Sweetie (31 page)

‘Oh, I’ve got it in me all right.’

The air between them crackled with excitement and tension and Grace could see Sue’s brain doing some quick calculations as she straightened in her chair. ‘So, just me and you then?’

‘No, this is going to take all of us; it needs to be all of us. Me and you wouldn’t be strong enough to kill a big bloke like him, but together, as a team, we can do it.’

Grace sounded very sure about this. Sue looked a little disappointed and shook her head, nonplussed.

‘So, talk me through it then. How’s it gonna happen?’

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‘I’ve gone through it time and time again in my head. I thought if I could get him to the garage, you and the others could be waiting there for me.’

‘No, that won’t work, he’ll know something’s up and do a bunk. Anyway, how are you going to get him there?’

‘He won’t suspect anything. Why would he? I’ve always been nice to him. I’ll get him on a promise,’

said Grace meaningfully. ‘You know, give him the come on, let him think he’s in for a good time.’

Sue put her head in her hands, and tried to think.

‘I don’t mean to offend you, love, but I don’t think you’re his type. He likes kids, remember.’ She lit a cigarette. ‘And even if you do get him there, and even supposing that the rest of us can join you, don’t you think other people will hear?’

‘We’ll gag him. And as for me not being his type, I remember the way he looked at me at the funeral. I’m his type all right.’ Grace remembered that sick, longing look of sexual desire.

‘What?’

‘Gag him. Stick a load of rags in his mouth and tie him up. And if I can’t get him there on a promise, I could always tell him someone has broken into his garage, get him there that way, but I know he wants me, Sue. I could tell. It was the same look my Uncle Gary had, the same horrible leer.’

‘And how are we going to break into his garage?’

‘Potty. She’s brilliant – she can break into anything 313

with a pair of tweezers and a pen knife. She used to do all the lockers at school and get people’s sweets out.’

‘God, yeah, I remember. She was such a girl, wasn’t she? Shame marriage to that twat has knocked it all out of her.’ Sue laughed.

‘Oh, I think Potty’s having a comeback. She’s really getting her act together. This cleaning job is the best thing that’s happened to her for years.’ Grace looked at Sue eagerly, waiting for her reaction. ‘So, what d’ya think?’

‘We gotta get this right, Grace, there’s no room for fuck-ups this time. If we do it, we gotta do it properly,’ said Sue. ‘And how do I know you won’t lose your nerve when it comes down to it? We are talking murder here, plus kidnap and torture. We could all go away for life!’

‘I know, but I won’t bottle out.’ Grace sounded absolutely certain.

‘What about the others?’ Sue asked.

‘Well, we need them. We can’t do it on our own, and they deserve the chance to be in on it. I just wanted to talk to you first, that’s all.’ Grace looked at Sue and reached her hand across the table. Sue took it and squeezed her fingers.

‘Thanks, Gracie, you’re a good girl, and a brave one.’

‘So, are you up for it?’ Grace asked gently.

Sue started to bite her nails. Revenge for her boys?

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A chance to feel justice had been done? A chance for her to move on? ‘Definitely.’

‘Shall I tell the others to meet up at my place later, after tea, when I’ve got the kids to bed?’

‘What about your John?’

‘I’ll send him down the pub, tell him we’re having a girls’ night in. About half-seven then?’ Grace picked up her bag and called the boys in from the garden.

Sue stepped towards her hesitantly then opened her arms wide. They stayed locked in an embrace for several seconds. ‘Thank you, Grace,’ whispered Sue.

‘I need this. I can’t let it go this time.’

‘I know, Sue, and I understand. None of us can.’

The air crackled with a sense of apprehension at Grace’s house that evening. The children were bathed and bedded early, Grace having made sure she tired them out during the day with a trip to the playground and a go in the paddling pool at the park. She had been going over everything in her mind and an urgent need to act had taken her over, body and soul.

She had gazed at Adam, splashing in the pool, and held baby Luke over the edge, his tiny feet dangling in the cool water, and she had thought about their future. She wanted nothing more than to see her life pieced back together, to see her boys grow and develop into happy, confident children. And there 315

was no chance of that happening unless she acted to rid the area of the canker poisoning its heart.

Lizzie Foster and Nanny Parks had taken up resi -

dence in the comfiest chairs, with ashtrays balanced carefully on the arms. Grace had told them in no uncertain terms that they had to be there this evening, but had refused to explain why. ‘I’ll tell you every -

thing later, Mum,’ she had promised.

Gillian and Potty arrived together, having stopped at the off-licence to get a bottle of Bacardi which Potty insisted on paying for. She was looking fantastic in a pair of midnight blue velvet flares and a chiffon bell-sleeved blouse. Her hair was straightened and hung down to her shoulders, and the new navy blue mascara she’d bought suited her freckled complexion.

Sue was the last to arrive at quarter to eight, having stopped to pick up Michelle on the way.

Grace looked at Michelle, trying to work out if Sue had told her anything, but if she had Michelle wasn’t letting on.

The seven women sat in the front room, some on the sofa, some perched on the edge of chairs and the others on the floor. The whole place seemed suddenly small and crowded but Grace pulled the curtains, adding to the sense of confinement even though it was still light outside. She didn’t want to arouse suspicion unnecessarily. It was hard to do anything in this neighbourhood without somebody noticing.

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If anybody did say they’d noticed she had visitors she’d say it had been just a few friends gathered to help comfort Sue in her hour of need. When they were all settled with their drinks, Grace was the first to speak.

‘First off, I need everybody here tonight to promise that what is discussed here won’t go beyond these four walls. You might not agree with what we’re suggesting, and you might not want to play a part, but we do need you to swear to secrecy. What I’m proposing probably won’t sit comfortably with every one here, but we are all good friends so I feel I can ask for your trust and secrecy, no matter what.

Am I right?’ The women all looked at each other and nodded vigorously in agreement. Potty let out a nervous laugh. ‘I mean it, Potty, we’ve got to be able to trust each other or this won’t work.’

Grace went on to give a summary of what they already knew about George and his movements on the day of TJ’s murder. Everybody present agreed that it had to be him. Michelle then angrily told the group how she had seen him coming out of the supermarket shortly after his hospital discharge and he’d said hello to her: ‘Bold as fucking brass, like nothing had happened.’

‘That’s what he was like the day I saw him with Lucy. He just blanked her, like he didn’t see her. I don’t think he even knows her name! He must have recognised her, though. He’s a proper psycho. He 317

doesn’t see others as people like him, they’re just sexual playthings. That’s what I find so scary,’ Potty declared.

Gillian agreed that she found him terrifying. ‘Men like him are capable of anything, they don’t have any kind of conscience at all. You’d think he’d feel some kind of shame, but nothing. He’s not part of us or our community, and I want him gone.’

‘He looks more disgusting than ever now that his lips are all swollen and he dribbles where the stitches were,’ chipped in Nanny. ‘They always used to say that a wet bottom lip was a sign of madness.’

Gillian and Grace looked at each other moment -

arily and rolled their eyes as if to say, What’s that got to do with it?

They talked around George’s guilt for a few minutes more, Grace and Sue eyeing each other, waiting for the right moment to drop their bomb -

shell. It came when Michelle stated that Robbo was willing to finish him off this time. She took a long gulp of her drink and it made her shudder. She wasn’t a drinker, but tonight she knew she had to face the others and share her nightmares. Drink was a good way to relax and get fired up!

After talking non-stop about Chantal in the days following her death, she had gone silent about her baby in the weeks that followed. It was as if she couldn’t bear to think about her, to be reminded that she was no longer around. It had all been a bit of a 318

blur at first, but reality was beginning to bite and she found her life desperately lonely without her beauti -

ful girl in it. Michelle needed friends around her, the company of others who understood. Her anger was deep-rooted and she needed to offload.

‘No, we don’t want the men involved,’ said Sue emphatically.

‘What, you gonna wait for the police to do something then?’ harrumphed Lizzie. ‘You’ll be waiting for ever, girl, let me tell ya. That creep George is covered in well-wishers like a rash, and the police are out in sympathy with him! Bloody bastards.’

‘No, Liz, no police, we’re going to take care of this ourselves.’

The other women looked puzzled for a minute, not sure what Grace was suggesting. It was Gillian who asked the obvious: ‘So when you say “take care” of it, you mean we attack him?’

‘To start with, yes,’ confirmed Grace.

Sue added, ‘Then we kill him,’ and her face glowed at the prospect.

There was an audible intake of breath around the room. Michelle almost dropped her glass. Silence fell momentarily, to be followed by a chorus of voices all speaking at once. Some were crying out in agreement, others calling for caution.

‘I really don’t think I could kill anyone!’ protested Potty.

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‘You won’t have to,’ promised Grace, ‘but can you still pick locks?’

‘Is this some sort of joke?’ asked Potty, looking flustered. ‘I mean, you really do intend to kill someone?’

‘No, not someone, something. You can’t call him human, can you? I’m serious about this, Potty – do you reckon you could get into his garage?’

‘What, the one round the back of the flats?’ asked Potty. Grace nodded.

‘Easily. But why?’

‘Because that’s where we’re going to do it,’ said Sue. ‘If we can get him to his garage we can do it. It’s quiet there.’

‘Does anyone mind if I ask how this miracle is going to occur?’ asked Lizzie sarcastically. Sue then outlined the plan in brief and as she did Lizzie’s eyes widened with the realisation that the pair of them were absolutely serious. Grace was nodding as Sue spoke, while the others exchanged nervous glances.

‘Well, I think it sounds absolutely mad. You’ll never get away with it!’ Nanny looked terrified.

‘You’ll end up going to prison, Grace, and then what’s going to happen to your kids? Have you thought about that? And what if something goes wrong? What if he takes you up on your so-called offer? What if he hurts you?’

‘I’m not going to prison, Mum, because we’re not going to get caught. And with you lot there, I won’t 320

get hurt.’ Grace stayed calm and unflustered. Gillian looked at her sister as if seeing her anew. First the revelation about Uncle Gary, now this. She was certainly full of surprises. It was always the quiet ones.

‘Well, I’m in,’ said Michelle, draining her glass.

She spoke without hesitation. Memories of Chantal’s funeral came flooding back and then a sense of resolve filled her. There was no doubt in her mind.

George had murdered her child, and he would die for it.

‘Me too. I’m in, Gracie,’ said Gillian.

‘Oh, Gill, please,’ implored her mother. ‘Grace, stop it, you’re encouraging her to commit murder.’

‘Mum, it’s the only way, believe me. The police are never going to pick him up, or if they do it’ll be too late. He’s done enough. Time we stopped him.’

‘Well, I’m not sure . . . what do you think, Lizzie?’

Nanny looked at her friend, desperately seeking some kind of back-up. Lizzie pursed her lips and stared at them all for a few moments before speaking.

‘Fuck it, why not?’ she said. ‘It’s high time we got some justice for those kids.’

‘Lizzie! You can’t be serious? Old women like us, we’re no use . . .’

‘You can be very useful actually,’ contradicted Sue. ‘We want one of you to look after the kids, and the other parked up in a car outside the garages – on the lookout.’

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‘We can do that,’ Lizzie answered for them both.

‘Right then, let’s plan this properly. Got a piece of paper and a pen, Grace?’ Sue asked.

For the next hour and a half they went over timings and movements. Potty would break the lock on the garage, then she, Sue, Michelle and Gillian would be waiting in the parked car when Grace arrived with George.

Grace would go to his place and tell him that she’d seen some kids breaking in and he’d better come with her. On the way she would say how sorry she was about what had happened to him, and meaningfully suggest that she might perhaps make it up to him. She would wear a provocative outfit, something like a schoolgirl’s. If George wanted young, she could do that.

‘We want him confused, like he doesn’t know what the fuck’s going on,’ said Sue.

The next bit of the plan was unclear, but somehow Grace would get him into the garage, pretend she wanted him and that they needed to be alone, act suggestively, maybe let him touch her a bit until the others joined her.

‘Do you think you can do it, Grace?’ asked Gillian.

‘I can do anything now,’ she replied, steely and determined.

‘You need to be able to give us some kind of signal once you have him in there. It won’t be easy,’

Michelle warned.

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‘I’ll bang once on the garage door, you’ll be able to hear that from the car.’

‘Potty, can you get the enema gear from work?’

asked Sue.

‘Are we really going to do everything to him that he did to the kids?’ Gillian felt sick at the thought.