“He can’t know I’m here. Please?” she said, making the please sound more like a question than a request. In that sentence, Rachel understood everything.
“Britney! Make a brew for Suzanne. Sweet, plenty of sugars, she’s had a shock.”
“Alright mum, but I am going to start charging, it is becoming a full time job this you know.” Britney was only trying to lighten the mood, but her timing was just a bit off.
“Not now Britney love. Come on Suzanne, come up to my room, let’s get you washed up.” Rachel was leading her neighbour towards the stairs.
“He mustn’t know I’m here. I’m begging you.” Pleaded Suzanne.
“Ssshhh just calm down love, you’re safe now, you’re alright.” The two of them went upstairs slowly and the bedroom door was closed behind them.
“Fuck my life!” said Mick to his mother-in-law. He was standing with her at the bottom of the stairs. “Why does this kind of shit always happen to us?”
“Come on,” said Liam, to Noel. “Let’s go and listen.”
“No, bollocks to that lads - go and play out. And no trouble! Right?” Mick’s happy, excitable mood had disappeared completely. He was snappy and irritable. The boys took off through the front door without any hassle. They were keen to explore the new estate anyway.
“What the hell is going on Mick?” asked Maureen, by now she was desperate to find out what all this was about.
“I’m not sure. But I don’t like it. We’re meant to be keeping our heads down, and we’ve not even got the kids bedding on, but already the police have been round, and now the wife of the guy who called the police is in the house crying her arse off. This is a disaster Maureen love, I’m not kidding you.”
“Shit! Is that who she is?” whispered Maureen, loudly. “Shit the bed!” she said, now that she had a better understanding of what was going on. Rachel had already filled Maureen in with the details of the previous night’s activities. “I’m not having this Mick. I’ll go round there now and I’ll bleeding tell him straight!” Maureen looked ready for a fight. “You don’t deserve any of this bull-shit!” she snarled.
“No, love, don’t do anything. Just leave it. We’ll talk to Rachel in a bit. She’ll go off her nut if you do something without checking with her first. Please Maureen, it’s good of you and that, but just put your foot in your mouth ‘til in a bit.”
“Mick, love - if you two lose this house, you’re knackered. Our Rachel has got a big heart - but you’ve got to look after number one here lad. Seriously, look at me. I don’t give a shit about that girl upstairs, all I care about is you lot. Now I can go and tell this prick to pack it in, and he fucking well will.”
“He won’t Maureen. Trust me, you’ve not seen him. He’s a proper stuck up toff. But let’s go upstairs and tell his wife to piss off. Tell them we don’t want nowt to do with them.”
“Yes, Alright Mick. That’s what we’ll do. But let’s give them five minutes up there. She looked in a right state and our Rachel will sort her head out. Then, we’ll both go up and tell her that she needs to do one, and stay well away. And you need to put your foot down Mick, tell our Rachel that she needs to leave this woman to it. Right?”
“Right. Sorted. Nice one.” Mick was glad that he had the support of Maureen.
Upstairs, Rachel had taken Suzanne into the bathroom and had sat her down on the toilet seat. She was still shaking uncontrollably, but was visibly calmer than she had been when she’d first appeared in the garden.
“Just hold still love. That’s it.” Said Rachel who was stood over her neighbour, gently dabbing the wound on her cheek with cold water and cotton wool. “It’s going to be a shiner that Suzanne, I can see it coming up.” It went quiet, and Rachel became a little uncomfortable in the silence. She began chattering away about nothing in particular, just waffling on about her mum coming, and the kids’ reaction to the house. Apart from the occasional “ooh” or “ow” Suzanne had remained silent for the past five minutes or so. Maureen knocked on the bedroom door, and then appeared holding a cup of tea. She wandered through to the en suite bathroom.
“Are you decent?” she asked.
“Yeah, come on in mum. Aw, have you brought a brew? Here you go Suzanne. That’ll be the best brew you’ve ever tasted that love, trust me!” said Rachel, still very much in the waffling frame of mind.
“Are you okay love?” asked Maureen as she handed Suzanne the brew. Mick appeared just behind her and stood in the door way.
“Who?” asked Rachel. “Oh, Suzanne - yes I think she’s alright, don’t think it needs any stitches. What do you think mum?” Rachel gently lifted Suzanne’s chin up.
Maureen looked at Suzanne’s face and screwed her face up. “Nah, it won’t need stitching that. It’s going to swell up like a gonad that though.”
“Who’s done that to you?” asked Mick, without very much affection in his voice. The question certainly threw the cat amongst the pigeons. Rachel turned and gave Mick the look. Maureen leapt straight in.
“Don’t look at him like that Rachel love. We’ve come up here to tell you both that whatever is going on, it has got to stop right now. If this couple have problems over the road, it’s got to stay over the road love. I’m sorry.”
“Mum, that’s completely out of order that. Now you can just go down, that’s really pissed me off that has.”
“No, Rachel,” said Mick, “We’re going to be made homeless with these fucking weirdo’s over the road. I’m not having it. I’m sorry if you’re having trouble love, but it’s not our fault, and we don’t want to get involved, right.”
Suzanne was just staring straight ahead, her vision was fixed on her reflection in the towel holder bar that faced her.
“You two had better get out of my sight right now, it’s not the time or the place.”
Rachel was quite clearly furious, but was desperately trying to keep a lid on it for Suzanne’s benefit.
“Your trouble is - you’re too nice Rachel love, you always have been. But this affair could have you in the caravan again tomorrow! You need to be aware how much danger you’re putting yourself in. Not just you love, we’re talking about everybody else as well. You said yourself - if you fart wrong you’ll be turfed out.” Maureen was rarely confrontational, especially where Rachel was concerned. But she was sticking to her guns on this matter. Rachel looked at them both for a couple of seconds, her feelings were quite obvious, but if her closest family members were in any doubt, she made herself perfectly clear when she eventually spoke.
“Mum, Mick, you can say all this shit later. But not in front of her, right? Are you both on summat? I’ve never known you to be so fucking rude, she’s in bits here, her husband’s just caved her face in and you come in here giving it all this. Now get out of my toilet this minute, or I swear down, I’ll go outside and I’ll smash every single fucking window on the estate. Get out, and you owe Suzanne an apology before you go, you pair of shit heads.” Rachel was holding aloft a piece of wet, bloodied cotton wool as though it was a weapon.
“Sorry.” Mick turned to leave. He knew that look, and knew not to proceed. Maureen also got the distinct impression that she’d misjudged this one too.
“Sorry Suzanne, but…”
“Get out mum, you’ve said enough.”
“No, no, please, don’t go. I totally get it. I understand what you are saying. I should never have come here.” Suzanne sounded quite embarrassed, but her voice was clear and confident. “I didn’t think of the consequences of me coming here. You are absolutely right. I’m sorry. He won’t find out that I’ve been here.” Suzanne looked up at Mick and Maureen, and they saw just how vulnerable she was for the first time.
“Ignore them Suzanne. They’ve lost their bloody manners. Now, can you two get out like I said. I’ll speak to you both later.”
“They are right though,” said Suzanne as Mick and Maureen walked out quietly and closed the bedroom door behind them. “I didn’t consider the effect this co
uld have on you Rachel. Really I didn’t. How selfish of me. I’ll go,” Suzanne stood, and tried her give her neighbour a hug.
“No, you’re not going anywhere. Them two have got a point, fair enough. But I’m not going to be evicted because a battered wife has come to me for help.”
Suddenly, Suzanne’s eyes flicked up, and Rachel saw that a very raw nerve had been pressed.
“I’m not a …”
“You’re not a battered wife? Is that what he’s told you?”
“It’s not…
“It’s not what?”
“It’s not all the time. He just has this temper.”
“So does he go boxing? Is he part of a martial arts group? Does he go and do a bit of fighting at the football on a Saturday to keep his aggression occupied? Or is he just a bully who thumps his little wife?” Rachel was stood face to face with Suzanne, and was searching her eyes for the truth.
“He hasn’t done it for ages, it’s just the stress of all this.”
“You mean the houses being rented out to us?”
“Yes, it’s really affected him.”
“Forgive him then, it’s fair enough, punching a woman because he doesn’t like a decision that’s been made by the local council. Tell you what, I might give my little daughter Shania a punch in the head tomorrow, if the bus is late, or the wind fucks my hair up.”
“I’m not saying…”
“What was it last time he smacked you?”
“I, can’t remember.”
“Well, I’m sorry to say this to you love, but it won’t change. You need to know that. Men like him, they can’t help themselves. You need to get away from him.” Suzanne suddenly looked very annoyed, and quite embarrassed. That comment had stamped on a raw nerve, and she didn’t like Rachel speaking about Graham like this. She didn’t even know him.
“He’s a nice man most of the time. God, you’re making him sound…”
“I’m not making him sound anything!” snapped Rachel. “You just climbed over my fence with blood pissing down your face. You just begged me to keep it secret that you’re here. Don’t start forgetting that already Suzanne. You might be in denial love, but I’m not, I know a battered wife when I see one.”
Tears welled up in Suzanne’s eyes. Different from the tears of fear from ten minutes earlier. These were the tears of emotional hurt. Suzanne just wasn’t ready for the harsh brutality of what Rachel was saying.
“I think, well, I think I’d better go. Thanks for everything Rachel. I’m really sorry that I’ve got you involved.”
“Where are you going to go?”
“I don’t know. Home I guess.”
“Can’t you go to a mate’s for a few days? What about family? You can’t just go home after that Suzanne. You should be phoning the bloody police out on him.”
“It’s fine. I need to go, I’ll leave you in peace.”
“I’m not letting you go back there. I want someone to come and get you, and look after you for a few days, you need to do something, you can’t live like this!”
“There isn’t anybody,” said Suzanne, as more tears began to well up in her eyes.
“What do you mean? There must be somebody, a mate or, what about your mum?”
“There is no-one, it’s just me and Graham.”
“Well, listen, I can get you numbers, phone numbers for charities that are there to help people like you. They can get you out of there, they can help you. You don’t have to live like that Suzanne, nobody does.”
“I’m sorry, Rachel, truly I am, I shouldn’t have come here. Please, just let me go home. You’ve got the wrong end of the stick. I need to be with Graham, he’ll be wondering where I am.”
“And you don’t think he’ll hit you again?”
“No. He never does. He’ll feel really bad about it now, he’ll buy me loads of new things. Like I’ve said, he’s not a wife beater.”
“Well you promise me one thing please Suzanne. You let me know if he does. Because you can’t live like that.”
Rachel gave Suzanne a big hug, and insisted that she finish the cup of tea. She also insisted that Suzanne went through the front door this time.
Chapter Ten
Bez’s Arms Pub
Salford
“Alright there now Kev? How’re you now?” asked Seamus McCarthy, sitting down at the table opposite Kev, who had been sat, waiting patiently for a private word with the landlord for the previous thirty five minutes.
“Not bad, mate, not bad. Just moved into a new house over near Bury. It’s nice, the wife and our Brett are loving it. Out in the country, loads of cows mooing and all that malarkey.”
“Ah, I heard you talking about this last week, so I did. Wasn’t it the place where the neighbours had a petition to stop you from moving in?” Seamus had a lovely big smile, and chuckled at the thought of council house folk moving in to a posh estate full of rich people. “It’s a disaster waiting to unfold, surely to God it is, so it is.” He said. Kev nodded. “Is this why you’re sat here looking like you want your mammy?” laughed Seamus.
“Yeah, yeah, well, I need someone to get a good kicking to be honest. We moved in yesterday right, no hassle, no nothing. No one was out in the street welcoming us, but no one giving us any jip either. So me and the wife are like, doesn’t matter, we’ll just keep ourselves to ourselves and that. Say nothing more about it. Then, about three o clock this morning, this pissed up twat from down the road starts ringing on me bell, he’s going on about my music being too loud and all this. I swear down, it was the telly, and I was asleep on the settee, so it can’t have been that fucking loud if I was asleep could it?” Kev raised his upturned hands to the height of his shoulders.
“No, no, certainly not.” Seamus nodded along to Kev’s story.
“Anyway, big do’s and little do’s, it turns out, he phoned the police before he came over, so he was obviously hoping I’d give him a smack and then we’ll get kicked out of the house. Honest Seamus, it was that blatant.”
“He’s a fucking grass, so he is.” Seamus seemed genuinely annoyed by Kev’s problems.
“I know! But he’s worse than that! He’s grassing about shit that hasn’t even gone on! We’ve got all these strict rules to follow, and if we break any, then we’re fucked. This guy knows this, so he’s headed straight at me, trying to make me hit him in the face.”
Seamus looked sympathetic, as he often did when somebody approached him with such difficulties. He looked down at the table top for a long time before speaking again.
“Well, I can see how this can be distressing for you. You’ve come to the right place so you have. Now, you know the terms of business here Kev, and I’m never one to turn my back when a friend is in an arsehole. I can get this fixed for you for five hundred pound, and you know my code of practice, you pay before the event, and there’s a cash back guarantee that you won’t get any more shite off of this fellah.” Seamus displayed his charming smile again and held out his hand for a shake.
“Nice one. No, I really appreciate this Seamus. I’m a reasonable guy, you know that, but this chap, he just wants us gone and he’ll say anything to get us out. So it’s a case of who needs it most. He needs telling to calm the fuck down. But the trouble is, he can’t know who is saying it.”
“Ah, no problem at all. We can be very discreet here, so we can. So just leave me an envelope with the money in and fill out one of these,” Seamus pulled a questionnaire out of his pocket and handed it across the table. “This helps us to do an efficient job. You’ll need to fill out all the necessary details in the fields marked A to F and then as you can see, there’s a section for you to describe the person you wish for us to discuss matters with, and put as much detail as you can in that section, what car he has, what colour front door, any tattoos on his face, that kind of thing. Any kids involved, do you want a certain marking leaving on him, you know the score Kev, so you do. We don’t like anything going arseways.”
Kev was staring har
d at the paperwork. He was clearly impressed with the professionalism. It had been quite some time since Kev had needed a situation sorting out, and he thought that the questionnaire really gave the Bez’s Arms operation a certain je ne sais quoi.
“Alright there now, I’ll leave you with that. Did you have an appointment time in mind?” Seamus was talking in a very matter-of-fact way, as he always did at these kinds of meetings.
“Well, the sooner the better, I was hoping tomorrow night, say tea time? In fact, that would be best ‘cos I’ve warned the other neighbours to be out of the way.”
“That should be fine.”
“Nothing too upsetting, he can keep all his body parts and that.” Kev grinned menacingly.
“Ah, well that’s very noble of you Kev. Great! Well, pop back over to the bar when you’ve got all this paperwork filled out. And I’ll need the payment before we can process the paperwork.”
“Yeah, yeah, no worries Seamus, I’ve got it on me. We was going to get a new bed but fuck it! I’d rather get this shit sorted out to tell you the truth. I’d rather have a house with a shit bed, than a comfy bed with no house – you get me?”
“Well, that’s very logical of you to think. Just take your time, there’s no hurry. I’ll be across at the bar, so I will.”
Chapter Eleven
MONDAY
Rachel met her eldest kids at the bus station in town as arranged that morning, after she’d picked Shania up from her primary school over on the Gameshawe estate.
“Right, listen, best behaviour in here, I’ve got to go in and see the council about this new house. And I swear down, I want the staff in there thinking that you four were the Royal family or summat, right?” Rachel took a long drag on her cigarette and waited for a response.
“Yes, mum,” said Britney in her typically sarcastic way, rolling her eyes away slowly, producing an expression that she personally thought was quite enchanting and intellectual. It always reminded Rachel of Rik Mayall’s TV face, just before he would hit somebody over the head with a frying pan, and she always struggled not to laugh at her daughter whenever she did it.
Neighbours From Hell : DCI Miller 2: The gripping Manchester thriller with a killer twist Page 6
