The Driver (22 page)

Joe also knew now that she and her friends were from tiny poverty-stricken Ukrainian villages with unpronounceable names and that they had all been fooled into coming to England with the promise of well-paid work and a safe place to live.

It was a classic scam and Joe had imagined that everyone the world over must be aware of it by now, considering how many documentaries had been made on the subject. But he hadn’t taken into account the fact that people from Katya’s background often didn’t have access to TV, so they’d had absolutely no idea of what awaited them when they’d set off. And by the time they had arrived it had been too late.

Now that he knew, Joe was more determined than ever to help her. But, brave as she’d been in opening up to him, Katya was still too scared even to contemplate trying to escape from Eddie. When Joe had pressed her to explain how anything could possibly be worse than the way she was being forced to live now she’d clammed up and refused to discuss it any further, so he’d been forced to let it drop.

It had been four a.m. by the time he’d got home this morning, and it had taken him hours to get to sleep, so he didn’t appreciate being woken now. Carl was being so insistent that he had no choice but to get up.

‘Jeezus, mate, you took your time,’ Carl complained, blowing on his hands and rushing in when Joe opened the door. ‘It’s fucking freezing out there.’

‘I was asleep,’ Joe told him, yawning his way to the kitchen. ‘And it might help if you were wearing a coat instead of a T-shirt.’

‘I was, but I left it at my mum’s last night,’ Carl told him. ‘My keys are in the pocket and Mel’s out, so I need a lift to Longsight to get it.’

‘Wouldn’t it be easier to ring Mel and tell her to come back and let you in?’ Joe suggested, putting the kettle on.

‘I tried, but her mobile was switched off,’ Carl told him.

‘Everything all right with you two?’ Joe asked, guessing that it probably wasn’t if Carl had spent the night at his mum’s and Mel had gone awol.

‘It’s her not me,’ Carl muttered. ‘You know I told you I thought she was seeing someone else behind my back? Well, I came right out and asked her the other day, and she had the cheek to tell me that the bongs have fucked my head up and made me para. Can you believe that?’

‘Well, they do say it’s a side effect,’ Joe said amusedly.

‘Mate, the only side effect going on here is the one
she
’s picked up watching them twat-show hosts lecture tossers about shit they know nowt about,’ Carl retorted. ‘I mean, when was the last time any of
them
had a good bong? But give ’em a microphone and they’re experts all of a sudden. Paranoid, me backside.’ He sucked his teeth. ‘She won’t be such a smart arse when I tell her I’ve got her lined up to go on
Kyle
to do a lie detector.’

‘You haven’t?’ Joe laughed.

‘Have I fuck,’ Carl snorted. ‘But
she
won’t know that. And she’ll crap herself when I tell her, ’cos she’ll know it’ll make her look guilty if she refuses.’

‘She’ll never go for it,’ Joe said, handing Carl’s coffee to him.

Sighing, Carl said, ‘Yeah, I know. Guess I’ll just have to keep following her till I catch her.’

‘What do you mean,
keep
following her?’ Joe asked. ‘I didn’t know you had been.’

‘Yeah, man,’ Carl said, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do. ‘Like last night, she went stomping off saying she was going to her sister’s. But I know she can’t stand her so I waited five minutes and went after her.’

‘And did she go there?’

‘Yeah, but only ’cos she probably clocked me. She’ll have left as soon as she thought I’d gone.’

‘How long did you wait?’

‘About half an hour.’ Carl shrugged. ‘Got too cold so I walked to my mum’s. And then my old mate invited me round to his for a party and I got wasted. That’s why I need to get my keys asap, ’cos I did a bit of a dribble in my jeans and need to get changed.’

Sighing, Joe said, ‘All right. But you’ll have to wait till I’m properly awake.’

‘Late night?’ Carl asked, opening the window and shivering in the cold air as he lit a cigarette. ‘Seeing that bird again?’

‘No, I just couldn’t sleep,’ Joe told him.

‘Not easy getting used to a strange bed, is it?’ Carl gave him a knowing smile. ‘Come on, mate, no point lying about it,’ he went on. ‘I already know you stopped out, ’cos Eddie called round for you, then rang me wanting to know where you were.’

‘I forgot to take my phone,’ Joe said, wondering if Eddie had somehow found out about him and Katya. ‘What did he want?’

‘A lift to some tart’s place, knowing him,’ Carl said. ‘Anyhow, what’s with you and your bird?’ he asked now. ‘Don’t think I haven’t noticed you sneaking out in the middle of the night. So what’s with the secrecy? Is she a minger, or something? Or is
she
a
he
?’ He raised his eyebrows.

‘Don’t be daft,’ Joe scoffed. ‘I just haven’t known her long enough to start introducing her to my mates yet. Don’t know if it’s going anywhere – you know how it is.’

‘Fetch her round. I’ll soon tell you if she’s a goer or not.’

‘Cheers, but I think I’ll just carry on taking it slow for now.’

Joe headed into the living room when he heard his mobile vibrating on the coffee table and his heart leapt when he saw that it was a withheld number. Hoping that it might be Katya, he was smiling as he answered it. But the smile soon slipped when the caller tartly informed him that this was the third time they had tried to reach him this morning.

‘Sorry,’ he apologised. ‘I had a late night, didn’t hear it.’ Frowning now when he heard the reason for the call, he said, ‘Yeah, sure. I’ll be there.’

‘Was that her?’ Carl asked when he’d hung up.

‘No, it was the dole,’ Joe told him, checking the phone and seeing that he’d had nine missed calls in all: two from Eddie, three from Carl, the rest from a withheld number. Glancing at his watch now and realising that he didn’t have much time, he said, ‘Sorry, I’m going to have to give that lift a miss. They’ve called me in for a meeting.’

‘Aw, come on, I was here first,’ Carl protested. ‘Ring them back and tell them you can’t make it.’

‘I can’t,’ Joe insisted. ‘You know what they’re like. They’ll cut me off if I mess them about.’

‘Wankers,’ Carl sneered. ‘You wanna do what I do and tell them you’ve got mental issues. Amazing how fast they want you out of there when you’re rolling round on the floor foaming at the mouth.’

Joe grimaced at the thought of people looking at him the way they must surely look at Carl if he really did that kind of thing.

‘No, you’re all right, I’ll stick to doing it my way,’ he said. Then, ‘Look, why don’t you stop here till Mel gets back? I don’t know how long I’ll be, but you know where everything is. And you can take a shower if you want.’

‘Nah, I need to get my gear and get out there before I lose my customers,’ Carl told him. ‘But you can lend us a couple of quid for the bus if you’re feeling generous. And a jacket,’ he added, rubbing at his arms.

‘Take the one off the hook behind the door,’ Joe said as he headed into the bedroom to get the money.

Carl was already in the hall, tugging the jacket on when he came back out. Handing the money over, Joe said, ‘Don’t forget my cups when you fetch it back. You’ve got four of mine now. I’m running out.’

‘You and them bleedin’ cups,’ Carl snorted, pulling the door open and stepping out into the corridor. ‘Anyone would think they were made of gold or something.’

‘Just bring them,’ Joe repeated firmly.

‘Yes,
sir
!’ Carl said, giving him a salute before marching away down the corridor.

‘Tosser!’ Joe called after him.

‘Takes one to know one,’ Carl called back, flipping him the finger before disappearing into the stairwell.

Joe closed the door and traipsed to the bathroom before reluctantly getting dressed for the meeting he’d been summoned to. He was dreading it because he had no answers for the questions he would undoubtedly be asked. Yes, he’d lived here for almost six months now, and no doubt most people would think that was ample time to have made some sort of headway. But he just hoped they would understand that it wasn’t that easy.

19

As Joe drove through town a short time later he just missed seeing Chrissie and her mum making their way into the family-planning clinic. It had taken Chrissie a long time to make her mind up, and now that she had she wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. But she was about to have her whole world dragged out from under her feet.

More than two hours after arriving, during which time she’d been questioned, examined, and then questioned again, she emerged from the nurse’s room with her face ashen. Linda had been sitting in the waiting room the whole time. Dropping the magazine she’d been reading, she leapt up from her seat.

‘What’s happening? Have we got to wait, or come back, or what?’

‘Keep your voice down,’ Chrissie muttered, pushing her towards the door. ‘People are listening.’

‘I don’t give a toss about them,’ Linda retorted loudly. ‘I want to know what’s happening with
you
.’

‘Nothing.’ Chrissie trotted down the stairs and yanked the door open. ‘I need a fag,’ she said, lurching out onto the pavement.

‘Here.’ Linda lit two and passed one to her. ‘Now tell me what she said. When are they going to do it?’

‘They can’t,’ Chrissie told her, swiping at a tear that was trickling down her cheek. ‘I’m too far gone.’

Linda was confused. ‘How come? I thought you said you were only twelve weeks.’

‘Yeah, well, I was obviously wrong,’ Chrissie muttered, pulling a tissue out of her pocket and dabbing at her eyes. ‘What am I going to do?’ she moaned, looking as forlorn as Linda had ever seen her.

They’d never been particularly huggy-kissy, and Chrissie especially didn’t like being touched when she was upset, so Linda settled for patting her on the arm.

‘Only one thing you can do, love. You’ll have to have it.’

‘How can I?’ Chrissie wailed. ‘Me and Eddie are arguing all the time. How can I bring a baby into that?’

Linda gave her one of her looks. ‘You already know what I think. If it’s that bad, move out.’

‘And bring it up by myself?’ Chrissie gasped, horrified by the thought.

‘I brought you and your brothers up on my own,’ Linda reminded her. ‘And it’s way easier these days, with all the benefits they chuck at you.’

Sniffling into the tissue, Chrissie shook her head. ‘I don’t want to bring up my baby like that. I want it to know its dad.’

‘Oh, so I wasn’t good enough for you, wasn’t I?’

‘I’m not saying that,’ Chrissie mumbled, moving away from the door. The sign was discreet, but they might as well have been done with it and written ‘Abortion Clinic’ in foot-high letters because everyone knew that was what it was.

‘You’re going to have to tell Eddie,’ Linda said firmly, figuring that there was no point pussyfooting around Chrissie at a time like this. She’d taken this long to decide she wanted rid, and now she knew she’d left it too late she still seemed to think that she had options. But she only had two, as far as Linda was concerned: tell Eddie and hope that he’d be man enough to step up to the mark; or cut her losses and get on with it by herself – like Linda and millions of other women had done before her.

Chrissie tutted and flashed her mum a dirty look. She knew she was right but she wasn’t about to tell
her
that. Anyway, it was all very well for her to tell Chrissie to talk to Eddie, but she had no idea how difficult it was to pin him down for
any
kind of conversation, never mind one as important as this. He’d been up and down like a yo-yo recently, moody as hell one minute, jumping about like an excited firecracker the next. He was still doing way too much coke for her liking, smoking too much weed and drinking himself stupid. But he insisted that it wasn’t a problem and the more she nagged, the more he did it to spite her.

Linda looked at her daughter’s miserable face and decided that it was probably best to back off for now and give her time to get used to the idea that she was going to be a mother. Finishing her cigarette in silence, she turned to stub it out on the wall.

‘Let’s go home and get a cuppa,’ she suggested when she turned back. But Chrissie was already halfway down the street. ‘Oi!’ she called, rushing after her. ‘Where you going? Wait for me.’

‘I need to be alone for a bit,’ Chrissie said when Linda caught her up.

‘So you just thought you’d take off?’ Linda said indignantly. ‘Stuff me, ’cos it’s not like I put my own life on hold to come with you or anything. And not everyone’s mum would do that for them, you know. None of them girls back there had
theirs
with them.’

‘You know I appreciate you coming,’ Chrissie told her. ‘But I can’t deal with this right now. I need to do some thinking.’

Linda sighed. ‘Look, I know this is hard for you, love, but it’s just as hard for me. I can’t bear to think of you going back to the flat and getting no support. So why don’t you come home and let me look after you? It’ll be easy, the two of us together. We can get that cot off our Neil and—’

‘Mum, stop.’ Chrissie cut her off. ‘This is my baby – mine and Eddie’s. And we’ll bring it up together, like we’re supposed to.’

Linda struggled with her own emotions as she saw the determination flare in her daughter’s eyes. She wanted to be a real, valuable part of her grandchild’s life but she knew that Eddie would block her. Just like he’d blocked her and Chrissie from being as close as they had used to be. But Chrissie was a grown woman with a mind of her own, and if this was what she wanted then Linda was just going to have to swallow it.

‘Good luck,’ she said, conceding defeat. ‘You know where I am if you need me.’ With that, she turned on her heel and walked back down the road to the bus station.

Chrissie exhaled wearily and set off in the direction of home. But she didn’t go straight there: she needed to think about what she wanted to say first, make sure she got it right first time. So she went to a café and wasted a couple of hours there, drinking coffees that she didn’t want and could barely stomach. And then, when she knew that she’d overstayed her welcome, she wandered into the park and sat on a bench for a couple of hours more, staring unseeingly at the ducks on the dingy crap-littered lake.