The Driver (27 page)

‘It’s okay,’ Joe reassured her. ‘I’m alone. I haven’t spoken to anybody on my way here, and nobody saw me coming in.’

Relaxing a little when he locked the door and slid the chain across, Katya headed back into the living room. Following her, Joe smiled when she sat down on the chair and the cat climbed back onto her knee.

‘It must like you,’ he said, perching on the edge of the couch. ‘My friend Cheryl reckons he’s a bit vicious. She showed me her arms the other day, and they were covered in scratches.’

‘He’s just old and lonely,’ Katya murmured, gently stroking the cat’s ears. ‘He must be missing his owner very much. This is probably her chair, because he came to me as soon as I sat down.’

‘I still reckon he likes you,’ Joe said. ‘Especially if that
is
Molly’s chair. Going off what Cheryl said about him, I think he would have had a right go at you for sitting there if he didn’t.’

‘Maybe,’ Katya said quietly.

‘So, you got in okay?’ Joe asked, glancing around the unfamiliar room as his eyes began to adjust to the dark.

‘Nobody saw me,’ Katya told him. ‘But I didn’t enjoy doing it. It doesn’t feel right to go into somebody’s home without their permission.’

‘I don’t think Molly would mind if she knew why you needed to be here,’ Joe said confidently. ‘Have you had a drink, or anything to eat?’ he asked.

‘No, of course not,’ Katya said, as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to her. ‘I would never touch anything that didn’t belong to me. I’m not a thief.’

‘And I’m not calling you one,’ Joe assured her. ‘But I’m sure Molly wouldn’t mind if you helped yourself to a coffee. Although I doubt there’ll be anything in that’s fit for eating, because she’s been gone for a while now. But if you can wait I’ll fetch something up from mine when I get a chance.’

A look of alarm came into Katya’s eyes. ‘Why? How long do you think I’ll be here?’

‘Only until I can work out where else to take you,’ Joe said. ‘You’ll have to sit tight till then, because the last thing we want is anybody seeing you and mentioning you to Eddie. That’s why you can’t come down to mine, because I’ve got people coming in and out all the time.’

‘I should just go,’ Katya murmured guiltily. ‘I’m bringing trouble into your life.’

‘Don’t be daft,’ Joe protested. ‘I told you I’d help you, and I will. You’ve already done the hard part, so now it’s down to me to find somewhere safe for you. I’ve got a few ideas but I need to make some calls. And we’ll have to wait until there’s no chance of anybody seeing us leave. Okay?’

‘Okay,’ Katya agreed, praying again that her instincts about him were correct because she had so much to lose if they weren’t.

Joe’s phone began to ring just then. He took it out of his pocket and tutted when he saw the name on the screen. ‘It’s Eddie.’

‘Oh, no,’ Katya cried. ‘Please don’t tell him I’m here.’

‘Hey, stop panicking,’ Joe said. ‘I’m not even going to answer it. I’ll just let it stop ringing, then I’ll switch it off.’

‘But won’t that just make him suspicious?’

‘Do I look like I care?’ Joe said calmly. Doing as he’d said he would when the phone stopped ringing at last, he stood up.

‘Where are you going?’ Katya asked.

‘You need a drink, so I’m going to see what I can find,’ Joe told her. ‘Please stop worrying. Nothing bad is going to happen.’

Joe went into the kitchen, filled the kettle and felt around in the cupboards until he found the cups. There was no coffee, he discovered, only tea. But there were some biscuits in a tin behind the kettle and they seemed quite fresh when he snapped one. Although the same couldn’t be said for the milk that Cheryl had left in the fridge for the cat, so he decided not to risk that.

‘Hope you don’t mind it black?’ he asked when he carried everything through.

‘No, I don’t mind. Thank you,’ Katya said, grateful for anything wet and warm because her mouth was so dry with fear.

‘Do you feel up to telling me what happened?’ Joe asked, settling back on the couch as she sipped at the tea. ‘You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but it might help.’

Katya shook her head. It was all too raw and confusing. And Eddie calling just now had made her even more nervous because it reminded her of how close he was. How vulnerable
she
still was. At least Elena and Hanna were safe. But where were they – and how long would they be able to hide before Eddie found them?

‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ Joe asked, coming over to her when he realised that she was crying. He squatted beside the chair and held her hand. ‘You can trust me,’ he told her. ‘I swear on my mother’s life.’

‘Don’t,’ Katya sobbed. ‘Don’t ever say that.’

‘Okay, I’m sorry, that was wrong,’ Joe admitted, mentally kicking himself. ‘I just want you to know that I would never do anything to hurt you. I want to help you, and I thought it might be easier if I knew what I was dealing with, that’s all. But you don’t have to tell me anything.’

‘It’s not you,’ Katya sniffled. ‘I’m just so scared of what will happen if Eddie finds us. Tasha was the one who hurt Chrissie but he’ll blame all of us, I know he will.’

‘Chrissie got hurt?’ Joe prompted gently.

‘I – I think she might have lost her baby,’ Katya told him tearfully. ‘Tasha pushed her and she hit the table quite hard. I knew she was hurt, so I came back after the others had gone. She was bleeding, so I made her let me call an ambulance.’

‘When did all this happen?’ Joe asked, wondering if Eddie knew about it.

‘Not long before I called you,’ Katya told him. ‘Elena and Tasha had been fighting, and Chrissie came to warn them to stop because Eddie was on his way home. But we’d heard him going out and knew that he wasn’t coming back, so Tasha called her a liar. And then she told her about the other woman who already had Eddie’s baby and Chrissie got mad about it.’

‘Eddie’s got a baby?’ Joe interrupted, thinking that it was the first he’d heard about it.

‘That’s what Tasha said,’ Katya told him. ‘She said the woman had been angry with him, because she’d been looking after his drugs and his gun but he hadn’t looked after her and their baby as he’d promised he would.’

‘Any idea who she was?’

‘We didn’t hear that conversation,’ Katya said, sliding her hand free to dab at her nose. ‘And if Tasha heard her name she didn’t tell us.’

‘Did Chrissie look like she knew who it was?’

‘I don’t think so. She called Tasha a liar and said that Eddie didn’t have any children, but I think she might have believed her. Then Tasha said that she was going to take her place with Eddie, so Chrissie told her that he had no money because he had gambled it all away and spent so much on drugs.’

‘That’s true,’ Joe affirmed.

‘Well, Tasha changed her mind after that,’ Katya went on. ‘And that was when Chrissie told us all to get out. She said that Eddie had lied to us and that he couldn’t get us into trouble with the man because he doesn’t know anybody outside of this country. Tasha left then but we didn’t want to risk it. But Chrissie told us that it was her flat, not Eddie’s, and that she would call the police if we didn’t go. And there were already so many policemen outside – Elena said that we had no choice.’

Joe went back to the couch and mulled all this over for several minutes.

‘This man you say you thought Eddie could get you into trouble with,’ he said. ‘Who is he?’

Katya was wary of telling him but she had already placed her faith in him to an irreversible degree, so she figured that she might as well just get it over with.

‘Wow,’ Joe murmured when she’d finished. ‘I guessed that you weren’t doing this work out of choice, but I had no idea of the kind of hold that Eddie had over you. You must have been terrified.’

‘We
are
,’ Katya affirmed, using the present tense to emphasise that the fear was still every bit as paralysing as it had ever been. They might have escaped but that didn’t mean that this was over. For all they knew, Chrissie could have been the one who was lying – and their families could be being murdered in their beds right now.

‘If it helps,’ Joe said quietly, ‘I agree with Chrissie. Eddie hasn’t got that kind of power. And he stays in his own territory – because this is where he feels safest – so there’s no way he’s been linking up with anyone in your country.’

‘But how did he find us if he doesn’t know the man?’ Katya asked.

‘Someone probably approached him in the pub,’ Joe said scathingly. ‘Trust me, that’s how these sleazeballs usually find each other. Pub, internet, mate of a mate – the usual anonymous ways to conduct shady business.’

Katya was looking at him with a strange expression on her face.

‘What are you thinking?’ he asked.

‘Just that you seem too nice to know such things and such people,’ she told him. ‘You are a million miles away from him in atmosphere. Do you understand what I mean by that?’

‘Yeah, I think so,’ Joe said, smiling because he guessed that it was a compliment. ‘But you don’t have to be involved in that kind of business to know how it works,’ he added. ‘Anyway, I suppose I’d best go and make those calls,’ he said now. ‘You’ll be okay while I’m gone, won’t you? You won’t do anything daft like try to go it alone?’

‘No, I’ll wait for you,’ Katya assured him. ‘Do you think I might be able to take a bath?’ she asked then. ‘I wouldn’t make any sound, and I’ll keep the lights off.’

‘I’m sure that would be fine,’ Joe told her, getting up. ‘I’ll be as quick as I can, but you’ve got my number if you need me before I get back.’

‘Thank you,’ Katya said, gently moving the cat and getting up herself to show him out.

Joe walked down the hall, unaware of how close behind him Katya was. Turning before he opened the door, he was surprised to find himself almost nose to nose with her. She too hadn’t realised how close she was and she dipped her gaze shyly now.

‘Sorry,’ Joe apologised. ‘I, er . . .’ He jerked his thumb at the door. ‘I’d probably best put the key back in the pot – just in case.’

‘Oh, yes, of course,’ Katya murmured, handing it over.

‘Best go, then,’ Joe said. ‘I’ll give you a ring when I’m on my way back.’

Nodding, Katya closed the door after him and leaned her back against it. They had been so close just now that she’d been able to smell the individual scents of him. And it hadn’t been unpleasant. In fact it had been the absolute reverse.

But she had no right to be thinking such things at a time like this. Or feeling such things for him when she had brought nothing but trouble into his life. He’d said that he didn’t mind, insisted that he wanted to help her, but he couldn’t have expected things to become this complicated. And she felt guilty now, because he had his own life to live, his own job to worry about. She just prayed that Eddie never found out that Joe had been helping her, because that would be bad. Very, very bad.

But it was too late to stop him now.

23

Carl was knocking on his own front door when Joe came out of the stairwell. He frowned when he saw him and said, ‘Where have you been? I saw you parking up ages ago.’

‘Bumped into that girl on the sixth floor and she invited me up for a brew,’ Joe lied, thinking on his feet as he headed towards his own door. ‘You still locked out?’

‘No, I’m just testing the knocker to make sure it works,’ Carl replied facetiously.

‘I take it Mel’s not back yet?’

‘If she is she ain’t letting on,’ Carl grumbled, following him into the flat. ‘I don’t even care where she is now or what she’s been up to, I just want to get at my shit. I’ve been stuck down at Cheryl’s for the past few hours. And I’m not complaining, ’cos you know I think the world of her. But we’ve only had a spliff between us in all that time and I’m gagging. Don’t suppose . . . ?’

‘Bedside table,’ Joe said. Glancing at his watch when Carl rushed off to get the weed, he bit his lip, praying that Mel would get back soon, because he had to get on with finding somewhere to take Katya.

‘Eddie was looking for you earlier,’ Carl said, coming back with the gear and flopping down on the couch. ‘He rang me when I was at Cheryl’s, made me come and knock on for you.’

‘I switched my phone off when I went for that meeting,’ Joe told him. ‘What did he want?’

‘A lift back from the hospital, I think.’

‘How come he’s at the hospital?’ Joe asked. ‘He’s not had an accident, has he?’

‘Oh, yeah, I forgot you’d missed all the action,’ Carl said, licking the Rizlas. ‘And I saw how fast you came in after parking up so I’m betting you didn’t even notice all the pigs down at the brook, did you?’

‘Eh?’ Joe frowned.

‘Thought not.’ Carl chuckled. ‘Man, that bird up on the sixth must have some shit-hot coffee if you didn’t see all the crap going on out there. They’ve found a body, innit.’

‘Really? Who is it?’

‘Some baby.’ Carl shrugged. ‘No one’s got a clue where it’s come from, though.’

‘That’s terrible.’ Joe tutted, taking another peek at his watch.

Carl finished rolling his spliff. ‘God, I needed this,’ he sighed, lighting up and stretching his legs out. ‘Don’t mind if I take a bit down for Cheryl after we’ve had this, though, do you?’

‘Help yourself,’ Joe said, wishing that Carl would just go now.

‘Cheers, mate. I’ll sort you out after I get mine,’ Carl promised.

It was another fifteen minutes before Carl eventually left and every second had stretched out like an eternity for Joe. As soon as he’d closed the door behind him he ran into his bedroom to find his address book.

Eddie rushed into the corridor seconds after Carl had gone back into Cheryl’s. He’d called Clive from the cab on the way back, only to hear that he was having no luck finding the girls. Which made it even more imperative for Eddie to clean out Chrissie’s flat.
And
his own, because he really didn’t need traces of anything incriminating lying around if the pigs came calling.

The dog bounded out of the kitchen when it heard him coming in. Then, sensing his agitation, it slunk straight back in and cowered on its pillow, its gaze flicking from the door to the pile of shit it had left in the corner.

Tasha had taken the keys to Chrissie’s place so Eddie was forced to look for the spare. Pissed off when he finally found it in the dressing-table drawer after half an hour of tearing the place apart, he stomped next door.