TRAPPED (33 page)

Sheila nodded.

‘Then you
have
to believe what I’m saying – and believe this, he will never do it again. You understand me? I will never let him come near you or hurt you again.’

Maggie pulled her mother back into her and held her tight. Her father wouldn’t get away with causing pain and terror to the people she loved. For the first time in her life, Maggie Donaldson wanted something from her father; revenge.

The humid night brought light showers of rain and the news everyone had been waiting for. Frankie – who’d discharged himself – Saucers and Maggie stood in a tiny room with an oversized window, all feeling no relief from the heat. A tall man dressed in a starched suit with a London fire brigade motif on his top pocket spoke to them. ‘It looks like there was nobody else in the flat and although there’ll still have to be lots of tests, it looks like the deceased person was a woman; but we can’t be sure until we get dental records back. The person certainly wasn’t six foot odd, like your son, nowhere near it in fact.’

Maggie nodded, her face strained. ‘Gina. Oh my God, I forgot about Gina. Gina Daniels – that would make sense, she was helping to look after Harley.’

Frankie spoke up, uninterested in hearing or talking about anything apart from his son. ‘When you say it doesn’t look like anyone else was there, could it be possible …’

He took a deep breath, not wanting to say the words, but needing to know the answer. He looked at the three women in the room, all with the same expression of concern. Saucers gave him an encouraging smile and he was touched by her support, enabling him to say the next few words. ‘Is it possible you can’t find another body in the flat because he was burnt so badly his –’

The fire officer picked up on what Frankie was trying to say. ‘His body disintegrated from the heat? No sir, it does of course happen but the fire was nowhere near hot enough to do that. I’m not sure where your son is, but it’s certainly looking less and less likely that he was there.’

When the fire officer had gone, Frankie and the women were left standing in the room all quietly lost in their own thoughts. The overall feeling was one of relief. It was Frankie who spoke first. ‘I’ll wring his bleeding neck.’

Saucers burst into laughter, grateful she was able to let out some of her pent-up emotions. ‘A minute ago, Frank, you would’ve done anything to make sure he was alright and now you want to bury him yourself.’

‘Well I would’ve done anything when I thought he was dead; now I know he’s not, I want to kill him.’

Saucers looked at Maggie who was still standing quietly, her face not moving. ‘You alright babe? Maybe you should go home and have some rest.’

‘No, I’m not leaving Harley or Nicky, and I’m certainly not going home. Saucers, I want you to do me a favour, find out if my mum’s left the hospital. The only other place she’ll be is back at home. Can you take her to your flat? I want her out of the way.’

Maggie turned her head and spoke to Frankie. ‘I need your help, Frankie. Max started the fire and he needs
stopping
.’

Saucers spoke up as Frankie began to turn away. ‘Please, Frankie. If it wasn’t for you, Nicky would be dead, and if Johnny had been in the flat Max would’ve killed him. You can’t let him get away with it.’

This was the first Maggie was hearing about Frankie saving her brother; everything had happened so quickly and nothing had really sunk in. She looked at Frankie, not quite knowing what to say but then simply said ‘thank you’, hoping he’d hear the sincerity in her voice.

Frankie walked to the door and kept his back to them as he spoke. ‘Now we know everyone’s sorted we can stop this pretence. You’re Donaldsons and I’m a Taylor – and some things just aren’t supposed to be together. I’ll deal with Max in my own way once I speak to Johnny, but I ain’t teaming up with you; this ain’t
Family Fortunes
.’

Maggie ran to the door where Frankie was standing.

‘What about your granddaughter?

He turned to her with a dark look on her face. ‘Like I say, some things aren’t meant to be sweetheart. Now I’ve been very good about this whole thing, I’ve kept me mouth shut, but don’t push it. To know you and Johnny were bed mates don’t sit right at the back of my throat but I can just about handle it. What I can’t stomach is you and him having a kid. It churns my stomach to know somehow my boy’s got part of his genes in your freak of a daughter.’

The slap echoed round the room and Frankie gripped his own face, feeling the sting on his cheek. He snarled at Maggie.

‘Once. I let you slap me once. Next time I won’t be a gentleman, next time you’ll be through that wall.’

Frankie swung open the door and marched out of the room as Saucers came up to Maggie, putting her arm around her shoulder as she spoke. ‘I ain’t one to split hairs but
slapping
Frankie; not sure if that was one of your better moves.’

Lorna tried Frankie’s mobile again. It was still switched off. Her hand was shaking and she could feel the drips of perspiration running down her face.

‘It’s turned off.’

‘Keep trying, Lorn.’

‘We’re going to be murdered.’

Gypsy turned to Lorna angrily. ‘This is what happens, Lorna, when you tell lies. Maybe now you’ll tell him the truth, that it wasn’t me.’

Even in the dark and under pressure, Gypsy could feel Lorna tensing up in defensiveness. ‘This doesn’t change anything, Gypsy Taylor.’

The phone rang again and both women froze. Gypsy took a deep breath as she heard Lorna start to whimper in the dark. She hissed at her, ‘Shut up.’

They let the phone ring, hoping it’d cut off but it continued to ring. It was too much for Lorna to bear and she ran to pick it up, her voice loud and hysterical.

‘What do you want?’

‘Nine … ten, a fat dead hen.’

‘What?’

Laughter came down the other end of the phone.

‘Did you really think I’d let you lock me out? You’ve just locked us in. Surprise.’

The phone fell out of Lorna’s hand and the words froze in the air. ‘He’s in the house.’

The bang behind them made Lorna and Gypsy jump in fright. They turned around and saw a shadowed figure in the dark. As they both opened their mouths to scream, Max Donaldson stepped into the moonlight. ‘I wouldn’t do that ladies.’

He turned to Gypsy and smiled. Lorna screamed, running for the top of the stairs, but Max stood in front of her, blocking her way. She ran towards the back of the house, shrieking as she ran.

‘Nowhere to go darlin’.’

Max followed Lorna in long strides as she attempted to run, waddling from side to side towards the back room. She went to open the door but it wouldn’t open.

‘I don’t think so, do you?’

Max laughed and swung his fist into Lorna’s face, knocking her out cold. He turned and ran along the landing hearing Gypsy downstairs trying to undo the front door. It was dark but he could see her outline as she attempted to quickly undo the bolts. ‘Do you think I’m going to let you go again, Gypsy?’

Max Donaldson sneered as he approached her, cornering her in the darkness against the hall table. He reached and stroked her face. ‘It’s been a long time.’

Gypsy spat in Max’s face and waited for the inevitable hard slap which sent her reeling backwards. ‘You ain’t going to get away with whatever you’re planning, Max. Frankie ain’t going to just let you walk in here and do this.’

Max looked around and chuckled nastily. ‘Oh yeah, I can see the cavalry coming.’

Gypsy scrambled up, frightened but defiant. ‘You don’t frighten me, not now Max, because I’ve got your number marked. I see what you are. And there’s nothing you can do to me that you haven’t done before. You can’t hurt me more than you have already.’

‘There’s few things I hate more than women with a mouth on them. I’m surprised Frankie lasted this long with you. I don’t suppose you ever told him about our little adventure did you?’

‘If I had, Max, you wouldn’t be standing here now.’

‘So why didn’t you tell him?’

Max walked closer to Gypsy and for the first time he saw hesitation in her eyes. He licked his lips and moved his finger down Gypsy’s neck, stopping at the top of her blouse. She flinched and for some reason smelt petrol on him.

Max grinned. ‘Do you know what I think? I think someone didn’t tell him because they were afraid of what he’d say. Worried he wouldn’t believe you. Worried he’d think it was
you
leading
me
on.’

‘You … you, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Don’t I? I think I do.’

Gypsy stared into Max’s eyes and she knew what he’d said was right. Max smirked and started to undo the belt on his trousers. ‘I tell you what, how about you and me, for old-time’s sake. What do you say, Gyps?’

Johnny Taylor woke up – or he hoped he had. He couldn’t actually tell what was real and what wasn’t any longer. He felt as if he was on death’s door or perhaps he’d even gone through it. His head was the worst it’d ever been
on one of h
is legendaries and it felt as if his throat had swollen, not allowing him to breathe properly. The amount of alcohol he’d consumed and the lines of gear had made him hallucinate to the point of becoming frightened, which wasn’t an easy admission for the likes of Johnny Taylor to admit.

He was cold and sore and it wasn’t helping that he was lying on his back, staring up into the darkness. He could see a crack of light a few centimetres away and he supposed it was the door which led somewhere, but even the thought of having to move exhausted him.

As he lay there he heard a loud scream and raised voices. It was the motivation he needed to sit up. His head felt like a lead weight and the pain shot through his brain. He winced and was about to give up and lie back down again when he heard another scream.

Looking around, his eyes began to adjust to the darkness and he suddenly realised where he was. There were the boxes, the skylight, the tool kit which was never used and never would be. The neatly packed away toys and the red racer bicycle. He was at home. He was in the attic. How the hell he’d got there and why, he didn’t know; and trying to think about it was like looking into a black hole.

But if he
was
at home, who the hell was screaming like that? Johnny got up quietly and went to the door, still feeling slightly drunk. Cautiously he opened it and saw the house was in total darkness. Slowly and silently he felt his way down the stairs to the second floor of the house. The voices were getting louder but he couldn’t see anyone. The stairwell twisted down to the first floor landing and Johnny opened the door. He had to pull it hard, it always jammed.

Pulling it open, he saw someone at the far end of the landing.

The pain was almost too much to bear as she crept along, but no pain in the world was going to stop her trying to get the hell out of there. She must have blacked out for a few minutes and in that time, they’d gone downstairs. She could hear Gypsy’s voice and Lorna stood listening in the darkness, feeling more frightened than she had ever been in her life.

Stepping back, Lorna’s body froze as she banged into something behind her which hadn’t been there before. A hand spread its way around her face, pulling her backwards, clamping onto her mouth and cutting off her scream. Lorna struggled but the hold on her was too tight; her knees gave way and she sank to the ground as the person pulled her down. Her nose felt as if it was going to explode from the pressure of the hand on it – she could feel the blood coming down the back of her throat.

Shaking violently from pain and fear, Lorna felt her head being turned to face whoever was there. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the intruder. A dim phone light shone in her face and blue eyes stared, piercing and fixed on her. It was Johnny. He whispered in her ear.

‘I’m going to take my hand off your mouth Auntie Lorna, but don’t make a sound. Are you okay? Just nod your head.’

Lorna nodded. The moment the hand was lifted Lorna broke down quietly and Johnny noticed her face was covered in blood. Her nose had been broken. In a whisper he spoke.

‘What the hell’s going on?’

Lorna blinked her eyes, so relieved to see her nephew.

‘The man in the house, he’s …’

Lorna’s words were cut off as a loud scream came from downstairs. Straight away Johnny recognised it as Gypsy. He spoke urgently to Lorna. ‘Is there anyone else here? My dad?’

‘I don’t know where he is. No one’s answering their phone.’

‘Stay here, do
not
move, and whatever you hear don’t make a sound.’

Lorna’s eyes filled up with tears as she nodded and watched Johnny stealthily make his way along the corridor.

Johnny got to the top of the stairs, pressing himself against the wall. He tried to put the fact he was feeling dizzy to the back of his mind; he didn’t want to dwell on the knowledge he was still pissed and not as sharp as he’d liked to have been.

Even though it was dark it was hard not to be seen coming down the stairs. He wanted to surprise whoever it was; he’d have a better chance that way. He didn’t have the gun he usually carried on him and he had no idea where he’d left it so he’d have to risk going without it.

Gypsy scratched Max’s face, pushing him away as he pulled off his belt. He laughed and grabbed her as she tried to run. She was no match for him.

‘Playing hard to get?’

He pulled at her hard, ripping her top and exposing the top of her black bra.

‘Don’t make this any harder on yourself, Gypsy; you know how it’s going to end.’

Grabbing a fist of hair he pulled her to him and tried to force a kiss on her, but as he did he felt an arm lock around his throat. He instinctively let go of Gypsy and twisted around, getting the better of the person. Johnny stumbled back, struggling to keep on his feet as the alcohol whirled in his body. Gypsy screamed.

‘Johnny!’

Seeing his mother with her dress torn drove him on. He threw a punch at Max, catching his chin and unbalancing him. As Max fell to the right, Johnny saw him pull something out of his pocket.