"If I ever get my hands on that bitch girl I'll kill her myself."
Simone Strachan stretched out on the old battered sofa, exhaling a cloud of smoke as she contemplated the events of the last twenty four hours. "First she walks out on us, then she comes back to England all in your face fantastic and now this. Poor Neal! He couldn't have known what a psychopath she's become!"
"If you ask me, Simone, Neal was more of a psycho than anyone. Sadie did us a favour." From the far corner, her companion put in darkly. "He's no loss to the world."
"You wouldn't understand." Simone glared at him scornfully from eyes rimmed with a mixture of cheap makeup and tearstains. "You ain't half the man Neal was, Grey. And now we've all these damn cops coming in here and prying their nose into business that ain't theirs! You telling me you like this? The pigs think this is their patch and they can trample over it any way they choose, just because he's dead!"
"I don't like cops, here or anywhere else." Grey muttered. "But they'll go soon enough. They suspect Sadie, she ain't one of us any more. They won't stick around here very long, Sim, so don't fret yourself."
"What's got you in a dark mood, huh?" Simone raised an eyebrow.
"Georgie." Grey frowned. Simone smirked.
"Georgie? Oh puh-lease! That kid is so-o-o out of her league round us guys. She won't stick around now her darling Neal is off with the angels...won't have the guts. She's no better than her pansy sister so don't you fret your little head about her." She dimpled. "We can find you a real woman, no bother."
"Oh, shut up." Grey snapped. "The kid's been locked away in her room since the news broke. You saw her when Donna came screeching out of Neal's bedroom screaming all kinds of crap! Broke down into hysterionics that the love of her life had been clocked over the head and that's that! I'm worried she'll do something daft, Sim. She's in enough of a mess over it all."
"Georgie has teenage infatuation and Neal was her world." Simone snorted. "She probably wishes she'd found the body, and not Donna. I doubt she was too pleased either when Donna gave herself as Neal's girlfriend to the police officer...this is probably all for attention. I mean come on. How long can one crying fit last? She's just doing it so people notice her, that's all, and feel sorry for her. She knows only too well that she's not one of us without Neal's protection and she's probably freaking out about what she's gonna do or where she's gonna go. Don't worry about Georgia. She'll get over it, and she probably won't even be round these parts come Christmas. Girl ain't got the bottle. She'll have gone trotting home to Daddy."
"Well, it sucks." Grey sighed. "He wasn't worth all this fuss and I'm glad he's dead, Simone, I'm not going to pretend I'm not. He was a domineering jerk and I've no time for any guy who knocks a woman about."
"Oh Grey, honey, this is only because you're sweet on Georgia and she wouldn't give you the time of day." Simone blew a cloud of smoke in his direction. "Some might call that a motive, you know."
"Oh, shut your face." Grey growled. "Things are messed up enough round here without you trying to use your brain, okay?"
He got to his feet.
"I'm going to go make sure Georgie is all right." he said. "Don't strain yourself trying to think too much, will you?"
With that he was gone, and Simone poked out her tongue at his retreating figure, stubbing out her cigarette and getting to her feet, lazily sauntering out of the main lounge and peering outside at the chaos that was still ensuing. Donna had been with the police officers for some time now, relating the exact details of her grisly discovery, and Simone was bored with all the attention that the murder had brought. She was grieved at Neal's death because she knew that the future for them all was now uncertain, but she was also fed up with the fuss as much as Grey was. Georgia's wild grief and Donna's hysteria, which had been quickly drowned in alcohol, were beginning to bring her mood down.
"And now Grey's acting the moody jerk, too." She mused. "This all sucks! And none of those police officers are worth the effort to flirt with, either! All married with kids types..." She rolled her eyes. "Well, I hope Sadie's proud of herself. She'll do life for this no doubt and she damn deserves it, ruining our fun. Poor Neal!"

Across the rundown estate, Grey had pushed his way into the delapidated squat that Georgia had taken shelter in since the news of the murder had become common knowledge. She had not gone near Neal's home, nor had she been in a fit enough state to speak to police officers, and Grey was seriously worried about her. He had known she was in love with Neal...but was she enough in love to do something stupid now he was gone?
"I don't like to think of her on her own at the moment." He muttered grimly to himself, taking the beaten stairs two at a time and making his way cautiously down the corridor, being careful not to put his foot through the floorboards. Police had tried and failed to evict people from these squats several times, for only Neal and one or two of his most favoured friends had their own places in legal name and right, but officials had long since given up on trying to rid the area of the squatters. They only came back and each eviction created more trouble than the one before. As a result none of the area's residents were worried that the murder would herald a new eviction attempt. There was almost an unwritten understanding that these flats and houses - no longer habitable as such - were theirs.
Grey knocked on the door of the room Georgia had adopted as her bedroom when she had run away from home for the final time at the age of sixteen to run with the wilder crowd. Her father had not come to look for her that time, and she had made herself at home in the rundown, squalid conditions, deciding that she was out on her own and independant. Neal had seen her as a good prospect for his attentions and his drug trade, for Georgia was young and attractive and determined to do everything she could to fit in. She had not spent much time at the squat since she had become involved with Neal, but now she had retreated there, knowing that it was further away from prying eyes. Now the future looked uncertain for her, and Grey knew that Georgia was an emotional young lady. He was very afraid that she might try and take her own life now that Neal was dead.
"I have to make her realise that she's worth more than that and that he didn't deserve her." He mused, knocking again. "He's well out of the way, well, good riddance to bad rubbish. Now she has a chance to show what she's really made of."
There was still no answer, and he pushed open the door, heading into the darkened room.
"Georgie?" he called softly. "You in here?"
"What do you want?" The tones were quiet, yet hard and confrontational all the same.
"I came to see if you were all right." Grey approached the delapidated, crumbling bed slowly, making out his companion as a dim hump of bedclothes. He could not see her face, but he knew she had been crying.
"All right?" Georgia echoed numbly. "Neal is dead, Grey...he's dead!"
"Yeah, I know." Grey nodded. "The cops are all over the place downstairs, trying to figure out what happened. We all wish they'd go to hell, but they're still here regardless."
"Stupid witch Donna should never have called them." Georgia said bitterly. "What good are police gonna do us, Grey? Neal was into drug dealing, half of us use the stuff. What is she trying to do?"
"What were we gonna do with a dead body? Best they get shot of it for us. Won't bother us anyhow. Noone here is gonna be accused of it, they got a suspect. Anyhow, She found him. I guess it upset her."
"Upset her?" The bedclothes moved, and Georgia met his gaze with a tragic one of her own, her deep blue eyes filled with unshed tears and her face blotchy and red from crying. "What has she got to be upset about? I'm the one who should be upset!" She swallowed hard.
"My life is over." She whispered. "I don't want to carry on like this."
"Don't be dumb." Grey told her bluntly. "Listen to me, Georgie, Neal got what was coming to him. He was a nasty man and he damn deserved it. Don't talk so stupid! Your life is worth way more than his!"
"It's not. It's not worth anything." Georgia murmured. "What do the police say? Did...did you say they had a suspect?"
"They think Sadie did it." Grey told her. Georgia's eyes opened wide with disbelief.
"Sadie? My...my sister? Is she..have they arrested her? Will they charge her? Are they...sure?"
"Dunno. Don't much care." Grey shrugged. "Several people saw her here last night, so maybe. Either way they'll probably nail her for it. You know what the cops are like, take the easy explanation. Besides, Sadie had a past with Neal, and..."
"He never loved her you know." Georgia said softly. "He...he loved me, but he never loved her." A fresh bevy of tears began to roll down her cheeks at this.
"Why did this have to happen, Grey?" She demanded helplessly.
"Why did it all have to go so wrong!"