Broken by Martina Cole Read Free Book Online

readiness. But it was empty. The small, designer-decorated room was completely empty!
    Caroline felt her heart stop in her chest. Rushing inside, she pulled back the covers on the beds and even looked under them. Her eyes were darting around the room, expecting at any minute to see her children standing in front of her.
    The plate of sandwiches she had left was still on the night table. The bottle of orange was still there too. So they had not had their breakfast or anything.
    Then she tore from the room and searched the house from top to bottom, panic mounting in her breast. Finally she collapsed on the sofa. Picking up her mobile, she dialled a number and waited for it to be answered.
    As soon as the connection was made she screamed into the phone: ‘How dare you take my children, you rotten bastard?’
    Her face drained of colour as she listened to Jiggsy Gaston explaining that he was currently in Liverpool with his sister and had not been anywhere near the kids. He sounded alarmed.
    Realising that this was even more serious than she’d thought, Caroline broke the connection and phoned the police. Her heart was beating so loudly she could hear a crashing in her ears.
    Where the hell were her two little boys? Where were Christian and Ivor?
     
    Patrick walked into a small spieler in Custom House. It was practically empty except for two elderly men and a young woman who worked behind the bar. The girl was Lesley Partridge and as Patrick walked towards her she smiled to see him.
    ‘Hello, Pat. Long time no see.’
    He grinned at her. ‘You look well, Les. Is the old man about?’
    She shook her head. ‘Dad’s on the missing list again, I ain’t seen him for three days. You know what he’s like.’
    ‘Joey’s a lad all right. Give me a Beck’s, love.’
    She opened the bottle of beer and placed it on the counter with a glass.
    ‘Me dad makes me sick, Pat. Still chasing strange at his age. But that’s him all over. I expect he’s still shagging some sort and will emerge eventually. He always does.’
    Willy came into the small room and nodded at the two older men as he made his way to the bar. Lesley automatically poured him a Britvic orange.
    ‘Hello, Willy. Me mum was asking after you the other day. How’s things?’
    He shrugged. ‘OK, love. Kicking, as they say nowadays.’
    She laughed. ‘I’ll see if I can track me dad down on his bent mobile, eh?’
    Patrick nodded and she walked from the bar, her large behind swaying suggestively.
    ‘He’s gone walkabout, Willy.’
    ‘He will, won’t he, Pat? He don’t want no one seeing him for a while. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was abroad like. Tenerife or Marbella would be my guess.’
    They drank peacefully for a few moments until the girl returned to the bar, shaking her head.
    ‘Can’t get him, he ain’t answering.’
    Patrick swallowed down the last of his beer. ‘When you do hear from him, tell him I need a word, will you?’
    She nodded and cleared away. As they walked out into the light and air, one of the old lags stopped them.
    ‘Listen, Pat. I don’t know what’s going down but some foreigners were looking for Joey a couple of days ago. They were likely lads and all. No please or thank you. One of them was Frankie Oberzaki - and that is one dangerous cunt. He wasn’t looking too thrilled either.’
    Patrick nodded solemnly. ‘You think Joey might have had a capture?’
    The man shrugged theatrically. ‘Who knows? But he’s been ducking and diving a lot recently. Had a tear-up in Epping Country Club a week ago. Honestly, it’s like he’s going through a second childhood, the dozy twat. He was rowing with Dickey Dalton - the younger that is. Slapped him all over the place. Even the bouncers gave it a wide one. I mean, no one wants to be caught up in all that, do they?’
    Patrick looked at him in amazement. ‘He had a tear-up with a little nonce like Dalton, at his age? Has he finally fell out of his shopping trolley?’
    The man