Nasty Bitch

by K Leitch

CHAPTER 48 – TRACY

  ‘Do you fancy a cup of tea Simon?’ Tracy popped her head around the study door. Simon was half way up a ladder painting the walls a lovely calming blue colour. He turned as Tracy came in showing her a face covered in blue splashes.

  ‘Ooh tea would be lovely, thank you gorgeous,’ he said, ‘I’ve almost finished here…what do you think?’

  Tracy smiled and looked round the little room, ‘I like it…you were right, the colour does make it feel more spacious…and that lovely old desk Maggie gave us will fit in perfectly under the window…shall I bring your tea in here or…’

  ‘No I’ll come through in a minute…I’ve just about finished,’ he glanced at his watch, ‘bloody hell is that the time, where has the evening gone…it’ll be bedtime soon!’

  ‘I know,’ said Tracy pointedly, ‘I have hardly seen you this evening. While you’ve been painting away in here, I have fed and bathed both children, read Zack a bedtime story and put him to bed, cleared up the kitchen and I have just given Tilly her last feed and put her down…so now…’ she added seductively, ‘it’s your turn.’

  ‘Mmm, now that is an offer designed to get my paintbrush working at full speed,’ Simon said waggling his eyebrows. ‘You just get yourself all warmed up honey…I’ll be there in two ticks.’ He started painting at super speed making Tracy laugh as she went back into the kitchen to get the tea.

  Every time she walked into her gorgeous new kitchen Tracy felt a shiver of pleasure. This house was shaping up to be better than they had ever hoped. Despite the nasty surprise that had been left for Tracy to find all those weeks ago, Tracy felt as if it had been made for her and her little family. Against all the odds she felt safe here, especially now that she had made such good friends with Nora next door. She felt surrounded by friends and people she loved. What could be better she thought…just then the phone rang, it was Maggie, speak of the devil thought Tracy with a smile as she answered it.

  ‘Darling has Carla called you?’ Maggie said urgently before Tracy had a chance to say anything.

  ‘No…why?’ said Tracy, trying to fill the kettle with one hand.

  ‘Rosie has gone missing,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I’ve just phoned Helen, she and Maya are going to look all over the village and I thought you and I could help…I don’t know drive around see if we can spot anything.’

  ‘Yes yes of course…but what do you mean missing Maggie…how long has she been gone for?’

  ‘Oh god, hours I think,’ said Maggie. ‘Carla wasn’t making much sense, but I think she said that she had said she was going to tea with a friend from school…but she didn’t come home and when James called to check with this girl’s mum, she knew nothing about Rosie going to tea so…’

  ‘Oh god poor Carla…oh of course let’s go and search…I’ll just let Simon know. Oh hang on sweety someone is banging on my door now…bloody hell they’ll break it down in a minute.’

  Tracy went to answer the door someone was pounding on the glass, ‘Ok, ok, you are going to break the bloody glass in a minute,’ she said angrily as she opened the door. There on her doorstep stood Rosie…bedraggled and sobbing, she fell into Tracy’s arms.

  Tracy brought the little girl through to the warmth of the kitchen; Rosie was obviously in a state of shock and kept babbling on about someone called Sally and some ear piercing.

  ‘Calm down love,’ said Tracy once she had sat her down on a chair. She picked up her phone.

  ‘Maggie,’ she said urgently, ‘panic over…Rosie is here, can you call Carla for me, she’s in a bit of a state and sobbing her heart out.’

  ‘Oh thank goodness,’ said Maggie relieved, ‘yes don’t worry love I’ll do that straightaway…do you need me to come round?’

  ‘No it’s fine…thanks honey, I’ll let you know all about it tomorrow ok?’ she rang off and then looked properly at Rosie who had curled up in one of her big kitchen chairs. Simon, who had come in to find out what all the noise was about looked questioningly at Tracy…who just shook her head at him.

  ‘I’ll tell you later,’ was all she said to him before going over to sit with Rosie.

  ‘Right sweetheart I am going to make you some warm milk and then we’ll wait for your mum to come ok?’ she said to Rosie whose little body was still shuddering with sobs. Rosie nodded tearfully and then started really crying in earnest again. Tracy gathered her into her arms, ‘Come on sweetheart…you’re safe now darling, that’s right you have a good cry.’

  Ten minutes later a distraught Carla and James arrived, along with Frank and an American police detective that Tracy hadn’t met before. Carla just rushed straight through into the kitchen and hugged her little girl, James was visibly crying as he joined in the hug. Even Harry had tears streaming down his face, he wiped his nose on his sleeve awkwardly and sat down at end of the table, fiddling about with his ipad.

  Tracy set about making everybody teas and coffees. Once the crying had stopped Carla needed to know from Rosie what had happened.

  ‘Rosie,’ she began, ‘you need to tell us where you have been, and who you have been with…we know you didn’t go to Alisha’s for tea…so where did you go?’ Rosie started to look as if she was going to break down again.

  ‘Hey sweetheart,’ said James taking her hand, ‘you aren’t going to get into trouble…I think you’ve suffered enough tonight haven’t you, and you’ve learnt your lesson about always telling us where you are going haven’t you?’ Rosie nodded silently…she seemed to think for a moment.

  ‘I went with Sally…she said she would pay for me to get my ears pierced.’ Carla took a deep breath to control her anger, which only made Rosie say defiantly, ‘I know you said I couldn’t have it done, but Sally said that was stupid it was my body and if I decided I wanted pierced ears I should be able to decide for myself. Anyway she said she would buy me some silver hoops at this place that she knew near Lingfield. So I told Dad that I was going to tea with Alisha. I thought I would be home in plenty of time, but then Sally said she had to go somewhere first…she just kept driving and it started getting dark…and I asked her to take me home, but I guess I must have made her angry then because she just pulled over and told me to get out of the car. I was so scared I didn’t really know where I was and it was so dark.

  ‘The only light I could see was the one on the top of the church so I just walked towards it…but I was so scared and every time I saw a car coming, I thought it might be her coming to get me so I hid in the hedges. I thought I’d never see you all again…oh mum ii waas soo friiiighteend…’ Carla held her hand tightly encouraging her to continue, ‘Anyway I walked and walked and then I sort of began to know places…and I knew I was near Auntie Tracy’s new house. So I just started running and when I saw the house I just banged and banged on the door…’

  Carla was so furious that it had rendered her speechless…what sort of spiteful bitch just left a ten year old girl in the middle of nowhere after dark then and drove off.

  ‘Ok honey,’ said Jay taking over from Carla, ‘now think carefully, can you remember what sort of car she had…what colour was it?’

  ‘White or a sort of creamy colour,’ said Rosie.

  ‘And was it a small car…like Helen’s little car, or was it more like Frank’s car…?’ asked Carla.

  ‘It was a little one…a bit like Helen’s but it hadn’t got back doors, except for one big one at the back,’ Rosie said after a while.

  ‘Ok sweetie,’ said Jay again, ‘if I was to show you some pictures of different cars do you think you could pick Sally’s out for me?’ Rosie nodded, and Jay went out to his car to get his laptop.

  ‘What do you know about this Sally Rosie?’ asked James while they waited for Jay. ‘Was she married…did she have any children, have you got any idea why she did this to you?’

  Rosie’s face crumpled and she shook her head, ‘I thought she liked me…she helped me rehearse all my lines, she said I was a natural…she was always talking to me. She said that she
had had a little girl once, but she had died…she said that she would have been so happy if her little girl had turned out just like me. She told me all about her tattoos and piercings, that they all had different meanings, for different times in her life…I thought she was cool…I just wanted my ears pierced…’ she finished as she dissolved into tears again.

  Jay came back in with his laptop which he set up on the kitchen table and after typing in his password and finding the site; the screen was filled with cars of all makes and sizes.

  Rosie looked through each page carefully until at last she pointed one out.

  ‘I’m pretty sure it was that one,’ she said pointing to a Vauxhall Corsa. ‘I remember that wiggly circle badge on the front of it, and it was different from the one she had when we went into Redbank…that one was blue, and it had sort of arrows on the front…you know for the badge bit.’

  Carla looked at Rosie shocked. ‘Hang on a minute young lady,’ she said getting angry again, ‘are you telling me that this wasn’t the first time you’ve gone in this woman’s car?’

  Rosie realised she had slipped up and looked warily at her mum. ‘That was the only other time Mum I promise, she was so nice…I didn’t think it was bad really…we only went for a coffee,’ she finished lamely, sensing her mother’s anger.

  Carla was furious, but she knew she had to keep calm so that they could catch this woman, she took a deep breath…suddenly an idea occurred to her.

  ‘Didn’t you take any pictures of her Rosie…on your new phone,’ she asked, Rosie had been snapping everything in sight since she had been given the rather flash new phone for her birthday, surely the little girl would have taken one of her new best friend.

  Rosie smiled, ‘I did try to but Sally said she didn’t like having her picture taken…she said she hated seeing herself in pictures. I took one anyway though without her knowing,’ she finished triumphantly, digging around in her pocket for her phone which was (as James had predicted) completely dead.

  Nobody had the right charger at Tracy’s house so Carla decided that they should head on home and look at the picture there. The hug she gave Tracy as she left showed how desperate Carla had been.

  ‘Thank you for looking after her darling,’ Carla whispered in Tracy’s ear, ‘and thank you for being someone that she knew she could come to.’

  Tracy gave Carla a squeeze and watched them all drive away.

  ‘Wow,’ said Simon when they went back inside, ‘what an evening. Well I’ll tell you one thing Trace and that is that Tilly is never going to any sort of after school club or classes and if she wants to see her friends after school they are coming here…I am going to be watching her like a hawk,’ he finished determinedly.

  ‘Yes darling, of course…anything you say,’ said Tracy meekly.

  Carla and James arrived back home without Frank and Jay; Frank was dropping Jay home before coming over. Seemed like his friend and his wife were having a bit of a domestic…so with Rosie safe and sound Jay thought it prudent to head on home and try and pacify his angry wife with a bunch of garage flowers and some chocolate.

  ‘Yeh good luck with that,’ Frank had said wryly, ‘this is why I steer clear of relationships mate… too much bloody hassle.’

  ‘Oh I don’t know,’ replied Jay smugly, ‘I think I know which one of us will be getting jiggy with a warm and willing woman tonight, don’t you?’

  Frank just stuck two fingers up at his friend as he drove off.

  Carla had plugged Rosie’s phone in as soon as they got in; desperate to see a picture of the nasty bitch that had put her daughter through such a frightening experience.

  Once plugged in Rosie started trawling through her pictures…she had hundreds of them, but finally she held up the picture of ‘Sally’.

  It was actually a shot of the whole cast, ‘Sally’ was standing at the end of the back row. A tallish slender woman, dressed all in black. The vivid black eye makeup and blood red lips almost giving her the look of a vampire, her face was covered with piercings, through her nose, her ears and lips and Carla could see tattoos running up her arms. But none of this was bothering Carla as much as the fact that the face beneath the heavy makeup looked all too horribly familiar.

  Carla stared at the picture; trying to look at it objectively…maybe she was seeing things that weren’t there. Frank came in.

  ‘Ha,’ he laughed, ‘I wouldn’t be in Jay’s shoes for all the tea in China…the man is positively pussy whipped…’ he broke off as he realised that Rosie was still up and about to ask him what ‘pussy whipped’ meant.

  ‘Oops sorry,’ he said to Carla, ‘didn’t think she’d still be up…any luck with the picture?’

  Carla handed him the phone with a shaking hand. ‘Have a look at that, see what you think?’ she said.

  Frank stared at the image incredulously; ‘No…it can’t be can it?’ he said looking over at Carla, James intrigued, came over and peered over his shoulder.

  ‘Is that who I think it is?’ he asked Carla, Carla was just about to answer him when Rosie…who had gone upstairs to put her PJ’s on came running back into the kitchen.

  ‘Oh Mum…I’ve just remembered something… Sally was shouting at me to get out of the car and I was crying and then she said “Tell your mum Vanessa says hello”, how weird is that?’

  CHAPTER 49

  Duncan had been talking to Maggie on the phone for about an hour now. She had been distraught when she had first phoned, Carla’s little girl had gone missing and she was trying to organise a search party. A few minutes later however she had phoned back, Rosie had turned up safe at Tracy’s. It was then that the emotional floodgates had opened, she had haltingly told him about finding Thomas with her mother. Duncan’s heart had broken for her, she was so hurt, not so much by Thomas, but by her Mum’s betrayal. What soon became evident to Duncan though was that Maggie was almost relieved that Thomas had given her a reason to cancel the wedding.

  Duncan’s hands had curled into fists when she told him about the rough sex that had sometimes left her sore and covered in bruises; and he was surprised at the level of anger that he felt when she revealed that she had been feeling almost vulnerable and unsure of herself. The Maggie that Duncan had always known was a strong and fearless woman, totally self confident, irritatingly so sometimes…so to hear that she had been doubting herself as a woman made Duncan want to drag Thomas out by the scruff of his neck and give him a good pasting.

  She had thrown them both out of course, which meant that she was all alone and brooding. Duncan offered to go over and keep her company, but she had said she needed her own space. He had, however, phoned Tracy and let her know what had happened.

  ‘Bloody hell what a night!’ she had said, but then had assured Duncan that she would pop round straightaway and make sure Maggie was ok.

  Once off the phone Duncan started thinking about his own problem…namely Dulcie. The more he saw of her the more he realised that he didn’t even like her very much. She just wasn’t his type…too much of everything, too much makeup, too much flesh on show, too much clinging onto his arm. So he had decided that he would finish with her; they were due to meet tomorrow evening so he planned to tell her then. She had booked a table at a little restaurant just outside Epsom, which he had thought was a strange choice, but she had said that the food was to die for so he had agreed, at least he could feed her well while he was dumping her. She was picking him up as well, so that he could have a drink…which he was going to need. He had never dumped anyone before and he wasn’t looking forward to it one little bit!

  CHAPTER 50 – CARLA

  Once she had recovered from the shock of finding out that Vanessa was indeed back in town, and had an agenda, Carla got down to simple police work to try and locate her. CCTV camera footage of all the roads that Rosie could remember that they had travelled on were accessed and Mandy was at this moment trawling through them, meanwhile Carla was circulating Rosie’s picture of her around the local police forces.
Vanessa was wanted for the murders of three people…four maybe if it could be proved that she had killed Giles Poole…her husband and ex-partner in crime. Also the fact that now Carla was sure that she was actually back in the country, put her right back in the frame as far as she was concerned as a potential suspect for the men in the barns murders… bearing in mind that two of the men killed recently, had been known to Vanessa and one of them had actively hated her. So a nationwide search was underway. What Carla couldn’t understand was how she had been able to move amongst them unseen. It was obvious that she had been back in the country for a while now and that she had been living locally, she said as much to Frank.

  ‘People see what they expect to see,’ he said, his mouth full of bacon sandwich. ‘I mean why on earth would we suspect a woman dressed as a Goth, to be smart prissy Vanessa Poole. You have to admit she’s very clever…I wouldn’t have looked twice at her if she had passed me in the street; she’s been hiding in clear sight. Pretty smart…except that why on earth, when you’ve made your escape and you’ve not been caught for over three years…why the bloody hell would you go back to the one place where you could be recognised…it doesn’t make any sense, not so smart maybe.’

  ‘Or maybe a bit unhinged and obsessed with revenge,’ said Carla bitterly. ‘Well whatever her reasons we have to find her. She is one twisted bitch and I for one will sleep better in my bed once she is locked up!’

  ‘We will get her this time love,’ said Frank with an air of certainty, ‘she’s pushed it too far this time.’

  As if rehearsed Mandy came into the office at that moment, triumphantly waving a piece of paper around.

  ‘We’ve spotted them Ma’am,’ she said to Carla. ‘On the road leading towards Lingfield at about nine o clock last night…come and have a look.’

  Carla Frank and Mandy all filed into the office with the screen, along with half of the team all trying to get a look. Sure enough there was the white car (a Skoda, not a Vauxhall) stopped at a junction, and there clearly in the front seat was a very grim looking ‘Sally’ with Rosie in the seat next to her. They had a good view of the number plate; Mandy was on to it straightaway.