The Liar's House: An absolutely gripping thriller with a fantastic twist (Detective Gina Harte Book 4)

by Carla Kovach

  A text pinged up.

  Gina, I have to talk to you. It was me at your house last night. Don’t be angry, just call me. There’s something you need to know.

  Her hands began to shake as she thought about Rex climbing into her garden, watching her. It could be a trap, maybe he was in talks with the press and all this was to entrap her into saying something she might regret. Then again, she now had a text that showed him to be stalking her. She called up his number as she headed back towards the car, still unsure whether to ring him or not.

  Sixty-Five

  I’ve had it now. She’ll call me, I know she will and I’ll have to tell her everything. Gina saw me last night, I know she did and now she’s going to hate me even more. I pull the reporter’s card from my pocket and place it on the side. Gina won’t believe that I’ve always told her the truth. I told her I didn’t send her any flowers or chocolates but she chose not to believe me.

  The reporter keeps ringing. I wish she’d go away and leave me alone. If she were to latch on to my sordid little secrets, who knows what she’d make of them. I had to message Gina, I’m in too deep and I don’t know what to do. I can picture her annoyance. It’s not as if I really know her and I suppose I hoped she’d take my mind of Aimee. Come on, Gina, call me, please.

  My heart won’t stop humming away and my mouth tastes of the whisky I had earlier to calm my nerves. What have I done to you, my darling Aimee? What have I done? Will you ever forgive me? Will you be there in that café one day, trying to escape the pouring rain where we’ll meet? That was how it was meant to happen. I was waiting for the right time. I saw the way Rhys treated you. I would have been so much better. I worshipped the ground you walked on, my love. But you’ve gone now and it’s all my fault.

  I grab the bottle and pour another shot. The cheap whisky burns my throat as I think of you, Aimee. I also think of Gina. I let her down too. What my future holds, who knows. It won’t be long before I’m exposed.

  I screw the reporter’s card up and drop it to the floor, stamping on it several times as spittle flies through the gaps in my teeth. I stamp and stamp until I’m exhausted. I just want it all to go away. Staring at my phone, I wonder if she’ll call. She has to call. Aimee’s life depends on Gina calling. ‘Come on!’ I shout as I break down.

  Sixty-Six

  Hurrying through the streets of Cleevesford, Jacob swung the car into Lavender Lane, almost throwing Gina’s phone from her hand as he pulled up behind Wyre’s car.

  Gina gripped her phone. ‘Are you okay going in first and explaining why we’re here? There’s an urgent call I need to make and it may help the case.’

  ‘Sure, guv.’ He stepped out of the car and walked over to Wyre and O’Connor.

  She pressed Rex’s number as she sat in the car. ‘This best be good and don’t you dare come to my house again or I swear, I’ll throw you in a cell myself. What right did you think you had, climbing over my gate?’

  ‘Gina, please. I wanted to tell you something. I’ve been pacing all night wondering what to do. I can’t believe I… I’m in such big trouble.’

  ‘What is it?’ Her patience with the man was running thin. She watched through the windscreen as their prime suspect’s wife’s head dropped and she burst into tears. Had she lied to them about him coming home on the night of Jade Ashmore’s murder in order to protect her husband? Gina knew that now. Jacob and Wyre followed her in and closed the door as O’Connor waited outside. She needed to be there, with them. Aimee’s life was at stake. She heard Rex take a couple of deep breaths. ‘For heaven’s sake, spill it out. I haven’t got time for this.’

  ‘Okay. I’ve been watching Aimee. I know I was wrong to do that and you can do what you like to me after. I confess, I’ve been stalking Aimee. I saw her on the Swap Fun website and there was something about her. I saw her out and about a few times, just at the shops or out jogging and, I suppose, I became infatuated. She wore her name on her shirt, giving away all her social media links. I soon found her, followed her…’

  She slammed her palm onto the dashboard. This was all she needed. She began to tremble. He’d been watching Aimee, following her, checking her out online. He’d just confessed to all that. ‘Do you know what you’re saying? What have you done with her?’ She stared at Richard and Maggie’s home, their little old house in a corner plot. ‘Rex, tell me now. Tell me!’

  ‘That’s the thing, I haven’t done anything with her. I like to watch, I hoped we’d meet and yet I wanted her to fall in love with me. I wanted you too but that’s another story. You wouldn’t believe how hard I try and how poorly my efforts are rewarded. I thought Aimee would be different. She liked guys my age. You were pushing me away.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I saw the person who took her.’

  ‘Why the hell didn’t you come straight to the police?’

  He took several deep breaths. She imagined him pacing, grimacing as he wiped sweat from his forehead. ‘I shouldn’t have been there. I knew I’d be in trouble—’

  ‘So you failed to report a kidnapping.’

  ‘I wanted to say something earlier. I really did—’

  ‘I haven’t got time for this right now. Just give me a description of who you saw and what you saw. After that, go straight to Cleevesford Police Station and make a formal statement.’

  Silence hung between them. ‘I’m so sorry, Gina. I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry I came to your house when you didn’t want me to. I’ve stuffed up.’

  She checked her watch. ‘Description, Rex. You still have time to do the right thing. Tell me who you saw. What did he look like? It’s not too late.’

  ‘He barged through her front door. I was watching her from the back garden through a small hole in the fence.’ He sniffed before continuing. ‘He dragged her around and tried to attack her with something. I couldn’t see what. I failed to go in, I failed to help her. I could have stopped what was happening.’

  ‘What did he look like?’

  ‘Stocky, crew cut, I think. Almost bald, slightly chubby. I don’t know who he is. I recognised him from the Swap Fun events. I saw him at a meetup once but I didn’t remember his name. I spent all night looking through Swap Fun but nearly all the members use fake names.’

  She gripped the door handle, her knuckles white. The description was just what she needed and finding Aimee was her priority. ‘Go straight to the station, Rex. Ask for DCI Briggs and make a statement. Do it now and don’t hold anything back.’ She ended the call and hurried out of the car.

  An old rusty sign leaned against the window of the little front garden. C.L Furniture Restoration and Carpentry. Her stomach almost flipped as she thought of the mallet. He’d have a mallet. The L stood for Leason and Diane was a Leason before she changed her name.

  ‘O’Connor, can you get Jacob? Tell him we need to leave now. Wyre can stay and interview Mrs Leason and we’ll head straight over to Cleevesford Industrial Estate. We’re going to C.L. Furniture.’

  ‘Yes, guv.’ He handed a shirt to her. ‘Wyre said you wanted this.’

  She smiled and grabbed her phone and called for all units to be present, requesting that they stay back until it was safe to approach. Aimee’s captor was dangerous and she knew just what he was prepared to do. A call flashed up from Briggs.

  ‘I know where she is, sir.’

  Jacob darted out. There was no more time to waste.

  Sixty-Seven

  Jacob pulled into the industrial estate and Gina and O’Connor searched for C.L Furniture and Carpentry. ‘Stop,’ Gina called as she slammed the dashboard, causing Jacob to do an emergency stop. ‘We just passed the road but we’ll get out here and sneak around. I don’t want to alarm him, not if Aimee might be at risk.’ The row of large industrial units were all closed, shutters down, just as she’d expect on a Sunday. Only one shutter was up. That was where they were heading. Gina hurried out of the car and put her stab vest on as she gently jogged alongside the building. They were going in.

  He
r heart began to race as she thought of Jade Ashmore, Samantha Felton, Sophie Dobbins and Aimee. She now knew from what Rex had said that it was highly likely that Aimee was in that workshop.

  The grey oppressive breeze blocks with barred windows looked uninviting, but that’s how he wanted it. Keeping everyone away was his aim. She poked her finger between the bars and rubbed a layer of dust from the glass. Peering in, she spotted a huge workbench at the far end of the large grey room. It’s ceiling reaching the height of a house but having only one level, gave the room an even darker feel with only one window providing light. Machinery chugged away in a factory down the road, clunking over and over again.

  Glancing around, her attention was grabbed by the many wooden structures that littered the floor and walls. Large shelves housed different sized pieces of wood. To her right sat a small stage in which some of his more intricate work was displayed. She scanned the surfaces, looking for the mallet but she couldn’t see it. The morning sun bounced off something square and shiny as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Shining like a prism, it caused her to squint as she focused. A camera with a flash attached to the top. ‘He’s got a camera,’ she whispered to Jacob who had crept up close and was awaiting her further instructions.

  He walked away, just far enough to hear the caller on his phone. ‘Backup is in place, guv.’

  O’Connor passed him and hurried over to Gina, still adjusting his stab vest. ‘Are we going in?’

  ‘We’re going in.’

  Sixty-Eight

  Dark, so dark. The shivering, the pain from shivering. Stop it, stop it! She couldn’t stop it, the shivering was out of her control. Squashed, suffocating. Aimee tried to move her arm but it was heavy, like stone. Maybe she was turning to stone. At the bottom of the abyss, there was nothing, no trees, no buildings, no people, no sense of direction. With a swimming head, she tried to turn her neck. Pain forced it back into the one position she could keep it in.

  ‘Hello,’ she tried to whisper but the sound emerged as gobbledegook. The rag in her mouth tightened and a large hand gripped her nose. She tried to thrash but he had her pinned. Her heart boomed in her chest, each reverberation rattling in her throat, filling it, blocking it. Open your eyes. Her body wasn’t responding. Cold, so cold. The concrete floor was hard, her body was numb. Cramped into positions she normally wouldn’t stay in for this long. At least yoga had made her supple. As she clenched her toes over and over again, a small amount of feeling emerged through the pins and needles. Pain; her broken fingers were in agony.

  ‘Keep still or I’ll put this through your head.’ The monster in the darkness had spoken. What was he going to put through her head? Using her throbbing hand, she felt the object he was holding against her. Square with a handle. Her mind wandered to a square block on the sea front. She wanted to sit on it and watch the tide coming in. When the sun came up, that’s what she’d do. She’d drive down to the beach and watch the sea. A smile washed over her.

  ‘When does the sun come up?’ she whispered through the rag.

  Crash. She felt a sickening crunch followed by wetness creeping down her face. The tide had come in and she’d missed it. It was now coming to wash her away. Choking, it washed over her. Freezing cold, shivering – she had reached her end. The sun would never come up and reveal a beautiful beach. Even the darkness was running away from her, fast, then nothing.

  Sixty-Nine

  As Gina crashed through the workshop door, she flashed her torch in all the corners, back and forth. If he was here, she wasn’t going to allow him to take her by surprise. O’Connor followed her closely, then Jacob rushed in behind him. Backup was ready and waiting. As soon as she had Richard Leason in her custody, she’d call them in. She needed to be sure that Aimee was safe.

  ‘Mr Leason, please come out. This is DI Harte, DS Driscoll and DC O’Connor.’ She had to assume he was in the building, hiding somewhere, in one of his nooks and crannies, behind some furniture. ‘Aimee, if you can hear me, call out.’ She remained in silence for a few moments and heard nothing. His wife, Maggie, was sure this was where he’d be and Gina knew that he was not at his sister’s. She’d not long left Diane’s house and secured it. He hadn’t been there. ‘Mr Leason?’ She nodded back at Jacob.

  He reached for the light switch but nothing happened as he flicked the switch. The only light in the room was the shaft of sun that came through the small barred window and the door. She motioned for the two detectives to follow her. To her left was a collection of tools hanging on the concrete wall. Bags and tool boxes were strewn underneath. One bag thrown on top of another. Tools spilling out. Random screwdrivers, saws, drill bits and screws were mingled together. The smell of varnish filled the air and there was another smell that caught the back of Gina’s throat. Human waste.

  Her gaze fixed on the door in the corner of the room. As she reached for the handle straight ahead, a tremble ran through her body, finally resting on her fingers. The jittery shadow cast from Jacob’s torch exposed her fear. ‘I’m opening it,’ she whispered.

  O’Connor and Jacob poised themselves for what could happen next. As Gina’s hand rested on the door handle, she glanced back and saw sweat beginning to drip down O’Connor’s face. ‘Now.’ She burst through the door, torch leading the way, only to face a small concrete room with a filthy toilet leaning against the back wall, next to a cracked hand basin. She slammed the door and took a step back.

  ‘Aimee,’ she called. ‘They’re not here.’ She began walking around the room, passing the workbench, staring at all his half-finished furniture restoration projects.

  She exhaled, regaining her composure. In the right-hand corner of the room was a small recess about two feet deep where a mop and a broom were propped up. She walked over, examining the wall. The mop was tangled with cobwebs and looked as though it hadn’t been used for years. Wood chippings and sawdust had been swept into this corner. She gazed at the floor and noticed a sawdust-free spot. Walking into the shaft of sunlight, she stared at the wall before refocusing on the dust motes dancing in front of her eyes. She tapped it and listened. ‘The wall. It goes back further.’ An old dustsheet hung from a curtain rail along the top of the wall. She pulled it away, exposing what looked like a concrete back wall. Gina’s breath quickened. She went to touch the tiny handle and as the cubbyhole burst open, she fell back into the workbench as the door slammed into her.

  ‘Come any closer and I swear I will put this through her neck. No one will be able to save her then.’ He held a shard of pointed wood to the young woman’s throat.

  ‘Richard, please put it down and we can talk.’ She was staring at a wide-eyed, desperate man who had nothing to lose. Aimee looked like a little doll as he held her in front of him, eyes closed, body flopped over. He was strong, she could tell. He had all her weight under one arm.

  ‘I’m going to carry her out of the building and get into my car with her. You’re not going to follow me. Once I’m far away, I’ll leave her somewhere safe, but I’m not going with you. You’re not locking me up.’

  Gina held her hands up and backed off. She watched as Jacob carefully stepped out of the unit. She knew he’d be getting a message to backup, telling them that they were in a hostage situation. She couldn’t risk anyone storming in and putting Aimee in any further danger. She glanced at the woman, unconscious and blue. She couldn’t see her chest rising and falling. The bloody gash on her forehead had lifted a bit of skin. Glancing behind the man, she spotted the weapon, the mallet they’d been looking for, adorned with fresh blood.

  Richard Leason dragged Aimee towards the toilet. ‘Get in the cubbyhole, all three of you.’ The tip of the wood pierced Aimee’s neck. She knew he was serious. The man looked deranged. Veins bulged from his neck as he stared directly into her eyes.

  ‘Please don’t hurt her, Mr Leason. She hasn’t done anything wrong.’ She held her hands up and stepped back towards his little secret compartment. The closer she got, the denser the smell
of ammonia was. It was the smell of a confined person, a smell she’d come across before. An overwhelming sadness took over as she thought of an earlier case, that of kidnapped Deborah Jenkins, confined to a little room in a barn. The stench was the same but this was a completely different situation.

  ‘You by the door, get here too,’ he called as he stared at Jacob, then O’Connor. ‘Get over there with her.’ A thin trickle of blood seeped from a small prick to Aimee’s neck. The young woman began to murmur in his arms. She was alive, but it was far too early to celebrate. Now she needed to keep her alive and she didn’t look to be in a good state. Jacob and O’Connor joined Gina at the back of the workshop. ‘I’m going to lock you all in the workshop and you’ll hear from me soon.’

  ‘Just let her go. Lock her in with us, then go,’ Gina pleaded.

  ‘I know your game. There will be more of you. You’ll be on the estate, on the highway, everywhere. You must think I’m stupid. Without her, you win. Until I am safely out of the way, she stays with me.’

  ‘You don’t have to do this. You won’t be able to run forever.’

  ‘Wanna bet? I have my rainy day sorted. I’ve rebuilt myself once, left a bad past behind and started again. Yes, it will be harder but I’ll do it.’ Gina stepped forward, hoping that their conversation had lulled him into feeling a little less threatened, just enough to let his guard down. ‘I see what you’re doing, one more step, she dies.’