by Lauren Algeo
He hadn’t kissed a woman in years and he’d almost forgotten the sensation. He was aware of everything – the softness of her lips, the warmth of her small body pressed against his, the low moan that caught in the back of her throat.
He squeezed her tighter, feeling light-headed. His hand slid down her back and his fingers grazed over the light material of her jumper.
‘Ahem!’ came a loud, exaggerated cough from the bedroom door.
They sprang apart instantly at Mitch’s voice. Brewer was breathing heavily and his heart was pounding. His stomach twisted and turned, and in the sliver of light from the doorway, he could see Ellen was just as flustered as he was. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was tousled.
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ he could hear the smile in Mitch’s voice. ‘But I think the hiker is dead.’
Chapter 21
The three of them stood silently around the hiker’s body. Brewer had checked for vital signs and agreed that she was indeed dead.
‘I can’t feel her any more either,’ Ellen added.
‘She doesn’t look any different to a normal person now,’ Mitch mused. ‘What should we do with her body?’
Brewer couldn’t seem to think straight. His emotions were on overdrive and the only thing at the front of his mind was the taste of Ellen’s lips. She hadn’t met his gaze once since they’d hurriedly untangled themselves and followed Mitch downstairs. Was she feeling as wired as him? He glanced at her again but she was staring down at the hiker.
‘We should bury her,’ he finally managed to say. ‘We’ll wait until it gets dark then take her out to the woods.’
‘That all sounds a bit creepy,’ Mitch shuddered. ‘Digging graves in the woods at midnight.’
‘Well, we can’t just leave her here in the kitchen as a nice surprise for the couple when they get back from their holiday. There will be police and questions. Someone might have remembered seeing us in the area or even noted down the registration of Ellen’s car. It’s better if we hide her out there. Even with a shallow grave she should stay hidden for a while.’
‘Will we be ok to stay here for the whole night?’ Ellen was finally looking at him.
His eyes searched her face but could see no trace of emotion. She looked completely composed. Maybe she was trying to keep things normal in front of Mitch?
‘We should be fine,’ he replied. ‘We’ll sleep here then leave in the morning.’
He stifled an automatic yawn at the mention of sleep. His body was still exhausted, yet his mind was wide-awake and reeling from the kiss. It was only early evening so they had a while until it was dark enough to move the body.
Brewer found some heavy-duty bin bags in one of the kitchen drawers and wrapped the hiker up as best he could. Her body was like lead and he struggled to cover her fully. It would need both him and Mitch to carry her outside.
They ate a light dinner of cheese and crackers, as they didn’t want to take too much more food from the kitchen. Ellen didn’t bat an eyelid when Brewer confessed they weren’t going to replenish what they’d taken so far.
‘Ok, it probably wasn’t enough for them to notice anyway,’ was all she said.
He was confused about how to act around her now. Should he bring up what had happened or just continue with this charade of ignoring it? She’d been extremely upset at the time; what if she regretted it? She might think it was all a mistake.
Mitch left them alone a couple of times to use the toilet and have a quick shower however Brewer couldn’t pluck up the courage to broach the subject. He paced awkwardly around the room instead, feeling nervous.
He was relieved when the clock crept round to 11pm and it was dark and quiet enough outside to move the hiker. He and Mitch hauled her across the back garden and into the woods beyond. He’d found a spade and torch in a shed in the garden and they took it in turns to dig.
‘So…’ Mitch started, halfway through shovelling dirt. ‘You and Mrs Mac, eh?’
He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively in the beam of light from the torch. Brewer felt his whole body tense.
‘I don’t know,’ he mumbled. ‘It just sort of happened.’
‘For what it’s worth, I think you’d make a good couple,’ Mitch said.
Brewer didn’t reply and they carried on digging in silence. They buried the hiker swiftly and smoothed the dirt back over her body. Brewer threw some twigs and leaves over the area so it blended in. With any luck, she would remain undiscovered for a while. They went back to the house to get cleaned up and left their filthy shoes outside the door. Ellen had been waiting in the kitchen.
‘I mopped the floor,’ she said as soon as they walked in. ‘There’s no trace of her now.’
‘Thanks,’ Brewer nodded gratefully.
He was so tired after the exertion of digging and moving the hiker that he could barely lift his arms.
‘I’m shattered,’ he said. ‘I’m going to sleep down here on the sofa. You two take the beds in the back room upstairs.’
‘Don’t you guys want to be alone?’ Mitch grinned and winked at them.
Ellen flushed a deep scarlet colour and Brewer stared down at his feet.
‘I want to keep watch down here, just in case they come home,’ he managed to say through his embarrassment.
‘Whatever, dude,’ Mitch laughed and wandered upstairs.
Ellen turned to follow him then paused and glanced back over her shoulder at Brewer. She gave him a coy half-smile then carried on walking. That one simple expression was enough to relax every muscle in his body. Her eyes had said it all – the kiss hadn’t been a mistake.
He lay down on the sofa and propped two of the cushions behind his head. He closed his eyes and saw Ellen’s little smile replaying over and over. There was something real between them; he could feel it. He let himself indulge in the sensation of euphoria for a few moments before the guilt began to creep in. It soaked his pores and brought his daydream crashing back to earth with a thud.
He liked Ellen. He couldn’t deny that attraction any more, but where did that leave his memory of Karen? He still thought of her as his wife, he always would. No one in the world could replace her. The guilt twisted in his gut like a knife. He’d betrayed her. He’d told her there would never be anyone else.
He thought back over the night he’d first seen Karen. He’d been in a bar with Marcus and spied her across the room with a group of her friends. There had been five or six of them but she’d shone out from the crowd. She’d been wearing a dark blue dress and had a huge smile on her face. She’d looked so alive and he’d had to pluck up the courage to approach her. When she’d agreed to have a drink with him, he’d felt like the luckiest man in the world. They’d had so much in common and he’d never felt so connected to another person. He’d never looked at anyone else since.
Now there was Ellen. Smart and beautiful, and he couldn’t pretend he felt nothing for her. It could be the start of something good for him, but did he want it? In the solitary darkness of the living room, he couldn’t lie to himself. He did want her. More than he cared to admit right now.
He put his forearm over his eyes to try and drown out the conflicting thoughts. Were his mixed feelings normal? He didn’t know how a widower was supposed to behave. Was there ever a right time to move on? Did that mean he’d forgotten the love he’d shared with Karen?
To his relief, sleep began to take hold of his body and the arguing voices in his mind faded, until there was only the curve of Ellen’s smile and the softness of her lips against his.
Brewer awoke with a start. The living room was still dim, however the faint glow of light behind the closed curtains told him it was early morning. He glanced at his watch and confirmed it was 6am. He’d slept solidly, without dreams, and felt more refreshed than he had for days.
He sat up on the sofa and stretched out the crick in his neck. He’d been far too tall for the two-seater sofa and sleeping fully clothed hadn’t made it any more comfortable. Still, he w
as rested after two days with no sleep.
He realised his jeans were still grimy from burying the hiker last night. He looked at the smudges and thought about everything the hiker had said to them. She’d called her father ‘Master’, not ‘Grand’. He didn’t think she’d been lying when she’d expressed confusion about who the Grand was, or when she’d said their father had always been there. So what did that mean?
When the other hiker had said that father was coming, was she not talking about the Grand coming from England? Maybe this Master was the American equivalent of the Grand. Was that possible? Two equally gifted monsters born on different continents? Or could the Master be one of the Grand’s own sons, who’d gone rogue years ago and set up his own operation over here? Spawned his own family of evil hikers. Surely the Grand would never have allowed that – he’d been too controlling.
Having two Grands seemed more feasible. Georgie had once asked if he thought there was an American Grand and that might now be the case. They’d need to question another hiker as soon as they got the chance in order to find out more. Right now, it was too early for all these questions. He needed to shower and change.
Brewer picked up his rucksack and crept upstairs. Ellen was just coming out of the bathroom as he reached the top of the stairs. Her hair was freshly washed and she was wearing black leggings with a long, beige jumper. She smiled as she caught sight of him and tucked her damp hair behind her right ear.
‘Morning,’ she whispered.
‘Morning.’ He couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face.
‘Mitch is still asleep in there.’ She gestured to the bedroom. ‘I’m going to make a coffee, do you want one?’
He nodded and stepped aside to let her pass. She gave his arm a light squeeze as she went by, then disappeared down the stairs. He fought the urge to chase after her and repeat yesterday’s kiss. He still didn’t have everything straight in his head. They’d both been through a lot and would need to take whatever this was slowly. It was the best way for them.
Brewer wandered into the bathroom, which was steamy from Ellen’s shower. He wiped the condensation from the mirror and regarded his reflection. He was still on the thin side, and there were dark circles under his eyes. His hair was in desperate need of a cut and he hadn’t shaved for a couple of days. He found it hard to believe that Ellen had actually kissed him back.
Brewer had a scalding hot shower then dressed in a black jumper and his spare pair of blue jeans. He contemplated using the washing machine in the kitchen to clean the dirt off his other ones. Would that be taking this unsuspecting couple’s hospitality a step too far?
He was about to leave the bathroom when he spied the medicine cabinet to the left of the mirror. They only had a tiny bit of powdered venom left so would either need to order some more or find a new method. It was a long shot, but one of these people might have diabetes like Mitch and keep insulin in the house.
He opened the cupboard door and gave a low whistle. The two small shelves were crammed full. He scanned the numerous bottles and packets quickly but couldn’t see any insulin. With so many drugs though, there might be something else they could use. He discounted the generic paracetamol and ibuprofen, however there were a lot of names he’d never heard of and couldn’t pronounce. He scooped the entire contents of the cabinet into his pack and carried it carefully downstairs.
Ellen was sitting at the kitchen table and she gave a bemused smile when he tipped the various drugs out in front of her.
‘I thought we weren’t taking anything else?’ she said.
‘We might not be. I just need to look this stuff up and see if any of it is useful.’
She eyed the stash. ‘That’s a lot of prescription medication.’
‘It’s mainly in the man’s name so that leads me to believe he’s not very well at all,’ Brewer said.
‘Now I feel even worse about being here!’ she exclaimed.
‘They still might not know,’ he shrugged.
Ellen gave a loud sigh to show she doubted it then pointed to the counter. ‘Your coffee is over there.’
It was black and strong, just how he liked it. Not that there was any milk in the fridge to add anyway. ‘Thanks.’
He took a sip of the bitter liquid then began to sort through the drugs. He moved the mild everyday stuff, like aspirin, to the edge of the table then he picked through to find the woman’s medication. They seemed to be hormone replacements, and some iron tablets and vitamins. He pushed those aside too. Everything else belonged to Jeremy Chapman.
‘Bisoprolol.’ He read one of the bottles slowly. ‘Have you ever heard of that?’
Ellen had been watching him work quietly and shook her head. ‘Nope.’
He got the laptop out and powered it up. Ellen reached out to the pile as he waited and lined three boxes up side by side.
‘These are all Warfarin,’ she said. ‘They’re just in different coloured packets.’
She picked up the pink box and read the back curiously. ‘These are 5mg doses,’ she said. She quickly checked the other two. ‘The blue is 3mg and the brown is 1mg. Why would you need the same medication in different strengths?’
‘I don’t know.’ Brewer pointed to the depleted pile. ‘But there’s another of the blue boxes tucked under there.’
Ellen added it to her line while Brewer turned to Google for answers.
‘Ok, the first one I read out, the Biso… thing, is a beta-blocker. Apparently for slowing down your heart rate. Mr Chapman must have some heart problems then.’
He looked up the Warfarin next and nodded. ‘I knew that one rung a bell; I’ve heard people mention it before. It thins your blood to stop any clots. It’s for people with heart problems or a high risk of a stroke. According to this article, people who take it have regular checks to determine what level of dose they should take.’
‘So, if there’s too much Warfarin in their blood they take the lower dose?’ Ellen asked.
‘I guess so, yeah, and vice versa.’ He read on. ‘They’re taken orally every day, so this guy must have some with him too.’
Brewer opened the boxes to check. There were two full strips of ten tablets in the pink box so he hadn’t needed those stronger ones yet. The first blue box had one whole strip missing but a full second strip, and the second blue box only had about five tablets in it. The brown box held eight of the weakest tablets.
‘There’s nearly 150mg here altogether,’ he calculated.
Ellen toyed with one of the packets. ‘What would happen if you were to overdose on Warfarin?’
Brewer lifted his gaze slowly to meet hers. There was determination shining in her eyes. She wanted to kill as many hikers as they could, anyway possible.
‘I’ll find out.’
Mitch sloped into the kitchen, yawning, as Brewer investigated. He was wearing his baggy jeans with a new, bright orange t-shirt.
‘Who robbed a drug store?’ he asked, staring at all the pills.
‘The man who lives here has a heart condition,’ Ellen explained. ‘We’re wondering if we can use his medication to kill a hiker.’
‘I see,’ Mitch sighed and leant against the counter. ‘There was me thinking we were going to have a nice, normal breakfast after yesterday’s success.’
Brewer shook his head without taking his eyes off the screen. ‘No breakfast here, we’ve stayed too long already. We’ll get some food on the road.’ He directed his next comment to Ellen. ‘I’ve got it, but it’s not pretty.’
‘What happens?’ she asked.
‘If you take too much it thins your blood to the extreme, so it leaks through your blood vessels. You basically bleed from the inside. Your blood pressure keeps dropping and you die from something called hypovolimia. It sounds like a very painful way to go.’
‘That’s disgusting!’ Mitch looked as if he wanted to throw up. ‘It’s way too early for this.’
‘It sounds like it could work.’ Ellen ignored Mitch’s comment. ‘H
ow much do you need to take to overdose?’
Brewer clicked a few more links. ‘It doesn’t say exactly but maybe between 50 and 100mg at once? Someone’s speculated in a forum that 100mg would kill an adult within two hours.’
Ellen looked at the stash on the table again. ‘So we’ve potentially got enough to kill two hikers.’
Brewer hesitated for a beat. ‘Yes, but you’re forgetting one thing. These tablets have to be taken orally, so we couldn’t just shoot a hiker with it. We’d need to crush the pills and get it to eat or drink them.’
Mitch scoffed a laugh however Ellen’s steely expression didn’t waver. ‘I think we could do it.’
‘How?’ Brewer challenged. He didn’t like the idea of them getting up close and personal with a hiker again so soon after yesterday.
‘We’ve got a little bit of the venom left, right?’ she said. ‘We can shoot a hiker with that to weaken it a bit then we can restrain it securely and force-feed it the tablets. Probably crushed and mixed with a drink would be easiest. We can pour it down its throat.’
Brewer nodded slowly, impressed with her thinking, but Mitch was shaking his head in disbelief.
‘I’m starting to worry about you, Mrs Mac.’
‘Me too, Mitchell.’ She gave him a tight smile. ‘Me too.’
‘Crazy or not, it’s the best thing we’ve got right now,’ Brewer said. ‘We just need to find a new hiker to use it on.’
He packed all the Warfarin boxes into his rucksack, along with the laptop. ‘I guess the couple are going to realise their medication is gone,’ he said. ‘Mitch, can you help me make it look like a break in?’
‘Do I look like I’ve robbed somewhere before?’ Mitch cried. ‘Wait, don’t answer that!’ He laughed loudly. ‘I do know people that have but I stayed out of all that crap. We just need to break a window at the back, you know, so they can claim on the insurance. If the police know we used a spare key to get in, their policy probably won’t be valid.’