Tainted Lives

by Mandasue Heller

  Tonight was the night when Vinnie would exact his revenge, under cover of the grudge match of the season: Man City versus Man United. Everyone in the house would be watching. Everyone but Chambers, who had – rather considerately, Vinnie thought – chosen this particular day to take his weekend leave.

  Everyone had been buzzing for days. Even the girls had caught the bug – although from the amount of giggling going on, they were obviously more interested in watching the players than the ball. The TV room was filling up already, the kids securing their seats, while Dandi and Gloria prepared the mid-match snacks in the kitchen.

  Bagging one of the huge floor-cushions, Vinnie dragged it up beside the door at the back of the room, getting into position nice and early.

  Mark hummed softly as he got ready. He’d arranged to meet Sean and a few of the lads in town. They were going to watch the match on a giant open-air screen in Albert Square, then he and Sean were going somewhere ‘special’. He didn’t know where, but Sean had said to bring a weekend case along, and he was praying that his gorgeous boyfriend had decided to use his all-expenses bonus holiday to take him for a dirty weekend in Paris – one of the perks of being a trolley-dolly for a major airline. He could really use a bit of Sean-style pampering after the stresses of the last few weeks.

  Mark felt truly happy for the first time in ages. Harry hadn’t touched his car since he’d been back, and the police seemed to have decided not to pursue the Sarah thing. He knew he shouldn’t have been so worried about it, but he couldn’t help it. Many an innocent man had been condemned on the strength of a false allegation. Still, the police hadn’t troubled him since bringing Harry home. And after three weeks, he was optimistic that it was done and dusted.

  Ready at last, he splashed on some cologne and stepped back to look in the mirror. He looked great. Slipping his jacket on, he checked that he had his passport, picked up his case and headed out.

  Pausing outside Harry’s room, he put the case down and eased the door open. Harry was huddled beneath his quilt – no doubt crying again. Tiptoeing across the room, Mark reached out and gently touched his shoulder.

  ‘You awake, Harry?’

  No reply.

  ‘Okay, well, I’ll see you when I get back. And I, er, know it probably doesn’t mean much right now, but I really hope we get back on track one day, ’cos I really hate us not being friends. See you later, kiddo.’

  Leaving quietly, Mark picked up the case and made his way downstairs. Passing by the TV room, he thought about popping in to say goodbye, but decided against it. He was already late, and they knew he was going, so he didn’t need to announce it and delay himself further.

  Throwing his case onto the back seat of the car, he set off without a backward glance. Goodbye Starlight, hello gay Paree!

  With minutes to spare, Dandi wheeled the snack trolley in and plonked herself on the fattest armchair facing the screen.

  ‘If everyone’s got a seat, let’s have the light off,’ she said, already dipping into a bowl of crisps.

  ‘Oh, just look at those buns,’ Gloria groaned, sprawling on her stomach on the floor with a bowl of nuts she had no intention of sharing. Propping her chin on her hands, she ogled Brian Robson as he led his side onto the pitch. ‘Hurry up and settle down, you lot, that’s my future husband you’re watching!’ Flapping a hand back over her shoulder at the chorus of groans, she said, ‘Don’t hate me ’cos I’m gorgeous! You’re all invited to the wedding.’

  Settling back on his cushion, Vinnie ignored the girly nonsense and waited for an opportunity so that he could slip away.

  City won the toss and took control of the situation for the first torturous few minutes, making several determined attempts to score and thwarting United’s efforts to commence the thrashing that the majority of Manchester’s population was anticipating.

  Ten minutes in, Ryan Giggs redressed the balance. Taking advantage of a bungled City pass, the youngster surged down the left wing, skipped a crafty slide tackle and powered to the by-line, crossing deftly to Clayton Blackmore who was waiting outside the eighteen-yard box. Volleying a thunderous shot into the roof of the net, Blackmore leaped into the air with a jubilant yell, along with sixty-odd thousand ecstatic United supporters – and twenty-odd Starlight residents and staff.

  Harry heard the cheering down below and pulled the pillow over his ears. How could they carry on as normal when he was dying of heartache?

  He had thought it would cheer him up to see Sarah again, but it hadn’t. It had made everything a million times worse. He wanted to be with her more than ever. It wouldn’t have been so painful if she’d written to him, but he hadn’t heard a word from her. She had obviously decided that it was easier to get him out of her life.

  The staff had been trying to cheer him up, but he knew what they were up to. They were just trying to poison him against her, always talking about her ‘mistake’ and trying to get him to say he believed them not her. But he wouldn’t. He’d never betray her like that. Never!

  Mark Chambers was good, he had to give him that. He was really piling it on, and if Harry weren’t so smart, he might have believed the man was innocent by now.

  Hoped they’d get back on track one day, did he? Well, Harry knew what kind of track he’d like to get Chambers on: a high-speed train track!

  Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t hear the door opening and being eased shut again. Didn’t know that he was no longer alone until the heavy body fell on top of him, pinning him to the bed, forcing the breath from his lungs and his face into the pillow.

  He bucked impotently as rough, wool-gloved fingers prised his lips apart and pushed something bitter-tasting into his mouth. He tried to push it out with his tongue but there was nowhere for it to go and it slid down his throat, making him gag even more than he already was as the hands tore at his pyjama bottoms.

  Harry screamed, first with terror when he realized what was happening, then with absolute, all-consuming agony. The sound filled his head and reverberated through his soul, but it didn’t get past the pillow. And all the while, an all-too familiar voice hissed venomous confessions down his ear.

  Letting himself into Chambers’s room, Vinnie stashed the gloves at the back of the wardrobe and slid the last of the three tablets he had bought under the mattress. Getting out of there when his work was done, he slipped down the back stairs and in through the back door of the TV room unnoticed.

  The final score was a resounding five-one to United. City had rallied towards the end, managing to net a fluky one, but United had stomped them into the pitch. There would be riots tonight. There always were when the reds and blues met up, but more so when they met at the blues’ Maine Road stadium. Too many angry Mancunians and over-zealous police crammed into the claustrophobic maze of Moss Side streets made for an atmosphere guaranteed to ignite at the slightest provocation.

  Ollie tried to slink from the room to prevent a closer-to-home riot, but Vinnie beat him to the door.

  ‘Going somewhere?’ he demanded. ‘We had a bet, remember? You said your sad-sack team was gonna win, but they got battered just like I told you. Where’s me twenty?’

  ‘I was just going to get it, man.’ Ollie grinned. ‘It’s in me room.’

  Stepping aside, Vinnie said, ‘Off you go, then. And don’t take all night about it.’

  Ollie cursed under his breath as he ran upstairs to his room. He wished he’d never opened his mouth about the stupid match. And he should have stayed out of the way tonight. If he’d just laid low, Vinnie would have been gone in the morning and the debt would have been trashed.

  Snapping the light on, irritation turned to anger when he saw Harry huddled beneath his quilt. The little shit was always in his pit since the pigs had nabbed his arse and dragged him back, snivelling and whingeing over that snotty bint, Sarah. It made Ollie sick – almost as sick as having to hand over twenty quid to Vinnie.

  ‘Think you’re too good to watch the match with the rest of us?’ he demanded
, prodding the boy in the back as he crossed the room to fetch his money.

  Getting not so much as a moan or a sniff in response, he narrowed his eyes and slammed the drawer. Still nothing.

  ‘Oi, Mongo,’ he snarled, going to the bed now and punching Harry in the back. ‘I’m talking to you! Don’t ignore me, ’cos you ain’t gonna have Vinnie to protect you after tomorrow, remember?’

  Riled by the continued ignorance, he reached down and snatched at the tufty orange hair sticking out above the quilt edge.

  ‘Oi, you little arse bandit, I said—’

  Dropping the hair as if it had burned him, Ollie backed away, a look of horror on his face.

  ‘Oh, shit!’ he gasped, stumbling backwards to the door and fumbling with the handle. ‘DANDIIII . . .’

  20

  Harry was barely alive. Reviving him as best they could, the paramedics whisked him away to the MRI. There the full extent of his condition became apparent and the police were alerted.

  He had been subjected to a violent sexual assault, prior to – or during – an attempted suffocation. A condom had been used, causing him to go into anaphylactic shock, and the as yet unidentified substance he had ingested was causing him severe breathing difficulties and prolonged unconsciousness.

  Harry was not in a good way, and no one expected him to survive the night.

  West and Vine reached Starlight before the detectives who would ultimately take over the case. They would take the preliminary statements and check out any likely suspects, but they would not interfere with the crime scene. That was for Forensics, when they eventually arrived.

  ‘I don’t believe it!’ Dandi gasped when they told her what they knew. ‘Who would do such a terrible thing? I would have heard something. I would have known.’

  ‘I’d choose your words carefully if I were you,’ West sniped, dropping heavily into a seat. ‘Wouldn’t want to incriminate yourself.’

  Flicking his partner a disapproving glance, Vine said, ‘I’ll make tea, shall I?’

  Dandi nodded, her whole body shaking as she sat down and lit a cigarette.

  West watched her with narrowed eyes as Vine bustled about with the kettle like a concerned relative – or like a good little female PC. Dandi was either really shocked, or a fuck of a good actress, he decided.

  Rape was bad enough for a girl, but it seemed so much worse for a boy. West knew it was a terrible thing either way, but he could maintain a level of detachment when the victim was female, whereas male rape seemed so much more personal. His body revolted against the idea, making him feel murderous and frustrated at the same time.

  ‘Let’s go through it from the beginning,’ West said when they were all seated with cups of tea in their hands. ‘As far as you were aware, Ms Matthews, everyone was in the TV room watching the match tonight?’

  ‘Yes . . . I – I didn’t realize Harry had decided to stay in his room. I would have checked on him if I’d known. But he’s – he’s been really quiet since you brought him back. He can be there one minute, gone the next. We keep finding him in bed, crying.’

  ‘This business with Mr Chambers.’ Vine rested his cup on his crossed legs. ‘The reason Harry ran away in the first place. Was it resolved?’

  ‘Well, Harry stopped sabotaging his property, if that’s what you mean.’

  ‘And their personal differences?’

  ‘They didn’t really have any. Everything that happened was a result of Sarah’s accusation. But I’ve told you this already. I don’t really think it’s got anything to do with what happened tonight. In fact, it couldn’t have, because Mark – Mr Chambers – isn’t even here.’

  ‘Ah, yes,’ West butted in. ‘The convenient weekend leave?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right,’ Dandi said, disapproving of his use of the word ‘convenient’. It implied far too much ungrounded suspicion for her liking.

  ‘Starting this evening, ending Monday?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘So when exactly did he leave?’

  ‘I’m not sure of the exact time, but he was gone when . . . when we discovered Harry. He must have left while we were preparing for the match.’

  ‘How do you know it wasn’t during?’

  ‘He was not here,’ Dandi insisted, her chin jerking up. ‘He had to meet his friends at a certain time. He told me his plans days ago.’

  ‘He could have altered his timetable,’ West said coldly, disliking Dandi for her dogged loyalty to a man who had already been accused of abusing a former resident.

  ‘How can you be so sure that he left before the attack took place?’ Vine asked calmly.

  ‘I just know he wouldn’t do something like this,’ Dandi answered tightly. ‘I’m sure he’ll tell you the same when you speak to him. He’s a decent man. Decent, honest and, in my opinion, absolutely trustworthy.’

  ‘Anyone spoken to him since this happened?’

  ‘No. I tried but his mobile’s switched off.’

  West and Vine exchanged a glance.

  ‘Who are these friends he was meeting?’ West asked. ‘Where were they planning to go, and are you expecting him back tonight? He lives here, doesn’t he?’

  ‘Yes,’ Dandi replied curtly. ‘But he’s under no obligation to sleep here if he’s on leave. His friend, Sean, is the only one I know by name. They were going to Albert Square to watch the match. And I, um, don’t think he’ll be back tonight because I think he and Sean might have plans to go away.’

  ‘This Sean a special friend, is he?’

  The question was loaded and Dandi knew it. But, loath as she was to discuss Mark’s private life with this animal, she had little option.

  ‘They’re a couple,’ she admitted reluctantly. ‘Have been for some time.’ Legitimizing it. ‘Committed. Absolutely monogamous.’

  ‘Into drugs, is he?’ West went on mercilessly. ‘Not uncommon on that scene.’

  ‘Not that I’m aware of.’ Dandi’s nostrils were flaring now. Not only was the man obviously homophobic, he was sarcastic and insensitive too.

  She turned her attention to Vine. ‘Has anyone said what’s likely to happen? I mean, do . . . do they think Harry will . . .’

  ‘Die?’ West supplied cruelly, wanting to shatter her smug This has got nothing to do with me or mine bubble. ‘Hard to say, given the time it took anyone to rescue the poor little—’

  ‘Tony!’ Vine cut him off. Standing, he put his cup on the desk. ‘We’d like to take a look around Mr Chambers’s room, if you don’t mind?’

  ‘Why?’ Dandi frowned. ‘I’ve already told you he wasn’t here. We’d have heard him leave.’

  ‘But you didn’t, did you?’ West raised an eyebrow. ‘Didn’t hear him leave. Didn’t hear him drive away. Not before, during or after the match, even though you know he left at some point. And, quite by coincidence, you have no clue where he’s gone and can’t reach him.’

  ‘Let’s take a look around before we jump to conclusions, shall we?’ Vine suggested.

  ‘What are you looking for?’ Dandi hovered in Mark’s bedroom doorway minutes later, twisting the key in her hands and watching nervously as West and Vine poked around in the drawers. ‘This is all just personal stuff.’

  ‘We’ll let you know if we find anything,’ West told her tersely. ‘Anyone else but you and Mr Chambers have access to this room?’

  ‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘Staff rooms are strictly private. The staff hold their own keys, and the duplicates are locked in the safe at all times. I never use them – only in case of emergencies. Why do you ask?’

  ‘To ascertain that whatever we find in here can only belong to Mr Chambers,’ West told her, smiling nastily as he added, ‘Or yourself, of course.’

  Looking up from the drawer he was rifling, Vine gave Dandi a reassuring smile. ‘Don’t worry, Ms Matthews. We’ll try not to make a mess.’

  A couple of minutes later, West gave a jubilant yell – somewhat muffled by the mattress he was holding up against his mouth. Moti
oning for Vine to come over, he said, ‘Grab this a sec, Bob.’

  ‘What is it?’ Dandi moved into the room.

  ‘Would you mind staying back there by the door,’ Vine told her, taking hold of the mattress.

  Pulling on a pair of latex gloves and taking a small evidence bag from his pocket, West leaned down and picked something up. Dropping it into the bag and sealing it in, he showed it to Vine.

  ‘What is it?’ Dandi said again.

  West gave her a nasty half-smile as he held the bag up in front of her. ‘Seems I was right about your Mr Chambers and drugs. If this is what we think it is, he’s nailed.’

  Dandi watched helplessly as Vine radioed in their findings to the station and West continued searching. She didn’t like this change of pace one little bit. Things were going too quickly – and too smoothly in the police’s favour – for her liking. They could have planted that tablet, for all she knew. She hadn’t seen West pick it up; he’d been neatly hidden by the mattress and his partner’s body. They were probably in it together. They certainly wanted Mark to be guilty, especially after the Sarah thing.

  She wished that she hadn’t agreed to let them into his room now. She should have just said that she didn’t have a spare key. But she hadn’t wanted to make them suspicious. She hadn’t wanted them to think there was something to hide, and she’d genuinely expected them to draw a blank. What a bloody mess.

  ‘Oh, dear, oh, dear,’ West piped up, reaching into the waste bin and pulling something out.

  ‘What now?’ Dandi was almost in tears.

  Bagging his find, West said, ‘A condom, Ms Matthews. Now, surely even you must agree that’s an unusual thing to have lying around in a place like this?’

  ‘That should be switched off,’ the stewardess scolded Sean playfully, arching an eyebrow at the mobile phone he was trying to conceal beneath his lap blanket. ‘You know that, naughty.’

  ‘Just texting my mum.’ Sean grinned back at her. ‘She likes to keep track of my adventures. Nearly done.’

  ‘Well, hurry up. And if the captain sees you, I didn’t know.’ Smiling, she moved away with her little trolley.