DON'T LOOK DOWN

by Barbara Scott Emmett

  And not too old either. Not some fuckin hag of a whore sucking her thumb and pretending to be a schoolgirl. Yes, I like this one. Perfect.

  Forty-nine

  They slept for over twelve hours, waking late morning still entwined together in the big soft bed, Lauren in her cotton nightgown, Wolf still in jeans and teeshirt.

  Lauren took another bath, relaxing in the main bathroom while Wolf used the shower down the hall. She threw on a ski jacket of Clara’s and they came out into the crisp dry air, hand in hand, seeking a restaurant.

  The village below the chalet was busy – all the shops open, the lights coming on, Christmas decorations twinkling red and silver and green. In silent agreement neither broached unpleasant subjects. For the moment, at least, they would banish worry from their minds. Time enough for that once they’d eaten.

  Lauren leaned comfortably into the bulk of Wolf’s jacket. He grinned down at her and they strolled arm in arm, playfully nudging each other off the pavement and into the piles of snow. He was so sweet, Wolf, she thought, and sexy too, when he wasn’t being po-faced. He could be such fun when he relaxed, when he flashed those strong white teeth at her.

  They found a quiet little restaurant and ordered pork goulash with huge round dumplings. Hollow with hunger, Lauren got stuck in the second it arrived.

  Wolf grinned at her over the frothy head of his Weissbier. ‘Guten appetite,’ he wished her.

  Lauren made short work of the pork. She could barely remember when she’d last had a decent meal. She chugged at her own beer and sighed with satisfaction.

  Wolf was still smiling at her and she smiled back, meeting his eyes. Such a long time since they’d been this comfortable together. But perhaps it was best nothing happened between them last night. This was hardly the time for romance. And there was still all that past unpleasantness. That had to be dealt with before they could move on. And then, of course, there was Ingrid.

  ‘Have you phoned anyone yet?’ she said. Anyone. Someone. Such coy terms we use, she thought, when we don’t want to mention names.

  ‘Er, not yet, no.’ He looked away. ‘I don’t want to speak to anyone right now.’

  ~

  When she’d finished her meal Lauren leaned back and patted her stomach with both hands. ‘Now I feel human again.’ She gave Wolf a serious look. ‘And now we need to talk. Work out what to do.’

  His smile faded and he nodded.

  ‘That poor woman,’ Lauren went on. ‘I wonder if anyone’s found her yet. Surely someone must have missed her by now. She had at least two jobs, even if she had no family here. She’s Albanian, you know. Was Albanian. She told me she was looking for her daughter.’ Lauren pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling.

  ‘This Gunther,’ said Wolf. ‘Is there any possibility he could be genuine? You say he gave a false name at the motel?’

  Frowning, Lauren pinched the skin at the bridge of her nose, weariness sweeping over her. A dozen hours sleep and she was still tired and aching. Still shattered. ‘Maybe,’ she said. ‘Steiner. Schneider. Maybe they’re both aliases. But are they undercover policeman aliases, or criminal aliases?’

  ‘If only we knew for certain one way or the other.’ Wolf fiddled with a fork. ‘What is your gut feeling?’ He peered at Lauren as though he might be able to see the truth inside her.

  ‘I don’t know. Sometimes I’m sure he’s genuine, then other times I’m just as sure he’s not.’ Lauren swilled down the last of her beer. ‘Been thinking,’ she said. ‘Maybe we could try to find that chalet. Where I was held.’

  Wolf twisted his mouth, turning his face away from her. ‘Is there any point in involving ourselves further in this mess? We can do nothing for that woman now.’ He stood up and held out his hand to haul her from her chair.

  ‘We’re up to our necks in it anyway,’ said Lauren. ‘And we might find out something about the kidnappers. Something that could lead us to Katti.’

  ‘We don’t even know they’re connected. Katti’s father got two ransom demands remember? From different people. I know the second lot picked you up by mistake, but still.’

  ‘There are too many coincidences, Wolf. Two sets of kidnappers independently deciding to grab the same person at the same time? I don’t think so. There has to be a connection. Maybe it’s some devious game they’re playing.’

  They strolled, arm in arm down to the lakeside. Flat, and milky, the water glowed with luminosity. In the distance, the mountains hovered white and ghostly against the deepening blue of the sky. Directly overhead, a lone star shone, its pale twinkle competing with the steady blip blip of a plane’s lights as it passed overhead.

  Lauren let the silence and stillness, the sharpness of the air, clear away the last residue of fog in her mind. She took several deep breaths. The air, though cold, was invigorating, the snow beneath her boots crisp and fresh. She felt it was doing her good, bringing a healthy rosy glow to her cheeks.

  ‘It’s beautiful here,’ she said, as Wolf slid his arm across her shoulders and drew her close.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘We always came here for summer holidays when we were children. The minute we got here Katti used to race down and leap into the lake.’ He smiled down at her.

  ‘She was the same when she first came to London,’ Lauren said. ‘Jumping off the high diving board when she took the boys swimming. Come to think of it, she was still doing it the last time she visited. She’s a female Peter Pan.’ She leaned into his warmth. ‘I hope she never grows up. That when we get her back – and we will get her back – she hasn’t been psychologically damaged by what’s happened.’

  Wolf shook his head. ‘No. She will have to grow up sometime, Lauren. Whatever has been happening to her these last few days, has got to make her grow up.’ He turned her to face him. ‘We can’t act like children forever. Tempting as it may be. It leaves you vulnerable. As she is now.’

  Lauren shivered, not from the cold, which was enlivening, but from an inner frisson of dread. He was right, she knew, but did he always have to be so chillingly spot on?

  ‘Well then, let’s get her back. We’ll go to the Elf service station and backtrack from there. See if I can remember the way to that chalet. Maybe we’ll find some lead from there to whoever has Katti. And even if we don’t – well, we have to start somewhere.’

  Fifty

  ‘I want a presence, Klaus.’ Hartmann kept his mouth close to the phone. ‘People on the ground. No interference unless I say the word, but I want them there, close by, ready.’

  ‘Got you, H. I’ll sort it.’

  ‘And I want you with me, man.’

  ‘Sure. You got the details of the handover yet?’

  ‘No. I’ve had two different sets of people onto me. Cunts can’t seem to get their ideas sorted out. One lot wants money, the other lot tell me to wait to hear what the deal is. Haven’t got a fuckin clue what’s going on, man, and neither have they from the sound of things.’

  ‘Amateurs, H. Bloody amateurs.’

  ‘Probably. But I can’t take chances. There’s something weird going down, man. Can’t put my finger on it yet, but I will.’

  ‘I’ll get a few people ready to move,’ Klaus said,. ‘soon as you get more info. Need to work fast once you know where the handover’s gonna be. They’re not likely to give you much notice.’

  ‘Unless they really are fuckin amateurs.’

  ‘Can’t count on getting that lucky, H. Need to be ready for’em.’

  ‘Right. And Klaus?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘I don’t want your guys seen, man. These bastards haven’t got to suspect a thing. It’s got to look clean. But once they hand my daughter over, I want them followed.’ Hartmann paused. ‘And dealt with.’

  Fifty-one

  ‘I think it’s this way.’ Lauren peered out of the window, searching for anything familiar. ‘We only drove for about ten minutes. Probably less.’ Damn. Why hadn’t she taken more notice when Gunther was driving her
to the service station? Shock, she supposed, and relief. But there’d been a couple of left turns, she remembered, so she kept an eye out for right hand ones on the way back. She pointed ahead. ‘There. Try that turn off.’

  The light was already fading, the green winter sky turning a luminous gold at the horizon. The van trundled along the minor road.

  ‘Stop! Back there. That track.’

  Wolf reversed the van back up the deserted road. Lauren wound down the window to get a better view. Wolf swung the van onto the track.

  ‘Mmmm. Not sure,’ she said as they bumped over the frozen ruts. ‘Go a bit further. I’ll soon know.’ The track ended at a five-bar gate and Lauren shook her head. ‘Sorry. Can you turn around?’

  Wolf grunted as he hauled on the wheel, backing up in the narrow space.

  Back on the road they pressed on. The second track petered out within a few yards. The third looked more promising but simply curved back on itself and rejoined the road. Lauren jittered about in her seat in frustration. The chalet was around here somewhere. It had to be. Her insides were gurgling at the thought of finding it, yet finding it was what she most wanted.

  ‘There. There!’ She leaned forward. ‘I can see a chalet roof. Try the next track.’ She slumped back in her seat, shivers that had nothing to do with the cold outside, making her body judder. ‘Jesus, Wolf. This could be it.’

  Frosted leaves glittered as the headlights swept along the hedge. Wolf stopped the van after a couple of minutes. A few metres ahead the chalet roof was outlined against the darkening sky.

  ‘I’ll go,’ he said, flicking the lights off. ‘I’ll walk the rest of the way. In case they’re still there. Don’t want them to hear the engine. You wait here.’

  ‘No. I can’t let you –’

  ‘Come on now, Lauren,’ he said. ‘Let me do this. Please.’ He swung himself out of the van. ‘Move into the driver’s seat and keep the engine running.’ He took out his phone and keyed up her number. ‘If anyone jumps me, I’ll hit the button to ring you. Call the police immediately – without giving our real names.’

  ‘But –’

  He was off before she could protest further, disappearing into the encroaching darkness. Lauren sighed and sank back. It was his bid to be hero for a while. He was making up for his earlier omissions. She needed to let him go alone.

  Fifty-two

  Sammy leans across and kisses the blue veins in her wrists. A pulse throbs where the leather thongs cut in. She moans. He kisses her lips, bites them lightly, tasting the blood from her mouth.

  Moving down her throat, across her shoulders to the pungency of her armpits, he kisses, licks, nips. Her breasts harden beneath his hands, the nipples stiffening into peaks. He could spend hours like this, days, years, eternity.

  ‘Pussycat,’ he whispers into her navel.

  Her belly rounds softly, sloping to the damp mound of her sex. He tastes her. She moans again. Breathing in her musk, tasting her salty-sweetness, he lingers, exploring the tender folds and hollows. Her legs are spread wide, her ankles tied to the bedposts. Her right foot twists and turns in its bindings, rotating like a creature trying to break free. He watches it squirm, sees the toes clench, then presses his face back into her groin, nuzzling – right thigh, left thigh, middle...

  A mewling sound gurgles in her throat and he moves the gag back into place. No one must hear.

  Fifty-three

  Lauren stiffened as a figure rounded the bend in the track but relaxed immediately. One figure. Wolf. She slid the door open as he came nearer. ‘Anything?’ she whispered. He shook his head.

  ‘No sign of anyone. No car there. Place was all locked up.’

  ‘Think we can get inside?’

  Wolf tilted his hand from one side to the other. ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Get in.’ Lauren let the clutch out and drove the van the rest of the way to the chalet.

  ‘What have you got that could break a window?’ she said when they climbed out.

  Wolf opened the back door of the van and pulled a metal toolbox towards him. ‘Spanner? Wrench?’ He handed Lauren a large spanner and took the heavier wrench himself. ‘Do you really think we will find anything?’

  Lauren hugged herself against the chill. The spanner was icy in her hand. She sensed he’d given it to her as a weapon rather than a tool for breaking and entering. ‘Won’t know till we look.’

  The stars were out and glittering. Their breath clouded white in front of their mouths. They found a window at the side of the chalet where the shutters were loosest. Wolf used the wrench to break the rusty hinges and tear the shutters away. Then he stepped back and swung at the glass.

  The double-glazing wasn’t a sealed unit, just two sets of panes with a gap of two or three inches between them. The outer pane shattered at the first blow, the clank of breaking glass loud in the still night air. Lauren searched the darkness for any movement. There were no other buildings nearby. All was quiet.

  The second, inner pane was easier. Cracked already, it caved in after a few short jabs. Using a lidded water barrel to stand on, Wolf climbed over the sill. He dropped down inside the room and disappeared. Lauren went to the front door of the chalet and waited for him to open it.

  She glanced around the clearing, remembering her fear, her panic, her fumbling with the car keys as she made her escape from this place. It seemed like years ago. She jumped as the door creaked open. Wolf stood on the threshold. He stepped back and bowed with a flourish, like a host inviting her in.

  Lauren flicked the light switch and the dim bulb struggled to life. The chalet was musty and damp, the air dank and chilled. She hesitated at the door to the room she had been held in, a sense of menace knotting her guts. Finally going in, she put the light on. Nothing. No one.

  Wolf stood behind her. She felt the warmth of his body at her back. She felt her heart beating in time with his – fast, jerky. A cold sweat filmed her brow. Her stomach churned. The Apfelkorn bottles were still on the table, the two-bar heater upturned on the floor, its plug yanked from the socket. The stink of stale ash and old vomit caught at the back of her throat. Katti’s wrap was on the floor by the table where she’d dropped it and she picked it up, holding it to her face like a comfort blanket.

  Wolf opened one of the drawers in the pine dresser, riffled through napkins and tea-towels then slammed it shut. The next drawer jangled as he jerked it open. Cutlery. The shelves above contained nothing but the brightly coloured china, some of which Lauren had dashed to the floor on her last visit. The lower cupboard was full of board games and magazines. The place must have once been a genuine holiday chalet. She felt sick.

  Lauren wandered around the room. ‘There’s nothing here,’ she said thickly. ‘Let’s go.’ The prickling at the nape of her neck felt like a premonition. What if someone came? She strained for the sound of tyres on the snow outside.

  ‘I want to check the other room, where I broke in.’ Wolf nodded across the hallway.

  Oh yeah, thought Lauren. The bedroom. Where the party would have taken place if she hadn’t made her excuses and left. She hunched her shoulders. ‘Quick look then.’ She was beginning to think Wolf was right, that this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. One of these days she really must start listening to other people’s opinions.

  Wolf pushed the door open. Thin curtains shivered across the broken window. Glass from the inner pane lay scattered on the floor. A double bed and two singles, all with pine frames and lumpy mattresses, just about filled the room. Lauren shuddered. Stained sheets, tangled up with duvets and pillows, were strewn across the beds. There was a smell of sex and sordidness.

  Lauren squeezed between the two single beds, searching for anything that might be lying on them or under them. Her heart was skipping beats, her ears alert for the crunch of wheels on frozen ruts. She raised a corner of a sheet with her fingertips. It gave off a faint waft of cheap perfume. She lifted a pillow. Nothing but a couple of screwed up tissues underneath.

&nbs
p; ‘What is this place? A holding cell? Somewhere they keep women until they sell them on? Where they...’ She paused. ‘...initiate them into their new trade?’

  Wolf looked around. ‘I don’t know. And I don’t see what it has to do with Katti, either. She couldn’t be involved in their filthy business.’ He shot a glance at Lauren. ‘Could she?’

  Lauren shook her head. ‘Of course not. Not unless she’s a whole lot less innocent than either of us know her to be. And I don’t think that’s very likely.’

  Wolf edged between the footboard of the double bed and the wall, bent down and picked something up off the floor. It was a dog-eared photograph, creased and torn.

  ‘Anyone we know?’ asked Lauren with false jauntiness. She saw a flash of anger as Wolf looked into her eyes.

  ‘As a matter of fact,’ he said,. ‘yes.’

  ~

  Alina squinted into the sunlight, her nose wrinkled, a smile rising cautiously at one corner of her mouth. Next to her a young man, dark, handsome, louche, stood with his arm slung around her shoulders. His jutting hip, his loose jeans, the cigarette dangling from his lip, all painted a picture of a would-be a tough guy.

  ‘Good looking boy,’ said Lauren, examining the photograph. ‘Looks like he stepped out of a French film. Ever seen him before?’

  Wolf shook his head. ‘I told you that girl was trouble. She’s set Katti up somehow. Little –’

  ‘We don’t know that for sure,’ Lauren cut in. ‘More likely Alina’s a victim here too.’ She shot him a glance. ‘What about that older guy we saw her with? Is he – ?’

  ‘Her pimp?’ said Wolf, taking the photograph out of her hand. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘Shit.’ said Lauren. ‘I’ve just realised who the gunman reminded me of. The one in the van yesterday.’ She gave a strangled laugh. Like I run across gunmen every other day.

  Wolf glanced up from the photograph, a query in his eyes.