Spider Page 3

  She was crying out all her hurts from over the years. It wasn’t from the spanking she’d just endured—she was crying for her brother, for her mum, for Lara, for her dad, and for herself. Her shoulders were convulsing as she sobbed against the Jelvia’s thigh.

  ‘So many tears,’ he said.

  ‘I hate you. I hate your species. I hate everything you stand for,’ she said, hiccupping through her words.

  ‘That’s racist,’ he said. He sounded amused.

  ‘You’re not a race! You’re… you’re a thing!’

  ‘A thing?’

  ‘Killing adults is one thing, but kidnapping teenage girls? You’re beyond low.’

  He was silent, and then she realised he wasn’t holding her anymore. She was hanging over his thigh as if voluntarily. She scrambled up and pulled up her knickers and leggings as quickly as possible. She smoothed her shirt down, flattening it against her backside. Her ass stung, and she winced.

  ‘What teenage girls?’ he asked.

  She couldn’t see him in the shadows of the cellar, only his eyes as they glowed at her.

  ‘My sister. She’s only seventeen. It isn’t enough that our population is dwindling. You have to steal our babies!’

  ‘You think we took your sister?’

  ‘You were in the area when she went missing. The police won’t do anything because they’re scared. Everyone’s fucking scared of you!’

  ‘But you’re not, eh, sweet cheeks?’

  She wiped her eyes and then turned to the stairs as if to run up them and away from him so she could howl and cry in private. She hadn’t cried like that in ages—not even when she had reported Lara missing. She was the strong one, the one in charge.

  But her sudden urge to invite death scared her. Had she been suicidal and not realised? She stopped at the sight of the dead man, laying on his side near the stairs. His had a puncture tear in his trousers at the top of his leg, and inside the hole was blackened flesh. Spider had spat his venom straight between her legs into the man’s thigh, and she hadn’t heard or seen a thing until the man dropped dead.

  She heard movement behind her and glanced over her shoulder. Spider was standing as far as the ceiling would allow him. He patted her hot ass and urged her towards the steps. She needed no further bidding; she was away and up the stairs. At the top, she thought about pulling the trapdoor down on Spider’s head, but knew that’d just enrage him further. Also, it had no lock, so locking him in wasn’t even an option.

  She stood at the top, and a few moments later, Spider emerged with the dead man over his shoulder.

  ‘Nice doing business with you,’ Spider said. He held out his hand and looked at her as if he expected her to shake his hand. ‘No?’

  ‘Get out,’ she said.

  ‘Goodbye, sweet cheeks… or hot cheeks. Whatever the case may be.’

  Her face burned, but Spider had turned and didn’t see her embarrassment as he walked out of the pub with a dead man over his shoulder.

  FOUR

  Beth twisted round to look at her backside in the mirror. After a hot shower last night, and another this morning, her ass was still stinging, but Beth imagined this was physiological, as there was no redness or heat.

  Typically, on the mornings when she worked the cleaning job, she was too tired to do anything but move on autopilot but today she felt almost energised whenever she thought about Spider’s actions the day before. As she scraped her hair back into its usual ponytail and tiptoed down the stairs, she couldn’t help but feel that the encounter with the Jelvia had somehow shaken her into living again.

  He’d made her angry and she hadn’t been angry for a long time.

  After Spider had left with the dead man over his shoulder, Beth went upstairs into Colin’s bathroom and sat on the closed lid of the toilet and sobbed. She hadn’t been able to control it. It was as if the years of built-up torment had suddenly been released. A police officer found her, placed her jacket around Beth’s shoulders and led her out of the pub.

  Later, Beth was told that Spider had come out of the pub, using the dead man as a shield from the armed officers, before dumping him and running for cover. Beth, her truth too humiliating to repeat, lied and told the officers that Spider had let her go after finding his quarry and she’d run upstairs into the bathroom where PC Barns found her.

  Everyone believed her.

  Beth pulled away from the kerb, still thinking about last night, about her past, about Lara. About her wrecked life.

  Angry at Spider, at the world, and at how her life had turned out, she got on with her early morning cleaning at the school. It was a job she hated, but the cash payment made it a position that was hard to turn down. She cleaned the toilets, vacuumed the carpets, mopped the floor, and cleaned the staff room. She worked with several other women, none of whom spoke English, but that was fine with Beth. She wasn’t there to make friends.

  She was packing away her cleaning materials when she felt her mobile vibrating in her back pocket. Her arse tingled, and she felt, all over again, Spider’s hands stroking, petting, and spanking her bottom.

  ‘Get over it, Beth,’ she scolded herself and looked at her phone just as the vibrating stopped. The mobile pinged while she was looking at it. Colin had sent her a text when she hadn’t answered. Beth read it dispassionately.

  Hi, Beth, I hope you’re feeling better this morning. Don’t worry about coming in today. I’m closing the pub out of respect for the man who died. I think we all need time to come to terms with what happened last night, anyway. I’ll keep you updated about when we’ll reopen. — C

  So, Colin was closing the pub as a mark of respect, Beth thought as she drove home. It was more than likely he was just terrified the Jelvia would come back, not that she could blame him.

  ‘Good morning, Bethy,’ said Alison as Beth walked into the kitchen. ‘Coffee?’

  Beth pushed her bad mood behind her and smiled at her mum. ‘Yes, that would be lovely.’

  For a moment, it was how it should be: Alison, the mother, greeting Beth, the daughter, but then Alison asked, ‘Do I need teabags with coffee?’

  Beth smiled. ‘No, Mum. It’s coffee granules. I’ll show you,’ she said and patiently showed her mother how to make coffee, like she did most mornings.

  Steven was next to stumble into the kitchen. He looked wrecked after his session the night before, but these were the moments she liked most with her dad these days—the sober-if-hungover-mornings. They wouldn’t last long. By teatime, he’d be drunk again.

  He ruffled Beth’s hair then switched on the radio, an everyday routine.

  This morning, the local station was broadcasting the rampaging Jelvia through the Dog and Gun. Beth didn’t want to talk about it and turned towards the stairs as her dad called her back, looking at her with shocked eyes and giving her no other option but to explain.

  She took the cowards way out:

  ‘I wasn’t there when it happened, but obviously, I’m a little shaken that it happened in my pub.’

  ‘Jesus, Beth! What was a Jelvia doing inside a pub and your pub at that!’

  ‘Apparently, he was looking for a man—’

  ‘And found him! You’re not going to continue to work there, are you? Don’t you think this family has had enough bad luck?’

  ‘Dad, I have to work especially as—’

  ‘As I’m not working,’ Steven said.

  ‘I didn’t mean that. Jobs are hard to find, and Colin’s a great boss.’

  Steven began to reply, but Beth dashed up the stairs where, in the bedroom she’d shared with Lara, she pulled off her work clothes. Naked, she inspected her backside again in the full-length mirror. She touched it wonderingly, then met her own eyes over her shoulder in the mirror. They were confused yet held recognition that she’d partly enjoyed the spanking last night. She couldn’t explain it. She’d been dominated and made to feel humiliated. Surprisingly, it had been cathartic—as if she needed to break through the emotional res
traints she’d placed on herself and release all the bottled up grief she’d been suppressing since the accident.

  She pulled on fresh clothes and dragged a comb through her hair. She caught her reflection in the mirror again. She’d let herself go since deciding what her priority was—her mother. Her dark roots in her bottle-blond hair were all too visible. Her body had lost its curves since she only had time to eat on the run. Her skin used to be rosy—an English rose, her dad used to call her—but now it just looked pale.

  Scowling, she turned away and left her room. Her dad was waiting for her downstairs, looking determined. He stood in the archway to the kitchen as though he was barring her way.

  ‘If you don’t drive to work, I’ll walk you each night and collect you,’ he said, folding his arms as if expecting her to argue.

  ‘Okay,’ she answered smoothly, knowing her dad would be too drunk to bother long before her shift ended.

  ‘When you saw the Jelvia, did you ask after Lara?’ asked Alison brightly. She was sitting on the settee and had been watching the TV.

  ‘No, Mum, I didn’t see the Jelvia. I was out the back when he came in.’ She smiled at her mum, then turned to her dad. ‘Colin’s closed the pub, anyway.’

  ‘That’s something at least. Beth,’ he said, putting his hands on her shoulders and stopping her from trying to get past, ‘I’ve never liked you working there. It’s got a bad name, and I know Colin allows all sorts of things to happen there.’

  Steven smelled of stale alcohol fumes and his eyes looked tired and bloodshot, but behind all that there were still signs of her dad. The one who cared for her when she was little, before he became the one who fell apart after Graham died and the one who lost all aim in life when the doctors diagnosed Alison with permanent brain damage. He was an alcoholic, but he was her father, and she loved him.

  ‘I know what goes on, Dad, and I can handle it. Now, can I get some breakfast? I’m starved!’

  Giving her a rueful smile, he turned her around the other way and gave her a little push towards the settee. ‘You sit, love,’ he said. ‘Breakfast is on its way.’

  Smiling, Beth went to sit beside her mother, who was watching a morning news show. As the smell of bacon wafted through the air, Beth allowed herself to relax and watch the show her mother had put on, but relaxation was short-lived. Her mobile vibrated in her back pocket. Wincing, Beth reached behind her and pulled out her phone. It was the number of the police liaison officer, Petra. Clamping the phone to her ear, Beth rushed outside to her car to speak to Petra in private.

  ‘Beth, bad news, I’m afraid.’ Petra was straight to the point. Beth wedged the phone between her ear and shoulder as she opened her car door, then climbed in, pulling the door closed. ‘Police resources, as you know, were scaled down as soon as it became apparent Lara was a victim of a Jelvian attack, and I’m sorry to say the case has been dropped.’

  She’d had some of this conversation before with Petra. The woman wasn't unkind with her forthrightness. She was practical and honest, as Beth had asked her to be.

  ‘But… they can’t just drop it because of that,’ she said. She looked over at her house and noticed the net curtains twitch as someone peered through them at her.

  ‘It’s only because Lara isn’t the type Jelvias usually go after that I’ve managed to keep officers on the case but now I’ve been overruled, and Lara’s disappearance has been closed as a Jelvia attack. I’m so sorry.’ Petra sounded genuinely apologetic. She’d been an enormous support in the two months since Lara went missing.

  ‘A Jelvia victim,’ Beth said, half to herself. Her throat constricted, but she hung on, straightening her posture.

  ‘I’m afraid so. The evidence showing Lara’s disappearance and Jelvian activity at the same time was too strong to ignore.’

  ‘I understand,’ Beth said. ‘I shan’t give up finding her though. I’ll hire a private investigator or something.’

  ‘I doubt they’ll touch the case knowing Jelvias are involved. James Sullivan might be worth a shot if you can get hold of him,’ Petra continued. Petra had spoken about James Sullivan before. He was said to have been a mediator between Jelvias and humans a few years back. ‘Since the spate of murders last month, he’s been off the grid, but if you can find him, he might be able to offer a reason into why Lara was targeted, if nothing else.’ She hesitated then added, ‘There is someone else who can help. And you didn’t get her name from me, okay?’ Petra spoke in a hushed tone down the phone.

  ‘Yes, sure.’ Beth clutched the phone. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘Macy Shaw will be easier to find than Sullivan. She’s a journalist for London Echo, and she’s been romantically linked with a Jelvia, although I don’t know how much of that is true.’

  ‘And you think I should contact her?’ Beth heard the front door to her home open and saw her dad on the doorstep.

  ‘Everything okay, love?’ he called.

  ‘I think she’s your last resort. I’m sorry, Beth,’ Petra said as Beth raised her hand to her dad to signal all was well.

  ‘How am I going to tell my dad the police aren’t looking for Lara now?’ she asked, watching as her dad went back inside. She rubbed her face with her other hand, still clutching her phone to her ear. ‘I think it’ll destroy him completely.’

  ‘You don’t have to; I can do that for you if you wish,’ Petra said, her voice soft. ‘Don’t take too much on your shoulders.’

  Easier said than done. Beth thanked her and then clicked off. She sat in the car for a moment, thinking. Breaking the news to her dad would be the easy bit, the hard bit would know he’d head to their rundown shed in their back yard where his bottles of gin, vodka, and whisky were stashed and drink himself silly.

  She wanted to cry, and thought of her tears as she was forced to hang over Spider’s knee. She’d sobbed uncontrollably, and the release had been immense. A relief.

  But now, all Beth felt was the overwhelming pressure of commitment and responsibility.

  FIVE

  Steven was supposed to drive Alison to Caring Hands today, but he was in no fit state to drive after Beth had broken Petra’s news to him, so Beth dropped Alison off at the facility.

  If Beth had thought to be on her own after leaving her mum at the respite would be a relief, she was mistaken. The loneliness overwhelmed her almost as soon as she drove out of Caring Hands’ carpark.

  She couldn’t go home. Her dad’s misery was too much for her to bear. She didn’t even have Lara’s inane chatter about the latest boyband, makeup, or Instagram post. Beth’s nose tickled and when she itched it, she realised the prickle had been caused by a tear. She drove on, blinking away the rest of her tears.

  She missed Lara. She missed the mum she used to have, and she missed her brother. She also missed Harry. He had always been a good listener. She hoped he was happy now, maybe with a woman who deserved and appreciated him.

  She stopped at a traffic light and sighed heavily. They would have been happy had the situation been different, but Harry had wanted normal things.

  Beth couldn’t have normal.

  Beth drove straight to the Dog and Gun. Colin wasn’t there, and Beth let herself in with her set of keys. The bar was still in disarray—chairs and tables tipped over, smashed glass on the booze-soaked carpet. Beth observed the mess, then dropped her handbag on the cluttered bar and took off her jacket.

  She smiled to herself.

  This was just what she needed!

  She locked herself in and turned on the music. She righted tables and stacked the chairs on top so she could clean up underneath. She collected glasses, stacked the dishwasher, wiped tables and the bar, and dragged a black bin bag around gathering the rubbish. Then she set about vacuuming the awful carpet. There was no getting out the stains, but at least it looked better than it had when she started. Beth unloaded the dishwasher and put away the clean glasses, and then restacked it with a second load.

  She eyed the cellar on her way to the kitchen
for a much-needed coffee. She didn’t think she’d be able to face the mess down there.

  She took her coffee out into the bar and sat at a table by the window that overlooked the street outside. She looked around at the now-tidy pub with a sense of satisfaction.

  After PC Barns had brought Beth out of the pub yesterday, Colin had enveloped her in a rib-crunching hug, and Beth had been touched to see that he had genuine tears of relief in his eyes when he saw that she was okay. This place, for all its faults—and it had many—was something stable in her life. She was more than a barmaid. She managed it in Colin’s absence and, even though he didn’t think too much of her ideas for the place, he did try and accommodate them. But however hard Beth attempted to guide the pub out of the gutter, the regulars steered it right back again. She never had any problems with the regulars, even though many of them would think nothing of smashing a pint glass into someone’s face. She’d lost count of the number of times one of them had come to her aid.

  Except they let her down last night.

  The Jelvias cast a black shadow of fear over everyone.

  Beth sipped her coffee. Maybe not everyone. She hadn’t felt as scared as she thought she ought to have felt when she’d encountered Spider. Everyone around her had fallen apart when the Jelvia entered the pub. Their fear had filled Beth’s nose and throat, making Beth think she was just as scared, but the reality was she’d been more afraid of herself. Of her eagerness to have a quick escape from her life.

  To die.

  She wasn’t scared of dying—she was scared of leaving her mum. There’d be no one to look after Alison if Beth took the easy way out. She lifted her chin. She’d been strong and in control up to now. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t, let her emotions overcome her. She was going to find Lara. Maybe the police had given up, but that didn’t mean she had to.