Rise and Fall (23 page)

“Speak to me about what?” Jamie asked.

“Jerell Morgan.” Louise watched the recognition flash in Jamie’s eyes. 

“For fuck’s sake, not this again,” Shay interrupted. Gary had been through the mill because of Jerell, and they didn’t need any more drama because of him. 

Holding his hands up, to quieten Shay, Jamie understood why Louise was here. “Will you boys give us a few minutes?” 

Gavin and Shay looked dubiously at one another before reluctantly leaving. They knew that Jamie wasn’t asking, he was telling.

“What the fuck’s going on? Shay whispered to Gavin.

Gavin shrugged. Since Gary had been shot, Jamie had been a different man. He was riddled with frustration, wanting retribution for Gary, but Gary had insisted that they all leave well alone. Jamie must be seething about the whole situation, and now Gavin wondered if Jamie had been planning something all along. Maybe the girl was in on it? Gavin should have known that Jamie was too hot-headed not to have reacted, and he had a feeling that Jamie had no intention of letting the situation go without a fight.

“I’m fucked if I know, mate,” Gavin said. “But whatever it is, if that girl has got any connection to Jerell Morgan, you can bet your life it’s all going to kick off again. Whatever you do, not a word of this gets out to Gary or Les. You got me, Shay? It’s the last thing Gary needs right now, and besides, Jamie knows what he’s doing, let’s just wait and see what the girl says to him, yeah?”

In the office, Jamie handed Louise a fresh mug of tea and sat opposite her. Taking a sip of her drink, as she held his eye, he noted how composed she was; it was rare to see such self-assurance in a girl so young.

“Someone told you that I was looking for Jerell, did they?” Jamie broke the silence between them, as he swirled the coffee in his mug.

“I’ve got a mate who told me I should come and see you. He said that you've been putting the word about that you’re looking for Jerell?” Louise hoped she had found the right person; otherwise the past two days would have been a waste of time.

“And what: you know where he is?” Jamie didn’t want to say too much. The girl looked honest, but he wasn’t falling for some pretty blonde fluttering her eyelashes, throwing him off guard, if this was a set up. He had been putting the word out on Jerell ever since his mother had told him that Tyler was with him, but what if Jerell had found out that Jamie was looking for him? Maybe the girl had been sent to dig for information, or to set him up. 

Jamie had asked a few of his contacts, but until Louise had turned up, no-one had said they had seen Jerell. 

“I do know where he is. He’s got a new place.” Louise matched Jamie’s frosty tone. She had expected him to be happy that she had information for him, but his face gave nothing away.

Jamie took a sip of coffee, giving himself the extra few seconds to weigh things up. He was always wary of new people. “So why are you telling me this, Louise, what’s in it for you?” 

The girl would be stupid to go up against Jerell by dishing out information on him to someone she didn’t know. People didn’t go round doing good deeds out of the goodness of their hearts; there was always something in it for them. 

“I think that Jerell’s after me,” Louise said, and Jamie noted a quiver in her voice. She had hidden it until now, but she could no longer disguise her fear. “I’ve been running for two days. I couldn’t even stay with my mate; Jerell would have found me. I have nowhere to go, Jerell knows everybody I know and will catch up with me eventually. I’m on my own, and I can’t go back. Not while he’s probably trying to find me. I had to sleep in a shop doorway last night. I’m desperate.” Jamie could hear the indignation in her voice as she carried on talking, clearly relieved to be able to unburden herself. “I can’t go back there, not after what I’ve seen, Jerell won’t trust me not to talk. I know what he’s like. I got away, luckily enough, otherwise who knows what he would have done to me to make sure I kept my mouth shut.” Louise took another sip of tea, grateful that Jamie seemed to be listening, and more importantly to understand where she was coming from. “I went and saw an old mate of mine, Steve Allen, he used to be a runner in a gang that I know, but he soon moved on, doing his own stuff over in Brixton. He said he knew you, Jamie, and that you might be able to help me. He said I could trust you.” 

Her story seemed to add up. Jamie had seen Steve four days before and had told him that if he had any information on Jerell he would make it worth his while. Steve was as trustworthy as they came; although he dabbled in a lot of shit with a lot of dodgy people now, Jamie knew that he wouldn’t stitch him up.

“He said he didn’t know why you wanted to find Jerell, but he reckoned from the way you were talking, you had a score to settle with him. So here I am; you want to know where you can find Jerell and I can tell you,” she said simply.

“Why do you think that he might be after you?” Jamie asked. Louise seemed like a decent girl, it seemed strange that Jerell should want to harm her.

“I’ve seen things... things that he doesn’t want anyone to know about.” Louise’s voice was soft. She let the silent tears that she had been trying to hold back fall, unable to hide them for a second longer. It was the first time that she had let herself cry, since she had seen poor Tyler’s petrified face the other night, when he had been pinned down by Jerell.

Jamie bristled at her words. He knew things too. Things that he didn’t want to know, things that kept him awake at night and made him worried sick in the day. 

Louise seemed like she was telling him the truth, but he didn’t want to give too much away to her, not until he was certain that he could trust her.

“I really need your help, Jamie.” Louise put her head in her hands. 

Jamie let the girl get her grief out of her system. He could see she needed to get everything off her chest. She was scared of Jerell; that much was clear, and her story seemed genuine. 

Once she had calmed down enough to speak clearly and calmly, Louise explained how she had spent the past months working for Jerell. She told Jamie how Jerell controlled all the kids that he had working for him. Louise said how she knew he would be looking for her; he would be panicking about what she might do or say. She was petrified by the rumours about what he had done to the last person that had opened his mouth. Apparently he had cut some grass’ head off with a machete. Louise had heard he had been like a man possessed, and she knew that he was capable of doing the same to her; he was out of control. 

Louise couldn’t bring herself to think about Reagan. He sickened her. She had seen that look in his eyes that night: he had known all along. Just the thought of lying beside Reagan in bed each night, while he pretended that nothing had been going on between that vile man and poor Tyler made her feel physically sick. 

“What is it that he doesn’t want anyone else to know?” Jamie interrupted her thoughts, as he tried to encourage the information out of her, seeing as she wasn’t exactly willing to tell him whatever it was that she had on Jerell. He had a good idea that he already knew what she was going to say, but he needed to hear it from her.

Louise shook her head. She was unable to put what she had seen into words, she was still shocked and disgusted by it, and frightened out of her wits that if she told anyone Jerell would find out.

“If you’re looking for Jerell, I’ll take you to him. But only on the condition you deal with him properly.” Louise looked Jamie in the eye. She was laying her cards on the table. “He's been doing bad things...” Unable to continue, Louise hung her head. 

Jamie knew that he wasn’t going to get her to say much more; she was beside herself with worry. Not wanting to miss his opportunity, he asked her the question that he had been dying to have an answer to since she had first spoken Jerell’s name.

“Is there a boy with him, Louise? He’s only twelve, and his name’s Kevin, I mean Tyler.” Jamie saw the shocked expression spread across Louise’s face, confirming his fears.

But Louise was confused as well as shocked; how did Jamie know about Tyler?

“That’s who I’m looking for Louise: Tyler. I was told Jerell has him, and I need to find him; he’s not safe.” Jamie explained to the bewildered-looking girl.

“I know. I know Tyler.” Louise felt dizzy from trying to digest what she had heard.

Jamie breathed a sigh of relief. She knew Tyler. Now he would find out where he was, and he would be able to help his brother. “Is he okay, Louise?” 

Louise didn’t know how to answer that; the boy would be far from okay after everything he had suffered, but he wasn’t dead if that was what Jamie wanted to know.

“Is he okay, Louise?” Jamie felt his chest tighten. He couldn’t imagine how he would react if he was too late and something had already happened.

“It depends on what you consider to be okay.” Louise shrugged sadly. Unable to help her bluntness, she added: “He’s alive, if that’s what you mean.” 

Louise could see that Jamie was trying to keep himself together, as she was. There was a scared look on his face. She felt better that she had someone to talk to, someone who was on her side. The relief was too much for her, she burst into tears. The loud sob escaped her mouth, as if the worry and distress she had been hiding inside had been like water in a dam that had finally given in under the pressure, her tears now bursting out, unable to be contained any longer. 

Jamie crouched at her side. He placed his arm around her and felt her body shake. “It’s alright, Louise. You don’t have to say another word. I know about Tyler. I know.” Jamie felt rage seer through his body at the thought of what Louise must have seen. 

The girl looked drained, and after her telling him that she had been sleeping rough, he figured that she must also be starving hungry and very tired. But there was no time to spare to help her now. Jamie needed to get to Tyler fast: he was his priority.

“Louise, I’m going to need you to take me to Tyler and Jerell. Do you think that you’re going to be able to do that? We don’t have much time. If Jerell is het up about you getting the police involved or something, Tyler may have a noose around his neck, who knows what Jerell would do to him to make sure that he doesn’t get found out?”

A teary Louise looked up at Jamie, as the implications of what he was saying sunk in: although she had been thinking much the same thing. She knew what Jerell could be like. He tormented himself and everyone around him with his paranoia. He would be climbing the walls.

“Of course I'll take you to him.” Louise was grateful that Jamie was on her side, he looked like he could handle himself. There was something about the way that he spoke to her; he had an air of confidence. If he could get Tyler away from that animal, that was good enough for her. But handle Jerell Morgan? She wasn’t so sure. No-one she knew had gone up against him and won. “Jerell isn't going to just let you walk in and take him, though.” 

“Don’t you worry yourself about Jerell, Louise. He should have been dealt with ages ago. You show me where he is; I’ll do the rest.”

Louise prayed that he wouldn’t be too late.

Reagan’s palms were sweaty and his T-shirt stuck to his back. As he made his way over to the car, he felt like he was having an out-of-body experience. His feet were just about walking, but he felt like he wasn’t really here. It was a surreal feeling, like he was in a trance. He could almost feel Jerell’s eyes burn into him, as he watched him from the lounge window, as he and Tyler walked down the driveway towards the car.  

“Where are we going?” Tyler was seemingly oblivious to Reagan’s mood. He had been stuck in his bedroom for the past two days, and was happy to get out. He had started to feel like he was going mad up in his room all by himself, and if getting out of the place, even for a little while, meant getting away from Jerell then even better.

“I thought we’d go for a bit of a spin and get ourselves a burger, Ty. Change of scenery for you,” Reagan replied, like he was doing Tyler a favour, hating himself for being so gutless. “You must be starving; I haven’t seen you eat a thing for days.” 

Tyler shrugged, as if it wasn’t such a big deal, but he was indeed famished, he hadn’t eaten anything for two days because he hadn’t wanted to come downstairs and face any of them. His belly was hurting from the hunger pangs and even this short walk from the house to the car had made him light-headed. 

Reagan opened the doors to the Corsa, and Tyler sat in the front passenger seat. Even though he was grateful to Reagan for taking him out of the house and getting him something to eat, he felt wary. Why was Reagan being nice: was he feeling guilty? Reagan was the closest person to Jerell; Tyler wondered if he knew what Jerell had been doing to him.  

Tyler hadn’t seen Jerell for two days but he had heard him shouting at Reagan, about Louise. Apparently she had done a runner after finding Jerell in his room. Jerell was furious with the girl. Tyler hadn’t been able to make out his exact words, but he was sure that, even though Reagan hadn’t said anything about it to him, he must know what Jerell had been doing.

Tyler hadn’t been able to forget the expression on Louise’s face when she had turned on his bedroom light. He constantly replayed the look on her face. She had looked so shocked and disgusted. It wasn’t the look of someone who had known already, so maybe Reagan didn’t know either, Tyler rationalised. But he couldn’t be sure. He was so confused. He had gone over every conversation that he’d ever had with Reagan, analysing every look, every comment, until his mind was whirling. Right now, all he knew for sure was that he had never felt so alone in his life. And as much as he wanted to trust Reagan, he couldn’t find it in him. 

It saddened Tyler that he had nobody to turn to. He had thought that joining a gang like the Larkhall Boys would change his life for the better and for a while it had. He had made more money than most grown-ups that he knew, let alone kids, and despite the constant ribbing from the other boys at first, Tyler had believed that he had made some real friends, and there had been times that he would have even classed those friends as his family. But now he wasn’t so sure. When Jerell had sent the other boys all out to look for Louise the other day, Tyler had overheard Rhys having a conversation with one of the other boys, on the landing. Tyler had strained to listen to the boy’s whispering, which he was sure was about him. He hadn’t wanted to leave his bedroom; his sanctuary. He couldn’t face the others. He felt mortified by the shame of it all. As Tyler put his ear against his bedroom door to hear the murmurs, it became obvious that none of the boys knew exactly why Louise had gone.