The Downfall Series Box Set

by Edie Baylis

  Lacey moaned incoherently, still semi-conscious.

  Lomond stared at the mess of her face as he hastily yanked her jeans down. He couldn’t look at her in this state. She looked a right ugly cunt.

  Quickly turning her over onto her front, he slapped her naked buttocks hard. “Wake up bitch!” he screamed. “You’ve got some fucking apologising to do.”

  “Uuurgh,” groaned Lacey, partly aware something was going to happen that wouldn’t be good, but the agonising fire of the pain was rendering consideration of anything else impossible.

  “Get on your hands and knees, slut!” Lomond panted, forcing his fingers into Lacey, his cock twitching in his other hand.

  Struggling, Lacey got on all fours. She’d kill this bastard when she got her head together.

  Unable to close her mouth because her lower jaw was hanging loosely, she couldn’t stop the constant trail of bloody saliva from dripping out from her mouth and she knew she was making loud animalistic howling noises, but couldn’t help it. It was surreal – like she was watching herself in a sick film.

  “Shut up your moaning!” Lomond screamed, wrapping a meaty hand around Lacey’s waist whilst he forced his cock into her. “You’re going to suffer for running away. Say sorry,” he panted. The feel of the girl around him again almost made him come on the spot.

  Aware she hadn’t answered his last question, Lomond grabbed Lacey’s shoulders from behind and he shook her roughly. “I didn’t hear you! Answer me, bitch!”

  Lacey felt vomit rising from deep within her throat and was unable to hold her own weight up on her arms. Groaning in agony she slumped forward from sheer pain and exhaustion, but hands pulled her back up by the throat from behind.

  “Don’t lie down on me, you slut! I need your full attention!” Lomond barked, his hands tight around Lacey’s throat. This would keep her upright. He thrust harder and faster. Oh this was good. This was TOO good. Oh God....

  He tightened his grip, feeling a long overdue orgasm moving upwards.

  “DIGGER, WHAT THE FUCK is he doing?” Eliza screeched as she stared at the monitor. “He’s strangling her!”

  “Nah, he just wants a fuck. Desperate so he was. Where’s the harm? She’s too far gone to notice anyway,” Digger mumbled. He was just glad to be away from Lomond for a while, but not glad he’d now got Eliza harping on instead.

  “No seriously! Look!” Eliza yelled.

  Begrudgingly, Digger pulled himself up from the chair. Personally the last thing he wanted to look at was Lomond at it. He thought the man should have left the girl alone for the night to be honest, but it was easier to let him just have his own way. The prick was like a spoilt child.

  He glanced uninterestedly at the monitor Eliza was flapping over and paled. Lomond had his hands around the girl’s throat and was pulling her backwards while he thrust into her. He was staring blindly at the ceiling, his face locked in a grimace. He’d got her too tight. “Oh SHIT!”

  Digger raced from the office and up the stairs to Room Twelve with Eliza hot on his heels.

  ANNA COULDN’T HELP but be impressed with the way Aiden had selflessly come to her rescue. She didn’t know what she would have done if he hadn’t have been here. She watched him brace himself against the wooden front door.

  Aiden slammed his shoulder into the door just above the lock and winced as the door stayed firm. Bloody thing. He’d had to lock it last night so it wasn’t obvious someone had been let in. He’d left the back door open, which Anna would soon discover, but he could hardly suggest going in that way.

  He glanced at Anna watching wide-eyed. Even in this situation he could see the clear infatuation for him visible in her eyes. The daft bitch.

  Refusing to rub his shoulder which was hurting like hell after that botched attempt on the door, he puffed his chest out. “It’s definitely locked. I’ll kick it in instead. Failing that, we’ll smash a window.”

  Anna glanced up at him admiringly. It was hopeful if it was locked as that meant no one could have broken in.

  “Don’t worry,” Aiden smiled. “I’ll pay for the door and window, so don’t stress about that ok?”

  Anna smiled gratefully. She was so lucky to have him.

  Raising his foot, Aiden gave the door a hefty kick and was heartened to see the door begin to give. “One more should do it I think,” he muttered. He didn’t want to put the window through because he’d probably severe an artery the way things were going today.

  Still, on the bright side he’d get a big pay out for pulling this job off, so it was worth it. He’d also be putting in for some overtime for these extra hours he’d be stuck with Anna too. Eliza could afford it and by Christ, they sure as hell needed his services at the moment.

  Giving the door another hefty boot, it gave on his hinges, the cracking sound loud as the wood splintered.

  With the door now wide open, Anna immediately pushed through. “Mum?” she called.

  Aiden grabbed Anna’s arm before she could go any further. “Let me go in first,” he said. He needed to at least pretend her safety was a concern.

  Anna smiled weakly. “No. Mum will have a coronary seeing a strange man in the house. She’ll presume you’ve come to rob her, or worse.”

  Aiden smiled. Yep and she’d have been right. “Ok, but I’m right behind you.” He followed Anna as she walked into the small square hallway.

  “Mum?” she called again. Receiving no answer, she stuck her head into the tiny kitchen finding it empty. “Maybe she’s upstairs?” Anna mumbled. “Mum!”

  Continuing into the lounge situated at the back of the house, Anna glanced in. “Mum? M..... OH MY GOD!”

  “What is it?” Aiden cried, racing to her side already knowing what the problem was.

  Anna froze in the doorway as her eyes came to rest upon the body of her mother crumpled in a heap upon the sheepskin rug. “M-Mum?” she whispered almost inaudibly, a tremoring shaking vibrating up through her toes, up her legs, along her arms and up to the ends of her fingertips.

  Her breath came in short, rasping gasps as her eyes moved over the once beige rug, seeing a dark red patch spread out in a large circle from under her mother’s head.

  “Don’t,” Aiden whispered, grabbing Anna’s arm as she made to move forward.

  Anna shook his hand away and forced her shaking legs to propel herself across the carpet towards the figure on the floor. She needed to get to her mother. Needed to help her. “Mum,” she choked. “It’s me, Anna. I’m here.”

  Moving closer, Anna could clearly see there was nothing that she could do to help her mother.

  Vomit rose into her throat when her eyes moved to the caved-in hole at the back of her mother’s head. Her skull looked like it had sunken from the inside out. Part of the skull was missing and the brains had spilled out from her mother’s head, causing a gelatinous mess to mix with the sheepskin rug fibres.

  It was more than she could bear and a projectile wave of vomit spewed from Anna’s mouth and nose as she sunk to her knees on the carpet.

  Aiden sighed as Anna began screaming hysterically. It was going to be a long night.

  THIRTY FIVE

  SETH WAS STILL NOT in anywhere near a good mood. In fact it was a gross understatement to suggest he was experiencing anything other than a combination of rage, disbelief, confusion and downright terror. Although he’d given Jane a quick low down over the phone of the latest news, he knew there would still be an awful lot she’d need answers to. The problem was he didn’t have them.

  On returning to the Glint after his fruitless run-in with Miller, the second Seth had stepped into his thickly carpeted lobby he’d been informed there was someone waiting to see him. He’d been irritated. He didn’t appreciate off the cuff callers. The rule was ‘Appointment Only’ and he had little time for anyone who felt they could bypass this.

  Raking his fingers through his hair, Seth had been all set to tell the receptionist to inform the caller to come back once they had an appointmen
t. That was until he’d learnt the person waiting was none other than Carl Mulligan. Being as he was very much in the frame of mind to tell the useless bastard what he thought of him, he’d figured now was a good a time as any, so he’d stomped up to his office.

  Yanking the door open, Seth had barged into the room ready to let rip, until his eyes focused on the short, kindly-looking old man sitting patiently in a chair.

  “Mr Wright?” the old man said, stiffly rising from the seat. “Good to meet you at last. Have you changed your mind and want to continue in the search for your daughter after all?”

  Seth had been taken off guard and stood dumbly staring at the man dressed in a brown three-piece suit, with wisps of greying hair combed delicately over his balding crown.

  The man stepped forward, his hand outstretched. “Sorry, I should introduce myself. I’m Carl Mulligan. We spoke some time ago about your missing daughter? You called again this morning? Some confusion over cancelling contracts? I have to say I was surprised when you previously cancelled my services because you seemed so eager to lo...”

  “You’re Carl Mulligan?” Seth had exclaimed. He needed to sit down. If this was Carl Mulligan, whom he might add, fitted Miller’s description down to a tee, then who the hell had he seen before? The one who’d given him the location of his daughter?

  Flopping onto the sofa, Seth forced himself to smile at Jane as she topped up her vodka. He was exhausted - mentally and physically.

  “What going on Seth?” Jane asked, her eyebrows knitting closely together. She needed to know the ins and outs of what had happened. She’d rapidly realised after his phone call that things were even more worryingly complex than they had both suspected.

  Seth glanced around the room. “Where’s Anna?” he asked quietly.

  “She’s giving Toby a bath and then putting him to bed. Can you just please tell me what’s happening?”

  Seth cracked his knuckles. “That’s the thing,” he muttered. “I don’t bloody know.”

  Something untoward was going on alright - that much was obvious. After seeing Carl Mulligan for himself it hadn’t been difficult to work out someone was impersonating the man, but the question still remained as to why? It also hadn’t been rocket science to deduce that the same person, or someone linked to that person had also impersonated him to cancel the real Carl Mulligan’s contract.

  Seth slugged greedily at his whisky. All this shit was making his head hurt. It was too crazy. “I told Carl the girl we’d been falsely led to was in no way our daughter and he’s promised to get back on the case straight away. He’d already done some prep work before he’d been ‘cancelled’, so reckons he should have something concrete to give us - hopefully by the end of the week.”

  Jane nodded, getting the distinct feeling there was more.

  Seth sighed. “I also touched briefly on the other events which have been going on, including the latest threat to Tobes. Mulligan’s warned me all the signs definitely point towards somebody is intent on kidnap as well as trying to impede everything we’re doing. Or both...”

  Jane’s hand flew to her mouth. “Kidnap? Oh fuck, Seth, NO!”

  Seth grabbed Jane’s hand and pulled her close. “Listen, don’t worry. We have to be extra vigilant and in the meantime, do everything we can to discover who’s behind this crap. I won’t let anything happen to you or our son, Jane. Over my dead body ok? Trust me, it won’t be me who’s dying at the end of this. Neither will it be you or Tobes,” Seth snarled.

  Jane shakily reached for her drink. “So what the hell do we do?”

  Seth ran his fingers though his beard. “I don’t know yet. I thought all of this was to do with Miller, but now I’m beginning to wonder...”

  “Jason Miller?” Jane cried. “Regardless of anything else, he wouldn’t threaten kids!”

  “Well that’s what I thought, but you never know. Still... leave it with me. I promise I’ll get to the bottom of this somehow. Now on to another subject, have you had any more letters regarding Toby?” Seth asked.

  Jane shook her head. “Thankfully not, though I’m half expecting more,” she scowled. “I won’t leave anything to chance where Toby’s concerned.”

  Seth pushed himself forward to the edge of the sofa and spoke quietly. “Martin wanted a word the other day, but my priority was to get him to tail you when you went to Maggie’s. I won’t take any chances either and that includes your safety too Jane.”

  He reached forward, grabbing his glass of whisky from the coffee table and gulped at it greedily. “Yeah, like I was saying, Martin finally grabbed hold of me this afternoon and it turns out whilst we were in St Ives, Anna was with a bloke.”

  Jane sat up. “What? Again?” She knew Seth had his misgivings about Anna and also knew he’d previously questioned her over the police incident. He was convinced she wasn’t being honest and she’d begun to suspect he might be right. “Well who is it then? A boyfriend she hasn’t told us about?” One of the reasons she’d hired Anna because she allegedly had no interest in relationships.

  Seth shrugged. “That’s the point. I don’t know. I wish I’d made the time to listen to Martin before now, otherwise I might have already got to the bottom of it.”

  “Has this bloke been in our house?” Jane asked, anger simmering. If Anna had been lying all of this time....

  “Again, I don’t know. Martin said he’d seen her in the park with this guy. She’d got Toby with her...”

  “She took my son to meet up with a bloke no one knows from Adam?” Jane yelled.

  Seth pulled Jane back down trying to calm her. Even though he was also steaming about it, he didn’t want her to pick up on that. “When I spoke to her about it she said the guy was just a friend. Martin doesn’t know whether he was at the house this time around.”

  “And why the fuck not?” Jane barked.

  “Because I pulled everyone off watching the house after we realised there was no need,” Seth mumbled.

  Jane seethed, knowing Seth was referring to his belief that her thinking people were casing their property was down to her paranoid delusions. “Well maybe they were watching the house! Especially after this!”

  “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Seth said. “Martin can’t be sure because he hasn’t seen the man close up, but he did say the guy reminds him of someone. He’s not saying it’s definitely this person, but there are lots of similarities.”

  “So who the hell is it?” Jane asked, getting more and more impatient.

  “It’s a guy who works for Miller... A bit of a nobody. I want him brought to me at the Glint for questioning,” Seth stated. “I’ll get Dan to bring him in asap.”

  When Martin had said it could be one of Miller’s guys it was hardly a surprise. That was the second person who’d linked Miller to all of this shit. Seth’s teeth grated together. Regardless of what Jane said, if he found out the treacherous cunt was behind this like he’d suspected all along, then he’d be personally disposing of him.

  Jane stared at Seth. “Was it you who did those two reporters?”

  Seth looked at Jane quizzically. “What makes you think that?”

  Jane raised an eyebrow. “Just seems a bit coincidental both reporters who ran a non-favourable story on you met untimely ends... Stop playing games with me Seth.”

  “It had to be done,” Seth shrugged. Although he’d planned on taking the second reporter out anyway, he’d had an unexpected opportunity where that bloke was concerned. A chance encounter one night whilst driving home had given him the opportunity to pull off a convenient hit and run. He’d had to make no effort whatsoever. It couldn’t have been more handy. Right place, right time – at least for him...

  Jane huffed angrily. She knew it. “And like doing that will help us get our daughter back? Do you really think I need anything else to worry about?”

  Seth sighed and pulled Jane into his arms. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. I knew you’d get stressed.”

  “I’ve every right t
o!” she raged. “You’ll fuck the court case up.”

  “And so would lots of damaging press articles. Two were bad enough and I couldn’t have any more!” Seth snapped. “Hence me trying to sort all this stuff out.”

  “But I could do without you not levelling with me. There’s enough people doing that without you!”

  “Listen, we won’t have a court case to go to if I can’t resolve this shit, so let me get on with it,” Seth said gently. Although Jane had always dealt with everything well and taken it on the chin, he knew she’d been so very disappointed with the let-down where Grace was concerned and he’d been reticent to add to her worries. “I’ll tell you all the gory details from now on then, but you may not like or agree with them.”

  Jane scowled. That was hardly anything new was it?

  ELIZA WATCHED STEVE LOMOND casually refill his glass from her best and most expensive whisky as usual. If she could have got away with smashing the heavy decanter into his rotten stinking teeth, she would have done. This was a total and utter bloody disaster. In fact it wasn’t just a disaster, it was a catastrophic calamity!

  She irritably wiped the thin film of sweat from her brow, scowling at the streak of brown foundation smeared across her hand. So much for bloody waterproof makeup. Cheap shit.

  Eliza studied Digger staring out of the window. She didn’t know why he was bothering. The view was hardly delectable - a brick wall. He was obviously waiting for her to come up with a solution. Again.

  Snatching the decanter from the table before Lomond could get his greasy mitts back on it, Eliza tipped an overly large measure in a glass and placed the heavy bottle next to her, rather than back where it had sat, knowing Lomond would have to physically get up if he wanted any more. And if he so much as asked her to pass it to him, she’d insert the bloody thing up his goddamn arse.

  She let out a deep sigh and opened her cigarette packet for the tenth time in as many minutes. As if she hadn’t got enough to deal with. She was trying to keep tabs on Aiden too and she needed to touch base with him and hadn’t been able to as yet because thanks to Lomond, she’d had to deal with this.