Taken (34 page)

‘I was supposed to meet her at one o’clock in the club.’

‘So I guess she’s gone AWOL. She hasn’t changed. Listen, I really haven’t got time for this, I’m going to go back to my hotel. If you see her get her to call me, but tell her not to leave it too late, as if I’m not needed here I’ll get a train back to Birmingham tonight.’

Josh got up from the couch, and kicked a pile of dirty laundry out of the way. About to vent his frustration again on the dirty shirts and trousers he looked down to get a good aim but stopped when he saw a splattering of fresh blood over the floor and on some of the nearby clothes.

Josh quickly got down on his knees and found more droplets of blood on the floorboards. He looked up and saw the look of anxiety on Vaughn’s face.

‘When was the last time you heard from her, Vaughn?’

‘Last night. We went into the West End to see someone but then I saw a man I knew from the club and she followed him.’

‘What! You let her go on her own?’

‘She was fine. I’m not going to put her in danger. All she was doing was seeing where he went. She lost the guy and I offered to meet her but she told me she was going to come back here and get an early night.’

Josh was only half listening as he continued to survey the room. ‘Over there.’ He pointed to more specks of blood near the kitchenette units. ‘I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions, Vaughn; she could’ve had a nose bleed or something, especially if she’d been drinking.’

‘A nose bleed? Are you having a fucking cackle, mate? Something’s happened to her; I know it. Her phone’s still here and she was supposed to meet you this morning and me at lunchtime.’

‘It doesn’t mean anything; it’s what she does.’

‘No, she wouldn’t do it to Emmie. She wanted to help, there’s no way she would just go off without telling either one of us.’

‘You obviously don’t know my wife, Vaughn.’

Vaughn turned on Josh angrily and started to shout, trying to ignore the panic inside him.

‘I don’t give a fuck what she used to be because I know what she is now, and I’m telling you she wouldn’t do that to Emmie. She lost her daughter once and she isn’t about to do that again. Her phone is still there and so is her bag and it doesn’t take a motherfucking genius to know something bad has happened.’

Vaughn stopped shouting, suddenly feeling emotionally defeated. ‘I’ll only say this once, Josh, but if there was ever a time I need help, it’s now. There are two people I love in trouble and I would happily bet everything I’ve got that Oscar Harding has something to do with Casey not being here. I’ll do anything it takes to find them and I need to know, are you with me?’

Josh stood in stunned silence, amazed at the emotional outburst and Vaughn’s declaration of love. All he could do was come up with an answer which sounded as if it was a line from a bad movie.

‘You bet your life I am.’

Standing in the windowless grey waiting area of the prison, Vaughn checked his mobile for the umpteenth time. He’d attempted to phone Oscar but it’d gone straight to voicemail. He’d been tempted to leave a message, warning Oscar if he laid a finger on Casey he’d have no alternative but to find him and kill him; the problem was he was only ninety-nine per cent certain Oscar had Cass and leaving a threatening message wouldn’t help.

He looked across at Josh fidgeting with his jacket buttons and decided to go and talk to him.

‘Can I ask you something, mate? I’m curious. What were you doing pissing in the sink?’

‘Have you seen the bathroom?’

Vaughn said nothing and smiled to himself.

The prison officer waved them through to the main visiting room where he saw an unshaven Alfie sitting at one of the tables.

‘Nice one Vaughn. Good to see you. Who’s this?’

‘Josh Edwards; he’s Casey’s husband.’

Alfie was lost for words. What the fuck was going on? He looked at Vaughn, who shrugged.

‘Are we playing happy fucking families now?’

‘No, Josh is going to help me – or rather, help us – find Emmie, and now it seems Casey too; he’s Old Bill.’

Josh shot Vaughn a biting stare; they’d agreed in the car not to tell Alfie who he was but he’d spat it out at the first opportunity.

Alfie stood up from his chair in astonishment and saw the prison officer walk towards him, thinking there was going to be more trouble with prisoner 17181. He hurriedly sat down again, not wanting another spell in solitary.

‘Have you shat your marbles down the bog, mate? Bringing Old Bill in here and to me? Do you want everyone in here to think I’m a grass?’

‘Listen, I don’t like it any more than you do, but we need him.’

Josh sat up straight from the hard prison chair, somewhat offended, and spoke to them both.

‘I
am
here.’

Vaughn looked at him and was about to open his mouth but Alfie got there before him.

‘Shut the fuck up.’ Alfie turned back to Vaughn. ‘Listen Vaughn, this ain’t happening.’

‘You’ve got no say in it, Alfie – especially now Oscar’s got Casey. And may I remind you, if it wasn’t for your dealings with Oscar, we wouldn’t be where we are now.’

Alfie rubbed his head. It was so fucked up he didn’t know where to begin. He sat and looked round the room, seeing all the other prisoners with their loved ones and asking himself for the hundredth time how he’d ever got in such a fucking mess.

‘You need to tell me everything. If you know of any of Oscar’s cronies you need to tell me; I need names. It’s the only chance we have of finding Emmie.’

‘You having a bubble? You want me to be a grass as well as sitting here rubbing shoulders with a fucking monkey? I need to get out of here and find him myself.’

Vaughn stretched across the table and grabbed hold of Alfie’s striped collar.

‘Fuck the code, Alfie, and for once, fuck your ego. If you think you’re going to sit here and not tell me about Oscar and his cronies, behind bars or not, I will fuck you up more than you are already. There is no way in hell I’m going to let anything happen to Casey or her daughter.’

Casey was feeling rough. The heroin had made her body break out into clammy sweats and her hands were starting to shake, but as much as she wanted to put the way she was feeling all down to what had happened with Oscar she wasn’t going to kid herself: she knew the signs of withdrawing from alcohol and prayed it wasn’t going to affect her ability to support Emmie. She
had
to stay clear headed – it was their only chance to work out a way of getting out of there.

Casey looked over at Emmie, who was pacing up and down in an attempt to lessen the boredom and hold on to her sanity. Emmie had told her some of what happened at the party and it had confirmed Casey’s worst fears.

The other women in the room hadn’t roused enough to communicate with them – if it wasn’t for them walking zombie-like to the bathroom, complete with dead eyes and sallow skin, Casey wouldn’t have even known they were there.

If they did have a chance to escape, she doubted she’d be able to take them with her, they were so out of it on heroin. If she did find a way out for her and Emmie, they’d only have one chance and she couldn’t afford to blow it. It seemed callous but there wasn’t much she could do. Casey sighed and lay back on her mattress. There was no doubt in Casey’s mind that Jason and Oscar would be planning another party. Time was running out for Casey to get them out of there alive.

Jason Hedley grinned at Oscar before letting out a large burp. He’d got indigestion from the korma chicken curry he’d eaten late last night and it was repeating on him more times than an episode of
Friends.

‘I was impressed, you came up with the goods – and from what I hear Billy did a good job cleaning up.’

Jason glanced at Oscar in the mirror and leant forward to pick out a bit of chicken from his tooth. With his boyish face and twinkling eyes, he’d always looked younger than his years, helped by the fact that his body was in peak condition, with a year-round tan from sun beds and trips to Majorca.

Giving himself a last check in the mirror, he turned his full attention back to Oscar, moving towards the large south-facing window to sit down. He’d bought his flat for cash two years ago for just over two million and it suited him down to the ground. It was situated close to Hyde Park and from his back bedroom, he could see the walls of Buckingham Palace; it was certainly a long way from the run-down estate he’d grown up on in Bristol.

‘So are we still on for the party, Oscar?’

‘Absolutely; but I was hoping to renegotiate the price.’

Jason stopped admiring his manicured nails and stared at Oscar. That was the problem with easy money; people always wanted more. Oscar’s women had been good and what he’d seen he’d liked, but they weren’t worth anything more than he’d paid for them the first time round. It wasn’t as if their pussies were suddenly made out of gold.

‘I’m sorry Oscar, I’m already paying full whack. So, no can do I’m afraid.’

Oscar looked round the luxurious apartment and decided Jason was taking the piss. He’d sorted the girls out for him without so much as a grumble last time and had come away one down, not to mention that stupid bitch Ariana, who’d screamed all the way through the party then had corpsed on the smack back at the warehouse, making him have to pay Billy more again to do a cleanup. He didn’t dispute the money was good, but it certainly could be better and he was determined to get more.

‘I appreciate what you pay, I really do, but your clients want something special and I provide it. Surely that counts for something?’

Jason wondered why Oscar couldn’t see what a good thing he was on to and what a fucking fool he was being. One thing Jason hated with a vengeance was greedy people – and Oscar Harding’s love of money was going to fuck him up one day, but for the time being he needed him. Jason narrowed his eyes and stared hard at Oscar. As soon as this next party was over with, he’d find someone else to provide the goods.

‘It counts for a lot, but I’m not going to pay over the odds, Oscar, just because I appreciate what you do; I’m a businessman. And a word of advice: no one likes a man coming into their castle and demanding their gold.’

‘Jason, we’re friends, so I wouldn’t like to have to tell you my girls won’t be coming and put you in an awkward position with all those clients who’ve paid for their slice of utopia. To see you getting a reputation as a man who breaks his word would be dreadful, because I know how difficult it would be to find women like mine at such short notice.’

‘Are you trying to blackmail me, Oscar? Because you and I both know what a foolish mistake it would be.’

‘Blackmail? Now that’s an ugly word. I was merely expressing my concern for your reputation, which we both know is everything in this business.’

Jason licked his lips. Oscar had his bollocks in a vice and they both knew it. There were over two hundred people all coming to the party, who’d paid over ten grand apiece to attend.

‘Fine, I’ll add another three grand a head.’

‘Make it five and we’ve got a deal.’

Jason grinned, without the smile hitting his eyes.

‘Four grand and that’s my final offer.’

‘You drive a hard bargain, Jason; but okay, four grand it is.’

Jason shook Oscar’s hand, hoping one day instead of shaking his hand he’d be breaking it, and then he’d show him what a hard bargain really felt like.

Vaughn read the headlines of the
Evening Standard
and slammed the paper back down in the news stand.

‘Anything interesting?’

Vaughn was about to snap Josh’s head off but his lip started to throb and he started to feel very sorry for himself. It was a stupid thing he’d done.

‘It was a stupid thing to do back there.’

Josh echoed his thoughts and it annoyed him immensely, mainly because he was telling him what he already knew.

‘When I want your opinion, I’ll ask you for it.’

‘Even you can’t think it was sensible.’

‘Fuck me, what is it with you? So I made a mistake in telling Alfie?’

‘A mistake – is that what you’d call it?’

No, it wasn’t what he’d call it but as Vaughn clambered into his Range Rover with his face throbbing, the last thing he was going to do was admit what an idiot he’d been in telling Alfie that Emmie was Casey’s daughter. He shuddered at the thought of his stupidity.

‘Come again?’

Alfie had stared at him over the prison visiting table, not quite sure he’d heard correctly.

‘Casey’s daughter. Emmie is Casey’s daughter, Alf.’

It had still taken Alfie a while to react; he could see Vaughn’s mouth working and he could hear the words, but he couldn’t comprehend them. It was too shocking to take it seriously.

‘Is this your sick way of winding me up, Vaughn?’

‘No; it’s the truth. I didn’t know myself until recently.’

‘And you think you’re going to start playing happy families with my daughter?’

‘It’s not like that, Alf.’

Josh had looked on at the two men and as he looked at the twitch in Alfie’s cheek he’d started to count in his mind how long it’d take for the full eruption to take place.

Alfie put his head in his hands and held it there for a moment as Josh got up to thirty-two.

‘You bastard, I bet you’ve been laughing your heads off at me.’

Alfie’s fist had come flying up as he kept his head down; it had made perfect contact on Vaughn’s lip, splitting it open and knocking him backwards off the plastic chair. Immediately Vaughn had scurried up and leapt on Alfie, his fists pummelling in all directions.

The prison officers had blown their whistle trying to stop the fight but it’d had the opposite result and had set off a domino effect of violence amongst the other inmates.

A tall Asian man who had a score of his own to settle dived on the man opposite him, encouraging a cacophony of furious shouts of anger amongst the remaining prisoners in the visiting room.

Vaughn grabbed hold of Alfie’s arm quickly; he could see the guards were on their way. He twisted it round his back, pulling it to the point of breaking, and slammed Alfie’s head on the floor.