Chapter 30

The hotel was fairly close by, though city-centre traffic and the one-way system meant it was about a 20 minute drive. When we got there the signs for the car park pointed underneath the building, Belle was very excited about parking in the basement. Whereas I was excited by the clever reversing camera system that let me back the car into a space that definitely didn’t look big enough for the beast of a car.

We took the steps at the rear of the car park up to the reception, Belle gasped as I pushed the door open, this hotel was way more fancy than the one we visited yesterday in Russell Square.

The lobby area was all dark wood and brass, the signs all gold lettering on a dark green background. The vast, marble floor was littered with potted plants and leather sofas around mahogany tables.

We approached the receptionist, she smiled as Belle stepped forwards.

“Hi, I’m Amber, how can I help you today?”

“Hey Amber,” Belle replied, “that’s an amazing name.”

“Thank you.”

“We’ve got a room booked, but I don’t know what name, could be Helen Taylor or Alex Harrison.”

“Let me have a look, ahh, we have a room booked by Helen Taylor, but it’s in the name of Belle Dean.”

“Oh, that’s me!” Belle replied, excited, “ahh, does that mean I have to pay?”

“Haha, no, the room is already paid for, it’s a family room with dinner and breakfast, and I see you have a spa treatment booked.”

“Really? That’s exciting, I’ve never had a spa treatment.”

“Well, you’re in for a treat, when you’re ready, pop along to the health centre and see Lauren, she’ll let you know what has been booked for you.”

Amber slid the paperwork across for Belle to fill in, “oh, they want your car reg dad, I don’t know it.”

“I’ll pop back down and get it,” I replied.

“There’s no need for that, where are you parked? Do you remember the zone?”

“Errr, the lines on the floor were red,” Belle replied, “does that help?”

“Yes, it does,” Amber replied, smiling, “it means you’re in the red zone.”

Amber tapped a few keys on her keyboard and her monitor changed to a view of the car park, she moved the monitor so we could see it clearly and used her mouse to move the camera around, “tell me when you see your car.”

“Oh, oh!” Belle cried, “that’s it, the silver Bentley.”

Amber raised her eyebrows, “a Bentley, very flash.”

“It was supposed to be a Porsche,” I said, “but we somehow managed to get an upgrade.”

“I definitely wouldn’t be complaining if I got an upgrade like that when I hired a car.”

“Alex borrowed the car to bring me up to see my grandad, I’ve not seen him since I ran away 18 months ago.”

“Hang on a second, I thought I recognised you.”

Amber turned her screen back and started typing, “ha ahh, yes, it’s you,”, she turned the screen around again showing us a page from the local newspaper’s website.

“Ahh, yes, that’s me.”

“I lived on the next street, I remember all the police around when you went missing. I felt so sorry for you, being forced to live with that fucker,” she put a hand over her mouth, “sorry, I shouldn’t swear, but yeah, I was horrified about what the courts did to you.”

“Thank you,” Belle said quietly, putting her hand on top of Amber’s, “so, yeah, I’ve got a new family now, and this week some men found my grandad, and they talked to some girls Liam had attacked, and he’s been arrested.”

“I saw that on the news last night, the girls who spoke out about him at last, so brave of them, it’ll be horrible having to talk about it in court.”

“I know, I’d hate to have to do that.”

Amber took the paperwork back and passed Belle two keycards, “you’re in 510, that’s a suite on the top floor. When you’re ready for your massage, the health suite is on the first floor.”

“Thank you Amber,” Belle said, “I’m very much looking forward to the spa, and a swim.”

“I recognised Amber,” Belle whispered, “not at first, but when she said she lived on the next street I remembered her, she wasn’t called Amber then I’m sure. She was in sixth form when I started senior school, I don’t blame her for not recognising me from school, which sixth former even notices a geeky year 7 girl?”

“You’re not geeky,” I replied as I slid my room card into the slot to call the lift.

“I was, you saw that photo of us on the beach, what on earth did I look like in that Taylor Swift t-shirt?”

“You didn’t look geeky,” I insisted.

“You were obviously too busy looking at my mum,” Belle laughed.

“I wasn’t, well not all the time. I looked at you, I was interested to see how little you’ve changed, your facial features are the same, and you had your hair up in buns. You looked lovely.”

“Thank you,” she replied, giving my hand a squeeze as the lift started upwards, “anyway, I think Amber was one of the girls he abused. I’m sure she went round his house.”

“Oh, I see.”

“And she’s the type of girl he liked, tall, slim, pretty, nice boobs and red hair.”

“No offence, but that’s not a lot like you, why was he trying it on with you.”

“Ahh, one, I’m gay, everyone knows I’m gay, so he saw me as a challenge, to convert me. He also likes his girls young, and pure, and I was both at the time. I’m still more or less both,” she added with a smile.

When we reached the top floor Belle dashed out of the lift and looked in both directions to find our room, it was at the end of the corridor. I tapped the keycard against the door handle, and let Belle walk ahead into the suite.

“Err, I think there’s a mistake,” Belle said cautiously, “this is someone’s house.”

We’d been given a huge corner suite, with a sitting room, two bedrooms and a very large bathroom. The sitting room had windows on two walls looking out across the city.

I tossed my bag on the sofa and moved over to the coffee maker on the sideboard. I put a cup on the machine, slid a pod in and took out my phone, calling Helen while the coffee brewed.

“Hey sis.”

“Hey brother, how’s it going?”

“We’ve just got to the hotel, I wanted to check what room you’d booked.”

“I just booked a family room, kingsize and a single bed, would have been weird to just book one bed.”

“So nothing fancy?”

“No, all I added were dinner and a massage for Belle.”

“Ok, so it seems to be a day for upgrades, we got a Bentley instead of a Porsche this morning, and now we’ve been given a penthouse suite. I need to take Belle whenever I travel, she’s a lucky charm.”

“A Bentley, very nice. I bet Belle looked lost in the big seats.”

“She did a bit. If I had a reason to own a car, I think I’ve found the one I’d buy.”

“I don’t blame you, one of the guys I used to see had one. I enjoyed the car more than I enjoyed him. Anyway, back in the mundane world of home improvement, the girls’ office is finished, I’ll send you some photos, the desks are colour coded, Poppy’s is red, Katie’s is green, Belle’s is pink, obviously. Now they have a dressing room and a work room all set up for three, you can’t adopt any more children.”

“I don’t intend to, but to be fair, I didn’t intend to adopt any, it just happened.”

“Do you have any regrets?”

“None from the last few weeks, that’s for sure.”

“Excellent, I’ll leave you to your day.”

I was about to say goodbye when Belle motioned for the phone, “I’ll pass you over, Belle wants a word.”

“Can you put it on speaker please,” Belle asked. I showed her the button to press, “Hi Helen, it’s me, Belle.”

“Hi Belle, is everything OK?”

“Oh yes, it was so great to see Gramps after all this time, he’s got a girlfriend,” she said this in a scandalised whisper.

“Oh really, that’s nice.”

“Yes, Peggy does seem nice. I wanted to thank you for this room, it’s amazing, I thought we’d accidentally wandered into someone’s house.”

“It’s my pleasure Belle, I hope you enjoy your massage later.”

“Oh, I’ve never had a massage, they always look so sexy on the telly, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. Anyway, why I wanted to speak to you, I’ve just met someone who I think was one of the girls abused by Uncle Liam, and I’m wondering if I should talk to her.”

“Ahh, is this someone you know?”

“Not really, she’s the receptionist here, she recognised me and we got talking, I eventually recognised her, she went to my school, although she was in the sixth form when I was in Year 7, so we don’t know each other as such, but I’m certain she’s been to Liam’s house. We got chatting.”

“I guess the chatting is the reason you have that super room.”

“Probably, she seems so nice, and I just want her to know that everything is ok now, Liam is going to prison, and if he doesn’t Jeremy will make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

“OK, I know you mean well, so why don’t you have a quick chat, invite her to have a drink after she finishes her shift, reassure her that Liam won’t be hurting any more girls. Whatever you do though, don’t mention Jeremy.”

“Oh yes, that would be bad. I’ll be extra careful, and dad will be there.”

“If you need to, I’m ok with you phoning me later.”

“Thanks Helen, you’re so kind to us, I’ll pass you back to dad so I can have a wee before my massage.”

“I’m glad you told me that.”

“Haha, sorry, too much information I guess.”

I took the phone back as Belle dashed to the bathroom, “watch her close tonight,” Helen said, “I’d hate for her to blurt out something about Jeremy and his guys, that could open a can of worms.”

Belle emerged from the bathroom a few moments later, “I swear, my bladder never used to be this small. Anyway, I’m off for my massage, I’ll speak to Amber on the way down, see if she wants a chat in the bar after she finishes, can you be there to help me please.”

“Of course, I’ll be down in the bar in a little while.”

Belle stood on her tiptoes and kissed me quickly on the lips before she skipped off towards the door, “this is so exciting, I’ve never had a massage before.”

I had a quick shower, put on fresh clothes and took my laptop down to the bar to catch up on emails.

I was nursing my second pint and tidying up a few errors in a document when Amber took a seat opposite.

“Am I ok to sit here?” she asked as I looked up from my screen, “it’s just Belle said I could come have a word with her when I’d finished work.”

“Absolutely,” I replied, closing my laptop, “I’ve no idea how long she’ll be though, can I get you a drink?”

“That would be lovely, could I have a glass of Pinot Grigio please.”

I returned a moment later with Amber’s wine and a fresh pint for myself, Timothy Taylor’s Landlord is one of the finest ales, and far too easy to drink.

“Do you mind me asking you stuff?” Amber asked.

“Not at all, it’ll quickly get awkward with you just sitting there not talking to me.”

Amber laughed nervously, “yes, it will. I guess I’m more used to sitting in a bar and fending off guys trying it on.”

“Even if I wasn’t taken I promise not to try it on with you Amber.”

“You’re not married, I don’t see a ring.”

“Only because Jenny hasn’t asked me yet.”

Amber looked puzzled.

“Sorry, that’s our little joke, my partner and I have pretty much decided we’ll get married, but only when Jenny has found the right time to ask me.”

“Ahh, well hopefully she’ll pluck up the courage soon. Anyway, I was just wondering how come Belle is living with you, what happened?”

I paused to think before answering, Amber took my silence as not wanting to answer.

“It’s ok if you don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

“I was just working out where to start, and what Belle will want me to tell you.”

I took a long drink to compose myself, and gave Amber edited highlights of the last few weeks since finding Poppy.

“So Poppy missed Belle so much you all went looking for her. What about this other girl you mentioned, Katie. If she’s Poppy’s girlfriend, wasn’t she upset about Poppy wanting Belle back.”

“You know, that’s what I was worried about, but they’ve bonded amazingly into a, I think Poppy called it a ‘throuple’, a three person couple. The bonus is, Poppy and Katie look after Belle, she’s a mixture of a girlfriend and little sister.”

“She’s as cute as a button...”

“Who is?” Belle asked as she slid onto the bench next to me and took a drink of my beer, “oh, that’s nice,” she said, wiping the foam off her mouth with a towel she was carrying, “so, who’s as cute as a button?”

“Err, you are,” Amber replied, blushing slightly.

“Aww, thank you, but don’t get too flirty, I’m not wearing a bra, so my nipples will get all pokey.”

I looked at Belle as I had some more of my beer before she drank it all.

“Oh, yes, too much information, sorry.”

“Why aren’t you wearing a bra, and yes, I know I’ll regret asking this.”

“Well, I had this amazing massage, Lauren was so good, and so pretty, and after she’d finished I thought I’d have a swim. She showed me where the pool was and said I should have a shower first, to wash off the massage oil and stuff.

“So I’m having a swim when someone comes out and tells me off for swimming naked. How was I supposed to know I’m supposed to wear a costume? We never wore anything when we went swimming in the reservoir with Max.

“Anyway, I wasn’t finished with swimming so the lady made me put my bra and panties on, so now they’re all wet and wrapped in this towel. I’ve not brought a spare bra, so if it’s not dry by tomorrow I’ll just have to go commando when we go back to see Gramps.”

Amber was trying very hard not to laugh as Belle told her story, eventually she couldn’t hold back and started to giggle.

“What?” Belle demanded.

“You’re just so sweet, Alex said you’re a character, and he’s right.”

“But I’m right though, how was I supposed to know that I should have been wearing a swimming costume? I was the only one there, and I checked the board and at the moment it’s women only in the pool.”

“Public swimming pools don’t generally allow skinny dipping unless they set aside a specific time for naturist groups,” Amber told her.

“Oh, right, so if I want to skinny dip I have to go with Poppy to a reservoir at night, or find a pool that lets us skinny dip. I shall get Poppy to research this when I get home.”

Belle turned to me, “I don’t have my notepad with me, can you remind me when I get home, as I really enjoy swimming naked, it makes my bits all tingly.”

I tapped a note into my phone and assured Belle I’d remind her tomorrow.

“So, you wanted to chat with me,” Amber said nervously, “what about?”

“After we’d spoken earlier I realised I remember you, although I don’t remember you being called Amber. You were in the sixth form at Saint Saviors when I started.”

“Oh yes, I was at Saint Saviors, my real name is Antoinette, I was called Toni at school. Amber was my best friend’s name, she, err, died. I took her name to keep her memory alive.”

Belle slid round and hugged Amber, she was quiet for a moment, thinking.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, a hand to her mouth in shock, “I remember Amber, she...”

“ ... overdosed,” Amber finished for Belle, “yes, she did, and we know why don’t we.”

Belle’s eyes went wide with shock, “Liam...” she said, almost too quiet for either of us to hear.

“Yes.” is all Amber said, finishing the rest of her wine.

I slipped out of the booth and fetched another glass and another beer, I put Amber’s glass by her hand, I put my beer between me and Belle.

“Did you ever?” Belle asked, only half a question, but Amber nodded slowly in response, “Did he?”

“Amber and I, we went round, we heard from other girls that he had good quality ecstasy, and that he had great parties. That first time there were about 10 people there, not all girls. We had a great time, Amber had some coke, as well as the ecstasy, she blew two guys in the garden, I was too wasted to be annoyed with her. I didn’t go back at all, I guess I thought it was too sleazy, and I wasn’t into drugs as much as Amber.”

Amber had a drink of her wine then looked at Belle who was hanging on her every word.

“So Amber went back?”

“Yes, she did, I don’t know how many times, but the last time, or maybe only the second time, like I say, I don’t know, and I never got round to asking her, but after the last time she came round to my house, she was a mess, bruised and bloody, with...”

Belle held Amber’s hand, “it’s ok, you don’t need to tell me any more if it hurts you.”

“No, I need to tell someone, I have to get this out, because I’ve not told anyone,” she looked at her glass, it was empty, I got up to get her another, “can I have a G&T please?”

“Of course,” I replied.

“Can I have one, please,” Belle asked.

I came back with two large gins, placing them before the girls.

Amber took a good pull of her drink, “that’s better, so, Amber, my parents were away for the weekend, so I let her in, she was obviously wired, her eyes were wild, she was all twitchy, I took her upstairs and dumped her in the shower, I was scared and I was angry, I blasted her with the shower and I gave her both barrels of my anger.

“I let the shower run until we’d run out of hot water, then I lifted her out and stripped her clothes off, and then I saw the mess she was in down below.”

Belle pushed her gin over, Amber smiled weakly and drank it.

“Is that how Poppy was,” Belle said quietly.

“She was bruised and bleeding down there, yes.”

“Bastards,”

“I had no idea what to do, I wanted to phone for an ambulance, I wanted to phone the police, Amber wouldn’t let me, so I got lots of towels, helped her into the bath and I carefully washed her, I put antiseptic cream on everything and helped her dress. I put her in bed and went down to make her a cup of tea. As I was brewing up she came downstairs, said goodbye and left.

“I never saw her again, the police found her the next morning in the woods.”

“Fuck...” Belle said quietly, “I remember this, but there were no details of why.”

“Because I’d cleaned her up, she had a few cuts and bruises, but nothing serious, and the injuries to her lady parts were hushed up by her parents, and nobody knew about her visits to your uncle.”

“I guess you don’t want to repeat any of this to the police?” I asked.

“Good god no, I don’t want more of the same from that bastard and his friends.”

“You say friends, would you have any details?” Belle asked.

“I’m sorry, I don’t, and even with Liam in prison I’d be worried about them.”

Belle hugged Amber, resting her head on Amber’s chest, “I’ve got a friend, a very good, powerful friend who will see to it that Liam pays for what he’s done, so don’t you worry.”

Amber stroked Belle’s hair, “I can feel your nipples,” she giggled.

Belle pulled back quickly, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to get excited there.”

Amber kissed Belle’s forehead, “it’s ok, you just lifted me out of a mood.”

Belle looked down, “mmm, they look quite good, and I think my boobs have grown a little bit in the last couple of weeks.”

“I don’t like them too big,” Amber said, “any bigger than yours is a bit too much for me.”

“Oh you’ll not like Poppy then, hers are amazing, and she’s super pretty,” Belle replied with obvious pride, “I’m not saying you’re not pretty, you’re gorgeous,” she added quickly.

“That’s OK, I know what you meant, and thank you. Now I’d better get home, Charlie will kill me if I’m not back soon.”

“Who’s Charlie?” Belle asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

“He’s my cat, he gets very grumpy when he’s hungry.”

“Poppy calls that hangry,” Belle said with a smile.

“That describes Charlie perfectly,” Amber gave Belle a hug, “thank you, I needed to get that off my chest.”

“Will we see you again?”

“I’m back in at 10 tomorrow, so unless you’re leaving super early I’ll see you before you go.”

“Do you have a pen Alex?”

I passed Belle a pen and piece of paper.

“This is my number, and my email address, and this is my Aunty Helen’s number, she’s the best listener in the world, so if you need to talk, she’ll listen, and if you want to see how amazing big boobs can look, put her into google.”

“Is she famous?”

“Oh yes, even more famous than Alex.”

Amber looked at me for a few moments, “no, I’m sorry, I’ve no idea who you are.”

“Don’t worry, unless you’re in the habit of buying adventure books for men or boys and looking at the back cover, you’re unlikely to have heard of me.”

Amber was playing with her phone, she turned the screen to Belle, “yes! That’s Helen.”

“Oh my, she is pretty, now I’ve got something to look at later, aaannnddd there I go with too much information,” she said, a big smile on her face as she kissed Belle on the cheek, “I’ll see you in the morning cutie.”

She put her hand out to me, “thank you for listening, and for the drinks,” she added as she stepped a little unsteadily away from the table.

“You’re not driving are you?” I asked.

“Oh no, I’m about 5 minutes away, the walk will clear my head.”

Before dinner we nipped back up to our room so Belle could lay her underwear out to dry. I checked in with Jenny and the girls while Belle browsed the dinner menu. Poppy was amazed as I told her about the room and Bentley.

“Oh man, I’d love a ride in a Bentley, they just look so lush.”

“You’ll get chance on Saturday, I don’t have to take the car back until Sunday.”

“Oh cool, it’ll be great cruising around in a flash car.”

Poppy passed me back to Jenny, “we’ve just been speaking to a girl who attended one of Liam’s parties.”

“Ahh, is she one of the girls Jeremy’s guys spoke to?”

“No, she never came forward before, Belle recognised her as someone she’d seen going to his house, so we spoke to her in the bar. She went with a girlfriend for drugs, she says she only went once, but her friend went a few times.”

“Can we speak to the friend?”

“Unfortunately not, she overdosed after she got some of the treatment Poppy endured.”

“Oh fuck, so it was more than sexual assault, it was violent rape.”

“At least in that girl’s case.”

“I’ll have a word with Jeremy, not that I want to encourage vigilantism, but that bastard needs to be hurt.”

“Thanks Jenny.”

“What time do you expect to be home tomorrow?”

“Around 5-ish, we’re going to swing by the nursing home so Belle can see Clive for a bit longer, hopefully all the traffic will be leaving London as we get home so it’ll be smooth running.

“Oh, by the way, we enjoyed the photo you gave Belle.”

“Ahh, did she show it around?”

“She was showing Clive and his lady friend how beautiful her new family is, she’s so proud of everyone. It was handy, because she got to compare you with her mum, Lana. I’ll let her tell you more about it, but I’ll just say her mother was truly beautiful.”

“She’d have to be, because Belle is gorgeous and will just get more beautiful as she matures. Did you like my photo?”

“Very much so, how old were you then?”

“I was 19 and had ambitions to be a model for about a month, unfortunately there are few opportunities for busty models who want to keep their clothes on.”

“Us men are very shallow I’m afraid.”

“Not all men, there are exceptions, anyway, I need to go and make food for the girls, see you tomorrow evening honey.”

“Good luck for tomorrow, you can fill me in when we get home.”

“I will. Give Belle a big kiss for me.”

Belle brought me the menu as I cut the call, “was that Mum?”

“Yes, she told me to give you this,” I kissed her gently.

“Oh, that’s nice of her,” Belle said, “I’ll pay you back later, but now we need to get food, I want this pasta dish with wild boar in tomato sauce. I have no idea what wild boar is, but I’m having it.”

“They’re big, wild pigs.”

“Oh, will I like it?”

“Do you like sausages?”

“Of course I do, I love sausages!”

“Then you’ll like wild boar.”

“Amazing, you can read the menu in the lift, I’m starving,” she said, pushing me out of the door.