Blood Rush (Lilly Valentine) Page 4

  Gran only allows two bars. More than that and the key card runs out before pay day, plunging them into days without anything to cook on.

  ‘Four bars may warm your feet,’ says Gran, ‘but not your soup.’

  Demi wishes Gran were here now, lecturing and wagging her finger. She runs her thumbnail up and down the metal grille, as if she were strumming a guitar, and peers into the orange glow. She fancies some toast but there isn’t any margarine left in the tub and Gran took the change from the dish in the kitchen to pay for a taxi back to the hospital.

  Things didn’t used to be this tight. Gran used to work in the café at the leisure centre. After school, Demi and Malaya would go down there and Gran would give them a hot chocolate. They’d wait for her while she finished wiping the tables and listen to her big laugh fill the room.

  When her hip got bad and she couldn’t do it any more, the manager gave her a big bunch of roses and everyone signed a card. Demi remembers Gran crying that night as she filled out some benefit forms.

  ‘Never forget this day, girls,’ she waved the papers at her granddaughters. ‘Whenever you are tempted to stop listening to your teachers, think about this day.’

  Demi sighs. Gran thinks the answer to everyone’s prayers is ‘a good education’. She never gets tired of telling them that back home school isn’t free, and that kids will walk miles without any shoes for a single lesson. Demi imagines their bright smiling faces and blistered feet.

  The trouble is Demi just isn’t cut out for the whole school thing. Maybe the books are different in Nigeria, but here in England the letters jump around the page like black flies. No matter how hard she concentrates, the words don’t make sense.

  She used to dread the Friday spelling tests, fear solidifying in her stomach on her way to Miss Wilson’s classroom. The humiliation when the marks came back. Two out of ten. Must try harder. She started to make excuses. A headache. A sore throat. She hasn’t sat a test all term. No one seems to have noticed.

  Demi’s knees are so close to the fire they’re smarting. But she doesn’t move away. Instead she rubs the hot skin with the heel of her hand. She supposes she should get washed and head off for school. She might get there in time for lunch if she hurries. Gran will be furious if she finds out Demi has sat at home all morning.

  She stretches her limbs like a cat. Just a few more minutes.

  Lilly tracked down Annabelle who was waiting patiently outside for her charge. Her cheeks were pink from the cold. As soon as she saw Lilly’s expression the muscles of Annabelle’s cheeks tightened.

  ‘Everything okay?’

  Lilly shook her head. ‘The police need to interview Tanisha about an assault.’

  ‘On who?’

  ‘I don’t know the girl’s name, but she’s in a very bad condition. If you could tell Tanisha what’s happening I’ll call someone I know to go to the station with you,’ said Lilly, pulling out her mobile.

  Before Lilly could punch in the number of a colleague at a nearby law firm, Annabelle had placed a hand on Lilly’s wrist. Her grasp was surprisingly firm.

  ‘I’d prefer it if you could come.’

  Lilly nodded her understanding. She realized that was what Annabelle would want, but there was no way she could do it.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘This sounds like it’s pretty serious. You need someone who can devote the time to it and I’m completely snowed under at the moment.’

  Annabelle didn’t remove her hold. ‘I asked around. Everyone told me you were the best person to help Tanisha. That’s why I came to you.’

  Lilly looked down at Annabelle’s fingers, their grip was beginning to make her uncomfortable.

  ‘The guy I’m about to call is excellent, and right now he has more resources than I do.’

  Annabelle’s grasp tightened until it hurt.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Lilly, ‘but I can’t help you.’

  Annabelle’s hand slid to her side, lifeless, and she turned away. Lilly rubbed the bracelet of red welts beginning to appear.

  ‘Tanisha has no one to help her.’ Annabelle spoke into the distance. ‘Her mother’s in prison and she’s never known her father.’

  Lilly felt her heart sink in her chest. She’d met lots of kids like Tanisha. Life was very cruel to them. It never ended well.

  ‘She has you,’ said Lilly.

  Annabelle smiled politely. ‘I’m not a lawyer, and you know as well as I do that if the police get their teeth into her, she’s going to need more than a warm bed for the night.’

  Lilly did know. Jack could dress it up however he wanted but she could smell pressure like smoke in the air. The establishment needed an arrest and by hook or by crook they would get one. A child like Tanisha was a gift. A mouthy, obnoxious, completely vulnerable gift.

  ‘My colleague really will do a good job,’ Lilly confirmed, as much for her own benefit as Annabelle’s.

  She thought of the waiting paperwork, the fact that she didn’t have any help. Then there was Sam, almost a stranger to her. She desperately needed to spend time with him, break down his defences. And Alice, of course. The baby who never slept, the baby who needed bathing and changing and feeding. The baby who needed two parents. How were Lilly and Jack ever going to work things out if they were on opposite sides of a case like this one? Right now, they certainly didn’t need anything extra to argue about.

  ‘I understand,’ said Annabelle, but she didn’t. How could she? ‘Let’s go back and tell Tanisha.’

  They trooped back through court where Tanisha was still flirting with Jermaine. They were listening to a track on his iPod, Tanisha grinding her backside against his groin. When she saw Annabelle and Lilly she scowled.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The police want to speak to you,’ said Annabelle.

  ‘I don’t want to speak to them.’

  Jermaine laughed and rested his chin on her shoulder. Tanisha stroked his cheek, her false nails improbably square, the tips gold. A gangsta French manicure.

  ‘No choice, I’m afraid,’ said Annabelle.

  Tanisha kissed her teeth in disgust. ‘What they say I done this time?’

  Annabelle glanced at Lilly.

  ‘A girl was attacked in Hightown by the South Side,’ said Lilly. ‘They want to know if you were involved.’

  Tanisha’s face dropped. ‘I ain’t done nothing.’

  ‘Then you need to explain that,’ said Lilly.

  ‘What if I refuse?’

  ‘They’ll arrest you,’ Lilly shrugged. ‘Take you down the nick in a van. This is a serious offence and they’re not going to play games.’

  Tanisha’s hands flew from Jermaine’s face and wrapped around herself in protection.

  ‘You can’t let them do that.’ The anger was gone from her voice.

  ‘I don’t think I can stop them.’

  Tanisha’s eyes pleaded with Lilly and then Annabelle. She shook her head in a quiet desperation.

  ‘It’ll be okay, Tanisha,’ said Lilly.

  Tanisha’s mouth slackened. For all the make-up and grandstanding it was easy to see now that she was fifteen.

  ‘Will they call Social Services?’

  ‘I expect they’ll inform your social worker,’ said Lilly. ‘Frankly, that’s the least of your worries, Tanisha.’

  The girl’s eyes glittered with tears and she hugged her stomach tightly.

  ‘No,’ said Annabelle, ‘that’s Tanisha’s biggest worry.’

  Lilly frowned. ‘How?’

  Annabelle put an arm around Tanisha’s shoulder. ‘Are you going to tell her or shall I?’

  Tears fell down Tanisha’s cheeks in bright blue rivulets and stained Annabelle’s waterproof.

  ‘I’m pregnant,’ she said.

  The chief super set a cup in front of Jack. It was white china with a handle so small Jack could barely fit his finger into it. He rattled it against the saucer before giving up.

  ‘We need a result on this one, Jack.’
>
  ‘I’m doing everything I can,’ he replied.

  The chief super took a seat at the other side of his desk. On the wall behind him was a large photograph of the chief shaking hands with the new prime minister. They beamed at one another like children who had won all the prizes on sports day.

  ‘These gangs have to be stopped,’ said the chief super. ‘And it starts here.’

  Jack watched his boss cock his little finger as he brought his tea to his lips. He was tempted to mention that nobody had seemed to care very much up to now. He’d even heard rumblings in the canteen that if a bunch of blacks wanted to kill one another then why not just let ’em.

  ‘So where are we with the investigation?’ asked the chief super.

  ‘It looks like the victim was on a jump in,’ said Jack.

  The chief super frowned.

  ‘An initiation,’ Jack explained. ‘She was supposed to sneak into the turf of an enemy gang and spray-paint a mural.’

  ‘How do we know all this?’

  ‘Her hands were covered in the stuff,’ said Jack, ‘and we found her handiwork, less than five hundred metres from the scene. We can only assume she got caught.’

  ‘Do we know who is in this rival gang?’

  Jack shrugged. ‘We’ve one or two names. Got one girl in the nick now, sir.’

  ‘Any evidence to connect her to this crime?’

  ‘Not yet,’ said Jack. ‘I’ve got uniform going through all the CCTV footage in the area and forensics going over the victim’s clothes with a fine-tooth comb.’

  ‘Door to door?’

  Jack nodded. ‘I’ve two officers over there now, checking if anyone saw anything.’

  ‘Not a lot of point to that is there?’

  ‘Not really,’ Jack agreed. ‘But we can’t be seen to be doing nothing.’

  The chief super smiled at him and Jack realized he had crossed the line. He was now one of them. He’d earned his stripes the hard way. A couple of murders, a kidnapping.

  At last, it seemed, he was being taken seriously.

  ‘You’ll interview her yourself?’ asked the chief super.

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Very good. Let me know if you need anything else.’

  Jack stood tall. ‘I will, sir.’

  The custody sergeant’s lip curled at the man slumped in front of his desk.

  ‘I can’t help you out here, Terry,’ he said.

  The man’s emaciated body curled in on itself. ‘Please, Sarge.’

  The custody sergeant shook his head and looked down at his paperwork.

  ‘Just bail me till tomorrow,’ the man whined. ‘I’ll be at court first thing in the morning.’

  He leaned against the desk, his breath coming in rasps, scratched raw by years of smoking crack. Lilly watched him in pity. His face was gaunt, his cheeks sunk into the gaps where his back teeth had long since fallen out. It was impossible to even guess his age.

  ‘You know I won’t skip,’ he begged.

  The sergeant tapped his biro against an A4 pad and even that slight sound seemed to pass right through the prisoner, making him shudder. Without any gear he was in for a very hard night in the cells.

  ‘I’ll get someone to bring you a cup of tea.’ The sergeant gestured to another policeman to take the man away.

  As he was half carried, half dragged away, he began to sob. Lilly looked away and tried not to wonder if he had a mother who had loved her little boy, who used to hang his pictures on her kitchen wall. Did she jump every time the phone rang, wondering if he’d been arrested? Or worse?

  The sergeant clapped his hands together, snapping Lilly from her thoughts.

  ‘What are we doing here today?’ he asked.

  His brisk tone sprang Lilly to her feet.

  ‘I’m Lilly Valentine,’ she placed a card at his fingertips, ‘and this is my client, Tanisha McKenzie.’

  The sergeant nodded and ran a finger around the edge of the white card, allowing the sharp corner to dig into the flesh.

  ‘We’re here voluntarily to answer some questions,’ Lilly said.

  The sergeant began transcribing Lilly’s details on to a form.

  ‘My client is not under arrest,’ she added unnecessarily.

  ‘Officer in the case?’

  Lilly coughed uncomfortably. She and Jack had attempted to keep their personal life just that, but there were some coppers who knew their story.

  ‘Detective McNally,’ she said.

  Lilly thought she saw the sergeant’s mouth twitch but ordered herself to stop being paranoid. She was a professional and so was Jack. There was nothing untoward about what she was doing. So why then was she dreading the very sight of him?

  The sergeant punched a button on his phone. ‘Jack? It’s custody here. We’ve got a kid called McKenzie to see you. She’s with her brief.’

  Lilly felt a sliver of relief that he hadn’t mentioned her name. Then again, it merely delayed the inevitable by moments. When Jack entered the custody area she felt her heart pound and she tried to melt into the wall behind her. At last, he was standing right in front of her and she had no alternative than to look at him. His face was utterly impassive.

  When he didn’t speak, Lilly was forced to. ‘Could you tell me exactly what evidence you have in this matter and what you want to ask my client?’

  ‘Of course.’ Jack’s tone was even.

  He stretched an open palm towards the corridor and led Lilly into a side room.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he hissed.

  ‘Tanisha needs representation,’ Lilly answered.

  ‘You said you were calling someone you knew.’

  Lilly stood taller. ‘My client was unhappy with that course of action.’

  ‘Your client was unhappy …’

  Jack turned away and ran his hand through his hair. He walked to the other end of the room and pressed his forehead against the wall. He took an audible breath and remained in the same position for what seemed like an eternity. Lilly didn’t dare speak.

  At last Jack faced her. His expression said it all. How can you possibly do this? Why would you possibly do this?

  ‘Tanisha is very vulnerable,’ Lilly whispered. ‘She needs me.’

  Jack looked deep into Lilly’s eyes as if he were trying to find the answers to a thousand questions. He seemed bruised purple by her decision. For a moment she thought he might weep. Instead he blinked hard and looked away.

  ‘Malaya Ebola,’ he said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The victim’s name is Malaya Ebola. She was dragged to the ground by a gang of attackers and kicked until she was unconscious.’

  Lilly swallowed hard.

  ‘She has a fractured skull, a shattered pelvis and broken ribs,’ said Jack. ‘She’s lucky to be alive.’

  Tanisha unwrapped a piece of Hubba Bubba and slid it into her mouth. As she chewed, the air filled with the chemical scent of artificial strawberries.

  Lilly watched her client’s jaw move up and down seamlessly, and listened to the wet smack of her lips.

  Conversely, Annabelle was pinched and nervous, her eyes darting between Lilly and Tanisha.

  Lilly dragged a chair across the room and settled directly in front of her client.

  ‘Do you know Malaya Ebola?’ she asked.

  Tanisha shrugged. ‘I seen her around.’

  ‘Are you friends?’

  Tanisha snorted her answer. ‘No, we ain’t friends.’

  ‘Did you assault Malaya Ebola?’ Lilly asked.

  Tanisha pushed her tongue through the wad of gum, the iridescent pink clashing against the riotous yellow of her earrings. She blew into the gum, making a perfect balloon which she popped with the sharp edge of her nail.

  ‘Nah,’ she said.

  ‘Do you know who might have assaulted Malaya Ebola?’

  ‘Could be anyone, innit?’ said Tanisha. ‘Hightown and Clayhill, them bad places.’

  ‘The police think the
attack was part of a long-standing rivalry between two gangs,’ said Lilly.

  Tanisha didn’t answer, just sat back in her seat and chewed.

  ‘Do you think it had anything to do with gangs?’ Lilly asked.

  Tanisha sighed, weary of those who clearly didn’t understand the rules of the street.

  ‘Like I say, Clayhill is a bad place, sisters gotta protect themselves.’

  ‘By kicking someone until they’re in a coma?’

  Tanisha didn’t miss a beat but pulled up her T-shirt to reveal the smooth, caramel flesh of her belly. A livid scar ran from her hip to the edge of her breast bone. Annabelle gasped but Tanisha continued to glare at Lilly.

  ‘Here’s where I got jumped for my phone when I was twelve.’

  Lilly felt her mouth make the shape of an ‘o’.

  ‘Twenty-two stitches,’ Tanisha said.

  When she was satisfied with Lilly’s reaction, Tanisha pulled down her top.

  ‘It ain’t easy out there, so we do what it takes to survive. I been looking after myself since I was six years old, you get me.’

  ‘I know that,’ Lilly could taste the metal tang of horror, ‘but I need to know if you had anything to do with hurting Malaya Ebola.’

  ‘I didn’t touch her,’ said Tanisha.

  As they entered the interview room, Jack was still reeling. Not so much from the fact that Lilly had chosen to take this case knowing full well how difficult that would make things between them, but that her actions, even now, could shock him.

  Throughout all the years he’d known her, she would never take the path of least resistance. And it was this lack of self-protection that had drawn him to her. She was the real deal.

  But Lilly’s refusal to avoid difficult situations didn’t just affect her did it? She didn’t stagger from one car crash to another in isolation. There was Sam, there was Jack, and now there was Alice to consider.

  Mary, Mother of God, why couldn’t the woman just act like everyone else?

  He sighed as he took in the scene. His answer was in the question. Every other solicitor he had ever met sat opposite their clients, separated both physically and emotionally by their desk and papers. Reluctantly, they moved next to their clients when the interview began. Not a second beforehand. Not Lilly. She had placed herself inches from Tanisha, their knees almost touching, their eyes locked. Neither looked up at him.