The Girl in the Rug (4 page)

‘Right,’ said Carla as they got back into the car, ‘tomorrow
we get them down to the station, show them some pictures…that should be fun.’

No sooner had Carla and Frank left the flat, than Kathy had
Andy up against the wall by his throat.

‘You fucking little prick…do you know what you’ve
done…bringing the fucking police to my door.’ She spat into his face, ’It were
Nellie weren’t it…whatcha think he’s going to do when he finds out they’ve been
here eh? I’ll tell you what shall I, he’s going to come here and take it out on
me that’s what…you stupid,’ slap, ’little,’ slap, ‘wanker,’ slap!

Lucy started grizzling and Kathy turned on her, ‘Shut the
fuck up…you’re as bad as he is…’ She started towards the now cowering Lucy,
when she was stopped in her tracks by a loud banging at the door, they all went
quiet and looked at each other. Kathy put her fingers to her lips and crept
over to the window trying to look through the filthy nets to see who it was.
Andy took advantage of the distraction and went over to comfort the crying
Lucy.

Kathy started cursing, ‘Shit…I fucking knew it…it’s fucking
Nellie…you stupid little brats bringing this to my door…’

‘OPEN THE DOOR KATHY…DON’T MAKE ME WAIT OUT HERE ALL
DAY…OPEN UP YOU SLAG,’ shouted Nellie banging on the door again.

Kathy opened the door with trembling fingers and was nearly
pushed to the ground as Nellie, followed by Turk barged into the tiny flat.

The children looked up at him in terror; and indeed he was a
terrifying sight, at six foot four and built like a tank he towered over most
people but to Andy and Lucy he looked like a bloodcurdling giant from a
children’s tale. This image was enforced by the tattoos on his arms and neck
and the scars that crisscrossed his face, one in particular that ran from the
corner of one eye right down across his cheek was so deep that it seemed to
split his face and gave him a look of pure evil. His sidekick Turk was no less
intimidating, despite being shorter and leaner, his reputation as a psycho was
well known on the estate and he was feared by most.

‘What were the filth doing ‘ere Kath?’ said Nellie to the
shrinking Kathy.

‘We didn’t tell ‘em nuffin Nell…they was asking ‘bout the
shop…you know Amish’s shop…but we didn’t say a fing, did we kids?’ she
spluttered.

‘So ‘ow did they know to come ‘ere then?’ said Turk grabbing
Andy by the arm, ‘you give ‘em your address did you Andy…that was a stupid fing
to do wasn’t it?’

‘Nnno…’ stammered Andy, ‘I promise I haven’t said a word to
anyone…honest…I wouldn’t.’

‘Yeh well I hope you haven’t fella…cus I can’t stand a
fucking grass, and you know what’s going to happen if you’ve opened your mouth
don’t you?’ Andy nodded at him frantically. ‘Yeh, well you see I don’t think
you do fella…I think we need to show you exactly why you’d better keep your
trap shut, you follow?’ Nellie said grabbing Kathy by the arm. Kathy by this
time was squirming and trying to pull away from the beating that she knew was
coming her way.

‘NO   NO   PLEASE NELL!…I won’t let ‘em say nuffin…you know
I won’t…’ she was silenced with a blow to her head that knocked her to the
ground. Andy tried to run to her side but Turk held him fast, Lucy had run into
the corner of the room and was curled up into a ball sobbing.

Nellie lifted Kathy’s head up by her hair and put the tip of
a wicked looking knife to her eye, Kathy began squirming and screaming even
more desperately.

‘NOOO…PLEASE,’ screamed Andy, ‘we won’t tell…please leave
her…please.’

Nellie just looked at him as he dragged the knife down the
side of Kathy’s face, a steam of blood followed the knife and his mother’s
cheek was laid open almost to the bone, both children were screaming now and
Andy was struggling and fighting to get to his whimpering mother.

With a nasty smile at the children’s terror, Nellie put the
knife to her other cheek, but Kathy found some strength from somewhere and
brought her fist up punching Nellie hard between his legs, he went down
clutching his privates and pandemonium broke out.

Turk seeing his friend hurt let out a yell of fury and,
flinging Andy to one side, rushed over to wreak his revenge on Kathy. He
started hitting her round the head, Kathy, who had used up any strength she had
had, was flopping around like a rag doll with every punch, her wounded face
spraying blood in every direction. Andy had run over after him and was kicking
and punching Turk trying desperately to get him off his mum…none of them
noticed a panic stricken Lucy picking up the knife that Nellie had dropped,
until that is that she plunged it deep into the fleshy part of Nellie’s arm. He
howled with pain and back handed Lucy with all his strength…she flew across the
room cracking her head on the edge of the coffee table before landing with a
thump on the floor.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment.

‘LUCYYYY,’ screamed Andy, ‘LLLUUUCCCYYY …NOOO!’ Andy rushed
over to where the lifeless body of his sister lay, her eyes wide open and
staring up at him.

‘No no…oh no,’ Andy cried over and over hugging Lucy to him,
as if he could somehow squeeze the life back into her.

Kathy was groaning on the floor near the sofa, seemingly
completely unaware that her daughter lay dead a few yards away from her. Turk
and Nellie were just standing there in shock, they hadn’t anticipated any of
this when they had decided to put the frighteners on Kathy and her children
earlier this evening. Neither of them said anything, it was like they didn’t
know what to do or say.

Andy felt an awful rage building up inside him, wailing with
grief, he threw himself at Nellie punching and kicking.

‘You killed her…you fucking killed her…you fucking
bastard…I’m going to kill you!’ he screamed.

Nellie finally came to his senses and grabbed Andy by the
hands pushing him away from him.

‘It were an accident weren’t it…you saw, she stabbed me…I
only pushed her…it were an accident.’ Nellie, big hard Nellie scourge of
‘Buttercup’, seemed to be completely staggered by the death of the little girl.

‘Fuck it Nellie, let’s get out of ‘ear,’ said Turk already
heading for the door, ‘fucking police get hold of this they’ll throw away the
key. I ain’t going down for killing no kid…come on what’s up with you, let’s
move…’

‘Nah,’ interrupted Nellie, who was still holding the
struggling Andy in front of him, ‘we need to sort this…’

‘Whatcha mean sort this…she’s dead ain’t she…we can’t sort
nuffin…let’s go…’

Nellie let go of Andy and grabbed Turk by the throat, ‘I
said we need to sort this, you follow? We need to get rid of the body, clean
this place up…’

‘NOOO you leave her alone,’ shouted Andy when he realised what
Nellie was suggesting. ‘Don’t you touch her, I will tell the police
everything…I’ll tell them you killed her…’

No you fucking won’t boy, ‘Nellie turned on Andy furiously.
‘You fink about it, everybody on the estate knows your mum ‘ere knocks you kids
about…looks like she got a bit too heavy handed with the girl…pushed her too
hard didn’t she.’ Nellie brought his face close to Andy’s, ‘Na the best fing
would be if she just disappeared, gone to stay wiv her auntie…somat like that.
That way no one asks any dodgy questions do they? Turk, find me somat we can
wrap her in, and stop that slag from making that noise will ya.’

Kathy had been groaning and whimpering on the floor, her
face was covered in blood, she was  barely conscious. Turk kicked her, ‘Shut
the fuck up will ya,’ he said as he stood and looked around for something with
which to wrap Lucy’s body. Out in the hallway lay a once colourful rag rug, a
reminder of better times, before Kathy had taken to the bottle to block out the
disappointments and betrayals in her life. She had picked it up at a craft fair
in Brighton, thinking it would be perfect to brighten up the rather dark
hallway of the new flat she’d just been given by the council. Turk’s eyes fell
on the now filthy old rag rug; he grabbed it and lay it down next to Lucy.

Andy, defeated and sobbing, watched helplessly as the two
men removed as much physical evidence of their presence in the flat as they
could, and then proceeded to carefully wrap Lucy’s tiny body in the old rug. He
made one last grab for his sister before they carried her to the door; but was
pushed back by Nellie who held on to his arm painfully. All his earlier remorse
a distant memory, only his self preservation mattered now as he hissed his
threats once again to the devastated young boy.

‘We was neva here was we fella…your sister has gone away to
stay wiv some relatives you follow? You cross me on this boy and I will come
back when you’re not expecting me and I will cut your mum’s eyes out…so you
just say what I’ve told you to say…and we’ll say no more about it.’ And with
that the two men disappeared out into the night…taking the rug and Andy’s
little sister with them.

The flat was silent apart from Andy’s sobs and Kathy’s
groans…Lucy had gone forever in a flash, one minute she’d been there and then
she’d gone. How was he ever going to live now…it was just him and Mum. Mum who
was groaning and moaning on the floor, her back to him…who had thrown off his
tentatively offered hand of comfort, and had stared at him with hatred in her eyes…that
was all that he had left.

Andy curled up into a ball on the floor his little body
heaving with sobs…he stayed like that for a long time.

Maggie sat at the huge table in her kitchen and stared out
through the enormous French windows that overlooked the garden.

The Indian summer of a few weeks ago had given way to winter
with a vengeance, and this morning the whole garden was glistening with frosty
tendrils. Maggie though, was oblivious to the beauty of the morning, lost in
her own thoughts as she sipped her morning coffee.

It had been over a week now since Duncan and Martha had
moved back into the pub. They had been living with her since the fire in July
that had almost killed Martha, but all the repair work had now been done and
Maggie had a sinking feeling that Duncan, for one, was glad to be back in his
own home.

Maggie loved Duncan with an intensity that she had never
felt before; he was the perfect man…her perfect partner. They hadn’t taken to
each other at all when they had first met, and it had been a big risk for
Maggie going into business with a virtual stranger, but soon mutual respect had
turned into genuine friendship. Soon their friendship had grown into something
special, and she had never felt so easy and relaxed with anyone. But it wasn’t
until she thought she was going to lose him forever that Maggie realised that
she was actually in love with him and that she couldn’t live without him. She
was sure that Duncan felt the same, sometimes she caught him looking at her and
there was a hunger in his eyes that took her breath away, but since his brush
with death earlier in the year he had distanced himself from Maggie, which was
incredibly painful and hard for her to bear. Duncan had suffered terribly at
the hands of Kerry Webb, a deranged psychopath who had tortured and killed
several men both here and in the US, before setting her sights on Duncan.
Luckily he had been rescued before she could kill him, but the torture she had
inflicted on him would scar him for life, not just physically but mentally. He
was still undergoing painful skin graft operations to try and mend his face
which had been ripped open…it was these scars that made him turn his face away
when ever Maggie looked at him…as if he couldn’t bear for her to see his
disfigurement. Shame and insecurity, these were the demons that were trying to
take her man from her, and Maggie was determined that they were not going to
succeed.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Berta, her Hungarian
cleaner, who bustled into the kitchen carrying mops and a bundle of bedding for
the washing machine.

‘Is ok I go now Mrs Wendover?’ she asked as she went through
to the utility room and loaded up the washer. ‘I have doctors…remember I tell
you on Monday?’

‘Oh yes…yes of course Berta,’ said Maggie, ‘it’s about time
you got that bloody toe looked at, I’m sure it’s just an in growing toenail…the
doctor will sort it out in a trice.’ Berta had been limping for a couple of
weeks but had fiercely resisted all Maggie’s attempts to get her to the
doctors, obviously it had got too painful to ignore any longer.

Berta gave her a worried look, ‘I tell them he is only
looking…if he tries to cut I will go away…I tell them that.’ She finished
wagging her finger at Maggie.

‘Stop worrying Berta,’ said Maggie soothingly, ‘no one is
going to hurt you…they will make it better that’s all.’

‘Humph,’ said Berta unconvinced, ‘I do all rooms except
Dom’s,’ she carried on, ‘I try to go in but he has that girl in there…so I
leave it,’ she said making a face. Berta didn’t approve of Dom having his
latest girlfriend staying over, although Maggie couldn’t help remembering she
had had no such problem when Jools, Jed’s girlfriend, had stayed the night…but
then Jools was a little treasure whereas this girl…Maggie sighed.

‘Oh well don’t worry Berta, he can clean his own room this
week can’t he,’ she said. ‘I didn’t hear them come home…must have been a late
one, I didn’t go to bed till well after midnight…’

Berta smirked, ‘Maybe even she clean it for him…pah! I don’t
think so, not that one…might break a finger nail,’ she finished with a laugh at
her own joke. She limped off to get her coat and several scarves which she
wrapped round her shoulders and her head, doubling her already rotund figure,
and then with a wave she was off.

Maggie grimaced to herself; damn, she was no keener than
Berta to have Dom’s latest in the house. The girl was a bloody nightmare,
leaving her stuff all over the place and ordering Dom around like he was her
own personal skivvy. She seemed to take even greater pleasure in doing that
when Maggie was around, it was almost as if she wanted to let her see the
control she had over him…like, look at me, look what I can make your son
do…look how much he loves me…at least that’s what it felt like to Maggie.

Maggie didn’t know what it was about the girl that rubbed
her up the wrong way so much, and she had tried she really had. It was obvious
from the start that Dom was completely besotted with the girl. He had talked
about her constantly when he had returned from Majorca and Maggie had been
really pleased that he had finally found someone. Dom had always been really
shy with girls and had only had a few brief relationships, so for him to have
met someone that he thought was really special was fab.

Maylee certainly wasn’t the usual sort of girl that Dom had
been attracted too in the past, she was rather exotic looking, with long almost
black hair and a very overly made up face, she was also much older than Dom’s
other girlfriends, almost four years older than Dom in fact and already a
mother to a three year old son, Juke.

Always ready to give anyone the benefit of the doubt though,
Maggie made her feel welcome and part of the family. Unfortunately it hadn’t
taken long for Maylee’s true character to start to show itself. Despite being
able to talk for hours about her problems or bitching about someone that was
upsetting her at the time, she seemed to have absolutely no interest in
anything to do with anyone else. Lighting up a cigarette and turning her head
away until you had finished speaking, then immediately getting back to the
important subject of whatever SHE was talking about. The girl was completely
self-obsessed, and appeared to have no empathy for anybody else’s problems. Mix
that with an unhealthy portion of paranoia and an even bigger portion of
bitchiness and that was Maylee.

She had immediately taken a dislike to Jools, which was now
causing problems between Jed and Dom, and that was unheard of. It was taking
all Maggie patience and self control not to say anything, but she knew that if
she did she would alienate Dom, and that she couldn’t do.

She heard movement from upstairs and braced herself for the
woman herself.

Maylee sauntered into the kitchen, as always no matter what
the time, her hair was coiffed, her makeup was immaculate, if rather heavily
applied, and her nails polished and claw like. She walked straight past Maggie
and opened up one of the French doors before placing a long cigarette between
scarlet lips, it wasn’t until she had taken her first lungful that she turned
and spoke.

‘Hi Hun,’ she said as if she had only just seen Maggie
sitting in her own kitchen, ‘Oh my god it is bloody freezing…DOM...DOM! Get my
blue cardi from the bedroom can you…DOM! Bloody lazy git, I swear he’s ignoring
me.’

Dom came into the kitchen carrying a green cardigan which he
handed to Maylee.

‘NOT THAT ONE YOU TWAT!’ Maylee shouted at him, looking over
at Maggie and raising her eyebrows in exasperation, ‘I said the blue one didn’t
I Maggie?’

Maggie gritted her teeth, ‘Do you know what Maylee I wasn’t
listening,’ she said pleasantly, ‘that looks nice and warm though, morning Dom
love…do you want coffee?’

‘Ha ha Maggie you are so funny,’ laughed Maylee, ‘as if I
can wear green with this top…go and get the blue one Dom will you…it’s on the
chair I think.’ She took a last long puff, threw her cigarette butt into the
garden and came back into the room.

‘I’ll have a coffee if there’s one going,’ she said sitting
down next to Maggie.

‘Of course, help yourself,’ said Maggie, ‘there’s plenty in
the pot, I expect Dom will want one when he get down as well.’

Maylee didn’t move, just sat examining her nails until Dom
came back carrying the blue cardigan which he proceeded to put round her
shoulders, bending down to kiss her neck as he did so.

‘Dom, a little space please!’ exclaimed Maylee shrugging him
off. She took the cardigan off her shoulders and put it onto the seat next to
her Maggie noticed.

Dom went over to the coffee machine and poured a cup for
Maylee and one for himself.

‘Do you want another Mum?’ he asked with a smile, Maggie
smiled back and nodded.

‘So what are you two up to today?’ she asked a moment later.

‘Oh well Maylee wants to go shopping so I said I would take
her down to Brighton, have a look round the lanes you know…’ said Dom breaking
off at Maylee’s hard stare.

‘Dommmiiee!’ she gasped indignantly. ‘It was your idea to go
shopping, what will Maggie think of me…wanting to go shopping all the time.
Actually Maggie it’s just that I need to get some stuff for Jukie…um you know
clothes and stuff and there’s this designer outlet down there. Bloody good
stuff, all designer…because my Jukie is really fussy about what he wears…I
know, I know he’s only three, but he must have my fashion sense because unless
it’s got a label he won’t wear it. Oh my god I got these jeans right, from
Tescos, only a fiver in the sale, dead cute they were and I thought, he’s not
going to know…I mean they looked like Ralph Lauren, you know same style and
stuff, but would my baby wear them…oh my god Maggie he had a fit, it’s like he
could tell they were cheap rubbish…he could tell they weren’t designer. But
then he’s like me in that respect I don’t wear anything but designer me, I mean
why pay for crap…you know what I mean Maggs.’

Maggie determinedly didn’t look in Dom’s direction as she
said, ‘Oh I know…nightmare.’

Maggie turned to Dom, ‘Please tell me you have got some
ideas of what we can do for Jed’s birthday next week…I have wracked my brains.
Jools is taking him away the following weekend, some lovely hotel in the
country somewhere I think, and I was thinking about having a big family meal,
you know just dad…’

‘Oh Jools must be loaded I suppose,’ interrupted Maylee with
a sour look on her face. ‘Those country hotels don’t come cheap let me tell
you, I went to one last year…or was it the year before…anyway I didn’t think
much of it actually…I mean when you think how much they cost…’

‘Well as to that I think Jools has been saving for months,
she told me about it ages ago so…’ began Maggie.

‘Well I’d recommend her not to waste her money…’ carried on
Maylee ignoring Maggie, ‘a nice watch, a designer jumper, at least Jed would
get some wear out of that…no I think a country hotel is a stupid idea, I
wouldn’t bother with that for my Domie I can tell you.’

‘Well that’s what she’s planned anyway,’ Maggie went on
firmly, ‘but I need some ideas for what I can do. As I was saying I think a
family meal might be just the thing…’

‘Oh you are so right Maggie,’ Maylee said enthusiastically,
‘you could book a lovely restaurant somewhere…you know somewhere classy so we
can all get dressed up. I’ve got the perfect dress to wear actually, it’s a
DKNY I got it when I went to New York with my last but one boyfriend…it’s red
and really sexy.’ She turned to Dom and whispered in a sultry voice loud enough
for Maggie to hear, ‘You are going to love it baby.’ Dom gave her a cuddle but
Maylee’s eyes were on Maggie over his shoulder as if watching her reaction.

‘Well I hope you’ve got something a bit simpler Maylee,’
Maggie said, ‘because I was thinking more like a take away curry in the
kitchen…Jed’s favourite.

Maylee looked very unimpressed, but she shrugged and said,
‘Hey whatever…I suppose that’s what Jed’s used to…I can’t see Jools as a
domestic goddess,’ she finished with a bitchy little laugh.

The couple left soon after on their quest for all things
designer for little Jukie, Maggie had yet to meet Maylee’s son, maybe she was a
different person when her child was around. Maggie made up her mind to invite
Juke to Dom’s birthday dinner…you never know maybe this was all just nerves on
Maylee’s part, the more she got to know and trust Maggie and her family perhaps
she would learn to relax and enjoy their company…after all they were a great
family…the best…surely Maylee would see that stop trying to cause problems
between them.