“Where the hell is my phone,” she muttered, as she ran down the stairs. There were things on there that mustn’t fall into the wrong hands.
Twenty minutes later, Karen reached the police station and spotted Debbie sitting alone, on an uncomfortable plastic chair. She looked tired and pale, like someone who’d lost a lot of weight in a short space of time.
“Deb!” shouted Karen as she ran towards her best friend. Debbie stood up and threw herself into a hug, then burst into tears on Karen’s shoulder.
“They’ve dropped everything Karen, all the charges,” she sobbed. “Joe’s up at my parents with the kids, but they’re coming back now, they’ll be here in a few hours.”
“That’s brilliant, come on, let’s get you out of here,” hushed Karen, as she supported Debbie outside into the cold wind.
“I’m so sorry about this, Deb, about everything. I should have listened to you, been there to help you. Come on, let’s get you home.” They got into the car and looked at each other, neither knowing where to start.
“Talk to me,” urged Karen. “Are you OK?”
Debbie took a deep breath.
“Yeah, and no. I don’t know. I should feel relieved to be out. But I’m scared that they could change their minds at any time and bring me back in. It was awful in there; everything felt so surreal. What does everyone think? Do they think I’m a murderer?”
Karen took a deep breath as she started the car. “No, they don’t, everyone thought the police were barking up the wrong tree,” replied Karen.
“And now they’ve released you without charge, everyone will know for sure. I told Renee before I left; word will have gotten around.”
Debbie smiled weakly and wiped her eyes as Karen drove through the traffic out of Croydon.
“I had a lot of time to think. I know it wasn’t me who killed them, so it has to be someone else, right?”
Karen shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
“And you know...” mused Debbie, “it must be Renee. She’s involved somehow. The cat, ‘Princesses’, it can’t be a coincidence, can it? And she’s from New Grange remember, where the girls are from.”
“Did you say this to the police, Debs? To Vincent?”
“Yes, I said it today when they confirmed they’d dropped the charges. Vincent said he understood why I thought that, but to leave it with him,” replied Debbie, with a bitter edge to her voice.
“Well, that’s good. You should do as he says. Look where meddling got you last time.”
Debbie stared out the window in silence.
“I mean it,” warned Karen. “I’m going to keep a closer eye on you now, keep you out of trouble.”
“The only way to clear my name is to work out who did do it,” Debbie replied. “And I don’t trust the police to get there themselves.”
Once they reached Debbie’s house, Karen poured a large glass of wine for both of them. She tried to steer the subject away from the investigation. But each time, Debbie came back to her theories about Renee, with Marie’s name thrown in now and then.
As glad as she was to see her best friend out of a police cell, Karen was also relieved when Joe’s car pulled up in the drive. She watched Debbie, Joe and the kids hugging, crying and laughing together. She felt a pang of envy and guilt. Her, Pete and the kids didn’t have that same bond; not anymore, anyway.
“I had better go,” said Karen, and she poured the remains of her wine into Debbie’s glass.
“Thanks, Karen,” sighed Joe, pulling himself free of Debbie’s hug. “Thanks for picking her up and settling her in. Come around again after Christmas, on Boxing Day, maybe?”
“I’ll see Karen tomorrow,” grinned Debbie, with her arms wrapped around Marco and Abbie.
“Deb, I told you, I’m working, and I’ll need the evening to wrap presents and get everything ready, sorry.”
“I’m working too. You said you needed help, and I’m free. I’ll come in for the afternoon until closing time. Midday until 5 pm.”
“Are you sure, Deb? I’ll be fine. Ethan is working too, and you’ve only just got home.”
Karen looked over at Joe and urged him to back her up.
“Karen’s right, Deb,” he said, reaching over to his wife’s shoulder. “There’s no rush.”
“I want things to go back to normal,” argued Debbie, “and I’d like to work a few hours tomorrow. I’ve got nothing to hide, and I’m coming in.”
“OK, OK. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then, unless you change your mind, which would be fine.”
Karen said her goodbyes and got back into the car. She checked the floor and glove box for her phone. It wasn’t there, and she swore under her breath as she drove home to find it. She pulled up outside her house on the southern edge of Melwood and jumped out of the car.
“Pete? Danny? Becca?” she called out without reply, as she searched the downstairs rooms of her house.
She reached the conservatory and jumped with a start. Her husband, Pete, was sitting alone on the armchair, staring out of the window with a brandy in hand. Her heart skipped a beat; her phone lay on the coffee table in front of him.
“Pete,” she whispered as fear began to creep up her chest towards her neck.
Her husband turned to face her with a sigh. The cheeks on his round face were a blotchy pink from the brandy. His small eyes stared at her with a look of pure hatred.
“Your secret is out,” he slurred, tapping the screen of her phone in front of him with a stubby finger. “Now I know what you’ve really been up to these past few months.”
“Pete, I...,”
“No, Karen.” Pete held up his hand and looked down at the phone. “I don’t want to hear it. It’s unforgivable, and I’m divorcing you. You’re not getting half my money. You’re not staying in this house. And you’re not getting the kids.”
Karen felt a surge of anger. There was no point trying to protest the divorce itself; she knew the marriage was over and had been for some time. But he couldn’t dictate terms.
“You can’t decide that Pete, it all has to go through lawyers. This house is half mine, and so are the kids. I’m their Mum! What you’re saying, it’s not going to happen.”
“Yes, it is, Karen,” he replied and took a large swig of brandy. “Because if you don’t do what I say, I’ll tell the police the truth. I’ll tell them that I lied about your whereabouts. Twice.”
26: The Day Before Christmas
Monday 24th December 2018, 12:00 - Debbie
Debbie took a deep breath of chilly air before entering the supermarket. Despite Joe’s further attempts to dissuade her, she felt compelled to come to work with her head held high. After all, she had nothing to hide, and this was the best way to prove it to her friends and colleagues. No matter what Karen said, Debbie was sure some people had doubted her over the last twelve days.
Twelve days didn’t sound like a long time, but it had felt like an eternity. Interviews were the only thing which broke the silence, but they weren’t enjoyable. In them, the police tried to make her confess to murders which she hadn’t committed. It was her innocence, she supposed, which had kept her sane throughout the quiet hours. It gave her time to reflect on her friends’ murders and to try and push the police towards the person behind ‘Princesses.’
Did I succeed? Debbie wondered as she wandered through the supermarket. Had the police released her because they lacked evidence against her? Or because they had mounting evidence against someone else? As she walked through the store, colleagues looked away, pretending they hadn’t seen her. Others gasped and stared at her with their mouths open in shock. Only a few of her close friends gave her a nervous smile and mumbled ‘hello.’
She reached the staff area and exhaled; the bright lights had already caused a pain behind her eyes. She stared at the locker she’d opened, which had once contained Caitlin’s purse and phone. She pushed her coat and bag into it and saw Edith strolling towards her with a grin. The knot in her stomach loosened sl
ightly.
“Police let you out then?” she croaked, with a smile and a pat on Debbie’s arm.
“Sure did. They finally figured out that I’m innocent,” replied Debbie. She sounded braver than she felt, and was able to return Edith’s smile.
“I always knew you were. You’re not the type. But you’ve got guts coming in today. Well done.”
“Thanks, Edith,” sighed Debbie, as some of the tension in her shoulders eased.
“I don’t suppose you saw Karen in the canteen? I didn’t see her on my way in.”
The corners of Edith’s mouth twitched, and she raised her eyebrows.
“Why don’t you ask Steve?” Edith grinned and gestured back towards the Manager’s office.
“What do you mean by that? Is Karen in trouble, I mean, has she messed something up?”
“Oh, you could say that!” cackled Edith with a chesty laugh, as she hobbled towards the stairs to the shop floor.
Debbie rolled her eyes, put her locker key in her pocket and followed Edith’s path towards the checkouts. She wondered what Karen could have done to warrant a ticking off from the Store Manager. Had she taken another swipe at Marie in the last twelve days, and not told her about it? Or perhaps Karen was in trouble for leaving work yesterday to collect her.
She arrived at the Supervisors’ desk to more shocked stares from colleagues. But more pressing was the complete chaos in the department. The queues of customers ran four-deep, and Ethan was caught in a heated discussion at the self-checkouts, unable to help. She smiled to herself; this was the type of gritty normality and distraction she needed.
Within twenty minutes, the queues had eased, all the tills were open, and she’d extricated a shocked-looking Ethan from his argument. He then dealt with the various customer requests while she planned out the lunch breaks.
A few times, a colleague looked around for help but then pretended they hadn’t seen her. In those instances, she went over and helped regardless. After all, it was an opportunity to mention that the police had dropped all charges against her. Every time it happened, she hoped she had convinced another person of her innocence.
She was almost enjoying herself until Karen finally appeared. She stomped towards Debbie with a face of thunder.
“Where have you been? Oh God, Karen, you look awful!”
It wasn’t an understatement. Karen’s hair, usually straightened and tied up in a neat ponytail, was loose and frizzy. She wasn’t wearing her usual perfect make-up. Instead, she had a pale, more wrinkled and blotchier complexion. The deep frown was doing little to improve matters.
“Oh, thanks, Deb,” snapped Karen, with a roll of her puffy, bloodshot eyes.
“What’s happened then, what have I missed? Did you slap someone again?” asked Debbie, with a sympathetic smile and tap on Karen’s shoulder.
“What? No, it’s not that,” Karen replied with a whimper. “Can we go somewhere after work, Deb? I need to talk to you and tell you something I should have told you a while ago. It’s quite serious.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” agreed Debbie, her face now full of concern and worry for her friend. “Are you sure you’re OK to keep working? You really do look terrible.”
The Supervisor call button rang incessantly, but Debbie held back from answering it. Karen’s arms had started to tremble against the desk.
“I can’t talk about it here. But after work, I’ll tell you everything, I promise.”
Debbie battled through the rest of the busy shift. Christmas Eve was always challenging, given the crowds, the stress and the low stock. But also, neither Karen nor Ethan seemed capable of concentrating or helping anyone. By 4.30, even the colleagues who had given Debbie the most fearful looks were opting to call her to assist them.
One by one, the last customers and checkout staff members left the building. The ones that didn’t run away from Debbie wearily wished her a Merry Christmas. While Ethan and Karen began collecting banknotes from the tills, Debbie reviewed the schedule. She noticed that someone had scribbled out both Jade and Stacy’s names.
“Hey,” she called to Karen and Ethan as she approached them. “Why couldn’t Jade and Stacy work today?”
“You didn’t tell Debbie about Jade?” snapped Ethan, and he looked at Karen with narrowed eyebrows.
“It didn’t come up, we had other stuff to talk about,” sulked Karen, still frowning.
“Uh, tell me now then,” demanded Debbie. “What about Jade?”
“She got attacked, beaten up, a few nights ago in town. She’s in the hospital,” mumbled Ethan, as his face flushed red.
“Oh God, that’s awful,” replied Debbie. “What happened Ethan? Was it a random attack, or was she caught up in something else? Is she OK?”
Ethan sighed, and his cheeks and ears went pink.
“I guess you can ask her when she comes out. It was serious, but she’s out of the danger zone now. She texted Renee to tell her,” he added bitterly.
“I’ll go and see her. And Stacy?”
Ethan looked down at the floor. Debbie glanced at Karen, who tutted and raised her hands in the air.
“He knows, but he won’t tell me,” explained Karen, with a glare at Ethan. “So, don’t ask me.”
“Tell me now, Ethan,” ordered Debbie, in her most stern and mother-like voice. “I need to know what’s happened.”
“Leave it, Debbie, she’s asked him not to say,” warned Karen.
“Ethan, trust me, if something has happened to that girl, I need to know. Has someone attacked her, too?”
“If I tell you, Debbie, you can’t say anything,” he whispered. Karen rolled her eyes and groaned as Debbie nodded eagerly.
“I took Stacy to the police station yesterday morning. She told me she’d got caught up in something, a gang who are forcing her to do things she doesn’t want to do. She’s gone to the police to tell them everything. She’s going to need protection, so she can’t come and work here. She can’t even stay in this area.”
“Is this gang called ‘Princesses’?” whispered Debbie to Ethan.
He gasped and stepped back from her, his cheeks now a brighter red.
“How do you know that name?”
“Ethan, I’m not part of it, I promise. I’ve been trying to work out who’s behind it for months. Janice and Caitlin figured it out, and so did Dawn, but they were all killed by someone before they went to the police.”
“Debbie,” hissed Karen, but Ethan cut across her.
“What has this got to do with the murders? How did Janice, Caitlin and Dawn know about ‘Princesses’?”
“Don’t you see Ethan?” prompted Debbie. “The person running it works here. It’s someone in the store.”
“That’s why so many girls from here are part of it,” he said to himself, with a rub of his forehead. Debbie could see the dawning realisation on his face.
“Who is it then?”
“Well, they thought it was me,” replied Debbie. “But when you brought in Stacy yesterday, it must have proven it to the police. That this is all linked, and that I’m not the person they’re looking for. I know it’s Renee, and Marie, too.”
“Debbie!” shouted Karen. “Shut up will you, you can’t go accusing people like that. It’s not them!”
“Renee and Marie,” interrupted Ethan, with a gasp. “They hate me. They’re always watching me, trying to stop me from speaking to Jade and Stacy…”
“And Renee is from New Grange, like the girls, and her cat’s name is Princess,” added Debbie, ignoring Karen’s protests.
Ethan froze.
“You’re kidding!” he whispered. He scratched his head and ran towards the staff area.
“Stay right there!” he shouted back towards them.
“You see, I was right all along!” cried Debbie.
“Yes, I can see that this is all linked,” replied Karen. She was no longer frowning, but she did look furious. “But it’s a police matter. It sounds like they’ve got a statement fr
om Stacy now, so stay out of it.”
Debbie raised her voice.
“How can I stay out of it? I’m part of this, and I have to clear my name!”
“Look where meddling got you last time,” hissed Karen in return. “Look where it got Dawn, Janice and Caitlin. Now you’re putting yourself in danger again, mouthing off about your suspicions to Ethan! We barely know him!”
Debbie paused for a moment. Did Karen have a valid point? Had she been too quick to trust Ethan? Before she had a chance to consider it, she heard the sound of his footsteps running towards her. Ethan approached her at pace and held out a small, crumpled business card.
“What is that?” asked Karen, as Debbie took the card.
Debbie couldn’t believe her eyes. She saw the words ‘Princesses’ and ‘escort services’ and a picture of a white, fluffy cat, winking up at her.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “It’s the final piece of the puzzle, Karen, look! The cat!”
“Where did you get it? I mean, did you not give this to the police?” Karen asked as she stared at the card in disbelief.
“Jade dropped it, and I picked it up. I gave the police a photocopy, but it’s in a big folder with hundreds of other documents. I didn’t realise how important it was.”
“Oh, I bet they won’t even spot it,” muttered Debbie. “Let’s take it to them now, and wave it in front of them, spell it out.”
Ethan nodded as Karen sighed again and looked up to the ceiling.
“Deb, I thought we were going for, you know, a chat. Just the two of us?”
“We can, we will,” promised Debbie, her eyes fixed on the card. “We’ll drop this off with the police first, and then we’ll take Ethan home, then go for a chat. It’s quarter to five now. Let’s finish closing up, and then we’ll go.”
27: Thank You, Jade
Monday 24th December 2018, 16:45 - Jade
Jade’s hospital taxi pulled up outside a row of semi-detached houses in South Croydon. She winced in pain as she sat up straight and attempted to haul herself out of the car. Despite her broken ribs, the doctors insisted she was ready to go home. She trusted their opinion, but also saw first-hand how short of beds they were at the hospital. That, too, may have had something to do with her early release.
Killer Princesses: Gripping and gritty, a twisty and tantalising thriller... Page 19
