Taken (27 page)

They looked at her with hollow eyes and didn’t move a muscle. They simply continued to gaze blankly past her, as if she wasn’t there. It was all too much for Emmie and she burst into tears and started shaking.

‘Please, talk to me, I need you to. My name’s Emmie.’

The women looked at one another before the dark-haired one spoke very quietly, in broken English.

‘Name is Sanja, name her is Ljena, her Kaltrina and her is Ariana.’

It was clear now to Emmie the women didn’t speak much English. She didn’t know what else to say, so she just smiled at them, wiping away her tears. She put her head down and she felt her arm being touched. When she looked up, Ljena was wagging her finger side to side, signalling her not to cry.

The van suddenly came to a stop, sending Emmie and the women flying forward, and they all looked at each other fearfully as they heard the van door being unlocked. The icy air billowed in and they shivered together, all united by the cold and terror.

‘Get out.’

The man who’d been driving stood next to Oscar and spoke harshly, not giving the girls a chance to move by themselves before he aggressively started pulling them out. He went to grab Emmie but Oscar intervened.

‘Billy, leave this one to me. I don’t want her touched unless I’ve given the say-so.’

Oscar nodded his head to Emmie, who struggled out of the back, feeling the cramp in the back of her legs.

‘Remember what I said; listen and you’ll be fine.’

‘Oscar, why are you doing this to me?’

‘Me? I’m not doing anything. Alfie owes me; the packages weren’t in the flat like you said they’d be. You lied, Em. So instead of Daddy having a nasty accident, which I’m sure you wouldn’t want, this way you can pay off his debts. Anyhow, all this, it’s not so very different to what your dad does. See those girls there? They belong to Alfie, or they did do before the little matter of the money he owed me arose. Your dad bought them and then shut them in a room, just like I’m doing to you, so I hardly think he’s got a right to talk, do you? As they say, what goes round comes round.’

Emmie couldn’t believe what she was hearing; but then, why not? Her dad had basically lied to her her whole life, so why wouldn’t this be true?

‘You’re wrong, he wouldn’t do that.’

‘Oh you’re such a silly girl. If I showed them a photo of him, they’d know who he was; in fact they know him in more ways than one, if you know what I mean?’

Emmie put her hands over her ears, bringing home to Oscar how young she was. He pulled her arms away.

‘Whether you believe it or not, it doesn’t make much difference; it’s all true.’

He laughed loudly and Emmie shuddered.

They crossed the small uneven track and started to walk along a path which took them into the woods opposite. Oscar was at the back with a torch and the driver of the van was at the front. It crossed Emmie’s mind to make a run for it but she doubted she’d get very far, and if she was caught it might make Oscar angry. He’d already warned her to do exactly as he said, and perhaps if she did, he’d keep his promise and let her go home soon.

Shivering, she looked round at the darkened woods, feeling the slippy ground under her cream ballet shoes. She suspected they were quite far out of London, but as the van was windowless, she’d no clue which way they’d gone.

The trees hung so heavily, the branches interlocking with each other, Emmie doubted the path got any sunlight at all during the day. She stumbled over a tree root and put her hand onto Kaltrina’s back to steady herself as the path led deeper into the woods.

Her feet were wet and hurting from the cold and once more she questioned how she’d ever got herself into this predicament. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Oscar had said about her dad owning the girls. She didn’t know what to believe any more, she felt as if she was going mad, but if it was true, her dad wasn’t who she thought he was; it made him a monster. The thought made her panic and she turned round quickly.

‘Going somewhere Em?’

Oscar lifted the torch up and the light silhouetted his face, making him look like something out of a horror movie.

‘No, I just want to go home.’

She could hear the rise in her voice as fear hit her and her heart started to palpitate. Her body started to go into spasms, jerking her knees backward and forward. Just as Emmie thought she was going to lose total control, she felt a hand take hers; it was Kaltrina.

‘Emmie, sshh.’

She looked into the woman’s eyes, and even in just the torchlight, Emmie was able to see her urging her to carry on walking. As the group moved on again, Emmie had to stop and vomit.

A few minutes later they walked into a clearing and Emmie saw a huge house lit up in front of her. The driveway was full of cars and she realised they’d walked the back way. In the distance, Emmie could see people going into the imposing front door of the mansion.

Oscar pushed them forward and got out his phone.

‘It’s me; we’re all here.’

Within a few minutes a person cloaked in a floor-length red robe and a golden Venetian mask walked towards them. He spoke, and his voice was muffled.

‘Follow me. Everybody’s waiting.’

‘I need your help.’

The call came as a shock. It was the last person Casey had thought she’d hear from, but she was secretly pleased. Although she didn’t want to admit it, she’d missed hearing his voice, and was grateful the terse phone call they’d had the other day wasn’t going to be their last conversation.

‘Sure, if I can do anything, but what’s this about, Vaughn?’

‘Listen, I’d rather not talk on the phone; can you meet me? There’s a bar in Greek Street called the Tavern; meet me there in an hour.’

Casey changed into a pair of faded boot cut jeans, a V-necked pale blue jumper and a beige jacket, quickly checked her hair and rushed out of the flat.

It was getting chilly, and as Casey still had fifteen minutes to spare she walked the long way round up Wardour Street and along to Soho Square, marvelling at people sitting outside having their coffees, determined to flout the British weather.

By the time Casey arrived, her toes were frozen in her battered brown cowboy boots and the warmth of the bar was a welcome departure from the cold London air.

In the far corner of the bar, she immediately saw Vaughn sitting in a small alcove with a bottle of red, two wine glasses and two large glasses of water waiting on the table.

‘Hi, thanks for coming. Let me take your coat.’

‘I’ll hang on to it for a moment if you don’t mind and wait to warm up a bit. You’ve intrigued me by your call, what’s it all about?’

‘First, I need to know if I can trust you.’

Casey stared at Vaughn and picked up her glass of wine, which Vaughn had just poured, and then decided against it, picking up the glass of water instead. Vaughn raised his eyebrows at Casey but didn’t bother asking questions.

‘Yes, of course. I thought you’d know that. What’s this all about?’

‘Look, this isn’t a social chat, don’t think I’d be sitting here with you if I had a choice, Casey. But since our conversation the other day something’s turned up.’

She was a little taken back by his abrupt manner but she chose to ignore it.

‘Like what?’

‘Alfie’s been arrested on suspicion of murder.’

‘Oh my god! When? And who?’

Vaughn watched Casey’s reaction and couldn’t help but feel jealous at her obvious shock. It was clear to him she had feelings for Alfie and it pissed him off. He gruffly asked her a question which he’d had no intention of asking her but he couldn’t help himself.

‘Are you upset?’

‘Upset? I’m shocked; I was only with him …’ Casey trailed off, stopping short of what she was going to say.

It was like a kick in the balls for Vaughn to hear her nearly admit she and Alf had spent the night together. He just about managed to stop himself from exploding into a jealous rage; it wasn’t why they were here. He had to keep focused and stop acting like a lovesick schoolboy.

‘He’s been charged with the murder of Jake Bellingham; but he didn’t do it.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because he told me.’

‘Oh, he told you he didn’t do it and you believe him just like that?’

Casey’s voice was hostile, which puzzled Vaughn.

‘There’s no reason he should lie to me, Casey; it’s no big deal.’

He shrugged his shoulders and Casey launched into a verbal attack, her voice a loud whisper.

‘No big deal? A man’s been murdered and you think it’s nothing.’

‘I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just Alfie is who he is. It’s where he comes from. And besides, I had a phone call.’

‘From who?’

‘From Oscar; he told me Alfie didn’t do it.’

‘How does
he
know?’

‘Because he did; or rather his guy did, and he just finished it off.’

Casey sat staring; it was all so shocking – these were the sort of things that happened in movies, and she couldn’t quite get her head round it all. There was no way she’d expected for a moment Vaughn was going to tell her something like this, and she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know.

‘Then you need to call the police.’

‘I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that.’

‘No wait, don’t tell me; it’s the law of the world you live in. Am I right? A whole group of alpha males wanting to take the law into their own hands?’

Vaughn stared at Casey as she pulled off her jacket, irritated by her attitude.

‘You’re right, the world I live in people don’t bring the Old Bill into their business, they sort it out themselves; but there’s more to it than that this time.’

‘Oh please, enlighten me?’

Casey glared at Vaughn scornfully.

‘Has anyone ever told you, Casey, you can be a real bitch?’

Casey prickled, she didn’t like him to think of her like that; but how the hell did he expect her to behave? He’d just informed her Oscar had killed a man and Alfie was in prison for it, yet he thought she would sit and smile. She was way out of her depth and it frightened her. Casey didn’t have the first clue how in the space of a few short weeks she’d gone from looking for her child to spending time with a person who thought murder was no big deal.

Every part of her told her to run, to go back up North to relative safety – and yet here she was, ignoring all her screaming instincts, because as much as Casey didn’t want to admit it she didn’t want to lose Vaughn. That thought frightened her nearly as much as what he had just told her.

‘What do you want from me?’

‘I need your help. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t get the police involved, because Oscar’s got Emmie.’

‘Emmie!’

Casey dropped the glass of water she was holding and it shattered all over the tiled floor of the restaurant. Vaughn could tell by Casey’s expression she knew Emmie was her daughter. When Casey spoke, he could hear the terror in her voice.

‘Oh my god.’

Vaughn paused and lowered his voice to a whisper.

‘I know who you are; who Emmie is to you.’

Casey shrank visibly back into the padded chair.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘I think you do.’

The colour drained from Casey’s face and her head whirled round.

‘How … how … how long have you known?’

‘Not long; I got one of my sources to find out about you for me.’

‘How could you do that? More to the point, why would you do that?’

Casey suddenly felt nauseous, and she ran out of the restaurant as quickly as she could. She could feel the tears running down her face as the cold air hit her. She was about to run down the street when her arm was grabbed hold of in a firm grip.

‘You’ll catch a cold, Casey; here, you forgot your jacket.’

Casey snatched her jacket from Vaughn and tried to sniff away her tears, avoiding his gaze.

‘I’m sorry Cass.’

‘Just tell me why. I told you I didn’t want to get involved with you, but you still felt the need to go digging in my life – and as messed up as it is, it’s still my life. You had no right.’

‘I said I’m sorry, Cass, but you have to understand that I had to know who you were and if you were hiding anything – but I never for a moment guessed it would be this.’

He paused and tilted his head to one side, which emphasised his handsome face. ‘I had started to fall for you, Cass, and I didn’t want any nasty surprises; my heart couldn’t handle it.’

Vaughn took Casey’s face into his hands, cupping it up towards his, letting the light drizzle of rain fall on it.

‘We need to find Emmie, and I need your help. Well, Josh’s actually.’

Casey looked stunned and pulled away.

‘Josh? You are
unbelievable
. You really have dug around.’

‘Please Casey, just hear me out. Oscar said he’ll kill Emmie if the police or anyone else find out, but I think he’ll kill her anyway; it’s just a game to him. I need help from someone who might have contacts and know what they’re doing, but more importantly someone who hasn’t got any ulterior motives. I can’t mention a word of this to anyone I know so I was hoping perhaps you’d ask Josh to help, especially as …’

‘Emmie’s my daughter.’

This was the first time those words had really sunk in. It was bittersweet. Casey had spent her whole life dreaming about being able to talk about her child, but to talk about her in such hideous circumstances was no dream; it was a nightmare.

‘Yes Casey, so will you help?’

‘I don’t know, Vaughn. Are you sure it wouldn’t be better to contact the police in London, do things officially?’

Vaughn shook his head and spoke harshly to Casey.

‘She may be your daughter, Casey, but I love her too and I can’t risk anything happening to her. Oscar’s involved with the Albanians and they wouldn’t think twice about killing Emmie either if they felt the heat was on.’

‘The Albanians?’

‘Oscar and Alfie were involved with them. They were trafficking the girls; it’s big money. The girls in the club …’ Casey’s mind fixed upon the emaciated girls and the clearer those images became the more scared she felt. Her voice trembled as she spoke.