Lost Girls

by K Leitch

  Kathy reached through the wire fence and grabbed the money. ‘Ta son,’ was all she said before she walked away.

  Andy was walking on air. Mum had come and he was seeing her tonight. Robert had asked Maya if Andy could come to his for tea, and after much umming and arhing she’d agreed as long as he was home by six, which should give him plenty of time to have a lovely time with Mum. Andy could hardly wait; he sat and looked at the clock all afternoon.

  CHAPTER 36 - 1971 Exerts from the diary of Una Flannery

  …I still can’t believe it…Miss Ingrid wouldn’t even listen to me!

  I waited till after four, when I knew she would be having tea on her own and then I went and asked if I could speak to her.

  She wasn’t happy about it from the start, kept saying that I’d better be quick because she had stuff to do.

  Anyway I told her. I told her what he had done to me, all the beatings. I tried to show her the scars but she just turned her head away and wouldn’t look.

  Then I told her about being in trouble like… she went mad and started shouting at me, calling me all the names under the sun. She said how I had made all this stuff up about Silco to cover up that I was just a little tart that had got meself in trouble.

  I was crying and pleading with her, I tried to tell her that I wasn’t like that, that I had been a virgin till Silco had…you know.

  She said that she’d seen me flirting with all the male guests, trying to sell my wares she said. Obviously I must have been trying it on with Mr Silco. Mr Silco was a gentleman and a valued member of the hotel staff who would never stoop so low as to force himself on any girl and especially not a low little trollop like me.

  I said well he had forced himself, he had raped me! And that he had done it before, to Missy and that was why the poor girl had killed herself.

  Well she went mad at that, shouting and screaming at me that the hotel didn’t need this kind of scandal. She said that I had twenty four hours to get my things together and get out and that if I ever tried to spread my filthy lies about Mr Silco, or if I ever mentioned Missy again, she would personally make sure that I never worked in London again.

  I ran back up to my room… trembling I was and crying so hard that it hurt.

  So now I have to leave…I don’t know where I’m going, home I suppose…back home in disgrace.

  Just as I was leaving dragging my suitcase beside me, Mrs Cray came with a face like thunder and handed me an envelope before closing the door after me…it was my wages, less the time that I had spent talking to Miss Ingrid and packing my bag.

  Just enough to get me home to Ireland.

  CHAPTER 37 - HELEN

  ‘I know, that’s what I said but she wants to go ahead so who am I to stop her,’ Helen was helping Maya with the dishes after their evening meal. ‘I must admit I’m quite pleased though,’ she continued, ‘I have done so much work on the backdrops and props, it would have been a shame not to have used them.’

  ‘Well me, I am not so pleased,’ Maya said. ‘I hardly see you as it is…now with play you are always painting scenes or having meetings with Imogen. I will be glad when play is over and I get my Helen back.’

  Helen put her arms around Maya. ‘Oh I’m sorry love; I’ve been so caught up in everything. We have been rather like ships passing in the night lately haven’t we? I will make it up to you I promise. After the play is done and dusted let’s go away somewhere, all of us, we haven’t had a proper family holiday yet and it’s about time we did.’

  Maya squeezed Helen excitedly. ‘Oh yes…oh that would be wonderful, where shall we go? Can I tell the kids? Oh Nonna will be so excited.’

  Helen laughed. ‘I don’t know why we haven’t thought of this before; it’s just what we all need. Let’s tell the kids at dinner tomorrow then we can all decide together where to go and when etc. We’ll need to make sure that it fits in with Sophie’s exams anyway won’t we so…’

  ‘Oh I can’t wait…yes I’ll make a special dinner tomorrow, and we can have a family meeting,’ Maya said ecstatically.

  ‘Are we picking Andy up from Robert’s house?’ Helen asked Maya a bit later when they were sitting in the living room.

  Maya looked up from the book that she was marking. ‘No…his mum will drop back. He should be home soon, I said six.’

  Just as they were talking, they heard Andy coming in through the back door. Helen went to greet him, she was surprised to see that he had been crying, his face looked all blotchy and he looked the picture of misery.

  She went straight over to him and took him in her arms. ‘Andy?’ she said looking into his face, ‘What’s happened sweetheart, did you have a fight with Robert?’

  Andy looked as if he wasn’t going to say anything for a moment then he nodded. ‘That’s what happened, we had a fight,’ he said his eyes welling up again.

  ‘Oh darling, that’s such a shame. I thought he was one of your best friends, what happened, what did you fight about?’ Helen asked as she sat him down at the kitchen table.

  Andy looked as if he would rather run upstairs and cry in his room but Helen was having none of it, she wanted details.

  ‘He was asking about Mum,’ Andy said after a while. ‘And I said I didn’t want to talk about it…and we got into fight…that’s all.’

  Helen sighed; it was obvious Andy just wanted to be on his own. ‘Well try not to worry about it sweetheart. I’m sure Robert is just as fed up as you that you two have fallen out,’ she said walking over to the back door. ‘Did Robert’s mum drop you in the lane? Didn’t she want to speak to us?’ Helen asked looking out through the door for Angela’s (Robert’s mum) distinctive white BMW.

  Andy avoided Helen’s eyes. ‘Nah…she had to go, she saw me in though.’

  ‘Oh,’ Helen said closing the door. ‘Ok then sweetheart, you run upstairs and get into your PJ’s and then you can come back down and I’ll read you the next chapter if you like.’

  Andy nodded with a tight little smile and headed for the stairs. Helen had been reading the Harry Potter books to him every evening. He loved it! He completely identified with the orphaned Harry and was thrilled by his magic powers and Helen had a way of making every character come to life. Truth be told Maya and Lena loved listening to the stories as well and would often switch off the TV and sit back in their chairs and let their imaginations fly.

  This evening though, Andy wasn’t feeling in the mood for cosy reading sessions with Helen. For one thing he felt really guilty for lying to them all about where he had been, he was sure the lie was written all over his face. But if he was honest the main reason was Mum. It had been obvious from the moment that he had met her beside the school fence that she had managed to get a drink from somewhere. Her eyes were glazed over and her voice had that belligerent and slurred quality that he remembered so well.

  She hadn’t been alone either, a skinny, scruffy man with greasy hair and no front teeth had been standing with her. ‘Here he is,’ Mum had said when she spotted him, ‘I knew he wouldn’t let me down. Come ‘ere son and give your old Mum a kiss.’

  She had pulled Andy close to her and he could smell the alcohol on her breath.

  ‘Yeh, ‘e’s a fine looking boy Kaffy,’ the man said, ‘smart looking too,’ he finished before taking a swig out of a bottle he was holding.

  ‘Yeh I told he was didn’t I,’ Kathy said. She turned to Andy, ‘You didn’t let on you was coming to meet me did you boy?’ she asked him.

  Andy shook his head. ‘No I said I was at Robert’s, but I’ve got to be home by six…are we going for a burger?’

  Kathy had the grace to look ashamed. ‘Well it’s a bit difficult son,’ she began, ‘I ain’t got no money yet, see. Once I gets me social cheque then we can have as many burgers as you like,’ she finished on a wheezy laugh. ‘Hundreds of burgers if you like,’ she carried on laughing, and her friend joined in like she’d said the funniest thing in the world.

  Andy’s shoulders slumped with disappointme
nt. He had hoped he would be able to spend some time with his mum, just the two of them, he had hoped that they would have talked and laughed and planned out a future together. Now he was just feeling the very familiar feelings of disillusionment and frustration that he had felt for years. He didn’t want to spoil things though he thought making the best of it, after all he could have a burger any day.

  ‘I don’t mind about the burger Mum, that’s ok,’ he said smiling up at her. ‘Maybe we could go for a walk through the park or something instead…’

  Kathy let out a cackle of laughter, ‘The park,’ she teased, ‘what the fuck do I want to go to the park for…you’ve been listening to those two snobby bitches…fucking park.’

  She must have noticed that Andy looked a bit disappointed, so she put a skinny arm around him. ‘Ain’t you got no money on you son?’ she asked, ‘Surely those two women you’re wiv give you spending money?’

  Maya had in fact given Andy a fiver before he had ‘gone to tea’ with Robert, just in case he had needed it. Andy pulled the crumpled note out of his pocket.

  Kathy snatched the money out of his hands triumphantly. ‘Well looks like the burgers are on you Andy,’ she said with a cackle.

  Andy smiled his agreement and followed his mum as she headed off towards McDonalds. Unfortunately for Andy just before the McDonalds was an off licence.

  ‘You wait ‘ere a minute boy,’ Kathy told Andy, seconds before disappearing inside. The skinny man (whose name appeared to be Larry) following behind.

  A few minutes later they emerged from the shop carrying a six pack of strong larger, Kathy dropped the change into Andy’s hand…about 50p. ‘There you go son, you go on and get yourself some chips,’ she said with a bountiful smile.

  ‘Don’t you want any?’ Andy asked falteringly.

  ‘No you’re alright…I got me sustenance ain’t I,’ she said before once again bursting in to cackling laughter along with Larry who was cracking open one of the cans.

  Andy ran on to McDonalds and bought some fries, he’d only been about five minutes but by the time he came back outside again, Mum and Larry had disappeared.

  Andy looked up and down the high street frantically, but there was no sign of them. He sat down and ate his fries, they would come back soon he was sure.

  Andy sat outside McDonalds for about 45 minutes, his fries were long gone and he was getting cold. Luckily he knew his way home from here, and, as it was obvious Mum wasn’t coming back, he started walking, tears running down his cheeks all the way home.

  ‘Are you crying Andy?’ Andy was startled out of his reverie by Abby’s high pitched little voice as she charged into his bedroom.

  He hastily wiped his eyes, ‘No Minxy…I just got some dust in my eye at Robert’s,’ he said giving her a hug. Benji rushed into the room then, a towel tied round his neck like a superman cape, he whizzed over to his bed and after climbing on top of it shouted, ‘Look at me Andy I’m superman, I can fly,’ before jumping off and whizzing out of the room again.

  Andy and Abby laughed, ‘Oh man,’ lisped Abby, ‘he ith justhed so imatoor.’ Which made Andy laugh even more.

  Andy cleaned his teeth and got into his PJ’s as Helen had suggested. He washed his face with a cold flannel trying to reduce the swelling around his eyes and, swallowing his heartbreak and disappointment, he went downstairs where Helen was waiting to read him his next chapter.

  Lena had made him some hot chocolate and after a spirited argument with Abby and Benji who both wanted to listen as well, the whole little family sat down as Helen brought to life the wonderful world of life at Hogwarts.

  CHAPTER 38

  Hours later, Kathy Hunt was woken from an uncomfortable sleep by a dog sniffing round her face. It was dark and she was chilled to the bone. Where the fuck was she?

  She came unsteadily to her feet and looked around her…she seemed to be in some sort of park.

  Surely she had been with someone…Barry…or Barney, no Larry that was it, Larry. Well there was no sight of him now…fucking waste of space. She looked at the empty cans that were all around her and started lifting each one to make sure they were empty, throwing each one back down in disgust when it was.

  ‘Fucking hell I need a drink,’ she thought as she staggered over to an empty bench and slumped down on it. Digging around in her pockets she found a crumpled pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She lit one and sat back again trying to get her thoughts in order.

  She’d been with Andy hadn’t she? Where the fuck had that little git buggered off to…he had always been trouble…little turd. He’d seemed pleased to see her though, she remembered… ‘So ‘e fucking should…I’m ‘is mum after all,’ she thought. ‘All those years I spent on my back just so’s we could eat, ’e fucking owes me ‘e does,’ she mumbled angrily. Suddenly her eyes fell on a larger can that had previously been hidden from her view; she stumbled over and retrieved it from beneath the filthy litter bin it had been hiding under. Yes! It was at least half full; she staggered back to her bench and drank her fill.

  CHAPTER 39 - CARLA

  ‘It was just the way that she sort of froze when Silco name was mentioned,’ Carla was saying to her team. ‘I’m sure now that these two killings are connected in some way, so I think we should focus on this hotel, “The Linden”. Let’s find out more about what went on there and see if Albie or Imogen had any connection with it. Don’t forget Albie had invested in a few up market hotels in London in the sixties and seventies. Maybe this Silco was someone that had worked for them at one time, Imogen Wiseman denies knowing him…but as I said I am not convinced.’

  ‘I did some digging into the other Wiseman’s finances Ma’am,’ Mandy said. ‘Even if Imogen Wiseman is set to inherit Albie’s fortune she doesn’t really need it. She is quite well to do in her own right, as is David Wiseman. He trained as a solicitor and runs his own firm; Luke on the other hand, seems to have wasted a lot of his money on wild speculations. He’s been pretty much dependent on mummy and daddy for a while now.’

  ‘Hmm…well that’s certainly got to be a motive,’ Carla said.

  ‘Yes but why would he kill him in such a way,’ Frank interrupted. ‘I mean he might want his old man’s money I get that, but why would he want to torture him as well. And I have to say he seemed pretty devastated when we found his dad…’

  ‘Ha!’ said Carla scathingly, ‘not so devastated that he hasn’t been out partying with certain other cast members from what I understand. No I think we’d better do some digging into Mr Luke Wiseman…maybe he had some issues with his father. Sam can I leave that to you, Mandy find out as much as you can about what went on at the Linden Hotel, and see if you can trace the owners at the time…they might remember Silco.’

  ‘Actually Ma’am there was another thing that I noticed when looking into Imogen’s finances…’

  Carla looked over enquiringly.

  ‘Well she seems to have accounts in several different names, and she’s named as a director in quite a few of Albie’s companies in one of the other names, Ingrid Delaney. It seems to be perfectly legal I just wondered why she would see the need to do that.’

  ‘Okay, well that’s something that we may have to ask her. Which of the companies does she use her alias?’

  ‘Um let’s see…it seems to be a small company that imports specialist herbs from Asia and the far east called Delacia, and a company called D&A entertainments, which was basically the holding company for the hotels.’

  ‘Do they still have the hotels? I thought they got rid of them,’ Frank asked.

  ‘No only the London ones, they still have a few dotted around Europe and one in New York.’

  Frank, you and I need to go and see Imogen again, but we’ll do that fresh in the morning. Right now we should go and see Helen, see if she’s remembered anything else. Okay, that’s all for now, thank you everyone.’

  Carla looked at her watch, it was nearly four. Maybe, just maybe, if she could hurry Frank up and speak to Helen
quickly, she might be able to have time to soak in a bath before going out for her cauldron meeting later.

  CHAPTER 40 - CAULDRON MEETING

  ‘Well anyway we were all sitting round her bed chatting away to her when I suddenly became aware of this sort of humming vibrating sound coming from under her blankets…’

  ‘Oh my God…don’t tell me,’ interrupted Tracy looking gobsmacked.

  ‘Traceee, get your mind out of the gutter,’ laughed Maggie. ‘She’s ninety eight for crying out loud….anyway it soon became obvious that everyone else had noticed it as well and didn’t want to say anything in case it was something embarrassing…no,’ Maggie held up her hand to Tracy again, ‘not a vibrator Tracy, that thought never crossed our minds. I actually thought it might be some sort of electric catheter or something like that. So we all kept schtum, but actually this noise seemed to be getting louder and louder. Then Martha, who had been completely aware that we were all trying to ignore the embarrassing noise, started laughing her head off.

  ‘It’s me inflatable stockings,’ she said killing herself, and sure enough she was wearing these amazing socks that kept inflating and deflating…we all fell about laughing, she was so proud of them. And then of course we couldn’t keep our eyes off these socks inflating and deflating round her legs for the rest of the visit.’

  ‘Why the bloody hell was she wearing inflatable socks?’ Tracy said bewildered.

  ‘Oh I think they were for preventing deep vein thrombosis or something, but it was just the look on Martha’s face…she loved them,’ Maggie said fondly.

  ‘How’s she doing anyway Maggs?’ Carla asked.

  ‘Well she’s hating the inactivity of course, but she loves the ward she’s in. She’s completely captivated one of the male patients in the adjoining ward, Major Cunliff. He wheels himself in once a day and they have a terrible flirt together which is doing her the power of good.’