Blood Rush (Lilly Valentine) (4 page)

‘Could you repeat that?’ he says, and Demi balls both hands into fists.

Gran wipes her eyes. ‘My granddaughter is not the type of girl to be fighting in the street, Officer.’

He nods but he’s obviously unconvinced.

‘What about you, Demi?’ he locks eyes with her. ‘Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt your sister?’

Demi stares back at him, refusing to blink. ‘No.’

Eventually he looks back at Gran.

‘Let’s hope Malaya wakes up soon and she can tell us who did this to her,’ he says.

Gran’s face fills with hope. ‘And then you will bring these terrible people to justice.’

The policeman smiles but promises nothing, and Demi can feel her nails digging into the palms of her hands until they draw blood.

Lilly was late.

She was standing in the queue to pass through the metal detectors at Luton Youth Court, the two boys ahead of her
refusing
to put their mobiles on the conveyor belt.

One waved his Nokia under the guard’s nose.

‘If that machine wipes my contact list, I’m coming for you, man.’

The guard rolled his eyes and hitched up his belt.

‘I’m gonna sue you for loss of business, you get me?’ said the boy.

Lilly recognized him immediately. She’d represented him half a dozen times. Beneath the bravado was a brittle child slowly unravelling in the care system, making the inevitable descent into drugs and crime.

She tapped him on the shoulder. ‘You might have all day, Jermaine, but some of us have to work for a living.’

His face lit up. ‘What you doing here, Miss?’

Lilly opened her arms to encompass the bare brick walls, the stained carpet tiles and the crowds of young people pushing, swearing and ignoring the smoking ban.

‘I fancied a day out.’

Jermaine laughed. ‘Thought you said you weren’t doing this work no more, Miss.’

‘Just doing someone a small favour.’

Jermaine bounced back on his heels. ‘How about doing me a small favour then, Miss? My brief is one useless mother. I swear I’m gonna end up inside.’

‘No chance,’ said Lilly. ‘And if you don’t get a move on I’ll shove you in the cells myself.’

Jermaine kissed his teeth, but placed his mobile in a plastic tray and passed through into the court. Lilly followed suit, praying she didn’t set anything off.

‘Who you here for, Miss?’ asked Jermaine.

Lilly fished in her jacket pocket and pulled out a scribbled note. ‘Tanisha McKenzie.’

Both boys sucked in a breath and began dancing from foot to foot, flicking their wrists.

‘I take it you know her,’ said Lilly.

‘Man,’ Jermaine laughed, ‘everybody knows Tanisha.’

Annabelle was waiting for Lilly by the vending machine. She was wearing the same orange waterproof and looked even more incongruous amidst the pandemonium of the Youth Court. Yet she seemed perfectly comfortable, her shoulders relaxed.

‘Sorry I’m late,’ said Lilly.

Annabelle shrugged and smiled. ‘The lists are enormous. The usher says we won’t get on before eleven.’

‘You obviously know your way around,’ said Lilly.

‘When you foster teens this place is home from home.’

Lilly laughed. ‘Where’s Tanisha?’

Annabelle gestured towards a black girl sitting on the bench opposite, furiously texting on her phone.

Lilly could see where the boys’ appreciation stemmed from. Tanisha was soft and curvaceous, wearing a skin-tight T-shirt declaring ‘Holla if U want me’. Her banana-yellow baseball cap matched her enormous yellow hooped earrings, large enough to fit around a wrist.

Lilly took the seat next to her. ‘Annabelle asked me to come here today to represent you.’

Tanisha looked up. Each eyelid was completely covered by turquoise shadow. Coupled with the yellow it ought to have looked horrific, but instead the effect was vibrant.

‘Do you have any previous convictions?’ Lilly asked.

‘Some.’

‘Such as?’

Tanisha shrugged. ‘Threatening behaviour, common assault.’

‘Is this the first time you’ve been done for drugs?’

‘It was only a bit of weed.’

‘It’s still an offence, I’m afraid.’

Tanisha looked disgusted. ‘When the police stop us they
usually
just keep it for themselves.’

Lilly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

‘I’ll explain to the magistrates that you’ve had a tough time, but that you’re settled in foster care now, trying to make a fresh start,’ she said. ‘Is that okay?’

‘Whatever,’ Tanisha yawned.

Back at the vending machine Annabelle looked apologetic.

‘She does care, you know, she just doesn’t know how to show it.’

Lilly nodded and put her hand on Annabelle’s arm. ‘It’ll be fine.’

God, this place is a dump.

Jamie wanders through the Clayhill Estate. His mum always tells him not to look down his nose at ‘those less fortunate’ but it’s hard sometimes.

He comes down here once a week and it never ceases to amaze him how many girls there are pushing buggies, the babies sucking on bottles of purple juice. Why are they here, circling like scraggy birds of prey?

Dump or not, it’s better than Combined Cadet Force. At the beginning of each year everyone in the senior school has to sign up for community service. Most of the boarders went for the CCF and Jamie had followed without thinking. It turned out to be the worst mistake of his life. Being screamed at by some
sergeant-major
while you crawled on your belly in the mud was no fun at all. Jamie hadn’t lasted the first term.

When his dad got his report he’d gone ballistic.

The worst cadet I have ever had the misfortune of meeting.

Talk about an over-reaction.

So Jamie had to sign up for the Duke of Spastic’s Award Scheme instead. It’s true that some of the leaders are complete tits but it isn’t too bad. Not as bad as boot camp anyway.

The camping trips are always in boring places like Wales or Dartmoor, and there is never enough food, but every Tuesday morning he gets out of school to do some voluntary work.

Jamie has landed a spot in a Help the Aged in Luton. The old ladies that run it are pretty nice and once he’s helped them lug boxes of smelly books from the back they usually let him go early, and he spends the rest of the morning mooching around.

He goes into the Spar and rifles through the latest magazines. Cheryl Cole has had a trim and Madonna has had a nose job. Yawn.

A girl appears next to him. ‘All right.’

She pronounces it as if it were one great ‘eye’. No Rs or a T. Mrs Rafferty, head of Speech and Drama, would have a fit: ‘How we speak, and how we present ourselves say everything about us.’

What would she make of this girl in her camouflage parka with a furry hood, a gap between the ribbed edge and her tracksuit bottoms, where a roll of brown flesh peeps out?

Jamie’s met her a few times now but doesn’t know her name.

She flashes him a smile and she’s got one of those diamonds stuck to her tooth. He’s always wondered how they stay on. Why she doesn’t swallow it when she’s eating.

‘You chasing, rich boy?’

He shakes his head. After the last time he’s not touching that shit again.

‘If you change your mind you know where to find me,’ she says.

Jamie watches her walk away, her movements languid and lazy and he feels a little twitch in the pit of his stomach. Maybe he’s being a bit hasty. The other night he took too much. Got greedy. If he takes it steady he should be fine. And Benjamin
Hamilton-Hobbs
is having a party on Friday night. A little taste would be just the thing.

As if she can read his mind, the girl turns with a sneaky smile and Jamie smiles back at her.

She shouts something to a boy on a mountain bike hovering in the doorway. He can’t be more than twelve and he races off. Then she gestures for Jamie to follow her down the aisle where a woman in an apron is mopping up a pool of spilled milk. She looks up from her bucket and narrows her eyes, but the girl stares her down until she moves away.

The boy on the bike returns and skids to a halt in front of them, leaving a black rubber track mark on the newly cleaned floor.

The girl holds out her hand to Jamie. ‘Twenty.’

Jamie fishes into his back pocket and pulls out a note. The girl snatches it and stuffs it inside her basketball boot. Then the boy pulls a wrap from his mouth and presses it into Jamie’s palm. It’s warm and wet.

‘Catch you later,’ says the girl and walks away, the boy on the bike idling by her side.

Jamie pushes the drugs deep into his pocket and rushes off to the bus stop, his heart pounding.

‘Not a bad result,’ said Lilly, as they filed out of the courtroom.

Tanisha yawned loudly without covering her mouth.

‘I’ll send you a letter confirming exactly what a supervision order entails,’ said Lilly. ‘But the reality is not a fat lot.’

Tanisha put her baseball cap back on, carefully arranging the peak. She pulled a small mirror out of her pocket and checked her reflection. ‘What will happen to my grass?’

‘Sorry?’

‘The grass they arrested me for,’ said Tanisha. ‘What happens to it now?’

‘I expect it gets destroyed.’

Tanisha let out a snort. ‘More like it gets bagged up again and ends up back on the streets.’

The depth of her young client’s cynicism was no doubt meant to make her seem tough, but it struck Lilly as painfully sad.

‘Take care,’ she said. ‘And try to stay out of trouble.’

Tanisha didn’t respond so Lilly smiled a goodbye to Annabelle and turned to leave. She needed to get back to the office and the pile of divorce petitions waiting to be drafted. If she picked up a sandwich on the way, she could work through the afternoon before she had to collect Alice from nursery.

She was mentally deciding between a BLT or a panini when she caught sight of Jack picking his way through the crowds towards her. Her stomach lurched and fear made her knees bend.

‘Oh my God,’ she called out. ‘What’s happened?’

Jack pursed his brow.

‘Has something happened to Alice?’ Lilly said.

‘Not at all,’ he replied.

Lilly tried to catch her breath and leaned heavily against him.

 Jack put a strong arm around her shoulders and led her to the bench. He pressed her to sit down.

‘I’m so sorry.’ His arm was still in place. ‘I should have realized you’d be worried.’

Lilly inhaled deeply.

‘Oh God, this has nothing to do with Alice,’ he said.

Lilly nodded, relief flooding her system. ‘So what are you doing here?’

Jack cleared his throat and removed his arm. The moment of intimacy vanished.

‘Business, I’m afraid,’ he said, glancing at Tanisha who was now chatting with Jermaine, one hip jutting suggestively towards him.

‘Social Services told me I’d find Tanisha McKenzie here,’ he said. ‘I need to have a wee chat with her about the girl in hospital.’

‘She’s my client,’ said Lilly.

Jack exhaled slowly. ‘Isn’t it always the way with us?’

‘So is this the sort of chat that involves coffee and a cake, or a full body search and a caution?’ asked Lilly.

Jack’s smile was relaxed. ‘Just a few questions.’

Lilly sat up straight. Jack might be one of the most easygoing men she had ever met, but he was also a copper, and years of experience had taught Lilly that the laid-back approach was bullshit.

‘What exactly do you want to ask Tanisha?’

Jack shrugged. ‘Nothing specific. We think the injured girl was attacked by the South Side Massive and it’s possible Tanisha knows something about it.’

The South Side were notorious. Lilly flicked a glance at Tanisha. The kid was bloody difficult but Lilly wouldn’t have put her down as violent.

‘What evidence have you got against her?’

‘It’s not like that,’ said Jack. ‘We just want to talk.’

No evidence then. This was a fishing expedition. Get Tanisha yapping and hope she would trip herself up.

‘I don’t think she’ll agree,’ said Lilly.

Jack opened his palms. ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way.’

‘What?’ Lilly narrowed her eyes. ‘You’ll arrest her even though you’ve got bugger all to go on?’

‘A kid was almost kicked to death, Lilly. Who knows if she’ll ever wake up or what state she’ll be in when she does. You said it yourself last night, this gang stuff is getting out of hand.’

Lilly looked over at Tanisha who was laughing now, her head thrown back, white teeth showing. The kid was about to get caught in the middle of a shit storm.

‘I’ll get someone to represent her,’ said Lilly.

Jack raised an eyebrow.

‘I told you that I wasn’t doing these cases any more and I’m not,’ said Lilly.

The eyebrow rose higher.

‘Listen, Doctor Spock, this was a tiny job at the Youth Court, nothing more,’ she said. ‘I’ll make the call now.’

She couldn’t be sure, but Lilly thought she saw the trace of a smile at the edges of Jack’s mouth.

Demi frowns at the gas fire.

Gran only allows two bars. More than that and the key card runs out before pay day, plunging them into days without
anything
to cook on.

‘Four bars may warm your feet,’ says Gran, ‘but not your soup.’

Demi wishes Gran were here now, lecturing and wagging her finger. She runs her thumbnail up and down the metal grille, as if she were strumming a guitar, and peers into the orange glow. She fancies some toast but there isn’t any margarine left in the tub and Gran took the change from the dish in the kitchen to pay for a taxi back to the hospital.

Things didn’t used to be this tight. Gran used to work in the café at the leisure centre. After school, Demi and Malaya would go down there and Gran would give them a hot chocolate. They’d wait for her while she finished wiping the tables and listen to her big laugh fill the room.

When her hip got bad and she couldn’t do it any more, the manager gave her a big bunch of roses and everyone signed a card. Demi remembers Gran crying that night as she filled out some benefit forms.