by Linda Regan
‘The doctor told them to go home. He’s going to be OK, and they looked pretty exhausted. They said they’d come back in the morning.’
Georgia threw Stephanie a desperate look.
‘How were they getting home?’ the sergeant demanded.
‘They didn’t say.’
‘They must have taken the night bus. They probably haven’t got there yet. We’re still in with a chance.’
It was one in the morning when Georgia and Stephanie raced into the Aviary estate. Lights were on all over the blocks. It had been a long and eventful day.
Stephanie drove right into the estate and parked by the back stairs to the Sparrow block. The lift wasn’t working. They ran up the thirteen flights of stairs and banged on the door. A few seconds later Alysha’s nervous face appeared.
‘Sorry to disturb you,’ Georgia said gently. ‘I need to talk to you again. Can we come in?’
Alysha hesitated, but opened the door. Georgia and Stephanie exchanged a glance. Alysha was wearing grey pyjamas and slippers, and for once she looked her age.
Georgia said a silent prayer that she hadn’t had a bath or washed her clothes.
‘We need to ask you some more questions,’ Georgia said.
Alysha rolled her eyes, and the kid with attitude was back. ‘I already told you all I know.’
‘Stuart Reilly is in custody,’ Stephanie coaxed. ‘If we have our way he won’t get bail. He can’t hurt you. And if you’re honest with us we can make sure he goes to prison.’
‘What for?’ Suddenly she was terrified again. ‘He ain’t done nothing. I told you, I was winding you up when I said he stuffed me.’
They needed an adult present before they could use anything Alysha said. ‘Is Luanne around?’ Georgia asked.
‘She’s in the shower,’ Alysha said with a bored sigh.
They could hear the water running. ‘Alysha, have you had a shower?’ Stephanie asked.
‘Course I have. I was mingin’ after all that stuff before.’
‘Where are the clothes you were wearing today?’ Georgia asked quickly.
There was a pause, and Alysha looked at them speculatively. ‘In the washing machine. They were covered in Michael’s blood.’
Georgia closed her eyes. Too many TV cop shows, that was the trouble. The kid clearly wasn’t going to cooperate.
‘What about your underwear?’ Stephanie asked.
‘That too.’
The door opened at the end of the hall and Luanne appeared wrapped in a towel. The bruises on her face were subsiding, and the bandage was gone from her arm. Her forearm was red and swollen, but not because someone had beaten her up. On the angry red skin was a new tattoo – a knife with the letters BB written across it. There was a new cut beside it, from the blood ritual. To be accepted into the Brotherhood of Blades as a member of the gang meant the newcomer had to mix their blood with the blood of the other gang members.
Luanne’s fearful face spoke volumes.
As Stephanie stepped forward to grab her, she darted past them quick as lightning, out of the door, around the next flat and on to the fire escape. Alysha was right behind her, through the door before Stephanie could catch her. Georgia gave chase as Steph called for back-up.
Georgia followed them up the stairs. She dashed up the last flight and found herself on the roof of the high-rise. Luanne was standing there, with Alysha beside her.
Footsteps thudded behind Georgia. A team of uniformed officers from the grounds below had arrived at the top of the staircase.
‘Stay back,’ Georgia shouted to them, taking two steps towards Luanne.
Luanne moved nearer the edge of the roof. ‘Tell them to get away from me, or we’re going over,’ she yelled.
A gust of wind made Georgia sway. Luanne had no shoes; all she had on was the towel. Alysha, in her pyjamas, huddled about a foot away from her, terrified.
One of the uniforms stepped forward and Georgia quickly ordered them all to stay back. They retreated to the stairs.
Stephanie moved across the roof and stood in the middle, leaning against the chimney stack. Georgia edged a little closer to the girls. The wind whipped around them, strong enough to knock any of them off balance.
Alysha and Luanne were now dangerously close to the edge.
‘Talk to me, Luanne,’ Georgia spoke over the gusting wind. ‘Why have you joined Reilly’s gang?’
Luanne reached out and pulled Alysha to her. Alysha shrieked. The tough, streetwise girl had disappeared, leaving in her place a frightened child.
‘Come one step nearer and I’ll jump and take her with me,’ Luanne shouted.
‘Don’t!’ she pleaded to Luanne. ‘Please, Luanne.’
‘Mince’ll look after you,’ Luanne shouted to Alysha. She released her hold on her sister and inched toward the edge of the roof.
‘Luanne, please don’t do anything silly!’ Georgia had to shout very loudly over the noise of the wind.
‘What is it they say?’ Luanne said, her voice now trembling. ‘Either you die from drugs or the Feds get you, but you never get out of this crumby estate. Well, I’m getting out.’
Forensics had run more tests on the gun and it was now found to be the one that had been used for an armed robbery – the armed robbery that had put Jason Young in Wandsworth. The gun hadn’t surfaced until now; it looked as if Young had hidden it, and retrieved it when he got out.
Dawes decided to interview Jason Young.
Once Jason began to talk it was as if he couldn’t stop. Yo-Yo had been his rival Elder on the estate, he said. Every time Jason landed a prison sentence, Yo-Yo took over his drug business, but when Jason came out his customers came back to him, because he was fair to them and didn’t sell dodgy gear – something Yo-Yo was famous for.
Dawes’s ears pricked up.
In prison this last time, Jason told him, he had heard about a girl who died from Yo-Yo’s dodgy heroin. It turned out the girl’s name was Philippa, and her older brother was a Fed.
Dawes felt as if he had been hit by a train.
‘That girl . . .’ Jason said to him, ‘she got to me, man. Not because she was a Fed’s sister but because of what had happened to her. Yo had fed her a bad hit, and killed her.’ He shook his head. ‘That started me thinking ’bout what I was doing. I wasn’t up for killing innocent kids. That decided me I wasn’t never gonna sell again. I talked to this probation officer, and I told him I didn’t want no more to do with drugs and that. I told him about the dancing, and how it made me feel. That when I danced, I came alive and it was all different, I was in another world and I wanted to be there and not do any of the bad stuff any more. He got me this, what you call it, an audition for a dance school. The place was called the Sylvia Young Stage School. I told them I didn’t have no money to pay for lessons, but I musta done good at that audition thing, cos they said I could have a scholarship, and that would pay for everything.’
‘You know this for certain, do you?’ Dawes put his hands on the table and gazed intensely into Jason’s eyes. ‘This is really important, Jason. Are you absolutely certain that Reilly fed dodgy heroin to this Philippa.’
Jason nodded. ‘That’s the word around the estate. But no one would ever say nothing. Everyone is frightened of him.’
‘You know Luanne and Alysha are giving evidence against you.’
Jason shook his head. ‘Even them, eh? Everyone’s scared of him. I told you, he gave the word on Haley, and I know he killed my gran.’
‘What about the gun? Tell me about the gun. We know it’s the one you used in the armed robbery, the one you went down for.’
Jason’s face told him he hadn’t known that.
‘The Feds never found that gun,’ he said.
‘So where was it? You must know what you did with it.’
He looked at the floor and shifted in his seat. ‘I expect it stayed somewhere around the estate.’
‘Jason, I need to know. Where did you hide it. Who could have
found it?’
For a few moments Jason said nothing. Then, ‘I buried it. See, that’s what I don’t understand. Only people who knew where it was were Chantelle and Luanne.’ He shook his head. ‘I asked Luanne to get me a gun when I heard what he’d done to them. She must have got that one, but she said—’ He looked puzzled. ‘What I can’t work out is how Yo got it first and shot my gran with it.’ He looked at Dawes. ‘I’ve been fitted up, I swear, but he’s fitted me up good.’
He rubbed his eyes and looked across the table. Dawes thought he had never seen such desolation in a suspect’s eyes.
‘I was up for it, you know,’ Jason continued, his tone dull and lifeless. ‘I was gonna help you put him away. But I couldn’t even get that right. So I’m going down for a murder I didn’t do, aren’t I? He’s got me well fitted up.’ He put his head in his hands. ‘And they’ll get me in there for grassing.’
His voice trailed away as someone hammered on the door of the interview room. Dawes stood up and strode to open it.
‘Peacock! What the f . . . ?’
‘I’m sorry, sir.’ The young DC didn’t sound sorry at all; he sounded full of importance. ‘There’s been a development.’
Dawes returned to the table, recorded an Interview Suspended message, and hurried out into the corridor, closing the door carefully behind him. Hank quickly updated him on the situation with Luanne and Alysha.
Dawes went back into the interview room.
‘Luanne’s broken arm isn’t a broken arm, it seems,’ he told Jason. ‘She was wearing the sling to hide her new tattoo.’
Jason looked puzzled.
‘A Brotherhood of Blades gang induction tattoo.’
Jason’s chin nearly hit the floor. ‘Jesus. Now it fits,’ he said. ‘That’s how Reilly made sure I got the blade that stabbed Haley. Alysha gave it to me. She’s Mince Delahaye’s Younger, and she said he gave it to her, and Luanne gave it to me. And I told you Luanne knew where I’d hidden the gun.’ The desolation was back in his eyes. ‘I thought of them as family.’ His hands flew to cover his face, then he took them away and said quietly, ‘Please don’t tell me they had anything to do with Chantelle’s murder.’ He shook his head. ‘Or my gran’s.’
‘I don’t know,’ Dawes said. ‘What I do know is Luanne’s on the roof of the Sparrow with Alysha, and she’s threatening to jump. I’ve got to get over there. Will you come with me? Maybe help talk them down? We need her to tell us all this herself, if we’re going to prove Stuart Reilly fitted you up.’
There was a pause. Jason shrugged. ‘I’ll try.’
‘And when we do I’ll make sure you get witness protection and a new identity.’
‘And my scholarship?’
Dawes hesitated. That was hardly in his gift. Jason looked at him steadily.
He nodded. ‘I’ll do my best.’
What did they call it in the movies? Last Chance Saloon, that was it.
That’s what this was, Jason thought. Climbing the fourteen flights, he had never felt so wretched, so alone and let down. The only girl he ever wanted was dead before her life had begun; his gran was gone, murdered by the scum who now ran the place he used to call his home. Even Aunt Haley, who he’d hated because she nagged them all senseless: she was gone too, and now he saw that all she’d been trying to do was keep them from going wrong.
The Buzzards as well, all gone, mostly dead, just a couple still inside. And now Luanne and Alysha, who he had risked everything to protect, were members of the Brotherhood. That really hurt. He wanted to believe it was because they were afraid and desperate, but deep down he knew there was no one you could trust around here. It was every man for himself. Apart from Chantelle. He just hoped Luanne wasn’t responsible for her murder, or for his gran’s.
Whatever happened now, he had to do this last thing. He had to find out the truth, not for the Feds but so he could sleep at night. Maybe, just maybe, he’d still have a chance to move on and start his life again. Or maybe he’d end up inside. Or dead. He didn’t know which, and at this minute he wasn’t sure he cared any more.
Sparrow block had never been livelier than these past two days. It seemed like all the residents had forgotten how to sleep. People were standing around, some down on the ground, others on their balconies, determined to get a good view of the drama on the roof.
As he emerged on to the roof he saw the woman Fed, the dark-skinned one with the ponytail, by the big chimney. And that wind was really going it. Luanne was very close to the edge, too close for her comfort or his. She looked like she had just come out of the shower; her hair lay in damp strands around her shoulders, and just a towel wrapped round her body leaving her legs and shoulders bare. As he watched, a gust of wind buffeted her and she struggled to stay upright. Je-sus, he thought, anything could happen here. Alysha was sobbing, close to her and to the edge. One strong gust, he thought, and they would both go over.
‘Luanne. What’s going on?’ he said trying to sound calm.
‘Stay away!’ Luanne shrieked.
He tried again. ‘Hey Alysha! Can I come over there with you, babe?’
Alysha sobbed louder.
‘What you doin’? It ain’t safe up here, babe. Come over here, come over to me.’
‘This is all your fault,’ Luanne screamed at him. ‘You shoulda never come back.’
Jason stretched our a hand to Alysha. ‘You told me to come,’ he reminded Luanne. ‘You rang me and told me what happened to Chantelle. To all of you. I wanted to help you. Because I care about you. All of you.’
Luanne took another step.
He took a deep breath. This could all go up any second, and he had to find out what she knew. ‘Was Chantelle one of Yo-Yo’s gang too?’ he shouted at her. ‘Did Chantelle go over to the Brotherhood with you?’
‘No.’
‘Why Luanne, why d’you join them? Why that bastard?’
Luanne teetered as another gust of wind caught her. ‘He helped us escape. He gave us stuff that made this stinking life bearable.’
‘And he made you work to pay for it,’ Jason shouted back. ‘I wanted to take you away from here. I’m moving on. I’ve got a chance of a new life. I wanted you and Alysha to come too.’
‘Dream on, boy.’
The wind whipped up and she fought to steady herself. Alysha yelped in terror.
‘Alysha, come away from the edge.’ Jason raised his voice and stretched out his hand. ‘You too, Lu. There’s nothing to be frightened of. It’s over. They’ve got Yo-Yo.’
‘Jason Young, the Buzzards boy, turned Fed grass,’ Luanne yelled at him. ‘No one trusts a grass.’ She staggered, and Jason closed his eyes, unable to watch. When he opened them again she had steadied herself, but she was even closer to the edge than before. She was half-turned towards him.
‘No one wants you around here no more. You’re as unwelcome as the Feds,’ she shouted. ‘They’ll get you for what you done.’
A fire engine roared into the estate and pulled up below Sparrow block. A team of fire officers descended from the truck and started unloading equipment.
‘Give it up,’ Luanne shouted down to them. ‘There’s only one way I’m coming down from here.’
Jason took the opportunity to get a step closer. ‘Luanne, I need to know what happened to Chantelle,’ he said. ‘Did you hurt her? Please tell me the truth.’
‘We didn’t know she was gonna get a brain clot,’ Alysha shouted defensively.
‘Alysha, don’t go there,’ Luanne warned.
The warning fell on deaf ears. ‘It was only a set-up,’ Alysha continued, ‘So Luanne could wear the bandage to cover her tattoo. Lu didn’t mean her to be hurt that bad. They were only pretending to jump us. Lu was supposed to get a black eye and I was to make a run for it. Chantelle fought back.’ Alysha’s voice rose. ‘She shouldn’t have fought back. they hit her too hard. We were only . . .’
‘Shut it!’ Luanne yelled.
Jason took another step. ‘My gran, Ly
sh, who shot my gran?’
An edge of hysteria had come into Alysha’s voice. ‘She had a big mouth. Lu didn’t have no choice . . .’
‘She wasn’t supposed to die,’ Luanne wailed. ‘I didn’t mean to kill any of them, Jason. I didn’t.’ She wailed again into the air. ‘I didn’t know Haley would die. I was only gonna stick her.’
Behind him, Jason was aware that the three detectives were creeping closer. He struggled to take in what the two girls had just told him, and stared as the woman Fed shouted, ‘Luanne, did you kill them all?’
Luanne raised one bare foot and dangled it over the edge of the roof. Alysha shouted something incomprehensible and then screamed to Luanne. Luanne drew her foot back and put it on the roof.
‘Did Reilly make you do it?’ That was Dawes.
Luanne shook her head and faced outwards again.
‘Don’t, Luanne!’ Jason pleaded. ‘Think of Alysha.’
‘I stabbed Aunt Haley. It was for my induction into the Brotherhood. But I didn’t mean to kill her.’
‘Were you there when she was raped?’ he asked desperately. ‘With the crowd that gang-raped her. Were you there?’
‘Yup. I stuck her after that. But she wasn’t supposed . . .’
‘Did Yo-Yo Reilly tell you to?’ Dawes shouted.
He wasn’t helping. Jason wanted to tell him to shut up. A hot anger began to rise inside him.
‘Let me get this right. You shot my gran? And you knew they were going to beat up Chantelle?’ Jason felt his own anger bubbling.
Luanne inched forward.
‘OK, Jason,’ the woman Fed shouted. ‘Cool it now. Luanne, we can talk about this.’
‘Luanne, I need to know.’ Jason fought down the anger, determined not to let it get the better of him. Bad things happened when he got riled.
He was only a few steps from Alysha now, and not much further from Luanne. The wind punched him sideways and lifted the edge of Luanne’s towel. It seemed to be getting stronger. All three of them could end up over the edge, and it could happen any second.
He risked a glance over the edge at the ground. The fire brigade were rushing around, but he couldn’t see what they were doing. Were they coming up, or putting something in place to give them a soft landing if they fell? And how long would it take?
