Page 89 of Indie

“Oh, God. Have you called the police?”

I shook my head. “I called Fury.”

“Jesus, Indie. Don’t you think the police are a better idea?”

“Why? So, they can do fuck all like the last time?”

“What do you mean, like the last time?”

I hadn’t realised I’d followed her into the kitchen and now I watched as she yanked back the curtain from the unit under the deep ceramic sink, pulling out a bottle.

“Her ex is abusive. He’d been beating her for years. She’d tried the police, and it did nothing. Just some stupid injunction which was as much fucking use as the paper it was written on. I thought I’d sorted him out, the ex. But I guess a broken face and ribs and a warning weren’t enough to stop him.”

Mam poured a dash of whisky into each glass.

“I’ll need a bit more than that if you expect me to wait until the tide goes out, or I’m just gonna fucking swim across.”

“Language!”

“Sorry.”

I paced the cottage, clutching the glass of whisky to my chest, taking the odd sip, but constantly checking the display on my phone. Nothing. Crickets. Absolutely fuck all from anybody.I walked out into the street again, watching the signal bars increase, and tried Fury again.

“Where the fuck is he?” I muttered into the night, the waves gently lapping against the shore just a little way off. The sound should have been soothing. But it was irritating, and all I wanted to do was lob stones out there, at the sea that stopped me from getting to her, and the waves that rubbed it in.

The phone rang. Shrill in the damp air, making me jump and nearly dropping the fucker.

“Fury?”

“Mate.”

“Where is she?”

“We’ve got her. But she’s in a bad way.”

“Where’s she now?”

“In the ambulance. We had to call one, Indie. She’s really messed up.”

“Who was it?”

“Don’t know yet. But one of our cuts was there. I’ve taken it.”

“Whose fucking cut was it?”

“Beanz’s cut.”

“I want Beanz waiting for me in the clubhouse when I’m back.”

“Indie?”

“What?”

“There’s another thing?”

“Fucking spit it out then?”

“She was muttering something when we got there. She could barely speak. But we think she said he’s got her kids.”