Lost Girls

by K Leitch

  A cricket ball came whizzing past him bringing him back to reality, it landed just in front of where Mum was standing. Andy ran over picked up the ball and threw it back, then bent down to tie the laces on his trainers.

  ‘Hello son,’ Mum said, ‘did ya miss me?’

  Andy looked at her properly; she seemed to be sober, she even looked quite smart dressed in jeans and smiley face T shirt. Her hair was brushed and she appeared to be wearing a bit of makeup.

  ‘Where did you go?’ he said eventually.

  ‘I ‘ad to get away didn’t I…you know that, the police were after me and that psycho Nellie. I ‘ad to go son, ‘ad no choice did I?’ she said in a whiney voice. ‘I’m back now though, so we could meet up maybe…if ya want like,’ she added a moment later.

  Andy nodded smiling. ‘Yeh…maybe you could come to tea at my house…Nonna makes the best teas…’

  ‘Nah,’ Kathy said spitting on the ground, ‘can’t do that son, police are still looking for me, you’ll have to meet me in secret like….’ She broke off as Andy’s teacher who had been calling him for the last few minutes shouted over.

  ‘HUNT! Get back over here, you’re in to bat…come on lad move it.’

  Andy hovered next to his mum for a few seconds, wanting to ask her so many questions.

  She smiled at him. ‘Don’t worry Andy…I’ll come back and we can arrange to meet up or somat…maybe go for a McDonalds.’

  Andy couldn’t believe this was happening; it was all he’d ever dreamed of. ‘That would be great,’ he said with a wide smile.

  ‘Well alright then that’s what we’ll do. Now don’t you go telling anyone I’m back though will ya, or I’ll ‘ave to go away again so….’

  ‘No I promise I won’t…bye Mum,’ Andy said as he ran back to join his class. He couldn’t keep the smile of his face for the rest of the day, Mum was back, she’d come to get him…they could be a family again.

  CHAPTER 32 - MAGGIE

  ‘Thanks love; I’ll tell him when I see him. Oh I don’t think they’ll be letting her out for a while yet. Even though the hip’s back in place, she can’t walk on it for a while; she’s done some damage to her…oh tendons I think they said. I wasn’t paying attention if you must know; I was too busy trying not to fall asleep. Anyway the long and short of it is that she’s on the mend but bedridden at the moment…well thank you…yes I’ll give her your love…bye… bye Ruth.’ Maggie put the phone down and went and turned on the coffee machine, slipping her shoes off as she went. It was mid-morning and she’d been at the hospital for the last day and a half.

  As she had said to Ruth, her sister, Martha seemed to be on the mend, but the whole incident had been traumatic to say the least. It had been no easy job to manipulate the delicate hip back into its socket and Martha had endured half an hour of agony while they tried, sinking back into her pillows unconscious once it was over. Maggie and Duncan had tried not to listen to the muffled groans that could clearly be heard through the curtains that had been pulled around her bed, when Dr Strong had finally turned up to assist Dr Kahn in his grim task. They had stood together hand in hand with tears streaming down their faces not saying a word until it was over.

  Then they had waited again for another doctor to arrive to fit a harness around Martha’s tiny frame.

  ‘It will assist the healing process,’ he had said to them, holding up the medieval looking contraption. ‘Stop the hip from slipping again… which we don’t want do we?’ he added, apparently to Martha despite the fact that she was in a deep sleep. ‘It’ll mean keeping her immobile for a few days though, so we’ll fit a catheter and she’ll be staying here for a while yet I expect so…’

  Duncan and Maggie had taken the hint then and kissed the unconscious Martha goodbye and made their weary way back to their respective homes.

  Duncan had clung onto Maggie as she had kissed him goodbye. ‘Thank you so much darling,’ he had whispered into her ear, ‘I don’t think I could have coped without you by my side.’

  Maggie squeezed his hand. ‘Well it’s a good thing you won’t ever have to then isn’t it honey?’ she said kissing him. ‘Are you sure you’ll be OK on your own? You could come and stay with me for a while if you’d like.’

  Duncan smiled. ‘Ooh don’t tempt me,’ he said with a laugh. ‘But I mustn’t, I’ve left Poppy on her own for too long as it is…who knows what whacky things she’s put on the menu in my absence. I can see it now Brussels sprouts in custard or pilchard pavlova…mmm yummy.’

  Maggie smiled as she thought about it whilst pouring out her coffee and looking absently into the fridge to see what she fancied eating. She grabbed a slab of cheese and a tomato and began making herself a sandwich.

  The house was quiet, everyone had gone to work. Maggie sat at her kitchen table and stared out at her back garden. It was another sunny day; her flower beds looked resplendent in their spring colours. Daffodils fought with crocuses for pride of place and tulips stood tall as they opened their faces to the blue sky above. Maggie felt a surge of emotion welling up inside her chest and she let her tears fall freely as she prayed for Martha. Sweet funny little Martha who had lived to the great old age of 98, seen both great wars, brought up three children, buried the love of her life, survived a fire and a heart attack and was still here…but for how much longer…how much more could that frail little body take?

  Maggie’s thoughts were interrupted by the unmistakable sounds of Maylee talking on the phone. She was obviously unaware that Maggie had come home, and was standing on the galleried landing just above the kitchen and just out of sight of Maggie. ‘Oh God I don’t know hun…’ she was saying, ‘She’s hurt her leg or something, I wasn’t listening if I’m honest. No Duncan is the bloke that Maggie’s seeing…you know Maggie…yeh yeh her, you met her at the auditions…ha ha ha now don’t be nasty…oh yeh round the block a few times for sure…ha ha ha. Anyway listen it might be I bit difficult to meet you later ‘cus I was going to ask her to babysit…no he can’t do it, I’ve already asked him…oh I don’t know some twatty reason, he is getting right on my tits at the moment I can tell you. Oh no darling you can get on my tits any time you like…ha ha…no don’t start, you know it turns me on like mad when you talk like that…Luke! OK, OK I’ll see if someone else can look after him…well what would you like me to wear…ha ha ha you are a very naughty man Luke Wiseman. OK well I’ve got to run now love, I’ve got Mrs Hump at 12 o clock for a wash and blow…ha ha ha I’ll just do you the blow ok…ha ha see you tonight hun…bye.’

  With that she obviously went back through to the annex she shared with Dom to get her coat and her hair dressing equipment. She walked downstairs a couple of minutes late and visibly jumped when she spotted Maggie sitting at the kitchen table.

  ‘Maggie,’ she said in a wary voice. ‘When did you get back, how is Martha?’

  Maggie hadn’t known what to do with herself after hearing the one-sided conversation. Did she make her presence known and confront the girl, or should she hide in the living room until Maylee left for her appointment. In the end she’d decided to bide her time, mainly because she was so tired and so emotional that she knew things might get out of hand very quickly if she had any sort of confrontation with Maylee at this moment in time.

  So she just pinned a smile on her face. ‘Oh just now, Martha’s resting, but it’s been a long day so I’m just going to eat this then I’m going to bed,’ she said.

  ‘Oh good idea,’ Maylee said obviously relieved that she hadn’t been overheard. ‘Well I’ll be out for the rest of the day; you’ll have the house to yourself so make the most of it love,’ she finished as she went to the door.

  Maggie sat and thought for a long time, she didn’t really know what to do. She needed to speak to the girls to get some advice…but first she needed to sleep. She made her way upstairs and crawled beneath her sheets, she was asleep almost before her head touched the pillow.

  CHAPTER 33 - 1971 Exerts from the diary of Una Flannery />
  …I have no choice now, I have to tell someone.

  I think Mrs Cray has guessed anyway. She looked me up and down in the kitchen yesterday with such a mean look on her face…nasty old cow, I’m not telling her that’s for sure.

  They will all know soon enough anyway and then I’ll be out on my ear. Better that I tell them before they guess. I have decided to speak to Miss Ingrid first, she might be my only chance. She’s not around much to be sure, but she has always been nice to me when our paths have crossed.

  Apart from that she’s a woman and I’m sure she will back me against Silco when she hears what he’s done to me, I can show her the scars if she doesn’t believe me…surely she’ll listen, someone has to.

  Silco…he is the devil…just his name terrifies me, filling my head with awful images… memories; I won’t let him beat me I won’t!

  I’m not Missy…and I’ll not be letting him get away with it.

  Miss Ingrid is usually here on a Wednesday…so I’ll have a talk with her then.

  CHAPTER 34 - CARLA

  Carla sat down on the elegant Queen Anne chair opposite Imogen Wiseman and took the cup of tea that she offered her.

  Imogen Wiseman looked tired, Carla thought. Her eyes were red rimmed with dark shadows beneath and her usual air of determined vivacity was absent, which was hardly surprising, given the circumstances.

  ‘Thank you for seeing me again Mrs Wiseman,’ Carla began, ‘there are some things that have come to light which I need to speak to you about.’

  Imogen looked up at Carla with mild interest. ‘Oh really, I can’t imagine what more I can tell you detective. As you know I was in Paris at the time of my husband’s murder and I have absolutely no idea who would want to kill Albie, so…’

  ‘I don’t know if you were aware,’ Carla ventured, ‘maybe you saw it on the news that a few weeks ago a skeleton was found under the old car park in Roman Street, Redbank.’

  ‘Oh sure,’ Imogen said offering a plate of biscuits to Carla. ‘I read about that in the newspaper, they were trying to find out who it was.’

  ‘Yes well we now have a positive ID for the skeleton; it was a Mr Philip Crowe…does that name mean anything to you? Did he maybe have business dealings with your husband, or maybe you might have heard that name mentioned?’ Carla asked nibbling on a jammy dodger.

  Imogen was shaking her head. ‘No I’m sorry; I’ve never heard that name. But then Albie did most of his business overseas, we haven’t had any interests in this country for a long time.’

  ‘As I understand it,’ Carla said swallowing down the rest of her jammy dodger with the help of a swig of scalding hot tea. ‘You and Albie used to own several hotels in the UK…’

  ‘Oh sure we did,’ interrupted Imogen. ‘But we got rid of those years and years ago…moved back to the States.’

  ‘When exactly was that?’ Carla persisted.

  ‘Oh God…ages ago, ‘71, ‘72, something like that,’ Imogen said airily. ‘We moved back to the States and then realised that we missed this country too much, so we bought this place. But Albie kept his business interests overseas; I think he liked his businesses to be completely separate from his home life, so when he came home he could completely relax.’ Her bottom lip began to wobble and she dabbed her eyes with the little scrap of lace which passed for a handkerchief, which she had kept balled in her hands whist talking to Carla. ‘How can any of this be relevant to my husband’s murder detective?’ she carried on after a moment, ‘I don’t understand what this Philip Crowe fellow has got to do with Albie’s death…or our hotels for that matter…’

  ‘Well there may be no connection at all Mrs Wiseman,’ Carla said smiling reassuringly. ‘It is just that there are some significant similarities between the two murders, despite them happening twenty years apart. And, as it turns out, our first victim used to work in a hotel as a manger in the late sixties early seventies…he was known by another name then though - Jonas Silco…does that name ring any bells?’

  What little colour there had been in Imogen’s face drained away and she went completely still, before recovering herself a second later. She shook her head again. ‘No sorry Detective…no one of that name ever worked in any of our hotels; obviously this is just a rather gruesome coincidence.’ She stood up, ‘Now if there is nothing else, I’m afraid I must get on…there is so much to do, what with funeral arrangements…not to mention the play which has fallen so far behind schedule…’

  ‘Is the play still going ahead?’ Carla asked in surprise.

  ‘Oh of course detective,’ Imogen said nodding her head. ‘Albie would have been most upset if we had cancelled the play…no, the show must go on as they say, it will be a tribute to him.’

  ‘Well my daughter will be pleased,’ Carla said with a smile. ‘She’s playing Julie Houseman and has been boring us all with her lines for weeks.’

  ‘Oh you must be Rosie’s mum then,’ exclaimed Imogen. ‘She’s a credit to you detective…lovely girl, lovely girl and so dedicated to her art, you don’t see that much in the young these days.’

  Carla grimaced. ‘Well to be honest I would rather she was a bit more dedicated to her school work and cleaning out her room, but then I’m just her mum aren’t I?’ she finished laughing at Imogen’s shocked expression.

  As she was leaving Carla said, ‘I wonder if you could ask around some of Mr Wiseman’s associates for me…just to see if any of them have heard of Jonas Silco, and maybe you could give me a call if anything turns up?’ She handed Imogen a card and took her leave.

  Carla was not at all convinced. ‘There was a distinct smell of burning in the region of her pants,’ she said to Frank on the phone from her car, ‘as in liar liar pants on fire, she definitely recognised the name Jonas Silco, even though she denied all knowledge…now we’ve just got find out how she knows him, and why she wouldn’t admit that she did.’

  CHAPTER 35

  It had been two days since Andy had seen his mum and he was beginning to worry that he might not see her again. Anything could have happened, she could have forgotten, she might be ill or worse she could have had a drink. She had seemed sober when she had talked to him through the school fence…quite normal in fact. But Andy had seen enough in his short life to know that all of that normality could be turned upside down if she gave into temptation and had a drink.

  ‘Na she wouldn’t do it,’ he said to himself, ‘she wouldn’t…she said she wanted to see me again. She came all that way to the school, why would she do that just to get drunk and not show up again?’ he tried to convince himself.

  It had been hard not to tell Maya and Helen. He had been bursting with it that day when Maya had picked him up after school. She had noticed. ‘What is getting into you happy boy?’ she had teased when he had been talking ten to the dozen as they walked home from school. Andy had blushed and she had thought that he must have a crush on some girl. He let her think that, despite the teasing, but he so wanted to tell her the truth that his mum had come back and she wanted him. Something inside him warned him though that Helen and Maya might not be so pleased at his news, he knew they didn’t like or trust Mum, and he could see why they would think that way. Let’s face it, living with Mum had been no picnic, in fact it had been really awful sometimes…but that was the booze…she wouldn’t be like that if only she could stay sober. They could be a proper family together; looking out for each other…Andy was convinced of that.

  So why hadn’t she been in touch, this was what he was worrying about as the school bell rang for lunch. As it was a warm day, after lunch the children were allowed to use the sports field. Andy sat with his friends Asher and Robert under a tree and ate the packed lunch that Nonna had prepared for him. He didn’t notice her at first but then a flash of colour caught his eye and he saw her standing by the fence as she had before.

  ‘That lady’s waving to you Andy,’ Asher said, her mouth full of sandwich. ‘Do you know her?’

  Andy’s heart did a little
flip. ‘Yeh…she’s a friend of me mum’s…I’ll just go and see what she wants.’ With that he got up and as casually as he could he walked over to the fence.

  His mum wasn’t smiling this time. ‘Bloody hell Andy I’ve been waiting here for fucking hours…where have you been?’ she growled as he got near.

  ‘I was in class,’ Andy stuttered. ‘I didn’t know you was here…I just saw you,’ he carried on in a worried little voice.

  ‘Yeh well you’re here now,’ Kathy Hunt said carelessly. ‘I thought we could meet up later…go for a burger if you fancy.’

  ‘Yeh,’ said Andy eagerly, ‘but what shall I tell Maya…she usually takes me home after school?’

  ‘Can’t you say you’re going to a friend’s?’ Kathy said lighting up a cigarette. ‘What about one of those two kids over there,’ she finished pointing at Asher and Robert with a squint as the smoke curled up into her face.

  Andy looked unsure. ‘I don’t know Mum…I ain’t never been to their houses before, Maya might not believe me…’

  ‘She will if they ask her,’ Kathy said, ‘ask them to ask her, as a favour like. Course if you don’t want to come well…’

  ‘No,’ Andy said hastily, ‘of course I want to come…I’ll ask Robert, he owes me one.’

  ‘Good,’ Kathy said briskly. ‘I’ll meet you here after school then,’ she said, and then started to look a bit shifty. ‘Um look you know I don’t like to ask…but you haven’t got any cash on you have you son. Only I don’t get my social check till tomorrow and I’m a bit short…’

  ‘I got a quid left from my pocket money,’ Andy said rummaging through his trouser pockets and holding out the pound coin.