Backing off, Sam nodded, sensing the volatile mood that Daniel was in, and knowing that he’d clearly had a skinful of drink too. He’d learned by now not to push the man. Something had happened tonight. Something bad and if he was going to find out what it was, then he was going to have to try a different tack.
‘I’m just worried about you, Daniel. It’s late. You’ve come home covered in fucking blood. Someone else’s blood?’ he realised then, noting that Daniel wasn’t visibly cut. Confused, scared he added: ‘Have you hurt someone?’
Daniel closed his eyes and took a slow deep breath. As much as Sam meant well, the bloke was starting to do his head in. He told Sam that he wanted to stay here tonight in order to get away from his overbearing family. From his stuck-up bitch of a sister. Only, now it seemed that Sam was on his case too. Probing him about every little thing he said and did. All Daniel wanted was a bit of fucking space. For Sam to shut the fuck up and leave him alone so he could sort his fucking head out. But Sam was like a dog with a bone when he had something on his mind, he just couldn’t leave it be. Daniel knew he had to give him something. Anything.
So he lied.
‘Look, I got mugged, okay. Some bloke jumped me on the way back from a bar, though he wasn’t counting on me beating the crap out of him. I gave him a proper hiding, so calling the police wouldn’t be the best move in the world. Just leave it, yeah?’ Daniel said then, flashing a warning to Sam that told him the conversation was over. ‘I’m going to go and get a shower and get out of these things. Wash all the bloke’s fucking claret off me. I’m fine, okay. Stop worrying about me. Jesus. I’m a big boy, Sam. I can look after myself, you know.’
Sam nodded, watching as Daniel chucked his jacket down on the chair before staggering out of the room.
He waited…
For the sound of the running water as Daniel stepped into the shower. Giving it a couple more minutes until he knew the coast was clear, before he started riffling through Daniel’s jacket pockets. Unsure what he was looking for, but knowing that he was looking for something. The only thing that he did know right now was that he was starting not to trust Daniel. All these nights of him going off out on his own. Late at night. Drunk. He must have been going somewhere? With someone?
The question was, with who?
Pulling out a handful of receipts, he started scanning through them, doing his best to piece together Daniel Byrne’s night. Seeing if his suspicions were founded. But he didn’t find anything that incriminated Daniel. A receipt from a place called Joop’s earlier this evening. Hours ago now, where he’d only bought one drink.
Out alone?
Sam wasn’t convinced.
Still, he knew that he wasn’t going to get any other information from Daniel tonight. The man was like a closed book.
Shoving the papers back inside the jacket, he remembered a little saying that his mother would often use when he’d had these kinds of problems in his last relationship. When his boyfriends had cheated on him in the past, and Sam had gone snooping down their things looking for any incriminating evidence against them.
If you go looking for trouble, then you’ll probably find it.
Only Sam Miles had no idea how much trouble he was about to find himself in.
Chapter Thirty-One
‘It’s all right, Sherrie, you’re not in any trouble. I just want to know what happened, okay?’ Alfie Harris said as he handed the young barmaid a tissue so that she could dry her puffy eyes, before eyeing the clock, and hoping that this wasn’t going to take him too long. He didn’t want to be away from the hospital any longer than he needed, but he knew that if he didn’t deal with the situation immediately, he might not get the chance. He needed to find the culprit that dished out drugs to his daughter tonight, before they did something stupid, like fucking leg it.
He’d left Jennifer back at the hospital. She’d said she’d phone him if there was any change in Megan’s condition, but the nurse had assured him that Megan would remain sedated for the rest of the night. He’d been going stir crazy just sitting at her bedside watching her.
Alfie Harris needed to get to the bottom of what the fuck had gone on. He couldn’t just sit around, rendered useless. He needed to find the fucker that fed his daughter Ecstasy.
So far, though, Sherrie Murphy hadn’t been much use. She was in a right old state. Sitting on the sofa in his office, bawling her eyes out.
Alfie knew he had to try a more gentle tack.
‘You just tell me what you told Gem, okay darling…’
Sherrie glanced over at Gem, who nodded at her for encouragement as he sat perched on the edge of Alfie’s desk. His arms folded across his chest.
It was almost 4 a.m. now, the Old Bill had cleared the club out early and Gem had been lumbered babysitting this blubbering wreck for the past two hours. He just wanted her to hurry the fuck up and tell Alfie what he wanted to hear so they could all go home, though he had an inkling that once Sherrie had told him everything she knew, home wouldn’t be the place they’d be heading for.
‘I wasn’t sure it was them at first. Reece kept calling one of the girls Olivia. But I was sure that it was Amber and Megan he was with. But they were both really dressed up. Nice like. Though they both had way too much make-up on them. I could see Meg’s blue eyeshadow from all the way over at the bar,’ Sherrie said, trying to remember every last detail, just as Alfie Harris had told her. ‘Reece and his mates were messing about, you know? Saying shit about the girls. I didn’t hear it all, but I knew that they were taking the piss out of them. That they were planning on doing something—’
‘Like what?’ Alfie said, his jaw clenched, as he pursed his mouth. Trying to restrain himself from really losing his temper. ‘What were they planning on doing, Sherrie?’
Sherrie looked embarrassed; looking to Gem again for some moral support, he nodded once more.
‘I thought they were just joking around. You know how men can be when they’re all together. They were saying that one of the girls – Olivia – was frigid. That she needed a bit of help loosening up. That he had just the thing to sort her out.’ Sherrie started crying again then. Trying her hardest to explain, though even she knew how pathetic she sounded, wracked with guilt for not doing or saying anything earlier when she’d had the chance. ‘Reece is forever chatting shit, and trying to make himself sound hard in front of his mates. He started talking about having loads of Es on him. Then they all started laughing. Is that what Reece spiked Megan’s drink with, was it Ecstasy?’ Sherrie said, staring up at her boss with wide eyes.
She could see by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t best pleased with her, and after the state she’d just seen Megan in, Sherrie felt awful.
‘He kept calling her Olivia, Mr Harris. That’s why I didn’t realise they were talking about Megan. If I had, I would have said something, I swear!’
‘But you didn’t.’ Alfie was pacing the room. His stomach twisted in knots as he tried to contain the rage that was building up inside. He knew it. His Megan wouldn’t have touched drugs. She wasn’t that stupid. He’d been right all along.
Some little cunt had spiked his baby girl’s drink.
Clenching his fists tightly, he wanted to smack Sherrie in the face for being so stupid not to speak up and tell someone what she’d heard. For letting whoever this fucking Reece was get away with this shit.
But Alfie had never hit a woman in his life, and he wasn’t about to start now.
Deciding he’d take his anger out on this cunt Reece when he caught up with him instead, besides he needed to keep Sherrie sweet for now, and get every last bit of information he could from the girl.
‘And it wasn’t all talk, was it?’ he spat.
Sherrie shook her head.
‘I saw them all going to the staff toilets a little while later. I was busy serving drinks, but it must have been about fifteen minutes later when I saw the three of them coming out of there. They couldn’t get out of here quickly enough—�
�
‘The three of them?’ Alfie said questioningly.
‘Yeah, Amber, Reece and Jenson.’
‘Jenson? The doorman? He was there too?’
The plot thickened.
What the fuck was Jenson Reed doing hanging out with Megan and Amber? The bloke was at least twice their fucking age. That must have been how the girls had got in to the club. If that prick on the door was involved in this as well, then Jenson Reed was in for a nasty shock too.
Sherrie nodded, knowing that Mr Harris wasn’t going to appreciate the next snippet of information that she gave him.
‘Jenson and Megan were all over each other. I think that’s why they went down to the toilets together. Some of the staff do that, you see. They nip down to the loos to… be alone with each other or a punter that they’ve pulled.’
Sherrie let Mr Harris join up the dots. His staff toilets were used as a regular knocking shop.
Alfie bowed his head. Cradling it in his hands, feeling physically sick as he thought about his daughter being taken down there by one of his own doormen. One of the fuckers that Jimmy Byrne and Alex Costa had put here in place, as a fucking dealer.
On the one hand, he wanted Sherrie to keep talking, to tell him everything, on the other hand, he wasn’t sure that he could stomach hearing the truth of tonight’s events. His baby girl in some grotty toilet cubical with a man twice her age. Just the thought of it made his blood boil. He could feel the vein in the side of his temple pulsating. His jaw clenched shut.
Realising that Sherrie had stopped talking. That the girl felt just as uncomfortable as he was now, Alfie plastered on a fake smile, egging her to continue.
Sherrie took her cue.
‘When Megan didn’t come out, I thought I’d better check on her. You know, see if she was okay. But she wasn’t okay. She was lying on the bathroom floor. She’d been sick everywhere and she was having some kind of a fit. So I called an ambulance and then I stayed with her until they came. I told them everything I knew. They said that it would help if they knew what she had taken. I told them about the Es, but I wasn’t really sure what she’d taken. I wish I could have been more helpful. I wish I could have stopped it.’ Sobbing uncontrollably, Sherrie was clearly traumatised by the night’s events. ‘She looked so awful, Mr Harris. She will be all right, won’t she?’
‘Let’s hope so,’ Alfie said, his voice almost a whisper, fighting the rage that was building inside.
‘I feel as if I’m partly responsible. That if I’d told someone what Reece had planned to do, I could have stopped it. Maybe Megan would have been okay?’
Only you fucking didn’t, did you?! he thought angrily.
Though somehow he managed to contain his temper.
‘You did good, Sherrie. Staying with her until the paramedics came. You looked after my girl.’ The lie rolling so easily from his lips. As angry as he was with Sherrie right now, the girl’s only real crime was that she was as naive as fuck. And Alfie needed her to keep talking. He needed to find out exactly where to find Reece and Jenson.
‘What about Amber? How did she seem when you last saw her?’ he asked, hoping that his daughter’s friend hadn’t just abandoned Megan when the girl had needed her most. Worrying that she might be in some form of trouble too.
Sherrie shrugged her shoulders. ‘I didn’t really get a good look, to be honest. They couldn’t get out of the place quick enough. The three of them practically legged it.’
Alfie nodded once more. Disgusted with the realisation that Amber had purposely left Megan in that state, knowing how bad she was.
He took a deep breath.
‘You want to go home?’ he asked, his voice kind. Kinder than he actually felt.
Sherrie nodded.
She was exhausted. The drama of the night had caught up with her, and she’d cried enough tears for England. Home was exactly where she wanted to be right now. In her bed, away from all this.
‘Then there’s just one thing that I need from you, Sherrie, okay? One thing, then you can go, okay?’ Alfie stared Sherrie dead in the eye. ‘Do you know where I can find Reece and Jenson? Do you know where they might be?’
There were a few seconds’ silence while Alfie prayed that the girl did know. He wanted to get this mess sorted out immediately, then he could get his arse back up the hospital and be with his Megs.
Wiping her snotty tears on the sleeve of her top, Sherrie nodded. ‘Reece lives over in a flat in Drayton Gardens, just behind Camden Lock. Flat 15. Jenson rents a room off him.’
Alfie raised his eye, wondering how Sherrie would know the bloke’s exact address.
She blushed. Looking embarrassed.
‘I went back there a few times, a couple of weeks ago. Like I said before, Reece doesn’t really take no for an answer.’
Alfie bit his lip. He hadn’t even set eyes on this Reece before, and already he wanted to brain the cunt. Pressurising young girls. Spiking their drinks. Sherrie wasn’t much older than Megan. Maybe a couple of years. Old enough to work the bar, but too young to be hanging around with the likes of Reece and Jenson by the sounds of it.
Still, he’d thought that about his Megan too.
How his little princess wouldn’t be seen dead knocking about with no-marks like that, but he’d been wrong then too. All these years of keeping his Megan wrapped up in cotton wool, and it hadn’t made one bit of difference. Trouble had still found her, and of the very worst kind. Maybe that was it? Maybe Alfie had been too overprotective. By constantly looming over his Megs like a shadow, he hadn’t taught her how to stand on her own two feet. How to use her own judgement when it came to trusting people.
He’d worked so hard to stay straight these past few months, he’d even managed to surprise himself at how determined he was to change once he put his mind to it. He’d gone on the straight and narrow for his daughter’s sake ultimately, not wanting to subject her to this lifestyle any longer than he already had.
It was ironic, then, that his daughter had just become the one reason that he was allowing himself to be pulled back into his former violent ways.
He was going to cause murders for this.
Alfie had heard enough. On his feet then. Desperate to get over to the flat before these fuckers Reece and Jenson did something stupid like a fucking runner and went AWOL, he nodded to the young girl.
‘Get your coat and bag and we’ll drop you home.’
Sherrie stood, feeling awkward, unsure whether or not to say anything. Her impulse got the better of her. ‘I haven’t been paid yet,’ she said, her voice small. Knowing full well that she was pushing her luck. ‘For tonight. I haven’t been given my wages.’
Alfie shook his head at the girl’s blatant audacity.
‘Are you having a fucking bubble?’ he said, looking at Gem for some clarity, disbelief written all over the man’s face. ‘You still think you’re getting paid for tonight? Not a fucking chance. You’re not working here any more, Sherrie. You’re done.’
‘But I thought that if I answered all your questions… and I did help look after Megan. I called the ambulance. I stayed with her until the paramedics turned up. I thought you said that I’d done good?’
‘You looked after her?’ Alfie laughed then, though his humour didn’t meet his eyes. ‘Sherrie, you let some piece of shit slip something in my daughter’s fucking drink. You knew what that scumbag was planning on doing. That makes you as bad as him in my book. But, lucky for you, that prick Reece will be taking the fallout for this. Him and Jenson and, trust me, they are going to fucking pay mercifully for what they have done to my daughter. Now, I won’t ask you again. Get your coat and bag, like a good girl, and get the fuck out of here before I change my mind, and do something that I’ll really regret.’
Hearing the threat in her boss’s voice loud and clear, Sherrie nodded. She’d tried her hardest to put things right tonight, to look after Megan, and tell Mr Harris everything she knew. That’s why she was walking away with minimal reprisa
ls, she thought, she’d done as she was told.
She followed Gem Kemal and Alfie Harris out to the club’s main doors. Though at least she was walking away unscathed, she thought, unlike Reece Bettle and Jenson Reed would be. Those two weren’t going to be as lucky. By the look on Alfie Harris’s face, the man was on the warpath, and Reece Bettle and Jenson Reed were two dead men walking.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Standing outside the dingy-looking flat in Camden, Alfie Harris stared up at the plaque on the wall.
Drayton Gardens
Nodding, he indicated to Gem that this was indeed the place that they were looking for. A shitty little council estate located just behind Camden Lock. This was the place that they were going to find the fucking scrotes that had put his Megan in hospital. That’s if the two fuckers hadn’t already upped and legged it.
He stepped back so that Gem could get to work at picking the locks of the main entrance door, but Gem turned and grinned at him.
‘The lock’s already been dismantled. Hacked at with a hammer or a crowbar most probably. Some little skank’s gone and saved us a job!’
Gem pushed the door wide open with ease, before the two men slipped inside, making their way along the dark, pokey hallway and up a few flights of concrete steps. The dingy entrance was in keeping with the rest of this shithole. The place stunk too. Both Alfie and Gem making a point to hold their breaths as they climbed to the third floor, trying to minimalise the stench of rotten stinking nappies and piss at their feet. The place strewn with rubbish. Talk about a dump, the residents here clearly hadn’t learned one of life’s most fundamental rules: you never shit on your own doorstep.
The Broken_A gripping thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat Page 22
