by R. J. Parker
But she’d scrupulously filled two albums with Maisie’s first couple of years. She considered the crayon drawing of Maisie’s in the kitchen. Would she find copies of every photo inside? She reached up to the top shelf, but her hand hesitated an inch from the spine of the first album. Lily didn’t want to look but knew she had to.
She took the heavy album down, filled her lungs and opened it. The first photo was identical to the one in her album and was a picture of Maisie lying on her back in her crib when she was only a few days old. But she’d had that one printed on glossy photo paper and this was dull. She put her finger on the plastic sheet covering it and skimmed it aside. She peeled the photo from its sticky backing page and saw how flimsy it was. Looked like another photocopy.
She turned the next pages depicting Maisie’s infancy and found more of the same. But the most disturbing notion was that someone must have taken her real album and removed each separate photo, copied it and then put it back. When had that been done? How long had they been walking in and out of her home, taking what they wanted and then replacing it without her noticing? Lily racked her brains, tried to recall any significant moments when something had vanished. But the truth was her life was so busy she probably wouldn’t have noticed if anything had gone astray.
She scanned the books again. Had somebody stood in her bedroom, taken a photo of her shelves and then meticulously recreated every book she’d read since she was a teenager? She shuddered.
‘Why are you looking at those?’
Lily glanced over to where Maisie was sitting cross-legged at the head of the bed. ‘Just reminding myself how big you’ve got.’ She tried to back up the excuse with a smile and a shake of the head, but her expression froze when she turned the next page.
‘What’s wrong?’ Maisie instantly picked up on her alarm and put aside her nail varnish.
Lily shook her head. ‘Nothing … just …’ But she couldn’t conceal her shock.
The next page contained photos from Maisie’s first birthday party. They’d had a small gathering that included Julie Medlocke and her boys, Paulette and a few of their new neighbours.
Mr Sargeant hadn’t attended but had left a bottle of red wine on the doorstep with a card and his best wishes. It had been a gorgeous June day and it had given them an excuse to use the walled garden. Ewan had laid out the folding chairs and been on his best behaviour. He’d shown Julie’s boys how to rugby tackle. Maisie had woken up crying in what was then the nursery and Lily had put her in the pushchair and taken her out to the garden. Everyone had held and made a fuss of her and then Lily had put Maisie back in the chair with the hood up to protect her from the heat. That was when she’d taken the photos and Ewan had said how good they were.
But the photos in the album weren’t those.
‘What have you got there?’
Lily hadn’t noticed Maisie climb off the bed. Her eyes were still fixed on the two photos before her.
‘Let me see.’
Lily looked down to see Maisie gazing up at her. ‘I said, it’s just the photos …’
‘Let me see then.’
Lily showed her and she looked bored. ‘Oh, those again.’ Maisie turned away, disinterested, and returned to the bed.
Lily flipped to the next page where there were more of the same. Photos of Maisie in her chair with a subtle difference that her daughter hadn’t noticed. The pictures she’d put in the album were ones she’d taken with her camera. It was an old Nikon she’d had for years that she’d been determined to use because it would make her develop photos and get prints done of Maisie. But in these images Lily was in shot, peering at her baby through her camera.
Who had taken them? Ewan certainly hadn’t and nor had Paulette. In fact, she couldn’t recall anyone else taking pictures that day. None that had been shared with her anyway. Until that moment she’d thought that only she’d recorded the occasion. But someone else clearly had.
Chapter 19
Who else had been there? She studied each photo. They appeared to be captured by someone who had stood right beside her, but the angle was slightly elevated. Could it have been shot from a distance? Had a zoom lens been used or had the photographer actually been at the party? Ewan definitely wasn’t responsible. He’d been too busy with the guests and the Pimm’s. That’s right. The tennis had been on and he’d been in and out of the lounge to check on the score. Paulette didn’t take any snaps and Lily was sure Julie Medlocke hadn’t. She’d spent the whole day trying to corral the twins.
Which neighbours had been there? Mrs Unwin, the elderly lady who lived opposite, had sat in her chair and refused everything but a cup of tea. She’d been in a wheelchair even then. Arthritis in her legs. She hadn’t had a camera.
Why not just replicate Lily’s photos of Maisie? This was a different image that had been deliberately included. Was it an illustration of just how long she’d been watched? A cold current trickled upwards from the nape of her neck. Lily turned more of the pages. The following pictures were, again, duplicates of hers. No subtle shift of angle in any of them.
Lily took the second album down and opened it. Filling her chest, she rapidly flicked through it. Maisie sitting in her highchair in the kitchen; Maisie asleep with Ewan in bed; Maisie stroking Mr Gingerbread; Maisie sitting naked in the kitchen sink. She reached the final pages depicting Maisie’s second Christmas. Lily immediately acknowledged how one of the photos differed from the ones she’d taken.
They’d been at the German Christmas market and Ewan had wanted a photo of Maisie on Santa’s lap. Lily hadn’t been sure. She’d only been a year and a half but Ewan had said it would be great to show her the snap when she was old enough to know who he was. That maybe she wouldn’t be nervous of sitting on his lap if they could show her she’d already done it. But Lily had panicked when he’d lifted Maisie from her and handed her over to a complete stranger in a costume. She’d taken the photo as quickly as she could and been relieved to get her daughter back.
But here she was in shot again, pointing her camera at Maisie being held gingerly by Santa while a beaming Ewan stood off to the side. She was positive nobody else had been with them. Somebody had taken this photo the same time as her. They must have been following them as they wheeled Maisie through the market. How many occasions had they been monitored and photographed and been completely oblivious to their watcher’s presence?
Lily’s arms trembled but it wasn’t anything to do with the weight of the album. She could see the anxiety in her expression and remembered how she desperately wanted to snap the picture and have Maisie returned. If only she’d noticed who was standing on her left-hand side …
Lily’s eyes were drawn to the area behind Ewan. It was the outside of Santa’s workshop and there was a plastic window of toys behind him. She squinted at the reflection in the Perspex pane and could vaguely make out the crowd that the photographer would have been amongst. How close had they been standing?
Lily peeled the plastic page off the photo so she could study the reflection more closely. But there was no detail and all she could make out was the dark outlines of people’s heads she assumed were other parents waiting in line.
‘I want to go to bed now,’ Maisie stated.
Lily looked up from the album. Her daughter was stacking pillows.
‘It’s not even lunchtime.’ She closed it but took it to the mattress with her.
‘I know. But maybe if we both go to sleep, we’ll wake up back at home.’
Lily got on the bed beside her. ‘I really wish that would happen too.’
Maisie lay down on the pillows, pulled the duvet over herself and shut her eyes tight.
‘But it might not.’
‘We have to try though.’
Lily put her hand on her cheek. It was cold. ‘We’ll try later.’
‘I want to go now. I don’t want to be here any longer.’
‘Nor do I. But you’re not sleepy. You won’t drop off yet.’
‘I wi
ll. And if we can fall asleep at home and wake up here it might work the other way around.’
Lily wanted to believe that. But having just realised how long her life had been under scrutiny she was positive that the years that had led to this moment meant that the place they found themselves in was to be their home for longer than either of them wanted. She got under the duvet as well and pressed her body to her daughter’s.
‘Just fall asleep,’ Maisie said without opening her eyes. ‘You’ll see.’
‘OK. Let’s try.’ But she wasn’t about to let her guard down. She gripped the knife through her robe pocket.
Maisie started making false snoring noises.
Lily’s position allowed her to keep an eye on the camera over the door. She slid her phone out of her pocket and placed it gently on top of the duvet cover. No reception and the app showed all the security cameras at home were still black. What was he doing there, if he was actually there? They still had no choice but to wait for his call.
Could she cover the cameras while they tried to escape? But escape how? Whoever he was, he’d had time to second guess every move she’d make.
‘You’re not trying.’ Maisie had her eyes open again.
‘I will. I promise.’ Lily looked around for the impostor cat. Was it in the room with them?
‘Shut them tight.’ Maisie put her cold fingers against Lily’s eyelids.
‘OK, OK.’ Lily closed hers. After a few moments she opened them again, but Maisie was watching her.
‘Go to sleep.’ Her daughter frowned hard.
Lily obeyed.
She listened to her daughter’s breathing and the faraway sound of the wind blowing through the upper floors of the building and tried to identify any other noises behind it. Maybe somebody was only feet away from them, just the other side of the wall.
‘Keep them closed.’ Maisie sounded as if she really was about to drop off.
‘OK.’ Lily squeezed her eyelashes. Was he watching them now? Lily decided to give them ten minutes, let Maisie realise for herself that they weren’t about to wake up safe at home. It would be a tough lesson, but she would be waiting to comfort her.
They had to eat, had to keep themselves healthy like he’d requested. But she wanted him to be in no doubt she’d do anything to defend Maisie. Lily sincerely hoped he saw her pocket the knife and that he knew she was deadly serious about using it. If he tried to get inside, he’d know that for sure.
Chapter 20
Maisie fell properly asleep and Lily watched her oblivious face, dreading the moment she opened her eyes again.
Less than five minutes later she did. She fixed her gaze on her mother and then looked around them. The expectation drained out of her expression as she acknowledged they were still in the same room.
‘You OK?’
Anger registered on her daughter’s face. ‘Did you fall asleep?’
‘Yes, I’ve just woken up,’ she lied.
‘Promise?’ Maisie asked sceptically.
Lily was about to answer but her mouth froze.
A soft tapping sound.
‘We have to try again—’ Maisie insisted.
‘Ssshhh.’ Lily raised her head from the pillow and held up her hand.
‘What is it?’
‘Quiet.’
Maisie lifted her head from her pillow too. ‘I can’t hear anything.’
‘Listen.’ Lily waited. Her circulation loud in her head. Was that what she’d heard? There was nothing now.
But a few seconds later it came again. A soft tapping noise. Six in a row.
‘I can hear it too.’ Maisie sat up.
Where was it coming from? Lily put her fingers on her daughter’s arm to restrain her. Was it in the room?
More taps. And they didn’t sound like they were against any of the walls around them.
‘It’s out there,’ Maisie whispered and pointed to the sealed door that led into the hallway.
Was somebody trying to get their attention? Was somebody already inside? ‘Stay here,’ Lily whispered too.
Maisie shook her head exaggeratedly. ‘I’m coming.’
‘Don’t move from this bed.’ Lily swung her legs off it and placed her socked feet on the carpeted floor.
Maisie did so as well, dropping silently onto her side.
‘Get back on there. I won’t tell you twice,’ Lily hissed.
More tapping turned both their heads to the door.
‘I’m going to look.’ She slid her hand in her pocket and felt the blade of the paring knife.
Maisie looked terrified. ‘Don’t go.’
‘I have to.’
Maisie suddenly ran from her side of the bed to Lily’s and clutched her leg. ‘Stay here.’
Lily put her palm on her warm head. ‘I’m just going to take a peek and then I’m coming right back.’
‘It’s the scary man.’
She could feel her daughter trembling against her. ‘I won’t be long.’
Maisie shook her head once.
‘I promise I’ll come back.’ But what if he was waiting for her out there? What if he attacked her or subdued her? Maisie would be left alone.
Tap, tap.
Both their attention shifted to the door again.
Lily figured that if he’d really wanted to harm them, he could have done so very easily when he’d relocated them unconscious to their prison. But she still wondered if there was just one man behind their ordeal. Was there another watching them who was getting bored and now thought he’d have some fun tormenting them, or was this all part of the plan?
Maisie dug her nails into Lily’s leg.
Tap.
Was the sound metallic? Lily bent to Maisie. ‘You can walk me to the door, but when I go through it, you’re to hide under the bed.’
Maisie looked as if she were in pain, her mouth askew as tears glistened in her eyes.
‘Do it. Then count to twenty in your head. When you get to twenty, I’ll be back again.’
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Lily stood abruptly, so Maisie would have to let go, and then took four paces so she was standing in front of the door. She turned back to Maisie who was clutching her hands. She could tell her daughter was about to release a sob. She put her finger to her lips. ‘Don’t.’
Maisie’s chest pumped but she kept her lips sealed.
‘Twenty seconds.’ Lily put her fingers on the handle. She didn’t want to delay the moment any longer. She turned the handle, opened the door just wide enough for her body and slipped through.
She looked first to the sealed front and lounge doors. Nobody there. Her attention darted the other way to the open kitchen door. No sign of anyone there either. At least, not that she could see from her vantage point. Maisie was peering at the crack. She pushed the door quickly shut behind her. ‘Hide.’ She waited. Nothing. ‘Maisie,’ she whispered sharply.
Maisie’s soft footfalls headed back to the bed.
Lily returned her attention to the open kitchen doorway, but she didn’t take another step forward. She waited, body pumping, and took out the knife.
The irregular tapping came again a few moments later. It was definitely coming from the kitchen. Lily edged along the hallway and paused at the threshold.
The kitchen was empty. She released half a breath. Had it been the water pipes? She didn’t move from her position at the doorway. Maybe this was a test and their reactions were being monitored. She imagined her daughter under the bed, counting. She’d reach twenty soon.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
Lily’s eyes shot to the window. Was that coming from outside? She crossed the floor to the kitchen sink and looked through the dirty pane at the rubble below.
Her pupils darted about the bricks and twisted metal until they located a movement to the right-hand side of it.
Somebody was standing there.
Chapter 21
The tanned, male figure was wearing a dark blue baseball cap, a dirty white shirt
rolled up at the sleeves, a pair of tight black jeans and white trainers. He was standing beneath a stack of rusted white goods and was attempting to extract a tall freezer from beneath the two washing machines above it. He’d managed to tip the freezer forward so half of its top was exposed but the weight above was holding it in place. He had a sledgehammer in his hand and was trying to bash the washing machine restraining it back far enough so he could pull it out.
Lily immediately started banging on the window. ‘Help! Help!’
But her fists only made dull thuds on the reinforced glass.
She beat it harder. ‘Up here! Help!’
The figure couldn’t hear. He swung the sledgehammer again at the washing machine and its blows drowned out hers.
‘Who’s there?’
Lily swung round to find Maisie standing behind her. ‘I told you to stay in the bedroom.’ But it didn’t matter now. She rushed to the tool drawer and grabbed the hammer.
Maisie climbed up onto the sink. ‘Who are you shouting at?’ But then she spotted him. ‘Hey!’ She pounded her small fist on the window.
‘Stand clear of the glass.’ Lily hefted the hammer.
Maisie shifted herself back.
‘Right back.’
Maisie pressed herself up against the wall to the right of the sink.
Lily could see the figure was still swinging his sledgehammer.
Tap, tap, tap, tap. Its heavy percussion on the housing of the washing machine barely filtered through to them.
The figure stopped to catch his breath, and Lily immediately swung her hammer at the pane. It struck the window with a solid ‘thunk’ and it resonated painfully in her arm.
The figure didn’t turn. He still hadn’t heard. He took off his baseball cap to reveal a shaved head and ran his palm over his scalp.
Lily could make out his features. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and had a long beard dangling off his chin.
Maisie examined the vague white graze the hammerhead had left on the thick glass. ‘Do it again!’
The figure put his baseball cap back on.
Lily swung the hammer. Once, twice, three times. Each smash trembling her whole frame but only making a damp impact against the window.