‘Christ, she sounds terrified,’ he said. ‘I really think we should call the police.’
‘Even if they come back, they’ll take their time about it,’ Carol said, then added quietly: ‘Besides, her mam’s clearly not the full shilling, and it could be hereditary, for all we know.’
‘Holly seems pretty normal to me,’ Gee said. ‘And you saw her face. She was genuinely scared.’
‘OK, let’s call her back and ask her what’s going on,’ Carol suggested. ‘Then if we still think we need to call the cops, I’ll do it.’
Gee nodded and watched as Carol returned the call.
‘It’s gone straight to voicemail,’ she said. ‘That usually means the battery’s died, or she’s got no signal.’
Behind them, Josie had wandered out of her room and was calling for Holly, telling her that she needed to pack. Giving Gee a loaded look, as if to say Does this look normal to you?, Carol went inside and guided the woman back into the bedroom.
‘It’s all right, lovie,’ she said in a sing-song voice. ‘You’re dreaming, so let’s get you back into bed. And how’s about we have a little drink to send you back to beddybyes?’ she went on, twisting the lid off the bottle of vodka and tipping the last couple of inches into the empty glass. ‘Here we go . . .’ She placed the glass in Josie’s hand and guided it towards her lips.
Josie spluttered when the liquid entered her mouth, but she swallowed it all.
‘There’s a good girl,’ Carol crooned, taking the empty glass from her before pushing her gently down on the bed. ‘Now close your eyes . . . there we go.’
‘Is she all right?’ Gee asked worriedly when Carol came back out into the corridor a few minutes later.
‘She was rambling on about murderers coming to get them, and how she must have told him where they were,’ Carol said. ‘I gave her a drink to relax her, and she’s flat out now.’
‘Are you sure that’s safe?’ Gee frowned. ‘She’s not long out of hospital and she’s probably on painkillers.’
‘I reckon she can handle it, judging by the amount of empties on the floor,’ Carol replied unconcernedly. ‘Anyhow, shush while I call my lads.’
‘Why you calling them and not the police?’
‘’Cos I need to find out what’s going on before I waste their time. If you want to make yourself useful, go take a look out of the window and see if anything’s happening over there.’
Carol flapped a dismissive hand at him, and Gee sighed as he went into the flat to do as she’d ordered. She had taken over and was clearly determined to do things her way, and he was annoyed with himself for going along with it instead of heading over to Suzie’s place, as he’d intended – or calling the police, who would surely be here by now if they’d done it when he first suggested it. He wasn’t overly happy about the way she’d dealt with Holly’s mum, either. The woman was in a bad way, and he didn’t approve of Carol encouraging her to drink. But it was done now, so he supposed there was no use arguing about it.
The living room was dark, but the curtains were open and a hint of moonlight was shining through the window, so he managed to avoid crashing into any of the furniture. There were still no lights on at Suzie’s place, and he didn’t see any movement at any of the windows, so he headed back out to Carol, at the exact moment her call was answered.
‘About time!’ she said. ‘Get your arses over here. Come the back way and fetch your tools. And hurry up.’
Turning to Gee when she’d hung up, she said, ‘They only live a few blocks away, so they’ll be here in a minute. Let’s go down and wait for them.’
Gee followed her down the stairs into the foyer. A couple of minutes later they heard a tap on the fire exit door, and four strapping lads with sleep-blurred eyes and messy hair squeezed inside when Carol pushed the bar down.
‘Told you they’d be quick,’ she said proudly to Gee.
‘What’s going on, Ma?’ one of the lads asked, staring at Gee. ‘He giving you trouble?’
Alarmed when the lad moved his jacket aside to reveal the grip of a handgun sticking out from the waistband of his jeans, Gee held his hands out in front of him and took a step back.
‘Behave!’ Carol barked, slapping her son’s arm. ‘He’s me neighbour.’
‘So what d’you call us round for?’ one of the others asked, wiping sleep-crust from the corner of his eye. ‘You made it sound like an emergency.’
‘It is,’ said Carol. ‘A girl who lives on the first floor is in trouble. We’re not sure what’s going on yet, ’cos her mum’s not all there and she wasn’t making a lot of sense. But she was going on about someone trying to kill them, and the girl left her a voicemail telling her the man was there.’
‘What man? Where?’
‘The girl’s at a woman’s house across the road,’ Carol explained. ‘Her mam got attacked in the alley the other night and took to hospital.’
‘I saw that,’ one of her sons said. ‘Not the attack, obviously, or I’d have cut the fucker’s head off, but the Five-O and the ambulances and that.’
‘Can I finish?’ Carol gave him an impatient look. Continuing when the lad nodded, she said, ‘The girl went over to stay with the woman across the road, and me and Gee both saw her at the bedroom window. The cops were there and she was waving at them, but they didn’t notice. She looked proper scared, so me and Gee went to talk to her mam. Only she’s a bit loopy loo, so I took her phone to call
