Текст книги "Rotten to the Core"

Автор книги: Casey Kelleher

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

She had loved Billy, and look where that had got her. He had replaced her in a heartbeat, and actually while she was with him she hadn’t been anywhere near as close to him as she would have liked to be, with the ‘lovely’ Kate about, there were always three people in her relationship. No, this time, she decided, she would to do it alone. A quarter of a million pounds was more than enough compensation for putting up with Billy bringing that slag into her home, humiliating her. As far as she was concerned, she was owed every single penny. The only place where it was possible to hit Billy where it hurt, other than his perfect Kate, was his wallet: Tanya hoped that she had fucking wounded him.

Tanya had made up her mind; she would take the money and run. On her own, she could make it, she trusted herself not to slip up nor let her guard down; besides, Billy wouldn’t be interested in her, he was after Jay, who was behind this as far as Billy was concerned.

Realising that she may have a Get out of Jail Free card, Tanya thought about calling Billy, saying that if he promised to forget about the money she would tell him where Kate and Jay were but on the condition that she could keep the money. Knowing Billy, it would be an offer that he couldn’t refuse. The more she thought about it, the more she decided against it, though; if she did that then she would still be lowering herself to asking his permission, and she would be making a deal with him. She wasn’t prepared to do that. Besides, how could she know that he would stand by his word and let her just walk away with his money. No, she wouldn’t ask him, she had set this up, this was all her work, she had earned this and she was keeping the cash. After much debating, she decided she would text him the address of where to find Kate, and maybe that way he would come to his own decision once he realised she was involved. She would offer Jay up to Billy; it was the only chance she had that she might be able to keep the money.

Tanya had the “pay as you go” phone they had bought for contact with Billy, she figured that if she texted Billy the cottage address she would have about forty five minutes to get as far away as possible before he turned up. All Billy wanted was his sister and having Jay handed to him on a plate meant that Tanya would possibly have a chance of not being tracked down if she tried to vanish. Kate could fucking rot, for all she cared, but this way it may seem that Tanya gave a shit. It was her only chance of taking the money and getting home and dry.

Carefully packing a few belongings into the holdall and zipping it up tightly, she sent a text message to Billy saying simply

              “Pines Cottage, Eastwick Lane, Surrey – Kate!”

Tiptoeing down the stairs, she stopped on each creaking floorboard, and prayed that she didn’t wake Jay.

Jay was stretched out on the sofa, snoring, his mouth wide open and one arm hanging off the edge. He was out for the count.

Tanya picked up the car keys from the table, being careful to grip them firmly so that they didn’t jingle, and made for the door. Looking back, just for an instant, confirmed to her that she was doing the right thing, Billy would have caught up with Jay eventually, and by then she would be far away. As she slipped out of the back door into the cold night, the only person Tanya was thinking about was herself.

49

Paul was pulling on his clothes as fast as he could. He had only been in bed a little while and he must have been exhausted, as he had actually drifted off. Billy had just called to say he was on his way over with Ryan. Billy said he had an address: he knew where Kate was. Paul’s head was spinning, if Billy really did have the information about where Kate was, he would be seeing her shortly, and he couldn’t quite get his head around that. He prayed to God that she was okay. He hoped they would get to her in time. Who knew what she had been through over the past week?

Billy was driving like a lunatic. He had picked up Ryan as soon as he had received the text and he called Paul. He guessed that Jay wouldn’t be stupid enough to text him Kate’s whereabouts and then hang around, but he wanted back-up just in case. He had no idea what he might walk into, and he felt nauseous; he didn’t know how Kate would be or if anything bad had happened to her. If anything at all had, he knew he would lose it; his sister was everything to him.

Billy kept his eye on the road as he swerved around bends at eighty miles an hour, sending Ryan flying in the passenger seat. Outside his house, Paul ran to the car and got in the back seat.

              “What’s happened; where is she?” he demanded.

              “Jay did the big manly thing again, for a change, he texted me the address of some cottage in Surrey. He’ll be long gone, I bet, the fucking chicken shit.” Billy put his foot down; every minute felt like ten; he needed to get to her.

              “Jonny and Lee are meeting us there,” Ryan informed them after his phone flashed up a message. “Jonny said to wait for them; he said it could be a trap you’re walking into.”

The thought had crossed Billy’s mind, too. Jay could be up to anything. At least if Billy turned up mob-handed, then he would have more of a chance if it were a trap. He seriously doubted Jay would have the bollocks to try anything, he would have legged it with the wedge as soon as possible. Mind you a few weeks ago Billy would never have believed Jay would have kidnapped Kate and had Billy over for two hundred and fifty K, so who knew what the guy was capable of?

              “Fucking hell, mate, you’d give Lewis Hamilton a run for his money, that’s for sure,” Paul joked, as he swung around in the back seat, as Billy rounded another bend. Paul knew how Billy felt, though, all this time of hoping and praying that she was okay, and now they were on their way to her. They couldn’t get there fast enough, as far as he was concerned.

Billy had arrived at the quiet country lane in just over half the time it should have taken, thanks partly to the fact that there was little traffic on the roads at this time of the morning, and partly to the fact he drove the whole way like a fucking maniac. The cottage was down a long, winding track; Billy could see some lights up ahead, behind hedges. He parked the car at a distance from the cottage and killed the lights.

Ryan opened the boot and got out a sawn-off shotgun, for Billy, and a bag of tools. Paul went empty-handed, and on Billy’s instructions stayed back a bit, letting Ryan and Billy approach the cottage first. The sun had come up, it was almost six thirty. Looking around, Billy could see that the next house was a few hundred meters away, down the lane; checking there was no one else around, they made their way down the track towards the cottage.

Ryan put his hand on the back door handle and was surprised to find it opened; he wasn’t sure what the fuck was going on but this seemed a little too easy. He didn’t want to call Kate’s name in case it was a trap, he wanted to give the place a once-over first. Signalling to Billy and Paul to follow him, they tiptoed through the kitchen. Looking around, it looked like any normal person’s kitchen, there was nothing unusual and there was no sign of Kate.

Glancing into the next room, Ryan did a double take; he could hardly fucking believe it. Jay Shaw was sleeping like a fucking baby on the sofa in front of him. Nodding at Billy to grab his attention, he gestured him over with his hand and pointed over to where Jay was lying. Billy was gobsmacked; it didn’t make sense; why would Jay send that text and then go to sleep? The realisation hit him like a brick. Tanya. He should have known, of course she was involved; she was probably the mastermind. This was her style. Fucking hell what had he ever seen in her? That piece of shit, Jay, had been well and truly set up and was now lying there snoring, probably dreaming of spending Billy’s money; that mug had not an inkling of what was going on.

As the three men tiptoed into the room and crowded around Jay, he had no idea that his sweet dreams were just about to turn into his worst fucking nightmare. Rubbing the end of the sawn-off shot gun against the tip of his nose, Jay brushed it away, and carried on sleeping. Feeling something rub his nose, Jay put a hand up to itch it and opened his eyes. Billy, Ryan and Paul stared down at him.

              “What the fuck?” His whole body jumped so high it nearly hit the ceiling, and he looked like he was actually going to shit himself.

              “This is your early morning wakeup call,” snarled Billy as he brought the barrel of the gun down hard on his head. Panicked, Paul looked at Billy’s angry face, the veins were popping out on the side of his head, and he was probably using just about every ounce of willpower he possessed not to shoot the man who was now lying sparked out.

              “Do you think that was wise? We don’t even know where Kate is,” Paul said.

              “Wise….? I could have blown the cunt’s fucking face off. It was only a tap on the head, he’ll come round in no time, and he looked like he could do with a few extra minutes of shut eye. Shame to disturb his beauty sleep,” Billy said.

He told Ryan to stay with Jay, he would look upstairs and Paul would go to the cellar. The cottage was the size of a shoebox so he figured it would take them all of five seconds to see if she was here.

Paul tiptoed down a flight of stairs that seemed to lead to a cellar. He opened the door, terrified that he might find something that he didn’t want to see. It was cold and damp and the room was dim. In the corner was a mattress, and as he walked towards it, he saw a figure on it, looking as if they were asleep. Kate. Bending down, he could see that her hands and feet were bound with tape. She looked like a mistreated animal on an RSPCA advert. He felt relief as he saw her stir, she looked gaunt and dirty but she was still his beautiful Kate.

              “Kate,” he whispered, as he stroked her fringe out of her eyes. Slowly waking up and hoping that she wasn’t still dreaming, she looked straight into his concerned face.

              “Paul, oh my God it’s really you, thank God you’re here, where’s my brother? Where are Jay and Tanya?” She had a million questions to ask. Because she was weak and her mouth was dry, she sounded quiet and raspy. He picked up a bottle of water that had been left just out her reach, opened it and poured it into her mouth. She gulped it down as if her life depended on it.

              “Billy’s here, he’s just upstairs, you’re okay, Kate, you’re going to be okay.” He was undoing the tape around her feet; they had been bound so tightly that the skin was red and puffy where the tape had cut into her. As Paul was undoing her hands, Kate’s brother rushed towards her.

              “Billy, I knew you would find me.” Tears were rolling down her cheeks, throughout her whole time here she had never once been in doubt that he would come, and he hadn’t let her down. He never had, and he never would.

Hugging her to him now, he asked her:

              “Are you okay, he didn’t do anything to you, did he?” She shook her head, and the two men in front of her sighed with relief. She was really okay. Paul and Billy helped her to her feet, she was weak and exhausted.

First things first, Billy wanted to get her home and looked after her; she needed a nice hot bath, decent grub and a warm bed. Then, he was going to come back and deal with Jay for the very last time.

50

Sonia was in her element: she had just made the biggest cooked breakfast known to mankind, and there had been more than enough food to feed an entire army had she needed to. It had gone down very well, judging by the content faces that were sitting around the small kitchen table. She had been over the moon when Emma had called early this morning to say that Kate had been found and Billy and Paul were on their way  to the house; Sonia had quickly stuffed her bag with everything she could find in her fridge so she could make Kate and the lads something decent to eat. Always the mother hen was Sonia, she had quickly made her way over to the flat so that she could be there when Kate arrived back.

Sonia had been worried sick about the poor girl, and of course she had the whole guilt thing going on, too: Jay was her son, after all, her blood, and she felt responsible for him in some way. The manner in which he had turned out sickened her; she regretted, deeply, leaving him in Den’s hands all those years ago. The damage that man had caused, God only knew. Jay was like his father in every single way: selfish, cruel and motivated by money. He, like his father, would step over anyone who got in his way, no matter what the cost. She would never, as long as she lived, speak to him again. He was dead to her. As far as she was concerned, she didn’t have a son, but she did have a beautiful daughter now: Kate, who she loved like her own. She had practically run around here, and she had smiled when Emma had opened the door and quipped,

              “Fuck me, what did you do, Son, get Richard Branson to fly you around?” She had been driving Emma mad these last few days, constantly texting to see if any of them had news. Emma knew the woman was as worried sick as the rest of them, and now they had the best news: Kate was safe and sound and, more importantly, she was coming home.

It had been an emotional reunion, to say the least; Paul had walked in with Kate leaning against him, steadying her while she walked; she had looked as if the life had been sucked out of her. She had lost weight and she had hardly any energy left in her at all. Her hair was a tangled mess, and her skin was grey, no doubt from not having fresh air or proper food all week. There had been tears cried by them all. Mostly now, though, they were tears of joy and relief at her safe return.

Kate was so glad to be back: the last few days had been a living hell, and she wasn’t sure in the end what Jay and Tanya would have been capable of, especially Tanya, that woman was mad. Kate had seen genuine hate radiate from her, and she could admit now that she had been very frightened. Jay was a weak and pathetic man, she could see that now; she had known from the start that it was Tanya who was the one to worry about, Jay was just her little puppet, Kate hadn’t been worried about him at all. Tanya had really lost it, though, she had appeared unhinged with had a few screws loose, and that had scared Kate, Tanya was capable of just about anything.

              “Oh, that was fucking lush, Sonia, just what we all needed.” Finishing his last mouthful of bacon and eggs, Billy stretched his arms up, realising that was the first proper bit of food he had eaten all week; he hadn’t really felt any hunger, he guessed worry did that to you. It was probably the same for all of them. They had all survived on a diet of fags, tea and extreme stress for the best part of the week.

Emma had been on cloud nine after Billy called to say they were on their way back, and that Kate was with them. After calling Sonia, she had done a quick tidy up of the place. Everything had been neglected this week, as she had been so preoccupied with what was going on with Kate. She didn’t want her to come home to a pigsty, so she spruced the place up a bit, and then got cups of tea ready for them all.

              “Yeah, that was a mean fry up, Son,” Paul thanked her, “I don’t think I’ll need to eat again all day.”

              “All week more like.” Emma winked at Kate. “I saw you shovelling in those extra sausages, Paul.”

              “They are big strong men, Emma, they need their fill of good grub,” Sonia smiled, pleased as punch that she had been of some use to them all this morning.

              “Yeah, come on, Em; get the kettle on again, will you? Us ‘big strong men’ need another cuppa.” Lifting his cup and waving it in Emma’s direction, Billy smiled. Emma had grown on him, she was a good friend to Kate; he was glad that she was around for her. Shaking her head, but smiling back at him, Emma put the kettle on.

The smell of bacon, combined with a diet of what might as well of been dog food all week had been a lethal combination, and Kate had eaten like she had never seen a plate of food before; she had scoffed it down so quickly, her stomach ached afterwards. As she sat there, and looked down at her clothes, she realised that she probably stank to the high heavens. She hadn’t had a bath in seven days, and her hygiene hadn’t been under her own control either. Kate decided that she would bin everything she had on, even her shoes; she wanted no reminders of what she had been through. The hardest thing she had ever had to deal with was losing her baby; this would be nothing in comparison. She was determined she would get through this; she wouldn’t let them beat her.

Kate had told Billy everything on the drive from Surrey: how Jay had lured her into the car, and how he and Tanya had plotted what they would do to her if Billy hadn’t paid. She told him how Tanya wanted to make her suffer. She had wanted to get revenge on Billy and knew hurting Kate would have been the ultimate means to do this. They both thought that it was Tanya who had been the brains behind the whole sorry episode, after all, as Jay was too dim to come up with any kind of plan worth worrying about.

Tanya, on the other hand, had been another story. She had legged it with Billy’s money, leaving the man that had risked it all for her to take the rap: what a catch she had turned out to be. As per usual, Billy thought, she had been out for herself. Well, Billy would be having the last laugh with that one. The poor bitch had no idea what was coming.

No one had mentioned Jay or Tanya, or anything to do with Kate’s ordeal since she had arrived home, though, it was as if they were all trying really hard to act normal for her sake and make her feel at home again, and for that Kate was thankful. That was how she dealt with things: not bottling them up as such but not going over stuff that had happened, it would only torment her. She couldn’t change it and nor make what had happened go away, she just had to keep moving forward.

Looking around the table at them drinking tea and ribbing each other, Kate realised that these were the people that she cared about most in the world, the ones who were always there for her no matter what: when the shit hit the fan, they came up trumps. It was good to be home.

51

Billy had thought long and hard about what he was going to do to Jay when he got back to the cottage. He had played out countless clips a suitable punishment in his mind. What he had done to Jay’s father a few years back had been very apt and seemed to fit the crime, and that’s what he needed to think of now: a truly fitting punishment for Jay’s crimes. Going in and blowing the cunt’s head off was just a bit quick and easy for Billy’s liking, Jay wouldn’t really be aware of what was going on, and he would be out of his misery the second the bullet tore through his brain. Sticking a knife in him would be pretty much the same, far too quick and easy, and after the initial deed was done not very satisfying. After everything that piece of shit had put Kate through he was going to really make him pay, with the only thing he had left, his worthless scummy life.

Torture definitely seemed the best option; a slow painful death would be right up Billy’s street, but Ryan would probably have started dishing that out already. Never one to sit about, Ryan got bored easily; he had probably had hours of fun with Jay today already. Ryan was an evil bastard when you were on the wrong side of him, he had dished out punishments to many people over the years, and his reputation preceded him. He didn’t tolerate violence to women or children, and as friends go you couldn’t ask for better. Billy had known him since they were kids and trusted him implicitly; Ryan had never let him down.

Billy had left Kate to rest at the flat; they had all spent a few hours having breakfast and all got through enough tea to fill a large swimming pool. She had seemed a bit better by the time he left her; more like herself. He had left her soaking in a nice hot bath, and she had said that after that she just wanted to go to bed. Billy was so grateful that nothing serious had happened to her; he was so happy that she was home safe and sound.

              Billy had dropped Paul off at his gaff before driving back to the cottage. Paul had wanted to go with Billy to sort Jay out, but Billy insisted that he wanted to do it himself, once and for all, and besides the less people involved the better; he didn’t want this coming back on any of them, especially not Paul: the guy was a diamond.

Paul hadn’t said much to Kate while he had been at her house, not in front of Billy, but his presence spoke volumes, as it must have done to Kate. He cared about her. Billy had seen the way the bloke looked at her: Billy had never seen anything more obvious. Kate had been through a shitload this year and probably needed time on her own, but a good friend in Paul would not go amiss, Billy was sure.

Pulling up outside the cottage, Billy gave a deep sigh: what was coming had to be done, but it never got easier. But sometimes you started things and just had to see them through, he muttered to himself.

Looking out through the curtains, Ryan smiled.

              “My, my, what a popular boy you are, Jay, looks like you’ve got yourself another visitor.”

Jay, tied to a chair, tried to lift his head up to see. He could feel blood trickling down one side of his face, and he could taste it in his mouth. He couldn’t believe that Tanya had handed him over to these fucking animals after everything he had done for her. He realised that she had well and truly used him, it was hilarious when you thought about it, he had gone through life using women like toys, as and when he had wanted, and the one time that he had let his guard down and trusted a woman, the devious bitch had all but fucking crucified him.

Ryan had pushed Jay to his limits with the pain, any more burns or cuts and he would pass out again, his heart was pounding so loudly he wondered if Ryan could hear it, so it was perfect timing to see Billy walking to the door. Even though there may be worst to come, he prayed for a break for just a few minutes from the pain inflicted on him.

Pulling out a cigarette, Ryan sat opposite Jay; inflicting pain was a tiring job.

Billy didn’t even look in Jay’s direction when he came in, he saw the state of the kitchen, and could smell that Jay had crapped himself. Ryan, as always, had taken it slowly and caused maximum injury without killing the bastard.

              “I need you to help me get him in the boot,” Billy said to Ryan. He nodded towards Jay, but still didn’t fully look at him: he couldn’t, he was feeling so much rage at being in the same room as the horrible fucker.

              “No worries, mate, how are we going to get rid of him?” Ryan was up for whatever Billy suggested; he enjoyed this part of it: he had a taste for blood today, especially that of someone as despicable as Jay.

              “We’re not,” Billy answered bluntly.

              “What do you mean, we’re not; he fucking deserves this, Billy, he has it fucking coming, you can’t be thinking seriously of letting him go?” Ryan couldn’t believe it; Billy must be going fucking soft.

              “No, Ryan, you heard me wrong: we’re not getting rid of him, I am. I just need you to help get him into the boot of my car.” Ryan understood; Billy needed to do this himself, it was his fight and he needed to finish it.

After they had placed a bound Jay in the boot of Billy’s motor, Billy told Ryan to get all his shit out of the cottage: the Ellis’s were on their way over. Unfortunately, the cottage was about to have a bit of its own misfortune; Jonny and Lee were going to start a fire and stick around to make sure the whole place went up, just so that nothing that had gone on here in the last week came back to haunt any of them. Billy thought that although the place probably wouldn’t have been booked out in Tanya and Jay’s real names, but he didn’t want to take any chances on anyone looking for either of them, or him. Anyway, Billy figured a nice little insurance pay-out would much more to the owners liking than to come back to find Jay’s shit and blood over the walls of their precious little cottage.

Getting into the motor, Billy wound the window down so he could feel the breeze as he drove. He turned up the stereo and started to feel upbeat, he was back in control. No-one would make a fool out of him: especially not Jay.

He drove for miles, into the middle of nowhere; it was funny because the little place he was heading for he had stumbled across by accident a few years ago. He had done a bit of business for someone and had been ripped off; he and Ryan had taken care of them, in exactly the same place. At the time, he had made a comment to Ryan about the place being fucking creepy. It was an old industrial farmhouse that had been abandoned many moons ago, judging by the state of it; it had been so eerie that the whole place had spooked him out. It had felt as though they were the only people for miles, well, they actually had been, no one came out to those parts. Pulling up next to the old deserted building now, he switched the engine off.

The place hadn’t changed one bit, even at this time of the morning it was scarily isolated.

Lifting up the lid of the boot, Billy looked in at the bloodied mess that was Jay, and smiled at the fear in the eyes that stared back. Billy lent down past the flinching Jay and picked up the shovel that was also in the car.               “People are going to be talking about this for years, you know, Jay.”

Jay didn’t have the energy to lift his head; he hoped whatever Billy had planned would be over as quickly as possible, but he had a feeling that he was doing a bit of wishful thinking.

              “People are going to be talking, Jay, about you, the little prick who tried to do one over on me and take my hard-earned cash.” Billy poked Jay hard in the ribs with the end of the shovel.

              “They’re going to be talking about you, the guy who shagged my missus behind my back.” Billy brought the shovel down on Jay’s stomach.               “About you, the little cunt who thought he could kidnap my sister, and do you know what they will be saying about me? Do you?” He bellowed the words, furious at the audacity of the scumbag in front of him.

              “They’ll be saying when they hear about your rotting stinking corpse that no-one, but no-one, should fuck with Billy: he won’t fucking stand for it. They’ll be talking about your death for years, mate. Which is just as well, you’d be forgotten in an instant otherwise, a sorry fucker like yourself. No-one cares if you live or die.”

He brought the shovel down with more force, hitting Jay on the head. There was an almighty thump, which sounded worse than it was. Jay was out cold, and Billy set to work again; the next time Jay woke up, Billy wouldn’t be there, it would just be Jay and his demons.

52

Kate’s stomach was full and she felt clean after her long soak. She had closed her eyes the second she laid her head on her pillow and had no trouble falling asleep.

When she awoke she felt safe, and that was a good feeling, one that a few days ago she hadn’t been sure she would have again. She knew Billy had gone to sort out Jay; she was scared about what might be happening, but she didn’t want to know the details, she was just relieved that he wouldn’t be harming her again.

Emma and Sonia’s voices floated up to Kate from downstairs, just the normalness of the moment made her feel happy, she had been so terrified that she wouldn’t see her friends and family again when she had been trapped in that dingy basement.

The phone rang on her dresser and, as she pulled herself up and wrapped the duvet snugly around her, she got that fluttery feeling in her stomach as she looked at the caller ID: Paul.

              “Hey, Kate, I just wanted to see how you are?” Paul asked. “We didn’t really get much of chance to talk earlier with everyone around.”

Kate smiled. They had been surrounded by people, yet she had felt that she and Paul were the only two in the room. Had he felt that too?

              “Thanks, Paul; I’m feeling a lot better now I’ve had a sleep.”

              “Well, in that case, how would you fancy dinner at my place? I can pick you up in a few hours. There’s someone here I’d like you to meet, if you’re up to it.”

              “Okay.” Kate felt wary; dinner with just Paul would have been heaven, she just knew he felt the same way she did, surely she hadn't got that wrong. He wouldn’t want her to go to his house for dinner to meet a girlfriend, would he? Whoever it was must be important to him. Not wanting to sound stupid over the phone or question him further in case she heard something that she didn’t want to, she agreed. He then said he would pick her up in two hours.

Putting the phone down, Paul called for Sophia. Running into the lounge, wearing a bright pink Disney princess dress that she had insisted on wearing every day since he had bought her the movie, Sophia threw herself onto her daddy’s lap. He hugged her; it was hard to imagine that this child hadn’t been in his life forever, it had only been four short years, yet he couldn’t remember life before she had come along. She was his world.

              “I have a friend coming over to meet you later.” Sophia fiddled with her princess ballet pumps, he could see that she felt shy at the mere thought of someone else coming over. It was his own fault, he knew, Sophia was forever at home with the nanny while he worked. Apart from nursery in the morning, they rarely had visitors. Deciding to play it from a different angle, he whispered: