The Last Breath Of Reggie Warrington

Chapter 17: Pie Till You Die!

I must have waited ten minutes for Maddison to leave the house. Precious time wasted talking to an unwashed twat of a taxi driver, but as he turned up the car radio, the conversation suddenly became interesting.

"Please, if anyone knows anything about what happened t me bay-bee. Please, please call the police. My child was innocent, my child was murdered..." Spoke the voice on the crackling radio.

The driver shook his head "absolutely terrible." He said, "lad like that being murdered. I feel sorry for his mam. Didn't she use to run Messy Bun on King Charles Lane? Yeah, my wife used to love going there. He was such a character was Reggie. Did ya know 'im?"

Was this a taxi or the Spanish Inquisition? I stayed silent, well as silent as I could. My phone beeped. Text from mum. 'Home now, both of you, we need to talk!'

"Text important was it? You know you don't have to sit in the back there on your own."

A rather rude four lettered word popped into my head and I knew I needed to get the hell out of there and fast. Thankfully Maddison arrived and the Mr Perv began to drive us home.
"Mum texted," I said to Maddison and showed her the message on my phone.

"Yeah, she sent it to me too. Sounds urgent."

For the rest of the short journey back, we sat in silence. Maddison probably thinking about Colin, and me, well I still had that birth certificate stuffed into my pocket and wasn't sure what to do with it.

We were almost home, I could see the familiar street sign. My phone pinged again. Thinking it was Mum, I ignored it. I mean why answer a text if I'd be home in a minute? The car stopped. Maddison paid the creepy driver and we approached the house, but again, another text.

"You're popular today," Maddison commented as she put the key in the door.

"Yeah, it will be mum asking where we are."

"Sure about that? Sure my little Chloe hasn't got a boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?! After everything that happened with Ethan and Reggie, do you really think I want a boyfriend now, Maddison?"

I couldn't believe her, trying to joke about me having a boyfriend when the only boy I'd liked in a long time was gay and would never want to go out with me in a million years, unless I was a bloke, of course. Reggie was right. I was wrong. I bet he was looking down on me right at that moment laughing about how stupid I was and how happy he was to know I was completely and utterly wrong.

As we entered the house, we were met with a sight I hoped I'd never see again. Derek. He sat in the exact same chair he was when I found him a few days earlier. I took one look at him and rolled my eyes. He looked cleaner than he did last time I saw him, he'd had a bath, shave and washed his hair, but under all this, I couldn't help wondering how long it would be until he let us down again. The second he saw my sister and me, he stood up to greet us.

"Hello, girls." He said, so formally we could have been pupils at his posh school instead of his stepdaughters.

Things had improved since he'd been in the hospital. The house actually smelt normal for once instead of like a cross between a brewery and a brothel. I turned to leave for my room, but Mum called me back.

"Chloe, wash your hands. I'm about to serve dinner. I'm doing Derek's favourite tonight since it's his first night home."

"Oh yum yum. Betty's amazing anchovy pie." Derek said to Bradley, who stood by his feet like an obedient dog.