The Victim (28 page)

Gary and Ricky glanced anxiously at each other. Whatever news Pat Murphy had was obviously not good. Stuart ran up to the bar to tell Raymond. ‘Pat Murphy’s on the phone to Ed. Something’s gone wrong, I think,’ he whispered, grabbing two of the drinks.

Gary, Ricky, Stuart and Raymond all stared at Eddie as he continued and then ended the conversation. ‘Whatever’s wrong?’ Gary asked his father.

Overcome by shock, Eddie felt physically sick as he gulped back his Scotch in one. He slammed the glass on the table. ‘The O’Haras have gone. They’ve done a runner and they’ve taken Georgie and Harry with ’em.’

‘What about Jed? Did Murphy say he was dead?’ Ricky asked.

‘He didn’t say. All the Old Bill would tell him was there’d been an incident, the family had disappeared and he said the police seemed to be swarming around the horse-box like flies. They wouldn’t let him inside the gates, obviously.’

Eddie put his head in his hands. He looked up seconds later, his eyes brimming with tears. ‘How the fuck am I gonna tell Frankie?’

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Unaware that her children had all but disappeared off the face of the earth, Frankie had spent the night dreaming about them. They’d all been at the zoo together and Georgie and Harry’s presence had been so real that when Frankie was awoken by a piercing scream, she thought one of the children had fallen over and hurt themselves. Sitting bolt upright, Frankie immediately realised that it was Babs in pain.

‘What’s a matter? Is the baby on its way?’ Frankie asked, dashing over to her bedside.

‘I don’t know, it don’t feel like contractions,’ Babs mumbled fearfully.

When she let out another tortured cry, Frankie immediately ran to the cell door and pummelled her fists against it. ‘Help! Quick, we need help!’ she shouted at the top of her voice.

Seconds later, two screws ran in and, seeing Babs, face covered in sweat and contorted with pain, they immediately called for medical assistance.

‘I think my baby’s dying. It’s in trouble, I just know it is,’ Babs sobbed.

Frankie mopped her friend’s forehead with a wet flannel. ‘Sssh, your baby is gonna be just fine, Babs, I know it is.’

When the prison doctor finally appeared, Babs was swiftly whisked away and Frankie begged to be allowed to go to the hospital with her.

‘No, Mitchell, you know the rules,’ one of the newer screws barked, slamming the cell door in Frankie’s face.

Exasperated by the woman’s callousness, Frankie kicked the cell door. ‘Bitch!’ she screamed as she sank to her knees. Frankie clasped her hands together, looked up at the ceiling and prayed. ‘Please God make my friend Babs and her baby both be OK. And also God, give Jed his comeuppance for what he did to my grandad. Amen.’

Over in Rettendon, Eddie Mitchell was sitting at the kitchen table gingerly sipping a strong black coffee. His initial reaction to Pat Murphy’s phone call the previous day had been one of pure shock, but within minutes, the shock had turned to anger. He’d wanted to drive round to the O’Haras’ himself to stick a bullet up the Old Bill’s arses to find his grandkids, but Raymond had managed to stop him.

‘Don’t do anything stupid, Ed. Ring Larry and ask his advice before you go charging round there like a bull in a china shop.’

Larry was kept in the loop about most things that went on in Eddie’s world and he immediately warned him that under no circumstances should he go anywhere near the O’Haras’ house.

‘Just leave it with me to deal with, Eddie. I’ll make some phone calls and find out exactly what’s going on. If I get no joy over the phone, I’ll drive straight down to Rainham first thing in the morning. You do not go anywhere near that house, OK?’ he had insisted.

‘Why didn’t you come up to bed last night?’ Gina asked, as she sat down at the table opposite her husband.

The news of Georgie and Harry’s disappearance had literally knocked Ed for six and he’d spent the whole of last night knocking back the Scotch and planning how he was going to break the news to Frankie. Finally, he’d passed out on the sofa.

‘I was drunk. I didn’t wanna disturb ya,’ Ed replied.

Gina leaned across the table and held his hands. ‘Please let me cook you a decent breakfast, Ed. You didn’t touch your dinner yesterday and you’ve got to eat something.’

‘This must be Larry. Cook some bacon sandwiches or something and bring ’em into the lounge,’ Ed replied when the doorbell rang.

Larry followed Eddie into the lounge and sat down in one of the armchairs. He’d got up at four o’clock that morning and had been in Rainham by daybreak. Still, he couldn’t complain as, like his father before him, Eddie paid him a handsome yearly wage, which over the years had kept him in the life of luxury he was now so very used to.

‘What’s the score, then?’ Eddie asked.

‘I couldn’t find out a great deal at first, to be honest. All the police would tell me was there had been an incident at the house and nobody was aware of the current whereabouts of the family. I then got on to an old pal of mine who’s as bent as a nine-bob note to make a couple of phone calls. He called me back and reckons, due to the amount of blood found in the horse-box and on the driveway, the police are positive they are dealing with a murder inquiry, although they are yet to find a body.’

‘Yet to find a body! That’s fucking insane! Surely the O’Haras ain’t driven off with their dead son’s body in the boot? No one could do that, could they?’

Larry shrugged. ‘Your guess is as good as mine, Eddie. The local hospitals have all been checked and apparently nobody’s been admitted in the past few days with gunshot wounds. Perhaps they’ve buried Jed themselves or something. I personally don’t know a great deal about the travelling community, but from what you’ve told me, I wouldn’t put anything past them.’

The men stopped their conversation as Gina walked into the room with a tray of bacon sandwiches and two mugs of coffee. ‘If you need anything else, just shout,’ she said, as she diplomatically closed the door behind her.

‘So, have the Old Bill said if anything’s missing inside the house?’ Ed asked, wondering if they’d taken any of the kids’ clothes and toys.

‘I don’t think there is. It just sounds like they left in a real hurry. Both Jed’s and Jimmy’s motors are gone and obviously the police have put a trace out on the registration numbers.’

Eddie was bemused. ‘They ain’t gonna do a runner and not change their fucking number plates, are they? In fact, they’re probably driving about in new motors as we speak. What I can’t understand, though, is that house is worth a fortune and is in Jimmy’s name, or I think it is. Surely he ain’t just gonna wipe his mouth of that, is he?’

‘I can’t understand their way of thinking either, I really can’t. Why wouldn’t they have reported their own son’s murder? It really doesn’t make sense,’ Larry replied.

‘They’re brainless cunts, that’s why. Anyway, getting the kids back is all I’m bothered about at this moment in time, so what we gonna do to find ’em?’

‘I’m picking Carol Cullen up at eleven o’clock and she is coming to the police station with me. She is going to tell the police that she feels the children’s lives are in danger, so they’ll have to get their backsides into gear then. I’ll also get Carol to contact the authorities to let them know that the custodial rules have been broken. We need a warrant put out for the O’Haras’ arrest immediately.’

Eddie put his head in his hands. He had a feeling that finding the O’Haras was going to be anything but easy.

‘Do you know if the children had passports, Eddie? I’m sure that’s one of the first questions the police are likely to ask me.’

‘I dunno. The only one that might know that is Frankie. Pikeys don’t really go abroad much, so I doubt Jed would have got ’em one,’ Eddie answered.

‘You’re going to have to tell Frankie what’s happened today, Eddie. I’ll call the prison, inform them what’s occurred and we’ll both go up there this afternoon. The police are bound to need to speak to her at some point very soon. They’ll want to know if she has any idea where the family might have run off to.’

‘Oh, Jesus. What am I meant to say to her, Lal?’

‘I don’t know, mate, but you’re going to have to explain things to her as best as you can. Whatever you say, do not mention that Jed is dead. We can’t chance Frankie knowing that, in case she puts her foot in it when she speaks to the police. They’ll be bang on your case if that were to happen.’

Eddie nodded. ‘Don’t you think the Old Bill will wanna question me anyway?’

‘I really don’t know, but I should imagine so. If there has been an incident around there, unfortunately for you, you will almost certainly be a suspect.’

Eddie put his head in his hands once more. ‘Me and the lads have all got alibis for Wednesday night, but say the Old Bill ain’t got a clue when it happened? We’ll all be in shit street then, won’t we?’

‘You’ll be OK,’ Larry said, in the most confident tone he could muster. He stood up. ‘I’d better dash and pick Carol up now. I need to run a few things past her before we go to the station. I’ll call Holloway and arrange a time on the way. I can meet you in the Albion car park and we can travel up together if you like?’

Eddie nodded, saw Larry out and shut the front door.

‘Are you OK? What did Larry say?’ Gina asked, putting her arms around her husband’s fit body.

Eddie held Gina tight and stroked her long, dark hair. He knew she was worried about him and he couldn’t allow that, especially with the baby on the way. He forced a big grin and pulled away from her.

‘Larry said we’ll get a warrant out for the O’Haras’ arrest and we should have the kids back in no time. And don’t you worry about me – I’m Eddie Mitchell, sweetheart.’

Frankie lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She’d felt very tearful since Babs had been taken away that morning and she still hadn’t heard any news about her friend.

Shutting her eyes, Jed’s smarmy face popped into Frankie’s mind. To say she hated her ex now was an understatement and she often beat herself up for stupidly getting involved with him in the first place. The only thing that stopped her truly hating herself and blaming herself for her mother’s death was that if she hadn’t fallen pregnant by Jed, then she wouldn’t have her wonderful Georgie and Harry. Also, her unborn baby was one of the only other things, bar Babs, that had kept her going through the long, dark days she’d spent imprisoned.

As she heard the key go in the door, Frankie sat up. ‘Have you got some news on Babs?’ she asked the screw.

‘Yep, she had an emergency C-section and now she’s got a little boy. They’re both fine, apparently.’

‘That’s fantastic news,’ Frankie said, elated.

‘And you have visitors, my dear,’ the screw announced.

‘Who? I’m not expecting anyone today,’ Frankie asked, intrigued. She wondered if it was DI Blyth with some good news for once.

‘I’ve no idea, Frankie. I’m just the messenger,’ the screw replied brightly.

Frankie followed her along the corridors. She was led into the same room she’d spoken to Blyth in, but was shocked to see her father and Larry sitting inside. She knew by the looks on their faces that this was no routine visit and she wondered if they had found out she’d told Blyth that Jed had killed her grandfather. Her heart was pounding with pure fear as she sat down.

‘Would it be possible if we could have some privacy, please? We need to discuss a rather delicate subject,’ Larry told the screw.

Frankie felt griping pains in her stomach as the screw left the room. She felt as if she was desperate to use the toilet, but was too nervous to ask. She stared at her dad. He knew, she was positive he knew. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked anxiously.

Eddie nudged Larry. He was no good at explaining stuff like this.

‘The O’Haras have left Rainham, Frankie, and have taken Georgie and Harry with them. I’ve been to the police station this morning and insisted they put a warrant out for their arrest, as they have broken the custodial agreement,’ Larry explained.

‘Whaddya mean, left Rainham? Where have they gone, then?’ Frankie asked dumbly.

‘We don’t know, sweetheart, but we’ll find ’em and get the kids back, I promise you that,’ Eddie assured her.

Frankie couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. There had to be some mistake. Why would Jed run off with the kids when he’d already been given custody of them? ‘It doesn’t make sense to me. How do you know the O’Haras haven’t taken Georgie and Harry on holiday or something? Jed wouldn’t do a runner with them, he’s too clever for that. Who told you they were actually missing?’

Eddie nudged Larry again to prompt him to tell Frankie the rest of the story. ‘It was Julie, Sammy’s girlfriend, who reported their disappearance. She’d been unable to contact Sammy, so she called the police. There was some kind of incident at the house, apparently, but the police don’t know exactly what happened yet. Their theory is that the O’Haras left quickly because of this particular incident.’

Frankie had been reasonably calm, but the word ‘incident’ filled her not just with dread but also with anger. ‘Spit it out, then. What really fucking happened? I ain’t a child any more, you know,’ she shouted.

‘The police believe that somebody was shot in Jimmy’s horse-box. They found a bullet and blood by all accounts,’ Larry said bluntly.

‘What if it was one of my babies? Say it was Georgie or Harry that got shot!’ Frankie screamed.

Eddie jumped out of his seat, crouched down and held his daughter’s shaking body in his arms. He had to put her mind at rest. She looked ill and he couldn’t leave her in this state. ‘It definitely ain’t one of the kids, babe. The Old Bill told Larry that, didn’t they, Lal?’

‘Yes, they seemed sure it was one of the adults,’ Larry assured Frankie.

‘But how do they know that? The same might have happened to Georgie or Harry what happened to Luke,’ Frankie sobbed.

Eddie gripped his daughter’s slouched shoulders. ‘Listen, it ain’t the kids, it’s either Jed or Jimmy, OK? And you mustn’t tell anyone we’ve told you that, because Lal got that piece of information on the sly and you’ll get him into trouble, all right?’

Frankie stopped crying and stared her father in the eye. She was suddenly sure he knew more than he was letting on. She turned to Larry. ‘Can I speak to my father alone for a minute, please?’ she asked coldly.