Mummy's Little Girl - JANE ELLIOTT (classic romance novels TXT) 📗

Jane Elliott


Mummy’s
little girl


A desperate race
to save a lost child


FACT

In the uk alone, a child goes missing every five minutes.
some of these children are found: others become
the focus of high-profile media campaigns


A few are never seen again.


PROLOGUE


DECEMBER 1996. LONDON. EVENING

The pains had started just after luch-not that meal-times meant much in her house.
Had little Hayley Clark known what the sudden rush of water was, the one that had dampened her sheets in the small hours of the morining, she might have known to expect the contractions sometime soon. But she didnt. No one had explained it to her, There had been no visits to the doctor: no scans; no midwives to reassure her or tell her what was likely to happen, or when. It would have been unthinkable to wake her mum and admit that her bed was wet and she didnt know why, just as it would have been unthinkable in the first place to tell her that she thought she was going to have a baby.

It had been five months ago that Hayley had realised she was pregnant, a few weeks after she had met the boys who shouting at each other, and she didnt know how it would end. The arguments didnt always spill over into her tiny bedroom, but they had happened enough times for her to feel scared to the pit of her stomach whenever she heard raised voices. Strangely it was her mum she feared more than her dad in those situations. Dad would just shout at her, telling her she was lazy and ugly and why the hell didnt she get out there and find some fucking friends, before stumbling into bed to sleep off the cheap booze. Mum on the other hand,was more physical: she would pull her long jet-black hair and hit her. One time she had given her a black eye, and Hayley had to pretend to the teachers at school that she had been in a fight on the way home. Mum would hurl abuse at her too, but unkind words she could deal with. It was the punches that hurt.

That night back in the summer, she had sensed it would be in her interests to leave the house. They were drunker be in her interests to leave the house. They were drunker then usual, for one thing-it was the time of the month when they had more money, so there was no danger of running out of drink, and she had heard them talking about her. Yelling about her, actually. Hayley was only young, but she knew what that meant, and was smart enough to get out of there before things turned nasty for her.

She hadnt needed a coat- it was a warm-and so she slipt out of the flat wearing only the same jeans and T-shirt she aways wore, knowing that mum and dad would probably not even hear the door. she walked down the concrete stairwell, avoiding the nasty smell that always made her feel a little sick, and emerged at the front tower block. It was late, but still just light, and little crowds of people were standing around cliques. Some of them were somking, some of them were drinking. A lot of them had music blaring from thier car stereos.

Hayley didnt like coming out by herself, especially at this time of night. During the day there wasa police presence, but come nightfall even they knew to steer clear of the estate. When they did show up, they tended to ignore most of what was going on. Cleaning this place up was like pushing sand uphill. Hayley had heard a grown-up say once. It was scary. None of the groups of people seemed to talk to each other: none of them looked as if they dared talk to each other. Hayley walked quickly, with her head down, hoping that she woundnt be noticed.

Hayley was the sort of girl people didnt normally noyice. But that was about to change.

A wolf-whistle filled the air. Hayley felt her stomach lurch and she kept her eyes on the pavement as she continued walking, desperstely hoping that the whistle hadnt been directed at her. Hayley knew what was happening, two boys were standing in front of her.

They were older than her- seventeen, maybe, or eighteen- and Hayley thought ahe knew thier faces. They were definitely the sort of boys she would go out of her way to aviod, but that wasnt saying much: Hayley went out of her way to aviod most people. They both wore baggy jeans and hooded tops: the only thing that really made them look different from each other was that one of them had a tooth missing.

“Where you going” the toothless one demanded. He chewed noisily on sum gum.

Hayley almost automatically looked down at the ground. She nothing. She could sense the two boys grinning at each other. “Going to come and hang with us”? the other boy said. It didnt sound much like she a question.

“No thanks” she mumbled.
But as she spoke one of them grabbed her arm. She looked around her in alarm, but none of the other groups noticed what was going on: or if they did, they stayed well clear. It was the boy with the full set of teeth that grabbed her, and his grip was strong. He pull her towards where they had been standing, by a car whose four doors were wide open. There was others here, mostly boys, but a couple of girls too, who looked at hayley with a nasty stares. They didnt say anything, however.

“Have a drink”. the toothless boy said to her. He put a bottle of something into her hand.

“I dont wont to-” she started to say, her voice trembling slightly.

“I dont wont to!” a female voice mimicked from somewhere. Hayley had never drunk alcohol before. She’d heard the other children at school talking about it, of course, talking about how they would get drunk on a friday nights, but she wasnt popular enough to be invited to their parties: and anway, she was hardly likely to touch the stuff, knowing what sort of effect it had on her mum and dad. But as she stood there that night, with these intimidating people standing round and staring at her, she knew that she couldnt say no: so she put the bottle timidly to her lips.

The mouth of the bottle was already wet from somebody else’s saliva, and it made hayley shiver with revulsion. She closed her eyes, though, and tipped the bottle up further. The alcohol was incredibly sweet- a bit like the fizzy drinks she occasionally tasted- and to her surprise she found that she quite liked it. Seconds later, however, the kicks of the alcohol hit the back of her throat and she started to cough.

The others laughed, and hayley felt her skin suddenly burning with embarrassment. But what happend next suprised even her. Ashamed of her inability to handle the drink, she took another pull at the bottle, two hefty gulps. This time she didnt cough, and she handed the bottle back to the toothless boy with a tiny look of defiance. The boy looked at his friend with a smile- a smile hayley could tell meant something, but she didn’t no what. He took a swig at the bottle, and then handed it round.

“What is your name gorgeous”? he said, his accent thick with south London, just like hayley’s .
“hayley”
That look again.
“Not seen you around much, hayley”. A giggle from one of the group.
The alcohol had created a war feeling in her chest. “yeah” she said “so”? The boldness of her response astonished her.
“So....you gonna come with us”?
Hayley’s eyes flickered up towards the top of the tower block and she felt a sudden thrill of rebellion. Mum and dad probably still dont know she’d left; neven if they did, they wouldnt care.
“All right”, she said.
The boy grinned. He took her by the arm again, but not ao roughly this time, and led her away from the group. His friend followed.
“Where you fucking going”? a voice screeched. It was one of the girls in the little crowed around the car. They stopped and turned around, and hayley watched as the girl approached the two boys. She was mixed race, and wore tight clothes against her curves which made hayley feel like the little girl she was, and her lips and noise were pierced.
“Fuck you”. the toothless boy muttered. He pushed her to one side, took hayley by the arm again and led her off.
“I’ll be looking out for you, you little bitch”! the girl called after her, her voice loaded with hate. “I’ll be looking out for you”!

Any other time hayley would have been petrified; but on that summer’s evening six months previously,with the alcohol doing its work, she felt something different. Carelessness. Recklessness. Whenever she thought back on it, she cringed at her own stupidity.

They boys didnt tell her their names, and she didnt ask. They led her to a different tower block on the south side of the estate, and into a flat several storeys up. It was a dingy place, but hayley was used to that- her own home was hardly luxurious. Thick, dirty blankets were pinned up against the windows, and the only light came from a lava lamp on the floor in the corner. There was no furniture- just a few stained mattresses lying here and there, and a selection of blue and green milk crates scattered around instead of chairs. The kitchen was covered with fast-food packaging, and there was a strange mixture of smells. Rotting food, of course, but also something else. A thick musty smell.

As soon as they were in the flat, the boy without the missing tooth shut the door; then he collapsed on to one of the mattresses and pulled out a pouch of tobacco and some cigarette papers. Hayley watched as he licked the gummed edges of two papers and stuck them together, before sprinking some tabacco into the middle. He then removed a small lump of something brown and held it in the flame of a lighter before breaking bits off and crumbling them onto the tobacco. He rolled the cigarette up and lit it; instantly hayley could tell where that sweet smell came from. He tooka deep drag on the joint, and then passed it to hayley. Suddenly timid again, she shook her head. A look of annoyance passed the boy’s face as he handed the joint to his friend. “you want another drink”? he asked hayley. Not knowing what else to do, hayley nodded her head. She didnt see him pour the drink: nor did she question why he was giving it to her in a dirty glass rather than straight out of the bottle as before. She drank it quickley, hoping it would give her more of the warm feeling that it had done when they were outside.
“Why you looking at me like that”? she asked the two boys when she had finished it. They were standing watching her, as if they were waiting for something. She took another sip of her drink, trying her best to look grown-up. It was from that moment that she started to lose her memory. She couldn’t rember