‘Shazza, babe, are you going out or what?’ Billy Hodges craned his neck from the programme he was watching on TV. He had been sitting there for six hours straight, rising only to use the toilet and boil the kettle to make a Pot Noodle. His hand nestled on his groin underneath the tracksuit bottoms given to him during his last stay in custody.
‘You knob,’ Sharon said, checking her hair for split ends. ‘How can you ask me that when my mates are dead?’
‘What? You wasn’t that friendly with them.’
Sharon’s hair fell from her fingers, and she stretched from her chair to kick his outstretched feet. ‘That’s hardly the point. You heard that copper, I’m next.’
‘Please, babe, I’m climbing the walls here.’ A burst of laughter emanated from the television in the corner, maniacal in its deliverance.
Sharon sank back into the chair. ‘Well, why don’t you get off your lazy arse and earn some money instead of sponging off me all the time?’
‘It’s not that easy for me. Who’s going to give me a job? Please, babe. Just one more job – to take the edge off.’
His voice had taken on a whiny tone, like fingernails scraping on a blackboard. Raising her knees up to her chest, Sharon hugged them in an attempt to get warm. But the chill was not coming from her flat. It was from within: a warning of what was to come. She licked her lips, now dry and cracked from standing on street corners in the bitter chill. She glared at her boyfriend – a constant source of annoyance.
‘You said you’d sort something out today – ask that Danny Harris for work. But all you’ve done is sit on your arse. I told you what that copper said to me. You’re the one that should be locked up, trying to send me out there when I’m next on the list.’
‘Yeah, well, she was taking a liberty, bringing you back to her flat. You should have reported her for that.’
‘God! I wish I didn’t tell you now,’ Sharon pulled her baggy sweatshirt sleeves between finger and thumb. ‘She was only trying to help. I saw their faces. . . those girls he killed. They looked like. . .’
Billy clicked his fingers. ‘I know, why don’t you hit that copper up for some more money? Tell her you’ll report her for harassment if she doesn’t pay up?’
Sharon pulled the cushion from behind her back and launched it in her boyfriend’s direction. ‘I’m not scrounging from the only person that’s ever given a damn. Besides, she ain’t got none. You should see the state of her place, it’s worse than ours.’ Looking around the bare flat, Sharon knew it wasn’t far off the truth. She tried to keep it clean with the little money they had – it wasn’t as if there was much to polish. Billy had sold off anything of value, even the Wade Betty Boop ornaments her mother gave her before she died.
Billy writhed in his chair, wrapping his arms around his stomach to ward off the pain. ‘Please, babe, I’m dying here. Just one more go.’ He glanced over, watching Sharon gnaw on what was left of her fingernails. ‘You’re clucking yourself. We’ll sort ourselves out tonight and go to the clinic in the morning, I swear down.’
Sharon stared at the television as another burst of laughter ensued. There was something morose about their happiness. But Billy was right: she felt like she was festering inside. It was nothing compared to how she would feel later on if she didn’t get another fix. ‘Maybe you’re right, just a bit of brown to take the edge off so we can get some sleep.’
Billy leant forward, his face hopeful. ‘Yeah. I’m not asking you to go off with some psycho, just one of your regulars.’
Sharon rolled her eyes. ‘If I still had regulars, I wouldn’t be walking the streets, now, would I?’
But Billy wasn’t willing to give up yet. ‘C’mon, you must know of someone. Offer him a discount, or give him a bit extra. A gorgeous girl like you – they won’t be able to say no.’
As Sharon smoothed her limp hair, she knew her days of being gorgeous were behind her. She sighed. A restful night was what was needed, and tomorrow they could start with a fresh slate. ‘There might be someone,’ she said, bringing up the contacts list on her phone. ‘But this is the last time.’ Tomorrow she would go to the clinic and get help, with or without her boyfriend.