by Jo Jakeman
“God, I didn’t think I could hate him any more than I already do,” I said.
“You and me both.”
“The things I put up with. I was so desperate for another baby that I slept with him even though I knew he was going with other women. You should have seen some of the tramps he—Oh, no offense.”
“None taken, until you said ‘no offense.’”
“Sorry.”
I pulled the air into my chest. My heart was beginning to hammer again, but I slowed my breathing and put my cool hand across my hot forehead.
I looked over at Ruby. Her smile was beginning to worry me. Her eyes were glazed and she looked like she was bordering on mania. She was shaking her head, over and over, as if she couldn’t take in what she was hearing.
There was a bang at the top of the cellar steps, the sound of a key in the lock.
I hid the table leg behind my back and picked up Ruby’s scarf, balling it behind my back, pretending I was still tied up. Phillip came down the stairs lightly, spring stepped, smug, with my mobile phone in his hand.
“How are we, ladies?”
“Pip,” said Ruby. “You’re not thinking straight. You’re ill. It’s—”
He interrupted her. “Weren’t you listening? There is no cancer.”
Ruby was shaking her head. She was struggling to come to terms with what was happening. I felt sorry for her in that moment. At least when people treated me badly and lied to me, I was half expecting it. Ruby had spent so long believing the best of people that, now that she’d applied the brakes, she was skidding out of control.
“No, I know. But this isn’t like y—” Ruby looked at me and I saw her realization that Phillip was like this, to me at least.
“This behavior isn’t normal, Pip. You need some help. Let me help you. Whatever you do, don’t make things worse.”
Phillip stepped past her, ignoring her pleas. “Imogen,” he said, leaning against the wall at the bottom of the step. I slowly took both ends of the scarf in my hands, imagining tying them around his neck.
“You need to come up with a better pass code for your phone. Alistair’s birthday? Really?” He shook his head. “You make this too easy for me. But the job’s done. I’ve sent a text to your mother saying she’s not invited to Sunday lunch tomorrow because of your stomach bug. I hope you don’t mind, but I went into quite graphic detail. And the other one to Rachel.”
My skin tightened at the mention of her name. Had he guessed that Alistair was with her?
“I’ve asked her to tell work that you won’t be in on Monday. Same stomach bug, obviously. Have I missed anyone?
“And as for you two,” he said, looking from Naomi to Ruby. “There’s no one, is there? No friends, no work in your case, Nay. And, well, you, Ruby—you’re the boss, aren’t you? No one’s going to begrudge you taking a day or two off work. And the great thing about this is that even if someone did miss you, they wouldn’t think to look here for you, would they?”
“You can’t keep us down here forever. Think about what you’re doing,” I said.
“Just treating you the same way as you did me. Do unto others . . . Isn’t that the saying? Can’t have you getting to Alistair before me.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Naomi said. “There’s no covering this up.”
The phone in his hand buzzed. He glanced at it casually. His eyes widened and he smiled.
“Well, would you looky here? Heard back from Rachel wanting to know if that means she should keep Alistair for the whole weekend.”
“Don’t, Phillip,” I warned.
“Don’t what?” he answered.
He looked down at me with a smirk.
“So he’s not with a school friend, then? Well played, Imogen. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
He wasn’t close enough for me to be able to get the scarf around his neck or attack him with the table leg. Without Naomi free to back me up, there was no way I could overpower him. My only hope was to reason with him.
“Wait. I can explain,” I said.
“I’d better go get him. Any message?”
“Wait! She won’t give him to you. She knows what you’re like. Let me come with you.”
“Fair point. And one I’m grateful to you for raising. I’d better text her back.”
His eyes were on the screen and he spoke out loud as his thumb and forefinger picked out the letters.
“‘No, thanks, Rach.’ You do call her Rach, don’t you? I want this to sound genuine. ‘No, thanks, Rach. Phil on way 2 yours 2 pick him up.’”
I shifted across the bed toward him. My fingers groped for the piece of wood. I needed to get closer.
“Don’t do this.”
He continued tapping the screen. “‘He’ll be with u in 10 mins. Have Alistair ready. Kiss. Kiss.’ There. Done.” He looked me straight in the eye. “Oh, and stay where you are. I know that you’ve untied yourself. You really don’t want me to go on a road trip with our son in a foul mood, would you? You wouldn’t want me to lose my temper with him.”
“Don’t you dare take him! I will go to the police and I will track you down.”
He held my gaze for a moment longer before laughing.
“Where was that spirit when we were together? I’m going to take some credit for giving you a backbone at last. No need to thank me. It’s been a pleasure.”
He turned and ran up the stairs two at a time. I scrambled after him. By the time I’d reached the bottom, he’d already shut the door. Halfway up, I heard the key turn in the lock. He was in a rush and didn’t bother sliding the bolt across the door. Why would he? The door was locked and no one knew where we were. At the top of the stairs, I threw myself into the door, turning the handle even though I knew it wouldn’t budge.
“Phillip!” I shouted. “Don’t you dare touch my son! Let me out!”
There was silence.
“Phillip!”
I kicked the door and threw my shoulder into it. Though it buckled with the effort, it wouldn’t open. I tried looking through the keyhole, but the key was still in the lock and I couldn’t see anything. At least, I comforted myself, if someone did come into the house, they’d be able to unlock the door. The fact that he hadn’t taken the key with him was our first stroke of luck.
I pulled my hand back and unleashed as much force as I could against the door. It bowed but didn’t give. Again. Again. I kicked at it with my heels; I threw my shoulder into it. My body screamed out in agony but I wouldn’t give up.
“Shit!”
Naomi hopped to the bottom of the steps, balancing on one leg with her free hand against the wall to steady herself.
“What can I do?” Naomi asked.
Ruby was pulling at the radiator, but it had managed to contain Phillip, so it was unlikely to budge.
“Can you get up the stairs?”
“I can try.” Naomi started up the steps.
Naomi got halfway up, grunting with exertion, then turned and sat down, changing tactics and pushing herself up one step at a time.
“Help!” I cried. “Help!” I knew no one would hear us. How could they? It was one of the reasons that it had been such a good place to keep Phillip locked up in the first place.
Naomi and I swapped places and she began hitting at the lock with the heel of her hand. I was about to tell her that it was pointless, that this door was as strong as any door had a right to be, when we heard the clatter of the key falling from the lock on the other side of the door. We looked at each other.
“What was that?” she asked, though her eyes were wide with hope. Hoping that it was what she thought it was.
I put the side of my face on the floor but I couldn’t see anything.
“Turn the light off!”
Naomi struggled upright and flipped the switch. A thin
blade of light cut the door from the floor and, in the middle of the shaft, lay a long, narrow metal key.
“Yes!” My fingers couldn’t fit under the door. The gap was too narrow and the key too far away. I got to my feet, put the light back on, and ran back down the stairs.
“We need something thin and curved to slide under the door to hook the key under. Can you see anything, Ruby?”
I cast about, but there was nothing but blankets, pillows, dust, and gloom.
“There has to be something.”
The key was tantalizingly close and I had to get to it.
“Thin and curved,” Ruby muttered, looking about her.
I watched Naomi try to squeeze her fingers under the door, but there was no way they’d fit. The key, so close, and yet useless unless we could get our hands on it.
I wondered how far Phillip had got by now. Was he at Rachel’s yet? Would his bruised face give her enough of an indication that not everything was as it seemed? I had to pray that she wouldn’t let him take my son.
I sat on the end of the bed, my head in my hands. Think.
Phillip was one step ahead of me and wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted. But I would find a way to stop him. I had to.
Think.
He’d had things his own way for far too long. Ruby, Naomi, and I had let him get away with too much because his displeasure was too hard to bear.
Think.
Even his mother had indulged him for too long, breast-feeding him until he was five.
I leaped to my feet.
“Yes!” I shouted.
“What?” asked Naomi.
Ruby was looking at me hopefully. “Imogen?”
I took my jumper off. It had gone crisp with the drying blood and it scraped my cheek.
“I can’t reach . . . My ribs hurt. Ruby, can you help?” I crouched down by her side.
“What are you doing?” Ruby was leaning away from me.
“Unhook me.”
Ruby undid my bra and I slid it off my shoulders. With my back to her, I pulled my jumper back on, feeling vulnerable as the rough material grazed my chest.
I bit the material at the front of the bra between the pale blue cups. The bow came off easily between my teeth and I spat it to one side and then bit at the bra again. My jaw ached but I continued to bite and tug at the delicate material until a small hole began to appear.
“Wait. Here it comes.”
I pushed at the metal and it poked at the thinning fabric. As I pushed again, though my fingers slipped, the wire broke the surface. I took the end of it in my teeth and the underwire from my bra slid out.
“Thin and curved,” I said.
I ran up the stairs and pushed Naomi to one side.
“Please, please, please,” I murmured.
I pushed the underwire under the door while keeping hold of one end. At first it moved the key to one side but failed to bring it any closer. I took a deep breath to steady myself. The gap at the bottom of the door was so narrow it was difficult to see anything other than a shadow.
I tried again, felt the wire touch something heavy, but it didn’t move. I readjusted my grip on the wire and pulled a little. The key moved slowly at first, then slid with ease. As the end of the key became visible under the door, I let go of the wire and pulled at it.
The circular head of the key was thicker than the body and it got stuck, but I shook, wriggled, and pulled on it until I worked it free. In my haste, I fumbled to get it into the lock. I shouted with exasperation and took a deep breath.
This time the key slid into the lock and it opened. We burst free, the door slamming backward against the wall. I crawled into the hallway and lay on the cool tiles.
The sweet, pure air smelled like the beach after a cloudburst. The late-afternoon light had never been so beautiful. I took in as much air as my lungs would let me until my chest ached and I was light-headed. I had no time to gather my thoughts. I ran into the kitchen and out again. Searching. Panicking.
“The keys. The keys. I don’t know where he’s put the—”
I spotted them on the shelf in the hallway and ran back to unlock Naomi. She groaned with pleasure as the cuffs sprang open first on her wrist, then on her ankle.
“Do Ruby,” I said, and left the other key with her. The back door was open and there was no sign of Phillip, my phone, or—I checked the driveway—my car.
“Naomi, I need your car. Where are your keys?”
“In my jacket. I’ll come with you. Have you called Rachel?” she asked urgently.
“He’s taken my phone.”
“Use mine,” she called.
“I can’t remember the number. Zero-seven-eight-eight—No, zero-seven-seven . . . Shit. I need to get to her house. It’s only ten minutes away.”
“Does Phil know where she lives?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so, but it wouldn’t take him long to find out from the police database.”
Ruby appeared as we flung open the front door.
“Call the police,” I said. “Tell them what’s happened—”
“But,” Naomi cut in, “he’ll tell them we locked him up.”
“This is about my son! You can blame it all on me. I don’t care!”
Ruby was looking about her, dazed. “The dogs. Where are the dogs? Don’t tell me he’s done it again!”
It hadn’t occurred to me before, but the dogs hadn’t made a sound since Phillip had escaped the cellar. They were long gone.
“I don’t know. Ruby, we’ve got to go. Just call the police!”
We ran out of the house—shoeless, covered in blood, and desperately hoping that we weren’t too late.
CHAPTER 19
10 days before the funeral
“I’ve found a mobile number, but it’s a work one.”
I was in the passenger seat of Naomi’s car searching the Internet for Rachel’s details.
“Call it!” Naomi said.
A car sounded its horn as Naomi passed it on the inside lane and pushed in front. Lights flashed in the rearview mirror and she pushed the accelerator as far down as it would go. The engine was slow to respond.
“Straight to voice mail. She’ll have it switched off.”
“Leave a message,” Naomi said.
I listened to Rachel’s voice in my ear. “Hello, you’ve reached Rachel Scott. Sorry I can’t take your call right now . . .”
I was picturing her unable to answer her phone because she was handing Alistair over to Phillip, packing him off with a cheery wave. The high-pitched beep of the voice mail brought me to my senses.
“Rachel, hi—it’s me, Imogen. Phillip’s on his way to get Alistair. You mustn’t let him take him. Do whatever you have to do. Call the police. Just—just don’t let him take him. Please! Call me back on this number when you get this message.” I looked at Naomi. “Number,” I said to her.
I repeated her number, digit by digit, into the phone and then said, “We’re on our way to your house now. We’ll be with you in five minutes. Call me back.”
There were brake lights ahead of us reaching into the distance like a landing strip.
“Take this turn,” I said.
I looked at the clock; it was almost four. Rachel and Alistair were probably on their way back from the movies. Rachel would be speeding slightly to get back in time to meet Phillip, thinking she was doing me a favor. Alistair would be excited to see his dad.
Naomi swerved off the highway and onto the off-ramp. The traffic was just as bad leading up to the roundabout and I swore as we joined the end of the queue staring at the red light, willing it to change.
Naomi put her hand on my arm. “It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll get to him. I’m not being funny, but there’s no way Phil wants to take Alistair away. He wouldn’t know wha
t to do with him.”
“You don’t get it,” I snapped. “If he really wanted to spend time with him, I wouldn’t be so scared. Right now, his hate for me is stronger than his love for Alistair. Something’s changed. Look at what he did to us in the cellar. He’s crossed a line and it’s anyone’s guess what he’s going to do now. We’ve all underestimated him and I can’t make that mistake again. He knows the worst thing that could happen to me is to lose my son.”
The light changed but the cars ahead of us seemed slow to respond. They trickled onto the roundabout. As we approached the light, it changed to amber. As if reading my mind, Naomi accelerated and turned a hard left. I caught a glimpse of red light as we passed.
We sped through the country lanes. I gripped onto my seat but didn’t ask her to slow down. We turned in to Arnold Crescent, smacking the curb hard and causing us to leave our seats for an instant.
I scanned the vehicles parked in the neighborhood lot, whipping my head from side to side. My car wasn’t here. Neither was Phillip. Perhaps he’d already left; perhaps he hadn’t found her address yet. For the first time in my life, I was thankful I’d left the car with an empty tank. Hopefully the car had run out of petrol and left him stranded.
The street was stiff with middle-class respectability. Trimmed, neat houses and glinting cars sat on either side of the tree-lined road.
“Here. This one on the right.” I pointed to the house and undid my seat belt as Naomi pulled up outside Rachel’s at a rush, bumping the car onto the sidewalk. I ran up the steps and struck at the door.
“Rach? Rachel!”
I looked through the letter box into the empty hallway.
“Alistair!”
I went over to the window and looked in. There was nothing out of the ordinary. No signs of a scuffle. No signs of life. Naomi ran up behind me.
“Anything?”
I looked about me wildly. I shook my head.
“Nothing.”
A sudden sound behind us, a crack, had me spinning around. I was on edge, expecting an attack at any moment. I instinctively ducked, but it was only Naomi’s car rolling backward into a shiny black Corsa.