by Kelly Goode
She stared at him and he willed her to say yes. It seemed he needed her just as much as she needed him.
‘I trust you,’ she replied softly. ‘I probably shouldn’t, but I do.’
21
‘What should I call you?’ Lydia asked, as she watched the mysterious alien-man methodically clean the blood and animal remains from her kitchen floor. The scent of bleach made her eyes water, but it was doing its job. ‘You signed your note as J; is that your name?’
‘So you actually read my note, did you?’
‘Yes.’
‘But you didn’t want to wait for me to come back and explain myself.’
‘I was late for work.’
He scrubbed harder with the rags and then added more water until the last stain lifted from the tiles.
‘J is short for Jonah. That’s my name.’
‘As in Jonah who was swallowed by a whale?’ she blurted, and then laughed self-consciously. ‘Sorry, I just remember that story from the bible. It was very odd.’
Jonah shrugged his wide shoulders. ‘I like whales. Any other questions?’
‘What did you do with my clothes?’ she asked. ‘I take it you undressed me last night.’
He stood up and placed the bloodied rags into the kitchen sink.
‘I destroyed your clothes,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘I’ll destroy these rags too.’
‘Thank you. You seem to know what you’re doing. Almost as if you’ve done this before.’
‘I have.’
‘Does that mean you eat foxes too?’
Lydia could barely bring herself to say the word without thinking about the fur ball that she’d coughed up.
‘I prefer chicken,’ he replied and she noticed his lips twitched as if he was trying not to laugh again. His grey eyes focused on her face and heat rushed to her cheeks.
‘With their feathers still on?’ she asked hesitantly.
This time, he chuckled. ‘Of course not. I meant the kind of chicken that you get from a butcher. Already dead and ready to cook.’
‘Oh.’
‘Although catching and killing your food is nothing to be embarrassed about. Jaktten like to get their hands dirty every once in a while.’
His comment caused Lydia to look down at her hands and she realised they were still covered in blood.
‘I need to wash these.’
‘I’ll help.’
She could have said no, but she found herself nodding instead. Something about Jonah’s presence made her feel oddly comforted and he’d already told her twice that Don wasn’t in the house, so it was safe for him to stay a little while longer. She turned and headed upstairs. The floorboards creaked under Jonah’s weight as he followed her into the bathroom.
‘Tell me about your husband,’ he said, as he switched on the taps and placed her hands beneath the warm water.
‘Why?’
‘I’m just making conversation.’
‘You don’t strike me as a man that makes conversation about anything without a good reason.’
He shrugged as if it was no big deal, but there was a strange expression on his face that said otherwise.
‘Truthfully, I want to know why you thought you’d killed him,’ he said.
Lydia closed her eyes, as the memory of Don and Chelsea having sex hit her like a bullet, but that image faded away when Jonah worked soap across her palms. She inhaled sharply when their hands slid against each other. He rinsed away the blood and massaged the skin between her fingers. It wasn’t supposed to be erotic, but the touch of a stranger was stimulating all the wrong parts of her body.
‘I was angry with him,’ she finally answered, and when she looked up into Jonah’s eyes, her stomach twisted at the intensity with which he watched her.
‘Why were you angry?’
‘Does it matter?’
‘It always matters.’
Lydia tried to ignore the warmth that spread up her arms, as he continued to rub his soapy hands against hers.
‘Husbands and wives get angry with each other. It’s part of being married. Don’t you argue with your wife?’
‘I don’t have a wife.’
‘Do you have a girlfriend?’
Jonah smiled. ‘Would you be upset if I did?’
She sensed he was teasing her and allowed the briefest smile to play across her lips. She didn’t smile often, didn’t have cause to, but Jonah was easy to be around.
‘I don’t have a girlfriend,’ he replied, lifting her hands from the basin and wrapping them in a towel. She wanted to tell him she could dry her own hands, but the words stayed lodged in her throat.
‘Thank you,’ she said once he’d finished.
‘No problem. Let me see your arm.’
Lydia lifted up the sleeve of her jumper and Jonah carefully examined the damaged skin, which she was relieved to see wasn’t infected as she’d thought.
‘Leave it uncovered for a while,’ he said. ‘It’s healing well.’
‘Ok.’
‘I am sorry this happened to you. I didn’t mean to bite you.’
‘I know.’
She was enjoying the feel of his hands on her skin a little too much, so tugged her arm away.
‘Have you told anyone what happened?’ he asked.
She shook her head. ‘No.’
‘Good, we need to keep it that way.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t want ISCU sending an army of agents to kill me.’
‘They’d only send one agent,’ she replied, thinking of Carson’s determination and single-mindedness when it came to eliminating aliens. ‘And maybe you deserve to be hunted down.’
‘I probably do, but I’m more use to you alive than dead, so until we figure out how to reverse the eventually mutation, you’re stuck with me.’
22
Jonah’s phone chimed for an incoming message and he took a much needed step away from Lydia. The feel of her slick hands against his had caused his cock to harden uncomfortably against his trousers and it was taking all his restraint not to kiss her, whether she had a husband or not. He took his phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen. He just about contained the grin that threatened to split his face as he read confirmation that ten thousand pounds had cleared his account and the depositor was Mr Philip Carmichael. Making money was as good a substitute for sex under the circumstances.
Jonah tapped a button so his call would connect with Janet. She answered on the first ring, which told him she’d already had her phone in her hand.
‘I need a full background check on Philip Carmichael,’ he said.
‘A hello would be nice,’ she snapped.
‘Hello. I need a full back ground check on Philip Carmichael.’
‘I do have a life outside of the office, Jonah. I was just getting ready to have breakfast with my boyfriend so your demands will have to wait until I’m officially on the clock.’
Jonah sighed, ensuring she heard his displeasure. Whenever Janet mentioned her boyfriend, it was because she wanted a reaction from him - jealousy, anger, maybe even desire, but the only thing he felt was irritation. He should’ve cooled things with her weeks ago when he realised she was growing attached.
‘Didn’t you see the bonus payment I made?’ he asked and Janet inhaled sharply, indicating he’d made a mistake in bringing that up.
‘You can’t buy me, Jonah.’
His brow furrowed with confusion. ‘You’re my employee. I pay you money and you do things for me in return for that money.’
‘That doesn’t include sex.’
‘I didn’t mean it like that.’
‘You’re an arsehole. I swear I’m going to quit this fucking job.’
‘So you keep telling me. Eat your breakfast, fuck your boyfriend, and then send the information to my phone. I won’t be in the office for a few days.’
Janet’s tone went from angry to suspicious.
‘Why not?’ she asked. ‘Is something wr
ong?’
Jonah looked at Lydia who was trying her best to pretend she wasn’t listening to his one sided conversation.
‘Something unexpected has come up,’ he said.
‘But we still have interviews to finish.’
‘Put them in the diary for next week. Things will have settled down by then.’
He ended the call before she could argue. And argue she would. Janet was a capable secretary, but quickly becoming a pain in his arse.
‘I thought you said you didn’t have a girlfriend,’ Lydia said, and although her tone was casual, her posture was stiff.
‘I don’t. Janet works for me. That’s all.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘Sounds complicated.’
‘It’s really not.’
‘What do you do?’
‘Officially, I work in information security and run my own cyber-security firm. Unofficially, I’m a lone whale. An information merchant.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I trade information. For the right price.’
He could tell she didn’t quite understand what he meant, as she shrugged her shoulders and inclined her head towards the door.
‘You should probably go now,’ she said. ‘I’m late for work...again.’
‘You shouldn’t go to work.’
‘Why not?’
‘We don’t know how quickly your symptoms will escalate. You could change forms.’
Lydia’s pale face turned a sickly shade of grey.
‘Are you saying I could attack someone? Someone I know. That I might progress from eating foxes to people.’
‘Jaktten don’t eat people.’
‘But I’m not a jaktten. I’m a mutant.’
A tear slid down her face and Jonah reached out to wipe it away, but she jerked away.
‘Don’t touch me.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I don’t know what to do,’ she whispered, and that protective part of his nature that he’d restrained ever since arriving on Earth, unfurled like a rose opening for the sun. Jonah knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to take her small body in his arms and never let go.
Before he could act upon those thoughts, his phone vibrated for an incoming call. He looked down at the screen and cursed.
‘Shit, sorry, this is important. I need to answer it.’
‘It’s fine,’ she said, as she straightened her spine and held her head high. ‘I need to shower and get ready for work. You can let yourself out.’
‘I’ll call you later.’
Lydia nodded and closed the bathroom door once he’d stepped outside. He heard her switch the shower on and then the unmistakable rustle of her removing her clothes. It took a considerable amount of restraint not to open the door and join her under the jets of water, but from the little interaction they’d shared, he knew his pursuit of her had to be nonaggressive.
Jonah headed downstairs and answered the call.
‘Hello, Mr Carmichael. I received your deposit.’
There was an intake of breath that told Jonah he’d surprised the man.
‘I never told you my name.’
‘You didn’t need to. The whale knows everything about everyone. That’s why you’re calling me. You want information and I’m the only one that can provide it. But it’s going to cost you.’
‘How much?’
‘Ten thousand.’
‘I already paid you ten thousand.’
‘That was good faith money. The next ten thousand is my fee.’
‘You can’t do this.’
‘No one has a gun to your head, Mr Carmichael. You don’t have to use my services.’
‘But I already paid ten thousand.’
‘So pay ten more and you’ll have your answers.’
The line remained silent for so long that Jonah thought maybe he’d ended the call, but then there was a long exhale, which crackled against his ear.
‘Fine; I’ll transfer the money. You’d better not be playing me.’
‘I can assure you, I don’t play games when it comes to money. What’s your ex-girlfriend’s name?’
Philip didn’t bother to hide his intentions this time. ‘Her name is Helen. Helen Peters. She’s a doctor.’
‘And she’s seeing someone else.’
‘Yes. I want as much information on him as possible. I don’t trust him.’
‘And you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart because you don’t want Helen getting hurt, right?’
‘Of course. I love her and she still loves me.’
Jonah thought the woman was probably better off out of the relationship, but he was being paid for information, not for counselling.
‘What’s the guy’s name and what does he do?’
‘She called him Victor or Vincent, and I think he’s an artist.’
‘And what hospital does Helen work at?’
‘She’s not that kind of doctor. Well not anymore. She works for a small government agency. You probably haven’t heard about it. It’s called The Invasive Species Control Unit. They study aggressive plants and dangerous animals. Something is going on there too. Something Helen was supposed to investigate and report back, but then this hulk of a man came along and took her away from me. I won’t stand for it, do you hear me?’
Jonah nodded even though his client couldn’t see him. Helen worked for ISCU. The very place he wanted access to. The irony wasn’t wasted on him, and maybe there was a way to kill two birds with one stone after all.
‘Pay the rest of the fee, Mr Carmichael and I’ll contact you in a few days. Until then, keep a low profile and don’t contact Helen or the ISCU team.’
23
‘Ring, damn you,’ Carson murmured, as she stared down at her phone. Blake hadn’t returned any of her messages and she was starting to worry. Not that she would tell him that. Her anger easily outweighed her concern, but he had some explaining to do and her patience was waning. As if sensing her frustration, the phone suddenly vibrated in her hand and she almost dropped it. She lifted it to her ear and pressed the button to connect the call.
‘You better have a damn good excuse for not calling,’ she snarled.
There were a few seconds of silence and then a deep voice answered.
‘Carson, is that you? It’s DI Raider. David, I mean. Was I supposed to call you? I’m sure I would have remembered something like that.’
‘Oh shit, sorry David. I didn’t mean to shout at you. I thought you were someone else.’
She imagined the suave detective she’d met at a crime scene a week ago smiling at her admission. He was attractive in a conventional tall, dark, and handsome way. More importantly he was leading Sage’s murder investigation. The little girl’s body had been found alongside the stripped bones of her father’s. Carson trusted him to do a thorough job, but he still thought he was chasing a human killer, so was at a disadvantage.
‘How are you?’ he asked. ‘Still unavailable and chasing stray dogs?’
‘Yep.’
‘Shame on the first point, but good on the second.
‘Why is that?’
‘How do you feel about sneaking onto another one of my crime scene?’
Carson gripped the phone a little tighter. ‘I didn’t sneak the first time. I signed the log. Someone authorised me-’
‘I was joking,’ David cut in. ‘Although I’m clearly not very good at it.’
‘Why would you want me at your crime scene?’
He sighed and his breath made a loud sound against the earpiece.
‘Remember that conversation we had about other murders disguised as animal attacks?’
Carson’s mouth suddenly felt dry. ‘Yes.’
‘Well I think I have one.’
‘Where?’
‘Romford.’
‘Really?
‘Yeah, victim was found mauled in an alleyway last night. No witnesses, which is strange considering how many bars, restaurants and nightclubs this town has.
’
‘Do you want animal control to look at the body in an official capacity?’ she asked, wondering how many people she was going to have to convince with her fake cover story.
‘My boss is convinced it’s an animal attack, but I’d like a second opinion.’
‘Send me the address and I’ll leave straight away.’
‘Hold on a second.’
The line went quiet and then she heard a beep, which signalled she had a new message.
‘I’ve just text you the address, how long will it take you to get here?’ David asked.
‘Five minutes,’ she replied, glad for an excuse to get out of the office.
‘Really? I was hoping I had time to get a coffee before you arrived.’
‘You do; I take mine black with two sugars.’
‘Do you want to grab lunch afterwards?’
‘Depends on what I see in that alleyway.’
He laughed softly, as if conceding that she was evading his question about whether she was interested in a lunch date.
‘If it’s only going to take you five minutes to get here, do you live in Romford?’
‘Something like that,’ she replied non-committedly.
‘Sorry that wasn’t very subtle, but you’re an intriguing lady, Carson. I’d like to get to know you better.’
‘I’ve been called a lot of things lately, but intriguing is a new one. Can I ask you something instead?’
‘I’m thirty-three, single, and a workaholic. My most redeeming feature is that I’m stubborn and persistent when it comes to beautiful women.’
‘Knock it off. I’m serious.’
‘So am I. You’re very beautiful.’
Carson smiled, but that faded when she thought about the question she really wanted to ask the detective.
‘Just so I’m prepared when I arrive,’ she said, thinking about the missing little girl she’d vowed to find. ‘How old is the victim?’
Her heart seemed to thud audibly inside her chest, as she waited for his answer.
‘It’s not another little girl, if that’s what you’re thinking.’
‘That’s exactly what I was thinking.’
‘Victim is male. Early twenties, obvious animal interference, but preliminary cause of death is a suspected broken neck, which doesn’t support the animal attack theory.’