‘You did say we had to keep him in sight. We don’t know what he’s got waiting for us.’
Sweeting was chicken but she knew he had a point. ‘Why don’t we split up? I’ll take the middle ground and you two take left and right.’
Weiss nodded. ‘OK but I’ll go up behind Wade or we don’t go at all.’
‘Deal.’
Sweeting sighed and started climbing, cutting diagonally and generously to the left. Hazel arced right, and Weiss continued on through Wade’s tracks.
As the bank got steeper, her kneecaps ached. If Wade hadn’t known they were there before, Sweeting’s laboured breathing would certainly alert him now. She tried to make eye contact with him, but he kept his focus dead ahead.
The ridge of the hill came into view, and the three of them slowed so they were in line with each other. Weiss attempted to peer over from his position.
Hazel gestured him to stay still and trudged up a few paces. No sign of Wade. She took a couple more cautious steps so she was looking at a furrowed field beyond. On the edge of it was a ramshackle wooden hut.
‘I would offer you some coffee but I’m behind with my chores.’ Tamara was striding swiftly in front of Lucas, yanking the chained heads of her three Brazilian mastiffs behind her as she escorted him back to the main yard.
It was odd behaviour because she knew he’d opened one of the boxes in the outbuilding. When she’d swung the door, she’d held the black-snouted monsters at bay and looked down to where he’d parted the lid. There had been nothing but rusting tins of food inside. She’d said he was welcome to help himself to the flood-damaged stock and that she’d been on at Wade to dump it since it had gone out-of-date in 2013.
But Tamara didn’t strike him as the sort of woman who would skip an opportunity to berate someone for poking their nose in where they shouldn’t, and he’d been surprised she hadn’t let the leashes go.
‘I’ll just walk you to the road.’ Her dark, blue neon-streaked hair flapped behind her.
Lucas couldn’t help but look at her tight ass in her jeans. What the hell did she see in Wade? ‘Thanks, Mrs Hickman, but I’m good.’ They were passing the living quarters and Lucas glanced briefly at the closed door again.
‘No problem.’ She marched purposefully ahead. ‘Bruce!’ She wound the chain tighter around her knuckles and prevented the burly creature from turning back in his direction.
Lucas wondered if he’d been let off the hook because of the Hickmans’ involvement in the movie. Perhaps if he’d been a thief her reaction would have been considerably different. ‘Really, I know my way from here.’ He lifted his camera so it was lodged rigidly under his arm. It was still running.
83
‘Is he in there?’ Sweeting crouched where Hazel and Weiss were. They had the cover of some ferns on the boundary of the field.
‘Maybe this is where he works.’ Weiss pulled him lower.
‘I don’t think Wade has ever grasped that concept.’ Hazel registered there were no windows in their side of the hut.
‘Perhaps it’s his little man cave,’ Weiss suggested.
‘Shame Lucas isn’t with us. He could bust in there and shoot him jerking his gherkin.’ Sweeting tied his lace. ‘What now?’
They all ducked as Wade emerged.
Wade pulled the door shut. He had an orange bucket in one hand and made for a gate at the far edge of the field. He opened and closed it and traipsed off down a track. He disappeared behind the hedge beyond, and his footfalls faded.
‘I’m going to take a look.’ Hazel rose first.
As she trotted quickly towards the hut, Weiss and Sweeting followed. When she reached the door, Hazel put her palm against it but paused. Although it appeared she was waiting for the other two to catch up, she was suddenly reluctant to go inside.
‘Open it then,’ Sweeting said impatiently.
Hazel pushed on the panel, and a vile smell rolled out at them.
‘You don’t need to walk me the whole way.’ But Lucas could see Tamara was determined to. Even if she had to fight her dogs the entire distance. They were now passing the locked middle outbuilding, and her pace had sped up. Lucas still held the lens on her. ‘Expect you’ve got better things to do.’
Tamara kept going until a human sneeze came from within the structure. She didn’t stop but her step faltered. The mastiffs’ ears pricked up, and they all swivelled their heads back.
‘Mrs Hickman?’
One of the dogs started barking at the outbuilding, and Tamara accelerated.
‘Was that? … ’
She halted to slap the offending hound on its flank. ‘Spike!’
It fell silent but the animals kept their gaze trained.
‘You OK the rest of the way now?’ Her surly nod told him he’d have to be.
‘Yeah. Thanks for the escort.’
Tamara waited impassively for him to leave.
Giving her and the dogs a wide berth, Lucas cleared them, kept walking and flinched in anticipation of the mastiffs on his back.
84
‘This is fucked up.’ Sweeting had joined Hazel and Weiss inside the hut.
Hazel waved humming flies from her face. A small LED lantern yellowed the dismal space. It was empty except for a concrete post jutting from the middle of the floor. A metal hoop was attached to it and, to that, a pair of handcuffs. The smell of stale urine and human faeces was overwhelming. Hazel wondered if Meredith had known about this place.
‘What has he been doing in here?’ Weiss covered his mouth.
‘Jesus wept.’ Sweeting gagged and exited.
Hazel hurried out, and Weiss followed.
‘We’re calling the cops.’ Weiss ushered her back to the ferns.
She kept her eyes on the hut and the gate Wade had left by. There was no sign of him. As they reached the brow of the hill, she pulled out her phone. ‘I have to get Lucas out of there.’
Weiss nodded and kept watch over her shoulder.
Sweeting wasn’t waiting for them and had started stumbling down the slope. ‘You’re not going to get any reception here.’
But Hazel was surprised to find a tiny amount and speed-dialled Lucas.
Lucas felt his phone buzz in his pocket and was glad of an excuse to stop and check where Tamara was. He turned and made a show of taking it out. She and the dogs were standing where he’d left them. The Lumix was still recording, and he knew he’d taken in the outbuilding before nicely framing her.
‘Hazel?’
‘I’m about to lose the signal.’ Sounded like she was on the move. ‘Are you still at the Hickman place?’
‘Just on my way to you now,’ he said with enough volume for Tamara to hear. ‘You’re just pulling up?’
‘What’s going on there? Are you with Tamara?’ She was starting to break up.
‘Yeah.’
‘Leave as soon as you can. We followed Wade. He’s got a shack where he chains people up.’
He heard that loud and clear. ‘OK. I’m sure Tamara won’t mind if you drive up the road to meet me. That OK with you, Mrs Hickman?’
She didn’t reply and studied his performance stony-faced.
‘We’re coming, Lucas. But we’re a few miles away.’
‘Great, you’ll probably see me in a few seconds.’ Lucas pocketed the phone and stuck his thumb up to Tamara. ‘They’re here.’ He put his back to her and strode faster.
A mastiff slammed into Lucas and then he was looking at Tamara’s black leather boots as they circled him. Teeth pierced his left calf muscle and then something solid struck the crown of his head.
85
‘It’s right turn for town!’ Sweeting exclaimed from the front passenger seat as Hazel accelerated in the opposite direction.
‘I’m picking up Lucas first. Then we go to the police. How’s the reception on your phone, Weiss?’
He was holding it up in the back. ‘Shit.’
Hazel snatched up hers from the dash and glimpsed the display.
‘Mine’s stacking again.’ She passed it over her shoulder. ‘Call the cops and tell them we’ll meet them on the edge of town.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Sweeting tried to intercept her phone but Weiss plucked it away. ‘Just tell them what we’ve seen and where they can find Wade.’
‘Lucas can shoot the arrest, even if it’s from a distance.’ Hazel steadied the Mazda.
‘So, we’re picking up the camera first and Lucas second,’ Sweeting said caustically.
‘Lucas will want to be in on this as much as us.’ Hazel’s eyes darted to her rear-view mirror and the pickup that had suddenly appeared behind them. ‘It’s Wade.’
Weiss turned to see the blue vehicle surge towards them. ‘Floor it!’
But Hazel already had and pulled away.
‘Slow down!’ Sweeting’s attention was locked on the narrow road ahead.
They’d hit a sharp bend and, as she tugged the wheel, the rear of her car whipped around and the back tyres lost contact with the dirt. The front swung ninety degrees, ramming Hazel against the side window.
86
When she came to, Rena blinked sluggishly and wondered how long she’d been unconscious. The daylight had dimmed, and a slight breeze grazed her eardrums.
She discerned a different noise to her right. Sounded like nail clippers. Was that what had woken her? Rena took a breath and identified the dark shape skittering at the periphery of her vision.
Burnished black eyes stared back at her – uncomprehending observation. The rabbit seemed only slightly wary of Rena as it stripped tiny leaves from a gorse bush with its teeth. It had brown fur and a yellow white belly that quickly rose and fell as it watched without any concept of her predicament.
Rena slowly raised her right hand, and the animal’s chewing froze. She considered it might be the last living thing to see her alive. And that it would probably sniff around her corpse before the scavengers did.
The rabbit hopped away but, briefly, she hadn’t been alone. Rena attempted to follow its progress but could still hear the crunch at the rear of her head. She examined her raised, bandaged fingers. The machete had been dislodged. Her arm trembled with the exertion but it was the most she’d moved since the fall. What did she have to lose now? Should Rena just lie here semi-conscious or try to escape, irrespective of the consequences?
Nobody had come looking for her. Even if they’d gone to the pond, there was no reason to think she’d ventured into the forest. So there was only one person likely to find her like this, and she’d rather die than have to endure whatever torture they wanted to inflict on her.
Rena hinged up the other arm to the same height and inspected the deep cut across the heel of her left thumb. But she knew lifting her skull was the real test. She allowed her palms to rest on her face, breathed against them and warmed her nose.
She counted and raised her head on five.
It was only elevated an inch from the rock, and she anticipated loss of sight as her spinal column disintegrated or her brains poured out of her skull. But as her tendons shook, there was no sign the action had wrought any further injury.
Rena took her grubby hands from her cheeks and focussed on them. She still had vision. Linking her fingers tight into a double fist, she gritted her teeth and gradually levered herself into a sitting position.
Pain distributed itself along her limbs and now she could see her legs and blue feet. Only her familiar pink toenail varnish made them seem part of her. But even though a new agony was needling her right shoulder, Rena gradually inhaled. Had she been in deep shock since her ordeal in the water?
Her blood buzzed from its sudden animation. Rena delicately touched the back of her neck, expecting to find exposed bone. The skin felt raw but her fingertips didn’t encounter anything alarming. She massaged the tops of her legs and felt for breaks down their length.
Rena carefully swivelled her head and heard the same grating sound but was already casting her eyes about for a way up and out of the ditch.
87
Somebody said Lucas’s name and he opened his eyes. He blinked against the glare from the TV, which was the only light source in the room. The volume was down. Hazel was seated above him and, in the flickering blue glow; he saw a frown pinching the muscles over her nose. But she wasn’t awake.
‘Haze.’ He was lying on his stomach on the floor with his hands tied behind his back but he didn’t know what with. His ankles were secured as well. He guessed where he was. The rug smelt of stale dog dust.
‘Lucas,’ Weiss whispered.
Lucas couldn’t turn his head to see where he was. ‘How did you get here?’
‘I’ve been waiting for you to come round.’
Christ knows what Tamara had slugged Lucas with. ‘What happened?’
‘Hazel was trying to get away from Wade and we ran off the road.’
Lucas heard leather squeak as Weiss struggled. He breathed in the rank carpet and craned up at Hazel again. Her eyelids were quivering. ‘Haze,’ he hissed louder.
‘My hands and feet are tied as well.’ Weiss continued to squirm. ‘And Sweeting’s not here.’
A door slammed, glass jingled – a refrigerator.
Lucas listened to a bottle cap being twisted off and heated conversation between Wade and Tamara in the kitchen. He couldn’t make out the words though. He rolled onto his spine, and the movement prompted a tight pulse at the back of his head and a cold prickle in his calf. He sat up, used his hips to slide his body back to Hazel’s armchair and nudged her leg hard with his elbow.
He watched her expression react irritably to it, and then she opened her eyes.
88
Hazel struggled to sit up. ‘Lucas?’ She recognised the outline of his shaved head below her, silhouetted by the TV screen. ‘Where are we?’
‘The Hickman place.’
‘Keep quiet; they’re in the next room.’ Weiss was hidden in the shadows to her left. ‘Can you move?’
‘Jesus, he must have dragged us out of the car.’ Hazel realised she was sitting against her hands. The restraints were so tight she could barely flex her fingers, and the ones around her legs were cutting deep into her ankles.
‘We don’t know where Sweeting is.’ Weiss creaked on his leather cushion as he writhed against his bonds.
Wade and Tamara’s conversation ceased. They waited. There were footfalls outside before the door opened.
‘My sincere apologies for this.’ Wade’s face was in darkness. He switched on the light.
Hazel squinted against it but quickly took in their positions around the grubby peach plastered TV room: Weiss on a leather armchair against the rear wall; Lucas sitting bound on the carpet, and no sign of Sweeting. Hazel was seated in the only other armchair, her feet coiled by a green, plastic-coated chain.
‘Necessary though.’ He tugged at his leather necklace.
‘Where’s Sweeting?’ She knew it was useless shouting for help. Nobody was going to hear.
‘Had a concussion. Wasn’t wearing a belt. None of you were. Surprised you didn’t all come off as bad.’
‘Untie us.’ Weiss had his hands behind his back as well; his ankles shackled by a similar chain.
‘I just need to talk to you all first.’
Lucas rotated on his buttocks to face Wade. ‘You haven’t answered the question.’
‘I took him to the hospital.’
‘Bullshit.’ Hazel’s eyes followed Wade as he walked to the TV and bent to turn it off.
He stood away from it. ‘You two were unconscious but your injuries weren’t serious. Your friend was delirious and had a badly gashed head. I took him to the ER.’
‘You’re a liar.’
‘Hazel,’ Weiss cautioned her.
‘Had to tell them I found the car mashed up by the side of the road and skipped out of there before they could ask me any more questions. He’s getting the treatment he needs now, so I’m sure he’ll be fine. Call the hospital if you don’t believe me
.’ He sealed the door.
Nobody responded. Whatever agenda he had, they had no choice but to be part of it.
‘I need to make a few things clear before you do though.’
‘We’re not going to say anything.’ Lucas eyed the door.
Wade leaned against it. ‘That’s what I was hoping.’
‘What you do in that hut is your business.’ Weiss shuffled forward and attempted to stand up.
‘But you saw to it that it isn’t any more. Even after me and Tam agreed to take part in your movie. You had no right coming out here.’
‘Stay in your seat.’ Hazel glowered at Weiss.
He kept trying to rise. ‘We’re sorry. Really. Just take these off us and we’ll walk out of here and pretend this never happened.’
Hazel could see the gash in his left eyebrow glistening. ‘Sit down.’
‘If he’s more comfortable on his feet, that’s fine with me.’
‘Weiss, for fuck’s sake,’ Lucas said through his teeth.
But Weiss was upright. He wobbled slightly on his heels. ‘I don’t feel so good.’
‘Sit back down then. All I want to do is talk to you.’
‘I’m going to pass out. Can you loosen these?’ Weiss swayed and fell backwards across the armchair, eyelids shut and his spectacles at an angle across his nose.
They watched him noisily slide down the leather and listened to his constricted breathing.
‘Out cold.’ Wade crossed the room to where he lay diagonally on the cushions and started repositioning him.
Lucas turned; Hazel locked eyes with him then nodded towards the door. He blinked acknowledgement, and she stood dizzily up from her chair and took tiny steps towards it. Lucas was on his feet a second later and rammed his shoulder into Wade.
‘Tam!’
The door opened before Hazel could reach it, and Tamara was standing in the passage, a Brazilian mastiff snarling at the end of a chain. The beast lunged forward, snapping its jaws, and almost garrotting itself in its eagerness to attack Hazel.
Be My Killer: A completely UNPUTDOWNABLE crime thriller with nail-biting mystery and suspense Page 19