“Bizarre really when you think about it.”
“That we don’t get snow?”
“No, that Elisabeth will never see another Christmas.”
Ashley surprised by Adam’s candour. She studied his face; she had known this man for over a year, but she hardly recognised him now with those sunken eyes and that troubled expression. She felt sorry for him, yet she didn’t know what else to do or say right now. Adam was going through something that only he could deal with. All she could do, as his friend, was be there for him.
“I am so very sorry, Adam,” she said, earnestly.
“Thanks. But it wasn’t exactly your fault. It’s just another one of those tragic facts of life. You devote yourself to someone, think nothing can separate you, nothing can tear you apart, yet life… well… it has other plans. It doesn’t matter how much you plan or prepare, something or someone can easily come along at the last minute and turn the whole thing to shit.”
Ashley wasn’t sure she understood exactly what Adam was saying.
“For example,” he continued then paused, as if to add drama to the moment, “What would you do? If something precious was taken away from you? What would you do to get it back?”
He looked at her, expectantly. Ashley blurted out, “I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Exactly,” Adam said, holding her gaze for a few seconds and then taking a sip from his cup.
He pulled a face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh no, don’t worry.”
“What is it?” She asked.
“Well, just the coffee.” he smiled with embarrassment, “Over the past few days I’ve developed a taste for sugar and, well…”
“Oh, of course, sorry, just I thought you always took it black without,” she said, standing up.
“If you just tell me where it is, I’ll get it.”
“No, don’t be silly,” she said and hurried towards the kitchen.
She was just about to leave the room when the house phone rang, and she turned instantly to see Adam snatch the cordless phone from the coffee table.
She watched on, anxiously.
“Hello? Oh, hi…. Yes, Ashley’s been worried, where are you?”
Pause.
“Oh, I see… I thought it would be something like that. Of course, no problem, hold tight, we’ll be right there. Okay… bye.”
He hung up.
By this time, Ashley had walked up to him.
“Was that Rupert? Is he alright? Is he okay?”
“Don’t worry, he’s okay. Told me to let you know that he had to go out of town on business, but that he’s having trouble. Apparently, the AA have been inundated with calls and can’t get anyone out to him for some time. He wants to know if we can swing by and rescue him.
“I’ll just get my coat,” Ashley said.
“Okay,” Adam smiled as she hurried out of the room.
61 The News
The snow was falling fast and the radio had reported that somewhere, a few miles up ahead, a road accident between two cars and a truck was causing major delays.
This explained the snake of glowing red tail lights that Rupert could see far into the distance. It was clear to him that the traffic wouldn’t start moving again any time soon.
To his right, he noticed a slip road leading up a hill to a service station. So, with a bit of careful manoeuvring, he managed to squeeze the Lexus through the gap between a car and a transit van.
At the petrol station, he refuelled, bought coffee, and a sandwich. Then, he hurried back to the car where, from his elevated viewpoint, he was now able to see that traffic was at a standstill, for approximately five miles, and ended with several flashing blue lights.
He kept the engine running to stay warm and distractedly mulled over the day’s events.
How exactly could he drive back to London and confront Ashley with all of this? He had no idea, but what he did know is that it had to be done. In his opinion, they’d both spent weeks dodging emotional projectiles, and were no better for it. In fact, it was this very thing that had led him here in the first place.
If he had been any other man, he would have confronted Ashley with the Burton discovery right from the start, but he didn’t. He had been so wrapped up with everything else that was happening, that now the world as he knew it was disintegrating around him.
His thoughts touched on Elisabeth and the reality that she was gone forever, and that hurt. It hurt to think that he would never see her again.
He put down his half eaten sandwich. He’d suddenly lost his appetite, and the head that had started as an ache felt like it was going to turn into a migraine.
He squeezed his eyes shut as thoughts fluttered in his mind like butterflies in a jar.
He wondered about Ashley, Elisabeth, James, work, the accident in the apartment, the traffic jam, the pictures he had seen of Ashley as a child, Elisabeth, the traffic jam, James, the pictures of Ashley, the pictures of Ashley, and, once again, the pictures of Ashley.
He snapped his eyes open to a snow-covered windscreen and reached over for his mobile device. That’s when he noticed that it had been switched off since his visit with Mrs Marshall.
He turned it on and when the network logo finally appeared, a beeping sound alerted him to five messages. He checked the numbers; three of them were from Ashley, one from the office and another from an old school friend.
He pressed connect and called Ashley’s mobile, but it rang out until it was diverted to voicemail. He rang home until the answering machine picked up.
“Ashley? Are you there? It’s me, pick up the phone.”
But after waiting a few seconds of nothing, he left a message, telling her he was ok, about the traffic jam, and that he would get home as soon as possible. He also added that he loved her and that they needed to talk. The machine beeped an acknowledgement and then flashed the red message diode at the empty penthouse.
Then he opened his phone’s browser. The odds weren’t good, but there was a chance that if there had been an accident in a small village, it would have been reported, and or posted somewhere.
Luckily, the reception on the main highway was good and, before long, eight results were returned.
He tapped each one, in turn, and found that the majority of them related to an author and a university professor, with respective links to their websites and social media pages.
Three other links were from a national newspaper archive that Rupert had never heard of.
He tapped the first article.
It was from the Canterbury Times. It talked about a man and his girlfriend, who had become victims of a frenzied knife attack while in bed with each other.
The female victim, who suffered minor injuries, was a local resident, Sally Matthews.
The male victim was one Andy Skelton, he suffered severe lacerations to the face, and two stab wounds in the back, one of which had paralysed him.
The second article was from another newspaper, and it expanded on the Skelton story.
It talked about Andy Skelton’s history, and how his wife had abandoned him and their eight-year-old daughter many years before. It was believed that Mrs Skelton left the family home because of her husband’s gambling and alcohol abuse.
Skelton didn’t start dating again until a few years later, just weeks before the knife attack.
The paper then went on to describe the assailant, based on the description provided by Skelton’s daughter, Tracey Skelton.
Rupert noticed that the third and final article had been posted several years later. It rehashed the details of the attack at the Skelton farm, but then went on to tell a new story, one that made his blood run cold.
62 Opulence
Foxberry Hall was resplendent with 18th Century décor. It featured high ceilings, gem encrusted candelabras, ornate borders, and glimmering marble floors.
To Rachel, it was so exquisite it seemed unreal.
She looked at Jas
on, who smiled knowingly as if he had anticipated her reaction. Then, he linked her arm and led her into a spacious ballroom with an equally refined décor.
The room was full of people, Rachel estimated approximately thirty, all dressed in elegant evening wear, and all chatting animatedly in various groups.
“This is awesome,” she breathed.
Unlike previous dinner parties, she didn’t feel intimidated by her surroundings, nor the pressure to perform. Here, she felt like she belonged, and it was exhilarating.
There was a good chance that each and every one these people had the power to change Jason’s, their, life forever.
And Rachel was determined.
It was her mission to ingratiate and charm the funding that they desperately needed, and she was going to succeed.
Right after some Dutch courage.
She grabbed two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter as they crossed the floor.
“You okay?” Jason asked through a gritted smile.
“I’m good, just petrified,” she replied in the same tone.
“You’ll be okay after a few more glasses of this,” he said. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to a few people.”
He slipped his arm proudly around her and they mingled.
63 Unexpected
They had been travelling southwest for nearly an hour and the snow was still falling, albeit not as hard.
“What was he doing all the way out here anyway?” Ashley asked, suddenly.
“He didn’t say,” Adam replied glumly, eyes intent on the road.
Ashley looked across at him, but his eyes did not betray anything as he peered through the windscreen.
She hoped he was okay. Right up until they left London, he wouldn’t stop talking, as if he was nervous about making the journey in this weather. And now, now that they were in the middle of nowhere and she was growing nervous, he had fallen silent.
“I hate that Rupert’s out here alone. Where did he say he was exactly? I noticed you didn’t put anything in the satnav. Do you know where we’re going?”
“He didn’t say, exactly” was Adam’s reply, eyes still fixed on the road.
Ashley forced a laugh. “What do you mean he didn’t say?”
Adam didn’t reply.
“If he didn’t say, how do you know where we’re going?”
“He said it was somewhere along this road.”
“Somewhere?” She questioned peering out of the glass. “He could be anywhere,” she said, irritably.
Adam turned to her as if to say something and Ashley caught a look in his eyes, one she couldn’t quite decipher. It did little to ease her edginess.
“Adam…?” she began but the words were stifled when he stamped on the brakes, causing the car to swerve and fishtail a couple of times, before skidding to a sudden halt. The motion threw her forward, against the restraint of her seatbelt, and then back again.
He turned to her and waited for her to recover.
Ashley, still reeling from the moment, garbled, “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“We’re here.” Adam said, calmly.
“Here? Where?” she asked, rubbing the misty glass on her side of the vehicle and peering out of it. “I can’t see anything.”
She turned to him, about to speak, but instead saw the blurry white of his fist power towards her face.
The impact smacked her in the nose with such force that it slammed the back of her head against the glass of the passenger window, and turned her world black.
64 The Room
When Rachel first saw Daniel Bayliss, she did not recognise him. The forty year old politician, with sleeked red hair and sparkly blue eyes, looked nothing like the man on TV; this man looked much more handsome, as did Alan Chapman, MP. Then there was Gemma McCarthy, TV presenter, and Janet Roark, a senior executive for British Petroleum.
It was exactly as Jason had told her; everybody who was anybody was here tonight, and Rachel was awestruck. She was rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s most powerful and influential people, and, although she didn’t voice it, she couldn’t help but wonder how on earth Jason had managed to get them a pass to such a gathering.
And things got even better when she was introduced to Robert Hicks, the famous veteran broadcaster, and they chatted about his show.
He was actually one of the few good memories Rachel had of her childhood. Her mother was a very big fan and she’d often come home to the smell of baking and the sound of Hicks’ radio show.
Robert then moved onto his favourite subject; himself, and stories of his rise to fame, which Rachel found absolutely fascinating.
If only her mother could see her now.
Rachel had become so involved in Hicks’ stories that she didn’t even notice that Jason had left her side. He was across the room now. She looked up to see him deep in conversation with a particularly tall man, with bushy black hair, thick eye brows and deep, recessed panda eyes.
He reminded her of Lurch from The Addams Family.
The man did not smile once throughout his conversation with Jason, and then, suddenly, they both looked her way, she instinctively waved, but neither acknowledged her.
She wanted to go over and find out what they were talking about, but Robert’s droning drew her back to him. She didn’t want to appear rude so she smiled sweetly and nodded, as if she’d been engrossed the whole time.
Half an hour later, Rachel was growing restless.
Hicks was still talking about himself, and she could only handle so many glasses of champagne before she started to lose the plot.
So, with a very courteous apology and a big smile, she excused herself, explaining that she needed the girl’s room.
She scanned faces as she made for the door, but could not see Jason, nor Lurch.
Finally, she emerged into the hallway and breathed a sigh of relief. Pleased to have put some distance between her, and the egomaniac she’d spent the last thirty minutes of her life with.
She looked around; the hallway was empty and she wondered where the hell Jason could have got to.
She was starting to get anxious.
He’d just disappeared on her without so much as a word, despite the fact that he had promised never to leave her side. In fact, this was an express condition of her agreeing to accompany him there, yet, here she was, alone.
She considered what to do next. One thing was for sure, she wasn’t going back into the ballroom, at least not on her own.
She looked up the stairs; maybe she did need the ladies’ room after all.
She clutched onto the banister and nearly missed her first step.
Her effort to drown out Hicks had turned into a light head. She promised herself no more drink for a while. Then, slowly and gingerly made her way up the stairs.
On the landing, she admired a few paintings of unsmiling portraits with judgmental eyes. She gave them one of her overused fake smiles.
Then, just as she was about to move on, she heard something. It seemed to be coming from a room, a few doors down, what appeared to be, an infinite corridor.
She couldn’t identify what it was, but it sounded like a person. Someone unwell.
Instinctively, she moved closer to the door and paused to listen. Although the sound was akin to someone in pain, she was old and wise enough to know that it could well be something else. Which meant that, despite her tipsiness, she wasn’t going to burst in there and make a complete fool of herself.
Instead, she furtively glanced around, to make sure nobody was watching, and then she put her eye to the two inch gap in the door, and her mouth dropped open.
The lighting in the room was subdued, but she could clearly see a video camera mounted on a tripod.
Beyond that, a skinny female in her twenties, with long blonde hair and a blindfold over her eyes, lay spread eagled across the bed, bound by leather straps.
Her partner, a middle aged man with a large gut spilling over tight briefs, was doing someth
ing between her legs. Rachel couldn’t quite see what exactly because he had his back to her but whatever it was, it was making him grunt and chuckle satisfactorily. The girl, on the other hand, mouth wide open, was moaning loudly as if she were about to give birth.
Rachel’s eyes widened and she pushed her face closer to the gap to get a better look.
What the hell are you doing to her? Is she enjoying it?
Rachel could not tell.
Then, he stood up, causing his fat belly to wobble while his hands caught the light and glistened.
Rachel’s hand shot to her mouth to suppress a scream. She could now see that both the man’s hands and the girl’s thighs were covered in what looked like blood!
“Can I help you, madam?”
The voice startled Rachel, she turned too quickly, lost her balance and fell to the floor as Lurch, all seven feet of him, towered over her.
65 Unthinkable
Ashley’s eyes were still closed when she felt the tingling in her fingers. It slowly metamorphosed into a stinging pain on her lip, and then a numbness throughout the extremities of her shivering body.
Her head hurt, she couldn’t move her arms and wherever she was lying, it was freezing cold, damp and smelt of earth and pine.
Somewhere in the distance, she could hear someone talking, a man maybe, on his own, talking on the phone.
She very slowly managed to peel her eyes open, but squeezed them shut again when she was dazzled by a powerful shard of light above her.
Where am I?
She tried to lift her pounding head, but it was too heavy and she was forced to lie back again. She waited a few seconds, willed the energy back into her limbs, and opened her eyes once more to see the blurry beam of light shining across the sky above her.
A flashlight? Where am I?
The talking stopped and the glare of light eased on her eyelids as it was picked up and moved.
She opened her eyes fully now to see the gigantic silhouette of a man towering over her as a handful of dirt fell onto her face, causing her to flinch and spit.
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