Betrayed (24 page)

‘I should get to my bed, Adrian,’ she said, more abruptly than she meant to, and saw him lower his eyes to the table. ‘I have this meeting with Wendy and Liz tomorrow. I need to be sharp. And you have a very early start.’ She went into her bag for some money.

‘No.’ He shook his head, his expression somewhere between flat and disappointed. ‘I pay. I will stay a little longer.’

She said goodnight and walked away, knowing she could not afford to look back.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Rosie was woken by the sound of her own crying. The dream had been so real she could still hear the song as the images faded. ‘Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you …’ She wiped the tears as she groggily tried to grasp at the dream again.

Christmas Eve. She was seven. A whiteout. In her bedroom Rosie was enthralled at the plump snowflakes falling like feathers on the windows then instantly melting as they slid down the glass. The pavements thick with fresh snow, twinkling under the street lamps and fairy lights from the Christmas trees dotted around the various tenement windows. She was wearing her new pyjamas and had been carried to bed by her father who had told her Santa Claus wouldn’t come until he was sure she was asleep. She’d thrown her arms around him as he tucked her in, clinging tight and telling him it didn’t matter. He was here. That’s all she cared about. He stroked her hair as she drifted
off. A little later it was the music that had woken her, and she recognised the song. ‘Embraceable You’. Her mother had told her the story many times as they’d waited for her father to come home from his travels. Rosie could sing every word of it and sometimes she and her mother would sing it together on quiet winter evenings. It had been the first song her mother and father had danced to back when they met. More times than she cared to remember, Rosie had to reach in and lift the arm off the record on the turntable on the old radiogram after her mother had fallen asleep drunk, listening to their tune. But that night, one of the few when her father actually kept his promise and came home for Christmas, she’d got out of bed as she heard the music, and peered through the crack in her door. Then she saw them, dancing slowly in the living room, swaying to the music, her mother’s eyes closed as her head rested on his shoulder, her father’s strong arms around her waist, holding her close.

‘Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you …’

But in her dream, her mother and father had melted like snow until there was nothing there, just the hiss of the fire and the scratching of the needle on the LP. And the sound of Rosie’s crying bringing her back.

She lay staring at the ceiling, trying hard to shake herself back from the pointless gloom of dwelling on the past. She should have stopped missing them by now, but the thoughts just kept coming. She missed running home from school at
lunchtime to eat porridge for lunch because that was all her mother could afford. She didn’t really care that her mum was drunk, just as long as she was there. Jesus, she even missed the hellish, crushing poverty of it all. She thought of her father and how they’d finally reconciled a few months ago, and that miserable afternoon in the cafe when he’d told her he was dying, then weeks later holding his hand as he slipped away. You’ll drive yourself crazy, woman, she told herself. Sighing, she sat up on the bed, throwing the sheet back as though casting out the melancholy. She stood up and walked naked to the balcony and opened the door.

Seville was baking and it wasn’t yet ten. She stood for a few seconds outside, watching the massive bell tower at the Giralda begin to ring out, one huge bell sleepily tumbling over, then another, and another until all fifteen chimed at the same time, signalling a frenzy of bells ringing out in churches across the city. It was an awesome sight and sound, a feat of engineering from centuries past, and Rosie wished she could lie down to the sound of church bells and go some place where her heart didn’t hurt.

She rubbed her face briskly. Adrian would be almost in Seville by now, having picked up Wendy and Liz early doors. At least she assumed he would be. There had been no phone call to the contrary. Her mind flicked back to the awkward moment last night at the cafe, and she immediately dismissed it. No room for that. She had to get her mind focused
on the day ahead. She had told Liz a rough idea of what she had in mind. If they knocked her back, she had no plan B. The niggle in her gut at what lay ahead forced her to head for a cold shower to bring her back to life.

Her mobile rang as she came out minutes later wrapped in a towel. She picked it up from the bedside table.

‘I have the two ladies,’ Adrian said. ‘We just come into Seville. Where will I bring them? To the hotel?’

Rosie thought for a second. Did she detect a brusqueness? No, it’s just how he was.

‘Yes. Bring them here, Adrian. Matt said the place is fairly empty at this time of the day, so we can maybe get a little table for lunch and have a chat. I’ll be down in ten minutes.’

Javier had organised a two-bedroom apartment in one of the backstreets in the old town for Wendy and Liz to stay for the next couple of nights so they could meet away from the crowds.

Rosie went into the coolness of the atrium bar overlooking the swimming pool where Adrian sat well away from the couple of tables that were occupied. Liz and Wendy sat beside him and she was glad to see them all looking reasonably relaxed.

‘Hello, girls … Adrian.’ Rosie took a deep breath, smiled and walked towards them. This had to be a good pitch.

Adrian nodded, and Liz and Wendy both smiled back.

‘Hi, Rosie.’ Liz stood up and embraced Rosie as though
they were old friends. She seemed confident, her usual strident self.

‘Hello, Rosie.’ Wendy hugged her surprisingly tightly.

‘How you doing, Wendy?’ Rosie asked, looking at the dark shadows under her eyes. ‘Are you okay?’

Wendy nodded. ‘I am, thanks. But I feel a bit nervous.’ She looked at Liz. ‘I’m not really sure what I’m doing, and I’m a bit scared.’

Rosie glanced at Liz who gave her an understanding grimace.

‘She didn’t sleep much last night,’ Liz said. She patted Wendy’s arm. ‘We’re going to try to relax this afternoon, once we get settled in.’

‘Good,’ Rosie said. ‘I have a little place organised, so we’ll go there as soon as you like and you can chill for a bit.’

She sat down, and when the waiter arrived they ordered soft drinks and some sandwiches.

‘So,’ Rosie said, looking at both of them across the table. ‘I want to run some things past you, Wendy. But listen, if you don’t want to be part of it, then I understand. But whatever you decide, I need you to be aware that what I’m going to say to you takes you completely into my confidence, and I’m placing a lot of trust in you by telling you this.’

Wendy nodded, biting her bottom lip.

‘I trust you.’ She looked nervously at Liz.

‘She’s all right,’ Liz said. ‘It’s just been a hard time these past few weeks.’

‘Okay.’ Rosie sat forward. ‘I want to ask you this. How do you feel about meeting Jimmy? I mean, just surprising him out of the blue. Telling him you’re here.’

Wendy swallowed. ‘I thought you would ask me that.’ She looked at Liz. ‘We talked about what you might want. And we kind of thought you would want me to meet him.’ She took a deep breath and lifted her glass to her lips and sipped a little water. ‘Rosie. Are you going to ask me to set him up with the cops or something? Because I don’t think I could do that.’

They sat in silence for a moment. Rosie glanced at Liz who raised her eyebrows almost in apology.

‘No. I wasn’t thinking of getting you to set Jimmy up,’ Rosie said truthfully. ‘I was thinking of how you want to meet him, and wondering how much influence you think you would have over him.’ She paused. ‘Ultimately, Wendy, I’d like to get McGregor nailed for what he’s doing here, smuggling drugs and everything else. But I’d also like to nail him for what he’s done to you. That’s what I’m thinking. And I was hoping that if you could talk to Jimmy and let him know that you’re alive, then maybe his whole perspective would change.’ She shrugged. ‘To be honest, I’m not even sure if that would happen. I don’t know the kind of guy Jimmy is. I only know what I’ve been told by Liz of how crazy he is about you and how much he’s hurting over you.’

‘I know.’ Wendy picked at her nails. ‘I know he’s hurting. I’m sure he thinks I’m dead. I feel terrible that I phoned him
that night and then just upped and left. I haven’t even told my parents that I’m alive. I’ve just left everyone hanging and it really upsets me, what I’m putting them all through.’ Tears came to her eyes. ‘I just want to find a way to get out of this. I want my life back.’

They sat in silence, and Rosie stole a glance at Adrian who sat with his arms folded, his face impassive, as if he was somewhere else. She watched Wendy as she wiped her nose with a napkin, and Liz put her arm around her shoulder and gave her a sisterly squeeze.

‘You’ll get through this. You will.’

‘Do you think you would have any influence over Jimmy, Wendy? Like, if you met him and he knew you were alive. Do you think he would do anything for you? And, also, do you really want to be with him?’ Rosie asked.

Wendy nodded, tears spilling out of her eyes.

‘I do. I love him. But I don’t know how he would feel about me now that big Eddie has done what he did to me. He might look at me different. It’s not my fault, I know that. But what if, somewhere in his head, Jimmy thinks I’m even a wee bit to blame? I don’t know if we can ever be together again.’ Tears ran down her cheeks. ‘Jimmy was the best thing to happen to me. He respected me. From the first night. He didn’t just want to use me.’ She sniffed. ‘Other guys have used me like that. I was so stupid. I don’t know what I was looking for. I just wanted them to like me.’ She shook her head and buried her face in her hands.

A little pang of guilt tugged at Rosie’s gut. Wendy was vulnerable, and she was putting her at risk for her own ends. She could hear McGuire in her head, telling her to get on with it, stop being a bleeding heart. It wasn’t just for her own ends. It was for what McGregor had done to people like her, and for what he’d been getting away with for years. She reached across and touched Wendy’s hand.

‘You don’t have to do any of this, Wendy. Honestly. It’s up to you. I can’t tell you how Jimmy will be with you when he sees you. Only you can have a feeling about that. But I don’t want to drag you into something. It’s up to you. If you don’t want to, we leave it here.’

Her words hung in the air and they sat in silence. Eventually, Wendy swallowed hard and looked at her, her lip quivering.

‘What do you want me to do?’

Rosie took a deep breath then let it out slowly. She poured water into her glass.

‘I want you to phone him. This afternoon. Tell him you’re here, but that he’s not to say a word to anyone. Ask him to meet you.’

‘Just like that?’

‘Yes.’

‘And then what?’

‘Then maybe get Liz to come in as well and the two of you talk to Jimmy.’

‘Talk to him about what?’

‘Well. You tell him everything you told me about what Eddie did. Then once you’ve had some time to yourself, Liz and you can both talk to him.’ Rosie looked at Liz. ‘This is where you come in, Liz. I want you to try to talk Jimmy into coming onside with us.’

‘What? You mean stick big Eddie in?’

‘Yeah.’ Rosie lowered her voice, looking at both of them and leaning closer. ‘Listen. We’re working with the cops over here. McGregor is getting done, one way or another, with these drugs. He’s finished.’ Rosie knew it was more hopeful bluff than fact, but she could see by the looks on their faces it was working. ‘If Jimmy’s got any sense he should get out now while he still can.’

‘But it’s UVF,’ Liz said. ‘You can’t just hand your resignation in. Jimmy knows that. He’ll get bumped off.’

‘That’s up to Jimmy. He’ll need to cross that bridge when he comes to it. But if he stays with McGregor right now then he’s getting locked up for a long time.’

Liz shook her head.

‘Jimmy won’t grass Eddie up. No way.’

Rosie looked at Wendy for a long moment before she spoke.

‘If you want to be with him, Wendy, ask him to make a choice. Believe me, he’s running out of options.’

Wendy played nervously with a pendant and chain around her neck.

‘Jimmy bought me this,’ she said, her eyes filling up again. ‘The week before it all happened.’ She sniffed. Then she looked Rosie in the eye. ‘I’ll do it.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

From where she was sitting, Rosie had a clear view of Donna in the cafe across the pedestrian precinct. She could see her dabbing her eyes and blowing her nose. A copy of the
Post
lay on the table.

‘No wonder she looks wrecked,’ Rosie said to Matt and Javier, as she reread the story splashed all over the front page.

KIDNAP TORTURE
, the banner headline screamed. Then below, a smaller strap headline,
Victim Had Electric Shocks to Privates
. And another smaller headline:
Hands Smashed In Vicious Beating
.

Rosie’s mobile rang and this time she knew she had to answer it.

‘Fuck me, Rosie! Fuck me!’ It was Don, his voice several octaves higher than normal.

‘I’ve just seen the paper, Don. I didn’t want to return your call until I’d seen it.’

‘Christ almighty, Rosie! The shit’s flying all over the shop here. I told you not to use the line about his bollocks getting electric shocks. They’re going apeshit here.’

‘It didn’t come from you, Don. Calm down. Listen. It came from the newsdesk.’ Rosie lied – there was nothing else for it. ‘When I phoned the tip, the night news editor came back to me with a line about the electric shocks. He said it came from one of their hospital contacts.’

‘Pish!’

‘That’s what he said, Don.’ Rosie was beginning to believe it herself. ‘So, as far as you’re concerned you say nothing. Honestly. Look, I know you’re not happy, but these things always leak out. There’s always some hospital porter or someone on the ward or a friend of the victim who lets a line like that go for a few quid. So don’t worry.’