Daryl snorted a little now, as part of his laugh. ‘Not that long, I hope! It’s all a bit odd, really. We had a message come through on the bat phone. Some girl. Sounded young. Said her name was Libby. She said she was visited by a female detective about a nasty assault but she wouldn’t say any more. She said she wanted to talk to the same officer again. We assumed it might be you up there in Major Crime.’
‘Not me. I don’t know a Libby. Did she give any more details? I can look her up on the system, see who’s investigating her.’
‘No. I did ask. We were going to do that. She said not to worry about it and hung up. I did call up on the radio for a patrol to go and intercept and get her details but there’s no one left at the nick.’
‘How long ago was it?’
‘A good ten minutes by now, I suppose. I’m sure someone will know what it’s all about. I wasn’t going to call, I assume she’ll come back when the front counter opens but she sounded a little upset.’
‘Well, nothing to do with me. I’ll go and have a look — see if she’s still hanging about outside. I could do with stretching my legs anyway.’
‘Great. Thanks for that. Sorry to bother you.’
Maddie stepped away from the phone and strode to the window. The ‘bat phone’, as it was known, was by the public entrance to the police station and provided a direct line through to the custody block out of hours as this was the only phone manned twenty-four-seven. She couldn’t see it from her vantage point but she would be able to see if anyone was walking away. There was no foot traffic at all.
When she stepped out of the police station, the vehicular traffic was already starting to build with a familiar and constant dull roar. The phone was a sharp left out of the gate. There were a couple of parking spaces for visitors at the front but they were empty. She walked out onto the street. She could see some people on the other side of the road but they were walking with purpose, their heads bent, not looking like they were paying her or the police station any notice. The approach to the front counter was empty too, the phone pushed into its receiver. Whoever this Libby was, she was gone.
* * *
Kelly woke up to the usual radio station then rose from her bed to the same cheery sun that flooded her face as she tugged back the curtains. She had even slept well and for a moment, it was almost like a normal day. But when she walked into the main living area, suddenly nothing was the same. Her mum was gone. Holly was gone, too, and the ache in her heart returned. She sighed in acceptance that this was becoming the new normal. She had never felt more alone.
She pulled open cupboards, aware that she couldn’t recall the last time she had eaten. She had nothing in. The sink was cluttered with full mugs of cold tea where she had made them to keep herself busy, only to disregard them immediately. She leant over them while her mind raced with images of the night before, of the poor teenage girl who had finally found the strength from somewhere to strip in front of a live-streaming camera. Kelly had known that every minute Libby was in there she was making her situation worse, tightening the hold others had over her and there was nothing either of them could have done about it.
They had spoken briefly after. Kelly had taken the time to make sure Libby knew what she was involved in, what was expected of her and what might happen if she didn’t toe the line. Libby might have been listening but her eyes looked empty and without focus, her body had hung off her slim shoulders as if all her strength and fight were already gone. The expectations of her would only increase. She was going to be in demand. And the demands would soon be exceeding a striptease. Kelly already knew that she wasn’t going to be able to cope.
She needed to blot Libby from her mind for now. Both girls were expected back for midday today. Kelly had told her to be early so they could meet outside the building. Kelly knew how difficult it was walking into that place on her own; she didn’t want Libby to have to do that.
The thought of it was making her anxiety worse. She had her own problems, her own demons, too. The last thing she needed was to be worrying about someone else, to have to be the strong one. She had realised that this must be just how Holly had felt when they first met, when she was the scared little girl having to turn up on her own and Holly had insisted on them meeting first. She remembered how much stronger it had made her.
She opened the fridge. There were eggs and some milk, nothing else. She shook her head and slammed the door shut. She wasn’t sure she could eat anyway. Her eyes moved to the windowsill, to the white envelope that contained the money she had been given last night, her weekly pay for working the camera as Benny called it. She hadn’t even looked at it; the envelope was still sealed. She never did. Holly used to deal with all that. She knew she was going to have to deal with it now. She had put life and bills on hold for the last couple of days but she wouldn’t be able to do that for long.
There was a knock at the door, light — tentative almost, but Kelly still jerked towards it. She wasn’t expecting anyone. It could only be Joan. She wasn’t usually hesitant when knocking the door but maybe meeting Freddie the previous time had had a lasting effect. Kelly moved to the spy hole. She could only see blackness. When she pulled the door open it was obvious why: Marlie Towers’s arm dropped from where she had been holding it up to push her finger over the hole. She had good reason: if Kelly had seen her through the spyhole she would never have opened the door. As it was, she pushed it back to close. The door bounced off something trapped in it. Kelly looked down to where Marlie had stuck a brown leather boot in the doorway.
‘I just need two minutes. It’s important.’
‘For what?’ Kelly snapped.
‘I got a message. I was told to deliver it two days after.’
‘Two days . . . after what?’
‘After Holly went. After she did what she did.’
Kelly took a moment. ‘You knew?’
Marlie was chewing gum. ‘Sorry, kid.’
Kelly pulled back the door to try and slam it again. This time Marlie stepped into it, pushing against it with her chest as well as her hands.
‘Look, we can play this game . . . you can kick me out and pretend you don’t want to hear what I got to say and I’ll just stand out here until you’re done with your silly game.’
Kelly stepped back. She could feel herself getting upset. She turned away, desperate that Marlie wouldn’t see it. She heard the door knock against the wall where it was pushed right open. She moved to the other side of the room.
‘Two minutes.’ Kelly turned to face Marlie.
‘Fine with me.’
‘Well?’
Marlie smiled. ‘I’m not your enemy. I know you think I am, but we’re all just trying to survive.’
‘There’s more than one way to survive. You would have had me and Holly on our knees in back alleys or doing in-calls to strangers’ houses if you’d had your way. How much of a cut were you going to take again?’
‘It wasn’t like that. Holly knew that.’
‘You nearly had her convinced, you mean.’
‘She trusted me. That’s why she trusted me with this. You think what you’re doing is any better or any safer? You might not be walking into a stranger’s home but you’re still walking into Freddie Rickman’s place. You don’t know what he has planned for you or what happens when he doesn’t need you anymore. You won’t be his top earner forever, you know. Then what — when you don’t bring the money in?’
‘Freddie Rickman’s place? Remind me again who owns the house you run?’
‘Exactly. The house I run. He doesn’t have anything to do with it day to day.’
'Until he decides he wants to. I’ve heard all this rubbish before when you were telling Holly how you protect your girls. It was bullshit then, too. Your two minutes is just about up. I have no interest in speaking to pimps.’
Marlie huffed. She looked like she was taking a moment to calm herself, to suppress her first reaction. ‘Holly came to see me, the beginning of last week. I didn’t know, okay,
what she was planning — I mean, not for sure. But she was talking about crazy stuff, about doing herself in and taking one of the drivers with her. I didn’t want to come here anymore than you want me here.’
‘Drivers?’
‘Langthorne Taxis. We all know their drivers are the ones doing the recruiting for Freddie. They’ve been tapping up young girls and they’re getting younger — I mean kids, really. They get hold of someone pissed up or vulnerable or both and they force them into a mistake they can use as leverage. These kids will do whatever they’re told. Freddie don’t give them no choice.’
‘Why are you telling me this? I think I know that better than anyone.’
‘Of course you do! You know most things better than anyone, ain’t that right?’ Marlie didn’t manage to suppress her anger this time.
‘Did you come here to tell me anything new at all?’
‘Holly came to me talking about setting you free. You were all she ever talked about. She told me how much she loved you — how it was killing her to see you every day doing what you were doing. She felt responsible, like she should have got you out a long time ago. I don’t think she saw no other way. She was upset — like really upset. I ain’t seen her like that since she got sober and she was sober, too — not a thing in her.’
‘It wasn’t her fault.’
‘I said that, but it didn’t matter what I said. She weren’t having none of it. She said she had this plan. That was when she started talking about doing herself in. She said when it happened that she wanted me to come and see you. I had to leave it two days and then I was supposed to come and tell you what she came to tell me. I told her to stop being silly. I said she was scaring me. She seemed dead serious but I guess I still laughed it off. I didn’t want to think she would go through with something like that . . . But then she did it. I wasn’t gonna come around, I know we don’t see eye to eye, but it played on my mind and it was her dying wish.’
‘And you didn’t try to talk her out of it?’
‘Of course I did! I told her not to go and do anything stupid. But I didn’t really think she would anyway, you know? I spent ages telling her to think about it. I said there had to be another way. Then she asked me what and I guess I couldn’t think of nothing. I just said something will come up.’
‘And then she told you to come and see me?’
‘Two days after, she said. She made me give my word. I still didn’t think it was serious. No way I thought she was going to do it within a week.’
‘What did she say? Why two days?’
‘She said it had to be two days. That was the right time, apparently. By that time the cops should have done their bit. When she went, she said, she was going to make sure she had some stuff on her — some stuff for the police to check up on. I think that was the big plan . . . she was giving them enough to start sniffing around Freddie — Benny, too, maybe and then you could walk in there to fill in the blanks and it would all come crashing down around their ears. You’re supposed to go see the cops. To tell them what you know. That’s what she wanted. I’ve got some wheels now. I can take you down there. I feel like I should.’
‘I’m not going to the police. Why would I? This is ridiculous! You could just be here to stitch me up. Freddie’s got wind that someone’s been talking — he’s looking to take it out on someone.’
Marlie angled her head a little and her eyes narrowed. ‘So this is totally out of the blue to you? Only she said she was going to get a message to you . . . just before. She said that you had talked about it before, too. That you wouldn’t listen . . . this ringing any bells?’
‘No!’ Kelly tried to be as strong as she could but she knew her voice was betraying her. Holly had talked about something like it before — a long time before. Kelly had dismissed it as just talk, the sort of thing you said when you were feeling desperate.
‘Well, okay then. So you’ll be just as confused as me. She wasn’t making too much sense and it was all a bit rushed. I kept trying to get her to slow down but it was like she was excited, you know what I mean?’
Kelly did. Holly had been exactly the same when she had talked to her about it. She kept quiet as Marlie continued.
‘She said about how she was going to take a driver out so they would go and visit the firm. It’s one of Freddie’s. She said she would have stuff on her that would show what he was up to, with the girls on the cams, with you and her, right down to how he took over the business in the first place. But she said they would have blanks. They would need some more detail and she wanted you to go down there two days after to fill it all in for them. She wanted to give them enough to be interested so they would listen. The last thing she said to me was that she was worried they wouldn’t even investigate it, that she wasn’t worth their time. That was another reason why she was going to take out a driver with her . . . she didn’t think anyone would blink an eye if she just offed herself but they would look for answers if there were two of them. She made me promise I would get you down there.’
‘And how are you going to keep that promise?’
‘I said that. I asked her and she just laughed, the bitch!’ Marlie broke into a smile that seemed like a genuine reaction to a memory. Kelly couldn’t see why she wouldn’t be telling the truth, couldn’t see what angle Marlie could be coming from if she was playing her. And Marlie was well known for always having an angle. She was probably the most streetwise person Kelly had ever met — even more so than Holly. She knew every trick and she never did anything she couldn’t benefit from.
‘What’s in this for you?’
‘For me?’
‘Why do you care?’
‘That ain’t fair, Kell. We may have had our disagreements, the lot of us, but I never stopped loving that girl. Not like you, I get that. But people like us don’t last long if we don’t have each other’s backs. She asked me to do something — a dying wish. I didn’t know that at the time but that’s what it was. You don’t fuck about with people’s last wishes. That’s some proper bad karma right there.’
Kelly rubbed her face. She didn’t know what to make of it. ‘You should have told me.’ But her voice lacked conviction.
‘Told you what? That Holly had turned up all excited, talking about how she was gonna die for you? Then you would’ve fronted up Holly and she would know she couldn’t trust me either and then you’d both have the hump with me. Like I said . . . in this game you need friends.’
Kelly took a moment and she sucked in a deep breath.
‘This ain’t all news to you, is it?’ Marlie said.
Kelly let her breath go in a sigh. ‘No. She said something like it once. I dismissed it — all of it. Maybe if I hadn’t . . .’ Her hand moved to cover her mouth and stared down at the floor, too. Then, she felt Marlie’s arms wrap around her. Kelly didn’t push her away.
‘We’re not so different you and me,’ Marlie said. ‘I know that. I think that’s why we clash. You must be hurting — I heard about your mum, too. Holly talked about her, said she was the only thing keeping you in the area. I think she thought that when she was gone you could move your life somewhere else, somewhere better. She just kept saying she wanted to get you out of all this, get you free. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen love like it.’
Kelly lifted her arms to squeeze Marlie back. ‘Set me free? If this is freedom then I don’t want it. How can it hurt so much?’
Marlie unwrapped her arms, took hold of Kelly by her shoulders and leaned in with intensity in her eyes.
‘I know it hurts. I know you feel let down and abandoned. She will have left bruises, of course she has—’
‘Bruises? That isn’t it at all. The bruises aren’t what worry me, it’s when they heal, when they fade . . . what then?’
‘You’ll always have the time you had. Now you have to move on with your life and that means getting yourself out. Just like Holly wanted for you. I’ll take you down the cop shop. Go in there and tell them everything you know. T
hey’ll keep you safe — they have to. But not just you, there are other girls. Lots — a lot more than you know. Holly said the cops would already have the addresses — they just don’t know it yet. And when you get him nicked, there are people ready to come forward to back you up. But this has to happen first — you have to happen first!’
Kelly shook her head. ‘The police? Do you know what Freddie will do if he finds out I’ve talked to them? He’s already been here to threaten me. He thinks Holly spoke to them, although I don’t know where he got that from. He’s got ears everywhere. He’ll find out.’
‘Holly was digging around. That’s what he’s heard, I bet. She ain’t been to the cops. Like I said, she didn’t think they would give her time of day. He will find out quickly when you talk. You have to make sure the police know that. You have to tell them that they need to keep you safe. And they will. I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen girls who got assaulted when they were working, badly beaten and by important people — bigwigs and all sorts. These blokes would do anything to protect their reputation, and I mean anything. The cops were good, true to their word. You know me and cops . . . there’s no love lost. But they did their job. Even when they didn’t nail the blokes responsible they still kept those girls safe. You can trust them to do that.’
‘So why didn’t Holly walk in there and tell them what she knew?’
‘Don’t you see? She has, just in her own way. She’s got quite the rap sheet. She knows that. Ain’t no one there who was gonna take her seriously, not until it was too late. She said that. She was terrified of that. Of going down there and giving them everything and them not taking her serious. It would have put you at risk — her too, but she only ever talked about you. She knows that you’re different . . . the cops don’t even know who you are. And Freddie’s gotten bold, reckless if you ask me. His drivers used to pick up druggie girls from broken homes — them that already know the rules about squealing. Now he’s recruiting young girls with no police records, no idea of this world at all. Little posh girls living at home with mummy and daddy. It’s a big risk, but Freddie’s full of himself now. He’s got himself convinced that no one will ever talk. And you know why he’s after scared little posh girls? They’re big earners, plain and simple. Them sad fucks sat at their computer screen with their cock in their hand are nothing but a fucking blur when they see some posh eighteen-year-old white girl totally out of her depth. Maybe even crying in fear wondering what the fuck’s going on. Gets them right off and they’ll pay whatever you ask them to. The world’s a sick place.’
He Knows Your Secrets Page 10
