The Driver (26 page)

‘That’s not too bad,’ Clive said, turning along the approach to the Grange. Slamming his brakes on when he noticed all the people milling about, he said, ‘What the fuck’s going on here?’

‘Reverse out,’ Eddie ordered when he spotted the police. ‘
Now
, man!’

Clive did as he was told without argument. Pulling over around the corner, he waited while Eddie rang Carl to find out what was happening.

‘Panic over,’ Eddie said when he’d finished. ‘Pigs are doing house-to-house because someone’s found a dead baby. But they’ve already done my block so we’re safe.’

‘That’s good,’ Clive mused. ‘An hour’s plenty of time. So if the pigs aren’t there for you, chances are the girls haven’t even thought of grassing you up.’

‘Yeah, but the longer they’re gone, the more risk there is that they’ll get picked up,’ Eddie said, checking his watch again.

‘So what do you want to do? Check the flat, then go looking for them?’

‘Nah, Carl checked, and it’s secure,’ Eddie told him. ‘I need to talk to Chrissie and find out exactly what happened, so drop me at the hospital, then you go looking for them. They hardly know you, so they’ll presume you’re a punter. Then you can grab them and get them in the car.’

‘What if I don’t see them?’

‘You will if you look hard enough. They don’t know anywhere but town, so I doubt they’ll stray too far. I’ll get Joe to pick me up after I’ve seen Chrissie, make sure there’s no trace of me in their flat – just in case.’

‘Want me to bring them back there when I find them?’ Clive asked.

‘No, you’ll have to keep them at yours till we can sort out somewhere else,’ Eddie said. Shrugging when Clive gave him a horrified look, he said, ‘What else can we do, man? I can’t risk having them back there till we’ve got all four of them. One can still bring the pigs down on me like a ton of bricks.’

‘I’m not happy about this,’ Clive grumbled, setting off reluctantly.

Chrissie was lying with her back to the door when Eddie walked into her little room at the end of the ward. She’d regained consciousness in the ambulance en route to hospital so the paramedics had been able to prepare her for what was to come by explaining gently that she had lost the baby. After that, nothing that anybody said to her registered as important.

The doctor had told her that he wanted to keep her in for a couple of nights to keep an eye on her. She’d lost a fair bit of blood, he’d said, and he was concerned about the bruise that was developing across her back. He hadn’t come right out and asked if her man was responsible, but Chrissie had known that was what he was thinking. Him and the nurses, with their sympathetic smiles, soft talk and hand patting. Little did they know that, albeit indirectly, it
was
Eddie’s fault, because if it hadn’t been for him bringing those girls into her life this would never have happened. Which was why, when the nurse had asked if there was anybody she wanted them to contact, she’d given them her mum’s number, not his. She didn’t want to see him yet; she had too much to think about before she could listen to any of his lies. And that was exactly what she would get, she knew, because he was incapable of telling the truth.

She stiffened now when Eddie approached the bed and put his hand on her shoulder.

‘Babe?’ he whispered. ‘You awake?’

Chrissie squeezed her eyes shut, glad that he thought she was asleep.

‘Babe?’ A little louder now. ‘Wake up, we need to talk.’

The door opened behind him, and Linda walked in with two cups of drinking chocolate in her hands. ‘Oh, you made it, did you?’ she said when she saw Eddie. ‘I’m amazed anyone knew where you were. My Chrissie certainly didn’t. But then, it seems she hardly ever does ’cos you’re always taking off and leaving her from what I’ve heard.’

Eddie sighed. He hadn’t so much as said hello to Linda yet but she was already launching into him as if she was some kind of authority on his and Chrissie’s relationship.

‘So what have you got to say for yourself?’ she demanded.

‘To tell you the truth, I haven’t got a fucking clue what’s going on ’cos I’ve just this minute got here,’ Eddie told her. ‘And she’s asleep, so I haven’t even spoken to her yet.’

‘She’s not asleep,’ Linda sneered. ‘She obviously just doesn’t want to talk to you. What does that tell you?’

‘It tells me that she’s had
you
pecking her head for the past hour,’ Eddie retorted angrily. ‘So why don’t you just back off and keep your nose out, ’cos it’s got nothing to do with you.’

‘Is that right?’ Linda gave him a smug smile. ‘So how come she asked them to ring me and not you?’

‘’Cos you’ve got her under your fucking thumb,’ Eddie snapped. ‘You’ve got no respect for boundaries, man.’

‘Don’t make me laugh,’ Linda said dismissively. ‘You’re nowt but a big bully, but you don’t scare me. And what you looking at me like that for? This is your fault, this.’

‘What’s my fault?’ Eddie asked. ‘I haven’t got a clue what’s going on.’

‘She’s lost your baby, that’s what,’ Linda informed him. ‘Because you couldn’t keep your flaming hands off her.’

‘What you talking about?’ Eddie frowned. ‘I haven’t seen her all day.’

‘No, but when you did you went to flaming town on her, didn’t you?’ Linda said accusingly. ‘That bruise on her back didn’t come out of thin air. And I know for a fact it wasn’t there before she got home ’cos she was with me all day.’

‘You’re off your head,’ Eddie shot back. ‘I haven’t laid a finger on her.’

‘Yeah, right,’ Linda said disbelievingly. ‘But I’ll tell you this much, you won’t be touching her again. Not so long as I’ve got a breath left in my body.’

‘You reckon you could stop me?’ Eddie sneered, looking her up and down.

‘Too right,’ Linda said fiercely. ‘You might think you’re some kind of big man, but you’re nothing to me, mate. I’ve seen hundreds of your sort in my time and you’re all talk, the whole lot of you.’

Eddie had heard enough of her rubbish. ‘Why don’t you do yourself a favour and fuck off before I show you if I’m all talk or not,’ he warned her. ‘I’ve got better things to do than listen to you prattling on about your loser boyfriends.’

‘Don’t threaten my mum,’ Chrissie said, turning over just then and struggling to sit up.

‘Stay put, love,’ Linda said concernedly, rushing to the bedside. ‘Don’t stress yourself – I can handle him.’

‘Nobody’s handling anyone,’ Chrissie said firmly. ‘This is between me and him.’ Glaring at Eddie when he gave her mum a smug look, she said, ‘Don’t bother gloating, ’cos she’s right about everything else. This
is
your fault.’

‘What is?’ Eddie demanded, pissed off with her now for trying to talk down to him in front of her bitch mother. ‘I wish someone would just fucking tell me what’s going on, ’cos youse are proper doing my head in.’

‘I’ve lost the baby,’ Chrissie told him, gritting her teeth determinedly to keep the tears at bay.

‘What baby?’ Eddie asked, having heard nothing about it before now.

‘
Your
baby.’ Chrissie stared at him, trying to gauge his reaction to the news. But there didn’t seem to be any, which confirmed what she’d been afraid of: that he wouldn’t have wanted it anyway.

Eddie pursed his lips and looked at Linda who was hovering protectively beside her daughter. ‘Do you think you could just give us a minute?’ he asked, struggling to be polite. ‘There’s some things we need to discuss, and I haven’t got much time.’

‘Really?’ Linda said sarcastically. ‘Got to go, have you? Got better things to do than look after the mother of your dead baby?’

‘Mum, pack it in,’ Chrissie scolded her. ‘I’ll be fine. Just go and have a fag, or something.’

‘Okay,’ Linda agreed. ‘But don’t you go upsetting her, I’m warning you,’ she said to Eddie.

‘Fuck’s her problem?’ Eddie asked when Linda had gone. ‘And why does she think I’ve been hitting you? What’s this shit about a bruise on your back I’m supposed to have given you?’

‘I never told her that,’ Chrissie said wearily. ‘She’s just assuming it was you.’

‘And you didn’t bother setting her straight?’

‘I haven’t had a chance to set anyone straight yet,’ Chrissie told him, giving him a cool, meaningful look.

‘Yeah, well, you’d best just tell me what’s going on, ’cos I need to get moving,’ Eddie said, glancing at his watch.

‘The girls have gone,’ Chrissie informed him tartly.

‘And you didn’t try to stop them?’ Eddie demanded, keeping his voice low in case anyone could hear them. ‘What the fuck are you playing at, you stupid cow? You know what this means, don’t you? It won’t just be me who’s fucked if they grass us up.’

‘I don’t care,’ Chrissie replied icily. ‘I never wanted them there in the first place and I’m glad they’ve gone. But I wouldn’t worry – it didn’t sound like they were in any rush to tell the police anything. They were all too scared of what you’d tell that policeman in their country.’

‘What policeman?’ Eddie asked.

A tiny humourless smile lifted Chrissie’s lips and she shook her head. ‘I knew it was a lie. Shame they didn’t believe me, though, ’cos they could have been well on their way to a refuge by now. But they’ll probably just carry on selling themselves ’cos that’s the only thing they’ve got going for them, thanks to you.’

‘So you’re saying they’re still around?’ Eddie said, seizing on what she’d said and not how she’d said it. He didn’t give a toss what she thought. All that mattered was finding those girls and getting them back under control.

‘You don’t care about me at all, do you?’ Chrissie hissed, her eyes flashing with pain and hatred.

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Eddie said, reminding himself that he would still need her flat if –
when
– he rounded up the girls.

‘I might have been stupid,’ Chrissie told him, her eyes watering up against her will. ‘But no more. This is the end. I’m giving the flat up and moving back in with my mum.’

‘You’re just overreacting,’ Eddie said, turning on the charm. ‘You and me, we’ve got something special,’ he went on, sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching for her hand. ‘You’re my woman. You belong with me.’

Chrissie’s chin started to wobble but she snatched her hand away, determined to stay strong despite her quickening heartbeat. She could never resist Eddie when he gave her those puppy-dog eyes. But, boy, didn’t he know it.

‘Come on, Chrissie, you know how I feel about you,’ Eddie crooned, gently stroking her hair back off her face. ‘I’m really sorry about the baby, but can we talk about it later? Clive’s driving round looking for the girls on his own right now and there’s more shit going on back at the flats, so I need to go back and make sure everything’s all right. I don’t want you coming home and having to deal with any crap, do I?’

He sounded so sincere, and Chrissie longed to be able to believe that he was truly doing this for her sake. Allowing him to hold her hand, she sighed, and said, ‘All right, go. But you’d best come back tomorrow.’

‘Course I will,’ Eddie assured her, raising her hand to his lips. ‘Just tell your mum to back off, eh?’

‘Don’t worry about her,’ Chrissie murmured. ‘She’s only trying to protect me.’

‘Yeah, well, that’s
my
job,’ Eddie said possessively. ‘So just tell her to butt out.’

Chrissie nodded. Winking at her, Eddie got up and left.

‘What happened?’ Linda asked, rushing in before the door had closed behind him. ‘Did you tell him you’re coming home with me? How did he take it? He’s not going to try and cause trouble, is he, ’cos I’ve already warned him I’ll—’

‘Mum, it’s okay,’ Chrissie interrupted. ‘Just leave it, eh?’

‘What do you mean, “leave it”?’ Linda frowned. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve let him talk you round? Oh, Chrissie, I knew you were stupid, but not
that
stupid.’

It was the second time in a matter of minutes that she’d been called stupid and it incensed Chrissie that the people who were supposed to think the most of her obviously thought so little of her.

‘I’m tired,’ she said, feeling a sudden need to be alone with her thoughts. ‘Why don’t you go home? There’s nothing you can do here.’

‘I don’t want to leave you,’ Linda protested.

‘
Please
,’ Chrissie implored. ‘I’m absolutely fine, honest. And you can come back first thing tomorrow.’

‘Is
he
going to be here?’ Linda asked.

‘He said he would be, yeah,’ Chrissie admitted.

‘Oh, well, that’s me told, then, isn’t it?’ Linda huffed, snatching her jacket off the chair.

‘Don’t be like that,’ Chrissie said wearily. ‘I know what I’m doing.’

‘We’ll see,’ Linda said tetchily. ‘You know where I am,’ she added, heading for the door.

Chrissie flopped her head back on the pillow and squeezed her eyes shut when her mum had gone. But, hard as she tried, she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. It was all such a mess and she just couldn’t see a way back to where they had been before. And she still hadn’t had a chance to confront Eddie about the baby he’d supposedly fathered – with the woman he supposedly trusted enough to have stashed all his stuff round at her place.

But would he tell Chrissie the truth when she did confront him? She doubted it, somehow.

22

Katya was sitting on an armchair by the window, with the cat curled up on her knee purring contentedly and the curtains open just enough to let in a sliver of moonlight. She’d felt like a burglar when she’d let herself in, but she’d had to trust that Joe knew what he was doing because he was the only one who could help her now. She just prayed that he was the genuine man that she had come to believe he was, because if this all turned out to be a game and he brought Eddie here to catch her then she was as good as dead.

That thought was still on Katya’s mind when Joe rang to let her know that he was parking the car and would be on his way up in a couple of minutes. Her legs were shaking wildly when the tap came at the door and she gazed out through the spyhole to make sure that Joe was alone before she let him in. Even then, she backed away from him, her fearful gaze fixed over his shoulder.