Disobey (37 page)

Del arrived, and a wave of vertigo hit him at the sight of the sheer drop. ‘Oh, shit.’ He stared at the ancient-looking winch mechanism and the badly frayed steel cable which quivered under the strain of holding the lift car which swayed precariously, metres below them.

‘Chloe!… Chloe! We’re going to get you out of there. You hear me? But remember babe … Don’t move.’

Frankie turned to Alfie, lowering his voice, not wanting to have what he said echo down to Chloe. ‘How the hell are we going to do that? Look at it, it’s going to give any minute.’

They all looked at the cables which continued to creak and move, tiny millimetre by tiny millimetre. Del spoke anxiously. ‘When those cables get to the end, the whole thing is going to fall.’

‘Uncle Alfie!’

‘Yes baby, I’m here. We’re all here.’

Del fought back the emotions. ‘Hello, Chloe.’

Frankie had to bite on his lip. ‘Hello, Chloe.’

Franny paused, too overwhelmed for a moment. ‘Hello, Chloe.’

And then another voice came from behind them. ‘Hello darlin’.’ It was Lola, red-faced and panting hard. She looked at them all shrugging. ‘I may be old and me bones might be giving up, but Chloe needs me, and I ain’t letting a flight of stairs get in me way.’

Pulling Del and Frankie in close, Alf whispered, ‘How the fuck are we going to do this? Del’s right, that wire will snap any time; we ain’t got time to wait for engineers or nothing.’

Frankie agreed. ‘You’re right, the only thing for it is we go in and get her ourselves.’

‘It’s no good, you can’t touch the lift; it’ll give straight away. I tried to pull her up but the whole thing fell a couple of feet when she moved towards me.’

‘Then she doesn’t move towards us.
We
move towards her.’

Alfie frowned. ‘What do you mean, Frank?’

‘Remember the game we played as kids; monkey chain? When you hold onto each other’s arm, then swing off a high wall?’

Del shook his head giving Frankie a crooked smile. ‘I think you’re on your own there, mate. Ain’t no one doing anything like that, apart from you.’

‘Anyway, that’s how we’re going to get Chloe out.’

Alfie looked incredulous. ‘By a monkey chain? Turn it in Frank, we ain’t kids, we’re frigging grown adults, with grown-up weight.’

Frankie began to get annoyed. ‘Look, the weight is relative. Adult with adult. We go down the ladder, and instead of making Chloe move towards us or put any kind of weight on the lift we do a monkey chain.’

Alfie snapped. ‘Do you have to keep calling it that?’

‘Well if you have any better ideas or any better names come to think of it, let me know.’

Alfie took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry, Frank.’ He paused to think. It was crazy. Fuck knows it was. But what else did they have to work with? And it could work in theory, whether in practice, he didn’t know, but the opening of the lift roof
was
directly next to the ladder, so by rights as long as they could get deep enough into the lift, there was a chance of grabbing hold of Chloe. ‘Okay … Let’s do it.’

Without another word, Alfie stepped out through the service door placing his expensive leather soles on the first rung, ready for the descent down.

Franny gripped hold of his arm. ‘Alf, I know you want to help Chloe but I’m the lightest, it’s better if I go down first, isn’t it? Del tell him.’

‘She’s right, Alf. It should go, Franny, me, Frankie, then you. It’s pointless asking you to stay up here with Lola, I know that, but you’ve been proper battered about, mate, and you’re not in the best shape because of it. We don’t want to take any chances. This is about Chloe.’

To the surprise of the others, Alfie didn’t argue. He smiled at them all, simply saying, ‘Thank you.’

Franny, not having ever been fond of heights, made her way down.

Del called down, ‘Fran are you okay?’

‘Oh, never better!’

They climbed down in silence. As the lift came into sight, Alfie from his position on the service ladder, called out.

‘Chloe … Chloe, we’re nearly there. You’re nearly home, babe but I need you to listen to me really carefully. Del is going to lower Franny through the hatch and when I say ready, you grab her hand. But not before. Understand me babe. Not before. You got that?’

Chloe’s voice sounded tiny. ‘Yes … yes, okay.’

Alfie continued. ‘But here’s the thing, I don’t want you to panic but when you reach for Franny’s hand, the lift might give way … But no matter what baby, no matter what happens you hold on. You got that?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Good … good.’ Alfie spoke to the others. ‘Okay, guys, let’s do it.’

Frankie grabbed hold of Del. ‘I got you mate. Ain’t no way you’re getting out of this grip; champion monkey chainer I was.’

Del nodded gratefully then placed a steel-like grip round Franny’s wrist. He stared at her, before letting her lean down towards the lift. ‘I won’t let you go, no matter what happens, I’m holding on.’

Franny didn’t say anything, she only smiled weakly then leaned back, feeling the jerk from Del’s grip as he leaned down from Frankie’s who held onto the ladder with formidable strength.

Franny hovered over the lift hatch, carefully making sure she didn’t hit any part of it. She called up to Del. ‘I need to be let down a bit.’

Alfie called out to Chloe. ‘Chloe, can you see Franny? But I still don’t want you to move.’

‘I can see her.’

‘Okay Chloe, how far away are you from her? Do you think you’d be able to reach her hand?’

Chloe edged forward to try to reach for Franny, and the moment she did the lift dropped down a foot, crashing into the wall to now swing at an angle.

‘Chloe! Don’t move! I said, don’t move!’

Everyone heard her terror through her tears. ‘I’m sorry … I’m sorry.’

Alfie called back down. ‘Ain’t no need to be sorry, not you, Chloe. Not you.’

Del spoke quickly, feeling the pull from Franny on his arm. ‘Alf, you better make this quick, mate.’

‘Okay, can you lower Franny any more?’

‘Only by about a few inches.’

‘Then do that.’ Alfie watched as Del leaned even further back, letting Franny drop down. Once she had gone as far as she could go, he called to Chloe.

‘Okay Chloe, listen to me. I’m going to count down to one. Slowly, and I need you to be ready to grab hold of Franny’s hand. Just grab it. Grab it hard. You got that?’

‘Okay.’

‘Baby, the lift will move but don’t panic because Franny will have you. Just hold on, and she’ll hold onto you. Got it?’

‘Yeah … Yeah, I got it.’

Alfie paused, beginning the countdown. ‘You ready Chloe, I’m going to start to count down now. Five … Four … Three … Two … One … Jump Chloe! Jump Chloe, hold on baby.’

The whole of the human monkey chain jerked downwards, as Chloe’s weight added to the group. She screamed but her screams were drowned out as immediately beneath her, the lift fell away in deafening roars as the frayed wire burst apart, crashing the lift to the ground, sending up a billow of smoke.

‘Franny … Franny, I can’t hold on!’ Chloe looked up, wide-eyed in terror as she held onto Franny’s arm with both hands as the rest of her body dangled, suspended in mid-air. ‘I’m losing my grip … I’m losing my grip … Help me!’

‘I got you, Chloe! I got you. But don’t wriggle. Try to keep still.’

‘Uncle Alfie, help me. I can’t hold on!’

Franny shouted to Chloe again. ‘Chloe, please stop! Please stop!’

Chloe’s movements acted like a domino effect to the chain link. From the top of the group, Frankie felt himself losing his grip on the ladder, and moved slightly, causing Del to instinctively hold on tighter to Frankie, but his actions made Franny try to reposition her hand but with the pull of the weight of Chloe, she felt herself slipping. She cried out.

‘Del! I’m slipping!’

Del tried to pull her back up but he couldn’t lift the weight of two people. He yelled up to Alfie.

‘Alf, we need help! Fucking hell, we need help!’

Alfie cried out to Del. ‘Don’t you let them go! Don’t you fucking let them go!’ He could see the strain on Del and Frankie as they battled to find whatever strength they had left. He called out again, but this time to Chloe and Franny.

‘You two … You two hold on. You hear me? You hold on ’cos I ain’t losing you. I ain’t living my life without you.’

Alfie reached down, holding the ladder, trying to reach far enough to help Frankie. He stretched. Then some more, feeling the burn on his hand from the rusty steel. Just a little further … Just a little further. There. He grabbed hold of Frankie, helping him to lift his own arm which lifted Del higher up towards them and in turn, Franny.

‘Franny … Franny, can you reach your foot onto the ladder?… Chloe, hold on baby. Hold on.’

In the darkness Franny stretched out her leg to the side. She couldn’t speak, she needed all her strength to hold onto Chloe. She could feel the sweat dripping down her, she could feel the tear and burn of her muscles as they struggled to cope.

Her foot hit the side and then the rung of the ladder which held her steady and spurred her on, helping her to find her voice.

‘Chloe, I’ve got you sweetheart, stretch out your leg to the side; stretch it out.’

‘I can’t … I can’t.’

‘Sweetheart,
you
can do anything. Go on … I’m here.’

In that moment through her terror, Chloe-Jane finally found a reason to live. For the people who cared, for the life she would live but for the first time ever she wanted to live for herself.

Closing her eyes, Chloe-Jane stretched over towards the side. Feeling her foot on the rung of the ladder she pulled herself in to safety.

At the top of the ladder, they were greeted by Lola and Spencer, along with the emergency services. Seeing Chloe, Lola grabbed hold of her, pulling her in and holding her tightly. She gestured for the others to join her; Del, Frankie, Franny and of course, Alfie.

Chloe-Jane looked at them all, her face enchanted by them. ‘You came for me. All of you.’

They all looked at one another; bashful, humbled, thankful. Frankie shrugged, winking at Chloe. ‘Well what else would you expect from us, darlin’, because after all, we’re family.’

65

Resting on the only bit of hospital table that wasn’t covered with grapes and magazines, Casey Edwards carefully signed her name. Looking up, she held out the paper.

‘There you go, detective, will that do you? The statement as promised.’

Detective Spencer having driven from UCH hospital straight to Snaresbrook Crown Court, walked in through the main entrance. He was spotted by the CPS barrister who hailed him from the first-floor balcony.

The barrister coasted down the sweeping marble stairs to greet Spencer, who held out a brown envelope.

‘Are these the statements?’

Detective Spencer nodded.

‘All of them?’

He nodded again. ‘Oh yes, every last one of them. Taylor’s, Harding’s, Williams’, Edwards’ and of course, Jennings’.’

‘Good, then all of it’s in order. You read them?’

‘Oh, I’ve read them.’

The court bailiff edged through a wooden door at the front of court fourteen and took his place by the court secretary. Reading from a card he loudly announced, ‘Case 3465, Crown versus Sadler, Judge Driver presiding, all rise.’

As the judge made his way slowly to his seat, Vaughn Sadler sat impassively as he watched his defence and prosecution lawyer.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been in this position before; he had, but there was something which made even the hardest of men feel vulnerable as they sat in the dock, evidence piled against them, looking at a stretch inside.

The judge nodded to the defence counsel to start to make their bail application.

‘Your honour …’

The prosecuting counsel interrupted. ‘Excuse me, your honour, but due to new evidence we need to approach the bench.’

Vaughn Sadler sat straight up in the dock. He looked over to his defence barrister in alarm, who looked none the wiser himself. Vaughn watched as both barristers spoke in hushed tones to the judge.

Eventually, the judge waved the counsel back to their seats before beginning to address the court.

‘Mr Sadler, can you stand up.’

Vaughn stood slowly, taking a deep breath, staring directly at the judge.

‘Mr Sadler …’

‘I plead …’

‘Mr Sadler …’

‘I plead …’

The judge brought down his hammer, raising his voice angrily. ‘Mr Sadler, in the light of new evidence which the prosecution has brought this morning for my attention I find there is no case to answer. Therefore you are free to leave the court.’

‘But, I don’t …’

‘Mr Sadler …’

‘But your honour, I …’

‘Mr Sadler, unless you’d like to be held in contempt of court, I suggest you leave now.’

Vaughn looked at his barrister, puzzled, then he heard the sound of a clap, then another clap, which turned into thunderous applause. He looked up to the gallery to see them all there. All clapping, all with smiles on their faces. Del, Frankie, Franny, Lola, Chloe-Jane and of course, Alfie.

Vaughn sat listening to Lola tell the story; partly in shock and partly not quite believing he wasn’t actually going to spend the next ten years inside.

‘So you see Vaughnie, Spencer was desperate to put you away, and Alfie here had the bright idea to use it to our advantage when Chloe went missing. We agreed to give him a statement but first up, only a part one saying we were all there. He was well chuffed about that, ’cos it placed us right there at the shooting. What he didn’t expect was the second part of the statement to point the finger at Lin.’

Vaughn frowned. ‘Lin?’

‘You know, that geezer who worked for that Lee fella. Do you remember he turned up at the club? Well, Alfie here had CCTV of him entering the club, so it was easy for us all to say he was the one who shot Casey. Bleedin’ genius.’

‘But didn’t Spencer think it was suss you didn’t tell him that before?’

‘Oh yes, he thought it was suss and he knew it was bullshit, but we all said the exact same thing. We told him we hadn’t said it before ’cos of fear and threats from Lin and Lee. Turns out they’d been after Lin for a while but couldn’t get anything on him. The finishing touch was when Chloe went to find Alfie in that building in Paddington, she went with Franny’s gun but during everything it was left behind there. Lin apparently had it in his possession, proper stitched himself up and he never even knew it. Apparently he squealed on the rest of the gang so he wouldn’t get extradited back to Hong Kong, so the whole lot of them have been bang to rights and all due to that gun of yours.’