by Rona Halsall
Christ, I’m so stupid! Why couldn’t I just trust what Dan was saying? Why couldn’t I just do as I was told for once?
She grunted with frustration, writhing against her bonds, which dug into her skin, and she realised that escape was impossible. Her body shivered with the cold, fear weaving its tentacles through her mind. There was no happy ending in a situation like this. Tears wet her cheeks and her teeth bit into the gag, which was stuck in place with duct tape.
No, no, no. Stop with the negative thinking. Just stop it!
With all her writhing, the blindfold had lifted a little and she could see a sliver of night sky. Stars, loads of them. She squirmed, moving herself round to get a better idea of what was happening. There he was, standing at the back of the boat, his hand on the rudder. He was looking back the way they’d come, but she was at the wrong angle to see past him and had no idea how far they were from land. She was struggling to breathe, the gag making her choke, and she had to dredge air up through her nose.
Where is he taking me?
That was a stupid question, she decided, and one which really didn’t matter. What really mattered was how she was going to escape. She tested her bonds again and knew with certainty that they were secure. But plastic could be cut. If she could only find something to cut it with. She thought about the construction of the boat, wondered if there would be anything sharp to help her. But it was a very small boat, and surely he could see her every move.
I’m going to die.
She whimpered and forced the idea to the back of her mind, where it hovered at the edge of her thoughts, taunting her.
The engine puttered to a halt, the boat rocking as the man came towards her. His shadowy form towered over her before he stepped to one side and sat on the seat at the back of the boat, behind her. She could feel his presence, the ominous size of him. Too big for her to have any chance against, that was for sure. Her mind was clearing now, the effects of whatever he’d drugged her with being swept out of her system by a new surge of adrenaline.
Play for time. That was the first thing. She needed to strike up a conversation.
She drummed her feet on the bottom of the boat, gasping and spluttering in an effort to make him remove the gag. That would be a win, for starters, she decided; if she could breathe properly, then surely the frenzy of panic would start to calm, and she’d be able to think. She whipped her head from side to side and the blindfold edged further up her forehead, revealing a bigger slice of sky, which see-sawed as her movements made the boat rock from side to side.
A hand on her hair.
She flinched, eyes wide as the blindfold was yanked from her head, chunks of hair ripped from her scalp with it, making her scream against the gag.
‘Calm down, Chloe! For fuck’s sake, just calm down.’ His voice was that of a parent telling off a naughty child. ‘You’re going to have us both in the water if you carry on like this.’
She rolled her eyes, coughing and choking. Her wrists were bound so tightly together that she’d lost the feeling in her hands. She clawed at her mouth, and after watching her for a few moments, he leant down and ripped off the duct tape then untied the gag, letting it fall to the bottom of the boat.
She started screaming and he laughed, his head looming over her.
‘There’s nobody to hear you out here, you daft bitch. Nobody at all. Go on, knock yourself out.’
Save your energy, she counselled herself. Dialogue, remember. Make a connection. But it was difficult with him sat behind her. Somehow, she had to move, or get him to.
‘I know who you are,’ she said. ‘You’re a friend of Jason McCarthy, aren’t you?’
‘Ooh, clever, I like that you worked that out.’ There was a sneer in his voice, an edge of bitterness. ‘He told you, then? Told you that he’s a killer?’
Chloe was quiet for a moment, choosing her words. The last thing she needed was a confrontation with this man. What she had to do was try and get them on the same side. ‘I had no idea until yesterday. No idea at all. Can you believe that? I married the man without knowing what he was capable of.’
He got up and stepped around her, sitting at the other end of the boat now, staring at her, his elbows resting on his knees, hands cupping his chin. ‘Hmm, interesting. So, you’re having second thoughts now, are you? Wishing you hadn’t been in a such a rush to tie the knot, eh?’
She nodded. ‘You could say that.’
He sighed. ‘Such a shame that you got yourself mixed up with him because you seem like a nice girl. From what I’ve seen anyway. Dutiful, committed and loyal. I admire those qualities in you, I really do.’
There was a strange gleam in his eye, a distant look, almost as if he wasn’t really present.
‘Don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me.’ The words burst out of her and she cringed. Begging’s not going to work with a man like him, is it?
‘It’s not you I want to hurt, Chloe. It’s that husband of yours. He’s the one who needs to feel the pain.’ The man’s hands bunched into fists, his teeth clenched. ‘Losing someone you loved through no fault of your own… the suffering never goes away, you see. He’s been able to move on with his life, but me? I’m stuck in the deepest, darkest hell.’ He nodded. ‘It’s a place he needs to experience, because it just doesn’t seem fair to me. That he gets to have a future and I don’t. He’s the killer. He’s the one that did wrong, but I’m the one who’s suffering.’ His hands covered his face for a moment and his shoulders shook.
She could hear his sobs, feel them rocking the boat, his emotion so raw, so visceral she could almost taste it.
He sniffed and after a moment started talking again, his voice loaded with regret. ‘Jason wasn’t just my friend. We were business partners. Or about to be. He was going to invest fifty grand so we could expand. I’d already signed the lease on new premises, ordered the new equipment. Then when he died’ He shook his head, jaw working from side to side. ‘When your husband killed him’ He glared at Chloe and his voice took on a mean edge that made her insides turn to jelly. ‘Well, it all went to shit, didn’t it? I couldn’t afford the commitment on my own, the business went bust. I lost my house, my wife my daughter. My whole life taken away from me in a fit of temper.’ He nodded. ‘Now that action must have a consequence, don’t you see? I’m only doing to him what he did to me. An eye for an eye.’
Christ! What’s he going to do? Kill me to punish Dan? Her eyes widened as the truth of the thought struck home. That’s exactly what he was going to do. Oh my God! Oh my God!
Her breath came in little pants as she wriggled and writhed, trying to get into a sitting position, but all she managed to do was make the boat sway, startling the man from his sorrow. He glared at her, lips pressed together.
‘For fuck’s sake, will you stop doing that?’ He stepped towards her, his eyes locked on hers for a second before he raised his hand and slapped her face so hard her head bounced against the side of the boat. She cried out, tears springing to her eyes. His face loomed in front of her, inches away, his spittle sprinkling her cheek. ‘Just stop it, you stupid bitch. Understand?’
She stilled, and the rocking motion of the boat gradually lessened until it came to a halt. The sea was calm, she realised, the night perfectly clear, and now she could see the moon, almost full.
‘Right. Let’s get on with this, shall we?’
‘No, no, you don’t have to do this. There must be another way.’ She was tripping over her words, hardly able to get them out fast enough. ‘I’m innocent, I’ve done nothing. If you kill me, then you’re as bad as him, aren’t you? It’ll be on your conscience forever.’
She wracked her brain to find his name, but realised she didn’t know it.
‘Please, I know it’s been hard for you, losing your friend and family, but the future will be even harder with the death of an innocent person on your hands.’
He laughed then, a sound devoid of joy. ‘Oh, you’ve got it so wrong, Chloe. Just because you want to l
ive, it doesn’t mean that I do. I’m not sure I want to go on.’ He nodded, his eyes glistening in the moonlight. ‘Grief consumes you, eats away at you. You can grieve for losing a life you had, just as much as you can grieve for a person. I can never get back what I had. Never. I’m not sure I’ve much left to live for.’
‘Oh, don’t say that. There’s always hope, always a reason for carrying on.’
She was shaking now, her fear threatening to burst out of her in a fit of sobbing. Is he going to kill both of us? Is this a murder–suicide thing? One final righteous blaze of glory? Her heart clenched at the thought, forgetting its rhythm for a moment. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she gulped in air.
He sneered at her. ‘What would you know about it, eh?’
‘I know about grief. My mum died.’
‘Oh yeah?’ He shook his head, his expression derisive. ‘Let me tell you, all grief isn’t equal. It’s not. When someone has been taken from you, it’s a different thing. Especially if the justice system is fucking useless. He should be in prison now, that husband of yours.’ He stabbed the air with his finger, emphasising his words. ‘That’s the very least that should have happened.’
She nodded, vigorously, her voice loaded with tears. ‘I can see why you’d think that. But none of it’s my fault, is it? And is it really justice to kill an innocent woman? Is that what your friend would have wanted?’ She watched his expression change, a frown creasing his brow, and she knew she’d made him think.
Can I do this? Can I change his mind?
Thirty-Nine
The man stood up, pulled his phone out of his pocket and pointed it at her. ‘I want you to stop talking. Now. Just shut up!’ He took a picture, scrolled, then tapped at his screen and put the phone to his ear.
‘Dan, is that you?’ His eyes never left Chloe’s face, the moonlight making them gleam in a way that sent another flush of adrenaline through her bloodstream. ‘I just sent you a picture of your lovely bride.’
Chloe’s breath started to come faster, her chest tight with panic. How on earth does he have Dan’s number? He changed his SIM card only yesterday. Maybe he’s pretending it’s Dan to scare me? But what would be the point of that? It didn’t make sense.
Her teeth chattered, and when she saw that little smile creep across the man’s lips, she knew that whatever was in his mind, he was enjoying seeing his plans come to fruition.
‘I have someone here who’d like to say hello.’ He leant forwards and held the phone towards her. ‘Chloe, why don’t you say something to your wonderful husband.’
‘Chloe?’ Dan sounded puzzled. ‘Chloe, where are you?’
‘Dan, it’s a friend of Jason McCarthy. His business partner. He’s kidnapped me. I’m in a—’
The man snatched the phone away and put it back to his ear. ‘Tell you what, let’s do this on speakerphone, then we can all have a proper conversation.’
‘Liam?’ Dan was quiet for a moment. ‘Liam Bowden?’ He sounded confused, incredulous. ‘It’s been you all along?’
Liam laughed. ‘That’s right, Dan. Well done. You remember me, then?’
‘Of course I remember you. I remember all of your team.’ Dan’s voice sounded high-pitched, frantic. ‘Don’t you hurt her. She’s got nothing to do with this. Nothing. This is between you and me.’
‘I told you, Dan. I told you what would happen if you married her, didn’t I?’ Liam nodded, his voice strangely calm. ‘But you chose to ignore it.’
‘I didn’t know it was you sending those messages, and anyway Look, I know how upset the team was when Jason died, but—’
‘Upset?’ Liam snarled. ‘Upset! You don’t know the half of it, you bastard. And Jason was killed. Murdered. By you!’
Chloe tensed as Liam worked himself into even more of a rage. The boat rocked with his movements, his spittle sparkling in the moonlight as he forced the words from his mouth.
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’ Dan’s breath rattled down the phone. ‘Look, Liam, we’ve known each other for years—’
‘Oh, shut up, will you!’ Liam snapped. ‘Don’t try your social worker, bereavement counsellor chat with me. I know what happened.’
‘You weren’t there, Liam.’
‘No, but I should have been.’ Liam’s fist slammed onto the seat. ‘If I hadn’t been done for drink-driving, it would have been me on the team instead of Jason. If I hadn’t been so stupid, none of this would have happened and he’d still be alive.’ He put his fist to his forehead. ‘I’d have a business and a family and a home and a friend instead of this this nothingness. But every day that I wake up, I’m tortured by the idea that you haven’t been punished for what you did.’
Chloe understood then. Liam blamed himself for his business partner’s death, and he had been dealing with his guilt by hounding Dan for all these years. That put a different spin on things and she had to reconsider how she might distract him, change his mind.
Her body convulsed with shivers, which rattled through her teeth. Her wrists throbbed where her bindings had been pulled too tight, her feet and hands numb with the cold.
‘Oh, but I have been punished,’ she heard Dan say. ‘You saw to that. I lost my job, my friends, my place on the team. I lost all of that. I lost the life I had, too. I even moved away to another country, started again.’
‘Oh, boohoo!’ Liam’s face contorted into a mask of hatred that sent a fresh chill through Chloe’s body. ‘You think that pays for what you did?’
It struck her then that Liam was completely focused on revenge. There was no arguing with him, no way she going to be able to talk her way out of this situation. Is Dan going to manage to calm him down? She really didn’t think so. Nobody’s coming to help. That was the bare truth of the matter. If she wanted to live, she had to work out a way to make that happen.
It’s up to me.
I need to get my hands free. That was her first priority, but how? Slowly, while Liam was focused on his conversation with Dan, she started to manoeuvre her body, inching herself onto her side, where she had a better view of her surroundings.
The puddle of water she was lying in lapped around her face, making her starkly aware of Liam’s plans.
He’s going to throw me in.
Surely that’s what he was thinking. Chloe was a strong swimmer, so being thrown into the sea was not an instant death sentence, if only she had the use of her hands and feet; but with them tied together, she would struggle to even float. No, the only way she was going to survive would be if she could cut the ties. She scanned what she could see of the bottom of the boat, under the seat behind her, but there were no sharp edges, no tools or bits of equipment that could come to her aid.
‘Have you considered my offer?’ she heard Dan say. ‘I’ve got the money. I know you can’t pay for someone’s life, but surely if I give you everything I have, that shows how sorry I am for what happened?’
She stopped and glanced at Liam, who gave a little laugh. ‘Can you hear him? Trying to buy me off.’ He pointed at her and gave that knowing smile again. ‘With your money, I do believe.’
Chloe gasped. So, it had been Dan who’d closed her bank account. He lied to me! She’d been saving for a deposit on a property and had managed to get over twenty thousand pounds put away. And Dan had taken it to give to Liam. How had he managed that? Then she remembered some forms that she’d signed, Dan pushing them under her nose when they were about to go out, telling her they were for an online bank account to use for household expenses. She hadn’t even checked what she was signing, just did what he’d asked, trusting him completely.
Her mind raced. He did it to keep me safe, she reassured herself. That’s all he’s bothered about. Then another voice in her head said, Or is it about keeping himself safe? It felt like a betrayal of the very worst kind.
She could hardly grasp what was happening, her picture of Dan being coloured by a different brush now, one that was dark with secrets and lies. He could have gone to the police.
He could have done that. But he’d chosen to deal with the situation himself, and instead of keeping Chloe from danger, he’d landed her in the middle of it. You meet your destiny on the path you take to avoid it. And hadn’t that little bit of ancient wisdom been proved right? It had been inevitable that Liam would catch up with Dan again at some point. He’d just had to be patient and vigilant. Surely Dan must have known from the moment he met Chloe that her association with him could have dire consequences. But he’d wanted her, so he’d gone ahead with their relationship, regardless.
I’ve got to think about me now, she told herself. Me and my baby. That’s all that matters. And we will survive this. We will.
‘So how much is your lovely wife worth, Dan? How much?’
‘I’ve given you my offer. Fifty thousand is what I have.’
So, he’d lied to her about money, told her he had nothing, hadn’t earned enough to save while he was working in Spain. It made her wonder when Liam’s threats had started. Was that why Dan was so keen for us to get married? Why it all happened so quickly? Was it all about money?
Her mind fizzed with confusion. It was easy to think ill of her husband, but the person to blame for it all was Liam. He was the one who’d decided that taking away her life was the only way to find justice for his losses.
Liam gazed at her, their eyes locked, and she could hardly breathe. That little smirk appeared on his face again before he spoke.
‘You know what? Fifty thousand would be lovely. Let me send you my bank details. Once it’s in my account, I’ll ring you back, okay?’
He disconnected and looked at her. ‘You know, why shouldn’t I have his money? And you don’t need yours anymore.’
‘But you said’ She stopped herself, knowing that there was no sense trying to reason with the man. ‘Look, I know I’m going in the water. But do you think I could sit up? Just lean against this seat for a few minutes? I feel so sick lying down here.’ She tried to keep eye contact. ‘If it’s the last few minutes of my life, then please let me be a bit more comfortable. Please?’