The Girls Next Door Read online

  The Girls Next Door

  A gripping edge-of-your-seat thriller

  Mel Sherratt

  Contents

  The Fight

  Friday 9 October 2015

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Katie – April 2015

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Saturday 10 October 2015

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Katie – June 2015

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Katie – August 2015

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Sunday 11 October 2015

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Mel Sherratt

  A Letter From Mel

  The Fight

  April 2015

  Katie Trent dragged her feet as she walked down the street towards the park. Her best friend, Jess, was ill and already she felt lost without her, even though lately she seemed to be glued to the hip of her boyfriend, Cayden.

  When Jess had rang to say she wasn’t able to go out that night, Katie had suggested calling to see her instead of going to meet Nathan. Nathan was her new boyfriend – but not by choice. It was Cayden who had wanted her to get friendly with him. He saw Nathan as their inroad, their ticket to more involvement with the Barker brothers.

  Katie didn’t really like him that much. Although she knew some of her other friends were envious because he was attractive in a bad-boy way, his moods were volatile and she hadn’t wanted to meet him unless it was in a foursome.

  But Jess had been adamant that she should go without her, said it was important that she keep up the act. It was all right for Jess, she thought. She didn’t have to have Nathan’s tongue rammed down her throat. She shuddered involuntarily.

  The weather was warm for the end of April, the night sky clear but darkening by the minute as it edged towards 8 p.m. Katie tapped along in her heels, feeling grown-up in her new ankle boots. She was wearing Jess’s top and a leather jacket that she’d told her mum was a knock-off from a cheap shop in Stockleigh, rather than costing her a fortune from Topshop. Her parents didn’t approve of her wearing too much make-up, so once she’d left her house she’d added some more. She hoped it made her seem more mature, helping to hide her nerves a little.

  On the Mitchell Estate, she headed across Reginald Square, turned the corner and crossed Davy Road into the park. There was grass on either side of the gravel path that led up to the children’s play area, the lawn sloping up to her right. In the distance was the subway she and her friends hung around inside of when it was raining.

  Her heart sank as she spotted Nathan with two other boys at the top of the bank. It was all right when Cayden and Jess were with her, but Nathan was two years older, so his friends were older too. If Jess was with her, she would feel safe. Her feet stopping abruptly, she turned to leave. Jess would go mad but suddenly she didn’t care.

  ‘Katie!’

  She paused before turning around to see Nathan beckoning to her. She couldn’t back down now, so she started walking towards him again.

  ‘Where’s your mate?’ Nathan asked as she drew level with them. He threw an arm possessively around her shoulders. ‘That bimbo Jess?’

  ‘She’s not a bimbo!’ Katie tried to sound outraged, but her voice didn’t carry as much authority as she had hoped.

  The two boys with Nathan began to snigger. She had seen them both before several times: Twins Tom and Craig Cartwright. They were all wide-eyed and their mood seemed a little oppressive. Craig was checking his phone and Tom kept looking over towards the path that led into the subway.

  ‘So you’re all alone.’ Nathan asked a question that obviously needed no answer. ‘It’ll be nice to get to know you at last, once we’ve sorted some business out.’

  Katie tried not to grimace as he thrust his face nearer to hers, his breath rank. He’d definitely been taking something.

  ‘Do you want a smoke?’ he asked, pushing a spliff to her lips.

  ‘No, thanks.’ Katie disliked it with a passion after watching her granddad smoke forty a day and die a painful death from lung cancer. Alcohol she was fine with, and the odd happy pill. But these boys had taken more than that, it seemed. Nathan’s pupils were like black bullet holes.

  ‘So where is Jess?’ he asked again, looking at his watch before glancing down the bank.

  ‘She’s poorly.’

  Nathan pulled a sad face. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll keep you company. Won’t we, lads?’

  Katie swallowed. Being on her own with Nathan would be bad enough but with these two loons as well? She had to be home by ten anyway, but she would stay for an hour and then maybe slip off on the pretence of getting some lager or something. She’d kill Jess when she got her hands on her. That bloody Cayden!

  ‘He’s on his way,’ said Craig, pointing down below. They all followed the direction of his finger.

  Katie could see someone walking along the path. He wore baggy jeans, trainers and a black hoodie with a yellow emblem on the back, the hood pulled up so his face was almost hidden.

  ‘Who’s that?’ she asked, sensing the mood darkening even further.

  ‘Travis Barker – and he’s going to get what’s coming to him.’ Nathan began to jog down the bank towards him.

  Tom threw his cigarette to the ground, grinding it out with the toe of his boot before following Nathan, Craig hot on his heels.

  Katie watched them sneaking up on the figure. Just as he was about to disappear into the subway, she saw Nathan punch him in the side of the head. The boy, taken by surprise, dropped to his knees before scrambling up and turning to face them. Nathan punched him in the face this time. So did Craig. Tom drew back his foot and aimed a kick at him when he dropped to the floor for a second time.

  As if they were a pack of wild dogs, they rained punches and kicks down on the boy as he tried to curl up into a ball. For a moment Katie froze, unsure how to
stem the rage that was coming from them. Then she saw Nathan flick out a knife.

  ‘No,’ she whispered.

  Rigid with fear, she watched Nathan thrust the knife into the boy’s stomach. It was as if time stood still as he pulled it out and then stabbed him repeatedly.

  ‘Stop! Please!’ Katie screamed and ran down the bank towards them as they continued their attack. Finding courage she didn’t know she had, she pushed first Craig and then Tom away as hard as she could, hoping it would snap them out of the red mist that must have descended.

  Nathan glared at her but dropped the knife.

  She scrambled across to the boy and knelt down beside him. There was blood coming from his mouth and he was making gurgling noises as he fought for breath. His hood fell from his face, and Katie recoiled. It wasn’t a boy. It was a girl.

  And Katie knew her.

  ‘Deanna? Oh, no, Deanna.’ She pulled her into her arms and looked up at the boys. ‘This isn’t Travis. It’s his sister!’

  ‘It’s a girl?’ Tom grabbed hold of his hair with both hands. ‘Shit, what did we do?’

  ‘Call an ambulance!’ Katie cried.

  ‘She’s dead, isn’t she?’ Craig turned to Nathan. ‘This is your fault! No one mentioned anything about a knife!’

  Nathan shook his head vehemently. ‘She’s breathing, look!’

  ‘But she’s bleeding!’ Craig pointed at Deanna.

  Katie held Deanna as she thrashed about, trying to catch her breath. ‘Call for an ambulance,’ she screamed. ‘If she dies, we’re all in trouble!’

  The enormity of what had happened began to dawn on Nathan, and he gripped the collar of Katie’s jacket. He pushed his face close to hers.

  ‘If you say anything, you’re dead, do you hear me? I’ll come after you and then I’ll come after your family.’ He let go and began to run.

  ‘She needs an ambulance!’ Katie yelled. But Tom and Craig followed Nathan’s lead and ran too.

  Left with Deanna in her arms, all Katie could do was cry.

  Please don’t let her die.

  Deanna gasped, blood pouring from her mouth.

  ‘Try not to speak,’ Katie whispered, as she retrieved her phone from her jacket pocket. ‘The ambulance will be here soon. They’ll sort you out and get you better again.’

  Please don’t let her die.

  ‘Ambulance please,’ Katie sobbed. ‘My friend has been stabbed.’ As she told the operator where they were, she gasped as Deanna’s eyes glazed over. She felt her body go limp in her arms. ‘No, Deanna, please! Deanna!’ She hugged her close, tears dripping into her hair.

  It felt like hours but it was a matter of minutes before she heard the siren of the emergency services.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she repeated, looking down at Deanna. ‘I have to go too. I can’t stay here or else I’ll be in trouble.’

  As two paramedics came into view at the top of the hill, she waved to alert them. They rushed down the bank towards her.

  Katie gently laid Deanna’s head down on the grass. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she repeated. Then she too stood up and ran.

  Friday 9 October 2015

  Chapter One

  Detective Sergeant Eden Berrisford glanced at the young woman walking down the path next to her and sighed.

  ‘You’re twenty-six and it’s your wedding,’ she said, as they reached the pavement. ‘If you can’t stand up to your future mother-in-law before the big day, then you’re going to have a lot of problems in the long run.’

  ‘I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to stand up to her. She can’t say a word wrong in Seth’s eyes. She’s always interfering. She even comes around our house when we’re at work and starts tidying up.’

  ‘I wish someone would do that for me.’

  Detective Constable Amy Nichols threw her a look as Eden smirked.

  They walked down the road to where Eden’s car was parked. It was 3.30 p.m. and with the predicted storm gathering, it was dark enough for the reflectors on the doors to be working. Not yet turned from autumn to winter, the nights were getting shorter, but the clocks weren’t due to go back for another two weeks.

  ‘Jeez, it’s blowing a gale out here,’ Eden complained. ‘It seems to be getting worse by the minute. I’m glad I’m not on duty this evening.’

  ‘There’s definitely a storm brewing in there, Sarge.’ Amy raised her eyebrows. ‘I’d like to punch him myself if I could, the arrogant git.’

  Eden and Amy had been taking a statement from a woman and her partner who were being terrorised by her ex-husband. Eden had had several run-ins with the man over the years she had been in the force, so knew when it came down to it that the woman wouldn’t press charges. She was too scared, and even now that they could put the evidence in front of the CPS without the victims’ consent, there wasn’t enough of it to satisfy a conviction. Instead, all Eden could do was build up a file in the hope that she could persuade the woman to go down that route one day.

  A call came through on the radio.

  ‘D429 to control room,’ said Eden, after listening. ‘We’re in the area right now so we’ll knock on and have a word. Show us responding.’

  ‘Received with thanks, D429.’

  Even though she rarely got involved with day-to-day complaints now, Eden would never turn her back on the residents of Stockleigh. She wasn’t a jobsworth who thought things were beneath her now that she was a sergeant. Not like some at the station she could mention.

  She glanced at Amy, seeing a kind pair of eyes underneath a straight fringe, a mass of blonde hair she wore in a long bob framing her oval face. They’d been working closely together for a month now and even though Amy’s small frame was a contrast to Eden’s height, she’d shown a punchy side to her that gave Eden the impression that most things didn’t faze her and that she could stick up for herself. So it was nice to see she had a caring side about her too: Amy seemed torn between having what she wanted and upsetting anyone with regards to her own wedding.

  ‘Why don’t you tell your future mother-in-law that you’ll compromise a little if she does?’ Eden said as they marched up another path. ‘You’ll wear frills and cover up your arms if she wears a black bag and matching eyeliner.’

  ‘I’d be dead if I said that to her,’ Amy said, laughing.

  Eden glanced at the front door as a face appeared in the glass panel at its side.

  They heard a bolt being drawn back, and a small elderly man popped his head around the doorframe.

  ‘Mr Percival?’ Eden placed her warrant card up to the gap, vaguely recognising the man’s face.

  ‘You’re too bloody late as usual,’ he snapped. The door was slammed in their faces.

  Eden raised her eyebrows at Amy before they heard the chain being removed and the door opening again. They stepped into the bungalow as the man shuffled back inside with the aid of a walking stick. As soon as they were in the living room, Eden spotted a framed wedding photograph on the wall and remembered where she knew the man from. She’d have recognised the woman in it anywhere. She had visited Mr Percival at a previous property many years ago, when she was on probation. Mrs Percival had died in her sleep and she had been the first officer on scene. It had been her first dead body, and if she remembered rightly he had made her a cup of tea when she had burst into tears at the sight of the woman lying peacefully in her bed.

  He didn’t recognise her though, as he began to rant, arms waving, a stern look on his weathered face.

  ‘This is the third time this month they’ve nicked it,’ he told them, turning back to them slowly. ‘They use it for a bit of fun and then they leave it wherever the battery runs out. I’m stranded every time it goes missing. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t have anywhere to keep it, and the council won’t make me a ramp so I can get it in here – not that I have the room, but at least I could get up every morning and it would still be here. I missed the two thirty race at the bookies. Little bastards.’

  ‘Do you know
who has taken it, Mr Percival?’ said Eden.

  ‘Lived here all my life I have,’ he continued. ‘Never known anything like it. And no, I didn’t see them. I’ve just got back from the shops and I left it outside. I only went to have a pee because I was desperate. Doctor gave me some stronger water tablets and the buggers are working overtime. I came back and it was gone.’

  Eden stared out of the window. The Hopwood Estate stood on the other side of the bank of grass that dipped down to a brook that ran the length of the road. Rows and rows of houses and six-to-a-block flats clustered together in squares. It was like a rabbit warren if you didn’t know your way around and housed many of the families that gave Eden and her colleagues the most trouble. Smack bang in the middle of it was the Horse & Hound pub, where most of the estate’s residents could be found morning, noon or night. It was always the first port of call for the police when a warrant was issued for someone’s arrest. She wondered which little scrote had taken to thieving this time. It was all a game to them.

  Once Amy had taken down the details, there was nothing else they could do. ‘I’ll get someone onto this once we get back to the station, and we’ll have a drive around to see if we can see any—’ She stopped as a mobility scooter raced past the window, driven by a teenager who was screaming at the top of his voice as if he was in the Wild West on bare horseback. ‘Won’t be a moment, Mr Percival.’

  Eden ran out of the bungalow with Amy on her tail. Having the advantage of an unmarked car and plain clothes, they weren’t spotted immediately by the thief, but as soon as he saw them giving chase, he sped up as much as he could.

  ‘You won’t catch me, lardarses!’ the boy shouted, throwing them a finger as he pushed the lever on full power.

  ‘If you don’t bring that back right this minute,’ Eden yelled, ‘I’ll shove it right up your—’

  Amy came rushing past Eden and gained on the scooter. She had nearly reached it, her hand outstretched as it veered off the road and up over the pavement.