CHAPTER 59
Dad dropped me off, as requested, and I took a seat and another rehydration cuppa in the little café across the road from the safe house. Out with the mobile.

“Morning, Di! Bright and early after last night, aren’t you?”

“It wasn’t that heavy a night!”

“Says Queen Karaoke the first!”

“Shit. Was I that bad?”

“No, not at all. You had all the right notes. Just for different songs to the ones you were trying to sing. Anyway, what’s up?”

“Charlie and Tiff with you?”

“No. Randy little sods are still out. Gemma too”

“You worried?”

Her tone changed.

“Not this time, Di. I made bloody sure I knew exactly where they were going off to. Vetted the places before I let them go off, too. They will call me before noon, and if not, I will ring your lot”

“I should have known. You weren’t exactly solo last night, either”

She paused for rather longer than I was comfortable with.

“Where are you, girl? Home?”

“Nope. In that café over the road”

“Give me five minutes, OK?”

“Want me to get you a coffee or something?”

“If you don’t mind. White Americano, please”

I did as she had asked, and after a short wait I saw her approaching, in a worn pair of jeans and a fleece jacket. The door bell rang as she entered, the two other clients looking up before turning back to their newspapers. She took the seat opposite and disposed of a major part of her coffee before speaking.

“Is it something about Frank? Are you here to deliver some warning or other?”

I reached out for her hand, and she gripped mine as she would a lifeline. I smiled as gently as I could.

“Nothing like that, love. I recognised him, is all, and that’s all I know. Gemma’s boss, isn’t it?”

She nodded, and I continued.

“He’s not why I am here, love. What you tell me about Frank is down to you. Your life, your business. All I ever need to know is if you are safe and happy, but later. I have news you need to know about. Charlie Cooper and Joe Evans”

“What the hell? They can’t be out, surely?”

“Um, no, not that, and no, it’s not that they’re connected to each other. They’re… Shit. They’re both dead, woman”

She sat open-mouthed for a few seconds before gathering herself.

“That’s why you wanted to know about Tiff and Charlie, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Exactly”

“Are you able to tell me what happened to them?”

“within limits”

“Of course. Want to come over to the house? We can talk in the first house. I’ll ask the girls to stay away for a while”

I supped up, and we crossed the road in a biting wind to the back door, Deb letting us both in and turned immediately to the fridge.

“I shouldn’t ask, from what I know about your Mam, but have you had breakfast? I am doing myself a bacon roll, and you’d be welcome to one yourself”

“Go ahead”

I recognised what she was doing: displacement activity so she would have an excuse not to look at me as I spoke, so I let her carry on and gathered my words to me.

“Evans topped himself, it appears, Deb. Not going to give details”

“Of course, love. Cooper?”

“Someone else on the nonce wing took a dislike to him”

“Easy thing to do, I suppose. I wasn’t exactly fond of him…”

The knife clattered as it fell to the floor, followed by Deb. I found myself sitting with her, as she sobbed into my shoulder. The words came in the end, but slowly, in horrible spasms.

“It’s not fucking fair, Di! Why does he get out of it so easily? Why?”

I had no answer beyond what I hoped was the comfort of my embrace. We sat there for several endless minutes until she sat up again, shaking her head.

“Get up, Di. I shouldn’t have put you through that”

“Piss off, woman. That’s what friends are for. That’s… That’s what love is about, yeah? Bacon sarnie?”

“Uh, yes. Give me a minute. Just going to wash my face”

“Want me to get it started for you?2

“Yes please. And thanks again”

“Piss off and wash, woman”

I used the kitchen tap to give my own face a rinse, and then started the pan off. Deb was soon back, splitting and buttering rolls, and then with a quick “Sod dieting” she started a few eggs frying. Back still towards me, she started again.

“How are you getting home, girl? How did you get here; I didn’t see your car”

“Dad dropped me off. Blake is going to pick me up; he comes when called”

She snorted at my unfortunate turn of phrase, then caught herself once more.

“Could he pick the two girls up as well? Go for a little drive down the lock again? Somehow, that place seems right”

“Sort of, well, our place, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely. It’ll be a flask of tea and some biscuits, though. Bit cold for ice cream”

“I’ll let him know, Deb. Getting a little late for the girls to ring?”

It was almost as if the two younger women had been listening in, as Deb’s phone rang.

“Yeah? Tiff, your fault for going out without a coat in the first place. How long? OK. Meet you on the corner in an hour. Yes, I’ll bring you a jacket!”

Deb looked at me meaningfully just as her landline started ringing, and as she had a similar conversation with Charlie, I texted the essentials to my man, and then we settled down to a very messy brunch of yolk-dripping egg and bacon rolls. Despite Mam’s five-thousand-feeding efforts, there was something about my hangover that left me aching to feed myself with grease.

Blake was on time, giving us just enough time to clean away the evidence of our gluttony. He parked up by the café, and I let Deb take the front seat for ease of navigation. Off through the city to the Brewery Park area, both addresses being somewhere near the corner of Emerald and Clifton Streets, where the two girls were waiting, Charlie’s coat wrapped round them both in an effort to keep the sharp wind out. As the coat in question wasn’t exactly a piece of winter sports equipment, I doubt it was doing much good, but I was touched by the affection Charlie’s action showed. I squeezed over as far as I could manage so that the two could scramble in, and they wasted no time doing so. Tiff was blowing on her hands in relief.

“Ooh! Warmth! Taxi last night, didn’t realise how cold it would be. Morning, Di, Blake! What you doing here?”

My man pulled away smoothly, attention, as ever, fully on his driving, as Deb replied in his stead.

“What’s he doing here? Picking up two friends, one of whom was too stupid even to take a coat with her in December. Anyway, I’ve put some warmer kit in the boot, as well as some flasks and snacks. Lock gates, Blake?”

“I hear and obey, Mistress!”

I made some sarcy comment or other, but I had my attention fixed on Charlie. Normally, she would have been the louder one of the pair, Tiff taking a secondary role, but all the words were coming from the quieter one.

“Charlie?”

“Mmf?”

“Everything OK?”

She looked at me, and I simply failed at reading her expression, her eyes locked on mine for a few seconds before she turned and nudged her friend.

“Tiff?”

“Yeah?”

“How was last night?”

A burst of happy laughter.

“You mean at the pub? Diane, you really are shit at karaoke! I mean, well, not nasty, yeah, but I couldn’t stop laughing!”

I felt my face growing warm.

“I am trying to forget about that bit, woman”

“Na, not what I meant. You were just so happy, made me smile! And that Chris and his fella, all over each other like a pair of octopus… octopuses… octopi… whatever”

Charlie held up a hand.

“Not what I meant, love. How was it back at Jake’s?”

Tiff calmed down abruptly, but she was still bright and breezy.

“Oh, I see. Well, his parents, yeah, they’re all like old school, but I think they sort of get their head round me being…”

She paused to wave her hands in the air, fishing for the words.

“Me being not exactly like other girls, yeah? But they seem to be OK, and they did us both a brekky. NO! Not in bed! Separate rooms!”

Charlie was nodding at that.

“Yeah. Seb’s parents were OK too. Just, well, we got our tea in bed. Together”

Tiff’s eyes were wide.

“You dirty…!”

The look Charlie gave her was far older than her years, but then her life had aged her in so many ways that I wasn’t surprised.

“Not like that, Tiff. Please: no questions? I just feel a little bit… I feel lost. Di?”

“Can you understand? We’re sisters, aren’t we?”

I took her hands, both clamped together in her lap.

“Of course we are, love. Survivors, isn’t it?”

Once again, I got a long and confusing stare.

“Can I ask a personal question? About you and Blake?”

I looked at the back of his head, and saw him give a sharp nod.

“Go ahead, love, though I might not answer”

“How did you feel, you know, when the two of you first got together?”

“Happy? Yes. That’s a good word”

“No. Not what I meant. Being dirty and all”

That one cut right through my shields, and I took a little while to sort my answer out, realising what it was that was hurting the child-woman beside me.

“Validated, Charlie. Washed clean. Loved. Wanted. Reborn. Finally able to step away from Ashley fucking Evans and all the others. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“I’m not asking you to say things unless you feel them, Di. But, well, yeah. What am I?”

“My friend. Student. Girl in need of a smile, isn’t it?”

“Tranny. Not real. Never will be”

I started to reply, and she reached across to put a finger to my lips.

“No, love. Let me get this out while I can. Last night, it was all real, all acceptance, and Seb and I get back to his place, and his parents are so fucking happy to see me, cause all they care about is their son being happy. His Mam, she says, ‘I read this thing on Facethingy, and it was about a parent not wanting their child to say if they were gay or not, just to bring someone home, and they’d give them a cuppa and ask how they met, and it would be the same, boy or girl’. And I go to say something, and she stops me, and says, ‘But he’s brought a girl home, so that means I get another woman to gossip with, win-win’. So I get weepy…”

She looked away, staring through the back of Deb’s head.

“All I am going to say about Seb… He was so fucking TENDER. I was just his girl, someone he loved, and all the time I am not real, and I am falling in love, and I haven’t got a fucking CLUE what to do about it!”

There were three of us, three sisters, on the back seat, and it got a little confusing for a while, as we all tried to hug while saying Right and Sensible things as Deb and Blake held their tongues.

We arrived at the waterfront, Blake finding a spot to park that wasn’t too far from the lock gates, and once more we took our seats in a place that meant so much to all of us, in so many different ways. Stones thrown into the sea; big men discussing mayhem in a deep and croaking voice. Summer and ice creams. Deb served cups of tea, passing around a packet of custard creams and a bag of chocolates for those who still needed calories to combat their hangovers. As she did so, she made the announcement.

“Di has news for us all, girls. That’s why we came out here. Bit of stuff that needs keeping quiet for now, but you’ll understand. Charlie? You OK now?”

She did her best to grin back, her old spirit still there.

“Yeah. Thanks, all. Bit of a shocker for me, falling in love. Bit lost. Not exactly had it before, have I?”

Tiff hugged her.

2Shut up and drink your tea, girl. Deb? Got a caramel one?”

Some rummaging produced the required sweet, and I realised all eyes were on me. Ah, well.

“I was given some news this morning that I need to share. No further than us here, till it gets made public, but Deb’s told you that already. Part one: Charlie Cooper”

Charlie’s eyes went blank and hard.

“That one who raped Deb?”

Several of us nodded.

“Yes, Charlie, That one. Apparently, someone else on the vulnerable prisoners’ wing---”

Charlie spat out the word “Nonce!”

“Yes. Someone else on the nonce wing took a dislike to him. He’s gone. Permanently. There will be an inquest, no doubt, which might involve Deb and myself”

Tiff was the first to speak.

2Thanks, Di, Blake. We all know you will be there for us”

She looked hard at Charlie before continuing.

“We know that all of our families and friends and loved ones will be there for us, right? But there’s more, isn’t it? Something for Charlie and me?”

I nodded.

“Yes. It’s Joe Evans”

“Wonky-eyed cunt!” Charlie spat.

“Yeah. That one. He’s gone as well. Did it himself, it seems”

I looked at the two open mouths before me, giving them a wry smile.

“That one will probably be an inquest as well, and they will be speaking to me and all the others involved in his arrest and trial. You both need to be ready for some old wounds to be opened”

Tiff nodded, and turned to cuddle with Charlie.

“No problems, sis. What can go wrong? We’ve got our friends, and our family, isn’t it?”

A squeeze to Charlie before Tiff added “And our lovers”