Behind a Closed Door (The Estate, Book 2) (21 page)

Suddenly, Kelly felt accountable. She’d expected a little griping while they got used to each other again, but Scott had only been back for a night and already she was nagging.

Seeing the distressed look on her face, Scott drew her into his arms. ‘I’ve missed you, babe,’ he told her. ‘Don’t let’s row anymore.’

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Because of that argument, Kelly’s weekend had been hard to get through. She felt like she was tip-toeing on hot coals, trying to get used to having Scott around again. In such a short space of time, everything had changed so much.

After their disagreement on Saturday morning, Scott had gone on all day about her giving up her job at Miles’ factory. He’d sulked more than she would have expected Emily to do at her age, creating a particularly charged atmosphere. The day had been finished for her when he told her he’d invited Jay around for a takeaway on Saturday night. She’d feigned a headache at ten thirty, leaving the two of them to enjoy the rest of the bloodthirsty film they were watching. As ever, Scott seemed too pre-occupied with himself to notice the tense atmosphere between Jay and Kelly.

Sunday lunch had been a solemn affair at her mum’s house. Neither of her parents were pleased that Scott had returned to Kelly’s life, so the atmosphere was dicey. Things got decidedly worse when, after her Dad questioned what prison life had been like, Scott had been only too happy to talk it up. Kelly heard him sneering about one of the inmates who’d been slashed several times across his back during his first month there. With horror, she realised that he was bragging about his spell behind bars as if he had no problem returning.

After checking with her mum that it would be okay to leave Emily with her rather than with Scott when she was at work, they walked home. Within an hour, Scott’s phone rang and he’d gone out to meet some guys in the pub, promising that it was only a little bit of business that he needed to sort out.

Ten minutes after he’d gone, Kelly and Emily sat together on the settee. They were reading the final pages of
Cinderella
.

‘Mummy, will Daddy go away again soon?’

Kelly looked down into Emily’s innocent brown eyes. She tried to hug away her worries. ‘Of course he won’t, monster.’

‘I like it better when there’s you and me.’

Kelly gulped away the tears threatening to fall and quickly turned to the next page of the book.

‘Never mind, honey,’ she said. ‘I’m sure things will settle down again soon.’

Josie had been dreading Monday morning at work because she had an eviction lined up for ten o’clock. Philip Matson
hadn’t paid any money towards his rent since she’d last warned him on the day that Charlotte Hatfield had clung to life and, although the judge had been lenient that month, she wouldn’t be this month when she realised that he hadn’t kept to his arrangement again.

The first thing she did when she got to her desk was check that all the necessary paperwork had been completed. The bailiffs and the police had been booked and Doug was on standby to accompany her if the police were called away at the last minute – not that that was much comfort. The joiner had been booked to change the locks if necessary, which she was sure would be the case. She knew Philip wouldn’t have surrendered his keys.

The next thing was a cup of tea.

‘Mondays always come around too soon, don’t they?’ Debbie remarked as she joined Josie and Craig in the tiny staff room. ‘It doesn’t seem a minute since we were leaving on Friday night.’

‘My head certainly thinks so,’ said Craig, rubbing at his left temple. ‘I haven’t recovered from Friday night yet, never mind Saturday and Sunday.’

‘Tell me about it.’ Josie shoved her lunch box into the overloaded fridge. ‘Every neighbour and his dog seems to have rung up to complain about something or other and we’ve only been open for ten minutes. I’m sure our tenants see me as some kind of solicitor, the matters they think I’m responsible for.’ She paused and turned to Debbie. ‘I might have an eviction later this morning. Do you fancy coming with me?’

‘Ooh, yeah.’ Debbie’s eyes lit up. ‘Anything to get out of here for an hour or so.’

‘I’ll warn you now, though. Things might get a bit rough if the tenant shows up.’

‘Rather you than me,’ said Craig. He chinked his spoon on the side of his mug before chucking it into the sink. ‘Those people out there are rough.’

‘I can handle them,’ said Debbie. ‘Besides, there’s nothing more I like than a good mur-der,’ she added,
Taggart
-style.  

Josie grinned. The young woman standing in front of her had the makings of a good officer when the opportunity arose.

Half an hour later, the call had been made and the curtains had started to twitch in Bernard Place. Their vehicles took up most of the tiny cul-de-sac: Josie’s car, the marked Ford Focus belonging to the police, the bailiff’s Range Rover and the work van belonging to one of the joiners, bearing the Mitchell Housing Association logo along each side.

Josie knocked loudly twice on the front door before banging on the living room window three times. ‘I bet he didn’t turn up at court,’ she said. She peered through the letter box into an empty hallway. ‘I can hear his dogs and there’s no sign of any packing. He thinks the eviction isn’t going to happen. Most people assume it’s an empty threat.’

‘What do we do now?’ asked Debbie.

Josie gave the joiner the go ahead, as he stood waiting with his drill. ‘Remove the lock. If he’s in there, he’ll be out once he hears that.’

Josie and Debbie sat on the wall chatting to the bailiff and PC Mark White while the joiner did his job. Although Mark was fairly new to the force, Josie had known the bailiff for eight
years. She knew that his eldest daughter had gone to university and was doing extremely well. She knew that his son was getting married in October. But before she learned about all the things that had gone wrong so far in the planning, she was distracted by a shout as Philip finally showed up.

Josie turned to Debbie. ‘Watch out for yourself. He’s likely to kick off, so stay out of the way if anything happens.’

‘Be careful!’ said Debbie.

‘Don’t worry about me. This is bound to be the last time I’ll have to deal with him anyway. The council are hardly likely to give him a place if we’ve evicted him for non-payment of his rent.’

Debbie stayed seated on the wall. Josie and Mark met Philip halfway up the path.

‘Hello, Philip,’ said Josie. ‘Glad you could make it.’

Philip looked first at the joiner as he drilled through the lock of his front door, then back to Josie.

‘What the fuck are you doing?’

What the fuck does it look like, Josie wanted to reply. Instead she kept calm. ‘We’re evicting you,’ she said. ‘I told you this would happen if –’

‘You can’t do this, you bitch!’

‘Whoa there, cowboy, watch your language.’ Mark held Philip at arms’ length as he moved nearer to Josie. The bailiff handed Philip a copy of the eviction notice, which he promptly screwed into a ball and threw to the floor.

Even though Josie had taken a step backwards, she tried not to show concern. Philip was a trouble maker, but he seemed to be all mouth and empty threats, by all accounts. She knew the residents of Bernard Place would be glad to see the back of him.

‘I warned you enough times,’ Josie told him as she regained her composure.

‘But… all me stuff… me dogs are still inside!’

‘Then you’ll have to remove them. I need vacant possession by the end of the day.’

Philip’s eyes widened in disbelief. ‘But I’ve got nowhere to go!’

Josie sighed. Evictions were always the worst part of her job, even if it was low life such as Philip. She should have been able to get through to him – show proof of income or else your housing benefits will be stopped. She should have carried out more than the fortnightly visits she’d made over the past few months, insisting that he brought the items she needed to the office, but there wasn’t time to keep on chasing. Philip had hardly ever been at home for any of her pre-arranged visits
and
hadn’t contacted her regarding any of her letters. Still, Josie felt like she had failed.

‘I can give you until the end of the day,’ she repeated. A battle of wills began as the two of them locked eyes.

Josie held out her hand. ‘There’s no going back now. If you give me the keys, we can stop any more damage and you can start to clear out your stuff.’

Once inside the property, Josie felt more at ease. The joiner and the bailiff had left, their work finished. Philip used his mobile, trying to rally some friends to help him. Mark checked the rooms for stolen goods and Debbie took photographs with a digital camera.

‘I still can’t believe that tenants make up imaginary items so that they can claim against the association,’ she said, when Josie came into the living room.

‘It’s true, which is why, apart from the obvious safety reasons, there has to be at least two officers present at any eviction. Then they can’t say we’ve nicked their brand new widescreen TV, etcetera.’  

Philip finished his call. ‘I’ve got a mate coming over with a van. He’ll help me move my stuff, though I don’t know where the fuck it’s all going to go.’ He stared at Josie before pushing past them both into the kitchen.

 ‘The steel doors will be fitted no later than three thirty,’ Josie shouted after him. ‘I’ll leave you to sort things out and come back then.’

Desperate for fresh air, Josie followed Debbie out.

‘Has he calmed down any?’ Paul asked.

‘Enough to get his arse into gear.’

‘What if he can’t do it all by this afternoon?’

‘We’ll let him in again by arrangement, but one of us will have to stay with him. We give tenants twenty-eight days to remove their belongings. If they don’t, we clear it for them. It’s such a shame to see good furniture go to waste, but there you have –’

‘About bloody time you got rid of that scummy bastard!’ a voice shouted from across the street. The unmistakable bubble of Mrs Myatt leaning on her garden gate opposite them assaulted their eyes. ‘He’s been causing trouble here since the day he moved in,’ she continued. ‘I can’t believe it took you so long to get rid of him.’

‘We’d get rid of a lot more people if we could,’ Debbie told her. ‘Our jobs aren’t as easy as they seem.’

‘Not that easy?’ Mrs Myatt huffed and pointed to her overgrown lawn. ‘If you stopped pestering people about keeping their gardens in pristine condition, you’d have plenty of time to do the important things. I’m surprised at you, Josie Mellor. I always thought you had more about you, but letting the likes of him get the better of you.’

Josie felt anger rising within her. ‘Mrs Myatt,’ she yelled across the cul-de-sac, ‘why don’t you –’

‘Keep an eye on the situation here,’ Debbie interrupted, before Josie could shout out the rest of the damning sentence, ‘and ring us if anything kicks off before we call back at three-thirty?’

Mrs Myatt nodded and went inside with a slam of her front door.

‘Stupid bitch. And you want to be a housing officer?’ Josie shook her head in wonder.

After dropping Debbie back at the office, Josie texted Kelly to check if she was home – and that Scott wasn’t.

‘I’m not stopping,’ she explained as she stood on the doorstep. ‘I’ve got some books for Emily. Is she home?’

‘No, she’s gone to town with my mum. That girl has more of a social life than me.’

‘How are things going?’ Josie asked tentatively. ‘I wanted to check that you were okay but I haven’t liked to call unannounced since Scott’s release from prison.’

Kelly shrugged. ‘I suppose it’ll take time to adjust again.’

A silence followed and Josie took this as her cue not to continue. She opened a bag and pulled out the first book she came to. It still tugged at her heartstrings to give them away, but she knew they were going to a good home.

‘Aw.’ She ran a finger over the cover. ‘Enid Blyton was my favourite author. I’ve always wanted to write a book, especially about my job. People wouldn’t believe what goes on here on the Mitchell Estate.’

‘Got anything in there for me?’ Kelly picked up another book.
Five go to Dorset
.

‘Not unless you’re seven. Some of them are going to be too old for now but she’ll grow into them. And, I hope, grow to love them like I did.’

Kelly flicked through the pages. A photograph dropped onto the floor. Josie picked it up and pulled a face.

‘One of my wedding photos.’ She handed it to Kelly. ‘God, I look so scared!’

Kelly looked at the photo of Josie and her husband standing on the steps of the registry office. Josie looked like a child next to him. She was right, she did look scared. Then Kelly drew it nearer. She recognised the man.

‘I know him.’

‘Yes, you probably do,’ nodded Josie. ‘He works at Miles’ Factory too. Do you remember me telling you? We’ve – we’ve split up recently.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry.’

‘No, don’t be.’ Josie smiled half-heartedly. ‘There was nothing there to miss, if I’m honest. I’ll get over it.’