That poor child had suffered since the day she’d arrived at Ravenside Home. Jean had often wondered how Cassie’s time there would affect her in later life. It seemed that now she was about to find out exactly how much.
Jean put the box to one side, letting the tears welling in her eyes roll down her face. If that was Cassie living across the road, the system had created a monster.
With the social worker shown out, Ella ran upstairs and slammed the door, dragging the lock across before flouncing down the hallway. Tanya had fixed up a time for her to go in to the offices next week. Ella had played the happy-to-oblige client she knew Tanya had wanted to see perfectly, but, as she watched her drive away, she took the piece of paper that she’d written her appointment details on and ripped it into tiny pieces, letting them scatter to the carpet.
That bitch, Ella fumed, slapping at her face. That fucking bitch! Tanya Smith calling after all this time was no coincidence.
It must be her.
Had Charley seen Tanya at work somehow and told Tanya where she was? She must have done – or else how would she know where Ella was living now? She’d hoped that by keeping the property in Penkhull too that Tanya would have given up looking for her. It was still furnished. For all intents and purposes, it looked as though she was still there. But now that Tanya knew she was in Warwick Avenue, she couldn’t even hide there. She’d want to poke her nose into Ella’s business again.
That Charley is heading for trouble.
Ella covered her ears as the voice droned on.
You’re heading for trouble too, because of Charley.
She started to yell: it turned into a scream
She shouldn’t have interfered. You know that, don’t you?
Of course Ella knew that – that was the problem! Charley should never have stuck her nose into her business. Now she would have to start visiting offices again, have people prying into her life, because if anyone suspected anything, she’d be in big trouble.
Ella had to stop Charley from talking. If she could do that, everything would be fine.
Congratulations! Finally, she gets it!
She nodded. Yes, it was about time she sorted things out.
You know how to do that, don’t you?
‘Yes, I fucking do,’ said Ella.
After spending Sunday night at Aaron’s, Charley had gone straight to work. She’d been in the office only half an hour when she’d found out another weekend had gone wrong for one of her clients and she’d ended up visiting North Staffs University Hospital. After staying there for most of the day while she dealt with the police and then tried to fix up temporary housing, she’d rung Aaron as soon as she was out of the main building. Knowing she was stressed by what she had seen and had to listen to, he offered to come round later with a takeaway.
She thought back to his proposal the day before. It had been wonderful when he’d asked her to stay over for a while but Charley wasn’t sure she wanted to give up her independence yet, not even for a few days at a time. Just hearing Aaron suggesting it had been heart-warming, but she needed a little space, time to think it over. Plus, she’d felt better after Tanya had called to let her know that she had spoken to Ella as planned. Ella had also agreed to come and see Tanya again. Tanya sounded hopeful that she would keep to her promise.
Back home by six, Charley was putting her key into the front door when she heard her name. She looked up the stairs to see Ella standing there. Her skin was pale, hair unkempt, and the grey jumper she was wearing had a stain all down its front.
‘You couldn’t help me for a moment, please?’ Ella gave a strained smile. ‘I have a problem with my washer and I don’t know what to do with it.’
Charley paused. ‘I’m not sure I’m the right person to ask. Have you rung for a plumber?’
‘Yes. He’s calling in the morning but I’m wondering if I can’t sort it myself. If I could get the clothes out of the drum, I think I’d be better getting a new machine anyway. Mine’s years old and I bet I could get one fitted for the price of a man coming out to replace any parts on this. What do you reckon? Do you think I should force it or wait?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Charley said truthfully.
Ella was already heading back upstairs.
Charley paused for a moment and then followed her. ‘I can take a look, I suppose, but I doubt I’ll be of any use.’
‘Great!’
Ella closed the door behind them and Charley followed her into the kitchen.
‘There it is,’ Ella pointed. ‘The bloody thing is jammed stuck.’
Charley stooped down to look inside the washing machine, but all she could see was an empty drum. Wondering what Ella was playing at, she turned back with a frown. ‘I thought you said –’
Ella curled her hand up into a fist and brought it up hard underneath Charley’s chin. A punch to her face followed it.
Searing pain engulfed Charley and she fell back onto the floor, landing heavily. Eyes blurred from the force of the attack, she tried to focus. Christ, why hadn’t she seen that coming? And what the hell was it for? She thought back to the last time they’d spoken, wondering if Ella thought she had betrayed her somehow. Confusion set in as she couldn’t remember.
‘It’s all your fault!’ screamed Ella.
‘Oh – I…’ Charley stuttered, unable to form her words into a coherent sentence. Lights flashed before her eyes and she cried out. Seeing Ella take a step towards her, she put her hands to the floor and tried to push herself up. But they wouldn’t work to support her weight.
Eyes still barely focusing, Charley felt panic rip through her as she watched Ella come nearer, saw her arm go up in the air. In disbelief, she realised she was going to hit her again. She put up her hands in a desperate attempt to block her.
Another two punches to her head rendered Charley unconscious.
Ella pulled Charley up to sitting, placed a hand underneath each arm and dragged her out of the room. The sound of teeth smashing on teeth had thrilled her, sending a rush of euphoria through her body. But Charley’s top lip was split; she didn’t want any blood on the kitchen floor, She couldn’t afford any tell tale signs or giveaways until she’d put the other part of her plan into action first.
She wasn’t going to slip up this time.
Glad to hear it.
Chapter Thirty
Charley woke up in darkness, rough carpeting against her cheek. She lifted her head but the pain shooting through it stopped her momentarily and she laid it back down. The dark invaded her senses. She wanted to scream but it was too quiet; she didn’t dare. Where the hell was she? She listened but couldn’t hear anything.
Her feet were bare although she couldn’t remember removing her shoes. Using her hands to push up from the floor, she tried to sit. When she eventually managed, she took a moment while her head became less fuzzy, still trying not to scream as the dark shrouded her. She could feel her lips and nose beginning to bulge, her right eye struggling to open fully. Gingerly, she laid her fingers on its source, rubbed away what she thought must be dried blood. She sniffed: the metallic smell made her retch.
Biting down the panic, she held a hand out in front but could feel nothing. Her ears began to buzz as she concentrated. To her right, she felt a wall; she splayed her fingers out over the plastered surface and felt her way along. She was about a foot away from a corner.
Moaning in fear, she scrambled over and pressed her back into it as far as it would go. Her eyes filled with tears as the noise of her heart beating madly filled her ears. She held a hand to her nose this time – God, it hurt. What the fuck had happened?
And then all of a sudden she remembered.
Ella tricking her, getting her upstairs to her kitchen, attacking her, hitting her in the face, another fist pummelling her head. Blacking out.
Why had she lashed out at
her like that? There had been no explanation, no build-up to it. One minute she’d been fine; the next, Ella had punched her.
She recalled dropping to the floor and then… nothing. Ella must have dragged her into here…Where the hell was here?
It hurt to squint in the dark but, even though Charley’s eyes had now adjusted to the gloom, she still couldn’t see where she was. She felt the wall again, as far as she could to the left this time: there was nothing on it. Her hand went up and she flinched when she touched something, moving it away quickly. She touched it again: it was thick material. She could feel a wide hem at the bottom. Was it a coat?
Images ran through her mind. If it was a coat, there could be someone wearing it! For the next few seconds, she froze in the quiet, not daring to breathe. Then she sighed into the darkness as she came back down to earth. The coat must be hanging on a wall. If someone was wearing it, they’d hardly be leg-less, now, would they?
Carefully, she turned her body and, using the coat, wrenched herself up to standing. Searching around again, her hands felt over that one, next to it another. Next to that a scarf.
Laughing to herself seconds before bursting into tears of relief, Charley realised where she might be. She put a hand out to the right and yes, there was a door.
She was in Ella’s walk-in closet.
Locating the handle, she pushed it down. It was locked. She pushed it down again and again but nothing.
Why would it be locked? Why would Ella put her in there?
Her hand went out to the right again. The layout of this flat was identical to hers downstairs, so the light switch should be in the same place. Her fingers searched it out, found it. She switched it on, praying there would be a working light bulb.
When the light came on, Charley squinted at first. The bulb was naked and shone bright in her eyes. She blinked, looking down for a moment until she could see better through the pain. Now she had her sight back a little, she could see clearly from one eye; the other still swelling by the second.
Slowly, she moved her head to the right: two coats and a scarf hanging on a coat rail. Above them, a shelf with a few shoe boxes. She looked around for her bag but there was nothing. She had no phone, no way of letting anyone know what had happened.
Crying now as claustrophobia built to a crescendo, she banged on the door.
‘Ella! Ella, are you there? Let me out!’ She pummelled with her fists. ‘Oh, God, Ella, please let me out! Ella!
In the bedroom, Ella sat with her back to the closet door, her hands covering her ears, her shoulders bouncing every time Charley’s fist hit the wood.
‘No,’ she whispered. ‘No, no, no, no, no.’
She could hear Charley’s fear rising at the same time as her voice, experienced her terror as she realised she was powerless. It brought back memories but she pushed them away. She wasn’t locked in the closet. She would never be locked in anywhere again. It had been a horrible experience and Charley needed to relive it, see what Ella had gone through as a child.
You mustn’t let her out.
Ella wouldn’t let her out until she had learned her lesson. Not until she’d been a good girl and promised not to be sneaky anymore and tell everyone her secrets. No one came out of the closet until she said so – and that was if they were lucky.
She looked at her watch; it was nearly six thirty. She poured the last of her wine while she thought about what to do when Aaron arrived. It wouldn’t be long now. Usually when he called, she’d see him park up outside between seven and eight, so she knew she had a bit of time yet. Then the real fun and games could begin.
She was going to get her revenge on him for taking Charley away, for coming along and spoiling everything. He knew what he was doing and Charley, being so weak and vulnerable, had fallen for his tricks hook, line, and sinker. She should have been stronger than that, not let him in so easily.
Yes, it’s all his fault.
Charley needed protecting from Aaron.
And Ella knew just how to do that.
Charley knew she wouldn’t be able to kick her way out without wearing shoes but still she had to try. She lashed out at the bottom panel of the door over and over until she burst into tears again. Why couldn’t it have been one of those cheap ones, all frame and a bit of plywood? She might have had a chance with that if she used her heel.
‘Let me, out, Ella,’ she sobbed, knocking loudly again. ‘Please, I have to get out.’
After a minute or so, spent and waiting for her breathing to return to whatever normality it could, given the situation, Charley evaluated her position. Having her shoes removed and being left with no phone, no way of contacting anyone, and locked in the closet made her realise that Ella was more calculating than she’d originally thought. She had purposely isolated her. Any way she had of alerting people to the danger she was in had gone. If Ella knew to do that, then she wasn’t so innocent after all. She was more likely psychotic.
She guessed at the time. Had half an hour passed yet? An hour maybe. Would Aaron have arrived? Normally he would ring or send a text message when he was leaving but she wouldn’t hear it from here.
Would he turn up as usual, and then start to worry? Maybe try upstairs first, considering their conversation yesterday about Ella. She could only hope that he would.
What the hell was she going to do in the meantime – could she use negotiation tactics? With all her expertise, she was great at persuading clients to talk; equally, she was a good listener. Maybe if she could get Ella to let her out of the closet, she could talk to her, calm her down enough to get out of the flat and into safety. It seemed like her best shot.
She knocked on the door again.
‘Ella?’ she said. ‘Ella, are you there?’
Silence.
‘Ella, we can talk about this – see why you’re so upset with me. I’m not sure what I’ve done, why you would want to hurt me like this.’ She knocked again. Then she banged on the door with the palm of her hand. ‘Ella! Where the fuck are you? Let me out of here!’ She began to sob. Oh, God, so much for keeping calm. She was stuck at Ella’s whim.
‘There’s no point in making a noise, you silly girl. No one can hear you.’
Charley gasped and dropped to her knees. She put her ear to the door. ‘Ella? Oh, God, Ella, are you there?’
‘Of course I’m here.’
Charley bit her bottom lip to stop herself from yelling. She had to try and get the upper hand. ‘Ella, please, can you let me out and we can chat about things?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘You’ve been a bad girl, and bad girls get punished. They get locked in the cupboard until they can behave themselves. Isn’t that right, Charley?’
‘I haven’t been a bad girl, Ella.’
‘You’ve been telling people about me.’
‘Have I?’
‘Yes! You’ve been talking about me. I don’t like that.’
Charley realised Ella must be referring to Tanya’s earlier visit. ‘Tanya Smith is a colleague of mine,’ she explained. ‘She saw me with you in Hanley, when we bumped into each other in TK Maxx.’
‘When you were rude and didn’t want to know me. I remember.’
‘I –’
‘Tanya Smith should mind her own business. So should you.’
‘But, Ella, we’re only trying to help you. I think we –’
‘She showed you my notebook, didn’t she? DIDN’T SHE?’
Charley jumped when Ella raised her voice. ‘Yes, but only because she thought it –’
‘Did you read it?’
‘Yes.’
‘All of it?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why would you want to do that?’
‘Because I want to help you and I thought it would make me understand why you feel sad.’
A snort. ‘Yeah, right. I’m not that stupid.’
‘I know you’re not stupid! I just wanted to help and –’
‘You can read from the beginning, if you like,’ Ella cut her short again. ‘On the shelf above the coats, in the top box. The rest of the pages are in there.’
Charley lifted her eyes, wincing as the swelling caused her to move her head up so that she could see properly. It was an old shoe box, a monochrome picture of a wedge-heel court shoe and a large number 6 on its end. She pulled it down and removed the lid.
Inside, on top of a few pieces of crumpled tissue paper, was a pile of loose pages, lined paper torn from an exercise book. She recognised the writing from the notebook Tanya had shown her. She recognised the paper from when Ella had accused her of snooping the first time she’d visited her flat – were these the ones that had fallen out of the Kama Sutra book that evening?
‘You want to know what happened to me as a child?’ Ella cried. ‘It’s all there. Read it, then maybe you’ll understand why you shouldn’t have ignored me.’
‘Let me out and I can read it with you,’ Charley tried.
‘Not bloody likely.’
‘Please, Ella, I –’
Don’t you fucking dare let her out of there! She needs to suffer!
‘Do as you’re told.’
‘But I –’
Make her read it!
‘JUST FUCKING READ IT!’
Wearily, Charley sat down on the floor again.
Chapter Thirty-One
While she left Charley to read the notes, Ella, her wine glass empty now, opened a new bottle of vodka, filled the glass neat, and took it through to the living room. From the window, she could see Jean.
What the fuck is she staring at?
‘She’s staring at me!’ Ella tutted. ‘She shouldn’t stare at me – no one should stare at me. I don’t know why, though. People don’t even like me.’
Watching Over You Page 23
