‘Mr Jennings, we’ll do all we can, but I’m not sure if it’ll be enough.’
Josh Edwards’s enjoyable evening started to fade into a distant memory as he stood shivering outside Casey’s flat in Dean Street and pressed the door buzzer hanging precariously off the wall.
He pushed all the other bells, but got no reply from any of the flats.
Another hour in the cold passed and Josh had finally had enough. After a quick look round, he gave the peeling white door a hard shove with his shoulder. Two kicks and one shove was all it took for Josh to force it open and he walked into the warmth of the stairwell gratefully.
He was furious with Casey and hoped there was a good explanation why she hadn’t bothered answering her phone or the door. It was bringing back painful memories of the past.
He remembered the months prior to her disappearing, how she’d go off for days without contacting him and then turn up just as he was at the end of his tether, stinking of booze and refusing to tell him where she’d been. It’d hurt him deeply to see her in such a state but it’d also hurt how she’d dismissed his feelings entirely.
Josh shook his head as he walked up the stairs and refused to think about those times which had caused him to take compassionate leave from work. Not that Casey had known; she’d already vanished by the time he needed any help of his own.
Josh continued up the bare stairs, burying his thoughts back where they’d come from and wincing as the stench of urine assaulted his nostrils. The walls were filthy and the paint was peeling off, exposing the crumbling plaster underneath. Empty cans and bottles were on every landing piled up in the corners. Josh didn’t want to judge but it was hard not to, especially as Casey had been so fastidious back in their home in Birmingham, always having a gentle nag at him to pick up his socks and underwear off the bathroom floor.
Perhaps it was a sign of how far she’d fallen; he could never have imagined Casey living like this – but then, he didn’t know her any more.
At the top of the stairs, Josh hammered on the door. There was no answer, and he knocked again just as hard, but this time with his foot. It was her who had called him to come and help and now she wasn’t answering. Fury was an understatement.
‘For fuck’s sake.’
He muttered to himself and took out his phone to call Casey again. His phone connected and he could hear the ringing of her phone from the other side of the door. He clicked it off and called her name through the door.
‘Casey? Open up. Cass?’
Again, there was no answer; and apart from not wanting a wasted journey to London, he desperately needed to use the toilet after drinking three large coffees in the hotel.
Josh gave a heavy side kick to the door, forcing it easily open.
‘Cass?’
He walked in tentatively; he didn’t want to give her a fright, and it felt intrusive coming into her flat in such a manner. He looked in the bedroom and saw her brown bag, and it gave him hope she hadn’t gone very far. The bedcovers were all over the floor and the sidelight lamp was still on.
He decided to wait in the living room for her to come back. If she was angry at him for forcing his way in, she’d just have to understand he couldn’t be expected to wait out in the cold or in the filthy stairwell. He wanted to make himself a cup of tea to warm himself up, but first he needed the toilet. Opening the only other door in the flat, Josh stopped in his tracks.
‘Holy shit.’ He spoke out loud in shock and horror and quickly closed the door again. He was desperate to go to the toilet and as Casey wasn’t back yet, he decided to take a piss in the kitchenette sink. As disgusting as that might be, it was nothing compared to what lay behind the bathroom door.
Vaughn sat in Whispers and chuckled a few times, more out of politeness than out of him actually finding anything closely resembling humour. The club had started to do lunchtime gigs but from what Vaughn could see it was a waste of time. The only other people besides himself in the club were the other comedians waiting apprehensively, though Vaughn couldn’t see quite why they felt the need to be nervous as the place was devoid of customers.
Vaughn toyed with the idea of ordering another drink but changed his mind when he looked up at the neon clock and saw the time. Casey was late and it pissed him off. He hoped she wasn’t lying in bed nursing a hangover.
‘Can I get you anything else, Mr Sadler?’
Vaughn didn’t bother answering and stormed out, nodding a respectful greeting to the bouncer on the door, and headed towards Casey’s flat in Dean Street.
Vaughn didn’t need to bother pressing on the buzzer to be let in, as the door was already open. He marched angrily up the stairs to her flat.
‘Cass?’
Her front door was slightly ajar and Vaughn walked in. He came to a sudden standstill to see the person he recognised from the train station, standing with his cock in his hand having a piss in Casey’s kitchen sink.
Casey slowly opened her eyes and for a split second thought she was still in her flat in Dean Street – but then the pain in her face and her hand began to throb and Casey remembered where she was.
She started slowly to sit up and felt her cheek stuck to the pillow with dried blood. As she sat up straight, the room began to spin and Casey had to lie back down, holding her hand and nursing the overwhelming pain in her fingers.
Last night in her flat the pain Oscar had inflicted on her had been so intense she’d passed out and had only come round for a moment or two as Oscar and a stocky man leant over her as she lay on the floor.
Casey realised her fingers were bandaged neatly with lint and a homemade splint. She had no recollection of them being attended to but guessed the track mark on her left arm might have something to do with the reason she had no memory and why she felt so dizzy.
As she lay on her side, Casey heard footsteps and closed her eyes quickly, feigning sleep and bracing herself for whatever Oscar had in store for her. Her leg was touched lightly but Casey continued to keep her eyes closed and hoped her body wouldn’t betray the terror she was feeling. She lay holding her breath nervously but then heard the person begin to talk.
‘Hi, are you alright? I saw you being brought in last night. Do you speak English? My name’s Emmie.’
Casey jerked herself up in shock and surprise and sat with her mouth wide open as she took in Emmie. It’d been sixteen years since she’d glimpsed her being carried away and now here she was in front of her.
She looked at Emmie’s long tumbling hair, the same silky hair as the lock she treasured, and her soft skin, her bright eyes and turned-up nose. Casey found her love was as strong as the day she’d given birth to her. She leant forward and held her.
‘Oh my god, Emmie! Thank god I’ve found you.’
Casey didn’t miss the irony of her own words. She watched Emmie’s face light up.
‘OMG! I can’t believe it, you’re from here.’
Casey laughed; it was hardly how she’d expected their reunion to be, but whatever their predicament, it couldn’t take away the fact she was finally looking into her daughter’s eyes. She held her a little longer and then spoke, taking in every detail of Emmie’s face.
‘I’m Casey by the way and I’m a friend of Vaughn’s.’
‘Are the police coming? Are we going to get out of here?’
‘No, not yet, but there are people who are doing everything they can to find you.’
Casey saw Emmie’s face drop and she began to shake.
‘Why aren’t the police looking for me? It’s because of my dad isn’t it? He’s a part of this.’
Emmie’s voice became high-pitched and Casey put her hand gently on her knee, immediately grimacing as the throbbing in her fingers was exacerbated by Emmie taking hold of her hand.
‘No, Emmie. Your dad’s worried about you, so is your mum; we all have been.’
‘If they’re so worried why aren’t they sending the police to find me? I can’t stay here; I can’t.’
‘Sshh Emmie. I’m going to be honest with you; Oscar made a threat and told us if we went to the police he’d kill you. We all thought it was better this way.’
An astonished look crossed Emmie’s face and her eyes filled with tears. ‘How’s it better? No one knows where we are and Oscar’s mad, he frightens me. Since I’ve been here two women have …’
Emmie shook her head and covered her face with her hands, letting the tears fall between her fingers.
‘What Emmie? Two women have what?’
‘It doesn’t matter, I don’t want to talk about it; I can’t.’
The anger rose up inside Casey; enraged Oscar had traumatised her because he wanted to play a sick power game with Alfie. She put her hand on Emmie’s head and sat quietly, waiting for her to talk again.
‘Can I ask you something, Casey?’
‘Anything, sweetheart.’
‘Is it true my dad bought these women?’
Casey looked round and saw a number of women still asleep, lying on thin mattresses and covered only in stained sheets. She looked back at Emmie and wasn’t sure what to say, but then she saw the pleading look in her eyes, wanting to know the truth, but afraid of it. She looked so vulnerable and there were times honesty wasn’t always required.
‘No, darling, he didn’t.’
Casey could almost feel the relief coming from Emmie and knew she’d done the right thing. If they were to escape, Emmie would have plenty of time to learn the truth about Alfie Jennings.
‘Emmie, I’m going to do everything I can to get us out of here and I know Vaughn will be looking for us. Whatever happens from here I will never leave you again.’
‘Again?’
‘I won’t leave you.’
Casey smiled at her and Emmie replied in a whisper.
‘Oscar told us there was going to be another party in a couple of days and I can’t go through that again, I can’t.’
Emmie’s voice cracked and Casey held her in her arms, ignoring her own discomfort.
‘If it’s the last thing I do, I will get us out of here.’
Emmie’s tears spilled onto Casey’s chest and as she sat rocking her, she hoped to hell she could figure out a way of getting them out of there alive. There was no way she was prepared to lose her daughter again, not now she’d found her – and she certainly wasn’t going to lose her to a sadistic gangster like Oscar Harding.
The two men stood staring at each other, both knowing who the other was but neither of them wanting to say anything. It was Josh who made the first move, suddenly feeling very exposed, standing with his dick in his hand.
‘Hi, I’m …’
Vaughn cut him off angrily. ‘I know who you are, but what I want to know is what the fuck you’re doing here? Casey didn’t tell me you were coming down today.’
Josh ignored the hostility.
‘Good to meet you too, Mr Sadler.’
Vaughn was taken aback by the jealousy rising up inside him and turned to leave; there was no way he was playing fucking piggy-in-the-middle with Casey and her on/off husband. He knew he was coming down and he appreciated it, but she hadn’t told him it was going to be today. It had given Vaughn a nasty surprise to see that Josh was obviously so at home in Casey’s flat that he was taking a piss in her sink. He knew he was being hasty but at that moment he couldn’t help himself; he would catch up with Casey later. He didn’t need to feel like a jealous prick, and it was distracting him from thinking straight. The best thing he could do was leave them to it and go and find Emmie on his own.
‘Tell Casey thanks but no thanks, I’ll sort it out without her.’
‘Wait, where are you going?
You
were the one who asked me to get involved.’
Vaughn stared at Josh, hating him for being Old Bill but hating more the thought that Casey had once been in love with him.
‘Exactly, so I can’t understand why she treated me like a bleeding blind man and kept me in the dark about you coming today.’ Vaughn stopped and had a painful thought. He glared at Josh and spoke coldly. ‘Or did you come here last night?’
Josh looked on. He hadn’t liked what he’d found out about Vaughn in the police files and he didn’t like what he saw now, but if he was going to help Casey and Emmie he needed to put his personal feelings aside. He decided to ignore Vaughn’s question, aware of what he was getting at.
‘Do you want my help or not? Because believe me, I’m happy to get the train back to Birmingham.’
Vaughn snarled at him. ‘There’s only one thing worse than the Old Bill and that’s the Old Bill with a fucking attitude.’
‘Look Mr Sadler, to say I’m on your side is stretching it a bit, but I’m certainly on Emmie’s and Casey’s side and you’re not the only one unhappy with this.’
‘Yeah well, it would’ve been nice to have been told you were here.’
‘There’s one thing you have to know about Casey. She’s very much her own woman, and once she’s decided to do something, then she’ll go right ahead and do it.’
Vaughn sensed the jealousy rising inside him again and he spoke with as much hostility as he could conjure up in his voice.
‘I didn’t fucking ask you that, mate, so do yourself and me a favour and keep it buttoned until Casey comes back. Where’s she gone anyway?’
Josh looked at Vaughn. If he thought he could push him around, he’d definitely got the wrong man. Ignoring him again, Josh sat down tentatively on the filthy looking couch, moving a pile of clothes to make space.
‘An answer, preferably today would be good. I’ll ask you again; where has Casey gone?’
‘Listen, Mr Sadler, I’m sure in your line of work you’re used to people jumping at your every word – but I’m not one of those people. It’d be good for you to remember that.’
Vaughn had an overwhelming urge to pick up the kettle and do some damage with it but he swallowed hard and dug his nails into his hand instead. As Vaughn controlled his anger, he sat down on the kitchen stool and spoke to Josh again, this time without letting his feelings show.
‘Neither of us want to sit here staring at each other, so if you could tell me when she’s due back, I’d appreciate it.’
‘I don’t know. Contrary to what you think I didn’t stay here last night. I was supposed to meet her this morning – she wasn’t here, but her phone is, so I guess she hasn’t gone very far. I let myself in.’