Survivor: Only the strongest will remain standing . . .

by Roberta Kray

  Glancing up and down the street, she wasn’t that scared at the prospect of being out there on her own – at least not as scared as she was of staying put. While her mum was sick, she had learned how to scavenge and how to take care of herself. The only problem was where she would sleep. It was cold out, and wet. She would need a warm jumper if she wasn’t going to freeze to death.

  Now that she’d made up her mind, Lolly felt calmer, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her only problem would be getting Brenda to let her go out again. She’d have to come up with a good excuse, like she’d left something at Sandra’s and had to go and pick it up. How long would it be before they realised she was missing? Not before teatime, she reckoned, which gave her a good few hours.

  Lolly left the window and sat down on the bed. With the cash she had, she could catch a train or a bus and go to… but here her imagination failed her. For the past five years, she had rarely been outside of Kellston. Her mum had taken her up West occasionally to look at the shops or to see a film – she remembered the bright lights and the bustling crowds, the wide hoardings with their bright advertisements – but the thought of going there alone was daunting.

  Maybe she could find somewhere to hide in Kellston. She’d be okay if she stayed out of sight, slept during the day and only ventured out at night. Under cover of darkness, she could search the bins for food. Although she planned to buy provisions, bread and the like, she didn’t want to spend too much of the money she’d been saving for her mum’s headstone.

  All she had to figure out now was where to go. There were the railway arches and the cemetery, even tucked-away places on the Mansfield. As she thought about the estate, she was reminded of Joseph. She hoped he was still alive. She hoped his eye wasn’t buried in his brain. Lolly flinched as the gruesome image jumped into her head. She didn’t want to think about it, couldn’t stop thinking about it. How could Tony have done such a thing? He was crazy, deranged. She remembered his threat and a tremor ran through her. There was no going back. If she didn’t get out of here soon, she would end up as his next victim.

  25

  Brenda always cooked a roast on Sundays. Today it was chicken with all the trimmings: potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and sage and onion stuffing from a Paxo packet. Lolly sat down opposite Tony, the only space left at the table. She could feel his eyes on her and deliberately avoided his gaze. She was scared of what she’d see there, what she might read on his face.

  Aware that this was the last hot meal she might have for a while, she tried to fill her belly. The food was the only thing she’d miss when she left. Well, that and TV, and the fact the house was always warm. But those things didn’t matter. All she wanted was to feel safe again and there was no chance of that while she was living here.

  The conversation flowed around her, the usual chit-chat, the two-and-fro between Brenda and her sons. Freddy rarely said much. And Lolly wasn’t expected to contribute; no one wanted to hear what she had to say. At least it gave her a chance to think. She still had to come up with a good excuse for why she had to leave the house again. What if Brenda refused to let her? Maybe she shouldn’t even ask. Maybe it was smarter to just sneak out when no one was watching.

  ‘You know what, Mum?’ Tony said. ‘You really should get some sharper knives. These ones are rubbish. They wouldn’t cut through butter.’

  Lolly flinched and looked up from her dinner.

  FJ sniggered, in on the joke.

  Brenda shook her head. ‘What are you going on about now? There’s nothin’ wrong with them knives. They’re top quality, silver-plated.’

  Tony made a show of trying to saw through his chicken. ‘See, they’re almost blunt. What do you reckon, FJ?’

  ‘Yeah, you’re right. I mean, if you want to cut through things…’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Well, if you want them sharpening,’ Brenda grumbled, ‘you can do it yourself. I’ve got enough on my plate without making even more work for myself.’

  Tony grinned, staring at Lolly. ‘Maybe I will. I’ve got nothin’ else on this afternoon. I can get them all nice and sharp.’

  ‘You should,’ FJ said. ‘You should get them really sharp.’

  Lolly inwardly shivered. She could imagine the sound of the creaking floorboards as Tony came to grab her in the middle of the night. Maybe he wasn’t planning on doing it in the house. Maybe he’d drag her out of bed, take her somewhere dark and lonely, slit her throat and leave her body in the dirt.

  ‘Lolly could help me,’ Tony said. ‘Make herself useful for a change. How about it, darlin’? You and me, sharpening up the knives together?’

  ‘I can’t,’ she said, dreading the thought of being alone with him. ‘I’ve… I’ve got homework.’

  ‘Thought you did that this morning.’

  ‘It’s not finished yet.’

  ‘I can wait,’ Tony said slyly. ‘We can do it later.’

  After the meal was over and the dishes washed, Lolly flew upstairs and took refuge in the bedroom. She had to get away, and fast. She didn’t dare ask Brenda if she could go out again – if she said no, she’d be trapped. Instead, she opened the window and gazed out on to the wet street. It was a long way down, too far to jump. She’d probably break her neck if she tried.

  Lolly went out on to the landing, leaned over the banisters and listened. The TV was on, a football match from the sound of it. She waited until she heard Brenda go back into the pawnbroker’s before returning to the bedroom and picking up her bag. It was suspiciously full, bulging in fact. She hung it over her left shoulder, hoping its size would go unnoticed as she tried to make her escape.

  She went quietly down the stairs and grabbed her damp coat from the hallway. All she had to do now was negotiate the living room. She took a few deep breaths, telling herself not to rush, not to do anything that might alert the boys to her plans. As she walked through the door and across the room, her heart was thumping in her chest. If she got stopped now…

  But no one even looked up. Freddy was still reading the News of the World, and the brothers were glued to the TV. She gave a sigh of relief when she reached the far side of the kitchen, opened the back door and stepped out into the yard. She softly closed the door behind her, pulled on her coat and hurried towards the gate. But her sense of relief was short-lived. No sooner had she reached the alley when Tony and FJ came flying out after her.

  ‘Where the hell do you think you’re going?’ Tony asked.

  Lolly stopped, her stomach turning over. ‘Nowhere,’ she said stupidly.

  ‘Looks like a pretty heavy bag to be going nowhere with. What have you got in it?’

  Lolly had a split second to make a decision. The boys were advancing and if she waited any longer they’d be on her. As the adrenalin kicked in, she decided to make a dash for it. She took off, sprinting down the alley, hoping to outrun them. Were they coming after her? She didn’t know. All she could hear was the slap of her shoes on the concrete, the breath pumping from her lungs. Fear drove her on – she thought she was getting away – but then disaster struck. As she reached the corner she ran slap bang into a couple of uniformed officers.

  ‘Hey, where’s the fire?’ one of them said.

  ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled.

  ‘Lolly, isn’t it?’

  She nodded, looking up. ‘Yeah.’ Then she glanced over her shoulder towards the gate to the yard. Tony had disappeared but FJ was still standing there, watching her.

  ‘We’ve met before,’ he said. ‘I’m Sergeant Grand. I came to talk to you about Amy.’

  ‘Yeah,’ she said again, wishing he’d get out of the way.

  ‘Where are you off to, then?’

  ‘A friend’s,’ she said. ‘Er… homework. I’ve got some homework to do.’

  The other cop, a younger one, laughed. ‘You must be keen. I never rushed anywhere to do my homework.’

  ‘It’s raining,’ Lolly said, in case they hadn’t noticed. ‘I don’t want to get wet.’
She hopped from one foot to another, impatient to be off. ‘Can I go now?’

  ‘I think you’d better come with us,’ Grand said.

  Lolly’s heart sank. ‘Is it about Amy again?’

  Grand shook his head. ‘No, this is something else. Let’s go to the house, shall we, before we all get soaked?’

  Lolly glanced over at FJ. She could see him glaring at her. ‘I c-can’t,’ she stammered. ‘I’m late already.’

  Grand put a hand on her shoulder and began to gently propel her back along the alley. ‘This won’t take long. You can spare us five minutes, can’t you?’

  Lolly was tempted to try to wriggle free and make a run for it again, but she reckoned the younger cop could catch her in a few strides. And then she’d have some explaining to do. But she didn’t want to go back to the house. Once the cops had left, she’d be in big trouble. Brenda would ground her for a month if she found out she’d been intending to run away. And Tony – well, she didn’t even want to think about what he’d do.

  But the matter, it seemed, was already out of her control. She saw FJ shoot inside, following in his brother’s footsteps. Lolly bowed her head as she was forced towards the gate. By the time they got there, Brenda had been alerted and was standing at the back door with her hands on her hips and a face like thunder.

  ‘What’s going on? What do you want now?’ she growled at the officers.

  ‘Your Tony in, Mrs C.?’ Grand asked.

  ‘No,’ she lied.

  ‘Mind if we come in and check?’ Grand didn’t bother waiting for an answer but simply pushed past her into the kitchen.

  ‘Yeah, I do bleedin’ well mind,’ Brenda protested. ‘Why can’t you leave us in peace? Don’t you know it’s Sunday? The boy ain’t done nothin’. You’re hounding him, that’s what you’re doing. I’ll be putting in a complaint.’

  ‘You do that, love. Whatever makes you happy.’ Grand turned to his colleague and said, ‘Better check upstairs, Dave, case the lad slipped in when his mother wasn’t looking.’

  ‘I’ve told you, ain’t I? He’s not here.’

  While Brenda was arguing with the cops, Lolly dropped her bag on the floor and nudged it under the table with her toe. With a bit of luck she could smuggle it back upstairs when all the fuss had died down. Brenda, at least for the moment, was too distracted by the visit from the law to ask what Lolly had been doing outside.

  ‘Do you know where your son was last night, Mrs C.?’

  Freddy came into the kitchen from the living room. ‘He was here with us. We were all watching TV.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Brenda said. ‘He never set foot outside the door.’

  Grand lifted his eyebrows. ‘Of course he didn’t.’

  It was less than a minute before the young cop came down the stairs with Tony in tow. ‘Look who I found hiding in the bathroom.’

  ‘I wasn’t bloody hiding. I was taking a slash.’

  Grand stepped forward and said, ‘Tony Cecil, I’m arresting you on suspicion of —’

  ‘Hey, hang on there,’ Freddy interrupted. ‘What the hell are you playing at? My boy had nothin’ to do with that girl’s death. How many times do you need telling?’

  ‘If you’d just let me finish,’ Grant said. ‘I’m arresting you on suspicion of the attempted murder of Joseph Clayton. You have…’

  The rest of what Grant said floated over Lolly. All she was thinking was: attempted murder. That meant Joseph wasn’t dead. At least, not yet. And now the law had come for Tony. Hopefully, they’d lock him up and throw away the key. She stared at the wall trying to appear suitably solemn, but inside she was jumping for joy.

  ‘This is crap!’ Tony said. ‘It’s a stitch-up. I was here. I never stepped foot outside the door.’

  ‘Not according to half a dozen witnesses in the Dog,’ Grand said. ‘C’mon, you can tell me the rest down the station.’

  ‘I don’t even know this Joseph guy.’

  Brenda scowled at the sergeant. ‘Those bloody witnesses are lying! How could he have… I’ve told you he was here all night. FJ, tell him.’

  FJ nodded. ‘Yeah, course he was.’

  Brenda turned to Lolly. ‘Tell him.’

  The last thing Lolly wanted to do was to provide an alibi for Tony, but what choice did she have? Reluctantly, she nodded. ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You see?’ Brenda said.

  But Grand wasn’t interested. ‘Save it for the jury, love.’ He got out his cuffs and snapped them on to Tony’s wrists.

  ‘There’s no need for that. What are you doing?’

  ‘There’s every need. Your son’s under arrest.’

  After Tony had been taken away, Brenda turned to Freddy. ‘Get on the blower. He’ll need his brief.’ Then she looked at FJ. ‘And you’d better tell me everything you know, right now.’

  ‘Why would I know anything?’

  ‘Don’t give me that. I can read your face like a bleedin’ book. Now are you going to tell me or am I going to have to shake it out of you?’

  FJ scowled at her. He shuffled about for a while, looking everywhere but at his mother, but eventually gave in. ‘Shit, the guy deserved it. He’s a scumbag dealer and everyone’s saying that he killed Amy, only the law can’t prove it. And all Tony did was beat him up a bit; it weren’t attempted murder.’

  ‘For Christ’s sake,’ Brenda said.

  ‘She was his girlfriend. He’s got the right to —’

  ‘He ain’t got the right to do nothin’. We’ve only just got that other business sorted and now he’s back down the nick again.’

  ‘Yeah, well, we all know whose fault that is.’ He poked a finger into Lolly’s shoulder. ‘She’s the one you should be talking to. She’s the little bitch who grassed him up.’

  ‘What?’ Lolly said, stunned by the accusation. ‘I did not.’

  ‘Liar! I saw you with my own eyes. You were listening in on me and Tony, don’t say you weren’t, and next thing we know you’re down the alley chatting to the law.’

  ‘I didn’t tell them anything. I didn’t! I didn’t even know they were going to be there.’

  ‘You’ve had it in for us ever since you got here.’

  ‘I haven’t. I swear. I didn’t say a word. I’d never… I wouldn’t.’

  Brenda’s eyes narrowed as she glared at Lolly. ‘What were you doing out in the alley, then?’

  ‘I was going to Sandra’s. I forgot something.’

  FJ bent down, picked up her bulging bag and put it on the table. ‘So what did you need this for?’

  ‘Get your hands off that!’ Lolly tried to snatch it away from him, but he held on tight.

  ‘You see?’ FJ said to his mother. ‘She’s hiding something.’ He unzipped the bag, opened it up and started pulling everything out. ‘Jesus, look at this! She’s got all her stuff here. She was going to clear off. She grassed up Tony and then —’

  ‘I didn’t!’ Lolly protested.

  Freddy came in and said, ‘What did I tell you? I could see she was trouble from the moment she got here.’