For the Sake of the Children: The first Chloe Webster thriller (Chloe Webster Thrillers Book 1) (25 page)

The Timer smiled to himself as he left. Bloody kids. He loved them all and would never do anything to hurt them. It had always been his weakness, and when his own girls came along it just reinforced the feeling. Knowing George would be okay with the girl and her father, he now had to think of himself. It was time to go home and get his family out of here. Once they were safe, he could think about dealing with Drabble. He wasn’t sure yet exactly how he’d do that, but he knew it had to be done if he ever wanted to live without having to look constantly over his shoulder.

He strolled out into the cool air, confident he was safe for the time being. Drabble had gone, Jez was dead, as were the two thugs at the club. So that just left Mickey. Mickey! He hadn’t given the lad another thought after he’d entered the warehouse. Where the hell was he?

He ran back into the old building and quickly checked in the abandoned rooms. They were all empty as he expected. He noticed the girl on the phone as he passed by and knew he had to get out of here soon. Running back outside, he scanned the yard at the back of the warehouse.

‘Mickey!’ he called. ‘Mickey!’

And then he saw him. He ran over to where Mickey lay, dropping to his knees and taking his friend’s head in his hands.

‘Mickey? Mickey? Wake up son, come on. Mickey!’ But he knew it was pointless. There was no sign of life. His body was already cold from the freezing winter air and a huge amount of blood had soaked the front of his jacket. A gaping wound across his neck looked angry and raw in the fading, late afternoon sunshine.

‘Ah, Jesus Mickey. What have you done?’

It had to be Drabble. They must have run into each other when Drabble left. Mickey would have thought he could take him, but in truth he never stood a chance, especially without a gun. Drabble was not only big and strong, but he was a street-fighter. He’d grown up on some of the toughest streets in the city, and he knew how to look after himself.

The Timer laid Mickey back down on the ground and walked away. Any doubt about his next move was gone. He had to get rid of Drabble. He owed it to Mickey. He owed it to the girl and her father. And he owed it to himself.

A pitiful groan told them that Ben was starting to come round. He rolled onto his side and looked over at the three of them sat waiting for the police to arrive. Chloe could see that his jaw was either broken or dislocated. It certainly didn’t look right in any case.

‘Why?’ she said, simply.

‘I had no choice.’ He winced as he spoke, clearly in considerable pain. His jaw didn’t move with the words, which were slurred and difficult to comprehend. ‘I didn’t want to get involved but you’ve seen what they’re like. They never take no for an answer. Ever.’

Chloe felt just a tinge of sympathy. In a way they’d both fallen into the same trap. The wrong place at the wrong time. But she never would have become an integral part of the gang as Ben seems to have done.

‘What about Ray? Is he involved in all this too?’ His answer surprised her.

‘No. Ray’s just a difficult person to get along with. He’s not a bad man; he just likes to do a good job for his clients. He’ll get into trouble when the authorities start crawling all over this, but only for being stupid and closing his eyes to some pretty obvious signs.’

‘And Drake?’

‘No, he’s as straight as they come. Too busy to notice what was going on around him.’ He winced again and held his jaw. ‘My head hurts.’

‘This is very serious stuff you’ve been messing about with you know. I mean, children? What were you thinking Ben?’

But he didn’t say anything else. He rested his head on the concrete, closed his eyes and lost consciousness. Chloe shuffled in her chair trying to get comfortable. George wouldn’t let go of her and his weight was starting to take its toll. Her father sat next to her silently, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

The distant sirens were a welcome sound, quickly becoming deafening wails as blue lights flashed into the room from outside the window. Several burly officers streamed in and before long Ben was handcuffed and being taken away on a stretcher. A policewoman and a female social worker approached Chloe and asked her about the child. She explained who he was and they made to take him from her.

‘No!’ cried George and hung on even tighter.

Chloe put her mouth to his ear and spoke gently to him.

‘George, you need to go with these people. You are safe now I promise. I need to go to hospital to see a doctor and they’ll make me better. You do want me to get better don’t you George?’

‘Yes,’ he said simply, and released his grip. ‘Will you come and see me?’

‘Of course I will silly. And we need to find out how your mu…’ She stopped, suddenly remembering that Chelsie had been put into a coma. She looked at the social worker who smiled and nodded at her knowingly. ‘We need to go and see your mummy.’

‘Yes! Mummy!’ And with that he happily clasped the hand of the social worker and headed off to an ambulance.

A couple of paramedics checked that Chloe had no obvious neck injuries and then helped her to her feet. She addressed the policewoman who was still there, no doubt waiting to question her. ‘Have you dealt with Mr Lightbody at the local authority? I told you about him on the phone.’

‘Don’t worry, Chloe, it’s all in hand. George is safe and everyone is being questioned. We’ll sort it all out. I’ll need to speak to you, and your father too, once you’re settled in hospital. I’ll follow you in the ambulance.’

Good. That gives me just enough time to decide what I’m going to say,
thought Chloe.

Chloe finally felt like it was all over as she relaxed on the stark white hospital bed. Her father lay in the next bay and a young doctor was checking him over behind a plastic curtain. Chloe herself had been given the all clear. She would probably have a stiff neck for a few days but the discomfort would fade, as would the redness and bruises around her throat. Her broken nose might not ever look the same again but it would mend in time. On the other hand, the memory of the incident would take much longer to heal. Every time she closed her eyes she was back in
that
room, swinging on
that
rope, while the two men watched and jeered. Whoever Mr Crawford was, she owed him her life. And her father’s life. He was undoubtedly next on their list. She shuddered and looked across at her father as the doctor pulled back the curtain and headed off down the ward.

‘Is everything all right dad? What did the doctor say?’ she asked, trying to hide the concern in her voice.

‘She said I’ll be fine. A good number of bruises and a cracked rib or two; nothing that won’t heal. We were lucky there kiddo, it could easily have gone the other way.’ His voice was unsteady and he too was clearly still haunted by the whole thing. ‘Who was that guy who saved us?’

‘I honestly don’t know. I’ve come across him before at work, but he’s definitely not who I thought he was.’

‘Hello Chloe, I’m PC Hutchings. The doctor said you were up to answering a few questions now.’ The policewoman from the warehouse breezed in and pulled up a plastic chair. ‘I won’t keep you long. I think we might have spoken once before on the telephone? About Miss Swanson?’

‘Yeah, I think we probably did. What do you need to know?’ Chloe was exhausted and really didn’t feel like doing this now. ‘I’m really tired.’

‘I’ll try not to keep you long. I just have a few questions. First of all, I guess I’d like to know who’s responsible for the three bodies at the warehouse where we found you. Any information you can give me would be…’

‘
Three
bodies?’

‘Yes… Oh sorry, you probably don’t know yet. Mr Howson…
Ben
Howson… he died shortly after being admitted here. He took a nasty blow to the head I think. It resulted in a bleed on his brain and he never regained consciousness apparently. You knew him didn’t you?’

‘I did, yes. We worked together.’ Chloe felt genuinely sorry. She still believed he had become involved in something which had snowballed out of control. After all, she was wrapped up in the same thing herself. Did they really ever have a chance to get out? She’d tried but it had almost cost her dearly.

‘And the third?’ she asked wearily. ‘You said there were three bodies.’

‘Yes, as well as the man inside the warehouse we found the body of a younger man outside. Do you know who that might be?’

‘No I don’t, sorry. But a man had left the warehouse a little while before you arrived. Mr Drabble they called him. But he wasn’t what I would call young.’

‘Ah yes, we’re familiar with Mr Drabble. He would never have told you his name unless he was sure you weren’t going to be around to repeat it. We’ll need you to testify against him, once we’ve found him of course.’

‘Fine,’ Chloe didn’t care what she was agreeing to; she just wanted it all to be over.

PC Hutchings checked back through her notes, tapping her pencil on her notebook as she did so.

‘So if Drabble left earlier, and you never saw the young lad outside, who killed Howson and the other guy?’

‘They killed each other,’ said Chloe confidently. Her father looked across at her, but she ignored him. ‘Ben had a change of heart and tried to back out and there was a fight. Jez kicked him and he fired a shot which must have hit Jez in the head. At least, that’s what I assume from the injuries. Of course, I wasn’t paying too much attention at that stage, seeing as though I was dangling on the end of a rope.’

PC Hutchings went quiet again and made a clicking noise with her tongue at the top of her mouth.

‘So who cut you down?’

‘Ben did. He cut the rope and freed my father, and then he collapsed. To be honest it’s all a bit of a haze really.’

The policewoman turned to Chloe’s father.

‘Is that how you remember it Mr Webster?’

‘To be honest I wasn’t looking, love. My daughter was hanging from a rope in front of me and I chose not to watch. I’m sure you’ll understand that.’

‘Oh I do Mr Webster. There are just a couple of things that don’t quite add up. You see, the only gun we found was tucked into the other man’s belt. Why would Ben put it there after he’d used it? Also, no knife has been recovered from the room, so I’m a little unsure as to how he could have cut you down.’

‘Well perhaps I’ve not remembered it exactly right. As I say, it was a very distressing time. They were arguing and fighting and I heard a gunshot. Then I dropped to the floor when the rope was cut, or broke, or whatever. ’ Chloe yawned and slid down into her bed. ‘Can we do this another time? I’m so tired.’

‘Okay Miss Webster. Listen, thank you for your help. We’ll get looking for Drabble. I
will
need to speak to you again, but I’ll leave you and your father in peace for now.’

As the policewoman left the room, Jack raised his eyebrows expectantly, a half-smile on his face.

‘He
saved
us dad. And George. I dread to think what would have happened if he hadn’t turned up. Whoever he is, I’m not about to be responsible for locking him up for twenty five years if I can help it.’

Her father smiled. She was so loyal, and he loved that about her. ‘That’s my girl,’ he said.

‘Chloe!’ squealed George with delight as he pulled away from the social worker and ran down the ward.

‘Hello little man. How’re you doing?’ Chloe found herself smiling for the first time in a while. George leapt onto her bed and wrapped his arms around her, causing her to wince as her neck jolted.

‘I see you’re okay then George. Have you seen the nice doctor.’

‘Yep. He gave me a lollypop.’

‘Lucky you.
I
haven’t been given a lollypop.’

George looked up at her. ‘Haven’t you? I’ll go and get you one.’

She laughed and hugged him tightly. She really had grown fond of the boy over the last couple of days and was relieved to see that he had apparently came through the recent events unscathed.

‘Come on George, we need to go.’ The social worker was firm but not unpleasant.

‘Where are you taking him?’ asked Chloe.

‘To see his mother.’ She mouthed the words at Chloe so as not to ruin the surprise for George.

‘I don’t want to go. I want to stay with Chloe.’

Chloe shuffled up the bed to a sitting position and gently eased George on to her so that he was sitting on her legs and looking her in the eyes.

‘Do you know what George? I think you’re really gonna like the place you’re going to now. This nice lady’s got a brilliant surprise for you. Why don’t you go and see what it is and then come back and tell me all about it.’

‘But I like it here.’ He looked so forlorn that Chloe wanted to hug him and tell him that he could stay here and that he didn’t have to go with the social worker. But she knew he had to go, and she knew he would be glad that he
had
gone.

‘Go on George. Go and see what the nice lady has for you. And if you don’t like it, you can come straight back here. Is that a deal?’

‘Promise?’

‘I promise. And I haven’t broken any of my promises yet, have I George?’

The trust that the boy had in her was not lost on Chloe and she swallowed the lump that appeared in her throat. He climbed off the bed and took hold of the social worker’s hand again, waving at Chloe as he ambled out of the ward.

And he never came back.

Chloe knew that was a good thing. George had been reunited with his mother; he was where he belonged, safe at last and with the person who loved him the most.