The Promise Read online

  Aware that she was getting off lightly – very lightly indeed – Mary made a bolt for the pub door before Delray changed his mind.

  As much as she was certain Josie Parker must have a few mental problems in order to have battered poor Trevor Pearson to death with a hammer, Josie had nothing on Delray Anderton. The man was a complete and utter nutcase, and Mary Sheelan, finally put in her place now, couldn’t get out of the pub fast enough.

  ‘Well, this looks nice and cosy, doesn’t it?’ Delay Anderton stepped down into the kitchen, taking in the scene before him. Georgie and Marnie were sitting huddled in massive cardigans, their hands wrapped around mugs of hot chocolate. Davey and Mandy both sitting at the table opposite them. ‘It’s almost like one of those wholesome scenes from The Waltons.’

  Delray had heard the girls giggling as he’d come up the stairs. Davey had obviously said something funny and the girls were both laughing.

  None of them were laughing now though. They were all staring at him wondering what he was doing here.

  ‘How can we help, Delray?’ Davey asked warily, wondering why the man had thought it was okay to come upstairs into his home without being invited. He had no reason to be here. No reason at all.

  Davey tried his hardest not to associate with the likes of Delray. The man was nothing but bad news.

  Delray smirked. Looking over towards Mandy he raised his eyes.

  ‘I take it you didn’t tell your boyfriend here about our little phone call then, Mandy?’

  She squirmed in her chair.

  ‘You called Delray?’ Davey looked at her, confusion written all over his face.

  Mandy didn’t answer. She didn’t even have the good grace to look him in the eye.

  The second Delray stepped into the kitchen just then, and as Mandy saw that twisted, crooked smirk of his, she knew she’d made a mistake of epic proportions. She’d thought she was doing the right thing earlier. Calling Delray. She’d somehow convinced herself that, in some way, she was actually doing the girls a favour too. Trying to find them a place where they could stay together. A place where they’d be looked after. But a small part of her had been selfish too. She didn’t want Davey to get involved in all of this.

  Now though, seeing the angry look on Davey’s face, she realised that he already was, and he was not one bit happy that Mandy had just made things even more complicated by involving this man.

  Staring down at her mug, she avoided eye contact. Guilt written all over her face.

  Davey shook his head, annoyed that Mandy had taken it upon herself to involve someone else.

  ‘I’d said I’d sort this, didn’t I?’

  Davey looked at Delray and shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding; everything’s under control here. I don’t know why Mandy called you, but it’s all sorted. Really.’

  Davey couldn’t stand Delray.

  The man was nothing but scum. He made a living from forcing girls to work for him. Pimping them out as if their only purpose was to line his pockets. Davey had seen the damage that he’d done to Josie and Mandy over the years. Josie more so. Unable to cope with the lifestyle she led, looking after her girls single-handedly – she’d turned to drink and drugs.

  The woman’s behaviour had been spiralling out of control for months. Davey suspected that Josie was back on the gear too. He’d wondered if heroin had played a part in her committing a murder. Ultimately, he knew Delray had been the root cause of it all.

  There was no way he was going to hand these kids over to the man. Josie wouldn’t want him to, he was convinced of that.

  ‘I think you best leave.’ He knew he was crossing the line speaking to Delray in such a short manner, but he was also letting Delray know that he wasn’t a man to be easily intimidated.

  He’d never caused Delray any issues in the past. In fact, Davey had always allowed Delray’s girls to tout for business in his bar without so much as a word of trouble from him, mainly for the girls’ sake, if anything. At least having them in the pub meant that they weren’t out having to walk the streets. They could stay inside in the warm, and Davey could keep an eye on them.

  He’d even sorted out the mess that Delray had made of his pub last week when Delray and Lenny had kicked Billy Stackhouse all around the place. Davey hadn’t ever mentioned the broken furniture or the blood on the carpet; instead, he’d just sorted it all out himself.

  Now in return all he asked for was a little bit of mutual respect.

  This was Davey’s home, and he wasn’t going to let anyone just waltz in here and start poking their nose in his business. The girls had come to him. He was going to sort this out.

  ‘Well, that’s just it, Davey, everything isn’t under control, is it? These two have done a runner from the kids’ home, haven’t they? They are going to have people looking for them.’ Delray laughed as he pulled up a chair and sat down at the table. Leaving Davey in no doubt that he wasn’t going anywhere.

  ‘Now, are you two going to tell me what’s been going on?’ Delray stared at the girls.

  Delray had to admit the news about Josie had floored him too. He knew Josie had been in a bad way, but murder?

  Just like everyone else around here, he hadn’t thought she was capable. Still, it just proved you never really knew, did you. She’d murdered a punter too… which only confirmed what Delray already knew. He’d been right to out the woman. He didn’t want to be associated with any of that shit. Delray had far bigger fish to fry these days.

  Josie could rot for all he cared.

  ‘What happened?’ Delray looked at Georgie.

  She looked down at the table. She couldn’t speak; she didn’t dare.

  Seeing the obvious discomfort on the girl’s face, Davey stepped in.

  ‘I’m sure Georgie will tell us when she’s good and ready. Let’s not force them, eh?’ Davey saw Georgie relax at his words, glad to have the attention back off of her.

  ‘Oh, fuck me. You even sound like a bleeding social worker, Davey, no wonder they came to you, eh?’ Delray laughed.

  ‘I think you should leave,’ Davey repeated looking at Delray; then turning to Mandy, beyond angry, he added: ‘You should go too.’

  ‘You don’t understand, Davey, I was trying to help. Trying to do what’s best for them… ’ Mandy said, heart sorry now for landing Davey with Delray.

  She should have kept her nose out of it.

  Delray, however, didn’t move. Helping himself to a biscuit, he dunked it into Davey’s hot chocolate. He could hear the seriousness in Davey’s voice; he could see that the man was scared of him, but he was also standing up for himself too. Delray liked that. A man with a backbone. It made a change around these parts.

  As refreshing as it was though, no one barked orders at him.

  ‘I heard you, mate, and that’s exactly what I am going to do, Davey-old-boy, don’t you worry. Let’s just let the girls finish up their hot chocolate before we leave, yeah?’

  ‘Leave? They aren’t going anywhere. Not with you.’ Davey raised his voice now. ‘Josie would have wanted me to help them. It’s the least I can do for the girl.’

  ‘Well, you see, Josie don’t really get a say in the matter. She ain’t going to be around for a while from what I heard.’

  Delray was smug, and so he should be. He’d been racking his brains about whether he’d be able to try and gain custody of the girls via the authorities, and with his reputation and criminal record, the chances of that ever happening had been slim to none. Yet, here he was again: destiny had thrown him another lifeline. He hadn’t needed to try and fight for the kids; the kids had come to him, albeit it through Davey boy.

  ‘We want to stay here,’ Georgie said, folding her arms across her chest.

  Delray sat back in his chair. Sucking his teeth, he shook his head slowly. The last thing he wanted to do tonight was cause a scene, but he would if he needed to.

  ‘I ain’t going to tell you agai
n, Davey. The girls are coming with me. Now drink up, girls.’

  ‘No, they are staying.’

  Marnie and Georgie stared from man to man, seeing the tension between them both, unsure who they should be listening to.

  ‘Who the fucking hell do you think you are, eh?’ Davey said, so angry now that he was prepared to take Delray on. No matter what the bloke said or did to him, Davey had a lot of time for Josie and her girls. He wanted to help them, and he’d do a damn sight better job than the likes of Delray Anderton.

  The man was a scumbag, a criminal. He lived the kind of life that no young child should be any part of. Well, Davey wasn’t going to just sit here and put up with the man trying to intimidate him. This was his home. The girls had come to him.

  ‘Who do I think I am?’ Delray roared with laughter. ‘Are you going to tell him, or shall I?’

  Mandy, sensing where this conversation was going, felt sick to her stomach. Tonight she’d opened up the biggest can of worms in calling Delray here. Looking across the table to Davey, then finally to Georgie and Marnie, her voice was barely audible.

  ‘He’s Marnie’s father, Davey. Marnie, darling, Delray is your dad.’

  Chapter Forty

  ‘Is this really your house? It looks like a hotel!’ Marnie gasped out loud as the lift doors opened and she, Georgie, and Delray all stepped inside the huge apartment’s main front door, unable to believe her eyes; she had never been inside a house that looked this posh.

  Shiny textured wallpaper, large mirrors. Every surface sparkled and gleamed.

  Following Delray and her older sister, she felt the warmth of the thick, plush carpet envelop her feet as she walked. Gazing up at the impossibly high ceilings, she was mesmerised by all the glass-like beads of crystal that hung down from the light fittings.

  ‘Fancy ain’t it!’ Delray said proudly, as he tossed his keys down on the mirrored console table in the hallway, and led the two girls through into his huge open-plan lounge and kitchen.

  Sometimes he forgot how well he’d done for himself. Memories of growing up on the Aylesbury Estate, over in Lambeth, seemed like a lifetime ago now. Living in poverty back then had been the norm. Delray hadn’t known anything else.

  He’d always wanted more. Ever since a young boy. He despised the Aylesbury Estate and everything it stood for. A sink estate, set in a depressing cluster of concrete flats, surrounded by a maze of dingy alleyways and communal gardens that were rife with crime. Drug dealers, prostitutes, gangs. The dregs of society all clustered together and forgotten about. Most people Delray’s age were lucky to make it out of the place alive, let alone make it out and achieve the kind of status that Delray had attained for himself.

  Delray was one of the lucky ones. He’d clawed his way out of the gutter by all means necessary, and he meant any means. Whatever it took. Determined to make a decent life, he’d reinvented himself.

  Even now he’d made it big time, but still he wanted more.

  ‘Your front room looks bigger than my whole school,’ Marnie said. ‘Listen to this. Hello. Helloooo. Hellooo.’ Marnie giggled as her voice carried all the way through the apartment, echoing off its walls.

  Delray couldn’t help but laugh at the child. So young and innocent; the kid just said whatever came into her mind. Nothing was rehearsed, nothing pre-empted. Delray liked that about her; at least he knew where he stood. Unlike her older sister, Georgie, who, since Mandy’s little outburst at the pub, had barely said two words and had a permanent gob on her.

  It had been a shock to both of the girls, finding out that Delray was Marnie’s father, he knew that. Fuck knows how he’d fallen in bed with Josie after all those years, but somehow Delray just had. Josie had been nothing more than a quick, convenient fuck when he’d needed one. Only, he’d gone and got the woman up the duff. Still, as far as he was concerned that was all down to Josie. She was their mother and if she’d decided to lie to the girls then that was down to her. All he was doing now was picking up the pieces.

  The truth be told, Delray had never had any interest in Marnie, not really. When Josie had first told him that she was pregnant Delray had told Josie that she couldn’t keep her. That she had to get rid. He’d even driven Josie down to the abortion clinic over in Romford. Forcing her to go through with it against her wishes, he’d had to physically walk her in through the main doors of reception and sit with her until the nurse called her through.

  Only, typical Josie, she’d made a right song and bleeding dance. Crying and wailing like a banshee when it came to her turn to go through with the procedure, she told the nurses that she couldn’t do it. She’d become so hysterical that the medical staff had refused to carry out the operation, insisting that Josie needed more time to decide. That she needed to be certain.

  So, Josie had won. She’d got to keep her baby.

  Convinced that she’d been trying to trap him, Delray had refused point-blank to offer any form of support. He’d told her that, if she had the baby, it was her responsibility and hers alone. Just because she’d had his kid it didn’t mean that the woman would catch a free ride. In fact, because she’d gone ahead and had his kid, she’d actually had it harder over the years than most of the others.

  Delray had wanted to ensure that he kept her on her toes, kept her from thinking that she could ever try and take the piss out of him and, to her credit, Josie hadn’t asked for a single thing from him over the years. She’d earned her own keep, and paid Delray every week for his protection, just like all the other women did. She didn’t get so much as one ounce of special treatment.

  ‘Wow, look, Georgie, can you see the boats?’ Running over towards the huge window that spanned the entire length of the apartment, Marnie pressed her face up against the cool glass and stared out into the dark night sky. Her eyes drinking in the twinkling lights of London that reflected down onto the river.

  Georgie joined her.

  ‘London looks beautiful like this doesn’t it, Georgie?’

  Both of them were mesmerised, standing side by side as they admired the breathtakingly stunning view of London, lit up in all its colourful glory. Georgie’s eyes followed the spray of lights that twinkled all along the river’s edge. The brightly lit buildings; the vast Lambeth Bridge; the boats dotted about on the Thames.

  It was hard to believe that they were only a few minutes away from home. From their house in Brixton. This place felt like a million miles away. Like a lifetime away.

  A whole new world; one that Georgie was petrified of.

  She thought of her mother then. Standing in the bedroom doorway. Trevor’s lifeless body at her feet, splayed out on the floor. The hammer embedded in his skull.

  All that blood. That brain matter.

  Georgie squeezed her eyes shut as if to blot the image from her mind, grateful when Marnie’s voice broke her thoughts.

  ‘Do you live here in this big house all by yourself, Delray?’

  ‘Marnie. Don’t be so nosey,’ Georgie warned as she stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, feeling suddenly very out of her comfort zone.

  ‘It’s all right. She’s just curious. Nothing wrong with being inquisitive,’ Delray said as he went to the fridge and poured himself and the girls out a glass of fresh orange juice.

  ‘Sometimes my mate, Lenny, stays here, but he’s gone away for a few days. I have a girlfriend though. Her name’s Javine. She’s in bed at the moment. She loves her beauty sleep. Maybe you girls can meet her tomorrow?’

  Delray hadn’t expected to have the girls here so soon. He’d thought he had a few more days yet, maybe even a week or so, if he went via the official route of getting access to them.

  As it was, they were here almost of their own doing. It was a right touch. Now he had to pull his finger out if he had any hope of getting Javine to play ball: pull out all the stops tomorrow morning. If this plan of his was going to work, he needed Javine back onside. Try and get the girl to come around to his way of thinking; hopefully, before the gir
ls woke up.

  ‘Why don’t you sit down, girls, make yourself at home,’ Delray said as he placed a glass of orange juice down on the coffee table in front of them.

  Georgie, glad of the distraction, led her sister over to the sofa, where they both sat down. Excited at her new surroundings, Marnie couldn’t sit still. Spinning around on the chair, she was taking it all in.

  ‘Woah! Your telly’s as big as a cinema!’ she said, running her hand across the smooth, soft leather sofa. She glanced up at the gigantic television and did a double take. ‘Are you rich?’

  She was positive that Delray was. She’d seen inside the fridge when he’d taken the orange juice out of it. The last time Marnie had seen that much food in one place had been when she’d gone to the supermarket.

  ‘I wouldn’t say rich, not yet, anyway, but I do all right.’ Delray was being modest now. Georgie and Marnie were acting like this was a palace; compared to the shit tip that they’d lived in with their mother, Delray guessed that’s exactly what this place must be like.

  ‘What do you think, Georgie?’ Delray asked. ‘You like it?’

  ‘Your place ain’t none of my business.’ Georgie shrugged.

  Delray smiled.

  The kid was the spit of Josie. All attitude and raised eyebrows.

  Georgie wrinkled her nose. None of this impressed her, not really.

  Expensive things, fancy decorations. Seeing how Delray lived only made her angrier.

  Georgie had spent her life watching her mother scrimp and save for everything. Half the time, they hadn’t even been able to afford a loaf of bread. As much as Georgie had always hated her mother working – all the men, the sex noises – she knew that her mother had had to do all those things. She’d had to support her and Marnie. What had Delray ever done for them? Other than come around to the house and take money off her mother every week. It should have been the other way round. If Delray really was Marnie’s father, then he should have been supporting their mother. Not living here in this apartment like a king, while they had all struggled. It made sense now why her mother had hated Delray so much. The few times he’d brought them presents over the years, instead of being grateful for them, Josie had resented them, and rightly so.