Chapter 20

When we arrived home Helen went to check on Nita and Jenny went to the station to gather names and addresses for the girls who’d accused Liam of assault. What she was doing was totally illegal, so she was extra careful no-one saw what she was doing.

While Jenny was doing her stuff I did some shopping, Belle said she wanted to make us Spaghetti Bolognaise, so I bought a kilo of steak mince and a bag of veggie mince, in case Nita and Helen were coming to dinner, I also bought some vegan cheese, a couple of bottles of Barolo and a case of Peroni.

I was just coming out of Waitrose as Jenny jogged up beside me and took the case of lager.

“All done,” she panted, “I was afraid to send anything via the police network, so I photographed the details and sent them all to Jeremy via WhatsApp, hopefully he’ll be able to read most of them.”

“I know what you’ve done is illegal, but you’re doing the right thing. Even if we didn’t have selfish motives regarding Belle, Liam needs to be taken down somehow.”

“I know, but that doesn’t stop me feeling bad about what I’ve just done, we have certain standards to follow.”

“Oh, I just remembered,” Jenny said a little later as I was opening the front door, “I was checking the duty logs for the coming week and the raid on the porno cinema is this Friday, it’s lucky you found Belle yesterday or she’d have probably been there.”

“Oh god yes,” I replied, “I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for her to be doing that.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to talk to them both about it, we need some more information about the layout of the building, the plans we have are from before the last lot of renovations over twenty years ago.”

“Poppy will be fine I’m sure, and Belle will be ok talking with Poppy there.”

“Yeah, but will they be fine talking in an interview room, this needs to be official, Poppy is a confidential witness, she won’t be called, and I can make Belle one too, but they’ll still need to come to the police station.”

“We can only ask.”

I put the shopping away and made a pot of coffee, Jenny pulled some paperwork out of her bag and started working at the coffee table.

“What are these?” I asked as I pushed a mug of coffee across the table.

“Ahh, I need to learn to keep this stuff out of the way, especially when the girls are around.”

“You can use my office.”

“Yeah, but they do their homework in there.”

“That’s ok, seeing as Belle isn’t going to need her own bedroom we can turn the 4th bedroom into their homework room, Ernie could easily make a workbench around the walls, yeah, we’ll get that done, then you can share my office.”

“That sounds like a good plan, we could donate the furniture that’s in there, I’ll put it on Freecycle later, are there any clothes or anything in the cupboards?”

“Just a few things Tammy left in her rush to leave, I’ve not looked in there for years.”

“Not a problem, I’ll sort it all, box everything up for charity, will there be any really expensive clothes? We could maybe put them on eBay and use the money for Poppy’s charity.”

“Tammy rarely shopped anywhere cheap, she was like Helen in that respect, I’m sure there’s some decent things in there.”

“Cool, that can be my project for later.”

She took a drink of her coffee then she looked down at the papers, “these are the autopsy reports for the girls from the house,” she slid one forward, “this is Gemma, she’s the girl Poppy liked, she had a broken neck but no other injuries as far as we can tell, she’d have died quickly.”

She took another drink of coffee before continuing, “Meghan wasn’t so lucky, and under no circumstances can Poppy know about this, the poor girl feels bad enough for running away as it is, without knowing what they did to Meghan.”

I started to read the report, then I felt sick, “fuck!” I said under my breath as I slid it back.

“She suffered for hours, probably the same treatment Poppy got later, the coroner was reluctant to choose one cause of death, but he thinks it was a blow to the head. Some of the broken bones are post mortem, as if someone repeatedly jumped on her before she was buried.”

I was silent, I couldn’t think of words to convey my horror. Some of the violence in my books is extreme, but nothing like the violence laid out in the medical examiner’s report on the table.

Jenny tapped the page, “this is why I have no regrets about covering up what Max and Jeremy’s people did, the monsters who perpetrated this violence on Meghan and Poppy don’t deserve to live, Alex. Same with the freaks we’ll hopefully arrest on Friday, those bastards will plead innocence, ‘we’ve not done these things to the little girls, it was other people who abused them’ they’ll say, but those other people are running a business, and if they didn’t have a market they’d move on to something else, selling drugs, hacking businesses, they’ll do something else illegal obviously, but it won’t be raping babies, and that’s what matters.”

I moved around the table and hugged Jenny as she started to cry at the horrors she faced at work, “I sometimes want to cry at work, but I can’t, I’ve got to be as strong as the men, stronger even, and sometimes I just can’t, I have to go outside and let it all go, it’s horrible Alex.”

We heard the key in the door, “shit, clear the table,” Jenny said, “they can’t see this.”

I put everything in a pile and slipped them inside Jenny’s briefcase just as Poppy and the others crashed into the room, they all stopped when they saw Jenny’s tear streaked face.

Poppy dropped her bags and ran forwards, “what’s the matter mum?” she cried as she skidded to a halt beside Jenny.

“It’s OK honey, just thinking about the shit I have to deal with, and all the shit you went through. I’m fine now, honestly.”

“I don’t think you are fine, I can see it in your eyes.”

“I’m sorry honey, I know we have no secrets in the house, but some of my work has to remain confidential. I’ll be OK soon, but I’m afraid I need to ask you and Belle about the cinema club.”

Belle stiffened and looked like she was about to make a dash for the door, “nothing about what you did there, I just need to know about the layout of the building. I should really ask you formally in the station, but I can’t face going back there today.”

Poppy looked across at Belle, an unspoken conversation batted back and forth until the both nodded.

“We can do that,” Belle said, “I want to put my clothes away first, then we can talk.”

“Please, don’t go just yet, show us some of your new clothes,” Jenny said, wiping her eyes on a piece of kitchen towel, “I’d like to see what you’ve bought, especially the coat.”

“Ok, that sounds like fun,” Belle said, “but I don’t have a bra on yet, because there wasn’t one in the house that fit me this morning, so you’ll all have to promise to shut your eyes when I change.”

“We promise,” we said.

“Yeah right, like you’re all going to look away when there’s boobs on show, even my little ones, nipples are like fucking eye magnets,” she laughed, and Jenny smiled, which I guess is what Belle wanted.

The girls moved into the lounge, and while they got ready Jenny had a quick wash and tidied her make-up. Helen arrived as she was coming downstairs.

“Ahh, just in time,” Jenny told her, “Belle is doing a try-on for us.”

“Oh, this will be fun,” Helen replied.

“How’s Nita?” I asked.

“Much better, though she’s still a bit delicate, so she decided to stay home tonight.”

“Belle’s cooking Spag Bol tonight, I got veggie mince just in case.”

“There’s no need to make two lots, I can eat the beefy one if Nita’s not around.”

“Oh, you are a rebel, sister.”

“I know, and that’s why you love me.”

“You can come in now,” Belle called through the door, “but keep your eyes shut.”

“How will we find our way to the sofa and not sit on someone,” Jenny called through the door.

“Good point, come in one at a time and Poppy will help you to a seat, did I hear Helen come in?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Fantastic, you can come in first...”

Poppy met each one of us at the door and made sure we had our eyes shut, Helen, Jenny then me. I was seated between Helen and Jenny.

Music started, the programmed electronic beats of Ela Minus.

“Ok, you can look now,” Belle said, so we did, and I’m very glad we did.

As we blinked to get used to the bright lights I saw that Poppy and Katie were sitting on the floor either side of the sofa, Belle was standing across the room completely naked.

“You wanted boobs obviously, so I thought I’d give you them straight away before I put a bra on.”

Belle is shorter and slimmer than both Katie and Poppy, and everything is in proportion, her breasts are simply wonderful, apple sized with big, pink areolae. As my eyes wandered down her stomach they reached her neat, bald pussy, her lips all internal, leaving a pussy as pretty as any I’d ever seen.

I looked to either side, and both Jenny and Helen were staring at Belle, pure lust in their eyes, which made me feel a lot better about the hard-on that was developing in my pants.

Helen put a hand on my lap and smiled, “I guess we all feel the same,” she whispered.

“She’s perfect,” Jenny whispered.

“I can lip read you know,” Belle laughed, “so there’s no point whispering. Anyway, that’s the show over for now,” she added as she pulled a pink bra off the coffee table and slipped it on, back to front first so she could fasten it, then she slid it round and fed her arms through the straps.”

“You know how you can take a bra off without removing your t-shirt?” Poppy asked, “well Belle is the only person I’ve ever seen put a bra on without removing her t-shirt.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot I did that once in Marks & Spencer. I need a baggy t-shirt, lend me yours Poppy.”

So whilst Poppy slipped out of her t-shirt Belle removed her bra and set it to one side before slipping into Poppy’s t-shirt, which was a couple of sizes too big.

“Watch this, it’s great, she did it on the shop floor with people around us.”

Belle slipped her bra up her sleeve, then she slid both arms out of the sleeves so they were inside the t-shirt. For the next 30 seconds it looked like there was a fight going on under her shirt, then she thrust her arms back out of the sleeves and lifted the t-shirt with a look of triumph on her face.

We laughed and clapped and cheered.

Belle blushed a little at the attention as she removed Poppy’s t-shirt and gave it back, Poppy just tossed it aside, happy to sit there in just her bra.

“Ahh, well that was fun,” Belle started, “so, what should I try on first?”

“The dress we got from Urban Outfitters, that orange and pink one. Err we may have used your card in Urban Outfitters, I’d only stolen stuff from there before, we had no idea how dear their clothes are, but look how pretty she looks...”

And she did look pretty, the dress came to just above her knees, it was mostly a burnt orange colour with a pattern of pink mandalas of varying sizes.

“Oooohhh, you forgot the shoes,” Katie said, passing Belle a Converse box.

“Thanks,” Belle said as she excitedly opened the box and pulled out a pair of orange hi-top All Stars, she sat cross legged as she pulled them on and tied them, “this is the best day ever, shopping is even more fun than shoplifting. Although, I have to say it was fun running away from security guards, none of them can beat me, Poppy and Flower in a 100-metre sprint across a shop floor.”

Jenny coughed quietly, Belle looked up and smiled, “we stole nothing today, honest.”

“Ok, just know that I’ll be very upset if I find out you’ve stolen anything when you know full well we can afford to buy it.”

“It’s ok mum, Poppy already told me she’d be mad if I stole anything, it’s just sometimes those shops take the piss with their prices, like this dress, it was already expensive, and don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it, but they wanted another £10 for a belt to match. Luckily I don’t have big boobs, so the belt isn’t needed to pull the body in, but still, that’s mad, they should include the belt anyway.”

Jenny smiled at Belle, she kind of had a point, the more we got to know her, the more there was to like about this young girl.

Now she had her shoes on Belle stood back up and gave us another twirl before she set off running around the room, “yayyy, these All Stars are great, so comfy.”

“Err. maybe if you’re going to wear that dress outside,” Helen said, “you’d probably be best wearing panties, we can see everything when you twirl around.”

Belle looked down and lifted her dress up, “whoops, I thought it felt nice and cool,” she said as she rummaged through the neat stacks of clothes, “these match the bra.”

Now with a full set of lingerie she removed the dress and folded it on a chair, she scratched her head as she looked at everything.

Katie pointed at the middle stack, “the green shirt, with those jeans and the army jacket,” she suggested.

“Oh yes!” Belle replied, “I love the jacket,” she looked at me, “thank you so much for letting Poppy buy this, you’re going to love it.”

Poppy pulled a pair of jeans from the first pile, they were light blue and I noticed flowers embroidered on the pockets, Belle put them on as Katie unfolded an olive-green t-shirt with ‘ARMY’ in faded black text across the front.

“This is a real US Army t-shirt, we got it from an army surplus store,” Poppy explained, “it’s great quality cotton. We could have got a jacket from there, but they smelt a bit funny, and they didn’t have any in Belle’s size, seems they don’t have any 5’ 2” girls in the army. The t-shirt only fits because it’s shrunk a bit.”

The t-shirt was a little tight even for Belle, it showed her small breasts off well, which may have been the intention. As she donned the jacket though, I could see why she liked it. This was a perfect copy of a West German army parka from the early 80’s, right down to the button-in fluffy olive-green liner, it looked amazing.

“Phew, it’s really warm,” Belle said, wiping her forehead dramatically, “the lining is like being inside a teddy bear. It’ll be great for wearing to school when it gets really cold.”

“And when it gets warmer you can remove that fluffy lining,” Poppy said, “then it’s just like a regular coat.”

“But a regular coat with millions of pockets, look at this one, it’s huge!”

“That’s a map pocket I think,” I told her, “ah if you try that pocket,” pointing at one to the left of the zip, “your hand will go right inside the coat.”

She tried it, her hand disappeared, “what’s this for, so I can fondle my boob?”

“Not quite, it’s so a right handed guard could access a pistol in a shoulder holster without unfastening the coat completely.”

“Cool, although I’ll probably just use it to fondle my left boob, I don’t really want to carry a gun around.”

Belle removed the jacket and t-shirt, placing them both on the chair, “what next?” she pondered, “oh yeah, I love this top and skirt we got from Gap.”

For the next hour Belle tried on various combinations of tops, trousers, skirts and shoes. Her smile made the expense completely worthwhile, nothing she’d bought, apart from the coat, was expensive, she’d just picked clothes she liked. I appreciated that Belle wasn’t one to take advantage, much like Poppy, who almost had to be forced to accept her expensive watch, and refused a more expensive necklace.

Once she’d tried on practically everything Belle rubbed her stomach, “wooo, I’m starving. I thought after that burger and milkshake for lunch I’d be stuffed all day.”

“I’ll make us dinner,” Jenny offered.

“That’s ok, you cooked yesterday,” Belle replied.

“Actually, I didn’t, I was going to but forgot, so we had Chinese.”

“Ha, yeah that’s right. Anyway, I did offer to make Spaghetti Bolognaise, so if Poppy and Katie help me put my clothes away quickly, I’ll get dinner sorted in no time.”

“It’ll be quicker if we put away your clothes, and you start on the food straight away,” Katie said, “we know where everything goes.”

And that was the tasks for the evening sorted, Poppy and Katie collected everything Belle wasn’t currently wearing, she’d put the flower jeans and US Army t-shirt back on, and took them upstairs to the dressing room.

Jenny took a bottle of wine into the dining room with Helen for a chat, so I became Belle’s kitchen porter.

“What are we doing this week whilst Poppy and Katie are at school?” she asked whilst she chopped the large onion.

“Well, this week we need to empty out the bedroom opposite yours, I’ll move most of the furniture, your job is to empty out the cupboards and wardrobes, there’s some of my ex-fiance’s clothes in there, they’re going to charity, Jenny’s going to eBay anything that looks expensive.”

Belle frowned, “ex-fiance, what happened?”

“Well, to cut a long story short, we were engaged for a couple of years, then a week before the wedding my cleaner caught Tammy in bed with my best man.”

“Oh fuck, that’s cold, so what did you do?”

“I kicked her out, I never heard from either of them again, Helen told me they got married.”

“You seem to be such a nice guy, and according to Poppy you’re amazing in bed, so why would she cheat on you?”

“I’ve honestly no idea, we were together for five years, and I thought we were happy, seems I was completely wrong. Which is why I was on my own for so long afterwards, I didn’t trust my heart to know what it was doing. Then Poppy came along and she let me heal. I love Poppy so much, I did pretty much from the moment I found her at the bus stop. Through Poppy I met Jenny, and something inside Jenny and I clicked pretty much instantly.”