The Forgotten_An absolutely gripping, gritty thriller novel

by Casey Kelleher

  ‘Don’t you dare! Honestly. Wear it, you look sensational,’ Jack said. He meant it too. Right now, standing in the Byrnes’ kitchen looking at the mother of his child and his tiny daughter, he couldn’t have been any prouder of the pair of them.

  ‘What about me, Mummy? Do you like my dress?’ Scarlett shouted doing a twirl in her deep blue and gold dress adorned with a huge red bow.

  ‘Snow White? What about Ariel? I thought she wanted…?’ Nancy said, staring at Jack and wondering why he was discreetly doing a cut-throat signal to her. The penny dropping, Nancy changed tact. ‘Wow, you look super beautiful, Scarlett. I bet you’re going to be the prettiest princess there.’

  ‘Yep!’ Scarlett said with a huge grin. ‘And Daddy said that all the princesses will want to have their photos taken with me. Look what Daddy bought me, too,’ Scarlett said, holding up her brand-new plastic doll.

  ‘Oh, lovely. Another Ariel mermaid doll. Haven’t you already got that one though?’

  Scarlett shrugged, shooting a guilty look her father’s way.

  As Jack laughed and shook his head, realising that he’d been duped by his own child.

  ‘Yes, but Daddy said if I stopped crying, that I could have anything I wanted in the whole shop. And all I wanted was my Ariel doll, ’cause I love her so much,’ Scarlett reasoned with her parents, as they both stared down at her. Nodding at her as if she was talking perfect sense. ‘So now I have two. Can I bring both my Ariel dolls with me, Mummy? Pretty please? They want to come and meet the princesses too,’ the child said, excitedly, barely stopping for breath between words.

  Nancy grinned.

  ‘’Course you can. We’re leaving in ten minutes though, so you’d better be quick if you want to get your other one.’

  Happy with this, Scarlett ran off in pursuit of her other doll.

  ‘You said she could buy anything in the entire shop?’ Nancy said, still grinning. Though she playfully narrowed her eyes at the man.

  Enjoying winding him up now that they were alone.

  ‘Seriously, Jack, that child can wrap you around her little finger and she knows it too!’

  ‘Don’t,’ Jack said rubbing his hand through his hair, in total agreement. The memory of his shopping experience with his young daughter just a few hours earlier still painfully fresh at the forefront of his mind. ‘They didn’t have any Ariel costumes left. So it was a choice between Snow White, or Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story and, let’s just say, that news didn’t go down well with Madam. She kicked off. Big time. Threw herself on the floor in front of everyone in the shop and had a massive paddy,’ Jack said, recalling the humiliation he’d felt when half the shop had stared at him, almost accusingly, as if he’d personally upset the child somehow himself. ‘I didn’t know how to make her stop, so yes I admit it.’ Jack held his hands up, laughing now, at how easily played he’d been by the kid. ‘I used bribery and it worked a treat. Or at least I thought it had; only it turns out little Miss Scarlett was playing me all along. What a little madam.’

  Nancy nodded in agreement; she certainly couldn’t argue with that.

  She was smiling at the child as she returned to the kitchen, both dolls in her hands now. Joanie and Michael both walking into the kitchen behind her. Laughing and chatting away to Scarlett as she showed off her brand-new doll.

  ‘Oh, they are both very lovely. Like twins,’ Joanie said, pretending to be impressed.

  ‘So, if that one’s Ariel, what are you going to call the other one?’ Michael chipped in.

  ‘Ariel number two, silly Grandaddy!’ Screwing her face up as if the answer was obvious, Scarlett dramatically rolled her eyes at her great-grandad, which only made him laugh harder.

  ‘Oh, wow, Nancy,’ Joanie said, stopping in her tracks as soon as she set sights on her granddaughter. ‘You look incredible. Doesn’t she, Michael?’

  ‘You look breathtaking,’ Michael said, nodding in agreement as they both stared at their granddaughter. Nancy Byrne was a vision indeed.

  ‘We need a photo,’ Joanie said, shooing Michael off to grab her camera from the lounge. She stood with her hands over her mouth. Taking in the sight of the beautiful couple in front of her. Nancy dressed in a beautiful gown. Jack wearing his smart grey suit. She couldn’t help but think what a lovely couple they both made.

  Granted, Jack was twenty years Nancy’s senior. But that had never bothered Joanie. What was age, if but a number?

  ‘Scarlett, go and stand with Mummy and Daddy. Nanny wants to take a picture of the three of you.’

  ‘There’s no need, Nan,’ Nancy said, waving her hand in protest. ‘It’s a high-profile event. I’m sure the paps will be out in force tonight like usual. There’ll be enough pictures floating around the newspapers tomorrow morning,’ she said, knowing full well that the press were bound to try and take pictures of her tonight. The press couldn’t help themselves. She was Nancy Byrne, daughter of the infamous, late gangster, Jimmy Byrne. They tried their hardest to portray her as some kind of socialite. An It girl, as they were known these days. Turning up and looking pretty for the photos. Just a bit of eye candy; though Nancy was anything but and she’d played the press back at their own game, proving to them all time and time again that not only was she beautiful but she was also busy making a name for herself these days as a successful businesswoman too. Owner of the prestigious Karma Club, and a whole host of properties across London. Her legitimate businesses: keeping her real money-spinning business well under wraps of course. Nancy Byrne had really come into her own. And, what’s more, she publicly donated a huge amount of money to certain charities too. St George’s, in particular.

  The press didn’t really know what to make of her, which suited Nancy down to the ground.

  ‘I don’t want that kind of smut.’

  Joanie wrinkled her nose.

  She knew as well as Nancy did that the paparazzi would be there in force tonight indeed. That lot were like vultures, always trying to get their hands on the ‘money shot’. Snapping their cameras at awkward angles, just when Nancy was getting in or out of a car. Commenting on her bust and her bottom, as if she was nothing more than a piece of meat. As if she was just some kind of bimbo airhead that looked pretty.

  It was beyond disrespectful.

  Still, this was the age they lived in now, she guessed. It may be 2008 but as a race they hadn’t really evolved at all. That lot still ran around in packs like depraved animals seeking out their prey.

  The press had been bad enough, years ago, when her Jimmy had attended any public events, but Nancy was a whole different kettle of fish.

  Young and attractive, the media couldn’t seem to get enough of her.

  It was just a shame that they didn’t have more bloody manners and paint Nancy in a better light. But then, they were just going with what sold well to the public.

  ‘I want a picture for us. For the family album. Not something cut out of those tacky newspapers, with some smutty journalist commenting on the size of your arse, or making some other sexist jibe,’ Joanie said, getting annoyed.

  ‘Ooh, arse is a bad word, Nanny Joanie,’ Scarlett said, looking up at her nan with an expression of both shock and amusement.

  Her Nanny Joanie never swore. At least not when she thought that Scarlett was listening.

  ‘Scarlett! Nanny Joanie didn’t mean that word. She meant to say bottom,’ Nancy said, raising her eyes at her grandmother, teasingly. ‘She just gets a little bit angry sometimes.’

  ‘Angry,’ Joanie spat. ‘I could say a lot worse trust me.’ Then looking down at Scarlett, Joanie decided not to mention the paps again. She’d only say something she’d really regret otherwise, and little Scarlett didn’t need to hear any of that.

  ‘Don’t you be repeating what comes out of your nanny’s mouth, okay, Scarlett?’

  Scarlett nodded.

  ‘Right here we go,’ Michael said, coming back into the kitchen, holding the camera up in front of him. ‘I tell you what, Joa
nie, how about I set up the timer and I get one of all of us? A proper family shot,’ he said, knowing that his Joanie would love that. The woman was forever taking pictures of Scarlett. To get one of all of them together, as a family, would positively make her day.

  ‘What about Colleen?’ Nancy said, looking up at the clock and realising the time. ‘The car’s going to be here in a minute. I thought Colleen said she wanted to see Scarlett before we left? She could have been in the photo?’

  ‘Lord knows where that one is,’ Joanie said, with a shrug. Secretly not overly fussed where Colleen was today. Or any other day for that matter. Especially after the words they’d both had with each other.

  As far as she was concerned it was high time that the woman made some sort of a life for herself outside of this family.

  Long overdue in fact.

  ‘She’s been acting ever so strange lately, hasn’t she, Joanie?’ Michael said. ‘She went off on one yesterday about not being able to do arts and crafts with Scarlett, as she’d promised. Made a right big deal about it, and after all of the fuss she made, she hasn’t even bothered turning up today?’

  Joanie shook her head. Not bothering to correct her husband and mention that Colleen had phoned to see if she could see Scarlett, earlier today, but Joanie had told the woman that Scarlett had gone out for the day, shopping with Jack. That she’d get her to phone her when she’d got back; only Joanie had managed to forget to mention that to Scarlett. Accidentally, on purpose. Which would have no doubt pissed the woman off no end.

  Colleen was probably at home right now sulking.

  ‘Your nan reckons that she’s got herself a fancy man, don’t you, Joanie? All of a sudden she’s too busy for us all.’

  ‘Well, I don’t want to talk bad of Colleen, but if she is putting a new man before her family, then she’s got her priorities all wrong,’ Joanie said again, trying to convincingly sound as if she was put out by Colleen’s behaviour. Though the blatant truth was, whatever Colleen’s reasons were for staying away, they suited Joanie just fine.

  The less she saw of the woman the better.

  ‘Colleen has a boyfriend?’ Nancy said, screwing her face up. ‘Do you reckon?’

  Seeing the shocked expression on Nancy’s face only made Jack laugh.

  ‘Don’t look so surprised. Your mother’s bound to move on eventually.’

  ‘I guess,’ Nancy said, knowing that it was inevitable really. She couldn’t even picture what sort of man her mother would go for. Not after she’d been with her father and nor was she overly keen on the idea of another man coming into their lives.

  Though to be fair her parents’ marriage had been far from perfect.

  And Colleen did deserve happiness for herself. Of course she did, especially after years of being trapped inside a loveless sham of a marriage.

  Spending two decades married to a man who was secretly gay and in love with his business partner. Her mother had sure known how to pick them.

  ‘I haven’t really thought about it that’s all. I mean, as long as she’s happy…’

  ‘Exactly!’ said Michael, ushering everyone over to the edge of the breakfast island, so that they were standing side by side. ‘Now talking of happy, I want you all to look at the camera and on the count of ten I want you to say, six sizzling, saucy sausages.’

  Michael winked at his granddaughter, who giggled at her great-grandad’s funny turn of phrase.

  Clicking the remote button on the camera’s device, Michael ran to join the rest of the family. All of them staring into the camera. Smiling happily as the white flash filled the room. Capturing them all so beautifully.

  The Byrne family.

  All together. For one last time.

  Each of them blissfully unaware that, in just a few days, their world would be turned upside down.

  That for each and every one of them, nothing would ever be the same again.

  Fifteen

  ‘I’m exhausted.’ Nancy grinned, as Jack Taylor led her and Scarlett out of the main doors of London’s Roundhouse. Glad that they were leaving early, knowing that Scarlett was tired.

  The rest of the partygoers looked as if they’d only just begun, arranging for their army of live-in nannies to collect their children so that they could stay on and party long into the night. Only that was Nancy’s idea of hell; personally she couldn’t wait to get home and into her bed.

  The past few nights, what with getting the Mayfair house all ready and what had happened to Bridget, had left her feeling completely drained.

  Still, she was glad that she’d come tonight. Not only were St George’s charity balls always spectacular, but this had been the first year that Nancy had been able to include Scarlett in the celebrations too.

  It felt good. Giving back and helping others.

  As if somehow she was carrying on the tradition. Her father had always been involved with local charities. She even remembered him taking them all to a few fundraisers over the years, when she’d been little. Her mother, and Daniel too.

  Though back then the events had been nothing like the scale of tonight’s festivities had been.

  Each year, the hospital’s galas and balls were getting bigger and better. More and more extravagant every time. Ensuring that it was as popular as ever, she supposed, so that people kept coming back for more.

  ‘It’s hard to believe this place used to be an old railway engine shed, isn’t it?’ Nancy said in wonderment as she stared up at the huge circular building set on the edge of London’s Chalk Farm Road, still wowed by the Grade II listed building’s interior. The place was always stunning inside, but even more so, she suspected, after the event organisers had completely transformed the decor into a magical Disney princess wonderland for all the children to enjoy.

  The place had looked sensational with a million twinkling starry lights adorning every ceiling and an incredible three-dimensional painted backdrop of wonderlands and fairy castles.

  The venue had been packed to capacity too. Hundreds of guests had attended. And a whole host of celebrities. Jack had been in his element at mingling with them all, having been almost as excited as Scarlett was over the Disney princesses when he’d spotted his idols Mick Hucknall and Rod Stewart.

  ‘Did you have a lovely time, Scarlett?’ Nancy said, as Scarlett trailed behind them rummaging around in the party bag she’d been given as they left, knowing full well that her daughter had. The child was exhausted. So much so that Nancy would bet money on her falling asleep in the car on the way home.

  ‘Yes, Mummy,’ Scarlett said, through a mouthful of sweets. Not even bothering to look up.

  Nancy laughed at how independent her little girl was becoming.

  She’d hardly seen her all evening. Scarlett had been whisked away by the entertainers, happy to make new friends with the other children there. All of them kept busy with a live interactive theatrical show, while the adults had been treated to a champagne reception and a sumptuous three course meal, before taking part in the charity auction.

  ‘I’d say that they raised a shitload of money this year,’ Jack said, still buzzing from the excitement and energy of the evening. ‘Did you see that fella from that pop band? How much he paid for those football boots? Bloody mad,’ Jack said, shaking his head. Still shocked at what they went for. ‘Though I don’t know why I’m so surprised. Of course he’s mad. Man United fan, wasn’t he?’ Jack laughed then. ‘And what about David Beckham’s first car? Nine grand for a Volkswagen Golf? In turquoise.’ He shook his head then. ‘That fella was robbed.’

  ‘Well, at least it all goes to a good cause.’ Nancy laughed in agreement. Glad that her donations would not only be put to great use, but that she’d managed to bid on two gigantic beautiful matching antique vases for the new house. They’d look amazing down in the new spa area, on the columns either side of the steps that led down to the pool.

  ‘I had a great evening,’ Jack said then, seriously. He’d been in his element tonight, in Nancy and
Scarlett’s company.

  ‘Oh I bet you did. Surrounded by all those beautiful women,’ Nancy said, playfully. Trying to hide the fact that she’d felt a slight twinge of jealousy at all the attention Jack got from most of the single females there tonight.

  Some of the married ones, too, in fact.

  Nancy and Jack might not have been together as a couple, but they were here as a couple tonight. A family. And it had shocked her how many women were quick to try and muscle in on what to anyone on the outside could clearly see was her territory.

  Though some of them really didn’t care. Too desperate, and too eager to bag themselves a man like Jack. They all flirted shamelessly with the man every time he left her side.

  Whereas Nancy had experienced the complete opposite.

  Aware of all the admiring glances she got from the vast majority of single men at the event tonight, none of them had dared to come within five feet of her, for fear of stepping on Jack’s toes no doubt.

  At least, that’s what she figured.

  It was either that or the cool, closed off exterior she gave off in waves. Keeping men at arm’s distance at all times.

  Life was easier that way.

  ‘Oh, am I sensing a slight twinge of jealousy there, Miss Byrne?’ Jack said, laughing then as Nancy immediately blushed.

  ‘Of course I’m not jealous.’ Cursing herself for saying anything now. She’d drank too much bloody champagne. ‘I’m just making an observation that’s all.’

  Her defensive tone only made Jack laugh harder then, as he held his hand up, instructing their chauffeur to make his way down the road towards them, to pick them up.

  ‘Fucksake!’ he said, his voice low in front of Scarlett, as he spotted a few lingering paparazzi hanging around nearby, lingering down the side of the Roundhouse building.

  They’d spotted Jack and Nancy, too, then, and had started making their way over.

  Rushing towards them, cameras in hand.