by Crin Claxton
Maya hated her. She hated her with a vengeance.
Jade rested her head on her arms and closed her eyes. Maya reached under and pressed down on Jade’s carotid artery. Her pulse was strong and steady. Maya glanced at her watch, counting.
Jade’s heart rate was slightly slower than it usually was, but within the normal range. Her breathing was regular. Maya didn’t think she could trust the twins to tell her the truth, but Jade seemed okay, for the moment. Maya stroked her hair. Jade made a little “Mmm,” sound in her sleep.
“Let’s have a private conversation,” Suni said.
Maya glanced up. Suni was looking at Anita.
“Okay.” Anita tipped her head toward Maya and Jade. “Bedroom?”
Suni nodded. She put her hands under Jade’s right arm. “Get the other side of her. We’ll carry her between us,” she said to Maya.
Anita raised the pistol, aiming it at Maya’s chest.
Maya helped lift Jade to a standing position. They walked her back through the living area, past the front door, and into another room with twin beds in it. It was empty. Maya’s mind raced. What the hell was going on, and where was Tony?
Suni laid Jade down on one of the beds and then walked to the window. She pulled the curtains aside and checked that the window wouldn’t open. Then she walked into the en suite bathroom and did the same thing.
Finally, she stood in the doorway. “I’m looking forward to spending some time with you at last, Maya,” she said pleasantly.
“Wait a moment,” Maya called out. “Where’s Tony?”
Suni smiled. “Misplaced your girlfriend, have you? How careless.”
The door shut and a lock was turned.
Maya went to Jade and tried to rouse her. Jade mumbled in her sleep. Her body was completely heavy.
Maya sank down onto the other single bed. They’d taken her phone and her car keys. She was in the middle of nowhere, and even if she managed to break them out, she’d have to carry Jade. She couldn’t rely on Tony or anyone else coming to help.
What the hell was she going to do?
*
Tony sat at a computer terminal in an office-type room at the police station, trying to remember how to access her Dropbox account remotely. Dozens of pairs of eyes bored into her back. She didn’t understand the problem. On Cagney and Lacey, people came into the squad room all the time. It had been made clear she wasn’t welcome in that part of the police station by the blatant stares of anyone she’d passed when Ashton had walked her into the room.
Well, it was their own fault. They should get into the digital age and have computers for the public to use when they were assisting with inquiries. Bristling, Tony sat up straight in the office chair. She wanted to raise it a touch higher but knew that if she misjudged it and shot to the ground the embarrassment could just finish her off.
Tony was in knots, trying to get out of the police station to go and see Jade, but Ashton wouldn’t release her until he’d heard the MP3 file.
Ashton had finally conceded that Tony hadn’t been responsible for the assault on Rose. He had also reluctantly dropped the assault charge on Ron Somers. Apparently, Somers was as fit as a flea, and had come through the incident entirely unscathed. That meant that Tony’s punches had been ineffectual, but under the circumstances that was just as well.
Tony did a Web search for “how to access Dropbox files remotely.” Ashton shifted beside her.
“I’m watching you. Don’t think you can grab any old sound file and pass it off as something.”
“You can see what I’m doing,” Tony said. “I just use Dropbox to send large files to people, and I don’t do that very often. It’s just luck that all my sound files are stored in it.”
“Hmm, luck,” Ashton said darkly.
Tony logged on to her account and quickly accessed her sound file folder. “Here you are. What do you want me to do, play it?”
“Yes, I want you to play it.” Ashton separated the words like Tony needed things explained to her slowly.
Tony double-clicked on the file.
A hush came over the room as officers stopped what they were doing to listen.
Ashton’s face changed from suspicious to miserable as the recorded conversation played its course.
When it had finished, he sat, staring into space. Tony forced herself not to say anything, but she was aware of time ticking by. Who knew what state Jade was in? She wanted to talk to Felicia again.
“How did you get that recording?” Ashton asked eventually.
“My client got it from another guard’s family. The original is on reel-to-reel tape. I have the tape.”
Ashton stood up. “Come on,” he said, walking ahead.
He stopped in front of the custody desk. “This one’s being released. No charges,” he muttered, half under his breath. Then he walked away without a backward glance.
The same custody sergeant was on duty. She looked a lot more tired than when Tony had last seen her. She produced Tony’s belongings.
“Check you’ve got everything on this list, and then sign it at the bottom please,” she said in a friendly way. It was the friendliest Tony had heard anyone be since she’d been arrested. She realized, as she scrawled her name on the signature line, that the sergeant wasn’t actually being friendly. It was just she was speaking to Tony like she was a normal person.
Before she had even left the police station, Tony clicked her phone on. The screen stayed dark. She held the power button down. There was no response. Tony groaned. Her phone was dead.
She walked back to the custody desk.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but this is urgent. Do you have an iPhone charger I can borrow by any chance?” Tony knew she was relying on lesbian solidarity, of which the sergeant might feel none.
The sergeant flicked her eyes left and right. “We don’t usually do this, but, well, you’ve been here all night, and you look like you’ve had a rough time of it.” She glanced down at Tony’s hands. “Are you pressing charges about those bruises?”
Tony flexed her palms and grimaced. “What, against Somers, you mean?”
“Is that the old guy?”
Tony nodded, and then shrugged. She didn’t know if she wanted to or not.
“Well, it’s up to you. Here.” The sergeant pulled the end of a charger out from under the desk. Tony pushed the connector into her phone. The sergeant took Tony’s phone and put it under the desk. “In case anybody else comes by,” she said quietly.
“I hope Somers is going to be charged for the assault on Rose,” Tony said.
“So do I,” the sergeant said. “As soon as the old lady’s able to talk, we’ll be interviewing her about the incident.” She shuffled some papers around and then glanced back to Tony. “So. Amateur detective, eh?” She looked like she was mocking Tony, but in a different way from the other police officers. The sergeant was teasing rather than trying to humiliate her.
Tony smiled shyly. She felt insanely grateful that someone was being nice to her. The events of the previous twelve hours had taken their toll.
“We don’t really fraternize with PIs, but hey, if you fancy a coffee sometime.” The sergeant scribbled something down on a piece of paper and pressed it into Tony’s hand. Tony glanced at it. It was a phone number. There was nothing about the night that was going to surprise Tony.
“Um, thanks,” she mumbled. She didn’t bother to say she already had a girlfriend. She had no intention of calling the sergeant. She slipped the number into her back pocket.
The sergeant disappeared through a doorway into another small room and sat at her computer. Tony read the notices telling her what to do if she needed a solicitor or an interpreter. She was warned that CCTV cameras were in operation. She saw that the police station was having an open day. She was mildly interested in the possibility of seeing police horses and vintage police cars but felt she would give the tour of police cells a miss.
Anxiously, she looked at the clock above
the desk again.
“Excuse me, would it be possible to get my phone?” Tony called to the desk sergeant.
She handed it to Tony with a smile.
Tony had a whole heap of messages and texts. The most recent text was from Maya. It gave an address in Scotland.
Tony scanned Maya’s previous messages.
She saw with horror that Maya thought Jade had been abducted. Tony pushed through the main entrance doors. She had to get to Scotland, and fast.
Chapter Twelve
Maya groaned and rubbed her eyes. She must have fallen asleep. She’d been awake most of the night trying to think of solutions. She hadn’t had much sleep the night before. No wonder she’d dozed off.
She got off the bed and pulled back the curtains.
It was morning. Rows of pine trees stretched out in front of her. Their gray-brown trunks huddled tightly together. Mossy green branches spread out laterally just above head level. The forest floor was a tangle of brambles, ferns, and the occasional fallen tree. A bank rose steeply in the distance. The air was misty with rain that streamed down the window.
Maya tried the window catches. They were firmly shut. She examined the lock. It was a single bolt type. She could get it open, but she’d need a thin bit of wire like a paper clip or a bobby pin and an Allen wrench or something similar. It didn’t look expensive. It might even open with a pair of scissors or a screwdriver.
Jade turned. Maya had slipped Jade’s shoes off and put the duvet over her during the night. It might be the middle of July, but in Scotland it was cold.
“Jade.” Maya bent next to the bed and whispered as loudly as she dared.
Jade mumbled something and turned away from her.
“Jade.” Maya tried again.
This time, Jade’s eyes flicked open. She stared dully at Maya.
“Where’s Tony?” Maya whispered urgently.
Jade’s eyes softened. “Dead. I think,” she croaked out.
Maya’s stomach turned to ice.
Jade’s eyes fluttered shut, and within a few seconds, she had fallen into a deep sleep. She didn’t respond to Maya gently shaking her.
Maya refused to believe Tony was dead. She wouldn’t let herself believe it until she had concrete proof. She went into the bathroom. There was one small window above the sink. Maya could squeeze through it if she had to. Carefully, she clambered up onto the sink to have a look.
The lock was the same type as in the bedroom. The glass was obscured so Maya couldn’t see what was outside.
The bedroom door lock clicked as it was turned.
She jumped down and ran some water.
Suni, or at least Maya thought it was Suni, appeared in the en suite doorway.
“Oh. And there was I hoping you’d be just in a towel,” Suni said.
Maya wiped her hands.
“I’d love to have a little chat with you, if you can spare the time.” Suni smiled in the charming, creepy way that had made Maya uncomfortable from the start. The pistol dangled from her right hand. Maya wondered if she would use it. She tacked that on to her list of things to find out.
In the living room the curtains had been drawn back. Misty light floated in through wooden casement windows, brightening the small room. There was a roaring log fire in a black stove in the corner. The strips of pine boarding the walls, ceiling, and floor looked lighter in daylight.
The other twin was sprawled across the oatmeal sofa sorting supplies. She stuffed some rope and a roll of black plastic bin liners into a rucksack. She looked up but didn’t say anything.
Maya sat on the edge of one of the armchairs. She needed to find out if Tony was still alive, and what the twins had planned for them all. Maya decided engaging them in conversation was the best approach.
“Is there any way to tell you two apart?” she asked bluntly.
A look flicked between them.
“Would it comfort you to be able to tell us apart?” the twin Maya thought was Suni asked.
Maya felt a stab of fear. She knew when she was being played with. “I just wondered, that’s all,” she said, trying to sound like she couldn’t care less.
“Come and sit between us,” Suni said, patting the sofa.
Maya tensed. The last thing she wanted to do was to get close to either of them.
“The only way to find out what you want to know is to come here,” Suni said slowly. She pursed her lips and patted the sofa again.
Maya got up. She was damned if she’d let them know how scared she was.
“Hold my hand.” Suni dropped her voice, taking Maya’s hand in hers. Maya glared at her. Then she stiffened as an icy hand grasped her left wrist. She remembered the cold touch. “That was you, packing the car,” she said to the other twin.
“Yes. I’m Anita.” Anita pronounced her name with a soft tha at the end, in the Indian way.
“You have cold hands. She hasn’t? That’s the only way to tell you two apart?” Maya asked.
“That’s right, except not just cold hands. I have cold skin pretty much everywhere. You’re welcome to check.” Anita’s voice had the same melodic tone and sweet low pitch that Suni’s had.
“No, thanks.” Maya stood and returned to the armchair. Their eyes followed her. “What do you want?”
“From you? Nothing,” Suni said. “We’re just going to have a bit of a chat, some fun, before…” She trailed off.
“Before we go our separate ways,” Anita said.
“We’ll be moving on, and you and Jade will be going to a very special place. One we all have to go to sometime.” Suni’s hushed voice was kind.
Maya felt sick. “You’re going to kill us.”
Suni grinned. “You’re so blunt. I like that. It’s refreshing.”
“Where’s Tony?” Maya asked.
Suni’s eyebrows flicked upward. Anita stared back at her coolly. Neither answered her.
Maya clenched her jaw. “Why are you doing this?” She tried to subtly look around the room to see what might be useful.
“That’s an interesting question,” Suni said.
“Aren’t we going to drug her?” Anita asked with a sigh.
“Oh, I don’t want to. I’m so over all that controlling with drugs thing.”
Anita frowned at her sister. “You want her to remain conscious and alert?”
“She’s not that alert. She hasn’t had much sleep. She’s not a physical threat anyway. There are two of us, in case you’ve forgotten, and we have weapons.” She turned to Maya. “If you were thinking of making a rush for the kitchen drawers, don’t bother. We cleaned everything out while you were sleeping.”
Maya swallowed.
“At least put the handcuffs on her.”
“Plenty of time for that later. Lighten up, Anita.” Suni smiled at Maya. “You want to know why we’ve been messing with your friend’s head, don’t you?”
Maya nodded.
Suni lowered her voice. “Would you like me to tell you?”
Maya nodded again. Suni’s voice was so quiet she had to lean forward to hear her.
“Would you like us to share our deepest, darkest secrets?”
Maya frowned.
“You have to say yes,” Suni said. “Think of it like a game. Like twenty questions.”
Forced to play along, Maya said, “Yes.”
“We’ve messed with Jade till all she wants to do is die,” Suni said.
Maya flinched. “Why?”
“Because we can.” Suni’s matter-of-fact tone was chilling.
“And it’s enjoyable,” Anita added.
“Jade is poised in that moment where all she wants to do is let go. We’ve brought her to the edge of a cliff. She craves peace. She feels worthless. She’s one step away from death.” Suni spoke like a detached social worker discussing a case. Maya bit her lip. Suni’s mindset scared her.
“Are you interested in death?” Maya asked her.
Suni’s eyes glittered. “She’s trying to analyze me,”
she said to Anita.
Anita stared coldly at Maya. “I don’t like therapists.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” Maya asked, sounding very much like a therapist.
“She didn’t like the diagnosis our psychiatrist gave us,” Suni said. “He didn’t have a clue, to be honest.”
“What was his diagnosis?”
“Narcissist. He said we were a narcissist.”
Maya noted that Suni referred to herself and her twin as if they were one entity.
“When was that?” she asked.
“We were nine,” Suni said.
“I’m getting bored, Suni.” Anita shifted on the couch. She looked at her watch.
Maya sensed the conversation was hitting a nerve. She longed to ask why the twins were referred to a therapist at nine years old, but they might shut down if she pushed it. It was important to keep them talking.
“How did you get Jade into the state she is now?” Maya asked quietly.
“So sweet of you to show an interest,” Suni said. “Oh, for God’s sake, throw some more logs on that fire, Anita. It’s freezing in here. I wanted to go to Cornwall. I’ve heard it’s beautiful and there are some very sharp rocks.”
Anita rolled her eyes. “Not nearly isolated enough.” She got up, stretched, and walked to the stove.
“What were we talking about? Oh yes, how to bring someone to the brink of suicide. Have you ever wondered how you could make someone think they’re going crazy?” Suni asked.
“Funnily enough, no, I haven’t,” Maya said sarcastically.
Suni looked pleased. Maya regretted letting herself be provoked.
Anita had perked up too. She opened the stove door and shuffled the logs inside with a poker.
“To control someone properly you need to isolate them.” Suni was sitting neatly on the couch. Everything about her was precise. She watched Maya’s face carefully as she spoke. “That’s easy in the first stages of lust. We’re blessed with magnetism. It draws women to us. The next step is to start doctoring the subject’s food and drink. Different drugs are useful for different purposes. Hallucinogens are invaluable, but so too are amphetamines because they quickly deplete the body and deprive your subject of sleep. Sleep deprivation and drug combinations are the fastest way to confuse and disorientate someone. It’s important that your ability to control the subject isn’t disturbed. Jade was perfect because she’s unemployed, she’s got no family here, and she has the worst best friend in the world.”