Deadly Lies by Ann Girdharry (book recommendations .TXT) 📗

‘Can’t you see how bad it is? If we don’t she might die.’

‘You’re always one for the melodramatic, aren’t you?’

He placed pillows on either side of Emily to stop her keeling over. When he started Emily’s recording again he had his knife out and this time Lisa was wedged under his arm.

‘Speak clearly, kid, or I swear I’ll hurt your sister and I know you don’t want that to happen. And she’s already done her recording so it won’t matter what I do to her, will it?’

Poor Emily did her best. It was an improvement on her first try and though he wasn’t pleased, he decided it was the best they were going to get.

Back downstairs, he sent the files over to the mother’s phone.

‘This’ll give her something to think about and just so long as the bitch comes up with the cash. What are you looking so gloomy about?’

It was hard for Maria to drag up a placating smile. The kid was dying, she felt sure of it.

‘My little brother had an infection when he cut his finger. He went like the kid is and he almost died.’

‘I told you to shut up with the dying shit. She’s fine.’

For once, her concern for Emily pushed her beyond her own fears. ‘You’re wrong. We need to take her to a hospital.’ In all the years she’d known him it was the first time she had ever stood up to him.

Rage and paranoia flashed across his face. Maria backed up against the wall.

‘Well, well, you’ve got mighty big for your boots all of a sudden.’

Her nose started bleeding. Muttering an excuse, she escaped, scuttling to the bathroom. She locked the door though she knew he could get in from the outside if he wanted. Leaning over the sink, she tried to stem the flow with a wad of tissue.

He hated talkback. She hoped he would forget about it enough to not take it out on her later, because she knew the story of how he once beat up one of his girlfriends so badly she needed thirty stitches in her face. He had always been volatile, and prison had made him worse.

The nosebleed took an age to stop and she had plenty of time to stare in the mirror. Sores were starting to break out at the base of her nose. Snorting coke had that effect. She’d known users who’d disintegrated the septum of their own damn nostrils.

Blood dripped into the basin and she could not hold in the tears. She despised herself – for getting together with him, for falling into using. You’ve slid to the bottom, she whispered to herself. It was horrible being back where she’d been when he went to prison. She was a useless junkie again, craving her fixes and unable to break away.

And this time it was worse because of the children and what happened with Billy kept playing in her mind. If Emily died she would never forgive herself.

31

Maria felt relieved because he hadn’t mentioned her outburst again. Him needing her for the plan seemed to be stopping him flying into a foul temper. She was the one who had visited the apartment Jack Glover kept for his mistresses. Sylvie had taken her there which meant Maria should be able to get in the building without arousing suspicion – and that was their next move.

Taking her time, Maria made herself look nice, putting on a blue flowery dress and her favourite jacket and carefully applying make-up. The cosmetics helped to cover the signs of her deteriorating health and the ravages of the drug. Even he thought she looked nice, and his eyes followed her as she crossed the room.

‘Do you think I’ll do?’ she asked.

‘Not bad and remember you drop the package and you come straight back here.’

He handed her the envelope containing the pay-as-you-go phone and Maria nodded. A few minutes later and she was out the door and feeling the fresh air on her face. She was glad to be away from him. If only she could get rid of him forever.

Taking the train to Himlands Heath, she sat by the window chewing viciously at her nails. He wouldn’t tolerate any deviancy from his plan and he’d made it clear he had no intention of taking Emily to the hospital. At the start of this, he had promised he wouldn’t harm the children. He always had been a liar.

The train sped along and the Sussex countryside whizzed by. Maria barely registered the green fields. Her life, which was already grim, had been closed down by the powder and by him. Should she make a run for it? This was her chance. Yet she knew she’d need another fix by nightfall or she would suffer and she could not bear the cravings.

He had been clever hooking her back into the habit. It took strength to detox in some clinic full of junkies. Strength Maria knew she lacked. The terror and pain she endured going through withdrawal the first time made her want to piss herself.

What about going to the authorities? Maria wanted to but she couldn’t because she wasn’t an ordinary person, she was a druggie and the police had no sympathy for people like her. She’d be condemned alongside him and thrown into some dirty cell to go cold turkey on her own. Then they’d lock her up for several years.

And if she crossed him, he would punish her. He’d chase her down and make her pay and where could she go? There was nowhere she’d be safe. Even if he went to prison, one day he’d get out and he’d come after her. She knew she was trapped.

The train arrived at Himlands Heath and she followed her instructions and walked to Jack Glover’s secret apartment. Her mind was churning trying to find a way out. What about Sylvie? Could she find her friend in Brighton? But where would she start looking and what if