by H Elliston
A tear came to my eye for him. All John’s threats to spill the truth to Sarah, his breaking into my home to frighten me into leaving... In the end, he’d come good and died saving Nicola. “I’m glad he saved you.” I had to light a mental candle for him, for that selfless, brave act.
“We can’t stand here,” she whispered. “They might get suspicious.” She gestured to the hall and motioned for me to follow. “Don’t look around for the cameras, and try to act normal.”
I followed her, trying not to let my eyes dart to every wall in search.
“I was trying to protect us by doing what they asked. Trying to save our lives. I still am!” She looked at me for a response.
I pressed my lips into a half smile.
She kept her voice at a whisper. “Find me a way out of this mess without anyone else getting hurt, Christa, and I’ll grab it by the balls.” Along the way, she picked up two jackets and handed me one. “They know about the cove at the back of this cupboard so we can’t sneak in there.”
“How could we not have realised this was going on? We have to shut them down.”
“Shush. Keep your voice down. They must earn a shit load of cash from their website. They’ll not let us wreck it without a fight.”
I tugged her to a stop. “So what do we do?”
Her fearful look intensified. “Hush. Let’s move outside so we can talk.”
“But Sarah!”
“That’s why we’re going outside. If Sarah overhears she’ll be hysterical.”
I chewed my lip in thought. What if the men burst in and grabbed her while I was outside? I moved to the front door to ensure it was locked, then followed Nicola to the patio doors in the kitchen. “Let’s be quick. I daren’t leave Sarah for long. Not now.”
Nicola unlocked the door and led me outdoors into the biting chill of winter twilight where our breath made white plumes on hitting the air. “We have to change this lock. They have a key.”
A key? I was meant to change it yesterday, and boy, did I wish I had.
She dashed to a corner in the garden and returned with two garden shovels in hand. “Shift the snow off the patio. For cover. Just in case.”
I took a shovel from her.
Nicola stared at my hands, prompting me into action. “Come on. Please. Look busy.”
“Okay, okay.” I scraped a patch of snow into the bushes.
As I worked, I glanced at Nicola’s increasingly paranoid expression; watery, flickering eyes, flushed cheeks. She was barely holding it together. Why hadn’t I picked up on that? I thought she was just suffering from a hangover.
“We can’t do anything that rouses suspicion,” she whispered, her head bowed. “One wrong move and they could... Just keep shovelling in case they’re watching, or it could be one of us on that... that sledge.”
We were under surveillance outdoors, too? Oh, crap. “Is there a camera in the garden?”
She gave me a subtle nod. “The man who attacked me left a tablet computer in the kitchen. When John arrived, he found it, and saw the other men approaching the house on the web feed before I actually saw them through the patio doors.”
My heart softened for her again. “I love you and I’m sorry for shouting,” I said in a hushed voice. The thought of people watching Sarah bathing and dressing was almost paralyzing. “What’s up with your cheek? Did they hit your face?”
“Got a tooth knocked out last night.”
“No way. Which?”
“A back one. I can’t show you or they’ll definitely know I’ve told you what’s going on.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Like a bitch. I can barely eat.” Hell-bent on maintaining our cover, Nicola shovelled snow off the ground until she got to bare concrete. “Anyway, we need to discuss what to...” She paused and bent to pick something up from the piled up snow.
“What have you found?” I asked.
“A receipt.” She pursed her lips, unfolding the soggy slip of paper. “It’s from Sally’s diner, soggy and not all of it’s readable. Ink’s run a bit but...”
“The diner where Amanda works? The one on the outskirts of town?”
“Yes.” She glanced at me. “This receipt is from a couple of days ago. You been there recently?”
“Not for ages. You?”
“Two weeks ago - keep shovelling the snow - that’s where I met Dave. You know, the guy I went on a date with last weekend. I was on the phone with him when they attacked me.”
“Really? And he didn’t phone the police?”
She shrugged. “I lied about where I was. Didn’t want him to think I was... Never mind. I feel so stupid now.”
“So why is this receipt here?”
“More importantly, who dropped it?”
“John?” I shivered as my murdered husband’s name left my throat. “He grabs lunch there sometimes if he’s over on that side of town.”
“Possibly. Or one of my attackers. It’s a large order. Four flat whites, one... tea or...? I can’t read the next bit, it’s too smudged. Oh, and chicken sandwiches, and a BLT, extra crispy I think it says.”
“We should ask Amanda,” I suggested. “If it was John’s order, she’d remember. Knowing her, she’d have spit into his drink.”
Nicola stuffed the receipt into her pocket. She glanced around, then signalled deeper into the back garden, into darkness. “Quick. Over here.”
She leaned the garden tools against the wall, then corralled me across the lawn to a large leaf-less tree situated amid a tangle of frosted foliage. We were safely away from the light spilling from the kitchen.
“I’m sorry, but I really need one.” Nicola pulled a cigarette out and patted her pockets. “Damn. Where’s my lighter?”
Bundled together under the tree, with this news ripe in my head, I stared up at my home. It looked so different now, had an ominous slant to it.
Even if a camera was pointed at us here, the shadows would conceal us. I was glad to be away from the house, the horror. It gave a moment of respite. But I’d have to go back. Soon. Sarah was inside. I gasped. Sweet Jesus. I hoped she hadn’t got out of bed to undress.
Nicola located her lighter, lit up and took a couple of deep drags. “Ooh, that’s better.”
We stood near the edge of the garden, beneath white-capped tree limbs, with frozen roots, stones and uneven soil beneath my feet. The tree seemed lifeless and lost in time and stripped without its jacket of leaves. A bit like how I felt right now.
But we were invisible here in the spiky shadows. Hopefully.
“I’ve been trying to think of a way to screw these guys over,” Nicola said, a ghostly cloud of cigarette smoke around her. “I just can’t come up with anything.”
My fingers stiffened in the cold. I cupped my hands together and blew warm breath into them. “How will they know we’ve phoned the cops?”
“Trust me,” Nicola said with a shiver. “They’ll know, or at least figure it out.”
“Does the website have sound? Are there microphones in the house.”
“Erm... I don’t think so. But I could be wrong. So be careful what you say in the house, and on the phone.”
Nicola was clearly terrified that those guys might even overhear our phone calls for help. Perhaps they were bugged. I had to trust that her fears carried weight. “Okay, Nic. So phone calls are out. We could text, be discreet.”
“I guarantee they’ll be monitoring us. Closely. We’re safe so long as we behave as normal.”
“Texting under a duvet is not necessarily abnormal.”
“But the cops showing up twice in one day is. You’re willing to take that risk after what they did to John?”
I made a noncommittal hum while mulling it over. Perhaps she was right. “Fair point.”
A relieved sigh escaped Nicola.
If the men noticed a dramatic change in our behaviour, there’d piece it together. But then my mind shot to Sarah. No way could I let her stay in this house, nor did I want her out of
my sight. Perhaps we could all disappear to a hotel... or I could get Brian to pick Sarah up and whisk her off to somewhere safe. He may have shit on me from a great height, but he’d always have time for Sarah.
“We need to decide what to do,” Nicola said. “They’ll wonder what we’re doing under here.”
“Just a minute.” I hooked her arm. Something didn’t add up about last night. “So those men thought this house would be empty yesterday evening?”
“Yes,” she answered. “That’s what I heard one of them say.”
“How?”
Nicola touched my shoulder. “It’s your birthday. Besides, like I said, they have eyes everywhere.”
“Then why didn’t they see you come back into the house?”
“Maybe they were already on their way. I don’t know, all right? I don’t have all the answers.” She drew on her cigarette again.
“I’m sorry.”
“What I do know is, they’ve threatened, me, you, Sarah and our families. If we breathe a word... Look, the police won’t be able to guard everyone we care about. I’ve already thought about this. While we’re talking to the cops, those bastards could be on their way to hurt our families. I’m not willing to risk even one person slipping through the net. Are you?”
I shook my head. Absolutely not. What to do? Stalemate.
It may not have been the most thrilling of lives, but it was mine and I wanted it back, without anyone else getting hurt. I so ached to pull this voyeur ring down on the unscrupulous heads of those running it, but right now... “Then we ensure our families are safe first and foremost. Drive round, pick everyone up, take them to a neutral place, then phone the police. Agreed?”
Nicola’s lips twisted with uncertainty. “I’m not even sure my dad will be home from work yet. He’d have to drive to meet us. And my gran’s in a nursing home. But, wait. Those men will see us leaving.”
“If those men cotton on to our plan, how long do you reckon we’d have before they come after us?”
She dropped her cigarette and ground it with her heel. “Yesterday, that guy phoned someone from the kitchen and told them to come round.”
“And?”
“Bear in mind I had been knocked out, so it’s hazy, but...
“Go on,” I prompted, rubbing my throbbing temples, it was like I had brain freeze behind my eyes.
“I reckon it took maybe twenty of thirty minutes until the other guys showed up.”
I shuddered. Crikey. We’d have to drive like Formula One racers and... oh, hell... the snow! “We have to try. Come on. We’ll take both cars and meet up at...” I twisted my lips in thought. “What about that hotel on the north road out of town? Near the petrol station.”
Nicola rubbed a hand across her forehead. “Okay. I’m in. But I hope to God you know what you’re doing, Christa. Cos if we fuck this up, we’re as good as dead.”
CHAPTER 23
CLAIRE
Claire had waited until the police finished questioning Brian, then offered him a lift home.
As she pulled her car to a stop behind the petrol station, it chilled her heart to see Brian so down, confused and stunned. The last couple of days had been such a mess. And her heart ached for Brian. If she could just play the nice, caring, and doting girlfriend, he’d see the error of his ways and would fall into bed with her. Sex had a way of smoothing over the sharpest of edges – at least temporarily – and Brian surely needed a smooth-out as much as Claire did.
“Won’t be long. Want anything?” Brian pinched his suit jacket together over his chest, ready for the cold.
“Get me a diet coke?”
“Sure.” Brian hopped out of Claire’s car and dashed across the snow into the station.
Claire opened the glove compartment, suddenly worried she had forgotten to switch Brian’s mobile off. The screen was black. Phew. As she closed the glove compartment, her own mobile started barking from in her coat pocket; the ringtone for her brother. She answered it. “Hi.”
“Hey. Where are you?” Dale asked.
“At a petrol station. I’ve just left the cop station, and I’m driving Brian home.”
“Brian?”
“Yep. The one and only.” Claire paused. Would Dale confess? The stunt with John had his name written all over it. She didn’t want to believe Dale had done it, but in her rolling gut, she knew.
“S-s-so... ummm...” Dale stuttered, perhaps sensing Claire’s dark suspicion. “We’ve had a couple of orders come in. Check your emails. Some guy wants one of those red little lingerie pieces and wine sent over to a girl on Harper Street. Package it up nice in one of those gift baskets.”
“Sure,” Claire said. “But I’m kinda busy.”
“Get it done as soon as you get home. And put a note in with that one. Something that’ll make her want to try it on and prance around in it. I know you’ll come up with a good line. We need to keep our audience happy, right?“
“Sure do.”
“Your idea for viewers paying us to send gift baskets is really taking off. Good little earner.”
Claire drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and drew a breath of courage. It was clear that Dale wasn’t going to confess without a push. “Was it you?”
“Huh?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Well, was it?”
“How’s lover boy holding out?” Dale asked.
Claire sighed. Typical Dale, avoid giving a straight answer. “They’ve kept his car. Forensics will be going over every inch of it. And they’ve been questioning Brian.”
“As they should. Glad to hear the cops are doing what they get paid for.”
“I don’t want them to lock you up again.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“This isn’t what I had in mind, Dale.” Claire glanced toward the station. Brian would be back any minute. “I thought you were just gonna mess with Brian’s life, a little. I’m really not happy with you right now. Why on earth did you do that to John?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Sure you don’t. He was already dead, right? Did you kill him?”
Dale cleared his throat. “Where are you taking Brian?”
“He wants to go home.”
Dale hummed. “I guess it would look suspicious if he raced round to her place, I mean, given what just happened. News is spreading like a virus that he’d done it so Christa and him could be together. That’s what folks are saying.”
Huh. I wonder who gave them that impression? “Do the others know what happened?” Claire closed her lips, giving her brother a chance to elaborate on the situation. He didn’t. Then Brian popped round the corner, heading back to the car. “Look, I’ve gotta go. I’ll phone you to talk about this later. Just don’t do anything else that stupid.”
“Get that lingerie delivered today, Rachel.”
“Claire. Call me Claire. I’m sick of telling you.”
“You’ll always be my little sister Rachel, but okay, Claire it is. And as for today, well... no harm in taking advantage of the situation right, sis? Worm your way back in.”
Claire said nothing, just rolled her eyes in disappointment at her brother’s brutal act born out of sibling love.
“Have you changed your mind about wanting him back?”
“What do you think?” She hung up.
Brian opened the passenger door and sat down.
“Okay?” she asked.
“Yes.” He handed her a bottle of Coke. Their fingers brushed slightly and Claire revelled at the contact. “Thanks for waiting and driving me home, Claire.”
“No problem. I’d hardly leave you stranded at the cop shop.”
He smiled.
Great! Is he softening to me? “If there’s anything I can do to help, just say the word.”
Brian smiled again, a radiant yet sad smile.
A rush of heat throbbed through her as he made eye contact.
Brian unscrewed the bottle cap of his drink and took
a quick sip. “It’s been one gruelling day. I need a shower and to find my damn phone.”
Claire started the car and inched forward to the main road. She racked her brain for a way to convince Brian that he would want her company beyond the time it would take to drive him home.
CHAPTER 24
CHRISTA
“Yes, I did say I’d bloody throttle him, but it wasn’t meant literally!”
“Calm down, Miss Silverlock,” Detective Phillips said to me over my mobile phone. “I’m just doing my job. See to your daughter and we’ll speak in a few hours.”
I ended the call, shocked that I’d been so uncharacteristically rude. Oh, God, what must he think of me? His prying had put me on edge so much that everything I’d said to him came out snappy and wrong. But Nicola’s words about the men threatening to hurt our families were engraved in my mind and prevented me from opening up.
Nicola emerged from the hall into the kitchen.
Chewing my fingernails, I faced her.
“Can’t find my old mobile anywhere.” She pouted and glanced around. “Mind you, the sim card might not even fit, or work anymore. Have you got a spare phone?” She stopped walking and stared at me. “What is it?
“A detective just phoned. He wants to meet, to talk to me.”
“No way!”
The shock of the call and the day caught up to me. I cried.
Nicola rushed over and flung her arms around me.
“He was good.” I sobbed on her shoulder. “Very slick with his questions. And God! He’s got one of those really authoritative voices, it scared the crap out of me. He kept steering things back to Brian, our relationship, details of my divorce.”
Nicola gasped.
I pulled away and wiped my eyes. “Lots of awkward pauses. Jeez. I swear he was trying to trick me into saying stuff. Says there’s rumours being spread... not good ones. And they found John’s car and mobile phone and heard that voicemail I’d left him.”
She frowned
“Apparently I’d said, ‘drag Sarah into it and I’ll bloody throttle you.’” The words seemed to scrape my throat.