The Society Of Dirty Hearts (19 page)

Jake knocked at the door. Peeping around the corner, Julian could see his hand fidgeting at something – no doubt, the knife – inside his jacket. He passed his tongue over his suddenly dry lips. “Who is it?” a female voice asked through the door – this wasn’t the kind of neighbourhood where you opened your door after dark without knowing who was knocking.

“Jake Bradshaw.”

“What do you want?”

“It’s about my sister?”

There was a pause, then the click of a lock and the squeak of a door opening. “What about her?”

“I just wondered if you’d seen her in the past few weeks.”

“No I haven’t.” The reply was spoken without hesitation, as if Ginger had been ready with it before the question was even asked.

“You sure you haven’t seen her?”

“I just said so, didn’t I? Is that all?”

“Yeah, unless you wanna suck my cock.”

“What? Is that some kind of joke?”

“Nah, seriously, I’ve got twenty quid here. That’s the going rate, isn’t it?”

“Piss off, you filthy little shit,” retorted Ginger, starting to close the door.

Jake shoved his foot between the door and the frame. He grinned as Ginger tried unsuccessfully to kick it out of the way. “That’s it, baby, I like it when you get rough.”

“I’m fuckin’ warning you,” yelled Ginger.

In response, Jake drew his hand out of his jacket. He wasn’t holding the knife, as Julian had feared. Instead, he gripped a crowbar. “Don’t, Jake,” cried Julian, springing forward. But he was too late. Jake brought the crowbar down with bone-breaking force on Ginger’s hand that held the door. She reeled backward onto the floorboards, crying out.

Jake loomed over her, brandishing the crowbar. “Where’s my fuckin’ sister?”

“Jesus, Jake, there was no need for that,” said Julian, his heart pounding in his voice.

“This bitch lied to me. Now she’s gonna open up and tell the truth, or I’m gonna open her fuckin’ head.”

Ginger’s eyes flicked between Jake and Julian, wide with pain and anger. “You’re crazy,” she groaned. “When Bull finds out about this, he’ll kill you.”

Jake’s lips curled into a sneer. “Ooh, I’m shaking.”

“You will be when he gets hold of you.”

Jake snorted. “That fat fuck couldn’t shift his arse fast enough to catch a snail, never mind me.”

“Maybe, but you won’t be able to outrun all The Outlaws.”

“Fuck The Outlaws. Bunch of bearded old cunts tossing each other off in their clubhouse.” Jake jabbed at Ginger with the crowbar. “Besides, if you don’t tell me what you were doin’ in a car with Mia and some guy the night she went missing, you won’t be in no state to tell nobody nothin’, you get me?”

Ginger blinked at the mention of the car, the anger in her face shading to a kind of hesitating fear. She looked at Julian. “You’d better tell your friend to back off, before he goes too far.”

Julian spread his hands helplessly, as if to say, sorry, but there’s nothing I can do. He returned Ginger’s gaze in a mute appeal for her to tell Jake what he wanted to know. “Right, you’ve got five seconds,” said Jake. “Then I start breaking bones. One…two-”

“Don’t make me laugh. Run away, little boy, while you still can,” said Ginger, grinning up at him. But it was bravado, and they all knew it.

“Three…four-”

Ginger raised her uninjured hand. “Okay, okay.” She heaved a quivering breath. “Yeah, I was with Mia that night. But how could you know that unless you’ve spoken to her since then?”

“That don’t matter. You just tell me why.”

“We were on the job.”

“Do you mean like prostitutes?” said Julian.

“No, I mean like Jehovah’s Witnesses,” Ginger retorted sarcastically.

Julian wasn’t surprised, of course. He’d guessed it all along. But even so, without him being aware of it, some tiny part of him had clung to the hope that he was wrong. Sadness clouded his eyes – sadness and something else, something which frightened him like a face leering out from a nightmare. “Where did you take Mia?” His voice was tight and trembling.

“I didn’t take her anywhere. The client’s driver picked us up and took us to his house. We did the job and left.”

“So Mia was fine when you left her.”

“Yeah.” There was something not quite convincing about Ginger’s tone. Julian heard it, and Jake did too. Jake made a threatening movement with the crowbar, prompting Ginger to go on, “Well, she was a bit quiet. You know, kind of faraway. But then she was always like that after we did a job.”

“You mean this wasn’t the first time.”

“No. I’d done a few jobs with her and Jo before.”

“Joanne Butcher?”

Ginger nodded. “I hadn’t seen Mia for months. Then, after Jo died, she came to see me, said she needed money. So I set the job up.”

“Did she say what for?”

“No. Probably for junk.”

“My sister wasn’t no junkie,” snapped Jake, his face contracting into a scowl.

“Okay fine, she wasn’t a junkie, but she needed money for something.”

“Yeah, probably to get the fuck out of this town.”

“Well whatever. We did the job, she went her way and I went mine, and that’s all there is to tell.”

“Who was the client?” asked Julian.

Ginger made no reply, her lips compressing.

“Who was the fuckin’ client?” said Jake.

“Just some guy,” said Ginger. “What does it matter?”

Anger flashed up inside Julian like oil in a frying-pan flaring to flame. He snatched the crowbar off Jake and shoved it into Ginger’s stomach hard enough to force her breath out in a hiss. She tried to push him away, but he caught hold of her hand. “There’s a girl missing. Maybe dead. Maybe runaway. Maybe imprisoned somewhere. So you’re gonna tell us who this fucker is, understand?”

“I dunno his name,” gasped Ginger. “He calls himself Mr X.”

“Mr X?” Julian repeated incredulously. “You’re lying again.”

“It’s the truth. Look, this guy comes to me, says he wants me to keep an eye out for girls like…well, girls like Jo and Mia. What makes you think a guy like that would want me to know his name?”

“You know where he lives, though.”

“Yeah, but like I said, Mr X didn’t do nothing to Mia.”

Julian stared into Ginger’s eyes, darkly. “Yes he did. And you’re gonna take us to his house.”

“Trust me, you really don’t want to go there.”

“Trust you,” said Jake, with something between a laugh and a snarl. “That’s a good one.”

Ginger’s gaze transferred to Jake, and Julian was surprised to glimpse beneath the hard-bitten mask of her face a glimmer of what might’ve been concern. “Leave now and I promise I won’t tell anyone about this.”

“We’re leaving alright, but you’re coming with us.” Jake took a length of rough brown rope from inside his jacket. He tied Ginger’s hands, taking no care to be gentle with her injured hand. Then he took back the crowbar and said to Julian, “Fetch the car.”

Julian sprinted to the car. His hands were shaking so badly he fumbled the keys twice before managing to slide them into the ignition. He parked in the driveway, keeping the motor running. Jake emerged from the house, leading Ginger by the arm. He’d put away the crowbar and the knife glinted in his hand, the point of its blade touching Ginger’s side. They got into the backseat. “Which way?” asked Jake. Ginger said nothing. He pushed the blade a little harder against her and, with an intake of breath, she pointed wordlessly.

Julian followed her finger across town, heading south. Ginger leant forward and spoke in his ear. “You can still stop this before it’s too late,” she said, echoing his thoughts.

“No one’s stopping anything,” hissed Jake.

“This guy, Mr X, he’s not someone you want to mess with.”

“Neither am I.”

Ginger shot Jake a mocking glance. “Oh I know all about you, Jake Bradshaw. Thug, petty thief, loser.”

“At least I’m not a whore.”

“Unlike your sister.”

With a lurking light of violence in his wet, black wolf’s eyes, Jake yanked Ginger backward. “Do you fuckin’ want me to stick this blade in you, or what?”

“Go on then, do it.” There was a sneering undertone of laughter in Ginger’s voice.

“I will if you don’t shut your fuckin’ gob.”

“You haven’t got the balls. I know your type. I’ve known you all my life. You’re a nothing. A lost little boy trying to cover up how shit-scared he is with a lot of big talk.”

Jake’s lips drew back from his teeth in a snarl. “Fuck you! Fucking whore-bitch! Fucking slut!”

As Jake spat the stream of obscenities at Ginger, an image rose into Julian’s mind of his Grandma Alice’s possessed face – the bulging, hate-filled eyes, the flaring nostrils, the sneering grin. Chest constricting as if in a vice, he pulled over and jerked around to glare at Ginger and Jake. “Fucking enough! Both of you,” he managed to squeeze out.

Ginger gave Julian a weighing-up look. “Now you, you’re no born loser. You come from money, don’t you? I can tell. I should be able to. I’ve fucked enough of your kind in my time. What I can’t work out is who you are and what you’re doing here.”

“I’m a friend of Mia’s.”

“So how come I’ve never seen you with her?”

“I’ve only known her a few weeks.”

“Then you’re not her friend. Kids like her don’t make friends easy. Especially not with people like you.” She narrowed her eyes. “No, you’re something else. You look like a nice boy, but there’s something about you – your voice, or your eyes, or something…”

Julian’s fingers dug into the headrest, his eyes jumping around in a quick, jittery way. “There it is again,” said Ginger. “It’s in the eyes. Can’t you see it, Jake?”

“I dunno what you’re on about,” muttered Jake. He frowned at Julian. “Do you know what she’s on about?”

Julian shook his head. He couldn’t speak. The car seemed airless. “Course he knows,” said Ginger. “That fucker’s got shifty eyes. Like he’s got something to hide.”

Her voice was like fingernails on a blackboard, scratching at Julian’s nerves. All he could think about was shutting her up. His eyes landed on the knife in Jake’s hand. “You’d like to use that on me, wouldn’t you?” said Ginger, taunting, but with a quiver of nervousness in her voice. “Bet you’d like to fuck me while you’re using it n’all. That what you did to Mia, is it, hmm?”

That was more than Julian could take. He jumped out the car, sucking for air to shout, “Sick! You’re sick!” It wasn’t clear if the words were directed at Ginger or himself.

Jake got out too. He pointed the knife at Julian, suspicion rife in his eyes. “Why would she say that?”

“She’s trying to turn you against me, distract us from what we’re here to do.”

Jake looked hard at Julian for a moment. “I guess you’re right.” He didn’t sound entirely convinced, but he lowered the knife and ducked back into the car. “Come on, let’s get this fuckin’ over with.”

Taking a steadying breath, Julian got back behind the wheel. “Fifteen,” he said, looking at Ginger in the rear-view mirror. “Mia and Joanne were only fifteen. How do you live with yourself?”

Ginger pushed her face close to his again, nostrils flaring indignantly. “I was the same age when I started turning tricks.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“Fuck you. Don’t you sit there with your silver spoon up your arse judging me. You don’t know shit.”

Jake grabbed Ginger’s shoulders and yanked her back. “Another word, bitch, and I’ll gag you. Just keep your mouth shut and point.”

After glaring at Jake a few seconds, Ginger raised her bound hands and pointed. Julian resumed driving, heading through the wealthy southern suburbs, nearing the turn off for the street he lived on. He found himself wondering uneasily if Mr X was anyone his parents knew. Perhaps he was a family man with a wife and children to support. Perhaps they were all tucked up in bed, blissfully ignorant that the man they looked up to and depended on was about to be exposed as a deviant and maybe worse. A small kernel of relief opened in Julian’s chest as they passed the end of his street and left behind the outskirts of the town. The forest rose up on either side of the road like a dark green wall.

“How much further?” asked Julian.

“Not much further now.” Ginger pointed again, and Julian turned onto a road that led towards the heart of the forest. At first they passed a few houses tucked back into the trees. Then there were only trees and more trees.

“You sure this is the right way?” asked Julian. He knew – or, at least, thought he knew – the forest well enough to know that there were no houses for the next ten or so miles.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“You better not be shitting us,” warned Jake.

“I’m not, but you might wish I was before this is over.”

Jake made a scoffing noise. “Why? Who is this Mr X? Some kind of big-time criminal or something?”

“He’s your worst nightmare.”

A shudder ran through Julian. Jake burst into a sneering laugh. “Yeah, well I’m looking forward to meeting him.” He ran his finger along his knife. “Me and him’s gonna have a nice little chat.”

Ginger shook her head, sighing. “Turn in there.” She pointed to a gravel road so narrow and overgrown that you could easily drive by without noticing it. There was no sign to suggest it led anywhere in particular. Julian winced as branches scraped along the car.

“You ever been to this part of the forest before?” Julian asked Jake.

“No. You?”

“I don’t think so.” Much of the forest looked the same, making it difficult to know exactly where you were a lot of the time. After about half-a-mile, the road forked. At Ginger’s direction, they took the left fork, which descended into a heavily wooded valley. As the trees crowded more thickly, Julian had a familiar sense that he was entering a hidden world – a world he was usually more comfortable in than anywhere else, but which at that moment seemed sinister and menacing.

“Ah, this is bollo-” Jake started to say, but broke off as, after climbing a steep incline, they rounded a curve and came to a tall iron gate topped with spikes. A razor-wire fence stretched to either side of it. Beyond it, the road continued to curve to the right, out of sight behind trees that swayed darkly in the night breeze with a wailing murmur like a creature in pain.