Текст книги "Rotten to the Core"

Автор книги: Casey Kelleher

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

              “Well, I’ll find out soon enough, don’t you worry, and when you get in to work later, I promise you’ll be the first person I tell.” Smiling as confidently as she could, Kate opened the front door but then glanced back at her friend.

              “Don’t get too excited though, hun, it’s probably just some event he’s planning, probably wants my opinion on it, something like that. See you in a bit.” Once the front door had closed, Emma grinned and shook her head.

Boy oh boy, they both had it bad.

Kate made her way to the club. It was only a ten-minute walk and the evening was gorgeous, the sun shining as it set and everyone Kate passed looking happy, it was funny how a bit of sunshine did that. Kate didn’t feel particularly happy, though, she felt anxious. She wasn’t sure what Paul wanted to see her about, and she had definitely felt that he had been acting very strangely towards her over the past few days, almost as if he was trying to avoid her, as if he felt a bit uncomfortable around her. Kate hadn’t wanted to worry Emma by saying anything, not now they had moved in and had the flat together, but she had an awful feeling that he was going to let her go, that he didn’t need her to work for him. She knew she had done a fantastic job, and she was almost sure that she hadn’t done anything wrong, but she just couldn’t be certain. She didn’t know what else could it be, and he had looked serious when he had asked her to come in before her shift. She also had heard him talking about a Sophia on the phone, and Kate had felt a knot of jealousy in her stomach at his tone. He hadn’t mentioned a girlfriend, and Kate had never seen him with anyone, but whoever this Sophia was she meant something to him, as he spoke her name in a tone that made Kate realise that no matter how she might be feeling, he liked someone else. There had been moments when she had wondered at Paul’s thoughts towards her, but she had believed that he was too much of a gentleman to mix business with pleasure, so she had not pursued the matter. Clearly he was a decent guy who looked out for her: nothing more and nothing less. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was just gone eight; she picked up her pace: she wanted to get this over with, whatever it was about.

39

Arriving at the club, Emma was dying to find out how the little meeting had gone. She had her money on Paul declaring his undying love and sweeping Kate into his muscly arms, with them both running off into the sunset and living happily ever after: well, something like that. Kate had been supposed to text the minute the meeting was over, so that Emma could find out what had been said, but maybe it was a more serious matter than she had thought, or maybe it hadn’t gone well, as Emma had not heard anything. She wandered around a bit but didn’t spot Kate, maybe Romeo and Juliet were in a cupboard somewhere, having a bit of time out. Emma was early for her shift, so she decided she would grab a quick drink before she started. Plopping herself up on a stool, she asked Jake, the barman she had been working alongside for the past few weeks, who was a seriously funny guy, for an orange juice with lots of ice and gratefully sipped it while she caught up on the gossip of the evening so far. Then she spotted Paul coming towards her with the mother of all frowns etched on his forehead: it was not the look of a happy man. She felt a bit guilty that she was sitting on her butt, even though technically she wouldn’t be paid for her shift for another fifteen minutes. She wondered if he had assumed she was drinking alcohol while she was supposed to be working, and maybe that was why he seemed so hacked off. But as he approached her, she could see that he didn’t even seem to have noticed what she was doing.

              “Hey Paul, you okay?” Emma was a little concerned, as she could see Paul was very pissed off, and it was the last thing she had expected. She had thought after seeing Kate, he would be floating around the place, smitten.

              “I will be.” Leaning down to her ear, he continued, “Can you let Kate know: next time she decides not to bother turning up for work, a phone call wouldn’t go amiss. I wouldn’t mind, only we’re short staffed as it is, and I’ve been running round like a blue-arsed fly for the last hour.”

Paul was hurt, but he didn’t want to show it, he was trying to play it down, despite his anger bubbling away. He was gutted that Kate hadn’t shown up, and thought that she had guessed what he was going to say to her and had tried to save them both from what would have been an awkward knockback. He was crushed, but he guessed he had his answer. The only time Kate had not turned up for work was when she had been in hospital; she never threw sickies, so he deduced that she wasn’t interested in him.

Emma shifted uncomfortably on her bar stool.

              “I don’t understand, Paul,” she said quietly, feeling worried. “She did leave for work. She said that you had asked her to come in a bit earlier, and she left about eight: almost two hours ago.”

Reaching into her pocket, she dialled Kate’s new mobile. Almost whispering now, she looked at him, as she said:

              “It’s switched off; she never switches it off.”

All of a sudden, Emma was seriously worried; she had a very bad feeling; something was not right. Kate had left the house hours ago; she wouldn’t disappear like that.

Paul had known Kate long enough to know that it wasn’t in her nature to just let people down; if she said she would be somewhere then she would be, or she would have at least called. He realised that he shouldn’t have been so quick to think that she had stood him up, and maybe he should have called her earlier. Feeling concerned, he decided to phone Billy. Trying to remain calm, he turned back to Emma and said:

              “Why don’t you go and see if you can get Jimmy or Eve in, see if they’re both up for an extra shift tonight, their numbers are in the book in my office, it’s double bubble.” Heading outside to have a cigarette, Paul called Billy’s number. Maybe something had happened and Billy was with Kate right now. Hoping that he was right, he waited for Billy to pick up his phone.

Billy was in The Dog, having a few pints to start his night off in the right direction; it was becoming a nightly routine to be out drinking with the lads. The pub was packed, the darts team were all out on the lash after winning a big tournament, and he was hardly able to hear Paul’s voice when he called. Instantly, Billy knew something had happened, he had a sixth sense when it came to Kate, she wasn’t the type to let people down by not turning up for work; besides, she loved it at the club, he didn’t even think that she looked at it as “work”; she enjoyed it so much you would have to drag her away from the place. Feeling sick, he asked everyone he came across if they had seen her but to no avail. He made his way to Goldie’s hoping that she would turn up there, that maybe, just maybe, she had been side-tracked into talking to someone, or knowing her she had helped someone out and been delayed that way. In his heart of hearts, though, as he made his way down the high street to the club, he knew something bad had happened. All this shit with Jay suddenly seemed a bit too clear-cut now.

40

Tanya had organised a cottage for them about a mile out of London, in the middle of nowhere. It was the perfect location. She had booked it over the Internet using false names so that there would be no way of tracing it to them, and they had paid the owners cash. The house was on a couple of acres of land, very conveniently tucked away behind overgrown hedgerows at the top of an old, beaten track. Jay found it hard to believe that the “real world” was going on just an hour or so away, he felt as if he was on the set for Little House on the fucking Prairie or something. All they were missing were chickens.

The cottage was tiny, and cluttered, there were frilly doyleys under most ornaments. He had been amazed that there was a TV set in the lounge; the place looked so old-fashioned he was even more amazed the owners knew televisions had been invented. With just two small bedrooms, a small lounge and kitchenette and a dingy basement, it would serve its purpose. The plan had gone well; very well, in fact, it had been almost too easy. Jay had been more than a little uncertain about the whole thing, but Tanya was adamant that this was the way forward for them both. She was determined to get back at Billy; hell hath no fury, and all that.

Jay had been surprised at Tanya’s level of malice: surprised but definitely impressed. She was a cold-hearted bitch when she wanted to be. The more Jay had thought about it, the more he realised that she was right, though; maybe doing this was the only way to hit Billy-Boy straight in the bollocks.

The plan was simple. They had decided to kidnap Kate, rough her up, frighten the shit out of Billy and bleed cash out of him. Tanya said Billy was good for at least a hundred grand, he wouldn’t gamble with his sister’s life. Besides, he owed Tanya.

Getting Kate to the cottage hadn’t been too much of a problem, much to Jay’s relief. The stupid cow had believed him when he pulled over next to the side of the road where she was walking to work that evening and begged her to listen to him. He had told her that he had problems: real problems. He had put on his best “feel sorry for me” face, and faked tears, swearing that he was getting counselling to sort himself out. He had pleaded with her to spare him a few minutes and told her that he would completely understand her walking away and never seeing him again, but he insisted that she hear him out for one last time first: just a few minutes and he would be gone forever. He had said that he owed it to her after all he had done, he owed her an explanation.

Looking nervously around the now not-so-busy street, hoping there was no one around to see her as she knew they would think she was a complete mug for even contemplating listening to Jay, Kate felt hesitant: should she or not? Seeing that the coast was clear, and thinking it would do no harm other than take up a few moments of her time, she got into the passenger seat. Jay did owe her an explanation, she figured, she had all sorts of questions running about her head and to be honest, some answers would be good: she needed closure, once and for all.

Jay had driven for five minutes down the road to a quiet lay-by so that they could “talk”. Before she had known what was going on, he had locked the doors and placed a cloth over her nose and mouth. She had struggled for about thirty seconds, regretting dearly that she had been once again sucked in by this animal, before giving in. He had soaked the cloth in chloroform, as Tanya had instructed, and after Kate had inhaled enough of it, he was home and dry. It was just as easy as Tanya had said it would be.

Now, sitting on the cold stone floor of the dark grimy basement was a very scared and very groggy Kate. Her head was pounding, as she had recently come round. She couldn’t believe she had been so stupid, how she could have been so trusting, after all Jay had done? She was embarrassed that she had fallen for his lies once more.

Kate had no memory of how she had got there; she didn’t even know where she was. Her hands, feet and mouth were bound with tape; the more she tried to wriggle herself free the more her limbs hurt. Sinking back onto the mattress beneath her, she closed her eyes in despair and prayed that she would be okay. Who knew what was going through Jay’s mind; he was clearly not right in the head. She wondered if anyone had noticed she was missing, and if they were worried about her. It wouldn’t take Billy long to work out who was behind this, Kate just had to be strong and wait it out, and hopefully he would find her soon; hopefully she wouldn’t be here long. Jay’s biggest downfall was that he wasn’t very smart; he was evil, selfish and greedy, yes, but not smart. It would be no time before her brother put the pieces together and found her, she was sure.

Her few minutes of hope were shattered when the door of the basement opened and a very glossy, smug-looking Tanya tottered down the stairs. Kate hadn’t given Tanya a second thought, hadn’t considered that she would be involved, she felt physically sick realising how she had seriously misjudged the situation.

              “Well, well: Look what we have here” She grinned at Kate, amused by her own words. Looking at Kate hunched up on the floor, all nervous and panic-stricken, Tanya felt like the cat that had got the cream, and she wasn’t going to waste a single drop.

41

Billy was frantic; in the last three days that Kate had been missing he had been on the brink of losing it. They had searched everywhere for her, he and Paul had been out all night the first night, knocking on nearly every door between the flat and the club, asking if anyone had seen her. They had rung everyone who knew her, but they had not seen nor heard from her. All the local hospitals had been contacted, all the side-roads checked in case something had happened. She had seemed to have vanished into thin air. He hadn’t been able to sleep and sitting across the kitchen table from him, Emma noticed that the dark circles under his eyes and his unshaven face made him look even more scary than normal.

Billy had insisted that he stay with Emma, not only because he felt that if there were any news, it would be the best place to be, but also because he knew Kate would want to make sure Emma was alright. She looked like death warmed up, and he noticed that she was chain-smoking, but apart from waiting to hear something, what else was she supposed to do? Paul had told her to stay at home, sit by the phone and call him if she heard anything. He had then proceeded to call her every hour or so to see if anything had come up. Emma was still was clueless to where her friend might be.

Billy had put the word out that if anyone saw Jay or Tanya, that person was to come straight to him, he was positive they had something to do with it. It was the only possibility. This was Jay’s style: cowardly, picking on someone weaker than himself. Emma had insisted on contacting the police, too, and reluctantly Billy had agreed. However, although the police did put her on the missing persons’ database that was just about the level of helpfulness they could muster. The police knew exactly who Jay was, and assumed that any girl associated with him was just as low down the food chain, so they hadn’t seemed that concerned all in all. They figured that the poor girl had probably done a bunk with him; they could see Billy was really over-protective and maybe she had just wanted to get away. They were also very familiar with Billy, information on him and his dodgy dealings had come to light over the years, suspected money laundering mainly, so they had used this opportunity to take a closer look at him, they had a keen interest in his warehouse, and his “career”, but Billy always covered his tracks and until they had solid proof, they could only sniff around.

              Emma put out her fourth cigarette of the morning, and lit up another. Billy could see that she was genuinely worried sick about her friend. “We are going to find her, you know; make no odds on that, she’ll be back here in no time,” but as he spoke the words, even he didn’t believe them.

              “I’m just so worried, Billy, Jay is an animal, he knows some real dodgy people, I hate to think what she might be going through,” her eyes watered as she spoke, and she inhaled a long lug of her fag.

Tapping his fingers agitatedly on the table top, Billy didn’t even want to think of any of that right now. He knew, in great detail, what had happened to Emma, and if that bloke had even harmed a hair on his sister’s head, he was a fucking dead man, in fact, fuck that, he was a dead man anyway. Billy should have done what he had wanted to do in the first place and got rid of the scummy piece of shit ages ago.

Jay Shaw was over.

Across town, Paul Goldie was lying awake, staring at the ceiling, trying to muster the energy to get out of bed. He too had had a crap night’s sleep, tossing and turning, imagining all sorts of awful things that Kate could be going through. He felt helpless; until they heard something, they were playing a waiting game. He knew as well as Billy did that this was one hundred percent down to Jay, and there was no way he was going to get away with it. Getting out of bed, Paul padded down to the kitchen to make a pot of strong coffee, to wake him up.

The house was gorgeous, a modern three-storey townhouse. He had every gadget and gizmo possible: it was a typical bachelor pad. His TV was huge, a giant plasma with a state-of-the-art speaker system. There were big leather sofas and oak floors throughout. Large bi-fold doors led out onto the patio, with a large seating area that lit up with the most amazing lighting effects. It was a dream pad for a guy like him, and it was just ten minutes away from the club. Except he wasn’t your typical bachelor, was he: he had responsibilities. Sophia. Her sweet face stared at him from the photos dotted around the house; with her beautiful blonde curls, she was like an angel. He smiled at the thought of her piercing blue eyes. She was so innocent. He felt lonely at times, but thoughts of his baby girl kept him sane and helped him to remember that he wasn’t really alone: he would always have her.

Shaking off his thoughts, he finished his coffee, and then decided to get showered and go over and see Billy. Maybe he would have heard something, although surely they would have called him. But he had to get out, had to do something, staying here was driving him crazy.

42

Kate was freezing; she couldn’t remember a time when she had felt so cold. She tried to keep warm under the blanket, but not being able to move her hands or feet properly because of the tape meant that she could only cover some of her body up, and so she had spent the night shivering violently.

She was slowly losing patience now; she had lost track of time but guessed by the light in gap of the curtains that she had been here for about three days, and she had seen the sun come up about an hour ago, so she figured it was probably around five in the morning. She had expected that either she would have been rescued by now or that Jay and Tanya would have let her go. What were they playing at? She couldn’t believe that they were getting away with it.

There were moments of sheer panic that swept over her, when Kate thought about what might happen if they kept her there, what if no-one came looking?  She had no idea where she was, and wondered what if she was never found. She kept telling herself that she would be rescued; she knew she wasn’t being left for dead as Tanya and Jay were still in the house, she had heard them talking just outside of the door at the top of the stairs, saying that Billy would be just about ready to call, that they had made him sweat it out for a few days and now he would be willing to pay, whatever the cost. She had been shocked at Tanya’s voice, talking as if she hated Billy now; she was clearly out for everything she could get. This was all for money, Kate thought disgustedly: the pair of them deserved each other.

              “That will teach him and that tarty little bitch he’s shagging,” Tanya had said nastily, obviously still seething at the fact that he had replaced her so quickly and in such a humiliating way, she would be a laughing stock now. Well, she would show him; he would be very sorry he had treated her like a piece of rubbish he could just throw away at a moment’s notice. Kate had been surprised to see that Jay had been behaving like a pathetic little puppy when he was around Tanya, it was clear he didn’t know how to play this situation out, and Tanya seemed to be the one barking out all the orders. Jay was just going along with it all like her little puppet; it was truly pathetic to witness. He hadn’t even had the bottle to look Kate in the eye on the few occasions he had brought her down food; mind you, if it had been left to Tanya she would have probably been left to starve, as she had seemed to take great pleasure in Kate’s predicament and made Kate feel as degraded and helpless as possible. Tanya had taken her to the toilet and watched as Kate struggled for privacy and didn’t give her the chance to clean herself up afterwards. She called her names and told her how much she hated her, how she had always hated her. That she blamed Kate for ruining her and Billy’s relationship and it was all her fault that she had started things up with Jay. She had muttered the same things over and over, appearing to make herself more and more irate each time. Kate wondered if Tanya was mentally unstable, she seemed to be losing the plot and acting irrationally, getting in more and more of a state about Billy as time went on.

Kate looked around for ways to get out should the opportunity arise, hoping that there might be a way for her to escape but from what she could see, other than the tiny window constantly covered by the dark curtain, there was only a door at the top of the stairs that led to the main house.

Tugging once again at her taped wrists, she knew there was little point even trying to think of an escape plan; there was no way she was getting out of the bloody tape, let alone the grimy basement. Wanting to cry with despair, she rocked herself to sleep; she was like a caged animal: hungry, cold and scared. All she could do was pray: surely, it would not much longer now… but where was her brother, and where was Paul? Thinking of Paul she realised that she did have feelings for him. Emma had been right. She had done nothing but think of him since she had been here. She missed him so much and would have done anything to feel his arms around her right now. She had not made it to the meeting with him, she had been on her way there when she had been lured into the car by Jay, and she was still wondering what that was all about. Sometimes she let herself believe that he felt the same as her, and that he had been about to tell her. She knew she was being stupid and it was probably just something to do with the club but the warm, comforting thoughts kept her going as she closed her tear-stricken eyes and gave in to sleep.

Upstairs, Jay was struggling to get his head around what Tanya was saying.

              “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Tan: what’s the point? He’s going to know it’s us, he’s not fucking stupid.”

              “Of course he’s going to know it’s us, Jay, from the minute he hears our voices on the phone he’ll know it’s us; that’s exactly why we need to do this, it’s the only way he’s going to take us seriously. Jay, he thinks you’re a fucking mug, trust me on this one. I’ve heard just about every opinion that bloke has on you a hundred fucking times; he has no respect for you whatsoever. We need to show him that we mean fucking business, or he’s going to think you’re just fucking with him.” Tanya lit up her first joint of the day: six o’clock in the morning was too early for a glass of wine, even by her standards.

Pacing the floor, Jay didn’t know what to do; in a way, Tanya was right, Billy had no respect for him, and Billy hated him with a passion and had treated him like a cunt. Billy had publicly made it known to everyone and anyone that no-one was to do any kind of business with him, and that was what pissed Jay off the most. He had worked hard to gain clout, and now he was going to have to go back to square one, dealing pathetic wraps to school kids. He needed this money as much as Tanya; and he needed to show Billy that he wouldn’t be mugged off by him… but this? This, he wasn’t sure he could do.

              “I’ve done a lot worse, Tan, you and I both know that, but I don’t think I can do it. I guess I’ve been too close to her. Isn’t there some other way we can make him see we’re serious?”

              “No, Jay, there isn’t. I want Billy to be sitting in his kitchen, my fucking kitchen, eating his poxy cornflakes, with that little slag, and I want him to get the shock of his life when he opens his mail and gets a couple of his sister’s fingers staring up at him. I hope he fucking chokes on his own vomit.”

              “There must be some other way, surely—?”

Cutting him off, Tanya shouted, “There is no other way, Jay, this is it. Grow some fucking balls, or I’ll go down there and chop her bloody fingers off myself.”

Jay felt sick. Kate irritated the life out of him, but she was a good person at heart, a bit prim and proper but decent all the same. He knew he had treated her like a piece of crap on his shoe, she had been nothing more than a toy of which that he had quickly become bored and had then tossed aside. He had put her through more than one person deserved in a lifetime, yet she had not retaliated. She had simply picked up her bags and left, with not a word to him, and every ounce of dignity she had in her. He respected that.

Jay couldn’t even look Kate in the eyes when he had gone downstairs to give her food and water. Every time he had gone down to the basement he could feel her glaring at him, he could feel the hate radiating from her; he couldn’t bear it, he wanted to be a heartless bastard to her and take his anger out on her, but he felt none, in fact all he felt was guilt. There was no way he could do what Tanya wanted, and he knew he had to find a way of delaying her impulsiveness.

              “Tan, babe, you’ve been watching too many gangster movies, we do mean business and we don’t need to start cutting people’s body parts off and sending them via Royal Mail to prove it love, trust me. We need to make the call: today. We tell him what we want, and we tell him that unless we get it then, and only then, Tan, will we take more extreme measures to show him we’re serious.”

Tanya finished her joint; she stubbed it out in a little floral ashtray and sank down onto the sofa. She knew it made sense; she just really wanted to wipe that fucking grin off Billy’s smug bloody face. Tanya was starting to get pissed off with Jay, though; she could see that over the last few days he seemed to have a real problem doing anything that involved sorting out that sad cow, Kate. He didn’t even want to take food down to her, they had almost had a barney over it, and he had backed down. Tanya couldn’t stand the bitch, and the less she did for her the better.

Tanya couldn’t understand what Jay’s problem was; he swore he didn’t have feelings for Kate, so why couldn’t he do what they had talked about? Why was he leaving it all to her, it was like he had no balls all of a sudden.

              “Fine, we’ll do it your way, we’ll call him soon, but you tell him if he wants to see his perfect little sister again, we want two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. I’m not going through all this shit for loose change, Jay, I think a quarter of a mill should see us right for a bit; get us started, you know.”

Relieved that he had managed to delay her, if only for a little while, Jay knelt over her and started kissing her softly, smelling the sweet scent of her perfume, pound signs swimming around in his head.

43

The warehouse’s office, normally buzzing with noise and banter, was eerily quiet. The four men seated around the table were not only deep in thought but also silent from the shock of what they had been told. Nobody could believe what they had heard.

              “So, let’s get this straight then.” Ryan rubbed his forehead fiercely, as if the information he had received had gone inside his head and caused it to throb like it might explode at any second. “Jay Shaw has rung you and demanded you give him a quarter of a million pounds. Is he having a fucking giggle? Does he seriously think that you’re going to hand it over so that he can skip off into the sunset and live happily ever fucking after? What is he, a fucking comedian? I can tell you this now, if he thinks he’s getting a penny from you he’s a real fucking joker.”

Ryan looked at each of the men around the table; the tension had created an atmosphere that was intense, to say the least. Billy had just turned up with a face like thunder: they knew it was bad from the look in his eyes. He had called them into the office with an urgency that made them all worry.

The call that Billy had been waiting for had come in at nine o’clock that morning, it had confirmed what he had known all along, Jay was behind Kate’s disappearance, and so Billy hadn’t been shocked when he heard the familiar, malicious voice. What he had been surprised at was Jay’s demands.

Jay had spoken quietly and calmly, informing Billy that his sister was alive and well and would be returned safe and sound once he had paid the cash that Jay asked for. Billy had started to lose it: what a fucking cheek, how fucking dared he, who did he think he was messing with? He would not get away with this. Taking his sister was crossing the line big time. Billy would break every bone in that imbecile’s body once he got his hands on him. Jay interrupted the name-calling and threats with a warning of his own.

              “You have twenty-four hours to get the money together, Billy boy, if you fuck this up or try anything stupid, I can’t make any promises. Kate will be returned in one piece if you do what I say: do I make myself clear?”

Billy was silenced at the thought of his sister being in danger and the loaded threat reminded him that he was dealing with a sick, twisted bastard. He reluctantly agreed to Jay’s ultimatum of paying a ransom for Kate’s safe return. Billy was told to sit by the phone at nine the following morning to wait for further instructions.

The room was silent; so far, Jonny hadn’t said a word, although he and Lee had exchanged numerous looks between themselves. They were all just sitting there, waiting for Billy to say something: anything. They could see that he was not up to dealing with this; he was finding it hard to keep it together.  Breaking the silence, Lee said,