Leticia (10 page)

“Are you an honest person Adam?”

“I used to be... then.... but I want to be, I don’t want this, I just need to get my life back
.
”

“Let’s say I was to help you, would you still report to this man
?
”

“What do you mean
help
me?”

“Do you have a bank
account?
”

“I did, but I haven’t used it for about a year
.
”

“I take it you don’t have your bank card anymore?”

“Actually I do
,
” he said pulling out a tattered looking brown wallet
.
“
Driving
licence too, but I had to sell the car. I lived out of it for a while, but I needed the money for food
.
It
was an old banger so I didn’t get much for it
.
”

“I’ll make you a deal, but I swear if you don’t stick to your end, I’ll kill you myself
.
”

“What
d
eal?”

“I’ll write you a
check
for
five
thousand pound, you take it to the bank tomorrow and cash it
.
I have some money here that I will give you to
get
into a hotel, buy food and some new clothes
.
Then
, when the
check
clears you get an apartment or flat, whatever you want to call it.  You get a job, an income, build a life and you write to me or call me and tell me what you’ve done
.
”

“Why would you do that for me?”

“Because I believe in giving people chances
.
I believe everyone at some point in their life will need help
,
and I think they should get some. I think everyone makes mistakes, but that you need to learn from them and not make them again
.
Y
ou need to make amends, move onwards and upwards
,
” I told him, reaching over and holding his hands
.
“Would you do that for me, for yourself
?
Would
you leave now and not go back to this man who cares nothing for
you?
Look what happened to the other guy outside, I’m going to have to bury him, nobody will know what happened to him, not his family, not the other guys you’re working with
;
and let me tell you... your
‘
boss
’
won’t care, you
’
r
e
disposable
and you’re
just doing his dirty work
.
”

He didn’t speak for a moment, tears ran down his cheeks, he sat there crying and squeezing my hands.

“I promise I won’t go back to them, I promise
. But what if he finds out? What if he
finds me
?”

“Did you drive here?” I asked
.

“Yes, the car
’
s parked about half a mile down the road
.
”

“We’ll
drive out somewhere and burn it out
.
I’ll follow behind you, we set the car
on fire
, then you get in with me
.
I’ll take you to Huddersfield
and
drop you at a hotel, how does that sound
?
”

“Thank you
,
” he cried
.
“So much
.
”

My eyes were filling up
now;
my heart went out to him.

“Is there anyone else watching
us
?
”
I asked.

“No, we were the only ones out here
tonight;
about ten others are watching your
friend’s
house though
.
”

“Shit!”

“They’re not going to attack, just watch
.
”

I grabbed my phone and tried to call Nancy and Jackson, but both of them rejected my calls.

“Send them a text
,
” Adam suggested
.
“
They
can’t reject that
can they?
”

I nodded and sent the same message to both of them, telling them what I
knew;
I just hoped they would read it. I took a deep breath before turning to Adam again.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked
.

“Yeah
.
”

I pulled my
check
book out of the draw
er
and wrote
one
out for the
five
thousand, then went in my safe under the stairs and took five-hundred pound cash out.

“Here
,
” I said passing it to him
.
“Just promise me again
.
”

“I promise Leticia, I promise. I’d hug you but I don’t smell very nice
,
” he smiled
.

“
It’s
OK
,
” I laughed
.
“
When
you’re
all clean and doing well for yourself, you can meet up with me and hug me then
.
”

“Deal
.
”

He asked me to write my mobile number down for him so he could keep me
updated;
he put it away safely in his wallet.

“Before we do the car, the least I can do is help you get rid of the body lying in your garden
,
” he said
.

“Thank you
.
”

“No, no, thank
you
.
”

We dragged the body of the other man over to his car and put him in the
trunk
, along with one of my garden shovels. I locked the house up and followed him onto Holmfirth road and then to the middle of the moors.
He was about the get the mans body out of the trunk when I got an idea.

“Adam, you said your ‘boss’ would come after you if you betrayed him?” I confirmed.

“Yes.”

“Is this your car or the other guys?”

“This one is mine.”

“Well then I suggest we leave the body in here. We’ll still burn it out, but when they find it, surely they will assume the body is yours. You have the same hair colour and style, and if the body is burned badly enough they may not realize it was your friend.”

“It’s got to be worth a shot,”
h
e agreed. “But he’ll know were a man down.”

“So? If he thinks your dead in the boot of your own car he will go looking for this guy,” I said pointing to the corpse in the trunk. “Let your ‘boss’ search for him instead of you.”

“Good point.”

It was actually
sad;
the dead man must have only been the same age as him, maybe just a little older.
I shook my head as we closed the trunk.

“Nobody will ever know.”
Adam said sadly
.

“I know
,
” I sighed
.
“Come on, we need to set this thing on fire.”

“Where are we going to do it?”

“
Right here
,
it’s
not like there’s camera’s in the middle of the
M
oors
.
”

“O
K
,
” he nodded
.

Adam set
the car
on fire
quickly and jumped in the passenger seat of mine. I shot across the rest of the moors, through Holmfirth, Marsden, straight through into Huddersfield. When we reached a hotel we stopped.

“Welcome to the rest of your life
,
” I smiled
.

“You know, I used to work in a garage, I loved it
.
I have qualifications in mechanics
.
”

“So then do it again
.
”

“I will. Thank you, thank you for believing in me, you’re a beautiful person
and I swear I won’t let you down
.
”

“Good, you take care of
yourself;
you have my number, keep in touch,
OK
?
”

“I will
.
”
H
e got out of the car taking a deep breath, then turned to look at
me. “
Leticia, they have a lot of gun
s
, cars, men, you’re not safe, I don’t know what they want from you, but take my advice...
r
un
.
”

“No, thanks, but I won’t run
,
” I told him
.
“If they want a fight they’ll get one
.
”

“What
is
it
about you
?
W
hat is it that’s
different?
”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s got to be a reason for them,
him
, targeting you
.
”

“I don’t know
,
” I lied
.
“But I’ll find out
.
”

“Please be careful, I really would like to meet up with you again
.
”

“You will
,
” I smiled
.
“
Now
go get a shower, eat, get warm, have a good night’s sleep
.
”

“I will
.
Thank
you
.
”

He smiled at me again before heading into the hotel.

When I arrived home, my front door was wide open,
‘
Great’
I
said to myself
‘
here we go again
’.
I approached the entrance cautiously,
half expecting
someone to jump out at me, or to run out of the house and straight past me. When I got inside I slammed the door and locked it
.
I wanted to create as much noise a possible now to let whoever was here know I was home. I also wanted to make it difficult for them to escape. Something inside me had snapped
.
At
first, I didn’t want to fight
.
I was ready for packing and leaving again. But now, I
wanted
to fight, Jackson and Nancy’s words had made me think differently
.
Why
the hell should I run? I could easily defend
myself;
I was stronger
and faster
than any human being
on earth
.
It
was about time I used what I was to my advantage. It was time I took control.

“Where are you?” I
asked
loudly,
slowly making my way
down the hall
.
“
C
ome out, come out where ever you are
,
” I almost sang
.

“I’m in your living room
,
” I heard Tristan say
.

I walked in to find him
sitting
on one of the armchairs.

“What do you want?” I asked
.

“Jackson is pissed with you, Nancy too, and if I’m honest so am I
.
”

“Is that supposed to bother me
?
I don’t know you, so wh
y
should I care
?
”

“We were there for you
.
”

“I know that
,
” I said, raising my voice
.
“
And
I’ve told you more than once, I couldn’t possibly thank you enough for what you’ve done for me, but that doesn’t mean I have to answer to you
.
”