Chapter 12

After her usual morning routine of exercises and a massage Poppy dashed downstairs to make breakfast.

“Thank you for not getting upset last night,” I said as Jenny dressed, “she was so conflicted when we got home, I almost cried for her because she looked so sad.”

“I probably would have been angry if she didn’t look so genuinely distraught. Oh, and by the way, I think I know who her friend is, don’t tell her I know, she’ll worry. Just rest assured I will not tell anyone. If he messes up and gets into trouble I won’t be able to protect him, but I will not reveal what I know. A massive conflict of interest I know, but I’m just going to treat Poppy and Jeremy as confidential informants.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, “thank you, that’s a massive weight off my mind.”

“He sounds like a saint, have you met him?”

“Yes I have, a very intense man, deeply religious with a pretty Old Testament attitude to justice and vengeance. He saved Poppy’s life, twice that she remembers, but I suspect it’s more than that, there’s still a lot of gaps in her memory. I’ll give you an example of their work. On Sunday we were on Wardour Street, looking to buy a piano, like you do, but we were too early, the shop didn’t open until noon.

“So Poppy starts wandering, looking for her friends, and she finds one, Evie, she’s lying on wet cardboard, wrapped in a sleeping bag and she’s clearly dying. Poppy jumps down to help her, she hugs her and demands I phone Jeremy, not an ambulance, Jeremy.

“He sends two guys, they come running up the back alley a few minutes later, far quicker than an ambulance, they pick Evie up and take her to a shelter, where they’re currently treating her. Based on a snatched conversation Poppy had with the men, they’d just come back from disposing of the bodies of two of the men who attacked Poppy in a way no-one will ever find them.”

Jenny thought for a while as she brushed her long, blonde hair, she wrapped it into a bun pinning it in place with a couple of hairclips.

“This is very interesting,” she said once she’d finished her hair, “we’ve been hearing a lot about a semi-mythical figure who looks after the street girls, we thought it was simply the ramblings of drug addicts, maybe it’s actually true. Ahh well, this is our secret.”

Downstairs Poppy was making pancakes, and annoyingly they looked better than my pancakes.

“Mmm, these are lovely,” Jenny said as she tucked into her pancake, washing it down with hot coffee. “I was wondering, seeing as this is the second morning I’ve had to dress in yesterday’s underwear, would it be imposing if I brought a few things with me the next time I stop over?”

“Not at all,” Poppy said, before looking to me for confirmation.

“No problem, bring whatever you like.”

“Quite apart from the cuddles and stuff, it’s just nice to have someone to talk to in the morning,” Jenny said.

I thought about this, “it is isn’t it, I’ve lived on my own for five years, Helen used to stop over sometimes, in her own room,” I added quickly, “but otherwise, this big house was mostly empty, and I’m now realising what I missed all those years, someone to talk to.”

“I’m not moving in or anything, just not wanting to slut walk home every morning.”

“It’s fine, honestly,” I said, “we’re in the middle of preparing for Katie’s arrival, hence the work going on up in the other rooms upstairs, “once she’s settled in we’ll be ready for the next step forwards.”

“Why was a guy as nice as you living alone for so long.”

“That’s a story for another time,’’ I said as I checked my watch, “have you got everything ready for school Poppy?”

“Yes dad, I’m all ready.”

We met Katie at the school gates again, “hi Alex,” she said as I took the cases off her, ‘and hello again PC Jenny.”

“She’s a detective now,” Poppy told her, “so she’s DC Jenny.”

“Or even just Jenny,” she laughed.

“I’ll see you at one o’clock,” I called out as Poppy dashed through the gates as the registration bell sounded.

“Yes, see you at one dad,” she shouted back, turning to blow me a kiss.

“Will you be ok with all three of us?” Jenny asked, as she picked up one of the cases and we walked hand in hand back to the house.

“Poppy has been such a joy to spend time with, yes it’s been stressful at times, and I’m still not certain we’ve uncovered all the horrors of her past, but with Helen’s help it’s been mostly painless. Poppy absolutely adores Helen, to her Helen is the absolute embodiment of the perfect female, beautiful, sassy and clever; you are a very close second.”

“Considering I feel much the same about Helen, I’ll take that compliment.”

After she’d dropped Katie’s bag at my front door Jenny hugged me tight, “you’re a good man Alex, after what Poppy’s been through it would be natural for her to avoid males, but she loves you with all her heart.”

“And I love her with all my heart.”

“Is there any room in there for me?”

“There is plenty of room in my heart for you.”

“Thank you, now unfortunately I have to go home so I can get ready for work, it’s going to be a long day today, so I don’t think I’ll come round tonight, maybe tomorrow though.”

“You’re welcome to come round whenever you like, at some point I’ll get you a key cut, so you don’t need to ring the bell.”

“That would be nice, and I’ll invite you round to mine when I get round to tidying the place up a bit.”

“Poppy’s good at cleaning, she’d be glad to help you out there.”

“Amazing, I may take you up on that offer. Anyway, gotta go now, I hope everything goes OK with Poppy’s mum today.”

“So do I, we were supposed to go on Sunday but got side-tracked by finding Evie, I hope we’ve not left it too long.”

Jenny hugged me again, “I’m glad I found you Alex,” she said quickly before running off down the road to get changed for work.

Helen arrived just as I was opening the door, she picked up one of Katie’s bags and carried it inside.

“I see Jenny stayed the night again,” she said with a smile, “is it serious?”

“Maybe, Poppy likes her a lot, and when Jenny turned up after she’d finished her shift she told her everything, she couldn’t hold the truth from her any more.”

“How did Jenny take it, knowing Poppy had lied to her?”

“She was upset, but not angry, she understands why Poppy kept the truth back, they ended the night with a cuddle.”

I put a fresh pot of coffee on while we waited for Ernie, who had phoned us from a furniture shop and sent me a photo of a dressing table set. Helen liked it so he was waiting for the store to open to buy one.

While the coffee brewed I remembered I’d promised Poppy I’d get a Porsche for the next trip to the hospice, so I phoned a couple of hire centres until I found one that had a 911 available, it was going to cost me £300 plus a £3k security deposit, but she was worth it.

“Did you just hire a Porsche?” Helen asked when she came back into the kitchen.

“Yep.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’re going nowhere, this is for Poppy, to cheer her up on the way to and from the hospice.”

“Do you have to take it back straight afterwards?”

“Well, no, I’ve got it until tomorrow lunchtime.”

“Great, you can take me and Nita out for a spin afterwards while Poppy does her homework.”

I was about to disagree then I had a thought, “I’ve never left Poppy in the house alone, I don’t think she’s been on her own for any length of time since she came into my life. This may well be the time to do it. Let me have a think. If she doesn’t want to be alone we can all go out.”

A few moments later the gate buzzer sounded and we went to help Ernie with the dressing table. As we lifted it out we found it looked a lot nicer than the photo taken through the shop window suggested. It was French style, lots of curves and ornate embellishments, painted white and artfully distressed.

“I got a stool and mirror as well,” Ernie said, “I’ll bring them in.”

With the new furniture in the house, and a mug of tea made for Ernie we resumed the decorating upstairs. Ernie got a call just after 10am to tell him the wardrobe components were on their way.

The van arrived 15 minutes later, we carried everything inside and placed it all in the hallway, a big jumble of wood of many different shapes and sizes, like a 3D jigsaw. While I signed for the delivery and gave the drivers a tip, Ernie started sorting it all into sections, which Helen carried upstairs.

Ernie had already started to assemble the frame for the wall unit when I took refreshments upstairs. Helen was holding a piece of wood upright as he screwed it to the wall, between the noise of his drill Ernie told me how to put the drawers together.

As someone who’d built more than a few pieces of Ikea furniture, I was ready to be mightily frustrated by the drawer assembly process, but I was pleasantly surprised, the fittings supplied were better quality than those found in Ikea boxes, and the drawers slotted together easily. Everything was drilled in the right place, so the screws drove into the pre-drilled holes cleanly.

By the time I had to leave to collect the car I’d got all 8 drawers built and piled neatly against the wall.

“Will you be ok,” I asked Helen at the door as I left.

“Not a problem, Nita will be here soon, and Ernie hasn’t a clue who I am, at least he’s not asked me any awkward questions yet.”

“Excellent, let me know if you have to order any extra paint or anything.”

“Stop worrying Alex, go get your car so you can take Poppy to see her mum, that’s what’s important right now.”

She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and pretty much pushed me out of the door.

The hire centre was too far away to walk, so I’d booked an Uber, the car was waiting outside, I jumped in and the driver whisked me the 4 miles to the sports car rental centre.

I was initially disappointed the 911 I’d been given wasn’t the white one from their website, but after I’d walked round it a couple of times I decided the deep metallic blue was a good colour.

It’s a few years since I’d driven a Porsche, and it took me a little while to get used to the floor mounted pedals and flappy-paddle gear-shift, so with 30 minutes to spare I decided to take a slightly circuitous route to Poppy’s school so I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of her friends if I stalled the powerful car at the school gate.

This 911 was much more powerful than the Boxster, which was the only previous Porsche I’d driven, so I was very careful as I drove through the estate and onto the A3 where I floored it for a short while until I hit traffic, then I eased up again as I exited the A3 onto the surface streets and into Wimbledon from the south.

I remembered Poppy had missed lunch on our last visit, so I stopped at a bakery and bought her a chicken salad sandwich and a cake, to be eaten outside the car. I didn’t want to have a deep cleaning charge taken out of my security deposit.

I pulled to a smooth stop at the school gates just as I heard the bells ring for the end of the lunch break, Poppy was standing with Katie and they both stared open mouthed as they realised it was me in the Porsche.

“Shit, I thought you were kidding when you said you’d get a Porsche,” Poppy said as she opened the door, waving goodbye to Katie as she dashed off to her class, “will we be back in time to give Katie a ride?”

“We can try, but you never know with the traffic.”

“Is it as fast as it looks?”

“It certainly is, although I haven’t had much chance to test it out properly yet.”

The traffic was heavy on the way to the M25, but once on the motorway it was blissfully clear, so I moved straight over to the outside lane and floored it for a minute or two, pushing us both into our seats.

“Fucking hell,” Poppy laughed, “that’s amazing, how fast were you going?”

“Fast enough to get me arrested if I’m not careful.”

“Jeremy phoned me earlier, I was in a lesson so I only saw it at breaktime, I phoned him back, I was worried what he’d say, but it was really good news, Evie is awake and doing ok. She’s not as strong as I am, so they can’t just lock her in a room and make her go cold turkey like they did with me, fuck, that was horrible, but it worked.”

“What are they going to do for her?”

“The charity that runs St Barnabas has a drug treatment centre, so it’s lucky Jeremy’s guys took her there, they’re fully licenced to dispense heroin in small quantities, they’ll wean her off it and onto methadone for a while, then see if they can get her off that, it’s a slow and quite painful process for all involved apparently. I hope she pulls through, she’s such a wonderful woman, it broke my heart to see her like that on Sunday.”

I reached across and gave her hand a quick squeeze, “you saved her life, you should be very proud of your actions that day.”

“I shouted at you, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You were right to do so, it was an emergency and I was being slow.”

I let go of Poppy’s hand as I pulled off the M25 at junction 29 and took the A127 towards the hospice.

As I reversed the car into a parking bay I caught sight of the food I’d bought Poppy on the back seat, I passed it to her once I’d turned the engine off.

“I got you something to eat, I remembered you had no lunch last week.”

“Aww thanks dad, that’s so thoughtful, and yes, I’ve had no lunch again.”

We clambered out of the car and Poppy sat on a bench as she ate her sandwich, “this is so nice,” she said between mouthfuls, “loads of mayo, just how I like it.”

“I thought lashings of mayo would usefully counter the healthy salad.”

Poppy balled up the food bag and tossed it in the bin before taking my hand as we walked into the hospice.

There was a different receptionist today, so I was prepared to go through the rigmarole of explaining who we were once more, but luckily our details had been entered during our previous visit, so we were allowed to go straight down to Nikki’s room.

As we entered the room Nikki frowned slightly before her face turned to a smile, it clearly took her a little while to remember who we were. If Poppy noticed this slight hesitation she didn’t let it show, she dashed to her mum’s side, pulling up a chair to sit as close as she could to the bed.

I stood behind Poppy, not wishing to crowd them. Nikki was sitting up in bed today, but she didn’t look at all well, her bruises were no better, she looked like she was in her 80’s, but I knew from news stories I’d read online that she was only 30, exactly halfway between Helen and I in age.

After a few moments of whispered conversation Poppy asked her mum if she remembered me.

“Yes, he’s your friend Alex.”

“He saved my life mum, he’s so nice. Do you see that blue car in the car park?”

It took Nikki a long time to move herself so she could look out of the window, “yes,” she said slowly, “I can see a blue car, what is it?”

“It’s Alex’s Porsche, isn’t it nice.”

I didn’t even consider telling Nikki it was only mine for 24 hours, Poppy was obviously trying to let her mum know she was safe and secure with me.

“Oh, very flash, I had a boyfriend once who had a Mercedes,” she said dreamily, “his name was Parker, strange name, I wonder what happened to him?”

Poppy looked up at me, horrified. Suddenly another piece of the jigsaw had fallen in place, it was Parker who’d taken them to the zoo that day.

“Mum, when did you last see Parker?”

“Ohhh, I don’t know, it was a while ago.”

Poppy pulled her phone out of her coat pocket, she opened her photo gallery and scrolled until she found a picture of her back, she zoomed in so her bare buttocks were out of the frame and showed it to her mum.

“See these bruises mum, he did a lot of these, when I was first on the streets he basically held me captive in his squat and got me hooked on heroin, he was one of the gang of cunts who kidnapped me and gangraped me for three days. When did you last see Parker?”

I’d not heard her use that word before, she must be so angry right now. I put my hand gently on her shoulder and Poppy settled back into the chair and relaxed a little.

I looked across to the bed and Nikki was crying, “I’m so sorry Melanie, he was always a bastard, but I was hooked, no matter how hard I tried I could never get away from him completely, he never told me he’d found you, I bet he got a perverse joy out of not telling either of us he was fucking us both.”

“Anyway, he can’t hurt anyone else, I’ve seen to it that his reign of terror is over,” Poppy said, “my friends have had him disposed of like the trash he is.”

Nikki was quiet for a while, staring out of the window for a few minutes before she slowly turned back to Poppy, “he’s dead?” she asked eventually.

“Yes, along with everyone else who’s been fucking and beating me these last few years.”

“Who killed them?”

“Some were killed by friends of the man who sent those flowers, he always looked out for me, and the gang rape was the final straw. Some were already dead before he could get to them, and this is the real mystery, because the injuries were exactly the same as yours, so we think it’s the same person who attacked you.”

“Why me?”

“Well, I can only assume they’re getting rid of everyone who hurt me, and at the end of the day it’s your fault I was on the fucking streets in the first place.”

“Mmm I guess I can’t argue with that.”

“Mum, what did you tell the police about the man who attacked you?”

“I’ve not told them anything, when I was first in hospital I was too unwell to talk, and since I’ve been here they’ve not been back at all.”

“Can you tell me anything?”

“There’s not really much I can tell you about her...”

“Her?” I asked, “it was a woman who attacked you?”

“Yes, I didn’t see her face or anything, but I heard her voice, and as she pulled me close to stab me I distinctly felt breasts against my back.”

“And the police haven’t been told this?” Poppy asked.

“No, they haven’t.”

Poppy turned to me, “we need to tell Jenny, this is probably important.”

I pulled out my phone and dialed, it went to voicemail so I left a message while Poppy asked Nikki some more questions about her attacker.

“I really don’t know much more, she was probably the same height as me, she was strong, her voice was calm, I don’t remember what she said at all, I was so scared I pee’d myself, she smacked me on the side of the head for that and I don’t remember anything else until I woke in hospital.”

“What did her voice sound like? Did she sound like anyone off TV or the radio?”

“She sounded like that woman who plays Bubbles in Absolutely Fabulous, I don’t know her name, skinny blonde woman.”

“Oh my god! Alex, I know who it is, shit, shit shit I need to speak to Jeremy as soon as we leave.”

Poppy turned back to Nikki, she had a mix of excitement and worry on her face as she spoke to her mother, “I’m so sorry, we have to go, you’ve been a great help mum, I think I know who attacked you, I’m going to tell my friends, one is a police lady, she may come to see you if that’s OK.”

“If I’m still around, there’s not much time left honey.”

Poppy kissed Nikki’s forehead then she dashed out of the room, she pulled out her phone and dialed as she walked quickly down the corridor.

“Hey Jeremy, it’s me, Poppy ... Listen, I know who the other person is, the one who attacked mum.”

She listened for a while before she turned to me, “Jeremy says there’s three police vans and dozens of officers tearing David Kemp’s flat apart, he also says there’s police in Swiss Cottage, if you’re trying to phone Jenny she’ll be at one of those two places, gosh this is exciting, all these police working on information I’ve given.”

She turned back to her phone, “sorry Jeremy, just updating Alex, anyway, like I was saying, I’m just at the hospice and I asked mum the question the police should have asked but haven’t so far, namely, who hurt you?”

She listened some more and turned back to me, “I’m not sure how he knows, but DC Jenny is in Swiss Cottage, maybe we could drive over there and speak to her.”

“Yeah, sorry, just updating Alex again, how do you know who DC Jenny is? Ahh, I see, is she as good as she sounds? Ahh great, because Alex is kind of dating her, we like her,” she turned to me quickly, “Jeremy says DC Jenny is one of the good guys,” she turned back to the phone, “back to the point of the call, I’m pretty sure it’s Max who attacked mum and did the other stuff.”

She listened for a long time, dropping the odd comment from her conversation with Nikki, then she cut the call, saying, “thanks Jeremy, I’m sure you’ll do the right thing, but I need to tell Jenny as well, we need to get closure for mum ... Yes, I love Max dearly, but she hurt mum and I’m not happy about it. I might not actually like mum but I didn’t want anyone to hurt her, yeah ok, I’ll speak to you later.”

Poppy ran over and hugged me tightly, she looked up into my eyes, “Jeremy wanted to sort Max out, but I’ve told him not to, I want Jenny to deal with her.”

“That’s the right thing to do, I guess we’ll need Jeremy’s help to track Max down, I hope he doesn’t try to hide her.”

“I think I trust Jeremy to do the right thing.”

“So, you want to go to Swiss Cottage?” I asked.

“Yes, she’ll be too busy to answer her phone, but I’m sure she could spare us a minute if we turn up at the site.”

“If we can get past the TV vans,” I sighed as I clambered into the Porsche, “and I suspect this isn’t the car for driving around the residential streets around there, all those sleeping policemen will play havoc with the suspension.”

“We could go home then get the tube.”

“No, that will take too long, can you remember the address from the map last night so I can find it on the sat nav?”

Poppy told me and I typed it onto the screen, when we zoomed in we agreed it was the same place, so I started the engine and set off towards the A113 then onto the M11.

The drive was OK until we hit the streets around the house. Poppy was nervous, she chatted about random stuff, Katie’s hair, Evie, Belle, Flower, even the Maths homework she needs to do tonight.

No mention of Max, though.

I ended up driving past the road we needed as it was crowded with police vans and a couple of TV crews, Poppy found a space two streets away, and I carefully reversed the Porsche into a gap between a very rusty 2CV and a battered transit sitting on bricks. A nice area, clearly.

I locked the car and said a quick prayer that it would be there when we returned. Poppy held my hand as we walked back to the police cordon.

On the street corner someone called out from the other side of the road, Poppy looked up and called back, “hey Chance, how’s it going?”, she pulled me over the road to join her friend.

“Hey Poppy, I wasn’t sure it was you, but the guy matches the description Jeremy gave us.”

“This is Alex,” Poppy said, “and Alex, this is Chance, once of Jeremy’s men. What are you doing here?”

“One of our guys lives on the next street, we knew this was one of Kenzie’s party squats, and have been watching it closely, when all the police arrived at 6am Johnny phoned Jeremy and he sent three of us to keep an eye out for him. Zack is over the other side, and Jessica is upstairs in a squat right opposite the house.”

“Wow, proper Secret Squirrel work going on,” Poppy said, obviously impressed, “so, I need to see DC Jenny Wilde, is she still here?”

“Yeah, she’s still around, they’re digging two pits in the back garden according to Jessica, but they’ve covered them with big tents so we can’t see what’s happening.”

“Two tents, that suggests two graves, I wonder who’s in the second, I kind of hope it’s Meghan, it’s her fault Gemma got killed.”

She shook her head, “sorry, that’s wrong of me, I’m trying to be a better person. Anyway, do you have any idea how we can get to see Jenny without fighting our way through the police guards?”

“I had a think about this when Jeremy phoned to say you were coming, pop down that alley, 8th gate on your left, it’s open, go through, watch out the yard is full of shit, there’s a lot of broken glass, knock on the back door, I’ll let Jessica know, she’ll let you in. The CID operations trailer is basically in the front garden, you’re on your own from there.”

“Cool, thanks Chance.”

Poppy walked ahead, picking her way through the litter-strewn back alley, “ewwww,” she cried as she stepped over a dead bird.

The 8th gate was hanging open, she pushed it with her foot then very carefully made her way across a yard that looked like someone had emptied a bin wagon over the back wall. It was horrendous, and I assume intended to stop anyone but the most determined making their way into the house.

The back door creaked open as we arrived, “are you Poppy?” a voice asked.

“Yes, and my friend Alex, Chance sent us round.”

“Come in, take three steps forward then go to your right.”

Poppy took three steps forward, then stepped to the right, “does that go a long way down?” she asked.

“Far enough to break your legs,” Jessica answered.

“Careful Alex,” Poppy said as walked through the door. As my eyes adjusted to the dimness inside I saw a couple of missing floorboards not far into the room, I headed off to the right and followed Poppy and Jessica down a hallway towards the front door.

“Ok,” Jessica started, “this is where the plan may end, because I’m not sure if this door opens, I only got here this morning when Jeremy put the call out, it’s a miracle I didn’t end up in that cellar, and I’ve not risked trying the door. The police outside think this house is empty.”

Poppy tried the handle, “it turns, but the door isn’t moving.”

I tried it and got the same result, “you pull the handle,” I said to Poppy, “I’ll stick my hand through the letter box and pull the door that way.”

With a lot of effort and swearing, especially on my part, as the letterbox flap was digging in my hand, we eventually got the door open, and amazingly nobody outside had noticed. I’d expected a crowd of angry coppers to descend on us the moment the door swung open.

Poppy turned to Jessica, with the door open, and the late afternoon light shining into the hallway, we could now see her, she was tall, slim and quite pretty, “thanks for letting us come through this way, I think we may have broken your door, it probably won’t close again.”

“No worries sweetie, this place was only a lookout to see what’s happening, but the tents have blocked any view, I was just waiting for Jeremy to send me home. I guess now you’ve arrived I’ll leave. Good to meet you Poppy, I’ve heard so many great stories about you, you’re like Wonder Woman or something for a lot of the girls out there, especially after what you did for Evie.”

“I’m still not sure about all this hero shit I’m hearing, but I am trying to help now I’m in a better position. I’m working on setting up a little charity to help the girls out.”

“Oh really, is there anything I can do to help?”

“Oh, that would be lovely, speak to Jeremy, he’s helping me out on this, obviously, if there’s anyone who’s a superhero here, it’s him.”

The girls hugged, then Jessica carefully walked up the stairs to get her things. We stepped through the broken front door just as it parted company with the top hinge and fell, making a hell of a racket and waking the police in the operations van.

Two officers stepped out of the back of the van, “who are you?” the lead officer demanded, “we thought this house was empty.”

“Ahh, it is empty,” Poppy said with a smile, “we just took a shortcut through the house, I need a quick word with DC Jenny Wilde then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“I’m sorry, this is a crime scene, you need to leave.”

“I know it’s a crime scene, silly, I’m the one who told you where to find it. Now if I could just have one minute of DC Wilde’s time I’d be ever so grateful, and so will she.”

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that...”

Just then Jenny came across the street, as she was about to enter the van she saw us, “Poppy, what are you doing here?”

“I’ve just been to see my mum, I was surprised nobody has questioned her about her attacker.”

“What do you mean?” Jenny asked as she walked towards us.

“She’s not been questioned, first she was too ill, but now she’s quite lucid, so I asked her the question the police should have asked, what does she remember about the attack, and from what she told me I’m certain I know who did it.”

“Come inside the van, both of you, I don’t want any of the press overhearing this.”

We followed her into the back of the van, which was a bit of a squeeze, so a couple of constables had to leave.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t take your call Alex, it’s been a busy day, were you going to tell me what Poppy’s going to say?”

“Half of it, I was going to tell you the attacker is female, Poppy worked out the rest after I’d left the message.”