Chapter 16

The view from room number 12 at the top of Strathe House was the best of all by far, but hardly anyone ever saw it because the room was small and cramped and seldom let.

Which was why Tony Rudge chose to meet Amy there. He wasn’t taking much of a chance. The stairs leading up to the room were steep and narrow, and since only five of the twelve rooms were occupied, there was hardly anyone about.

He glanced at his watch. Where the hell was Amy? He’d told her to meet him here before she went home. Time was getting on, and his father would be shouting for him any minute to come and help with dinner. He was dying for a cigarette but he didn’t dare light up. This was supposed to be a non-smoking room, and if his father ever came up and smelled smoke – and he would – he’d blame Tony.

Impatiently, he paced the floor. Of all the rotten luck! Why did Lenny’s mum have to go and get herself killed in the church while he was there? Not that he was sorry she was dead; she bloody well deserved to be after the way she’d lied in court to get her precious Lenny off. But in his haste to get away that night, he’d quite forgotten fingerprints. But then, who the hell would think of lifting prints from condoms, for God’s sake? Filthy bastards. You’d think they’d have better things to do.

But he’d have to watch his step. That chief inspector was no fool, and he’d be back to ask more questions. Tony paced up and down the tiny room. He daren’t go through with his original plan for tonight; they might be watching him.

Thank God he’d been able to head Paget off about the girl. At least they didn’t know about Amy. If they ever found out he’d been bonking a fifteen-year-old …

The door opened and Amy slipped through and closed it behind her.

‘Took you bloody long enough,’ Tony greeted her belligerently.

The girl looked hurt. ‘I couldn’t get away before,’ she said. ‘Your dad said…’

‘I don’t give a damn what my dad said,’ he snapped irritably. ‘I wanted you…’ He stopped abruptly, remembering what it was he wanted the girl to do. He held his temper and forced a smile.

Amy’s face lit up. ‘You wanted me and you couldn’t wait,’ she said archly. She came to him and slid her arms around his waist. ‘Love me, Tony,’ she whispered.

He kissed her and caressed her body, then gently pulled away. ‘Later,’ he said gruffly. ‘Sit down. We have to talk.’

They sat on the bed because there was nowhere else to sit. Amy slid her hand between his thighs, but he took hold of it and held it firmly. ‘I said we have to talk! Don’t you ever think of anything else?’

‘Not when you’re around, Tony,’ the girl said dreamily.

She was becoming tiresome, but he needed her. Tony kissed her lightly. ‘Just hold the thought for a bit,’ he told her. ‘Tonight it’s business first.’

She giggled. ‘Monkey business, I’ll bet.’

Her childish mannerisms irritated him. He was beginning to wonder what he’d ever seen in her. True, she had a great little body, but there were plenty of other girls out there. He would have to put her off him somehow – but not yet.

He smiled down at her and stroked her hair. ‘I want you to do me a favour,’ he told her. ‘There’s twenty quid in it for you.’

‘Twenty quid? You’re joking!’

‘I’m not.’

Amy pulled away and looked at him. ‘You don’t want me to do something weird, do you?’ she said hesitantly. ‘I mean, I like it the way we do it now, and I thought that you did too.’

‘Good God, no.’ He laughed. ‘Silly girl,’ he chided. He pulled her into his arms. ‘It’s nothing like that. I just want you to pick up a package for me. Well, an envelope, really. Will you do it?’

‘Why can’t you do it?’

‘Because it would violate the conditions of my probation,’ he told her glibly. He slid his hand beneath her blouse and began to stroke her breast. ‘You see, there’s this bloke I loaned some money to while I was in the nick, and he’s out now and wants to pay it back. But we’re both out on licence, so we can’t meet. It’s against the rules. Consorting with known criminals, it’s called.’ He was pleased with the explanation, and Amy wouldn’t know enough to challenge it.

‘Why can’t he just send it through the post?’

Tony shook his head. ‘You know what Dad’s like. Even if it’s addressed to me, he’d open it, and I don’t want him to know about it. If he gets his hands on it, I’ll never see a penny of it.’

Amy nuzzled contentedly against him and raised her lips to his. He kissed her tenderly. ‘So what do you want me to do?’ she asked.

‘Well, he’s got to leave tonight, so he said he’d hide the money in a safe place down at the old sheds beside the railway lines, and I could pick it up there. But I can’t, you see, because of the police. That’s why I want you to do it for me.’ He began to undo her blouse.

‘Let’s not talk, Tony.’ Amy caught his hand and tried to move it down, but Tony pulled away.

‘In a minute, Amy,’ he said, laughing gently. ‘Don’t be so damned impatient. I want it too, you know, but I have to get this sorted first.’

The girl wriggled impatiently. ‘So tell me what you want me to do.’

‘I want you to go down to the sheds and pick up the envelope for me, that’s all. OK?’

‘But why can’t you do it? You wouldn’t be meeting him, so they couldn’t say you were consorting or whatever it is, could they?’

‘Because I think the police are watching me. You saw that man who came round this afternoon?’

‘Yeah. Who was he?’

‘He’s a chief inspector, and he’s got it in for me. He’s just waiting for me to make a slip, then bang! he’ll have me back inside. You wouldn’t like that, would you, Amy?’

The girl turned a troubled face toward him. ‘He can’t do that, can he, Tony? I mean, what’s he got against you?’

Tony shrugged helplessly. ‘They found out that I know Lenny Smallwood,’ he said, ‘and they seem to think that I might have had something to do with his mum’s death.’

Amy’s eyes opened wide. ‘They don’t know that we were there, do they?’ she asked fearfully.

‘Of course they don’t,’ he assured her. ‘They know that I was in the church sometime or other because my prints were there. But I said that was from when I used to meet Lenny there. They don’t know about you, and there’s no way I’d ever let them know.’

Amy flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if you had to go away,’ she said fiercely. ‘You won’t, will you, Tony? You won’t ever leave me, will you?’

‘Of course not, but I’m relying on you to help me,’ he told her. ‘You will pick up the money for me, won’t you, Amy? I really need it.’

‘Oh, yes, Tony. Yes. Just tell me what you want me to do.’

‘It will mean you’ll have to sneak out of the house after midnight and…’ He stopped abruptly and cupped her face in his hands. ‘No. This is wrong,’ he said firmly. ‘It isn’t fair on you. I keep forgetting that you’re so young.’ He pulled her to him. ‘Forgive me, Amy. I’ll just have to risk it myself. I just hope that…’ He broke off as he slipped the blouse from her shoulders and buried his face in her flesh.

Come on, Amy, say you’ll do it. Now’s your chance to prove you love me. Come on, you silly little cow! Say it!

Amy clutched him tightly and pulled him down on top of her. ‘I can do it, Tony,’ she breathed fiercely in his ear. ‘Honest. I want to do it for you. You don’t have to give me any money. I love you, Tony.’

Friday – 17 May

Amy eased the door shut and retrieved her bicycle from behind the house where she’d left it when she came home last night. Normally, she wouldn’t have risked leaving it outside; bikes and anything else not nailed down had a habit of disappearing from the Flats. She made her way swiftly down the narrow passage between the houses and out into the street.

The old railway sheds were less than a mile away, and it was an easy ride once she reached Tavistock Road at the top of the hill. She ignored the turning that would take her down to the sheds. It was a narrow road, and steep, and she didn’t fancy chancing it in the dark. Besides, the area at the bottom was littered with old cable reels, sleepers, and rusting lengths of track. It would be much easier and a lot quicker to leave her bike in the long grass beside Tavistock Road, scramble down the hill to the sheds, get the money, and climb back up again. Five minutes at the most.

A solitary car went by. She waited until it was out of sight, then dropped the bike in a patch of meadow-grass. No one would see it there in the dark.

There was no moon, and although her eyes had become accustomed to the night, it was hard to see where to put her feet as she picked her way down the steep hillside. The outline of the sheds loomed stark and black against the night sky as she neared the bottom, and it seemed to Amy that they were larger than they’d looked in daylight. And more ominous.

The darkness and the silence folded around her. The grass was wet. Her shoes were soaked, and she wondered what they’d look like in the morning. Better not let her mum see them. The corrugated metal was ice cold beneath her fingers as she felt her way around to the front.

She was breathing hard, and tingling with excitement. ‘Second shed,’ Tony had said as he stroked her hair. ‘You remember, don’t you, Amy?’

She remembered. She and Tony had come here one afternoon. They’d brought sandwiches and had a picnic, using an old cable reel for a table. Later, they’d made love inside the shed. That was why he’d chosen this place, she thought. Tony could be so romantic.

The big doors sagged open, but Amy hesitated to go inside. The silence was eerie; the darkness absolute. There wasn’t a breath of wind; everything was still. She took out the little torch she’d brought with her and shone the tiny beam into the blackness of the interior. She could feel her heart pounding against her ribs and she wished Tony were with her now.

Amy took a deep breath and stepped through the gap.

The silence was deafening. She shone the torch around, picking out the odd bits and pieces of machinery that had been abandoned there. Beside her, at shoulder height, was the loading dock, bare and empty now as it had been for more than twenty years.

‘The envelope will be taped to the back of that big old metal thing straight in front of you,’ Tony had said. Neither of them knew what it was, but in fact it was the base of a winch, too big and heavy to move when the shed was cleared.

The pencil of light found the base. Gingerly, Amy worked her way in behind it. Yes! There it was. A white envelope taped to the back just as Tony had said it would be. Amy sighed with relief. She tugged at the envelope, but it had been taped on well. Her hands were sweating. She pulled harder and the envelope came away.

She tried to stuff it in her pocket, but the tape kept sticking to her jacket, and it wouldn’t go in. Muttering to herself, she gave up trying. The sooner she was out of there and back up on the road the happier she would be. Tony would be pleased. She gave herself a mental hug as she followed the light of the torch to the door.

A sound! Soft, like a quiet footstep.

She froze, every nerve end suddenly alert. She wanted to turn, to see what it was, but she was too scared to move. She held her breath and strained to hear, but the pounding in her ears drowned out anything that might be there. She forced herself to turn, torch held out in front of her with both hands.

A light blazed in her eyes, blinding her. She flung up an arm to shield her face, but not before she caught a glimpse of something dark descending. Desperately, she twisted away and fell. Pain seared her skull. A black shape loomed over her. She rolled, scrambling hard to regain her feet. Someone swore behind the light. She couldn’t see. Her head felt as if it would explode.

Her arm went numb. She heard it crack and felt herself falling once again. In desperation she lashed out with her foot; felt it connect, and heard a startled grunt. Blood was dripping down her face; she could feel it; taste it.

Amy scrambled around on the floor, twisting, turning this way and that to get away from her attacker. She was almost on her knees; the light was blinding her again. The weapon glinted as it rose.

She launched herself forward with every ounce of strength she had, head down to avoid the descending weapon. She felt it graze her arm as her head slammed hard into someone’s chest. Amy heard the ‘whoosh’ of breath as her attacker staggered back and fell. The light went out.

She almost fell herself. Her legs were made of rubber and her head was full of cotton wool. She mustn’t faint! She mustn’t! She had to get out before the light came on again. The door! For Christ’s sake, where was the door?