Born Evil (35 page)

‘We got any cans?’ Billy asked Andy.

‘Nah, we’ve drunk the last of ’em.’

‘Do us a favour, mate. Go down to the offie and get us some.’

Billy handed Andy a score, glad to be rid of him so he could talk to his boy alone.

‘What exactly happened, son?’ he asked solemnly, not wanting to show the glee he was feeling inside.

‘I’m sorry, Dad, but it weren’t my fault. She asked me round and told me to bring some johnnies. I’d had a beer and a puff and that. I just thought me luck was in, and I suppose I got a bit heavy-handed with her. She reckoned the text was meant for someone else, not for me. I was so angry with her, I just lost it, Dad!’

‘It’s nae your bloody fault! She’s a prick teaser and deserves all she got. Don’t blame yourself, laddie.’

‘Do you reckon they’ve called the police? ’Cause if they have, I’ve got the text message she sent me on my phone. That’ll prove me innocent, won’t it, Dad?’

‘Mickey willnae want the police involved,’ Billy said. ‘He’s always been a dodgy bastard and he wouldnae want the filth sniffing round. What was the outcome? Did you actually rape her, Charlie?’

‘Sort of. I forced her to do things and stuff.’

Ruffling his boy’s hair, Billy smiled at him. ‘Serves her fucking right. And Mickey as well. Look, Charlie, you’ve told me Mickey’s always despised you, and remember what he did to me. He nearly killed me, the cunt. Dinnae feel bad about what you did, I’m proud of you. You’ve paid him back for the both of us, in the best way possible.’

Charlie locked eyes with his creator and smiled. He and his dad were two of a kind, and he was glad now he’d done what he had. ‘What do you think will happen, Dad? I can’t go to Mum’s. Mickey and Steve’ll kill me if I go back there.’

Handing his son a fag, Billy lit one himself and took a deep drag. ‘You willnae have to go back to your mother’s. Look, no one knows we’re here at Andy’s. We’ll just doss here while I get some money together, and then fuck off, as far away as possible.’

‘I love you, Dad, and I’m so glad you found me.’

‘I love you too, son,’ Billy replied, his voice filled with emotion.

* * *

Debbie sat in a pub along the A13 and ordered her third large glass of wine. After chatting to the four scallywags, her bottle had gone and she’d decided she needed a drink if she were to risk coming face-to-face with Billy McDaid. Sitting outside the tower block, knowing that her ex was back on the scene, had filled Debbie with emotions and memories she’d buried long ago. The thought of raking up the past filled her with dread.

Gesticulating to the barman to bring her a fourth, she decided to make this the last. The drink had started to make her feel calm, courageous in fact, and she knew she had to go to that flat, whether she liked it or not. Fuck Billy McDaid, she thought. Charlie was her son, and she’d be the one to decide what happened to him now. It’d been she who had fed him, clothed him, soothed him through his illnesses, comforted him through his nightmares, and stuck by him through thick and thin. Charlie was her responsibility, always had been and always would be, and she wasn’t going to let his arsehole of a father, who had turned up like a bad penny, stop her from performing her parental duty.

Chucking the last of her wine down her neck, she stood up, grabbed her handbag and strolled confidently out of the pub.

‘Please let me make you something, Lois. I know you’re upset but you must eat, love. You’ll be ill if you don’t.’

‘I can’t eat, Mum,’ Lois whispered. Unable to keep her experience to herself any longer, she burst into tears. ‘He made me suck his thingy! Oh, Mum, it was awful.’

Karen hugged her daughter tight and cried with her. It had been a terrible day for the pair of them. She’d tried to encourage Lois to talk about what had happened, but until now her daughter had just clammed up and trembled from head to foot. Karen felt indescribably angry to see the state Lois was in and for the first time in her life, she wished the worst for Charlie. Hopefully, her Mickey would be able to oblige and make that wish come true.

Debbie patiently waited for the lift doors to open. Stepping inside, she breathed in the familiar smell of urine and filth. The journey to Andy’s floor was short but seemed to take forever. Reaching her destination, Debbie took a deep breath before rapping on the door.

‘Shhh, keep quiet. Dinnae answer it,’ Billy said immediately.

‘Charlie, I know you’re in there … Kevin told me. Open the door, love. I know you’re with your dad and I’m not angry, but I really need to talk to you. I’m here to help you, nothing else. Please, son, let me in.’

‘Fucking hell,’ Billy grunted angrily.

Walking into the hallway, he peeped through the spy hole to check that Debbie was alone.

‘Open it, Dad,’ Charlie whispered. ‘There’s no way she’d bring Steve or Mickey here with her, and we might get some money out of her.’

Forever the coward, Billy urged Andy to do the honours. ‘All right, Debs,’ he said awkwardly.

Coming face to face with Billy was something Debbie had always feared. One look at him now told her differently. She realised that the hold he’d had over her was long gone. She felt zilch. No dread, no emotion, nothing. It was almost as though he’d never been a part of her life.

‘Long time, no see,’ she said boldly.

‘You look really well,’ Billy replied, unable to make direct eye contact with her.

Glancing at her surreptitiously, he was taken aback by how good she looked. Her new, improved image was a far cry from the way she had been when she’d lived with him. Unnerved by her presence, Billy made a quick exit to the kitchen, dragging Andy with him.

‘We’ll leave you to it,’ he said, shutting the door.

‘What happened, love?’ Debbie asked, turning her attention to Charlie.

‘She invited me round there, Mum, honest she did. “Get some johnnies” she put on her text, and then when I got there she bottled it, pretended the text was for someone else. We were both quite drunk. She was drinking her dad’s vodka and I was drinking his Scotch.’

‘And I suppose things just got a bit out of hand, love, didn’t they?’ Debbie urged, holding the boy’s hands and finishing his story for him.

‘Yes, Mum, but I’m telling the truth, I swear. If you don’t believe me, you can look at my phone. I kept her text message on there.’

Debbie glanced at it. ‘I never doubted you anyway, Charlie,’ she said without hesitation. ‘I knew there’d be a simple explanation. The thing is, what are we gonna do next? It’s Mickey I’m worried about. He’s a lunatic when he loses it and I’m scared of what he might do to you, son.’

‘I don’t wanna come home, Mum. Please don’t make me. Can’t I live with my dad for a bit?’

Unable to think straight, Debbie stayed silent. Her precious baby living with Billy was the last thing she wanted, but what other option did she have? He couldn’t stay at home now, not after this. For a start Steve wouldn’t allow him to be around the girls, and Mickey would never forgive or forget.

Finally she spoke. ‘I’m not happy about you living with him, Charlie. And where would you go? You can’t stay here, love.’

‘I wanna move to Glasgow with him, Mum. He has a nice aunt up there and she said we can stay with her. I hate it round here. I’m bullied at school, Steve hates me, and now Mickey’s gonna kill me. Please, Mum, say I can go?’

‘Go and get your dad, I need to speak to him alone for a minute.’

Doing exactly as he was told, Charlie smiled as he left the room. Ever since he was a baby, he’d sensed he could wind his mother around his little finger and today was no different. Telling Billy to go and speak to his mum, he opened up a can of cider and chatted to Andy.

Billy felt awkward as he walked back into the lounge and faced his ex.

‘You look lovely, Debs. Your nose looks different. Have you had it done?’

She looked at the piece of shit standing opposite her and felt nothing but contempt for him. She would never know, till the day she died, what she’d ever seen in Billy McDaid. Determined to get the better of him now, she looked him straight in the eye.

‘Yes, I had to have it done, Billy, as the last time you beat me up you smashed it to smithereens. Oh, and by the way, have you ever told your son that you dangled him out the window and threatened to kill him?’

Billy shook his head and looked down at the threadbare, drink-stained carpet.

Knowing she had him by the short and curlies, Debbie carried on.

‘Let’s cut the shit, Billy. Charlie said he wants to move to Glasgow with you, and as much as I hate that thought, I don’t see I have any real choice. It’s either that or Mickey’s gonna kill him. Now the punchline is, can you look after him?’

Billy answered her as truthfully as he could. ‘I’m nae perfect, Debs, but I love the wee man. I’ll do the very best I can.’

‘Where will you live?’

‘I’ll take him to my auntie’s. She’s got plenty of room in her house and she’ll spoil him rotten.’

‘What about money, Billy? Have you got any?’

He felt a complete loser as he answered, ‘No, I’m skint. I’ve spent all my money while I’ve been living here.’

Debbie enjoyed watching him squirm. ‘Look, I’ll sort some money out for you, but you have to promise me you’ll take good care of him.’

‘I will,’ Billy agreed.

Calling Charlie back into the room, Debbie explained what had been decided. ‘Now, I’m gonna give you and your dad some money and I want you to promise me that you’ll buy a new mobile out of that and text me the number. I’ll take your old phone with me and keep it as evidence, just in case the police get involved.’

‘Okay, Mum,’ Charlie said. He was ecstatic. He had a new life with his dad to look forward to and couldn’t wait to start it.

‘You need to get away from here as soon as possible,’ Debbie urged. ‘The bank will be shut today but I’ll go there first thing tomorrow and draw out some money. In the meantime, I’ll pack some of your stuff from indoors and bring it to you when I pick you up tomorrow. I’ll be here by half-ten.’

‘Thanks, Mum,’ Charlie said.

Debbie didn’t answer, she couldn’t. She could never remember feeling so sad in the whole of her life. Her only son, her baby, and she was having to say goodbye to him for the sake of his own safety.

The situation was soul-destroying, totally horrendous, and all she could do now was hope and bloody pray that she’d made the right decision. Sobbing her heart out as she left the flat, she clambered back into her car and headed home.

* * *

Charlie and Billy couldn’t stop laughing. ‘I cannae believe she’s gonnae bung us the money,’ Billy said excitedly.

‘I told you, Dad, she adores me. I can get anything out of her I want.’

Billy broke into song, holding his son’s hands and swinging him around the room. ‘“I belong to Glasgow, dear old Glasgow town.”’

‘Sing some more, Dad,’ Charlie pleaded.

‘“But what’s the matter with Glasgow, for it’s going round and round. I’m only a common old working chap as anyone here can see. But when I get a couple of drinks on a Saturday, Glasgow belongs to me!”’

MICKEY HAD SUNK
half a dozen drinks by the time Steve arrived back at the pub.

‘Well?’ he asked expectantly.

‘No good,’ Steve replied, shrugging his shoulders. ‘I looked everywhere, Mick, but there’s nothing. I found some dodgy-looking films, Rizlas, that type of stuff, but nothing that’s liable to help us find the little shit.’

While Steve went to get himself a beer, Mickey pondered over what to do next. In usual circumstances, he’d have had no trouble hunting someone down. Charlie, though, was a different ball game. He was a creep, a waste of fucking space, so unpopular he had no regular haunts to visit or mates to threaten. Mickey didn’t have the first clue how to find the evil little bastard.

‘What’s plan B, then?’ Steve asked, as he rejoined his ally.

‘I’m fucked if I know,’ Mickey replied, taking a sip from his bottle of Bud. ‘The only lead we’ve got so far is this Kevin kid and if he’s Charlie’s mate, then he’s bound to be a weirdo. Therefore no cunt we stop and ask in Harold Hill is gonna know him. It’s a shame it’s the school holidays, or we could suss him out there. At least get an address for him.’

‘Why don’t we break into the school?’ Steve suggested.

‘No point,’ Mickey replied. ‘Not without a surname. Knowing our luck, we’ll only set the fucking alarms off, and besides there’ll be about fifty Kevins at the poxy place.’

‘What about Lois’s boyfriend, wouldn’t he know where this lad lives?’

Mickey shook his head. ‘I already thought of that one. I tapped Dean this morning but he ain’t got a clue. He said the kid’s a complete freak. I left him my number, told him to ring round everyone he knows, see if he has any joy.’

Mickey slammed his bottle down on the wooden table. ‘Debbie would know where the cunt lives, but she ain’t gonna tell us, is she?’

Steve shrugged. ‘I’ll have a word with her later. She may tell me, you never know.’

‘Don’t waste your fucking time,’ Mickey said sarcastically.

‘Listen, I’m gonna ring Dean back and tell him I’m offering five hundred quid for this fucking Kevin’s address. In the meantime, you have a scout round indoors. If Debbie leaves her handbag lying about, have a nose inside, see if she has a number for the cunt.’

‘Will do,’ Steve said, keen to help, even if it meant betraying his beloved wife.

Debbie zipped up the large Adidas sports bag, lugged it down the stairs and put it straight into the back of her X5. She hid it under her yoga mat, then returned to her son’s bedroom to check for anything important she might have forgotten.

Pants, socks, T-shirts, trackie bottoms, his new Reebok trainers … she’d even remembered to pack a couple of the videos and DVDs he’d specifically asked for. How she was keeping herself together, she didn’t know. All she really wanted to do was lie on her son’s bed, hug his pillow and cry, but she had to get his stuff together and out of the house before Steve and the girls returned. She’d been careful about what she packed. She didn’t want to give Steve an inkling of what she was doing. If she took Charlie’s computer, for instance, it would stick out like a sore thumb, so she’d left it there, along with many other things whose absence might be noticed.