by Joy Ellis
* * *
Joseph eased his vehicle into a space close to the cottage, leaving plenty of room for Nikki and her big old estate wagon. As the noise of their engines died away, he heard the evening sounds of the marsh and the estuary drift around him. Late birds still called, water trickled and gurgled, and the breeze rustled the reeds and the grasses. There was a salty smell of seaweed and ozone, and, as always, it welcomed him home. This was the point in his day when he allowed the job and all its myriad of worries to slip away, and he could just be a very small part of the countryside that he had come to love. Knot Cottage was like a giant battery, and after the day had drained him, his home powered him up again.
Only tonight was different. There would be no letting down of his guard, not until he knew their adversary and knew exactly what he wanted from them. And then, of course, there was the fact that Nikki was going to be here with him, in a very small space.
Oh well, they’d cope somehow. He smiled in the shadows. If the circumstances were different it might even be fun.
He loped across to the door, unlocked it and they both stepped into the kitchen.
It smelt of cooking. The night before he had stayed up late doing the one thing that really relaxed him — Joseph Easter’s personal therapeutic cookery. He had made pasta for the cannelloni, cooked a delicious sauce and baked some olive bread, then the next morning he had ground fresh coffee. There was a wonderful Italian bistro aroma to the room.
‘You do realise that I could stay for some time.’ Nikki let out a sigh of contentment. ‘That smells so good . . . my kitchen never smells like this.’
‘That’s because the only food it ever sees is a takeaway.’ Joseph threw his keys into a wooden bowl on a shelf close to the door. ‘Now, let’s get you settled. Follow me, ma’am. Your suite awaits you.’ He opened the door into the sitting room, then ushered her up the narrow staircase that led directly from behind the open fireplace.
‘You know the layout, Nikki.’
On the landing, he opened the pine door and carried her grab bag inside.
Although he had done all the work himself, the room was decorated in a rather feminine way. He had chosen everything with his daughter in mind, but in case her tastes had changed over the years, he had not made it too flowery. The result was a warm and inviting room in soft pinks, pastel greens and dusty lilacs. He’d found a couple of watercolour prints, a landscape that could easily have been Cloud Fen, and a seascape that he chosen simply for the muted evening colours that merged sea and sky into a haze of soft greys and pinkish lavender. And finally, the crowning glory, was a handcrafted patchwork throw over the antique pine bed. He’d seen it in a bijou little shop in Stamford and it had cost him a small fortune.
He looked around appraisingly. It would do. He silently wished he’d known earlier that Nikki would be staying, because he would have picked a few flowers for the dressing table.
‘I’ll go prepare dinner.’
‘This room is lovely, Joseph. I thought so when I stayed over the night of the fire. If you ever decide to give up police work, you could take up interior design.’
Joseph pulled a face. ‘I don’t think so. I’m not camp enough. And anyway, renovating this cottage was a labour of love, and a way of getting my head back together after that bad case.’ He didn’t have to say more. Nikki knew exactly what he meant. The bad case was Stephen Cox. Although their team had managed to stop him getting away with a fortune in smuggled drugs, Joseph had been left fighting for his life. It made her go cold when she thought about what happened, but now was not the time to dredge it up again.
She placed her bag on the bed and turned to him. ‘I’ll do this later. Come on, I love to watch you cook, and I’m really good at opening wine bottles.’ She produced a bottle of Chablis from her bag. ‘See, there was something in my fridge after all.’
‘I stand corrected.’ He took the bottle from her and they went down the steep wooden staircase and into the sitting room.
As he stepped off the last step he saw the red light flashing on his telephone. He pressed it and switched on the loudspeaker as he moved towards the kitchen.
‘You have one new message. Message received today at twenty-two hundred hours.’ There was a click, and then Joseph froze.
‘I suppose you’re thinking that there’s safety in numbers, huh, Detective Sergeant Easter? Sticking together? You and the boss? Well, it’s certainly cosy. But safe? Are you sure about that?’ There was a pause, then the weirdly distorted but now familiar voice added, ‘Compensation, Joseph. I want compensation.’ A longer pause, then, ‘Sleep tight.’
There was another click and the recorded voice cut in with its infuriating list of options. Joseph turned slowly and saw Nikki standing stock-still behind him. ‘Play it again,’ she said.
He pressed the number to hear it again. When it had finished he realised that his jaw had clamped tight enough to break his teeth. The bastard, the sick bastard! Anger threatened to tear him apart. What right did he have to intimidate them like this? He controlled his breathing, then said, ‘Nikki, I want you to go outside and wait until I call. I need to know what he meant about not being safe. I have to check the cottage and I’d rather you were not in here.’
Nikki’s face drew together, fierce, tight-lipped. ‘Bollocks! We look together, Joseph. I’ve done the training too, not to your level admittedly, but if you think I’m standing outside while you risk life and limb, think again!’
There was no point in arguing. This was the Nikki of old, and even if he thought her foolhardy, he still admired her guts. He threw up his hands and said, ‘Okay, but I’m thinking it’s a hoax. I believe he’s playing with us. I know my home and I don’t believe he’s actually been in here. But we can’t risk it. We’ll do inside first, then the garden, although that won’t be easy in the dark.’
It took them twenty minutes to feel certain that the cottage was safe, then armed with powerful battery lanterns they slowly searched the area around the cottage.
‘This is ridiculous,’ growled Nikki as she shone the beam around the interior of a big old shed. ‘There’s more rubbish in here than the local tip.’
‘I’ve not got around to clearing the outside yet. All this belonged to Martin.’ He said no more because Martin Durham had been the previous owner and a great friend of Nikki’s. She had taken his untimely death badly and although she was delighted that Joseph had bought Knot Cottage, he had the feeling that sometimes she felt nostalgic for how things used to be.
He moved close to her and tried to see if anything had been disturbed. ‘I’m loathe to throw it on a skip, there’s some great old rural memorabilia here.’ He pointed to an eel trap. ‘This is local history.’
‘And that? What is that?’ Nikki was pointing to the dusty floor of the shed. ‘Your shoes are at least two sizes larger than that footprint.’
Joseph drew in a breath. He hadn’t been out here for months, and the print was clear and new. ‘Nike Air Max training shoe. I recognise the sole pattern.’
‘And you don’t have a gardener or a handyman, do you?’
‘No, I don’t.’ He stepped carefully into the shed and moved closer to the footprints. They stopped at a rough work bench towards the back of the old, dilapidated building.
Joseph shone his torch along the bench and gave a little gasp.
A box sat centre stage. It was about a foot square and was wrapped in multi-coloured foil gift paper. It glistened brightly in their torch beams.
‘Oh shit,’ whispered Nikki. ‘That does not look like the kind of present I’d like to receive.’
‘And this is where we should carefully tip-toe out and call in the relevant units to deal with it.’
‘Should?’ asked Nikki quietly.
‘I still believe it’s a hoax.’
‘And your gut feeling is enough to go on?’
‘I’m sure of it, even though I know he is more than capable of killing. But I don’t want to risk you too.’ He lo
oked at her beseechingly. ‘Please? Let me do this alone.’
‘Have you ever won an argument with me, Joseph?’
‘No, but maybe it’s time I did. Back off, or I call the bomb disposal guys and we’ll be sat out in the middle of the bloody marsh until morning.’ He tried to look masterful, although he knew it wouldn’t work, so he added, ‘And besides that, they’ll send my precious shed and all its lovely contents to kingdom come!’
‘Joseph, open that damned box, or I will. I’ve had enough of this maniac’s games.’
She stepped towards the bench.
‘Okay, okay.’ He held an arm across to prevent her getting close to the package. ‘Just get behind me.’
What if he was wrong?
Joseph drew in a long slow breath and stared at the box. He was a professional, and he knew what to look for. This was not a serious threat. This was theatre.
He swallowed, then leaned forward and carefully stripped away the wrapping paper. He then eased open the lid of the cardboard box, and stared inside. It was half full of soil to give it some weight, and on top of the earth lay a note.
Joseph lifted it out with his fingertips, touching only a corner of the sheet of paper.
There was a question printed on it in large neat letters:
DID YOU LOCK THE DOOR WHEN YOU CAME OUT HERE?
CHAPTER TWELVE
It was midnight by the time they felt able to get some food, and then they realised they were famished.
‘He underestimated me if he thought that I’d check my cottage from top to toe, then walk out and leave it unlocked,’ muttered Joseph, tearing another piece of olive bread from the loaf. ‘Although I suspect it was just another scary little trick to make us doubt ourselves.’
‘I’m just so angry.’ Nikki forked in a mouthful of cannelloni and chewed aggressively.
‘Me too,’ agreed Joseph, gulping back a long swallow of wine.
Nikki felt that whoever their stalker was, he was stealing away everything that was precious to her. Her home was off limits, her friends were all under threat, and he’d even taken away her right to have some quiet time to grieve for her beloved daughter. And now Joseph was in the bastard’s sights too, and she felt for him. He had spent years looking for order and peace. His life had been chaos since his time in the military, and Knot Cottage and Cloud Fen had finally offered him a place of safety. Now that sacred space was in danger. As she ate, Nikki decided that in the long run, his loss could be even more damaging than her own.
She bit her lip and decided that it was time to think of something else. ‘Why were you so certain that the package was a con?’
‘Everything about it was wrong. And let’s face it, if he took us out of the equation, it would be game over. We, well more correctly you, are the linchpin. If you are mincemeat, where does he go from there?’ He looked at her over the top of his glass. ‘I hate to say it, but you could well be his intended final move, Nikki, the taking of the queen. But I get the feeling this game has barely started.’
‘But if we are going to play, we need to know the rules and get ourselves a plan, which we can’t do when he has us scurrying around like frightened rabbits.’
Joseph wiped a piece of bread through the remainder of the pasta sauce and cleaned his plate. ‘I want to know how he knows where we are at any given moment.’ He wiped his lips with a sheet torn from a kitchen roll and looked at her pensively. ‘I think we are under surveillance. And tomorrow I’m going to call up an old buddy of mine and get him to sweep both our properties.’ His expression changed to one of determination. ‘And then we’ll play him at his own game. Vinnie Silver was in my regiment, but now he’s on Civvy Street and he specialises in hi-tech security. If the killer can watch us, then maybe we can watch him.’
Nikki raised her eyebrows. ‘Nice one. I like the thought of that. And I was thinking, let’s do what the villains do and buy a handful of throwaway pay-as-you-go phones. He won’t have the numbers for those and we could keep in touch in an emergency without him listening in.’
Joseph nodded. ‘Excellent idea. I’ll call in at the supermarket on my way in to work.’ He stood up, collected the dirty plates and placed them in the dishwasher.
‘How are you feeling after that little fiasco?’
Nikki thought about it. ‘Furious and helpless.’ She sniffed, then added, ‘and I hate to admit it, but frightened.’
‘We all like to know our enemy,’ said Joseph. ‘The sniper in the trees or on the roof is always the most dangerous and insidious opponent.’
‘Ah, I’ve been trying to find a name for this perverted git. And as sniping is a cowardly way of attacking people, that will do nicely. We’ll call him Snipe, until we know the name he was born with. Okay?’
‘Perfect.’ Joseph drained his glass and washed it up. ‘We should turn in, but . . .’ He looked at her, an anxious expression marring his good looks.
‘For all you’ve said about him not finishing me off yet, you are worried about leaving me alone behind a closed door, aren’t you?’
He raised his shoulders and let them fall. ‘Can’t help it. It’s the not knowing what we’re up against.’
‘Then we both stay down here. You’ve got a perfectly comfortable sofa. One of us can doze, and the other can keep a watchful eye open. We can take shifts, then at least we’ll get a bit of rest.’ Nikki wasn’t too keen on that closed bedroom door either.
Joseph went upstairs and brought down a huge soft, fleecy blanket and a couple of pillows. ‘I’ll take the first watch. You sleep.’ He placed the pillows at one end of the sofa and indicated for Nikki to lie down.
‘I’m not sure I can, after everything that’s happened. My head is spinning. Come and sit with me for a while.’
Joseph sat down close to her.
She leaned back into the soft pillows. ‘You haven’t told me how Cat was when you visited her earlier this evening.’
‘That seems like an eternity ago.’ He relaxed and gave a little yawn. ‘She was a bit fretful, but she brightened up a treat after I gave her her iPad. And I got the feeling that she will not be playing Angry Birds on it. She didn’t say as much, but I reckon our Cat is going to be doing a bit of undercover sleuthing, cyber style.’
‘She could find that difficult without the PNC. I’ll go see her tomorrow.’ Nikki closed her eyes.
‘She’d like that.’
‘She idolises you,’ he said. ‘And she wants back in as soon as you’ll have her.’
‘Good, and I’ll make that happen, the moment I believe she is reedy.’ She shifted to get comfortable, but dangerous things still played in the background of her mind.
‘Come here.’ Joseph nestled into the corner of the sofa and held an arm out. ‘I don’t think it’s against police procedure to give your boss a hug if she needs one, do you?’
Nikki’s first impulse was to push him away and laugh it off. Then she found herself moving towards him, leaning against his broad chest and tucking her legs up underneath her. Right now she didn’t feel like the intrepid and fearless detective. She felt like a woman who had just lost her only child, and all she really wanted was to be held by someone who cared about her. In a small voice she said, ‘On this occasion, no. But remember to wake me up for my shift.’
‘Of course I will,’ said Joseph, pulling the blanket over them both. Nikki failed to notice his crossed fingers.
Then the adrenalin dispersed and exhaustion hit her. With a long sigh, Nikki slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.
* * *
She awoke at six thirty, briefly wondering where she was. She pushed back the blanket, ran her fingers through her tangled hair and looked around for Joseph. She smelt coffee and bacon. So much for his promise to wake her up.
Nikki stretched her shoulders, rubbed at her stiff neck and yawned. How the hell had she managed to sleep right through?
‘You have ten minutes to grab a shower, then breakfast will be on the table.’ Joseph stood in the doorway
grinning at her. He had a tea towel draped over his shoulder and was obviously washed, dressed and ready for anything.
‘You bum! You let me sleep!’
‘You needed it. I spent years learning how to make one half of me cat-nap, while the other half was still on full alert. That’s probably why I survived all those years on active duty.’ The grin widened. ‘And now I’m fresh as a daisy, and you’d better hurry up or I’ll eat your breakfast as well as my own.’
Ten minutes later Nikki ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. The old pine table was set for a full English. She gazed at it in amazement. ‘How the hell do you do all this? I can barely manage to burn some toast and drink a black coffee before I leave for work.’
‘Priorities. I like my food, and when I’m at home, I like routine.’ He placed a piping hot plate in front of her. It contained egg, bacon, sausage, tomatoes and a fried slice. ‘I guess it’s because our working lives are pretty random. We eat on the hoof and never know where we’re going or what we are doing next. When I’m here, I can be in charge of what I do and how I do it.’
‘And is this hotel on Trip Advisor? Because the food would get a five-star rating.’ Nikki ate with relish, almost forgetting what had happened the night before.
Almost, but not quite. Her face clouded over.
‘So. I wonder what Snipe has in store for us today?’ said Joseph, reading her mind.
‘Some rules of engagement would be good.’ She placed her fork on her plate and stared across the table at Joseph. ‘Surely it’s no fun for him, when all the cards are stacked in his favour? It would be like a seasoned poker player having to play happy families with a three-year-old. You can hardly be a proud winner when you are the only one who knows the rules.’
‘Maybe he just gets his rocks off watching us running scared and tearing our hair out.’
Joseph spread butter carefully over a slice of toast. ‘It could be a power thing.’
‘But he is asking for this damned compensation. We have to know what the hell he’s talking about before we can negotiate, pay up, or tell him to go to hell.’