Witness

by Mandasue Heller

  ‘I don’t know any Angies,’ the man said, looking at his mate. ‘How ’bout you?’

  ‘Nah.’ The white man shook his head and slapped the bat onto the palm of his other hand.

  ‘Rob . . .?’ Suzie appeared in the doorway wearing only her pyjama top and rubbing sleep from her eyes.

  ‘Well, hello there, darlin’ . . .’ the gunman drawled, a glint of lust in his eyes as his gaze slid down her body. ‘Come to join the party, have you?’

  ‘Suzie, don’t come in,’ Rob said. ‘Go back to bed.’

  Suzie blinked in confusion as she looked from Rob to the men, and the blood drained from her face when she saw the gun and the baseball bat. Then, snapping out of the daze, she said, ‘Who the hell are you, and why are you in my house?’

  ‘Feisty,’ the one holding the gun chuckled, walking over to her and peering down into her eyes. ‘I’m going to have fun gettin’ to know you, Suzie.’

  ‘Don’t fucking touch me,’ she spat, jerking her head away when he slid the barrel of the gun beneath her hair.

  ‘Don’t argue with him,’ Rob croaked. ‘Angie’s sent them.’

  ‘Shut the fuck up and sit down!’ the other man barked, whacking the back of his legs with the bat.

  ‘Leave him alone!’ Suzie yelled, instinctively trying to go to Rob when his knees buckled.

  ‘Now, now,’ the gunman purred, wrapping a muscular arm around her waist and pulling her against him. ‘We only want a lickle chat with your man, so be a good girl and mek us a drink, eh?’

  ‘Get out of my house right now,’ she hissed, forcing herself to return his gaze.

  ‘Suzie, shut the fuck up and do as he says!’ Rob spluttered, his teeth bared with pain as he sank onto a chair.

  ‘Didn’t your mam teach you it’s rude to speak to women like that?’ the other one snarled, ramming the end of the bat into his stomach.

  ‘Stop it!’ Suzie cried when Rob doubled over, clutching his stomach. ‘Just tell us what you want and go! Please.’

  On the landing above, Holly bit down hard on her hand when she heard the fear in Suzie’s voice. She’d been sleeping fitfully and had woken several times throughout the night, her heart pounding, a dread feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  She had been awake when a floorboard creaked outside her door a couple of hours earlier, and she’d cowered beneath the quilt when it had brought back memories of the nightmare. When whoever it was had passed and she heard them going downstairs, she had forced herself to calm down, reminding herself that she was safe and that it must be Rob or Suzie going down for a drink.

  She had gone back to sleep after that, but voices drifting up from the kitchen a few minutes ago had roused her again, and she had slid out of bed and come out onto the landing to listen, worried that Rob and Suzie were arguing and he was going to hurt her again.

  But it wasn’t only them down there. She could hear two more voices, one of which sounded familiar, although she couldn’t remember where she’d heard it before.

  A low chuckle from below made every hair on Holly’s body stand on end, and the blood in her veins turned to ice.

  It was him – the man from her nightmare! He was real, and he’d come for her!

  More terrified than she had ever been in her life, Holly edged back into the bedroom and snatched her phone off the bedside table. Then, nervously watching the stairs, she crept along the landing to Suzie’s room and, carefully sliding the wardrobe door open, she slipped inside and hid at the back behind the long dresses before sliding the door shut again.

  Covering her mouth with her hand when she heard an angry shout followed by a cry of pain, she fumbled with her phone, switching it to silent before making the call.

  The phone rang once before clicking into voicemail.

  ‘Mum?’ she whispered, keeping an ear open for sounds of someone coming up the stairs. ‘Mum, if you’re there, pick up! The – the man’s here . . . he’s going to kill me! Please, Mum, I’m scared!’

  40

  Josie’s phone hadn’t been charged since the battery had died after she discharged herself from hospital, so she had plugged it in before climbing into bed. The slug of vodka she’d taken from the bottle had relaxed her and, aware that she needed to be clear-headed when she faced Holly if she was to stand any chance of persuading her to leave, she decided that she would allow herself one more little drink to wash the tramadol capsule down before going to sleep.

  That had been her intention, but temptation had got the better of her and, before she knew it, she’d polished off two full glasses, neat, and had swallowed not one but both of the capsules.

  Dead to the world now, she didn’t hear the phone vibrating on her bedside table, and nor did she hear when it clicked to voicemail.

  Across the road, shivering wildly in the wardrobe, Holly stared at her phone, willing her mum to call her back. When several minutes had passed with no response, a sob escaped her lips and she swiped at the tears that were cascading down her cheeks. Her mum didn’t care about her. She’d gone and she wasn’t coming back, and she’d blocked Holly’s number to stop her from pestering her. How could she do that?

  Downstairs, Dom was getting fed up, and he walked round behind Rob’s chair and yanked his head back by the hair.

  ‘I’ll give you one last chance,’ he growled. ‘Why were you looking for me?’

  ‘I’ve al-already told you,’ Rob spluttered as blood from his broken nose slid down his throat. ‘I th-thought you were looking for J-Josie and Holly.’

  ‘And I’ve already told you I don’t know any Josies or Hollys,’ Dom yelled, whacking him on the side of his head with the gun. ‘So, let’s start again . . .’

  ‘I swear!’ Rob cried. Then, switching his tearful gaze to Suzie, who had been ordered to sit on the other side of the table, he said, ‘Tell him, Suze . . . tell him what Holly told you about – about Josie being on the run!’

  Unable to believe what she had heard in the last few minutes, Suzie stared back at him with an unreadable expression in her eyes.

  ‘Suzie, please,’ he implored. ‘They’re gonna kill me!’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said quietly.

  A loud bang and an agonized scream made Holly cover her ears, and she buried her face in her knees to keep from crying out. When it went quiet again, she tried to phone her mum again, but an automated voice informed her that she had insufficient credit. About to try and message her instead, she whimpered, ‘Nooooo . . .’ when the No Signal notification appeared in the top left corner of the screen.

  Next door, May Foster was having no such troubles with her phone. She’d been rudely woken by noises she was all too familiar with coming through the wall, and she was furious that her neighbour had let that man back into the house to abuse her all over again. The woman was clearly one of those idiots who thought they could change the men who beat them. The police ought to tell her that women who took their offending partners back time after time invariably ended up dead.

  With that in mind, May, who had been sorely tempted to stay out of it this time and let the silly girl learn her lesson the hard way, dialled 999 – praying that the police hadn’t put her name on a ‘Timewaster’ list because of her previous complaints.

  41

  Gee had fallen asleep on the sofa listening to music after taking a shower. Woken by the sound of a vehicle pulling up outside, and the heavy clunk of two doors opening and closing, he saw blue lights strobing the walls of his still-dark living room when he opened his eyes. A glance at his phone told him that it was 3.45 a.m., and he cursed under his breath when he sat up and saw that the spliff he’d been smoking had burned a hole in his dressing gown. Relieved that it hadn’t done any more damage, he brushed the ash off himself as he wandered over to the window.

  Two coppers were walking up Suzie’s path and one of them started banging on the door while the other, shielding his hands with his eyes, peered through the living room window. Curious t
o know what was going on, because there were no lights on in the house, Gee rested his arms on the window ledge and relit the spliff.

  Austin had opened Suzie’s kitchen door a crack when the knocking had started. Quickly closing it again when he saw blue flashing lights through the glass panel of the front door, he hissed, ‘It’s the pigs,’ as another volley of raps echoed around the hall.

  Rob lifted his bloodied head at this and opened his mouth.

  ‘Don’t even think about it,’ Dom warned, grabbing a tea towel off the counter and stuffing it into his mouth. Then, gesturing with the gun for Suzie to get up, he said, ‘Go get rid of them.’

  ‘Like this?’ Suzie said, indicating her bare legs as she stood up.

  ‘It’s perfect,’ Dom said. ‘It’ll make them think you just got out of bed. No stunts,’ he warned, holding the gun to Rob’s head.

  Shivering, Suzie nodded and opened the kitchen door – almost falling through it when Austin came up behind her and pressed the tip of the knife he’d picked up off the table into her back.

  ‘I’ll be listening,’ he whispered into her ear. ‘So be very very careful what you say.’

  ‘OK,’ she gulped.

  Austin followed her up the hallway and slipped into the shadows at the side of the door, and Suzie took a deep breath before opening it and peering out. Spencer and an officer who wasn’t his usual colleague were standing on the step. She rubbed her eyes as if they’d woken her and gave them a questioning look.

  ‘Sorry to get you up,’ Spencer said. ‘We had a report of a disturbance. Is everything OK?’

  ‘Yeah, it’s fine,’ Suzie said, forcing a sleepy croak into her voice. ‘I was sleeping.’

  ‘We were told there was a lot of noise coming from in here,’ the other officer said.

  ‘Oh . . . it must have been the TV,’ Suzie lied. ‘I was watching a DVD when I fell asleep. Die Hard,’ she elaborated, thinking of the loud action movie she and Rob had watched that afternoon. ‘I must have rolled onto the remote and turned the volume up while I was sleeping. I, um, had a couple of drinks and a sleeping tablet,’ she added, feigning sheepishness. ‘Not been sleeping too well lately.’

  Spencer was peering closely into her eyes. ‘You sure you’re OK?’ he asked quietly.

  Suzie’s throat constricted when she realized he was giving her the opportunity to alert him if something was wrong. All it would have taken was a blink and he’d have understood, she was sure. But she couldn’t risk it. Not only because Rob would get shot, but because Spencer and his colleague would probably get hurt as well. She knew they carried batons, but they weren’t equipped to tackle criminals armed with guns.

  ‘I’m absolutely fine,’ she said, forcing a natural smile onto her lips. ‘I’m sorry you were dragged over here at this time of night for nothing. You usually work days, don’t you?’

  ‘I alternate,’ Spencer told her, seeming to buy her assurances. ‘We’ll let you get back to bed, then. Night.’

  ‘Night,’ Suzie murmured, the smile still on her lips.

  The men walked away and Suzie closed the door, leaning her forehead against the wood when her legs almost gave way.

  ‘Proper little actress, ain’t we?’ Austin grinned, pushing her back into the kitchen.

  Gee watched as the coppers climbed into their car and turned off the blues before pulling away. Yawning, he pushed himself upright and was about to turn away when he caught a movement at Suzie’s bedroom window.

  ‘What the fuck?’ he muttered, staring at the ghostly figure of Holly waving her arms, desperately trying to attract the police officers’ attention. The car didn’t stop and her head snapped round as if she’d heard something behind her, then she disappeared.

  Shaking his head, unsure if he’d imagined it, Gee looked over again and knew he hadn’t when he saw some of the vertical blinds swinging. Something was going on over there, and Holly must have called the police. But what could it be, and why had she looked so scared?

  Determined to find out, he pulled on his jeans and a jumper and, grabbing his keys, let himself out of the flat.

  Carol opened her door as he passed. ‘Did you see what I just saw?’ she asked, stepping out into the corridor.

  ‘I think so,’ he muttered.

  ‘It was the girl from the first floor, wasn’t it?’ Carol asked, tugging the belt of her grubby dressing gown tighter around her belly as she pulled her door shut.

  ‘Holly, yeah,’ Gee said, walking on.

  ‘What d’you think’s going on?’ Carol asked, falling into step beside him. ‘Those coppers must have turned up for a reason, and she didn’t look too happy when they drove off.’

  ‘I know, I thought the same,’ Gee said. ‘I’m going to go over and see if everything’s all right.’

  Carol gave him a doubtful look. ‘Not being funny, love, but that dark-haired copper’s been paying blondie a lot of visits recently, and I’ve seen the way they smile at each other, like they’re all pally pally, so I reckon she would have told him if something was up. Unless she couldn’t.’

  ‘What d’you mean?’ Gee asked, frowning as they jogged down the stairs side by side.

  ‘Her bloke moved back in the other day,’ Carol said, pausing to catch her breath when they reached the first-floor landing. ‘And he’s got form for beating the shit out of her, so he’s probably at it again. I bet the girl heard it and called the cops, and he forced blondie to tell them she was OK.’

  ‘You reckon?’ Gee gazed down at her.

  ‘Happens all the time, love,’ Carol said, something in her expression telling Gee that she might have been in the same predicament in the past.

  ‘Shouldn’t we call the police and tell them that?’ Gee suggested.

  ‘No point.’ Carol shrugged. ‘They won’t come back now they’ve seen her and she’s told them she’s OK. We could ring the girl, though. See what she’s saying.’

  ‘Have you got her number?’

  ‘No, but her mam will,’ Carol said. ‘I saw her sneaking in earlier, so she’s deffo home. Come on . . .’

  ‘You do know it’s nearly four o’clock, don’t you?’ Gee asked as he reluctantly followed her to Holly’s flat.

  ‘She won’t care,’ Carol tossed back over her shoulder as she walked on, her slippers scuffing across the tiles. ‘She’s proper protective of her, so she’ll want to know if summat’s up. I would.’

  She had reached the door by then, and Gee flinched when she jabbed her finger on the bell several times before rapping on the knocker.

  ‘Keep it down,’ he whispered, looking round. ‘You’ll have the whole block up at this rate.’

  Ignoring him, Carol rang the bell again, then leaned down and yelled, ‘Hellooo . . .’ through the letterbox. ‘Anyone home?’

  About to ring the bell again, she hesitated at the sound of movement inside. Bolts were drawn back and, seconds later, a pale bruised face peered out at them.

  ‘Sorry for waking you, love,’ Carol said, wrinkling her nose at the stench of damp that drifted out. ‘We think your girl might be in trouble.’

  ‘She – she’s in bed,’ Josie said, confusion in her eyes.

  ‘No, she’s over the road,’ Carol said, wondering if the girl had slipped over to see her friend while her mum was sleeping, as she’d seen her do many times after the woman left for work of an evening. ‘Me and . . .’ She paused and looked at Gee.

  ‘Gee,’ he said.

  ‘Carol,’ she replied. Then, back to Josie: ‘Me and Gee both saw her at the window. The police was there and she looked proper scared.’

  ‘What?’ Josie’s face scrunched up, as if she couldn’t make head nor tail of what Carol was saying. ‘But she’s only a baby.’

  Carol exchanged a hooded look with Gee. Then, turning back to Josie, her tone gentler now, as if talking to somebody who was mentally impaired, she said, ‘Let’s go and give Holly a quick ring, eh? If she’s OK, we can all go back to bed.’

  ‘Who – who
are you?’ Josie asked, her movements jerky and uncoordinated as Carol guided her inside.

  ‘This your room, is it?’ Carol asked, ignoring the question as she ushered Josie inside the first bedroom. She sat her down on the bed and then picked up the phone that was sitting on the cabinet.

  ‘Has he sent you?’ Josie asked, eyeing her warily. ‘She doesn’t know anything . . . she was only a baby, she doesn’t remember.’

  ‘I’m sure she doesn’t, and no one’s sent me,’ Carol said. ‘I’m your neighbour, and I’m here to help. Here we go . . .’ The screen had lit up, showing a missed call from Holly and a voicemail notification. ‘She tried to call you twenty minutes ago.’

  Josie gazed blankly back at her, caught in the fog between sleep and consciousness. Recognizing the look, because she’d seen plenty of stoned people in her time, Carol lifted Josie’s hand and touched her thumb to the screen to open it, then listened to the message Holly had left.

  ‘Who – who are you?’ Josie asked, blinking as if struggling to focus her mind.

  ‘A friend,’ Carol said, frowning as she replayed the message a second time. The girl had said that a man was going to kill her, and that, added to this woman asking if he’d sent her, had set off an alarm bell in her mind. Telling Josie to stay there, she went back out into the corridor and played the message to Gee.

  ‘Christ, she sounds terrified,’ he said. ‘I really think we should call the police.’

  ‘Even if they come back, they’ll take their time about it,’ Carol said, then added quietly: ‘Besides, her mam’s clearly not the full shilling, and it could be hereditary, for all we know.’

  ‘Holly seems pretty normal to me,’ Gee said. ‘And you saw her face. She was genuinely scared.’

  ‘OK, let’s call her back and ask her what’s going on,’ Carol suggested. ‘Then if we still think we need to call the cops, I’ll do it.’

  Gee nodded and watched as Carol returned the call.

  ‘It’s gone straight to voicemail,’ she said. ‘That usually means the battery’s died, or she’s got no signal.’