Her heart was pounding like a jackhammer, and her hand was shaking so violently when she snaked her arm out from under the duvet to silence the alarm that she almost knocked over the glass that was standing beside it. Grabbing it before it toppled over, she sat up and swallowed the stale remnants of the vodka and coke she’d been drinking before she fell asleep that morning. Then, lighting a cigarette, she lay back against the pillows and waited for the booze and nicotine to kick in and soothe her jangled nerves.
Her mobile phone started ringing on the bedside table, waking her from the doze she’d drifted into, and she muttered, ‘Shit!’ when she realized she was still holding the lit cigarette. After taking a last drag on it, she stubbed it out in the overflowing ashtray and reached for her phone. Straightening up when she saw that it was her co-worker, Fiona, calling, she answered quickly, hoping that the woman was ringing to tell her that she’d received a new batch of knock-off vodka.
‘Has it come?’ she asked, hoping she didn’t sound too eager, because the last thing she needed was for that lot at work to think she had a problem. She didn’t; she just found it difficult to get to sleep when everyone else was getting up, and a little drink helped her to drop off. That was all.
‘Not yet,’ Fiona said. ‘My usual guy got busted, so I’ve had to look for another supplier. But I’m hoping I’ll get word tonight.’
Disappointed, because her supplies were running low and she couldn’t afford shop prices, Josie flopped back against the pillows and massaged her throbbing temples.
‘Anyhow, I’m not ringing about that,’ Fiona went on. ‘Sharon’s sacked Petra and she wants you to come in early to cover her shift.’
‘Why me?’ Josie moaned. ‘Can’t she ask one of the others?’
‘Hey, I’m only the messenger,’ said Fiona. ‘I can tell her I couldn’t get hold of you, if you want? But you know what she’s like, so don’t blame me if she cuts your hours to nothing to punish you.’
Josie sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. She knew what Sharon was like, all right. The woman was a bitch, and she’d think nothing of doing exactly what Fiona had said if Josie dared to refuse the extra shift.
‘What do you want me to tell her?’ Fiona’s voice cut into Josie’s thoughts.
‘Tell her I’ll be there in an hour,’ Josie said.
After hanging up, Josie groped for the vodka bottle that was standing between the base of the bed and the bedside cabinet and gulped down the last inch of liquid from it. Then, pushing the quilt off her legs, she got up and shoved the empty bottle neck-down into the washing basket before heading to the bathroom.
Dressed and feeling a little more human a short time later, Josie had made a cup of tea and was carrying it into the living room when she spotted blue flashing lights outside. Aware that Holly would be on her way home from school, she rushed over to the window, praying that the girl hadn’t got caught up in any of the gang-related violence that had been blighting the estate in recent weeks.
Two police cars and an ambulance were parked on the road below, and a gaggle of neighbours were gathered on the pavement a few feet back. The vehicles were obscuring her view, so she couldn’t tell if something had happened on the pavement or inside one of the houses. But if it were the latter, she figured it a fair bet that it involved the couple who lived directly opposite.
Josie had never spoken to either of them, but she’d overheard their next-door neighbour gossiping about their noisy sex sessions – and even noisier fights – in the local shop a couple of weeks earlier. It hadn’t surprised her to hear that the man was violent. She’d passed him in the street a few times and the tell-tale glint in his eyes had told her that his amiable smile and cocky swagger concealed a dark temper. Handsome men like him, who obsessed over their appearance and spent half their lives in the gym, often harboured deeper insecurities than ugly men, in her experience, and she’d seen how quickly those insecurities could morph into controlling behaviour and extreme violence. So, no, she wouldn’t be surprised if those emergency vehicles were attending an incident at that house today.
As her mother watched the scene through the window, Holly turned the corner with slumped shoulders and downcast eyes. She’d been thinking about Kelly all afternoon, wondering why the girl had contacted Bex before leaving, but not her. Even if she hadn’t had time to talk, Kelly could at least have sent a text. But the fact that she hadn’t bothered to do so made Holly wonder if they had ever been as good friends as she’d thought.
Raising her eyes to check for traffic before crossing the road, she froze when she saw the emergency vehicles parked outside Suzie’s house, the spinning blue light on the top of the police car reflecting off the windows of the neighbouring houses. The front door suddenly opened and three police officers walked out followed by two paramedics, one of whom was pushing a wheelchair. Suzie was huddled in the chair with a red blanket wrapped round her and an oxygen mask strapped to her face. They wheeled her into the back of the ambulance, while two of the coppers climbed into the van that was parked behind it. As both vehicles pulled away, the third copper pulled Suzie’s door shut and got into his car.
Snapping out of her trance when the car did a three-point turn and drove past
