Ring Around Rosie (6 page)

“Just couldn’t stay away, eh mate?” laughed
Dillon as he held the door open for Ted. “Missed me too much, I know. It’s ok,
nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Ted smiled. Dillon could always make him
feel better. As he walked into the familiar living room he could hear Dillon’s
mum singing to the radio in the kitchen. It was one of the sounds of his youth
and it made him feel nostalgic to hear it after what seemed ages. He’d spent a
lot of time at Dillon’s growing up, mostly when tensions were high at home
because of some
incident
involving Rosie. Ted’s refuge had been this
haven in Stockwell, where all the kids gravitated thanks to Dillon’s mum’s
warmth and understanding. Not to mention her famous chocolate brownies.

“Are you sure your mum doesn’t mind me
staying?” asked Ted, sinking into an armchair.

“Of course not, she loves having you
around. Thinks you’re a good influence on me for some reason. If only she knew the
truth eh?” laughed Dillon, sitting in the chair opposite. “Now, tell me what’s
going on.”

Ted began the long story of the past few
days. Dillon listened without interruption, his face unreadable. As he spoke,
Ted felt emotion welling inside himself, but it wasn’t the despair and sadness
he’d felt back at home, it was anger, raw and savage. Now that he was back in
London, the place he considered to be his true home, Ted felt betrayed by it.
Suddenly the place he’d trusted with his life had revealed its true identity;
it was a place that bred dishonesty and greed. Well, he decided, it owed him,
and he was going to use every piece of knowledge and every contact he had to
reach inside its festering bowels and pull his sister out.

Ted looked at Dillon, suddenly becoming
aware that he’d let his emotions run away with him and was now standing and
gesticulating aggressively, shouting about how he was going to kill whoever had
taken his little sister.

He stopped and slumped back in the chair
exhausted. He was about to ask Dillon for a beer when Dillon’s mum walked in.

“Ted!” she boomed. “I thought I heard
voices.” She waddled over and planted a beer beside each of them. Ted couldn’t
help grinning at her happy face; she was always pleased to see him. Her tiny
eyes sparkled, as she looked him up and down.

“Still need to put some weight on you,” she
laughed, her own ample body bouncing in agreement.

“Hey Mrs M,” said Ted. “Are you sure it’s
ok if I stay for a few days?”

“Always so polite, you hear that Dillon?”
she said, cuffing him playfully round the head.

“Yeah, yeah, he’s such a gent,” replied
Dillon rolling his eyes.  

“Of course darlin’, stay as long as you
like, give me a chance to fatten you up,” she laughed again, patting her own
belly.

 Ted lifted his beer in Dillon’s direction
as Mrs M left the room. “Up yer bum!” he said, taking a swig.

Dillon nodded, “Up yours.”

“The first thing we’re gonna do is give
Trig a call,” Dillon said decisively. “Then we’ll get Midge and Plank round and
all get our heads together on this one.”

Ted felt better already, he knew Dillon
would organise everything, rally the lads, make a plan. He was the sensible one
of all of them, the ‘leader’, mostly because that was the role he’d been
appointed from the age of twelve when his dad had walked out on his mum, their
three sons and a daughter. His older brother Trig had had to go out and get a
job to feed them all and Dillon had been left to help bring up his two younger
siblings. Trig had ditched the job before long and found more lucrative methods
of making money, all of which had landed him in trouble. He’d been in and out
of jail since he was seventeen. Dillon had then had to move into the position
of man-of-the-house, a job he’d done much better than his older brother. Trig
now lived in a squat but came home every so often for a shower and a good feed,
something his mum insisted on. Dillon knew he could always call on him if he
needed anything, and if anyone knew how to manipulate the system it was Trig
and his mates.

  Mrs M waddled back in with a tray of
steaming food as Dillon dialled the first number. “Here you go, love,” she
whispered to Ted as she placed a huge plate of bangers and mash topped with two
fried eggs on his lap. “This should get you started,” she winked. Ted beamed at
her and winked back; a little flirting always guaranteed dessert. Mrs M giggled
as she left the room, “Leave room for afters,” she called behind her.  

As they ate, Dillon organised the meet-up.
Trig did most of his work at night, so Midge and Plank were coming to Dillon’s
to see Ted that night, and then Ted and Dillon would go over to Trig’s the next
day. 

Ted sat back and patted his full stomach.
Thanks to Dillon he felt hopeful for the first time, like maybe there was a
chance they would be able to find Rosie, despite the sheer magnitude of London
and all its workings.

Midge and Plank arrived half an hour later,
a case of beer at the ready. Midge rarely did anything without the help of
beer, or smokes for that matter. He threw his short tubby body at Ted when he
saw him, his head only reaching to Ted’s shoulders. Ted slapped him on the back
and then rubbed his receding hairline. It had become a bit of a ritual to rub
Midge’s shiny big forehead like the genie’s lamp, so they could make a wish,
and Ted had a lot to wish for.

“Granted,” said Midge.

“Let’s hope so, mate,” replied Ted.

Plank was the opposite to Midge; he was
tall and lanky, with thick wild hair that stuck out at all angles. He was often
called the mad professor, partly because of his hair but also because he was
something of a genius. Plank rarely told many people that he could work for
NASA if he wanted because he was embarrassed it was uncool, but the others were
secretly jealous.

“Back already then? Countryside sucked eh?”
asked Plank

It was like old times. They all sat around
drinking beer and catching up on what had been happening with each other. Plank
had met a girl, a friend of Molly’s who was Ted’s ex. Her name was Gwen and she
was half Plank’s height but he didn’t care: he was in lust.

All Midge had done since he’d last seen Ted
was complete Dragon Age, and get his fastest time yet on Grand Theft Auto IV.

Then it was Ted’s turn. They all listened
to Ted tell the story again. When he’d finished there was silence as each of
them digested what they’d been told. Plank broke the silence first.

“I hate to be the one to state the obvious,
but how do we even know she’s still in London?”

Ted ran his hand through his messy dark
hair and sighed. “We don’t, I just don’t have any other leads.”

“Well it’s as good a place as any to
start,” said Midge. “Even if she was here but isn’t anymore we may still be
able to get on her trail. Bloody bastards. Any idea what they may want with
her?”

“I try not to let my head go there, Midge,”
replied Ted quietly.

“But there’s been no ransom demand or
anything?”

“No, not that I’ve heard. They wouldn’t get
much out of ransoming her anyway, we’re broke!”

Ted got up and started pacing. There wasn’t
much space between the two chairs and sofa that filled the tiny living room;
there was only a narrow strip between the backs of the chairs and the front
door that lent itself to any decent pacing action. The others swung round to
face him, their heads moving back and forth as if they were watching a
slow-motion game of tennis.

“Clever of her to leave the drawing of the
lighter,” said Plank. “I’d never even noticed it on
The Streets
album
covers before.”

“That’s coz you like Beethoven and Bach!”
goaded Midge.

“Only when I’m working. It’s soothing,”
defended Plank, his face filling with embarrassment.

“It was clever of her, but it only gets us
this far,” said Ted. “I just don’t know what to do next. I do know that time is
running out, though. Whatever we do it has to be soon, she could be suffering
right now whilst we’re sitting here and talking about it.”

“We understand mate, really, but we can’t
just roam the streets in the hope of seeing her. Trig will have some ideas, he
knows people,” said Dillon quietly, glancing towards the kitchen.

“What about the cops, what are they doing?”
asked Plank.

“Who knows,” replied Ted. “They’ll do all
the routine stuff I guess but they probably won’t have any idea where to start
looking in London either.”

Ted followed Dillon’s look at the kitchen
door. “Does she know why I’m here?” he asked.

“No, I wasn’t sure if you wanted anyone
else to know,” replied Dillon.

“Well I guess the more people that know the
more eyes there will be to spot her,” said Ted, still pacing. “You think she
knows anything that might help us?”

“It’s worth asking, I guess; you never know
with my mum.”

Ted was so tired of telling the story of
his moment of weakness, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted Dillon’s mum to know
what a hopeless brother he was. She held him in such high regard that he didn’t
want to disappoint her. He could feel his friends’ eyes boring into him,
awaiting a reaction, a decision, something. He realised he’d stopped pacing and
was staring at the kitchen door. He shook his head as if that would help rid
him of the confusion that had made a home there. He turned to Dillon.

“Do you think you could tell her? I can’t
go through it all again today.”

“Sure, I’ll go see her now,” Dillon
replied. He stood up and squeezed Ted’s shoulder as he passed.

Ted slumped down in the chair Dillon had
vacated. It was warm and comforting and he realised how tired he was. Plank and
Midge looked around awkwardly. Ted realised they must feel as helpless as he
did.

 Ted’s phone rang and he jumped on it.

“Ted?” said the voice. For a brief second
Ted’s heart leapt, it sounded so like Rosie; but then their voices were very
similar.

“Hey mum,” he said, quietly.

“How you doing, darling? Did you get to
Dillon’s ok?”

“Yeah. We’re just trying to work out what
to do next. Any news from the cops?”

“Not yet. Your dad and I are coming up to
London tomorrow. We’ll be staying at Uncle Jim’s if you need us. The police
want us nearby, in case…” her voice faded away.

“So they think she’s probably in London
too?” asked Ted hopefully.

“They think it’s the most likely place at
this time, although they’re not sure how long she’ll be here, whether whoever
has her has plans to take her elsewhere.”

“Do they have any idea who may have her or
why?” Ted wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer but he had to ask.

There was silence on the other end of the
phone.

“Mum?”

Ted heard her sigh. “They think there’s a
chance she may have got caught up with traffickers. The fact that you said you
saw them bringing kids in on a boat and they were then hiding them suggests
they were keeping them there before transporting them north; to London most
likely, at least initially.”

“I don’t understand. Traffickers? What are
they?”

“I’ve heard about them before, only
snippets on the news. But according to the police they traffic people, often
children, in and out of countries and sell them on for money.”

“Sell them? How can you sell another human
being?” Ted asked incredulous. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I don’t know darling. It’s hard for me to
get my head around too. I don’t tend to pay attention to the things that don’t
concern me or my family, so I’ve never really given it much thought before.
Makes you think though…”

“But what do they sell them for?”

Ted heard his mum sob and then a rustling.
“Ted, it’s dad. Your mum’s a bit upset.”

“Hi dad.”

“Listen, the police were vague, obviously
not wanting to worry us, but reading between the lines it seems that Rosie
could be in danger of being sold for prostitution.”

Ted was shocked by his dad’s bluntness, he
was usually so optimistic and sought out the positive in everything, but his
voice had a strange edge, like he was struggling to hold himself together.

Ted couldn’t speak; his throat had slammed
shut at the word prostitution. His little sister… how could all this have
happened so fast, and to them? Things like this always happened to other
people; nameless, faceless people in the news. People who probably deserved it,
who weren’t careful, who took their lives for granted, who didn’t pay attention
to the world around them and take responsibility for it, people who left it all
for someone else to deal with – other people, not them.

“Ted are you there?”

“I’m here dad.”

“I’m sorry to be so blunt but there’s no
point sugar coating it for you.”

“I know dad, and I appreciate it. So the
police really think she’s going to be sold with those other kids?”

Dillon walked back into the room and gave
Ted a questioning look.