Rotten to the Core (35 page)

             
“Well, well
:
L
ook what
we have here
”
S
he grinned at Kate, amused
by
her
own
words
.
L
ooking at Kate hunched up on the floor, all nervous and panic
-stricken, Tanya
felt like the cat that had got the cream, and she wasn’t going to waste a single drop.

B
illy was frantic
;
in the last three days that
Kate
had been missing he had been on the brink of losing it. They had searched everywhere for her, h
e
and Paul had been out all night the first night, knocking on nearly every door between the flat and the club
,
asking if anyone had seen her. They had rung everyone who knew her, but
they
had
not
seen
n
or heard from her.
All the local
hospitals
had been contacted
, all the side
-
roads
checked in
case something had happened. She had seemed to have vanished into thin air. He hadn’t been able to sleep and sitting across the kitchen table from him, Emma notice
d
that
the dark circles under his eyes and his unshaven face made him look even more scar
y
than normal.

Billy had insisted that he stay with Emma, not only because he felt that if there were any news,
it
would be the best place to be
,
but also because he knew Kate would want to make sure Emma was alright.
S
he looked like death warmed up, and he noticed that she was chain
-
smoking, but apart from waiting to hear something
,
what else was she supposed to do
?
Paul had told her to stay
at
home, sit by the phone and call him if she heard anything. He had then proceeded to call her every hour or so to see if anything had come up. Emma
was
still was clueless to where her friend might be.

Billy had put the word out that if anyone saw Jay or Tanya
,
that person was
to come straight to him, he was positive they had something to do with it. It was the only possibility. This was Jay’s style
:
cowardly, picking
on someone weaker than himself. Emma had
insisted
on contacting the police
,
too,
and
reluctantly Billy
had
agreed
. However,
although the
police
did put her on the missing persons
’
database that was just about the level of helpfulness they could muster. The police knew exactly who Jay was, and assumed that any girl associated with him was just as low down the food chain, so they hadn’t seemed that concerned all in all. They figured that the poor girl had probably done a bunk with him
;
they could see Billy was really over
-
protective
and
maybe she had just wanted to get away
.
They were also very familiar with Billy, information on him and his dodgy dealings had come to light over the years,
suspected
money laundering mainly, so they had used this opportunity to take a closer look at him, they had a keen interest in his warehouse, and his “career”
,
but Billy always covered his tracks and until they had solid proof,
they could only
sniff around.

             
Emma put out her
fourth
cigarette of the morning, and lit up another. Billy could see that she was genuinely worried sick about her friend.
“
We are going to find her
,
you know
;
make no odds on that, she’ll be back here in no time
,
”
but
as he spoke the words
,
even he
didn’t believe
them
.

             
“I’m just so worried
,
Billy, Jay is an animal, he knows some real dodgy people, I hate to think what she might be going through
,
” her eyes watered as she spoke,
and
she inhaled a long lug of her fag
.

Tapping his fingers agitatedly on the table top, Billy didn’t even want to think of any of that right now
.
H
e knew
,
in great detail
, what had
happened
to Emma, and if that bloke ha
d
even harmed a hair on his sister’s head, he was a fucking dead man, in fact
,
fuck that,
he was a dead man anyway. Billy should have done what he
had
wanted to do in the first place and got rid of the scummy piece of shit ages ago.

Jay Shaw was over
.

Across town
,
Paul Goldie was lying awake
,
staring at the ceiling, trying to muster the energy to get out of bed
.
H
e too had had a crap night’s sleep, tossing and turning, imagining all sorts of awful things that
Kate could be going through. He felt helpless; until they heard something
,
they were playing a waiting game. He knew as well as Billy did that this was one hundred percent down to Jay, and there was no way he was going to get away with it. Getting out of bed, Paul padded down to the kitchen to
make
a
pot of
strong coffee
,
to wake him up.

The house was gorgeous, a modern
three-storey
townhouse. He had every gadget and gizmo possible
: it was
a typical bachelor pad. His TV was huge, a giant plasma with
a
state
-
of
-
the
-
art speaker system.
There were b
ig leather sofas
and
oak floors throughout.
L
arge bi-fold doors led out onto the patio, with a large seating area that lit up with the most amazing lighting effects. It was a dream pad for a guy like him, and it was just ten minutes away from the club. Except he wasn’t your typical bachelor
,
was he
:
h
e had responsibilities.
Sophia
. Her
sweet face star
ed
at him from
the
photos dotted around the house
; with
her beautiful blonde curls, she was like an angel. He smiled a
t
t
he thought of her piercing blue eyes
. She was
so innocent. He felt lonely at times, but thoughts of his baby girl kept him
sane and helped him to remember that he wasn’t really alone
:
he would always have her.

Shaking off his thoughts
,
he finished his coffee
, and then
decided to get showered and go over and see Billy
.
M
aybe
he
would have heard something, although
surely
they would have called him
. But
he had to get out, had to do something, staying here was driving him crazy.

42

Kate was freezing
;
she couldn’t remember a time when she had felt so cold. She tried to keep warm under the blanket, but not being able to move her hands or feet properly because of the tape meant that she could only cover some of her body up, and so she had spent the night shivering violently.

She was slowly losing patience now
;
she had lost track of time but guessed by the light in gap of the curtains that she had been here for about three days, and she had seen the sun come up about an hour ago, so she figured it was probably around five
in the morning
. She had
expected that either she would have been
rescued
by now or that Jay and Tanya would have let her go. What were they playing at? She couldn’t believe that they were getting away with it.

There were moments of sheer panic that swept over her, when
Kate
thought
about
what
might happen
if they kept her
t
here, what if no-one came looking
?
  She had no idea where she was,
and wondered
what if she was never found. She kept telling herself that she would be
rescued;
she knew she wasn’t being left for dead as Tanya and Jay were still
in the house
, she had heard them talking
just outside of the door
at the top of the stairs, saying that Billy would be just about ready to call, that they had made him sweat it out for a few days and now he would be willing to pay
,
whatever the cost. She had been shocked at Tanya’s voice, talking as if she hated Billy now
; she was
clearly out for everything she could get.
This was all for money
,
Kate
thought disgustedly
:
the pair of them deserved each other.

             
“
T
hat will teach him and that
tarty
little bitch he’s shagging
,
” Tanya had said
nastily
, obviously still seething at the fact that he had replaced her so quickly and in such a humiliating way, she would be a laughing stock now. Well, she would show him
;
he would be very sorry he had treated her like a
piece
of rubbish he could just throw away at a moment’s notice. Kate had been surprised to see that Jay had been behaving like a pathetic little puppy when he was around Tanya, it was clear he didn’t know how to play this situation out, and Tanya seemed to be the one barking
out
all the orders. Jay was just going along with it all like her little puppet
;
it was truly pathetic to witness. He hadn’t even had the bottle to look
Kate
in the eye on the few occasions he had brought her down food
;
mind you, if it had been left to Tanya she would have probably been left to starve, as she had
seemed to
take great pleasure in Kate
’
s predicament and made Kate feel as degraded and helpless as possible. Tanya had taken her to the toilet and watched as Kate struggled for privacy and didn’t give her the chance to clean herself up afterwards. She called her names and told her how much she hated her, how she
had
always hated her. That she blamed
Kate
for ruining her and Billy’s relationship and it was all her fault that she had started things up with Jay. She had muttered the same things over and over
, appearing to
mak
e
herself more and more irate each time. Kate wondered if Tanya was mentally
un
stable, she seemed to be losing the plot and acting
irrationally, getting
in
more and more
of
a state about Billy as time went on.

Kate looked around for ways to get out should the opportunity arise, hoping that there might be a way for her to escape
but
from what she could see, other than the tiny window constantly covered by the dark curtain, there was only
a
door at the top of the stairs that led to the main house.

Tugging once again at her taped wrists, she knew there was
little
point even trying to think of an escape plan
;
there was no way she was getting out of th
e
bloody tape, let alone th
e
grimy basement. Wanting to cry with despair
,
she rocked herself to sleep
;
she was like a caged animal
:
hungry, cold and scared. All she could do was pray
:
surely
, it would
not much longer now
… but
where was her brother
, and
w
here was Paul? Thinking of Paul she realised that she did have feelings for him. Emma had been right. She had done nothing but think of him since she had been here. She missed him so much and would
have
do
ne
anything to feel his arms around her right now. She had not made it to the meeting with h
im
, she had been on her way there when she had been lured into the car by Jay
,
and she was still wondering what that was all about
.
S
ometimes
she
let herself believe that he felt the same as her, and that he
had been about
to tell her. She knew she was being stupid and it was probably just something to do with the club but the warm, comforting thoughts kept her going as she closed her tear
-
stricken eyes and gave in to sleep.

Upstairs
,
Jay was struggling to get his head around what Tanya was s
aying.

             
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me
,
Tan
:
what’s the point? He
’
s going to know it
’
s us, he
’
s not fucking stupid
.
”

             
“
O
f course he
’
s going to know it’s us
,
Jay, from the minute he hears our voices
on
the phone he’ll know it’s us
;
that’s exactly why we need to do this, it’s the only way he
’
s going to take us seriously
.
Jay, he thinks you’re a fucking mug, trust me on this one
.
I’ve heard just about every opinion that bloke has on you a hundred fucking times
;
he has no respect for you whatsoever. We need to show him that we mean fucking business, or he
’
s going to think you
’
r
e
just fucking with him
.
” Tanya lit up her first joint of the day
:
six o’clock in the morning was
too
early for a glass of wine
,
even by her standards.

Pacing the floor, Jay didn’t know what to do
;
in a way
,
Tanya
was right, Billy had no respect for him, and
Billy
hated him with a passion and had treated him like a cunt.
Billy
had publicly made it known to everyone and anyone that no
-
one was to do any kind of business with him, and that was what pissed
Jay
off the most. He had worked hard to gain clout, and now he was going to have to go back to square one, dealing pathetic wraps to school kids. He needed this money as much as Tanya
;
and he needed to show Billy that he wouldn’t be mugged off by him
…
but this? This
,
he wasn’t sure he could do.

             
“I’ve done a lot worse
,
Tan, you and I both know that, but I don’t think I can do it
.
I guess I’ve been too close to her
.
I
sn’t there some other way we can make him see we
’
re serious
?
”

             
“No
,
Jay, there isn’t. I want Billy to be sitting in his kitchen,
my
fucking kitchen, eating his
poxy
cornflakes, with that little slag, and I want him to get the shock of his life when he opens his mail and gets a couple of his sister
’
s fingers staring up at him
.
I hope he fucking chokes on his own vomit
.
”

             
“There must be some other way, surely
—?
”

Cutting him off,
Tanya
shouted
,
“There is no other way
,
Jay, this is it. Grow some fucking balls
,
or
I’
ll go down there and chop her bloody fingers off
mysel
f
.
”

Jay felt sick. Kate irritated the life out of him, but she was a good person at heart, a bit prim and proper but decent all the same. He knew he had treated her like a piece of crap on his shoe, she had been nothing more than a toy
of which
that he had quickly
become
bored and had
then
tossed aside. He had put her through more than one person deserved in a lifetime, yet she had no
t
retaliat
ed
. She had simply picked up her bags and left, with not a word to him, and every ounce of
dignity she had in her.
He
respect
ed
that.

Jay
couldn’t even look
Kate
in the eyes when he had gone downstairs to give her food and
water
. Every time he had gone down to the basement he could feel her glaring at him, he could feel the hate radiating from her
;
he couldn’t
bear
it, he wanted to be a heartless bastard to her and take
his anger out on her, but he felt none, in fact all he felt was guilt. There was no way he could do
what Tanya wanted
, and he knew he had to
find a way of
delay
ing
her impulsiveness
.

             
“Tan, babe
,
you
’
ve been watching too many gangster movies, we do mean business and we don’t need to start cutting people
’
s body parts of
f
and sending them via
R
oyal
M
ail to prove it love, trust me. We need to make the call
:
today. We tell him what we want, and we tell him that unless we get it then, and only then
,
Tan, will we take more extreme measures
to
show him we
’
re serious
.
”

Tanya finished her joint
; she
stubbed it out
i
n
a
little floral ashtray and s
a
nk down onto the sofa. She knew
it
made sense; she just really wanted to wipe that fucking grin off Billy’s smug bloody face. Tanya was starting to get pissed off with Jay
,
though; she could see that
over
the last few days he seemed to have a real problem doing anything that involved sorting out that sad cow, Kate. He didn’t even want to take food down to her, they had almost had a
b
arney
over it, and he had backed down. Tanya couldn’t stand the bitch,
and
the less she did for her
the better
.

Tanya
couldn’t understand what Jay
’
s problem was
;
he swore he didn’t have feelings for
Kate
, so why couldn’t he do what they had
talked about?
Why was he leaving it all to her, it was like he had no balls all of a sudden
.