by G H Mockford
He felt Bryonny squeeze his hand and then lead him into the room. Stephen stood staring at nothing in particular as she went about searching the room.
‘Is that an old tin bath?’ he said. ‘Why’s it here?’ Bryonny let go of his hand, and he followed the sound of her footsteps as he continued to stare at the puzzling piece of bathroom furniture.
‘What the hell’s this?’ Bryonny said.
Stephen turned and watched as she bent down and picked up a chain. She moved the torch beam along its length. The end was attached to a square, metal plate. Someone had been attacking the plasterwork around it. The other end of the chain had a manacle on it and lay discarded on the floor.
‘What’s been going on here?’ Stephen asked, though he had a good idea.
‘I’m not sure we want to know,’ Bryonny said. ‘Someone’s been held here that’s for sure. Your sister?’
‘Yeah, but which one? Felicity and her brother were chained up here when they were kids.’ Stephen paused. ‘Oh my God. I just had a thought.’
‘What?’
‘What if their father has been released from prison? Maybe he’s come back here to continue what he started.’
‘Let’s finish looking, then I’ll call Alun and get him to find out.’
Bryonny turned back to the door. The torch lit up the russet stain that, judging by the direction of the smearing, started at the door and went out into the hallway.
Stephen felt the initial flame of hope gutter and die. His shoulders slumped, and the blood drained from his face. ‘We’re too late, aren’t we?’
‘We don’t know that.’
‘She’s been murdered,’ Stephen said, his matter-of-fact tone taking him by surprise. ‘He’s been released from prison and—’
‘I’m not convinced,’ Bryonny said, cutting him off.
‘What do you mean?’ Stephen said, willing to grasping onto any chance, no matter how small or improbable.
‘I’ve seen my share of blood,’ Bryonny said as she crouched down and surveyed the stain on the floor. ‘There’s something not right about this.’
‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know. There’s something…missing.’
‘The only thing that’s missing is my sister. Perhaps we should call DS Rees now.’ Stephen sensed rather than saw Bryonny nod her head.
‘Let’s check the other rooms and then I’ll report in.’
Stephen followed Bryonny back into the hallway. ‘Wait. What is that wire for? We never actually worked it out.’
Bryonny used the torch to find the place where it disappeared into the wall and swung back through the doorframe.
‘There’s something shining up there. Look,’ Stephen said.
Bryonny moved the torch away, and the shining disappeared. Something was reflecting the light.
‘It’s a surveillance camera,’ they said together.
‘Then someone might know we’re here,’ Stephen said.
‘Shit. Let’s get back to the bike and call this in.’
‘I think you’re right.’
They both left the room and made their way down the hallway as quickly as they dared. The floorboards creaked beneath them, a constant reminder of Stephen’s earlier accident.
He came to a halt at the door of the next room and stopped. It might just have been the house making noises, or perhaps he was just plain creeped out, but he was sure—.
‘What is it?’
‘I thought I heard something,’ Stephen said. ‘Behind this door.’
‘What kind of something? These floorboards are making so much noise you–’
‘I know what I heard,’ he said sharply.
‘Okay, okay,’ Bryonny said. ‘Stand back.’
As soon as Stephen shone the torch near the door handle, Bryonny went to work. The door crashed open, and Chambers was in the room before Stephen remembered to breathe again.
‘Don’t come in here,’ Bryonny called, her tone urgent. ‘Wait there. Don’t even look round the door frame.’
Stephen stood alone in the semi-darkness of the hallway and listened to the police officer’s hesitant footsteps as she moved around the room. She stopped, and all went quiet.
‘Bryonny?’ he called. What the hell had she found? Whatever it was, it was clear she didn’t want him to see. Was Georgia lying dead inside? ‘I’m coming in. Whatever’s in there, I need to see it.’
‘Just wait a moment. Please.’
Stephen heard the tension in her voice. She sounded repulsed, too. More steps filled the empty silence, followed by the ruffling of a sheet being thrown back.
‘Jesus!’ Bryonny’s shout was like a shotgun going off in the stillness.
Stephen couldn’t wait any longer. He rushed through the door and froze.
Chambers was standing next to what looked like a hospital bed. A decapitated body lay on it. Its limbs were missing, making it look like some bloody mannequin from a shop window.
Stephen’s hand flew to his mouth as vomit evacuated his stomach. Eyes shut, he swallowed it back down, only to be left with the burning sensation of the bile all the way down the back of his throat.
‘We need to get out of here — now,’ Chambers said, suddenly all police officer. ‘We’re contaminating a crime scene.’
Stephen staggered back. Was it Georgia? Or some other soul who had been held captive here and then operated on my some maniac with delusions of being a surgeon?
The shock was too much to take. He stumbled, fell against the wall behind him and slid to the floor.
‘Come on. Get up. We need to go,’ Chambers said as she marched across the room towards him.
Stephen stared past the police officer and didn’t answer her. He couldn’t answer her.
‘Come on. We need to go,’ she said, her tone more insistent.
Stephen shook his head, unable and afraid to answer as he stared at the steel frame under the bed.
‘Stephen, I know it’s horrific, but we need to go,’ Chambers said, reaching down and taking his hand.
Stephen pulled down on her arm until she got the message and crouched beside him. ‘Bryonny. Look.’
A weeping girl was staring back at them from under the bed.
It was Georgia.
Seventy-Two
Stephen pushed away from the wall, careful to make his movements slow and even, and crawled on his hands and knees towards the girl.
Georgia shrunk back and grabbed hold of the metal work of the bedframe.
Stephen stopped. Keeping his voice soft and light, he said, ‘Georgia? We’re here to help.’
‘Are…are you real?’ Georgia said, blinking. She started to come out from under the bed, but when Stephen reached out for her, she darted back under like a startled rabbit.
‘I’m real. My name’s Stephen. This is Detective Constable Chambers.’ He looked back over his shoulder. ‘She’s a police officer. We’ve come looking for you.’
A howl escaped the girl’s lips, and she collapsed in a heap before Stephen’s eyes.
‘Come out, Georgia, we’re here to help,’ Chambers said.
‘I…I…can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘I can’t leave her,’ Georgia said, looking up at the mattress and the dismembered body above.
‘We need to get you to safety. We can come back for your friend,’ Bryonny urged.
‘Her name’s Felicity.’
Stephen felt like he’d received a massive, powerful blow to the stomach. Had he heard her right? ‘What? What did you say?’
‘Felicity. Her name’s Felicity, and I can’t leave her.’
Stephen got to his feet and walked towards the bed. The sight that had terrified him a few moments ago now drew him in. He gazed down at the mutilated body in the dim light. Was it true? Was it her? Was he too late, after being so close?
He looked at the bloody, ragged stump of her neck. He was no pathologist, but even he could tell the wounds were reasonably…fresh. A tear
slipped from his eye as he pulled the sheet back over her, hiding the horror of her fatal wounds beneath it.
Then Stephen snapped.
‘No, no, no,’ he said. Each time the single word got progressively louder until the last was a full blown yell filled with despair, frustration and failure.
He stopped and fell to his knees, his hands grasping the dirty sheet that covered her.
Georgia shrunk back even further, cowering in the corner nearest the wheels.
‘Stephen, you’ve got to pull yourself together.’ Bryonny’s breath was hot in his ear as she whispered it. Then he felt her hand on his arm. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s too late for Felicity. Right now, we have to get Georgia to safety. Understand?’
Stephen nodded as his brain tried to process all the information he was taking on board. It was all too much. How could life be so cruel? Who could be so cruel to keep two women here and torture them?
‘Go and wait in the hallway. I’ll deal with this. Here,’ Chambers said, placing her phone into his hand. ‘Call Alun. Speed dial two. It’s touch screen.’
Stephen walked, his movements stiff and robotic, following the beam of light Bryonny provided out into the hall. She must have turned away as soon as he was out of the room because he was plunged into a deep gloom.
He fumbled with the device and the screen lit up, almost blinding him. There was a photo of a small boy on it. Stephen swiped his finger across the screen and the boy was covered by a clock and a handful of apps.
Stephen flicked through the screens looking for a keyboard to use. He couldn’t find one and just as he was about to give up, thinking his brain was no longer functioning properly, he found it on the third page. He pressed and held the number two. A photo of the Welshman smiled back at him from the screen as it started to dial.
‘You’re meant to be resting,’ came the voice through the speaker, loud and clear in the quiet house.
Stephen lifted the handset to his ear. ‘DS Rees, it’s Stephen Bridges. We met a few days ago at Manor Bay Bridge.’ There was no response. ‘Hello.’ Stephen brought the phone back down so he could look at the screen and fiddled with the buttons on the side. The screen was no longer lit up.
It was dead.
Stephen slipped the useless device into his pocket and, assuming Bryonny intended it as a distraction anyway, returned to the welcoming light, if not the welcoming sight, that was in the bedroom.
‘Is he sending help?’ Bryonny said as she finished coaxing Georgia out from under the bed.
‘The battery,’ Stephen paused, looked at the bed and, thinking of a different word, said, ‘is exhausted.’
‘Not to worry,’ Chambers said. ‘We need to get out. Let’s focus on that, and then we’ll use your phone.’
‘I’m not going to argue with you,’ Stephen said.
‘It’s dark out,’ Georgia said, turning towards the boarded up window.
‘Keep looking this way sweetheart,’ Chambers said, taking her hand and guiding her away from the bed. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll be out of here soon. You’re safe now.’
‘We’re not safe. He’ll be here soon. He always comes when it’s dark.’
‘Who sweetheart?’
Stephen stopped, raised his hand and in a hurried whisper said, ‘Turn off the torch. I heard something. Quickly.’
‘Don’t bother. You’re too late,’ came a voice from down the hallway. ‘Excellent. Now I have two playmates to replace the one I had to sacrifice.’
Seventy-Three
Stephen looked back at Chambers unsure what to do.
The detective stepped in front of Georgia and held her tightly in case she bolted back under the bed.
When Stephen returned his attention back to the doorway, the hallway outside was lit up.
‘Throw your torch away,’ the man outside shouted, his voice soft and effeminate. All was quiet for a while, and then he added, ‘You’ve not done it yet. I’ll give you one more chance.’
‘All we want is the girl,’ Chambers called back, ignoring his request.
‘I’d love to let you have her, I really would, but I need to keep that one. I would let you take a part of the other, as a memento you understand, but unfortunately I can’t allow you to leave either.’
‘I don’t know what you look like.’ It was Georgia.
Stephen looked back at the teenager and admired her resilience. How she’d managed to survive here was almost beyond him.
‘None of us do. Just let us go. Please,’ Georgia added.
‘A good point. Well made. But, if your would-be rescuers found their way here, others will too. No, I’m sorry. You’ll all have to stay here. Your new friends, permanently. You, on the other hand, must come with me in the morning. Everything is in place now. It is time to finish this little game.’
‘Game?’ Stephen called. ‘What game?’
‘Do I look like a James Bond villain?’
‘I don’t know. I can’t see you.’
Footsteps came from down the hall and then a figure stepped into the doorway, a battery powered lantern in his hand. He was clad head to foot in black. Black jeans. A black scuffed biker jacket. And a bandana with a skull printed on it covered his face.
‘It’s you,’ Stephen said recognizing the man he’d fought under the arches.
‘Is it?’ he replied, leaving Stephen confused. ‘Since you’ve not complied with my request to drop the torch, you leave me little choice.’ He reached behind him, and when his hand came back, it held a gun.
‘Woah,’ Stephen said, raising his hands and stepping back into Bryonny.
‘I’d advise you to put that away. I’m a police officer,’ Chambers said over Stephen’s shoulder.
‘Is that meant to frighten me?’ Skull-Face said.
‘It’s a friendly warning,’ Chambers continued. ‘If you kill us the police won’t stop until they find you.’
‘They’ll have to find you first. I’m a dab hand with a saw, aren’t I Georgia?’
‘How would I know?’ the girl said.
Stephen looked at Felicity’s covered body, and then at the floor, unable to bear it anymore
‘Oh, come now,’ Skull-face said. ‘You watched the whole thing through the fireplace.’
‘How do you know that?’ Georgia began.
‘There are cameras in your room,’ Bryonny explained.
‘Nice try when you had that bath. You were mostly successful in blocking my view. Now,’ Skull-Face said switching his attention to Stephen. ‘What are we going to do with you?’
‘Let us go?’ Stephen said.
‘Very droll. Move.’ Skull-Face jerked the end of the pistol to the right. ‘Over there, in the corner of the room.’
Stephen stayed still and was pleased that Bryonny didn’t do so much as twitch either. Neither did Georgia.
The gunshot sounded like a bomb in the confined space. Georgia screamed from behind Bryonny. Stephen jumped.
Smoke drifted from the end of the barrel. It dissipated in a long, curling swirl as the masked man brought the weapon up and aimed at them.
‘You’ve used too much oil on that,’ Chambers said.
Stephen thought he saw the man’s face tremor under the mask.
‘That one went through the floorboard. The next bullet will give you a third eye. Do we understand each other?’
No one answered.
The gun moved to the right again and this time Stephen did as he was ordered. The three of them shuffled towards the corner of the room, the light from his lantern giving them more than enough light to see where they were going.
‘Not you, Georgia. You can come here,’ he said.
Stephen stepped forward, and the gunman tensed. ‘She’s staying here with me.’
‘Very brave, Stephen. But foolish.’
Georgia started to do as she was told. Both Stephen and Bryonny put their arms out to stop her.
Then Stephen’s arm dropped. Did he hear him right? Did Skull-Face just use his
name? ‘How do you who I am?’
‘I overheard the woman calling you it.’
‘No, you didn’t,’ Stephen said. ‘Have we met before? And I don’t mean under the arches.’
The gunman stepped further into the room and pulled down the mask.
Stephen stared. It didn’t take long to work out who it was. His nose was the same, and the crooked smile that seemed to pull awkwardly at his lips.
‘Felix, you’re meant to be dead,’ Stephen said.
Seventy-Four
‘My death was exceptionally difficult to stage, but I managed it.’
From behind, Stephen heard Bryonny stir. ‘Who is he? Stephen, what’s going on?’
‘You can tell her,’ Felix paused. ‘We may as well make our formal introductions, and it’s not as if you’ll be able to do anything with the information.’
Stephen sighed, unwilling to play the man’s games. ‘This is Felicity’s brother, Felix. It seems the last nineteen years have turned him even more insane. They’ve also turned him into some clichéd character - a James Bond villain.’
Felix brought the gun up. ‘It’s a good job I like you, Stephen, or you’d be dead by now.’
Georgia winced, and Stephen felt her slip to the floor. He would have turned to look, but he didn’t dare take his eyes off the maniac with the gun.
‘You don’t even know me,’ Stephen answered defiantly.
‘Come, we’re practically family,’ Felix said, a look of mock hurt and disappointment on his face. ‘I’ve been watching you for years. Following your dedication – or should that be obsession?’
‘And all the time you had Felicity here.’
‘Old habits die hard,’ Felix replied with a smile that made Stephen feel sick.
Bryonny stepped out in front of Stephen. ‘You’ve better not’ve touched her, or we can add rape to kidnapping, assault, murder, and good knows what else to the charges,’ she said.
Felix smiled and shook his head. ‘No. This time I have aimed my sights much higher.’ He moved his left hand and tapped a finger against his temple. ‘Then you, Stephen, stumbled into the mix. Things are about to get more interesting, that’s for sure.’