Snatched (16 page)

‘So Nicky wasn’t there at that time?’ Jay pounced.

‘Well, not when I got there, no,’ Julie blustered, trying to guess what her friend must have already told them. ‘But she was there before we went out, obviously, ’cos she was babysitting for Connor.’

‘So, if you got there at eight, and you both left when the taxi came at eight forty-five, what time did Nicky actually arrive?’

‘
I
don’t know,’ Julie said, as if it were a ridiculous question. ‘Sometime between eight and quarter to nine, obviously. But I wasn’t clock-watching, so I can’t give you the exact time.’ Looking at Sue now, she said, ‘What do you reckon? About quarter past?’

Nodding, Sue chewed on her thumbnail, too afraid to look at the policewomen because she was sure they knew that Julie was lying.

‘And was it usual for her to come home so late?’ Jay asked, directing the question at Sue now. ‘Only I was under the impression that she usually comes straight home from school.’

‘She does,’ Sue mumbled. ‘But she’d been hanging about with her mates, or something.’

‘Do you know the names of those friends?’

Shaking her head, Sue buried her face in Julie’s chest as the sobs started up again.

‘Is this really necessary?’ Julie asked, giving Jay a disapproving look. ‘Only you can hardly expect her to know the names of everyone Nicky hangs about with, even if she was in any fit state to think about stuff like that right now – which she’s obviously not.’

‘Okay, we’ll leave it for now,’ Jay said, repocketing her notepad. ‘But you’re definitely sure that Nicky was in the house when you and Mrs Day went out?’

‘I’ve already said, haven’t I?’ Julie retorted irritably. ‘I got there at eight, she came in at quarter past, we went out at quarter to. End of. Now is there anything else you want to know, or can I get my mate settled down?’

Saying, ‘No, that’s fine for now,’ Jay stood up. ‘Don’t get up. We’ll see ourselves out.’

Waiting until she’d heard the front door closing behind the policewomen, Julie said, ‘Jeezus, what’s the hell’s going on?’

‘They’re lying,’ Ann said flatly, trotting down the stairs and shoving the heavy main door open.

‘I know,’ Jay murmured, glancing thoughtfully back at the windows of the flats as she followed her out to the car. ‘But why? What have they got to hide?’

‘No idea, but the mother gets edgy every time you mention the girl. And there’s something not right about it, if you ask me.’

‘I agree,’ Jay said, shrugging as she added, ‘But I don’t suppose we’ll really know what’s going on until Connor finds his voice again.’

Back in the flat, Sue had just finished telling Julie everything that had happened.

Muttering, ‘Jeezus,’ Julie got up and went to get her cigarettes from the mantelpiece. ‘You could have bleedin’ warned me,’ she said then, lighting up and sucking on the smoke agitatedly.

‘What do you mean?’ Sue asked, peering up at her in confusion.

‘I mean, you could have worded me up before you let me go and lie to the coppers,’ Julie said snappily. ‘You’ve landed me right in it now.’

‘How could I have warned you?’ Sue asked, wondering why Julie was being so unsympathetic. ‘I didn’t exactly get any warning myself. I just got home and found . . .’ Trailing off, she bit her lip as her chin began to quiver.

‘Aw, don’t start that again,’ Julie complained. ‘I’ve got a right headache without you bawling your eyes out every two minutes.’ Pacing up and down now as Sue sat in stunned silence, she said, ‘So what did you tell them?’

‘Pauline told me the kids were fine,’ Sue murmured guiltily. ‘So when the police kept asking me if Nicky was home when we went out, I just panicked and told them that she was, ’cos I thought someone must have said something about us going out and leaving Connor on his own.’

‘And you didn’t think that Nicky might have already told them that she’d got back late and you’d already gone?’

‘Not straight away, no. But then I thought if she had, I’d just front it out and make out like she was confused. Christ, you don’t think I wanted it to end up like this, do you?’

‘Obviously not,’ Julie tutted. ‘But shoulda-woulda-coulda’s not going to help me, is it? And, all right, so Nicky’s not there to tell them what happened, but Connor is. And what’s to say he hasn’t already told them everything?

‘He’s in shock,’ Sue told her quietly. ‘He’s not spoken to anyone in days.’

‘Well, he won’t be in shock for ever,’ Julie reminded her grimly. ‘They’re gonna be asking him all sorts when he starts yakking again, and I can really do without getting dragged into it.’

‘You’re already in it,’ Sue reminded her, hurt by her attitude because Julie was supposed to be her best friend.

‘Yeah, well, thanks for that,
mate
.’

‘Why are you being like this?’ Sue asked, peering at Julie as she stomped up and down. ‘I didn’t even want to go out that night. I wanted to wait for Nicky, but you made me.’

‘Don’t even go there!’ Julie gave her a fierce look. ‘You’re not blaming me for this. No way!’

‘It’s true,’ Sue shot back self-righteously. ‘And you know it is, so don’t try and deny it.’

‘Oh, right, ’cos I dragged you out of the fucking house by your hair, did I?’

‘No, but you went on and on about losing the cab, and how you’d miss out on your stupid date if we didn’t go right then. I said I didn’t want to leave him, but you’d done it to your kids, so it was all right for me to do it to mine, wasn’t it?’

Closing her eyes, Julie inhaled slowly. Then, holding up a hand, she said, ‘Right, stop. There’s no point us blaming each other. It’s happened, and we’ve got to work out what to do about it.’

Nodding, Sue lit a cigarette and sucked deeply on it, waiting for Julie to tell her what to do next.

‘First things first,’ Julie said after a moment. ‘We’ve got to find your Nicky.’

‘How?’ Sue asked. ‘If the police can’t find her, what chance have we got?’

‘Well, I don’t know, but she’s got to be somewhere,’ Julie said impatiently. ‘You ought to know where she hangs out. You’re her mam.’

‘Yeah, well, I don’t,’ Sue muttered, the guilt settling over her again. ‘You know what she’s like, she never goes anywhere. She’s always at home watching telly or playing with Con.’

‘I bet she’s done a runner,’ Julie declared. ‘She must have started the fire and legged it, scared you’d beat the crap out of her when you got home.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ Sue said quietly. ‘But I just can’t see her leaving Connor like that.’

‘Maybe it was too late to reach him by the time she realised. All the more reason to stay well out of the way now, if she thinks she’s left him to burn to death.’

Wincing at the image, Sue said, ‘Well, what about that brick getting thrown through the window. Or do you think she did that as well? ’Cos I don’t.’

‘Who knows what’s been going through her head lately?’ Julie said coldly. ‘She’s not exactly the life and soul, is she? She’s probably got all sorts of weird shit stored up in that head of hers. You’re lucky she didn’t snap while you were there and stab you in your sleep, or something. And don’t look at me like that, ’cos it happens.’

Murmuring, ‘Not in my family,’ Sue bit her lip as another thought occurred to her. What if Nicky hadn’t come home that night? What if something had happened to her on the way back from school? Like the policewoman had said, she
always
came straight home, so it was extremely unusual for her not to have been back by the time they’d left the house.

Shaking her head when Sue voiced these thoughts, Julie said, ‘No, you saw her running past the taxi, so you know she went home. She was just late, that’s all.’

‘I
thought
I saw her,’ Sue countered worriedly. ‘But what if it wasn’t her? I went out and left my baby on his own.’

‘He’s not a baby,’ Julie reminded her. ‘He’s six, and he’s a smart lad.’

‘But he’s not, though, is he?’ Sue said, tears rolling down her cheeks again. ‘He’s dead soft, and he can’t do anything for himself. He could have been alone in the house all weekend and anything could have happened. And Nicky could be dead for all I know.’

‘Well, she’s not, or the police would have found her body by now,’ Julie pointed out impatiently.

‘She could be anywhere,’ Sue sobbed. ‘I’ve got to tell them the truth.’

‘What, and make us both out to be liars?’ Julie said sharply. ‘No way. You’re not doing that to me.’

‘This isn’t about you,’ Sue cried, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

‘Yes, it
is
,’ Julie snapped, her cheeks flaming red with frustration. ‘You saw the way that copper was looking at me. If she finds out I was lying, she’ll probably accuse
me
of starting the fucking fire.’

‘Don’t be stupid.’

‘Don’t call me stupid. You haven’t got a fucking clue about these things.’

‘So you’d rather I carried on lying?’ Sue peered at Julie accusingly. ‘And risk them not finding Nicky, just so they don’t think you had anything to do with the fire?’

‘It’s not that simple,’ Julie said darkly. ‘And, believe me, you don’t want them looking in my direction, or you’ll probably end up losing Connor.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

Sighing, Julie said, ‘I didn’t want to have to tell you this, because I’m not exactly proud of it. But haven’t you ever wondered why my kids don’t live with me?’

‘Not really,’ Sue said, shrugging. ‘You said they wanted to live with their dads, so I presumed you were happy with that.’

‘I had no choice,’ Julie told her quietly. ‘It was either let them go to the bastards, or have them put in care.’ Swallowing loudly now, her cheek muscles jumped as she said, ‘I got accused of burning a mate’s baby with a fag. And don’t look at me like that, ’cos it wasn’t fucking true. The bitch’s boyfriend did it.’

‘So why didn’t you report him?’ Sue gasped, momentarily forgetting her own troubles.

‘Because I didn’t know at the time,’ Julie said defensively. ‘I reckon
she
did, though, ’cos the baby was already crying when she fetched him round and asked me to watch him. She said he was teething and told me to give him some Calpol. But he wouldn’t settle, so I thought I’d give him a bath – like you do. Anyhow, it must have hurt like hell, ’cos he started screaming his head off. Then I saw the burn on his leg and called an ambulance, and they called the police. And would they
hell
believe I hadn’t done it.’

‘And you lost your kids over it?’

‘Not right away, ’cos they couldn’t actually prove I’d done it. But then some of the neighbours decided to grass me up to social services for beating my lot, and I couldn’t deny it, ’cos I did used to hit them. But no more than anyone else does, and only when they were being naughty. But, there you go . . .’ Trailing off, Julie shrugged. ‘Mud sticks, doesn’t it? So if you want to tell the police that we were lying now, you’d best be prepared to lose Connor, ’cos they’ll probably think we were in it together.’

Realisation landing on her head like a dark cloud, Sue gaped at her friend. ‘Christ, Julie. What am I supposed to do now?’

‘Keep quiet,’ Julie replied simply. ‘Sorry, mate, but it’s the only way. It’d be one thing if you’d told them from the off, but you can’t go changing your story now or you’ll do more harm than good.’

Biting down on her knuckles, Sue shook her head. She couldn’t believe this was happening, and there was nothing she could do about it but keep up the lie she’d started – because the fallout from telling the truth would be so much worse. And it was all Julie’s fault for persuading her to go out that night. And hers for agreeing, she supposed. But if Julie had been honest about her past it would never have happened, because Sue would have avoided her like the plague. Not because she believed that Julie was guilty of hurting that baby, but because – as Julie herself had said – mud sticks. And all it would have taken was for one of
Sue
’s neighbours to find out, and they’d have had the social services down on her in no time. Terry definitely would have.

‘Anyway, Nicky’s fine, or your instincts would have told you different,’ Julie said now, her breezy tone at complete odds with the despair that Sue was feeling. ‘So stop torturing yourself and go to bed while you’ve got a chance, ’cos things are probably going to be pretty hectic for the next few days.’ Picking up her cigarettes and lighter, she headed for the door. Pausing there, she said, ‘Oh, by the way, that woman who rang gave me some bloke’s number to pass to you. It’s on the pad on the table. His name’s Dave, and she said he wants you to ring him.’

‘Dave?’ Sue repeated numbly. ‘What does he want?’

‘Dunno.’ Julie shrugged. ‘Something to do with an apology, or something. Wasn’t really listening. Who is he, anyhow?’

‘Leanne’s dad,’ Sue told her.

‘The one who had a go at you when Terry left?’ Julie asked, a look of pure indignation on her face as she marched back across the room and snatched up the number. ‘Well, you won’t be needing that, then, will you!’ she declared, screwing it up and tossing it into the waste-paper bin. ‘And you can tell that cheeky bitch neighbour of yours not to try and trick me into doing her dirty work for her again, an’ all!’

Staying where she was when Julie waddled off to her bed. Sue felt the silence descend on her like a two-ton weight. She didn’t know what she’d expected when she’d come here tonight, but she certainly hadn’t imagined that her so-called best friend would make everything so much worse than it already was. And what made it all the more horrible was that Julie hadn’t shown the slightest shred of sympathy or understanding about the agony Sue was going through. She’d been irritated by Sue’s tears, and she hadn’t given a toss about Nicky, because she was too busy trying to protect herself. And with her past record, she’d as good as guaranteed that Sue would be tarred with the same brush if she decided to tell the truth, which meant risking having Connor taken off her. And the thought of losing him on top of everything else was unbearable.