One False Move, page 4
Hayley hugged her grandmother tight; she knew it was hard for her to talk about what was happening. Finally Nanna Lisa pulled back, wiped her eyes and gave a shaky smile. ‘Mind you, I recall that time Mr Johnson and Mr Ali started fighting over Mildred. She was seventy-one and they were both eighty. You should’ve seen them going at it with their Zimmer frames.’
They both chuckled. ‘You’ll be there later, won’t you, love?’ her gran asked.
‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ Hayley said. That’s if the Lewises don’t catch up with me because I don’t have their money.
Nanna Lisa’s face turned serious. She leaned in and whispered, ‘What’s happening with that money business?’
Hayley plastered on a false smile and patted her nan’s hand. ‘All sorted out,’ she lied. She didn’t want Nanna Lisa worrying over her when she was so upset about the community centre. ‘Mary Lewis was so understanding.’ The words almost choked her.
A broad smile brightened Nanna Lisa’s face. ‘I was so worried about you and Lily.’
‘Where is Lily?’ Hayley asked. Her grandmother collected Lily from half-day nursery and often took her to the community centre afterwards.
‘She’s with this lovely lady who came down to help us set up for the party. It gladdens my heart to see how much support we have. I’ll go get Lily.’
Hayley tried to stop her because the clock was tick-tocking away to four o’clock – but Nanna Lisa was already gone. She came out of the centre followed by the ‘lovely woman’, who was holding Lily in her arms. It was Mary Lewis.
Hayley was so stunned she couldn’t move for a moment.
Mary Lewis spoke. ‘What a gorgeous girl you’ve got.’ Her voice appeared all light and fluffy but it couldn’t hide the menace. Innocent Lily lay with her head in the crook of Mary’s neck, smiling shyly up at her mum’s abuser. ‘Now, if I had my own little Lily, I’d make sure I did everything in my power to keep her safe.’ Mary tapped her finger gently on Lily’s nose, making her squeal with delight.
Hayley’s face darkened with rage and she held her arms out to her daughter. ‘Baby, come to Mummy.’
Lily set her face in the stubborn look she wore when she didn’t want to do something. But when she caught the stern expression on her mum’s face, she wriggled down and came to her. Hayley clutched her tight.
‘You stay away from my family,’ Hayley spat.
‘Hayley!’ Nanna Lisa scolded, not understanding what was happening.
The other two women ignored her. Mary stepped closer to Hayley. Her face was as hard as steel. ‘Four this afternoon or it won’t be me seeing more of your family. It’ll be Bobby. With a baseball bat.’ With the nasty threat hanging in the air she waltzed off.
Alarmed, Nanna Lisa asked, ‘Hayley, what the hell’s going on?’
Smoothing her hand over Lily’s hair, as if making sure her daughter was really there, she answered, ‘That’s Mary Lewis. I haven’t got it sorted out, Nan. She and her brother threatened me. They want their money back by four. They’re the ones flooding the estate with drugs, too.’
Nanna Lisa covered her mouth in distress. Hayley carried on. ‘I didn’t want to worry you earlier.’
‘Oh, Hayley,’ Nanna Lisa gasped, ‘what’s the world coming to? What can I do to help?’
Hayley lowered Lily to her feet. Nanna Lisa took her great-granddaughter’s hand protectively in her own.
Hayley said, ‘I need to get this sorted out once and for all.’
Her grandmother frowned. ‘Don’t do anything silly, love.’
‘I won’t.’
But Hayley knew she was about to do the most foolish thing of all.
7
1 p.m.
Hayley felt nervous as she looked up at The Devil’s Playground. That was what most people called the sixth landing of Bridge House. It seemed like any other block from the outside. Squat and long, built of brown bricks, with white balconies that had long since turned grey. Most of its flats housed families trying to live a good life, but the top floor was different. The sixth floor was scary and dangerous. Many of the flats had been turned into drug dens and brothels. Young men roamed the landings, ready to use fists and knives to protect their patch. Even now Hayley could feel hidden faces watching her. A shiver crawled down her spine. It was whispered that even the police were reluctant to come here. But Hayley didn’t have a choice.
‘I can do this,’ Hayley whispered, trying to give herself courage.
She lowered her eyes and walked forward to the steel lift. She pressed the button. The doors opened with a loud thumping sound. Hayley waited for a second and then stepped inside. The back was spray-painted in colourful graffiti. It would have looked stunning in an art gallery, but here it was creepy.
When she reached for the button to the sixth floor there wasn’t one. Instead there was a round, black hole like a bullet wound. Hayley was annoyed with herself. She should have remembered how you got to the sixth floor. She had once been in and out like it was her second home. The Devil’s Playground was run like its own country, with its own rules, cut off from the rest of the estate.
Hayley took the lift to the fifth floor and got out. The way to the sixth floor was barred by a large mesh gate that resembled a cage. On the wall was a black keypad. Only those in the know had the code. Hayley tapped it in. The door made a hissing sound and clicked open. Hayley pulled it back, then froze.
‘Don’t do this,’ the voice inside her screamed. ‘This is a bad place. You of all people know that. Get out of here now.’
Taking that first step would mean going back into a wicked world she had vowed to leave behind. But if she didn’t do it those evil loan sharks would come looking for her. And for Lily …
Hayley took the first step. And the second. And the next. She kept going until she saw two lookouts watching her with hard, cold faces from the top of the stairs. They were young, no older than sixteen, but held their bodies in a cocky way that showed they’d been in the crime game a long time. They were wearing the same type of dark hoodie as her attacker had. One of them wore designer tracksuit bottoms and trainers. His hood was up, and there was a silver ring piercing his bottom lip. He puffed away on a joint, filling the stairwell with clouds of weed perfume. The other wore black jeans and his hair was in a messy style that made Hayley think of a caveman.
‘What do you want?’ asked the one with the hoodie over his face.
But it wasn’t a he. It was a she. This didn’t surprise Hayley. There were plenty of girls as well as boys who were on a one-way track to trouble.
‘Yeah, what do you want, Granny?’ the other sniggered.
Hayley supposed she did look old to them. They probably thought they’d be teenagers for ever. Hayley should know – she had thought that too at one time. Thought that she would stay young always, without a care in the world as she slipped deeper and deeper into the darkness of crime. Her wake-up call had been giving birth to her darling Lily. Hayley prayed that these two teenage thugs would get their own wake-up call and change their lives for the better.
‘I’ve got a delivery,’ Hayley lied. She didn’t have any choice but to spin a story to get on to the sixth floor.
‘Oh, yeah?’ The girl came down the steps and stopped very close to Hayley. She pulled hard on her spliff and blew the smoke into Hayley’s face.
Hayley didn’t move. She wanted to. Wanted to grab this girl by the scruff of the neck and show her all about being tough. That’s what the old Hayley would have done. She’d been known for using her fists to deal with problems. Just thinking about all the people she’d thumped over the years filled her with shame. She wasn’t going to go back to that. Well, not unless this girl made her. She had to get on the sixth floor.
Hayley set her face to show no fear. ‘That’s right. And the person waiting for me won’t take too kindly to me being held up.’
The girl curled her lip, the ring in it shining. ‘So who are you delivering to?’
Hayley stood her ground. ‘You know the rules. You don’t ever snitch about anybody else’s business.’ She arched an eyebrow. ‘How’s it going to sound to my contact if I tell him you wanted me to grass? The word’s going to get around that you don’t know when to keep this,’ Hayley tapped her nose, ‘out of other people’s business.’
The girl’s face paled. She didn’t look so cocky any more. No one who worked the sixth floor wanted to be known for sticking their nose in where it wasn’t wanted.
‘What’s going on?’ a rough male voice asked from the top of the stairs.
Hayley looked up to see a man in his twenties wearing sunglasses. He had a cigarette in one hand and the lead of a pitbull in the other. The dog’s beady dark eyes fixed on Hayley and it started to snarl, straining against its lead.
‘She says she’s got a delivery,’ the girl said, blinking nervously.
The dog whimpered as the man pulled tight on its lead. He nodded at the girl. ‘Well, let her come up, you dope,’ he told her.
The girl quickly shifted to the side so Hayley could go on up the stairs.
‘Thanks,’ Hayley said.
But, as she took a step down the landing, the man grabbed her arm and twisted her back towards him. Up close, he smelt of stale beer.
‘Not so fast,’ he snarled. ‘Rules have changed. You need to show me your package before you go any further.’
Hayley swallowed. She felt trapped. She should have realised that security would be much tighter after the police raid last month. She hadn’t made a fake package; she hadn’t thought she’d need to.
Hayley knew that the game was up. ‘I don’t want any trouble,’ she said, grit in her voice.
‘Trouble?’ he said, copying her voice. He turned to his friends with a cocky laugh. ‘Oh, I’ve got trouble for you, darling, right here in my pants.’ He cupped his hand over his crotch, then leaned in and sniffed her. There was a dreamy look on his face like she was the latest drug on offer.
All those years of learning how to defend herself rushed through Hayley’s mind. She raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face. The teenage lookouts gasped and the dog started jumping and yapping, spit frothing from its mouth.
‘You stupid little …’ The man slammed her into the brick wall.
Hayley felt stunned. The air whooshed out of her body. He raised his fist. Hayley squeezed her eyes closed and waited for the blow to fall. Waited for the bone-crushing pain to burst through.
But it never came. A voice down the landing yelled, ‘You put one finger on her and you’re a dead man!’
Hayley quickly opened her eyes. Her attacker jumped back like he’d been burned. He was staring at a tall man in the doorway of a nearby flat. His face drained of blood as he stuttered, ‘I’m sorry … I didn’t—’
The man didn’t let him finish. ‘Get out of here.’
He didn’t need telling twice and left at speed.
Hayley took in a deep breath, drawing in the courage to help her do what she had to do next. She pulled herself away from the wall, breathing more easily. Then she carried on walking down the landing until she reached the man in the doorway. The man who ran The Devil’s Playground. He leaned against the door frame, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world.
There was a moment of silence as they gazed at each other. Finally he said, ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you around here any more, Monkey.’
Hayley’s face heated up with shame at having to do this. ‘Hello, Adam. I need your help.’
8
The last place on earth Hayley wanted to be was inside Adam’s flat. But time wasn’t on her side and she needed someone who knew the estate like they knew the back of their own hand. And Adam knew it like he’d built it himself.
‘You’d better come in, then.’ Adam moved to one side, inviting her in.
Hayley held back for a few seconds. Stepping over the doorstep would take her back to a world she’d sworn on her daughter’s life to leave behind forever. Fear gripped her so hard that she almost turned and ran. This was her worst nightmare. But she didn’t have a choice. Her choices had run out when Mary Lewis had held her precious daughter in her arms.
Hayley went into the flat. She stopped when she reached the sitting room. The room was filled with things that proved Adam liked the good things in life. There was a huge widescreen TV mounted on the wall, and a corner table nearby with a laptop hooked up to mini speakers. The leather three-piece suite looked new. The carpet was deep and cream. In the centre of the room was a black fluffy rug.
Hayley couldn’t help the twist of her mouth. While she was in prison, her belly growing big with his child, Adam had been living the high life. ‘I see you’ve been taking care of yourself.’
Adam lifted an eyebrow. ‘If you’ve come round to bad-mouth me, you know where the door is.’
Hayley quickly pushed her bitter thoughts away. He was right. She wanted his help, and it wasn’t going to happen if they got off on the wrong foot. They sat down facing each other.
‘So how’s my little girl?’ Adam asked.
Hayley scoffed, forgetting her promise not to get into a row. ‘You wouldn’t have to ask if you’d bothered to come to see us in prison when she was a baby.’
Adam made a face, pushing out his lips. ‘You know how it was. I had business to take care of. And then, when I did want to see her, you wouldn’t let me.’
‘Lily needs a stable life, and that doesn’t include a dad who walks into it only when it pleases him.’
He looked her straight in the eye. ‘I could take you to court to get access.’
Hayley snarled, ‘Oh, yeah. The only time you’ll be in court is when you’re up in front of the judge for something.’
There was a tense silence before Adam shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out three twenty-pound notes. He held them out to her. ‘I do want to be a proper dad. Take this for the little one. Buy her something nice.’
Hayley stared at the money. She was so tempted to take it. Making ends meet was really hard. She hated asking to borrow a little from her grandmother’s pension when she found her purse empty, but she couldn’t see her child go without. She should take the money because he owed it to Lilly. But she wasn’t going to. If he thought that waving money around every now and again made him a father, then he needed to go back to daddy school.
Hayley placed her hands in her lap. ‘That’s not what I came here for.’ She took a steady breath. ‘I’ve got myself into a bit of a hole and I’m hoping that you can help me out.’
Adam leaned back. ‘I’m listening.’
‘I’ve been collecting money on the never-never for some people on the estate. Anyway, I got jumped and robbed yesterday in one of the blocks—’
Adam leaned forward, his face showing worry and concern. ‘Are you OK?’
Hayley waved his question away. ‘Whoever did it must’ve followed me and known what I was doing, because the only thing the bastard took was the money.’ Hayley shivered. Just talking about it made her feel cold inside. ‘I know it’s a hazard of the job so I wasn’t too worried about it. I thought my boss would understand.’ She shook her head. ‘I got that wrong. It turns out the company I’m working for is rotten to the core. Dealing drugs on the estate. I’ve got …’ Hayley checked her watch, ‘three hours and a bit to get their money to them.’
Adam swore savagely. ‘Tell me you weren’t working for those nutters Mary and Bobby Lewis.’ The expression on his face said loud and clear that he knew the answer to his own question.
‘I didn’t know who they were,’ Hayley said. ‘I’ve been keeping my head down and walking a straight line. I couldn’t get a job, so I took the first decent one someone offered me. I didn’t know it involved anything illegal.’
‘Why didn’t you come to me sooner?’ Adam asked in a softer tone.
‘You know why!’ Hayley waved her hands in the air to stress her next words. ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with you.’
That made Adam angry. ‘So what are you saying? That the only time I’m worth looking up is when you want something?’
Now it was Hayley’s turn to get angry. ‘Do you really think I’d be here now if I could sort this out on my own?’ She could feel the tears lying heavy in her eyes. But she wouldn’t allow herself to cry. She looked Adam in the eye. ‘All I’m thinking about is my daughter. Our daughter.’
She placed her hand over her heart. ‘I’m trying my best to keep Lily safe. I swear, but Mary Lewis already found her at the community centre. If you’re saying you don’t want to help me and Lily out …’ She got to her feet and swayed slightly with tiredness.
Adam jumped up quickly to steady her. ‘Of course I’ll help you. I love you, Hayley.’
For an instant, his words made her think of the good times they’d shared in the past. Walking hand-in-hand together. Watching the telly, her head lying on his shoulder, his arm tenderly round her like they were soulmates. Laughing with pure joy as he tickled her silly. But there had been so many more bad times. He never showed his face after she’d given birth to Lily in prison. She remembered lying down in her cell while a friend whispered to her that Adam was seeing other women. Adam’s love was hollow and empty. Hayley wasn’t falling for that trick again. But she kept quiet. She urgently needed his help.
She broke free from his arms. ‘How can you help me?’
‘If something bad’s happened on the estate, someone on this landing will know about it. Go home and I’ll ask around.’
Hayley shook her head quickly. ‘No. I’m coming with you.’
He sighed, but he could see in the stubborn set of her face that she was going to have her way.
The first three flats they visited were littered with the trappings of drug abuse . It was hard for Hayley to look in the lifeless eyes of addicts, knowing now that she had innocently helped the Lewises supply the gear that made their lives so hopeless. The dealers didn’t have any news about the attack on Hayley. At the next flat, a brothel, no one knew anything either. Or the flat after that. Hayley tensed more and more with each flat they visited as she was faced with a life she’d once been part of. How could she have ever thought this was fun? A good way to live?
