by Sienna Grant
“Will do. Now shush and let me get you to the hospital.”
I used the rail with my free hand, and with one careful step after another, I managed to get down the flight of stairs and across the car park to the car. Reynolds opened the door for me, and I got in, pulled my belt across, and rested my head against the window.
When Reynolds pulled up at accident and emergency, she opened my door and tugged me out of the car with her hand on my arm. Once I’d booked myself in, I took a seat, but I didn’t have to wait long and I was called into triage. I left Reynolds, and she called Summers to fill him in on recent events.
After having the cut on my head glued, I went back out into the department to find Summers there.
I filled him in on the rest. They knew we were friends before all this and I wasn’t hiding anything, not anymore. I shouldn’t have hidden anything before. I’m gutless and an arsehole, but I knew one thing I’d have to do though, and it was something I didn’t really want to have to do. Callie would probably murder me for it.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and typed out a text.
Hey Beth.
Hope you’re enjoying your honeymoon. Can you call me when you see this message please?
Chris
“You need to take the rest of the day off. You need rest.”
“Fuck that. I haven’t got time for that! Callie could be anywhere by now. She could be fucking dead.” The mere thought of that caused a pain so sharp in my gut that I had to swallow my own words and breathe. I shoved open the door and charged out until I was in the fresh air. Dropping my head back, I breathed in the spring air, giving me a sense of calm so I could get on with finding Callie.
I heard footsteps behind me and looked around to see Summers with his hands in his pockets, rocking on his heels.
“I got on to the caretaker of the building and asked for CCTV footage. I’m expecting a call for that, and I’ve got on to the council and told them I need street footage. I’m hoping something comes up.”
I dropped down onto the curb, my head falling into my hands. “What the fuck have I done? We’ve been played... big time. Why the fuck didn’t I believe her?”
“Hey, all the evidence was there. I had no inkling that she could be telling the truth. But I have done a background search for Finley Brown. He’s not quite the moron we thought he was.” Lifting my head from my hands, I met his eyes, urging him to go on. “He’s got a master’s degree in IT. He was also an A* student all through his time in education. In other words, any computer, any problem, he can fix it, but in this case, he can cause it too. I think we’re dealing with some kind of tech mastermind.”
“Fuck. So what you’re saying is, he did that. He put that stuff on Callie’s computer?”
“It looks that way.”
I pushed up from the curb, but I must’ve got up too quickly because everything spun. Summers gripped my arm and balanced me out before I lost it completely and fell over.
“You need to go home. Let us handle this.”
“Not a fucking chance. Take me to the station. We need to find that transit and find Callie
before it’s too late.”
With a nod, he unlocked the car, and I got in. Reynolds followed us, and together we headed up a search for Callie.
My eyes snapped open when I heard a click, and I sat up groggily, wondering what was going on. My mouth was dry and there was something about my head that felt fuzzy, wrong. My hands lifted to my hair and I ran my fingers down it, but it was shorter than before.
What? When did I cut my hair?
It was shoulder length now, but it’d been down my back. I couldn’t remember much of anything, let alone cutting my hair.
I lifted my hands to rub my eyes and my wrist caught. My head turned sluggishly to the side as the horror of where I was washed over me again.
Fuck, I was still trapped in this place. Part of me hoped it’d been a bad dream, but when I heard a crackle overhead and his voice as clear as day beside me, I knew my nightmare was only beginning.
“Time to get up. There’s breakfast by the window. You need to eat now.”
I shook my head, ready to ignore him, when I felt a jolt shooting through my arm from the cuffs. I started shaking. The agony was unreal as my head snapped back and hit the bed frame and my body shook and shuddered as painful jolts ran up and down my body. After a few more seconds, it stopped, and I was mortified to realise there was wetness in between my legs.
“You ready to comply yet?”
I wanted to say no, to tell him to fuck off, and my pause had him start the jolts again until I was retching on the bed as even worse tremors rocked me.
“How about now?”
My head swam, and I struggled to get up from the bed, but I nodded once, and the sound system switched off. I crawled on shaking limbs to the edge of the bed and broke a little off the croissant, putting it in my mouth and trying to chew although my mouth tasted like sandpaper. While I was trying to force the food down, I glanced around outside the window and saw I was on some sort of deserted farm. There was nothing for miles and my eyes scanned the room for something I could use as a weapon, but there was nothing. Not even the bed had bars or anything.
My desire to get out of the situation I found myself in was paramount, and when the door opened a few moments later, I had to steel myself to face up to Finley as he strutted into the room.
His eyes rolled when he saw the wet patches on the bed and on my negligee.
“Strip,” he commanded as I stared at him, but my eyes widened and I stepped back from him, holding onto my outfit tightly.
“I said strip.”
His tone was harsh, and it scared me, but not enough to comply. He stormed towards me, grasping the hem of my silk dress, and tried to tug it from my hands, but I held on fast. There was no way I was going to get naked in front of him.
He growled at me and spun us so I was face down on the bed, next to the puddle of urine. He pressed my face roughly into the mattress, and I squirmed as he put all his weight on my legs.
“I make the rules here, not you. When I say strip, you strip.”
His voice was commanding, and I tried fruitlessly to buck him off when he hit me with something, hard, and I screamed. The hits kept coming, and I screamed until I was hoarse, but my ass was stinging, and I knew I was in trouble when he finally stopped and cut up my dress, cutting the straps from my shoulders.
I wanted to cry, to beg him to stop, when he pushed roughly inside me, but the more I struggled, the harder he slammed into me until I just lay there as he took what he wanted from me. His thrusts were rough and his hands on my shoulders dragged me back onto him until he finished.
When he was done, he stood and dragged me off the bed, spinning me to face him, but as soon as he did, I slapped him hard across the face, scratching his skin and kicking him hard in the nuts.
He crumpled to the floor, and I tried to run around him, until he pressed something, and the cuff started shooting more electricity through me. My legs crumpled beneath me and he crawled over to me as I lay twitching and moaning on the floor.
“Keep fighting me and I’ll beat the shit out of you.”
My eyes widened as he wrapped his belt around my neck and tightened it to the point where I couldn’t breathe. Stars exploded behind my vision and he twisted my nipples between his fingers before dropping his hand between my legs and shoving my thighs apart.
“You’re mine now. I’ve wanted you for so long. Since three summers ago, and now I have you under my control, I’m taking what’s mine.”
My breath came in gasps as I clawed at the belt, trying to loosen it.
“Now, are you going to be a good girl, or am I going to have to punish you some more?”
He stared down at me with fascination, but all I could muster between the fear of him killing me was revulsion, and when I didn’t answer, his face hardened, and he tightened the belt until I couldn’t breathe. Just as I was about to lose consc
iousness, he leaned down and spoke in a voice that sent chills through me.
“Punishment it is.”
When I next woke, I wasn’t sure how long it’d been since my last spell of wakefulness. I tried to move, but my throat burned with every breath, and moving was like someone sticking a white-hot poker down my throat.
I tried to lift my hand to my mouth, but I couldn’t move. I was strapped to the bed. My legs were open, and I had nothing on.
Tears pooled in my eyes, and I bit my lip to stop myself sobbing when I heard his voice come in through the speaker again.
“You’re awake now, are you?”
His voice sounded happy and excited, and it made my stomach curl at the thought of what he was going to do to me next.
The door clicked open, and he walked in a few moments later with a case under his arm. His smile was wide, and my toes curled in revulsion as he stared down at me, assessing me, but it was when he opened the case that my fear grew.
My breaths sped, and I knew he was going to kill me. There was an assortment of knives, a wide metal chain, and wooden sticks of varying lengths and sizes.
He turned to me with a wide smile and his eyes danced merrily on his face as he surveyed me on the bed.
“Well, since you didn’t behave last time, Calindra, now I’m going to punish you while I teach you who’s in control here.”
He moved towards me and picked up a thin wooden stick that whistled through the air and landed with a crack on my stomach.
I screamed and he smirked widely, seemingly enjoying my pain. He hit me over and over again, but not in the same spot, before he changed it for a flatter one that he hit across my breasts, my legs, and my arms.
When he was satisfied with that one and the redness on my skin, he took a knife out of the case and ran it across my skin, around my nipples, pressing it in and cutting into the skin, making me scream over and over again until my voice was hoarse and I was barely able to make a sound at all.
His eyes glittered as he took in the sight of my blood, and when he lowered his mouth, sucking the blood from my nipples, I screamed and writhed until he stopped.
“What did I say about you behaving?”
My head spun as he grabbed my hair and pulled it so my head snapped back.
“Good girls are quiet.”
“I’m not a fucking good girl. Can’t you see how wrong this is?”
My voice was low, hoarse, and broken, and I didn’t see the hit coming. My head snapped to the side, and I felt a warm trickle before darkness swam over me again.
When I woke up, my whole body was burning, aching, but it was the pressure of him on top of me that made my stomach recoil, and I turned my head to the side, vomiting all over the mattress.
He didn’t seem to care and kept going until he was finished, but when he saw the pool of sick at my head, he gripped my hair and smashed my face into it.
“This is disgusting. You need to do better.”
His rough hands pushed my head harder, and I wanted to cry out, but I couldn’t open my mouth or I’d throw up again.
He climbed off me and glowered down at me before he slapped me hard across the face and left the room.
As soon as the door closed, the sweet smell started, and I drifted off, waking up some time later in a chair by the window. My vision was blurry, and my head was swimming, but I was sure I could see people outside. The cloying taste came back as I tried to call for help, and I managed a few weak screams before I drifted off again with thoughts of Chris in my mind.
Would he find me?
Was he looking for me?
Did they know I wasn’t behind all this now?
As soon as I got to the station, I got myself a coffee. It wasn’t the best by far, but it would have to do. I needed to stay awake. I needed to get a lead on where that bastard was keeping Callie. I lifted the cup to my lips, and as I took a sip, I cringed. If I’d ever tasted dirty dishwater then this was it. I wasn’t sure why I was worried about shitty coffee when Callie was stuck God knows where with that fucking psycho.
The door burst open, and in walked Walker, followed by Summers. My head was thumping, but I’d taken some painkillers at the hospital and I wasn’t due for anymore yet.
I dropped my head in my hand and waited for him to tell me what he wanted me for.
“We’ve gone through the street tapes. The blue transit is there clearly, and we’ve even got a partial plate.”
“You beauty.”
Walker held up the disc, put it into the machine, and showed me what evidence we had. We had the CCTV from the building Beth lived in, and also the next half a mile of road footage. It wasn’t a lot, but we’d have to make it work somehow.
While I viewed the CCTV, Reynolds looked into Brown’s past. We just needed something that helped us see into his mind so we could piece this together.
After a few hours, it seemed we were getting nowhere fast. We had to think of other ways to find him. My eyes were getting heavy, and my head felt like someone was caving it in from the inside. It was getting late. I didn’t really want to go home, the place wouldn’t be the same without her there, and I wanted to stay at work in case anything turned up. Folding my arms on the table, I lay my head on them and my eyes closed.
I was woken the next morning by the cleaners vacuuming outside the office. My hand curled around the back of my neck as I tried to lift my head, but it was as stiff as a board. As I lifted the top half of my body to sit up in the chair, my neck and shoulders cracked. I scrubbed my hands over my eyes and woke myself up before I went to get coffee. I noticed the clock on the wall read 6a.m. as I left to go to the canteen. I got my coffee and a small cup of water from the water fountain and went back to the office.
I downed some painkillers to kill the pain tearing through my head and went over what we did yesterday. I felt like all we were doing was going over old trails. I needed more.
While I drank my coffee and thought for a second, the door knocked and opened a second later. Summers appeared in the doorway, looking as tired as I felt, and sat down in front of me.
“Have you even been home?”
“Nope. I fell asleep with my head on the desk. I can’t go home. I won’t go until I’ve found Callie.”
“Chris, you’re going to burn out, and what good are you going to be to her then?”
“I didn’t give a shit. If I hadn’t left her, he wouldn’t have taken her. This is on me.”
“No, it’s not. It’s on all of us. We should’ve looked into him more.”
“I should've known Callie could never do this. I’m such a fucking idiot. I failed her, and if we can’t find her and she turns up dead, I'll never forgive myself.”
“Then let’s find her.”
Summers had already put out a message across all units to look out for a blue transit van with the partial plate as soon as she’d been taken. We shared it with all boroughs, including cities. We also warned them that he could be armed and to approach with extreme caution and not without back-up. We weren't sure how far this would get us. Knowing Finley Brown, he was already holed up somewhere like the rat he was.
We were already on day two, and time was running out. That was if she was even still alive. We weren’t sure what he was capable of, but if the kidnapping was anything to go by, and the trophy pieces of Callie’s he’d been keeping, then he was a full on psycho and it could only end badly unless we beat him to the finish line.
“Let’s scour the area for abandoned units, houses, anywhere that he could have taken her to. We can get it out on social media. Everyone uses social media. I’ll also speak to her mum and see if I can talk her into doing a press conference, but I’d rather leave that as the last form of communication. Let’s see what social media brings today. We can set up a conference for tonight if need be. Put it on the six o’clock news.”
“Okay, let’s do it. I’ll go see the superintendent when he arrives and keep him informed.”
I nodded at Summe
rs. A strange sense of respect for him overtook me just as Reynolds came in holding proper coffee in takeaway cups. With a thank you, I took my cup from her while she put Summers’ on the desk. I filled her in on everything Summers and I had already discussed while I sipped my coffee.
“The only other person I can speak to is Louisa. I’ll go to the hospital and speak with her and see what I can find out.”
“You do that,” Summers answers as he walks out of the office.
“You can come with me.”
Once I’d logged into the police Facebook and Twitter page, I put all the details on there; a picture of Callie and Finley Brown, and appealed for witnesses or anyone that knew him to come forward and help us with our enquiries. I clicked post, then stood from my chair, grabbing my coffee and my car keys. I made sure my phone was in my pocket then left the station with Reynolds in tow.
When we arrived at the hospital, we took the lift up to the wards. Lou had already been moved out of ICU and was recovering from her injuries well. She was hoping to have been home by now, so my mum was telling me, but with the internal injuries she had, it was safer to keep her in longer. It was a good thing, really. I didn’t need them both on his radar.
Once I’d spoken to the nurse in charge and told her what I needed to discuss was time sensitive, she softened towards me and let me in to see her. Luckily, Lou was in a side ward, so we would have privacy at least. She showed us to her room, and as I looked through the window, she was sitting up in bed, eating her breakfast.
“Not too long, Detective. Doctors are doing the rounds. It’s a busy ward.”
“Of course. You have my word.” I gave her a small smile. She opened Lou’s door and we followed her in. I looked around the sister and smiled at my cousin.
“Chris, what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Hey. I need to ask you some questions about Finley.”