by Helen Phifer
‘Haven’t you found Mattie?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Well then, you need to ring the police. You put a car outside my house because you were worried about our safety, and now I’m worried about yours. Don’t you think you should call this in?’
‘I will.’
Lucy put the phone down and looked at the mess. Then she dialled her mobile number and waited for it to connect. Maybe it was hidden somewhere in here. It began to ring out on the line, but she also heard the faint, annoying ring tone coming from somewhere downstairs.
Leaving the house phone off the hook, she ran downstairs, following the sound. As she went into the living room and turned on the light, she lifted her hand to her mouth. This room was a mess, too. All her photographs had been smashed to pieces on the floor.
Her phone was ringing from the kitchen. She sprinted in there to see it vibrating away in the middle of the breakfast bar. She definitely hadn’t left it in here.
Just as she was starting to realise what was going on, Lucy caught a faint whiff of perfume in the air. Then a heavy metal pipe connected with the side of her head. Her legs gave way and she fell to the floor.
51
Lizzy smiled. She’d tried her best not to hit the woman too hard. She’d only needed to render her incapable enough to do what she had to do. Lucy was on her side, with a decent-sized pool of blood seeping from the wound. Folding up a tea towel, Lizzy rolled Lucy onto her back and pressed the cloth against her bleeding head. Then, opening the fridge, she took out the bottle of vodka. She unscrewed the cap and began to pour the clear liquid down Lucy’s throat. Most of it was dribbling down her face and chin, but it didn’t matter. As long as she smelt like a brewery and had enough alcohol in her veins so she was over the limit when they did the post-mortem, all would be good.
The vodka smelt too sweet and sickly, mixed with the coppery smell of the blood. Lizzy had to try not to breathe it in. She sat on one of the bar stools to catch her breath, then started when she heard a knock on the front door. Her heart skipped a beat. She ran over to the kitchen tap, washed her hands, and dried them on her trousers. As long as whoever it was didn’t come around the back it would be fine.
There was a pause, and then a familiar voice shouted through the letter box: ‘I know you’re in there. Your car’s here. Mum, let me in. I need to talk to you.’
Wondering what to do, Lizzy paused until she heard the sound of the key being turned in the lock. Then she ran to the front door and threw it open before a bleary-eyed Ellie could.
‘Oh, Ellie, thank god you are here. I came to tell your mum something important and…
well, I don’t think you should go in there.’
‘Why, what’s the matter?’
‘She’s had a bit of an accident.’
Ellie pushed past her and ran towards the kitchen, crying out to see her mum lying on the floor with a blood-soaked cloth against her head and an almost empty bottle of vodka on the floor next to her.
‘I found her like this,’ Lizzy said. ‘The door was ajar so I walked in. It’s a good job I did.’
Ellie bent down and let out a sob as she clutched hold of her mother’s hand. ‘Have you rung an ambulance? She only phoned my dad a little while ago. How has she got in this state? I knew something was wrong – that’s why I sneaked out and got a taxi here. What about Mattie? Ring him, Jane. He’ll know what to do.’
Lizzy had to try her best not to sneer. Yes, bloody love-sick Mattie would know what to do. He’d sweep her up into his arms, rush her to the hospital and save her life.
‘Of course I’ve rung an ambulance,’ Lizzy said, ‘but there’s been a major accident on the coastal road and it’s going to be some time before they can send one.’
Ellie looked at her mum. The last few shards of anger and bitterness she’d felt for her were draining visibly from her face. ‘Well, we have to take her to the hospital ourselves then. We can put her in your car if we both carry her.’
‘I walked.’
‘Then we need to put her in her car,’ Ellie said. ‘You can drive. I’ll sit in the back and hold her head still. Come on, Jane, she might die!’
While Ellie was busy with Lucy, Lizzy rolled her eyes, furious with the interfering kid. Yes, Lucy might die – that was the whole fucking point. Between them, they managed to manhandle Lucy off the floor and half-carry, half-drag her to the front door. Ellie picked up her mum’s car keys off the hall table, and they bundled Lucy into the front passenger seat. Ellie climbed over into the back behind her mum and sat holding her head as still as she could, keeping the blood-soaked cloth pressed against the wound. Lizzy got into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Poor Ellie was in for a shock, she thought, because there was no way they were going to the hospital.
Lying in bed, Sam had heard more car doors slamming shut in the last ten minutes than there normally was all day. He had tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t help but wonder what the hell Lucy was doing so early in the morning. Out of curiosity, he got up and drew back his curtains – only to see Ellie and some woman dragging an unconscious Lucy to her car.
He began to hammer on the window to ask what was happening, but they were too preoccupied to hear him. He ran to grab his phone off the bed, then went back to the window to see the tiny green car being driven away at speed. He dialled 999.
‘Police, please.’
52
Mattie opened one eye and looked at the clock on the bedside table. He didn’t have a clue where he was – or why he couldn’t remember where he was. He sat up and his stomach lurched. He was starving, and his head felt as if someone was inside it with a pickaxe. As he looked around the hotel room, bits from the night before began to come back to him. He’d been so angry with Heidi. He looked around to see where she was, and felt nothing but relief that she wasn’t here. Phew. It was over, and he wouldn’t be in a hurry to find another woman after this one. It was time to move on.
There were sixteen missed calls on his mobile from an unknown number. Lucy. She was going to be so pissed off with him. Something must be going down if she needed to get hold of him so urgently, but she was going to have to wait. He felt rough as hell.
He got up and went into the bathroom. Filling the tumbler from the sink with ice-cold water, he drank glass after glass until he’d quenched his thirst. After a shower, he got dressed and decided he might as well make the most of being here: he would be paying enough for it. By the time he’d eaten his full English breakfast and had driven to the station, he almost felt like a new man.
He walked past the duty sergeant’s office to the stairs. Something was wrong, he noticed – something strange. Everyone he passed in the station was staring at him.
The sergeant came running out of his office.
‘Oh my god, where the fuck have you been, Mattie? Lucy has had most of the shift out searching for you.’
‘Why?’ Mattie frowned. ‘I’m allowed to sleep, you know; it’s not against the law.’
The sergeant looked confused. ‘What, you mean you were at home all this time?’
‘No, I was at a hotel. Why, what’s going on?’
‘Lucy had you down as a high-risk misper: she thinks your girlfriend kidnapped you. She also thinks your girlfriend is the killer of that stack of dead bodies you have up at the mortuary.’
Mattie began to laugh. ‘Seriously? She’s lost the plot, mate, I’m telling you now. That’s plain ridiculous. She’s just pissed off with me because we had an argument.’
The DCI leant over the balcony. ‘Jackson? My office, now.’
Mattie stopped laughing. ‘Shit, she’s really mad at me,’ he said to the sergeant. ‘You’d better call off the troops; I’m safe and well, thank you.’
He ran up the stairs to Tom’s office. The DCI was pale with dark stubble across his chin and big black circles under his eyes. Mattie had never seen him looking so dishevelled.
‘Boss, I don’t understand what the problem is?’
/>
‘The problem is you didn’t answer your bloody phone and we’ve had Task Force out searching for you.’ He handed Mattie a printout. ‘Lucy had a forensic artist draw this up of Lizzy Clements as she would look now.’
Mattie stared at it, open-mouthed. He was looking at a picture of Heidi.
‘Lucy said that this Jane Toppan, who I believe you’re in a relationship with, is the same woman as the one in the picture. Col has done some digging and discovered that Lizzy Clements died the same day that Jane Toppan mysteriously appeared on the scene. And the DNA from the hair sample that Jack got from the Stone murder scene came back as a match for Mr and Mrs Clements. I’m sorry to tell you this, son, but it looks as if this Jane and Lizzy are the same woman. Now that you’ve turned up safe and well, we can concentrate on finding her. As I’m sure you realise, she’s extremely dangerous.’
Mattie couldn’t get his head around it all. How had this happened?
‘Why didn’t Lucy tell me earlier?’
‘She couldn’t. By the time she realised, we couldn’t find you anywhere and it was panic stations. Lucy thought that you’d come to some harm.’
A sinking feeling filled Mattie’s heart as he processed everything he’d just been told. All the questions that Heidi – or, as it turned out, Lizzy – had been asking him were running through his mind. Do you like Lucy? Have you ever slept with her? Do you wish she wasn’t your boss?
‘Boss, where’s Lucy now?’
‘I sent her and Browning home to get some sleep. She was exhausted after running around all night trying to find you.’
‘I think she’s in danger,’ Mattie said, feeling a surge of panic. ‘We need to find her. Now.’
Tom ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Please tell me I’m having a bad fucking dream, because this is exactly what she said about you last night.’
‘No, I honestly do think she’s in danger. I don’t want to believe that I’ve been having a relationship with a cold-blooded killer because it seems so ridiculous. But Heidi – she told me her name was Heidi – hated Lucy. She went mad at me yesterday about her. If she knows that Lucy is on to her… Well, I don’t even want to say it out loud. Oh, god.’ Mattie took off running towards the office, where Colin was in the process of pulling on his body armour.
‘I heard all of that,’ Col said. ‘You never shut the door. So, where’s the boss? Where are we going first?’
The duty sergeant came running upstairs. ‘We’ve just had an IR for Lucy’s address, neighbour saw her getting dragged into her car by two females. It’s driven off. I’ve sent officers there now.’
Mattie rang Lucy’s phone number. It went straight to voicemail. ‘OK, Tom’s getting a search team to check Lucy’s, mine and Heidi’s – Jane’s. We need to find out where they’ve taken her, and who the other woman is. An accomplice?’
Colin shook his head. ‘I hate to state the obvious, but this is a right fucking mess, Sarge.’
Tom rushed in. ‘Right, I’ve put observations out for Lucy’s car. It shouldn’t be that hard to find; it’s quite distinctive. I’ve got all patrols out looking for it.’ He noticed Mattie and Col heading for the stairs. ‘You two come back here and wait for the briefing. I’ve assembled one for fifteen minutes’ time.’
‘Sorry, boss, can’t do that,’ Mattie said. ‘You know we can’t waste that much time.’
All Mattie could hear in his mind were the words he’d said to Lucy about her being a bad mother. If the cap fits… He hadn’t meant it. She’d just made him angry, and he’d lashed out with what he knew would hurt her. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
53
Jane was driving too slowly. Ellie kept telling her to hurry, but Jane just shook her head.
‘I can’t drive too fast. We shouldn’t have moved her. She might have brain damage or something and we could be making her worse.’
Ellie was frantic with worry. She wished that Jane would hurry up – ambulances went fast, didn’t they? She just wanted her mum to be at the hospital, being taken care of, as quickly as possible.
All of a sudden, Jane slammed her hand against the steering wheel, and Ellie jumped.
‘Sorry, sweetie,’ Jane said. ‘I’m just so mad at your mum. What was she thinking, doing this to herself and getting into such a state when she’s got you to think about? If she loved you, she wouldn’t behave like this, would she?’
Ellie felt a wave of hurt crash over her as she heard Jane’s words. Jane was looking steadily at her in the rear-view mirror. Ellie looked away, feeling uncomfortable under the woman’s gaze. Something wasn’t right. Something was bothering her…
‘Jane… What were you doing at my mum’s so early in the morning? You’ve never been there before. What did you have to tell her that was so important?’
Jane shook her head. ‘I can’t really tell you. It’s grown-up stuff.’
Ellie frowned. What was the woman talking about? She knew Jane didn’t like her mum from the things she’d said about her. So why would she put the effort in to go to her house so early in the morning? It didn’t make sense.
She looked out of the window. Where were they going? Jane was driving in the opposite direction to the hospital. She shifted position in her seat, and noticed for the first time that her arm felt wet where her mum’s weight was leaning against it. She let go of her mum’s head with one hand, and twisted her arm around to see the huge damp patch running along her sleeve. Lifting it to her nose, she detected the sweet smell of the vanilla vodka that was her mum’s favourite. Her mum’s top was soaked with the stuff. Ellie frowned. She knew her mum liked a drink, but she’d never known her to drink this early in the morning. And if she’d been drinking her favourite vodka, she wouldn’t have poured it all over herself. Had there been a glass in the kitchen? Ellie didn’t think there had. And her mum definitely wouldn’t have drunk from the bottle: it just wasn’t her.
Ellie felt sick as she had the dawning realisation that Jane must have hurt her mum. Feeling terrified now of the woman in the front of the car, she tried to slip her phone from her pocket without making a sound. Thank god she’d forgotten to turn it off silent after she’d finished work yesterday. She typed a message to Mattie:
Help, Jane’s hurt mum. In mum’s car don’t know where we’re going.
The car stopped suddenly and Ellie’s phone flew out of her hand, landing under the seat with a thud.
‘What was that?’ Jane asked sharply.
‘I don’t know,’ Ellie said. ‘Probably something rolling around under the seat. Jane, can we go a bit faster, please?’
Jane didn’t answer. Ellie looked anxiously at her mum. There was a fine film of sweat forming on her pale skin. As Ellie watched, a small groan escaped from her lips and Ellie felt a huge wave of relief.
‘Mum? Mum? It’s OK, we’re taking you to the hospital.’
Lucy felt as if her head was on fire. If she tried to move, the whole world began to swim. She had no idea what had happened. What she did know was that she was in a moving car, and she’d just heard Ellie’s voice. There was a strong smell of neat vanilla vodka – it filled her nostrils when she inhaled. Why could she smell vodka? She hadn’t been drinking, had she? She’d gone home for her phone…
Ellie’s voice came again. ‘Mum, it’s OK. Jane is driving us to the hospital.’
At the mention of Jane’s name, Lucy felt the thick fog in her mind clear. She didn’t dare open her eyes, because then Jane – Lizzy – would know she was awake. But she needed to somehow get Ellie out of the car, out of danger. Lucy didn’t care about herself, but she loved Ellie more than anything and she wouldn’t let her get hurt. She would wait until the car stopped, then tell Ellie to run.
She tried to rub her cheek against Ellie’s hand to let her know she was OK. Ellie had Mattie’s number. Once she was out of the car, she would be able to phone Mattie to come and get Lucy. Except… A burst of sharp pain filled her heart as her memory came back to he
r: they’d been looking for Mattie and hadn’t found him. What if Lizzy had already killed him? The thought filled her with fear.
As the car took a sharp turn, Lucy half-opened one eye to see where they were. She was relieved to see that Lizzy had just turned onto the promenade: traffic-light central. Lucy would be able to tell Ellie to run any time soon. Once Ellie was free, Lucy’s biggest worry would be the fact that the hospital Lizzy was driving in the direction of wasn’t the general. She was driving towards the asylum.
54
Mattie and Colin arrived at Lucy’s house in record time. Sam, the neighbour, was outside waiting for them, waving his arms around as soon as they got out of the car, telling them what he’d seen. Col told Mattie to wait outside, but he couldn’t. He ran inside and went straight upstairs. He heard Col follow him in and take the downstairs. Just as he opened Lucy’s bedroom door and saw the mess, Col shouted: ‘You need to come and see this, now!’
Mattie raced back down and into the kitchen, to see the large pool of blood and the almost empty vodka bottle next to it.
‘Where have they taken her?’ Col said. ‘That’s a lot of blood.’
Mattie couldn’t speak. His brain couldn’t put into words his worst fear. Just then, his phone beeped. It was a message from Ellie. He read it with a mixture of panic and relief.
‘Get response and CSI here now,’ he told Col. ‘We also need a welcoming party at the hospital, in case Lizzy takes Lucy there. You can wait here until someone arrives to take over scene guard.’
‘Whoa,’ Col said. ‘Where are you going?’
‘I’m going to see if I can find them before they get there.’