by Kay Leitch
Carla tutted to herself, this was a setback, she had been so certain that it must have been Vanessa that had texted Louise…still she had the earrings, that placed Vanessa at the murder scene…she took a deep breath and followed Ted down to the interview room.
CHAPTER 51 - MAGGIE
Maggie listened to Carla's message and put the phone to one side, she would call her later when she was on her own, apologise properly…she felt such a fool for getting so upset, Carla was the last person that she wanted to fall out with.
Helen seemed to be in better shape after a good night's sleep, she was in fact quite upbeat and positive this morning, planning her life without Will, and with more time spent with the delectable Mike.
'I suppose if you think about it Maggie,' she was saying excitedly, 'Wills has done me a big favour, I mean I was in quite a dilemma over Mike and how much I liked him, now I don't have to feel guilty when I meet him…no more sneaking around, it will be great, in fact I think I will go and call him now, he tried calling me about 4 times yesterday but I was just too mixed up to speak to him. I'll try and arrange to meet him later, he'll be so pleased to know I've split up with Wills,' she rushed off upstairs to get her mobile without waiting for Maggie to reply, which was lucky really because Maggie was just sitting with her mouth wide open trying to come to terms with this new over excited Helen coming so soon after 'I can't live without Wills' Helen of the night before. Of course it was good to see her friend being so positive but Maggie was a bit worried about her sudden change of heart especially as she seemed to be placing a lot of emphasise on a future with Mike who, when all was said and done, was a completely unknown quantity. She wished she had Carla to talk to, she was jolted out of her thoughts by her mobile ringing, it was Tracy.
'Hi hun,' she began warily. 'How are you feeling this morning, I got your message to call but I thought I'd let you have a lie in before I did,' she was obviously worried that Maggie was still in a strop.
'I'm fine thanks sweety,' said Maggie. 'Apart from feeling like a total bitch, how could I have talked to Carla like that oh my god I'm so sorry… but never mind that for the moment the reason I asked you to call was because of Helen, oh my god Trace, last night…' She went on to tell her all about Wills and how she had found Helen and brought her back home, Tracy was appalled and as Maggie had known she would, said she would be round as soon as school finished later that day as long as Maggie didn't mind her bringing Buster with her, which, Maggie being a big Buster fan, was no problem. Maggie felt a whole lot better for having spoken to Tracy…now she just had to make her peace with Carla, but her phone was switched off at the moment so that would have to wait.
Helen breezed back into the kitchen with a triumphant smile on her face.
'Mike was amazed that I had finally kicked Wills out, he wants to meet me tonight to 'discuss things'. I just know this is going to turn out to be the best thing to have happened Maggs, maybe it was meant to be…um I think I will go home though if that's ok with you, I can't thank you enough for last night and all your support but I need to be in my own home I think…apart from that all my clothes are over there and I need to find something gorgeous to wear tonight when I meet Mike.'
'Oh darling are you sure you're ready to be on your own, you were so upset last night…isn't it a bit soon don't you think?' said Maggie offering her friend a cup of tea which she took and drank down almost in one.
'No, no, last night was just what I needed…I had a good night's sleep and this morning I've done a lot of thinking, and I've realised that I am perfectly capable of living on my own. I have my painting and my floristry which are both now bringing in an income, not a great deal as yet, but I'm sure things will pick up, and anyway it would probably be better to be in my own home just in case things hot up with Mike later,' she turned beetroot red, 'um…you know we might need somewhere to go later…oh you know stop looking at me like that Maggie I'm a grown woman I should be able to sleep with someone if I feel like it…'
Maggie held her hands up, 'Far be it for me to stop anyone having a good time darling, I'm just gobsmacked that you are even thinking in those terms after last night,' she put her arms around Helen. 'Just please be careful honey, you've had a nasty shock, don't do anything hasty…promise me.'
Helen returned the squeeze, 'I won't I promise, thank you again Maggs for being there for me, I honestly don't know what I would have done without you.'
'Well that's enough of that, when do you want to go home, you've got time for breakfast haven't you?'
Helen pulled a face, 'Do you mind if we go now, it's just that I need to be in my own space and try and get myself organized?'
'Well can I at least get dressed first?' said Maggie drawing attention to her shockingly short nightdress.
'Oh please do darling,' laughed Helen, 'we don't need to cause any more gossip for my neighbours.'
Maggie went upstairs to cover herself and Helen made herself another cup of tea. Although she wasn't feeling quite as brave as she made out to Maggie, she was starting to believe that maybe this was all for the best after all she may have lost Wills but she had Mike and he seemed very keen to take up where Wills had left off. She still felt like she had been kicked by a horse and she couldn't think too much about Wills before she felt great waves of panic and misery pushing up from her chest, but time would take care of that…time and Mike.
Maggie dropped Helen back home a short while later, and then went into the office. She needed to take her mind off everything for a while and nothing worked as well as throwing herself into her latest design project, this one was close to her heart, a friend of hers hand bought up two enormous barns just outside Godstone and she was looking to do a similar renovation job on them as Maggie had on hers. Money was no object and so Maggie had been trawling through some of her favourite vintage warehouses and clearance shops, she decided to take a jaunt out to the barns and see how work was progressing. Most of the structural stuff should be finished by now and she knew that the plasterers had been in for the last couple of days so she should be able to get a real sense of the space and shapes that she had to work with.
It only took about half an hour to drive out to the pretty village of Godstone, the barns were a bit further along heading south towards Sussex. It was a beautiful day and Maggie couldn't help but feel good as she drove past beautifully kept farm houses, with fields dotted with black and white sheep and through tree tunnels that made the winter sunlight dance like fairies in front of her. She soon had to turn off the main road and travel up a bumpy track that would lead to Stoats Nest Farm where the barns were situated. The road got really narrow the further inland you went and Maggie slowed her Range Rover down to a crawl, hoping that she wouldn't meet another car coming the other way. There were so many twists and turns that sometimes you came upon them before you had time to react, but so far she seemed to be ok. As the road began to widen Maggie allowed herself to relax, when all of a sudden a car came shooting round the bend in front of her making her swerve over into the trees smashing a wing mirror in the process, the other car stopped for a minute and Maggie furiously went to get out and give him a piece of her mind.
'You fucking idiot, what are you thinking of driving that fast on these roads you could have killed me…' she started shouting, but the other driver had obviously realised her intent and drove off in a cloud of dust, leaving her fuming, she was even more angry because she had recognised who's bleary eyes had met hers in the car's rear view mirror. 'Bloody Giles…how dare he drive away from me rude bastard,' Maggie muttered to herself, 'What the fuck was he doing here out in the middle of nowhere I wonder…he just gets weirder by the day.'
Maggie fumed all the way to the barns and her temper wasn't improved when she got there by finding that the project manager had buggered off to an early lunch with the architect (a comely blond called Inga) and that the plasterers had left the place in a shambles.
She tried to get her sunny mood back, walking round the beautiful main living areas with
their double height ceilings and gorgeous honey coloured exposed beams, enormous windows gave wonderful views of the surrounding countryside, and opened up to allow the countryside in. Maggie smiled to herself, the builders had done a wonderful job and already her creative juices were flowing with wonderful ideas about the interior, she had already been to a few auctions and got hold of some amazing old French furniture that would fit in here just perfectly. Maggie spent a couple of hours in the barns making notes and drawings so that by the time she set off home she had forgotten all about the incident with Giles and the car although she did wonder what on earth he had been doing in such a remote spot, as far as she knew there was nothing else around apart from a few old out buildings, the farm itself had been deserted for years which is why her friend had got such a good bargain on those two barns. Maybe he was thinking about buying one of them, he had said that Vanessa was exhausted, maybe he was thinking of getting out of the landlord game…but then why didn't he speak to her, he must have recognised her, and her bright red Range Rover with its number plate MAG 1 was pretty distinctive. Oh well she would certainly be speaking to him when she next went to the pub she thought as she looked at her broken wing mirror.
CHAPTER 52 - 2013
He slowly became aware of a dark shadow looming over him, he tried to sit up but he had become so weak that he only managed to shift over to one side of the filthy mattress. There seemed to be a tall man looking down at him, but he had stopped trusting what his eyes told him, he had been visited by many ghouls and spirits from his past over the last few days, this was surely just another sent to point an accusing finger or mock him for his weakness.
The light flooded in from the opened door blinding him momentarily and creating little swirls of dust fairies, he watched them mesmerized. He tried to move again, he hadn't been able to move for a couple of days now, his arms hung limply by his sides, he had no feeling down one side of his face, he recognised the paralysis of a stroke, he'd had one before…he tried to speak but his mouth wouldn't move as he wanted it to. Another large man had come into the hut, the old man thought he recognised him but he couldn't be sure, he tried to reach out a hand may be this was someone here to rescue him, the second man came towards him.
'Pheww it stinks in here…you smell like a pig Derek, like a pig in its own muck which I suppose is what you are after all isn't it?'
No not rescue then…the end maybe.
'How would you describe yourself Derek huh, I think calling you a pig is an offense to all pigs you are a much lower form of life aren't you?' He pulled over the chair and sat in front of him looking down at the filthy dribbling old man on the mattress. 'I mean how do you describe a man that rapes his own daughter, not once but over and over again and then when he finally impregnates her forces her out where she has to give birth by herself and then abandon her child.' The old man tries to speak, tries to defend himself but all he can do is make slurping groaning sounds.
'And then when his daughter finally comes home after that horrific experience he turns her away, oh no even worse than that he pimps her out to his violent sick friend, who makes her dependent on him with drugs and the threat of violence…did you ever wonder how she survived the life you threw her into you disgusting old man? Well I'll tell you she nearly didn't, she went from man to man learning how to be street wise and savvy, learning how to keep her head down, the only piece of luck that she ever had in her life was when your friend got picked up by the police for dealing drugs and was put away for a few years and she was able to escape. She spent years trying to get away from all that she had been forced to do, finally when she had got as far away as she was able, you had to drag it all back up for her by telling her about that girl…you don't deserve to live any longer.
I've read all her diaries, oh yes, you didn't know she had written it all down did you? The times you made her pleasure you, the men you allowed to touch her and photograph her….it's all there and I read about it all… you sick fuck…you took an innocent young girl…YOUR DAUGHTER and you fucked up her life just for your own perverted pleasures…'
He stopped talking as his fury seemed to be getting out of hand, he got up and walked to the door, he seemed to take a few deep breaths of fresh air and when he next spoke he had regained his icy calm. 'My friend here,' he indicated the large man lurking in the doorway, 'he has his own brand of perversion, and he has waited over two weeks, so he's had plenty of time to think up lots of lovely ways to use his toys and I've told him he can practice it on you… time for you to get a taste of your own medicine you pathetic old man, burn in hell Derek it's all you deserve…oh by the way, Vanessa sends her love.'
The old man was squealing and groaning, trying to find a way of reasoning with his captors, trying to make his mouth work so he could tell them that it wasn't his fault, none of it had been his fault, the squeals turned to blood curdling screams as the large man laid out his instruments of torture, knives, blowtorches and an enormous dildo.
CHAPTER 53 - CARLA
Vanessa had broken down as soon as Carla had produced the earrings.
'It's not what you think,' she just kept saying over and over again.
'Well then tell me what it is Vanessa,' said Carla for the umpteenth time, 'explain to me why one of your earrings was found next to the body of your daughter, I need to know, you must see how it looks Vanessa. We know that the girl in the woods was your daughter, we know she came to Kenley by invitation to meet her 'mother', we have emails from 'her mother' to her on your computer, you were seen running from the woods in a desperate state the day after her body was discovered and now we find that you are the owner of the earring that was found near the body…you must see why I need you to explain what happened, give me your side Vanessa please.'
Vanessa kept her head down and continued to cry into her tissue; Carla decided to try a different angle.
'I spoke to your sister earlier Vanessa, she lives in Australia now,' Vanessa's head jerked up and a guarded look came into her eyes.'
'Oh yes, what did she have to say for herself? I expect she slagged me off…she hates my guts.'
'Well, she told me that you had been an escort when you lived in Ashford, she said that you had a cocaine habit. I've been speaking to some of my colleagues in Ashford police and some of them had been there long enough to remember you…you weren't always an escort were you Vanessa, they remember you working the streets…for a man named Mobray, Keith Mobray.' Vanessa's head dropped even lower. 'What can you tell me about that Vanessa…was he the man your dad sent you to, was that the work he arranged for you? How did that make you feel Vanessa, I know how I would have felt… I would have wanted to kill him, for what he had done to me…is that how you felt, full of rage and hatred for your dad…and the baby he planted in you…'
'NO! I never hated her,' Vanessa jumped up from her seat and leant over the desk shouting in Carla's face. 'How could I hate her, it wasn't her fault anymore than it was mine…the blame is…was his…he took my life from me…I worked the streets for a few years, I couldn't escape I was dependent on the drugs that bastard Keith would dole out to me. I really don't remember much of that time…I suppose I was always high or trying to get high. I did try to escape at first, I didn't know then that he had other men watching us girls, when we were working you know and I decided I would get into a car with a man, you know a punter, and then get him to drive me somewhere. I didn't know what I would do then but I hadn't thought that far ahead I just wanted to get away…anyway it didn't work…the punter got nervous when I asked him to take me away and he pushed me out of the car. One of Keith's men, Howie, saw the whole thing and dragged me back to the house… ha…I soon learnt not to do that again, he beat the shit out of me and kept me locked up for a couple of weeks, by which time I was so addicted to whatever he was shooting into my arm that I didn't care anymore. I kept my head down from then on…and then Keith was arrested…well they all were, apparently they'd been supplying cocaine to half the neighbourhood and th
e police had found their stash…anyway they got put away and I decided to try and make it on my own…I did pretty well too. It's amazing how much men will pay for a willing sex partner, especially one who makes them feel like they are special…I suppose if nothing else my childhood taught me all about pleasing men and making them feel special, so I made them pay through the nose for it…I made a fortune, bought my own place, car the works…pulled myself out of the gutter.'
Vanessa was clearly trying to sound as if her totally fucked up life hadn't affected her at all in fact in was the secret of her success, but Carla wasn't fooled by the bravado in her voice, Vanessa had been digging her nails into her arm the whole time she had been talking, leaving great scratches, almost drawing blood in places.
'It must have been quite a shock when your dad suddenly wrote to tell you that your abandoned baby, a child you thought you'd never see again had turned up at his nursing home, looking for you…I bet you panicked didn't you, I mean how do you explain this to Giles, I gather you never told him about Louise…did he know about your escort work Vanessa…did he know you were an ex-junkie?'
Vanessa had her head in her hands; she looked up with desperation in her eyes.
'He knew some of it,' she said surprisingly calmly. 'But I had never told him about Louise…or my father…I thought he would turn away from me if he knew, Giles you see…Giles was an abandoned baby…he was left in a phone box in Poole Dorset…hence the name. The nurses named him, he only just made it he was so tiny…about three weeks premature, he only weighed just over 3 pounds, but he was adopted by a wonderful couple who adored him, his family helped him to track down his real mum…but only after she had died, working the streets as a prostitute…how would he feel about me if he knew I had abandoned my own baby…I couldn't let him find out…ever!'
'So when you heard from your dad that Louise was trying to find you, you panicked, arranged to meet her and killed her before Giles could find out…isn't that what happened Vanessa?'
