Rotten to the Core (34 page)

Paul was hurt
,
but he didn’t want to show it, he was trying to play it down, despite his anger bubbling away. He was gutted that Kate
hadn’t
show
n
up, and
thought
that she
had
guessed what he was going to say to her and had tried to save them both from what would have been an awkward knockback
.
H
e was crushed,
but
he guessed he had his answer
.
T
he only time Kate had not turned up for work
was when
she had been in hospital
;
she never thr
ew
sickies
, so he deduced that s
he wasn’t interested
i
n him.

Emma shifted uncomfortably
on her bar stool.

             
“I don’t understand
,
Paul
,
”
she
said quietly, feeling worried
.
“She did leave for work
.
S
he said that you had asked her to come in a bit earlier,
and
she left about eight
:
almost two hours ago
.
”
 

Reaching into her pocket
,
she dialled Kate’s new mobile
.
Almost whispering now
,
she looked at him
, as she said:

             
“It’s switched off
;
she never switches it off
.
”

A
ll of a sudden
,
Emma was seriously worried
;
she had a very bad feeling
;
something was not right.
Kate
had left the house hours ago; she wouldn’t disappear like that.

Paul had known Kate long enough to know that it wasn’t in her nature to just let people down
;
if
she
said she would be somewhere then she would be, or she would have
at
least called
.
H
e realised that he shouldn’t
have been so quick to think that
she had stood him up,
and
maybe he should have called her earlier
.
F
eeling
concerned
,
h
e decided to
phone
Billy.
Trying to remain calm, he turned back to Emma
and said:

             
“Why don’t you go and see if you
can
get
Jimmy
or
Eve in, see if th
ey’
re both up for an extra shift tonight, their numbers are in the book in my office, it’s double bubble
.
”
Heading outside to have a cigarette, Paul
called
Billy’s number
.
M
aybe something had happened and Billy was with
Kate
right now
.
H
oping that he was right
,
he waited for Billy to pick up
his phone
.

Billy was in
T
he Dog
,
having a few pints to start his night off in the right direction
;
it was becoming a nightly routine to be out drinking with the lads
.
T
he pub was packed, the darts team were all out on the lash after winning a big tournament
,
and he
was
hardly able to hear Paul
’
s voice when he called.
Instantly
,
Billy knew something had happened, he had a sixth sense when it came to Kate, she wasn’t the type to let people down
by
not turn
ing
up for work
;
besides
,
she loved it at the club, he didn’t even think that she looked at it as “work”
;
she enjoyed it so much you
would have to drag her away from the place. Feeling sick, he asked everyone he came across if
they
had seen her but to no avail. He made his way to Goldie’s hoping that she would turn up there, that maybe, just maybe
,
she had been side
-
tracked into talking to someone, or knowing her she had helped someone out and been delayed
that way
. In his heart of hearts
,
though, as he made his way
down
the high street to the club, he knew something bad had happened. All this shit with Jay suddenly seemed a bit too clear
-
cut now.

Tanya had organised a cottage for them about a mile out of London, in the middle of nowhere. It was the perfect location. She had booked it over the
I
nternet
using
false names so that there would be no way of tracing it to them, and they had paid the owners cash. The house was on a couple of acres of land, very conveniently tucked away behind overgrown hedgerows at the top of an old
,
beaten track. Jay
found it hard to believe
that the “real world” was going on just an hour or so away, he felt
as if
he was on the set for
L
ittle
H
ouse on the fucking
P
rairie or something. All they were missing were chickens.

The cottage was tiny, and cluttered, there were frilly doyleys under
most
ornament
s.
H
e had been amazed
that there was
a TV set in the lounge
;
the place looked so old
-
fashioned he was
even more
amazed the owners knew televisions had been invented. With just two
small
bedrooms,
a
small lounge and kitchenette and a dingy basement, it would serve its purpose. The plan had
gone
well; very well
,
in fact, it had been
almost
too easy. Jay had been more than a little uncertain about the whole thing, but Tanya
was
adamant that this was the way forward for them both. She was determined to get back at Billy; hell hath no fury
,
and all that.

Jay had been surprised at
Tanya’s
level of malice
:
surprised but definitely impressed. She was a cold
-
hearted bitch when she wanted to be. The more Jay had thought about it, the more he realised that she was right
,
though; maybe doing this was the only way to hit Billy-
B
oy straight in the bollo
cks
.

The plan was simple. They had decided
to
kidnap Kate, rough her up, frighten the shit out of Billy and bleed cash out of him. Tanya said Billy was good for at least a hundred grand, he wouldn’t gamble with his sister’s life. Besides
,
he owed
Tanya
.

Getting
Kate
to the cottage
hadn’t been too much of a problem
,
much to Jay
’
s relief. The stupid cow had believed him when he pulled over next to the side of the road where she was walking to work th
at
evening and begged her to
listen to him
. He had told her that he had problems
:
real problems. He had put on his best
“
feel sorry for me
”
face, and faked tears, swearing that he was getting counselling
to
sort himself out
.
H
e had
pleaded with
her to spare him a few minutes and told her that he
would
completely underst
an
d her walking away and never seeing him again, but he insisted that she hear him out for one last time
first:
just a few minutes and he would be gone forever. He had said that he owed it to her after all he had done, he owed her an explanation.

Looking nervously around the now not
-
so
-
busy street, hoping there was no one around to see her as she knew they would think she was a complete mug for even contemplating listening to Jay,
Kate
felt hesitant
:
should
she
or not
?
S
eeing that the coast was clear, and thinking it would do no harm other than take up a few moments of her time,
she
got in
to
the passenger s
eat
.
Jay
did owe her an explanation
,
she figured, she had
all sorts of questions running about her head and to be honest, some answers would be good
:
she needed closure
,
once and for all.

Jay
had driven
for
five minutes down the road to a
quiet
lay-by so that they could “talk”
.
B
efore she had known what was going on, he had locked the doors and placed a cloth over her nose and mouth
.
S
he had struggled for about thirty seconds, regretting dearly that she had been once again sucked in by this animal, before giving in. He had soaked
the cloth
in chloroform, as Tanya had instructed, and after
Kate had inhaled enough of it,
he was home and dry. It was just as easy as
Tanya
had
said
it would be.

N
ow
,
sitting on the cold stone floor of the dark grimy basement was a very scared
and
very groggy Kate. Her head was pounding,
as
she had
recently
come
round. She couldn’t believe she had been so stupid, how she could have been so trusting
,
after all
Jay
had done
?
S
he was embarrassed that she had fallen for his lies once more.

Kate
had no memory of how she had got
t
here
;
she didn’t even know where
she
was. Her hands, feet and mouth
were
bound with tape; the more she tried to wriggle herself free the more
her limbs
hurt. Sinking back onto the mattress beneath her, she closed her eyes in despair and prayed that she would be ok
ay
. Who knew what was going through Jay’s mind
;
he was clearly not right in the head. She wondered if anyone had noticed she was missing,
and
if they were worr
ied
about her
.
It wouldn’t take Billy long to work out who was behind this,
Kate
just had to be strong and wait it out
, and
h
opefully he would find her soon; hopefully
she wouldn’t be here long. Jay’s biggest downfall was that he wasn’t very smart
;
he was evil, selfish
and
greedy
,
yes, but not smart. It would be no time before her brother put the pieces together and found her
,
she was sure.

Her few minutes of hope were shattered when the door of the basement opened and a very glossy
,
smug
-
looking Tanya tottered down the stairs.
Kate
hadn’t given Tanya a second thought, hadn’t considered that she would be involved, she felt physically sick realising
how
she had seriously misjudged the situation.