Finders Keepers Edie Baylis (phonics readers .TXT) 📖

my judgement on?’ Spinning on his heels, he turned. ‘I was expecting it to be just you, Keith, but I guess the stoner can be added to my artwork.’

As the sight of Gwen and Lena was exposed behind Saul’s retreating back, Keith paled. Holy shit. ‘What the f...’

Saul grinned – a manic wide garish smile. ‘My version of the three monkeys... What do you think? Impressive or what?’ Keith had been the third, but now he’d use this guy instead. Maybe he could do the four monkeys?

Keith had vaguely heard Saul’s words, but his concentration was solely fixed on Lena; the pool of blood; her glassy eyes staring sightlessly in front of her like a ghastly doll. ‘Jesus Christ, is she... is she..?’

‘Dead?’ Saul shrugged. ‘Yeah, sad huh? And Gwen here, well, unfortunately for her she’s been exposed for the lying whore she is too.’

Gwen stared pleadingly at Keith, her frightened eyes speaking volumes behind her forced silence.

‘The girl in the flat – you’ve got to let her go, Saul,’ Keith muttered lamely. This was a lot worse than he’d expected. A lot worse. He wouldn’t bother asking what had happened to Lena or why. Frankly, he didn’t care, but Gwen? What had Gwen done? Everybody loved her – especially Jonah, but there was no point in trying to rationalise with Saul, he’d clearly flipped. The best he could achieve now was securing that young bird’s release. The rest of them, including himself were fucked.

‘Since when did you tell me what to do?’ Saul roared. ‘You work for me, remember? Not the other way around! The girl stays where she is until I get my diamonds.’

‘The diamonds, they...’ Joe began. He hadn’t meant to speak, it just kind of slipped out. He blinked, wishing with all his heart he hadn’t been such a brainless fool. If he’d remained silent he might have melted into the background. These nutters were so busy scoring points, they might have forgotten about him. Unlikely, but sometimes convincing himself of unplausible outcomes was better than facing up to reality. Most of the time this attitude was helpful, yet now – when it really mattered, he'd failed to use his brain in a logical fashion. Stupid, stupid...

When the larger of the two psychos bent over him, two crazy flashing eyes staring down at him with an amused glint, he realised he’d made a cardinal mistake. It was only when he spotted a dead girl strapped to a chair and an older woman next to her gagged and bruised, did he realise exactly how much of an error he’d made.

Oh fuck. Fuck! He’d right ballsed this up. This must be one of the Powells. It had to be. Christ! He was finished.

ROBERT STARED AT TEAGAN, no longer smelling the stench.

He looked down upon her face twisted with pain, her skin a ghastly grey pallor and his anger increased tenfold. He didn’t think it was possible to get angrier that he had on seeing Teagan manacled to this stinking bed, her thin wrists cut to ribbons from the cuffs. They’d even stripped her of her clothes, taking away her dignity.

His fury built even thinking about it; the image forever ingrained. His fears had been realised. He felt nothing, apart from revulsion.

Teagan cried out in fear and agony. ‘No! Leave me alone. Leave me alone!’ she screamed.

Robert’s face creased into a worried frown, not having a clue how he should react. He glanced at Jonah watching from the other side of the room, his face thunderous. It stood to reason Teagan wouldn’t know Jonah or the other man, Nero, which at least proved they weren’t lying about their involvement, but she didn’t seem to recognise him either. And that further backed up his theory. It had all been a one-off. Nothing had really changed. But he had to say something... ‘Teagan, it’s me. Robert.’

Teagan’s wide eyes darted around wildly. ‘When...? When am I...? She lashed out at Robert. ‘Don’t touch me! DON’T!’ Tears flowed as she curled into a foetal position.

Robert turned to Jonah, irritation mounting. He didn’t want to be here anymore. He’d had his questions answered, so he didn’t need to stay. ‘What’s wrong with her?’

Nero glanced at Jonah knowingly, his brows knitting deeply. ‘As I suspected, the kit’s over here.’

Stomping across the littered bedroom, Jonah eyed the assortment of items on the chest of drawers with utter contempt. ‘The bastard!’ he spat, a vein in his neck pulsing. ‘He’s done her up like a kipper. I’ll kill him for this. He knows I hate this shit.’ Slamming his fist into the wall, he punched a hole straight through the stud partition.

‘We need to get her away from here first,’ Nero said.

‘Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?’ Robert barked.

Jonah stepped forward. ‘My bastard of a brother had been injecting her with drugs. He knows I will not stand for something like this. Ever!’

‘Drugs?’ Robert spluttered, only now noticing countless puncture marks scattered over the insides of Teagan’s arms. Those bastards had been injecting her with drugs? His head span. ‘What sort of drugs?’ Swallowing dryly, he glanced back down at Teagan and forced his hand to move and brush a tendril of her usual luscious, glossy dark hair, now greasy and limp off her forehead. They’d ruined everything!

Nero glanced at both Jonah and Robert. ‘Heroin. He’s been injecting her with heroin...’

‘Heroin?’ Robert screeched. ‘What kind of people are you? Is this a normal kind of day for your sort?’

‘I am nothing like my brother!’ Jonah spat, moving towards Robert. ‘Whether you believe it or not, I’m angrier than you are.’

‘That I doubt...’ As much as he was reluctant to touch Teagan, Robert scooped her into his arms. ‘I’m getting her to hospital.’

Jonah regained his equilibrium. Now was not the time to concentrate on Saul. Getting this girl sorted had to be priority and then he would deal with his brother. ‘That’s not a good idea.’

Robert’s head flicked up, his anger evident.