STALKED AND STOLEN

Chapter 21

The door opened and an airy fresh scent filled my nose. A woman with massive blue eyes and blonde hair stood smiling at me. It took me a moment to recover from how much she looked like Tommy. I guessed she was probably in her fifties. She was small in frame and height, like me.

“Hi?” she said after a while of me just standing staring, and I pulled myself together.

“Hi, I’m sorry. I’m looking for Tommy.”

“Oh, I should have known.” She blew out a breathe like she was exasperated, and she shook her head. Her friendly smile had disappeared. “Why won’t you girls ever learn? Stop chasing him, you won’t settle him down. You all think you will, but you won’t. Frankly, I’m bloody sick of covering for him. I’m telling you now, if you want him go find him.” She made to close the door and I held up my hand and leaned to the side so she could still see my face.

“It’s nothing like that. I swear. I’m a... friend.”

I wasn’t Tommy’s friend, I was his...  I wasn’t his anything, was I? His victim? His ticket to all that money?

“He’s not here.”

“Please, it’s important. Where can I find him?”

The door closed further.

“He told me about you, about why he needed the money,” I said in a last attempt to speak to her.

The door stopped, and then she opened it again. Her pretty blue eyes eyed me up from head to toe.

“What money? I don’t know anything about any money.”

“I know you didn’t know when he did it. You didn’t know what he was going to do.”

“My Tommy has done nothing. I won’t have you throwing accusations around.”

“You know who I am now, don’t you?” I said. I watched her close her mouth and swallow. “I’m not here to cause any trouble. I haven’t told the police,” I said.

She opened the door further and stepped forward.

“Listen. He’s done some really stupid things in his time, his most recent being the stupidest. But he’s my boy, and I will protect him, so if you’re here to cause trouble—”

“I’m not. I swear. I just need to talk to him.”

She eyed me up suspiciously for a moment before she stepped back.

“Wait there. One moment.”

She closed the door and my lungs emptied of air. My heart was beating faster and my knees felt weak. I was stupid. I was so freaking stupid. Why was I here? What was I doing? I stood up straight again when I saw her silhouette approaching the door, and it opened.

“You can find him at the Burrows.”

“Where’s that?”

“Main Avenue, where the garages are. Head down the street and follow the grey road around to the right. You will see them.”

“Thank you. So much.” I smiled and headed out the garden.

I could tell she wasn’t happy about my arrival, she knew exactly who I was. But I understood it from her point of view too. I was nothing to her other than a rich little princess, and she would do anything to protect her family. Just like I would. Just like my parents would do for me.

I pulled the gate shut and smiled once more. She gave me a small, hesitant smile back, and I headed away. I did as she’d said, passing more houses and a little corner shop. I saw the odd person as I went, but I didn’t communicate with any of them. I walked for five minutes and stopped at a busy industrial estate. Massive buildings that looked old and run down soared down the massive street. Most of the gates were shut and locked, but there was two large buildings a little further down where a mass of different coloured cars and vans were parked up outside, not in an orderly fashion. It was like they’d just stopped and died there. One of the vans was up on bricks, no wheels.

As I got closer I heard the sound of voices. Closer, I saw a group of young men leaning against a red car. One had his hands down his pants. Another drank coffee. Another one of them smoked a cigarette. They all looked dirty and in grey coveralls. Their hands black from working on cars.

I stopped outside, and that’s when I saw him.

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