Psychological Thriller Series: Adam Stanley Boxed Set: Behind Shadows, Positively Murder and Mind Bender

by Netta Newbound

  She’d given up praying for her daddy to come home. He’d left her for such a long time now. If he intended to come back, he’d have been back already. Although she’d lost track of time, she was certain at least a whole day had passed, maybe even two.

  She had no choice but to dirty her pants in the end, but she no longer cared. She knew she needed to get out of there soon, or she would certainly die.

  ***

  Except for getting a taxi home to shower and change her clothes, Amanda had barely left Adam’s side, not that he’d noticed. The beeping of the machines was the only evidence he was still alive.

  She wondered how he’d react to her when he did finally wake—their last meeting hadn’t been the best. It would crush her if he ordered her to get out, although he’d be justified after the way she’d treated him these past few months.

  A health care assistant popped her head through the curtains, making Amanda jump.

  “Sorry to give you a start, my love. Would you like a cup of tea? Coffee?” Her loud voice seemed out of place in the silence.

  “No, thanks,” Amanda whispered, shaking her head.

  The curtain dropped. She heard the door close and then, seconds later, open again. She lifted her head in annoyance, fully expecting the same woman, but Holly Frances appeared.

  “How is he?” she whispered, pulling up another grey plastic chair and placing it beside Amanda.

  “Just the same. I’m beginning to think he’s never going to wake up.”

  “What did the doctor say?”

  “That some people take longer to recover than others and not to worry.”

  “Well, then. I’m sure he’s going to be fine.”

  “I hope so. Any news about Mary?” Amanda asked.

  “Nothing. There’s a team working around the clock trying to find her, but no sightings as of yet.”

  “I hope she’s okay. That poor girl’s already been through enough trauma to last a lifetime.”

  Frances patted Amanda’s knee. “How’re you holding up?”

  “Oh, you know. I cope—one of my good qualities. That is, until I can’t cope anymore.”

  “Huh?”

  Amanda chuckled. “Don’t look so worried. I only meant that after suffering shock in the past, I went into some sort of trance-like state. But I’m hoping I’ve grown out of that now.”

  Frances sighed. “That’s a relief. When did it happen last?”

  “A year ago.” Amanda laughed again at Frances’ wide eyed expression. “That was quite a huge shock, to be fair. My dead dad fell out of a cupboard and landed on top of me. That’s enough to put anybody in shock.”

  “That is pretty terrible.” Frances smiled.

  “Your face is very beautiful when you smile, you know?” Amanda said.

  Frances blushed scarlet. “Get away with you.”

  “No, I’m serious. I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you always come across as very masculine when you’re working, but you’re not, not really. And you insist on using your surname all the time. Why is that?”

  “It’s difficult to be a woman in a male-dominated profession. A pretty girl called Holly would be treated differently to a ballbreaker named Frances.”

  “True. I never thought of that. I had told Adam not to call you Frances, thinking it was rude as he and Cal are known by their Christian names. But he said it was your choice. I get why now.”

  “Sorry to change the subject, but has anybody been in touch about identifying Andrew’s body yet?”

  “Sandra said I’d had a call about it earlier, but I haven’t rung back, yet. I don’t know if I can face it.”

  “I understand.”

  “I still can’t believe he’s actually dead. For years I thought he must be dead, otherwise why didn’t he get in touch? But now, after just finding him again ...” Amanda shook her head and turned her eyes toward the ceiling.

  “I wasn’t part of the team when all that came about, but I heard about it. I know Adam admires Andrew for getting the people who abused you both off the street.”

  “I’m glad he did it. I would have done the same, if I had the nerve.”

  Frances got to her feet. “I’ve got to go. I only popped in for five minutes, but I’ll call back later.”

  The room was silent again.

  Talking about Andrew made her feel sad. However, she couldn’t help feel relieved it was over. If only she knew what the hell he’d done with Mary. For the second time in as many days, she felt the tears run down her cheeks.

  Doctor Freda would be impressed.

  Chapter 49

  “Now what?” Frances asked, as Karen hung up the phone.

  “We’ll have to release him,” she said, kicking the wastepaper basket with a roar.

  “But why? He’s obviously guilty. He has every single one of our victims on his client list. He admits hypnotising them, for fuck’s sake!”

  “The Chief-Super thinks it’s all circumstantial.”

  “My arse! What about the tapes?”

  “Grainy likenesses at best.”

  “It doesn’t make sense. He’s our only lead.”

  “Don’t worry. We might have no choice other than to let him go, but he’s not getting off with it. We need to dig deeper, that’s all.”

  “I’ll go and speak to Charlie again. See if I can get anywhere with her. If we let him out, he’s capable of hypnotising all our witnesses, and then where will we be?” Frances grabbed her keys and headed out the door.

  *

  Charlie was engrossed in a magazine when Frances entered and approached reception.

  “Oh, hi,” she said, quickly getting to her feet. “I didn’t hear you come in. I was miles away.”

  Frances noticed the friendly smile was no longer present and she needed that back if she was ever going to get anywhere with the younger woman.

  “I just wanted to apologise for earlier,” she said, in her most sincere sounding voice. “I know how it must seem to you, but I was honestly here for personal reasons when it suddenly struck me that Doctor Smith may be the man we’ve been looking for.”

  “I’m not surprised, to be honest. I always suspected he could be capable of something like this.”

  Frances almost choked on her spit.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realise you didn’t get on with him.”

  “I have to be nice. He’s my boss as well as my stepdad. But no, we don’t really get along.”

  “Why do you hang around, then, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “Loyalty.” She shrugged, a faraway look in her eyes.

  “Why do you feel such loyalty to him? He’s not a blood relative.”

  “Oh, no, I don’t mean loyalty to him. I meant to my dad. My real dad.” She turned back to face Frances. “You see, my dad started this practice from scratch. He was also a counsellor, a good one by all accounts, but he killed himself when I was small.”

  “That’s tough.”

  “I know. I still cry about it to this day.” She looked away, as though gazing past the reception area and through her childhood eyes for a moment. “He used to bring me here, and tell me I would work for him one day, when I was a big girl. Which is why it was so important to me to stay.”

  “I get you. The guilt-ridden effect suicide has on the living can go on for years.”

  “That’s just it, though. I never truly believed he’d killed himself. He wasn’t the type for a start, and the fact he’d booked a holiday to Scotland for the three of us on the same afternoon never made sense to me or Mum.”

  “So, you think he was killed?”

  Charlie shrugged, and was suddenly back in the room. “Golly, listen to me going on. You don’t want to hear all about my sorry life.”

  “On the contrary, I’m very interested.”

  “Are you?”

  Frances nodded. “So, what do you think happened to your dad?”

  “You’ll laugh.”

  “I won’t
. I promise.”

  “Well, it’s no secret because my mum tried to press charges when it first happened.”

  Frances went from slouching against the reception desk to standing upright, suddenly interested. “Who against?”

  “Nigel Smith.”

  Confused, Frances shook her head. “I don’t get you?”

  “Nigel worked for Dad, but they hadn’t been getting on. In fact Dad had asked Nigel to leave.”

  “What for? Do you know?”

  “No, I can’t remember. But Mum knew. Soon after Dad died, Nigel arrived to pay his respects, and Mum launched herself at him, screaming about it being his fault and accusing him of making Dad take his own life. Of course nobody believed her.”

  “Except you.”

  Charlie nodded.

  “But then, how come your mum ended up marrying him?”

  She shrugged again. “You tell me.”

  “I think you may be able to help us with our case. The thing is, we have very little to hold the doctor on, and we’ll have to release him soon if we don’t find some other evidence.”

  “Oh! I thought you must already have evidence.”

  “We do. Only, not enough.”

  “What would you want me to do?” Her expressive eyes took on a worried look.

  “Firstly, make a statement, similar to what you’ve just told me, only in more detail.”

  “I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I’d rather stay out of it, if I’m honest.”

  “But what if you’re right, and he did have a hand in your father’s death?”

  Frances could tell Charlie was close to caving in. “I’ll make a deal with you. We won’t use anything you tell us unless absolutely necessary and only then if we find enough evidence to lock him up for the rest of his life, which, by all accounts, won’t be too far away. Oh, you do know he’s sick, don’t you?”

  “Yes. He couldn’t wait to tell me I’ll get nothing in his will. He intends to leave the practice and the house to his nephew, Doctor Owens. Although I’m not surprised, since we’ve never got along. But the house belonged to my mother and her parents before that. That man had nothing when my dad took him on straight out of college, but he takes great delight in the fact I won’t get a penny.”

  “Maybe you could contest it?”

  “I won’t. He can shove it up his arse for all I care. It would be nice to see him snuff it behind bars though. I think Dad would get some satisfaction at that, if he’s watching.”

  “All the more reason to help us, Charlie.”

  “Do you promise not to drag my name into it?”

  “Cross my heart.” Frances made the sign of a cross on her chest. “You have my word. What time do you finish work?”

  “6pm. After Christian’s last appointment. Everything’s been running late because of the commotion this morning.”

  Frances’ eyes darted to Christian’s office door. “Is he here now?”

  “Yes. Don’t worry. He won’t be able to hear us. He’s conducting a hypnotherapy session. Probably won’t be finished for another half hour or so.”

  “Okay, great. Can I pick you up after you’ve finished, then? Or meet you at the station, if you prefer?”

  Charlie frowned as she bit her bottom lip. “I dunno. What if ...”

  “I promise you, Charlie. I won’t breathe a word of it.”

  “Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll meet you at the station.”

  Frances almost ran from the building, excited at the prospect of solving the case before Adam woke up.

  ***

  Mary was too weak to open her eyes. She knew her daddy definitely wasn’t coming home now, and wondered if something bad had happened to him? Or was he just punishing her for speaking to those boys?

  Images of her mummy kept coming into her mind, but her mum’s eyes were bright, and she looked chubby like she did before she got sick.

  She had been sick for a long time, and although Mary helped care for her, she was away from home on the day she actually died. All of a sudden she could feel her.

  “Mummy?” she whispered, her eyes still closed tight.

  Chapter 50

  “Okay, Charlie. Take your time and tell me, in your own words, all about your stepfather, Nigel Smith,” Frances said.

  “Well, I’d met him a couple of times before my dad, you know ...”

  “Before the suicide?”

  “Yes. I know my parents didn’t like him, because they used to say cruel things behind his back. Then just before Dad died, he told Nigel he had to leave the practice.”

  “How did he take it?”

  Charlie shrugged. “Mum sent me to my room, but I sat at the top of the stairs listening to them talking. I don’t remember details, but it was obvious they’d argued. Then, a few days later, at breakfast, Dad told me he’d booked a holiday for the three of us. He was so excited. Planned to take me to the place he and Mum first met.”

  Tears began to fall down Charlie’s face, and Frances handed her a wad of tissue.

  “Then what?”

  “That same day, Mum picked me up after school, and as she always did, drove inside the garage attached to the house. I remember chatting away about something or other, and we were laughing as the car came to an abrupt stop. Then Mum let out the most awful scream. I didn’t understand her terror at first. I stared at her, in complete shock. Then I turned to see what she was staring at.”

  Frances felt her tough exterior dissolving as the young woman described that terrible day. She cleared her throat. “Your dad?”

  Charlie nodded and blew her nose. “It took a few seconds at first. From my position in the car, I struggled to make out what the heck I was looking at—a pair of boots and the bottom of a pair of jeans.”

  Frances nodded.

  “Then Mum dragged me from the car, covering my face while we ran into the house. I still didn’t understand what I’d actually seen until I heard her phoning an ambulance.

  My warm-hearted, funny, and wonderful dad had hung himself.”

  They took a break while Frances made a dash for more tissues and two cups of tea. Frances was pretty choked herself. She’d never met her own dad. He’d scarpered before she was born. However, she figured even her situation was preferable than living with the image of her beloved father hanging from his neck in the garage.

  “So then what happened, Charlie?” Frances asked once they were settled at the desk again.

  “Well, like I told you earlier, Mum accused him of causing Dad to kill himself. But, within a couple of weeks, she was seeing him.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.” Charlie clicked her fingers. “Her friends and a couple of the neighbours had a go at her for it, but it was as though he’d brainwashed her.”

  “Do you still think that?”

  “I do. I’m more convinced of it than anything.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “I’ve never liked him, so maybe that makes me look for fault all the time. But in Mum’s eyes he could do no wrong. I once asked why she thought he had something to do with Dad’s death and she snapped my head off, saying she had been grieving at the time and had lashed out at anybody.”

  “You didn’t believe her?”

  “No. He was like a Jekyll and Hyde character. He never spoke to me unless anybody was around, but I twigged on to him pretty quickly. At parties, he’d fawn all over other women, didn’t give a stuff if Mum saw him even. I heard her crying herself to sleep lots of times, but the next day it was as though nothing had happened.”

  “You think he brainwashed her again?”

  She nodded. “I know it sounds far-fetched, but it was as though he’d reprogrammed her while she was sleeping.”

  “Certainly sounds strange. If my husband so much as glanced at another woman inappropriately, he’d be looking for somewhere else to live.”

  “Exactly. Anyway, then she died, leaving it all to him, the business, the house—everything. I ho
nestly don’t believe she would do that to me.”

  “Maybe he told her you’d be provided for. Maybe you will be?”

  “No. He told me I’ll get nothing. He made Christian a partner in the business, and told me he’ll also give him his share once he pops his clogs.”

  “Why would he do that?” Frances shook her head in disgust.

  “I’ve always been an inconvenience to him. His bullshit wouldn’t wash with me like it does with everyone else.”

  “So why work for him? I mean, most people would get as far away from him as possible.”

  “Hope. I never lose the hope of getting my hands on my daddy’s clinic. I pray he’ll change his mind, but know in my heart he won’t. He always said I could work for him when I left school. I thought he meant as a counsellor but no, he said I’m only good enough to be a receptionist.”

  “That must have stung.”

  She shrugged. “I’m used to it. Maybe Christian will take me on as a counsellor once Nigel is out of the picture.”

  “What can you tell me about this list of clients you have on your books?” Frances slid a sheet of paper across the desk, it showed a list of the victims’ names.

  “I met them all. They were all booked in for hypnotherapy with Nigel.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive. I went through it with the guy searching the offices this morning.”

  “Thanks, Charlie. Just one last thing and you can get on your way. Do you know where Nigel might hide a large amount of cash?”

  “Not really, but ...” She chewed at her lip.

  “Go on.”

  “Well, I hate saying this, but an idea just struck me.”

  “I’m listening,” Frances said.

  She hesitated, a deep furrow between her eyes. “No, it’s okay. I’ve said enough already.”

  “You can’t stop now, Charlie,” Frances said in her best buddy voice.

  “Well, I was thinking maybe they’re both in on it.”

  “Both?”

  “Nigel and Christian.”

  Frances sat forward in her seat, suddenly wired. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “What makes you think that?” she asked, trying to keep her tone calm.