freezing her face, her limbs. Jayden was alive, sitting just across the room. Her mind was blurry, and her body still felt shaky after being hit with what must have been a Taser. Had Noah drugged her too? Cautiously, she rubbed her cold arms, feeling along the skin for needle marks. He could have done anything whilst she was out cold. ‘Where’s Milo?’
‘You’re like a broken record. Later, Holly, later.’ Noah smiled round at them all and moved over to the desk. He stood like a judge and jury, raised a bottle of vodka to his lips and took a swig. Taking a party popper from his pocket, he let it off with a crack and the coloured paper blew high into the air, before falling slowly, dancing on the cold air. ‘I got this tattoo a few years ago. Holly, have a look and tell me if you like it?’ He walked over to her and bent down, pulling his top low to expose the bare skin.
Bewildered, she peered at his shoulder. An intertwined heart and rose, with a name across the middle: Larissa.
He nodded slowly. ‘Larissa was my fiancée. My girl. Twelve years ago, I should have been getting married. She was perfect, beautiful, and she was mine. I loved her from the moment we first met, but you ruined our lives.’
Holly was staring at Jay, watching the confusion, the horror in his face, realising with a jolt that he had also been duped by Noah.
‘It’s taken me a long time to get to this point. I’ve had to pay money, pretend to like the bastard who stole my girl – yes Jayden, it took me a long time to track you down. That DI Harper was worth the cash, wasn’t he? I wondered for a long time how the hell it was all going to work, but then I realised I was smarter than all of you. You were so desperate for revenge, you let your guard down – you are pathetic.’
‘Jesus,’ said Niko, his eyes bulging with fear at these latest revelations.
‘Amen to that,’ Noah said, moving back to his desk and picking up the bottle. ‘I was engaged to Larissa, and we were in love. She was the only one with any quality, so once I got her away from her mum, who incidentally didn’t give a shit and thought Larissa had just moved out with her new boyfriend, I brought her down south with the other girls.’ He frowned. ‘She was in one of the guest houses we ran in Westbourne, but of course she never worked. Her house was one of the busiest, and Joey said she could host the parties and make herself useful.’
‘Wait a minute. You worked for the Nicholls and trafficked those girls down from Yorkshire? That’s where the other yard is, isn’t it? It was you?’ Holly couldn’t fathom the switch from the Noah she knew at work, saving lives, to this monster who had stolen girls, children, to work in brothels for Gareth and Joey.
‘It was easy. There are so many fucking stupid, lost little girls looking for fairy-tale endings to their shitty lives. I tell them all that I love them, that I’ll look after them, marry them, whatever it takes. I give them enough time to tell any family or friends that they’ve got a serious boyfriend, sowing the seeds for the time they disappear, and then when they do, social services, the police do a cursory search, discover another teenage runaway and that’s it.’
‘What about the police? You can’t tell me girls are just vanishing and they aren’t looking?’ Holly thought of the massi
ve search for Milo.
‘I’m not stupid. Do you have any idea how many teenagers go missing every year? How many girls run away with their boyfriends? Most of them aren’t ever found,’ Noah informed her smugly. ‘These are kids who won’t be missed.’
‘She hated it! She thought you actually cared about her, and then she realised it was all a game to you,’ Jayden said suddenly. ‘Larissa was terrified, and she wasn’t in love with you, she just did what she was told because she was afraid. She saw the other girls raped by the clients, saw the abuse they had to put up with and you told her that marrying you was the only way out.’
‘Bullshit! Once we were married, we were going to move away and start out somewhere new. But she started to become distant, cool with me. I wasn’t having that so I told her we’d get married sooner. I was worried she was pregnant already,’ Noah spat back. ‘She was the only one I was serious about, and she was perfect. Right from the day I first saw her, I knew she was the one.’
‘But how could you do it? How could you work for the Nicholls?’ Holly queried.
‘I’m family, Holly. Noah is just a middle name. Gareth is my dad, but I stayed with my mum in Bradford, so we wouldn’t have met. Shame really, I would’ve liked to have seen you fight, Holly. I hear you were really good. Anyway, I’m part of one, big happy family.’ He was grinning now. ‘I started running the girls when I was eighteen, and Gareth was dead proud.’
‘Jesus …’ Holly was lost for words. ‘I never would have guessed it was you, that you’re one of them. Fucking Nicholls. You lot are like a plague of evil. Whenever there’s shit going on, one of you turns up.’
‘I tracked Jayden down around three years ago. He’s been in Glasgow, but maybe you already figured that out? I got him to trust me, while we waited for Niko to be released. I persuaded Jayden to let me in on his plan.’
‘Jayden?’ Holly stared at her brother but he just shrugged. Holly supposed she could see how clever Noah was at switching roles. After all, he’d fooled her totally, so it was little surprise Jay was convinced, too.
