Bad Apple, page 26
‘Yeah.’ He steps towards us and my heart jolts as I feel Hannah’s hand leave my arm. Shit, is she going to try and launch herself at him?
‘Hannah, no!’ I try to grasp hold of her, but she’s already pounding her fists repeatedly into John’s chest. ‘Please, don’t—’
And then it all happens so quickly – what I see with my eyes and what registers in my brain, don’t match up.
‘Hannah?’
‘I’m sorry.’
Chapter 54
NOW
BECKY
The events from the past few weeks flash through my mind like a film on fast-forward, but not in the right order. Images and snippets of conversations are all jumbled up as I stand facing Hannah and John trying to figure out what’s just happened. She stopped hitting him in the chest. Her arms fell to her sides limply, all the fight seemingly gone. But then, as I was about to rush at her to pull her away, John took hold of her. And she let him. Uttering an apology to me.
I’ve been played.
‘What . . . You’re the one?’ I reel, feeling as though I’ve been shot in the chest and my body slammed back against the wall with the force of it. I can’t catch my breath. I’m winded by the sudden realisation. ‘No. No.’ I shake my head. It doesn’t make sense. ‘You’re the sensible one of us. You stick to every fucking rule. You expect me to believe you’re helping John? Hannah, please, you’re lying to me. Why?’
Hannah’s head lolls forward, like it’s too heavy for her neck to support it.
‘Look at me!’ I shout at her. ‘Hannah. Please. Tell me this isn’t right.’ My voice cracks, my emotions bubbling and rising, restricting my throat like hands are wrapped around it, squeezing tightly. I don’t look directly at John, but can see his smug expression from the corner of my eye.
‘I tried to discourage you, Becky,’ she says, the low pitch of her voice unfamiliar. ‘You had to keep going. We advised you not to go after him. We warned you against it!’
‘We?’ I gulp down the dread. She could be talking about her and John, but I don’t think she is. Does she mean her and Charlie? Marcus? All of them?
Is everyone in on this with John?
I bend over, spitting the bile from my mouth, my good hand clenching my stomach as more ejects from it.
‘How does it feel, Becky? Knowing you have no backup coming.’ John claps his hands together, like an excited child. ‘This is quite the finale. Excellent job, Han!’ He puts his arm around Hannah and hugs her. For a split second, I think she’s going to hug him back, but then she pulls away, turning on him.
‘Fuck off, John,’ she says. I hear the dejection in her tone and the penny drops.
‘Come now, mate. We made a great team.’
‘I’m sorry, Becky. I didn’t want to do it.’ Hannah’s eyes plead with mine.
My heart is heavy, a sadness filling it. ‘How did he get to you? Danny?’
Hannah nods slowly, but John doesn’t appear to be in the mood for any explanations. He wants to get on with it. His plan is clearly working better than my own. There’s no backup coming, there’s no video evidence of what’s gone before this. I’m going to die.
And with the help of a bunch of corrupt officers, he is going to get away with everything. I’ve let all of John’s victims – past, present and future – down. I gaze around the warehouse, gauging how quickly I could run to either of the exits. I don’t fancy my chances of outrunning both of them. Although, Hannah might not try too hard to get me. She’s been coerced into this, surely she doesn’t want me dead. Or is that the reason for bringing me here? Did she knowingly set this up for John? Was I the one lured here?
‘Wow. Can almost hear those cogs turning,’ John says, moving so he’s behind me. ‘Don’t for a minute think she’ll help you get away from me.’ His words are breathy, filled with exhilaration. ‘She’s mine. She’ll do what I tell her.’
I look towards Hannah. Her face is streaked with tears, but she’s not disagreeing with him.
‘How, Hannah? Tell me how he got to you.’
‘Give over, Becky,’ John says, grabbing me. ‘It’s simple. Her brother was a loser who gambled. Not a great combination,’ he laughs. ‘Stupid prick got himself in way over his head with the wrong people. But guess who came running to me to help get him out of the shit?’ He points his knife at Hannah. ‘Yep. Hannah here. Miss Goody-Two-Shoes – who, by the way, isn’t averse to some dodgy dealings herself – begged me to step in.’
My blood boils thinking of all the time we worked together, of our shared moments at the pub, and yet she never once sought advice or shared anything about what was happening with me. Even when I dropped in the day Danny was there and she took him for treatment, she never said a word. Made me think the worst, that he was dying from cancer or something. Was he even ill? Hannah just stands mute, letting John do the talking.
‘Hannah?’ I glare at her, shaking my head. ‘Tell me he’s lying.’
‘I can’t, Becky.’ She shrugs. ‘He was my little brother. I had to help him.’
‘I assume it didn’t stop with just one offer of help from John. He’ll have smelled your weakness, worked out how you could be useful to him.’
‘Hey, now – I’m right here, you know,’ he says, squeezing my arm. ‘I’m capable of telling the story.’
John rattles off the details of how he used his contacts to ensure Danny wasn’t killed for his debts – he bought him some time with the illegal bookies, but then Danny slipped even further, getting into the drug scene. The state he was in when I saw him at Hannah’s was the result of depression and drug-taking. She’d been accepting bribes to fund her brother’s treatment. And once John was aware of this, he knew he could rope her in to falsify records and help cover up his movements – smooth things over so he wasn’t flagged as a suspect in any of the rapes.
‘Easy to do once someone’s turned to the dark side,’ John says. ‘All I had to do was threaten to release details of Danny’s gambling debts and Hannah’s own involvement in taking bribes. Oh, and then when she looked to have turned on me, I upped the ante.’
‘You killed Danny,’ I say.
‘Fucking bastard. There was no need to hurt him!’ Hannah storms towards us, and for a magical moment my heart soars thinking she’s going to reveal she’s double-crossed him. Maybe attack him to release me from his grip. But she stops short, letting out a pitiful cry.
‘Aw, Hannah. Shame.’ John sighs loudly. ‘She can’t help you, Becky. This is the end.’
‘Hannah, please,’ I say. ‘You’ve been protecting him, but it isn’t reciprocated. Once you do this last thing for him, he’ll pin everything on you. Don’t you see?’
Her tears intensify. I’ve never seen Hannah like this. He’s broken her. She swipes at her face, then laughs hysterically. She stops abruptly, like a switch has been flicked, and her face returns to its stony expression.
‘If only I’d seen through him right off,’ she says, sadly. ‘But it’s too late, Becky. Danny was a warning. I’d told John I wouldn’t help lure you to him and that’s what happened. I have to save the only family I have left now.’
I gulp down my anger. ‘Oh, John.’ I twist to face him. ‘You really are a lowlife.’ I spit in his face. It might be the last thing I do, but my hatred for this man has to be shown somehow. He doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even wipe it away, just smiles. ‘How could you be so callous?’
I realise even without Hannah confirming my suspicion, that John told her that if she didn’t do what he said, he’d target her dad next. And now, the awful truth dawns. All the evidence I had, and everything that Nina had, was destroyed by Hannah. Every move I made, Hannah knew about it and relayed it to John. I never stood a chance of getting justice.
‘I do what I do. You can’t blame me for other people’s actions, Becky. Hannah could’ve made different choices too. But I think she enjoyed playing with you almost as much as I did.’ He turns to Hannah and smiles. ‘Swapping her anxiety meds was particularly inspired. Bought us the time we needed to arrange this little . . . rendezvous. And—’ he lowers his face to mine ‘—your erratic and forgetful behaviour from the past weeks will add weight to my case against you.’
Oh, Hannah, what have you done? I’m not giving John the satisfaction of seeing how hurt I am, hearing the disappointment and betrayal in my voice, so I don’t bite.
‘This isn’t what I wanted,’ Hannah says, moving closer again. ‘Please forgive me.’ I sense a shift in the atmosphere. There’s been enough talk, I suspect they want to put a full stop to their story. Write ‘the end’ and move on. My insides shake as John’s other hand slips around my neck. Is he going to strangle me? Or make Hannah kill me? That would work better for him – keep her on his leash for even longer.
‘You’ll never, ever, escape him if you do this, Hannah.’ I squirm in John’s hold, panic finally setting in. My feet push against the ground, trying to drive us both back. If I could at least get him against the wall . . . maybe I’ll have a chance. ‘He’ll shop you anyway and it’ll all be for nothing.’ She pauses, a frown forming as her eyes flick to John.
‘You’re seriously not going to listen to this bitch, are you? She’s going to say anything to try and save herself. Don’t fall for her shit.’
‘Think about it, Hannah,’ I say, knowing this is my final opportunity to get her back on my side. ‘The trail leads to you. John’s made sure of that. Anyone who could’ve backed you up will be gone. Or in his pocket. Is Charlie in on this too? Marcus? Who else?’
She looks blankly at me.
‘While you think you’re all in it together, safe in the knowledge you’ve all had a part to play – who is the weakest link? Who is the one they’ve chosen to take the fall? You’re the real patsy, Hannah. Not me. Doesn’t matter if you do as John says here, now – your life is over if you allow him to kill me.’
‘Oh, fuck this,’ John yells. His grip loosens from around my neck and body, and before I can react, he’s pulling the knife back, about to plunge it into me. The room darkens, and before I process any pain, a sickening scream rips through the air. My body and mind go numb.
But it’s not me who’s screaming. My eyes snap open.
A figure lies on the floor by my feet.
I’m standing, shaking, my hands feeling for a gaping wound in my abdomen.
My mouth drops open, and I gasp for air as it becomes obvious.
Hannah jumped in front of me in the blink of an eye. She’s the one who’s been stabbed.
Chapter 55
NOW
BECKY
Hannah’s hand is clasped to her stomach. Blood gushes through her fingers and spreads over the floor. It sounds like liquid glugging from a bottle.
‘Run, Becky.’ The words come out as a gurgle as they mix with the blood oozing from her mouth. I look away, then, mentally yelling at my muscles to move, begin to run towards the exit. John is inches behind, the only reason he didn’t pounce on me straightaway is because even he was momentarily stunned at Hannah’s action. But now he’s right on me.
Please don’t let us both die here . . .
The knife.
I can’t outrun John. But I can reach the secreted weapon.
I pull out the penknife, turn back to John and lift it, ready to strike. But John is backing away from me.
This, together with a deafening cacophony of sound, sends me into blind confusion.
Why is John running in the opposite direction to me, past Hannah’s bleeding body? More noises fill the warehouse and I turn to see Marcus, Charlie and a whole squad of people burst in.
‘Oh, my God.’ I look up, then back to John as he tries to make his escape. Armed police block his path. He’s trapped. I fall to the ground, tears of relief racking my sore body.
John, visibly shocked, his face pale, shouts out, ‘What’s going on, lads?’ He puts his hands up, swings around to look at Marcus and Charlie. ‘You’re a bit late to the party, aren’t you? It’s her you need to be pointing the guns at.’ He nods towards me. ‘She went crazy, stabbed Hannah. Good job you got here when you did, did you see the fucking knife she pulled? About to stab me, too.’
Charlie walks past me to get to John, but Marcus stops, holds out a hand. ‘You okay?’
I shake my head. ‘No. But never so pleased to see you!’ He helps me up. John watches, his smug expression dropping from his face. Realisation seems to hit him.
‘But . . . this can’t be right . . . ’ he protests as Charlie cuffs him. ‘Hannah didn’t tell anyone.’
Charlie’s glance slides to his right, lingers on Hannah for a few seconds, before he pulls John around to face him. I listen as John is cautioned, noting that he’s being arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. The paramedics rush to Hannah lying motionless on the ground. Tears sting my eyes as I watch them check her vitals. My chest tightens; I know it’s too late. There’s no emergency resuscitation. No frantic tearing open of medical supplies or the giving of oxygen.
She’s bleeding out. She’s gone.
The initial surge of noise, all the commotion, begins to subside once John is removed and taken into custody. Hannah’s body remains in situ, and a white tent is being erected ready for crime scene investigators to begin recovering and recording evidence. I walk over, as close as I can to where she lies, lifeless. It doesn’t even look like Hannah. A cry catches in my throat and I press my hand to my mouth. This wasn’t the outcome I wanted. I’d like to believe Hannah’s at peace now, with her mum and brother. What she ended up being a part of was so far removed from the person I knew Hannah to be. It must’ve tortured her to have to choose between what was legally and morally right and what was best for her family.
My shoulders heave as I sob. Then I feel a weight on them as I’m wrapped in a blanket. Protected. Safe.
I turn to look at my friend one last time. ‘I forgive you, Hannah,’ I whisper.
The paramedics take me to the back of their ambulance, check me over. My fingers will need x-raying, but they strap them for now.
Charlie comes and sits with me, his face mirroring my own horror.
‘Did you have any idea about Hannah?’ I ask.
He bites his lip. Shakes his head. ‘God, no. Not until earlier. What a fucking shitshow.’
He tells me there was an anonymous tip informing them John was at this location, that he was armed and saying he was going to kill me. He’s thinks the tip probably came from Nina, as she’d been spying on John’s movements for us.
‘But she was already in protective custody,’ I retort. ‘How could she have known?’
Charlie scratches his neck. ‘Is that what Hannah told you?’
‘It’s what she alluded to. So you weren’t looking after Nina at a safe house?’
He raises his eyebrows. ‘No. As you know, we were concerned she might’ve been compromised, especially when her house was broken into, but we didn’t think she was in immediate danger . . .’
‘Jesus. Hannah really pulled the wool over my eyes.’
‘Well, you did have a severe concussion. We could blame that?’
‘And when were you hit over the head?’ I try to smile, but with the knowledge of everything that’s just gone down, it’s more of a grimace.
‘I know. No excuses for me. But, well. Hannah?’ Charlie gives a bewildered shake of his head. ‘We worked together. Closely. We were the A Team,’ he says. ‘Why didn’t she come to one of us earlier?’
‘John is expert at finding people’s weaknesses, Charlie. Believe me.’ I lean in closer, and whisper, ‘Did you uncover any of the other corrupt cops?’
He quietly informs me that two other male officers – one who helped John by breaking into Nina’s house and one other were also arrested. The person driving the car that tried to mow me down was ID’d by a witness. It was DS Kyle Matthews. My shock lasts all of a few seconds. Should’ve seen that one coming. Arsehole.
‘Four down.’ I stare into his eyes. ‘How many more are there to go, though?’
We sit, legs swinging off the back of the ambulance, in quiet reflection.
Marcus is insistent on me having a full check over at the hospital, and to show my deep gratitude to him for his support – not to mention his timing – I agree. He must’ve been quietly doing some investigating in the background to try and build the case I’d started against John over a year ago. He was on my side after all, and just needed me to keep reminding him of how important it was. My skin prickles with goose bumps as an unwanted thought comes into my mind. Maybe, had I left well alone and not interfered – Marcus would have slowly, but surely, built a solid case to ensure prosecutions could be brought for all of John’s crimes. I must try not to dwell on that. Before I’m whisked off, I ask him if he knows what happened to my upstairs neighbour, Tamsin.
‘There was a hoax call made so that officers would storm the flat,’ Marcus says. His expression darkens. ‘Now, it’s looking very likely that call came from Hannah.’
My eyes flick to where Hannah’s body lays, a heaviness pressing down on me. It’s going to take me a long time to wrap my head around all of this. Hannah’s involvement is more intricate than I can comprehend right now. But I don’t think she was behind Tamsin’s disappearance.
‘I’m certain the man Tamsin was living with is one of John’s men.’
‘There’s another team looking into that, rest assured.’
I raise my eyebrows, unsure I’m capable of trusting that sentiment. ‘Are you stalling giving me bad news?’ I ask Marcus.
‘The young woman is safe.’ He smiles.
‘Oh, good,’ I say, my relief palpable. ‘I was so worried about her. Glad to know she didn’t become another of John’s victims.’
‘We can’t prove he was behind any of it at the moment . . .’ Marcus’s words trail off. I sense the disappointment and feel it too. Without more evidence, John won’t be charged with the multiple rapes I know him to be responsible for. ‘He’ll get a prison sentence for murder,’ Marcus adds. ‘That much I feel certain of.’ Marcus sucks in a large breath of air, he pulls his shoulders back, spine rod-straight. He blinks rapidly. ‘We lost one of our own today,’ he says. ‘That’s never easy. Despite what transpired here, try to remember Hannah wasn’t a bad person, not really.’
