Humber Boy B (23 page)

She parked at the back, the area for residents in the Great White Horse.

In just a few minutes she would know.

Just as she walked into the pub, her mobile rang, a call from Penny. Cate lifted it to her ear, thoughts immediately tumbling to Ben and what might have happened.

“Penny?”

“Bad news, Cate. I need you to come to the police station.”

The receptionist at the Great White Horse waited politely for Cate’s attention. Her sister was somewhere upstairs, and she was just moments from seeing her again, after twenty years. “Now?”

“Right now, I’m afraid. It’s Ben. Something’s happened.”

60

Ben

I’m running from the aquarium, not sure where to, when I’m grabbed from behind. The punch, when it impacts, is both unexpected and clean, a direct hit to the kidneys that makes me shudder and turn, only to feel the weight of a fist pummel deep into my gut.

My attacker is male and large, at least larger than me, as I try to push him away only to encounter solid thick girth and no movement back, an awkward dance of wills that I have no way to choreograph. Then comes a crack, like wood splitting, like a branch snapping and then I am like the carp, floating, unthinking, unfeeling in the black, immense, cold sea and it is bliss.

Hazy words reach me from a distance.

“Oh shit, we need to call an ambulance.”

A girl’s voice. Cheryl? I open my eyes, blink, close them again as a sharp pain like a needle runs through my senses. It’s not Cheryl but a stranger, a woman I don’t know who is with a man with a white beard. I think of Father Christmas, then my head throbs and I think only of pain. They are both bending over me.

“Give me the phone, I’ll call 999.”

I struggle to sit, lay back again, try to speak though my mouth is swollen and full of a sweet, thick taste that I realise is blood.

“No, please. I’m okay.”

“Like hell you are.” The man’s phone lights up as he touches the screen. “Your nose looks broken. Ambulance please,” he says into the phone, then after explaining that my condition is not life-threatening there is a pause, “Seriously? That long?”

“What did they say?” The woman asks the man as he hangs up the phone, less anxious now she has established I’m not going to die. I can see her checking her watch, the moon catches the sparkles along the gold band.

Father Christmas runs a hand through his beard and his fingers come away shiny with wax. “No ambulances are available, they’re out on heart attacks or whatever. They suggest we drive him to A&E.”

They both look down at me, and I see that she is wearing a velvet dress and high heels. He is in a suit with a bow tie. I’m ruining their plans.

“I’m okay, honestly. I just need to get home.”

“Where’s that, kid?” The man asks.

Cheryl will be back at the flat, there’s only one other place I can think of. I reach behind, wincing as pain stabs my ribs, and pull Leon’s hand-drawn map out of the back pocket of my jeans.

“Please. Just take me here. It’s my dad’s house, and he can drive me to the hospital.”

They look at each other, back at me on the ground, and the woman says, “If we take him to hospital, there’s no way we’ll make the party.”

Decided, the man lifts me, the woman touching my arm though not doing any good that I can tell, and soon we are at their car, where I’m eased into the low front seat. It’s a sports car, so the woman has to wait, but the drive to Leon’s house only takes a few minutes and soon the man is being relieved of his duty as I hobble up the pathway to Leon’s door. The kind stranger heads back to collect his wife and then on to their party.

The door opens and Issi stands there, a hand quickly over her mouth as she stares at my bloody face. “Oh, Lord,” she says, and though I have no idea what I look like, Issi’s reaction tells me it’s bad. Leon comes to the door and says, “Let the boy in, woman,” and then Issi snaps to energetic alert, bustling me into their front room and fussing over me as I explain I was jumped on by a stranger. And that’s when I realise my mistake. I didn’t lock the aquarium, I left the keys on the ground, I left Cheryl there too. And now this.

My nose is throbbing, my whole face feels as big as a bowling ball. I daren’t move my head, my nose hurts so much.

“Oh, Ben, this is awful. Why would someone want to hurt you?” Issi says, then Leon adds, “Did they take anything?” I shake my head. “Not even your wallet?” as though they were one voice.

“Who cares that they didn’t take his wallet, look at the poor boy! His nose is broken. I’m calling an ambulance, and the police,” said Issi, determined with her lips pursed in disgust at my attacker. “He’s not going to get away with this.”

“No.” I give Leon a pleading look, “Please, don’t.”

Leon looks surprised, maybe suspicious, and I’m afraid he’ll ask me if I locked the aquarium. “So, this just happened after you left work? Did your girlfriend see what happened?”

I shake my head vigorously, then stop because the pain has returned. “She wasn’t there. We’d just said goodbye, outside the aquarium. I was walking back to my flat.”

He seems to be thinking about this and I wonder too. Was it just coincidence that I was attacked just after I’d left her?

“Issi’s right, whoever did this shouldn’t get away with it.” Then he touches my arm, speaks more intimately, “Unless there’s something you’re not telling us, son?”

My face, already swollen and tender, now burns. Shame, but not from tonight, old shame. They must smell it on me, they must see through my disguise. If the police arrive, how long will it be before they discover that I’m Humber Boy B and then I’ll lose even this. Especially this. I should tell Leon I didn’t lock the aquarium, but I can’t. I feel I’ve already disappointed him enough.

Leon sits heavily in his armchair, “Did you provoke him in some way, son?”

Issi shrieks, “There’s no excuse for violence, Leon. Are you saying Ben deserved to get beaten up? Look at his poor face.” Leon reaches to pat her hand, but she’s too busy moving around me, he can’t calm her.

“I know, love. But young people have short fuses. I’m just trying to find out why our Ben here doesn’t want the police involved. Is it because you’ve been in trouble yourself, lad? What with the Community Punishment and everything?”

It feels like thin ice, so close to the truth, but the only way to go.

“Yes,” I say, the word cracking in my mouth. “The police might think I started it. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

I can see this argument is working for Leon, who’s a man of the world and reads the
The Sun
everyday. He knows how things work with the police and kids like me. But Issi is still a bustle of energy, dabbing me with wet cotton wool and chewing her cheek as she removes each piece, covered in my blood. I know I’ll have to go one step further if I’m to stop her calling the police once she’s finished cleaning me up.

I lean forward, though it makes my chest hurt, so Leon can see I’m telling the truth.

“I think I did provoke him, Leon. I didn’t handle it well, so I deserved this. But calling the police will only make it worse.”

It’s my only lifeline. Even if I disappoint Issi, that isn’t as terrifying as coming face to face with a police officer.

“How did you provoke him?” Issi has collected up the cotton wool and thrown it into the bin. She’s holding the phone in her shaking hand as if weighing up the argument I’m giving.

“I… er… I knocked into him. Accidently, but I think I hurt him.”

Issi looks at me like I’m crazy. “Not as much as he hurt you!” She seems half-crazy herself, angry at what she perceives has been done to me. I’ve lost my chance. She presses the green button and for the second time this evening, someone calls 999 on my behalf.

“I need an ambulance. And the police, please. I want to report an assault.”

61

The Day Of

Adam had always fancied Cheryl, albeit from a distance, but then so did all the boys in his year at school. She was pretty, slim, blonde, she moved like a dancer. Even if he wouldn’t know what to do with a girl like that he’d give his right arm to have a try.

He was sure she didn’t even know he existed, but here she was, not just looking at him, but talking to him. Not just talking, but touching too. Was she drunk? She was acting a little off, but then he didn’t really know her. She was being loud, a little crazy, dressed only in a swimsuit, bringing the fish to them, and encouraging Noah to try to sacrifice it to the Devil.

She was bored, that was it. Her dad was fishing and she just needed something to do.

But why press against him, why put her hand over his jeans, just where his penis was, growing with the pressure. “Do you fancy me?” she asked, feeling him with her fingers.

And then, “How much?”

Being on the Humber Bridge, cars roaring past on the raised road, the river down below, it made Adam feel… it simply made him feel. The wind and the sky and the space. And somewhere, out there beyond the river where the sea begins, heading to colder waters, was his dad. Off again on a trawler, to the adventure that he enjoyed, that he must love, because he kept pissing off and leaving Adam and Ben with their mother even though Stuart knew she barely held it together.

And Stuart had promised him, today was their day. They were supposed to be in Scarborough, a special trip. His dad was a liar. All adults were.

But here Adam was, on the bridge, and from here the sea seemed a long way away. And Cheryl wanted him so he was going to grab that chance with both hands even if it felt weird.

The whole day had been bloody weird, the film, the Ouija board, Noah acting all dopey, Cheryl and the fish.

Adam was just going to ride it and see where it took him because, fuck knows, it had to be better than going back home.

Cheryl didn’t stop him when his hand stumbled across her breast, nor when it went lower. She kissed him, wide-mouthed, and as he felt her stomach she moaned. He stopped, thinking he’d hurt her, but she urged him on, touching him too. No-one had touched him before, he had never felt a girl’s thigh, the way the skin inside the leg was so smooth, the way it roughened towards the top, the hair.

He pressed his fingers through the thin fabric of her swimsuit, just as she grasped his penis. He stopped wondering how this could be, and just did what felt right, his hand and her hand moving fast, faster. Inside she was moist, fleshy. He thought she liked it, he’d seen this in films, it should feel good for her too.

But when he pulled away, he saw that he had hurt her.

His fingers were covered in blood.

62

Now

Murdered Noah’s mum speaks out for the first time in our double-page exclusive:

“All I want to know is why… ”

Jessica Watts clutches a photo of her little boy and fights back tears. Just three weeks ago she heard the devastating news that her son’s killer is free and living somewhere in the country under a new identity that cost British taxpayers millions of pounds
.

“I’ve been living a nightmare for eight years,” said Jessica, whose ten-year-old son, Noah, was thrown from the Humber Bridge to his death. A group of children were on the bridge, and two brothers received convictions. Humber Boy B, who was just ten when he went on his murderous rampage, served an eight-year sentence for Noah’s murder
.

“Eight years is nothing,” said husband Dave, sitting close to his wife. “But what we really want isn’t a longer sentence. We need answers. We just want to know why our son had to die.”

Full article on page 8
.

Join
The Sun’s
campaign to find Humber Boy B, to help his parents ask the one question that has not been answered. Sign our online petition NOW!

63

Cate

This time when she arrived at the police station Cate was ushered, not upstairs to the large conference room, but down the corridors near the cells, to one of the windowless interview rooms on the ground floor.

“So what’s happened?” Cate tried not to think about Liz, waiting for her at the hotel. She had told the receptionist to pass on the message that she’d be back as soon as she could but she didn’t know if it was true or even possible. “Where’s Ben?”

Penny waited until the door was fully shut before she began to explain.

“Hospital. There was a 999 call for police and ambulance to attend a house, turns out it was his boss from the aquarium. Ben has been attacked, apparently set upon by a stranger. The constable took a brief statement while they waited for the ambulance but it was only when he put it into the system and filed his report that Ben’s name triggered an alert through to Steve, so that was the first I knew of it. I called you straight away.”

She was gabbling, and Cate realised Penny felt guilty. Just two days ago, along with everyone else in the room, she had dismissed Cate’s concerns and said they had to wait for things to escalate. Well, now they had and Ben was in hospital.

“How bad is he?” Cate asked, hardly daring to hear the answer.

“It could have been a lot worse. Here,” Penny breathed out, blowing her beaded fringe from her face, then handed Ben’s statement to Cate. “He says it was a random attack. No idea who his attacker was, can’t give much of a description. Some bloke just came from nowhere and left him in a bloody pool on the floor with a broken nose.”

“What about accents?” Cate asked, looking at Ben’s signature at the bottom of a typed page. “Did the attacker speak?”

Penny shook her head, “Hoping for a northern accent, Cate? It’s not just folks in Hull who are hunting down our Humber Boy, you know.
The Sun
ran a piece on him this morning. Front page, with pictures of Noah’s weeping parents. You see it?”

“I try to avoid red tops.”

“Good for you. Sadly, that’s where most of the fuel is coming from. That and the Internet. The online campaign has gone viral and it’s trending on Twitter. I’m afraid we can’t contain it.”

“Shit.”

“Isn’t it, though?”