‘The place we stripped down and redressed for the sake of a deal with Criteria.’
Hazel looked up sharply at him.
‘It’s OK, I’ve cut.’ He lowered the Lumix. ‘We don’t know for sure that somebody wants us out of here. It really could have been kids.’
‘I hope you’re right. Have to get back to Eve.’ Hazel sidestepped him and could feel his eyes on her back. If she was right, they had the piece on camera they needed. If she was wrong, Hazel had got him to dismiss the fire as the work of vandals and made the rest of the crew more comfortable about continuing. But Hazel believed somebody had sent them a pretty potent message.
Reaching the main entrance she ran into Rena. ‘Any sign?’
Rena glanced back over her shoulder. ‘Not of Jacob.’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘Wait.’
The cab was just swerving at the doors. As the vehicle accelerated past them, Eve studied them both through her open window.
‘I thought she was going to hang fire until we’d finished.’
‘The taxi was getting too expensive. She’s going back to the motel to wait for him. Said we should call her if we see any sign.’
Hazel watched the car turn and head for the top of the ramp.
‘She doesn’t like me,’ Rena sniffed.
‘Don’t take it personally. I don’t think the Hubers do Christmas cards. What did you find?’
Rena waited for the cab to drop down onto the road and pull out. ‘This way.’
Hazel followed Rena as she strode back towards the pond.
52
Eve Huber hung up her phone. ‘Shit.’ Where was she going to scrape up Jacob from this time? Straightening in her seat, she squinted beyond the cab driver’s shoulder to the road ahead for any signs of him.
Since Caleb’s death, Eve worried more and more about Jacob’s hard-drinking binges, as well as the other abuses she didn’t want to know about. He’d never caught a break. After being expelled from high school he’d fallen into the construction industry before the work had all but dried up. He’d applied for other jobs but, on the few occasions somebody had given him a chance, his temper had gotten the better of him and he’d quickly made himself unemployable.
He was lost without his twin. He and Caleb had fought all the time but the pair of them had been so tight they almost squeaked. Now he had nobody to get drunk with but, more importantly, nobody to keep him on a leash. Caleb hadn’t been smart but had known right from wrong. Jacob had some weird notions about having fun.
Like a lot of her brother’s activities, however, Eve turned a blind eye to them. He worked hard, brought home the bacon, and what he did in his downtime was his business. He’d been on benders before as well. Gone AWOL after slipping out for a few cold ones. But Jacob always checked in and always made it back in time for Eve to take her meds.
She’d lost count of the occasions she’d picked him up naked, bruised and bloody but never asked any questions. Jacob got fucked up; slept it off; life resumed.
But as Eve peered out of the side windows of the cab she couldn’t see a trace of him amongst the birch trees that lined the worn-out route back into town.
53
Rena led Hazel to the burnt tree concealed by the thick brush beside the pond. The bark was scorched about four feet up its trunk.
Hazel inspected the white ash deposits amongst the dark mulch. Was it a campfire that got out of control? It covered a wide irregular area of the forest floor. ‘Could be a drifter living here.’
‘Look closer.’ Rena nudged a sooty heap with the toe of her boot. ‘Recognise it?’
Hazel did. It was the blackened scraps of Henrik’s yellow Sons of Anarchy tee shirt. ‘Jesus.’
Burn me in hell.
That was the request Henrik had made after the murders. ‘We should call the cops.’
Rena was right. The arson attack they could handle but this was something entirely different.
‘I really don’t think this is another cry for help… ’ Rena bent to pick up the material.
‘Don’t touch it.’ Taking the pill canister she’d found the previous morning out of her jacket pocket, Hazel quickly Googled ‘flunitrazepam’ on her iPhone.
‘What are you doing?’
She examined the results. ‘These are anticonvulsants. Bet these are what you saw Henrik popping before he vanished.’
‘That settles it then. And I’m getting worried about Keeler as well.’
‘Keeler? He took off for another FX gig.’
‘But he said he’d text me. I’ve tried his number a gazillion times, but he hasn’t responded.’
Hazel bit her tongue. She knew Rena and Keeler had been sneaking down to the pond. ‘Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened. Just being a guy. Come on, I’ll report Henrik and we’ll tell the others.’
But when they emerged from the trees there was already a patrol car pulling up the ramp.
Hazel rang off as Officers Soles and Drake got out. ‘This is… fortunate timing.’ What were they doing here? Hazel warily covered the distance between them.
‘We understand you’ve had a fire issue on-site.’ Drake narrowed his eyes at Rena’s breasts.
‘We have but it’s under control now.’ Hazel wondered who had called them.
‘We have limited fire response in Broomfield,’ Soles explained. ‘They’ve had another call-out so we just wanted to assess the situation ourselves.’
If anyone had called them at all. Perhaps Soles was getting nervous about what she’d find out about him and Meredith and was spying on them. ‘There is actually a more urgent matter. We’re concerned about the safety of one of my interviewees, Henrik Fossen. He went missing yesterday, and we’ve just found his burnt clothes back there.’
‘Burnt?’ Drake still hadn’t shifted his gaze from Rena’s chest.
Rena folded her arms. ‘Somebody set a tree on fire.’
‘Henrik was meant to be with us for another few days. There’s no reason he would have walked out.’
Soles turned to Drake. ‘That’s two missing people reports today.’
Hazel frowned. ‘Two?’
He nodded. ‘And both connected to this place. We’re also looking for a Jacob Huber.’
So Eve must have called them. Probably told them about the blaze as well. ‘To be honest, we weren’t as concerned about Jacob. He does have a history.’
‘Of?’ Drake tucked in his shirt.
‘You’ll have to speak to his sister about that.’
‘So, that makes his disappearance less important?’ Drake took off his hat to run a hand through his spikes of red hair.
‘No, but he turned up here drunk yesterday morning when I was interviewing the Hickmans.’
Soles smiled wryly. ‘Don’t tell me, that’s when the trouble started.’
Drake turned to his colleague. ‘Sounds like textbook Hickmans.’
Hazel noted he was happy to condemn them but not Jacob.
‘And somebody else is missing.’ Rena produced her phone.
Hazel held up her palm. ‘Wait a minute. We know Keeler was off to another job.’
‘Who’s Keeler?’ Soles asked, exasperated.
‘Let me call him. I’m sure we can clear this one up.’ Hazel took out her phone and speed-dialled. Maybe he was ignoring Rena. Everyone remained silent as she waited, listened and hung up. ‘Answering service.’
‘I told you.’ Rena pouted.
‘I really don’t think this is anything to worry about, officers.’
‘We can’t file reports based on people not answering their phones,’ Drake said with a pained expression and sucked at his orange moustache.
‘We’ll try him again but I’m sure he’s just busy.’
‘And you’ve tried this Henrik’s phone?’ Drake jammed his hat back on.
‘I confiscated his cell… on-set confidentiality,’ Rena added before they asked.
‘Seems odd he’d leave it he
re,’ Soles sniffed. ‘So, has your Henrik been missing twenty-four hours yet?’
‘Yes. Over that now. And I think I found his medication back there.’ Hazel took out the pill canister.
Soles sighed. ‘OK, one thing at a time; we’ll take a look at the damage inside then you can show me this tree.’
54
Officers Soles and Drake circled the shrine. Lucas was recording, as they’d both said they were happy to be on camera. Weiss and Sweeting weren’t but were standing awkwardly in shot after Hazel insisted.
‘This wasn’t an accident?’ Soles narrowed his eyes intensely at Hazel.
She knew he was upping the drama for Lucas and shook her head, more with frustration at the sluggishness of the interrogation. ‘Think somebody doused it with petrol but we were all on the go-kart track when the fire started.’
‘All of you?’ Soles’s attention drifted briefly to the lens.
Could her team really trust Soles and Drake? ‘Yeah, ’cept for Rena.’
Lucas swung the Lumix to her.
She twisted at her pink hair. ‘I was outside but came in when Hazel called me. I would have seen someone going in or out of the main entrance.’
‘Are there any other exits?’
Rena answered Soles before Hazel could. ‘Fire exits have been sealed but there’s another through the burger place.’
‘So they could easily have slipped out?’
‘Easily.’ Rena checked her phone for messages again.
Soles surveyed the charred flowers set in the melted wax. ‘And you say Henrik Fossen wasn’t present at the time?’
‘Not that we were aware of.’ Hazel suspected the footage they were shooting would end up being dumped but wanted to keep Soles onside for another interview.
Eventually he zipped up his jacket. ‘OK, get me Fossen’s phone and then we’ll take a look at this tree.’
55
April was sure the grown-up hadn’t gone and remained in her hiding place amongst the branches of the tree. She didn’t know how long she’d been up there but it felt like hours.
When she’d heard them behind her on the dirt track, April had frantically scrambled up the trunk. But they still hadn’t walked by. Were they crouching somewhere near, waiting for her to climb down?
She’d convinced herself it was the grown-up from Apriltown. Perhaps they’d seen her steal the ball on the strap and pictures and had followed her into the forest. Again she scanned the portions of the muddy ground that were visible through the boughs below but couldn’t see anyone.
April didn’t enjoy climbing trees, was terrified of heights and had even hated going on the Ferris wheel with her father. Since the time their seat had stopped dead at the top, she’d made him promise never to take her on one again.
She’d been scared of the creaking pin breaking and them plummeting to the grass but had actually been more terrified by another thought that had popped into her head. As they’d waited for it to start turning again, April had been struck by how easy it would have been to release the buckle of her safety belt and jump out.
That’s what gave her a funny buzz in the back of her legs when she looked through the window of a high building: the idea of just opening it and allowing herself to fall. And how simple would it be to unhook her armpits from the branch and step from the thicker one below? April imagined the sensation of dropping and the sound she’d make when she hit the earth.
Something rustled to her right, and she craned to see the source of the noise through the leaves. April caught a glimpse of movement. There was definitely somebody passing by. She held her breath and bit down on the ends of both thumbs.
She wished she hadn’t hidden the ball on the strap and the pictures. If that’s what they wanted from her she could throw them down to make them go away.
Light footfalls right underneath her. As April tensed herself tighter around the bough, her heart thudded against the bark. Could they see her if they looked up? There were several layers of foliage between her and them.
April’s teeth pierced her thumb tips; she didn’t trust herself to stay quiet.
The footsteps ceased. Had they left or were they still down there?
56
It was just after one in the afternoon when the crew followed the two police officers out of Fun Central. The low grimy clouds seemed to lie in wait for them over the trees.
Lucas had stopped recording and carried the camera down the track through the forest. Weiss and Sweeting walked either side in silence until Hazel gestured Sweeting to catch up so she could speak with him. He trotted to join her, and Weiss bided his time until he was well out of earshot.
‘So what’s the situation with Hazel?’
Lucas stepped around a thick root. ‘I think we’ll all be out of here before nightfall.’
‘You know what I mean,’ Weiss said sourly but kept his eyes front.
‘We’re sharing a room but that doesn’t make it any easier.’
‘You have told her about Carrie?’
‘I told you I did.’
‘But you haven’t told Carrie about Hazel.’
‘No.’
‘And you still haven’t told either of them about us?’
Lucas tightened his jaw. ‘No, that hasn’t changed since I spoke to you this morning.’
‘There are three people you owe some honesty to.’
‘Two people. I’m already being honest with you. Give me time.’
‘And this is where I should say you’ve had enough time and issue you with an ultimatum.’
‘I know I need to man up. And I promise I will.’ Lucas still hadn’t met his gaze.
They both strode to catch up with Hazel and the others as they reached the pond.
57
The sound that wrenched Eve Huber from unconsciousness unglued her sticky eyelids.
A cage with a partition separating two dogs was positioned about ten feet away from her. The black-snouted pit bull terriers’ hostile barking punctuated the short circuits they made of their confinement before their claws scratched frantically at the metal bars.
Eve inhaled painfully and nausea tingled under her headscarf. How long had she been out?
She took in the considerable dimensions of her dingy surroundings and looked upward at the domed metal ceiling. Eve was inside a grain silo, and the only light came from a doorway on the curved wall opposite. A sliding corrugated panel had been rolled back about three feet to let in the weak slice of sun that illuminated her and the cage.
Eve’s breathing faltered as she looked down at the congealed blood on the backs of her hands. What had been done to her? She tried to raise them but they halted and jingled. She was sitting on her mobility scooter, and a pair of metal cuffs secured each wrist to the main trunk of it below the handlebars.
The cage rattled as the dogs became more frenzied. They knew she was awake and started buffeting the bars.
She could feel their barks inside her chest and blinked each time their jaws snapped at the stale atmosphere. Eve noticed her lily print maxi dress was saturated with blood. ‘Oh, Jesus.’ She could smell it and feel it tacky on her face. Was she bleeding out? She was so weak.
Examining herself for signs of injury she couldn’t see any obvious wounds. Her whole body was numb. Maybe it was a cut to her head. But Eve couldn’t move her hands to touch her scalp, or lift any of her clothing.
She tried to recall where she’d been before this. Eve had gotten the cab from the motel to Fun Central and spoken to Hazel Salter about Jacob vanishing but couldn’t remember anything immediately after that.
Eve cleared her throat. ‘Get these off me!’ The exertion of shouting made her dizzy.
Her voice bounced off the walls and was swallowed by the canine cacophony. The terriers battered their prison but she could see it was fixed to the floor by an inch thick ridge of cement.
The mobility scooter’s power was already switched on and Eve realised she could accelerate, even with her h
ands fastened to the handlebars. The doorway was about twenty-five feet away. But, although she thought she’d be able to cover the distance in as many seconds, Eve suspected escape wouldn’t be that easy.
There was something scattered on the floor around the scooter. Peering down she identified the small chunks. It looked like offal. Pieces of chopped liver in pools of dark coagulated blood. It felt like she’d had a bucket of it poured all over her.
Eve grimly reminded herself what she’d dropped in the @BeMyKiller Twitter timeline.
Bite me #BeMyKiller
‘Ssshhh.’ She tried to placate the dogs. ‘Nobody to bark at here.’ Eve saw the chain. It ran from the rear of the cage and was attached to the back of her scooter. She quickly realised its purpose. It was why her exit seemed too good to be true. If Eve rolled out of there, the chain would lift the hinged door at the front and set the two animals free.
Would the length of chain allow her to reach the doorway? She twisted her head as far as she could to where it was coiled behind her. It was impossible to tell. Eve figured whoever rigged it wouldn’t allow her to get there before the dogs were released. And then she was still locked to the scooter by the handcuffs, which also prevented her from unfastening the chain from the back of it or the cage. Then she spotted the day-glo sign beside the doorway that was about three feet from the floor.
CUFF KEY
There was an arrow below the words pointing downwards. From that distance it was difficult to discern anything underneath it. Perhaps it was hanging there on a hook. Maybe she’d been given a slim chance – grab the key, unlock the cuffs and slam the door shut before the dogs tore her apart.
But when Eve considered what had happened to Caleb, she guessed she was never meant to leave the silo alive.
Be My Killer: A completely UNPUTDOWNABLE crime thriller with nail-biting mystery and suspense Page 13