Fighting Back (9 page)

Mum was thinking hard. ‘But we wouldn’t know what floor it came from. It would prove nothing.’

‘That’s the good bit!’ I said excitedly. ‘I found out today – ’ I’d found out from Ming ‘ – that each floor has its own bin at the bottom of the chute. So anything put in at our floor lands in the bin for the thirteenth floor!’

‘Do you really think they’d be so stupid?’

‘Not stupid, mother. Sure of themselves. They always have an alibi. No one will ever admit they saw
them.’ I could see she was hesitating. ‘It’s worth a try, surely?’

She suddenly looked crestfallen. ‘Oh dear – I’m just after telling Sergeant Maitland I’d never talk to him again.’

She straightened, sure of herself again. ‘I’ll go to that nice young Grant. He’s much more pleasant to speak to anyway.’

The first thing PC Grant did, however, was lead her straight to Sergeant Maitland’s office. He was grim-faced as he listened to her story. Then he turned his attention to me.

‘You figured this out for yourself, did you?’

I thought it was a bit insulting that he should sound so surprised. I nodded.

‘No one told you anything … ’

I’m sure I blushed, but luckily Mum answered for me. ‘Of course she figured it out for herself. She’s very bright!’

‘We’ll look into it,’ he said, standing up. Dismissing us.

‘You’ll do it right away?’ I must have sounded panicky because he looked at me in surprise.

‘Tomorrow.’

‘No. Tomorrow the bins are emptied.’ I hadn’t known this either until Ming had told me. ‘You have to come today. Right now! Please.’

He held me back as we were leaving the office. ‘Who tipped you off, Kerry? You can tell me.’

I swallowed. On my mother’s life, I had promised. I wouldn’t break that promise, for anybody. ‘I just figured it out. Honest.’

He didn’t believe me, that was clear. But he came. They all came. Police, forensic, everyone. And the whole of the tower block turned out to watch.

Chapter Twenty-Four

It didn’t take them long to find the empty can of kerosene, and there was a bonus. The forensic people found minute scrapings from the same can on the rim of our chute. Proof positive that the can had come from our floor, if more proof were needed. The neighbours watched silently. Only Sandra and Ming were noticeably absent.

‘And have you enough to arrest them now?’ Mum asked loudly as we stood on the landing.

Sergeant Maitland nodded. ‘Oh, yes, enough to arrest them … and to hold them without bail. They’re a threat to a single mother and her daughter, and with the reputation the Laffertys have they won’t get bail. I’ll make sure of it.’

‘And my daughter did it!’ Mum said, even more loudly. ‘My Kerry. A little girl, on her own, found the proof to put them away!’

I wished she would shut up. I felt so guilty. Ming had found the proof. If it weren’t for Ming, we would never have discovered the can – the bin men would have come and it would have been gone for ever. And I couldn’t say a word.

Sergeant Maitland knew. I was convinced that he did. He stared at me for a long time, waiting for me to say something. I couldn’t even meet his steely gaze.

Finally, he turned from us.

‘Don’t we even get a thank you?’ Mum just didn’t know when to shut up.

‘All I am going to say is this,’ he looked from me to Mum. He was exasperated with her. ‘I don’t want you anywhere near the Laffertys’ house when we take them out. I want no banners, no cheering. I don’t want to see you anywhere near the place.’

‘You need have no fear of that, whatsoever!’

As soon as they were gone, Mum put her arm round my shoulder and led me back to our flat. The neighbours never said a word. Mum couldn’t take that at all.

‘Aren’t any of you going to say anything?’ They stared at her in a stony silence. ‘The Lafferty brothers are going to be arrested. Do you understand that?’

One by one they stepped inside their houses, and
quietly closed their doors. They knew what we didn’t understand even then.

The worst was yet to come.

‘You are a wonderful woman!’ Ali said as soon as Mum and I entered his shop next morning. ‘Life here has been nothing but excitement since you two arrived here.’

Excitement, I thought, I could well do without.

‘You should have witnessed the commotion last night,’ he went on. ‘The Laffertys were brought out of their house, struggling, screaming abuse at the police. Then they were thrown into the van, and taken away. Quite a bit of excitement, I can tell you, as word got round the estate!’

Mum basked in this attention. She’d had it from no one else.

That got me thinking. Did Ali fancy my mum? He was certainly a more suitable boyfriend for her than PC Grant. He was a good-looking man, and he had a lovely set of teeth. He was forever showing them off.

And he was giving her so much attention now.

‘It was Kerry really,’ Mum insisted, smiling at me. ‘If it weren’t for her we would never have considered searching the bins.’

‘You are a wonderful woman too!’ Ali said.

And again I felt so guilty. Ming deserved this praise, not me. I wondered if I could tell them, just Mum and Ali? I could trust them. Ming could trust them. And really what did it matter now, that the Laffertys had been arrested?

I knew the answer to that in the split second that I thought it. The door of Ali’s shop flew open and in she came. Ma Lafferty. For once her hair wasn’t pulled back tight from her face in a ponytail. It flew behind her, making her look like a madwoman.

Her eyes went wild when she saw my mum.

‘You!’ she screamed. ‘You’re responsible!’

Mum didn’t deny that. Her smile was triumphant. ‘Yes. We are.’

Ma Lafferty’s gaze darted to me. ‘You think you’re so smart, don’t you? You think this is over, don’t you?’

Ali stepped forward then. ‘Out of my shop, Mrs Lafferty. You know you are barred from here.’

‘I’m going,’ she said, already backing out. ‘I only came in to give you a warning.’ Her finger pointed straight at Mum. ‘Watch your back, dearie. Because I’ll get you. Don’t ever forget that. I’m not finished with you yet.’

Chapter Twenty-Five

‘Well, it’s really all thanks to you,’ I told Ming. ‘Can’t I tell them now it was you who told me?’ I was excited after all that had happened and had sought him out at the Wee Hippy.

‘SSSH!’ He looked around quickly, afraid someone might have heard me. ‘You think that’s it finished?’

‘Goodness, Ming, Chopper and Chas have been arrested. They won’t get any bail. They’re off the estate. What more do you want?’

He blew out his cheeks in exasperation. ‘The boys are nothing,’ he began.

‘Oh yes?’ I said. ‘You didn’t think that when we met them in the playground.’

‘Ma Lafferty’s the worst, Kerry. Don’t you understand that yet? She can always get boys to do her dirty work. But she’s the boss.’

I leaned against the wall beside him, thinking about
her threat to us. It wasn’t all over. Deep down I knew that.

He turned and walked away from me, his shoulders slumped. He had changed. Since what had happened to his mother, Ming had changed. I thought I knew why. I would change too if anyone did that to my mum.

Mum was singing when I went home. As soon as I stepped into the living-room she grabbed me and began waltzing around the room.

‘All right, Mum, I know,’ I said, disentangling myself from her. She can be so embarrassing at times. ‘Because of you the Laffertys have been carted off to jail. You’re wonderful!’

She began screaming with excitement and shaking her head. ‘It’s even better than that, Kerry! Even better. What’s the most exciting thing that could happen?’

Dad wanted us home.

It was my first thought. He had split up with Rachel and we were going home. One big happy family again. I almost said it, till I realized that wasn’t what Mum meant. That hadn’t even crossed her mind. Only a couple of weeks ago it was all she thought about.

Goodness, how Mum had changed.

I shrugged my shoulders. ‘Tell me,’ I said.

‘We’ve got another house. Out of here. We’re moving, Kerry. Sergeant Maitland has seen to it. Moved for our own protection. Away from the Laffertys. Away from the scum who live here.’

‘They’re not scum, Mum,’ I heard myself say, and I meant it. I thought of Sandra, working so hard for her and Ming. I thought of the jolly Hippo Brigade, loving their nights at bingo. I thought of Mr McCurley, that big giant of a man who did the shopping for all his elderly neighbours. I thought of Ming, who had helped me, and been a friend. ‘They’re not scum.’

She looked at me in surprise. ‘After all we’ve been through you can’t possibly like them. Did they help us? No.’

‘They’re frightened, Mum. Frightened of Ma Lafferty.’ I remembered how frightened I had been.

‘Well, you and me, Kerry, have done what none of them could do. We’ve got rid of the Laffertys. Once and for all.’

‘Not all of them,’ I reminded her. But she wouldn’t listen. She was too happy.

Within the next few days we were to view our new flat, and if we liked it we could move in the next couple
of weeks. No wonder she was so pleased. Nothing was going to spoil her mood. After all, she said, Ma Lafferty was no one to be afraid of now. I knew different. Ma Lafferty was the worst one of all.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The other flat was also on an estate. On this one, however, the gardens were well kept and tidy and there were no boarded-up windows. The flat itself was clean and fresh and Mum was delighted with it.

‘This is more like it,’ she kept saying.

‘It hasn’t got much of a view,’ I pointed out. It was on the ground floor and all we would be looking into was another flat.

‘So?’ Mum asked. And she immediately began measuring for curtains.

‘You’ve decided then?’ I asked her.

‘Well, I haven’t signed for it or anything, but I will. Any move out of that place has got to be an improvement.’

She was right, of course. We had to get away from the Laffertys. It was the only way to be really safe from them. So why did I have this feeling in the pit of my
stomach? Surely I didn’t really want to stay?

Mum was just so happy, I could hardly believe it. She never mentioned Dad, and I noticed that his picture had been taken from above her bed and hadn’t been replaced. Now that was a really good sign.

However, she was getting on everybody’s wick. She was so smug! She lifted her nose in the air whenever we passed any of the neighbours, and refused to talk to anyone. Whenever we got in the lift, when it was working that is, she just sucked in her cheeks and raised her eyes to the ceiling. I could see people fuming at her.

They would all be as glad to be rid of her as she was to be rid of them.

‘So when are you moving?’ Ming asked me. I was on the balcony drinking my tea when he came out on his. Just like old times, I thought. And soon we’d never be able to do it again.

‘I don’t think it will be that long. Mum’s already measuring for curtains.’

‘Everybody’ll be glad to see the back of her,’ he said.

‘That’s not fair. You never gave her a chance. And she has every right to ignore you after all the things that have happened to us.’

He smiled then. ‘Aye, life’s going to be really dull round here without you.’

I looked out across the hills. The sun was just going down over the Sleeping Warrior as he lay, arms across his chest, on the horizon. An absolutely magnificent sunset that was gradually turning the sky, the river, the buildings, the whole world, brick-red. It was so beautiful, I didn’t say anything for a minute. Ming followed my gaze.

‘Brilliant, innit?’ he said.

And I agreed. ‘Brilliant.’

He turned his eyes on me and I was sure I saw a little bit of admiration in them. I must have been mistaken. Then he said, ‘Aye, things have been really exciting since you moved in.’

I smiled back at him. ‘Well, it’s all over now … ’

He shook his head very slowly. ‘No, Kerry. It’s not over. Ma Lafferty’s like an elephant. She never forgets. While you’re still here, you be careful, Kerry. Because she’s up to something, you can be sure of that.’

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ming’s warning niggled at me, but with the sun shining and my mum so happy it was easy to put it to the back of my mind.

‘Not many of these days left, Kerry.’ Mum was throwing sheets into the laundry basket as I came in from school. It was Tuesday, washing day. ‘Goodness, that reminds me, I’ll have to see about a washing machine. There’ll be no laundrette at the new flat.’

‘Do you want me to come down with you?’

She waved that suggestion away. ‘Not at all. I’m just going to throw it in a machine and come back up.’ She was getting quite an expert in the laundrette. She screwed her face up. ‘Her next door will be there, and I have absolutely no intention of talking to her.’ She thought about that. ‘Or any of them, in fact.’

That would make things simple, I thought. Since
none of them were talking to Mum anyway.

‘You can put the kettle on, we’ll have a cup of tea when I come back.’

She left the house singing ‘You Take the High Road and I’ll Take the Low Road’ and I heard a voice from one of the houses call out, ‘Aye, and the sooner the better!’

Mum didn’t answer them. Thank heaven. All I wanted now was to leave the estate in one piece.

I switched the kettle on and got the cups ready, and took my magazine out to the balcony to read.

I was only there a couple of minutes when Sandra appeared. She was pinning up a massive bra on her line. I hadn’t spoken to her since the Laffertys’ arrest, but I had to now.

‘Hello, Mrs Ramsay,’ I said.

She jumped at the sound of my voice and turned to me. Her face was still swollen and I hoped I wasn’t looking too hard at her eye, still black and blue.

‘It’s a lovely day.’ I expected some kind of answer, but all she did was stare at me. She kept blinking and little beads of sweat were forming on her lip. What on earth was wrong with her? I wasn’t that scary!

I even smiled to assure her I was really trying to be friendly.