Shafted Read online

  And it seemed to have worked, because a full week down the line there hadn’t been another peep out of her. And Larry was beginning to feel good again. Not least because he now had definite confirmation that the elusive Mr Williams was coming onto the show at last.

  Still on a high about that when he walked out onto the set to do his show fifteen minutes later, his smile was genuine as opposed to the forced grin he’d been wearing all week, as he thanked his packed audience for their continued support.

  Blissfully unaware that his words were about to turn right back and bite him on the arse, he said, ‘I can’t go into detail, folks, but let’s just say I’ve got a good feeling that everything’s about to work itself out. And I’m touched to my heart that you guys had faith in me all along, so thank you all sincerely.’

  Bowing his head modestly as loud cheering and whistling erupted around the studio, Larry held up his hands for silence, saying, ‘Hey, quit before you get me going. It took my make-up girl three hours to get me looking like I can survive without a drip, and she’ll kill me if I ruin it all by crying.’ Rolling his eyes now, as if embarrassed to have his vulnerability exposed, he said,‘Anyway, without further ado, let’s have a huge Larry Logan Show welcome for my first guest of the night . . . the outrageously talented . . . Miss . . . Reece . . . Witherspoon!’

  Outside the studio just then, Ayshia was heading for reception with a worried look on her face. She’d been told that a vanload of police officers had just pulled up out front and, fearing that they’d come as the result of a hoax call, she wanted to make sure that they didn’t disrupt proceedings now that the show was on air. Live filming was so much more intense than pre-recorded, and there was only a tiny time-delay available if they had to pull it for any reason.

  Approaching a plain-clothes officer who seemed to be in charge when they all trooped in, Ayshia asked if she could help him.

  ‘We’re looking for Larry Logan,’ he informed her brusquely. ‘Can you direct us to him, please?’

  ‘I’m sorry, but he’s on set,’ Ayshia said. ‘And we’re already on air, so I’m afraid you’ll have to wait.’

  ‘This can’t wait,’ the officer grunted, waving his men on towards the door she’d come through.

  ‘You can’t go in there,’ Ayshia protested, a note of panic in her voice now. ‘If you disturb them now, they’ll have to black-screen, and that will be disastrous.’

  ‘Not my problem,’ the plain-clothes man snapped, brushing past her as he followed his men.

  Ayshia followed at a trot, feeling helpless. She couldn’t ask security to throw them out, and she couldn’t even call the police to deal with the intrusion, because they were the intruders.

  Struck by how amazingly pretty Reece was in the flesh, Larry was just getting into his stride with the flirtatious banter when he heard the sound of raised voices coming from the rear of the auditorium. Sure that it was nothing to worry about, because security would make sure that no one made it all the way onto the floor, he was just about to make a joke about over-zealous fans when a man’s voice called out: ‘Larry Logan – I am arresting you for engaging in unlawful sexual acts with a minor, and the possession of indecent images of children . . .’

  Feeling as though the sky was crashing down around his ears, Larry shook his head as several uniformed officers surrounded him and handcuffed him in full view of the cameras and the audience – who had gone into a mobile-phone frenzy, ringing everyone they could think of to relay this latest shocking news.

  ‘No, you’ve got this all wrong!’ he protested as the officer finished reading him his rights. ‘I never had sex with her. And I never took any pictures of her, so if you’ve found any she must have planted them on me. Everyone knows she’s a nutter. I’m in the process of suing her, for Christ’s sake! And you lot have already interviewed me, so you must know what’s going on.’

  ‘Oh, we know all about it,’ the officer told him, pushing him roughly out through the door as Gordon screamed at the cameramen back on set to quit fucking filming. ‘But she’s only part of this now that we’ve got all the other shit on you.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Larry gasped, just about managing to duck his head to save it being bashed as he was marched outside and shoved into the back of the police van. ‘I haven’t done anything wrong!’

  ‘How about all the dirty downloads we found on your computer?’ the officer asked, his cold tone and flinty eyes telling Larry exactly what he thought of him – and what he’d like to do to him. ‘Think they’re normal, do you?’

  Frowning deeply and assuming that he was talking about the erotomania articles, Larry said, ‘That’s research for my case!’

  ‘You sick fuck!’ the officer snarled, looking at Larry with contempt now, as if he couldn’t believe that he’d actually come out and admitted it just like that. Lowering his voice so that none of the audience members who’d rushed out to take yet more pictures of Larry being arrested could witness it and call it police brutality, he hissed, ‘Tell you what, mate, I can’t wait to see what they do to you when you reach the nick. You’re not gonna last a fucking minute when they hear what you’ve been up to. And they will hear, ’cos it’s gonna be all over the papers again tomorrow. Then everyone’s gonna know all about you and your kiddie-porn collection.’

  Staring at the door, open-mouthed with shock when the officer slammed it in his face, Larry sat in stunned silence all the way to the police station, only speaking when he got there to verify his name and ask for his solicitor.

  He’d truly believed that the worst was over. But the real nightmare was only just beginning.

  21

  Sitting on the other side of the dividing window in the visiting room of the remand wing in Strangeways Prison, where Larry was being held until they had a court date, Georgie said, ‘You’ve lost weight. Please tell me you’re not doing anything silly, like going on hunger strike or something.’

  Attempting to lighten the atmosphere, because he would break down if he didn’t, Larry snorted softly and said, ‘I’d defy even a gannet like you to eat the shit that passes for food in here. But no, I’m not starving myself. I need to keep my strength up to fight this – right?’

  ‘Right,’ Georgie murmured, smiling sadly because this was obviously killing him. ‘We’re all working really hard on our side to get you out,’ she told him now.‘I was talking to Doug just before I came in, and he doesn’t seem to think you’ll have too much to worry about with that stupid girl’s testimony, considering she’s changed her story so many times already.’

  ‘You reckon?’ Larry replied cynically. ‘Even though she’d described my birthmark to a T? I can’t tell you how much fun it was trying to explain how she knew about that when the flaming doctor examined me to verify it was there. And do you think they believed me when I told them she must have been messing about with me when I was unconscious? Did they hell!’

  ‘Mmm, well, it does look suspicious if you don’t know the whole story,’ Georgie conceded. ‘But Doug still thinks we might get lucky with that one. It’s the other stuff that’s going to be tricky.’

  ‘That’s another bloody lie,’ Larry said tersely, his eyes sparking with frustration and anger.‘I don’t know where the hell she got all that shit from, or how it came to be on my computer, but I swear to God I’ve never downloaded child porn in my life. I didn’t even know you still could. I thought they’d clamped down on all that shit ages ago.’

  ‘Yes, well, unfortunately it can still be accessed, as we now know,’ Georgie replied. ‘And because it’s recently downloaded, Doug’s working on the theory that it might have got through without your knowledge via links from the erotomania websites.’ Sighing heavily now, she added, ‘He did say that it might be difficult to get a judge to believe it, though, given that it was paid for with your credit card.’

  Sickened by the mere thought of what he was being accused of, Larry closed his eyes and shook his head slowly from side to side. Looking up
after a moment, his eyes brimming with tears, he said, ‘I swear to God it wasn’t me, Georgie. I’ve been set up, but I don’t know how to prove it. I just keep going over it all in my head, but it doesn’t make any sense. I know she must have planted it if she knows that it was there – but it’s two years since she was in my place and it’s a different computer from the one I had then, so that would be impossible. And how could she have got hold of my credit card? Unless she took my number when I was asleep that night and somehow found my spare door key.’

  Wishing that the dividing-window glass wasn’t there so that she could give him a hug, because he looked so lost and desperate, Georgie said,‘Stop upsetting yourself, Larry. Doug will make sure that these things are all brought to light, and we’ll get to the truth in the end. We all believe you, so now we’ve got to concentrate on building a defence that the judge and jury will believe.’ Pausing, she bit her lip and said, ‘Look, I know you won’t like this, but Doug says we need to look at every possible means by which somebody could have gained access to your place without your knowledge. So do you think there’s any chance that Stephanie—’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ Larry cut her off, his eyes dark and intense. ‘You know as well as I do that she wouldn’t do something like this to me. Even if she could – which she couldn’t, because she’s never in my apartment without me being there too. No one is. Someone must have broken in while I was out.’

  Holding up her hands, Georgie said, ‘I know, and I’m sorry for even voicing it, because I know how much Stephanie loves you. But these are the questions the prosecution will be asking if you deny it when you get to court.’

  ‘Of course I’m going to deny it,’ Larry snapped. Then, rubbing a hand over his eyes, he said, ‘Sorry. But they can ask what they like. I’m innocent, and that will have to come out in the end – won’t it?’

  Sincerely hoping that justice would be done, although she doubted it was going to be anywhere near as easy to prove his innocence in light of the evidence as everyone was trying to make out, Georgie said, ‘I’m sure it will, dear.’

  Nodding now, when the screw who’d been standing guard at the door told her that her time was up, she stood up and smiled at Larry through the glass, saying, ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can, Larry. But in the meantime, will you please think about what I said the other day, because even Doug agrees that it would be a good time to do it if you’re ever going to.’

  Nodding, Larry gritted his teeth to keep from bursting into tears as she walked out.

  A few minutes later, having been escorted back to his tiny cell in the segregation wing where he was being kept to protect him from the other prisoners who, having heard what he was being charged with, had already threatened to kill him the first chance they got, Larry lay on his bed as the key turned noisily in the lock. He thought about what Georgie had said. And the more he thought about it, the more he thought she might be right.

  Feeling as nervous as a teenager on a first date when Stephanie came to visit a few days later, Larry leant forward in his seat and pressed his hands up against the glass. Smiling when she returned the gesture, he said, ‘You look beautiful. But can you take the shades off? I really want to see your eyes.’

  Slipping the dark glasses off, Stephanie folded them and put them to one side. Then she clasped her hands together in front of her. Larry looked awful: she felt terrible for him, because this whole thing was obviously taking a massive toll on him. But Georgie had told her to try and keep his spirits up so, forcing herself to smile, she said, ‘How are you doing?’

  ‘Not great,’ he admitted. Then, shrugging, he said, ‘But hey – I’m not going to be here for ever, am I?’

  ‘God, no,’ Stephanie said, sounding much more positive than she felt. ‘You’ll be out in no time.’

  ‘And will you still be waiting for me?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Good,’ Larry said, taking a deep breath.‘Because there’s something I wanted to ask you . . .’

  PART THREE

  22

  ‘He’s asked me to marry him.’

  Raising his eyebrows, Dex gave a soft, incredulous laugh. ‘Fucking hell! I didn’t expect that.’

  ‘Neither did I,’ Gaynor murmured, not looking half as happy about it as he obviously was. Shrugging dismissively, she said, ‘Well, that’s it. I can’t go and see him again after this.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid,’ Dex hissed, lowering his voice and peering at her across the table as if she was crazy.

  ‘I’m not being stupid,’ she hissed back. ‘It’s really hard, having to pretend I’ve got feelings for him when all I can think about is you.’

  ‘Stop whingeing,’ Dex sneered. ‘Why’s it always got to be about you, eh? I’m doing fifteen fucking years because of that cunt.’

  ‘You’re doing fifteen years because you committed a serious crime,’ Gaynor reminded him coolly. ‘All he did was set you up to get arrested for it.’

  Narrowing his eyes, Dex gritted his teeth and said, ‘You’d better tell me you ain’t defending that cunt. ’Cos I swear to God—’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Gaynor snapped, pursing her lips furiously. ‘I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near him in the first place if you hadn’t made me, so don’t you dare try and turn this round.’

  ‘You sure as fuck don’t sound to me like you hate him,’ Dex snarled, the fires of jealousy leaping in his eyes.

  Gaynor was about to say that she’d never said that she did hate Larry. But then she thought better of it, because the screws were too far away to reach Dex if he went for her throat. She actually didn’t hate Larry, but she certainly didn’t love him, either. Having spent all these months with him, she’d seen a side to him which few others probably ever saw, and she felt more sorry for him than anything because he was so insecure. She also felt a little bit guilty, she had to admit, for playing such a large part in putting him away for something that he hadn’t done. But he had screwed Dex over, so she supposed Dex was entitled to his revenge. And, loving Dex as she did, she’d done everything she could to help him in his quest. Not that he seemed to believe it.

  Sighing heavily now, she looked at Dex and said, ‘You’re driving me crazy, Derek Lewis. You know how much I love you, and how much I’ve hated doing what I’ve done. But if you’re still going to act like this and accuse me of rubbish, it makes me wonder why I bothered.’

  Pushing his own lips out now, Dex peered back at her hard, trying to suss out if she meant what she was saying. Because if she did, she ought to be willing to go that one step further, instead of bleating about it.

  ‘I’m very fucking grateful,’ he said now, getting a scowl from Gaynor for sounding so facetious. ‘But I just don’t get why you’re bailing out at the winning post, because this is working out way better than we planned. Christ, I only wanted you to get in with him while I figured out a way to get him banged up, so you’d know how to tap into his bank account, and that. But this is perfect, ’cos you’ll be able to get at everything if you’re his wife. And if he has a little accident when he gets put through to the proper block, you’ll inherit the lot and get the life insurance.’

  Peering at him as he went on about the money, Gaynor shook her head and said, ‘You don’t get it, do you? I can’t marry him, because I want to marry you.’

  ‘Yeah, and when it’s all over, we will,’ Dex said blithely, wondering why birds always had to complicate everything with emotional claptrap.

  ‘I don’t want to marry you as a divorcee or a widower,’ Gaynor persisted, tears brimming at her eyes again. ‘When I get married it’s got to be real – and for ever.’

  Peering at her, Dex shook his head and sucked his teeth. ‘You’re really pissing me off now, Gay. What the fuck’s it matter who got there first, so long as it’s me you end up with?’

  ‘It matters to me,’ Gaynor sobbed, dabbing at the tears which were flowing freely now.

  ‘Fucking Catholics,’ Dex sneered, more concern
ed by the thought of losing out on some easy money than with comforting the soft bitch. ‘Always got to do everything by the bleedin’ book, haven’t you?’

  ‘You’re a Catholic, too,’ she reminded him tearfully.

  ‘Yeah, right,’ he snorted dismissively. ‘And when was the last time you caught me sniffing round a fucking church? Never, that’s when! Anyhow,’ he went on, sparking a cigarette and blowing the smoke in her face, knowing full well that she hated that, ‘I’ve already been married, so what difference does it make if you do it an’ all? Kind of evens the score, don’t you think?’

  ‘It’s not the same,’ Gaynor muttered, not wanting to think about that. ‘That was before you met me.’

  ‘Yeah, well, if it makes you feel any better I’ll remarry Jane, then we’ll really be evens, won’t we? We can have a double, if you want. Me and her, you and him.’

  ‘I can’t believe you said that,’ Gaynor hissed, the blood completely drained from her face now as she glared at him across the table. ‘I always knew you were a bastard, but that’s low, even for you.’

  ‘Sit down,’ Dex said when she reached for her bag and stood up.

  Shaking her head, she said, ‘No! I’m going. And I won’t be coming back till you’ve apologised.’

  ‘Sit . . . down,’ he repeated slowly, his teeth gritted. He glanced quickly around as if checking to see where all the screws were situated.

  Seeing that he’d balled his hands into fists and fearing that he just might blow if she didn’t, Gaynor did as she was told. Folding her arms, she flopped down onto the chair.