Putting the drink and the biscuits she no longer wanted on the bedside table, she walked over to the window and rested her head on the cool glass. The street below was empty apart from a car parked on double yellow lines at the far end of the building.
As she stared down, a door at the back of the building flew open and at the same moment a deafening siren pierced the air. A girl in a pair of denim shorts and a black T-shirt rushed out into the street and a man jumped out of the parked car. Scarlett knew the siren was the fire alarm and she should be trying to get out of the building, but she couldn’t take her eyes off what was happening in the street below. The man who had leaped out of the car was Martin. He set off after the girl, but he was way too fat to catch her.
It had to be the girl she had heard on the other side of the wall. Somehow she must have escaped via the emergency exit. Scarlett had no idea what Martin had to do with any of this, but without giving it another second’s thought she ran from the bedroom and out through the door of the apartment. She raced to the fire exit on their side of the building just as other residents began to open their doors. She ignored them all and belted down the concrete steps to the ground floor, pushing down hard on the bar to release the door.
The girl had already covered the distance between the two emergency exits and was ahead of Scarlett, running along the street. Scarlett saw her fall, drag herself back to her feet and glance back towards the door through which she had escaped. Scarlett followed her gaze. Lewis had just emerged through the door and was holding his hand to his forehead. It looked like he was bleeding.
Scarlett had to get to the girl before he did. She had no idea what she was going to do, but she had to help her. Scarlett was a good runner, and although Lewis could probably catch her, he seemed to be arguing with Martin and was still rubbing his head. She hoped the girl had hurt him.
Sprinting at full pelt along the street she quickly made ground on the girl, who was limping slightly from her fall. As Scarlett drew level she slowed down to the girl’s pace.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked. ‘Did he hurt you?’
‘He’s a bastard,’ the girl sobbed. ‘I hate him.’ She brushed away tears with the heel of her hand.
‘Down there,’ Scarlett said, pointing to a narrow alley.
‘No!’ the girl screamed. ‘It’s dark. He’ll catch us. Who are you anyway?’
‘I’m Scarlett, and he won’t catch us. Look!’ she said.
They both turned to look at the road behind them. It was now full of people evacuating the apartments as the sound of the alarm continued to reverberate around the usually quiet street. Lewis was dodging around them, but he wasn’t going to attack Scarlett or the girl in full sight of everybody.
Scarlett reached out and grabbed the girl’s hand, pulling her into the entrance to the alley. ‘Wait here.’ She crept back to the corner and peered round. Lewis had turned back and was jumping into the car with Martin. She was sure they would drive around the block to meet the two girls as they emerged from the alley onto the main street.
‘We’re going back,’ she said to the girl.
‘What? No! He’ll get us.’
‘He won’t. If we go back and cross the road, we can reach the Printworks. There are loads of cafés there. We can go in one of those and talk. Work out what we’re going to do.’
The girl looked as if she had given up – as though she would follow anyone. The fight had gone out of her. Tears were clinging to her pale lashes and flooding her grey eyes. She was much shorter than Scarlett with sturdy arms and legs, one of which was bleeding from a grazed knee.
‘We need to run – if you can – so we get there before they realise they’ve lost us.’
The two girls set off at a slow jog.
64
Scarlett guided the girl to a stool at a tall table in the café.
‘You stay here,’ she said. ‘I’ll get us both a drink.’
She had a five-pound note in the pocket of her jeans, so she bought them a Coke each and took the drinks back to where the girl was sitting.
‘What’s your name?’ she asked as she sat down and pushed a can across to her.
‘Kelsey,’ the girl said quietly, mopping her tears with a paper napkin that she plucked from the dispenser on the table.
‘How long have you known Lewis?’
Kelsey looked up, shocked. ‘Do you know him too?’
‘Kind of. I know his name anyway,’ Scarlett said, not wanting to admit the truth.
Kelsey explained where she had met Lewis and how he had made her feel so special and so happy.
‘It was intense, you know? I always had to wait until he said he wanted to see me, and it was agony wondering if he was still interested. Then he’d tell me to come to the studio, and that greasy little guy would pick me up and deliver me to the back door.’
Kelsey started to cry again, and Scarlett got another Coke to share. Her money wouldn’t run to two.
‘I don’t think anyone’s ever fancied me before. I’m a bit chubby, I know that. Lewis said it made my skin feel extra soft. He liked it. All my friends at school seem to have boyfriends, but never me. After a while – when he started to touch me – I let him…you know.’ Kelsey looked at Scarlett anxiously in case she hadn’t understood. Scarlett nodded. ‘I’d never done it before, but I didn’t want him to stop liking me.’
‘So what went wrong?’ Scarlett asked, looking at Kelsey’s face, which was drained of colour.
‘Last time I went, he showed me the pictures he’d taken of me. See, he’d said that now we’re together – you know, properly together – he’d like some special photos, just for him. I didn’t think it mattered – he’d seen all there was to see by then anyway – so I agreed. But last time he said I had to swear never to tell anyone what had happened, or he’d put my pictures online. I told him, “I promise” but then his phone rang and he made me leave.’
Scarlett couldn’t bring herself to admit it had been her.
‘He said there was something he had to sort out. And then today he asked if he could take me round to a mate’s house, and I knew what he meant. He was going to share me with his mates. When I said no, he totally flipped. He showed me the pictures he’d taken – you know, the special ones. He was going to send them to my friends. He’d found their numbers on my phone.’
Scarlett felt a flutter of panic in her chest. She knew he could do this to her too.
‘So I picked up a mirror – one of them round ones on a stand – and whopped him over the head with it. I’m too short to have done a good job, but it stopped him for long enough for me to get out of the door, and I drew blood. I was glad of that, but God knows what’s going to happen to me now.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Scarlett asked, hoping Kelsey was going to go to the police. ‘Are you going to tell your mum and dad?’
‘I ain’t got a mum or a dad. I’m in foster care, and it’s the best lot I’ve had. If I tell them, I’ll be kicked off back to the home.’
Kelsey put her head down on her folded arms and sobbed. Someone came over to see if she could help, but there was nothing that either of them could tell her.
Scarlett waited until Kelsey lifted her head.
‘Where did you meet Lewis?’
‘My foster parents thought it would be good for me to do some activities, join some clubs. So I went along to this place on the outskirts of town where they do all sorts. I joined the drama group. I thought it was all legit ’cause he was one of the volunteers. And he was nice to me.’ Kelsey scrubbed at her face with the napkin and looked at her watch. ‘Shit, I’d better get going. I’m supposed to be home in half an hour and look at the state of me. They’ll know something’s wrong, and if they think I’m playing up they could chuck me out. They don’t even need a reason, so I’m trying to be good. Bollocksed that up, haven’t I?’
With a final sniff, Kelsey pushed herself back from the table and thanked Scarlett for rescuing her. ‘And don’t tell
nobody, will you? Please, Scarlett. If you do, I’m dead. I’ve just got to hope that he won’t post them images.’
‘You should go to the police, Kelsey. My dad was a policeman, and my mum’s got friends who could help you. Do you want to give me your number so that I can get them to call you?’
Kelsey looked horrified. ‘No! You can’t, Scarlett. Please don’t tell anyone. I can’t be sent back to the home.’
Scarlett looked at the girl’s blotchy cheeks and red-rimmed eyes. How must it feel to have nobody? She had been feeling so sorry for herself since her dad died, but how much worse to be completely alone.
She jumped off her stool and went round the table to give Kelsey a hug. ‘Is there nothing I can do to help?’
Kelsey shook her head. ‘No, but thanks for saving me – and keep out of Lewis’s way, won’t you?’
Scarlett watched as, head down, Kelsey made her way out of the door. If only she had managed to persuade the poor kid to report Lewis, he could have been stopped without Scarlett having to get involved.
It was only then that she realised the huge mistake she had made. Kelsey could go home and hope and pray that Lewis didn’t carry out his threat, but Scarlett had nowhere to run. Her home was in the same building as Lewis, and the man he was working with could get into their apartment.
He could be waiting for her.
65
It had been one of those days for Natalie. She had so much work to catch up on, and Bruce had been a total bastard all day, giving her extra tasks because of her early disappearance the day before. At the rate she was going, it would be about eight o’clock before she was able to leave the office.
She looked out of the window. It had been bright and sunny earlier and she hoped Scarlett had managed to get out of the apartment, but now a thin drizzle had set in. She had tried to ring her daughter a couple of times, but as usual these days, got no answer. For a girl who normally never moved without her mobile phone, recently she had been behaving completely out of character.
It was therefore with a jolt of surprise that she heard Scarlett’s voice.
‘Mum?’
Natalie looked up from her desk to see Scarlett standing by her side, her clothes damp, her hair falling in two drab curtains on either side of her face.
‘Scarlett! What on earth has happened?’
She jumped up from her chair and went to give the girl a hug, but Scarlett backed away. ‘Don’t, Mum. I’m wet through.’
‘I can see that. What are you doing here, sweetheart?’
‘The fire alarm went off and I panicked and ran out without my phone or my key.’
‘Oh goodness, poor you. Thank God you’re safe. Was there a fire?’
‘I don’t think so, no. But I couldn’t get back in and I couldn’t call you.’
Natalie could see that Scarlett was close to tears, and she ignored how wet her daughter was and pulled her close. She could feel the tremors running through Scarlett’s body and knew that any second now she was going to burst into tears.
‘Hey, don’t get upset, sweetheart. You haven’t done anything wrong. Why couldn’t Martin let you back in? That’s what he’s paid for, isn’t it?’
‘I suppose. But I couldn’t find him. I guess he was going round letting everybody else in. Mum, can I stay here with you until it’s time to go home?’
‘Oh, love, of course you can if that’s what you want, but you shouldn’t sit around in those wet clothes, and I’m going to have to work really late tonight. Why don’t you take my keys and go home and have a hot shower? I’ll get back as soon as I can.’
Scarlett looked as if she was about to argue, but then Bruce popped his head out of his office door.
‘This isn’t a bloody mother-and-daughter day, Natalie. I think you’ve taken the piss once too often this week. Can you come into my office, please?’
Natalie gave Scarlett a grim look and was about to give Bruce a piece of her mind, but Scarlett obviously read the anger in her mum’s eyes and snatched the keys from her desk.
‘It’s okay. I’ll go. I don’t want to cause you any bother.’
‘You’re never a bother, Scarlett.’
‘Natalie! Now, please,’ Bruce shouted.
66
It was mid-afternoon by the time Tom was able to catch up with Becky. He had to tell her about Jennifer’s body being released, and her look of relief when he said he had been out to see the family on his own was hard to miss, however quickly she tried to hide it.
‘How were they?’ Becky asked.
‘Strangely subdued. Linda Bale just stared straight ahead and wouldn’t meet my eyes. I wasn’t even sure she’d taken it in. Her husband seems to be more in touch with his feelings, and I think he was relieved that the uncertainty was over. I told them we were still investigating the circumstances, but right now they need space to focus on their grief, I think.’
There was a moment’s silence as Tom and Becky thought about the family, then Keith arrived and glanced from one to the other with a puzzled frown. But as neither wanted to share their thoughts at that moment they moved on to neutral ground, Becky filling the other two in on everything Megan Jenkins had told her.
‘Do you believe her?’ Tom asked.
‘Yes and no. I’m sure some of it was the truth. I believe she sent him the text – I can’t see any reason why she would have lied.’
‘She may not have lied about the text, but perhaps about the context. Do you think she was the one having the affair with Bernie? Maybe the rest of it was an elaborate story constructed to throw us off the scent.’
‘Well, she claims to be gay, so that doesn’t really work, does it?’
‘Do you think she is, ma’am?’ Keith asked. ‘A lesbian, I mean.’
Tom saw Becky grit her teeth slightly before rearranging her features.
‘I’m not entirely sure how one is supposed to tell, Keith. People don’t come neatly packaged in stereotypical shapes and sizes, you know. I wouldn’t know just by looking at you what your sexual preferences are, would I?’
Keith flushed and looked as if he was about to tell Becky in no uncertain terms what his proclivities were, so Tom intervened.
‘Okay. I suggest we keep an open mind on that one. As Becky says, we don’t know, and without any evidence one way or the other we must assume that she might very well be telling the truth. But don’t let it blind us to other options.’
Becky silently smiled her thanks at Tom. If there was one thing guaranteed to raise Becky’s blood pressure it was pigeonholing people, and Tom had a feeling that Keith, whether judgemental or not, might tend to label people and treat them accordingly. He wouldn’t last long with Becky if that were the case.
‘Whether Megan Jenkins was having an affair with Bernie Gray or not, she was definitely avoiding telling me the whole truth. But she came in voluntarily to say she’d sent the text that Scarlett saw, and I’m certain that if she thought this woman had anything to do with Bernie’s death, she’d say so. Do you want me to interview her formally? She’d have to tell me who it was then.’
‘Not yet,’ Tom said after a moment’s thought. ‘There’s more to this than we’re understanding at the moment, and I think we need to get the fullest picture possible before we make it official and ask her to make a statement. We need to be sure we’re asking the right questions, and there’s something niggling at the back of my mind that I can’t quite grasp. We’ve got two separate cases – Jennifer Bale and Bernie Gray – and there’s a link, albeit a rather tenuous one. Bernie was part of a force-wide team investigating the grooming of underage kids. One girl who reported being a victim of such a crime – Amber Blackwood – had a very similar story to the one we’re building around Jennifer, but I can’t see any other links. The girls went to different schools, weren’t from the same church or religion, and didn’t engage in the same activities. We haven’t been able to find a single connection between them.’
‘The first girl was from north Manc
hester,’ Becky said. ‘She was at a school in Failsworth, but that comes under Oldham, which wasn’t Bernie’s territory – not that it would necessarily have helped.’
‘I know we promised the girl anonymity, but can we try to contact her without alerting her parents? Maybe she’d recognise one of the mugshots of the guys hanging out in the swimming pool café?’
Keith sat up even straighter. ‘I’d already thought of that, sir. Sadly, we can’t find her. It’s over two years since she reported it, and she’s left home and isn’t in touch with her parents. We didn’t give anything away, of course. We made up some story about trying to locate a friend of hers. You may remember that her father was a bully? Well, I got the impression from his wife that the daughter was well out of it. She’s either left the country or is living rough somewhere. No trace of her via her NI number, so she hasn’t got a job – at least not a legitimate one.’
‘Bugger. Well done for trying that one, Keith.’ Tom tapped his pen on the desk. ‘There’s something skulking just beneath the surface of all this, and I don’t know what it is.’
67
The drizzle had stopped by the time Scarlett got back to the apartment, and her clothes had dried on her body. Her hair, however, was a different matter, and without looking she could tell that the waves that she could live with had settled into a red frizz that she couldn’t. Not that she cared. She had more important things to worry about.
Scarlett had gone to her mum’s office determined to tell her the truth. If her photo was posted all over social media, so be it. She would have to live with it, because Lewis was dangerous. He was just the type of person her dad used to lock up, and what he was doing was wrong. But Scarlett hadn’t had the chance to say anything to her mum before that horrible Bruce dragged her away. She didn’t want to be responsible for her losing her job on top of everything else.
The Sixth Window Page 26
