No Matter What (54 page)

“What about him?”
 
They both looked over at the sound of India’s voice.
 
She was standing in the open doorway, now fully dressed, Kenny’s jacket covering her shoulders.

“What
about
Terry?
 
Reece?
 
What about Terry?
 
What’s happened?”
 
Her voice was full of panic as she looked at him, and Michael reached out to take her hand but she pulled it away, still staring at Reece.
 
“What’s happened to my brother, Reece?
 
Please, you’re scaring me now.”

Reece knew he had no choice but to tell her, even though he could see the panic in her eyes.
 
Panic he couldn’t avert any longer.

“We’ve got to get to the hospital, sweetheart.
 
Kenny said we need to get there as fast as we can.”

“Kenny?”
 

More confusion crossed her face and Reece didn’t want to tell her what else Kenny had told him, but he had to.
 
She had to know because she had to be prepared for what she was going to have to deal with.

“Terry, he ... he’s been shot.”

“Oh, Jesus!” Michael sighed, reaching out for
India
’s hand again and this time she took it, looking at him with such fear in her eyes it almost choked him.

“No,” she whispered, shaking her head.
 
“No. They’ve got it wrong, that’s wrong, it can’t be Terry, he’s here.
 
He’s here, at the party.
 
Isn’t he, Michael?
 
He’s here.”

Michael looked at Reece, and they both knew that she was going to need them to be the strongest they’d ever been, and they were going to have to find that strength quickly because she was sinking fast.

“Vince is sorting everything out up at the house, but we really need to get to the hospital,” Reece said, to Michael really, because
India
had almost blanked out, her eyes empty, just staring ahead.

“It’s not him,” she whispered.
 
“Kenny’s got it wrong.”
 
She looked up at Reece and the look on her face almost broke his heart.
 
“Reece?
 
Tell me Kenny’s got it wrong.
 
Please.”

Michael squeezed her hand so tight, catching the look of pain that crossed Reece’s face as he spoke.

“I can’t do that, sweetheart.”

She looked at Michael, a look that asked the same question, a look that begged him to tell her this wasn’t happening and it tore him apart.
 

He kept hold of her hand, pulling the jacket around her as she started to shiver.
 
“We need to get to the hospital, baby, ok?
 
We’ll know more when we get to the hospital.”

She nodded, almost looking past him into the darkness beyond, and he just hoped that she could get through this.
 
He hoped more than anything that they all could.
 
Because what lay ahead of them - they had no idea.

***

Charley sat staring at the face of the detective in front of her.
 
She wasn’t even sure she was awake, infact, she really wanted to close her eyes, open them again and find out that she was back in
Newcastle
and that none of this had ever happened.

“Charley ... can you tell us what happened tonight?”
 

The detective’s voice was kind but she could tell that he wanted answers.
 
All she could remember was running towards Terry then two loud cracks piercing the air as she was grabbed from behind and bundled back inside the building.
 
The next thing she knew there were police surrounding the place, the sound of sirens deafening as confusion seemed to emulate from everyone around her, but she couldn’t remember anything concrete.
 
Terry was in a critical condition though.
 
That much she’d been told.
 
And without a shadow of a doubt she knew who’d done that to him.

“It was Jimmy,” she said, her voice almost robotic as she stared down at her clenched fists on the table in front of her.

“Did you
see
him do it, Charley?
 
Did you actually
see
him do it?”

The questions were being fired at her constantly and she was tired and confused and frightened but she was trying her best to help them with what little she knew.
 
They had Jimmy Cash in custody, they had him behind bars and for that she was grateful.
 
But she also knew they needed information to keep him there.

Charley looked up at the dark haired detective.
 
He had a kind face.
 
She hadn’t seen many kind faces lately.

“I know he did it.
 
I just know he did.”

The detective sighed, taking a drink of water from the glass beside him.
 
“Ok Charley, listen to me.
 
Tell me everything you know about Jimmy Cash and just why he might have done this to Terry Steven.
 
Just tell us everything you can.”

And that was all she
could
do.
 
Tell them everything.
 
Tell them every sordid, miserable detail of her time with Jimmy.
 
And just hope it was enough to keep him out of her life, for good.

***

For most of the journey to the hospital
India
sat staring out of the window, watching as the world around her carried on, oblivious to everything they were going through.
 
But once they pulled up outside the hospital - where reporters and TV cameras had already gathered - she seemed to find a strength she didn’t know she had, a determination she’d dragged up from somewhere inside, and despite both Michael and Reece’s best efforts, they couldn’t stop her from getting out of the car and running, pushing past everyone who got in her way and just running, along hospital corridors, through every door that led to wherever her brother was lying, running until she finally found Kenny and he had to grab her as she came crashing through the double doors, pulling her into his arms, desperately trying to stop her from running straight into the room where Terry was because he needed to talk to her first.
 
She couldn’t just go on in there.
 
She needed to speak to someone, she needed to know what was happening, she needed to know what was going on and what she was facing here.
 
She couldn’t just go on in there.

“Where is he, Kenny?
 
Let me see him.”

“Listen to me,
India
, wait!
 
Just wait a second, please.”

She looked at him, stopping the struggle to get out of his grip for a second.
 
“I want to see him, Kenny.”

“I know you do, I know that, but you can’t just go rushing in there ...”

“He’s my brother.”

“You need to speak to the doctor,
India
.”

She stared at him. “
You
tell me.
 
You’ve been here with him so
you
tell me what’s going on.”

She turned round as Reece and Michael ran into the room and Kenny let her go, letting Michael take over.

“It was Jimmy Cash,” Kenny said, watching
India
’s face.
 
It was almost expressionless.

“He’d gone to get Charley,” she said, her voice monotone.
 
Then she looked up at Kenny.
 
“Hadn’t he?
 
He’d gone to get Charley.”

Kenny nodded, and for the first time that night
India
felt the tears start to stream down her face.

“Jimmy shot him.
 
Twice,” Kenny went on.
 
“I didn’t see it happen, I wasn’t there, but I found him.
 
And I know it was Jimmy.
 
It had to be.
 
Terry he ... he’s on a life support machine.
 
They don’t know ...” He felt his voice cracking and he had to turn away from
India
for a second because the look on her face was killing him.
 
“They don’t know if he’s going to make it.
 
That’s why they needed you here as soon as possible.”

India
clung onto Michael, the tears blinding her vision as the shock of it all started to hit home and he had to hold her up as her legs almost buckled underneath her.
 
He looked over at Kenny who indicated the room to their right.
 
The blinds on the window were closed and the door slightly ajar, the nurses station directly opposite.

“I’ll go and talk to someone,” Reece said quietly, every part of him aching to take India away from this and make it all go away, if only he could do that, because the pain was just too much.
 

Michael lifted
India
’s chin up so she was looking at him, wiping tears from her face that were falling quicker than he could cope with.
 
“Come on, baby.
 
I’ll stay with you, ok?
 
If that’s what you want.”

She nodded, clinging onto his hand as they followed Kenny into the darkened room where her brother lay still and lifeless in a bed in the centre, various wires and leads hooking him up to the ventilator that was keeping him alive and she had to look away for a second, her hand flying to her mouth as more tears streamed down her face.
 
The only sound was the steady beep of the machine, and as
India
turned to look at him again, she couldn’t help thinking how peaceful he looked.
 
Like he was asleep, that’s all, like he was just asleep.

She let go of Michael’s hand and walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge of it, taking Terry’s warm hand in hers, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

“Hey, you.
 
You’re not supposed to be here, you know that don’t you?”

“
India
...”

She looked up at Kenny.
 
“Don’t tell me he isn’t going to wake up, Kenny.
 
Don’t tell me that.
 
Don’t.”
 
She turned back to Terry, stroking his dark hair and squeezing his hand.
 
“You can’t leave me, Terry.”
 
Tears fell onto his handsome face as she leaned over him, willing him with all her heart to open his eyes and tell her this was all just a bad dream.
 
“You can’t go.
 
Who’s going to teach this little one in here to play football?
 
Huh?”
 
She took his hand and placed it on her stomach.
 
“Who’s going to do that if you’re not here?”

Michael couldn’t stand it, he couldn’t stand watching her, it was breaking his heart.
 
He wanted to pull her away and stop her from going through any of this but what could he really do?
 
Let her do whatever she needed to.
 
That’s all he
could
do.

He followed Kenny back outside, leaving
India
alone with her brother.
 

Reece was standing by the nurses’ station and as soon as Michael looked at him he shook his head slowly.
 
“She needs to say goodbye,” Reece said.

“There’s absolutely nothing they can do?” Michael asked, knowing it was a pointless question but needing to ask it all the same.
 
For
India
’s sake.

“It’s only the ventilator keeping him alive.
 
The doctor’s they ... they wanted to tell her, but I think it’ll be better coming from us.”

Kenny sat down and put his head in his hands.
 
“I could have stopped this.
 
If only he’d listened to me, I could have stopped this.”

“None of this is anyone’s fault, Kenny,” Reece said, sitting down next to him. “Terry was always going to do this, no matter what anyone said.
 
You were never going to be able to stop him.
 
He was obviously very determined.”

Kenny threw his head back, staring at the ceiling.
 
“How is she going to get through this?”
 
He looked at them, all of them thinking exactly the same thing.
 
Whatever
they
were feeling was nothing compared to what
India
would go through.

“She’ll get through it the best way she can,” Reece sighed.
 
“And we’ll just have to make sure we’re there for her.”
 
He looked at Michael.
 
“Do you want to talk to her?
 
I can do it if you want me to.”