Assassin's Web

by Richard T. Burke

  “That’s alright,” Doug said, speaking slowly and calmly. “What can you remember?”

  “He was wearing dark clothing. My sister was lying on the grass, not moving.”

  Doug picked up a pencil and drew on the paper. “Like this?”

  The conversation swung backwards and forwards between us as I described what I had seen from the window of my room, and Doug sketched it out. Eventually, he showed me a reasonably good resemblance of the scene. Finally, I started to relax a little.

  “Right, let’s focus in on the man,” Doug said. “What colour was his hair?”

  Tears welled up. “I don’t know.”

  “That’s alright,” he said. “Try to tell me what you do remember. Maybe he was wearing a hood. Close your eyes and see if that helps.”

  I did as instructed and tried to recall what I had witnessed. Doug was right. Something had been covering the man’s head. “It was a hat.”

  Doug smiled. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” He flipped the page and started a new sketch. “This sort of thing?”

  “No, more like a woolly hat.”

  He turned over the pencil, erased part of the drawing and shaded in a different shape.

  “That’s it.”

  Over the course of the next few minutes, we refined the image. The outline seemed accurate, but even after several prompts, I still couldn’t describe the features of the man’s face.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Doug said, standing. “I’ll get a policeman to show you some photographs. That might help to jog your memory.”

  He stuck out a hand. When I eventually realised what he was doing, I raised my own, and we shook, his fingers dwarfing mine.

  “It was nice meeting you, Alex,” he said. “I hope they find your sister. If you wait here, I’ll fetch sergeant Davies.”

  Doug sidled out of the room, throwing me a wave through the small glass window as he disappeared down the corridor. Several minutes later, the policewoman returned carrying a large file.

  “Okay, Alex, Doug mentioned that you’re still struggling to remember the man’s features. I’ve brought a book of photographs. Would you mind going through them to see if any of them jog your memory?”

  Sergeant Davies sat beside me and turned to the first page. A surly looking man with a wide face stared back at me. I studied the image for at least thirty seconds then shook my head.

  Initially, I lingered over each mugshot, but after a while, they all seemed to blend into one another. Gradually, the pace accelerated. By the time we reached the end, we had picked out six possible suspects, although I wasn’t convinced any of them was the man I had seen standing over Elena’s prostrate form.

  The disappointment was evident on the policewoman’s face. “Don’t worry, Alex. We’ll look into the ones you’ve identified. If you remember anything else, please tell your parents immediately.”

  Despite lying awake for many hours over the following nights, trying to recall the kidnapper’s features, I never provided any useful information. It would be another twenty-two years before I finally identified my sister’s kidnapper.

  Day Four:

  Thursday, 30th July, 2020

  Chapter 39

  I woke with a start. I had reclined the passenger seat as far as it would go, but it wasn’t wide enough to sleep comfortably. To my right, Nick occupied the driver’s seat. His eyes were closed, and he breathed deeply, but I suspected he was still awake. He confirmed my suspicions when his left eye opened, glanced briefly in my direction and shut again.

  I rubbed the condensation from the side window with the palm of my hand. The dashboard clock indicated just after two thirty. Despite the lateness of the hour, a small amount of light from the full moon penetrated the canopy of leaves high above us. Shortly after Nick’s telephone call, we had driven along the forest track and then off the muddy route into a space between the trees.

  Using his knife and my bare hands, we had covered most of the bodywork in a camouflage of branches. A substantial pile lay beside the vehicle, ready to be applied when we left for the rendezvous with his female friend in thirty minutes’ time. Our efforts wouldn’t conceal the car for long, but the covering only needed to last until we were well away from this site.

  My stomach rumbled. We hadn’t eaten anything since lunchtime. Nick told me it was too risky to buy food. His friend had promised us a large plate of bacon and eggs when we reached our destination. They had arranged to meet at three o’clock on the minor road where the track emerged from the woods.

  I settled back into the fabric and adjusted my position slightly.

  “Are you awake?” Nick murmured.

  “Yeah, I can’t get comfortable.”

  He sighed. “Me neither. I must be getting old. In my younger days when I was in the army, I could fall asleep almost anywhere. Although I can still block out noise, now I need a bed to sleep properly.”

  He fiddled with the seat mechanism until he sat upright. I glanced sideways at him.

  “There’s not long to go. Why don’t we sort out the car?” he said.

  “Alright. Tell me what to do.”

  “For a start, we need to get everything out.”

  I reached into the back and grabbed my laptop bag. I had stuffed my few belongings inside. Pulling the door handle, I emerged into the cool night air. The sudden change in temperature after the fuggy warmth of the car interior drove away the last remnants of sleepiness.

  “What next?” I asked as Nick exited from the driver’s side.

  “Cover the doors using the bits from the pile over there. I don’t want to see any paintwork by the time we’ve finished.”

  We worked by the glow of the full moon, positioning the branches until they totally covered the vehicle.

  Nick stood back to admire our handiwork. “It’s like being in army training again. The instructors would have given that a seven out of ten, but it’ll do for now.”

  To my untrained eye, there was little to identify the outline of the hatchback. “Whatever you say.”

  We trudged through the trees until we reached the track. When I turned to look back, the camouflage made the car invisible in the silvery moonlight. Nick scuffed fallen leaves over the faint outlines of the tyre tracks.

  “That should do the trick,” he said, glancing at his watch. “My friend will be here in a quarter of an hour. We may as well wait by the side of the road, but we need to hide if any cars come by.”

  Nick strode down the rutted lane. I limped along behind. Within five minutes, we left the cover of the trees and stepped out onto the tarmac. The dashed, white centreline glowed in the moon’s reflection. The rustle of the leaves in the light wind sounded like running water. An owl hooted from somewhere in the woods.

  I crossed the road and leaned against the low, stone wall. On the other side, the land rolled away in a patchwork of fields, painted grey by the dim illumination. A warm breath, stirred by the gentle breeze, washed over me, soon to be replaced again by the chill of the early morning. I inhaled deeply, savouring the clean air of the open countryside.

  Nick paced backwards and forwards, stopping now and then to stare along the carriageway. After a few minutes, he called in a hushed voice and beckoned to me. “Someone’s coming. We need to get out of sight.”

  I hobbled across the road and crouched alongside him behind a low bush at the edge of the woodland. The glare of the headlights blinded me for a second as a small car approached slowly from the right. It drew to a halt, the indicator flashing.

  “It’s her,” Nick said, emerging from our hiding place. The driver’s door opened, and a woman stepped out. From my vantage point, I could see she had blond hair tied in a short ponytail.

  Nick hurried towards her, and they embraced for a moment. I hung back, not wanting to intrude on their reunion. He beckoned me forward.

  “This is Alex,” he said as I neared the couple. He took a pace backwards. Up close, I determined his friend was in her mid to late thirtie
s. She was petite with an attractive face. She smiled tightly and stuck out a hand. As I reached out to accept her handshake, her eyes widened in shock.

  “You’re the teacher that’s been on the news, the one the police are hunting for.”

  “He didn’t do it,” Nick said, placing an arm on her shoulder.

  She shrugged it off angrily. “What do you mean? He’s wanted for six murders. They can’t have got it that wrong.”

  Nick sighed. “He hasn’t been out of my sight for the past few days. Somebody is framing him. It’ll only be for a day or two, and then he’ll leave.”

  “When you told me you were taking a protection job, I had no idea it would be him.”

  “Look, I’m sorry. Maybe I should have mentioned it, but I didn’t want to say anything on the phone.”

  “The rooms I booked were so you and this ... serial killer ... could hide from the police?”

  “I haven’t killed anybody,” I said, raising my voice. “Somebody wants me dead, and your friend has been paid to keep me alive. Now are you going to help or not?”

  The woman stood with hands on hips, her gaze alternating between Nick and me. Finally, she shrugged. “What the hell. If John says you’re innocent, I believe him.”

  I had always suspected that Nick wasn’t his real name, but this provided the confirmation. He frowned at the sudden revelation and grabbed me by the arm. “You didn’t hear that. Just keep calling me Nick.”

  The woman shook her head. “I can’t be doing with all this cloak and dagger stuff. My name’s Val. Now, are we going to leave?”

  Nick started to say something then thought better of it. “He can go in the boot. I’ll lie across the back seat.”

  Val took a deep breath and blew it out through her lips. “You boys sort yourselves out. I don’t suppose anybody will be up to see you at this time of day, but it’s your choice.” She opened the driver’s door, sat and fitted the seat belt.

  Nick led me around to the rear of the vehicle and pressed the release button. The space in the Vauxhall Corsa appeared even more cramped than the Ford Focus.

  “I’ll have a talk to her,” he said. “She’ll be okay.”

  “Glad to hear it,” I replied drily and clambered inside.

  The boot slammed shut, plunging me into darkness. The clunk of another door shutting infiltrated my confined enclosure. I cursed as the car jolted into movement.

  The low murmur of conversation penetrated the barrier of the rear seat, but the drone of the engine masked the words. I drifted into my own thoughts, rerunning the exchange with Nick’s female friend.

  It was clear he hadn’t discussed my identity with her beforehand. She had taken one look at me and recoiled in shock when she recognised me. The news networks had plastered my face across every newspaper and television screen over the past few days. It seemed the universal coverage had made me instantly recognisable. Was that how my life would be from now on, always assuming I survived?

  She had referred to me as a serial killer. At what number did a murderer turn into a serial killer? As I rolled the question around in my head, I concluded the answer was at least three. With six murders to my name, I was well past that limit.

  Wait. Six murders? A prickling sensation ran across my scalp. There were the husband and wife in the big house, my mother and the two who had died that afternoon in the flat. That made five. Who was the sixth? A deep dread unfurled its leathery wings inside me. Had the killers caught up with my sister?

  I needed to know. “Hey! Stop the car,” I yelled, slamming my fist against the back of the seat.

  The jolting movement stopped. The sound of a door opening preceded the sudden glare of the courtesy light as the boot lifted.

  Val stared at me. Concern etched her brow. “What is it?”

  “Earlier you said I killed six people. At the last count, they accused me of killing five. Who was the sixth?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I watched it on the news and the number stuck in my head, but I can’t remember who they all were.”

  “Please, I need to know.”

  “There was the couple found murdered together and another three this afternoon.”

  “Three? That doesn’t include my mother, does it?”

  “That’s right, I forgot about her. That brings it to six.”

  “You’re saying there were four today?” I asked, my words quavering with apprehension.

  “Yes. They discovered two at that flat, and you obviously already know about ...” Her voice trailed off. “I can’t remember who the fourth was.”

  “It wasn’t my sister, was it?”

  Val shook her head. “No, I would have remembered that.

  I heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”

  “Oh, that’s right. It was a woman who lived next door to you. Apparently, she’d been dead for a few days, but they only discovered the body today. Someone strangled her.”

  I wracked my brain, trying to think who it could be. Suddenly, it dawned on me. “Was she called Mrs Owens? She lives opposite. Did they say anything about a dog?”

  “Yeah, now you mention it, there was something like that. I remember; they found her after a neighbour complained about the barking.”

  I closed my eyes and rested my head against the coarse carpet. The huge release in the pressure that had been building inside my chest left me feeling dizzy and breathless. Mrs Owens didn’t deserve what happened to her, but my relief at discovering the latest victim wasn’t anybody close to me trumped any sense of guilt that she was dead because of events I had set in motion.

  “Can we carry on now?” she asked.

  “Yes, thank you for stopping,” I replied.

  The boot slammed shut, once again plunging me into darkness.

  Chapter 40

  We had been travelling for less than an hour when the wheels lurched over a kerb and came to rest. The sound of a door opening reverberated through the floor, followed shortly afterwards by a metallic clanking noise. Seconds later, the boot lifted. I flung an arm across my face to shield my eyes from the sudden, glaring illumination of the fluorescent strip light. As my vision adjusted to the brightness, I realised we were in a single garage. Despite the small size of the car, there was barely enough space behind the bumper for me to place my feet on the ground.

  “Are you okay?” Val asked, her forehead creased in concern.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied, “but I can’t recommend it as a way to travel.”

  She smiled and stood back to allow me the room to get out. “Come through, and I’ll make a cup of tea.”

  I followed her along the side of the car to a door leading into the kitchen. She tossed the keys on the table and clicked the switch on the kettle.

  I sank onto one of the wooden-backed chairs. Nick—I couldn’t think of him as John—slumped down opposite me. We sat waiting, the silence broken only by the clink of teaspoon on china.

  “Milk or sugar?” Val asked over her shoulder.

  “Just milk, please,” I replied. I had been trying to lose weight ahead of my big holiday, but that seemed like a lifetime ago now. “Actually, I’ll have one sugar as well,” I added.

  She placed the mugs in front of us, then plonked herself down and sipped her own drink. After a brief pause, she looked up and met my gaze. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. It must be awful to be accused of crimes you didn’t commit, let alone losing your mother and being charged with her murder too.”

  “You have no idea,” I replied.

  “I just wanted to say I’ll help, however I can.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

  Now I had the chance to study her under the bright ceiling lights, I could see she was extremely attractive. Her cornflower-blue irises complemented a kind and open face. The only slight blemishes were the grey half-moon crescents beneath each eye—hardly surprising given the disturbance to her sleep. The cream trousers hugged a trim, petite figure.

  “I kn
ow it’s still the middle of the night,” she said, “but can I get you anything to eat?”

  My stomach rumbled at the mention of food. “Nick—I mean John—mentioned bacon and egg earlier. I’m starving. We last ate around lunchtime.”

  “What sort of bodyguard are you anyway, not feeding your client?” she teased, turning to Nick. “John’s used to a life in the army and thinks everybody else is the same.”

  “A little discomfort never hurt anybody,” he replied with a grin, “but I could murder a fry up too.” For the first time since I had met him, he appeared embarrassed. “I’m sorry, wrong word.”

  Val shook her head. “A certain person should engage his brain before he opens his mouth.” She busied herself at the stove, and soon the aroma of sizzling bacon filled the kitchen.

  I wolfed the food down and followed it with another cup of tea. Finally, a sense of normality seemed to be returning to my life.

  “I guess you boys need to catch up on your sleep,” Val said, glancing at the large dial on the wall. The time was approaching four o’clock. “I have to leave for work at eight. I’ll see if I can get the afternoon off, but if not, I should be back around five. Help yourselves to whatever you want. I’ve made the spare bed, but one of you will have to take the sofa.”

  “I don’t mind,” Nick said. “It’ll be more comfortable than a car seat.”

  “There’s a towel on the radiator in the bedroom. You’ll have to fight it out for who uses the bathroom first.”

  Nick gestured towards me. “You go. We’ve got some catching up to do.” He grinned sheepishly at Val. “That is if you’re okay to stay up a bit longer.”

  She shrugged. “I’ve already been up half the night. What are a few more minutes?” She turned to me. “The guest room is upstairs on the right. Sleep well.”

  I rose to my feet and wished them both goodnight. As I passed through the door, I glanced backwards with a slight pang of jealousy. Their heads were lowered, deep in conversation. What was the relationship between these two? They seemed so different to each other. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. For the time being, I was in no situation to consider anything but survival.