Times of Trouble (43 page)

I had been so
relieved to find out Sophie hadn’t known people were being killed.
If she had known, how could she not have gone to the police? Using
underage girls was pretty bad, but nothing like murder. It was hard
to imagine how it had been for Sophie, to watch her friends being
killed and to expect that the same thing would happen to her. But
she always had been a strong person, and having Charlie to look
after seemed to just make her stronger. Watching the way she was
coping with what had happened was having an impact on my life as
well, making me realise that all the moping around I had been doing
was just wasting time. There were worse things in life than giving
up a dream career.

‘
Well, it seems like
you guys are really getting things sorted,’ Andy said awkwardly.
‘How is the case going against the movie ring? Have any charges
been laid yet?’

I seemed to be the
likely one to respond, since I knew more about the people chasing
Sophie than she had herself.

‘
The London police
finally tracked down Bill Holland in hospital. He had been trying
to take over his uncle’s drug business in London, and one of the
competition shot him. But not dead, unfortunately.’

Andy smirked.
‘Couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke.’

‘
Yeah, there’s enough
evidence of his involvement with the movies that he will be charged
with murder. He’s also implicated a few other people who were
involved. It’s a relief to hear he’s not out there
anymore.’

‘
It is,’ Andy agreed.
‘What happened to the girlfriend - Melissa?’

‘
I asked that myself.
I didn’t like the idea of her getting off completely scot-free. She
must have been a bit complicit in what went on. But apparently
she’s agreed to testify against quite a few of their associates,
and she probably won’t spend any time in jail. Saving Charlie
counts in her favour.’

‘
I would have thought
so. Is there any more information about what happened to Veronica,
that girl that was missing?’

Sophie and mum looked
at me, obviously wanting me to tell Andy the bad news.

‘
Yeah, they found out
what happened to her. She was used in one of the movies. She was
one of the under-age girls Sophie met…turns out she was only
14.’

‘
Oh, I’m sorry to
hear that.’ Andy looked genuinely sad at the news.

We all sat
contemplating how close I had been to sharing the same fate as
Veronica, when mum broke the silence, asking Andy a question that I
wasn’t expecting.

‘
You said you were
going to visit Liam. How is he?’

What? No one had told
me that Andy was going to see Liam. I tried to keep the look of
disgust from my face. Mum had been mortified to find out what Liam
had done to Sophie, but she spoke of him with sympathy now. He had
given Sophie his phone, but I still didn’t feel he had redeemed
himself. I wouldn’t say he deserved what happened to him, but I
also didn’t feel any sympathy for him whatsoever.

‘
Yeah, I dropped past
the hospital. When I explained who I was he looked pretty alarmed,
and rightly so. He’s doing ok. The burns are healing, but he’s
still going to be there for a while longer.’ Andy took a piece of
paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. ‘He asked me to wait
while he wrote something for you, Ellen. I brought it with
me.’

I opened it, and skim
read it, aware that everyone was staring at me. His writing was
messy, but I could make out what it said:

‘
Dear Ellen. I can’t
imagine how you feel about me, you must think I’m the devil. But I
just wanted to try to explain. I am sorrier than you will ever know
for agreeing to hand Sophie over to those people. I regretted it as
soon as I got to their house. I know I can never justify why I did
it. And you probably think I deserve to be in the state I am in
now. I wasn’t thinking of Sophie and your family when I chose to do
what I did. I wanted the money to help with Abi’s appeal. I assume
you know about my relationship with her. She is rotting away in
prison and I want to help her get out. They threatened her to. I
couldn’t let anything worse happen to her because of me. I know it
is selfish to only think of her and myself, but that’s the only
justification I can try to give. I’m sorry I sent that email
pretending to be Sophie. I just wanted to warn you off so you
wouldn’t get too involved. Please pass my apologies on to Sophie
and your mum. I will never forget the pain I put you all through
and you can’t imagine the relief I felt when I found out Sophie was
safe. You sure saved the day. Liam’

I passed it to mum,
who read it with a look of sadness on her face, and then passed it
to Sophie.

She scoffed at it and
said, ‘I don’t want to see anything that little prick wrote. He can
go to hell!’

Wasn’t that a bit
rich coming from her? Mum folded the letter, and put it in her
pocket. She would file it away somewhere safe, for Sophie to read
when she was ready.

I’d already had many
discussions with Detective Williamson about what would happen to
Liam. Without him admitting that he had agreed to sell Sophie to
people who were going to kill her, there wasn’t really the evidence
for a case against him. Since he had changed his mind, and tried to
help us, I was having trouble deciding what I wanted to happen to
him. I would never forget how betrayed I felt when I found out what
he had done. But he’d been the one that found Sophie in the first
place, not me. His note made my dilemma worse. I knew at once that
I would have done anything to save Sophie, and I had to think about
that when I thought about Liam and Abi. I would have felt much
differently about Liam if we hadn’t managed to get Sophie back
safely. I knew Liam had done the wrong thing, and I hated him for
it, but I wasn’t exactly helping the detective to build a case
against him. Liam’s note could be used as evidence of what he did,
but would I use it? Or would I pretend I never got it? Could I
forgive Sophie but not Liam? It didn't help that I still felt
stupid for letting Liam con me into believing in him. I hated to
think of the clues I missed in his erratic behaviour. But would I
be less naive in the future?

While I was pondering
this, Andy turned to me and said: ‘So what’s happening with you
Ellen?’

I jumped back to the
present. ‘I’ve still got a few students. I can use my new piano
now, which will make it easier, thank you very much. I’ve been
teaching them at the local school for the last few weeks. And
there’s the trio. But I’ve got other big news... I’m applying to
join the police force. I want to be a detective... I sort of got a
taste for it...’

Sophie laughed at
mum’s face; she hated the idea of me becoming a policewoman. But
Sophie thought it was a great idea.

‘
She’s a natural!’
she said. ‘I’m sure glad she’s on my side!’ Andy laughed
too.

‘
That’s great Ellen.
I think you’ll make a terrific detective. That Beatles stunt at the
marina was genius!’

The decision to try
and become a police officer had come to me as I sat talking with
Detective Williamson. I realised I would enjoy doing what he did.
And that was all I needed to know to make up my mind to apply. I
knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I hadn’t felt as excited or
motivated about doing something in ages.