Behind a Closed Door (The Estate, Book 2) (4 page)

 ‘He rang my mobile,’ Charlotte spoke eventually. ‘I was having a lie down. I’d had a shit night with Poppy. She’d kept me awake for most of it and then Callum got me up at the crack of dawn with tummy ache. I found out later that when the phone rang, Jake had picked it up. It was easy to get the street name out of him. Nathan asked a woman who was in her garden if anyone had moved in recently and the stupid cow pointed me out.’

Josie sighed loudly.

‘He threatened to take my kids!’ Charlotte raised her voice.

‘I wasn’t blaming you.’

‘No, but you’re judging me, aren’t you? Your sort always does.’

‘Not all of us do that, Charlotte.’

The baby squirmed. Charlotte settled her into the crook of her arm. ‘He’s not taking my kids,’ she said defiantly. ‘I won’t let him do that.’

‘He wouldn’t be able to do anything if you’d press charges against him,’ Josie urged, raising her voice over the twins crashing their cars together. ‘He’d be locked up for a long time, the injuries he’s caused you before.’

 ‘No, I won’t do it.’ Charlotte shook her head. ‘What if he gets off with it? I’ll be turfed to another new town, new neighbourhood, new everything with nothing from a previous life. No furniture, no money, no one to turn to.’

‘But wouldn’t you like it to be over?’

As the boys’ cries became noisier, Charlotte cracked. ‘Will you pair shut up with that racket before I smack both of your arses!’ she screamed. ‘What do I have to do to get some peace around here, for fuck’s sake?’

‘Hey, come on now,’ Josie tried to calm the situation. Both Callum and Jake hadn’t taken any notice of their mother’s outbreak, but little Joshua had burst into tears.

Charlotte looked at Josie with loathing. ‘You have no idea what it’s like,’ she said. ‘I’ve moved three times in a year to get away from him and each time he finds me again. Each time, it gets worse. I can’t keep moving and I’m sick of being the one who has to do everything. And it’s not good for the kids.’

‘So what
do
you want to do about him?’

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders in resignation. ‘I don’t know, but I’m fed up of running. Even a harassment warning doesn’t stop him. I miss my family. Maybe I should go back to Leeds and settle down near them. Maybe Nathan wouldn’t want to follow me there.’

Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe next time he’ll give you one slap too many and there’ll be no one to look after the kids. Josie shuddered and kept her thoughts to herself.

‘I’ll help you,’ she said, ‘whatever you decide to do. In the meantime, I’ll fit you the panic buzzer I’ve brought with me that will link you to our control room. If Nathan arrives and you don’t want to see him, press it, and if we can, we’ll get a police officer to attend as soon as. And if it’s office hours, I’ll do my utmost to attend myself.’

Charlotte looked away. Josie knew she’d probably heard it all before. Lord knows, she wished there was more she could do about it, but there were only so many hours in a day.

And anyway, who was she to dish out advice? In some ways, she was no different from Charlotte – wasn’t she ruled by the mood swings of a man?

CHAPTER FOUR

‘Mummy, can I watch the penguins?’ Emily shouted up from the bottom of the stairs.

Kelly stretched out her legs. Through tear-swollen eyes, she stared at the clock on the bedside table. Half past seven: the day had hardly begun.

‘Okay,’ she shouted back, ‘but be careful with the DVD.’

‘I’m not a baby!’

Kelly had to agree. It didn’t seem a minute since Emily had been born; now she was due to start school in September.

Moments later, Emily came running into the bedroom. ‘Mummy! Where is it? I can’t find it anywhere.’

‘In a minute, Em.’ Before she could complain, Emily tore off again.

Sighing heavily, Kelly pulled away the duvet and then promptly pulled it back again. What was there to get up for? It would have been different if Scott had been lying beside her. Usually she’d get up around eight, leaving Emily to climb into her empty space and flick on the portable television. But that had all changed since he’d been sent to prison.

‘Mummy!’

‘I’m coming! Have you looked under the settee?’

‘I can see Jay’s car.’

This time Kelly got out of bed quickly. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a jumper, wondering what he wanted this time. She’d refused to speak to him when he’d called around last week after the court hearing.

Kelly opened the front door. ‘What do you want?’ she snapped.

Jay hovered on the path for a moment, his hands thrust deep into his coat pockets. ‘Can I come in?’ he asked eventually.

‘No, I don’t want you calling when Scott isn’t here.’

‘I’ve got something for you,’ his foot tapped on the door step, ‘and I’d rather not give it to you here.’

Kelly sighed but held open the door.

‘Hiya, Jay,’ Emily greeted him as they went through into the living room. ‘Daddy’s not here. He’s gone to work away, for a very long time.’

Scott had told Emily that she’d need to be a good girl if he had to go away for a while. He didn’t want to see her if he was sent down and Kelly wouldn’t take her anyway. She felt Emily was too young to go into a prison environment, even though it would be an open prison. In fact, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to go there herself yet. Regardless, with any luck, he’d be out in three months – if he kept his nose clean.

‘You’ll just have to put up with me, little monster, won’t you?’ Jay told the little girl. He nudged her gently, almost knocking her over. Emily giggled loudly.

Jay Kirkwell was twenty-eight with stylish, dark spiked hair, olive skin and a tall, thin physique. Of the three brothers, Kelly liked him the most; she tolerated all of them, for Scott’s sake, but Stevie and Michael were rough, more aggressive. Jay had a softer side to him. He would always use his mischievous grin to try and make her smile.

But he would get nowhere trying that technique today.

Work shy hands pushed a white envelope into hers. ‘There’s five hundred quid. It’s to help out, while you’re on your own.’

Kelly reached inside and pulled out a handful of twenty pound notes. All at once she realised that Scott even had a contingency plan. Just how big had that last job been?

She slumped down on the settee. ‘Why weren’t you caught?’ she questioned Jay sharply.

‘Because I wasn’t there.’

‘Come off it. Wherever Scott was, you were never far behind. And your brothers had been on the job, too. You’ll be telling me it was your night off next.’

‘No. I –’

‘Don’t tell me that you weren’t involved – you went slinking off to the kitchen beforehand, to talk to him about
the
job
.’

‘That’s not how it –’

Kelly held up her hand to quieten him but Jay continued anyway. ‘I know you’re angry with me. You’re right, I couldn’t stop them. But –’  

‘I lost count of how many times I begged Scott to go straight but once a thief there’s always another better opportunity that’s a dead cert. At least we managed to spend Christmas together as a family.’

‘Three months is nothing, it’ll go by in a flash. Scott will be –’

Jay knew he wouldn’t get through to her so he left the sentence hanging. She had every right to be angry with him. He hadn’t been able to stop them.  

Jay wasn’t looking at her now, but Kelly still glared at him anyway. She was too angry to speak. It didn’t seem fair; two of his brothers and her partner were in jail and he was free to do as he pleased.

‘Is that all?’ she asked, when they’d been sitting without conversation for a while.

Reluctantly, Jay got to his feet. ‘Suppose so.’ He turned back before reaching the door. ‘You can ring me anytime you need help. Don’t push me away.’

Jay had penetrating eyes, the deepest of blue irises that would make the harshest of women fall under his spell in seconds. But they were wasted on Kelly. She stared back until he lowered his gaze.

‘I don’t want to ring you, I don’t want your help, and,’ she thrust the envelope roughly back into his hands, ‘I don’t want the money.’

‘Kelly, it’s dog eat dog out there. You’re going to need help, whether you like it or not.’ Jay held out the envelope until Kelly reluctantly took it from him again.

‘Give me a bell if you need me,’ he reiterated.

Sinking down on the settee once he’d gone, Emily jumped up beside her mum and snuggled into her chest. She began to play with her hair.

‘I like Jay, Mummy,’ she stated. ‘Will he come again?’

Kelly sighed. ‘I don’t know, Em, but we’ll cope on our own.’

Content with this, Emily turned her attention back to the penguins.

Kelly’s eyes glistened with tears as she realised how uncertain her future had become in the space of a few days. She knew the coming weeks would be tough but, despite what Jay thought, she could cope on her own until Scott was released. Well, she could as soon as she had the appointment with Josie Mellor out of the way.

Josie had to admit to being pleasantly surprised at the immaculate condition of 41 Patrick Street as she looked around the upstairs rooms. It never failed to amaze her how some families on benefits did better for material things than she herself did with two full time wages coming in. Everything looked brand new: brown leather settees, a large widescreen television with built-in DVD recorder, modern wallpaper and curtains, the latest collection of vases, candles and picture frames. It would be tough for
her
to move out, never mind Kelly.

‘This looks lovely,’ she tried to jolly her up as they went from bedroom to bedroom. ‘And downstairs is equally as nice.’

‘I still can’t believe you have to check it at all.’ Kelly reached for Emily’s hand. ‘How can you live with yourself? I’ve been here for five years and I’ve never caused you any trouble.’

‘You’d be surprised at the things I’ve seen when tenants have abandoned properties.’

Kelly rolled her eyes. ‘Like what exactly?’

‘Walls knocked down, doors blocked in, fires and kitchens ripped out,’ said Josie. ‘That’s why we introduced the tenancy conditions. Anything done without permission needs to be brought back to standard or we’ll re-do the work and issue a charge.’

‘I hope you’re not referring to me. Me and Scott wouldn’t do –’

‘No, I’m not referring to you at –’

‘But you are going to make me move into that heap of junk you call a flat in Clarence Avenue?’

‘I know it’s not ideal,’ Josie tried to sympathise without sounding patronising, ‘but you can make it homely. Then, when you’ve lived there for a while as a registered tenant, you can go on the transfer list and move somewhere else.’

‘And the chances of ever getting to the top of that list are…?’

‘That will be up to you, and how Scott behaves when he comes out of prison.’

‘Is Daddy in prison, Mummy?’ Emily tugged on Kelly’s hand.

‘No, he’s not, Em,’ Kelly reassured her. She stared coldly at Josie. ‘Can you at least try and be careful what you say?’

Josie didn’t falter. ‘This isn’t my doing. Things have to change. I know you don’t like it but that’s the way it is. Scott must have known the risk with every job he did and you didn’t say no to a life surrounded by material wealth because of it, did you? So you’ll have to make the best of your time there.’

‘But why Clarence Avenue? Can’t we move to somewhere else?’

‘No. When Mr Johnstone signed the tenancy agreement on Patrick Street, the only probable reason he managed to get a three-bedroomed house was due to low demand. We had a huge problem letting properties a few years ago but rising house prices have forced more people onto the renting ladder. Clarence Avenue is all we have for you at the moment.’

‘They’re both doss holes, if you ask me,’ Kelly argued. ‘I can’t believe that you think I’d want to live in
any
of them.’

‘Like I told you yesterday, you have no choice. It’s either Clarence Avenue or you can find yourself somewhere to live. I think it’s better if you go with the first choice, don’t you?’

Later that afternoon, Kelly walked briskly up Clarence Avenue, pushing against the freezing wind. She held on tightly to Emily’s hand as she skipped along, singing a nursery rhyme. They drew level with the first flat she’d seen yesterday and Kelly shuddered, remembering the inside of the property. The walls had been nicotine yellow, a shade she’d never seen on a colour sample chart from any DIY store and it had smelt like someone had used the place as a toilet.

Kelly chanced a quick look at the garden as she marched past. The weeds that had survived the winter had overtaken what looked like a rockery embedded in the middle of the postage-stamp sized garden. The obligatory mound of black waste bags formed another corner display, their contents shred across the path. Dried up baked beans, remains of a roast dinner and… urgh, she didn’t want to think about the rest. At least the inside of the flat she’d decided to take had seemed a little more habitable.