by Deborah Lucy
The sudden warmth and the vodka worked together, and for the first time, the man began to thaw. He was quickly rendered sleepy as the car heater blasted out. Porten checked him at intervals, looking across, watching his head nod with the bumps and turns in the road until, not long after the journey had started, a deep snore sounded.
By the time he pulled up at the abattoir, the man was in a deep slumber with his head hanging forward and his bristly chin resting heavily on his chest. Porten turned off the engine and waited to see if the lack of motion and noise of the car jolted the man awake, but he was snoring loudly. Porten was relieved to get out; the heat in the car had made the smell of the man cook and he took deep breaths of the cold air. He unlocked a side door of the abattoir and ensuring that everything was ready and in its place, went to fetch the man. He could see him still sitting in the passenger seat.
He went back to the car and opened the passenger door. The man was sleeping so deeply he was oblivious to what was going on around him. This was always a tricky moment, waking someone from a deep sleep, but it had to be done. The man woke easily enough; he was groggy and disorientated so Porten guided him towards the side door, and once through, sat him on a chair. Before the man could shake himself awake to register what was happening, Porten applied the pistol to the side of his head and fired. He was gone.
Porten manoeuvred the dead man into his large freezer room. Then he left, driving back to Swindon. To get another.
Chapter 35
Amy Davidson was sick of waiting on everyone else. She’d reported her friend China missing days ago and no one was doing a thing to find her. She’d also rowed with her parents last night as they no longer wanted her to see China, telling her that China was no longer welcome and if she showed up as she generally did, that she could no longer stay over. Her friendship had brought trouble with China’s brother visiting them and threatening them, and trouble with the police. The family was no good. Enough was enough.
Truth was, Amy’s parents were frightened for their own daughter’s safety in her association with the sister of a known drug dealer. They didn’t want her mixed up in that world and if China was no longer on the scene, no longer invited in and to stay over as she had been, then all this trouble would go away.
China was a nice enough girl; she was respectful and caring when she stayed with them and Linda Davidson liked and felt sorry for her, knowing what sort of background she had. Amy hadn’t let her parents know the extent of her knowledge about China and her family. If she had, she knew they would have stopped her from seeing China years ago, never mind having her stay over. But it was because of the things Amy knew about her that she felt she had to look out for her and look after her. She knew all about China’s brother Gary Lewis and her useless mother. The pair of them were evil.
China’s mother Barbara did nothing but live for drink. She didn’t care what happened to China and Amy hated her for it. Her mother neglected her so that she didn’t eat properly and was malnourished. She stole clothes from shops because her mother was too drunk to register she’d grown out of the ones she had or that they’d simply become worn out from wear. China was thin, small and looked younger than she was, and so was a perfect drugs mule.
Long before that, when he was only a boy himself Gary would deal in drugs and use China to deliver them around the town. He would send the shy seven-year-old China with packets of heroin into homes and to street corners and alleyways to the desperate, who waited for her like she was their lifeline. He’d sent her into these contaminated places full of crack heads and their dangerous hallucinogenic minds without a thought for her safety. Most were so pleased to see her that they were kind to her, but some were not.
As China grew older, her brother made her go further than the streets of Swindon and she found herself on trains or being taken in cars to different towns where she would go and make her deliveries. She’d had to carry the drugs inside her using condoms in case she was stopped by police.
When she was older, China confided in Amy about the men that Gary Lewis would take to the house. He would take money off them and wait in the kitchen as they went up to China in her bedroom for sex when she was only twelve. When China told Amy of these things, it made her so angry.
China was assigned a social worker but she hardly saw them from one year to the next and even when one did visit, they were different to the last. On these occasions, Gary Lewis made sure the house was unusually clear of the vodka bottles and they just managed to put on enough of a show to warrant a sufficiently good report to keep social services from being too frequent visitors.
No one, it seemed, could see what was going on. Amy couldn’t tell her parents because she guessed rightly that they would put a stop to China coming round and that was the last thing Amy wanted. There wasn’t any teacher at school that could be confided in, and if she did tell anyone, that might end with China being taken into care and being sent miles away to keep her from her family. She didn’t want that either. They decided that when they were old enough to leave school and get jobs, they would get a flat together and then she could be away from her mother and her brother. They would live like sisters, like they did when she stayed over. They could lock them all out then and China would be safe.
The only person China could rely on was Amy and now Amy had waited long enough. She had told the police and they said they were doing something, but she wasn’t sure what. It couldn’t be much because China still hadn’t returned. Amy was beginning to think it was down to her to go out and find China; she had to take matters into her own hands as she felt she would instinctively know where her friend was if she just got out there and started looking. Yes, she would go out and find China herself.
It was nearly 10 p.m. and from her bedroom, she could hear the television in the sitting room downstairs. Her parents thought she was in bed but she was now dressed in her jeans, jumper and a short faux-leather jacket. She was tying her trainers on and thinking about the best way to get out of the house unnoticed. She decided to go out through her bedroom window, which led onto a garage roof, and from there ease herself off onto the top of a wheelie bin.
She had done this a few times with China when they had wanted to go out late and unnoticed. She made her bed look as though she was sleeping in it by moulding her duvet cover into a body-shaped mound in case either of her parents looked in on her. It looked convincing enough in the dark of her room.
She then opened the double-glazed window and slipped out onto the ledge. She pushed the window closed before easing down onto the flat roof of the garage, being careful not to thump down onto it. She looked around for any neighbours watching her and crept across the roof to where the wheelie bin was situated. She sat on the edge of the roof. She was still and listened out for anyone moving inside. Then she jumped down onto the top of the bin.
Silently, she ran down the residential street until she reached the end and then with her heart beating, she put her hands in her jacket pockets and slowed to a brisk walk. She was going to find her friend. Just being out in the darkness of the night, she already felt an affinity with China and almost knew she would see her that night. She would go to their usual haunts, the town centre, near some pubs and clubs. When she found her, she would take her back to her bedroom. It was no use relying on anyone else to find her.
Chapter 36
Paul Wallace studied Sloper as he sat across the table. They were still in the pub, which was now filling up with payday revellers. There was a group dressed up in Halloween costumes standing at the bar and the place was becoming noisy. Sloper was looking intently at his phone as his thumbs punched out a text message.
Paul wasn’t exactly sure what was going on between Sloper and Temple; all Temple had said was that he wanted Sloper to think that Wallace was a detective working out of London and told him what to do and say if Sloper asked for any ID which, thankfully, so far he hadn’t. He was so far out of his depth but he knew he was doing this for Megon. Somehow Paul kne
w he just had to keep up the mien of how a hard-nosed surveillance detective would be, but he was finding it difficult faced with Sloper in Temple’s temporary absence while he went to the toilet.
Paul saw the beads of sweat that continued to appear on Sloper’s forehead and top lip, and watched as he wiped them away with the back of his hand. Sloper’s shirt buttons were also straining against his bulk and as he sat with sweat pooling on a ledge under his chest, wet patches formed on the tight material as it stretched across his stomach.
Sloper finished with his mobile and looked across to Paul.
‘So, who’s overseeing this investigation in force?’ asked Sloper.
Paul kept his best poker face while his mind ran through a list of possibilities. He wasn’t familiar with policing ranks and there was only one he could think of. He hoped Temple would appear soon.
‘The chief, the chief constable.’ He could see Sloper was trying to weigh up his options and the significance of what he had said. He must have said the right thing.
‘What exactly started the enquiry?’
Paul was relieved to see Temple coming towards him.
‘I’m not going to discuss the case with you any further,’ he said. ‘There’s still a lot we need to do, like finding the girls. I think you need to concentrate on that.’
‘Have I missed anything?’ Temple looked across at Paul, who shook his head. ‘What news have you got for me then, Si?’
‘My sources say the girls were at a house in Swindon but they’ve gone. They’ve done a runner.’
‘What house in Swindon? You better get back onto your sources and find out where they’ve gone.’
Temple’s phone rang. It was Gary Lewis.
‘We have a change in venue for the meet,’ he informed Temple. ‘Be at the twenty-four-hour Tesco, in the car park, far end.’ Temple knew he was likely to receive a call changing the venue and that this might be one of many calls until they eventually met, as Lewis would be wary of allowing Temple to set an operation to trap him.
‘You got the girls?’ asked Temple.
‘We’ve got the girls if you’ve got the money.’
‘All three of them?’
‘All three of them.’
‘What are their names?’
‘I don’t know the others but there’s obviously China.’
He felt sure Lewis was lying to him. ‘Tell me the other girls’ names before we meet; I want to know that you’ve got them.’
‘I’ll text you. Just be there with the money.’
Temple looked between the phone in his hand and Sloper. He couldn’t tell who was lying to him – Sloper or Gary Lewis – but one of them was. He was conscious of the money he had in his coat. If he met Lewis, there was every likelihood that he would be set up and mugged for the money. But what if Lewis did have them? He could be so close to getting them back. But why would Lewis be reluctant to name the girls if they were with him? It would be easy enough. Temple had to face it; it probably meant Lewis didn’t have them. And now Sloper was telling him the girls had run. His plan was falling apart.
They had to get out of the pub; it was too noisy, he needed to think. And he hadn’t finished with Sloper. Temple stood up.
‘Come on, we’re going.’
* * *
Across the road, the three of them sat in Temple’s car. With Paul Wallace sitting beside him, turning around in the driver’s seat, Temple continued his questioning of Sloper who was in the back.
‘So what are your contacts saying then? Where are they?’
‘The person I was talking to said that the two girls had run out of the house where they were.’
‘I’m after three girls. China Lewis – who I think you’ll know – a friend of hers, Megon, and another girl, whose name is Prayer, taken from Gemma’s flat in retaliation for your actions. Who took Prayer from Gemma’s flat?’
Sitting in the back of the car, Sloper was tightly contained. Taking him out of the arena of the pub and into the intimate and close confines of the car had been a good move. It was as if everything was suddenly condensed and Temple was able to see that Sloper knew much more than he was saying.
Sloper continued to work out how he could get out of his predicament. Sitting in the back of the car, he suddenly had a plan he could try if all else failed. Temple repeated his question.
‘Well, who took Prayer from Gemma’s flat?’
Sloper looked back at them. ‘Look, the girl’s sick.’
‘What? What do you mean by that?’ asked Temple.
Concerned for Megon, Paul Wallace turned to question Sloper then. ‘What girl are you talking about?’ Temple flicked Wallace a look of caution. His plan was hanging by a thread; the last thing he needed right now was Wallace to be exposed as the imposter he was.
‘She’s not well apparently. They knew I took the money so they went round to the flat. They were going to take Gemma. When they saw she had a visitor, a young girl, they took her instead. The girl Prayer, she’s ill.’
Chapter 37
Amy Davidson reached the centre of town. In the run-up to Halloween, it was busy with revellers in and out of costume. Amy was trying to remember anything that China had told her in the past of where she went when she stayed out. There had been so many stories, so many things she had told her over the years. She could be anywhere; she might not even be in Swindon. But Amy felt she was more useful out here, looking for her friend than sitting in her bedroom waiting for someone else to do something.
She went towards a street vendor, the sweet smell of frying onions drawing her there as it might draw China, she thought. There were a number of people around the white van who were either eating or ordering. None of them looked familiar and none of them stopped to notice her.
People were spilling out of the pubs and there were so many of them that it made it difficult for her to look around. As she walked on, she looked through the crowds, trying to see if China was amongst them. She tried to recall anything that China had told her – didn’t she say she used to hang around just outside the Brunel Centre? She couldn’t remember, but now she made her way there.
She kept looking, her eyes following any girl that remotely resembled her friend with her white-blonde hair. She kept walking. She knew it would be darker around the Brunel Centre but she had to go there. She was sure that China went there.
Amy was there now, under the part-glass roof, following the buildings right round until she had the glass walkway in her sights. She could see small groups of people huddled together on benches or hunched down in shop doorways. Her pace slowed as she approached them, looking at them quickly before going onto the next. Every small pocket of sheltered spots seemed to have someone in them.
Suddenly, only yards away from her, she saw a bob of white-blonde hair duck out by the side of another figure. Then she was gone, hidden behind a column of darkness. Was it China, was it her? It was her – Amy knew it was. She practically skipped over to where she could see two figures hunched down. It was her. It was China. She half shouted her name.
‘China! Oh my God, where have you been?’ She was overjoyed at seeing her again. Amy’s arms were outstretched as she threw herself at her friend. China was momentarily shocked to see her and also concerned that her noisy greeting would draw attention to them.
‘Amy, what are you doing here?’ China whispered, enveloped in her friend’s arms but looking over her shoulder to see if anyone had taken any notice of them.
‘I’ve come out looking for you. I rang the police but they haven’t done anything. You’ve been missing for days and I was worried sick.’ Amy was looking at China all the time she spoke, taking in her appearance, how she behaved. ‘Are you all right?’
‘We got caught up in some shit, didn’t we, Megs. This is Megon. She’s from London, she’s been with me. We’ve been caught up in stuff and it went wrong.’ China had wrestled herself from Amy to put her arm protectively around Megon. ‘She’s had a hard time; it was awful for
her.’
Amy felt a stab of jealousy seeing China being so protective of Megon. She’d come out into the night to find her and she seemed more concerned about another girl. They were normally so close and it was the first time she had seen China caring for anyone but her. Just in those first few moments she could see there was a bond between China and Megon.
‘We managed to run tonight but there was a man with a gun, so they’ll be after us. There’s no police about so we’re just keeping down until the morning.’
‘What do you mean there’s a man with a gun? What man? Where have you been?’
‘We were being held. It all went wrong. We trusted someone and we shouldn’t have. It’s all right, Megs, I know Gemma Harker. I’ll get her back for this, the bitch. We got set up. We were robbed; she took our money. We trusted her and she robbed us.’ Megon just sat staring ahead as China spoke.
‘Come back to mine, I’ve come to take you back.’ Amy eyed Megon, not sure that she wanted to extend the invitation to her too, but she could see that China was comforting her and wouldn’t let her go. Reluctantly she said, ‘Megon can come too.’
‘But what will your mum say?’
‘They’re asleep. We’ll go in over the garage roof; they won’t even know that we’re in until the morning.’
China immediately warmed to the plan. Amy’s bedroom was a safe haven compared to a recess in the Brunel Centre at this time of night; it would get them off the streets until the morning and it would be safer with the three of them walking back.
‘Come on, Megs, we’re going back to Amy’s.’
Megon had no wish to go back to someone else’s home; she wanted to go back to her own. She felt frail and her mind had already started to block out the things that had happened to her. It was a coping mechanism to trauma that she was glad of. All that mattered was that she was out of that room.
