But something stopped him.
The youth from behind the counter, Leon, came hurrying out. A quick look up and down the street, seeing if anyone was watching him. Tom instinctively knew who Leon was looking for. Him.
Leon walked to the corner, exchanged a few words with the dealing youth. Then turned and hurried off in the opposite direction.
Tom wondered what to do next: stay and wait or follow the boy. As Leon almost disappeared from sight along the pavement, Tom made up his mind. He got out of his car, locked it, and followed.
33
Danny still hadn’t moved.
The boys had gone, calling after Danny, after Lila, before they did. She had mumbled something that she couldn’t remember in response. It seemed to have placated them as they had left without looking in the bedroom.
And still Danny hadn’t moved.
Lila thought it was time to get up. She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there, slumped against the door, staring at the body, not wanting to touch it, go near it – already thinking of Danny as it, not him – but she knew she couldn’t stay there for ever. She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to move, either, though. She just wanted to be somewhere else, someone else, entirely. But she knew she couldn’t do that so she had to move.
She stood slowly, looked for her clothes. The scrappy dress from the night before was thrown in a heap on the floor. Anger rose once more as she thought of what Danny had done to her, followed by disgust, then nausea. She swallowed hard, tried not to dwell on it. There would be enough time for that later. For now she had to make a plan. She had to disappear.
Her other clothes – jeans, top – were folded in the wardrobe, where she had left them before changing. She quickly pulled them on. Looked around once more, trying not to stare at it.
Think. Think. Put the jumble of thoughts and emotions into some semblance of order. Make a plan.
She had it. Her getaway plan. The money. The drugs.
Before she left there was something she had to do. She knelt down, forced herself to put her face close to the body. She closed her eyes, held her breath. Concentrated. Felt it. On her cheek. Slow, weak, but definitely there. Danny’s breath. He was still alive. Relief flooded her body. Whatever else she was, she wasn’t a murderer. But he wasn’t moving. Did that mean he was just unconscious? Or had she put him in a coma? Either way, she wasn’t going to hang around to find out.
Heart quickening, she nudged open the door, looked down the caravan’s corridor. No one there. She stepped out, turned left, went into the main bedroom. Knelt down at the bedside cabinet where she had seen them store drugs and money. Opened it.
Smiled.
There it all was. An old carrier bag full of money, crumpled notes and a few coins, and on the shelf above, plastic-wrapped packages. Her escape fund.
She went back to the other room, still ignoring the body, grabbed her coat, and began stuffing the deep pockets with notes. The coins she slid into her jeans pocket. Then she turned her attention to the packages. The white bricks were cocaine, the brown ones heroin. God knew what the pills were but the cannabis was all in separate bags. She started with the bricks.
When she had as much as she could carry she stood up. Turned.
And there stood Josey, blocking her exit, blocking out nearly all the light in the room. He was frowning.
‘What you doin’?’
‘Just . . . getting a few things. I . . . the boys need a few things. They, they called me. Told me to take them to them.’ For some reason she felt panicked by his presence. She had regarded him as harmless until this point but now she was struck by just how large he was. And how unhinged his mind was too.
He looked into the bedside cabinet, frown deepening, then back to her. ‘Where’s my medsin?’
‘It’s . . . I’ve got it here, Josey.’ She patted her pocket. ‘Just here. I’m taking it to the boys. They . . . they need to . . . have some. They need me to take it to them. So I’ll just . . .’
He didn’t move.
‘You’re takin’ my medsin . . .’
‘Just for a little while. The boys need it. They’ll bring it back. Promise.’
He stood immobile, thinking.
‘No,’ he said, eventually. ‘The boys are my friends. They told me that must never be taken away by anyone but them. They told me.’
‘Well, they’ve asked me to—’
He took a step towards her. Another, steadied himself before her. No way she was going to get past him.
‘No.’ He said it with such finality. He had clearly made up his mind and was not going to change it. ‘No. The medsin stays here.’
Lila had to think quickly or she would never get out of the caravan. ‘Fine. Fine, I’ll put it back.’ But before she did so, she had an idea. It was risky, but it felt like the right thing to do. She couldn’t leave him in the caravan at the mercy of the others. She had to do something.
‘Look, Josey,’ she said. ‘I’m . . . I’m not coming back. I’m leaving.’
Another frown. This one tinged with panic as his eyes went to her pockets. ‘You’re takin’ my medsin an’ you’re not comin’ back?’
‘No, Josey, I’ll leave you your medsin. I’ll just . . . Look. Why don’t you come with me? Both of us? We can get away from the others, you can be happy again. Free.’
She paused, looked at him. Seeing if her words were penetrating. His features softened. She thought she might be getting through. Emboldened, she continued.
‘I bet you were happy before the boys came, weren’t you? Well, you can be happy again. No one to boss you round, no one to hurt you.’
A smile almost appeared on his face.
‘Just think. You could be like that again. That would be good, wouldn’t it?’
He nodded. Slowly.
‘And you won’t need your medicine anymore. You could—’
‘No . . .’
The strength of the word shocked her. She fell silent.
‘No . . . they said . . . they said you might . . . might try to do this . . .’ His hands at his temples rubbing, as if the action would make his thoughts come quicker.
‘But Josey, you can be happy again. You can—’
She didn’t see the blow but she felt it. Or rather the aftermath, as she tripped, stumbled and slid down the opposite wall, the caravan shaking from her impact. Dazed, she looked up at him. His face looked like it was splitting apart, as if whatever emotions and ideas were in his head were being violently birthed.
He screamed.
‘They’re my friends! My friends! An’ you want to take them away from me! An’ my medsin . . . No . . . you’re a bad lady, a bad lady . . . no . . .’
He grabbed her coat, began going through the pockets, pulling out the wrapped bundles, the money, she had stuffed in there. In doing so he pulled her to her feet, flung her around like something boneless and weightless.
‘Bad lady . . . bad lady . . .’
She tried to pull away from him but there was no way he would let go. Drugs and money showered the bedroom as he screamed.
Lila managed to extricate an arm from the coat. Vitalised, she tried the other. And found that she could slip free. One part of her mind – a large part – was reluctant to leave the coat behind, or rather what it contained, but she knew it had gone beyond that. Now it was just a question of survival.
Josey’s tearful fury was all-encompassing but she had ceased to be at the centre of it. She managed to move past him and through the bedroom door.
And stopped dead.
Leon was standing there, looking in the other bedroom, staring wide-eyed, open-mouthed at the still body of Danny. Then he saw Lila.
‘What the fuck’s gone on here?’
34
Kyle felt better than he had for a long time, despite his injuries. Holding the bed frame against the wall, keeping it secure while Kai climbed up it first, as wel
l as making sure the light was positioned correctly so Kai could see where his feet went, he felt the anguish and emotional turmoil of the time spent in his prison slip off him like shed skin. He could stand on his ankle, hold his arms aloft, feel strength in them and his body. On some level he knew that it was just adrenaline keeping him going but he didn’t mind at all. Weren’t people capable of miraculous things because of adrenaline? Mothers lifting up cars to rescue their trapped children, that kind of thing? If they could do that, he could do this.
He watched Kai as he climbed. Quicker than he had been, but then Kai hadn’t spent nearly as long locked up as he had. He was almost to the top. He watched as Kai reached for the sheet of corrugated metal. Nearly there. Another step more. Another reach. Got it.
A thrill ran through Kyle. He was smiling. It felt like such an alien expression for his face to be pulling. Like his muscles had forgotten how to do it and had to be taught again.
Kai managed to get a grip on the metal, pushed it away so that a gap developed.
‘You there?’
‘Yeah . . .’ The exertion told in Kai’s voice.
Kai gripped the edge of the opening, tested it to see if it would take his weight, make sure the stone was strong enough. It was. He transferred his weight to his arms, pulled, his legs coming off the frame. Kyle felt his heart in his mouth. This was further than he had managed. The mattress was on the ground just in case, but he had a feeling Kai wouldn’t need it. He knew they were going to escape. And that feeling – hope – was the most delicious emotion he had ever experienced.
Kai managed to pull himself clear of the hole. He was out of their prison.
Kyle punched the air, shouted. ‘Yes . . . What’s there?’
No reply.
Kyle waited. There was no sign of him. That tentative feeling of hope began to be replaced by something altogether more distressing.
‘Kai?’
Nothing.
‘Kai . . .’ Panic in his voice now.
Kai’s head appeared over the lip of the hole. ‘Sorry. Just having a look round. Need that torch. Can’t see a thing.’
‘I’ll bring it up with me. Ready?’
‘Yeah.’ He leaned over, grabbed the top of the frame, steadied it against the wall.
Kyle started his climb.
It didn’t take him nearly as long this time. Last time, if he was honest, he was climbing without any real hope of escaping. This time it was definite. No turning back. And he wouldn’t need the mattress either.
He worked his way up, the torch in the waistband of his jeans. The light was slightly diffuse as a result, but he could still make out where he had to go.
As he reached the top Kai’s grip disappeared. The bedframe shook, began to move away from the wall.
‘Kai . . .’
Kyle made a desperate grab at the rim of the hole. His fingers caught. He managed to push the frame back against the wall but found himself unable to move. He looked up into the gaping blackness above him.
‘Kai? You there?’
No reply.
‘Kai.’ Anger in his tone now, more insistent. ‘Come on, mate, I’m stuck here.’
‘Yeah, I’m here.’ Kai’s head appeared over the rim of the hole. ‘Pass the torch up so I can see you.’
Kyle released one hand and, fingers still gripping on to the edge above him, fumbled for the torch in his waistband. It was difficult to balance with only one hand. He swayed backwards a couple of times, felt that near-giddy thrill that he might fall run through him, but recovered, managed to hang on. Eventually he passed the torch across.
‘There you go.’
Kai took the torch, placed it on the rim. It shone directly into his eyes.
‘OK, now get my arm . . .’ Kyle stretched outwards and upwards. This was what they had planned. Kai up first, pull Kyle up after him. Then both of them away. But Kai didn’t reach for him.
‘Kai, what you playing at? Get my arm . . .’
He could see, behind the blinding halo of the torchlight, Kai’s head move slowly from side to side.
‘Sorry, mate. Only room for one of us on this trip.’
Kyle thought he had been mistaken, that he had misheard Kai’s words. He tried again.
‘Stop fucking about. Grab my arm . . .’
‘I’ve been having a think. And you know what? I don’t see much of a future for myself on the run. Especially not running from these people. I don’t think I’d get very far, to be honest. But I do have a plan. You see, if I can talk to them, tell them a few things, then everything might be OK again. The only trouble is, you can’t be there.’
‘Kai, please . . .’
That by now familiar feeling of depression, hopelessness, anger and overriding fear flooded back into Kyle. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
‘Kai, come on, don’t leave me here, please. Please . . .’
Kyle felt tears, hot and desperate, forming in his eyes.
‘I can’t leave you here,’ said Kai, voice curiously flat.
Kyle felt a glimmer of hope once more. ‘Then get me out . . . please . . .’
‘Don’t think you understand. You see, my plan can’t involve you. At all. So when I say I can’t leave you here, I mean I can’t leave you here alive . . .’
Before Kyle could respond or even process what Kai had said, the other man’s arms had found his hands and were pushing him away from the wall.
Kyle scrambled, frantic not to fall, desperate to keep his balance on the bed frame.
‘Sorry, mate,’ Kai said, and pushed. Hard.
Kyle felt his limbs freewheeling, pedalling in mid-air, as he lost his grip and balance simultaneously. The bed frame moved away from the wall, began to fall over once more. Kyle was in freefall, trying to grab on to it, hoping the mattress would break his fall again.
It didn’t.
The momentum took him away from it and he landed on the stone floor with such a thick, jarring thud that he didn’t feel the pain of the impact for a few seconds. When it did hit, it hit hard.
Then the frame landed on him. And he felt what was left of his body shatter.
He tried to breathe. Couldn’t. Thought at first he had winded himself, that air would soon return, but the more he tried to breathe, the harder it became. Like he was drowning inside.
He tried to move. Couldn’t. His hands went to his chest. Felt a spongy, wet substance where his ribcage should have been. Tried again to breathe. Spluttered liquid from his mouth. He tasted old pennies.
He knew what had happened. His lung was punctured by his ribs, filling with blood. He was drowning.
Panic gripped him once more as he struggled to breathe.
But it was no use. The blackness of the cell was being replaced by another kind of darkness. A more permanent one.
He wanted to scream, to shout, to cry. This was unfair, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to me, not to me . . . Not yet, not now . . .
But no sound came out. No sound could come out.
That other darkness clouded over him.
35
‘She was goin’ to leave, take the medsin . . .’
Josey seemed to have finally found his voice, Lila thought.
Leon looked from one to the other, back to Danny’s body again. Head shaking, mouth slack. Like it was all too much to take in, like there was nothing he could think of to say.
Lila moved, made for the door. That was Leon’s cue to snap out of his trance. He grabbed for her as she went past. She tried to duck under his grip, but he used both hands, held on tight.
‘Whoa, whoa . . .’
They tussled. His grip became more determined. Lila realised he wasn’t going to let her go. She relented, allowed him to hold her. Bided her time until he relaxed, until she could bolt.
‘What . . . what . . .’
‘Danny raped me,’ she said. ‘He tried it again, just before. I . . .’ She
gestured towards the body, saw the champagne bottle lying on the floor. Looked back at Leon. ‘He raped me, Leon.’ The words spat in his face.
‘She’s takin’ the medsin . . .’ Josey, behind her now. ‘She’s runnin’ away . . .’
‘No, she’s not.’ Leon shoved Lila back into Josey’s body. ‘Hold her, Josey. Don’t let her go.’
The big man did as he was told. Lila’s chances of escaping were diminishing by the second.
Leon looked at the body once more. Put his hands to his head, closed his eyes. ‘Fuck . . . fuck . . .’
‘Just let me go,’ Lila told him. ‘You can keep the stuff, keep the money. I won’t take any of it. Just let me go, yeah? And that’s that. You’ll never see me again.’
Leon looked between her and the body once more, panic etched on his features. He knelt down beside Danny, examined him. Bent in close. Straightened up quickly.
‘He’s still breathing . . .’ The words almost not coming out due to shock.
‘I know. So you can let me go now, yeah? You’ve got no reason to keep me here. I’ll just . . . go.’
Leon seemed to be making his mind up.
‘Can’t do that.’
‘Why not? Who’s going to know? Just say he fell over. Or he was attacked. When he comes round, or whatever, he might not even remember what happened.’ She tried to shrug off Josey’s grip, move towards Leon, smiling. It didn’t work. ‘Come on. Just let me go . . .’
‘I can’t. There’s people who’ll want to know what happened.’
‘Which people?’
‘Just people. And they won’t be happy. So no. You can’t go. You have to stay here. Otherwise they might think it was one of us that did it. And I’m not taking the blame for that.’
Lila noticed how his eyes widened as he talked, saw fear enter them.
‘No. You’re staying here.’ Firmer now.
And in that moment Lila knew that she was broken. She had no more to give, no more drive, no more ideas. She couldn’t escape, didn’t have the energy to keep running. She would just take what was coming to her.
The Old Religion Page 16
