“We haven’t got them involved. The ringleader said no police, or they’ll set him on fire.” This revelation rocked Suzanne’s voice, and her emotion began to break. “They wrote in spray paint on the walls DON’T DO IT AGAIN!”
“Don’t do what again?” asked Rachel, this detail clearly surprised her, and she wondered if this genuine surprise in her voice and face would give away her earlier, less genuine surprise, when she had first heard about Graham’s kicking.
“Well, we, sorry I, assumed that you had organised it as a way of teaching Graham a lesson for hitting me.”
“Suzanne, I swear down, on my baby Shania’s life, it had nothing to do with us. Nothing.”
“We just want to move on now, forget about it. And, well, I’m sorry for everything. God, you must think we’re freaks. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m just sad that it’s happened. You need to get the police involved though. Honestly Suzanne, you have to!”
“No. We can’t risk it. These were serious people, dangerous men.” Suzanne looked stressed, and worried, naturally. She held her index finger up to her mouth and glared at Rachel, and then grabbed her Bolton University hoody at the waist and began lifting it up, very slowly, revealing her well tanned tummy beneath. Rachel pulled her head back a few inches and raised her eyebrows, showing her visitor that she was puzzled. But Suzanne continued talking about how upset they had been as she continued pulling her top up slowly, to just below her boobs. Rachel bent down slightly to see what her neighbour was showing her. There, strapped across her ribs with some kind of elastic belt was an i-phone, and the screen was showing a recording icon, and waves were moving up and down on the screen as she spoke.
“So obviously, if it wasn’t down to you, we’ve got to try and figure out who it was down to. And why? At least if it had been in response to Graham hitting me, it kind of makes a bit of sense.” Suzanne seemed to be saying that remark deliberately to her i-phone. She was relieved that Graham’s theory was snookered, and that she had some proof to take back to him. But at the same time, Suzanne was disappointed, because with the realisation that it wasn’t Rachel who was behind the attack – she was reminded that there was no explanation for the attack, and the ominous message that had been graffiti painted all over the reception walls.
Despite the mystery, she was really pleased that Rachel, or “the scrubbers across the road” as Graham had been calling them, were not involved.
“I don’t know love. Honestly, I’m really sorry to hear about it, but I have got to get going, people are relying on me.”
“Of course, I’m sorry – I could give you a lift?” Suzanne looked really hopeful that Rachel would accept the offer.
“It’s fine, honest. But I just need to leave right now.” Rachel grabbed the door handle and opened it wide, stopping just short of waving Suzanne out.
“Okay, well, as I say, I’m sorry to bother you.” Said Suzanne as she walked past Rachel as she left the house.
“Well, we just need to keep out of the limelight. We really do. So we’re just going to keep our heads down, be invisible and silent until we get a new house sorted out. This has been the biggest nightmare I’ve ever known. So, thanks for coming round and that, but I think we need to keep our selves apart from now on.” Rachel had an ability to talk quite candidly and assertively about things, and it was all thanks to her experience at the Citizen’s Advice.
“Okay, well, I’m sorry. Thanks Rachel. You get going.” Suzanne walked off quickly, down the drive and across the road. Rachel thought that she could hear her crying quietly.
“Fuck’s sake,” she said as she closed the door, rushed inside for her bag and keys and phone. It was a relief that the confrontation hadn’t been too unpleasant, and to learn that the punishment had been quite lame by the sound of it. Most of all, Rachel was pleased that she had managed to cut her ties with Suzanne in such a relatively easy way.
As she left the house, locked the door and set off walking quickly towards the main road and the bus stop, Rachel believed that no matter how stressful it had been, the dreaded confrontation had been worthwhile. She felt glad that the ties to the new neighbours were severed and finally began to feel a little bit more relaxed about everything.
Her pace quickened as she broke into a power walk down the estate. As her thoughts wandered away from her recent problems and her mind began to focus on her other interests and concerns, Rachel could have had no idea that this was only the very beginning of her relationship with Suzanne. It most certainly was not the end.
Chapter 15
“God, it is bloody lovely up here though, isn’t it?” Nicole was sat in the passenger seat beside Dan, her colleague from the council housing department. “I’d almost forgotten how nice this place was.”
“Oh, no ta. It’s not for me Nic, I couldn’t be arsed with living up here. Can you imagine how pretentious you’d have to be to live on an estate that’s been designed specifically for the filthy rich?” Dan shook his head as he looked through his windscreen, gazing nonchalantly at the extravagant properties as his battered little Ford Fiesta cruised along the newly built roads at the designated 10 mph speed limit.
“You little liar Daniel Parker! You’re just jealous! You’ve got house envy!” Nicole laughed loudly and punched her junior colleague gently in the arm. “You’d move in here tomorrow if you had the cash!” she said, laughing again at Dan’s unimpressed, sombre expression.
“Are you joking? Eurgh, you don’t know me at all do you Nic? I couldn’t stand it living here! I bet they’re all competing for whose car cost the most, whose kid read the most books, who’s got the best plastic surgeon. It’s all so fake and predictable – a grotesque exhibition of material supremacy between the most bourgeois and superficial kind of people. It makes me sick in my mouth.”
Nicole laughed again, and looked at Dan. He had been her colleague for the past four years. They had become quite good friends at work, often having a drink or two after work as well. Nicole had never before heard Dan say anything so negative, or thoughtful.
“Jesus, get you.” She said, though the laughter had left her voice.
“Would you? Seriously I mean, would you want to live somewhere like this with your Jay and the girls?” asked Dan, his tone quite flat and depressed.
“Flipping heck Dan, have you been listening to The Smiths again?” asked Nicole. The question forced a laugh from her workmate, and she was relieved to see him smiling again.
Dan decided to cheer up a bit and began singing in a deliberately droney impression of Morrissey. “Please no, I couldn’t bear to live here, I’d much rather live in a cold and lonely, desolate hole – without any arms or legs.”
Nicole laughed loudly, and so did Dan as they continued along the endless turnings of almost identical avenues.
“It’s like being on Scooby Doo, the same scene is going past over and over…”
“You could say that about any estate in the country. Oh, wait, stop – is that Rachel Birdsworth? It is – Dan, slow down.” Nicole pressed the button and the window started rolling down as Dan’s car pulled over to the kerb by the side of Rachel, who was walking at quite a pace.
“Hiya Rachel, are you alright?”
Rachel jumped with fright – she’d been lost in her own world.
“Oh, hiya, yeah, sorry I was miles away! I’m just on my way to catch my bus. It’s a proper trek to the bus stop! They didn’t think about buses when they built this estate did they?” she remarked, still moving slightly as she stood leaning into the car. “Mind you, I bet no-one on here used buses ‘til us scrubbers turned up!”
“No, I never thought of that!”
Rachel looked eager to carry on towards the bus stop, but was embarrassed to say anything.
“Sorry, we won’t keep you. Just wanted to say hello, and to let you know we’re here to see what we can sort out, you know, about what we talked about yesterday.”
“Oh right, nice one.”
Rachel looked pleased, “good luck!”
“Do you want a lift to the bus stop Rachel?” asked Dan, leaning over Nicole’s chest in order to see Rachel’s face.
“No, honest, I’m fine – but I’ll have to get moving!” she smiled, looking friendly but feeling less so.
“Okay, go on, I’ll phone you later, see you.”
“See ya,” said Rachel, as she began jogging away in the direction of the bus stop.
“Right,” said Dan, “let’s go and see why this neighbour of theirs is being such a dick.”
*****
Bing Bong.
“Graham,” shouted Suzanne up the stairs, to where her husband was resting. “Are you expecting anybody?”
There was no reply. Graham was still in a dreadful mood with his wife, and it hadn’t been helped since Suzanne had come home from Rachel’s a few minutes earlier and played back the voice recording, smugly announcing that she had concrete evidence that the attack had nothing to do with her. It had come as a relief to Suzanne though, she was delighted by the outcome. She really wanted Rachel to become her best friend.
“Gra-ham!” she shouted again as the doorbell rang a second time. He ignored her once again. Suzanne opened the door, her first impression of the two visitors was that they were police, C.I.D officers, although they looked quite young. Straight away, she wondered how they knew about the attack, and worried that the perpetrators will be back now that the police are involved.
“Hello?” said Suzanne. She was smiling but she was quite visibly concerned by the presence of the unexpected visitors.
“Hello,” said Nicole as Dan nodded his greeting, “We’re very sorry to trouble you. We’re from the council, we’re just checking with everybody that things are okay with the new neighbours and everything?” Nicole was looking beyond Suzanne, into the house slightly as she spoke.
“Er, well – I, I guess so. I’m not really…” Suzanne began coughing and stuttering. This unexpected encounter had taken her by surprise and her mind began racing, wondering what Graham would want her to say. “Er, well if you, do you want to come in a minute?”
“That would be great, thank you.” Nicole stepped inside. Dan followed and smiled at Suzanne as he stepped past her. The bruise and cut on her cheek made him do an embarrassing double-take as he stepped past, which made Suzanne blush.
“I’ll get my husband, he’s probably the best person to speak to about this matter actually. Please, make yourselves comfortable in here,” she showed the visitors through into the lounge. “I’ll just go and get him. I won’t be a tick.”
The lounge was decorated beautifully, and Nicole was massively impressed. Her eyes were scanning the expensive furniture, the bright, fresh décor, the stylish ornaments and the carefully chosen artwork and pictures.
“It’s gorgeous!” she whispered to Dan as she sat with her hands on her lap.
“It looks like DFS in here!” whispered Dan out of the side of his mouth.
“Don’t be daft!” said Nicole, feeling the material of the sofa.
“Won’t be a minute!” shouted Suzanne from the upstairs landing. She burst into the couple’s bedroom. “Graham, you need to come downstairs. There are people from the council, they want to know that everything is okay with the new neighbours.” Suzanne began pulling at Graham’s duvet. “Come on.”
“I’m not coming down. Are you insane woman?” asked Graham, he grimaced in pain from his bruised ribs as he spoke.
“This is your big chance to complain, you can tell them what’s wrong with the new neighbours that are causing you such misery!” Suzanne was being sarcastic, and she was loving it – knowing that Graham was in no fit state to punish her physically.
“You know I can’t go down there! I work in the fucking Chief Exec’s department. They will know me from the Town Hall you mad woman!” Graham hissed the words, and the look of anger and disgust that was aimed at his wife was unmistakable.
“So?” said Suzanne, stood at the end of the bed with her arms folded. “You can still tell them about all the things that are stressing you out! Like that man having his TV on too loud on Saturday – or the family across the road bringing their luggage in bin liners. What else was it?”
“You know perfectly well what it is Suzanne!” Snapped Graham, staring impassively towards the wall.
“So come down stairs and tell them all about it. Come on, tell them how the new neighbours made you get yourself arrested, and how you spent a night in jail because of them!”
Graham was visibly becoming more and more agitated by Suzanne’s pecking at him. “Suzanne, I already told you. I’m not coming down there. So drop it, you awful little bastard. I should have left you in the gutter where I found you.”
“What do you want me to say then? That everything is okay?”
“Tell them, that I will write to them. And I will highlight all of my concerns in the letter.” Graham once again scowled as the pain from his chest seared through his torso.
“Fine. Have it your way. They are here to ask you if you have any concerns and you are not prepared to see them. You are a very strange man Graham Ashworth.” Suzanne stormed across the bedroom and opened the door, she used all of her will-power to close it gently as she left. Suzanne stepped gracefully down the stairs and breezed through into the lounge where her visitors were sat waiting patiently.
“I’m sorry. My husband isn’t up to talking to you today, he isn’t well. He said that he will write to you, and put his concerns down in writing.”
Nicole looked at Dan, and raised an eyebrow. Dan took the expression as a prompt and began to explain the situation. “Sorry, Mrs…”
“Ashworth. Call me Suzanne.”
“Sorry Suzanne. I think we’ve got ourselves muddled up. We’re here to investigate a complaint that somebody has made…”
“Who?” asked Suzanne, the urgency in her voice alarmed her, as well as her guests.
“Well, I’m afraid that we have a duty of care, we can’t tell you who has made the complaint, but it is a very serious concern to us, and that is the reason why we have come here today, to see what facts we can gather, and hopefully find a way of resolving matters going forward.” Dan had adopted a more serious expression on his face.
Suzanne sat down and looked as though she was about to burst into tears.
“If your husband is ill, we can come back another time, or we can arrange for you to see us at the Town Hall. But it is imperative that we speak to you both and get to the bottom of the situation, and hopefully find a satisfactory resolution.”
“Yes, well, of course. But…” Suzanne was stupefied by the revelation, even though she knew that it was her husband’s irrational and unreasonable behaviour that had provoked this excruciatingly embarrassing visit.
“You see, our tenants are on a behaviour bond that is so strict, it’s probably illegal to be honest, but all of the tenants who have moved into this development have signed the contract,” explained Dan. Nicole saw an opportunity to assist her colleague, and took over.
“But what we hadn’t bargained for, was the behaviour of the home-owners. Our cock-up, it has to be said. We will be talking to the developers about this matter. But naturally, we want to hear your side, and get a clear picture of what the issues are, if indeed there are any.” Nicole ended her sentence with a patronising civil servant smile. Suzanne sat across from Dan and Nicole and looked embarrassed and ashamed. She desperately wanted to come clean, and explain that it had nothing to do with her, that it was her husband. That he’s a knob. But she couldn’t.
“Is your husband too ill to talk to us now?” asked Dan, hopeful to get something moving today.
“No, he won’t come down. I’m really sorry.” Suzanne’s cheeks were reddening.
“Well, here is my card.” said Nicole as she stretched across the coffee table with her business card between two fingers. Suzanne took it and nodded. She could not remember feeling so small and embarrassed, and she wanted nothing
more than to confess that it was her husband that had started the trouble with the neighbours and that she had nothing to do with it. But she couldn’t say that, she just continued sitting there, looking awkward and embarrassed.
“Give me a call when your husband is feeling better Mrs Ashworth. Can I just take your husband’s name for my notes please?” asked Nicole.
“Erm, well just Mr Ashworth will be fine. I’ll see that he calls you himself. It’s not really got anything to do with me you see, I don’t really…”
“Sorry, Mrs Ashworth. It does have something to do with you. We are investigating a complaint about a very serious matter, which could potentially result in people being made homeless through no fault of their own. I cannot impress on you the seriousness of this enough.” Dan’s tone was quite sharp and his manner abrupt. He was just one vocal notch off his dialogue sounding like a bollocking. It was just enough to make Suzanne snap.
“Right, okay. I’ve heard enough. To re-cap, it is not me that you need to speak to, and I can’t make him come downstairs. Now, if you want to go up and talk to him in his bed, then I won’t stand in your way – but I won’t be spoken to like I’ve just walked dog dirt all over your new carpet, do you understand me?”
“Well just a sec…” said Nicole, but Suzanne continued to talk, and spoke directly over the housing officer.
“I’m not going to listen to anymore of your bloody lectures. So are you going upstairs, or are you going away?” Suzanne really wasn’t in the mood for anything, let alone two irritating civil servants pecking her head about her knob-head of a husband’s latest misadventure.
“Well, I…” Nicole was lost for words, Suzanne’s outburst had come from nowhere, it was completely unexpected, and was quite conclusive.
“I think we should leave it there for today,” said Dan, helping Nicole out. “But please, make sure that your husband gets in touch with us as soon as he is well enough. This matter really does need resolving before other agencies are involved.”
Neighbours From Hell : DCI Miller 2: The gripping Manchester thriller with a killer twist Page 9
