Authors: Lee Weeks
‘Yeah – you’re right’ He winked at Ebony. ‘I am ninety-nine per cent perfect – got to make allowances for the one per cent.’ She laughed, rolled her
eyes. ‘Ebb – how is the flat they got you?’
‘I haven’t been there yet. I’ll go there in a minute. It doesn’t matter what it’s like. Hopefully it’ll be warm. But I’ll manage whatever.’
‘Of course. You won’t be in there for long. But, just in case, I dug these out for you and Jeanie contributed.’ Carter handed her a sleeping bag. ‘And a ground mat for
putting on the floor. This will do for tonight. Buy what you need tomorrow and expenses will cover it.’ She nodded. ‘The buggy is to have a camera and microphone attached. Here . .
.’ Carter opened a packet and pulled out a toy puppy. ‘The camera’s hidden inside along with a microphone. You need to leave this attached to the rain cover at the top of the
buggy and have it pointing forwards; leave the microphone on at all times. When you don’t have the buggy with you, you can clip this camera to your bag or your coat. You have your
GPS?’
‘Yeah.’ She touched the pendant around her neck. ‘Robbo had the guys in PTU make me this piece.’ She held it up to show him the Tiger’s eye stone set in onyx.
Carter studied it for a few seconds.
‘That’s really clever. Is it a transmitter?’
‘Yes. But not the only one. I have one in my shoe, one on the phone. I have a radio in there but basically you’re going to hear whatever I say from almost every angle.’
‘Good. Here’s a mobile phone Robbo asked me to give you to use undercover – give out this number.’ He handed her a phone.
She looked at it. Her eyes lit up. ‘Can I keep it afterwards?’
‘No. You can’t. Get yourself a smartphone for Christmas, Ebb. Give out this number and we’ll monitor it. Get in with Danielle’s peer group as fast as you can now and
let’s get this man out into the open. Get across to the flat. Take this laptop from work – Robbo’s waiting on the other end. I want you to keep in constant contact with me if you
can but at least phone in to me at frequent intervals during the day. The flat’s going to be a safe place to phone from. Now, you ready?’ He handed Archie to her and took out his phone
to take some photos. ‘Smile.’
Ebony caught a minicab back to her flat. She couldn’t be seen to be using a car and she certainly didn’t feel ready to manage a bus with all her things plus a buggy
and pretend baby. Ebony didn’t have a car anyway. When she drove she borrowed a police vehicle. She’d never had much call to drive a lot: she’d lived in London all of her adult
life and the only time she left it as a child was when she was sent to foster homes or children’s homes outside London. When she lived with her mother they had lived in and on the outskirts
of the city.
Ebony got out of the minicab inside the courtyard. It was five o’clock and already looking like night-time. Her eyes scanned her surroundings as she unloaded her things from the minicab.
The wind hit her as it found a channel between the tower blocks and rubbish gathered and swarmed, catching on the buggy’s wheels. When she was a kid she’d moved around with her mum and
some of the places had been high-rise. The place took on a sound, a light, an atmosphere all of its own. This was one of the older estates.
‘Do you need me to help you?’ The kindly Somalian driver had a face that belied his kind nature; it was so harshly scarred that one side didn’t match the other.
‘No. I’ll be okay thanks.’ She gathered her things together as he drove away.
Ebony knew that the block in front of her was the right one. She had the slip of paper with the address and the keys from the housing association in an envelope in her pocket. She stood for a
few seconds gathering her bags and her thoughts then headed towards the main door of the apartment block. The lift was out of order. She began dragging the buggy up six flights of stairs. She
bounced it up the first two flights of stairs and then carried it up the remaining four. The pretend Archie doll was safely wrapped away inside her backpack. If anybody had noticed her arrival and
the empty buggy she intended to use the ‘aunt’ Carter had suggested, who helped with child-care and who would be bringing Archie later.
Above her was the echo of footsteps on concrete. The noise brought back memories as she climbed upwards. She remembered the sound of kids shouting to one another, running along the walkways that
joined the buildings. She hadn’t reckoned on feeling a mixture of uncomfortable nostalgia. She was used to arriving with Carter or another detective to an estate. It was so different on her
own. She had to remember this wasn’t her life, this was work, just like it was at other times. Only now she was working alone. She walked along the sixth-floor landing, reading the numbers on
the doors. She slipped the key in the lock, turned it and stepped into darkness lit only by the orange light from the landing outside. Her phone went. Someone had jammed leaflets under her door; it
wouldn’t open fully.
She walked through the lounge and stood at the window, overlooking other tower blocks and the trails of car lights as rush hour continued. She was grateful for the fact that the housing
association had been in and her boiler was working. She had heat in the flat. She phoned Tina as she put the kettle on.
‘I’m working away for a bit, Teen. You can leave me a message on this phone and I’ll be in contact when I can.’
‘Will I see you in work?’
‘No. I don’t think so. Not for a little while anyway. I’m doing a Family Liaison Course out on the North Circular. I’m staying in a motel there.’
‘Is it nice?’
Ebony looked around her. ‘No expense spared. But I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
‘Okay, but I can tell what you’re really saying and it sounds like it’s pants. Well if you need me, Ebb, you call, and stay safe. Wrap up warm. By the way – I think
I’ve got a date for Saturday.’
‘Who with?’
‘The one I told you about. That good-looking inspector that’s in MIT 15.’
‘I know the one – you said he always has hot chocolate?’
‘That’s the one. Looks like the Hoff.’
‘He’s married, Teen.’
‘No way.’
‘Zoe told me. He tells everyone he’s separated; everyone except his wife.’
‘Oh God,’ moaned Tina. ‘I knew it was too good to be true. Dan Carter asked me to babysit. I may as well then if my hot date just went up in smoke.’
‘I have to go. Speak later.’
‘Wait – Ebb? What about ordering a turkey?’
‘Let’s have an M&S Christmas ready-meal.’
‘No feckin’ way. Ebony Willis, you’re the limit. I’ve put you down for making a pudding, and it better be a good one. None of that pre-bought shite.’
‘No problem. I found this recipe on the web. It’s a cake in a mug. It takes five minutes in the microwave. Bye, Teen.’ Ebony could hear Tina choke back the expletives on the
other end of the phone. She smiled to herself. Ebony closed her phone and put it to one side. The smile on her face disappeared when she thought about another call she really had to make. Her
mother would talk about Christmas again. Could Ebony ask them if her mother could come out for Christmas Day? Could she
just
ask?’ Ebony rubbed her face with her hands and looked at
the phone as if her mother was waiting inside it. She looked at the time – six – it was the time for calls. They ate dinner early. Her mother might be sitting by the phone waiting.
Ebony finished making herself tea – strong builder’s tea. She sat on the rolled-out ground mat and sleeping bag that Carter had given her; that would have to do for now. The housing
association had done some decorating in the flat – they’d stripped out the carpets and there was hardboard down waiting for the new tenant to afford to lay carpet. She pulled the works
laptop next to her, switched it on and then realized she’d delayed long enough; she picked up the phone and dialled the number then held it tightly to her ear. She could visualize her mother
sitting by the phone: fretting, tutting, scowling at passers-by. Telling people her daughter always let her down. She got through to the switchboard and was put on hold for ten minutes. Then the
operator came back on the line to say:
‘Sorry, it’s not possible to connect you right now. Mrs Willis is not able to take the call.’
‘Is she ill?’
‘Sorry – I don’t have details. Phone back later to speak to someone then.’
Ebony got up and went to the window again. She stared out at the continuing tramlines of orange lights as cars inched their way home. She heard the noise of feet in the flat above her and a
television being switched on. Someone was returning to their lonely apartment and needed the noise of television to make it feel like home. Ebony knew what that was like. It had been a massive step
for her to move into a shared house with strangers. She’d chosen the room at the top; the furthest away from all of them. Gradually she’d got used to the sounds of them coming and
going. Slowly she’d got used to the way she could differentiate between one person’s tread or another’s on the steps outside leading to the house. She knew who was coming home.
She’d felt reassurance in the knowledge that she was in a house with people and yet they didn’t require her to socialize; she’d spent her childhood dreading the sound of her
mother’s steps outside the door. She felt safer when she was far away. Her mother had never visited her unless the authorities were building up to sending Ebony home. Then her mother was
required to look like she wanted Ebony back and could cope. But Ebony always knew there was an ulterior motive for having her home. If it wasn’t money in the form of benefits then it was
accommodation. Sometimes it was just that her mother had run out of attention. What Ebony had never reckoned on was that she would feel secure enough in the shared house to let her guard down and
care a lot for another human being. She’d made the mistake once when she was in a care home and Micky had become her best friend. She still dreamt of Micky. Still her heart ached when she
awoke to find that she wasn’t still friends with him. She had no idea what had happened to him after the scandal at the care home after she left; she thought he must have been one of those
abused because he had been unlucky all his life. He once said to Ebony that he counted her friendship as the only piece of good luck he’d ever had. When she dreamt of him she woke up happy
just to hear his voice again but then the sadness of losing him kicked in. When she’d heard Tina moving around in the room beneath her she felt comforted. Tina was a great friend. Tina had
eaten into Ebony’s heart and Ebony was grateful for it.
She made herself a Pot Noodle and came back to the makeshift bed to sit and eat it. Then she remembered the doll was still in the bag and the buggy by the front door. She wheeled it into the
bedroom just in case someone should knock, not that she had any intention of making friends with the neighbours – that wasn’t in the brief. Head down, low profile, was what she needed.
She got the doll out of the bag and strapped it into the buggy. She wheeled it into the bedroom and closed the door to keep the cold out and the heat in the lounge. She wouldn’t be sleeping
in the bedroom. She preferred just to use one room. She’d stay in the lounge for now. Besides, the sleeping bag was also the sofa. She settled down onto her bed and saw Robbo’s avatar
flashing on her screen. It was a Stan Hardy lookalike: a fat guy with glasses.
Ebony typed:
‘You managed to find an avatar that looks like you?’
‘Ha ha. You ok?’
‘I’m good’.
There was a pause. She could see the speech bubble on the screen that meant Robbo was writing but kept stopping. Whatever it was he wanted to say he wanted to choose his words wisely. He settled
on:
‘How’s life in the vertical world?’
She smiled to herself. What had he crossed out? She could visualize him at his desk. He would have his leopardprint wrap around his cafetière and he would have his packet of Haribo.
‘So far, so good. Have you managed to get my Facebook account up and running?’
‘Oh yes.’
She smiled again. She could visualize Robbo’s face. She knew he would have enjoyed making a new identity for her. He would have done it well – down to the very last detail. But Robbo
wouldn’t be clocking off. He would be sleeping at his desk tonight. He would not let her face this time alone. That thought stuck in Ebony’s throat. Being in MIT 17 meant being in the
MIT family. It had only just dawned on her that that’s what it was.
‘Was it tricky?’
she asked.
‘I had to think of my daughter’s account then add all the extras. You don’t have enough photos. You’re going to have to say that you had a controlling boyfriend that
didn’t let you have a Facebook account. You’re going to have to say you’re still loading photos and that you haven’t really been doing it that long. It will look like
you’ve been doing it for a year. It will look like you’re a loner.’
There was a gap and then Robbo said as a jokey ‘aside’
– ‘Some things I
haven’t had to make up.’
Ebony didn’t take offence. She smiled to herself. Robbo was in his element. Ebony looked at the Facebook page he’d created for her.
There was the photo Carter had taken earlier. Ebony hated looking at herself but she had to admit it wasn’t bad. Archie looked cute with his curls and dark eyes. She looked like a doting
mum, squashing her face against his and looking gooily at the camera. There were others of Archie from when he was born to the present day.
‘Need some more photos of you, Ebb.’
‘I have a few Tina took when we went away to Ireland in the summer.’
‘Send them to me and I’ll get the boffins to superimpose Archie into them.’
Two hours later the profile was complete. Ebony was ready to try it out. She searched for Christian Goddard and sent a friend request and she contacted two of the women she’d met at lunch:
Selena, with the curly hair and earrings and Sammy, the elfin-faced girl. She also did a search for Yan and sent him a friend request.
Yan came back to her first to accept her as a friend. She took a look at his profile. He had photos from all over the world. When he was in them at all, he was alone in them. Most of the
pictures were of scenery and wildlife. No girlfriend in sight. Status – single. Ebony didn’t know why but she was pleased to see that.