Skins: Endgame

Chapter 22

It had been a whole three days since Tony returned home. Effy had her whole world turned upside down.

She had returned home from Freddie's shed that night of the Party and gone to sleep. But very early in the morning, Police Officers were at the door asking where Tony was.

Neither Effy nor Anthea said that they knew. The last place both of them said they saw him, was right here, in their house.

But Effy checked her phone to see if he left her any texts, and found the one Cook sent to Tony the night before. Effy wasn't sure what to say, aside from the fact she knew she hadn't sent it, until later on when the Police received an update. They'd had a phone call about Tony's location: He had been involved in an incident with James Cook at Dr John Foster's house.

Effy was beyond panicking: Tony had also been taken in for questioning about another "incident" that had occurred earlier the previous evening.

Hours passed. Effy and Anthea were awake for the entire time, unable to sleep. Finally, around eleven in the morning, the police let Tony go, and he came home.

The truth was what put Anthea in tears and Effy into silence. Doctor Foster had killed Freddie. Freddie had gone round to his house at the Doctors invitation and beaten him to death with a baseball bat. During the inspection of the house, the police found a spade, which had recently been used. They then searched the nearby area around his house as well as at the hospital he worked at. At the hospital, in the woods surrounding the area, they found a spot which had recently been filled in.

Freddie had been buried there.

Dr Foster was arrested for the murder and Cook was arrested for his other crimes, although Tony had been told that he may be allowed attend Freddie's funeral when it was due, under police surveilance.

Effy took the news in silence, mulled over it in silence, and slept in her bed in silence for the first night.

On the second night, Tony explained what had happened at the house, with emphasis on how each of them had saved each other. Tony said he was way off on him and he apologised to Effy for any trouble he might have caused her. He was also blatantly honest about the business with Josh. He could trust Effy, and he knew that Effy resented Josh for almost killing her with that drug overdose years ago. He actually got a laugh out of her when he finished telling the Story.

It went almost exactly as planned. The police accepted his version of events and, as a result of several witnesses backing up his statement and photographic evidence without him present, he got let off. Cook, as a way of apologising to Tony, and as a way of explaining to the police why Tony was going around with him when Cook was a wanted criminal, mentioned he would explain that he lured Tony via the text the shed to assault him, and that it was only because they saw Dr Foster, that they walked to his house. It meant extra charges against Cook, but Tony got off Scot free.

Tony had fulfilled his side of the bargain to Sketch for her help. She had access to Maxxie's secret account and could now look at his drawings to her heart's content (on the condition she remained discreet that is). She gave him a text thanking her and that was the end of it. Jack would get money for his help, although he still planned on letting things cool down first before handing anything over.

Effy, as it turns out, was also happy with Tony and Katie entering into a relationship when he told her. Plans had been made for Katie to go with Tony back to Cardiff. It was a bit all of a sudden, but Effy never objected.

She went to bed that night feeling a bit better. She was, above anything else, grateful for both Cook and Tony's role in exposing her Doctor as a murderer. She was also glad that they made peace with each other. Cook, when he got out, would help look after her Tony said, as Tony would be going back to Cardiff within the next week. He said he would stay around for Freddie's funeral, which was due in the next three days.

Effy sat that night, staring at the ceiling, when suddenly, a thought came to her. A smile crept across her face. She knew how to repay Tony in such a short space of time for everything he had done to help her.

She got out of bed, left her room, crept downstairs and went into the main downstairs cupboard. Finding a diary full of phone numbers, she scanned it, looking for a particular number.

Finally, she found it, and began dialing the number...