‘What is this game?’ asked Elena. ‘What is happening?’
‘Shush!’ whispered Skinner then he switched his attention to Sapphire while quickly looking down at the drink in front of him. ‘Don’t look now, he’s going.’
He gave it several seconds before looking across the pub again. ‘Thank fuck for that! He’s gone.’
‘What is it? What is happening?’ asked Elena, becoming exasperated.
Skinner took a deep breath. ‘I can’t tell you, Elena. Sorry, but I just can’t.’
Elena glanced inquisitively across at Sapphire who had already decided that if Skinner wouldn’t trust Elena enough to confide in her then there was no way she was going to either.
For a few seconds, Sapphire and Skinner continued to exchange worried glances until Elena eventually got up from her seat and pushed it noisily back into the table.
‘OK. I know you don’t want me here,’ she raged. ‘It seems like you no longer like me, Skinner, now you’ve got your new friend.’ As she spoke, she scowled at Sapphire then added, ‘You two are always keeping secrets. I will go now!’
‘No, it’s OK. Don’t go, Elena,’ Skinner said, but she was already on her way out of the door and Sapphire could tell his pleas were half-hearted. Like her, he needed to talk. ‘Fuck, that was close!’ he said once Elena had gone.
‘You nearly gave the fuckin’ game away,’ Sapphire complained, ‘especially when you started fuckin’ choking. You need to play it cool with someone like him. You don’t want him to suss out that you saw him killing Cora. And, for fuck’s sake, don’t say anything to Elena. We don’t know whether you can trust her to keep it to herself.’
‘Don’t worry, I won’t,’ Skinner replied, before asking, ‘Do you think he suspects anything?’
‘No, he had his back to you, didn’t he? How could he know? But, like I say, you need to be careful who you tell. Elena already suspects something, and we can’t risk anyone else knowing. You’ll have to think of something to tell her.’
‘Don’t worry I will. I’ll tell her you were worried he was after you for protection or summat.’
Sapphire was lost in thought for a moment then she shared what was worrying her. Keeping it to herself was stressing her out and she knew she had to confide in someone. ‘Skinner, y’know when I told you that one of my friends was paying protection to Kev Pike?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Well, what I didn’t tell you was that it was my friend Amber. She wasn’t just paying him protection; she was seeing him too.’
‘What you mean…?’
‘Yeah, she was in a relationship with him. So, I told her about Cora.’ Skinner looked alarmed. ‘Sorry,’ she added, ‘I know I said I wouldn’t tell anyone, but I had to tell her. She’s a mate and I needed to warn her. The trouble is, I’ve only seen her once since. And now I’m worried shitless that something might have happened to her.’
‘But why would he come looking in here if he’d done something to her?’
‘Dunno, unless he’s bluffing to cover his tracks. Do you think she might have gone into hiding so he can’t find her?’
Skinner shrugged. ‘Dunno.’
Sapphire shuddered. ‘I’m really worried now. Even if he hasn’t topped her, it’s obvious he’s determined to get hold of her. You know what, I think we need to find Amber before he does. It’s too late now – I need to get to work – but we should do it tomorrow night. She needs to know he’s looking for her in case she starts taking chances. If she’s still on the beat, he could easily come across her, and I’d hate anything bad to happen.’
60
March 2016
When she heard the knock on the door Amber knew exactly who it would be. She also knew that they wouldn’t wait long for her to answer so she scanned the living room one last time before leaving it. There was no longer any furniture. Amber had sold what she could and for the past couple of days she’d managed by sitting on cushions while she ate her meals.
She hadn’t raised much cash from selling the furniture, and certainly not enough to hold off the bailiffs. It was too old and jaded but at least it had given her a little extra money. She felt sad looking around the room. Although most of her memories here were bad ones, it was still her home and the place she had been brought up. Recollections of her first home were now buried in the distant past.
Amber walked out into the hallway where she had lined up some plastic carrier bags containing her scant belongings. There were clothes, cosmetics and toiletries as well as a few other possessions, which were precious to her. These included the photographs her mother had kept of them as a family and of her father and Dale.
The knocking became more insistent and she rushed to open the door. Two dour-looking men stared back at her. ‘We’re here to evict you from the property,’ said the first one. ‘Have you got the keys?’
Amber nodded and passed them over to him. ‘Let me just get my things.’
‘There’s no time for that, I’m afraid,’ said the man as he barged past her and into the hallway.
‘I’ve already packed them,’ said Amber, quickly gathering up her bags from the hall while the men carried on into the house.
She struggled to pick up the bags as there were six of them altogether. It had been difficult deciding which items to take with her because she had nowhere to store them. But she’d got them down to a minimum, and now, all the items inside the bags were ones she was reluctant to part with.
When Amber emerged onto the garden path, she was disheartened to see that several neighbours were out of their houses and were avidly watching the spectacle. She noticed Mrs Wiley at her gate and two women across the street were outside their houses too. One of them nudged the
