ASBO: A Novel of Extreme Terror(67)

“Help me! Please, somebody!”

Andrew slapped her face again, harder than he had done to wake her. Instantly she stopped screaming. “Shut up, girl! I won’t hurt you if you tell me what I want.”

Michelle’s eyes were round and white like a frightened animal. Her words came out hurried and short of breath. “Tell you…what?”

Andrew leant closer to her, their noses almost touching. “Where’s Frankie?”

“I…I don’t know.”

Andrew pulled the knife from his belt and held it to her face, pressing it into the fatty flesh beneath her left eye. “Don’t make me ask you again, you little harlot.”

“Please…please…I really don’t know. Damien said Frankie left his place a few hours ago, before I even got there. Frankie doesn’t even know I was with Damien.”

Andrew huffed. “You really are a piece of work, aren’t you?”

“Please don’t tell him.”

Andrew couldn’t believe it. The girl’s level of self-involvement was astounding. “Do you think I give a damn about your love life? You can screw half of Worcestershire for all I care. I just want Frankie. Besides I don’t think he’d like you now that you’ve cut your hair.”

Michelle instantly slapped both hands to her head and squealed when she felt nothing but scalp and random thickets of hair. But before she had time to lose herself to hysteria, Andrew slapped her again. He didn’t have time for her self-pity.

“Tell me where Frankie is, or you’ll lose more than just your hair.”

“I-I don’t know where he is!” Michelle was pleading now and, regrettably, Andrew was inclined to believe her. He was confident that he’d rattled her enough that she wouldn’t dare lie to him; she wasn’t brave enough to. She had no idea where Frankie was.

Andrew removed the knife from beneath her eye, dragging it downwards so that it bit slightly at her flesh. He ignored her flinches of pain and asked his next questions. “Okay. Just tell me where you think he would go. Home, maybe?”

Michelle laughed. “That’s the last place you’ll find him. He’s never there if he can help it. I know where you can find Dom, though.”

Andrew took a breath in and held it. He hadn’t thought as much about the rest of Frankie’s crew, but they were due just as much punishment as he was. Andrew had already dealt with Jordan, so why not pay his brother a visit too? At the very least there was a good chance that Dom could lead him closer to Frankie.

“Okay,” said Andrew. “Tell me where to find Dom.”





Chapter Twenty-Six


Davie stood at his front door not wanting to go in. The thought of facing his mother after the previous night’s events was more than he could handle. There would be lectures, about staying out at all hours, just waiting for him. It was the very least of what he deserved, but his soul felt so brittle right now that the slightest knock could shatter him like a pane of glass. He needed sleep and nothing else.

Davie turned the handle. The door was not locked because his mother never left the house. As long as she had beer – and sons to fetch it for her – then there was no reason to ever face the outside world. He stepped inside and the smell of that very same beer filled his nostrils.

His mother heard the door open and shouted out from the living room. “Davie, is that you? Get in here, now!”

Davie sighed and passed from the hallway into the next room. His mother was sprawled on the couch in her nightshirt and slippers, trying to pull herself up to a sitting position but failing pathetically. Davie moved over to help her up.

She declined his hand and continued to struggle. Eventually she made it upright and immediately began to glower at him. “Where have you been?”

“I was out with Frankie.”

His mother spat. The drool landed on her nightshirt. “Frankie! I told you to stay away from that boy.”

“I know,” Davie admitted. “I will from now on, mum, I promise.”

His mother stared at him some more, trying to focus her eyes as she swayed to and fro. She seemed totally unaware that a bandage adorned Davie’s head. “Lies!” she shouted in his face. “Don’t you lie to me, boy.”

“I’m not. I saw what he’s really like last night. I want no more to do with him.”

“Why? What happened? What did you boys do? I best not have the police around here. I have enough to cope with.”