Born Evil (13 page)

‘Don’t wanna go,’ he said, ignoring the little Puffa jacket held out towards him.

‘Now come on, don’t be naughty. We need to make Mummy better, and seeing you will make her feel great again.’

Charlie sat on the floor, arms folded. He enjoyed winding his nan up. Silly old cow, he couldn’t stand her. ‘Don’t like Mummy, don’t care if she dies,’ he said, smirking.

Horrified, June used the only trick she knew would work. ‘You are one nasty piece of work, Charlie. Now get this coat on or else your Uncle Mickey’ll come in and give you a bloody good hiding!’

Wary of his Uncle Mickey, Charlie did as he was told.

* * *

Debbie was elated to see her son and made as much fuss of him as her injuries would allow. ‘Come and sit on Mummy’s bed,’ she urged.

Charlie shook his head. ‘Don’t wanna. You look like a man.’

Debbie felt sad. Her injuries must look awful, they were obviously upsetting her son. ‘Mummy’s missed you so much, Charlie. I hope you’ve been a good boy for Nanny.’

Finger up his nose, Charlie shook his head. ‘Don’t like Nanny. Wanna live with Daddy.’

Debbie glanced at June. ‘Mum, take Charlie and get him a chocolate bar for me, I want to have a quick word with Mickey. Give us five minutes, eh?’

As soon as they’d left the room, she turned to her brother. ‘Any news on Billy yet, Mick?’

‘He’s still locked up, apparently. Peter rung up a couple of his police pals to find out the SP and he’s due up in court on the tenth of January. He’ll obviously try and get bail before it goes to Crown Court.’

‘You don’t reckon he’ll come after me if they let him out, do you, Mick?’

Holding his sister’s hand, Mickey did his utmost to reassure her. ‘I doubt he’ll get bail, to be honest, but if the cunt does, I’ll be waiting for him. He won’t come within a mile of you, trust me, I’ll see to that. You just concentrate on getting yourself better. Don’t worry about that piece of shit, you leave him to me.’

‘How’s Charlie been behaving, Mick, and I mean truthfully? He seems ever so subdued. I’ll never forgive Billy for what he did to him. Charlie’s bound to be scarred mentally by it. What if it screws him up for life?’

Not wanting to worry his sister, Mickey chose his words carefully. ‘Mum said he’s played up a little bit round there. I don’t think he’s said much about his dad, but to be honest, once you get out of here, I think it might be a good idea to take him to see someone, maybe a kiddie shrink or something.’

‘I’m not taking him to one of them, Mick. He ain’t mental, he’s just confused. Maybe now that Billy’s out the picture, his behaviour will improve of its own accord.’

Seeing Charlie and his mum walk back into the room saved Mickey the awful job of confessing to his sister that he didn’t think her kid was quite right in the head. Another time, another place, would be better for that. The serious shit would have to wait until Debs was up to hearing the truth about her offspring. Smiling, he quickly changed the subject.

‘I’m going to have a look at a couple of properties in the next few day, Debs, right near Mum. They’d be ideal for you and Charlie.’

Debbie looked at her brother in amazement. She’d been so ill that she hadn’t given a thought to where she was going to live. ‘It’s a lovely idea, Mick, but who’s gonna pay for it? I’ll have to go back to the flat, else how am I gonna get my stuff back? Everything that me and Charlie own is inside that place.’

Squeezing her hand, Mickey informed her that he and his mate Steve had already collected all of her belongings. He then explained that he had a pal who owed him a couple of favours and dealt in renting out properties.

‘Honestly, Debs, all I’ve gotta do is go and view ’em and pick the one I want. I ain’t even gotta give him a deposit because you’re my sis. The Housing Benefit mob will pay your rent for ya.’

‘Oh, that’s brilliant, Mickey. It’ll be so much better for Charlie, living in a decent area. He can go to a nice little school and make new friends. It’ll be the making of him, I know it will.’

June and Mickey shot each other a knowing glance. They both felt that Charlie’s problems were far too deep-rooted for a change of area to make any difference. Neither of them wanted to burst Debbie’s bubble, though, so they both agreed with her.

As Debbie waved goodbye to her family, she felt more confident than she had for a while. Thinking positively, she decided that once she was discharged, she would definitely get her life back on track. Obviously, her hair would have to be shaved completely and she would need dentistry work to repair the two teeth she’d lost, but she was determined to bounce back stronger than ever before. She certainly wasn’t going to let a no-good piece of shit like Billy McDaid ruin her life.

She was adamant that from now on there would be no more men in her life and she would just concentrate on herself and her son. Tired but determined, she drifted off to sleep.

On the way home, with an unusually quiet Charlie crashed out on the back seat, June and Mickey discussed how much chirpier Debbie had seemed.

‘She’ll be fine, Mum, I know she will. She’s a strong ’un, our Debs, tough as old boots. Once she’s in a nice little house, round the corner from you, she’ll be as right as ninepence.’

June glanced at the sleeping child, sprawled out on the back seat of the car.

‘I know it’s a horrible thing to say,’ she whispered, ‘but it’s a shame she’s got him, isn’t it? Without him she’d have no ties to McDaid, and if anything is going to drag her down, it’ll be that little bastard, mark my words. I can’t see him changing, acting normally, can you?’

Changing gear, Mickey shook his head. ‘There’s no way he’s gonna change. Unfortunately for Debs, she’s given birth to fucking Damien.’

June smiled at her son’s humour. She’d loved the
Omen
films and thought that Damien was a perfect name for her grandson. The smile was quickly wiped off her face when Mickey told her the story of how Charlie dangled the kitten out of Debbie’s neighbour’s window.

‘You should have seen the look on his face, Mum. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it, not even in prison. He was totally getting off on the terror of the poor animal, I could see it in his evil little eyes.’

Charlie smiled to himself. He often pretended to be asleep, and loved it when he was the topic of conversation. Remembering the look on Tiger the kitten’s face, it was a struggle to stop himself from giggling. Then overcome by the wonderful memories, he did burst out laughing.

‘Shhh, he’s awake,’ June said as she quickly changed the subject. ‘So, where you going to see the New Year in, Mick?’

‘Club up town, Mum. A pal of mine runs it.’

Pulling up outside his mum’s house, Mickey jumped out of the car and opened her door for her. ‘The one good thing that’s come out of this, Mum, is at least we’re all close again, like a proper family. It’s just a shame that Debbie had to take a beating for that to happen.’

‘You’re so right, Mick. I’m to blame for that, though. I should never have put Peter ahead of you and Debbie. I’m really ashamed of meself.’

‘Oh, forget it now, Mum. You came up trumps when we really needed ya, and that’s all that matters.’

‘I love you, son.’

Mickey blew her a kiss and drove off.

At 7.30 p.m. exactly June added a diamante necklace and earrings to her expensive new dress and checked herself out in the full-length mirror. Pleased with the results, she made her way downstairs for Peter’s approval.

‘You look beautiful, darling. Perfect, in fact,’ he said as he admired the jade green number she’d spent hours choosing.

Charlie, clad in his pyjamas and watching cartoons on his nan’s video, turned around to see what the commotion was all about.

‘Nanny fat, Nanny fat, Nanny fat,’ he chanted.

Taking no notice of him, June turned off the video. ‘Come on, bed-time for you, young man.’

‘Not going, not tired.’

‘Now come on Charlie, don’t mess me about,’ June said sternly.

‘Noooooo, not going.’

As he lay on the floor, having one of his famous temper tantrums, Charlie remembered what his nan had said about him earlier. She had said it was a shame that he’d ever been born. Smiling, he decided it was payback time. Taking the lid off his beaker of Ribena, he giggled as he chucked the contents all over Nanny’s new dress.

June was in shock as she looked at the state of her outfit. ‘You evil little bastard!’ she screamed. Crying with anger, she ran up the stairs, leaving Peter to deal with the child from hell.

‘You are a nasty, naughty, horrible little boy. You will go to bed this very minute,’ Peter said as he dragged the hysterical child up the stairs.

‘Bastard, bastard, bastard,’ Charlie screamed.

Peter opened the bedroom door. ‘Get in that bed and go to sleep
now
, child.’

Charlie hated his granddad. Screwing his face up, he spat at him and missed.

Overcome by anger, Peter lifted the brat off the bed by his left arm and repeatedly smacked his bottom.

Though still extremely flustered, June and Peter managed to pull themselves together in time to greet their guests. As host and hostess they had a reputation second to none, and were determined to keep it that way.

At five to midnight, Peter tuned into a local radio station. ‘Ten, nine, eight, seven … ’

June cracked open the vintage champagne. ‘ … six, five, four, three, two, one. Happy New Year!’ As
Auld Lang Syne
blared out from the speakers, the three couples stood in a circle, arms crossed.

Charlie sat bolt upright in bed. The music, screams and guffaws had woken him. Deep in thought, he sucked his thumb. He hated living in this horrible house. He’d been happy before, living in the flat with his daddy. Why hadn’t his daddy come to get him? He hadn’t seen him since they’d played the scary window game. His dad had been upset that night. He was crying when he’d gone off with the nasty policemen.

Charlie grabbed hold of his new toy and hugged him. His nan had taken Mr Teddy away from him because he was covered in blood. She’d said that Mr Teddy was ill and needed to go into hospital, like Mummy. She’d given him Deputy Dawg to play with instead. Apparently, the dog had belonged to his mum when she was a little girl. No longer tired, Charlie toddled downstairs to see what all the commotion was about. Peter was horrified to see him appear, and quickly scooped the child into his arms.

Hilary Forsyth-Smith and her husband Duncan had never been lucky enough to conceive a child themselves. ‘Oh, look, bless him! Please let him stay for a while, Peter,’ Hilary pleaded.

‘Goodness, no, it’s way past his bedtime,’ Peter said firmly.

‘Pleeease.’ Hilary was extremely drunk and wasn’t taking no for an answer. ‘Aren’t you a little cutie?’ she said, tickling Charlie under his chin. ‘And look at your little Superman pyjamas … aren’t they adorable? Please, Peter, let me hold him.’

Seeing Hilary’s outstretched arms and noticing the mad ‘I’m desperate for a baby’ glint in her eye, he didn’t have the heart to say no. He had to put on an act. He’d spent ages earlier telling his guests how he and June had taken the boy in and were caring for him like he was their own. He hadn’t mentioned what a little bastard the child was, naturally, but had made the situation sound idyllic, Granny, Grandpa and cute little Charlie. He knew without a doubt that he had scored political brownie points with Duncan with that act, just as he’d intended. He could hardly banish the child now.

Peter stood watching Hilary dote on the child, feeling very on edge. ‘Come on then, Charlie,’ he said finally, feeling that these past ten minutes spent without incident were more than he could have hoped for. Better not push his luck.

‘Show me how your little doggy walks,’ Hilary said, still all gooey and starry-eyed.

‘Don’t wanna,’ Charlie said, hugging the toy close to his chest.

‘Oh, pleeease, come on. Auntie Hilary wants to see Doggy Woggie.’

Wriggling out of the madwoman’s arms, Charlie turned to look at her. She reminded him of a horse with her great big teeth. Knowing he was about to be whisked back off to bed by his surrogate grandfather, Charlie decided to go out in style. Giggling, he pulled down his pyjama bottoms, grabbed his dinkle and thrust it towards Hilary.

‘Suck my cock, suck my cock, suck my cock,’ he shouted, laughing gleefully.

Hilary put her hand over her mouth in horror. She had never sucked Duncan’s dinkle in all the years they’d been married, the mere thought had always appalled her.

June and Peter glanced at one another. Their party was well and truly over along with their reputation for respectability.

Ordering June to take the child to bed at once, a shell-shocked Peter lit up one of his Hamlets and apologised profusely. He needn’t have bothered, the evening was already ruined.

Hilary grabbed Duncan’s arm. ‘Could you take me home, dear? I am feeling rather faint and insist we leave immediately.’

Duncan looked at Peter, raised his eyebrows and walked out.

Peter said goodbye to the last of his guests and slammed the door. What a bloody show-up. He had never felt so embarrassed in the whole of his life. Charlie’s behaviour had just spelt the end of his political career, that was for sure. Word of tonight’s events would spread like wildfire amongst his colleagues, and where would that leave him? A bloody laughing stock, that’s where! He most certainly would not allow that to happen. Tomorrow he would do the decent thing and walk away with his head held high. His resignation from the Council would be handed in with immediate effect.

DEBBIE WAS FINALLY
discharged from hospital, three weeks to the day after she was first admitted. The weather was dull, rainy and miserable, and it matched her mood completely. Yesterday was the first time she’d looked into a mirror since the beating and she’d been surprised she hadn’t cracked the bastard thing.

Obviously, she had known all along that she’d lost a couple of her teeth and that her hair was now cropped. Her mum had brought Peter’s razor in and evened it up to match the side that had already been shaved. The nurses had forbidden her to look into a mirror until the bruises and swelling had lessened so she’d had no idea just how bloody repulsive she looked, until now. Hence her mood today as she hobbled out of the hospital on crutches alongside Mickey.