Jessie Keane: Ruthless

‘Look, all I did was little things, I told you. He just paid me.’

‘If you wanted or needed money, why didn’t you talk to Annie? She’d have given it to you like a shot.’

‘Oh yeah,’ sneered Junior. ‘Lady Bountiful, the great Annie Carter.’

‘You little shit.’

And you won’t touch me,’ said Junior with sullen resentment. ‘’Cos if you did, she’d throw a fit.’

Max was across the room in a second, yanking Junior to his feet by his shirtfront. ‘Yeah? Well, she’s not here. I am. And you, boy, are starting to get on my fucking nerves.’

‘Where would he take her?’ asked Alberto of no one in particular.

Max glanced at Alberto, then shoved the quivering Junior back down on to the sofa.

‘Who knows,’ said Max. ‘Not Partyland. The place on the marshes? Would he go back there?’

He might have taken her to the nearest quiet place, killed her and buried the body, thought Max. She could be dead already.

That thought filled him with anguish. He’d returned only for Layla’s sake, and it had shocked him to discover that his feelings for Annie, even after eight years apart, were as strong as ever. He wanted, needed, loved her.

Whatever had gone on between her and Golden Boy in the past – and he was starting to think he’d been wrong about that all along – he no longer gave a shit. She was his. He was hers. But had he come this close, only to lose her?

‘We have to check every place we can think of,’ said Layla. She was staring at Junior in disgust. She felt sick to her stomach at what he’d said. ‘So you helped that awful bastard? Against us? Against your family?’

Junior squirmed, shrank into his seat.

‘Oh God, I can see it now. That night when he hurt Precious,’ she said, advancing towards him, ‘you were skulking in the toilet because you couldn’t face looking at those monitors, seeing what he was going to do. You didn’t even have the balls for that.’

Junior looked up at her, his face red with shame.

‘Look, what I did was nothing. I just started the fire in your office and a couple of other little things. It was money for old rope. I didn’t know he’d actually kill …’ He hesitated.

‘Her name’s Precious,’ Layla said through gritted teeth. ‘You let him beat Precious to a pulp. You let him kill her.’

‘I didn’t know he’d go that far! I swear it.’

‘No? But if you’d stuck around in the monitor room and you’d seen how far he was going, would you have tried to stop him? I don’t think so. You’re a coward and a bloody traitor.’

Max was watching Molls throughout all this. She was staring at the floor. Her cheeks were pink. He went and stood in front of her. He was getting a strong feeling about sneaky, goofy-looking little Molls. She looked up, then quickly away, her eyes darting sideways.

‘Where would he go, Molls?’ Max asked her, his voice low and dangerous. ‘You got any ideas?’

She shrugged, hugging her arms around her body as if she was cold.

‘Where?’ repeated Max.

Molly said nothing.

Max reached down and yanked her upright. She let out a yell.

‘Hey!’ said Junior, jumping to his feet.

Alberto placed a hand on Junior’s chest. ‘You want to start something?’ he asked, and Layla was struck by his voice – so cold. She looked at him. This Alberto was frightening. His gaze as he stared into Junior’s eyes was lance-like, threatening as a viper’s. Suddenly, she felt she didn’t know him at all.

‘Where’s he going to take her?’ hissed Max into Molly’s face. ‘If you know something, you better start talking, or Junior here’s going to get the kicking of his life. Christ knows, it’s way overdue.’

Molly said nothing. Tears were trickling down her face.

‘Fine, have it your way,’ said Max.

He grabbed Junior, started frog-marching him towards the door.

‘No!’ howled Molly. Layla came to her feet, distressed. Alberto shot her a quick look. Shut up , his eyes said.

Max was at the door, holding a struggling Junior.

‘All right, I’ll tell you what I know,’ said Molly. ‘Just don’t hurt him, OK?’

‘I’m not making any promises,’ said Max. He shoved Junior back on to the sofa. ‘Go on then,’ he said to Molly.

Molly pulled her hands down over her face, wiping her tears away. She cast a wild look at Junior, then at Max and Alberto.

‘I knew Junior was in the money all of a sudden,’ she started unsteadily. ‘So I… I just wanted to find out where it had come from. I knew he hated having to take money off Annie, he’d said so to me often enough, so where was he getting it all? Anyhow, when I heard him on the phone talking to someone he called Rufus, I thought it might have something to do with it. Then Rufus came to the house when Mum was out. And while him and Junior were talking in the kitchen, I was in the hall, listening.’

‘You sneaky little cow,’ said Junior angrily.

‘Oh yeah? Well, you could have cut me in on it,’ returned Molly.

‘For what? It was me he wanted to help him out, not you.’

‘Cut the yap and go on,’ said Max.

‘Then… then I heard them coming out into the hall. I ran up the stairs and into my room so they wouldn’t know I’d been listening. Junior went into the upstairs loo, and I crept out on the landing and heard this Rufus guy pick up the phone in the hall. He said a name, I think it was Dickon.’

Max exchanged a look with Alberto. They knew Dickon.

‘Rufus was telling Dickon that when he got the chance he was going to do the Carter bitch out at the Essex place, on the marshes.’ Molly looked around at them all. ‘And you know what? I thought that just about served her right, because she’s looked down on my mum all her life. She’s always had everything, and my mum had nothing.’

There was a long, deadly silence. Then Layla reached out and grabbed Molly’s arm, shook her.

‘Is this the truth? Or is it just another set-up, another trap?’ she demanded.

Alberto and her father had been led there once before; this time, they might not be so lucky.

‘No! I’m telling you the truth. That’s what I heard.’

Max was silent, watching her, weighing it all up. Then his eyes went to Alberto. ‘Get some of the boys to check out the amusement arcade, in case this is another false trail.’

Alberto’s eyes were flinty. ‘It’s done,’ he said. He glanced at Molls, back at Max. ‘We have to risk it,’ said Alberto.

‘Yeah,’ said Max. ‘We do.’

Annie felt sick with fear and she was fighting flat-out hysteria. Time had passed, and it was all a blur, a horrible nightmare. She kept telling herself this couldn’t be happening. But it was.

The taser-blast meant she’d been unable to move to begin with. She knew she was lying in the back of a car, and she could see the night sky, street lights, and buildings that were at first familiar and then unknown.

Within half an hour her arms and legs were tingling. She started tentatively moving her limbs, wondering whether she could throw open the door, jump out. There was a chance she’d be hurt, given the speed he was driving, but what other option did she have? Nauseous and terrified, she resolved that if she got the slightest chance, she would take it.

But her chance never came.

He stopped the car in a quiet side road, threw open the back door.

‘Wait!’ she managed to gasp out. ‘Just wait-’

‘Shut up,’ said Rufus, and slapped duct tape over her mouth to silence her.

Then he bound her hands and feet, and put a sack over her head. Mould and dust filled her nostrils as he hauled her bodily out of the car. Swaying sickly as he carried her, Annie heard him open doors, then she was thrown painfully down on to cold ridged metal. The impact knocked all the breath out of her. Metal doors slammed shut.