Chapter 18

I went into the kitchen and set the coffee machine going, Jenny joined me as I was pouring my first cup.

“How’s everything upstairs?” I asked as I poured Jenny a cup.

“Fine, Belle’s in the bath, they’re taking turns scrubbing her front and back.”

“Is she OK? Belle I mean.”

“She’s fine, she seems to have lived reasonably well, I didn’t see any marks on her body, not like Poppy’s.”

“Poppy worked hard to keep Belle safe, and she’s been living in Kings Cross, in a room well behind the scenes that even the staff don’t know about. The money Poppy gave her has meant she’s been able to eat reasonably well these last couple of weeks.”

“Ahh, food, I was going to cook dinner but got sidetracked.”

“Not to worry, Helen’s on her way to have a word with the girls, I think she really wants to meet Belle, when she gets here, we’ll order Chinese.”

“What’s she want to speak to them about?”

“I guess she wants to make sure the addition of Belle won’t affect Poppy and Katie’s relationship. Poppy’s also showing a little insecurity about the effects of her life on her body, so she’s looking for a little reassurance.”

“So, on the subject of Belle, I did a little digging. You were right, she’s from York, her parents were killed in a multi-vehicle accident on the motorway 18 months ago. According to court documents her uncle, Liam Dean was awarded custody, although her grandparents fought the ruling and she never moved in with her uncle.

“Just over a year ago her grandmother passed away suddenly, her grandfather was unable to care for Belle as he suffers from Parkinsons and is mostly wheelchair bound. Her uncle took advantage and went back to court. Belle wanted to stay with her grandfather, as his carer, but social services in their wisdom decided this wasn’t going to happen, so again Liam was awarded custody.

“That night Belle ran away.”

I processed this for a moment before asking, “why doesn’t Belle want to live with her uncle?”

“Good question,” Belle said as she came into the kitchen wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt, she slid onto the chair next to Jenny and took her coffee, “mmm nice. So, do you want the true story or the one you’ve probably read in the court documents?”

“I’ve read beyond the court documents, I’ve read the sealed files, but please, tell us your story your way,” Jenny said calmly as I got up to pour her a fresh coffee.

“Can I wait until Poppy and Katie come down, so we all hear it together?”

“Of course, we’ll go into the lounge. Alex’s sister is coming soon, I think you’ll like her, you may want to wait until she arrives.”

“Nobody will gossip about this?” Belle asked.

“Absolutely not, this is one thing you’ll learn about us,” Jenny replied, “nothing you tell us will leave these four walls, and that includes Helen and her girlfriend Nita. Poppy has already poured her heart out to us and Helen, we’ve not told anyone else.”

“I guess I can trust anyone Poppy trusts, in the squat she was like my big sister and my mum. She took such good care of me, like a mum should do, and we had so much fun, just like I’d have with a big sister. We used to go shoplifting and see who could steal the most ridiculous things. One day I brought back this ashtray made from a monkey’s skull, I saw it in this tacky shop in Soho that mostly sold bongs and shit, I thought I’d definitely won that day, then she comes in with this massive dildo, it was like 3 foot long and as thick as my leg. I’ve no idea how she stole it, then she tells me they were showing a video in the shop of a woman actually using this dildo, it made my eyes water thinking about it.”

Belle paused for a moment then smiled, “ahh, I’ve just admitted shoplifting to a police officer...”

Jenny put a hand on Belle’s cheek, “what’s in the past is in the past, we’ve been through this with Poppy. I’m really not concerned about what you did to survive in the past, although stealing monster dildos probably wasn’t necessary,” she said with a smile, “just don’t do anything like that from now on, and that includes fare dodging on the underground, we’ll get you an Oyster card.”

“You should have seen Poppy though, she was always the master of hurdling the gates”

We heard the key in the lock and Helen called out as she opened the door, Poppy and Katie ran down the stairs to meet her in the hallway.

“We thought you weren’t coming today, I heard Nita is poorly, I hope she’s ok,” Poppy said as they walked into the kitchen.

“She’s ok, just a migraine, which is horrible obviously, but she’ll be fine tomorrow I reckon.”

“Aunty, meet Belle!” Poppy said as she stood behind her, hands on Belle’s shoulders.

Helen sat down next to me, opposite Belle and looked at her for the longest time, Belle didn’t blink under Helen’s gaze.

“You really are beautiful aren’t you, I love your eyes honey, and your hair is wonderful, I’ve not seen hair so naturally black for such a long time.”

“Thank you, Poppy and Katie told me so much about you while I was having my bath, they like you a lot.”

“We were going to order Chinese for dinner, are you stopping Helen,” I asked.

“Nita’s fast asleep, I guess I can stay for a couple of hours.”

“Excellent, I’ll order a mixed banquet, why don’t you all go into the lounge where the chairs are comfier and Belle can tell us all about herself, and we can tell Belle everything she needs to know about us.”

Jenny took a couple of bottles of wine from the fridge and I grabbed some glasses.

Belle looked at the wine as Jenny poured her a glass, “am I allowed wine? I’m only 14, Max never let me drink.”

“Oh yeah, she always made us get you soft drinks. You had a bit of my drink sometimes, when she wasn’t looking.”

“Everyone treated me like a toddler sometimes, but I guess I was always safe, even if I missed some of your more exciting adventures.”

“Well here you can have a little wine if you want, just don’t get drunk and throw up on the carpets,” Jenny said as she moved across to pour Poppy’s wine.

“So,” Belle said quietly, blushing a little at having an audience, “I’m Belle, or Amelia, I like both names, and I’m 14, from York originally. I met Poppy about a year ago now, I was sleeping near Paddington Station. I’d been in London for 3 days, but I only had money for one night in a hotel. I was wondering whether going to live with my Uncle was worse than sleeping on the streets and decided it probably was. So there I was, wrapped up in a sleeping bag I’d bought from a charity shop, wondering how long it would take me to die when this angel crouched down next to me and gave me a burger and a coffee, she told me her name was Poppy and if I didn’t want to die I’d could come live with her and her friends.”

She was silent for a moment while she thought about what to say next, “I guess you want to know why I don’t want to go home.”

“You don’t need to tell us anything you don’t want to,” Helen said.

“It’s ok, it’s only fair, you know about Poppy, and Katie’s mum sounds like a right bitch. So, here goes, you know my mum and dad died, sometimes I wish I’d gone with them to nan’s, then at least I’d have been dead with them...”

Katie moved next to Belle and put a soothing hand on hers, Belle smiled weakly.

“ ... ok, so after mum and dad died I went to live with nan and grandad, but my Uncle Liam wasn’t happy with this, he went to court and made them hand me over, but nan fought back, and I stayed with them, but the court fight took its toll and nan had a heart attack and died. Grandad wasn’t well, so social services went back to court and made me move in with Uncle Liam. I wanted to stay with grandad, I wanted to care for him, I could do that, I’d have enjoyed doing it, I like cooking and caring for people.

“Anyway, the fucking bastards signed me over to Liam, so I took all the money I had saved, a bag of clothes and jumped on the next train to London.”

“Why didn’t you want to live with Liam?” I asked again.

“Mmm, could I have more wine before I answer that?”

“Of course,” Jenny replied, “but remember what I said about vomit on the carpets, your bathroom has a vinyl floor, it’s very easy to clean.”

This made Belle smile, which is exactly what Jenny wanted, “I’ll remember that.”

She took a sip of her second glass and put it down on the coffee table, “where to start? Well, let’s start with him beating his girlfriend so badly she needed pins in her arm and plastic surgery.”

“What the fuck!” Helen cried, “and social services still gave him custody? How?”

“He ‘persuaded’ her to say it wasn’t his fault, she’d driven him to it with her relentless nagging, he had a ‘moment’ of madness. Some moment, a police lady I spoke to said he must have been beating on her for over an hour. Then there’s the reports of him raping and assaulting girls, some of them younger than me, but the police have never had anything positive to prosecute him.”

“Even without evidence to prosecute, the police lobbied social services to keep you away from him, I read it in the file, but social services just didn’t seem to want to believe them.” Jenny said.

“Yes, that’s what the police lady said as she drove me to the station.”

“Are you saying a police officer helped you run away?”

“Yes, she thought I had a better chance of survival running away than I had with Liam.”

“Do you remember her name?” Jenny asked.

“I do, but I’m not telling you if it will get her into trouble.”

“Good grief no, I want to see if she’d like a transfer, a conscience like that is exactly what I want in my new squad.”

“Did he ever touch you?” Helen asked.

“Not in that way, no.” Belle said gravely, “he would slap me when mum and dad weren’t looking, but he was never alone with me long enough for him to do that. Thanks to Poppy’s work, and Flower, I’m still a virgin, and I intend to stay that way for as long as possible.”

“Yayyy!” Poppy cried, “sometimes I wish I had someone to protect me when I was first on the streets, but then I think if I had then I wouldn’t be as tough as I am now, then I feel sad because I worry that I was over protective with you.”

Belle jumped up and punched Poppy on the arm.

“Oi!” Poppy shouted, “that hurt.”

“And I’m glad, it shows that I can protect myself if I need to. You kept me safe Poppy, but we all had fighting lessons from Max and Evie. I’ve only needed to fight once, and I won.”