Snatched (44 page)

Worried now about what might be facing Leanne when she got home, Zak reached for his phone. He’d promised that he wouldn’t do this if she agreed to see him, but if she was in danger he wasn’t going to be able to rescue her by himself.

Kelly Greene was seething as she stood in the alley at the end of Zak’s road and watched Leanne walk out of his house.

She’d really thought that Zak liked her after he’d come into her house that night. They had chatted for hours, and drunk nearly a full bottle of her mum’s brandy, and smoked several spliffs. They’d mostly talked about Leanne, but it hadn’t overly bothered Kelly at the time because she’d have gladly talked about
any
thing if it had kept Zak there longer.

She’d been wrecked by the time he’d left, so she hadn’t known if anything had happened between them when she’d woken up the next morning. Disappointed when she’d checked herself to find no obvious signs, Kelly had consoled herself with the thought that, even if nothing
physical
had happened, they had still shared something special.

Sure that he would come round to see her again, she’d stayed in for the next three days, waiting for the knock on the door. But when it didn’t come, she’d decided to take the bull by the horns and go round to see him. But just as she turned into his road, she’d spotted Leanne going into his house.

Wanting to know what the hell was going on, because Leanne was supposed to hate him, she’d hidden in the alley and watched the house until Leanne had come back out again –
three hours
later.

Knowing that something was definitely going on, Kelly had gone home in tears, cursing Leanne for being such a dirty, lying bitch. She already had a boyfriend, and was forever lording it up over the rest of the girls about how great he was, so why did she have to go and steal Kelly’s man?

Not that Zak
was
her man, but he would have been at some point, she’d been sure about that. But Leanne had obviously heard about them getting close, and had jumped back in to stop it before it could get properly started.

Kelly had watched her going in and out of Zak’s house a few times since then, but today something snapped. And as Leanne marched past, she decided it was time to put an end to it.

But she couldn’t tackle Leanne by herself, so, calling round for a few of the girls from her gang at school, she led them down to the small play area outside Leanne’s flat, and waited.

Terry arrived home just before Leanne.

Unable to get hold of Sue because she’d had her phone switched off all week, he’d driven over to Cheetham Hill when Leanne had gone to visit her dad that morning, determined to find out where Sue and Connor were staying so that he could confront her and get his promised day out with his son.

The girl in the café had been a great help, not only walking him down the road to show him which block Sue had been living at, but also telling him all about the man whose car she’d seen Sue and Connor getting into several times lately.

The same man who she had seen putting bin bags of clothes into the boot of the car just over a week ago, since which time she hadn’t seen Sue or Connor.

Thanking her for her help, Terry hadn’t even noticed her slipping her phone number into his pocket before she went back to the café. He’d been too busy worrying about the implications of the man, the car, and the bin bags.

Ringing every bell at the block until one of the tenants had finally let him in, Terry’s concerns had deepened when, after pointing out the right flat, the woman had told him that she hadn’t seen Sue or Connor for several days. But she had seen the social services, and they had apparently been quizzing people about Sue, trying to find out why she hadn’t made herself available to them.

Getting no answer at the flat, Terry had hung around for a while, hoping that Sue’s friend would come back and tell him what the hell was going on. But when she still hadn’t come back after an hour, he’d given up and headed into the park across the road. And, sitting on the bench where Sue had waited for him on the day he’d taken Connor out, he’d thought everything over.

The café girl’s description of the man in the car had sounded suspiciously like Dave Miller. But what would Sue be doing with Dave? She had told Terry that Dave had just given her a lift home from the hospital on the day that Connor had been discharged, and that was what Dave had also told Carole. Yet the girl had implied that they had seemed to be closer than just friends, so was it possible that they
had
been seeing each other? And, if so, how come Leanne didn’t know, considering she’d been spending so much time with her dad lately? She’d been to his house three days ago, which was after Sue had supposedly gone off the scene around here. But if Sue had moved in with him, surely she’d have seen the signs at his house?

Unless Sue hadn’t moved in with him, and had only been getting a lift to somewhere else. But either way, she should have told Terry, because he had a right to know where his son was living.

The only way he would really know what was going on was if he asked Leanne to ask her dad straight out. But then he’d have to tell her how he knew, and he couldn’t do that, because it would destroy Leanne to think that he’d gone behind her back like that. And he didn’t want to upset her, because things had been great between them since they’d got engaged. She’d been more loving than he could have hoped in the last couple of weeks, and the sex had been amazing. Although he’d sensed that her efforts were partly due to guilt about having made friends again with her dad and spending so much time with him. But Terry really didn’t mind, and wished she’d stop acting so jumpy when she got home from her visits.

He’d been sure that she would settle down eventually, and that they would find a way of keeping the two relationships separate yet equally fulfilling for her. But if Dave really was with Sue, then his and Leanne’s renewed relationship would collapse, because Leanne would never forgive him for that. And Terry would be even more important to her – which would make it all the more devastating when she found out about his secret arrangement with Sue. And she would, because Dave would make sure of it – to get at Terry, and to get between them.

Making his way home when it became obvious that he wasn’t going to get any answers about Sue’s whereabouts from anyone down there, Terry decided that he was going to have to bite the bullet and tell Leanne before Dave did.

He just didn’t know
how
.

Deep in thought as he parked up and got out of the car, he only vaguely noticed the girls who were congregated on the swings in the play area.

Looking round when one of them called his name, he squinted to see who it was. Recognising her as one of the girls Leanne had brought round to the flat on her karaoke nights, he carried on walking.

‘Oi, I’m talking to you!’ Kelly yelled after him, annoyed that he was trying to blank her when she was doing him a favour. ‘Don’t you want to know what your girlfriend’s been up to?’

‘I’m busy,’ Terry called back over his shoulder, not even listening to what she was saying.

‘Too busy to hear about Leanne shagging her ex behind your back?’ Kelly shouted spitefully.

Still not listening, Terry opened the main door and went into the flats.

Eyes narrowing with malice when Leanne walked around the corner a couple of minutes later, Kelly shouted, ‘Oi, slag! Hope you’re ready for a beating when you get in there, ’cos I’ve just told your boyfriend about you and Zak!’

‘You what?’ Leanne squawked, the blood draining from her face as she peered at Kelly across the car park. ‘You’d better be fucking joking.’

Nerves failing her when Carole suddenly appeared, Kelly turned and ran, with her girls close on her heels. They might be able to take Leanne on her own, but not her and her mam together.

Grabbing Leanne when she tried to go after them, Carole said, ‘There’s no time for messing about with your mates. We need to sort out what we’re going to do about your dad.’

Leanne was physically shaking now. All the way back she’d been wondering what she was going to tell Terry about where she’d been today, because he’d know that she couldn’t have been with her dad once he found out about him and Sue. She’d decided to say that he hadn’t turned up, and that she’d gone round to Goldie’s instead. But if Kelly had told him about her and Zak, then he’d think that she’d been with him all the other times she was supposed to have been seeing her dad as well, and would want to speak to Goldie.

And Goldie wouldn’t be happy about having to lie to him. Not when she found out that Leanne had been lying to
her
about Zak.

‘Brazen bitch,’ Carole was hissing now, her own face as pale as her daughter’s as she recalled the confrontation she’d had with Sue earlier. ‘You should have seen her, sitting in his car like she fucking owned it! But she wasn’t so cocky when I dragged her out by her hair. And she’s lucky your dad came out when he did, or I’d have ripped her bleedin’ head off! But then he comes right out and tells me they’re living together – in front of the whole
street
. So I told him to fuck right off if he thinks he’s crawling back to me after this. And I said he can forget about you, an’ all, ’cos I know exactly how
you
feel about all this. And Terry will go mad when he hears.’

‘He doesn’t care about her,’ Leanne muttered jealously.

‘Maybe not, but he still deserves to know,’ Carole said firmly. ‘It’s his kid, so it affects him. Anyhow, let’s get inside. It’s bloody freezing out here.’

Leanne really didn’t want to go in, but if she didn’t then Terry would know that it was true and she would lose everything. She would just have to front it out and make Terry believe that Kelly was lying. And it should be easy enough, because everyone knew what a bullshitter Kelly was.

But just wait till she got her hands on the bitch!

22

Dave was whistling happily as he ironed a shirt in his bedroom. Now that Carole knew about him and Sue, it wouldn’t be long before Terry found out. And what better way to really stick it to him than to parade Sue around under his nose, and let it be known to the entire estate that they were a happy little family now – and that
he
had no part in it.

Pressing speakerphone when his mobile rang, so that he could talk while he carried on ironing, he frowned when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

‘Hello, Mr Miller, it’s Zak Carlton . . . I, er, don’t know if you remember me, but I used to go out with your Leanne when we were at school.’

‘How the fuck did you get my number?’ Dave demanded, already planning to tear a strip off whoever was handing it about willy-nilly.

‘You gave it to me ages ago,’ Zak reminded him. ‘When I was still seeing your Lee and I was helping you fix that car up.’

‘So I did,’ Dave conceded. Then, ‘So what you ringing me for?’

‘It’s about Leanne,’ Zak said nervously. Then, ‘Well, more about Terry Day, really.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ Dave said, instantly intrigued.

In his own room next door, Jack was pouring with sweat as he lay on his bed. He’d had a pain in his arm for most of the day, and his breathing had been a bit more laboured than usual. Thinking that he was probably coming down with a cold, he’d come straight back up to his room after warning the boy that his mum and David were coming up the lane. But the pain was getting worse: spreading to his chest, it was clutching at it now like a band of steel being slowly tightened.

Forcing himself off the bed, Jack staggered out onto the landing. The fear was on him now, and he could hardly breathe for panicking. Grabbing at the banister rail, he called out to Sue who he could hear moving about in the kitchen below.

Sue had just opened a tin of beans and tipped them into a pan. Putting it onto the stove, she was just lighting the gas when she heard an almighty crashing sound. Running out into the hall, she watched in horror as Jack tumbled down the stairs and landed in a heap at the bottom.

‘
DAVE!
’ she screamed. ‘DAVE, COME QUICK! YOUR DAD’S FALLEN DOWN THE STAIRS!’

Tutting, Dave told Zak that he would call him back in a minute. Clicking the phone off, irritated that he’d been disturbed when Zak was just telling him something really interesting about Terry and the fire, he wandered out onto the landing.

Sue was squatting over his father at the foot of the stairs. ‘Get an ambulance,’ she cried when she saw him. ‘He’s knocked himself out.’

Muttering, ‘Fucking idiot,’ Dave trotted down to see the damage. ‘How old is he, and he can’t even walk down the stairs without tripping over his own feet?’

‘It’s serious,’ Sue said urgently. ‘He’s really hurt himself. Call an ambulance,’ she begged again.

Tutting, Dave did as he was told and tapped the emergency number into his phone.

‘Who’s coming with him?’ the paramedic asked, looking from Dave to Sue as his colleague wheeled Jack out on the stretcher a little while later.

‘Don’t look at me,’ Dave said gruffly. ‘I’m busy.’

Confused by his callous attitude, and all too aware that the paramedic was disgusted, Sue said, ‘I’ll go.
Some
one needs to be with him.’

Shaking his head when she went into the living room and came back out with Connor, the paramedic said, ‘Sorry, but you can’t bring the child. It’ll be too traumatic if we have to stop en route to resuscitate.’

Glancing at Dave, Sue said, ‘He’ll have to stay with you. Either that, or you’ll have to go with your dad, and
I
’ll stay with Connor.’

‘Leave him,’ Dave said quickly. Catching the look of disapproval in her eyes, he added, ‘Sorry, but I’ve got a bit of a thing about hospitals since my mum died. I just can’t face it.’

Nodding understandingly, Sue said, ‘I should have thought.’ Then, leaning down to kiss Connor goodbye as the paramedic went out to the ambulance, she said, ‘If it’s too much for you, you can drop him round at Pauline’s, if you want. She won’t mind, because she was asking if she could spend some time with him when I was round there earlier.’