Disobey (23 page)

A look of worry flashed in Jodie’s eyes. ‘Don’t be silly. You’re just imagining it. I told you you were a baby.’

‘I’m not, I really did hear …’ Chloe-Jane stopped. ‘There! Did you hear that! It’s coming from down there. Someone’s in trouble.’

Jodie’s voice was flat and cold. ‘I didn’t hear anything.’

‘You must have! Listen, you must be able to hear it!’

Jodie’s eyes narrowed, her tone low, almost threatening. ‘I said, there’s nothing to hear.’

‘But …’

‘But nothing, Chloe. There’s nothing to hear. Now come on, before I change my mind about you staying with me.’

As Chloe-Jane walked behind Jodie, she began to wonder quite how much she should trust her new friend.

38

Two days had passed and Chloe-Jane had been holed up in Jodie’s room. They’d had a near-miss when Mr Lee had decided to make an unexpected visit and she’d had to hide under the bed whilst he reprimanded Jodie, shouting and telling her off as well as trying to humiliate her by making her stand naked whilst he told her off about how messy her room was. He’d stayed in the room for over half an hour and by the time he’d left, Jodie had been in tears, and Chloe
had a terrible case of pins and needles from being under the bed too long.

Today she was back at work, and although the trepidation of what was to come sat at the bottom of her stomach like a sickness, the more imminent, impending fear was what or rather
who
was in the darkened corridor below Jodie’s room.

Chloe had tried desperately to push it out of her mind, trying to tell herself it was no concern of hers, but the more she tried, the more prevalent the thought became.

‘So, if you wait at the corner, near Paddington Station, we’ll pick you up there. But make sure you keep your mouth shut about staying here. The driver may look like he can’t speak a word of English but he has better vocab than me.’ Jodie smiled warmly.

Chloe returned the smile; weaker and cooler. Ever since Jodie had denied hearing the cries for help, Chloe had been cautious. Cautious about everything and anything she said to her. She’d tried to speak to her about it yesterday, but one of the other girls living across the corridor had knocked on the door.

As Chloe-Jane put on her jacket, she tried again, needing answers. ‘Jodie, you know the other night, I didn’t mistake what I heard. There
was
someone there.’

Jodie turned round, her face contorted in anger. ‘What did I tell you? Didn’t I say there was no one there?’

‘Yes, but …’

Jodie raised her voice. ‘Just leave it! Leave it, Chloe, you don’t know what you’re messing with.’

‘So there
is
someone there. I knew it. You know it too … What’s going on, Jodie?’

‘I didn’t say that. Why are you trying to twist my words, Chloe? All I’ve done is be a friend to you and you come here wanting to start trouble. Now leave it … leave it, before it’s too late.’

But Chloe-Jane couldn’t. She couldn’t dismiss the mix of anger and fear on her friend’s face.

‘Jodie. What is it? Who is it?’

Jodie grabbed her bag, pulling her arm away from Chloe who was trying to hold onto her. ‘No. No, I won’t be tricked into talking about this. Just stop it;
please
.’

‘Tell me what’s going on; if you’re in trouble we can get out of here. We can go now.’

Jodie began to cry but the anger was still in her voice. ‘Stop! If you’re my friend as you say you are, then stop. For me. I’m begging you, no more questions.’

Chloe was shocked at Jodie’s tears. She nodded her head. ‘Okay … Okay, I’ll leave it.’

Jodie wiped away her tears. ‘Good … Good, now come on, we’ll be late.’ She walked out of the room, closely followed by Chloe, who was deep in thought. She wasn’t going to leave it. In fact she was going to do quite the opposite.

She was going to find out exactly what Jodie was hiding.

Chloe-Jane lay on the bed, watching the red flashing light on the camera letting her know that it was being streamed live. She watched as the hooded man walked in, leather and metal stud strap in hand, and as the first strike cut into her skin, she closed her eyes, feeling the pain but disconnecting from her body, pretending she was in some faraway place, somewhere safe, just as she had done as a child when the ones she had trusted had hurt her the most.

In the next room, Mr Lee watched the monitor. Standing next to him with a frown on his face was Lin, wondering quite where he’d seen the girl on the bed before.

39

She had made up her mind. She was going to find out once and for all. And as Jodie slept in the bed and she lay on the floor, Chloe-Jane was going to take this opportunity to find out who and what was in the darkness below.

She knew Jodie was sound asleep; she’d taken a couple of the pink tablets she kept on her at all times, and within ten minutes she’d fallen into a deep oblivious sleep.

Slowly, Chloe-Jane got up, creeping to the door. She put her ear on it, listening to make sure none of the other girls were about. Satisfied there was no one there, Chloe opened the door; making her way down the dimly lit stairwell to the ground floor.

Once at the bottom, Chloe looked around. The place was asleep, and with the metal door in front of her, she knew it was now or never. Putting her fears to one side, Chloe opened the door, stepping into the darkness.

The moment the door slammed behind her, Chloe-Jane began to regret her decision. What the hell was she thinking? Jodie had been right, she should leave well alone. It was one thing thinking about it, but an entirely different matter actually being here. With fear getting the better of her, Chloe-Jane went to open the door, but she paused as she heard the distinctive voice of Mr Lee. She couldn’t quite make out who he was talking to or what he was saying, but there was no way it’d be safe for her to try to go back to Jodie’s room now.

She waited for Mr Lee to go but he seemed to be standing directly on the other side of the door. And then an awful thought struck her. What if he decided to come through this corridor instead of the front way? It was a possibility, because although this was the way the girls and Jodie used to come in and out of the building, Jodie had mentioned how on occasion Mr Lee would come the back way, thinking he might catch the girls out doing something they shouldn’t.

There was no other thing for it; she had to keep moving. But quietly. So, so quietly. He was only on the other side of the door and if he heard her move about he was sure to look and find her …

Chloe decided not to switch on the torch light on her phone yet, it was too risky and knowing the floor was clear of anything to fall over, she made her way, tiny step after tiny step, making sure each movement was controlled and silent.

It took almost fifteen minutes of cautious steps as opposed to the minute or so it had taken to walk to the end of the corridor a couple of days ago. But it was worth it to keep silent. When Chloe felt confident she’d put enough distance between her and the metal door she switched her phone light on.

Taking a deep breath, Chloe called out quietly. ‘Hello!… Hello! Is anybody there?’ At first she heard nothing and then, there … There it was. The calling. The cry in the darkness. Weaker this time. Quieter, but still distinct. She stood listening, hearing the direction of the sounds of despair.

That way. It was definitely coming from there. Walking forward, Chloe-Jane, determined now and assisted by the light, walked closer to the calling.
‘Help!… Help me!’

‘Hello?’ Chloe-Jane called out.

The feeble, broken-sounding voice abruptly became louder, stronger; and Chloe could hear the injection of hope in the words.
‘Hello! I’m here!… Help!’

‘Hold on, I’m coming. I can’t see much. Keep talking, so I know I’m going the right way.’

‘Here … I’m here. Over here … Help … please, help.’

Chloe followed the voice, the sound of it guiding her along a partly flooded corridor. The water came up to almost the top of her shoe as it seeped into her pink and yellow dolly pumps and it was all Chloe-Jane could do to stop herself from screaming at the large rat scuttling past.

Suddenly Chloe-Jane could see exactly where the voice was coming from. Standing in front of a large black rusting door, she spoke in hushed tones.

‘Hello? Can you hear me?’

‘Yeah … Yeah. You need to get me out.’

Chloe leaned on the door, not wanting to shout but allowing whoever it was to hear exactly what she was saying. ‘How … How, the door’s locked.’

‘Look, you need to go and get help. If they come back, they’ll kill me.’

Chloe-Jane froze, before bursting into tears. Her whole body shook. ‘Uncle Alfie … Uncle Alfie, is that you?… It’s Chloe-Jane.’

40

Chloe-Jane ran along the corridor, back along the passageways, thinking about how she was going to get her Uncle Alfie out.

It was no good going to ask Jodie. She was part of it, Chloe-Jane was sure of it. The way she’d been angry with her when she’d asked if she’d heard her Uncle Alfie’s cries. The way she’d pretended to hear nothing when they’d walked along the passageways, the fact that Jodie had tried to stonewall her into thinking all was well, when all the time Uncle Alfie was locked up and held as prisoner.

But why? What had happened? What had he done? And why did Jodie cry? Was she afraid? Did she know what Mr Lee had in store for Alfie? Perhaps she was afraid the same thing would happen to her? There were so many questions but Chloe-Jane didn’t have anyone she could ask.

So now the problem was, what was the best thing to do? Calling the police was out of the question; she knew well enough that even if the police did believe her, which was of course doubtful, they would come and knock on the door asking questions before they even began to think of a search warrant. By the time they did decide to make a move, Mr Lee would’ve definitely got rid of all traces of her uncle.

No, what she needed to do was to get help but to make sure Jodie didn’t suspect anything – if she did she was bound to inform Mr Lee, and there was no way she could contemplate the consequences of that. The other thing Chloe-Jane was aware of was she didn’t know how much time she had, and that was the worst thought of all.

Getting to the metal door, Chloe-Jane checked Mr Lee wasn’t still about. Giving it a couple of moments before she opened the door, Chloe sneaked back up the stairs. There was no way she was going back to sleep but she had to be there when Jodie woke up, so as not to bring any suspicion.

Chloe-Jane wasn’t due in to work, so she could spend the day sorting out help – quite what that would be, she didn’t know, but whatever it took she would do it.

41

‘Lola!… Lola!’ – Chloe-Jane banged on the door frantically. She’d tried Lola’s mobile and the café but it had been shut so, assuming she’d be at her flat she’d run the whole way, only to find there was no answer.

‘She ain’t in love, gone to the hospital for her veins.’ Lola’s next-door neighbour came out into the corridor, dressed in a thick pink towelling dressing gown.

‘Do you know when she’ll be back?’

The woman shrugged. ‘Beats me love, all I know is she went out at about eight this morning … Who shall I tell her called?’

Chloe-Jane began to run back down the communal hallway towards the staircase, shouting as she went. ‘Tell her Chloe, and say … say I need to talk to her; urgently.’

At the bottom of the stairwell, Chloe got out her phone. If Lola wasn’t about, she needed to speak to Franny. Before she dialled, Chloe decided to withhold her number, that way there was more chance of Franny answering.

‘Hello?’

‘Franny, it’s Chloe, listen—’ The phone went dead. In despair, Chloe phoned again, and once more it was answered cordially. ‘Hello?’

‘It’s about Uncle Alfie, he’s …’ The call was cut off. Locked off by Franny.

Chloe-Jane began to run but as she did so she dialled the number again. This time it went to voicemail. Deciding it was better and safer not to say what had happened, Chloe-Jane left just a brief message. ‘Franny, please it’s urgent. You have to call me.’

With her phone now in her pocket, Chloe picked up her speed, running towards Soho. If Franny wouldn’t answer, then she would go and find her.

Arriving in Dean Street, Chloe felt her phone buzz. Quickly pulling it out, she answered.

‘Franny?… Listen, it’s about Uncle Alfie … Franny?’ The line was silent for a moment and then Chloe heard the chirpy voice of Jodie.

‘Who’s Franny? Is that the woman you were talking about? Is that your uncle’s girlfriend? What’s up with him?’

Chloe-Jane pulled the phone away from her ear in horror. She looked at her screen; she hadn’t known it was Jodie – her screen had been broken last week when she’d dropped it on the stairs of Lola’s flats. Shit.

Chloe-Jane’s heart began to race. Had she given the game away? Did Jodie suspect? She didn’t sound like she did but then, she would never have expected that Jodie was involved in something like this. She had to be careful; Jodie was sharp.

Taking a deep breath, Chloe began to talk, trying to keep her voice steady and nonchalant. ‘Oh hey Jodie, I didn’t know it was you. My screen’s not working properly. What’s up?’

‘Nothing, just wanted to see where you were.’

‘I … I’m … I’m just …’ She looked around. There was no way she was telling Jodie she was in Soho. ‘I’m in Kilburn High Street; just doing a bit of shopping. I thought it was about time.’

There was another pause, before Jodie spoke. ‘So what’s going on with your uncle?’

‘Oh nothing. It’s my cousin’s birthday and I was trying to get in touch with him so he can pull his finger out to get her a decent present, but no such luck. That’s typical, so I thought maybe Franny might be able to help. Oh well, it looks like it’ll be down to me to sort it …’ Chloe bit her lip, hoping she’d done enough not to raise any suspicion.

‘Cool, listen what time are you going to be about later, maybe we can grab something to eat?’

Chloe frowned. Jodie knew they weren’t supposed to be meeting till tonight but maybe she’d forgotten. ‘I’m not sure, how about I call you when I’m through shopping and stuff?’