The Victim Read online

  Georgie and Harry glanced at one another. Within seconds, Georgie had worked it all out. ‘What, like my dad is Jed and you are Eddie, Mummy’s dad?’

  Eddie smiled. ‘That’s right, and being your mum’s dad makes me your grandad.’

  Georgie smiled and then hugged him. If this man was her mum’s dad, then she liked him.

  ‘Can we see Mummy now?’ Harry asked again.

  ‘Hopefully you can soon, but you have to do what I tell you to do, is that OK? Will you do that for me?’

  Georgie and Harry both nodded excitedly. They couldn’t wait to see their mum.

  ‘In a little while a man and a lady are going to come here. You must tell them that you ran away from home because you miss your mum so much. The lady will ask you some questions and you must tell her that you don’t like living with your dad, Nanny Alice and Grandad Jimmy. Tell her you want to live with Nanny Joyce, Uncle Joey, or me.’

  ‘Will she take us to see Mummy then?’ Harry enquired.

  ‘Not tonight, but hopefully very soon,’ Eddie replied.

  ‘Why did Mummy leave us?’ Georgie asked sadly.

  Eddie stroked her long, dark hair. ‘Your Mummy didn’t leave you. She would never do that because she loves you and Harry more than anything in the world. Something happened between your mum and dad and the police took your mummy away for a little while.’

  Georgie chewed her fingernails. ‘Is Mummy in prison? Daddy says she is and Nanny Alice says she’s an old shitcunt.’

  Eddie could barely believe what he was hearing. He was no angel, but how could any grandmother teach her four-year-old granddaughter that type of language? ‘Your Nanny Alice needs her mouth washed out with soap. Tell the lady that as well, Georgie, tell her what Nanny Alice said about your mum. Don’t forget, will ya?’

  ‘She said Mummy is an old shitcunt,’ Harry repeated proudly. Neither child was old enough to understand the meaning of such awful language.

  ‘Good boy,’ Eddie said, patting Harry on the head. Larry and the social worker would be here soon, and they needed to get this right. ‘Now, I want you to pretend that I’m the lady and when I ask you a question, you are to answer it like I told you to. Can you do that for me?’

  Both children nodded.

  ‘So, why did you run away from home?’ Eddie asked.

  Joyce, Joey and Dominic all smiled at one another as the children repeated what Ed had told them to say. Georgie was especially convincing, as she answered every question in detail with the answers her grandfather had given her.

  ‘Was that your idea or Larry’s, Dad?’ Joey asked, impressed.

  ‘A bit of both really, but it was Larry’s idea to get the social worker involved. She’s got a lot of sway, apparently.’

  ‘I can’t believe the O’Haras ain’t knocked here. I mean, surely they know the kids are missing,’ Joyce said, perplexed.

  ‘They’re scum, what do you expect?’ Eddie replied.

  Dominic turned to Georgie and Harry. ‘Where was your dad, nan and grandad when you ran away? Were they all at home?’ he asked.

  Both children shook their heads. ‘Nanny Alice and Grandad Jimmy went out and Daddy was in the front room with Sally, making funny noises,’ Georgie replied.

  Eddie glanced at Joey, shook his head and knelt down again. ‘Tell the lady that as well. Tell her that when you ran away, Daddy was making funny noises with his girlfriend in another room.’

  Georgie grinned and nodded eagerly. She really liked her Grandad Eddie; he was cool and treated her like a big girl. ‘Can we live with you, Grandad?’ she asked hopefully.

  Feeling himself getting all emotional again, Eddie stood up. Anything could have happened to those kids today, absolutely anything. Say some nonce-case had spotted them and abducted them? The O’Haras wanted shooting and the fact that they’d put his grandchildren in danger made Ed want to be the one to pull that trigger even more.

  ‘Where you goin’, Grandad?’ Harry asked as Eddie bolted from the room.

  ‘Toilet,’ Eddie lied. The truth was, he was struggling to hold back the tears and it wasn’t in his nature to show weakness, not even in front of his own.

  Alice O’Hara was inconsolable. Crying one minute, screaming, ranting and raving the next. She was losing the plot, especially with Jed, and Jimmy knew it. They’d all spent an hour searching on foot, but there was neither hide nor hair of Georgie or Harry. It was as though the kids had disappeared into thin air. Knowing they had to widen their search, Jimmy had now called reinforcements in. His nephew Sammy had already arrived and his son Billy was on his way and was bringing another four blokes from his site with him. Pat Murphy had offered to help as well. He’d got here within minutes of Jimmy’s phone call, as he only lived down the road.

  ‘Don’t just fucking stand there, then!’ Alice screamed at everyone.

  Jimmy grabbed hold of his wife and held her shaking body close to his chest. ‘We’re just waiting for Billy boy, love, and then we’ll jump in three or four motors and we’ll find them. They’ll be OK, I promise you that.’

  ‘You promised me Marky’s funeral would be OK and look what happened there. As for you,’ Alice yelled, breaking free from her husband and punching her youngest son in the side of his head, ‘you ain’t fit to be a father, you selfish, no-good cunt.’

  As Sally tried to cuddle him, Jed pushed her away. He blamed his girlfriend entirely for what had happened. It was all her fault; he’d been happily watching the telly with the kids until she’d started rubbing his cock. She should never have done that, not when she knew he had to look after Georgie and Harry.

  ‘Do yourself a favour and go back to your father’s tonight, Sally. I ain’t in the best of moods, OK? If you hadn’t have come round ’ere today, none of this would have happened.’

  Sally looked at Jed with an incredulous expression on her face. None of this was her bloody fault. How could he even say that when the reason her beautiful son was dead was because of him?

  ‘You bastard! My Lukey boy died because somebody was trying to shoot you. How can you blame me for this, Jed? After everything we’ve been through, how could you be so callous?’

  ‘Don’t you dare blame that girl,’ Alice yelled at Jed.

  Desperate to get back into his mother’s good books, Jed did what he was best at and lied. ‘You don’t know the fucking half of it, Mum. I told her to leave me alone, but she kept touching me in front of Georgie and Harry. I didn’t want them to see all that shit, that’s why we went upstairs. I mean, I ain’t had sex for weeks, so what was I supposed to do?’

  Jed had always been the apple of Alice’s eye and she was now glad she had an excuse to stop hating him and blame somebody else. ‘Go home, Sally, and don’t fucking come back until you learn how to behave,’ she screamed viciously.

  Jed pushed Sally towards the front door. ‘Wait at the end of the drive. I’ll order you a cab and ring you tomorrow.’

  Sally was in floods of tears. Her dad was right, the O’Haras were scumbags and Jed was a lying, cheating, no-good bastard.

  Seeing his brother Billy pull into the drive, Jed waved his hand for him to stop, then ran over to Sally.

  ‘I’ll bell you when the chavvies are home,’ he said, attempting to peck her on the cheek.

  Sally turned her head and, seeing Jed for what he really was for the first time ever, boldly spat in his face. ‘Drop dead, you shit-bag. And I swear, if you ever try to contact me again, I will make sure my dad fucking kills you!’

  Larry Peters arrived at Joycie’s at 9 p.m. He had represented the Mitchell family and had been on their payroll for many decades, hence his quick response to Eddie’s phone call. When asked by some of the snobs in his profession about his relationship with the notorious clan, Larry liked to describe himself as a family friend. He had been especially close to Harry, Eddie’s father, and had been devastated when Harry had met his maker in such awful circumstances.

  Larry turned the ignition off, got out of the c
ar and opened the passenger door for Carol. Larry had known Carol Cullen for many years. She had done him a few favours in the past and vice versa and he knew she was the right person to be involved in an incident like this. If anyone could pull some strings for him in social services then that woman was Carol.

  Eddie opened the front door, shook Larry’s hand and was then introduced to Carol. ‘Thank you so much for visiting us at such short notice. My grandchildren have had the most awful ordeal and I’m very concerned over their future well-being. They miss their mother enormously,’ he said, laying it on as much as he could.

  Carol shook his hand, then walked into the living room and smiled at Georgie and Harry.

  ‘Hello, my name is Carol. Wow, don’t yous two look nice and snug with them big bath towels wrapped around you?’

  ‘Can you take us to see our mummy?’ Harry blurted out.

  Carol hated making promises if she couldn’t keep them. ‘Hopefully, I can organise a visit so you can see your mum, but first I need to ask you some questions, is that OK?’

  Georgie and Harry both nodded. Their grandad had now told them numerous times what they had to say and his words were firmly drummed into their little brains.

  ‘Do you mind if I speak to the children alone? It’s the usual procedure,’ Carol asked Eddie.

  Larry had prewarned him that Carol would probably ask to speak to the kids alone, so Eddie nodded and he, Dominic, Joey and Joycie left the room.

  ‘I hope they remember everything you told them,’ Joyce whispered.

  ‘Of course they will. They ain’t silly kids, especially Georgie. Bright as a button, she is,’ Eddie said confidently.

  Larry joined the quartet in the kitchen. ‘Did you have a chat with ’em, like I told you to, Ed?’

  Eddie nodded. ‘So what happens next, you know, after she’s spoken to ’em?’

  ‘I briefed Carol about everything that has happened in the children’s lives on the way down here. Once she has finished speaking to them, she will inform the police that they are here, so it gets noted. I have a feeling that when the O’Haras realised they were missing, rather than involve the police, they have probably been searching for them themselves. You know what travellers are like, Ed, they hate the police and everything they stand for. If my theory is right and they haven’t contacted the authorities by the time we do, that will go very much in our favour to getting some kind of access. I should imagine the children will almost certainly be allowed to visit Frankie on a regular basis. She is their mother, after all. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am in desperate need of a visit to the lavatory.’

  ‘Where’s Stanley, Joyce? Out the back with them birds of his?’ Eddie asked.

  Joyce had barely given her husband a second thought for the past few hours. She wasn’t worried – she knew Stanley too well – and was positive he would be back home in the next couple of days with his tail between those knobbly knees of his.

  ‘Stanley’s stomped off in one of his tantrums, the silly old bastard. He found out that I’d met you in the Bull that time and threw all his toys out of his pram,’ Joyce replied.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Joycie. How did he find out?’ Eddie asked.

  ‘No idea, he was too busy asking for a divorce to tell me that vital piece of information,’ Joyce said, laughing.

  Dominic glanced at his watch. He had an early meeting in the morning with a potential billionaire investor. ‘Do you mind if I make a move, Joey? I’ve got that meeting early tomorrow morning with that American guy I told you about. I would stay here with you, but I’ve no change of clothes and Madonna will need to be fed and watered.’

  Joey put a casual arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder. ‘You get off, Dom. I’ll stay here with Nan tonight. Perhaps pick me up tomorrow when you finish work. I’ll have to call in sick again, I’m afraid, but it can’t be helped.’

  Eddie shook Dominic’s hand. ‘Thanks for being there for my Joey, mate. You’re a good lad.’

  Joycie grinned. Sod Stanley’s sulks, Eddie had now fully accepted Joey and Dominic’s relationship and that was all that mattered.

  In the lounge, Carol was still talking to Georgie and Harry. Both children had spoken candidly about why they had run away, and their love for their mother was clear to see. ‘So, has your daddy explained why your mummy had to go away for a while?’ she asked.

  Remembering her grandfather’s words, Georgie nodded. ‘Daddy told us that Mummy was evil and Nanny Alice said that Mummy was in prison because she’s an old shitcunt.’

  ‘Nanny told me that, too,’ Harry chipped in. He was determined to do his bit for the cause.

  Carol was horrified. She was used to dealing with children that came from deprived homes, but what sort of grandmother was Nanny Alice to use vile words like ‘shitcunt’ to children so young? Carol stood up; she had made plenty of notes of her conversation with the children and now it was her duty to call the police.

  ‘Can we see Mummy now?’ Harry asked her again.

  Carol smiled and ruffled his hair. ‘Hopefully, you can see your mummy soon and I promise I’ll do my best to make sure that happens.’

  Eddie looked at Carol with expectation as she walked into the kitchen. ‘Well, did they answer all your questions OK?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, they did, and they have given me plenty of insight into the family they are currently living with. I am going to ring the police now and they will collect the children and take them back home. I shall then submit my report to my husband, who is in charge of this entire area.’

  Joyce was gutted. Having the children at home had made her forget about all her other problems.

  ‘Do they have to go back to the O’Haras? They obviously aren’t happy living there and I’m willing to look after them,’ she pleaded.

  ‘I’m afraid the law says they do have to go back to their father, for now at least. I do understand how worried you are for their welfare, but these things take time. The one thing I am sure about is that I can arrange a regular visit for the children to see their mother. My husband, Phillip, is actually in charge of social services in this area, and I can make sure that definitely happens. As for the children being taken away from their father, with the circumstances of their mother’s plight, that might prove to be quite difficult.’

  ‘Go and sit with the kids,’ Eddie ordered Joey and Joyce. ‘Why is it so difficult to take them away from the scumbags they’re currently living with?’ he asked Carol. ‘I’m willing to look after them and even if my police record puts the kibosh on that, Joyce will have them until Frankie comes home.’

  Larry gave Eddie a warning look. His voice was raised, and if he lost his cool, it could balls everything up.

  ‘I’m sorry, Mr Mitchell, but it’s just not that simple. Now, if you will excuse me, I really do have to call the police now,’ said Carol.

  Realising that his adorable grandchildren were about to be carted off back to what he fondly described as ‘pikey hell’, Eddie stomped into the lounge and crouched down in front of them.

  ‘Did you tell the lady everything I told you to?’ he whispered.

  Georgie and Harry both nodded. ‘Can we see Mummy now?’ Harry asked, his voice filled with hopeful innocence.

  Joyce and Joey both had tears in their eyes as Eddie explained that the police were coming round and the children would have to be taken back to live with their father.

  Georgie and Harry started to cry. It had been a long day and they were both physically and mentally drained. ‘But we don’t want to live there, we want to live with you, Grandad,’ Georgie pleaded.

  Eddie leaned forward and held both sobbing children close to his chest. He had rarely cried after he’d reached the age of ten, but for once he couldn’t control the tears rolling down his cheeks.

  ‘Everything is gonna work out just fine. Your grandad will make sure of that, I promise.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  Harry O’Hara was first to wake up the following morning. His Nanny A
lice had ordered his Grandad Jimmy to sleep elsewhere, so that he and Georgie could share the bed with her. Harry was careful as he prodded Georgie. His nan was snoring like a disgruntled pig and he didn’t want to wake her. He actually preferred her when she was sleeping.

  Georgie sat up, rubbed her eyes and smiled at Harry. Neither of them had wanted to come home last night, but the police had made them. Both children had cried themselves to sleep, but this morning, they felt brighter. The nice social worker lady had promised she would arrange visits so they could see their mum. She even said she would try to sort it so they could see their Nanny Joyce again as well. They had asked her if they could see Grandad Eddie also, but she hadn’t answered that question.

  ‘My legs hurt,’ Harry mumbled, remembering his ordeal from the day before. He wasn’t used to long walks and his knee was grazed and scabby from where he had fallen over.

  ‘I’m hungry. Shall we get some breakfast?’ Georgie whispered.

  As the children quietly got out of bed, Alice sat bolt upright. ‘What you doing? Where you going?’ she asked fearfully. She immediately presumed they were about to do a runner again.

  ‘We’re hungry, Nanny, we want some food,’ Georgie replied.

  Alice leaped out of bed and put on her slippers and dressing gown. She was so relieved to have the children home safe that after the police had left last night, Alice had vowed to Jimmy to move heaven and earth to make them happy again.

  ‘Nanny’ll cook breakfast for you. What do you want? How ’bout a nice fry-up?’

  Georgie glanced at Harry and both children shook their heads. Since Marky and Lukey boy had died, nobody had been very nice to them. Everybody had virtually ignored them, even their dad, and Georgie instinctively knew that running away would change all that. Their escape could only make life better for them.

  ‘Me and Harry don’t like your fry-up. We like toast with Marmite and cheese on top, that’s what Mummy used to cook us,’ Georgie said brazenly.