CHERUB: The Recruit (4 page)

‘All the rooms are upstairs. Boys first floor, girls second. The baths and showers are down here,’ Rachel continued. ‘We usually have trouble getting you lads into them.’

‘My room has a shower in it,’ James said.

‘That room’s the reception for new arrivals. You only get one night in there.’

They reached the dining room. There were a couple of dozen kids, mostly in school uniform. Rachel pointed everything out.

‘Cutlery there, hot food at the bar, cereal and fruit juice. Make your own toast if you want it.’

‘Cool,’ James said.

He didn’t feel cool. The room full of strange, noisy kids was intimidating.

‘When you’ve eaten, see me in my office.’

‘What about my sister?’ James asked.

‘If she wakes up I’ll bring her to you.’

James got some Frosties and sat on his own. The other kids ignored him. New arrivals were obviously nothing unusual.

*

Rachel was on the phone. Her desk was stacked with papers and folders. A cigarette burned in an ashtray. Rachel put the phone down and took a puff. She saw James glance at the
No Smoking
sign.

‘If they sack me they’ll be six staff short,’ she said. ‘Do you want a cigarette?’

James was shocked to be offered a cigarette by an adult.

‘I don’t smoke.’

‘Good,’ Rachel said. ‘They give you cancer, but we’d rather give them to you than have you stealing them from shops. Shift my junk, make yourself comfortable.’

James moved a pile from the chair with the least stuff on it and sat down.

‘How do you feel, James?’

‘I think the sleeping pill they gave me is making me groggy.’

‘That’ll wear off. I really mean how do you feel about what happened to your mum?’

James shrugged, ‘Bad, I guess.’

‘The important thing is not to keep it to yourself. We’ll schedule some time with a counsellor, but you can chat to any of us house parents in the meantime. Even if it’s three in the morning.’

‘Does anyone know why she died?’ James asked.

‘As far as I understand, your mum was taking pain killers for an ulcer on her leg.’

‘She wasn’t supposed to drink,’ James said. ‘It’s something to do with that, isn’t it?’

‘The pain killers and the alcohol mixed up put your mum into a deep sleep. Her heart stopped beating. If it’s any comfort, your mother wouldn’t have suffered.’

‘What happens to us?’ James asked.

‘I don’t believe you have any relatives.’

‘Only my stepdad. I call him Uncle Ron.’

‘The police found him last night.’

‘They probably had him in a cell,’ James said.

Rachel smiled. ‘I sensed that the two of you don’t get on when I spoke to him last night.’

‘You spoke to Ron?’

‘Yes … Do you get on well with Lauren?’

‘Mostly,’ James said. ‘We row ten times a day, but we always have a laugh.’

‘Ron was still married to your mum when she died, even though they lived apart. Ron is Lauren’s father, so he gets automatic custody of her if he wants it.’

‘We can’t live with Ron. He’s a bum.’

‘James, Ron has very strong feelings that Lauren shouldn’t be taken into care. He’s her father. There’s nothing we can do to stop him unless there is a history of abuse. The thing is, James …’

James fitted the pieces together for himself.

‘He doesn’t want me, does he?’

‘I’m sorry.’

James looked down at the floor, trying not to get upset.

Being in care was bad. But Lauren getting stuck with Ron was worse.

Rachel walked around her desk. She put her arm round him. ‘I’m so sorry, James.’

James wondered why Ron even wanted Lauren. ‘How long can we stay together?’

‘Ron said he’d come in later this morning.’

‘Can’t we stay together for a few days?’

‘This might seem hard to understand now, James, but delaying the separation will make things worse. You’ll still be able to visit each other.’

‘He won’t look after her properly. Mum does all the washing and stuff. Lauren’s scared of the dark. She can’t go to school on her own. Ron won’t help her. He’s useless.’

‘Try not to worry, James. We’ll make regular visits to see that Lauren settles into her new home. If she’s not properly looked after, something will be done.’

‘So what happens to me? Am I stuck here?’

‘Until we find you a foster home. That means you go and live with a family that takes in children like you for a few months at a time. There’s also a chance that you’ll be adopted, which means another couple will look after you permanently, exactly as if they were your real parents.’

‘How long does all that take?’ James asked.

‘We’re short of foster families at the moment. A few months at least. Perhaps you should spend some time with your sister before Ron comes.’

James went back to the bedroom. He gently nudged Lauren awake. She came round slowly, sitting up and picking sleep out of the corners of her eyes.

‘What’s this?’ Lauren asked. ‘Hospital?’

‘Children’s home.’

‘My head aches,’ Lauren said slowly. ‘I feel all queasy.’

‘You remember last night?’

‘I remember you telling me Mum died, and waiting for the ambulance to come. I must have fallen asleep.’

‘They had to give you an injection to calm you down. The nurse said you’d feel weird when you woke up.’

‘Are we staying here?’

‘Ron’s coming to pick you up later.’

‘Just me?’

‘Yeah.’

‘I think I’m gonna spew,’ Lauren said.

She covered her mouth. James sprang back, not wanting to get sprayed. ‘There’s a toilet in there,’ he said, pointing.

Lauren dashed into the bathroom. James heard her throwing up. She coughed for a bit, then flushed the toilet. It went quiet for a minute. James knocked.

‘You OK? Can I come in?’

Lauren didn’t answer. James stuck his head round the door. Lauren was crying.

‘What’s my life gonna be like living with Dad?’ she sobbed.

James wrapped his arms round his sister. Her breath smelled like puke, but James didn’t care. Lauren had always just been there. James had never realised how much he’d miss her if she was gone.

Lauren calmed down a bit and had a shower. She couldn’t face breakfast so they sat in the games room. All the other kids had gone to school.

The time until Uncle Ron arrived was painful. James wanted to say something amazing to cheer her up and make things right. Lauren looked down at the floor, banging her Reeboks on the chair leg.

Ron arrived with an ice cream. Lauren said she didn’t want it, but took it anyway. She wasn’t in any state to argue. James tried not to cry in front of Ron. Lauren was so choked up she couldn’t talk.

‘If you want to see Lauren, here’s the number,’ Ron said.

He handed James a scrap of paper.

‘I’m having the flat cleared,’ Ron said. ‘I spoke to the social worker outside, they’re taking you round later. Any of your crap still there on Friday goes in the rubbish.’

James couldn’t believe Ron was acting nasty on a day like this.

‘You killed her,’ James said. ‘You brought all that drink to the flat.’

‘I didn’t force it down her throat,’ Ron said. ‘And don’t get your hopes up about seeing Lauren very often.’

James felt like he was about to explode. ‘When I’m big enough I’ll kill you,’ he said. ‘I swear to god.’

Ron laughed. ‘I’m quaking in my boots. Hopefully some of the bigger lads here will knock some manners into you. It’s about time somebody did.’

Ron grabbed Lauren’s hand and took her away.

James racked up the pool balls and blasted the white into them. It didn’t matter where the balls went. He only wanted a distraction from the awful stuff going around his head. He’d been playing for hours when a jug-eared twenty-something introduced himself.

‘Kevin McHugh. Dogsbody, former inmate.’ He laughed. ‘I mean resident, of course.’

‘Hey,’ James said, not in the mood for jokes.

‘Let’s get your stuff.’

They walked outside to a minibus.

‘I heard about your mum, James. That’s tough.’ Kevin craned his neck, looking for a gap to pull out into the traffic.

‘Thanks, Kevin. You lived here once?’

‘For three years. Dad went down for armed robbery. Mum had a breakdown. I got on all right with all the staff here, so they gave me this job when I turned seventeen.’

‘Is it OK?’ James asked.

‘It’s not a bad place. Look after your stuff though, everything gets nicked. First chance you get, buy a decent padlock and stick it on your locker. Sleep with the key tied around your neck. Don’t even take it off in the bath. If you’ve got cash we’ll get you a lock on the way back.’

‘Is it rough?’ James asked.

‘You’ll be OK. You look like you can stand up for yourself. There’s a few hard cases same as anywhere, just don’t wind them up is all.’

*

The flat was a tip. A lot of valuable stuff had disappeared. The TV, video and hi-fi were gone from the living room. The telephone was gone in the hall and the microwave from the kitchen.

‘What happened?’ Kevin asked. ‘Was it like this last night?’

‘I half-expected this,’ James said. ‘Ron’s been here and stripped the place. I hope he’s left my stuff alone.’

James ran upstairs to his room. His TV, video and computer were gone.

‘I’ll stab him,’ he screamed.

James kicked his wardrobe door. At least Ron had left the Playstation 2 and most other stuff. Kevin came in.

‘You’re not gonna be able to take all this,’ Kevin said, looking at the piles of stuff. ‘Your mum must have been loaded.’

‘We’d better take as much as we can. Ron says the house is being cleared Friday.’

James had a thought. He asked Kevin to start packing his clothes in bin-liners and went to his mum’s room. Ron had taken the portable TV and the jewellery box from the dressing table, but that was no biggie because Ron had stolen all the good jewellery years ago.

James opened his mum’s wardrobe and looked at her safe. There were thousands inside. Gwen Choke was a criminal; she couldn’t keep money in the bank without people wanting to know where it came from. Judging by the tools on the carpet and the scratches around the safe door, Ron had made a fairly pathetic attempt to get in. He’d be back with better equipment.

James knew he’d never break open the safe. When it was delivered it took three guys to carry it up the stairs. There was no key; you dialled a combination of numbers with the big knob on the front. The only clue James had was that one time he’d walked in and surprised his mum while she was unlocking it. She’d been holding a Danielle Steele novel and it made sense that she would hide the combination inside the kind of book he and Ron wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. But what if she’d changed the combination since then? It was James’ only chance to beat Ron to the money, so he was at least going to try.

Gwen had a handful of novels on a shelf over her bed. James found the Danielle Steele and flicked through the pages.

‘Are you all right in there, James?’ Kevin shouted from the other bedroom.

James was so tense he flew about a metre up in the air and dropped the book.

‘Fine,’ James shouted.

He picked the open book off the floor. There was a set of numbers written in the margin on the page in front of him. The book must have been opened to the same page hundreds of times. It sprung to the right place as soon as he let go. James felt luck was on his side for the first time in days. He scooted across the carpet and dialled in the numbers: 262, 118, 320, 145, 077. He grabbed the handle. Nothing happened. It wasn’t going to work. The thought of Uncle Ron getting his hands on the money made James gag.

Then he noticed a sticker under the dial with instructions on how to use the safe. He read the first instruction:

(1)
 
Dial the first number of the combination by turning the dial in an anti-clockwise direction.

James hadn’t realised that the direction you turned the dial made any difference. He dialled in the first number and carried on reading:

(2)
 
Dial the subsequent four numbers by turning the dial as follows: clockwise, anti-clockwise, anti-clockwise and clockwise. Failure to observe this procedure will result in non-operation of the mechanism.

He dialled the first four numbers.

‘What are you playing at?’ Kevin asked.

James spun around. Kevin was standing in the doorway. Luckily the open wardrobe door stopped him seeing the safe. Kevin seemed nice, but James was sure any adult who found out about the safe would make him give the contents either to the police or to Uncle Ron.