The Forgotten_An absolutely gripping, gritty thriller novel

by Casey Kelleher

  It had been almost five years since he’d seen any of them, and in that time, none of them had come looking for him. None of them had seemed bothered.

  They didn’t give two shits about him; of course they didn’t, they would have found him by now if so.

  It wouldn’t have been that hard, would it? If they really searched.

  Only they’d left him to fend for himself.

  Left him all alone, a broken shell of a man.

  Well fuck them. Fuck them all. This kid too.

  This spoiled little brat of Nancy’s that the whole world and their wife was out looking for now, according to all the newspapers and the articles splashed everywhere on the internet.

  Anyone would think that Nancy Byrne was a fucking saint the way the press was suddenly portraying her. Like some celebrity IT girl. Some posh yummy-mummy type.

  When that couldn’t be further from the truth.

  There was no mention now of Nancy being the daughter of a violent gangster. A criminal. Of Nancy being one too, these days.

  Instead the headlines used words such as ‘devastated’, ‘beside herself’ and ‘heartbroken’.

  They’d used pictures of Nancy and Scarlett laughing together. The same haunting green eyes. That fiery red hair.

  No mention of the fact that his sister had brought this all upon herself.

  For being so ruthless. For being such a callous, heartless bitch.

  That she deserved everything she had coming to her.

  Daniel was up on his feet again then.

  He didn’t want Scarlett here anymore. Nancy’s little fucking clone. Not here in his home. In his personal space.

  Marie was right about one thing. Daniel needed to get rid of the kid.

  For good.

  He needed his revenge.

  That’s why Marie had brought her here in the first place, so that Daniel could do what he needed to do with her. So that he could make Nancy pay.

  Then it was done. This would all be over.

  He’d finally be able to get on with his life, knowing that he was the one that had caused his sister a whole world of pain. There would be no more games.

  It was time.

  Pulling his trainers on. His coat too. He paced the floors. Trying his hardest to pluck up the courage to go into that room.

  Come on, Daniel. Get your shit done. This is a fucking kid we’re dealing with here. A child.

  Opening the bedroom door, he saw Scarlett physically jump with fright, pushing herself back on the bed, away from him, those piercing green eyes of hers looking up at him wide with fear.

  Her snivelling had finally stopped, his presence in the room quickly silencing her.

  Daniel bent down and undid the rope around her wrists, not looking at the child now, not daring to. Because he knew what he’d see reflected in her eyes. The shock and horror and disgust at the sight of him.

  Him. With his scarred face and missing eye. The monster in the room.

  ‘Do what I tell you, Scarlett, do you understand? I’m going to take the tape off your mouth now, and I want you to promise not to scream. If you scream you’ll be punished, do you understand?’

  If this was going to work, then Daniel had to make the kid believe him.

  So he took her one and only last bit of hope and dangled it before her.

  ‘I’m going to take you home, Scarlett. You want to go home, don’t you? To your mummy?’

  Scarlett nodded, yearning for his words to be true as Daniel pulled her coat around her.

  ‘Be a good girl then and I’ll take you home, okay?’ he lied, glad that Scarlett seemed to believe him. Surprised at how easy it had been.

  He watched as the kid stood there so deadly still, not saying a word, just as they’d agreed.

  Obedient. Compliant.

  Doing only as she was told.

  She looked positively terrified, Daniel thought to himself, as he led the child out from the flat.

  And so she should be.

  Thirty-Seven

  ‘You haven’t got a clue who I am, have you? But I remember you,’ Jess Green said, standing in the small bathroom, watching the expression on Nancy’s face as the woman tried so desperately to place her.

  She could almost feel her brain whirring, as she tried so hard to work it out. To piece this all together. It didn’t take her long.

  She finally got it.

  ‘Ruth?’ Nancy said, narrowing her eyes, finally able to place the girl.

  She’d only encountered the girl once. Almost five years ago now. When she’d worked over in Bridge Street, back when Nancy had first taken the place over. ‘I threw you out. After I caught you stealing from me,’ Nancy said, still confused, still wondering what this was all about.

  She barely knew this woman.

  Only she was getting the impression that this Ruth knew a hell of a lot about her.

  ‘Ruth Lewis. That’s my real name,’ Ruth said then, her face screwed up with anger. ‘Though, I don’t go by that anymore, not after you tried to ruin me.’

  Again Nancy narrowed her eyes. Shaking her head then, as if she was missing something. Ruined her?

  She’d caught her stealing and had thrown her out on her arse. Out on the street. Hadn’t even let the girl put her clothes on.

  Nancy had purposely humiliated the girl, to make a point to all the others, but that was all.

  ‘You really have no idea, do you?!’ Ruth said then, the familiar anger raging inside her once again.

  How Nancy could stand there, in front of her, and act so blasé, so unaware of the damage she’d done to her.

  The harm she’d put her in.

  Well, Ruth was only too happy to educate the woman now that she had the chance.

  ‘I couldn’t get any work after you’d put the word out on me being a thief. After you told all your contacts across London not to touch me.’ She clenched her fists down at her sides. Trying her hardest to contain her anger.

  To not lash out.

  Not yet, anyway.

  ‘They all did as you asked. No one within a fifty-mile radius of you would even entertain the idea of employing me. Not a single brothel or strip joint. Not even the real seedy back street places. They were all too scared of the repercussions. Of you putting the hard word out on me. So I was forced to do whatever it took to survive. Walking the streets to tout for business. Getting in cars with strangers.’ She shook her head then, as if trying to shake the memory from her mind. Snarling. Seething now. ‘You know how dangerous that is, walking the streets of London? Selling your body for sex to any bastard with the money to pay for it. Bastards who know they can treat you however they please because you haven’t got any form of backup. ’Course you don’t. You wouldn’t have a clue about any of that. Because you’re the other end of the scale. Mrs Moneybags. Nothing more than a glorified pimp. Look at you, dressed in designer clobber, your fancy diamond earrings. Reeking of your expensive perfume. All that money you have, all made from girls like me. You couldn’t even begin to imagine the sort of shit I’ve been subjected to over the years. Sleeping with some of the most depraved and disgusting punters imaginable. Sickos using my body like a toilet, to simply empty their body fluids into. Degraded and used time and time again.’

  Finally after all these years, this was her chance to lay it all out there and tell Nancy Byrne how much she hated her. How much she’d cost her.

  She was physically shaking now.

  Her words pouring out of her, hurting her with their memory.

  ‘This is what you did to me. You did this,’ Ruth screamed now, lifting her top up. Revealing the deep, jagged scars of her back, where strips of her skin had been gouged out that night she’d been attacked.

  Wanting Nancy to see them.

  Wanting her to know the damage that had been done on that fateful night, when some sadistic fuck had taken it upon himself to rape and mutilate her in the alleyway that stretched down the side of The Ten Bells pub in Spitalfields.


  How the sick bastard had almost killed her.

  Ruth’s hands were shaking violently now. Feeling her tears running down her face, she quickly wiped them away. Angry with herself for allowing this bitch to see her pain.

  At least Nancy knew now. That this was what Ruth’s grudge was all about.

  It was good to finally say it out loud. To speak about something that had caused her so much pain.

  Of course, Kyle had asked her about her scars numerous times. Sickened by the thick gouges that had been sliced out of her back. The slashes across her arms and her legs, where that maniac had sliced her up after he’d raped her.

  But Ruth had never wanted to talk about it.

  Kyle wouldn’t have understood. His tiny, hollow brain couldn’t even comprehend what she’d been through. He couldn’t even begin to try.

  And the scars had been a constant reminder. Unable to hide her disfigured body from punters and boyfriends.

  She was damaged goods.

  Damaged beyond repair.

  Nancy Byrne had seen to that.

  It was all her doing, all her fault.

  ‘That’s right. Look away! What is it, Nancy? Is it too much for you to stomach? Too much for the woman that claimed she was so fucking high and mighty. The woman with the power to make or break someone. Someone like me? Because that’s what you did, Nancy. You left me no choice but to fend for myself, and because of that you fed me to the fucking wolves,’ Ruth said, as Nancy had the good grace to look away then, her eyes fixed on the floor.

  Ruth smirked. Happy that they both finally knew where they stood.

  That Nancy had been well and truly filled in.

  ‘How does it feel, Nancy?’ she laughed, showing Nancy that she wasn’t scared of her, and she wasn’t going to tell this woman shit. ‘Not to be the one with the power? It isn’t very nice, is it? Having something so precious taken from you.’ Ruth was laughing now. ‘You want me to tell you where your kid is, right? Well, you can rot in hell, Nancy. And so can your precious daughter.’

  ‘Where is she?’ Jack said, as he watched a dishevelled Nancy drag the woman into the room and shove her down on the settee next to Kyle.

  Nancy looked fit to kill, fired up, eyes blazing. Her cheeks burning red.

  He’d never seen her so angry, so enraged.

  ‘She won’t tell me,’ Nancy said, glaring at Ruth Lewis, ready to launch herself on her any second. She’d physically beat the living shit out of the woman to get her to talk if she had to. Though she was done with playing games.

  She wanted her daughter back, and this bitch knew where she was.

  There was only one thing for it.

  Reaching inside the back of her waistband for her gun, she pointed it straight at Ruth’s head.

  ‘Shit, Nancy,’ Jack muttered. Realising how quickly things were escalating. How out of hand events were turning.

  Though Ruth didn’t so much as flinch. Determined not to.

  ‘Go on, I fucking dare you!’ Instead she stared down the barrel, as if goading Nancy to do it. To shoot her.

  Nancy moved the gun across, aiming it at Kyle, who closed his eyes and started praying silently to himself, recognising that mad, crazy look in Nancy’s eyes. There was no doubt in Kyle’s mind that Nancy would use it.

  She would. He could see it in her eyes. How she’d shoot him right here in this lounge. She’d happily blast his brains all over the wall behind him.

  He started to cry, which only seemed to irritate Jess even further.

  ‘Oh here we fucking go. The weakest link,’ she said, beyond annoyed with Kyle. This was all his fault.

  He’d brought Nancy and Jack to their door.

  He’d fucked everything up yet again.

  ‘I want you to tell me where my daughter is, and I want you to tell me now. Do you understand?’ Nancy said, her patience wearing thin.

  It was dark outside now, and all Nancy could think about was how terrified Scarlett would be.

  Wherever she was, whoever she was with.

  The not knowing was making her feel sick with nerves.

  And these fuckers knew.

  They knew where Scarlett was but they were withholding it from her.

  Leaving her no choice but to drag it out of them. Whatever it took.

  ‘I want my daughter back. Tonight. Now. Or blood will be spilled.’

  ‘We didn’t take her,’ Kyle began. Stuttering again, nervously. He was petrified now, as he felt the cool metal lip of the gun being pushed into the side of his head as Nancy stood over him.

  The look on the woman’s face told him that she was capable of doing it, of pulling the trigger and snuffing out his life.

  And no one would stop her.

  Remembering what Dennis Watkins and Louis Blackwell had told him about her having the pigs in her pocket too. That her boyfriend was a DI for the Met. This man right here. A cop.

  Yet still she pointed the gun.

  He and Jess were royally screwed. The only way they’d come out of this alive is if they told the truth and gave Nancy what she wanted.

  Though Ruth had other ideas. ‘Just shut the fuck up, Kyle,’ she said, digging him hard in the ribs. Her eyes not leaving Nancy’s. ‘Don’t tell her jack shit.’

  ‘It’s dark outside, I bet your little one is really scared. Out there all on her own,’ Jess sneered. Wiping the trail of blood with the back of her hand. She hoped that Nancy was dying inside. That the pain of not knowing where her child was, was killing her.

  Nancy reacting like this meant that she was making the bitch stew.

  ‘Or maybe she’s inside in the warm huh? In someone’s house or flat. Keeping some old pervert or paedo company for the night—’

  Nancy smashed the gun in Ruth’s face then, hitting her so hard that her head snapped back, blood trickling from her nose.

  It still wasn’t enough to deter her from winding Nancy up.

  ‘At least you won’t have to worry about her getting cold, eh?’

  Nancy hit her again. Harder this time. Bringing the gun down on Ruth’s head with such force that she knocked the woman clean out.

  Ruth slumped backwards against the chair. Out cold.

  Nancy turned to Jack then.

  ‘You know who this stupid bitch is? Ruth Lewis. From Bridge Street. Remember the skank that I threw out that time for stealing from me?’

  Vaguely recalling the night he’d seen two of the girls rolling around on the floor at the brothel, trying to kill each other over some missing money, Jack nodded.

  Kyle butted in, confused. ‘Why are you calling her Ruth? Her name’s Jess?’

  Nancy shook her head. ‘That what she told you, is it? Well, she spun you a pack of lies, mate.’

  She almost felt sorry for the guy. Completely gormless. Sucked in by Ruth’s spell.

  Which was exactly what his appeal to the woman would have been. Men like Kyle were easy pickings. All muscle with not a lot going on upstairs. They looked the part, but they were simple. The perfect combination for a woman like Ruth to control and manipulate.

  Well those traits would work in Nancy’s favour now, especially seeing as Ruth was out cold.

  Kyle being every bit as weak and pathetic as he looked was what she was counting on.

  ‘I’m going to give you one last chance, Kyle. One last chance to tell me where I can find my daughter. And if you don’t tell me, I’m going to lodge a bullet firmly inside your skull, do you understand?’ Nancy said.

  Her steel eyes boring into the man.

  Her voice calm and neutral. Her words cold as ice.

  ‘Then I’m going to do the same to your friend here. And then Jack here, is going to take your bodies off somewhere that no fucker will ever find you. He’ll bury the pair of you and no one will be any the wiser. Do you understand?’

  Kyle started crying again then.

  As he felt his bladder go. Wetting himself now. He could see that Nancy was more than capable of going through with her threat
.

  He had no choice but to talk. To tell Nancy Byrne everything he knew. Maybe then he and Jess had a chance of getting out of tonight alive.

  ‘We didn’t take her. I promise you. We were going to…’ Kyle said again. Stuttering so badly now that each of his words came out in a slow juddered delay. ‘But some woman got there first. She took her. She dragged her out of the sandpit, and forced her into a car. We followed her.’

  ‘What woman?’

  Kyle shrugged.

  ‘Where? Where did she go?’

  ‘To a flat; Twickenham. On the Drakewell Estate, off George Street. Jess followed her up to her floor. She said that they’d gone into flat 9?’

  ‘Swear. Swear on your girlfriend’s life,’ Nancy said, pointing the gun back down at Ruth then, aiming it at the woman’s head.

  ‘Please. I swear to God. I’m telling you the truth, you have to believe me. We didn’t take her.’

  Nancy looked at Jack, who nodded. Convinced that Kyle was telling them the truth.

  The bloke sounded distraught, the panic in his voice evident for them both to hear.

  Turning back to Kyle, Nancy brought the gun down hard then.

  Slamming it against his skull. Smashing him hard on his temple.

  Knocking him out, he quickly slumped lifelessly to the floor.

  ‘You wanted backup? Make a call to your colleagues and get these two dealt with. We need to get round to this flat, pronto,’ Nancy ordered Jack, before stepping over the unconscious man.

  Unable to look at this scum any longer than she already had.

  ‘I’ll wait for you in the car.’

  Thirty-Eight

  ‘I’m cold,’ Scarlett said, as she took in the dark night skies that loomed over the embankment. The trees swishing together loudly at one side of her, as the wind whipped violently through them. Just as it cut through her too, right down to her bones.

  She shivered.

  Glancing to the other side of the pathway she was standing on, she looked down at the murky waters of the river, the water so dark now that it looked almost black.

  Scarlett didn’t like the dark.

  All she wanted was to be back at home, with her mummy and daddy. Wrapped up in bed with her Ariel dollies and her special night light that played funny songs.