Saving Sophie

by Sam Carrington

  ‘On my way.’

  If Amy wanted to talk, she must know something.

  She’d hold off calling the police until Amy had said her piece.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT

  Sophie

  Pressure behind her eyes, a pulsating in her neck, blood rushing to her face. Her head ached. It took too long to lift it, to take in her surroundings. Inside a building. Abandoned? Lots of broken glass, a scattering of industrial-looking furniture. Some chairs. She was attached to one by a rope which looped around her middle. She still had her top and jeans on, but her coat had been removed. Her hands and feet were loose, her soggy-bottomed jeans flapped at her ankles as she wriggled her legs to make sure. She could get out of this. A bit of careful twisting to cause the rope to slacken at her waist, then use her hands to raise the rope above her head. Easy. Why hadn’t he tied her properly? Was it a trap?

  ‘What do you want?’ Her voice, crackling, breaking the silence.

  She squinted at a shadow; it grew larger, emerging from behind the door of a separate room. An office perhaps?

  ‘Hello, Sophie.’ The man stretched his thin lips to form an amused smile that reached his eyes, crinkling the skin at his temples. She knew that smile now. ‘Nice to have you all to myself.’

  ‘Why? What do you want with me?’ Tears weren’t far away. She screwed her eyes up, determined not to show him weakness.

  Jay stared. Said nothing.

  ‘Answer me,’ she shouted. ‘You son of a bitch, answer me.’

  He stepped closer.

  ‘How did you get me here? And where’s Dan, what have you done to Dan?’ The panic tipped in her voice, the fear audible.

  ‘Oh, Sophie, Sophie. Dan’s fine.’ His laugh grated. ‘Your friend has been extremely helpful in getting me this far. Getting you here.’

  She knew it. Knew his behaviour had been odd. Her mum had been right. Again. How could he have done it to her, lured her away from college so this creep could get his hands on her?

  ‘Where is he? Let me see him.’ Sophie wriggled in the chair. ‘Dan. Dan!’ She wanted to look him in the eye. Tell him what a shit he was for helping this freak.

  ‘Shh now.’ Jay placed the fingertips of two of his fingers on her lips. ‘Be quiet, or I’ll hurt him too. He’s close. But he’s a little tied up right now.’ He laughed.

  Sophie snatched her head back, away from his touch. ‘If he’s been so helpful, why have you tied him up?’

  ‘You and your pathetic friends all seem to require restraint. The poor sucker didn’t know what he was doing – didn’t realise he was playing into my hands until it was too late – then he lost the plot, threatening to hurt me.’

  ‘Shame he didn’t manage it.’ She lowered her eyes. So Dan hadn’t purposely led her to Jay as she’d believed. He’d been tricked.

  ‘You were each so easy to manipulate. I slipped into your lives and, like a chameleon, I blended in. I found out about you all – knew where to be at the right times. All it took with Dan was a friendly chat outside a coffee shop. Someone older to advise him how to get in with the girl he fancied. Course, I didn’t tell him he was stupid, wasting his time with you. I couldn’t tell him then that you wouldn’t be around for much longer.’ He shook his head mockingly. ‘You were all so gullible.’

  Sophie’s head pulsated; the pressure within it increasing with each word Jay uttered. Her body shook. What exactly was he planning?

  ‘If your big plan is to get my mother here, you’ve screwed up.’

  ‘Oh? You mean, she won’t come to save you? Come on, Sophie. You’re her life, she’d do anything for you.’

  ‘How do you suppose she’ll get here? You know, being that she’s a total agoraphobic?’

  His brow creased, he sneered.

  ‘She can’t possibly drive herself,’ Sophie went on. ‘The only times she’s been out of the house, someone’s had to counsel her through the trauma of it all and drive her. The police could bring her, I guess.’

  His lips twitched, the muscles moving like a ripple effect across his face. Her words had touched a nerve. Didn’t he know? She grabbed on to this, hoped it would make a difference. ‘Ha! Plan foiled now?’

  ‘Not at all.’ He jerked towards her and put his hands either side of her face. Squeezed hard. ‘Don’t be naïve, Soph. Yes, it was my plan to have her here at the crucial point. I wanted to watch her, enjoy the look on her face as I killed you.’ He licked her cheek. ‘That same kind of expression you had when you watched me kill Erin.’

  Sophie pulled her head away from him. Her muscles spasmed. She’d watched as Erin died. She kicked out, thrashing her arms and legs. Jay laughed as he jumped back, a safe distance away from her limbs.

  ‘Anyway, if your mum isn’t here to watch, it’s not the end of the world. Don’t think her absence will save you. It won’t.’ He threw his head back, laughing, showing off a mouth full of fillings. ‘I’ll do it anyway, you silly little girl. The end result will be the same. I’ll have taken someone precious from her … like she did me. We’ll be even. The future will start afresh. Our future will begin in that moment.’

  ‘You’re pathetic.’ She spat at his feet. ‘It wasn’t my mum’s fault your dad was a criminal who couldn’t hack the outside world and had to be put back in prison. He got what he deserved.’

  The slap knocked her sideways, her head whipped to the right as his hand crashed against her cheek. Tears ran down it, stinging as they rolled over the raw flesh.

  ‘Shut up,’ he shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. ‘Don’t even speak about my dad. You know nothing. Your mother ruined him. Ruined me. She’s the one who should be punished.’ He paced, erratic angry strides, his hands up, gripping his own hair.

  ‘Why kill Erin then? If it’s her who should be punished, why kill an innocent girl?’

  ‘Ah, well …’ He licked his lips. ‘Erin was a favour for a friend. But then I saw the potential.’ He moved to her side, grabbed her hair and pulled down, forcing her face up to look at his. ‘I knew it would give her something to think about, show her how far I was willing to go. She’d know when I got hold of you that I was serious. About wanting to be with her.’

  He was enjoying this, she could see the excitement sparkling in his eyes.

  ‘You can’t scare someone into being with you.’

  ‘No, she won’t be scared into being with me. Don’t you get it? She’ll want to be with me. I’ll be the only one who truly understands her pain. The only one she can turn to.’

  ‘You’re so stupid. What about my dad? He’ll understand … he’ll know her pain.’

  ‘But, Sophie,’ his voice high-pitched, condescending. ‘She doesn’t love your father. She loves me. How else do you think she came to me? She was looking for me. Searching.’

  Sophie shook her head vehemently. ‘No. She was looking for a bit of excitement. That’s all you were to her. She loves my dad.’

  ‘You’re a kid. You don’t understand, I can see that. It’s okay. You’ll see. When Karen comes to me, you’ll understand then how deep her love is. For you. And for me.’

  Sophie closed her eyes. Nausea was taking over.

  She made a silent prayer, hoping her mum had gone against her wishes and called the police.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE

  Karen

  Karen didn’t recognise Amy.

  No make-up. Hair lank, messy.

  ‘Sit.’ Karen motioned for her to take the smaller of the sofas. ‘I’ll make us a coffee.’

  ‘Not for me.’ Her eyes were wide and scared.

  What did she know?

  ‘Okay. Say what you’ve come to say. You’ve clearly got something on your mind.’

  Amy’s attitude when Karen had tried to find out before about Saturday night had left a nasty after-effect. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to play Mrs Nice with her.

  The crying – quick and hysterical – changed that.

  ‘Amy?’ Karen rushed over to her and put her arm
around her shoulders. ‘Whatever is the matter? Is it Dan? Maria? Sophie said you thought she was involved—’

  ‘No.’ The word firm between the sobs. ‘It’s not them.’ Amy wiped her face and straightened.

  ‘Okay, what then?’

  ‘It’s me, Karen.’

  ‘It’s you, what?’

  ‘I’m the one. The one who drugged Sophie.’

  Karen’s arm retracted from Amy’s shoulder. ‘What? I don’t understand.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’ Amy rocked back and forth, eyes wide, wet with tears.

  Karen’s chest cavity filled with pressure, a tightness, the pain radiating down her arm. Was she going to have a heart attack?

  ‘Tell me everything.’ She had to make sure she didn’t lose it. If Amy ran out on her now, then she’d never hear the full story.

  ‘Please believe me, I didn’t know. I didn’t know this would happen. He said it was only meant to frighten you.’

  Karen lost her composure, jumped up from the sofa and stumbled. ‘I don’t think … I want to hear any … more.’ Using the wall to keep her upright, Karen walked to the kitchen, got her paper bag and started breathing in it. Amy followed.

  ‘I know you’re going to hate me, everyone is, it’s my fault. All of it’s my fault.’

  The re-breathing began to calm her. So, Amy thought this was all her fault. Karen thought it was hers. They needed to talk this through, and without the complication of Karen’s panic attacks. Get a grip.

  ‘When you say he only wanted to frighten me. Who is he?’

  ‘My boyfriend. Or was my boyfriend until yesterday. Jonathan.’

  ‘Where did you meet him?’

  ‘Online, a dating site … the one you’re on, actually.’ She lowered her eyes.

  ‘Oh.’ Karen was taken aback. How could Amy be on the same site? How had she seen her, her profile picture was set as private? Not the right time to question it now. ‘Right. Okay. What does he look like?’

  Amy pulled her phone from her pocket, flicked through some pictures and held it up to Karen.

  ‘That’s Jay. The person who I now know is Jay.’ Karen’s stomach contracted, she looked away from the image. He’d played them both well.

  ‘He told me … said you’d put his dad away. He opened up to me, cried, described how awful his life had been since. I felt so sorry for him. We talked for months, and I hurt for him, do you know what I mean?’ She looked up, big eyes searching Karen’s. She continued without a response, ‘By the time he’d got to the point of telling me his plan, I’d bought into it, wanted to help him. Thought it was time for someone – you – to pay.’ The tears started again.

  ‘So you thought you’d make me pay by hurting Sophie?’ Karen couldn’t keep the anger from her voice.

  ‘No. No, it wasn’t like that. It was meant to be him taking a few photos.’ She rubbed at her face, running her fingers through her hair, grabbing it, pulling at it. ‘Sexual ones, to humiliate her, but to hurt you, he was going to pose with Sophie, make it look like he was willing to hurt her … it sounds so awful now—’

  ‘Now? Now, Amy? Bloody hell, didn’t it then?’

  ‘He convinced me. Karen, I’m sorry. I thought Sophie would show you the photos, you’d be thrown into a panic, then Jonathan was going to message you, so you knew it was him, then he’d get some closure …’

  ‘You put your best friend in danger, drugged her, knowing he was going to do all sorts to her … all because he wanted to get closure?’

  ‘He said he loved me. I believed he did. He wasn’t the usual type I go for, I’d got fed up of immature teenagers, pretty-boys who loved themselves more than me. I wanted someone older, who actually took a real interest in me. And Jonathan did. He bought me gifts, gave me his time – we often met up spontaneously, he’d just give me a ring and say he wanted me. It was such a rush. I didn’t once question why he never took me back to his, there was no reason to mistrust him. I thought he was the one. So I wanted to be there for him, help him. I know Sophie’s my best friend, I didn’t think he’d hurt her. I mean, he didn’t, did he? He only took photos.’

  Karen couldn’t speak, stunned into silence. Jay had worked a good one on her all right.

  ‘He promised me it was only photos, that he wouldn’t touch her, harm her in any way. I know it wasn’t being a good friend, but I loved him, wanted to please him. I was so stupid, he took me in, I believed every word he told me.’

  ‘What’s different now? Why tell me all this?’

  ‘He means to do so much more than he led me to believe. All this has blown up, got out of control. He killed Erin. He told me yesterday. Said he killed her because he could, because it would send a clearer message. To you. I’ve fucked up so badly.’ Her face crumpled as she began to sob.

  Karen ripped some kitchen roll off and handed it to Amy. ‘You and me both, Amy. You and me both.’

  ‘He had his own agenda all along, I was just someone he needed …’ Her voice caught as another sob erupted. ‘Someone he needed to help execute his plan, get Sophie to him. It took me too long to realise I meant nothing, really. He didn’t love me at all, did he? I knew something was wrong, later, when Erin’s body was found – knew it couldn’t be a coincidence, however hard I tried to force that thought into my mind. He said he didn’t do it, and I believed him at first, then alarm bells started. By then I knew I was in it too deep. I got scared. He told me I had to keep my mouth shut, or he’d shut it for me. Permanently. Said I was as accountable for Erin’s death as he was.’

  ‘What a mess.’ Karen sighed. So unreal. How could this have happened? ‘I don’t understand how Erin got involved in all of this. You said you helped get Sophie to him, what about her?’

  ‘He was getting something out of it … this is going to sound even worse … what was in it for me? I had this flash of an idea when he went on about taking photos – I suddenly thought it would be a good idea to get him to do the same to Erin.’

  ‘Amy. Why?’ Karen lifted her hands to her head, completely exasperated.

  ‘She always copied me. Bought all the same clothes I did, shoes, accessories, everything. She annoyed the hell out of me. It got ridiculous. I couldn’t breathe without her doing the same, the exact same as me. I asked her to stop, but she didn’t get what my problem was and carried on anyway. It’s so petty now. But at the time I wanted him to teach her a lesson. He was only meant to frighten her.’

  Karen needed a break. Hearing this all in one go was too horrific, too painful. Her anxiety gathered momentum. She flicked the kettle on. ‘I need coffee. Well,’ she snorted, ‘I need alcohol really, but coffee will have to suffice.’

  ‘I’m sorry I came to you with this—’

  ‘No. Don’t keep saying that. I’m glad you came to me, Amy.’

  While she made the coffee, Karen considered the situation. How would Sophie react when she learned of her best friend’s involvement? The fact that she’d been purposely drugged by Amy? So far there was a dead girl, sexual images, stalking, threats of getting even, Bailey dead, and now a further revelation – that Amy had helped to orchestrate it all. Had she stopped helping Jay, or was this still part of his plan, her coming here and spilling everything? Could she trust her?

  ‘How did you get Sophie and Erin to him?’

  ‘He gave me Rohypnol to spike Sophie’s drink. He said she needed to be out of it, otherwise she’d remember too much, tell you too early. He wanted some suffering first, before she let on to you. Then you were meant to work it out slowly from the clues he’d placed. When you figured out it was him, realised he’d had that power over you and could’ve hurt Sophie if he’d wanted, that was to be the end of it.’ She laughed.

  Saying things out loud had a habit of clarifying things, of making them sound as dreadfully ridiculous as they were. Karen’d had some experience of that lately.

  ‘It was you who deserved to be punished, Karen, after what you did to his dad. You killed him. That’s what he
kept saying.’

  ‘What?’ Karen banged her coffee mug down on the worktop. ‘What are you saying? I didn’t kill him!’

  ‘Jonathan told me the story over weeks. He said it was your fault that his dad was thrown back inside a hideous place and that he became depressed and lost the will to live.’

  ‘So his dad killed himself?’ The pieces came together with sudden clarity – the ultimate reason for the anger held within Jay’s emails. The settling of a score could only mean one thing. An eye for an eye. The room stretched, Amy’s voice was still audible, but it sounded muffled, a long way off.

  ‘He manipulated me, I can see that now, but at the time he said if he got this out of the way, he would be in a better place and then we could have a real future. He told me we could get engaged, if I liked. When it was done.’ Amy dropped her head in her hands. ‘I’m going to go to prison for this, aren’t I?’

  Karen had no more energy. Her body, weakened by the morning’s events, slouched. It was only midday. Sophie would be home in a few hours. How was she going to tell her? Amy was her best friend. Hearing this would devastate her, and Karen wasn’t sure Sophie was strong enough to handle this now.

  Karen pulled out the bar stools and told Amy to sit.

  They had to come up with a solution to ensure the police caught Jay without her betrayal being discovered, or Amy being taken down with him. And to ensure Sophie didn’t get into trouble for withholding evidence.

  Karen sighed loudly.

  Where did they start?

  CHAPTER NINETY

  DI Wade

  ‘How are we doing? Sophie’s phone signal bring up anything of interest?’ Lindsay sidled up to where DS Mack was sitting and looked over his shoulder at the computer.

  ‘Phone signal suggests she’s at Stover Park, has been there for …’ He glanced at his watch, ‘the last fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Meeting someone,’ Lindsay said.

  ‘Guess so. No live CCTV available though, so no way of knowing who, unless you want to take a car.’