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CHAPTER: 9 SHOCK REVELATIONS
Lindsey sat flicking through some photos taken on the holiday in Portugal.
It was amazing how happy they had all managed to appear, including her
and Shelley. Lindsey gave a deep sigh, she thought about what it would
be like looking at pictures of her and Callum together instead of Shelley.
' Stop it Lindsey! You've got to stop doing this to yourself!' she chastised
herself. 'Callum is gone! Callum is history! Focus on the future'. Lindsey
threw the photos to one side then smiled. Kylie would be home soon, she
had promised her a trip to the cinema to see Jim Carrey’s new movie.
It was beginning to surprise her how fast her daughter was growing up.
Lindsey thought back, Kylie would have been around five the first time
she met Callum, it was when he kidnapped her, Callum had gone to the house
and given Kylie a teddy. Lindsey smiled, even thinking about the bad times
between her and Callum she managed to smile.
As she thought she began to realize a pattern. When Callum had kidnapped
her, he had tried to talk to her. She noticed how this had happened several
times during her kidnapping, Callum had tried to talk to her, she had
been nasty to him, he asked her if she was hungry, if she wanted something
to eat, she had been nasty to him, he asked her if she was cold, if she
wanted some different clothes, she had been nasty to him. It was only
now, as she had came to like Callum that she realized these things. She
began to ask herself if the hatred between them had been her fault, if
maybe she had talked to him, been nice to him then they wouldn't have
been at war with each other for so long.
Lindsey’s thoughts were disturbed by a knock at her bedroom door.
Lindsey looked up as Jackie walked in slightly.
“ What is it Mam?” Lindsey asked sitting up.
“ I was just wondering if, maybe you wanted to talk.....you know....while
your Dads out” Jackie came forward and sat on her daughters bed.
Lindsey somehow didn’t feel so cold towards Jackie as she used to.
This was probably because if Jackie hadn’t ruined things between
her and Shelley she probably never would have turned to Callum the way
she did. She now saw that as a reason to thank Jackie.
“ What about?” Lindsey asked innocently, but she knew what her
mother was getting at.
“ Lindsey I may try and ignore things, but it doesn't mean that I
don't notice. I know that something’s been wrong for a while now,
not just with you and Shelley I’m sure we’re all aware that
I know about that,” Lindsey looked away “ but there’s something
wrong with you, yourself too, now you can keep on bottling it up and locking
yourself in your bedroom all the time....or you can talk to me while you've
got the chance, I won't tell your dad, it'll just be between you and me”
Jackie looked at her daughter and saw the tears in her eyes. Jackie brushed
her daughters hair back from her face “ Ah love what is it? What
is it that’s hurting you so much?” Lindsey fell into her mother.
Jackie put her arms round her daughter as she sobbed into her chest.
“ I just miss him so much” Lindsey sobbed “ I never thought......”
Lindsey trailed off, she had been bottling it up for so long and now that
she was letting it out, she couldn't control it. She shook with the tears.
Jackie softly stroked her hair.
“ Sssh” Jackie soothed, she already knew deep down who her daughter
was talking about, but still refused to believe it “ Who is it love?”
Jackie asked pushing her up so that she could look at her. Lindsey looked
at her now not so sure that this was such a good idea. But she knew she
had to tell someone, it would kill her if she had to deal with this on
her own for much longer.
“ Callum, Mam, Callum Finnegan, I-I just.....” Lindsey knew
she couldn’t tell Jackie the truth, she knew by the way she was looking
at her “ I miss the way I was able to talk to him, I feel as though
I haven’t got anyone to turn to anymore” Lindsey lied. Jackie
stared at her daughter in shock.
“ You'd better tell me exactly what happened while we were away,
or I'm going to be thinking you’re a total nutter. How the hell could
you talk to him and not me or anyone else, I thought he’d be the
last person you’d turn to. Come on” Jackie rose from the bed
“ I'll put the kettle on and you can tell me why the evil pscyopath
of Europe is suddenly your most trusted confidant” Jackie walked
out of the room. Lindsey paused for a moment as she remembered something,
something from a long time ago. ' I'll get them later' she decided quietly
to herself. After briefly cleaning her face she followed her mother down
the stairs.
“ So” Jackie spoke as she placed two cups of coffee on the table
“ Where are you going to start?”
“ I suppose I'd better start at the beginning” Lindsey smiled
almost a little uneasily. She was going to have to do a lot of lying to
get herself out of this one.
“ Well that’s usually the best place” Jackie smiled.
Lindsey decided to tell her about the proposal, she didn’t know why,
but she thought that if Jackie knew that Callum had feelings for her then
maybe that would help explain why she felt she could talk to him....she
hoped.
“ It was a while ago, that time you saw me getting into the car with
Dave, well Callum was in the back, I didn't know until I got in...I thought
I could trust Dave, but obviously I couldn't” Lindsey sighed “
He took me to some abandoned warehouse, and.......” Lindsey trailed
off “ I don't really know how to put this, he talked to me, he talked
to me for ages, said he wanted to make up for what he'd done to me, he.......he
was genuinely sorry, he really....he was penitent” Lindsey looked
up at her mother who was listening carefully to everything she said.
“ And?” Jackie prompted.
“ And I was having none of it, I really blew up at him, screamed
at him, was sarcastic with him, and do you want to know what he done?”
Lindsey looked at her mother again and knew what she was thinking.
“ Threatened to kill, hit you, something along those lines”
“ No” Lindsey replied simply, then smiled to herself “
He....he seemed to be nervous, he was almost stammering as he tried to
calm me down, but what surprised me was...he stayed calm, he didn't shout
back, didn't lash out but......he proposed” Lindsey watched Jackie
closely for her reaction.
“ I'm guessing you said no” Jackie spoke slowly.
“ Yeah, well actually I didn't, I was debating when Dave came in,
Callum had left me because someone phoned him so he went outside to take
the call, and.....” Lindsey sighed “Dave came back in and started
going on about how I couldn't actually be considering it, but I was. I
mean the phone didn't ring the second after he asked me, we'd sat talking
for a while just about 'stuff' and I actually, looking back, didn't feel
so bad with him, we actually laughed together that night, can you believe
it?” Lindsey had a soft smile on her face as she said this, after
Portugal she had loved reliving that night, up until the point that Dave
re-entered.
“ There was a time I would've said no, but now the way you're talking
about him.... Anyway how'd you end up saying no?” Jackie asked prompting
Lindsey to carry on.
“ Well as I was saying Dave was in the room when Callum came back.
He smiled at me in this way, I've never had anyone look at me like that,
and I think if I'd only noticed the way he looked at me at the time, I
don't think I'd be sitting here now. Anyway, he was happy, but I wasn't
so comfortable with Dave been there, he was really staring at me and watching
me with Callum, I guess he didn't like it. Then he shot Callum this look
as he kissed me.....”
“ Callum kissed you?” Jackie asked interrupting, making sure
that she was getting all her facts right.
“ Yeah Callum kissed me. Dave edged towards one of the drawers in
the desk, I noticed this and I think Callum noticed that something was
wrong and he asked me, I told him nothing. But when he went to kiss me
again I pulled away, I don't know why now, at the time I guess I just
wasn't ready to make the step with him....I don't know, but anyway I did.
Callum automatically thought that it was because I was only interested
in his money....who knows maybe at the time I was, I sort of wish I could
redo that night, you know change some parts of it...... ” Lindsey
couldn’t believe she had just said that, she was worried that Jackie
would realize that it was more than friendship that Lindsey was missing,
but when Lindsey looked at Jackie she had an almost sympathetic look on
her face.
“ Sort of wish?” Jackie queried.
“ Oh I don't know, but what I do know is that he loves me, he really
does and I wish he'd told me that when he proposed but he didn't”
Lindsey sighed, she knew that things probably would have worked out the
same anyway. Lindsey though was beginning to worry that Jackie would pick
up on the hints of how Lindsey really felt.
“ Did he ever tell you that he loved you?” Jackie asked, Lindsey
was curious about her mothers' behaviour, she hadn't expected her to deal
so well with it. But at the same time she was asking awkward questions
that Lindsey could easily slip up on.
“ Yes, the night I....” she looked at her mother, she had almost
slipped up, also she hadn't told her that she had gone to see Callum at
any point during the holiday, except for the night in the club “
The night I went to see him” It was a lie, Callum hadn’t actually
told her until the night she slept with him, but she wasn’t about
to tell Jackie that. Lindsey dropped her head, looking down into the black
coffee which she hadn't yet touched.
“ So your Dad wasn't lying, you went to see him. Was he right about
you sleeping with him too?” Jackie glared at her daughter for a second
before seeing the look of utter helplessness and sadness on her face.
“ What got into you, a couple of month ago you were glad he was gone,
now you've been paying him midnight visits for cosy little chats?”
she asked almost sarcastically. Lindsey looked up shocked at the sudden
change in her mothers reaction.
“ No! I didn't” Lindsey lied, there was an anger in her voice
though that didn't help convince Jackie.
“ When did you go to see him?” Jackie asked quietly.
“ It was the night I walked out of the karaoke bar while Shelley
was singing. I was attacked by three men while I was walking, I didn't
know what else to do, I didn't want to come back to all of you, Shelley
would feel as if she'd won again so... I went to Callum, I don't know
why but I felt safe with him” Lindsey drew a deep breath before continuing,
“ When he found me in his house crouched in a corner crying, oh Mam
if you'd only seen the look in his eyes you'd understand”
“ I'm trying to understand, so come on explain, elaborate, tell me
what he said”
“ Well we hadn't parted very well the previous night at the club
you know, he thought I was using his feelings for me to hurt him, I didn't
realize that it seemed that way to him until he told me to think about
it and I realized, I felt terrible for some reason, I don't know why but
I did” Lindsey again looked at her coffee and decided to have a drink
this time “ We ended up arguing because I said that I hadn't meant
to play with his feelings like that, but I refused to stay somewhere where
I was alone with him, and he asked me what it was I was so afraid of,
he asked me if it was him, I said I didn't know and then he answered for
me, he said it was love I was afraid of and...he was right, I was afraid
of his love for me. I reacted though and started screaming at him about
how much he had hurt me, physically not emotionally before you start raving.
Then something I said to him, well shouted at him, and when he snapped
back he mentioned loving me, he didn't mean to it just slipped out I know
that but the thing was he'd finally admitted it whether he'd meant to
tell me or not didn't matter thing was he loved me and he'd told me so”
Lindsey dropped her head onto the table fighting back hot tears yet again.
“ Its alright love” Jackie came round to her daughter and comforted
her “ Thing is he loves you and you know that he does, the important
thing now is.....do you love him?” Lindsey looked up at Jackie.
“ No!” Lindsey snapped back sharply, she believed it was true,
so it sounded true to Jackie. Lindsey though didn’t feel quite so
sure as she snuggled into Jackie desperately needing the comfort that
Jackie was offering.
CHAPTER: 10 SHOCK DISCOVERIES
Barry pulled outside the club where he hoped Will would still be.
Barry strolled in confidently, the confidence in his stride usually intimidated
people but Will was not in the mood to be intimidated by Barry.
As Barry turned he saw Will who was sitting at a table with Ross. Ross
was stitching the gaping cut above Will's eye.
“ What the hell happened to you?” Barry cried coming forward
to get a better look at Will's wound.
“ Your old friend” Wills' speech was not too clear and as Barry
got closer he realized it was because of his lips swelling.
“ Which old friend?” Barry asked sitting down beside him, trying
not to stare.
“ Callum bloody Finnegan that’s who, son of a bitch decided
to come back from the dead just for you” Will snapped.
“ When did he do this? What did he want to know?” Barry asked
eagerly, he clearly didn't want Callum to have too much of a head start.
“ Barry just get out, the less I know, the less reason he has to
kick my head in, okay” with that Will turned away from Barry, allowing
Ross to carry on tending to him.
“ Look Will I just need......”
“ Get out Barry! Now!”
“ But Will....” Barry protested.
“ Before I have you thrown out” with that two strong arms came
forward.
“ Okay, okay, I'm going, I'm going”
Barry left; in one day he had found out that Callum was dead and then,
less than two hours later had found out that he wasn't dead. Barry now
was worried, it was clear that Callum was angry and it was clear that
he was angry at him. He knew now that his plan wasn't going to be so easy,
with Callum looking for him it would be a lot harder for him to find people
willing to help, Callum was good at intimidating and he had a lot more
people willing to help him than Barry did. Nothing was going to be easy
now, and he would have to do the job before Callum found him, which again
made things a lot harder.
CHAPTER: 11 NIGHT WATCH
Callum pulled up outside the garage, Sam hadn't wanted him to come,
he knew it would kill Callum having to watch Lindsey and not be able to
go near her. But still Callum had insisted on going with him to watch
her. Lindsey was already behind the counter when they pulled up. Callum
gave a deep sigh as he seen her. Sam looked at him pitifully, he emphasized
with his friend, he knew what it was like to love and not be able to have
that love returned. The one thing Sam believed hurt Callum the most was
the fact that he had had her then had been forced to let her go again.
Sam could not emphasize with how much that must have hurt.
Lindsey leaned against the counter, she wished it would be busy, she was
still reflecting on what she had said to her mother and she wanted something
to take her mind off it. She sighed and turned round, she had a clear
view of most of the parade, she glanced briefly out of the window and
saw a car that she would have swore she recognized, then again there were
quite a few black L reg. fords on the road.
Callum was looking round out of the windows, he was looking anywhere but
at Lindsey. As he looked in the rear view mirror he saw him, he instantly
spotted his old enemy Barry Grant.
“ There he is” Callum said in what was almost a whisper.
“ Who?” Sam asked turning to look at Callum.
“ Who? What do you mean 'who'? Grant, Barry Grant” Callum exclaimed.
Sam looked round at the N reg. Vauxhall that was parked a little further
down the road.
“ Right so we know that he’s watching her too, all we have to
do now is start watching him” Sam spoke quietly and began to wonder
why.
“ We're not like the police, its not like we can starting putting
non-uniform tabs on him. I'll tell you what, you've done a police course
before haven't you? When you were doing your works experience, you keep
tabs on Grant and I'll start squeezing people for information. Believe
me by the time I'm finished there won't be a soul in Europe willing to
help that son of a btich” Callum gave Sam a sly grin before glancing
back at Lindsey who was now serving a young woman. Callum smiled slightly
as Lindsey laughed at something that the woman said to her.
CHAPTER: 12 THE PLAN
It didn't take Callum long to find out what Barry's plan was. Barry
was always trusting the wrong people. Then again you couldn't trust anyone
in their business.
“ It looks like he still hasn't learnt his lesson” Callum said
smiling at Miller.
“ Come on Callum, everyone knows that its impossible to go behind
your back in this business, you have ears everywhere, you know everyone
and everyone knows you” Miller was right, it didn't matter who you
turned to, they all knew Callum, and were all willing to do business with
him, they didn't dare say no. Everyone knew Callum’s temper and everyone
knew that he had the power to take that temper out on whoever had upset
him.
“ So who were you going to give him?” Callum asked.
“ Eh, Henderson and Addams” Miller replied.
“ You trust them?”
“ Yes”
“ Right well you tell them, they go in with Grant, do what he asks,
but not to hurt anyone, right” Callum was giving orders now, but
Miller was happy to follow them, doing favours for Callum Finnegan always
paid well in one way or another.
“ Okay”
“ Then you tell them to wait for me, I'll be there and I'll wait
for an opening, when I see it I'll take Barry down, then they drag him
out, I'll decide afterwards what to do with him, okay” It wasn't
a question, Miller had to agree.
“ Sure, and don't worry you can trust these guys Callum, they'll
do everything you tell them to” Miller smiled assuring Callum of
what he was saying.
“ Good, I hope for your sake and theirs that I can. I'll see you,
thanks” Callum walked out, it was a warm day but there was cool breeze
that refreshed him. He knew he could trust Miller and he knew that if
Miller said he could trust those men, then he could trust them. But Callum
had become too wise in his business to trust anyone unless absolutely
necessary.
He walked to his car, he couldn't believe that at home he drove round
in a BMW convertible and now over here, he was demoted to an L reg. ford.
But maybe it was better, at least if he wasn't driving around in a flash
car he wasn't drawing attention to himself.
As he climbed into the car he wondered how Sam was doing, then he wondered
what Lindsey was up to. He drove round to the parade, he knew she wasn't
at work, but it was worth looking anyway, just in case. As he pulled round
into the parade he almost slammed the brakes on. Lindsey was coming out
of Bev and Shelley’s flat. Callum almost scowled as Shelley slid
her arm through Lindsey’s. But he was quickly relieved as Lindsey
pulled her arm away. Callum pulled over on the opposite side of the road
and watched Lindsey. The windows were tinted but he found himself wanting
to wind the window so that she might see him, but he decided not to, he
had plenty of reasons for not wanting Lindsey to know he was there. So
he watched in silence as Lindsey walked down the road, he could see by
her actions that she was tense and angry, he could also see that Shelley
was too. He wondered what they were fighting about now. He wondered if
Shelley knew what had happened in Portugal, he wondered if anyone did.
Callum froze as Lindsey stopped still, staring right towards him, right
at him. She couldn't have seen him, it was impossible to see through the
windows. Lindsey said something to Shelley without looking away from Callum.
“ Shelley, do you recognize that car?” Lindsey asked her eyes
fixed firmly on the car, she didn't know that she was looking straight
at the man who she missed so much, who she was desperate to see again.
“ No, why?” Shelley asked in an impatient tone.
“ Its just I saw it the other night and I could've swore I'd seen
it somewhere before” Lindsey didn't realize that it was one of the
two cars Callum had used for transport on his many run-ins with her.
Callum sighed as Lindsey turned away from him and continued walking down
the parade with Shelley at her side.
Continued Next week.......
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