Slur: The Riverhill Trilogy: Book 1 (18 page)

Julie struggled
to free herself but he tightened his grip on her wrists until they felt sore.
To her surprise he began to laugh. It was loud, raucous laughter; the laughter
of a madman. She guessed that he was as high as a kite on something.

‘I’ve got
you where I want you now, haven’t I?’ he taunted, ‘… and I can do anything I
want with you.’ He squeezed her right breast to emphasise his point. ‘But
before we have a bit of fun,’ he continued, ‘… you’ve got some explaining to
do, like for instance, what the fuck are you doing in my flat, and why did you
wreck the place last Friday?’

As the
realisation of his intentions hit her, Julie stared at him in terror. He had obviously
shifted his car and kept the lights off to make it appear that the flat was
empty.

‘Come on, explain
yourself!’ he commanded.

She could
hear the aggression in his voice, but was still taken by surprise when he
struck her forcefully across her face.

‘Right,
start talking, you dirty slut, or next time it’ll be my fuckin’ fist!’

She knew
that if he found out the real reason for her visit, he would do her some
serious damage, so she tried to stall him, hoping that Vinny would come looking
for her.

‘I wanted
some speed,’ she improvised. ‘I knew I could get it here; you’re well known
around town, aren’t you?’

‘Well why not
fuckin’ buy it down town like everyone else then?’

Julie
screamed as she felt another sharp blow across her face, then he grabbed her by
the hair as he carried on talking. ‘I’m not fuckin’ stupid you know! I know why
you came here. You’re trying to set me up, for a murder that you fuckin’ did.’

Despite her
terror, the accusation angered Julie and she yelled back at him. ‘I didn’t kill
Amanda, I’m not a murderer!’ Smack! She winced with pain as his fist hit her
full on the face.

‘Don’t tell
fuckin’ lies!’ he shouted. He was now becoming terrifying as he continued to
bawl at her. ‘You and your fuckin’ slag of a friend killed Mandy, and now
you’re going to pay for it!’

He ripped
her blouse open, and began laughing again. ‘I’ll teach you not to try and
stitch me up, you cheeky bitch!’

‘No!’ Julie
screamed. ‘Leave me alone.’

He covered
her mouth with his right hand while he writhed on top of her, pulling her skirt
up with his other hand. She put up a tremendous struggle, and he howled in pain
as she sank her teeth into his hand. Before he had a chance to recover, she swiftly
brought her knee up to his groin. While he gripped his genitals and doubled
over in agony, she pushed her way past him and tried to make her escape.

Vinny met
her in the hallway and was enraged when he saw the state she was in; her face
red and swollen, blood pouring from her nose, her shoes missing and her blouse
torn apart.

‘Where is
the bastard? I’ll fuckin’ kill him!’ he shouted.

Julie
watched in despair as Vinny set about Les, raining blows to his head and body.

‘That’s
enough Vinny!’ she shouted. ‘He’s not worth it!’

Vinny
carried on and didn’t stop until he had spent his last ounce of energy. Then he
grabbed Les by the lapels, hoisting him up as he threatened him. ‘If I ever
catch you near Julie again, I swear I’ll be back to finish the job!’

He released
Les who slumped back onto the bed with blood pouring from his face.

‘Julie,
call the police while I keep an eye on him!’ Vinny ordered.

‘And just
what do you think you’ll tell them?’ Les sniggered. ‘How will you explain what
you’re doing here, especially when I tell them that you’ve come to buy drugs?’

‘You
bastard!’ shouted Vinny and he went to hit him once more.

‘Stop it!’
cried Julie. ‘He’s had enough and this won’t get us anywhere.’

‘All right,
call the police then,’ Vinny replied.

‘It’s no
good Vinny; he’s got us by the short and curlies. How are we going to prove
anything? If they find his drugs, they’ll link us to them. I’m already a bloody
murder suspect as it is!’

Les gave a
satisfied smirk on hearing her words.

‘That’s
right,’ he mocked. ‘Looks like you’ll have to go down for Mandy’s murder after
all.’

‘Oh no!’
said Julie. ‘This isn’t over yet. We know that you killed Amanda and I’m gonna
make sure you go down for it if it’s the last thing I do! Come on Vinny, let’s
go,’ she sighed.

‘Good
luck,’ Les uttered sarcastically as Julie left the room with Vinny following.

Vinny
returned and gave Les one last thrashing. He managed to knock him back down and
change his smirk to a grimace before Julie led him away to the sound of Les
shouting, ‘I haven’t finished with you yet, bitch. I’ll fuckin’ have you!’

--------------------

‘Shit!’
said Rita. ‘What the hell have you two been up to? You look as if you’ve gone a
few rounds.’

‘The
bastard was there waiting for me,’ Julie replied, attempting to wipe the blood
from her nose with the back of her hand.

‘You’re
joking!’ Then, as Rita noticed Julie’s torn clothing, realisation hit her. ‘Oh,
Julie, he didn’t did he?’

‘No, fortunately
Vinny got there in time but he gave me a few slaps and frightened the bloody
life out of me. We’re gonna have to get away from here quick. Vinny gave him a
good hiding. I think he would have killed him if I hadn’t stopped him, and if
the neighbours overheard all the racket, the police will be here in a flash.’

‘That’s
what we want, isn’t it?’

‘No, it’s
no good Rita. The crafty bastard’s got it all sussed. He threatened that if we
called the police he’d tell them that we’d come here to buy drugs from him and
we’d end up in just as much trouble as him.’

‘He
wouldn’t do that, though,’ said Rita. ‘He knows he’s got too much to lose.’

‘Can we
afford to take that chance?’

Rita and
Vinny remained silent.

 ‘Yeah, but
don’t worry,’ said Julie. ‘We’ll get him; I’m gonna make sure of it, if it’s
the last thing I do.’

On hearing
these words Rita and Vinny looked at each other with an air of foreboding.

Sunday 31
^st
August 1986

Julie’s parents weren’t aware of her injuries until the
following morning as she had arrived home late on the Saturday night and
disposed of her torn blouse. She made the excuse of tripping over a rug at
Vinny’s house and banging her face on the edge of the dining table. Despite her
mother’s comment about bad luck following her around, Julie could tell that her
father wasn’t convinced. However, they seemed to have accepted her deceit and fortunately
didn’t pursue the matter. Nevertheless, Betty insisted on fussing and applying
Witch Hazel every few hours to ease the swelling.

As the day rolled
by Julie tried to find solace by absorbing herself in her familiar family
routine. She had spent the day indoors and just finished one of her mother’s
scrumptious Sunday roasts. It was while she was helping her mother with the
washing-up that they heard her father’s shouts of astonishment. They dashed in
the direction of his yelling and found him in the living room transfixed to the
television screen. Their eyes followed his, and they watched and listened as a
reporter described the grisly scene where a savage murder had taken place. It
was the killing of a young woman just a few streets from her home. She had
worked at the Belmont Insurance Company. Her name was Jacqueline Bartlett, and
she had been on her way to her grandmother’s home when the killer had struck.

Julie felt
herself heave and thought she was going to vomit. Her mother led her to the
sofa and beckoned her to sit down.

‘Is that
one of Amanda’s friends?’ asked Bill, but Betty motioned him to keep quiet. 

‘I need to
get out Mam, it’s stifling in here!’ said Julie.

Before
either of her parents could stop her she had her coat and shoes on and was out
of the door. She pounded the streets for a good half hour trying to make sense
of it all. She experienced a series of emotions: confusion, despair, fear.

Eventually
her feet led her instinctively in the direction of Rita’s house. She knew as
soon as she saw Rita that she too had heard the news; she looked pale and
drawn.

‘I can’t
believe it Julie!’ Rita kept saying.

‘I’m still in
shock myself Rita. There’s one thing for sure; it was no accident, but what I
can’t understand is, why? Were Les and Jackie in it together?’

‘Maybe Les found
out she killed Amanda and it was his way of getting revenge,’ Rita suggested.

‘Unless she
found out too much so he had to get rid of her.’

‘I don’t
know. Maybe in his warped mind he blames us all for Amanda dying. Jesus Julie,
he might be after the bloody lot of us, one by one!’

Julie
stayed for coffee at Rita’s house in the hope that it might calm them both down
a little. It didn’t. While she was there she rang Vinny who, surprisingly,
hadn’t heard the news, but once she put him in the picture he was just as
shocked as her and Rita.

He
suggested that she get a taxi back home just to be on the safe side, which she
complied with, realising what a risk she had placed herself under while she had
been pounding the streets. Les might even be out there now, watching them and waiting
for the chance to dispose of another one of them.

When she
arrived home, she wasn’t surprised to find Inspector Bowden and Sergeant
Drummond there.

‘I wondered
how long it would take,’ she commented cynically.

They didn’t
take her down to the station; they didn’t have much to go on. Instead they
interviewed her at home. This time the questioning was brief. Inspector Bowden
seemed flummoxed at the fact that she had a good alibi for the night of
Jacqueline’s murder. Her parents backed her up as she had been watching TV with
them on the night of Jacqueline’s death. While they were there they also
questioned her about the marks on her face but she stuck to her story about
tripping over a carpet at Vinny’s house knowing that he would back her. She had
already discussed it with him and Rita on the previous night in case her
parents might raise the subject at some point.

Within less
than a half hour the police were gone. Julie could not help but notice that their
approach seemed to have changed towards her. It wasn’t that they held her in
any higher regard; Inspector Bowden still spoke to her as though she was the
scum of the earth. The difference was, she concluded, that although he thought her
capable of killing Amanda as part of a foolish, irresponsible prank that had
gone wrong, he didn’t, she felt, find her capable of cold blooded murder. 

The person
that had done this was sick, a person for whom violence was a way of life. She
thought about Les’s anger on the night that her and Rita had taken Amanda home,
and his maniac behaviour when he had her at his mercy in his flat. She could
picture the madness in his eyes and the thought made her tremble. He was
fearsome. She could understand why Amanda had always been so compliant towards
him. If anything, Julie was more certain now that it was Les who had killed
both Amanda and Jacqueline. Despite her fear she remained determined to prove
him guilty and see him behind bars.

--------------------

Tuesday
2
^nd
September 1986

It started
the following Tuesday. Julie had been back at work for a few weeks and was
finding it easier to cope. She had become accustomed to the blank stares and
people ignoring her. The scowls and insinuating comments had ceased except for
Jacqueline’s friends. It was as though the majority of people realised there
may be a connection between Amanda and Jacqueline’s deaths and that, as Julie
had an alibi for the night of Jacqueline’s murder, it was possible that she
wasn’t responsible for Amanda’s death either. Some people had begun to say
hello to Julie in the mornings. The odd one had even ventured to say a few
words to her, although the whole office was still reeling from the shock of the
second killing and the vicious way in which it was committed.  

‘It’s nice to
see you getting back to normal,’ Norma commented. ‘I was beginning to think you’d
never smile again.’

Then,
noticing the wry expression on Julie’s face, she checked herself. ‘Oh I know
you’ve not had a lot to smile about lately Julie. It can’t have been easy for
you, but it is a relief to see that you’re starting to get over things. I was
getting worried about you.’

Julie chose
not to reply. How could she disappoint Norma by confessing that she still
thought about Amanda each and every day, still had to fight back the tears sometimes,
and still felt determined that she would prove Les Stevens guilty and clear her
own name?

Julie had
still not ventured to the canteen, and she doubted that she ever would. For her
that place symbolised the way she had felt in those first few painful weeks
when Amanda’s death was fresh in her mind. It was a time when even the mention
of Amanda’s name could reduce her to tears, and she had been overwhelmed by
guilt. She did not need reminding of how she had felt and she didn’t need the
animosity of Jacqueline’s friends to remind everybody what had happened.

She had had
a busy morning, even managing to have a laugh with a few of the customers, when
she picked up the call. For a moment she couldn’t hear anything, then a
distorted voice came on the line. Although the caller had disguised his speech,
she could hear the next word loud and clear. ‘Murderer!’ the voice shouted.
Then, after waiting a few seconds to gauge her reaction, the caller hung up.
Julie yanked off her headset and hurled it across the desk as though it was
contaminated.

‘What the
hell’s the matter Julie?’ asked Norma.

Julie had
to compose herself before replying. ‘It was a malicious caller, Norma.
Someone’s trying to torment me. Why don’t they leave me alone?’

‘What did
they say?’

Julie
looked at Norma, her face bearing a pained expression as she uttered the word,
‘Murderer.’

‘The bloody
swines! Who was it? What did they sound like? I bet it was one of Jacqueline’s
cronies, wasn’t it?’

‘No Norma.
It was an external caller, and I couldn’t tell who it was. I think it was a
man, but he was using something to disguise his voice.’

‘Right, let’s
ring the police then. I bet it was that Les.’

‘I can’t do
that Norma.’

‘Why not,
for God’s sake?’

‘Because I
agree with you, I think it was Les. The police won’t believe me, and even if
they do, they’ll find out about us breaking in his flat. We’ll end up in more
trouble.’

Julie spoke
in a flurry hoping to bypass the mention of the break-in, but Norma soon picked
up on that. ‘You didn’t go ahead with it, did you?’ she asked, disgusted.

Julie look
shamefaced, but knew that she would have to admit to Norma that she had gone
against her advice and initiated the break-ins at Les’s flat. She hung her head
as she related the whole sorry tale to Norma. ‘So you see, I can’t go to the
police,’ she added.

Julie had hardly
had a chance to recover from this latest ordeal when a package arrived at
reception for her. The courier was dressed from head to toe in motorcycle gear,
including a helmet. He left the package in such a hurry that it was difficult
to notice what he looked like, except that he was tall and well-built.

Julie
stared after him in astonishment as she began to open the package. It was similar
to a shoe box in shape and size, but it was bright red and the lid was sealed
by sticky tape. Julie tore the sticky tape excitedly, half thinking that Vinny
had decided to surprise her.

She pulled
back the lid and found to her horror that there was a dead rat inside, with a
cut down its abdomen and its insides hanging out. Fresh blood from the rat
stained the piece of paper that was underneath it. Julie screamed and launched
the box across the floor.

Norma
didn’t speak at first; she got up from her chair and took a look inside the box
to see what had alarmed Julie so much. On spotting the dead rat she fled from
the building trying to catch up with the courier. A few seconds later she
returned out of breath.

‘It’s too
late, the bugger’s gone,’ she said.

‘Get rid of
it!’ said Julie.

‘No, you
must keep it; it’s evidence.’

‘I can’t keep
it, I can’t go to the police; I’ve told you!’

‘Julie, if
this carries on, you’ll have to go to the police love. You can’t let them get
away with that.’

Julie
decided not to argue any further. Instead she remained quiet for the rest of
the day, retreating into herself as she had done once before. 

The day
dragged by and Julie couldn’t wait until it was home time. Finally it reached
five o’clock. She set off for the ten-minute walk to the bus stop, but as she
rounded the first bend, she had an eerie sensation that someone was following
her.

She took a
swift glance behind her, but the street was crowded with office workers making
their way home and it was difficult to spot if anyone in particular was tailing
her. Julie continued to walk purposefully telling herself not to be silly, that
no-one would try to harm her on such a busy street, and that she would soon be
on the bus home. “
I’m just a bit freaked out by what’s happened today,
”
she tried to convince herself.

She
couldn’t shake off the creepy feeling, however, especially as she could hear
heavy footsteps in close proximity and they seemed to be gaining ground. As she
approached the end of a row of offices, she couldn’t resist the urge to take
another quick peak as she made an exaggerated turn around the corner while
glancing to the side.

It was then
that she spotted him. She couldn’t have given an accurate description, the
glimpse had been so fleeting, but she got the overall impression of a young
man, tall, thickset and dark; dark hair, dark eyes, dark clothing. “
Could it
have been the courier?
” she thought.

Her
thoughts gave rise to panic and she began to quicken her step, trying to increase
the gap of seven or eight feet between her and the man. He responded by
speeding up as well. She wanted to run, but thought that to do so would let him
know that she had seen him. Perhaps if she could try to pretend that she hadn’t
noticed, maybe she could trick him and make her escape. She was approaching
another corner and, as soon as she had rounded it, she sprinted a few yards,
then continued walking at a brisk pace when she felt he was in view, hoping
that he wouldn’t notice the increased distance between them. However, he soon
narrowed the gap.

Julie was
becoming increasingly frightened. She searched around for a means of escape.
She noticed the many people making their way home from work and began to weave
in between them trying to hide from view of the man. After a few seconds of
dodging, another quick glance backwards told her that she had not succeeded; he
was even closer. Her ploy of refusing to acknowledge his pursuit had not worked
either.

There was only
one thing left to do; she began to sprint, barging into people as she tried to
pass them as fast as possible. She could still sense his presence, hear his
heavy footsteps, and imagined the feel of his quickened breathing on the back
of her neck.