Introduction
(A quick update for anyone who has not read Heather's Busy Week)
Heather classes herself as being "well on the lezzie side of bi". She has just had a busy week indeed. Since last Friday evening she has taken no fewer than seven lovers: Rita (an old flame of hers); Alex (Rita's current boyfriend); Eleanor (Alex's mum); Gill (a lady cricketer and proud owner of a gold star), Ruth (Hev's bisexual coursemate); Stuffypants (a stern but oh-so-very-sexy policewoman) and Naz (Hev's very bi-curious footballing friend).
She has also: dobbed in an amateur drug pusher; wrecked a double twenty-first birthday party; been interviewed by the police (more than once); and rescued a damsel in distress from the clutches of a far more sinister dealer.
Alex is the common factor in most of Heather's recent adventures, which is just typical of a bloke. She sleeps with seven different people and which one causes her grief? That's right: the one with a willy!
In fairness it was Alex's twin sister who was mostly to blame. The amateur pusher was Carrie's friend. The wrecked twenty-first was Carrie's. And, influenced by her growing appetite for coke, it was Carrie who became the damsel in distress. That is to say she entered into an arrangement with the sinister Spider. Put simply, he fed her drugs and she let him have her any which way he wanted.
It is now Friday again and all is well. Carrie is safely locked away in a clinic, out of Spider's reach. It's time to celebrate being alive, Heather decides . . . and how better to celebrate than in Naz's bed? Yet another night of earthy lust will round things off nicely.
Then, moments before she sets out she gets a call from Alex, updating her about Carrie, unaware his mother has already beaten him to it. Heather listens politely, keeping her fling with "Mother" under her hat. But the call is ill-fated. An unwelcome, uninvited visitor cuts him off mid-call . . .
Chapter One
(Friday, 26th April 2002)
Heather stared at her mobile in disbelief. What was Spider doing at Alex's house? Come to that, how did Spider even know Alex existed? He hadn't known Carrie's name until Naz had blurted it out, and she'd only given him a Christian name; he couldn't have simply looked them up in the book.
She redialled with trembling fingers and got the number unavailable tone. Cursing, she tried again. Same result.
Rats, rats, rats, she thought. I'm going to have to get involved.
Predictably, Heather didn't pause to consider the fact that she shouldn't get involved. That simple fact never crossed her mind, not even fleetingly.
The taxi office picked up her call on the second ring.
''Ow do, chuck,' a broad cotton town accent said, 'need a cab?'
'Hattie, it's me, Heather.' She pictured the woman and smiled, concerned as she was. Hattie sounded as if she was George Formby's daughter and not at all Asian. 'Is Majid working today?'
'He starts at seven. He's on all night tonight.'
'Double rats. I need him urgently.'
'Sorry, chuck, I happen to know he's taken his nephew to see Return to Never Land. His phone will be off until he comes out of the cinema.'
Heather cursed under her breath. Then, reminding herself she was made of stern stuff, she said, 'I'll catch up with him later, assuming Captain Hook doesn't get him first. Meanwhile, can I have a taxi at mine as soon as poss, please?'
'It'll be there in ten, chuck.'
Heather hurriedly redressed in her student clobber and ran downstairs. The cab tooted outside as she was pulling on her Nikes.
'Stanley Street,' she said as she climbed into the vehicle.
The driver nodded and set off without comment. Heather eyed him as they went. She knew most of the regular cabbies well. This one called himself "Eddie" but was probably more of a Zoltan or Ferenc. His English was only so-so and he was a bit of a miserable git. She had no inclination to ask him for assistance. In fact she'd rather go charging in there alone.
Good grief, what am I doing, she wondered, pretending I'm Lara Croft again?
This time her smile was wry. She hoped Dr Lester didn't find out about this; whatever this turned out to be.
'Stanley Street,' Eddie announced. 'What number?'
'Pull up anywhere here on the left.'
As Heather turned to pay her fare she caught a glimpse of shiny black car passing. Looking out of the back window she saw it was a BMW, just like Spider's. She cursed some more, this time aiming the venom at her own stupidity. She'd been yards from the dealer's motor yesterday without memorizing his plate. And the BMW's windows were dark-tinted; she could only see a silhouette of the back of the driver's head. She was certain it was Spider . . . as good as, but not quite a hundred per cent.
Eddie handed over her change and frowned as she got out of the car. 'You okay?'
How to answer? No, I'm bricking myself . . . please help? Or maybe: Lend me an adjustable wrench and I'll be fine? Asking for help would be the sensible option, obviously. She couldn't do it, though. She did not know why, but she couldn't.
'Yeah,' she said. 'I'm okay.'
She tried Alex's number again as Eddie drove away. It was still unavailable. Trying to banish images of her friend's broken body lying next to his broken phone, she checked out Stanley Street. It had perhaps as much as two hundred yards of terraced houses on either side, all with marked-off parking spaces. Right now, five to five on Friday teatime, half of the spaces were empty. Alex lived at number thirty-two, on the other side from where she was standing. The space outside Alex's was empty.
Would Spider have parked directly outside? Heather mused, no, not if he's up to no good and has any sense. But then again, he's an arrogant so-and-so; not the sort to hide his car away on a side street.
Number thirty-two was set out like its neighbours. It had a front door to the left, lounge window to the right. As you went through the front door you were immediately confronted with a steep flight of steps. A small hallway turned into a corridor which led to the kitchen. And that was about it. It wasn't a place to get lost in. The kitchen took up the back third of the floor space; the hallway, corridor and lounge took up the rest. The flight of stairs would go to the first floor, where there were two smaller windows, perhaps a metre apart. At a guess there would be two bedrooms and a bathroom up there. It shouldn't take long to search for bodies.
That's if I ever get in!
Constantly assuring herself Spider had been and gone, Heather crossed the street and approached Alex's place. Steeling herself, she peered in through the window. Everything appeared to be orderly. As far as she could tell it was exactly the same as yesterday, except without Eleanor pacing up and down.
She went up to the front door and knocked. No reply. She gave it another sharp rat-a-tat-tat. There was still no reply.
Back on the street cars were arriving. Workers coming home, ready for a well-deserved weekend, she supposed. Farther down, towards the end of Alex's terrace, a harassed mum and dad duo were trying to load three quarrelsome kids into an Astra. Presumably they were setting off for their Friday evening shop at ASDA or Morrisons. And, if there was a more accurate vision of Hell than that . . .
Nobody was taking any notice so Heather went down on one knee and had a quick shufti through the letterbox. Flipping useless! Someone . . . probably Carrie . . . had installed a draught excluder. It was one of those bristly ones and impossible to shufti past, no matter how hard she tried.