by A J Waines
I waited for Kurtis to check the thermometer on the side of the vat, then bent down and slashed the ties around my ankle. Still seated, I reached over to slice Aiden’s hands free.
Aiden delved into his pocket and handed me his phone, just as Kurtis was turning round. I hurriedly pushed it up my sleeve out of sight, the knife now tucked between my knees. I hadn’t had time to cut the tie around Aiden’s ankles.
‘Right,’ said Kurtis giggling. ‘I think we’re ready.’
Squatting before Miranda, he snapped the tie around her ankles with a pair of clippers and started hacking at her overalls. ‘These will have to come off,’ he said.
‘No, take me,’ I moaned, through the duct tape. I toppled deliberately across Aiden, pushing his chair backwards. Then I threw myself at Kurtis, lashing out at him with the knife. Caught off balance, he took two steps backwards and fell into a table. As Aiden and Miranda broke each other free, I ripped the tape from my mouth and managed to punch two digits – 9… 9 – into the phone.
That was as far as I got.
Kurtis reacted faster than I’d expected. He regained his balance and with only a minor stab wound on his arm, knocked the phone out of my hands. As Aiden aimed a punch at him, Kurtis seized his arm and sent an emphatic kick into his shin. Aiden went down. Kurtis grabbed me roughly and threw me against a set of shelves to one side, before punching Miranda hard in the stomach. She fell back with a grunt.
As I tried to get to my feet, Kurtis reached over me, claiming the knife I’d managed to grab from the floor, and in a single movement yanked me upright pressing the blade against my neck. In seconds, beads of warm blood began trickling down inside my collar. I stared in horror as drips made their way to the floor, forming pools the size of five pence pieces. With them came a sharp pain and wave of nausea.
‘Anyone moves and Dr Willerby is going into the wax in tiny pieces,’ he declared.
Aiden was clutching his leg, looking weak and disoriented. Miranda sat on the floor, her legs splayed out, sobbing at the state I was in and staring longingly at the phone several feet away. She hadn’t had time to make the call, either.
Pain tore into my flesh and blood continued to leave my body. I was on the verge of blacking out.
With the knife still at my neck, Kurtis instructed Aiden to tie Miranda up again.
‘And do it properly, or I’ll cut off your fingers,’ he snapped.
Kurtis then told him to retie my arms and ankles. Aiden did so, as gently as he could, before Kurtis let me topple sideways and I sank to the floor. From that position I watched Aiden hold out his wrists ready to be tied up again.
In a split second everything changed.
As Kurtis approached him, Aiden braced himself and sprung unexpectedly, his left foot sending a high kick into Kurtis’s chin. Kurtis, taken unawares by this sudden display of martial arts, was sent arching backwards, hitting the floor with a thud. It took him a few seconds to get to all fours to catch his breath. It was long enough for Aiden to rush to a pile of cans on the shelves behind us. He was looking for something. I tried to sit up, I wanted to help, but the room was pulsating. I couldn’t move unaided, in too much pain from the cut in my neck to do anything.
As Kurtis began to rally and stagger to his feet, Aiden found what he was looking for. He unscrewed the lid and threw the contents into Kurtis’s face. He let out a blood-curdling scream and doubled over, clutching his cheeks. Behind his fingers I could see the damage the paint stripper was already doing, chewing up his skin on contact. I looked away.
Miranda was still tied up, so Aiden grabbed the phone from the floor. I tried to shout to him, to tell him to pass the phone to me, but a strange gurgling sound came from inside my throat. Kurtis was thrashing out towards Aiden like a blind zombie, brandishing the knife, screaming murderous rage. I knew the phone was worthless in Aiden’s hands. He looked at it as if he’d never used one before.
I closed my eyes.
Then it happened. A miracle.
‘This is Aiden Blake with Dr Sam Willerby – police and ambulance needed immediately at…’
I gasped.
Kurtis finally came to a stop, his hands over his streaming eyes, howling in pain. Aiden pushed him into a corner.
‘They’re on their way,’ said Aiden, in a soft Irish accent.
At the sound of his voice, tears flooded my vision joining the blood splatter on the floor.
Chapter 51
Four days later
I didn’t remember much after that. I was peppered with bruises and needed four stitches in my neck, but I was incredibly lucky. The surgeon told me there’s a lot of structure around the throat that isn’t vital; muscles, connective tissue. Had the incision been a centimetre to the right, I wouldn’t have made it to the hospital at all.
Visitors came and went, but they all blended into a sea of worried faces. I was finally sitting up in my bed, able to differentiate individuals from the blur of general ward activity, when DI Fenway and DI Foxton came in to see me.
‘Kurtis gave us a complete confession,’ Fenway said. ‘In fact, he was rather smug about his plans. He’d given Kora a strong laxative the day he set up the wire, so he could get his hands on her mobile when she rushed back and forth to the toilet. He’d been helping out in the CCAP kitchen that day and merely stirred the powder into the soup she ordered at lunchtime. She’d told him she was meeting someone about a new project later on and was expecting Kent to pick her up. Kurtis threw the phone in the canal, after telling Kent she’d already gone home.’
‘What made her cycle so fast in the wrong direction?’ I croaked, my throat burning.
‘Kurtis found her after her last dash to the loo and spun a story that the police had rung the CCAP office with news of a dreadful accident. Some rubbish about Raven, her son, having fallen in the canal. Of course, she didn’t have her phone to check by then, so she took off to try to help. Kurtis had hidden her helmet, so she’d be unprotected.’
Karen stepped in. ‘That’s when Kurtis jumped straight in a car, the Mazda he kept at his ex-wife’s place, and got there ahead of her.’ She was looking particularly refined in an off-duty summer dress. ‘Kurtis wore a ski mask and a black hood. He knew he’d been seen at the boat, but was convinced he couldn’t be identified.’
My mouth fell open. ‘So, Aiden would never have been able to draw Kurtis’s face, after all,’ I said, ‘because he’d never seen it.’
They both shook their heads, mirrors of each other in their grim solemnity.
In short bursts, I told them how I’d finally worked out the killer’s identity.
‘I’d seen Kurtis’s clever tattoos,’ I whispered, ‘but not the full “zip” design on his right wrist. When Rachel sent me photos from Miranda’s supper, it clicked. That’s what Aiden had seen under Kurtis’s glove when he unhooked the wire from the boat.’
Fenway chipped in, ‘If Aiden had been able to tell us that, it would have been an instant giveaway. Kurtis had more sense than to leave the spider on his hand visible, but he’d made one big mistake. He hadn’t realised the “zip” tattoo on his wrist could be seen when he reached forward.’
‘Although, I still can’t work out why he went back for the wire…’ interjected Karen, ‘he could have easily slipped away unseen.’
It was my turn to offer an answer. ‘I think it was because Kora was specifically targeted – Kurtis wasn’t killing randomly. Perhaps too, he went back for it because he thought he was invincible.’ I snatched a ragged breath. ‘I saw such an audacious arrogant side to him when we were trapped inside his workshop.’
Fenway sat down on the edge of my bed, pulling the bedclothes too tight over my ribs. I let out a yelp. ‘Sorry,’ he said, standing up again.
‘What I don’t understand is why Aiden didn’t just point to a zip on his own clothes or show you what the teeth actually meant,’ he said, rubbing his chin. ‘You might have made the connection sooner.’
‘Or why didn’t he just dra
w exactly what he’d seen?’ added Karen.
‘That’s why my job is so interesting,’ I said, straining to be heard. ‘People don’t always do the obvious or logical thing… especially when they’re psychologically distressed. To put it bluntly, Aiden wasn’t able to think in straight lines at that point. In fact, a lot of what he was trying to show me was off the wall. It took me ages to work out the bird was a logo for a make of car.’
Fenway blew air out of his cheeks. There was more. ‘Once Kurtis realised Aiden was getting too close to revealing what he’d witnessed that night, he tried to scare you off the boat by creeping around outside your cabin. He described you as Aiden’s “bodyguard” and wanted you out of the way, so he could target him. Then when you didn’t leave, he contaminated the cheese in an attempt to kill him. Miranda had told Kurtis you didn’t eat it.’
‘So, Kurtis was the intruder by the boat?’
‘He’d spent time hanging around the security gate and managed to get a good look as various residents punched in the code to unlock it.’
‘But his hair…’ I said, my voice reduced to a rasp, ‘I thought it was Aiden.’
‘Apparently, he’s always been a bit of a showman.’ I took my mind back to Miranda’s party again – the floppy tam-o’-shanter I’d smiled at when I met Kurtis. ‘He wore a blond wig to disguise his distinctive hair. He hoped you’d doubt Aiden’s story about not being able to leave the boat. Hoped you’d leave, so he could get to Aiden and make sure he’d never be able to reveal any more information as a witness.’
Soon after, DI Fenway bade his farewell. Karen gave me a weak smile and withdrew after him. In the wake of her dreamy perfume, I silently wished her well in her conquest of him. She certainly didn’t have to worry about any competition from me; the DI and I had ended up rubbing together like two pieces of sandpaper.
Aiden arrived shortly afterwards holding a tiny package.
‘What is it?’ I asked, peeling open the wrapping paper.
He didn’t say a word; watched me find out for myself.
‘Oh, Aiden – it’s lovely.’
It was the musical box, just like the one I’d had as a child.
It had turned into a lifeline between the two us. A lifeline we didn’t need any more.
‘It’s yours,’ he said, sitting carefully on the bed. ‘I don’t know how I can possibly thank you. For everything.’
I was still getting used to the sound of his voice. Each word he uttered continued to feel precious to me. Those mellow tones I’d longed to hear break the silence for what felt like an eternity.
‘What happened to make you leave the boat that day?’ I asked him, ‘what exactly did you find?’
‘Everything came together in my head,’ he said. ‘At first I thought I’d mixed things up in my memory and the zip was on a glove, then I realised what I’d seen was actually drawn on the killer’s skin. I knew I’d heard about someone with that tattoo somewhere. I checked my press cuttings as well as online and found what I was looking for – there was a picture of him with his sister, a short news item after her death. I had his name. I looked him up and found out about his workshop. That’s about it, really. I was worried about you. I thought you might have made the crucial connection around the same time and got there first.’
I took his hand. ‘It was your actions – at the workshop – that saved us all.’
He looked just the way I’d seen him on film; bashful and unassuming – and breathtakingly attractive.
‘Do you happen to know about that police witness – the one who claimed they’d seen you on the towpath when Katarina was left by the canal?’
‘A passer-by gave a description that could have been me, but it was actually a tall woman with blonde hair.’ He lifted a clump of his own hair and shrugged.
‘Why didn’t she come forward? It would have saved so much trouble. You wouldn’t have been arrested.’
‘She didn’t want to get involved. Simple as that. Someone persuaded her to come clean in the end.’
A nurse came to the bedside and suggested it was time I had some rest. Aiden squeezed my hand. I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them, he’d gone.
Chapter 52
Terry arrived not long after the nurse had woken me to change my dressing. As soon as I saw his troubled face, I knew the view I’d had of him for all these years had been entirely lopsided. Terry was far more than a good mate. There was a depth to his character I’d never taken the trouble to see; a warmth, kindness, trustworthiness, selflessness. The list could go on, now I’d had time in my sick bed to reflect properly.
He hovered over me awkwardly, not knowing how to greet me, then reached into his pocket and handed me an iPod.
‘To help you while away the hours during your recovery,’ he said. ‘I’m sure your taste has changed a lot since university days, but there are some old favourites to take you down memory lane.’
‘I can’t believe you remembered what I used to listen to…’ I said, my voice breaking.
‘I paid attention,’ he said simply.
His eyelids flickered when he looked at me, as if I was too bright for him. He hesitated, then reached out his hand and tenderly stroked my cheek. A sprinkle of stars tingled up my spine. All too soon, he drew away. ‘I won’t stay long,’ he said, ‘you must be tired.’
I was about to insist that I should be the judge of that when I spotted Miranda peering over his shoulder. Terry sensed he should leave us alone. I wasn’t sure if he heard my husky voice calling after him, urging him to come back in a while.
Miranda leant forward as if to kiss me, then took a good look at my face instead, mustering a fleeting smile. She straightened up, her shoulders hunched. I wasn’t sure which way things were going to go between us. I couldn’t bear more hostility. I wanted everything to be back to normal, but I didn’t know what normal was any more.
‘I suppose you’ll be champing at the bit to get back to that mental health unit of yours,’ she said with forced brightness.
‘When I’m ready,’ I replied. ‘Thanks for coming. It’s good to see you.’
She squeezed my hand, but didn’t look me in the eye. I noticed hers were bloodshot. ‘You okay?’
‘Just a bad night,’ she said, rubbing them with her knuckles like a child. ‘I’ve seen Simon.’
‘What’s the latest?’
She ran her finger along the shelf above my bed checking it for dust. ‘So-so. Simon’s solicitor thinks he could get six to nine months, if he’s lucky. The lawyer called it counterfeit false teeth.’ She sniggered. ‘Sounds so hilarious. He did it to keep CCAP afloat; did it for us. He’s a good man.’
I didn’t want to argue with her.
‘Did you know?’
‘Of course not! Simon never told me anything about it, but CCAP wouldn’t have survived if he hadn’t managed to find extra money from somewhere. What he did wasn’t harming anyone; he was doing the local dentists a favour. It was a health and safety breach, that’s all.’
‘And Kurtis?’ I nudged.
She looked miserable as she sank down on the chair beside the bed. ‘He did it out of grief for his sister, didn’t he?’
‘I think it started out like that, but he was also angry at the way his art had been overlooked. He was obsessed with his own crazy mission of revenge, killing individuals he thought were responsible for degrading him, as well as the ones who got in his way.’
‘I’m afraid I did give him a false alibi. After Katarina’s death. He said it was to protect someone from getting hurt and I believed him. It’s incredible how you think you know someone.’
I heard her exhale and she grimaced, looking around for something to help her change the subject.
‘He saved our lives, didn’t he?’ she said. ‘That boy you were treating.’
‘Yes, he did.’
‘That was one hell of a karate kick,’ she added. We shared a smile, but she was the first to look away. Her harsh words from last week
still rang loudly inside my head. She didn’t want to go to on holiday with me – ever – and had thought the whole thing, on reflection, had been a stupid idea. Was that the ‘shock’ she had in store for me? Making it clear I was cramping her style so I’d back off and leave her alone? Or was there another shock still to come?
She pulled a bag of salted cashews from her pocket and casually offered me one, as though this was a day like any other.
I shook my head. ‘There’s one thing I haven’t been able to work out,’ I said. ‘I know I never told you myself, so how did you know Aiden had a thing for halloumi cheese?’
‘Ah…’ She wagged her finger at me. ‘I saw your supervision notes when I went into your bag.’
I blinked fast. ‘You looked in my bag?’
‘Yeah, to borrow some money.’ She sniffed. ‘I was going to give it back.’
‘Wait – you rifled through my bag, read my confidential notes about Aiden and pinched some cash.’
‘Yeah, it was just once and only twenty pounds,’ she huffed. Indignant as ever.
I shook my head in despair. I wanted to find something amusing to say to lighten the mood, but before I could get my brain into gear, she patted the bed, stood up and made a vague suggestion that we might meet up ‘sometime’.
‘You’re going?’ I reached out my hand, but she’d already turned away.
‘Got an appointment,’ she said, like a slap in the face.
I closed my eyes until I could no longer hear her clipped footsteps.
We were never going to be the same again – I could tell.
A nurse called my name and I opened my eyes. She was pointing to the foot of my bed. ‘Someone left their shopping,’ she said, lifting up a carrier bag. She brought it alongside me. ‘What do we have here?’