Page 50 of #MeToo
‘Yeah, I do believe you but sometimes you make me edgy and I don’t know where I am with you. All this time we’ve been mates I never knew I was hanging out with the demon blackmailer of Manchester and look, I’m still here. And I’m going to share a flat with you so I’d like to know who I’ll be living withandmost important, if you can keep me safe from Davey. Otherwise I might as well go home now.’ Billie’s mouth was dry and she really was getting a headache now. The pressure of all the new information was building in her temples and she wouldn’t have been surprised if steam was escaping from her ears.
Kelly checked her watch and sighed. Okay, okay, you win but what I’m going to tell you now is our secret and I swear if you repeat it…’ Kelly paused as if choosing her words carefully. ‘Well I’ll deny every single word, okay?’
Billie nodded, relieved that Kelly hadn’t threatened murder because going on what she’d already confessed to, body parts in the freezer wasn’t that far-fetched. ‘I swear I won’t tell anyone. It’s between you and me.’ She crossed her heart.
Kelly raised an eyebrow. ‘What I meant was that if Davey turns out to be a pain, it’s easy enough to get him into trouble, especially if we have photographic evidence of your injuries to back it up.’
‘Yeah, I get that but photos don’t prove he did it, do they? It could be anyone.’
Kelly did her exasperated face again and when she spoke sounded the same. ‘Yes, which is why we have to set him up, so he attacks you again. Then we ring the police and have him arrested, plus we can tell them he’s done it before. Believe me, it’ll be easy.’
‘What do you mean? Have you done it before? You know, set someone up?’
‘Duh, yes of course I have, with Stan, you know the one I said raped me. He ended up doing a nice stretch so perhaps we should consider doing something similar to Davey. It’d serve him right. They might even end up cellmates, now thatwouldbe ironic.’
Billie’s heart was going to explode and there was a whooshing sound in her ears but before she could even stutter a few words, Kelly jumped in. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you really that shocked? It’s just a suggestion so don’t get your knickers in a twist. We might not even have to go that far.’ Kelly turned away and began to apply lipstick, totally absorbed in what she was doing.
All Billie could think was,She’s a psycho, a cold-hearted psycho.And without thinking, she mumbled a question, one more for her brain to log and store, the thing was, in her heart she already knew the answer. ‘So you weren’t actually raped then? You made it all up?’ Billie could taste the bile in her throat and wasn’t sure if she was going to cry or scream or punch Kelly in the face if she said yes. She had to keep control, breathe, in and out, stay calm.
‘Not all of it… Well some of it, but the whole thing got out of hand and then there was no turning back and he ended up inside. Like I said, he was a cheat and deserved it, just like Davey does.’
38
Billie slumped into her chair. Kelly calmly squirted perfume onto her neck. Billie wanted to wrap her hands around it and squeeze and squeeze until she was dead in a heap on the floor.
Instead, she sucked in air through her nose and as silently as possible exhaled slowly.Think Billie, think, don’t bottle it now.
‘Well say something. Don’t sit there looking shocked. I know you want to ask me why I did it and shit like that. So go on, get it off your chest then we can move on.’ Kelly sounded like she’d confessed to pinching a lipstick from Boots, not framing an innocent man for rape.
‘Sorry, sorry… I’m trying to get my head round it. So what do you mean, it “got out of hand”?’
‘For fuck’s sake, Agatha… do I have to spell it out? Seriously, Beth, you need to toughen up and wise up if you want to survive because there’s a big bad world out there.’
‘I know, I’m gobsmacked, that’s all.’ To Billie, that was the understatement of her whole life.
In response, Kelly rolled her eyes and began to pack away her make-up. ‘Chill out, it’s not like I’ve killed anyone, is it? Right, here it is in a nutshell.’
Billie couldn’t even summon a response because she was on the verge of tears.
When Kelly noticed, she apologised. ‘Sorry, that was harsh and I know you’ve had a crappy Christmas. I didn’t mean to upset you and I can be a ratty cow sometimes. This is a lot to take in and my acid gob doesn’t help. Right, are you sitting comfortably? Let Aunty Kelly tell you a story.’
There it was again, the switch from one to another, the critical to contrite, aggressive to slightly patronising but whichever personality Kelly adopted, right there and then Billie was too appalled to speak so instead she nodded quickly.
‘I’d gone round there to get my stuff but was having second thoughts about binning Stan off completely. I thought maybe I could keep him on a hook, to amuse myself with I suppose, and what better way than through sex. I’m really good at it so knew I could persuade him. I’d had a key cut yonks before: I like to make contingency plans. It’s wise, staying one step ahead of the game, so I let myself in and waited for him upstairs. It was all too easy, getting him into bed and afterwards he didn’t ask me to leave so I stayed put and fell asleep.
‘When I woke up and went downstairs he was out of it on the sofa and his phone lit up and I saw the message on the screen, from fucking Billie, his perfect ex. I told you about it, asking to go for chips. Anyway, I saw red and gave him a slap. I was so mad. We’d had sex and I felt used because the text confirmed my suspicions that she was coming home and they were getting back together.
‘I lost the plot and went upstairs to get my things, but he followed me and the more he told me to calm down the angrier I got. I was punching him and then he slapped me really hard so I grabbed a statue, we struggled and I fell. It didn’t last long, and once I’d stopped fighting back he let me go and went downstairs.
‘I knew that was it, we were really over. I just wanted revenge and knew how to do it when I felt the cut on my head. It was so easy. I grabbed my clothes and ripped them up, put my coat on and crept downstairs. I could hear him in the loo so ran past and managed to get to the front door as he came out, then ran as fast as I could to the house across the street. They called the police and Stan was arrested. Boom!’
Billie’s hands were clasped together, her armpits were dripping with sweat, her whole body was on fire because a pot of anger was bubbling deep inside, spreading through her veins, pulsing in her brain that wanted to know just one thing.
‘But why did you carry on, you know, let them charge him and send him to prison? You could have stopped it, but you didn’t.’
‘It had gone too far. Simple as that. I’d done a video interview, had the examinations and then there were my parents to consider. I couldn’t go back on it then, not when everyone knew. I’d have been the one in trouble not him and no way was I going to let that happen, no chance.’
‘Don’t you feel bad that a man is in prison because you lied?’ Billie’s voice was barely a whisper.
