Behind a Closed Door (The Estate, Book 2) (32 page)

‘Stop it!’ Kelly screamed, as Jay went to punch him again. She pulled him back. ‘He’s not worth it!’

Jay stood for a moment while his breathing calmed. On all fours, Scott wheezed and held onto his stomach. He wiped the blood away from his top lip and spat onto the laminate flooring before getting to his feet.

Kelly felt bile rise in her throat. She stood behind Jay, knowing that he would protect her.

‘I’d watch your back if I was you,’ Scott threatened. ‘I’ll have my day.’

‘Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard the rumours, big boy. Let’s see how tough you are next month when Stevie gets out. My brother will be more than pissed off when he hears what you’ve been up to. So I’d watch
your
back if I were you.’

A staring competition began but it only lasted for a few seconds before Scott sloped to the door. He turned one last time to Kelly.

‘You think you’re something special now that you’re involved with him, don’t you? And that Mellor woman, that stupid housing officer that put all these pathetic ideas into your head. But you can’t get away from your roots. You
might think you’ve changed but you’re nothing but scum really – you always were and you always will be.’

Before Jay could catch him again, Scott was out of the door.

Back at the office, as Josie waited for her computer to load up the system, she noticed Debbie at her desk. As she watched her, she still couldn’t understand how she would be involved with Matson. Were they in a relationship or had Debbie just taken him in when he had nowhere to go? He certainly didn’t seem partner material to her.

A thought crossed her mind as her eyes travelled around the office. Ray and Doug were out on the patch. Irene was covering the reception. Craig and Sonia were deep in conversation about last night’s television. Josie realised it was now or never. She might not get another opportunity like this for a while.

‘Debbie,’ she shouted over. ‘You wouldn’t be a darling and make me a drink, would you, please? I’m parched.’

Debbie came over to Josie’s desk. ‘I’ll do anything to stop the monotony of this bloody spreadsheet I’m working on.’ She picked up Josie’s mug. ‘Coffee?’

‘Thanks.’ Josie nodded, trying to avoid eye contact for fear of blushing with embarrassment.

The second she was out of the room, Josie picked up a file from her desk and sidled over to Debbie’s. She grabbed her mobile phone and slid it inside the file on the pretext of scanning the paperwork. As quick as she could, she navigated to the contacts screen.

Suddenly the office door opened and Irene popped her head around the frame. Josie threw down the phone as if it were a hot piece of coal.

‘Mrs Summers is asking for you in reception,’ said Irene. ‘Shall I say that you’re in or out?’

‘I’ll be there in a minute. She’ll probably only want some form or other.’

‘She won’t let me get anything for her. She only wants to see you, I don’t know why. I’m capable of doing that for the old –’

‘I’ll be there in a minute!’ Josie reiterated.

With a melodramatic sigh, Irene retreated. Knowing she was running out of time, Josie grabbed the phone again, pressed a few buttons and wrote down a number. She put the phone back in its original place and sat down at her desk.

Moments later, Debbie came in with two drinks. Once they, and Josie’s heartbeat, had settled down again, Josie opened Matson’s file on computer. She queried a search for his contact details – and there it was.

Philip’s telephone number was stored on Debbie’s mobile phone.

Kelly glanced at Jay as she flipped through a magazine casually. She’d been trying to read an article about the reasoning behind plastic surgery but her mind had been elsewhere. It was eight thirty, the rain of a summer storm had recently stopped and the sky promised another warm day tomorrow.

They sat either end of the settee sharing a bottle of wine, Kelly with her legs along most of its length. Emily had gone to bed less than half an hour ago. The soulful tones of Adele played in the background: a favourite of them both, Jay had bought Kelly the CD when he’d found out.

‘The other woman Scott was talking about …’ Jay began.

Kelly looked up immediately.

‘My mum’s not well. She suffers from bronchial asthma and is riddled with arthritis. Her hands are the worst. Her fingers are twisted and they won’t go back to normal now. She sleeps downstairs in the living room so she doesn’t have to tackle the stairs. I help her out as much as I can. I do all her meals, I clean the house, I do the shopping, that kind of thing, and she has carers come in twice a day to help with personal stuff. If we didn’t have those women she’d have to go in a home, and I can’t let that happen.’

Kelly sighed. ‘So that’s why you don’t go to work. But I thought –’

Jay shook his head. ‘That’s why I have to leave in a rush sometimes. I’m a carer too. That’s why I had to go this afternoon, to check if she’s okay. I don’t like to be away for too long. And that’s the reason why I still live at home. My dad died when I was fifteen. Mum’s sixty-eight this year and most of her life she’s lived in fear of my brothers. It’s better for her – for both of us, really – when they’re away.’

Kelly’s brow furrowed. ‘So why hang around with Scott? I always thought you looked out for him.’

‘He tricked me into helping him out one night. It was ages ago – I know he’d only recently met you. He’d arranged to do over a cash and carry. A guy who worked there told him where the money was kept and what time to hit the place – for a cut, of course. Nobody does something for nothing around here. Anyway, it wasn’t a big place so there had hardly been any security on the site. Scott rang, asking if I’d pick him up from Daniel Street in twenty minutes.

‘I was waiting for him on the road outside. I thought he’d been in the Black Horse around the corner to get an early start.’ Jay pointed to his half empty glass. ‘As you know, I’m not a big drinker, so I was everyone’s taxi. I didn’t mind so much, I suppose. I got there, with time to spare. Good old Jay, always reliable. A few minutes later, Scott walked out of the place as calm as anything. He said he wanted to go home first to get changed. On the way back, I worked out what had happened. I flipped and swung for him but Scott threatened to tell my mum that I was involved.’ Jay looked on in anguish. ‘Call me what you like, but I couldn’t let that happen. I didn’t want her to think that I was turning out to be like my brothers. It would have killed her.’

Kelly finally realised what had been troubling her for ages, the reason why everything hadn’t slotted into place.

‘He blackmailed you!’

Jay shrugged. ‘Emotionally, I suppose. Scott said he’d tell my mum I was into everything, the same as Stevie and Michael. I didn’t want her to find out I’d been a stupid prick. She felt safe with me. I’d never lie to my mum, so if she’d asked me about it, I’d have told her the truth.’

‘But she would have believed you’d been conned!’ said Kelly.

‘Probably, but I couldn’t chance it. I love my mum, I feel responsible for her. Lynsey doesn’t go to see her unless she wants something. I’m all she has.’

‘Why didn’t you just deck him one and have done with it?’

‘Stevie and Michael have always looked out for Scott. He’d do anything they asked him. Oh, he thinks he’s one of the boys, but you should hear what they say about him when he’s not there. They call him their ‘lackey lad’, ‘the fetch-and-carrier’. So I thought I’d be better off if I stuck with him. I know Stevie and Michael look out for me but there’s a fine line to tread between keeping them happy and showing my true feelings.’

‘So that’s why every time I’ve mentioned her, you’ve never opened up?’

‘Don’t be daft, that’s because I’m a bloke.’

Jay’s attempt at a joke was feeble. All at once, shame washed over Kelly. She remembered when Scott had first been sent to prison and Jay had been there for her. She’d thought that he lived off benefits and handouts from lucrative jobs his brothers carried out, even though he told her he couldn’t stand what they did. But why would she think any different? Jay was Scott’s friend, his partner in crime, surely?

It wasn’t until Kelly started to spend more time with him that things hadn’t tallied. What was it Josie had said to her – never judge a book by its cover? How could she have done that to Jay?

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I put Scott up on a pedestal, settled for the life he had in mind. I had a roof over my head, a beautiful baby girl, someone to be around. Until I had to move from Patrick Street, I had stability. But he changed.’ Kelly thought better of telling Jay how Scott had lashed out at her when he’d come back for his money. ‘I don’t like him that much now. I certainly don’t feel safe with him anymore.’

 They sat in silence as Adele
sang of love and hurt and happiness and moving on.

‘When Scott was here, I was silently screaming at you to carry on punching his lights out,’ Kelly admitted.

Jay gave Kelly’s toes a squeeze. ‘I wish you’d yelled it out.’

‘What exactly did you hear going around the estate?’

‘Nothing,’ sniggered Jay. ‘But he looked worried about something or other, didn’t he?’

Kelly smiled and shuffled along to him. Jay’s eyes were telling her all she needed to know, but all the same she needed to hear it.

‘Did you really mean all those things you said about me?’

Jay kissed Kelly’s forehead, a light yet tender flutter of his lips. ‘Do you know what, Kel? I think we’ve had enough surprises for tonight.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

‘Push me higher, mummy. I’m going to fly!’

Emily had been on the swings for several minutes now. Kelly wanted to talk to her about Scott but her plan had gone wrong. For starters, the hot weather at the weekend had brought everyone out. There were kids everywhere: all six swings were full, both seesaws were in use and there were numerous kids hanging upside down on the monkey-bar frame.

Because it took her so long to get onto the swings, she decided to let Emily stay until she’d had enough. Then she would sit her down and explain things. Once Jay had left the other night, Kelly had stayed up late, trying to get her life into some sort of order. It hurt her deeply that Scott had been sleeping with someone else but it hurt her even more to think that because of it, she’d missed her chance with Jay. Jay Kirkwell was worth a million Scott Johnstones – why had she been the last to see that?

 However, the most important thing for her at the moment was to reassure Emily. Kelly could only guess at how traumatic this had been for her daughter. She was only four-years-old after all, no matter how grown up she pretended to be.

Kelly pushed Emily a little higher, enjoying listening to her screams of joy. When do children start to gain their inhibitions? She wondered, was it life that took over and made things rough, got in the way of the good times, making every pleasurable memory disappear in a puff of smoke with one dreadful act?

Kelly didn’t find the words to tell Emily while she played in the sandpit for ten minutes; while she skipped all the way home holding onto her hand; while they made jam sandwiches for lunch. In the end, Emily brought up the subject for her.

‘Mummy, is Daddy ever coming back to live here?’ she asked, spreading the gooey mess across a slice of bread.

‘Would you be upset if he wasn’t?’ said Kelly.

Emily raised her head and frowned as if deep in thought. ‘No, I like it better when there’s just you and me.’

‘That’s good, monster, because Daddy’s never coming back to live with us.’

‘Where will Daddy live now?’

‘He’s staying with a friend of his. But don’t you worry, you’ll be able to see him whenever you like.’

Emily’s bottom lip started to tremble. ‘You won’t send me to live with him, will you?’

Kelly shook her head. ‘Of course I won’t!’

‘Not even when I’m naughty?’

Kelly bent to Emily’s level and drew her tiny body into the comfort of her arms. If she squeezed a little hard, Emily didn’t protest.

‘Mummy and Daddy don’t love each other anymore, Em, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t love you. You’ll still be able to see Daddy, but you’ll always come home to me.’

‘I like it when Jay comes to see us, Mummy,’ Emily seemed to be through with the subject of her father. ‘You do too, don’t you?’

Kelly swallowed. ‘Yeah, monster, I do.’

‘Jay won’t stop coming to see us, will he?’

Kelly squeezed her tight again and let out a huge sigh. ‘Now that I don’t know the answer to.’

Josie had worried about finding Matson’s phone number stored on Debbie’s mobile all weekend. She’d gone over and over the details until, unable to sleep on Saturday evening, she’d got up and began to write things out. She couldn’t make her mind up whether it was circumstantial evidence or the real deal. Each time she came up with the same scenario: she wasn’t being stupid. She needed to speak to Andy.

As soon as she got to work on Monday morning she called him. He was there within half an hour. She led him into an interview cubicle and they sat down across the table from each other. She handed him the list of addresses that she felt suspicious about and told him everything she had found out regarding Debbie.