TICK TOCK RUN (Romantic Mystery Suspense)

by Elliston, H

  She gripped my arm. “No. Lee’s been using you to get to me. Besides, I already agreed to pay. He’s not your friend. It’s all an act.”

  “You’re wrong.” I pushed my fingers through my hair, stood and moved out of her reach. “I’m not that gullible.”

  After a moment of avoiding eye contact and pacing the room, I sat down again. “Why didn’t you tell me about your affair before the emails? I thought we were best friends?”

  Laura rested her head back against the sofa and sighed. “We are best friends, Chelsea. But I knew how you’d react.” She lifted a brow and stared at me as if to hammer the point home. “You’d blame yourself.”

  Before I could question her on this point, she continued. “You were fantastic, such a rock to me when my parents died. I know how guilty you feel about what happened, but you have nothing to feel guilty about. Besides, I didn’t want to burden you anymore. I thought that by not telling you about my affair, I was protecting you. When I met Daryl he helped me through the bad times in new ways.”

  “Oh, no!” I groaned, wishing I’d not been blind to how she’d handled her grief better all those months ago. A flashback of that awful time triggered a shiver across my shoulders. I was touched she’d gone to the trouble of sparing my feelings, but I’d have rather known the truth long ago.

  “I miss my parents so much.”

  “I know you do.”

  “Daryl seemed to understand.”

  “Of course he did. That’s how he earned a living.” I shook my head in disgust. “He’s broken every rule of professionalism, having a fling with a patient.”

  She frowned. “An ex-patient, actually. Get your facts right.”

  Her upcoming fairytale with Paul was disintegrating in front of us, until I realised something. “Hold on. Daryl’s the one in the wrong here. He used your pain to get sex!” I stepped forward and clapped my hand on her shoulder. “Laura, don’t you see? This isn’t your fault.”

  CHAPTER 19

  “Money. That’s what will end this, Chelsea. I’m going ahead with the drop.” Her voice sounded like a scream within a moment of calm.

  I slammed my mug on the armrest and coffee splashed over the rim. “No way! I won’t let you.”

  “If I don’t pay, they’re going to expose the affair while I’m standing at the altar.”

  I jerked. “Christ almighty!”

  “That’s when my timer runs out, remember?” She held her expression stiffly, resembling a face over-pumped with Botox. “A chunk of money and it’ll be over.”

  “Chunk? Huh. And I’m sure whoever’s doing this will be thrilled to get such a huge chunk of your inheritance.” I glanced at the wound on my hand. “You make it sound as easy as sticking a band aid on a cut. Can’t you see you’re covering a mistake with an even bigger, in fact, flamin’ stupid mistake?”

  Her upset gave way to a serious mood and voice. “I made up my mind yesterday when you left my house to go with Lee. I’m paying. Don’t try talking me out of it because you’ll be wasting your breath.”

  “What if they come back for more? What if paying doesn’t shut them up?” Thinking about how to change her stubborn mind had my head in a slow, rickety grind. Although she’d listened to what I’d said, I don’t think she truly heard. “What proof do they have?”

  “They’ve got video footage of Daryl and me, together. If I pay the money, it’ll get destroyed. I love Paul so much. I can’t lose him and go back to that devastating place again.”

  I knew she was referring to the depressed state she fell into after the death of her parents. I felt a sting of sympathy for her, followed by a burst of guilt. “What if they don’t destroy the footage?”

  Laura tilted her head. “I won’t hand over the money until they do. Simple.”

  Something continued to bug me. “You can handle being blackmailed, strange as that sounds, but you can’t handle telling your fiancé the truth?”

  “I’m paying to keep Paul, not to lose him.” She paused. “He’s got a thing about infidelity and he’d leave me straight away.”

  “I know he would,” I muttered, remembering the doorstep conversation with Paul when he thought Laura was having an affair with his best man, Mark.

  Her dark eyebrows slanted. “How?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Look, you could work through it,” I said, badly disguising my uncertainty with my words rising like a question. “Maybe you would split up at first, but if you truly love each other you’ll work it out. Especially when Paul finds out that Daryl used your grief to bed you.”

  She sighed. “You don’t understand.”

  “Tell him how you lost your mind in grief. Christ! Haven’t you been through enough already without letting someone do this to you? I’ll support you.” I tapped her leg. “Come on. We’ll go to your house together and I’ll help you explain it to Paul.”

  Laura set her hand on my knee, making it hard for me to stand up. “His family was ruined because of an affair. There’s no way I can tell him about this.”

  To resist the urge to shake sense into her, I sat on my hands. “Paul’s a grown man. He knows the way of the world. Give him a chance to forgive you, Laura. Start married life without lies.”

  “This would destroy him, and in turn destroy me. How my affair started won’t count for sweet fuck all in Paul’s mind.” Laura’s lips fell into a tight line, as though experiencing Paul’s pain through each spoken word.

  “It can’t be that bad, surely?”

  She looked at me, sharp and unnerving. “He’s reminded of his mum’s affair every time he does his hair, cleans his teeth or shaves.”

  Mystified, I said, “How is that possible?”

  Her body sagged. “Paul’s the child from the affair.”

  I gulped. “Blimey.”

  “He’s spent his whole life feeling like an outsider.” She traced her finger in circles around the rim of the mug. “Paul was a walking, talking reminder, you see? He once told me that when he was old enough to leave home, it felt like he’d been let out on parole. His childhood was that bad. Felt like jail time. The only family member he still speaks to is his brother. His half-brother. And that’s a rarity.”

  “That’s so sad.”

  “I made a mistake.” Her voice became raspy. “Paul shouldn’t suffer because of it. We’re good together, and I can’t break his heart.”

  I lifted my index finger to her chin, almost not touching her at all. I stared deep into her eyes. How would Laura deal with losing Paul? Not well. Not when losing her parents was still so very raw. “No wonder you’re determined to hide this.”

  She shook off my gaze. “I’ve done the one thing he can never, ever forgive. He’s finally happy with life. With me. If he ever finds out, I don’t know what I’ll...” She burst out crying.

  I blinked, trying to hold back my own tears. “Oh, Laura.”

  “I can’t lose anyone else from my life.” She bunched her top in her fist and pressed it against her heart. “It’ll be the death of me! It’s killing me now!”

  I recognised her past depression returning to her sad eyes. She didn’t need to spell it out. I understood what lay behind her words. Losing Paul would indeed finally kill her off emotionally. She would struggle to find reasons to face life with a second huge hole gouged in her heart. “Laura. Don’t you dare say things like that. Ever. You’re scaring the shit out of me!”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t help how I feel.” She nestled against me and sobbed in my arms.

  “I don’t know how you’ve managed to keep all this to yourself.” I gently swayed her while processing everything I’d just heard. It was not unlike tombstoning. No matter which way she jumped to end the problem, she’d hit at least one of the large rocks that lurked under the surface of the water. I needed to work out how to shift those rocks.

  “How did you tell them you’d pay?” I asked, stroking her hair while shaking the image of Laura plunging off a cliff out of my head.

  “T
hey sent me a pre-paid mobile the other day.”

  “Ah! So that was the parcel you collected in town? Did you recognise the voice?”

  She moved out of my arms, grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. “No, it was muffled. They text as well.”

  Laura’s eyes shone with a traumatising brilliance. She stood, revealing a crumpled form in front of me. Someone had taken it upon themselves to be both jury and executioner of a girl who’d been stricken with grief all year.

  I rose to my feet and stroked her arm. “So why kill Daryl?”

  Her eyelids blinked over her glassy eyes. “It was an accident.”

  “How do you know that for sure?”

  Laura’s now overly-wide eyes suggested she thought me slow on the uptake. “I know blackmail is bad… but murder! Come on, Chelsea. That’s a whole different category.”

  “But Daryl received the emails, too. Well, at least one. I saw it with my own eyes.”

  “I think Lee set that up.”

  “Call me stupid, but Daryl didn’t receive any more emails after he died. Lee says that means something.”

  Laura shocked me by nodding. “Yes. It means there’s no point pretending to blackmail someone who is dead.” She wiped her nose, then squeezed my shoulders. “Look. Daryl once told me that Lee was very loyal, the protective sort. He spoke with pride when he said ‘get on Lee’s good side and you have a friend for life, someone who will always watch your back, but wrong him or those he cares about, and you’d better have eyes in the back of your head.’ Know what I mean?”

  I nibbled my bottom lip while nodding.

  “Lee wants me to suffer for dumping his brother before he died. He’s trying to make out that Daryl was blackmailed then murdered, and that you’re next, to scare me into paying up. It throws suspicion off him. No one would think he did all that to his own brother. He’s just using you as a means to threaten me.”

  “No. No way!”

  “Lee probably sent that email to Daryl’s account after he died, to make you think that Daryl was being blackmailed, too. It keeps Lee from looking guilty. He must know Daryl’s password, or hacked that account, too. Or maybe it’s Lee’s own email account, but you didn’t notice.”

  I tried to picture other messages listed in the inbox, and the email address, but couldn’t.

  “People can do strange things while grieving. I should know. This is a slam dunk. Pay up, and Lee will go away. He just wants someone to feel his pain. Me.”

  “I don’t know what to believe.” My head began spinning.

  “Come on, Chelsea. You must have watched a few detective movies in your time. You know, when the guilty ones put themselves in the centre of the investigation.”

  I tapped my hands together. “Please, just to be on the safe side, admit Daryl’s death being linked... murdered... is a possibility, because I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Or me.” I stared straight at her, my eyes feeling ready to burst from anxiety.

  Laura drew a deep breath. “Okay. It’s a small possibility.”

  I felt relieved to at least get her considering this point.

  We sat down again.

  There was no doubt that she hurt like hell inside. With a story like that, her tears were probably drops of acid. Only three options came to mind, pay up, find the blackmailer or... I leaned forward to reach for my phone. “This is too big for us to handle. We have to get the police onto it straight away.”

  She pressed me back against the sofa. “Absolutely not. The blackmailer has threatened to tell Paul about the affair if I contact the police - money or no money. Please, don’t make me kiss my life with Paul goodbye by phoning them.”

  “But the police will be discreet. We’ll force them to be. How will anyone know you’ve told them?”

  “I can’t risk it.”

  “You’re crazy not to tell the police.”

  “Look, I know it’s messy, but I don’t want you to get involved any further, Chelsea. I’ve tried my best to keep you out of this. You’ve got nothing to feel guilty about. Walk away.”

  “I’m already involved and I’m not leaving you to deal with this alone.” I struggled to decide on the right thing to do. I felt like my hands were bound by guilt and friendship, and my mouth was being zipped shut. I wanted to open a window, stick my head outside, and scream the truth at the top of my lungs. However, the dark fear that Laura might do something stupid to herself if her life crumbled again, was a big, in fact, monstrous reason to delay involving the police. Besides, I owed her, big time. “Okay,” I said. “The deadline is on Saturday, your wedding day. So, we’ve got time to do some digging. If we can’t end this by Friday night, then we need to inform the police. Agreed?”

  Although Laura nodded, she didn’t look me in the eyes. “Actually, the money drop is tomorrow morning,” Laura said. “I’ve already agreed. I’ll receive instructions by text message. In return I’ll get the video footage.”

  “In the morning? That soon?” This left zero time to figure it all out. I jumped to my feet and paced in front of her. “Well, maybe we could phone around, call our friends. Perhaps someone’s been asking questions about you, and our friends thought nothing of it at the time.”

  “It’s too late, Chelsea. Anyway, I’ve already tried that, bought the t-shirt. It didn’t work, and besides, it was tricky because I didn’t want to start rumours flying around town.”

  I wrung my hands together. “I wish I could do something. It’s someone who’s techy, maybe someone who’s lost their job and needs fast cash. What about places you used to meet Daryl? I mean, perhaps it’s someone who lives in that area and saw you regularly.”

  “There is one thing you could do.” Laura paused to glare up at me.

  “Anything. Tell me and I’ll do it.”

  “Confront Lee.”

  I slumped onto the sofa and sighed. I should have chosen my words more carefully. “Jeez! Not this again.”

  She shuffled around to face me. “Look, Chelsea. He’s the most obvious suspect. You’re either on my side or his. Which is it?”

  I glared into her eyes. “How dare you ask me to choose!”

  “The main suspect is right under our flamin’ noses.”

  “Shut up! I’m sick of hearing it.”

  “I’m sick of being blackmailed.” She thumbed towards the hall. “Lee’s probably sat at home right now, laughing at how he’s twisted you around his little finger and deciding how he’ll spend my cash.”

  Anger boiled deep in my gut. Protecting Laura dominated my thoughts, but underneath, I wanted a suspect other than the man who put fizz into my heart, and a bounce into my stride. “You’ve got him all wrong.”

  She set her hand on my knee. “Just one call, Chelsea, and we might end this thing tonight. If he’s innocent, then he should understand and forgive you.”

  “Yeah, right,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.

  Laura pursed her lips. Lines of worry dented her silky complexion like deep scars. A chilling judder moved through my body. I never wanted to see this horrific look on her face again. It wasn’t hard to see how desperately she was trying to pull herself out of the dark pit that swallowed her almost whole.

  I wanted the old Laura back.

  “It’s just one, quick phone call to warn him off.”

  I covered my face with my hands. “That simple, huh?”

  “Will you do it?” she asked. “He’ll probably listen to you. If you won’t, then give me his number and I’ll phone him.”

  The silence after her question ended when her shoe scraped the floor. “What’s it to be?”

  I parted my fingers and stared at her distressing face.

  She crossed her legs towards me.

  “This is insane. You’re so wrong.” Something was seriously plucking at my heart strings. “But, okay. I’ll do it.”

  She stood up to get my mobile. Knowing that Lee might never forgive me for wrongly accusing him again, caused a riot in my stomach, and tears to tingle behi
nd my eyes. Before I talked myself out of it, I grabbed my mobile from her, and quite literally punched the dial button with my fingertip. I reminded myself that I’d known Lee for less than a week, and Laura for an eternity. Her safety and sanity had to take precedence over my desires.

  “Hey, Chelsea.” Lee sounded shocked but happy to hear from me. “I’m worried about you. Have you seen the time? Why did you disappear?”

  I looked away from Laura’s pained face in order to think straight. “How long had Daryl had that email account, Lee?”

  “I don’t know. A while.”

  “Why didn’t you show me any of his other messages?”

  “There weren’t any. None linked to this.”

  Laura nudged me, and my heart lurched. Once I spoke there was no going back. I took a deep breath. “Lee. We’ve sussed you out. We know it’s you and can prove it. This ends now.” Every syllable stung.

  “Chelsea?”

  Laura angled her head to listen in.

  “Let’s stop pretending,” I said, forcing a firm voice. “One more call, one more text, one more sick, freakin’ message or demand, and I’ll get the police onto you. There’ll be no wriggling out of this one. I swear it. Get me?”

  “What the hell are you…”

  “Save your bullshit!” I touched my face, felt a tear. I had to speed up my words before I could no longer get any more out. “You make one more move and you’ll go to the hole for this. We’re not keeping quiet any more. It’s Daryl who’s at fault. He took advantage.” I hung up, mentally tortured. I hurled my phone onto the sofa and couldn’t stop tears raining down my cheeks. No. It isn’t him. It can’t be. If Laura’s theory about Lee was correct, then I’d just made a thirty-five thousand pound phone call.

  “Oh, Jeez!” Laura gasped, and her hand slapped over her mouth.

  “Jeez, what?”

  “You’ve already fallen for him, haven’t you?”

  I stopped myself saying she was right. “Don’t be daft.”