Everything to Nothing (51 page)

The first three
times she had burgled she had done it quickly, noisily and left one
hell of a mess, even defecating on the bed of one of her victims,
using their pillows cases to clean herself with. But after the
third time the victims had returned sooner than she had expected
and Sarah had to drop out of the bedroom window, spraining her
ankle in the process. As soon as the owners entered the bedroom
they knew they had been burgled so they of course instantly called
the police and Sarah only just managed to hobble far enough away to
avoid detection.

As she waited
the next day for one of her regulars, she contemplated how it had
gone so badly wrong. She decided there was not much she could have
done about them returning home earlier than expected, but if they
had not known they had been burgled it would have bought her more
time. She contemplated this some more while she grunted and yelped
her fake pleasure as the regular was taking her from behind in his
marital bed on top of a layer of his wife’s lingerie.

It was a long
time since she could last remember enjoying sex, the activity that
only a year ago was second to only oxygen in a need for a body. Now
it was just a way to earn thirty or so pounds a session, and this
guy always tipped if Sarah allowed him to dress her in his wife’s
lingerie. If it meant an extra ten pounds he could have dressed her
in a Minnie Mouse costume never mind his wife’s expensive silk
lingerie.

With a loud
groan he sprayed his seed into her to which Sarah responded with a
loud moan of her own and while she was moaning along with rotating
hips coaxing more groans out of her client, Sarah hit on the idea
of creating the scenario that the victims did not know they had
been burgled. If she was clever and careful about it, it could be
days before they realised they had been turned over. Perfect!

As he cleaned
up Sarah took off the lingerie and put on her own clothes not
bothering with underwear as it took more time for clients to take
off. On average, wearing underwear took up an extra five minutes
per session, multiply that by six and it worked out as an extra
session a night.

She accepted
the money and the tip and they left the lawyer’s five bedroom
detached house, taking his expensive Lexus back to the red-light
area. After pecking his cheek and muttering her thanks, she got out
of his car and checked how much money she had in her small, cheap,
shiny plastic handbag. She could feel that she was getting
irritable and was starting to sweat. Really she wanted one more
session so she could get a little food tomorrow, but she knew that
if she bought what she really wanted now she would not feel hungry
anyway so she walked a couple of streets until she found the guy
she was looking for.

‘Hey Sarah. How
are you?’

‘Not bad. And
you?’

‘Getting by,
getting by. What you after tonight? Got some H on cheap, or two for
one on big bags of Charlie. Got some crack and some new crack
pipes. How does that sound?’

‘You always try
to sell me what I don’t want. Give me ninety pounds worth of your
finest mind blowing crystal meth.’

‘Roger that.
Good shit this Sarah. Very good batch. For a shag I’ll chuck in an
extra bag?’

Irritated Sarah
said, ‘Fuck you,’ and flicked her middle finger at him. ‘Give me
it. I want to go home.’

‘Okay, okay.
Only trying to have a joke honey.’ Her hands were shaking as she
reached into the bag and he noticed that there was a layer of sweat
on her brow despite the chilly night. ‘Looks like you could do with
a shot straight away never mind waiting until you get home.’

‘No, I don’t.
I’m fine. Here.’ She handed over the ninety pounds and she got a
couple of small bags in return. ‘Is that it?!’

‘Times are hard
Sarah. Costs are rising with this flamin’ credit crunch. More buys
less now for all of us unfortunately.’

‘Right.
Fine.’

She snatched
the drugs out of his hand and decided to get one more client so at
least she would not have to walk home. It did not take long for her
to be picked up and she serviced the client quickly, eager to take
the drug. Sarah in the recent months since she had discovered this
drug had tried taking it in numerous ways, from snorting and
smoking it to swallowing it or placing it in her anus. Tonight she
decided to smoke it so she got her short pipe and placed some of
the drug in the cup. Using her lighter she lit the meth and inhaled
deeply, loving the feeling of the euphoria as it quickly washed
over her.

Recently though
she had found it necessary to take more and more of the drug to
reach the same level of high and the affects of taking a drug that
produces about five pounds of toxic waste for every pound of meth
produced was showing its hold on her already heroin ravaged body.
She was already malnourished after taking the heroin, but now the
only word that could be used to describe her face was gaunt and her
breasts were now nothing more than empty sacks of skin. But it was
the hidden damage she was doing to her body that was slowly killing
her.

Currently she
had not slept for five days, yet she had had sex fifty times,
thirty of those unprotected. Unknowingly and luckily for her two of
the men she had used protection with had the AIDS virus, but
someone had given her Hepatitis B. Right now after taking a large
amount of the drug she was experiencing a form of toxic psychosis
and was hallucinating, muttering and mumbling to herself. Her heart
was struggling to deal with the intense chemicals rushing through
her blood, and her lungs were rasping and crackling as she took
quick shallow breaths. It was a combination of all these symptoms
of intense drug use that would lead to Sarah’s death.

Chapter 38

‘Look, don’t be
so nervous. I’m sure he’ll be fine.’

‘You’re the
first boy I’ve ever introduced to him.’

‘Look, he let
us take the jet, he let us take the yacht for a week and he hasn’t
even met me so surely that is a good sign?!’

‘Oh, I meant to
mention that to you. Don’t speak to him about that. I told him I
was with Michelle.’

‘What?!’

‘I asked him
because I had ruined the weekend could we relax on the yacht while
studying. He was reluctant at first, but it would have been a firm
no if I’d told him I wanted to go with you.’

‘Sally, I
really wish you hadn’t done that. Not exactly the best start is
it?!’

‘I suppose not,
but it was all I could think of at the time.’

‘Great. So if
he finds out he’ll think I’m a liar too.’

‘If he does
find out, which he won’t, I’ll tell him you knew nothing about
it.’

‘Yeah, and I’m
sure that’ll go down like chilled champagne.’

‘Speaking of
champagne, do you want some more?’

‘Great first
impression Sally. “Hi daddy. This is my boyfriend, David. Don’t
mind him though, he’s pissed!” ’

‘You’re funny
David! Have some more. Dutch courage and all that.’

‘Okay, okay. Go
on then.’

Sally reached
for the bottle of champagne and lifted it from the cooling cabinet
of the Rolls-Royce. ‘We’re nearly there.’

It was a
glorious summer’s evening and David looked out of the window. ‘I
know where we are. My garage is not far from here. In fact, I drive
along this road sometimes when I feel like a fast drive. Good road
this. You don’t live… Nah, you couldn’t, could you?’

‘Could I
what?’

‘Live… Oh my,
you do! The number of times I’ve driven past this mansion and
wondered who lives here!’

‘Well, now you
know!’

Majestically
the massive gates opened and the Rolls sedately drove through them
onto the long driveway. In the distance, over the folds of the
land, David could see the mansion and his heart missed a beat as he
realised it was the place he had looked down upon many times from
the hill he could now see in the further distance.

As they drove
along the drive, Sally indicated a track leading off through a
coppice of trees. ‘We’ve got stables down there. I’ll introduce you
to Storm later and I’ll trust her judgment implicitly so if she
doesn’t like you you’ll be dumped!’

‘Gee, thanks
Sally! That lake looks lovely, as does the island. Do you ever have
picnics out there? I bet it’s lovely on a night like tonight.’
David looked across at Sally and he could tell that something he
had said had upset her.

‘Erm no, not
exactly. My mum is buried on that island.’

‘Oh bugger,
sorry Sally. Trust me.’

‘It’s okay.
You’re right though, it is a lovely island. My mum loved it out
there, boating on the lake. A part of me wishes my dad hadn’t
buried her there because it has, of course, never been the same
since, but she is resting where she was happiest so I suppose that
is for the best.’

‘Yeah, I
suppose. How long is this drive? And how big is that house? It
already looks huge from here but we don’t appear to be getting any
closer!’

‘The drive is
just over two miles long. Oh goody, he’s here! Well his helicopter
is here so that’s probably a good sign! You never know if he’s
going to turn up or not because he’s so busy.’

‘No getting out
of it then.’

‘No, you’ll be
fine.’

‘Are you sure
because I’m not.’

Sally did not
reply. Instead she took his hand and grasped it, stroking it
tenderly. Shortly the car pulled up in front of the mansion and
David saw the man he had seen in the pictures on the internet at
the top of the steps up to the huge doors. Almost before Sally
could stop him, David was opening the door to get out of the
car.

‘No. Wait for
the driver to open for you.’

Surprised,
David did as instructed and only got out of the car when the door
was opened for him, and he stood up out of the car. Sally then got
out and stood next to him and they made a striking couple.

Sally had paid
for a tailored suit for David, along with tailored shirt, brand new
Prada shoes and his black hair was cut in a trendy yet smart
manner. His deep blue eyes were shining, his olive skin was
glowing. Sally was dressed simply in a flowery summer dress,
sandals and her freshly coloured black hair was tied up with a
scarf. With no makeup except a touch of red lipstick that made her
full lips look even fuller, she looked simply stunning and with the
handsome David stood beside her looks were even more enhanced. With
a deep sigh of nerves, Sally took his hand and walked over to the
steps which her father started to come down. ‘Daddy! Lovely to see
you.’

‘And you.’ He
pecked her on each cheek. ‘You’re looking good darling. How are
your ribs?’

‘I’m all
better. A week lay on a lounger doing nothing but studying in the
sun has that affect!’

‘Great.’

‘Well daddy, as
you may have guessed, this is David.’

‘It’s a
pleasure to meet you Mr. Gallagher.’ He offered his hand which was
accepted and Mr. Gallagher was impressed with his firm
handshake.

‘And it’s a
pleasure to meet you too David. I have of course heard a lot about
you.’

‘And I have
about you, sir.’

‘Sir? Not
quite! Maybe Her Majesty will give me the honour next year, but for
now Mr. Gallagher is fine. Shall we go to the rear gardens? I
thought we could eat outside while it is such a glorious
evening.’

For the next
five minutes David managed to somehow stop his jaw dragging on the
floor as they made their way through the opulent mansion. As they
stepped out of a room, David had lost count of the number they had
been in, through the French windows, David managed to somehow not
gasp as he saw the expansive gardens with the numerous fountains
laid out across the grounds. Mr. Gallagher led them down a path to
a table that had been laid out for three, next to one of the
smaller fountains which gave an ambience that was present but not
overbearing.

They settled
into small talk, David making sure he did not say anything that
might embarrass him or his host. As they talked, the waiters
delivered the four courses and David could not remember a time that
he had eaten such luxurious food, yet it was clearly nothing new to
Sally or her father and in fact, Mr. Gallagher said to Sally that
one of the items of food was not correctly cooked to which Sally
agreed.

Soon the
conversation changed to Sally’s upcoming exams and David shuffled a
little uncomfortably in his seat as Sally explained how her
applications to Oxford and Cambridge were proceeding.

‘What college
do you attend David?’

‘Erm, well, I
don’t.’

‘Oh really,
nothing wrong with that. I haven’t got a G.C.S.E or O-level or
A-level or degree to my name. What business are you in?’

Mr. Gallagher’s
seemingly disregard of academic qualifications seemed to relax
David. ‘I’m a mechanic at a local garage.’

‘Really? Well
you would have loved where we were a couple of weeks ago!’

‘Yeah, he knows
dad. Still a touchy subject dad.’

‘Oh yes, sorry.
I forgot, which is one of the reasons you shouldn’t lie Sally,
because it takes a good memory to remember the lies that have been
told.’

‘Yeah, I know
dad. Thanks for reminding us about it dad.’

‘I don’t care
for your attitude young lady.’

‘Well
honestly!’ Sally stood up and quickly walked off towards the
mansion.

‘Now where’s
she going? I tell you what David, sometimes I wish I’d brought her
up a little differently.’

‘I think you’ve
done fine Mr. Gallagher. She’s a diamond.’

‘Yes, I suppose
she is as a whole. Just sometimes though… Ah, well. So, do you have
any qualifications?’

‘No, not
really. I’ve got a few G.C.S.Es, that’s all.’

‘Some people
are not destined for academic greatness. Look at me. I can barely
turn on a computer, if I don’t have a secretary to type my emails
and letters I shudder to think of the kind of tat I’d be sending
out. Thankfully my wife was there in the early days to vet
everything I was sending otherwise I don’t think I’d be anywhere
near where I am now!’